Prison guide for families
Families are often prisoners awaiting for their love ones to come home from prison. For those who are serving a life sentence, their families tend to be in prison themselves.
Do you know someone who is serving time behind bars? It isn’t easy for anyone. Here is somethings to keep in mind while your loved one is locked away in prison.
Write letters. Writing letters helps you to stay connected. It keeps the channels of communication open. All prisons have rules and guidelines for an inmate to receive letters. Before writing and mailing a letter out to the prison, be sure to find out the rules. All prisons basically have the same rules and guidelines. For example; no vulgar words and nudity, etc.
Visit regularly if possible. The location of the prison and the family will determine if visits are even possible. If the distance is too great, an annual visit may be the only time to see them.
Join support groups. Support groups will help ease the pain of having a loved one serving time behind bars. These groups may not be available in your area. You can create one yourself to fit your needs and wants. Talking to others in similar situations does tend to ease the pain and frustration.
Receive phone calls. This can become very costly over time. Prisoners are only allowed to collect from a payphone. These calls aren’t cheap. But families can purchase phone cards for the prisoners to use to call home. This saves some money for the families.
Stay positive. Being negative will not help the situation. Negative thoughts never helped anyone. Positive thoughts will help you get through the tough days and nights.
Don’t give up hope. There is always hope in almost every situation. Faith does exist, whether we believe it to be true or not. Hope is out there. Just keep believing and never give up.
Prison life is no picnic. Families suffer right along with an inmate. It isn’t easy for children of inmates to grow up without their parent with them. This is often for the best. Even though it is tough, everything happens for a reason. We can’t change the past, but we can change the outcome of the future.
Stay positive. It will get better in time. You must stay strong. Negativity will do you no good. Never lose sight on the positive or the future.