I like “cutsie” headlines, particularly those that say one thing and mean something different. I’m sometimes amused by what our local newspaper uses for headlines, such as “Police Car Wreck Was An Accident” that appeared earlier in the week. Anyway, occasionally the volunteers at the Pocatello Womens Correctional Center are allowed to bring their spouses along for special events. Last Wednesday the Idaho State University Institute of Religion was putting on a program at the prison and I had the opportunity to attend. Nina just loves her work at the facility and it is very evident when I visit. She makes sure to greet every inmate as they come in and as they leave. She jokes and talks with them and in every way treats them like normal, real people. I’m sure that much of what happens at the prison is not pleasant and the women really enjoy being with the volunteers who don’t judge them or put them down.

Of course, security getting into the prison is fairly tight. Empty pockets are the rule and everyone gets wanded before going into the facility. The Institute program was being put on by more than 40 young people, so their process of getting into the facility was somewhat lengthy. One young lady had a huge key ring with lots of stuff on hanging on it that hung from a band around her neck. She sat the keys down on the counter to get scanned and then picked up the keyset to go past the security guard into the pass-through area. The guard stopped her and asked to see the keys — he was going to tell her to put them in her pocket — when he saw that on the key ring was a small canister of Mace! That was definitely something he didn’t want in the prison or more particularly, for any inmate to get hold of. The key ring went into the guards office to wait until the young lady came back out….

I’ve put a few pictures from this week up in the Pictures! area.