When Maree Audino was sentenced to prison, she decided to break contact with her children.
“I didn't want them to see what was on the inside. They've never hung around or seen people with drug abuse; never seen women with their suits on,” she told SBS.
Audino spent three and a half years behind bars after being convicted for culpable driving. The 45-year-old mother of five served her sentence without family support, and soon spiralled into a vicious cycle of depression and hopelessness.
“When you stop having that crucial contact, that often is what keeps people going,” said Sonya Chudiak from Melbourne City Mission. “It's soul-destroying and people can break down.”
Melbourne City Mission has started a prison program to reunite women with their children and support them after they are released.
For Audino that meant housing, financial and emotional support. She says the program has saved her life and broken the cycle of poverty and hopelessness that often plagues ex-criminals.
“It saved my life. If I didn't have the support and help, I don't know where I would have ended up. I could've ended up back in jail,” she said.
“It's amazing how the word 'criminal' can break a lot of things. Once you are labelled a criminal you are a criminal.”
With the help of the program, Audino's relationship with her children has been rebuilt and she has been promoted to the position of supervisor in her full time cleaning job.
“She actually did have something to live for when she was released,” said Chudiak.
“All the energy she has put in has enabled a family to come back together and have a second chance instead of going through that cycle of homelessness poverty and trauma.”
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