By Marcella De Laurentiis, Peninsula Press
“I wasn’t arrested. I was rescued.”
In February 2010, Diane Joiner began a sentence of 6 ½ months in county jail, split between San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. She had seen a jail cell many times before, for possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and parole violations.
Still, Joiner did not consider herself a hardened criminal, a feeling that was confirmed when she served the last 100 days of her sentence in state prison, alongside murderers and sexual predators. She calls her time at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla “the longest days” of her life.
In a 6′ x 10′ cell, she decided to turn her life around. Continue Reading >>