The board of directors of Help End Abuse for Life (HEAL) and The Nest finalized a three-year Strategic Plan at the turn of the organization’s fiscal year. One of the most exciting goals in the plan directs a new, innovative outreach program.
Corina Montoya, a seasoned resident advocate at The Nest, was selected to develop the prison outreach program from the ground up. As a veteran of prison ministry and an advocate who excels at empathizing without judgment, she hit the ground running when she launched HEAL’s Advocacy in Corrections program last month.
“I am very excited to get back into this line of work,” Montoya said, adding that she had planned to return to ministry when she retired from The Nest. “It’s been a challenge, but it’s already so rewarding. It’s great, even when it’s stressful.”
Montoya worked with HEAL’s Executive Director Coleen Widell to strategically develop an outreach plan. Together, they met with jail administrators at Lincoln County Detention Center in Carrizozo and probation/parole officers in Ruidoso and Mescalero. They notified the Judges in Lincoln County and Mescalero Tribal Court about the program as well, understanding it may be a sentencing tool for the Courts.
Montoya’s work also involved working with two local faith leaders. Pastor Ben Landegent of the Mescalero Reformed Church and Reverend Burgess of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Mount in Ruidoso both agreed to donate meeting space for the program. It was determined that meeting victims in a central location in both communities was critically important.
The Advocacy in Corrections program was developed in response to an astronomical rate of violence in the lives of inmates. The National Network to End Domestic Violence, a national policy group, reports that 80% of female inmates have experienced abuse during their lives. Many have been battered by intimate partners, were abused as children or have witnessed violence in their homes. “Every person I have met with so far was abused or witnessed it as a child,” Montoya said.
But for Montoya, perhaps the most important way she helps is by showing up. “Many of these women have nobody,” Montoya said. “Some have families or friends, but they live somewhere else and they don’t have the time or money to come for a 10-minute visit. For many of them, I’m one of the only people who come to visit.”
Montoya also helps inmates claim accountability in a safe and non-judgmental space. Montoya said, “I tell them, ‘You’re in here. You made the mistake. What now?’ I tell them I see so much strength in them. It all comes out in what they share. They say, ‘You make us feel wanted, respected and loved.’ I get to help them reach a place of recovery.”
Over half of the women at Lincoln County Detention Center have already signed up for Advocacy in Corrections.
Pictured is Nest Advocate Corina Montoya, who is responsible for HEAL’s Advocacy in Corrections program.
