A Letter from the Inside

I received a letter from someone who is still at Carswell this week. It was not someone I was particularly close to, but she took a liking to me immediately when we met. We met through the Jewish activities, although she was far more religiously Jewish than I was - she had spent part of her life living in Israel.

We never lived on the same unit and we did not have the same friends. We were very different ages as well. I was one of very few people who did not know of her crime prior to meeting her and simply talked to her as a person - perhaps that was the difference. 

Had it not been that we both had medical issues we would never have been in the same prison. She was there with a life sentence for being the mastermind behind a famous murder. Her story has been written in books, included on episodes of shows such as "Snapped" and has far greater news headlines than my own. I only knew her as an older lady in a wheelchair - with a pretty brusk attitude - fighting for her rights and her healthcare like the rest of us. She was the unofficial leader of the Jewish community on the compound.

She knows me as "the woman who saved Passover." Last year was a nightmare and everything pretty much fell apart with Passover. Red and I worked together to make sure that we could have a good Seder and everyone was super happy. It really went well. I guess they were talking about it last week and so she wrote me because they are starting to plan this year's Passover - Red and I are no longer there.

I hope we left them all enough of the ideas to make this year's Passover as good if not better. The community may be small, but they deserve to enjoy their holidays just like the other communities do.

How do I feel about the fact that I received a letter from someone who happens to have such a background? It's fine with me. Truth is, we have no idea of the backgrounds of people we talk to or sit next to every single day. I personally do not feel that I have the right to judge someone else. She is already locked up for life. Being kind to her certainly does not justify her past actions but it says that she may be more than just her past. Aren't we all?