Locked In with Ian Bick - I Lived It: My Family & I Were Charged With Drug Trafficking & Sent To Federal Prison | Megan Stewart

Episode Date: November 28, 2024

Megan Stewart shares her personal story of how her family was charged with drug trafficking and sent to federal prison. In this interview, Megan talks about the events that led to their arrest, what it was like to face the justice system as a family, and the impact it had on their lives. She opens up about the challenges of navigating life in federal prison and the lessons learned along the way. #DrugTraffickingStory #FederalPrisonLife #TrueCrimeInterview #FamilyIncarceration #JusticeSystem #CrimeAndConsequences #PrisonSurvival #FamilyBehindBars Connect with Megan Stewart: TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@meganstewart260 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/megan.stewart.1217 Thank you to LUCY for sponsoring this episode: Go to http://lucy.co/ianbick and use promo code IANBICK to get 20% off your first order. Lucy has a 30-day refund policy if you change your mind.  Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Presented by Tyson 2.0 & Wooooo Energy: https://tyson20.com/ https://woooooenergy.com/ Buy Merch: https://www.ianbick.com/shop Use code lockedin at checkout to get 20% off your order Timestamps: 00:00:00 Megan's Introduction and Podcast Experience 00:02:59 Childhood Lies and Family Challenges 00:05:40 Childhood Aspirations and Family Influences 00:08:49 Learning to Sell Drugs: A Family Influence 00:11:33 Struggling with a Double Life 00:14:33 Searching for Love and Identity 00:17:20 Struggles with Addiction and Sobriety Attempts 00:20:41 Arrest by Federal Agents: A Personal Account 00:23:06 Unexpected Legal Troubles and Surveillance 00:26:00 Family Indicted Together: A Legal Battle Story 00:28:55 Finding Faith in County Jail 00:31:47 Understanding Forgiveness and Addiction 00:34:58 Medical Care in Federal Prisons 00:37:36 Balancing Art and Work During Hard Times 00:40:43 Transition to Life After Incarceration 00:43:20 Journey from Housekeeping to Residential Staff 00:46:17 The Importance of a Supportive Community Powered by: Just Media House : https://www.justmediahouse.com/ Creative direction, design, assets, support by FWRD: https://www.fwrd.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Megan, welcome to Locked in. They saved the best for last. This is interview six out of six for the day. You're in the hot seat now. I am. And you've been watching the whole day. What have you thought about this world of podcasting? Because this is like the first one you've been on ever. It is. And I was a little bit anxious beforehand. But I do. I think it's pretty awesome. I think it's what you do is very productive and effective and just getting different experiences out there from different people. And you also work currently at Cumberland Recovery. which is where we're at the offices right now. What if I just totally switched up the questions on you after you're so comfortable all day? That would be pretty funny.

If I just like asked you some random woods. I'm ready for it. Whatever. So like everyone else, did you grow up in Kentucky? I did. Okay. Where?

I'm just about 45 minutes from here, Mount Vernon, Kentucky. So you're like the closest out of the group in relation to here, right? Pretty close, yeah. Jessica was kind of close a little bit. What was that like growing up? Is that like farm country area or is that city? Well, I grew up mostly in the country, pretty poor with both my parents to start with. And they split up when I was four.

And my dad was inactive addiction and involved in selling drugs. So that was kind of part of my childhood as well. I have three brothers and a sister. And where do you fit in age-wise? I'm the second oldest. Okay. Were you close with your siblings? Yeah, we're all very close.

Is it hard being the second oldest? Like, I know it's hard being like the youngest and whatnot and the oldest, but what about second oldest? I feel like I am the oldest, and I'm the only girl, too, so I'm the most responsible one. I hope they're listening and they watch this. Wow, family of boys. Oh, that's got to be rough. Yeah. Did you guys do sports growing up, too?

Not really, no. I did play some volleyball a little bit. My brothers did do football, but we didn't get involved in sports much. And did your dad have an actual job, or it was just drugs? I don't remember him ever working, just drugs mostly. And he sold drugs too. And what about your mom? My mom was the more stable one in the home.

She worked and went to school and was always the one that provided for us. She was our constant. When did you realize that your family was a little bit different? with having your father doing that? It's hard to say. They split up when I was four, so we were kind of back and forth. Dad went to live a few towns over in Manchester.

