At age 50, former prostitute Jackie McReynolds still prowls the streets of Washington, D.C., hoping to help women who are following the same destructive path that defined her life, reports the Washington Post. She tempts those who have been arrested with an offer: Spend four months with her, interning and learning life skills, for the chance to avoid up to six months in jail. Her program is called Angels Project Power.
The women in her program, ages 18 to 60, would blend in easily in a grocery store line or at midweek church services. Their clothes are baggy, not tight. Instead of high heels, many go to work in tennis shoes. Most find their clients on the street, with little protection from sexually transmitted diseases, violence and arrest. Most of the women are trying to support their drug habits, and others are engaged in “survival sex” to pay the bills or buy food for their children, McReynolds said. “Putting these women in jail isn’t going to solve the problem,” McReynolds said. “They have to change from within.”