On average, it takes a trafficking victim seven attempts to fully escape from their trafficker.
Many factors cause this, such as victims not realizing that they are being trafficked or not having the financial stability to leave their trafficker and be on their own.
Perhaps the most notable reason is the victim’s safety. If someone who is being trafficked threatens to leave, the trafficker typically threatens her, her children, and her family until the victim eventually gives in and returns.
Jails can be an immensely helpful avenue for providing help to women who have been victims of trafficking, as it may be one of the few times that they can be helped without their trafficker monitoring their every move.
Fort Worth-based sex trafficking nonprofit The Net visits North Texas jails weekly to talk with recently arrested women who may be victims of trafficking.
“When we’re meeting with ladies in jail, what we are really doing is raising awareness of: ‘That doesn’t sound okay. That doesn’t sound like that person should be treating you that way. That doesn’t sound like a healthy relationship,'” said Ty Bowden, associate director of The Net, in an interview with The Dallas Express.
The staff at The Net helps the women they speak with recognize that their situations are not safe or healthy and that the organization has the resources to help them escape.
The women are informed about the completely free programs The Net provides to walk alongside them step-by-step as they break out of trafficking and rebuild their lives. They are also told about other local sex trafficking recovery agencies to provide them with as many options as possible.
“That’s really the tone of those conversations. ‘We’re here for you. We’ll meet you where you are. Let us know how we can help,'” said Bowden. “A lot of the ladies that end up in our program come from those initial conversations.”
The jails that The Net partners with provide the organization with a list of women who have been arrested on a prostitution charge, a clear red flag that these women may be victims of trafficking. Bowden said that other charges, including fraud, theft, and drug possession, are also very common among trafficking victims.
Women at both adult jails and juvenile detention centers are met, educated, and provided with resources to assist them.
Once at The Net, survivors are matched with a volunteer advocate who walks alongside them for two to four years in recovery, helping them rebuild their lives step-by-step.
The organization offers financial literacy, career readiness, and survivor-led trauma classes.
One of the nonprofit’s staff members who works alongside survivors is a trafficking survivor herself, who The Net originally contacted during a jail visit.
“It took her a while to get to the place where she was ready for that help,” said Bowden. “But now we’re here with her almost a decade later, and she’s on staff going back and helping other ladies because she was able to recognize what was going on and get the help that she needed.”
In 2023, The Net made 130 jail visits, serving 197 survivors. Fifty advocates worked alongside survivors through one-on-one care.
