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[00:00]
J.P. Swenson
This episode contains discussions of human trafficking, sex trafficking, and violence that may be distressing for some listeners.
[00:11]
Atelka Lahoski
Honestly, I'm really nervous. I've never been inside a jail before. When my editor at Rotary magazine asked me to visit a jail in Topeka, Kansas City, to report on an innovative Rotary program for incarcerated women, I said yes right away. But I felt completely out of my depth. I think that's it. My notion of life behind bars came from movies like the Shawshank Redemption and TV shows like Orange Is the New Black. I wondered if I'd be intimidated by the women I'd meet or nervous around them. As it turned out, I didn't feel that way at all.
[00:55]
Linda
So when I came in, it was like, I've been in my addiction for, like, 30 years. I was just lost. I was just in the gutter. So these people come and they're like me. And so they said, you know, you don't have to do this. You have a choice.
[01:12]
Atelka Lahoski
That's Linda, one of the women I meet in Topeka's Shawnee County Adult Detention Center. She's got big, kind eyes, and she's quick to give me a smile. When I first meet her, she remembers what it felt like to realize for the very first time that she could change.
[01:28]
Linda
Now I'm not broken. I'm worth sobriety. I'm worth a life. I'm worth a home. I'm worth a car. I'm worth a relationship. I'm worth freedom.
[01:45]
Atelka Lahoski
Linda is taking part in a Rotary program called Intersection to Care that helps incarcerated women rebuild their lives after they get out. She says she was in addiction treatment when she first called Intersection to Care and tells me what that call meant to her.
[02:00]
Linda
I was in treatment and I called and they answered the phone. They picked up the phone for me. So it's like I can say with honesty that I know that they care. I know that when I get out of here that if I call them, they're going to pick up the phone.
[02:22]
Atelka Lahoski
I'm about to learn a lot more about what Intersection to Care does, including something that you might not expect. Turns out there's a crucial connection between a reentry program like this and an issue I've heard about before but don't really understand, human trafficking.
[02:39]
J.P. Swenson
Welcome to the rotary voices podcast, J.P. i'm J.P. swenson. Recently, Rotary International editor Atelka Lahoski visited the Shawnee County Adult Detention center in Topeka, the capital city of Kansas. She was writing about a program called Intersection to Care that is supported by a Rotary Foundation Global grant through Intersection to Care, Rotary is helping incarcerated women learn valuable skills, build community in the face of addiction, and prepare them for life after prison. When Lihoski went behind the bars of the jail to meet these women, her expectations were quickly subverted. This is part one of her report.
[03:25]
Patty Mellard
I was made aware three or four years ago that women who were being released from the jail here in Topeka were being picked up by traffickers in the parking lot.
[03:38]
Atelka Lahoski
Patty Mellard has been a rotary member for 37 years, and in 2021, she helped charter the Rotary Club of Community Action Against Human Trafficking. As indicated by that name, her club is cause based. The members are united by a shared passion for stopping and preventing human trafficking. Not long after that, she helped launch Intersection to Care with a Rotary Foundation Global grant. It provides resources and support to help incarcerated women on their feet when they're released from jail. Without these resources, Patty tells me their only option may be to go with a trafficker.
[04:18]
Patty Mellard
Women are being released with nothing. They have no phone, no car, no place to go, and it's raining and there's a trafficker waiting in the parking lot to offer them a ride, to offer them a roof over their head, to offer them drugs if they'll get in with him. And so they do, and now they owe him. It's very dangerous and there's not a way out of it.
[04:45]
Atelka Lahoski
This is a different picture of human trafficking than I had imagined or read about. When I told a friend I was working on this story, she said, you mean women being brought from other countries, right? Not women who live here in the U.S. but the problem is very much an American one.
[05:00]
Patty Mellard
People often think of human trafficking as an international issue, when really human trafficking is a local issue. It happens all over the world, but trafficking actually occurs in local communities with locally vulnerable people.
[05:15]
Atelka Lahoski
Jennifer Montgomery is a Rotary Peace Fellow and she spent a decade leading the Kansas Attorney General's anti Trafficking education and outreach program. She works with Intersection to care. What is human trafficking?
[05:28]
Patty Mellard
I like to say that human trafficking is the exploitation of a person's vulnerabilities. Here in Topeka and in Kansas in general, we tend to see trafficking involving vulnerable children. Those could be children who are in the foster care system and vulnerable adults who are experiencing poverty, housing insecurity, things like that that make them attractive to perpetrators.
[05:54]
Atelka Lahoski
Human trafficking can include sex trafficking, but they aren't one and the same. Traffickers may exploit victims for cheap or free labor, making them sell drugs, shoplift, or commit other crimes. It's hard to estimate how widespread Human trafficking is in the US it's rarely reported to law enforcement, but the National Human Trafficking Hotline gets somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 reports each year.
[06:22]
Patty Mellard
It's surprising how much trafficking occurs within a family system, whether it's a parent who is drug dependent and sells sexual access to their children for money for drugs, or it's an uncle perhaps who's involved, or sometimes it's a coach or somebody that knows the child. But familial trafficking is a very common form of human trafficking.
[06:47]
Atelka Lahoski
I found out that traffickers often get girls addicted to drugs. To maintain control, they'll take away their phones and driver's licenses or other IDs. Many of the women in the Shawnee County Jail are serving sentences for crimes they committed while under the control of traffickers. I'm visiting the jail today to hear some of their stories and learn how Intersection to Care supports them. Morning, Emily.
[07:10]
Emily Nanko
Good morning.
[07:11]
Atelka Lahoski
I'm here today with Emily Nanko, a journalist who's writing about Intersection to Care for Rotary magazine and Reasons to Be Cheerful, an online magazine founded by artist and musician David Byrne. For nearly a decade, Emily has been interviewing incarcerated people at prisons and jails all over the country. She's been inside prisons in Michigan, Washington, New York, even the famous San Quentin in California. What's the environment like in there? Like, do you ever forget that you're in a control facility?
[07:42]
Emily Nanko
Sometimes you can forget for a minute, but there always will be reminders. There will be guards. There will be hostile architecture. It's a controlled environment for sure, and it's just not a normal interviewing experience. So you have to emotionally prepare in a different way.
[08:01]
Atelka Lahoski
Actually, though, the jail is nothing like what I'd pictured. Yes, it's intimidating from the outside. The main building has looming stone walls that march the length of a city block. But inside, it's quiet. It doesn't feel particularly closed in, despite the shortage of windows. It has a library and a basketball court. We go up to the office of Brian Cole, the director of the Shawnee County Department of Corrections.
[08:30]
Linda
I'm starting my 37th year here in Shawnee County. Started as an officer and have worked my way up. I come from a small town south of Olathe, Kansas, of Osawatomie, Kansas, mostly well known for its state hospitals. And so I come from a behavioral health background. Graduated from Washburn University with two degrees and some master's work degrees in psychology and criminal justice.
[08:55]
Atelka Lahoski
Brian describes how trafficking reaches inside the jail itself.
[09:00]
Linda
Just because a female was in jail didn't mean that she Wasn't vulnerable or she wasn't being trafficked or being recruited. I know for a fact I have talked with inmates and female inmates who I knew were being trafficked and they fit. Everybody told me, you're going to notice this, this and this. And I was like, okay, Brian, you're educated. You've been doing this for a long time. You think you know everything. I knew the minute I talked to them she was being trafficked.
[09:23]
Atelka Lahoski
Brian tells us he was trying to provide some support for trafficking victims, but he faced limited funding and a slow moving bureaucracy.
[09:32]
Linda
And then here came Rotary and Patty and they said, we got a program.
[09:37]
Atelka Lahoski
She wanted to bring Intersection to Care into the jail.
[09:41]
Linda
This is what it's going to do. We're going to start providing resources, reentry, different types of training to identify trauma, looking at different things, care package, whatever. And I said, where you been? Prayers have been answered. So let's start doing this.
[09:56]
Atelka Lahoski
The women that Intersection to Care works with aren't in the main jail. They're in the annex across the street from the main jail complex. It's a small building with big windows in the entryway. Around the time of our Visit, there were 87 people in the Annex, 58 male and 29 female. The Annex isn't grim or all that prison like. We walk along cinder block corridors with low ceilings painted a pale yellow. We pass a sunny day room where a few people are hanging out. Across the hall, there's a small windowless room with folding tables, chairs and some motivational posters on the walls. In here, Intersection to Care's participants rebuild their lives. Intersection to Care started small at first. Patty and the other Rotarians simply gave women some necessary supplies when they were released from jail and helped them find a place to go. But they realized they needed to get involved a lot sooner.
[10:55]
Patty Mellard
This program has really grown and developed into a lot of parts within the jail. Unfortunately, when Covid hit, a lot of the programming for the women in the jail had to go away. And this grant started right after Covid. And so we were able to bring in many programs for the women.
[11:13]
Atelka Lahoski
