Kim Kardashian gave this Iowa mom a surprise on Mother's Day — and a chance at a new life
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A dark shadow has been hanging over Mena Jones' head for more than a decade.
The 33-year-old mother of three is building a blossoming realty business in the Des Moines area, but up until a few weeks ago, she couldn't buy a car.
A restitution payment of nearly $7,000 for a crime she committed in 2007, when she was 17, has haunted her, precluding her from obtaining the proper registration tags so she could own and operate her own vehicle. She needed the car for work, so she could meet her clients and find new listings. When the agent at the DMV informed her back in 2020 that the tags wouldn't be possible unless she paid back her restitution in full, she felt a pit form in her stomach.
"That was when I realized, 'OK, this thing is still following me,'" she sad.
It was then, standing at the DMV with her newly earned real estate license and reinvigorated passion for her future, that she fully understood how her mistake from a decade ago would continue to plague her life; at least until she could somehow find a way to pay off her debt to the court system in full.
Under Iowa law, those convicted of a crime are required to pay restitution, in the form of fines, penalties or surcharges, back to the state and the victims of their crime. If that restitution is not paid back under the terms of their probation, they may be held in contempt of court, or worse, their probation could be revoked or extended.
This threat weighed on Jones each day as she struggled to make ends meet and provide for her family. And she is far from the only Iowan who has struggled to pay back her restitution and court fees. A June 2019 report from the Council of State Governments found only 7% of restitution was collected in Iowa over an eight-year period when the amount due was more than $10,000, and only 5% of restitution was paid over the same period by those convicted of violent or felony offenses.
But on Mother's Day this year, Jones received a gift from a very famous stranger that she said will help her "reach a new level" in life.
Kim Kardashian helps women get 'the second chance they've earned'
REFORM Alliance, a national nonprofit focused on criminal justice reform, partnered with businessman Michael Rubin and reality star Kim Kardashian to celebrate the holiday by paying off the restitution for over 50 mothers across the country, including Jones and five more moms in Iowa — two others in the Des Moines metro and three in Waterloo.
"A lot of people don't understand the number of barriers that people tend to face trying to pay down fines, fees or restitution that they have on top of the other barriers that anybody faces with house payments, car payments, student loans, things of that nature," said Kameron Middlebrooks, the Iowa state organizer for REFORM Alliance. "So it was really great that they could do that in this moment and really commemorate Mother's Day."
Kardashian wrote on Twitter that she participated in the program "to give these women the second chance they've earned."
Jones said this small act from one of the nation's biggest and wealthiest stars will do just that for her and her family.
"I can get my life back on track," she said, "To have this shadow removed from over me, this cloud from over my head, it's unbelievable. It's hard to explain the gratefulness I feel."
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Mena Jones faced 'chronic homelessness' after release from prison
Jones admits she made a serious mistake back in 2007.
She said she went to the mall with her sister and tried to shoplift. She fought off a security guard who tried to detain her and found herself being charged as an adult, facing up to 10 years in prison on counts of second-degree robbery and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony.
"I did not understand the severity of what we did," she said. "I did not understand the severity of what the courts were trying to do to me. I definitely didn't understand how it would linger and be a lasting effect in my life."
She spent more than four months at the women's prison in Mitchellville, experiencing what she can only describe now as an "out of body experience" realizing the weight of the moment, before a judge called her into court and amended her sentence to two years of probation based on her good behavior.
She was technically free, but she was left with a restitution payment of nearly $7,000 and a criminal record forever stained with a felony conviction.
She successfully completed her probation and had her first child, Maxwell, a few months later. She moved to Louisville, Kentucky, to try to leave her old life and bad influences behind, but could find only low-wage jobs working in food service or at fast-food chains. Over time, she had two more kids, all while experiencing chronic homelessness. She was unable to pay rent, afford basic necessities and keep the pieces of her life together, and her restitution payments continued to hang over her head.
"When you can't afford it, you just can't afford it," she said. "I often think of money as air. You know when you're breathing and you got enough air, you're like 'Oh, you're good.' But then when you're drowning underwater, it's like, "Oh shoot, I can't breathe.' And I spent many of my years like that. I just couldn't breathe."
Mena Jones returns to Des Moines; leans on faith, hard work
But Jones refused to let a sense of hopelessness cloud her future. She said she relied on the values her grandparents, who had adopted her when she was 9, instilled in her from a young age: faith and hard work.
She returned to Des Moines in 2018 with her children, then ages 7, 4, and 1, and got a managerial position at Office Depot — her first chance to really turn her life around.
"I was going to take this position and really excel, and I was there one day and I was just being myself and someone told me I could be a great real estate agent, and I began on that path," she said.
While earning her license and raising her kids, Jones quickly became a staple in the Des Moines community. She now works at RE/MAX Concepts in Windsor Heights and dedicates the majority of her practice to educating first-time homebuyers from communities of color on how to save and prepare to buy a home.
Middlebrooks, the Iowa lead for REFORM Alliance, said Jones has become a true role model on how to be civically engaged and dedicated to building and investing in strong communities.
"This is somebody who not only came back, but she actually got active in her community," Middlebrooks said. "She's always bringing her kids to events. She's always engaged in the community, really trying to be that stand-up resident that I think we all should be, but doing all of that with this burden hanging over her head."
REFORM Alliance advocates for legislation that promotes second chances
Middlebrooks said Jones' story showcases the inherent value of giving people a real second chance, which REFORM Alliance has used as a guiding principle behind its bipartisan efforts for criminal justice reform in Iowa.
"Just because someone has done something wrong doesn't mean that they can't be good and contributing members of our community," he said.
REFORM Alliance has joined Iowans United for Opportunity, a bipartisan advocacy group focused on reducing recidivism and increasing safety and prosperity in Iowa communities, to advocate for legislation that will allow those on probation to reduce the terms of their probation through earned time credits. Under the terms of the bill, which passed the House by a 93-1 margin during this past legislative session but stalled in the Senate, those under supervision can reduce their probation through educational activities, gaining long-term employment and remaining compliant to the terms of their probation.
There are currently 55,000 people on probation in Iowa who would be eligible for the bill's provisions, according to Iowans United for Opportunity. The nonprofit also projects the legislation could help save taxpayers $82 million by expending fewer resources monitoring people on probation and could lower recidivism rates substantially across the state.
Across the country, REFORM has helped pass 16 pieces of similar legislation across 10 states, including the most recent passage of a bill in Florida, which Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law last June.
Iowa's bill doesn't specifically target restitution, which has come under scrutiny in the state after Pieper Lewis, a victim of sex-trafficking, was ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to the family of her alleged rapist after she killed him. Following Lewis' case, the Senate considered a separate bill that would have made restitution in murder convictions optional based on whether the person who was killed committed any crimes against the person who killed them.
Although neither piece of legislation made it through both chambers during this last legislative session, Middlebrooks said REFORM Alliance and its partners will continue to advocate for reform that offers those involved in the criminal justice system a meaningful opportunity for a second chance.
"We want to build stronger and safer communities. The best way to do that is getting people out of deficits but also on a pathway to success," Middlebrooks said. "That's through upskilling and getting the education they need to go find that career and job opportunity to really be able to fulfill who they truly want to be in life."
Francesca Block is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at FBlock@registermedia.com or on Twitter at@francescablock3.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Kim Kardashian's Mother's Day restitution payment helps Des Moines mom
