Lottie Joiner, USA Today
Just as Susan Burton was getting her life back together, it fell apart again.
It was 1981 when her 5-year-old son was killed in a car accident. The young mother began drinking to cope with her depression. She started taking Valium, then cocaine and crack. A year after her son’s death, she was in federal prison, serving 13 months for drug possession.
When Burton was released, she says, a prison guard predicted her return. As she walked out, the guard told her that the system had a “bed waiting for you, Burton,” she recalled years later. “You’ll be back.”
