What Grace Leaves Behind
By Cecilia Zavala
Women returning home from incarceration are not their worst moment — they are leaders, healers, and architects of the solutions their communities need.
POSTER PLACEHOLDER
What Grace Leaves Behind is a poetic short film about returning home—and what it means to reclaim dignity, voice, and belonging after incarceration. This film honors a community that has long understood what many systems have forgotten: the people closest to the harm are often closest to the solutions. Lasting change begins when communities invest in the leadership, wisdom, and humanity of those who have lived the experience.
About the Issue
For generations, people returning home from incarceration have been viewed through a lens of punishment, shame, and suspicion. Women in particular face unique challenges after incarceration, including trauma, caregiving responsibilities, housing instability, family reunification, mental health needs, and barriers to employment. Yet many reentry systems were never designed with women's experiences in mind.
The consequences—and opportunities—are significant:
Nearly 600,000 people return home from prison each year in the United States, many facing barriers to housing, employment, healthcare, and belonging. (Bureau of Justice Statistics; The Sentencing Project)
Women are one of the fastest-growing incarcerated populations in the country, yet most correctional and reentry systems were built around men's experiences and often fail to address women's unique needs. (The Sentencing Project; Prison Policy Initiative)
Research continues to show that peer-led reentry programs improve connection, trust, housing stability, employment outcomes, and community reintegration because they replace punishment with relationship, dignity, and shared understanding. (Urban Institute; National Reentry Resource Center)
Every day, formerly incarcerated women are leading, mentoring, organizing, healing, and strengthening their communities.
Take Action
Healing happens through grace and connection, not punishment.
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Advocate for [insert]
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Support the work of Nation Outside
Nation Outside, led by formerly incarcerated people, provides peer-led reentry programs that help people returning home reconnect to housing, employment, healthcare, family, and community.
Host A Screening
Bring What Graces Leaves Behind to your campus, organization, coalition, faith community, conference, or community event to spark conversations about reentry and community care.
Screenings help communities challenge stigma and rethink how we build support for solutions that prioritize healing over punishment.
Interested in hosting a screening, panel, or community conversation potentially featuring Cecilia Zavala and local advocates?