A second chance: Hoosier shares journey from incarceration to success (2024)

After Kristin Brian was released from prison, she was reeling from the trauma of incarceration and the challenge of reentering society.

A few years later, her life has been transformed through second chances. Jacob’s Well, a Southern Indiana nonprofit, helped Brian get back on her feet.

She is now the office manager at Cornerstone Chiropractic in New Albany, and she serves on the board of Jacob’s Well. She has her family, and she has built a new life.

Jacob’s Well is a Christian-based organization that serves single women and their children, offering transitional living and services for women who have struggled with issues such as domestic violence, addiction and trafficking.

Brian is now sharing her story with others in the community. She has spoken to local high school students, and she was recently the keynote speaker at Jacob’s Well’s annual benefit dinner.

“I enjoy sharing my story,” she said. “I feel like it gives people hope, and if there’s anything that could happen out of all of that, I hope that I help other people.”

A long journey

In December 2013, Brian was arrested, and she was sentenced to seven years in prison.

At the time, she was in an abusive relationship, and her son was only 11 months old. She was using drugs, and she got into trouble in both Kentucky and Ohio.

Brian was incarcerated for six-and-a-half years, getting out six months early for good behavior.

She experienced “a lot of trauma” in prison.

“That was not something I was accustomed to,” she said.

Her parents received custody of her son while she was in prison.

“I missed my child walking and talking and first everythings — birthdays, Christmases, Easters — all of those things,” she said.

She seized the opportunity to enroll in college at one of the facilities where she was incarcerated. She eventually walked out with associate’s degrees in business and social services.

After she was released, she was “completely changed,” but her family did not trust her at this time, she said.

“Before I went [to prison], it was years that I really, really ran through my family,” she said. “I stole from them and lied to them and did just unspeakable things to them because I was on drugs. These are things that I would never think about doing sober.”

Brian’s mother told her that she could not stay at their house and told her to reach out to Jacob’s Well. Although this seems harsh, she feels it was ultimately “the best thing” her family did for her, she said.

She was released on May 30, 2020, and her mom drove her to Jacob’s Well. While her mother spoke to her during the car ride, Brian felt like she was “underwater,” she said.

“Like I couldn’t hear what she was saying because I was terrified that the cops were coming after me and it was not actually real,” she said. “Like they had made a mistake and they were coming to get me. So I was constantly looking in the rearview mirror.”

Her family and those she knew growing up did not understand the trauma of incarceration, but they saw that firsthand when she returned, she said.

A new chapter

When she arrived at Jacob’s Well, she probably looked like a “deer in the headlights,” Brian said.

“Like oh my gosh, there’s trees, there’s grass, there’s people who are nice and not screaming at you and not asking you to take off your clothes and bend over for a strip search — all of these things that were very normal to me ... which is not normal, and it’s not OK,” she said.

Barbara and Kevin Williar founded Jacob’s Well in 2014. Brian was the organization’s first resident who had been incarcerated.

She was “ready and open to succeeding,” Barbara said.

“It was a hard journey for her to learn to trust people and to feel safe, and that was her biggest obstacle to overcome,” she said. “So we just saw her grow leaps and bounds while she was here because she was very motivated.”

Jacob’s Well helped her become acclimated to life outside of prison, and it allowed her to process her emotions, Brian said.

“I had all these emotions because some of my family was not ready to see me or talk to me, and that was hard,” she said. “They didn’t know what I had been through ...”

“There’s no way they can possibly know what I went through, and there’s no way that I can possibly know what they went through.”

The nonprofit offered parenting classes. At the time, she had no idea how to be a mother.

She went through programs to help her process the domestic violence she experienced. She went to therapy, took financial classes and attended church.

Sarah Flannery, program director at Jacob’s Well, said it was a “huge adjustment” for Brian to be around people she could trust.

“I said [to Brian], whenever I hear you tell your story, it sounds like when you were in prison, you had to watch your back,” she said. “And when you got here to Jacob’s Well, you learned that we actually had your back.”

The team at Jacob’s Well “loved me when nobody else wanted to love me,” Brian said.

“Barbara says to this day, we learned from each other,” she said. “Because I didn’t know what I was going to be like or how I was going to feel, and they didn’t know either. We all found out together.”

A second chance

When the job opened up at Cornerstone Chiropractic, Flannery helped Brian create a résumé.

It looked good as she listed previous jobs she had in the medical field, but when she looked at the time gaps, Brian felt discouraged.

Doug Kane, founder of Cornerstone Chiropractic, already knew the leaders at Jacob’s Well, and they encouraged him to consider Brian for the position.

She came in for the interview, and she “was just an amazing candidate,” he said.

Brian said she was ready to answer the question about whether she had ever been convicted of a crime, but the question was not asked.

“They were like, I know you have a story,” she said. “If you want to share anything, you can. If not, that’s fine too.”

Kane immediately offered Brian the job, and she started in August 2020. She is an “amazing human being” and a “great employee,” he said.

“We gave her an opportunity,” Kane said. “She earned everything else.”

He encourages employers to “give people a second chance.”

“You take a risk on anybody you hire, but I think it means more to some people just to have that foothold to get their life started back on a positive direction,” Kane said.

Brian believes that “God makes you ready for things even though you’re not ready.”

“I don’t know that I was ready,” she said. “I was very panicky [and] full of anxiety — definitely convinced that I had the word felon tattooed on my forehead.”

Although Jacob’s Well is typically a two-year program, Brian finished in only nine months.

Her background made it difficult to find housing since many places will not rent to people with felony convictions. However, somebody gave her a chance to rent in New Albany, and Jacob’s Well helped her move out and get a car.

Her family came back into her life, including her son. He is now 11 years old.

Her son is “literally the best thing ever,” she said. Although he still lives with her parents, they talk every day, and he is a major part of her life.

“It took him a while to trust me,” he said. “He didn’t know me, but now we have a great relationship.”

She also has strong relationships with her parents and siblings.

In November of 2022, she married her husband, Derek. His sister and niece both work at Cornerstone.

“He fully supports all of my baggage that I come with,” Brian said. “I never thought I would get married. I never thought I would love somebody. I didn’t want to be around any of that, but it happened, and he’s the greatest.”

Working at Cornerstone has been life-changing for Brian in many ways.

“It’s given me self-worth,” Brian said. “It’s given me routine. It’s given me structure and given me friendships and family.”

She continues to go to therapy to work through the trauma she experienced.

“There’s a lot that I need to deal with,” she said. “There’s a lot of PTSD I suffer from — from my previous relationship and everything during incarceration.”

As she reflects on the direction life has taken her, Brian feels that “God had this planned out a long time ago.”

She wishes there were more organizations like Jacob’s Well or employers like Cornerstone, she said.

“I wish there was more open-mindedness like the people I work with on a daily basis,” she said. “I do have a heart for people who are drug addicts, who are alcoholics, who are previously incarcerated because I know that pain and I know how hard that is.”

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