Category: Women Behind Bars

The Lives of Women Behind Bars (Pt. 7): Poetry

On By ChristopherIn Guest Writings, The Lives of Women Behind Bars (Series), Women Behind Bars1 Comment

 

The Lives of Women Behind Bars (Pt. 7):  Poetry

By Jennifer (Taycheedah Correctional) (WI)
By Victoria (Womens Huron Valley) (MI)
Forward By Christopher (Madison Correcional) (OH)

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One of my favorite poems is the masterwork titled “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” by Oscar Wilde. Wilde was a prisoner at H.M. Prison, in Reading, Berkshire England in 1896. He wrote about the day to day struggles of Victorian prison life and the horrors he witnessed. Despite time a distance separating us modern day prisoners from his words, we can relate in many ways to the horrors and despair he witnessed.

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OH Prisoners Lose Earned Credit Due to Covid

On By ChristopherIn OH Director of Prisons, Women Behind BarsLeave a comment

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Open Letter By Tara Snyder #102660 (ORW) (OH)

 

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I normally avoid policy issues, but the issue that Tara Snyder, a female prisoner in OH, brings attention to here today is important to inmates and their families.

At the heart of her open letter is the loss of what is known as “earned credit”. Earned credit is the ability of OH inmates to receive a reduction in their sentences for attending certain self-help programs, schooling, and participating in other positive rehabilitative efforts. Earned credit is a driving incentive to OH prisoners to take their time seriously, and to pursue a constructive path.

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My First & Only Time Being Arrested By Felicia (Ohio Reformatory for Women)

On By ChristopherIn 1st Times, Guest Writings, Women Behind Bars1 Comment

 

January 24, 2018, pound pound pound (the sound jerks me awake), and I lay there frozen for a moment in time. It has been 16 long days awaiting this moment anxiously. EVERYONE knows that knock. I knew before the door opened that it was the cops and a detective.

My ex is at the door. Before opening he has checked and verified my suspicions. He looks at me and says “are you ready?” Tears well up in my eyes but I don’t blink, I will them away. He opens the door.
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The Lives of Women Behind Bars (Pt. 6): From county jail to prison

On By ChristopherIn Guest Writings, The Lives of Women Behind Bars (Series), Women Behind Bars4 Comments

 

The Lives of Women Behind Bars (Pt. 6): From county jail to prison

By Jennifer (Taycheedah Correctional) (WI)
Forward By Christopher (Madison Correctional) (OH)

 

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One of the things every prisoner remembers is their experience incarcerated at the county or city jail as they awaited conviction. County jails are filthy and unsanitary places. They’re rough. They’re unfriendly and they’re the first glimpse of a life to come.

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The Thunder of Silence

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I think one of the most challenging aspects off incarceration is coping. Coping with what? Well, that list is long: Coping with your situation, with the realization that your friends were only fair weathered; coping with the fact that even some in family have abandoned you. It’s a common truth and is seldom spoken about.. For those of us enduring lengthy sentences, the journey early on is about struggle and discovery. Some of what’s discovered is very painful.

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