by Melissa Bee | Jan 3, 2016 | From the Staff
This publication was created for you â family members, friends, and advocates of prisoners. In each issue you will find useful resources for and from inmates; artwork, stories, recommendations from both adopters and adoptees; and news from the staff. Donât forget to print and send a copy to your inmate loved one. We welcome your feedback and comments.
Enter your email in the sidebar to the right and receive each new issue in your email.
Click on image below for full PDF.
by Melissa Bee | Dec 16, 2015 | From the Staff, News
Fern Ridge Review December 16, 2015
A new non-profit taking on a life of its own
Nice piece in the Fern Ridge Review, with possible follow-up article in the future. Click below for PDF with text.
Minor corrections to article:
- Rick is Executive Director, Melissa is She-EO
- Negative comments have appeared only on the Facebook page, never here on the website – you guys are all angels đÂ
Fern Ridge Review Article-12-2015
by Rick Fisk | Dec 14, 2015 | Book Review, Inmate Contributors
We introduced you to our friend Martin Lockett in a previous blog post. We are thrilled to say that Martin will be a regular contributor both here and in our quarterly newsletter. Do yourself a favor and get this book!
ââŚâ
Good people make mistakes. Martin Lockett is a good person who made an error in judgement which resulted in the deaths of two people. But for one red light, Martin might have escaped fate. After reading his memoir it is apparent that Lockett truly regrets the loss of life he caused but embraces his fate and his punishment without regret.
In Palpable Irony: Losing My Freedom to Find my Purpose, Lockett describes his journey from a shy, awkward young boy to a young man who falls in with some pretty rough characters just at that pivotal time when heâs coming into his own as an individual. The narrative – not only is it brutally honest, but also very well-written – makes one realize just how thin is that line between social failure and success.
(more…)
by Melissa Bee | Dec 1, 2015 | From the Staff
Adopt an Inmate wants to wish all of our followers, volunteers, and adopters a very happy and blessed holiday season.
Our first volunteer day was very successful, and will be a regular event. We made new friends, we processed mail, we noshed, we listened to music, and we even got some people adopted.Â
UPDATE: our waiting list is growing exponentially, with hundreds of forgotten people who are actively seeking friends and mentors to help them get through their time whole. Donations to our YouCaring campaign for postage are always welcome. Physical stamps can be mailed to:
Adopt an Inmate
PO Box 1543
Veneta, OR 97487
by Melissa Bee | Nov 23, 2015 | From the Inside
This artwork was sent in from Timothy in Ohio, who maintains his innocence.
I continue to fight my case on my own and will continue as long as it takes to be a free man again.
by Inmate Contributor | Nov 15, 2015 | C.F. Guyton, Poetry From Prison
Submitted by C.F. Guyton, pictured below with his wife.
I loved you from Day One
And on Day Two I made it my mission
To be wed to you.
As far as Day Three goes
It was signed, sealed and delivered
By angels in the Heavens.
And at Day Four, we’d love fromÂ
Ceiling to floor.
On Day Five, with you
I found what I’d been waiting for.
And on Day Six, we rested.
Just to wake up on Day Seven
To Eternity.
by Inmate Contributor | Nov 14, 2015 | Shawn Ali Bahrami
  
Our friend Shawn is serving his 21st year in a Texas prison for a crime he did not commit. Shawn is one of my personal adoptees, and writes to me often. We also speak on the phone a few times a month. His letters, like the one below, always begin with several motivational quotes. Of all the people who write to us, Shawn is one of the most positive and inspiring. You can read more about Shawn on his website, FREEShawnAli.com.
September 30, 2015
âNothing in life can take the place of knowing your purpose. If you donât try to discover your purpose, youâre likely to spend your life doing the wrong things.â -John C. Maxwell
âEveryone has his own specific vocation or mission in life. Everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he/she cannot be replaced, nor can his/her life be repeated. Thus everyoneâs task is as unique as his/her specific opportunity to implement it.â -Viktor Frankl
Good morning. Itâs early. I was dreaming again, woke up wide awake and couldnât go back to sleep. From the moment I woke up, I felt so alive and determined, I could literally feel my mind and spirit inching closer to my destiny. I woke up this morning feeling peace and liberty inside because I know my purpose, and it excites and motivates me to know Iâm one day closer to fulfilling the physical manifestations of my purpose. But for now, I have to live for today, Melissa, the little things I do today to prepare and train myself matter, and count towards fulfilling the full potential of my purpose.
