Kinsey has been getting missed calls on her phone for weeks.  And the person never left a voice mail.  She brought me her phone one day and asked if I could look it up.  She was getting calls from a local prison.  I figured who ever was calling her must have been calling a wrong number and didn’t think a thing about it. Until Monday night when Kinsey answered the call coming in from that number.  It was the Warden at the Luther Luckett Correctional Center, they had been trying to get a hold of us for weeks.

Kinsey had won a scholarship from the Veterans Club!

The Warden asked if she would have her mom call, so I did.  They were having a banquet in honor of the scholarship recipients (3 total) at the prison.  He went on to tell me all the things I needed to know.

1. No photographs please.

2. Leave your phones and purse in the car.

3. Dress modestly and casually.

4. There are lots of guards on duty – but wanted to assure me that we aren’t having the banquet in the Yard.

O_O

I tell you what, I for sure didn’t know what to expect.  And any ideas I did have were thrown right out the window as soon as we arrived.

I have never been to a jail before.  And all I have to say about that is that there is a lot of ID checking and a lot of big metal doors.  And my shoes set off the metal detector.

Once we rounded the corner after big door #2 the Warden was out in the hall to greet us, and the first thing he said was, “I forgot to tell you not to bring more than $50 on you.” Well hello to you too! haha! I assured him I didn’t have $50 on me. And he turned to big metal doors #3 & #4.

Let me first tell you what my crazy mind thought and there was absolutely zero indication this was how things were going to go.  I thought – oh, a Veterans club meets at the prison. That’s nice. Must me a lovely community service thing.  I expected to see guards.  I did not expect to see prisoners. I was wrong. One would have thought that by big metal door #3 I would have clued in on what was about to happen. But no.

As big metal door #4 opened, the Warden motioned for us to take our seats near the door.  We did quickly as the program was already in progress.  The speaker (an Army Chaplin) talked about mistakes and forgiveness.  And as she spoke I began to look around the room.

It was a cafeteria like place. On one side of the room (where we sat) were each of the scholarship recipients and a parent or two.  Along with a representative from the Marines.  Then there was a gap where the podium stood against a wall with Vet flags.

On the other side of the room sat approximately 30-40 prisoners in their prison khakis. And all I could think was – well that was unexpected!  The Veterans were the prisoners! How on earth did I not see that coming?

Then the leader of the Veterans Club (a prisoner as well) spoke.  He said, “$500 is not a lot for college, we wish it could be more. But to these guys, $500 is a lot. The average prisoner makes 75 cents a day. And they are giving that to you because they are proud of you.”  I immediately started doing the math.  That is the equivalent of one prisoner working 2 full years to give Kinsey money for college. I immediately went from being slightly off balance by the whole situation to being incredibly moved by the generosity and kindness.

The scholarships were given out. And Kinsey’s actually came from the newly formed Audio Visual Club at the prison. They said, “We had some extra money this year, and wanted to give a scholarship.”  The Audio Visual Club had also recently acquired a small camera.  And all through the banquet proudly took photos.  Often excitedly remarking that they are making a scrap book. The Warden later explained to us that there are no photos in prison. The camera is part of the new program and that is why they are so excited about having a scrap book. It means a lot to them to be able to have a photograph. We posed for every photo asked.

The leader of the group asked who was in charge of cutting the cake. And one of the prisoners bashfully raised his hand. Then we took a brief recess for cake.

At this point Kinsey leans over to me and says, “But I don’t want cake.”

Well, after all that, we were eating cake whether we wanted to or not.

So many little things happened during the break that amplified my feelings. From watching the volunteer cake cutter slice giant pieces of cake using something that looked like a spackle knife and noting that he never made eye contact with anyone – ever.  Even when he came over after cutting the cake to shake Kinsey’s hand and tell her congratulations. Always bashfully looking at the ground. To the constant line of prisoners coming up and shaking Kinsey and my hands to tell her how proud they were of her and that she will make mistakes, but mistakes happen and it will be okay.  To realizing that cake probably didn’t happen very often and giant pieces became a beautiful thing. To the warden being so proud of how well the kitchen crew had decorated the cake and matched the school’s colors. To everyone of them knowing Kinsey was going to Brigham Young University and how impressed they were by that.  Every little detail – It was overwhelming.

What I was experiencing and my preconceived notions about prison did not match.

The leader of the club asked if any of the parents would like to say something. All three of us moms said we would like to say thank you. And so when we reconvened he invited us to come up and speak.  I went second, and as my tear ducts are working overtime these last 6 months, I easily cried. I saw one prisoner get up out of the corner of my eye and moments later I had a napkin in my hand. Such kindness.  I thanked them for their service to our country. I told them that sending a child off to college for the first time was a hard thing and they made it a little less hard. I told them how grateful I was that they cared so much about the kids in our community to try and give them a head start. And I cried a lot.

And then it was over. We took more photos. Shook more hands. The head of the audio visual club told us how impressed they were with Kinsey’s ACT score and GPA. He told us about his kids and how proud he is of them. He was so young, thoughtful and well spoken that Kinsey was shocked to realize he was a prisoner.

And as these men began to line up along the back wall to leave, one stepped out of line and approached me.

He was old. probably late 70’s. He was missing all his front teeth.  His hair was long, to the shoulders, grey and scraggly. And he took my hand in his and leaned in. He whispered:

“Do not thank us. God merely worked through us to give you what he knew you needed.”

And with that he stepped back in line and smiled his toothless grin as we walked out the 1st of 4 big metal doors that separate the world from what ever mistakes these men made.

I got asked later what type of  of facility Luther Luckett is. So I looked it up. This is the psychiatric facility of the prison.  Here is where you go if you have substance abuse related crimes and if you have mental disorders.  This is not minimum security. These men were convicted of murders, assault, rape, abuse, ect.  But knowing this will never change the fact that these men touched my heart. These men gave a widows mite to my daughter.