Imagine that you made a mistake for whatever reason. You made a mistake and the penalty is that you are 
confined to a facility for years – decades or for life.
You are cut off from regular interaction with your family.
If you are a mother, you can’t raise your own children.
You are cut off from regular interaction with your friends.
You are cut off from the world.
You are cut off from technology.
Do you have windows?
You will never take a walk in the park again.
Everything that you do each and everyday follows a structure that you did not set up for yourself.
You don’t see your son or daughter take their first steps.
You won’t be there when your child is sick and in need of their mom.
You won’t be there to see your daughter off to the prom or to watch your son get married.
You’re a woman and if you don’t have children and time does not allow, then you will never be able to.
You will never know life growing inside your body.
You will never have the incredible, incredible joy of looking into your baby’s eyes.
You won’t go for a night out on the town.
No more stockings, high heels, fancy dresses and dinners at fine restaurants. Even McDonald’s is off your list.
Drive a car? Never again.
Making love to that special man? Nope.
Loneliness is always.
Sadness and depression is forever.
You can’t attend funerals for your parents and other family members or friends.
If you are young facing decades, then whatever you thought you would be when you grew up is gone. Now you have to find a way to be something else.
Dreams are dead.
Be a pen pal to an incarcerated sister. Be an ear, be a voice, be concern and sharing of hope, caring and love. You could take a few minutes out of your week to write a letter. Inmates do have jobs and do get paid, but only pennies per day. So, maybe they might need help buying stamps.
Better still, get with you fraternity sisters or other organization and target a women’s prison. Go speak to the resident pastor or community facilitator. Between the two of you, a group of women prisoners and outside women can be matched together to be pen pals. The organization can find a way to make sure that stamps, pens and writing paper are provided to the female inmates so they write to their new found associates on a regular basis. Embrace all women everywhere. No one is perfect, we all make mistakes and we are all deserving of compassion and friendship.