February 1990
Incarcerated For Life

Several months later there were only twelve out of a great number that had been arrested in St. Petersburg that did not pay tremendous fines, and we asked for a trial. The Judge, Patrick Caddell conferred with our attorney who came from New York and he said we would have to pay a $500 fine and serve probation also. We all refused to do this so he gave us all SIX MONTHS in jail! This Judge was a Catholic, but he was a judge first and he wanted to break the back of the Rescue movement by imposing these high fines or jail time. Other protestors like Green Peace, Labor Unions, and Homosexuals never get this kind of treatment, even common criminals get a lesser sentence for their acts of violence. Rescuers are always peaceful, passive and non-violent. So twelve of us Rescuers were thrown in jail for six months in the Pinnellas County jail. By this time I had seen the inside of several jails, but I was truly amazed at how nice this one was (as far as jails go). I believe that the Lord had prepared us for this long stay, and was going to use us in a mighty way.

First I will describe the jail some. It was called a minimum security jail. Three pro-life Rescuers, myself and two other ladies were confined in a cell that was a room that housed twenty four women. It had cubicles with two sets of bunk beds a built in small desk and closet in each cubicle. Then there was the open space with a picnic table in it and several smaller tables and a T,V., and a telephone. At the far end of the cell was the bathroom, it had three showers, sinks and three stalls with doors on them. For which I was most grateful. Then there was even a washer and dryer in a little room in there. There were four of these cells in this one building. Then there was a dining hall, that also substituted for a work room during the day, and when there was visiting hours the visitors would come and meet in there. And of course there was the guards station. Outside there was a fenced area where we could go out each day at a certain time for recreation, which consisted of a volleyball net, and some picnic tables. We dubbed the place "The Hallelujah Hilton".

We had a choice of work detail, which we could either go out and work at a dog pound, go work on the grounds around the jail, or work in the kitchen, or do sewing, which consisted of sewing vinyl covers and putting mattresses in them and sewing that up. This is what I did. And I believe that they brought us every mattress in the whole county hahahah.

The regular prisoners were in there for prostitution, stealing, and drug charges. It was so sad to see so many young people in jail, and caught up in a viscous circle. While we were in jail we had alot of time to get to know our cell mates and to minister to them, and even the guards. I counseled, encouraged, and prayed with most of the girls. They all called me Mom. One night a new inmate was put in our cell block and she heard me talking about abortion and she said well it's a woman's choice and that I should mind my own business. Well I never had a chance to respond before the other inmates came to my defense and told her not to talk to Mom like that because I was a Christian. Later this young girl came to me and apologized and she said she could see Jesus in me. Praise the Lord.!! What a friend we have in Jesus.

I was able to call out collect to several Christian radio talk shows and explain live on the air, the terrible injustice of abortion and what the system was doing to the people who dared to stand up to it, and even lay down their honor, fortunes and lives, so that others might live. I was even able to call my local newspaper back home, and was very grateful when they accepted my collect calls and then printed some articles.

One night we had a talent show in our cell block that I had arranged. The black girls told me if I would write a song, they would rap it for me, and probably be singing it in the streets. So I wrote:

DESTRUCTION OF LIFE

BE A HERO SAVE A WHALE,
SAVE A BABY AND GO TO JAIL

INCARCERATED FOR LIFE IS WHAT WE ARE,
WHILE ABORTIONISTS DRIVE A BRAND NEW CAR

DESTRUCTION, DESTRUCTION, DESTRUCTION OF LIFE

IF WE DON'T STOP THIS HORRIBLE SLAUGHTER,
GOD WILL DEAL WITH US AS HE OUGHTA

PEOPLE THINK MORE OF DRUGS AND FUN
THAN WHY GOD SENT HIS ONLY SON.

The girls helped me write it and even gave it the title. And that night at the talent show we rapped it. It was a great success and the newspaper back home even printed it. The girls and I had a great time rehearsing and preparing for the talent show. They platted my hair for me, and I wore a head band.HaHa.

The jail ministry people would come in to have a service, and I always encouraged the girls to come, a great many of them came after some coaxing. One night during a service we were really praising the Lord in song and prayer and the fire alarms in the whole building kept going off and on, so we just sang louder.

I was in this jail on my birthday, and on Easter. The inmates made me beautiful cards that they drew, and put scripture verses on for me, this really touched me. I believe it was one of the best if not the best birthday I ever had, knowing that I could give up my freedom and my birthday, that others might have a birthday. Then the girls were like one big family to me also. At Easter, I was laying in my bunk that Sunday morning and one of the black inmates came to me and said, Mom would you like to hear my godfather preach? She had a little portable radio with a headphone and I said sure. Well that was a very moving gesture and then the wonderful sermon that I heard brought me to tears.

One day a new inmate arrived, and it happened to be a nurse who had worked at the very killing center that we had done the Rescue at. She was even there the day that we were. Well she was in jail for drunk driving, and only received a sentence of 10 days, imagine that. One of my other duties was to give out clean uniforms on laundry day. Now this nurse was a very large girl, so I went through all the uniforms and found the biggest one for her to make her feel more comfortable. I talked to her several times and showed her some of the pictures on abortion that I had. Then one night I heard someone throwing up in the bathroom, so I went back to see if I could help the person, and it was this nurse. She told me she had severe migrane headaches, so I asked her if I could pray for her and she said yes, so I layed my hands on her and prayed and when I had finished praying, Jesus had removed her migrane headache. Praise the Lord! It was during my stay in this jailhouse that the Lord blessed me with the precious gift of laying on of hands.

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