JOYCE DIXSON co-founded "Sons and Daughters of the Incarcerated" a group which helps children whose own parents are in prison. Dixson served seventeen years in prison after being convicted of shooting her husband. DIXSON herself left two children behind when she went to prison in 1976. During her time there she became a paralegal and became the first woman to earn an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan while incarcerated. DIXSON reduced her sentence from a first-degree murder charge to a second-degree and was released from prison in 1993. She went directly to the University of Michigan and earned a master's degree in social work.
Copyright 1996 Fresh Air