Keshena with photos of family and friends.
Keshena with her husband, who has served 18 years in prison, with 20 more to go.
On Loved Ones in Prison . . .
"It’s horrible. It’s lonely for me. I miss my husband. I really want him to come home. But to have my husband in prison and my son is on his way to prison and then my step-dad has been in prison. . . . No family structure. I don’t know what it is truly like to live in a house with a man for a year. Once I get through a year, I’ll tell you what it’s like.
My debt affects my giving him money. But not only does my debt affect him, his debt affects us, too. Because he has debt, and because he owes LFOs, they take 75% of his money. They take 75% of anything. If I sent him $100, he will get $22.50. And so instead of me sending him a large amount of money, I have to send him $10. He will get the whole ten dollars. But what can you do with ten dollars? I send it through J-Pay. Every Sunday I send $10."
keshena
"My debt. Not only is it affecting me financially, mentally, emotionally, because I just want to get a house, I want to live like normal people. It affects my mom, it affects my dad, And it affects my boys because they don’t get as much as they should be able to get. They suffer, too. For everything I have done in the past, they suffer for now. My past is haunting me."
~ Keshena
In Keshena's Own Words . . .
Keshena is a mother to two teenage boys -- the older son is on his way to prison. Her husband is also serving time as is her step-father. Due to several convictions for forgery, which included 4.5 years in prison, Keshena owes approximately $50,000 in legal financial obligations (LFO) across five counties.
Besides her own LFO debt, Keshena also pays towards her husband's LFOs while he's in prison. She needs to give him money so he can buy toiletries and food but if she sends him $100, the Department of Corrections will take 75% of that amount to apply towards his debt, leaving her husband with only $22.50 to pay for his necessities. So she can only give him $10 at a time. More than that at any one time and the DOC will take 75%. Her husband needs the money to buy soap, deodorant, razors, toothpaste and a toothbrush.
Keshena will soon start paying towards her incarcerated son's LFO debt as well as his personal hygiene products.
Under Washington law, LFO debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy. But Keshena learned that one of the counties sold rather than assigned her debt to a private collection agency. She has since filed bankruptcy in hopes that some of her LFO debt will be discharged.