Women inmates to get departing gift

POCATELLO, Idaho – Freedom might be the item with the most value for inmates departing the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center, but a $40 gift of personal items is being added to help them make their transition to the outside world.

“Hopefully, we’re going to send a psychological message to them (that) we do want them to be successful,” prison Warden Brian Underwood told the Idaho State Journal.

Beginning next month, prison-release “success kits” will be given to women leaving the prison. The kits will be handbags containing hygiene products, creams, towels, soaps, bath sponges and other items.

“I think it’s an awesome idea,” said Shannon Johnston, who will be one of the first to receive a kit when she leaves prison next month. “It’s the essentials to get us started to where we aren’t completely dependent on a family member or a friend. It’s the basic stuff, but it’s expensive.”

And it’s not prison issue, such as men’s deodorant and clear toothpaste with the label “Maximum Security,” that she currently uses.

Johnston and Sheila Bernier, another inmate, asked other inmates what they thought should be included in the kits.

Underwood said the kits are being made with a $1,500 donation from Beverly Bistline, a state legislator in the mid-1970s who often contributes to charitable causes.

Donations also have been made by Pocatello City Councilwoman Eva Nye and Wal-Mart.

So far, Nye has bought and put together 20 of the kits.

“I pictured somebody going to stay with a friend, and at least you’ve got your little bag,” Nye said. “You don’t have to borrow shampoo.”

About 77 women are released from the prison each year, Underwood said.