There's a class on healthy eating, a movement and meditation class, even an art class. The movement class is really useful for women dealing with addiction since exercise can help with drug cravings. And the women really love the computer class. It's co sponsored by the University of Kansas or ku.
[11:34]
Patty Mellard
The KU technology class, which is probably one of the keystones of the work that we're doing in the jail because this can offer the women an opportunity to learn Skills, resume writing, interviewing, software programs that they have a skill when they get out. It also gives them a $50 gift card for every session that they've completed in the jail. So now they have that gift card when they're released, and so they have more things with them when they're released from jail.
[12:01]
Atelka Lahoski
Many women here don't know how to use office programs or do research online. Some of them were first trafficked when they were preteens, so they never got a real education. Others were in jail multiple times for much of their teen and adult lives. So technology kind of passed them by. Lakeisha, a participant who took the class when she was in jail, says it prepared her to go back to school.
[12:27]
Lakeisha
KU technology that what really kind of brought it out of me a whole lot because learning how to build my own website and different things like that, now that I'm on the track of finishing my education and everything, that was. It's an awesome program for me, I believe.
[12:43]
Atelka Lahoski
Lakeisha says Intersection to Care helped her break a cycle of repeatedly going in and out of jail.
[12:49]
Lakeisha
When I got out, I was so used to falling back to my addiction, but I wanted something different. Usually I get released. Hey, you're released, you're out there and then you're stuck in the same position, not knowing where you're going. So you fall back into the same routine, but not this time.
[13:06]
Atelka Lahoski
Lakeisha tells Emily about her plans for the future.
[13:09]
Lakeisha
I didn't think it was out there for me, but getting involved with Rotary and everything, I have found a whole lot of different resources and I feel like there's no reason why I can't do this and I'm appreciative for it all.
[13:23]
Emily Nanko
What are you most excited about for the future?
[13:27]
Lakeisha
Most definitely. My main goal is getting my education and owning my own business.
[13:31]
Emily Nanko
What is your business going to be?
[13:32]
Lakeisha
I'm stuck in the middle of the janitorial service and our bakery.
[13:37]
Atelka Lahoski
Like a lot of the women I meet, Lakeisha credits much of her success to one person. Google. No, no, wait, I mean Jody Witt.
[13:46]
Lakeisha
Jody Witt is my Google. Anytime I have a question, that's who I call. She always give me the right answer, lead me in the right direction. I just love her. I do.
[13:57]
Atelka Lahoski
Jody is the other big part of Intersection to Care's work inside the jail. She's a paid part time staffer who gets incarcerated women into the program, mentors them, and helps them plan for life after they're released. She's also the program coordinator for the KU Tech class and a rotarian she shows me around the office Brian Cole gave her in the annex.
[14:20]
Jody Witt
If you see over here where all of these applications are, city ID applications, disability benefits applications, food stamp applications, and re entry plans. So when I know what a woman is needing, I will come in and grab all of the things that she needs help with and take it directly to her.
[14:38]
Atelka Lahoski
Jody and Patty, show me some of the supplies Jodi keeps here.
[14:41]
Patty Mellard
Earplugs, of course.
[14:43]
Jody Witt
Earplugs.
[14:44]
Atelka Lahoski
Why do we need earplugs? Well, we are in a pod with
[14:46]
Jody Witt
sometimes 40 women, so you can imagine
[14:50]
Atelka Lahoski
there's also a box of reading glasses much needed by women who may never have been to an optometrist, and a pile of journals.
[14:58]
Patty Mellard
I have to find journals that don't have staples or hardbacks or rubber bands on them.
[15:05]
Jody Witt
Those are our seeds. Those are how we plant the seeds of itc, giving them something tangible.
[15:13]
Atelka Lahoski
The journals all have different colorful designs printed on the covers. I notice a pink one with the future is female in swirly text. Love it. But back to Jodi. She has no trouble bonding with the women here because she's been here, that is, she's been inside.
[15:32]
Jody Witt
I spent years in and out of the jail, so it wasn't like I had one stay here. I had a revolving door of incarceration for over 20 years. It wasn't just this jail, it was several others. But this was the main jail I spent a lot of time in. Basically in 2019, I had had enough and I knew that something had to change. I knew that I wanted to make better choices. I was sick of coming to jail, not a place to be. So luckily I was sentenced to treatment. I was ordered to go to treatment directly from jail, and I was facing 36 months plus 42 months very long sentence in prison. This was my last chance to get my life together. I had kids that were needing me. I had family and friends that needed me to get better. So I completed treatment and I got a probation officer who I was terrified of, Mr. Andrew Johnson. He became a person I could count on, and he was the guy who introduced me to different resources in the community, in particular the KU technology education program. I showed up to the class very scared. I hadn't learned anything in a really long time. And so I started taking that class and building skills and confidence. And that's what I was really lacking was some confidence in myself.
[17:00]
Atelka Lahoski
The Intersection to Care team was impressed with Jodi's dedication and they knew she was connected with a lot of women in the community. They ended up Hiring her. At this point, I decide to ask Jodi about something I've had in the back of my mind all day. Is this jail different? It's very different from what I expected. But is it different from the other jails she's been in?
[17:22]
Jody Witt
This jail is special because the officers, everybody who works here, they care about the people here. They are open to having programs that others don't. Jails don't offer, and they have to put on a hard exterior in front of the people that are incarcerated here. But I know now in the background, they do care. They actually care. And so I just think it's. This jail is special, and people should try to learn from this jail, because I can see a reduction in recidivism. I don't have the numbers to prove it, but I can see it. I'm witnessing it in real time.
[18:02]
Atelka Lahoski
Even Linda, the incarcerated woman you heard from at the top of this episode, says she likes her guards.
[18:08]
Linda
The officers, they tell us, you're doing good. I'm proud of you, you know, And I go to them, I'm like, hey, what do you see about me that I can change?
[18:16]
Atelka Lahoski
The supportive dynamic between Linda and the guards really surprises me. It doesn't line up with the assumptions I'd had about life in jail. But I think you can see by now how valid those assumptions were. Now, let's be clear. Brian and his staff are undoubtedly showing us the jail's very best side. They knew we were coming. They prepared for our visit. They're controlling what we see and who we talk to. But even with all that in mind, I keep thinking this seems to be a pretty constructive environment. When we troop upstairs at lunchtime for sandwiches in the guard's break room, I see that the fridge is decorated with one of those instant poetry magnet sets. If you haven't seen a set like this, it comes with a hundred little magnets with a different word on each one. And the poems the guards have spelled out are kind of sweet. I heart you 100%. Help pays off. Give your fullest actions today. Make your dreams positive. So at the end of the day, I ask Emily, how does this jail compare to the ones she's visited around the country?
[19:28]
Emily Nanko
There was a welcoming aspect to it. Certainly, we're there, you know, to cover something good that's happening. So we're not seeing everything in the jail. But at the same time, I feel like we met a range of people, Staff, incarcerated people, volunteers, who all had a lot of passion about this, who all were very welcoming. And that was Overwhelming. That was. I don't want to say it was unexpected, but it did make the experience a lot easier.
[20:01]
Atelka Lahoski
I feel kind of silly for making assumptions about what the jail would be like, but Emily says she had a similar experience to mine when she first visited a prison.
[20:10]
Emily Nanko
I was invited into San Quentin State Prison, which is outside San Francisco in 2018. Those two days completely changed my life. I met people who did not fit the description of what we're told of people who belong in prison. And it really shook my understanding of what the system was about.
[20:35]
Atelka Lahoski
I can't say I've got any new ideas of what the system is about, but my perspective has definitely changed. Even so, it's a relief to get out of the jail. It was really tiring to be in this place focusing on this painful issue. I check in with Emily as we walk to our car.
[20:51]
Emily Nanko
I'm so overwhelmed by these women's stories, the vulnerability, what people have gone through. And yet they are still supporting each other. They're coming together for this program, and I just feel very heartened but also saddened at the same time.
[21:11]
Atelka Lahoski
And that was after just one day in the jail. I can't imagine how Patty and Jody and the other Rotary members do this work every day, every week. I asked Patty about it.
[21:24]
Patty Mellard
Our members really try to be supportive of each other because we're all working in a very sensitive area that can even cause trauma for us, can cause emotional draining for us. And so we try to be very sensitive of that and also try to do some fun social things to help relieve that stress. I mean, when we get together and do Rotary care kits, assembly for care kits that we give to victims of trafficking, it's a fun time. It's a lot of work, but it's also a fun time that we can gather together and support each other.
[21:59]
Atelka Lahoski
The day after our jail visit, Rotary members gather in an office space to assemble care kits. Patty's right. It is a fun time. Today the members are filling 40 backpacks with clothes, underwear and socks, shampoo, deodorant, and feminine supplies. The kits are invaluable for women like Hannah. She's another Intersection to Care participant.
[22:21]
Hannah
It was a lot different when I got out of jail this time because there was somebody there to pick me up. It was Alexis, and she took me to get my meds. And the Rotary Club had given me a couple Visa gift cards so I could get some groceries.
[22:33]
Atelka Lahoski
