A summer day in 1970 changed Patrice Gaines’s life forever. She was in a Charlotte, N.C. jail, charged with possession with intent to distribute heroin and possession of a needle and syringe. Her mother, unable to bring Patrice’s two-year-old daughter Andrea inside to visit her, directed Patrice to look out the window when she returned to her cell. Staring out a narrow opening, Gaines saw her grandfather in front of the jail holding her daughter while her mother pointed to the third floor window. Her daughter looked all about."She is searching for me and she can’t find me,” Gaines thought, as tears trickled down her cheeks. In that moment, she vowed to do all she could to change her life.Thus began a long and arduous journey, which Gaines chronicles in her autobiography, “Laughing In The Dark: From Colored Girl to Woman of Color— A Journey from Prison to Power.”

Before that memorable day Patrice had been a heroin user satisfied to go from man to man in search of love while her mother took care of her child. But staring at her daughter, Gaines committed herself to change. At times the task seemed overwhelming. Gaines returned to jail for shoplifting and though she stopped using heroin, she used other drugs. She was beaten and raped by a boyfriend and battered by a husband. Yet, she persevered. She went to school at night, discovered a passion and talent for writing, and took creative writing classes at a community college. She became drug free, studied life; entered psychotherapy, read everything she thought would help her and meditated on the meaning of God.

Then eight years after her arrest, Gaines, who had worked for years as a secretary, was selected for a national journalism education program and became a newspaper reporter. She worked for several newspapers during her career as a fulltime reporter, spending the last 16 years as a reporter for the Washington Post in Washington, D.C. While at the Post, she won awards for journalism and for her contributions to the community. She investigated a 1985 murder case for six years, finding evidence that raised questions about the guilt of eight young, black men sentenced to 35 years-to-life for the killing. Based on the evidence she found, lawyers from the Innocence Project of the National Capitol Region are seeking a new trial for the men.

Gaines outlined her path to change in her inspirational book, “Moments of Grace, Meeting the Challenge to Change." She has been a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show and was featured on a segment of Dateline. Her articles have appeared in numerous publications, including Essence Magazine. She has been a commentator on National Public Radio and Pacifica Radio. Today, Gaines is a freelance journalist, writing teacher and motivational speaker, telling her story at colleges, conferences, prisons and drug rehabilitation programs around the country. She is a restorative justice trainer and a “justice reform activist,” who encourages discussions on forgiveness in her lectures and coaxes people to redefine “justice.” Her goal is to drastically change the U.S. judicial system and prison industry.

Gaines is also devoted to working to empower women, especially those who have been incarcerated. To that end, she and longtime friend Gaile Dry-Burton plan to open The Brown Angel Retreat Center in the Charlotte, N.C. area. The Center will offer a respite from judgment, a place for healing and learning as well as a program of courses and counseling aimed at assisting women in becoming mentally, spiritually and financially healthy.

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