INMATES SHARE LIFE EXPERIENCES WITH STUDENTS

"I could have had a brand new house, a brand new car ... but instead, I
have these brand new orange Reeboks," Teresa Lewis told summer school
students recently at Glasgow High School. Lewis was incarcerated for
possession of drugs and Tuesday, June 18 was her first day to see sunlight
- -- or her family -- in over a month. "I feel like [drugs] have me old
before my time," she said.

Lewis is part of a new community program called "Early Outreach." Lori
Morel, Glasgow, started the group in order to reach children who have
parents in the Barren County Jail by using current inmates, churches and
private donations. Morel saw the need for this outreach program when her
husband, Dan Morel, was incarcerated on a theft charge. He, too, had a drug
addiction.

"While visiting my husband in jail, I would notice the large number of
children visiting a parent or both parents," Morel said. "These children
looked like they had needs that were not being met, such as clothing, food
and most of all, the love of a parent."

Morel, sensing the deep need to help these children, went to District Judge
Phil Patton to elicit some support.

"He has helped in every way," Morel said.

The group goes to the jail and finds out if an inmate has children. If they
do, Morel gets a contact number and, if possible, has the inmate call the
caretakers to let them know that Morel will be coming to see them. The
group finds out if a child needs clothes or food and helps them out in any
way. They also take the children to church if they aren't already involved
in one. Morel said that she has seen tremendous response from the inmates.

"One of the inmates said she hadn't talked to her children in so long. She
was so thankful. All I could think was 'How am I going to help these people?'"

Morel and other volunteers, mostly from Pastoral Association member
churches, take children to Sunday school and Vacation Bible School and to
go fishing and out to eat. While on the outings, they take pictures and go
back to the jail and share them with the inmate. This builds a network of
people to help the inmates when they get out of jail, Morel said.

On Tuesday, Morel took four inmates to the school in another form of
outreach. Danny Hunter, who has been convicted of several drug charges, but
is currently out on bond, told the students his story.

"I spent three years in the ninth grade," Hunter told the students. "So I
quit then. I wasn't getting what I really needed then....an education."

Hunter told the students that he started drinking beer and smoking
cigarettes at nine and saw an uncle smoking weed at eleven. After asking
his friends about it, he, too, tried it. After slipping in and out of jail
for years and getting more and more dependent on drugs, Hunter had gotten
to a $1,000 a day habit of taking cocaine.

"I'm not but one step away from the graveyard," he warned students.

Lewis told the students a very similar message. After becoming pregnant
with her son, she gained nearly 100 pounds. A friend told her that crank
would help her lose the weight, so she tried it.

"Do you know what's in crank?" Lewis asked. "Dehydrous fertilizer, drano
... and a bunch of other stuff.

"It's messed up my life."

Tony Peek, another inmate, serving a five-year sentence, told the students
that he had been just like them. He quit the football team in order to ride
around with his friends and drink beer. At 16, he was arrested for
possession of marijuana.

"I've been shot twice. I've rode with outlaw biker gangs.

"If you don't change something, you all will end up dead, wearing orange or
worse."

Finally, Dan Morel addressed the students. He told them that he was on a
work-release program. He leaves to go to work every day, but has to check
in at the jail at 8 p.m. every night.

"They pat me down, I put an orange suit on and I sleep on that bed," he said.

At 37 years old, Morel warned the students that he had been down that road
and would have to start all over again.

"I've had it all and lost it [a couple of times]."

After speaking, the four inmates answered a few questions from the
students. Dan Morel told the students that he and Hunter had met in the
cell that they share.

"It's a 14-man cell with 33 people in it," Morel explained.

Hunter said the biggest sign to him that he needed to change was his first
visitor in jail. He expected it to be his wife, but when he went in to see
her, his pastor was there.

"It showed me that God had not forgotten about me."

Hunter is now involved in church and said that "that's the only thing
holding me together."

Peek agreed.

"Friends ... they ain't going to come see you," he said. "They're not going
to send money [like they say]."

"I've been lucky, but family can desert you, too," Dan Morel added.

Lori Morel will continue to work while her husband serves the rest of his
jail time. She is currently trying to gain non-profit status for the
program and to find support from local churches. She spoke on Father's Day
at Coral Hill Baptist Church and received "an outpouring of volunteers."

Morel said that she has had a great deal of community support from Patton,
John Rogers and Commonwealth's Attorney Karen Davis. For those wanting to
know more or to support Early Outreach in anyway contact Lori Morel at
678-2156 or P.O. Box 2174, Glasgow, KY 42142.