A 34-year-old Massachusetts woman said she voluntarily spent two nights behind bars with her incarcerated father as part of a re-entry program designed to rebuild family ties and expose loved ones to the realities of jail life.
Jules Garcia of Holyoke told the Daily Mail she joined her 54-year-old father, Eddy Garcia, who has been in and out of jail for drug-related offenses, in a program earlier this year that places estranged relatives inside a jail for 48 hours. The program, organizers say, aims to "foster understanding, repair relationships, and help break the cycle of recidivism," and participants undergo the full booking process and live alongside other inmates during their stay.
Garcia described a process that mirrored that of convicted inmates, saying she was handcuffed, placed in the back of a police car, and taken through intake and a strip search. She told the Daily Mail the experience was "definitely nerve-wracking" but said guards treated her the same as other detainees and she did not receive special privileges.
Conditions inside the facility left a strong impression, she said. Garcia detailed an uncomfortable steel-framed bed with a thin mattress that left her back sore for days, limited hygiene supplies including a shampoo bottle she described as smaller than a travel size and a combined soap-and-deodorant bar she was reluctant to use, and palatable problems with the food, which she said left her feeling "starving" because she could not eat much of it. She singled out a "dried up" steak and what she called the "driest" piece of cake she had ever had.
Garcia said other inmates were largely kind once they learned she was participating in the program and that corrections staff made her perform the same daily routines as everyone else. "It was definitely an eye opener," she told the Daily Mail, adding that the experience was less harsh than she had feared because she was known to be part of the program and for a television episode.
The visit was filmed for an episode of A&E's new series Family Lockup, which is scheduled to air Friday, Sept. 19; the episode will also be available on the network's website and on-demand one day after its release.
Garcia said the stint behind bars helped repair a relationship strained by years of her father's addiction and repeated incarcerations. "Now I know what it's like and how he lived for all those years," she said. The two began speaking more regularly after the visit, she added, and said they are "doing better now. I'm gonna keep him on track."
Eddy Garcia told the Daily Mail that seeing his daughter in the jail affected him deeply and contributed to his decision to turn his life around. He was released in December and is now sober, the account said, and the pair now speak daily. "When you're battling addiction, you don't think you're hurting anyone else," he said. "But I was able to see first hand how my addiction and me being in and out of jail has affected her. I was like, 'I can't put her through that again.'"
Jules Garcia said she hopes others in similar situations might consider reconnecting with incarcerated family members. "I didn't give up on my dad. I went through that for him so he can see I'm here for him and want him to stay sober," she said.
The program is part of a small but growing set of initiatives that seek to involve family members in re-entry and restorative efforts by exposing them to facility routines and conditions. Advocates say such programs can promote understanding and support for people leaving custody, while corrections officials note that family engagement can be a factor in reducing recidivism. The A&E episode documenting the Garcias' experience will bring broader public visibility to one example of that approach.