FORMER STREET PROSTITUTES START ON ROAD TO LIVES WORTH LIVING

There were no caps and gowns, no somber chords of Pomp and
Circumstance, at Crystal Priest's commencement ceremony, but she
couldn't have cared less. After all, it's not just any graduate who
can lay claim to a baccalaureate in second chances.

Which is essentially what Priest and four other women did Tuesday.
Under the sterile fluorescence of Courtroom 12T at the Denver Police
Administration Detention Facility, they became the first graduates of
the Chrysalis Project, which works to free street prostitutes from
the yoke of drug dependency while dangling the carrot of dismissed
criminal charges and - even better - the promise of a life suffused
with self-worth instead of self-loathing.

"This represents a lot of hard work," said Priest, 31, staring at the
framed certificate with gilded edges. "It's one of the most important
things I've ever owned in my life."

Then, in a voice that dashed between humility and exultation, she
added, "Life sometimes gives you second chances. This is my second
chance, and I couldn't ask for anything better."

Less than a year ago, chances are what Priest would have been asking
for was crack cocaine, her drug of addiction - the drug she thought
she had conquered after five years of sobriety and productivity. But
when her life began to disassemble, Priest found herself plummeting
back toward bad habits, bad people, back toward a "crazy living hell."

Then, last February, she found herself back before the court on
charges of prostitution. She had been there before, so many times, in
fact, that "I don't know the number."

But this time it was different. This time she was offered the chance
to have the prostitution charge thrown out. All she had to do was
enroll in the Chrysalis Project.

Funded with a $450,000, three-year U.S. Department of Justice grant,
the program is a public-private collaboration that focuses on
prostitutes with substance-dependency issues. Offering mental health
services along with classes in daily living skills and self-esteem,
Chrysalis tries to help its participants make a U-turn on their road
to self-destruction.

To do this, enrollees have to complete an individually tailored
treatment program. The program includes components such as drug-
and-alcohol rehab, therapy, job training or continuing education.

"But it's important to remember that this is not a
get-out-of-jail-free card," said Sue Cobb, communications director of
the Denver Department of Human Services, alluding to the fact that
failure to remain "engaged" in the program will result in the
reinstatement of jail sentences.

In fact, of the 50 initial recruits who enrolled in the program in
February, only 23 are still actively participating, including the
five who earned their "diplomas" Tuesday.

Priest confirmed that Chrysalis is no gimme, insisting, "They help
you up, they don't hold you up.

"In the overall scheme of things, it's a personal thing," she said.
"It's up to you to follow through."

But it also helps to have a "support system with people who
understand me, who respect me, who care about me, who treat me with
dignity and not like some terrible person - which I'm not."

Neither is Lea Sanchez. Sanchez, 27, another graduate - and the only
one besides Priest who agreed to be identified - spent four years
("too long") working as a prostitute to support her crack cocaine
habit. Now, she's looking forward to better times and she credits
Chrysalis because, "They don't just do their job, they enjoy doing
their job, and that means something to me."

And to Priest as well. The woman who admitted that before Chrysalis,
"I never ever in my life completed anything worthwhile," is about to
land a job as a certifiednursing assistant, ministering to elderly
people in nursing homes.

With a wry smile that indicated what she was saying was anything but
funny, Priest remembered, "On the street, everybody wants something
from you - your body, your money, your crack. There's desperate,
crazy people out there."

Now, the streets where Crystal Priest walks aren't littered with
despair, they're paved with hope and possibilities. And for Priest
and Sanchez and the others who emerged from the Chrysalis Project,
their commencement ceremony could be the start of something big.

Some Stay With It

50 initial recruits enrolled in the Chrysalis Project in February.

23 are still actively participating, including the five who earned
their "diplomas" Tuesday.