Involved
Involved is a fictionalized story, based on true events, about the people on the outside - the family, friends, and loved ones who navigate life alongside those who are incarcerated. Mixing moments of humor and heartbreak, the series explores resilience, love, and the far-reaching impact of incarceration on those inside, those outside who love them, and the broader community.
In Season one of "Involved" we’re introduced to Myra, whose husband’s incarceration at a medium and minimum security prison impacts every aspect of her life. We follow along with her to the prison for visits, as she launches prison wife radio, and reveals the day-to-day complexities of supporting a loved one who is incarcerated. From early episodes where Myra shares her experiences of visiting her husband at prison, to later episodes when he transitions into work release, Myra’s life as a prison wife is explored through candid reflections and intimate anecdotes shedding light on the profound impact of incarceration not only on her husband but also on their relationship and their shared past. In each of the twelve episodes, Myra confronts societal stigma and challenges prevailing narratives about incarceration, advocating for empathy and understanding towards those impacted by the criminal justice system - and making the case that we are ALL impacted in some way or another. Involved is educational, entertaining, and heartfelt while reminding us the System is most definitely the villain.
Involved
Episode 12: Not Home Home, Work Release Home
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In the final episode of season one, Myra provides an update on her husband's transition to work release. As she waits outside the facility, Myra expresses gratitude for the support they've received and reflects on the significant events of the past three weeks and two days. She recounts the stress of the first day of work release, where they endured a 24-hour blackout period without communication. Despite her husband's difficulty adjusting to the unfamiliar environment, including overwhelming sights and sounds, Myra finds solace in their reunion during a visit to the cramped visiting room. Reflecting on his compassionate nature, she recalls instances of his selflessness, even at personal risk. Myra reminisces about their past and the shared understanding forged through adversity, acknowledging the profound impact of their first love. As they navigate uncertainty about the future, Myra invites listeners to learn all they can about the criminal legal system, and get more involved.
CREDITS
Intro voices In order of appearance:
Lex Ward
Kassandra Voss
Joellen Terranova
Davonna Dehay
Episode:
Myra: La Tisha Conto
To continue learning about the experiences of families impacted by incarceration and the broader issues we touched on today, check out our website: Https://InvolvedPod.com
There you can find our reading/learning recommendations, learn how to support the show, and check out other episodes.
Intro
Myra: Listeners, I am coming to you live outside the work release facility. It has been three weeks and 2 days since my husband made it out. Not out out, but you know. He’s on the front porch, as we say. I will have so much more to say soon about work release, but first I want to acknowledge all the kind words you have all sent me and my husband. We see it all. Or, I should say, I see it all and relay it to my husband. When he went in to prison, twitter, facebook, instagram, none of it existed so it's hard for him to imagine that I am talking to and receiving messages from people on the interwebs as he calls it. So, thank you. And when he is home, home, we will start the important work of teaching him how to fight with strangers on the internet. I am just kidding. Kind of. Some of your messages weren't so kind. Back to the point. He officially made it to work release. And in the three weeks and two days since I last talked to you a lot has happened. So, while I wait for the visiting to open I'm going to give you a bit of an update.
Myra: The day they moved him to work release was tough. We didn’t talk for the full 24 hours and it was beyond stressful for him. I think it was easier on me because I didn’t expect to hear from him, but he said he thought that he would be able to get a phone somehow before the full 24 hours. He doesn’t elaborate much on the phone so I won’t know details until I go in and see him, and even then he said the visiting room is like a broom closet. He told me he didn’t sleep at all. They came to get him early, and he made his way to the chain bus. When he got to the work release facility – which is three blocks away from my office downtown – they processed him in, and showed him to his room. He said it was strange to look out his window and see cars drive by outside – it made him nauseous to see so much movement but also to see so much color. They had an orientation, and they said that they would be taking a bus to Walmart to get toiletries. This is a first day exercise to get them out, get them acquainted with the bus, and get them acquainted with money and stores. My husband hasn’t seen money, touched money, or had an interaction with a person at a store in almost twenty years. He said it was overwhelming, and that he almost got in trouble because he gave a person who was staying on the street his change. At work release, every dollar you leave with has to be accounted for in the receipt. It could have cost him his stay at work release. Coming back without the correct change could get you sent back to prison.
Myra: That’s the basic condition of prison: they turn acts of humanity into infractions and we end up with a population whose choice is to suffer together or suffer a little bit less alone. It’s beautiful that most of them choose to fight those battles together. They give each other food from trays (infraction) they lend each other soap (infraction) they let each other use their pins to make phone calls (infraction). My husband claimed a shank that wasn’t his to make sure a guy didn’t go to the hole – his family had flown in from out of state for the first time in 10 years and he didn’t want him to miss out on seeing them. He did a year in solitary for it. Most people don’t know that kind of sacrifice and respect.
Myra: When he told me about the change I wanted to be angry with him. But how can I be angry with someone who sees somebody in need and helps – even at great personal risk to themselves. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with him.
Myra: Okay that’s the visit sign, I can go in. More when I get back.
Myra: I am sitting in my car outside my house. I needed to drive and cry before popping back on. He got a job at a granite place which means he lifts heavy pieces of granite into homes for rich people. He can’t believe how much people have. The visiting room is so small. Two tiny couches, we are right up on each other. He’s… okay. I think now that we were able to see each other and touch each other a lot of my anxiety has settled. But for him, it’s at an all time high. Everything is difficult. Sights, sounds, smells, his senses are on overload. He has more freedom, and it comes with more fear. He said his nightmares used to be that he wasn’t at prison because he’d wake up and realize it wasn’t true. Now his nightmares are he is back at prison. You know I was thinking – I don’t know if I ever told you how I met my husband. I was 14. He was sitting in the grass next to me and a couple of my friends. He was watching a softball game. I was watching him. He had a cut on the fold of his ear and he was putting blades of grass over it because... I guess he didn’t have a band aid and he was making do. It now occurs to me that image, seared into my memory, perfectly describes his life. He has always lacked the proper resources to take care of himself, But he’s always made do. We started dating a year later. I fell hard. It was a first love with something extra. We each understood each other. But we let go of each other halfway into senior year. The next couple of years our paths diverged. I was one of the lucky ones who got out. I moved back to my hometown. Far away from everything, my family, my friends, and I went to therapy and started writing. He went to Alaska and worked on a fishing boat to try to escape too. We spent our youth being shuffled between grandmas willing to help out and mothers and fathers unwilling to change habits. Ours was a relationship that understood what the other was talking about, the pain that was communicated in a joke about being left with strangers by your mom at some drug house for the weekend, or seeing your father on the side of the freeway holding a will work for food sign and knowing by eight years old your father was a liar. Only somebody who grew up in my world could laugh at the punchline and make me feel like I was seen and loved for surviving it. Our first love was exactly that, not just the first time we fell in love, but the first time we felt love from a person who understood what we had been through. Hell.
Myra: I don’t know what is next for us. He’ll be at work release for another month and a half and then he’ll come home home. If you’ve been listening from the beginning I want to say thank you. I know that minds don’t change easily. But I hope by the end of this you’re ready to fight and become an abolitionist and say ‘Fuck it, burn it all down.’ Probably not that far, but at the least I hope you understand a little more about the people who are incarcerated and the people who love them.
Myra: Next season on Involved hopefully you’ll hear more from the Family and less from me. We’ll get more into work release, release release, and bring you some of the stories from the Family. Brianna, Bill, Tads, SoPhie, and MaLea. Marriages, businesses, deaths, life without parole, pardons, interruptions… So make sure you're subscribed, and you'll be hearing from us soon about next season. Until then, get involved.