Operation Restoration

Purpose: Operation Restoration’s mission is to support women and girls impacted by incarceration to recognize their full potential, restore their lives, and discover new possibilities.

Operation Restoration (OR) is an organization by and for formerly incarcerated women. OR was founded in 2016 by Syrita Steib after her 110 months of incarceration. The length of her sentence kept her from participating in higher education in prison until halfway through her period of incarceration, and her criminal record initially kept her from attending college upon her release. As a result of her experiences, she began to advocate for policies that eliminate barriers to higher education for people with felony convictions, including those who are still incarcerated. Steib’s mission was to build a system of support for women impacted by the criminal justice system and, by doing so, empower them to a place of self-sufficiency. 

Today, the majority of OR’s full time staff and contract employees are formerly incarcerated or legal-system involved; every staff member of the organization identifies as a woman or gender-nonconforming, and the vast majority identify as Black. We do not just speak for the communities we serve; our work is built by them. Thus, we are able to find effective solutions to the needs of the largest growing population of justice-impacted people in Louisiana. Each of our 15 programs built by our staff serve to meet these immediate needs of our community while advocating for systemic changes to improve the material conditions of women and girls impacted by incarceration.