You got a new girlfriend. And I guess it was just, it was normal, my hope. And I know that's something that you've heard a lot today, and I've thought about that, and it is. It just, it's a normal thing. I would see like other kids at school and, you know, when somebody would say, what does your dad do? I would lie and I would say, well, my dad's a lawyer, you know, and he wasn't.

I just, you know, that's what made you look good and have worth. So that's what I would go for. Did they have, like, the parent, what is it, parent show and tell or bring your parent to work or to school? They did. I never participated in that. My dad was too busy. you know, he was an attorney and had a lot going on. And when you watched other kids,

when you watched other kids bring their parents, how did that make you feel? I don't know if I allowed myself to feel anything because I had convinced myself of this lie, I think, as a child. Like, I convinced myself that I had this great lie. That's the show I put on, because you don't want anybody to know any different, right? Did you and your siblings talk amongst each other

of what your family situation was like? It would be, I mean, it was pretty terrible at times. Like we wouldn't have food in the house. We wouldn't go to school half the time. So we would talk about things like that. My younger brother one time did, we had eat some bologna that wasn't good anymore. And he got sick at school and he told him what happened. And so he was called into the counselor's office and he was just honest with him about, you know, this is what it's like at home.

And I remember him getting in a lot of trouble for that. So we were conditioned to, you can't really. talk about it. So we just pretend like everything's normal. Once that happened, did the school take, or even like the authorities kind of take interest in your family at all? I don't remember that. And I always thought it was odd because we wouldn't go to school for weeks on end sometimes. But nobody was ever involved. And that kind of was the stories throughout my childhood all the way up into my teenage years. It was like I just

slipped through the cracks of everything, the school system and the judicial system. How'd that make you feel? Later in life, it ended up making me feel, I guess, empowered in the sense of I felt like I could get away with anything. When it come to criminal activity, I thought I was just untouchable because I was like invisible, you know. And then, you know, I'm sure a lot of people, you know, listening and watching this now, you know, they, you've kind of, you said going through, like, slipping through the cracks, so to say. I don't think the audience or even yourself back then, whatever, imagine you'd kind of choose the path that you would end up choosing. You were just like a normal kid in the beginning. Yeah.

Yeah, and I didn't, I mean, I didn't want to be a drug addict. I didn't want to go to prison. And I actually wanted the opposite. I always said, my dad went to prison. He went to federal prison. And we, you know, we were back and forth, but we went to live with mom at that point. But that was my one main aspiration as a child as I did. not want to be like my dad, anything but what he was, because there was a lot of trauma there.

And, I mean, he's a good person when he's sober, but he's, he's not at all. He wasn't a good father. He didn't take good care of this. And he just really, his morals and values were mixed up. So I just made, I didn't want to be like him. And I did have goals. I wanted to go to school and be a doctor or a lawyer like I'd always fancied him to be. He would make a good lawyer if he put his mind to it, but he's not. He could have been a jailhouse lawyer. He could have been. He didn't do that?

No. So it could have been half true if he was a jailhouse lawyer. Yeah. He pretends to be a lot of things. Let's talk about Lucy Breakers, Nicotine pouches with a twist. Each one has a capsule inside that you can break to release extra flavor and hydration. It's simple, effective, and gives you exist. what you need when you need it.

I ordered some for my friends that come hang out at the studio and they can't stop raving about the mint flavor. That's what I got right here. Plus, getting them delivered right to our door with a subscription couldn't have been easier. Ready to try it for yourself? Visit lucy.com slash Ian Bick and use promo code Ian Bick to get 20% off your first order. And if you're not satisfied, Lucy offers a 30-day refund policy. That's Lucy.com slash Ian Bick with promo code Ian Bick for 20% off.

Here's the important part. Lucy products are only for adults of legal age and every order is age verified. Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. So what are you guys waiting for? Give Lucy a shot. You won't regret it. Now let's get back into today's episode of Locked in.

Why do you think you ultimately followed his footsteps and did the one thing? that you didn't want to become? I don't know. I think that's a loaded question. I think there's a lot of things that factor into that. I was sexually abused around age 12 by two different men. One was a close neighbor and one was like a step-uncle. And I think I was just trying to escape.

