How do you love a stranger locked away in prison? I was only 7, and that stranger was the reason I was shuttled through metal detectors on Saturday mornings. His addiction was why I was in a pastel visiting room in an uncomfortable chair in a room of men in white jumpsuits convicted of crimes in the state of Arkansas. This stranger is my father. My twin brother and I were taken to visit my father in prison three times as children between the ages of 7 and 9. I have no memory of hin before he was in prison.
My father’s prison became mine, I won’t let it become my son’s
June 2, 2022