This morning, we saw them packing up some care kits.
[22:36]
Hannah
That was so helpful, having those bags with the hygiene and stuff in it. Because it makes me feel more secure just as a woman to have those things, to be able to take a shower when I get out of jail and be able to use feminine products and stuff. It's nice to feel secure as a woman.
[22:51]
Atelka Lahoski
But the care kits, the classes, and the mentoring are still just the beginning of everything. Intersection to Care does. Program volunteers and Jodi help participants get health care, including mental health care, dental care, substance abuse care, and doula services. They help them write resumes and find jobs. They provide food assistance, bus passes, and cell phones. They help the women get IDs because traffickers have usually taken their driver's licenses away from them. One Intersection to Care mentor even has a podcast that talks about how incarcerated people can get a new start. Hey, hey, hey.
[23:36]
Patty Mellard
This is Kristen Shook, back again with the Reentry Reframe podcast. On today's episode, I have Seth Dewey with me.
[23:46]
Chelsea
Hello.
[23:47]
Emily Nanko
Thanks for joining.
[23:48]
Patty Mellard
Tell us where you're coming from.
[23:49]
Atelka Lahoski
Well, thank you for the Rotary members who work with Intersection to Care aren't just giving women socks and computer skills. They're helping them change their lives. That's a tall order, to say the least, but Patti says the program is working.
[24:03]
Patty Mellard
Our data shows that these women have been incarcerated between five to 37 times. The average woman has been incarcerated eight times what we've seen in our program. When we combine all the aspects of the Intersection to Care program, along with housing subsidies and mentorship, that this reincarceration has decreased substantially, we're showing only a 7% rate of them being re incarcerated.
[24:35]
Atelka Lahoski
After the care kit packing, I get to meet some Intersection to Care participants out in the real world. The program works with Oxford House, an organization that coordinates sober living houses all over the country. We pull up on a quiet street where the homes are all painted in pastel colors and have big front porches. The Oxford House's yard is decorated with two little scarecrow dolls and a big ceramic frog. Next to the front steps, there's a child's basketball hoop.
[25:09]
Lakeisha
Hello.
[25:10]
Atelka Lahoski
Inside, some of the women are hanging out in the living room and watching the show Cops. A little Graham white dog is running around. His name is Chico.
[25:19]
Chelsea
Whose dog is it? I'm coming this way with some people.
[25:25]
Jody Witt
Okay?
[25:25]
Chelsea
Okay. All right. And this is the bathroom down here because we have another bathroom down here as well. This is obvious. And this is the one room that we have that. It's a shared room. So it comes with two other people. Busy?
[25:36]
Hannah
No.
[25:36]
Chelsea
Can they look in your room?
[25:37]
Lakeisha
Yeah.
[25:38]
Chelsea
Okay, so she's gonna let you Guys, look in here. Hannah. Yeah, her name's Hannah. Hi, I'm a telka.
[25:42]
Atelka Lahoski
We're just taking a look at the house. It seems like a pretty big room. That must be nice.
[25:48]
Chelsea
It is. I love it. There's the cat. I see you're under there hiding.
[25:52]
Atelka Lahoski
Does the cat like to hang out down here?
[25:54]
Chelsea
Yeah, because of the dog.
[25:55]
Atelka Lahoski
Chelsea is the president of the house. She runs the house meetings and keeps the chore chart and hands out penalties when people don't obey the rules. She's 37 and petite with long curly red hair and light blue eyes that always seem to sparkle. Intersection to care. Helped her get settled at the Oxford house and find a job at a local kfc. She's an assistant manager now. What do you feel about us all being here? Like, demanding information from you or offering you the chance to like.
[26:26]
Hannah
How does it feel?
[26:27]
Chelsea
It's nerve wracking, really. But at the same time it's miraculous.
[26:32]
Patty Mellard
Yeah?
[26:32]
Chelsea
Yes. And I'm not just. I mean, I'm here to send a message, I guess, to help. So that's what I'm here to do.
[26:40]
Atelka Lahoski
We go out to the side yard and I ask her more about how the house runs. She tells me about how women dealing with addiction sometimes leave the house suddenly and go back to the people who can give them drugs.
[26:52]
Chelsea
For some that just aren't ready or anything like that, they just use it to get out of jail. And then the second that they get that freedom, they're gone. When it comes to the re entry side, it is a revolving door. And it sucks for somebody like me because I was a re entry. But I also went through a horrible situation back in April that caused me to like, not want to ever alter my mind ever again with any sorts of substances.
[27:14]
Atelka Lahoski
The women I've met in Topeka have all shared different stories of how they got where they are today. But I wasn't ready for Chelsea's. Do you want to talk about what happened?
[27:23]
Chelsea
Which one? Just for me.
[27:25]
Hannah
Yeah.
[27:25]
Chelsea
Okay. So I am a. You don't have to. No, I can. It's not a big deal. I actually go into churches every now and then and talk to the women youth group for what happened to me.
[27:34]
Atelka Lahoski
Chelsea tells me that In April of 2025, four men in a silver SUV grabbed her off the street and imprisoned her in a shed far outside of town. She was handcuffed and her ankles were shackled. I have to warn you, Chelsea's story is probably going to be hard for you to hear. If you're listening to this podcast. While you're doing the dishes or checking your email, you might want to take a pause and just listen to what she has to say.
[28:01]
Chelsea
I was held in the shed there for about a month and a half. I have actually scars all over my body from where they put cigarette burn or cigars and cigarettes out on me. They go up and down my legs. That was from the shackles.
[28:13]
Atelka Lahoski
She pulls up the cuff of her jeans and shows me the circular burn scars.
[28:17]
Chelsea
When I first got there and I came to, there were two women in that shed. And then about, I can't tell you how many days went by, and one of them disappeared. And it was left with me and the child that was in there. And it was this little beautiful little red headed girl with freckles. That was the one I took with me. And she was only 15, 16 years old. I was drugged and I was numb, but I knew if I didn't get out of there that we were going to disappear next.
[28:49]
Atelka Lahoski
Chelsea had bobby pins in her hair. She used one to pick the locks on the handcuffs. Her legs were still shackled with about a foot and a half of chain between them. But she grabbed the teenager and ran. I imagine you were in the middle of nowhere.
[29:04]
Chelsea
Yes, I was out in a shed, like in a cornfield pretty much. I pretty much had to carry this little girl through this field. And we made it to the highway. And what's really disturbing to me is we were really not that far from the highway.
[29:15]
Atelka Lahoski
In Kansas, the highways run through huge fields dotted with little white farmhouses and barns and silos. I'm struggling to get my head around the thought that in a place like this, Chelsea went through hell.
[29:29]
Chelsea
And the only reason why I knew where I was at is this little old lady pulled over it because it was nighttime. And I asked her for a ride, and I helped the little girl in the backseat, and then I got in the front and I asked her if she could take us into Topeka.
[29:44]
Atelka Lahoski
I want to tell you what I'm feeling as Chelsea tells me this. I'm staring into her eyes, totally focused on taking her words in and holding them. So I'm not really letting any emotions happen, but my throat is spasming a little bit and my chest is tight. I kind of surface from the story and realize my whole body is rigid. Chelsea's story is very different from what I've heard from the other women I've met here. But I needed you to hear it. I think we all need to know this kind of thing does happen even in the cornfields of Kansas. More importantly, though, Chelsea's story just says so much about who she is. I think it's fair to say that women who have been hooked on drugs and committed crimes and gone to jail are not viewed particularly favorably in our society. If I went into a KFC and Chelsea took my order, I would not guess that the person serving me chicken was a bona fide hero. Chelsea goes inside to talk to Emily and I go to the backyard to meet up with Hannah, another house resident. You heard her a little bit earlier talking about how much she liked her care kit. Hannah has been in and out of jail and dealt with addiction issues for years, but when she talks about her life now, she is radiant. What's good about living here?
[31:04]
Hannah
Oh gosh, everything. I love it. It's such a good support for my recovery. It really is. Being around other women who are being successful in their recovery makes a big difference. I think it makes me want to hold myself accountable for things, my own
[31:20]
Atelka Lahoski
decisions For Hannah, Topeka's geography is always defined by the location of the house where she knows she could get drugs at certain intersections. Deciding whether to go left or right is not just a matter of picking the most efficient route. It's a matter of maintaining her sobriety and continuing to be her new self.
[31:40]
Hannah
It makes it a lot easier to when I'm leaving somewhere in town because I ride my bike when I can go left, like to go right instead, and it makes it so much better. It's a joy to come home.
[31:53]
Atelka Lahoski
I think I feel joy too, coming home to this place. It's one of the first warm days in March and the sun is out. We sit in metal lawn chairs by a fire pit and watch Chico run around the yard until he decides the interview is over.
[32:09]
Hannah
He just got out the dog.
[32:12]
Lakeisha
Oh
[32:14]
Atelka Lahoski
Chico, give it
[32:20]
Chelsea
Foreign.
[32:25]
J.P. Swenson
In our next episode, we'll discover a facet of intersection to care that I'm pretty sure you won't be expecting. We'll hear more from Jennifer Montgomery, the Rotary Peace Fellow who studied at Rotary's Peace center in Uganda and brought back some amazing ideas to try out in Kansas. This episode of the Rotary Voices Podcast was produced by JP Swenson and attended Telka Lahoski and edited by Wen Huang. Production by Joe Desaux if you enjoyed the show, please rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and share it with your friends. The Rotary Voices Podcast is a production of Rotary Magazine, the official monthly publication of Rotary International. Thanks for listening.

