Gender Impacts: Mothers and Reentry

Judge Michael D Burton has served as a judge for the St. Louis County Circuit Court since 1999. From 2008 to 2012, he served as the administrative (presiding) judge of the St. Louis County Family Court (which addresses all dissolution, paternity, domestic violence and juvenile matters). Since 2016, he has been serving as the County Circuit Court’s Alternative Treatment Court judge, having recently started the County’s first Mental Health Court. 

In 2009, Burton spearheaded the St. Louis County Domestic Violence Court, which focuses on holding offenders accountable, through the civil and criminal contempt processes.  For the past ten years, Burton has been the chairman of the St. Louis County Domestic and Family Violence Council.  In 2017, the Missouri Supreme Court appointed Burton chairman of the Missouri Commission on Combatting Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence. (The Commission is currently making recommendations to the Supreme Court on how the Missouri court system can best address human trafficking and domestic violence throughout the state.)

Laura Toledo has been Executive Director of the Center for Women in Transition since July 2013 and had a long history of volunteering for the organization prior to joining the staff, including service a Board member and mentor.  Laura is a lawyer by background.  She is a graduate of the University of Utah and Cornell University Law School.  She also has a certificate in Business Management for Non-Profit Leaders from the Washington University Olin Business School.

Stacey Lannert received her law degree from the University of Missouri School of Law, and she currently works as a Missouri State Public Defender in the city of St. Louis. She is the founder and Executive Director of Healing Sisters Organization, a non-profit organization that advocates for awareness of sexual abuse. 

CarolLyree Price has worked for the Missouri Department of Corrections Division of Probation and Parole for over ten years, first as a Probation Officer and currently as a Unit Supervisor. Mrs. Price’s unit, the Alt-Care Unit, supervises a gender specific female caseload that provides intensive supervision to female clients in the Alt-Care Substance Misuse Program as well as the Schirmer House and MERS Residential Facilities. Throughout her career her primary focus has been on females, individuals returning to the community following long periods of incarceration, and gang members.  Mrs. Price has dual Bachelor’s Degrees from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Political Science with an Emphasis in State and Local Government and Criminal Justice with an Emphasis in Community Corrections. Additionally, she has a Master’s Degree in Legal Studies from Webster University.

Stefanie Moore has spent the last 12 years working in the social services field as an advocate, an activist, investigator and case manager.  She started volunteering for the Center for Women in Transition while working at the Family Court-Juvenile Division because she wanted to tackle a bigger issue—incarcerated parents.  In 2013, Stefanie joined the Center for Women in Transition as a Case Manager working primarily with post incarcerated women living in the community to include female sex offenders.  She serves on the board of the Clayton Education Foundation in the Clayton School District, Co-chair and volunteer mediator for Community Mediation Services of St. Louis and is the Research Chair for STAR (St. Louis Alliance for Reentry) in addition to sitting on several committees across the St. Louis area.  Stefanie completed her Master’s in Criminal Justice at Lindenwood University in 2012.

Melissa Douglass is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and founder of Goal Driven Counseling, an organization that provides coaching for professionals, group workshops and professional development trainings. 

Stephanie Regagnon is the CEO of FieldWatch, Inc., a non-profit company promoting stewardship and collaboration in agriculture, as well as the founder of Ava’s Grace Scholarship, a non-profit organization that provides college scholarships and mentors to children of incarcerated parents. Stephanie founded Ava’s Grace Scholarship in 2010, after her family’s tragic experience with the criminal justice system. Ava’s Grace Scholarship has given and committed $800,000 in scholarships for young people who are breaking the cycle of incarceration by pursuing higher education, and as of 2018, became a program of The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis. Stephanie received her BA in political science from the University of Missouri and her MA in the same field from American University

Patty Berger is a 2016 graduate of the University of Missouri-St. Louis earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work. She is also a substance use disorder counselor, holding a MAADC II credential. In her position as Deputy Public Administrator for the City of St. Louis, Patty is an advocate on behalf of people who are court ordered not capable of making decisions for themselves, due to developmental, mental, or physical disabilities. She oversees their placement and medical needs.  As the Community Education Coordinator for Let’s Start,Patty helps educate directly impacted people, the community, and professionals about incarceration, addiction, and reentry. As a mother of two adult children and grandmother of five, her family has been through the struggles of family reunification and living with the past. Her willingness to openly share her family’s story has helped countless others directly impacted by the criminal justice system.

Barbara Baker is a formerly incarcerated woman who has been out of prison for over 20 years. She has been employed at the Center for Women in Transition (CWIT) for nineteen years and seven months. She has spent those years with CWIT advocating for systematic change with our criminal justice system as well as alternatives to incarceration for women with non-violent charges, especially those with dependent children.

Annie Laux is a graduate of the Center for Women in Transition.  She works at North Star Ice Cream Specialties a subsidiary of Prairie Farms as a packer and machine operator.

Shawntelle L. Fisher is a highly anointed and very influential leader, speaker, teacher, and dancer who serves with excellence and integrity. Shawntelle became a mother at age 15 and became a convicted felon at age 17. After going to prison seven times, she made a decision to allow God to transform her into the person He had created her to be. This transformation has led her back to college and to start The SoulFisher Ministries, a non-profit she now leads. She holds both a Bachelor in Educational Studies and a B.S. in Media Studies from the University of Missouri St. Louis and dual Master degrees in Social Work and Divinity from Washington University in St. Louis and Eden Theological Seminary, respectively. She is also a Licensed Master Social Worker. Shawntelle was the founding Board president for the Riverview Gardens Education Foundation, is a current Board member for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, and is the current Public Relations officer for the University of Missouri-St. Louis chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

Anne Luedtke Precythe is the Director of the Missouri Department of Corrections.  Nominated by Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, she was confirmed on February 9, 2017 andbecame the seventh director to lead the department since Corrections became its own cabinet-level state agency in 1981.As Director of Corrections, Precythe is responsible for the 21 adult correctional facilities, six community supervision centers, a community release center, and more than 40 probation and parole offices across the State of Missouri. This includes more than 11,000 staff, 59,000 probationers and parolees, and more than 30,000 inmates. Precythe brings nearly 30 years of service as a corrections professional into her role as director. Precythe previously served as the Director of Community Corrections in the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.