IMPACT GEORGIA MAGAZINE
18
Today, Shemeake Simms finds joy in the simple things in life, like playing with her son at the park. But from 2013 to 2016, she was behind prison walls serving time. She says she had a good life, went to college, and had a good job, but one wrong decision in life can change your course drastically.
“Going to prison was probably one of the best things that could’ve ever happened,” says Simms.
During her time in prison, she wanted to find a way to utilize the programs available to her. She signed up for the Parenting Class and Children’s Center at Lee Arrendale State Prison. The program taught her how to work on becoming a better individual, utilizing co-parenting skills with the caregiver, interacting with her child at visitation, and sharing parenting experiences and advice with the other offenders and the teacher in the class.
“If it wasn’t for the Parenting Class and Children’s Center, I wouldn’t be the woman and the mother that I am today. Now my son is about to be 8. He was 15 months when I entered prison. I just look at him and see so much of me, as well as everything I learned from the program. That is what helps me to drive him to become a better person,” says Simms.