I couldnât stop the tears this morning, they kept falling and flowing as if they were watering my positive mental visualizations and dreams that I reflected on as I thought about my purpose. It didnât surprise me, when I opened up my Leadership Devotional, that todayâs reading was titled âBe On Purpose,â and itâs where todayâs quotes came from. More tears. Why? Because if I never got locked up on this case, if I was never wrongfully convicted, there is a good chance I could have traveled through this fast life without discovering my purpose. No God, please let me get locked up, use manâs wrongdoing and injustice to bring about greatness in my life. I can miss my physical freedom for 21 years, but I cannot miss my lifetime without discovering my purpose.
Then I read my three pages of goals and visions for my life out loud, and I could feel the universe and God moving the chess pieces of my life to align me in the best position to realize my purpose. People. Events. Circumstances. Experiences. Connections. Contacts. I can feel the unseen chess pieces moving. Then I hit my concrete floor in the push-up position, but I only did one good push-up. Why? for the psychological effect (it makes my mind stronger). Yesterday, I did 1,200 push-ups for the physical effect (which made my body stronger). More tears. Iâm stronger today than I was yesterday – physically and mentally – and though Iâm caged in this tiny cell, I find and feel true freedom in knowing and pursuing my purpose.
Give me a hug, Melissa, mmm-mmm! We know our purposes in life, Melissa. Yes, it took your brother getting wrongfully convicted to âaccidentallyâ discover your purpose, and it took my wrongful conviction to âaccidentallyâ discover my purpose, but bad things and tragedies happening in life are inevitable, so we are so blessed that our tragedies werenât for nothing because our pain propelled us to discover our purposes.
I also received a new blog idea this morning for your site – Why You Should Adopt an Inmate – because there are many people out there who will find purpose in life when they visit your site and adopt an inmate. Have a good day, Melissa, and keep pursuing your purpose.
Feeling inspired,
Shawn Ali
by Melissa Bee | Nov 6, 2015 | Angel Voices, From the Staff
Yesterday’s blog post was a poem and drawing sent to us by Ron in Florida. I showed my 82-year old aunt Nancy the picture, because she loves to see the artwork that prisoners send in. Nancy has lost some of her ability to read and write, but makes a valiant effort when it is important. When I read the title of the Ron’s poem to her, “I Wish Someone Would Pray For Me,” she immediately handed me a pen and asked me to write his name down, so that she could keep it near her bedside and remember to pray for him. I wrote in large letters, RON. She would carry the paper with his name to me several times a day, sounding out the letters, making sure she was saying his name correctly, “RrrrrrrrAhhhhhNnnn.”
A few days later, Nancy came to me carrying a pad of paper, and said she would like to write a letter to Ron. I thought she wanted to dictate to me so I could write it for her, but instead she handed me a letter she had started and wanted to me to check it, to see if it made sense. I assured her that it did, and she shuffled off to finish the letter – which was mailed to Ron yesterday.
She wrote about looking out her window and seeing the beautiful colors of the trees and flowers in her backyard (Nancy loves color), and of the children that came the night before in their Halloween costumes to get candy. “I once did that, did you?”
Won’t Ron be surprised, and blessed, to receive Nancy’s sweet letter, and to know that such an earnest soul is praying for him?
by Inmate Contributor | Nov 5, 2015 | Poetry From Prison
I Wish Someone Would Pray For Me
by R. Tillman
by Martin Lockett | Nov 4, 2015 | Inmate Contributors
It was a frigid Tuesday morning in January when the van I rode in pulled up to the prison in eastern Oregon. From a distance it resembled more of an insane asylum than a prison, with its dingy-colored concrete exterior and brick-colored metal rooftop. Intimidating, imposing, and inhumane are all adjectives that readily come to mind as I recount that fateful day.
(more…)
