Summer Jaynes, who is now serving a prison sentence in a medium-security prison, wrote me a letter recently. She's struggling. She's been away from her three children for a few years now. And prison is a rough context. She asked me to listen to Eminem's song, "Beautiful." She says, "Try to listen to it please. Tell me what you think. I feel just like that song all the time." I wanted to share the song and her words with all of you. I recommend just listening to the song, not watching the video, because the video slants the song to be about the city of Detroit, but Summer is clearly hearing other things in the song.

p.s. If you want to write Summer a note, just leave a comment (or email me) and I'll get it to her.

My World

by Summer Jaynes, currently serving a sentence at the Rockville Correctional Facility

I look around, and what do I see? Cages with many different faces, some are reading, some are crying, some are spaced out, thinking of their past.

These are women in prison, all over Indiana. Do you think people will miss them? Some are gay, some are straight, some turn gay for the stay because they are so lonely. They fight for no reason, they just needing some kind of drama in their lives. We are isolated from the "real world." We make our own world inside these gates. In here, our past, present, or future don't really matter any longer because we're stuck stuck in this world behind the fences.

I have a bunky; we all do. I wonder what she's here for, how much longer does she have? Do I dare ask? No, because who gives a rat's ass. The judge wants us all to change, wants us to be better women, but how can we? There are no classes. If we're sick, they shake their heads and say, "too bad, take aspirin." They don't care, as long as we're out of their hair...

So what would I say to all of you on the outside looking in? Don't turn your back on those who have sin.