I moved in with my boyfriend when I was 14 years old. And my mom, that's when she kind of started dabbling in drug addiction and went off. the rails. So I moved in with my boyfriend trying to just escape and his family was similar to mine. And I think I was into no, I didn't really do it on purpose. I didn't mean to. It's like it was just happening. I picked up and used for the first time. I started selling drugs at 14. And the entire time I was telling myself that I was not like my dad. I had control of it. I was still going to go to school. I'm still going to go do all the right things. and be successful.

I'm still not following in his footsteps. So I think it kind of crept up on me. Like, I didn't intentionally do it. Yeah. Where does someone, like, you learn how to sell drugs at that age? Are you watching what your dad's doing? Are there friends that you're kind of following? Yeah, just watching what they're doing.

And then, like I said, my boyfriend, his dad was involved in, his family was involved in the same type of stuff. So he already had a history with it. And it just kind of flourished from there. Was that usual? for this town where you're from? Yeah, it's very common. Why do you think that is? I'm not sure. I don't know if it's poverty probably and just a lack of resources like we have dollar stores and banks. That's what we have mostly in Mount Vernon. So there's not like there's not anything fun to do.

There's not, I don't know, it just seems kind of like a hopeless town, especially then. It is getting better now. But later in life, did you ever, you know, wish you were born into a different family? had a different upbringing? I can remember times thinking, like, seeing other people at school and friends and things. Like, if somebody would have walked in and said, here, you can have this life. You just have to leave everything else behind.

I would have took it at that time. But now, looking back, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Do you think, yeah, you're gone. Because everything that I've been through is, you know, that's who I am now. And I love who I am now. Do you think you were subconsciously selling drugs as like an escape to have a better life? Or was it more just to support the habit?

I think I was just trying to be cool because we don't feel worthy, right? A lot of times when we go to that childhood trauma, we lose our self-worth. And it was just a cool thing to do. People liked me. It made people happy. You know, I became known. And so I think it was just me seeking some type of worth and purpose. So do you end up finishing high school?

I did finish high school. Barely, I caught a charge my senior year, possession of controlled substance and public intoxication. And I was right close to turning 18, so I fell through the cracks again. They were going to make me do drug court, but they couldn't because it was a juvenile charge and I turned 18, so I felt through the cracks there. I did do a little bit of time in juvenile jail and I had done some probation. But I did finish high school. I actually was on a great career path. I was co-op in high school, is what they called it. And I was working at a doctor's office. And everything was going well. I was trying to live this double life, you know. I did do really good in school. I made straight A's. Everything was good there. And then I lived this other life over here where I was trying to be a thug.

Trying to be a thug. That's great. Yeah. Wow. So you graduate. Why didn't you go through with that job? What happened? Did that thing? Thug life kind of. I caught that charge. Oh, the charge is what affected the job. Yeah, and so then I lost the job. And I guess even on that probation that I'd done there, I was receiving a prescription from the doctor. Opiates is my drug of choice.

Right. So that's what I started doing at 14. And so I skated through probation like that, just receiving that prescription. I never was really sober. Oh, so they didn't know that you were, you know, using, well, technically it was legal because of the prescription. Yeah.

Do you think they were handing out prescriptions too easily back then? I think they definitely did. They were starting to tighten up on it then, but I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease right at that time, too. There was a lot going on. So I was seeing like a specialist and getting pain medicine that way. And that was just kind of throwing gasoline on the fire? Yeah, it was. So once you lost a job, what happens?

Well, I've done the probation. I did graduate high school, and then, I don't know, I think at this point, I did start to realize, like, because I'm still convincing myself that I can put down any time I want to. I can stop. I can wake up tomorrow and not do another pain pill. But at this point, I'm starting to realize, okay, maybe I've got a problem. I don't know, because I've done that time in the juvenile detention center, and I was a detoxing really bad, and it was horrible.

And I knew that over the years, but it's like I never allowed myself to acknowledge it. Denial was my best friend. I loved to play pretend. And I didn't see it that way then. It's looking back on it now that I'm able to identify, like, what was going through my mind. But I just kept playing that role. And so by this time, I did go to college. I went to EKU in Richmond.

