Lorrene Crowell Crowell:  

Lorrene Crowell is married. Her schools include Laurinburg Institute. She later attended Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, NC. One of Lorrene Crowell's favorite quotes is:"Peopledo not plan to fail, they fail to plan.". More about Lorrene Crowell:"Welcome to our Daughters and Sons Network. My name is Lorrene Crowell, I am a mother of an incarcerated adult child and Founder / CEO of this consulting agency. The purpose of our organization is to assist offenders pre and post-release with their next steps. This is my story: My son made the choice to use drugs, and hang around people that had negative thoughts, and intentions for him. At the rate he was going, I resigned myself that it would either be prison or death. Almighty God with His grace and mercy spared my son's life and sent him to prison. When he was convicted and sent away for many years, I felt hopeless. I could not afford a lawyer so I had no answers to give him. My thoughts were,"you've got yourself into this mess, so you' ll have to get yourself out of this mess." His was sent hundreds of miles from home where I was only able to visit him one time in three years. Mom with tough love: While James was locked away at a level five prison I dreaded to see the prison's number on my phone and many times I would not answer his collect calls. I refused to send money on a regular basis; he was very lucky if he received $25.00 every two months. In my mind tough love is what kept me sane and as it turns out it was what he James needed too. I felt that had he listened to his dad and I, he would not have found himself in such an impossible situation. The Truth: When I accepted the fact it would either be prison or death for my adult child I began to direct my anger to its rightful owner; to my adult son! His incarceration was like a death to our family. I needed to understand how my son could be serving a sixty year sentence. Thank God James did not hurt or kill anyone but is convicted of the violent crimes of carjacking and abduction which I am convinced was a drug deal gone bad. Gun and weapon charges were dropped because of lack of evidence as the video showed in court. Meet my son James at Age 10 James has maintained his innocence from day one, and to date still maintains he is innocent. To better understand how this horrific problem could happen in our family; I had to find a way to get involved so I founded Our Daughters and Sons Suport Group. Support Group: A group intended to assist parents and grandparents to heal and recover from the lost of their love one to prison. Each month a guest speaker would come and tell us about the system which we were not accustomed too. We needed to take control however we could, and find ways to heal. Selfishness on the part of our adult children is primarily the reason why they are not here with us. Healing: The support group was therapy for me; monthly meetings helped me to stop being angry at myself, my community and the prison system. If I was to help myself, my family and my son I had to change my way of thinking and get connected to life. Healing did not come easy but it did come for me; it took plenty of prayer, mediation and patience to find my way back to a normal life. When I began to open up to knowledge, ...Expand for more