A Second Chance for Formerly Incarcerated Battered Women

By Giving List Staff   |   November 18, 2022
Special thanks to Raul Montalvo, D.D.S., and his team, for providing pro bono dentistry and a new smile for our first Home Free resident, Rosemary Dyer.

As a kid, Nilda Palacios was sexually abused at home and at school. She tried to escape into a relationship, which turned abusive. She was sentenced to 27 years to life after killing her partner in self-defense during an altercation. Despite this salient history, the then-17-year-old Palacios was barred from giving evidence of her abuse at trial.

After 17 years behind bars, her sentence was reduced to involuntary manslaughter. But she struggled upon release. A program for drug abusers shut down. She ended up living in her car.

Palacios found her “first home” at Five Keys Home Free, the first transitional housing program in the nation for formerly incarcerated survivors of domestic violence. 

“I can’t believe that programs like this exist for people like us,” Palacios, who was among Home Free’s first residents, says. “When I first got the keys to my apartment, I couldn’t believe it… I had to learn how to open the door and then how to get in the house.”

The Home Free residence opened its doors in 2020 for up to 11 women in a converted apartment building on Treasure Island, in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. 

Home Free is a program of Five Keys, a social justice nonprofit focusing on education, housing, workforce development, and reentry, which operates in 14 counties across California, serving over 30,000 individuals each year.

Five Key’s Home Free initiative has assisted more than 40 abused women after they left prison, and has worked to get them on their feet. 

For years, women like Palacios served prison time for either defending themselves against their abuser or because they were at the scene of a crime under the coercion of an abusive spouse or boyfriend. They were often forgotten.

A decade ago, criminal justice advocates led by Fiona Ma (now California State Treasurer) pushed legislation allowing imprisoned women barred from submitting evidence of their abuse at trial to seek a legal review of their long-term sentences.

“Home Free is righting a horrific wrong that was committed against these women,” says Five Keys Co-founder Sunny Schwartz.

Palacios, raised in Los Angeles, grew up with a history of abuse. She was molested by an uncle and stepfather and raped as a 15-year-old by a high school teacher. She later came to rely on drugs and alcohol, spent years living on the streets, and attempted suicide three times in prison.

She is now literally “home free.” She works full time as a peer counselor in health education. And she just bought a house in a suburb in the East Bay.

“I hope to help clients who are struggling with depression and other mental health issues,” Palacios says.

“I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did.” 

 

Five Keys Home Free

Donate now!

fivekeyshomefree.org
(415) 505-3552
Development Director: Sheila Von Driska

Mission

To help support domestic violence services, educate the community about coercive control, push for the behavior to be criminalized nationally, and to provide transitional housing and support for the survivors still hoping to be released from prison.

Begin to Build a Relationship

We know you care about where your money goes and how it is used. Connect with this organization’s leadership in order to begin to build this important relationship. Your email will be sent directly to this organization’s director of development and/or Executive Director.

It’s great to be able to help those who have been wrongly incarcerated for years, and abused for years before that. Home Free has shown these maltreated women that there are people who really do care about the injustices they’ve endured, and help to reintroduce freedom, dignity, and respect back into their lives.
Drew Banks
Entrepreneur, Business Author, and Novelist
*Pictured: Sunny Schwartz and Drew Banks

Giving Survivors a Chance at a New Life

We’re relying on private donations for Home Free, and we have a waiting list right now. We plan to open a second Home Free in Los Angeles in the near future. It costs about $50,000 to house a woman for six months. We take a survivor in for six months and then help her get into her own apartment. And the supporting services continue on forever. Your donation is well spent and important. It is a home,” says Development Director Sheila Von Driska.

Key Supporters

Fiona Ma
Courteney Cox
Robbie Brenner
Tony Robbins
Tony Robbins Foundation
Google
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Anderson Flooring
Williams Sonoma
CBS News Bay Area
First Republic Bank
Morgan Stanley
Silverado Contractors
Chris Larsen Fund
Alex Tourk
Debbie Mesloh
Connie and Bob Lurie
Philanthropic Fund
Roselyne C. Swig
Julie Harkins
Perkins Hunter Foundation
Paragon Litigation Trust
Tinker Taylor Fund
The Pressley Family Fund
Drew Banks and Nick Rubashkin