September 13, 2018

Since my incarceration, I started a nonprofit organization called Passion for Prisoners because I wanted to go back into the prisons — and through the front gate this time. Running a prison ministry keeps me way busy and I’m sacrificing a lot, but I feel this is my calling.

Life is too short to not be doing what you were always meant to do. Recreate the life you want one step at a time. Nothing is certain, but the one thing I know: Until you do what you are meant to do, everything else will be hollow.

I took Talk to Me Speaking twice — once in the fall of 2012 and again in the spring of 2013. The experience changed my life in many ways. For one thing, Truth Be Told showed me how to live a life of authenticity. I was already struggling to understand who I was and how I wanted to change and become in my new life, and my Truth Be Told family has always worked hard to help me understand how to do that.

I learned that owning your truth is powerful, because no one can ever take it away from you. And if you accept all the facets of who you are, you will be able to shape them into the person you want to be. The only thing stopping me from doing that is me.

Whether I’m having a good day or a bad day, I am just grateful and happy. My grandchildren are my world! I work as an administrative assistant at Integral Care, which is the Local Mental Health Authority (LMHA). Each county in Texas has an LMHA, and we’re the one for Travis County! We provide psychiatric evaluations, 24-hour crisis interventions, medication treatment, employment and vocational services, family support and respite care, housing information, referrals and a lot more. I assist clients who have psychiatric and substance abuse needs. What I find most rewarding about my job is getting to work directly with our clients.

Truth Be Told is worth supporting because it empowers women when they are at their lowest, and it rebuilds them up and gives them something to strive for. Truth Be Told also offers such a great network (of other program graduates and volunteers) in the community to help keep you on the right track when you are released.

Life today is beautiful. When I was incarcerated, I began a transformation of my heart, mind and spirit. Thanks to Truth Be Told, that is still flowing since my release in November 2008.

Before September 1, I was a nurse at a drug rehabilitation center in Dallas, which was very rewarding because I was helping in an area that was my core problem — drug addiction. Drug addiction was the underlying reason for my incarceration.

However, on September 1, I transitioned into my new job as the executive director of Girls Embracing Mothers (GEM), a Dallas-based nonprofit organization founded by my daughter, Brittany K. Barnett, to empower girls with mothers in prison to break the cycle of incarceration and lead successful lives with vision and purpose. We partner with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for enhanced visits between our girls and their mothers to help break the cycle and build the bond.

Today, I work for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas as the criminal justice outreach coordinator. Earlier this year, I became a published author, and I have been chosen for fellowships with local and national leadership organizations. I am also really proud of a summer cooking “program” that I started with my kids. They are tasked with going through our recipe books and choosing something to cook for a family dinner, writing the ingredients down so I can shop for them, and then — with help — cooking the meal. They love it because they get to choose a dessert, and I love the time we get to spend together doing something that is fun and teaches them to be independent.

I do a lot for the transitional women’s ministry, New Beginnings-Big Country (NBBC), which supports women coming out of jail and prison here in Abilene. I volunteer many hours doing mostly administrative and behind-the-scenes stuff. I write letters that women need for any number of reasons, handle housing paperwork, print acceptance letters for incarcerated women and do a newsletter for the organization. I built and maintain frameworks for tracking women from prison to NBBC to beyond. There’s a lot more, but it’s difficult to list it all. It just comes naturally. While I prefer many times to build capacity versus perform direct services, direct service is part of the package too.

I recently wrote and received a grant for United Way catalyst funding for NBBC and conducted a campaign for our local AbileneGives. The total just from those two efforts was almost $20,000. I’m super happy about that!

My life today is completely different than the life that sent me to prison. I have been clean and sober for 9-plus years. I have an associate’s degree in applied sciences with an emphasis in chemical dependency. I am one class from completing a bachelor’s degree in addiction psychology. My life is a testimony about how a woman can change her life and become a servant leader to society. I spend a lot of time with family, especially my granddaughters. My life is very busy but very fruitful.

I am a volunteer program facilitator with Truth Be Told. I go into the prison once a week to facilitate the Talk to Me Speaking class, where the women create a 5- to 7-minute speech about their life experiences and choices that led to their incarceration. I do this work because I know all too well what prison feels like because my story has several chapters of incarceration in it. I want to be a beacon of hope and light to any woman who has a desire to change.

My life today is more than amazing and full of ‘awe-full’ moments. To think that my life almost eight years ago was a wreck. I only had a sixth grade education, a broken spirit and a death wish. Today, I have two degrees — an associate of applied sciences degree in general human services and a bachelor of science degree in social psychology. I have been sober for almost eight years after a 25-year dance with death and six felonies.

My life today is so full of beauty, even in the hard times. I never believed I would be where I am today.