Mrs. Dee Dee uses her Criminal Justice education to advocate for people impacted by the justice system

When 67-year-old Lorraine Haw walks the stage on May 3, she’ll be dedicating her graduation to her mother, Eugenia, who passed away late last year. Lorraine, better known around campus as Mrs. Dee Dee, made a vow to her mom that she would complete her education at CCP.

“That’s what keeps me fighting hard here,” Mrs. Dee Dee said. “I promised her that I would finish and graduate. Other than that, I would have quit. But my professors encouraged me and that’s the promise I made my mom, so, I gotta stick it out no matter what.”

So much of what keeps Mrs. Dee Dee going is her family. Her immediate family includes five brothers, two sisters, two granddaughters, and eight great grandchildren.

“That’s my support for me,” she said. “They’re gonna be the loudest ones in the audience. They said, ‘when you graduate, we’re gonna make so much noise.’”

Mrs. Dee Dee added, with a laugh, “I’m gonna act like I don’t know y’all.”

There’s one family member in particular who keeps Mrs. Dee Dee going: her son, Phillip Ocampo. He was convicted of second-degree murder at the age of 18, a charge that carries a life sentence with no possibility of parole. Phillip has been in prison for the last three decades.

As Mrs. Dee Dee spoke about her son, her voice trembled. “I talk to him about the things I learned in class, and he says, ‘mom I’m so proud of you!’”

A big part of why she enrolled in the Criminal Justice program was to learn how she can better advocate for her son and everyone who is justice impacted. Mrs. Dee Dee is an organizer with The Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration, a collective of human rights organizations working to stop life imprisonment sentences. She has also volunteered at record expungement and pardoning clinics organized by the City of Philadelphia and hosted at Community College of Philadelphia.

“My Criminal Justice professors opened my eyes,” she said. “I’m already a criminal justice advocate, but man, what I learned with them here—that’s gonna help me with what I got to use out there.”

She said earning her Criminal Justice degree has been a lot of hard work, especially when it comes to learning new technologies.

“Me and computers, we come from two different planets,” she said, “but my professors were patient and understanding.”

It wasn’t just her Criminal Justice teachers. “I’ve met many good professors,” she said. “When I say many, I need more than two hands to count.”

Just to name a few of the people who Mrs. Dee Dee said made her time at CCP so special: Elizabeth Canapary, assistant professor of Criminal Justice; Dr. Judith Cruz-Ransom, instructor of Criminal Justice; Dr. Billy Love; associate professor of Criminal Justice; Mark Hughes, assistant professor of English; Jason Esters, assistant professor of English; Dr. Edite Birnbaum, assistant professor of Mathematics; Christopher Murphy, assistant professor of Social Science; David M. Freeman, associate professor of Social Science Dr. Faye L. Allard, associate professor and head of the Department of Social Sciences; Dr. Derrick Perkins, assistant vice president of Student Empowerment and Equity Initiatives; and Suave Gonzalez, support coach with I Am More.

Mrs. Dee Dee is part of the College’s I Am More reentry program, which provides case management, tutoring and social support to students who have been incarcerated—she was in prison on drug charges from 1989 to 1990. In 2022, Mrs. Dee Dee received a pardon and then in 2023, she received an expungement, effectively wiping her record clear. Oct. 18 of this year will mark her 27th year of sobriety.

She knows firsthand the hardship that comes with a prison sentence. Unfair barriers for reentering society are a reality for justice-involved people in the U.S. In fact, Suave, who Mrs. Dee Dee sees as mentor in the I Am More program, recently started the second season of his Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast to explore his own painful realizations of “freedom” after prison.

It’s a system Mrs. Dee Dee is determined to change—for the sake of her son and everyone who is justice impacted. “When my son first went in, had I known what I know now, I would have used all of this,” she said. “All of this knowledge that I know now. I could have used it then and maybe I would have been able to help him better.”

Mrs. Dee Dee sees her degree as tool to make her a stronger advocate.

“I’m going to keep fighting even when my baby comes home,” she said. “I’m going to keep fighting because we’re not free until we’re all free.”

Her advocacy work is getting noticed. She was the subject of a recent short documentary by Amistad Law Project and in February of this year, the City of Philadelphia adopted a resolution “celebrating and honoring Lorraine ‘Mrs. Dee Dee’ Haw for her constant pursuit of justice, her ability to speak truth to power across Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, and for her infinite love for the people and communities around her, on the occasion of Black History Month.”

“We want to remember this moment,” Mrs. Dee Dee said with pride. “When my grandkids are big enough, they can come to City Hall and look for that resolution and see my name.”

Family and faith are everything to her. After all the time and effort that went into her studies, Mrs. Dee Dee said she is ready to take a break from school. Once she graduates, she plans to spend her regained time with her family.

“I want to enjoy my family while I still have them.”