I was going to go be a nurse. Still just trying to live that double. life. And my dad's back out of prison by this time. And I kind of have like a love-hate relationship with him. He's a huge influence in my life. Definitely got the daddy girl issues 100%. But he came back into my life and college and then there was dad and dad started dabbling in. That's when the Florida pipeline was running really big. Are you familiar with that? With the drug pipeline? Yeah, where everybody would go to Florida to get prescription pain medication. So dad had started doing that, and I guess the one thing that I tried to do most

was just to earn his love and approval. So I just decided like, okay, I am going to be a drug dealer and I'm going to be better at it than him. You know, it's just like this conquest that I was on to impress him my entire life. And later, in life now, I can tell you that I was just, I was lacking love, right? And I was looking for it in all the wrong places. Now, when you say drug dealer, are we talking like a local street dealer?

Or are you trying to be like something legitimate, like making a lot of money, moving a lot of weight? Well, my first priority was to feed my own addiction, right? As long as I could do that, that's really all I needed. But I did want to look cool. And at one point, I probably thought that I was really cool, you know? I'm sure I wasn't viewed that way by others, but in my mind, you know, that's what I thought. I wouldn't consider myself a big-time drug dealer ever at any point. I was just a local street dealer trying to get my next fix.

In that area, was it common for women to be drug dealers? Or were you kind of the odd one out? Oh, it was me and my ex-husband, so that was pretty common. But yeah, women, I mean, it's not uncommon for women to be drug dealers. Yeah. When I was growing up, there wasn't really, I don't even. think there was many if at all like woman drug dealers it was mostly like male that was like the typical yeah the typical one did you run into any problems as a female no but i wasn't usually alone either

okay i was usually accompanied by some type of male did your dad know that you were dealing and what exactly were you guys dealing oxycodone and that's what you were getting from your prescription or okay but you would have to be getting large amounts yeah so So we would make a lot of trips to Florida with different people. So with your prescription, you were able to get just unlimited amounts? No, with my prescription, it was just what the prescription was written for. Okay. But we would go with a lot of people.

Oh, and they would have fake prescriptions? No, everybody would go get a prescription. Oh, they were just writing them out left and out. Yeah, we would all co-kick prescriptions. Oh, so it was very easy to get prescriptions. Yeah. So you would get them, and then would you just pay them a lower amount to hand, over the pills to you?

Basically, yeah. And then you would sell them at a higher rate. Yeah. How much is a pill going for at that time? At that time, they were $30 a piece. Wow. And out of like one bottle, how many do you get? Or does it come in the bottle?

How does it come? It comes in a bottle, yeah, and it would just depend. I mean, we've done it for a long time, so it varied depending on the doctor, anywhere from 120 to 180 per prescription. Now, when you're dealing with these types of drugs and going to Florida, this is how it becomes federal. assuming? No, actually it didn't. Okay. At that point. We'd done that for several years, and that was

kind of dying down. They were kind of cracking down on that. And in the meantime, I made a decision, like, I didn't really want to live this way, right? And I would have friends, like, I had a neighbor move in, and I went to school with her, and she's just bought this house next to me, and she's got a kid, and she's got a great job. And so I would have these moments where I would, would want that like I don't want to be this anymore and I would decide I was going to get sober and I wouldn't make it past the next morning but I don't know I just live that way off and on off and on I never could get sober for more than 24 hours and I got pregnant when I was 22 and you would think at that point that you would stop using right yeah but I didn't I just kept

using. I couldn't bring myself to stop. And that's really, that's not something I'm proud of, but that's just the real of it. I didn't know how to. I was afraid. I'd let fear run my entire life. And I barely went to the baby doctor. I did. So that was my greatest attempt at getting sober was during that pregnancy, but I was not successful. I did cut way back because I didn't want to harm her, but I never did stop. When she was born, By the grace of God, she was born completely healthy. Nothing wrong with her. I got to take her home.

Everything went great. But things like that would just fuel my, I guess my ego. If I would get away with a crime, drive through town with a load of whatever, it would just fuel my ego like I'm untouchable and fuel this delusion. It was a delusion, is what it was. And that just continued. And then where the Fed case came in was, I had got a state charge for trafficking in January of 2014,

and that was just where the local police, you know how it works, just the local police just watching you over the years and trying to get you. So they finally did. There was like a guy that had robbed a bank and made a buy and all these things. So I got the local indictment, and they did tell us in court that it would be picked up by the feds. And so it was in August of that. that year. How big was the case that the feds wanted it? Like how much weight were they alleging? Well, I think they exaggerated a whole lot. But they, I was charged with conspiracy to distribute

10,000 tablets. There was more than that in the entire conspiracy. They just chose 10,000 for my charge for me personally. I really don't know where they got that number from. I don't understand a lot of the things that they do, but that's what I was charged with. And how many people were on the indictment? There was 21 on the indictment, and there was more charges than that. I was also, there were several charges amongst the 21 people. The only ones that I had were the oxycodone and then methamphetamine. And I never fooled with methamphetamine, period.

