A Good Day at Prison

The morning was different and we anticipated the long awaited event.  As we picked up Board Member  Leah Heathcoat, and  drove the one hour plus to our destination our minds were busy anticipating the things we hoped to accomplish. As we went through the requisite inspection of our bags, fussed with setting off alarms because we forgot to take off a belt or something else, our anticipation increased. Finally, we walked through the reinforced door and heard it slam behind us.

The realization that we were, in fact, inside the Cook Unit at the Arizona State Prison, located in Florence, Arizona, became reality. You might think this would cause an anxiety attack, but it didn’t. The attitude of the approximately 80 men dressed in orange prison clothing was cordial and comfortable.

As we started setting up the props and sound system, I turned to see Linda out shaking hands with the inmates and learning their names. We were there to present the Fix the Hurt play, Control.Assault.Delete.  Deputy Warden Freeland was helpful and made us welcome. While we had performed for the female inmates at Perryville, we had not performed for male inmates and didn’t know what to expect. http://www.azcorrections.gov/prisons/Jeff_Eyman.aspx

What a delightful experience we had. At the close of the performance, the applause was over whelming. The question and answer session went for about forty five minutes and the comments were sincere and contained an unexpected amount of insight.   We distributed surveys/evaluations and spent the return trip reading their remarks.

A few select comments follow:

Responses  to the questions-

Q- Was the program beneficial to you? Why?

R -“The material is an insight to a very real situation that is all too frequent and common. The message is powerful and should be heard by as many people as possible.”

R- “It is important regardless of the choices we have made, to be able to identify the signs of destructive behavior."

Q- Do you have family members and friends that should see this program?

R- “Everyone should see this. If more people were educated on this issue perhaps we could prevent more bad outcomes.”

Responses under comments

R- “You have faced this with unbelievable courage. Perhaps we could raise funds for your cause.”

R- “Your performance was phenomenal. The depth and meaning was inviting and captivating.”

R.- "The play had a powerful impact on me and it was well done. You told the story so powerful that it put me completely in the story and I was drawn into each scene watching things as it unfold.  God has chosen you to tell about this evil, this is a powerful ministry prison DOC inmates need to see this play."

R- "I believe every inmate in every yard should see this play."

The comments go on and on with the same spirit. How grateful we are each time we present our message to teach concepts that will prevent some other person from dropping or being pulled into the pitfall.

Needless to say we walked out on air and hardly noticed the requisite inspection upon leaving the facility. We await our next opportunity to make another presentation to the female inmates at Perryville on July 10^th.  A huge "THANK YOU" to Sen. Rich Crandall, Will Barnow from ADC and Mar Kuhlman, for helping to expedite this process.  

John and Linda