Summary5 min read

Rotary Voices Podcast: "Intersection to Care: Part 1"

Date: July 31, 2026
Host: Rotary magazine
Reporter: Atelka Lahoski

Episode Overview

This episode takes listeners inside the Shawnee County Adult Detention Center in Topeka, Kansas, to explore an innovative Rotary-supported program, "Intersection to Care." The program aims to help incarcerated women transition back into society, breaking cycles of addiction, incarceration, and vulnerability to human trafficking. Through intimate interviews with participants, staff, and Rotary members, the episode challenges common conceptions about jail life and uncovers the interconnected issues of substance abuse, trauma, and trafficking.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Preconceptions Versus Reality of Jail (00:11–03:25)

Atelka Lahoski shares her initial anxieties about visiting the jail, shaped by popular media.
She finds a welcoming, supportive environment among both staff and incarcerated women.
Linda, a program participant, shares her story of addiction and rediscovering self-worth:
- Quote (01:28): "Now I'm not broken. I'm worth sobriety. I'm worth a life. I'm worth a home. I'm worth a car. I'm worth a relationship. I'm worth freedom."

2. Understanding Human Trafficking Locally (03:25–06:46)

Patty Mellard (Rotary member, Intersection to Care founder) reveals women are often picked up by traffickers right as they're released from jail.
- Quote (04:17): "Women are being released with nothing... it's raining and there's a trafficker waiting in the parking lot... And now they owe him. It's very dangerous and there's not a way out of it."
Patty clarifies that trafficking is not just an international or foreign-born issue—it's local, American, and rooted in exploitation of vulnerability (poverty, addiction, foster care).
- Quote (05:00): "People often think of human trafficking as an international issue, when really human trafficking is a local issue."
Familial trafficking and methods of control (addiction, taking IDs) are discussed.

3. Inside Shawnee County Jail & Rotary’s Role (07:10–10:54)

Interview with Emily Nanko (frequent prison reporter) on the interviewing environment, remarking on the emotional preparation needed.
Brian Cole (jail director) explains that trafficking doesn’t end at the jail doors.
- Quote (08:59): "Just because a female was in jail didn't mean that she wasn't vulnerable or she wasn't being trafficked."
Rotary’s intervention fills gaps left by limited state funding and slow bureaucratic change.

4. Services Offered by Intersection to Care (10:54–13:37)

Programming includes classes in healthy eating, meditation, art, and technology.
The KU Technology Class is highlighted: practical skills, resume writing, each session rewards a $50 gift card.
- Participant Lakeisha (12:26): "KU technology ... learning how to build my own website and different things like that, now that I'm on the track of finishing my education... It's an awesome program for me."
The program helps prevent recidivism by offering tangible paths forward.

5. Mentorship and Peer Support: The Role of Jody Witt (13:57–18:02)

Jody Witt, former inmate, is now Intersection to Care’s critical mentor and coordinator, familiar with the cycles of incarceration:
- Quote (15:31): "I spent years in and out of the jail... I had a revolving door of incarceration for over 20 years."
Jody explains the importance of practical support: applications for IDs/benefits, hygiene supplies, journals.
- Quote (15:04): "Those are our seeds. Those are how we plant the seeds of ITC, giving them something tangible."
Jody attributes her turning point to both treatment and supportive officers/programs.

