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The absence of upsetting emotion didn't mean that it didn't exist. Sharon wrote after the visit that she and her daughters didn't say goodbye. "We said I'll see you later." She stayed brave as her children walked out the door. "But then I shut down for 3 days. I slept every chance I got, hoping to recapture those precious moments." The visit, she wrote, "helped me remember why I still exist."

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Documentary


Women In Prison

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Justice
Author
Patrick Egan
Patrick Egan
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Beyond the doors to the prison, the sun had disappeared and small flakes of April snow fell as the children boarded the bus just after 2 p.m. Because of scheduling, the return flight was from Buffalo, so the ride was a little longer. Kids drifted to sleep.

The roads, the airport terminal and the plane all looked and felt the same as the previous day's. But on the return flight, Charlie and his sister Anise, while watching cartoons on the mini-television, clutched Polaroids of themselves with their mother, new memories for home.

Once off the plane, Diana Archer called the trip's last head count before leading the group out of JFK and into the night. New York City was colder than the day before. The children of Albion gathered at the curb, waiting for a cab or a family member to pick them up—once again waiting.