Letters to Prison
Today I got to send letters to 25 different men in Michigan Department of Corrections facilities.
Part of rebuilding things at work has been figuring out who does what job around the office. This past week we realized that no one had been responding to letters guys in prison had been sending us. So I drew what I thought was the short straw and was tasked with responding to all of these letters.
As I was looking up their MDOC number and facility so I could address their letters, I got to see when they were expected to come home. There were a couple guys slated to come home from prison this year. And then there were some that had the Earliest Release Date (ERD) set at “LIFE”.
This meant that these men would never see freedom. They would never get to come home. They were supposed to live out their lives and die in prison.
I had to sit with this for a bit. I thought my 9 months in county jail was rough. And it was. But to think about never coming home. That just feels hopeless.
In the past 5 years at work, I have met so many juvanile lifers. Men that were sentenced to life without parole all before they turned 18. Because of law changes, they were resentenced and given a parole. These are some of the necest men I have ever met and they have worked hard to change themselves while on the inside.
I believe that people need to be punished for their crimes. But I also believe that punishment isn’t enough. There needs to be rehabilitation and restoration. And that looks different for everybody.
I am coming up on the anniversary of being released from jail. So my thoughts have been on that lately. I am so grateful for the second chance I have been given and always love seeing others live out their second chances.
Hopefully the men that are up for parole this year receive the letters I sent and create a plan to come to our housing program. Hopefully the men that have several years left til they are up for parole find hope in the letters I sent. And I pray that the men facing life in prison would find freedom while inside. I pray that the letters would bless them and their time on the inside and that they wouldn’t let the prison walls stop them from finding healing and purpose.
