After
spending nearly two decades on Death Row, Geraldine Smith talks about how she
survived and what she's doing to help those in similar situations.
The 19
years spent on Death Row at the Dwight Correctional Center for a 1989 murder
conviction, something Smith refers to as a “cement coffin,” she maintained
faith the truth would soon be unveiled.
The last
time a woman was sentenced to death in Illinois was 1938.
“There is
something about a measure of truth, I kept waiting in the back of my mind for
the truth to come out. My spirit was never broken, nor had my faith gone
astray. My spirit was too free to be encapsulated, my dignity belongs to me and
I wasn't about to let them have it. All they had was my body,” Smith told the
Defender.
During
her incarceration, she wrote two books and mentored young women, and desired to
continue once she was set free.
Smith
recalled a dream that she had six nights in a row of a white hand extending out
of a cloud. When she told her pastor about the dream, he instructed that she
place her hand in the hand that was extended to her.
The dream
-- serving as a vision of life on the other side of prison walls -- set the plan
in motion for what's she's currently doing.
On Feb.
22, 2008 she walked away from Dwight a free woman.
The
Illinois Supreme Court overturned her conviction due to a harsh sentence, she
said.
Despite
all she faced, Smith is not angry but determined, and brought only a business
plan as she exited prison.
“I know
what my vision is and no one can convince me different,” she said with absolute
certainty.
She met
businessman Donald Crawford of the Crawford Broadcasting Company is an account
executive for the local and Northwest Indiana radio stations under Crawford's
umbrella; she's working on a book; started a non-profit organization -- Life
Builders United, Inc. and was recently named program coordinator for the Cook
County Department of Corrections.
Life
Builders is a care organization offering a lifestyle redirection plan to broken
and hurting women. They aim to produce stable women who will reach back to
assist the youths in their neighborhoods in order to provide a safe environment
for all.
Smith
wants to house more than two-dozen women so she can teach them how to regain
their strength in society.
“I worked
toward this while I was locked up and I won't stop now,” she said.
Her
organization has two auxiliary arms, Children Having Incarcerated Parents
(C.H.I.P.) and Grandparents and Guardians (G.G. Group), both aim to help women
who are incarcerated or who were recently released, and children of
incarcerated parents.
For more
information about the organization visit www.lifebuildersunitedinc.webs.com.
Copyright
2011 Chicago Defender
