SUPPORT FOR YOU
GETTING FREE
FOR THOSE INCARCERATED Freedom From Within
​​
True change requires addressing the core workings of the system. That means working with the residents, loved ones and the correctional and administrative staff, meeting each where they are-
Those incarcerated are trapped in cells and cycles of constant fear and pressure. They endure daily abuse, neglect, and ongoing violations of basic human rights. Many struggling with addiction. Most living in survival mode - afraid, enraged, unseen and severely undernourished.
Loved ones are afraid, enraged, exhausted and feel defeated. They are under-supported and under-equipped to stand beside their person — to fight, to advocate, to hold hope in a system designed to wear them down.
​
Much of the staff are undertrained, overworked, afraid, struggling with addiction, angry, isolated- and often coerced into perpetuating harm. Women staff on top of this are unsafe and unsupported.
​It's time now that you are seen, heard and get the support you need. ​​​​​​​​​​​
For Loved Ones
"My son was sentenced to seven years for a drug deal. He was found with drugs and a gun. He was placed in a level-2 facility, and when that prison ran out of space, he was transferred to a level-5 facility, one of the most dangerous environments in the system.
That’s where everything changed.
He became addicted to drugs inside, something he was never struggling with before incarceration. He began receiving violations. Then, suddenly, I couldn’t reach him. For nearly a year, no matter how many times I called, I was denied contact. No one would tell me where he was.
Eventually, someone who had been inside told me they had seen him in solitary confinement. He had been left in his own feces for weeks at a time. Neglected. Isolated. Dehumanized."
SUPPORT FOR WOMEN CORRECTIONAL
"I live in a small town where there aren’t many job options. Because of that, I took a position as a correctional officer. I had no training for this, I only lasted a few weeks. It was the scariest job and environment I have ever experienced. And honestly it wasn’t the offenders who frightened me most, it was the staff.
Many were so mean. The ones that weren't were bullied for being nice. They made more chaos than anyone inside those walls. As a woman, I experienced daily intimidation, hostility, and abuse. The environment was not just unsafe.
It was dehumanizing- for everyone."
SUPPORT FOR
MEN CORRECTIONAL
"I became a correctional officer about nine years ago. I took the job because I genuinely wanted to be of service. I believed in protect and serve. I started with that intention, and I worked hard to hold onto it.
But over time, the environment wore me down. The hostility, from both inmates and staff, began to change me. I became angry. Resentful. I’d walk into work and feel myself change almost immediately. I started taking it out on the offenders. And slowly, I stopped seeing them as human. They became annoyances. Problems to manage. It was easier to be mean than to care.
There were still a few I treated alright. But I watched myself becoming someone I didn’t recognize in that place.
I’d go home and hate myself for it.
Then eventually, I just became numb.
And now, I want to change that. I really do."
’Real safety-real peace-IS NOT built on fear, it’s built on recognition.
​Every bit of respect you give-a steady voice, a nod that says I see you.
a pause before judgment,
the grace to give somebody one more chance-
that’s a quiet revolution right there inside these walls.
​
And maybe that’s where it starts- not with orders or rules, but with small, everyday choices. A little patience. A little empathy. Treatin’ folks the way you’d want somebody to treat your own brother, your own kid, on their hardest day.
​
​
​
​
​
