Meet Elizabeth…

The majority, like myself, sit around all day and do nothing. Most of us don’t qualify for the two or three classes offered.

While most states across the country seek to reduce prison numbers, I believe the Nevada Department of Corrections are instilled in warehousing individuals. Assembly Bill 125, Amendment 1412, which passed the Assembly Committee but died in the Senate would have alleviated the Nevada prisons of warehousing low level, non violent inmates who were model inmates with no write ups.

Currently my prison, FMWCC, houses over 900 women. It is estimated that only about half – 350 actually work, attend educational classes, programs or  a drug rehabilitation program called STARS. The majority, like myself, sit around all day and do nothing. Most of us don’t qualify for the two or three classes offered. In addition five days per month is being added to individual sentences due to non attendance of classes, programs or STARTS and there is absolutely nothing I or any inmate can do to stop the practice.

Jean Conservation Camp, which used to provide workers for city projects and fire season, is now just another location for women to sit and do nothing all day.

Meet Erin…

Prison is not the end. It’s actually the place where I was set free.

I grew up in a Seventh-Day adventist church and attended Seventh-Day Adventist school into college. Prison was never on my radar or a place that I would spend a life without parole sentence as (far as “man” says). I did stray so far away from God and completely silenced the voice of the Holy Spirit. I made choices that I did not believe I was capable of making and 21 years later, I find myself in the only women’s prison in Nevada.

God has my attention and I realize “inside” or “outside” I have a job to share the love of Jesus with everyone that I meet. I have the gift of encouragement, letting others know that there is nothing that you or I can do that will make Jesus fall out of love with us. Some people believe that they have done too much damage and their family has walked away, therefore, God must have given up on them. This is where God receives the glory, I say this is not true. Let me tell you my story and testimony.  By the time I’m done, people I have shared my story with have tears running down their face, they say “If God can do it for you, then He can do it for me.”

There are so many of us that have served a good amount of time. It is so important to always remember where God picked us up at and even though many years have gone by and we look like we have it together and we are all cleaned up, it’s detrimental to never forget our condition at one point and extend a hand to someone who is behind us on the same journey and encourage them and be “real” and say “we are more alike than you think”. There is healing in knowing that we are not the only ones who have ever done something we never imagined we could or would do.

Prison is not the end. It’s actually the place where I was set free.