Women come to Magdalene House in Nashville when they are ready to leave the streets. They live together--unsupervised and free of charge--for two years. During that time, the women are given time, space, and the resources they need to heal from what have often been lifelong experiences with suffering. (Of the twenty-two women now in residence, 80 percent have a diagnosed mental illness other than addiction, 40 percent are receiving treatment for hepatitis C, and one-third are HIV positive.)

However, the story of the Magdalene community is not about these statistics, but about the...

Women come to Magdalene House in Nashville when they are ready to leave the streets. They live together--unsupervised and free of charge--for two years. During that time, the women are given time, space, and the resources they need to heal from what have often been lifelong experiences with suffering. (Of the twenty-two women now in residence, 80 percent have a diagnosed mental illness other than addiction, 40 percent are receiving treatment for hepatitis C, and one-third are HIV positive.)

However, the story of the Magdalene community is not about these statistics, but about the...