6. A Different Jail Culture (17:22–20:34)

Jody praises the jail staff for genuine care and openness to rehabilitative programs.
- Quote (17:22): "This jail is special because the officers, everybody who works here, they care..."
Incarcerated women (like Linda) echo appreciation for supportive officers.
Both Atelka and Emily reflect on the surprise of a constructive, humanizing jail environment.

7. Care Kits and Transition Support (21:10–24:35)

Rotary volunteers assemble care kits with basic needs items for release day, reducing vulnerability.
Hannah, another participant, on the importance of these supplies:
- Quote (22:33): "Having those bags with the hygiene and stuff in it... makes me feel more secure just as a woman."
Intersection to Care also helps with healthcare, substance abuse, employment, resumes, transportation, and reclaiming IDs—needs often lost to traffickers.

8. Program Outcomes and Data (24:03–24:35)

Patty shares a dramatic reduction in recidivism among program participants.
- Quote (24:03): "We're showing only a 7% rate of them being re-incarcerated," compared to the average of eight times per woman.

9. Life After Jail: Oxford House (24:35–31:52)

Atelka visits an Oxford House, a sober residence supported by the program, offering community and recovery focus.
Chelsea, president of the house, shares her role and the impacts of addiction on stability.
Chelsea recounts her horrific trafficking ordeal—abduction, captivity, and escape—demonstrating survivor strength and the hidden realities behind many women's struggles.
- Quote (28:00): "I was held in the shed there for about a month and a half... scars all over my body..."
Hannah finds the support of the house essential for her continued recovery:
- Quote (31:03): "Being around other women who are being successful in their recovery makes a big difference."

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Linda (01:28): "Now I'm not broken. I'm worth sobriety. I'm worth a life. I'm worth a home."
Patty Mellard (04:17): "They have no phone, no car, no place to go... there's a trafficker waiting in the parking lot."
Jody Witt (15:31): "I spent years in and out of the jail... a revolving door of incarceration for over 20 years."
Chelsea (28:00): Vivid description of surviving abduction and abuse. "I was held in the shed... for about a month and a half. ... scars all over my body..."
Hannah (31:03): "Being around other women who are being successful in their recovery makes a big difference."

Timestamps of Important Segments

00:11–01:44: Atelka’s first impressions of jail; Linda’s early story.
03:25–06:46: Discussion of human trafficking's local roots and tactics.
07:10–08:01: Emily Nanko discusses interviewing inside jails.
08:30–09:56: Brian Cole's perspective on trafficking in jail.
11:12–12:42: Description of Intersection to Care’s classes and impact.
13:57–15:13: Jody Witt’s journey from inmate to mentor.
17:22–18:16: The jail’s unique, caring culture.
21:10–22:33: Assembling and distributing care kits.
24:03–24:35: Recidivism statistics and program effectiveness.
27:23–29:44: Chelsea’s survival story from trafficking.
31:03–31:39: Hannah on the importance of a supportive sober living home.

Conclusion and Tone

The episode is honest, vulnerable, and hopeful. Atelka Lahoski grounds her reporting in compassion and candid self-reflection, while participants and staff alike share stories of pain, resilience, and transformation. The overall tone is empathetic but unflinching, refusing to shy away from difficult truths while highlighting the immense potential for change when communities support their most vulnerable.

Next Episode Preview:
Part two promises further exploration, focusing on Jennifer Montgomery, Rotary Peace Fellow, and her ideas adapted from peace and trauma recovery work abroad.

