She had an surprising cellmate.
Amanda Tarver, a Miami, Florida, spouse and mom of 2, came upon she was once pregnant two weeks nearest she was once put in the back of bars on a drug conviction.
“I didn’t even know if I’d make it to full-term because of my stress and anxiety levels,” she stated.
The previous convict was once sentenced to 24 months within the clink nearest serving to her husband (then-boyfriend) Legend, promote medicine by way of moving cash — and receiving applications at her rental.
“I really thought my life was over,” Tarver stated. “When they told me the verdict, I was in shock.”
Her spouse in crime was once given 47 months for conspiracy to import a managed substance.
Tarver, 34, a first-time wrongdoer, served her sentence at Coleman Federal Jail Advanced in Florida from 2015 to 2016.
Future she and Legend remained within the heavy area, her son Dorian, 6, on the life, had to stick with her partner’s mother Maria.
As a tender mom, she “expected to receive a warning or probation” however discovered that didn’t subject, “I didn’t know how to explain to Dorian that I would be gone for so long,” she added.
The couple’s love tale began after they locked seeing at a faculty bar in 2012. On the life, Legend was once promoting unlawful medicine to support pay for his training and help his society.
“A lot was done out of survival and what I felt my options were at the time,” he confessed. “I was the oldest sibling to a single mom and was the man of the house helping to pay the bills and rent.”
In the meantime, Tarver didn’t assume a lot of Legend’s facet hustle as a result of birthday party medicine have been common within the town they lived in, she claims.
“I was young and naive and didn’t think of it as something terrible or really consider that we might be harming people,” Tarver stated.
Then again, the legislation sooner or later stuck up with the pair — touchdown Tarver within the clink with a toddler at the manner.
When she became seven months pregnant, Tarver was once transferred to a distinct unit for pregnant inmates, which she describes as “a warehouse with no windows and thin beds.”
She felt like she was once on an “emotional rollercoaster,” looking forward to the times she may just give delivery.
The younger mother gave delivery to Legend Jr. in the back of bars.
“It was horrible to hear all that Amanda was going through, knowing I couldn’t be there to provide for my wife,” Legend admitted.
Tarver’s new child stayed together with her for 3 months prior to being despatched to are living together with his grandmother Maria and brother Dorian.
Future each locked up, the couple remained attached thru letters as their simplest mode of verbal exchange.
“When you’re in prison, the only thing you have to look forward to is correspondence from loved ones,” Tarver stated. “[Legend and I] were so close yet so far away, having been incarcerated in the same compound but on opposite sides.”
The letter exchanges allowed them to speak about their while plans — together with getting married — when they have been each excepted.
“We focused on getting back on our feet first, finding jobs and getting back into the swing of things with our two boys,” Tarver stated. “But then we looked at the bigger picture.”
The couple’s enjoy driven them to inauguration a fund referred to as “300 Letters” — impressed by way of the loads of letters they exchanged date in the back of bars.
The group do business in distant society treatment, monetary support for such things as childcare and empowerment help teams to households with minor kids getting better from the injuries of incarceration.
“An issue for me was coming back from prison with low self-esteem, low confidence levels, and having to be a good parent again while building my professional persona back up,” Tarver confessed.
“In prison, I felt that my identity was broken — I felt like a number.”
The mission was once rooted in Tarver and her husband’s struggles to readjust in family nearest being incarnated.
“We explored all the different things that we went through as a couple, as parents, and what our children went through — and that’s how we started to develop our programs,” Legend shared.
300 Letters has now helped roughly 400 households, in keeping with the group.
“We work to strengthen that family structure and lessen the impact on the children,” Legend endured. “We want to break that cycle.”
“A lot of people hear about us through word-of-mouth, which I think shows the amount of parents that want to prioritize their family and navigate the most positive life possible after this experience,” Tarver stated.
