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Re-Becoming Mohagany
Mohagany Foster was released from New Hanover Correctional Center in Wilmington, N.C. on November 8, 2022 after a year-long sentence. As a trans woman, the county housed her in a men’s facility against her wishes because of gender laws in the United States prison system. Finally released, Mohagany is now working toward reclaiming her female identity in the real world. With support from the Durham LGBTQ+ community, she has found housing in northern Durham and is applying for jobs as a social justice advocate for the trans and Black community.
Mohagany speaks with her parole officer on the phone while waiting outside her office for their appointment. Her parole officer was half an hour late to the meeting. Mohagany is on parole for nine months with a 7pm curfew every night and has to meet with her officer every week to make sure she’s on track.
Ash Johnson, one of Mohagany’s primary advocates helping her post-release, helps Mohagany bring inside pillows and other items she got from the LGBTQ+ Center of Durham to help furnish her new apartment. When Mohagany was released from prison, she found that one of the women in her halfway house stole all of her possessions, leaving her to completely start her life over at age 44.
Luckily, the Durham community has shown overwhelming support for Mohagany and her journey back to the outside world with CashApp donations and item drop-offs. Mohagany sorts through a box of towels that showed up at her house unexpectedly. The donor of the box remains anonymous.
A couple weeks into living alone, the Center set up Mohagany with a roommate, Gemini, who is another trans black women moving to Durham. Here, Mohagany gives Gemini a tour of the home. “I’m nervous to live with someone new, I haven’t done that in ages.” Mohagany said. “But I’m glad it’s another person like me, I bet we’ll get along well.”
Mohagany waits at the Durham County Courthouse to ask her parole officer for a curfew allowance on Thanksgiving so that she can see her family in Raleigh. She hasn’t seen her father since before she was incarcerated, so this time was going to be important for her.
“He’s accepting me a little slower than I’d like. But he does his best and I know he loves me,” Mohagany said.
“He’s accepting me a little slower than I’d like. But he does his best and I know he loves me,” Mohagany said.
Mohagany looks at the conditions of her parole after the parole officer denied her request to spend Thanksgiving with her family.
On a rainy day, Mohagany walks to the Dragon Inn, a Chinese restaurant close to where she lives. She doesn’t have a car nor any groceries yet, so she is mostly bound to the cheap restaurants within walking distance from her neighborhood. “But I love trying all the new restaurants. One thing I really like about Durham so far,” she said.
November 20th is Transgender Day of Remembrance. This is one of Mohagany’s most important days of the year, for she has a lot of transgender friends, both from prison and from the outside, that have lost their lives to transphobic violence.
"The showers in a men's facility are in the main bathroom and don't cover up the top half of you. So since I've had top surgery, men every day would jack off while I was in there. And every trans woman in there has to go through this," Mohagany said.
"The showers in a men's facility are in the main bathroom and don't cover up the top half of you. So since I've had top surgery, men every day would jack off while I was in there. And every trans woman in there has to go through this," Mohagany said.
Mohagany peruses for clothes in the “Trans Closet” at the LGBTQ+ Center. The Center set up this donation space for trans people in need to take home clothes, toiletries and hygiene products, home goods, and snacks free of charge.
“I don’t know what I’d do without the Center,” she said. I’d be nowhere.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without the Center,” she said. I’d be nowhere.”
On her journey to re-adopt her femininity in her post-prison life, Mohagany gets her hair braided at a studio in her neighborhood. Getting braids done is a day-long commitment, and this appointment took nearly eight hours.
In love with her braids, Mohagany gets her first look in the mirror with her new do. She jumped up and down in pure joy for the first time since being released. “I love it!” she said. “I love it I love it I love it!”
Mohagany got her hair done just in time for her welcome home party hosted by the LGBTQ Center. People from across the triangle showed up in support, bearing flowers, food, and gifts for her new home. She also got to connect with other trans Black women such as Celeste and Fox (pictured) and share with them what her time in prison was like and how to be an advocate for the girls still locked inside.
Mohagany is overwhelmed with love at her welcome home party. “I don’t know what I did to deserve this,” she said. Ash, her main sponsor, responded, “What are you talking about? You deserve all this and more.”
Mohagany and Ash embrace in Mohagany’s home after Ash dropped off a round of home supplies, books, and decorations for Mohagany.
Mohagany smokes a cigarette outside the Courthouse. She doesn’t know where she’ll end up or what her future holds, but she knows she wants to continue to give back to other trans women stuck in the prison system and receive the same support that she has received. “Being in there was the most traumatizing experience of my life. No one should have to go through the same pain I went through.”
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