When incarceration began for our family, our daughter was 5 years old. We were lost and facing what seemed like an impossible situation.

“Shut up.” This was my response to my husband’s suggestion that I shouldn’t wait around for him after we learned that he would be serving 85% of a 7-year prison sentence. That was the end of the conversation, and it was the last time he ever brought it up.

My story begins in 2017 when I arrived at a correctional center full of fear, anger, failure, shame, isolation, and insecurity. In 2019, I was attended the Global Leadership Summit. It was a very positive experience, and for 2 days I remember feeling like something other than a resident at a correctional institution.

We were pretty nervous. We parked in a lot at the bottom of the hill with the capitol building towering over us. We waited through testimony for a handful of bills, and finally, they called for people present to speak in favor of Missouri House Bill 1545.

When I first entered prison, the term used to describe us to the outside world was “offender” or “inmate”.

In the end, the only way that genuine growth and change occur is through inspiration and hope.