Loading summary

Transcript124 lines

[00:00]
J.P. Swenson
This episode contains discussions of human trafficking, sex trafficking, and violence that may be distressing for some listeners.
[00:11]
Atelka Lahoski
Honestly, I'm really nervous. I've never been inside a jail before. When my editor at Rotary magazine asked me to visit a jail in Topeka, Kansas City, to report on an innovative Rotary program for incarcerated women, I said yes right away. But I felt completely out of my depth. I think that's it. My notion of life behind bars came from movies like the Shawshank Redemption and TV shows like Orange Is the New Black. I wondered if I'd be intimidated by the women I'd meet or nervous around them. As it turned out, I didn't feel that way at all.
[00:55]
Linda
So when I came in, it was like, I've been in my addiction for, like, 30 years. I was just lost. I was just in the gutter. So these people come and they're like me. And so they said, you know, you don't have to do this. You have a choice.
[01:12]
Atelka Lahoski
That's Linda, one of the women I meet in Topeka's Shawnee County Adult Detention Center. She's got big, kind eyes, and she's quick to give me a smile. When I first meet her, she remembers what it felt like to realize for the very first time that she could change.
[01:28]
Linda
Now I'm not broken. I'm worth sobriety. I'm worth a life. I'm worth a home. I'm worth a car. I'm worth a relationship. I'm worth freedom.
[01:45]
Atelka Lahoski
Linda is taking part in a Rotary program called Intersection to Care that helps incarcerated women rebuild their lives after they get out. She says she was in addiction treatment when she first called Intersection to Care and tells me what that call meant to her.
[02:00]
Linda
I was in treatment and I called and they answered the phone. They picked up the phone for me. So it's like I can say with honesty that I know that they care. I know that when I get out of here that if I call them, they're going to pick up the phone.
[02:22]
Atelka Lahoski
I'm about to learn a lot more about what Intersection to Care does, including something that you might not expect. Turns out there's a crucial connection between a reentry program like this and an issue I've heard about before but don't really understand, human trafficking.
[02:39]
J.P. Swenson
Welcome to the rotary voices podcast, J.P. i'm J.P. swenson. Recently, Rotary International editor Atelka Lahoski visited the Shawnee County Adult Detention center in Topeka, the capital city of Kansas. She was writing about a program called Intersection to Care that is supported by a Rotary Foundation Global grant through Intersection to Care, Rotary is helping incarcerated women learn valuable skills, build community in the face of addiction, and prepare them for life after prison. When Lihoski went behind the bars of the jail to meet these women, her expectations were quickly subverted. This is part one of her report.
[03:25]
Patty Mellard
I was made aware three or four years ago that women who were being released from the jail here in Topeka were being picked up by traffickers in the parking lot.
[03:38]
Atelka Lahoski
Patty Mellard has been a rotary member for 37 years, and in 2021, she helped charter the Rotary Club of Community Action Against Human Trafficking. As indicated by that name, her club is cause based. The members are united by a shared passion for stopping and preventing human trafficking. Not long after that, she helped launch Intersection to Care with a Rotary Foundation Global grant. It provides resources and support to help incarcerated women on their feet when they're released from jail. Without these resources, Patty tells me their only option may be to go with a trafficker.
[04:18]
Patty Mellard
Women are being released with nothing. They have no phone, no car, no place to go, and it's raining and there's a trafficker waiting in the parking lot to offer them a ride, to offer them a roof over their head, to offer them drugs if they'll get in with him. And so they do, and now they owe him. It's very dangerous and there's not a way out of it.
[04:45]
Atelka Lahoski
This is a different picture of human trafficking than I had imagined or read about. When I told a friend I was working on this story, she said, you mean women being brought from other countries, right? Not women who live here in the U.S. but the problem is very much an American one.
[05:00]
Patty Mellard
People often think of human trafficking as an international issue, when really human trafficking is a local issue. It happens all over the world, but trafficking actually occurs in local communities with locally vulnerable people.
[05:15]
Atelka Lahoski
Jennifer Montgomery is a Rotary Peace Fellow and she spent a decade leading the Kansas Attorney General's anti Trafficking education and outreach program. She works with Intersection to care. What is human trafficking?
[05:28]
Patty Mellard
I like to say that human trafficking is the exploitation of a person's vulnerabilities. Here in Topeka and in Kansas in general, we tend to see trafficking involving vulnerable children. Those could be children who are in the foster care system and vulnerable adults who are experiencing poverty, housing insecurity, things like that that make them attractive to perpetrators.
[05:54]
Atelka Lahoski
Human trafficking can include sex trafficking, but they aren't one and the same. Traffickers may exploit victims for cheap or free labor, making them sell drugs, shoplift, or commit other crimes. It's hard to estimate how widespread Human trafficking is in the US it's rarely reported to law enforcement, but the National Human Trafficking Hotline gets somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 reports each year.
[06:22]
Patty Mellard
It's surprising how much trafficking occurs within a family system, whether it's a parent who is drug dependent and sells sexual access to their children for money for drugs, or it's an uncle perhaps who's involved, or sometimes it's a coach or somebody that knows the child. But familial trafficking is a very common form of human trafficking.
[06:47]
Atelka Lahoski
I found out that traffickers often get girls addicted to drugs. To maintain control, they'll take away their phones and driver's licenses or other IDs. Many of the women in the Shawnee County Jail are serving sentences for crimes they committed while under the control of traffickers. I'm visiting the jail today to hear some of their stories and learn how Intersection to Care supports them. Morning, Emily.
[07:10]
Emily Nanko
Good morning.
[07:11]
Atelka Lahoski
I'm here today with Emily Nanko, a journalist who's writing about Intersection to Care for Rotary magazine and Reasons to Be Cheerful, an online magazine founded by artist and musician David Byrne. For nearly a decade, Emily has been interviewing incarcerated people at prisons and jails all over the country. She's been inside prisons in Michigan, Washington, New York, even the famous San Quentin in California. What's the environment like in there? Like, do you ever forget that you're in a control facility?
[07:42]
Emily Nanko
Sometimes you can forget for a minute, but there always will be reminders. There will be guards. There will be hostile architecture. It's a controlled environment for sure, and it's just not a normal interviewing experience. So you have to emotionally prepare in a different way.
[08:01]
Atelka Lahoski
Actually, though, the jail is nothing like what I'd pictured. Yes, it's intimidating from the outside. The main building has looming stone walls that march the length of a city block. But inside, it's quiet. It doesn't feel particularly closed in, despite the shortage of windows. It has a library and a basketball court. We go up to the office of Brian Cole, the director of the Shawnee County Department of Corrections.
[08:30]
Linda
I'm starting my 37th year here in Shawnee County. Started as an officer and have worked my way up. I come from a small town south of Olathe, Kansas, of Osawatomie, Kansas, mostly well known for its state hospitals. And so I come from a behavioral health background. Graduated from Washburn University with two degrees and some master's work degrees in psychology and criminal justice.
[08:55]
Atelka Lahoski
Brian describes how trafficking reaches inside the jail itself.
[09:00]
Linda
Just because a female was in jail didn't mean that she Wasn't vulnerable or she wasn't being trafficked or being recruited. I know for a fact I have talked with inmates and female inmates who I knew were being trafficked and they fit. Everybody told me, you're going to notice this, this and this. And I was like, okay, Brian, you're educated. You've been doing this for a long time. You think you know everything. I knew the minute I talked to them she was being trafficked.
[09:23]
Atelka Lahoski
Brian tells us he was trying to provide some support for trafficking victims, but he faced limited funding and a slow moving bureaucracy.
[09:32]
Linda
And then here came Rotary and Patty and they said, we got a program.
[09:37]
Atelka Lahoski
She wanted to bring Intersection to Care into the jail.
[09:41]
Linda
This is what it's going to do. We're going to start providing resources, reentry, different types of training to identify trauma, looking at different things, care package, whatever. And I said, where you been? Prayers have been answered. So let's start doing this.
[09:56]
Atelka Lahoski
The women that Intersection to Care works with aren't in the main jail. They're in the annex across the street from the main jail complex. It's a small building with big windows in the entryway. Around the time of our Visit, there were 87 people in the Annex, 58 male and 29 female. The Annex isn't grim or all that prison like. We walk along cinder block corridors with low ceilings painted a pale yellow. We pass a sunny day room where a few people are hanging out. Across the hall, there's a small windowless room with folding tables, chairs and some motivational posters on the walls. In here, Intersection to Care's participants rebuild their lives. Intersection to Care started small at first. Patty and the other Rotarians simply gave women some necessary supplies when they were released from jail and helped them find a place to go. But they realized they needed to get involved a lot sooner.
[10:55]
Patty Mellard
This program has really grown and developed into a lot of parts within the jail. Unfortunately, when Covid hit, a lot of the programming for the women in the jail had to go away. And this grant started right after Covid. And so we were able to bring in many programs for the women.
[11:13]
Atelka Lahoski
