Gabriel City » Mother http://gabrielcity.com Gabriel City is a community for the tens of millions of Americans directly affected by our criminal justice system. We come together to share our stories and help to shape new ones. Inmates and the formerly incarcerated, family members of those serving time, men and women under community supervision, professionals in criminal justice and corrections, and the victims of crime; we support and respect each other as we work to break the endless cycle of crime and incarceration that afflicts our nation. Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:39:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Thinking About Mother http://gabrielcity.com/poetry-and-spoken-word/thinking-about-mother.html http://gabrielcity.com/poetry-and-spoken-word/thinking-about-mother.html#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:34:27 +0000 hcdmedia http://gabrielcity.com/?p=1972 The author is trying to convey that within the walls of prison, there is plenty of time to think of how things could have been different.

Thinking About Mother
©  Terrie L. Sherman
Within these walls this prison
My mind and thoughts run free.
I think of mom and days gone by
And of what she meant to me.
I wonder how life would have been
Had she not gone away
And would I be behind these bars
If she were here today
How would my life be different?
I’ve asked a million times
If I could only talk to her
She might have stopped my crimes.
I’m thankful for the time we had
But she could not have known
Of the dark void left within my life
In the years since she’s been gone.
I needed her and miss her.
I love her for a fact
But I know my life is different
And I know I can’t turn back.

Read more prison poetry here.

]]> http://gabrielcity.com/poetry-and-spoken-word/thinking-about-mother.html/feed 0 Moms Behind Bars http://gabrielcity.com/news-and-journalism/moms-behind-bars.html http://gabrielcity.com/news-and-journalism/moms-behind-bars.html#comments Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:29:19 +0000 hcdmedia http://gabrielcity.com/?p=944 Donnie Belcher grew up as a girl without a mother. At the young age of 4, Donnie was forced to live with her grandmother because her mother was incarcerated for armed robbery, which may have been fueled by her addication to crack-coaine.  This is not a rare scenario. Growing up with a mother in prison is more and more common each year. Because of the increasing number of children growing up without mothers, some prisons have actually begun to create programs that help bring mothers and their chldren closer together while behind bars.

Read the special report by the US Department of Justice on incarcerated parents.

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