But, you know, that's the way they do. Conspiruses a bitch. They overcharge you because then they want you to plead out to less than that. And you're probably at the bottom of this indictment. Like they're not looking at you as the big fish. No, not at all. You just got roped up into it. Yeah. Now, walk us through the day you actually got caught when you got stopped.

So it was 9 a.m. in the morning, and I was still in bed. And Chloe, at the time that's my daughter, she was a year-old, just had turned a year-old. And I just wake up to the banging on the door, and my little brothers, you know, and this is a tribe house, basically. My little brother, my mom, some friends, you know, in and out. I just woke up in there that we were surrounded by federal agents, DEA agents. Some of them dressed in plain clothes. Some of them dressed in, you know, uniforms. And they said they had an warrant for arrest and gave us the indictment.

And it was kind of like a daze. It's almost like, you know, you're standing outside yourself. You really don't understand. You can't process everything that's going on. My little brother was on the couch and he was terrified. Because he was sleeping right by the door where they were banging. They were threatening to shoot the door down. Wait, it's not that serious.

We're going to open the door, you know. But, you know, and there was drugs in the house then, and I would have thought that they would have, like, tore the house apart, but they didn't. They arrested us. Took us all out in the yard. They did ask if there was anything in the house. Of course, we said no.

But at the same time, they were also arrested all of my family at different locations. I didn't know that yet. But there was Chloe, just a little. little baby and she didn't have a clue what was going on. She was just excited that we were in the yard at 9 a.m. You know, she just started walking, so it was just a good morning for her. Lots of people around. She was used to there being a lot of people there.

And the local agent, the city police, of course, because we want to find Chloe somewhere to go, we've got to have somebody to come get her because there's nobody that's going to be left at the house. And he's threatened he was going to call CPS. And the federal agent did override his decision and allowed us to call my ex-husband's sister, her aunt, to come get her. But that morning was, I just remember seeing her walk around, and I'm like she didn't have a clue what was going on,

that it was fixing to be a long time. That's the last time I was going to see her for a while. And so it was heartbreaking. But we all loaded up and got to the jail, and then that's when I'll start seeing all these people. There were so many of us, they were putting us in the drunk tank, or, I mean, in the rec yard, the outdoor wreck. And I see my granny and mom and my stepdad and, you know, brother-in-law.

It was all of us. Did you ever find out how you, you know, ultimately got roped into it? Did someone snitch on you? Yeah, there were two buys on us, two controlled buys for a total of 53 tablets. Okay. So, but they roped that into the 10,000 tablets. Yeah, they had been watching us for two years. Okay.

I just didn't realize it. But they only had two controlled buys actually on surveillance? Yeah, on me. On you, but they were watching the whole group. Yeah. That's crazy how you kind of get roped in to 10,000 tablets. It's in the news. You're pushing 10,000 tablets when that's not even you.

It is crazy. And I didn't even know some of my codependents. Yeah. But that's the way they work. They get everybody from the top to the bottom. Now, did they offer you a plea deal off the bat? They did. So, of course, the first time I spoke to my lawyer, I was really upset about the meth charge because I took great caution to not ever in my mind if I didn't sell meth because that's what the cops seemed to be more heavy on at the time.

Like, I'm not going to touch meth, period. I'd never used it before, and I had no reason to sell it. I thought I was playing it safe by not selling meth. And so that was my first concern. Like, I did not do that, you know. So, of course, and there was nothing in the discovery that indicated. There was one statement from one person that kind of evaded that there was a possibility that I had one time, but it was not accurate. So that was the plea deal.

They were going to drop the domestic charge for me to plead to the oxy. But, you know, you don't really get to agree to any set amount of time when you're being sentenced. You're agreeing to plead guilty to the charge with this set guidelines and then just hope for the best. So what was the final offer that they gave you? So it was 50 to 57 months, yeah. And this is technically your first time? It is, yeah. Did they count the other one against you when you were 18, or was that like a diversion program?

