Prison Walls
shared by Marcy Walker / ga04262007
 

I just wanted to let everyone know of an amazing combined activity that our youth took this past Tuesday.  Now this is going to sound a little odd… but…. All of our youth 14 and older went to the PRISON IN SALT LAKE.  Our first counselor is the one who told us about it – one of her family members works at the prison.  It took quite a bit of effort in advance to set it up… they had to gather the social security number and birth date of each kid and adult that went.  The prison then did a VERY basic background check to make sure that they didn’t have any connection with any of the prisoners.  When the kids got there they were introduced to the low security prison area… walking thru security checks, multiple locked doors and metal detectors.  They were able to get a very small glance at what it feels like to have all your freedom taken away.  When the 6 prisoners entered the room, both of my kids said that they were a bit scared; these guys were the real thing.  The prisoners are in a special program called “Conquest House”.  Of the over 6,000 prisoners at the Salt Lake prison only 430 of there were invited to participate in this particular program.   They had to apply for the program and if they didn’t follow the rules EXACTLY they would be sent back to the general population. The kids were allowed to ask them any question they wanted and the prisoners would answer.  These men ranged from a 23 year old man who had served 8 months of his 52 month sentence for vehicular homicide while driving intoxicated to a man who had spent a combined total of 18 years of his 43 years in prison.

I have 2 kids who went to this, one a very quiet 14 year old son who doesn’t really have much to say about what he does in YM and a 16 year old daughter who figures that her parents are just out to ruin her life and her YW leaders never plan anything interesting or worthwhile… and both of them have spent a lot of time telling me about it… both have said that the guys all told them to recognize that their families will always be there for them, they’re always looking out for their best interest and that they know what they’re talking about.  It may seem like “everyone” is doing something… but if it’s wrong, or it’s a sin… that doesn’t matter, they shouldn’t do it…

I have already told the YW president that I thought that our youth should do this thing EVERY year… and that they may want to tell the stake about it so that they can pass on the information to the other wards.   I can’t really explain how powerful the is experience was to my kids… just know that it sparked something in both of them that I was worried was either lost or so deeply hidden that it would never come out…