We need your input!

Making Time Count is a daily handbook specifically intended for those who are incarcerated. Through our experiences with the inmates in the DuPage County Jail in Wheaton, Illinois and in Massachusetts, we have found that if inmates can find purpose and growth in their incarceration they can manage themselves and cope with their surroundings more peacefully.  

We want this book to be packed with purpose, to speak to their spirit and to inspire them. We want them to stay connected to the outside world and feel our support for their success after release. We intend to accomplish our goal by having authors write about their books, celebrities send a cheer, inmates share ideas for existing peacefully in prison or jail, politicians offer hope, spiritual leaders offer wisdom, and the rest of the community offer our stories.  

Having started a book club with the women of the jail, Ellen found most inmates to be voracious readers and experienced, first hand, that within a correctional facility programs and classes can be cut for various reasons. Therefore, we have come to the conclusion that we can reach the most inmates by creating a book that can be sent by family and friends or supplied to a prison library through donation.

This book is intended for every inmate—whether he or she is sitting on death row or waiting in a holding cell to be bonded out. Each day an inmate will read something to inspire his or her personal growth, challenge him, expose her to a new idea, and hopefully create a desire to read an invigorating book as recommended within Making Time Count.

The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world.  Ninety eight percent of those incarcerated will be released—the average sentence being four years. Nearly 70% of all US prisoners are serving time for nonviolent offenses.

Please join us in creating a tool of peace and growth so the time those who are incarcerated spend in jail and prison can have purpose—one day at a time.

Gratefully,

Ellen and Annie