Martha and Cynthia: Two roads to rehabilitation
There’s no difficulty tracking ex-convict Martha Stewart. Her every move gets coverage from the New York tabloids, plus the domestic diva just got her NBC daytime show renewed for another season.
Staying in touch with Cynthia is not as easy.
Cynthia, who preferred not using her last name, has dropped out of touch since her stay in an Illinois prison. She was incarcerated for a white-collar crime and served roughly the same amount of time behind bars as Stewart, but, like almost all women who’ve served time, her prospects re-entering society were exceedingly bleak.
Nothing miraculous in the last nine months changed that, indicated Bernadine Dowdell, program director at Grace House, a transitional residence maintained by St. Leonard’s Ministries for women discharged from prison. After leaving Grace, Cynthia moved in with relatives and held a minimum-wage job for a month or so.
“That was the last we heard from her,” Dowdell said. “A friend of hers told me she lost the job and moved somewhere else, so I don’t think things are going too good. She’s out there somewhere. Unfortunately, this is not all that unusual.”