There's a class on healthy eating, a movement and meditation class, even an art class. The movement class is really useful for women dealing with addiction since exercise can help with drug cravings. And the women really love the computer class. It's co sponsored by the University of Kansas or ku.
[11:34]
Patty Mellard
The KU technology class, which is probably one of the keystones of the work that we're doing in the jail because this can offer the women an opportunity to learn Skills, resume writing, interviewing, software programs that they have a skill when they get out. It also gives them a $50 gift card for every session that they've completed in the jail. So now they have that gift card when they're released, and so they have more things with them when they're released from jail.
[12:01]
Atelka Lahoski
Many women here don't know how to use office programs or do research online. Some of them were first trafficked when they were preteens, so they never got a real education. Others were in jail multiple times for much of their teen and adult lives. So technology kind of passed them by. Lakeisha, a participant who took the class when she was in jail, says it prepared her to go back to school.
[12:27]
Lakeisha
KU technology that what really kind of brought it out of me a whole lot because learning how to build my own website and different things like that, now that I'm on the track of finishing my education and everything, that was. It's an awesome program for me, I believe.
[12:43]
Atelka Lahoski
Lakeisha says Intersection to Care helped her break a cycle of repeatedly going in and out of jail.
[12:49]
Lakeisha
When I got out, I was so used to falling back to my addiction, but I wanted something different. Usually I get released. Hey, you're released, you're out there and then you're stuck in the same position, not knowing where you're going. So you fall back into the same routine, but not this time.
[13:06]
Atelka Lahoski
Lakeisha tells Emily about her plans for the future.
[13:09]
Lakeisha
I didn't think it was out there for me, but getting involved with Rotary and everything, I have found a whole lot of different resources and I feel like there's no reason why I can't do this and I'm appreciative for it all.
[13:23]
Emily Nanko
What are you most excited about for the future?
[13:27]
Lakeisha
Most definitely. My main goal is getting my education and owning my own business.
[13:31]
Emily Nanko
What is your business going to be?
[13:32]
Lakeisha
I'm stuck in the middle of the janitorial service and our bakery.
[13:37]
Atelka Lahoski
Like a lot of the women I meet, Lakeisha credits much of her success to one person. Google. No, no, wait, I mean Jody Witt.
[13:46]
Lakeisha
Jody Witt is my Google. Anytime I have a question, that's who I call. She always give me the right answer, lead me in the right direction. I just love her. I do.
[13:57]
Atelka Lahoski
Jody is the other big part of Intersection to Care's work inside the jail. She's a paid part time staffer who gets incarcerated women into the program, mentors them, and helps them plan for life after they're released. She's also the program coordinator for the KU Tech class and a rotarian she shows me around the office Brian Cole gave her in the annex.
[14:20]
Jody Witt
If you see over here where all of these applications are, city ID applications, disability benefits applications, food stamp applications, and re entry plans. So when I know what a woman is needing, I will come in and grab all of the things that she needs help with and take it directly to her.
[14:38]
Atelka Lahoski
Jody and Patty, show me some of the supplies Jodi keeps here.
[14:41]
Patty Mellard
Earplugs, of course.
[14:43]
Jody Witt
Earplugs.
[14:44]
Atelka Lahoski
Why do we need earplugs? Well, we are in a pod with
[14:46]
Jody Witt
sometimes 40 women, so you can imagine
[14:50]
Atelka Lahoski
there's also a box of reading glasses much needed by women who may never have been to an optometrist, and a pile of journals.
[14:58]
Patty Mellard
I have to find journals that don't have staples or hardbacks or rubber bands on them.
[15:05]
Jody Witt
Those are our seeds. Those are how we plant the seeds of itc, giving them something tangible.
[15:13]
Atelka Lahoski
The journals all have different colorful designs printed on the covers. I notice a pink one with the future is female in swirly text. Love it. But back to Jodi. She has no trouble bonding with the women here because she's been here, that is, she's been inside.
[15:32]
Jody Witt
I spent years in and out of the jail, so it wasn't like I had one stay here. I had a revolving door of incarceration for over 20 years. It wasn't just this jail, it was several others. But this was the main jail I spent a lot of time in. Basically in 2019, I had had enough and I knew that something had to change. I knew that I wanted to make better choices. I was sick of coming to jail, not a place to be. So luckily I was sentenced to treatment. I was ordered to go to treatment directly from jail, and I was facing 36 months plus 42 months very long sentence in prison. This was my last chance to get my life together. I had kids that were needing me. I had family and friends that needed me to get better. So I completed treatment and I got a probation officer who I was terrified of, Mr. Andrew Johnson. He became a person I could count on, and he was the guy who introduced me to different resources in the community, in particular the KU technology education program. I showed up to the class very scared. I hadn't learned anything in a really long time. And so I started taking that class and building skills and confidence. And that's what I was really lacking was some confidence in myself.
[17:00]
Atelka Lahoski
The Intersection to Care team was impressed with Jodi's dedication and they knew she was connected with a lot of women in the community. They ended up Hiring her. At this point, I decide to ask Jodi about something I've had in the back of my mind all day. Is this jail different? It's very different from what I expected. But is it different from the other jails she's been in?
[17:22]
Jody Witt
This jail is special because the officers, everybody who works here, they care about the people here. They are open to having programs that others don't. Jails don't offer, and they have to put on a hard exterior in front of the people that are incarcerated here. But I know now in the background, they do care. They actually care. And so I just think it's. This jail is special, and people should try to learn from this jail, because I can see a reduction in recidivism. I don't have the numbers to prove it, but I can see it. I'm witnessing it in real time.
[18:02]
Atelka Lahoski
Even Linda, the incarcerated woman you heard from at the top of this episode, says she likes her guards.
[18:08]
Linda
The officers, they tell us, you're doing good. I'm proud of you, you know, And I go to them, I'm like, hey, what do you see about me that I can change?
[18:16]
Atelka Lahoski
The supportive dynamic between Linda and the guards really surprises me. It doesn't line up with the assumptions I'd had about life in jail. But I think you can see by now how valid those assumptions were. Now, let's be clear. Brian and his staff are undoubtedly showing us the jail's very best side. They knew we were coming. They prepared for our visit. They're controlling what we see and who we talk to. But even with all that in mind, I keep thinking this seems to be a pretty constructive environment. When we troop upstairs at lunchtime for sandwiches in the guard's break room, I see that the fridge is decorated with one of those instant poetry magnet sets. If you haven't seen a set like this, it comes with a hundred little magnets with a different word on each one. And the poems the guards have spelled out are kind of sweet. I heart you 100%. Help pays off. Give your fullest actions today. Make your dreams positive. So at the end of the day, I ask Emily, how does this jail compare to the ones she's visited around the country?
[19:28]
Emily Nanko
There was a welcoming aspect to it. Certainly, we're there, you know, to cover something good that's happening. So we're not seeing everything in the jail. But at the same time, I feel like we met a range of people, Staff, incarcerated people, volunteers, who all had a lot of passion about this, who all were very welcoming. And that was Overwhelming. That was. I don't want to say it was unexpected, but it did make the experience a lot easier.
[20:01]
Atelka Lahoski
I feel kind of silly for making assumptions about what the jail would be like, but Emily says she had a similar experience to mine when she first visited a prison.
[20:10]
Emily Nanko
I was invited into San Quentin State Prison, which is outside San Francisco in 2018. Those two days completely changed my life. I met people who did not fit the description of what we're told of people who belong in prison. And it really shook my understanding of what the system was about.
[20:35]
Atelka Lahoski
I can't say I've got any new ideas of what the system is about, but my perspective has definitely changed. Even so, it's a relief to get out of the jail. It was really tiring to be in this place focusing on this painful issue. I check in with Emily as we walk to our car.
[20:51]
Emily Nanko
I'm so overwhelmed by these women's stories, the vulnerability, what people have gone through. And yet they are still supporting each other. They're coming together for this program, and I just feel very heartened but also saddened at the same time.
[21:11]
Atelka Lahoski
And that was after just one day in the jail. I can't imagine how Patty and Jody and the other Rotary members do this work every day, every week. I asked Patty about it.
[21:24]
Patty Mellard
Our members really try to be supportive of each other because we're all working in a very sensitive area that can even cause trauma for us, can cause emotional draining for us. And so we try to be very sensitive of that and also try to do some fun social things to help relieve that stress. I mean, when we get together and do Rotary care kits, assembly for care kits that we give to victims of trafficking, it's a fun time. It's a lot of work, but it's also a fun time that we can gather together and support each other.
[21:59]
Atelka Lahoski
The day after our jail visit, Rotary members gather in an office space to assemble care kits. Patty's right. It is a fun time. Today the members are filling 40 backpacks with clothes, underwear and socks, shampoo, deodorant, and feminine supplies. The kits are invaluable for women like Hannah. She's another Intersection to Care participant.
[22:21]
Hannah
It was a lot different when I got out of jail this time because there was somebody there to pick me up. It was Alexis, and she took me to get my meds. And the Rotary Club had given me a couple Visa gift cards so I could get some groceries.
[22:33]
Atelka Lahoski
