The impact of domestic violence on women in prison for killing their abusers
By LaMonica Peters | Published October 17, 2024 11:12pm PDT | KTVU FOX 2
SAN FRANCISCO - October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and a newly released study from Stanford surveyed women incarcerated for killing their abusers. The head researcher says the findings help paint a picture of how domestic violence impacted their lives.
Researchers found that there is a pipeline from intimate partner violence to prison. The women at Five Keys Home Free in San Francisco say they’re working to help survivors of domestic violence have a second chance after prison.
"Actually, in the first month, they kind of just let me get the feel of being free," said Katheryn Spiak, a former participant with Five Keys Home Free, a transitional program for survivors after prison.
Spiak says she served nearly 13 years in prison for killing her boyfriend. When she was released last year, Five Keys Home Free provided a shared apartment, helped her find a job and provided other services. Now she’s working for the agency, in graduate school and living on her own for the first time in her life.
"I was in a very toxic, abusive relationship. It’s something I didn’t know how to get out of. I didn’t know how to get out of it. Unfortunately, I grew up with abuse, so I didn’t know anything else," said Spiak.
Spiak says she continues on a healing journey though she regrets taking someone else’s life. Debbie Mukamal is the Executive Director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center and lead researcher of "Fatal Peril", a study about women in prison for killing their abusers. It surveyed 650 women incarcerated in Chino and Chowchilla and found that intimate partner violence often led women to long prison sentences for acts of survival.
"Nearly ¾ of the women who are incarcerated for murder or manslaughter experienced intimate partner violence in the year before the offense took place. That means no matter who they killed or who they were held responsible for killing, ¾ of the women there were in toxic, abusive relationships," said Mukamal.
"This is one of the apartments here at Home Free where two of the ladies live. This is the living room, and this is their apartment for at least six months to a year," said Tammy Johnson, Five Keys Home Free Program Director.
Johnson manages six Home Free apartment units in San Francisco, and she was once a part of the program. She says in the early 90s she received a life sentence for being present during a murder while she was being sex-trafficked. Governor Jerry Brown commuted her sentence in 2018.
"My stepsister introduced me to her pimp, who eventually became my pimp, and I stayed. I stayed with him, and I was human trafficked for 32 years," said Johnson.
Today Johnson is married and her work with Home Free was featured in the New York Times.
"One thing about 5 Keys: 5 Keys is a place of 2nd chances. They gave me my 2nd chance in January 2020."
Mukamal says she wants the study to encourage the criminal justice system to screen more for domestic violence in murder cases. Five Keys is a non-profit organization and raises money to operate. If you’d like to donate, click here.
