For about 15 years, Sheryl Abel was in and out of the city lockup, Cook County Jail and the state's prison system for crimes she committed to feed her heroin addiction.

Today, having been clean for more than two decades, Abel, 54, often returns to Illinois Department of Corrections facilities — but as the CEO of the nonprofit H.O.P.E., or Helping Ourselves, Prisoners and Ex-offender Women. The organization works with inmates and ex-offenders to help these women reset their lives.