When She Walked Through the Door Again: Women on return, healing, and reclamation after incarceration (90-MINUTES)
Kirsten Gettys Downs, Monica Cooper, Rhonda Hall, and Iletha Murdaugh
Stories from formerly incarcerated women and how they manage life outside with grave difficulty and few resources.
Community Gallery
Maryland Center for History and Culture
610 Park Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21201
Saturday, April 11, 2026
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM
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For many women, release from incarceration is not the end of the story. It is the beginning of a new set of challenges: finding stable housing, securing employment, reconnecting with children and family, accessing health care, and navigating systems that often continue to define them by their record rather than their humanity. This session will center the voices of formerly incarcerated women who have lived these realities. Through personal reflection, honest dialogue, and practical insight, the conversation will explore what reentry looks like for women. Join us for an unflinching conversation led by women who have lived through Maryland’s carceral system and emerged not broken, but fighting. This conversation is not only about what women endure after incarceration. It is also about what they build: families, organizations, movements, and new pathways forward. Participants will hear about: the realities of reentry for women in Maryland, barriers related to employment, housing, parenting, and health the role of stigma, trauma, and gender in shaping women’s post-incarceration experiences the importance of lived experience in policy and advocacy work: Who should attend: Advocates, educators, policymakers, community leaders, students, and readers and writers interested in story, justice, and healing. Kirsten Gettys Downs is the Director of Systemic Reform at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and the Coordinator of the Maryland Justice Partnership, leading statewide efforts to advance equitable justice. A former district public defender and nonprofit executive, she brings deep experience in advocacy, collaboration, and transforming systems to center community needs. Monica Cooper is the founder and Executive Director of the Maryland Justice Project and a member of the Maryland Democratic State Central Committee. A Sandtown-Winchester native and University of Baltimore graduate, she is a formerly incarcerated leader whose advocacy and solar entrepreneurship center on women, community power, and second chances. Rhonda R. Hall is a Baltimore-born healthcare professional, Patient Access Coordinator at the University of Maryland Medical System, and author of Crowned in the Streets. After 26 years of incarceration, she now balances work, study, and caregiving while writing a memoir about struggle, redemption, and healing. Iletha Murdaugh is a survivor, peer recovery specialist in training, and reentry advocate who spent 17½ years at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women. She now works at a treatment center and shares her story to support people returning from addiction and incarceration.
Kirsten Gettys Downs is the Director of Systemic Reform at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and the Coordinator of the Maryland Justice Partnership, where she leads statewide initiatives to advance equitable justice and systemic change. She brings deep experience from her prior leadership roles as the District Public Defender for Baltimore City, the Deputy District Public Defender for Montgomery County, and the Chief Attorney for Baltimore City’s Western District Court Division.
Before her current position, Ms. Downs served as Executive Director of the Homeless Persons Representation Project, championing legal strategies to combat homelessness and expand access to justice. She currently chairs the Monumental City Bar Foundation. She serves on the Behavioral Health Advisory Council, the Baltimore Behavioral Health Collaborative, the Overdose Response Advisory Council, and the Maryland Commission on Hate Crime Response and Prevention. A sought-after speaker and trainer, Kirsten has presented nationally on leadership and the delivery of legal services for the Management Information Exchange, the National Association of Public Defenders, and the Maryland Office of the Public Defender. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and the University of Pennsylvania, she continues to dedicate her work to transforming justice systems through collaboration and community engagement.
www.opd.state.md.us
Monica Cooper is a passionate advocate for justice, founder of the Maryland Justice Project, and a distinguished member of the Maryland Democratic State Central Committee for Baltimore’s 40th Legislative District, where she achieved a significant victory in her recent re-election. Notably, Monica is the visionary behind S0lenergy, a pioneering startup focusing on innovative solar and renewable energy solutions, underscoring her commitment to sustainable development and environmental advocacy.
Born and raised in West Baltimore’s Sandtown-Winchester community, Monica overcame numerous challenges, including overcoming a difficult upbringing and a period of incarceration, to emerge as a prominent community leader and activist. Her journey of transformation is marked by her relentless pursuit of education, culminating in a Bachelor of Arts degree in Administrative Human Service from the University of Baltimore, thanks to her academic excellence and the support of a Presidential Wilson Scholarship. Monica’s work extends beyond her business ventures into significant community engagement, serving in the Office of Baltimore City State’s Attorney, where she leverages her experiences and insights to foster positive change. Her dedication to service is reflected in her volunteer work with organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America and the Department of Juvenile Services. A true testament to resilience and the power of second chances, Monica’s life story inspires many, driven by her belief in service, equality, and the transformative potential of renewable energy through her work with S0lenergy. Her motto, “We were born to be in the service of others,” perfectly encapsulates her life’s mission to make a difference in the world and champion the cause of sustainable energy for a better future.
www.marylandjusticeproject.org
Rhonda R. Hall is a resilient healthcare professional, aspiring Human Resource leader, and emerging author born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. After serving 26 years of incarceration and overcoming addiction, she has transformed her life through faith, perseverance, and purpose. She currently serves as a Patient Access Coordinator II at the University of Maryland Medical System while pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resource Management at the University of Maryland Global Campus. In addition to her professional and academic journey, Rhonda is a devoted grandmother raising her grandchildren and pouring into the next generation. She is also the author of Crowned in the Streets and is writing a deeply personal memoir that shares her story of struggle, redemption, and healing—using her voice to inspire others and prove that it’s never too late to rebuild, restore, and rise.
My name is Iletha Murdaugh. I lived in Baltimore City all my life from age 7 to age 14. I was placed in foster care, the second oldest of five children, and the only girl in foster care. I was a victim of neglect, mental and physical abuse, for seven years. At age 14, I returned to my mother, who was a single parent and an alcoholic. She was not ready to become a mother at that early age. I learned how to survive in the streets to take care of my family. I started using drugs at age 14, up until the day I committed my crime at age 44.
I’ve been in and out of prison since age 20. On March 26th, I received the 30th sentence for second-degree murder. I did 17 1/2 years in the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women. While in prison, I took every opportunity to turn my negative into a positive. I took every self-help program and every course that would prepare me for society and help me become a productive member.
I’ve always wanted to give back and share my experience trips, and hopefully, with other women. While in prison, I started the first NA meeting and the housing units. I took an entrepreneur class to open my own business. I took the SMART Recovery course and became a SMART Recovery Facilitator from the inside out. I took the Peer recovery specialist course, and now I’m waiting to take my state board to become a certified period recovery specialist.
I worked for MCE shops in the mail distribution department for 15 years. Prison changed me mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It is the way I became a woman. It is where I learned responsibility and accountability. It is where I surrendered to all my resentment and pain. It’s where I’ll be forgiving anyone who ever hurt me. I was no longer a victim. I became a survivor. I now work for a treatment center where I share my experience, triumphs, and hopes with women who are just like me. I started the first women’s rap at the program where I’m at.
My goal is someday soon to start my own program for incarcerated women and men coming home from prison. I am proud of the woman I have become, even though I was behind the walls of the Maryland State Correctional Institution for Women. I was allowed a second chance at life, and I don’t take it for granted. Thank you.
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CityLit Project in partnership with Maryland Center for History and Culture present Bearing Witness: Literature as a Revolutionary Act. This celebration of the arts showcases a bevy of leading poets and writers on April 11, 2026. We’re talking fiction, nonfiction, poetry galore, and ways to up the ante on your craft.
Download the CityLit Festival: Bearing Witness flyer with the schedule.
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