STORIES
SAM
“My first memory is being raped at
age 5. ... By the age of 13, I had enough. I stole a car and headed north. ...I have been in prison for 35 years.
Today, I’m freer than I have ever been.”
ANDREA
"I spent three weeks at Alachua County Jail. There is no one I can blame for being there but myself.
The first couple days I was there all I did was cry..."
JENNIFER
Jennifer was 18 and pregnant when she landed in the Alachua County Jail. It’s difficult to imagine how she could have wound up in such a place. ... a sweet, simple Southern girl.
Women often send hand-written letters spilling out their life stories and heartache.
Nicole's Experience
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE A PRISONER?
"Prison was hell. A place of constant torment. A community of evil. Behind bars nothing felt safe.
It was impossible to sleep well in prison. I slept on a creaky bunk cot in a row just arms distance from those who committed crimes of extortion, had been trafficked or were traffickers. I slept next to drug dealers, murderers, thieves, abusers and those engaging nightly in homosexual relationships feet away. Sure, a few had been incarcerated wrongly but most were guilty. We were enduring our punishments."