On an early August morning, I stood in a small gymnasium at Logan Correctional Center, a state-run women’s prison in southwestern Illinois.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with 30 other volunteers, we faced a parallel line of incarcerated individuals, making awkward, prolonged eye contact. The purpose of our visit was to participate in a business coaching event, though the program had taken a much more personal turn.
“I like romantic comedies,” shouted Melissa O’Dell, Executive Director of Defy Ventures Illinois, the non-profit organization we had come to Logan with. I take a step forward, as we were instructed to do when we agreed with a statement. Many others step forward as well–both the volunteers beside me and those in the line facing us.
O’Dell continued to list prompts with increasing sensitivity. “I’ve made mistakes for which I could have been arrested,” she offers. Almost everyone in the room steps up.
One statement packed a particular punch. “When I was 18, I didn’t think I’d live to see 21.” Nearly every incarcerated person moves forward. My line stands still.
This exercise, called “Step to the Line,” was part of a full-day workshop for participants of Defy Ventures’ program, CEO of Your New Life (CEO YNL). The program teaches professional skills and the fundamentals of starting a business to “Entrepreneurs in Training” (EITS)–individuals enrolled in the program–during an intensive seven to nine month curriculum.
Defy Ventures operates in nine states throughout the country, including California, New York and Pennsylvania. The program began its expansion into the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) in 2018, and in 2020 the Defy’s first class of Illinois EITs graduated in Kewanee Life Skills Re-Entry Center. More recently, Defy expanded into Logan and Pontiac Correctional Centers.
“The whole idea of our program is to create more economic inclusion and economic mobility,” O’Dell said, noting that these goals can also strengthen communities and reduce the likelihood of people returning to prisons.
As is seen across the U.S., the carceral system in Illinois doesn’t do enough to prepare people to succeed after reentry. According to an April 2024 report by the Council of State Governments Justice Center, Illinois ranks 15 across all states for 3-year ”return to prison” rates. As per that same report, rates of reincarceration in Illinois have been decreasing: between 2008 and 2019, rates of reincarceration in Illinois decreased by 22 percent.
In Illinois, women’s prisons lack the breadth of educational and re-entry support services available across more than 20 men’s facilities. Defy’s programming fills that gap, and offers a program that doesn’t discriminate against participants on the basis of sentence type or length of time left to serve–a pervasive issue that also relates closely to trends of harsher sentencing due to racial bias.
At Logan, Defy’s 2025 CEO YNL cohort launched in May. At the midpoint of their curriculum, outside volunteers were brought in to give feedback on personal statements, resumes and business ideas. It is a key part of a program that aims not only to educate, but to build support networks for success upon re-entry.
“A lot of folks are eager to learn, and they’re eager to start a new life,” said Kristi Zuhlke, a frequent volunteer with Defy who now serves on their Illinois Advisory Board of Directors. “They don’t necessarily have a network after coming out of being incarcerated for many years, so then how do you network outside of where you came from?”
Coaching days with Defy are a high-energy blur of cheering, dancing, talking and crying. There is joyful connection and somber reflection. Many of the exercises, like “Step to the Line,” take a pause from business matters to build understanding and empathy among people who might otherwise not have crossed paths.
“For us at Defy, we’re sort of asking that people get into proximity with individuals that may be similar to you or different than you and that you open up a conversation,” O’Dell said. The experience flips the classroom, challenging volunteers to reflect on their own mindset. “What we’re trying to do in our logic model is shift hearts and minds,” O’Dell adds. “To shift public perception around what it means to be impacted by the legal system.”
In talking with EITs and reviewing their pitches, patterns quickly emerge: many want to give back to other returning citizens and people who are justice-impacted, as well as who might be on a path towards incarceration.
Many of the EIT’s business ideas reflect these values. Janet Jackson, a CEO YNL graduate from 2022 who has since been released, hopes to soon launch her business idea “The Book Inside of You.”
“Everybody feels they have a book inside them,” said Jackson, describing a business that would offer incarcerated individuals the chance to self-publish handwritten manuscripts, an opportunity that has historically been unavailable because those in custody typically lack access to computers.
Through this service, Jackson hopes to bring visibility to those behind bars. Her story not only reflects Defy’s goals for re-entry, but its ambition to build advocates who push people to consider the reality of life in prison.
My own volunteer experience sticks in my mind. The most powerful moments, like the “Step to the Line” exercise, had a way of distilling basic factors that placed volunteers and EITs on our respective sides of the room – lack of visibility, lack of care, lack of hope for the future.
Jackson recalls her own Defy coaching day, which introduced her to volunteers who were alumni of Defy’s program and had started new lives post reentry, but who wanted to return and give back. It gave her hope for her own success.
“It was great to see formerly incarcerated women who said, ‘Yeah, I’ve made it and you can do it,’ it’s like, wow, we really can do it.”