TESTIMONIES
from Ex-Offenders
of Community LIFE in Christ Jesus
with Catholic Services at the Washtenaw County Jail

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My name is Mary, I'm a woman who has been in and out of the Washtenaw County Jail. Every single incident has been in regards to drugs. I'm a heroin addict, yet on the other side of the coin I'm a very vivacious and personable woman who actually happens to be educated (a B.A. in English Language Literature) but who also fell into the wrong side of the law.

 Not only did I have a horrible childhood but I spent 12 years with a controlling man who was the one that introduced me into heroin. When I am sober and "doing well" I have a sunny disposition and a bubbly personality and almost everyone I meet loves to be around me. But when I am in the grip of my addiction how easily the tides change and I find myself surrounded by people I would have never imagined myself around and situations I would have never envisioned.

However, that has ended up being my lot in life, but with the help of people like yourself and Bob Roleke along with some amazing correctional officers and correctional service staff I have in recent years been able to change my past and move forward. Now, I am a faithful attendant of church...I have a found a fulfilling, full-time job where I can actually employ my skills (having a degree) despite my felonies and have found a few friends who support my new found change and are helping me to move forward in my life...and a large part of even thinking that this was possible has to do with your ministry (Catholic Services) and also has to do with the few amazing correctional officers who actually give time out and still care about us as individual people who need help and not just as a mass of “n'er do goods”. 

Without the few amazing officers (who I would say their names but fear reprisal) and your services I don't think I would even be close to where I am currently at. WE ALL JUST NEED HELP! There are few of us who are just straight cold-blooded killers...most of us are scared and confused children who somehow where led astray and are trying to find their way back. Please help the ones who are like that and really just want to get their lives together no matter how hard it may be or how far done we may have gone. Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior forgives all and I, for one, am incredibly grateful for that.

No matter how you use this email, please understand that it is a testimony to the Power and Glory of Christ our Savior. I can't say if I will falter again, but I do know for now how much I have been blessed, saved and just plain helped by hearing the Power of the Word of Christ Our Savior. Please use this as my testimony to Jesus Christ My Lord and Savior. 

Love Always and Forever, 
Humbly and Gratefully Yours,

Mary