George,

I am a former inmate of Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women and one of Elizabeth's former students. She is an excellent teacher of Computer Assisted Drafting, but much more she inspired me to seek to educate myself and not give up and give in to my old ways. Although the certification did not help me find employment when I was released in 2005, the skills that I learned from Elizabeth were valuable in earning my Associate's Degree in Psychology and continuing my education to seek a Bachelor's Degree in the same field.

What Elizabeth writes in her essays are the same lessons that she teaches her students and all short timers who have definite release dates. She made me promise that I would not return to prison, and told me that she did not want to see me back in there. It has been 4 years and I have not only kept my promise, but I have been attending school since 2007 and all to show Elizabeth that what she was telling me did not fall on deaf ears.

I know that the message that Elizabeth is trying to pass on is a valuable message not only to the women who currently call FCCW home, but all people in society and the heads of the system who insist on locking up humans and expecting them to rehabilitate themselves. It takes a very strong person to know when enough is enough, and most people in prison have had enough but they don't see a way out of the lifestyles that they have become so accustomed to. Elizabeth is only one person and she can only reach so many people. If I can do anything to help her in her quest to change the behaviors of prisoners, I will.

Chanda Holley (Electronic mail, April 7, 2009)

Note: The essays by Elizabeth Haysom, published in a local newspaper as 'Glimpses from Inside,' have been republished on this website. An index may be found at http://george.loper.org/~george/trends/2003/Sep/925.html.