No, that was technically a juvenile charge. So it didn't count against me. So they slapped you with a heavy amount of time for your first time. They did. And, you know, there had been times that I'd considered getting sober before, but of course I couldn't. I didn't have the strengths too. I didn't have the know-how. but I would tell myself, well, I'll just keep doing this until I get in trouble,

and I'll get probation because it'll be my first time, and then I'll straighten up. So I'd already set these goals for myself. I was okay with dying a drug addict, but the feds don't really give out probation. Now, isn't there drug court in the feds on some level, but not, or not at that time? I'm not familiar with any type of drug court. I know there's something in the federal system that you could get kind of like a something like a diverged or something and they go easier on you? There may be.

Yeah. So they set those guidelines. How much do you end up getting out of that? The 50 months. The 50 months? Was that a minimum, a mandatory minimum? No, my charge didn't carry a mandatory minimum. Some of my codependent, like my brother, his did.

He has carried a mandatory minimum of 10, 10 years. Was your dad in this indictment? A dad, too, yeah. So was your dad, your brother, and you? And my mom and my stepdad and my stepmom and my step-granding. Your whole family was on this indictment? And my ex-husband. And the grandmother?

Yeah. Wow. What was the grandmother doing? I'd rather not speak about her. She's gone now, so just out of respect. Yeah. But she was just involved, you know. And did everyone get prison time?

Yeah, everybody did. Wow, they sent everyone to prison. Did they want you guys to flip on someone else that you're getting from? Yeah. And that was, of course, you know, they always ask. As soon as the day we got arrested, as soon as we got in the car, that was the first thing mentioned. And I just, you know, said the one sentence full of cuss words,

and they never asked me again after that. So you got this time. Where do they send you? So I've done the first 14 months in Laurel County Jail. That must have stopped. Gosh, county jail is the worst. So I ended up going to Hazleton in Brewston Mills, West Virginia. And that's where I've done the rest of my time.

And that's like being let free when you've been in county jail. That was a camp there? No, it was an SFF. So they had the USP and then the women's SFF and they had an FCI. What's the SFF? Secure Female Facility. I've never heard of that. It's really the only one I know that's labeled that way, but that's what it is.

And is it like a camp? Is it like a low? What is it like? it's so we're right below the USP so it's like a low medium I don't really know what the security on it was but oh I think it's probably structured that way because it can't have a camp attached to the USP that makes sense that's why they call it the secure yeah so what was the setting like is it dorms is it um cells it was sales so um and they were mostly two or three man sales some there were some two man sales I wasn't on uh

I wasn't in regular population for very long. I immediately put in to do R-DAP and was moved over to that unit within probably the first eight months of being there. Oh, you got into R-DAP that quickly? Because I guess by that point you had, what, two years left or three years with good time? Okay, wow. So R-DAP in a female prison, what does that like? Ar-Dap was interesting.

I know it can be portrayed to be a very difficult program, and it is, But there's that 12 months off your sentence waiting at the end. I'll do whatever, you know, so I didn't find it extremely difficult. And, too, so while I was in county jail, I was, you know, I was scared. I didn't want to go to prison, but that's when God started kind of intervening in my life. I would, you know, have bunkeys. You know, you get really close to people that you've just been beside of for so long, and they would have relationships with God, and then people would come in from the outside that had found God

and got sober, sort of like we do now, with the jail. So I started developing this relationship with God. So my spirit, my mindset, had already kind of changed. I wasn't trying to be involved in anything anymore. I was, I guess I surrendered. I quit trying to fight it. While I was in county jail, if there would have been anything made it into a cell with me, I would have done it.

But God protected me there. I wasn't able to get high. And then something just clicked in me. I was just tired. I was done. and that's hard to make that decision being locked up because you mostly want to be like well I'm already locked up

you know I'll just keep getting high and then just get sober when I get out but I just genuinely didn't want I didn't want to be that person anymore I didn't like who I was so RDAP wasn't real difficult for me and there is there's a lot that goes on that you can get into

there's fights and all the things, there's drugs. Most of your fights in women's prisons are over money or somebody's girlfriend. Because everybody's got a girlfriend in the unit, a girlfriend on the rec yard, and that's what most of your fights are. But I just stayed to myself with my little crew and just was sure I didn't get into the middle of anything. Were any of your family members in that prison or no?

My stepmom. They let her in the same one? Yes. Wow. And I hated her. I'm shocked they allowed that. Wow. I don't know if they realized we were related, I guess.

