JT is entering her new era with an impactful endeavor after releasing her latest single, “No Bars,” where she’s launching her own initiative for incarcerated women.
“After spending almost two years in a Florida Prison before being released in 2020, JT has vowed to use her voice and platform to help other incarcerated women rehabilitate into society by assisting with resources such as therapy, job placement, social services, and housing,” the website stated.
The reform serves as a resource for women to find employment, therapy, housing and more which helps the next generation start with a clean slate.
According to The Sentencing Project, African American girls are more than three times as likely as their white peers to be incarcerated (77 per 100,000), and Native American girls are more than four times as likely (112 per 100,000).
Read ‘Inside The Mother-Daughter Duo That Fights For Justice Reform’
“I feel like I got better. Going to prison and coming out gave me more edge in my music when I rap and in my voice. It did put a lot of fear in me too. It put a lot of anxiety in me. It changed me completely,” JT told the Abolition X podcast in 2022. “My whole life, I have always been painted as a rebellious person, to the point where I started to believe it. If you always tell me that I’m the problem, I’m going to believe that I’m the problem, so now that I’m the problem, I’m going to be the problem.”
In 2018, the 30-year-old was charged with aggravated identity theft 2018, sentenced to 24 months in federal prison, and released in 2020. Now she continues using her platform to help those in her position.
Though many more men are in prison than women, the rate of growth for female imprisonment has been twice as high as that of men since 1980. According to The Sentencing Project, there are approximately 976,000 women under the supervision of the criminal justice system.
As we continue to focus on the issue of mass incarceration, initiatives like the No Bars reform serve as a way to move forward and give Gen Z’ers an outlet for change in the prison system.
About Kenyatta: Clark Atlanta University and Medill School alumna Kenyatta Victoria is the Girls United writer covering everything from news, pop culture, lifestyle, and investigative stories. When not reporting, she’s diving deep into her curated playlists or binging her favorite comfort shows.