Yesterday Meliva and I traveled to the Ohio Valley Correctional Facility in Franklin Furnace, Ohio. The journey to Scioto County was a winded country road that seemed to never end. I had never been inside a prison before and did not know what to expect. When we got the facility, we realized that we didn't have a contact person and no one at the facility was expecting us. After repairing up their miscommunication issues, they allowed us to enter. I was pretty surprised at how nice the facility was. They had their own high school, cafeteria, basketball courts, and medical center. It reminded me a little bit of a campus.
The youth that we helped were due to be released. I was surprised by how respectful they were. Their demeanor definitely helped relieve my anxiety about interacting with them. It was sort of difficult to do their application for public benefits because they didn't really have any information about members of their household. Helping them learn how to apply before they are released will hopefully provide them with an agenda after they are released. We made sure that we wrote out directions to update information of their application upon their release. Some of them seemed unlikely to follow through with it, while others were excited to embark on a better journey!
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