she did not return to prison. After her sixth, she left her home in South Los Angeles and headed to the predominantly white, and more affluent, community of Santa Monica to find the counseling and resources that would help her break the cycle of incarceration.

Determined to bring that type of support to the communities where many incarcerated women are released, Burton bought a house in Watts and created A New Way of Life in 1998 to help women transition from incarceration. Two years later, she formally incorporated the organization as a nonprofit. The project helps women transition back into society, find work and recover from drug addiction. The nonprofit now includes seven transitional houses in Los Angeles and Long Beach, and it provides a pro bono legal clinic.

InDecember 2018, Burton launched the SAFE (Sisterhood Alliance for Freedom and Equality) Housing Network, a replication model that will allow A New Way of Life to share its methods with other up-and-coming reentry housing programs throughout the country.

A past Soros Justice Fellow, Women’s Policy Institute Fellow and Community Fellow under the California Wellness Foundation’s Violence Prevention Initiative, Burton has served on California’s Little Hoover Commission and the Gender Responsive Strategies Task Force. In recognition of her leadership, she was appointed by Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas as a member of the Los Angeles County Sybil Brand Commission for Institutional Inspections. In this role, she is authorized to inspect Los Angeles County correctional facilities and advocate for the health and well-being of people housed there.

Burton has earned many