Hope, Love and Prison

Snatched away from her family to serve a six-year term in the federal prison at Alderson, West Virginia, the Reverend Dr. Denise Braxtonbrown-Hollingsworth had to make a conscious decision. Like thousands of women behind bars, she had options for companionship that left her feeling conflicted and cold, yet she unexpectedly discovered real love and self-respect in a place better known for degrading one's humanity, hardening the heart, and killing one's joy. The choice she made not only strengthened her marriage, it also helped others to realize their own inner strength. Based on her prison experiences and interviews with her fellow inmates, this is a thoughtful testimony of the ways women survive isolation while trying to hold onto what it means to be a woman.