This morning, we saw them packing up some care kits.
[22:36]
Hannah
That was so helpful, having those bags with the hygiene and stuff in it. Because it makes me feel more secure just as a woman to have those things, to be able to take a shower when I get out of jail and be able to use feminine products and stuff. It's nice to feel secure as a woman.
[22:51]
Atelka Lahoski
But the care kits, the classes, and the mentoring are still just the beginning of everything. Intersection to Care does. Program volunteers and Jodi help participants get health care, including mental health care, dental care, substance abuse care, and doula services. They help them write resumes and find jobs. They provide food assistance, bus passes, and cell phones. They help the women get IDs because traffickers have usually taken their driver's licenses away from them. One Intersection to Care mentor even has a podcast that talks about how incarcerated people can get a new start. Hey, hey, hey.
[23:36]
Patty Mellard
This is Kristen Shook, back again with the Reentry Reframe podcast. On today's episode, I have Seth Dewey with me.
[23:46]
Chelsea
Hello.
[23:47]
Emily Nanko
Thanks for joining.
[23:48]
Patty Mellard
Tell us where you're coming from.
[23:49]
Atelka Lahoski
Well, thank you for the Rotary members who work with Intersection to Care aren't just giving women socks and computer skills. They're helping them change their lives. That's a tall order, to say the least, but Patti says the program is working.
[24:03]
Patty Mellard
Our data shows that these women have been incarcerated between five to 37 times. The average woman has been incarcerated eight times what we've seen in our program. When we combine all the aspects of the Intersection to Care program, along with housing subsidies and mentorship, that this reincarceration has decreased substantially, we're showing only a 7% rate of them being re incarcerated.
[24:35]
Atelka Lahoski
After the care kit packing, I get to meet some Intersection to Care participants out in the real world. The program works with Oxford House, an organization that coordinates sober living houses all over the country. We pull up on a quiet street where the homes are all painted in pastel colors and have big front porches. The Oxford House's yard is decorated with two little scarecrow dolls and a big ceramic frog. Next to the front steps, there's a child's basketball hoop.
[25:09]
Lakeisha
Hello.
[25:10]
Atelka Lahoski
Inside, some of the women are hanging out in the living room and watching the show Cops. A little Graham white dog is running around. His name is Chico.
[25:19]
Chelsea
Whose dog is it? I'm coming this way with some people.
[25:25]
Jody Witt
Okay?
[25:25]
Chelsea
Okay. All right. And this is the bathroom down here because we have another bathroom down here as well. This is obvious. And this is the one room that we have that. It's a shared room. So it comes with two other people. Busy?
[25:36]
Hannah
No.
[25:36]
Chelsea
Can they look in your room?
[25:37]
Lakeisha
Yeah.
[25:38]
Chelsea
Okay, so she's gonna let you Guys, look in here. Hannah. Yeah, her name's Hannah. Hi, I'm a telka.
[25:42]
Atelka Lahoski
We're just taking a look at the house. It seems like a pretty big room. That must be nice.
[25:48]
Chelsea
It is. I love it. There's the cat. I see you're under there hiding.
[25:52]
Atelka Lahoski
Does the cat like to hang out down here?
[25:54]
Chelsea
Yeah, because of the dog.
[25:55]
Atelka Lahoski
Chelsea is the president of the house. She runs the house meetings and keeps the chore chart and hands out penalties when people don't obey the rules. She's 37 and petite with long curly red hair and light blue eyes that always seem to sparkle. Intersection to care. Helped her get settled at the Oxford house and find a job at a local kfc. She's an assistant manager now. What do you feel about us all being here? Like, demanding information from you or offering you the chance to like.
[26:26]
Hannah
How does it feel?
[26:27]
Chelsea
It's nerve wracking, really. But at the same time it's miraculous.
[26:32]
Patty Mellard
Yeah?
[26:32]
Chelsea
Yes. And I'm not just. I mean, I'm here to send a message, I guess, to help. So that's what I'm here to do.
[26:40]
Atelka Lahoski
We go out to the side yard and I ask her more about how the house runs. She tells me about how women dealing with addiction sometimes leave the house suddenly and go back to the people who can give them drugs.
[26:52]
Chelsea
For some that just aren't ready or anything like that, they just use it to get out of jail. And then the second that they get that freedom, they're gone. When it comes to the re entry side, it is a revolving door. And it sucks for somebody like me because I was a re entry. But I also went through a horrible situation back in April that caused me to like, not want to ever alter my mind ever again with any sorts of substances.
[27:14]
Atelka Lahoski
The women I've met in Topeka have all shared different stories of how they got where they are today. But I wasn't ready for Chelsea's. Do you want to talk about what happened?
[27:23]
Chelsea
Which one? Just for me.
[27:25]
Hannah
Yeah.
[27:25]
Chelsea
Okay. So I am a. You don't have to. No, I can. It's not a big deal. I actually go into churches every now and then and talk to the women youth group for what happened to me.
[27:34]
Atelka Lahoski
Chelsea tells me that In April of 2025, four men in a silver SUV grabbed her off the street and imprisoned her in a shed far outside of town. She was handcuffed and her ankles were shackled. I have to warn you, Chelsea's story is probably going to be hard for you to hear. If you're listening to this podcast. While you're doing the dishes or checking your email, you might want to take a pause and just listen to what she has to say.
[28:01]
Chelsea
I was held in the shed there for about a month and a half. I have actually scars all over my body from where they put cigarette burn or cigars and cigarettes out on me. They go up and down my legs. That was from the shackles.
[28:13]
Atelka Lahoski
She pulls up the cuff of her jeans and shows me the circular burn scars.
[28:17]
Chelsea
When I first got there and I came to, there were two women in that shed. And then about, I can't tell you how many days went by, and one of them disappeared. And it was left with me and the child that was in there. And it was this little beautiful little red headed girl with freckles. That was the one I took with me. And she was only 15, 16 years old. I was drugged and I was numb, but I knew if I didn't get out of there that we were going to disappear next.
[28:49]
Atelka Lahoski
Chelsea had bobby pins in her hair. She used one to pick the locks on the handcuffs. Her legs were still shackled with about a foot and a half of chain between them. But she grabbed the teenager and ran. I imagine you were in the middle of nowhere.
[29:04]
Chelsea
Yes, I was out in a shed, like in a cornfield pretty much. I pretty much had to carry this little girl through this field. And we made it to the highway. And what's really disturbing to me is we were really not that far from the highway.
[29:15]
Atelka Lahoski
In Kansas, the highways run through huge fields dotted with little white farmhouses and barns and silos. I'm struggling to get my head around the thought that in a place like this, Chelsea went through hell.
[29:29]
Chelsea
And the only reason why I knew where I was at is this little old lady pulled over it because it was nighttime. And I asked her for a ride, and I helped the little girl in the backseat, and then I got in the front and I asked her if she could take us into Topeka.
[29:44]
Atelka Lahoski
I want to tell you what I'm feeling as Chelsea tells me this. I'm staring into her eyes, totally focused on taking her words in and holding them. So I'm not really letting any emotions happen, but my throat is spasming a little bit and my chest is tight. I kind of surface from the story and realize my whole body is rigid. Chelsea's story is very different from what I've heard from the other women I've met here. But I needed you to hear it. I think we all need to know this kind of thing does happen even in the cornfields of Kansas. More importantly, though, Chelsea's story just says so much about who she is. I think it's fair to say that women who have been hooked on drugs and committed crimes and gone to jail are not viewed particularly favorably in our society. If I went into a KFC and Chelsea took my order, I would not guess that the person serving me chicken was a bona fide hero. Chelsea goes inside to talk to Emily and I go to the backyard to meet up with Hannah, another house resident. You heard her a little bit earlier talking about how much she liked her care kit. Hannah has been in and out of jail and dealt with addiction issues for years, but when she talks about her life now, she is radiant. What's good about living here?
[31:04]
Hannah
Oh gosh, everything. I love it. It's such a good support for my recovery. It really is. Being around other women who are being successful in their recovery makes a big difference. I think it makes me want to hold myself accountable for things, my own
[31:20]
Atelka Lahoski
decisions For Hannah, Topeka's geography is always defined by the location of the house where she knows she could get drugs at certain intersections. Deciding whether to go left or right is not just a matter of picking the most efficient route. It's a matter of maintaining her sobriety and continuing to be her new self.
[31:40]
Hannah
It makes it a lot easier to when I'm leaving somewhere in town because I ride my bike when I can go left, like to go right instead, and it makes it so much better. It's a joy to come home.
[31:53]
Atelka Lahoski
I think I feel joy too, coming home to this place. It's one of the first warm days in March and the sun is out. We sit in metal lawn chairs by a fire pit and watch Chico run around the yard until he decides the interview is over.
[32:09]
Hannah
He just got out the dog.
[32:12]
Lakeisha
Oh
[32:14]
Atelka Lahoski
Chico, give it
[32:20]
Chelsea
Foreign.
[32:25]
J.P. Swenson
In our next episode, we'll discover a facet of intersection to care that I'm pretty sure you won't be expecting. We'll hear more from Jennifer Montgomery, the Rotary Peace Fellow who studied at Rotary's Peace center in Uganda and brought back some amazing ideas to try out in Kansas. This episode of the Rotary Voices Podcast was produced by JP Swenson and attended Telka Lahoski and edited by Wen Huang. Production by Joe Desaux if you enjoyed the show, please rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and share it with your friends. The Rotary Voices Podcast is a production of Rotary Magazine, the official monthly publication of Rotary International. Thanks for listening.