(Air1 Closer Look) – Reaching incarcerated mothers with faith and hope can break the generational cycle of crime. Some of these women come from families marked by legacy incarceration, with grandma, mom and daughter serving sentences in the same prison at the same time.
As Jenny Dean Schmidt of Forever Moms Prison Outreach puts it, “if I can get to the mom in prison, I can get to the child behind that mom.”
Many women in prison did not start as perpetrators; they began as victims. Forever Moms finds 60–70% of mothers in their bible studies and mentoring classes have suffered domestic violence, sexual abuse and drug addiction.
Inside the walls, shame is the heaviest chain. One prison employee told Schmidt that “moms in prison are the greatest population of shame on the planet,” burdened by the sense that they have failed their families, their communities and especially their children. That shame convinces many mothers that their kids no longer want to hear from them. Forever Moms curriculum encourages them, saying “look, your kids still need you. Your kids still want you. Try these conversation starters.” When they do, phone calls that once lasted a minute stretch into meaningful talks about God, identity and future dreams. As one mom testified, “I was not speaking to my children, but your class got me motivated to get back in touch with my kids.”
Faith is the core of this work. Forever Moms brings Jesus into the prison, reminding women that Christ began His public ministry by proclaiming freedom for the captives and release from darkness for prisoners. Jenny tells the moms, “Jesus wants us to be here… He loves you,” even when others question ministering to those who have “done terrible things.” The program teaches women to “speak life and not death,” giving them Scriptures to post on their cell walls, repeat to themselves in the mirror and send to their children.
The results are measurable for society as well as spiritual.
While the national recidivism rate for incarcerated mothers hovers 50%-70%, Forever Moms graduates return to prison at a rate of just 21%, far less than half the national average. Each mother who stays free represents a child more likely to avoid prison.
“We’re fighting crime one mom at a time,” says Schmidt, trusting that when God rescues a mother, He is also rescuing her children and reshaping society.
