How 1 Black Woman Goes Inside Fla.’s Toughest Prisons to Help Inmates Get ‘Free on the Inside’

Facing a decade and a half in prison couldn’t stop her. Losing a loved one to suicide didn’t destroy her. Battling loss and pain while raising three children was not enough to make her quit.

“Black Girl Magic” is a beautiful phrase. It summons up the image of some supernatural divination that has been arbitrarily gifted to darker women. It reminds the world that there is something mythical and special about black women. It aptly captures the indescribable grace, beauty and strength that black women display every day.

There is no such thing as magic.

Black women’s superpowers did not fall from the stars. Their iron wills are stronger because they have been strengthened by a heat that most could not endure. Attributing their combination of delicate beauty, unwavering perseverance and unparalleled love to something metaphysical or celestial diminishes the unrelenting grip that has held black families together for 500 years.

Magic would have run out a long time ago. Magic isn’t strong enough to keep smiling after its son is gunned down in Ferguson, Mo., or Sanford, Fla. Magic can’t make macaroni and cheese while studying for a master’s degree. Magic would have moved to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Ala. Magic would have been too afraid to tiptoe past fugitive slave hunters on the Underground Railroad. Magic wishes it were as strong as a black woman.

Although we may never find out what specific otherworldly ingredient makes up black women, we can witness it every day. If you are unfortunate enough never to have seen it, meet Eccentrich Richardson.

Eccentrich Richardson is a poet, writer and cultural-arts programmer in Pompano Beach, Fla., who somehow finds the time to save the world in her spare time. Her “Free on the Inside” program goes inside Florida’s toughest prisons and helps inmates find beauty, power and, hopefully, themselves.

“We started in June 2016 with 67 prisoners who we worked with, allowing them to share and develop their voices with fellow inmates. It quickly grew to more than 200 people in three correctional facilities in Florida. We have Dade Correctional Institution, Homestead Correctional Institution and our main hub—Everglades Correctional institution,” said Richardson, adding that Homestead is a women’s prison.

Free on the Inside works with Level 5 prisoners—the most-secured prisoners who are often incarcerated for the harshest crimes. Richardson explained that the program is transitioning toward focusing on 25 inmates in each facility who want to use writing and poetry as a …

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