Because different last names. She was like an ex-stepmom. You know, my dad had already remarried by that point. But we do have, like my sister, that's my mom's sister. So I don't know if in our PSI it was just missed somehow. Like they sent my mom to Florida. And they wouldn't even let us be in the same cell in county. Yeah, that's a pretty big mistake.

that they didn't, that they let you guys be together. Yeah, and I think that was God, too, because I really had a lot of resentments against her. But it was comforting, kind of having her there as much as I disliked her. Was there any tension between you guys there? A little bit, like, I would try to just be resistant, I guess, to have any type of relationship with her. But at the same time, she was from home, like,

the only thing that was familiar to me. So it is kind of developed, and I just softened my heart towards her. because she did do a lot of terrible things in my childhood and just throughout life. But, you know, I came to understand like she's an addict, you know, so I was able to forgive her. Well, it was something unusual you kind of learned about prison while you were there. For me, all the weird respect things, right? So my first day on the unit, I'm going to find Donna, my stepmom, right? Because I know we rode the bus up here together, and I know where her sales is at.

I just go up there where I know her sales at, and I opened the door, and her bunkie was on the toilet. And that's a big no-no, right? And I just kept running into things like that. And, you know, thank God they will just kind of guide you and teach you what you're supposed to do. But there's a lot. There's a lot to it. I did the same thing. And then you've got to learn how to knock and wait for to enter, and there's never going to someone's cell when they're not there.

There's a lot to it. There's so many rules. There is. Another thing that I found interesting and unique about prison was just all the different types of people that they end up there and different crimes. Like in my mind, everybody that commits crimes is on drugs. But when you get to federal prison, you realize like, they're just normal people and they're there too. So it made me feel better about myself. Yeah, what was maybe one of the most unusual charges you saw or stories that you've seen there?

There was a lot, but one that, well, there's a few that come to mind, but there's a few that come to mind. There was this one lady, and I'll bring her up mostly because I think that as a country, we do a very poor job of addressing mental health, but she just walked around and talked to herself all the time, and she clearly had mental health issues, and she had been charged with mailing some dangerous substance into the president, and I just can't see where she was ever capable of being able to do that in a sound mind, you know. So I just think that was unfair. But there were some other situations. There was a lady that hadn't murdered her husband and continued to draw his check for several years. And there's actually a show out.

Looking to start 2026 with an unforgettable getaway. Fiji airway sale is on now. Fly nonstop round trip to Fiji from just 748. Or enjoy a sunny Fiji stopover on your way to Australia with round trip fair starting from 839. As a One World Alliance member, an American Airlines Advantage program partner, your miles go further across the South Pacific. Book now at Fiji Airways.com or contact your local travel agent. Conditions apply. That was released about her. And they just put like a murderer in there.

Why was it even federal? I guess because of the check, right? Yeah, I think that's why. She had drawn his check for several years after he passed. Because you don't see too many murder cases in the federal system. I've seen a few. But it's not as common. And then there was things like piracy.

Like I was locked up with a lady that was just in there for piracy for... Like movies? Movies. Yeah. And for the most part, though, it was drug cases. Do you meet a lot of women who, you know, took the fall for maybe their husband or boyfriend or anything like that? I wouldn't say that. But, I mean, just kind of involved with maybe they should.

wouldn't have had the charge without their husband being there you know just being a participating in whatever he is but I wouldn't really say taking the fall for him no how do you think you guys were treated medically for your needs as a woman in the prison I was really impressed with medical and I don't know if it's just because that's the only federal prison I went to and in county jail we were neglected right county jails suck with medical especially Laurel County at that time but um I was really impressed. I mean, you've seen a doctor. They fixed my teeth. It was, yeah, I was really impressed of that. There was some more severe cases that I felt like was neglected, like, I mean, people die of heart attacks and things of that nature where they're just not willing to send you

out. How was the food at the county versus the food at the federal facility? This, Hazleton did not have good food. The county food was much better. I've never heard of this before. Wow. Listen, it was horrible. And why do you say? that? What was it about it? It was just different. Like, I quit drinking milk because it smelled like chemicals. I'd never drink the prison milk. It was horrible. And the meat, like the hamburger meat. I don't know. Well, it's not really real meat. It's not. I don't know what it is. Yeah. I'm not sure on the box. It says it's not for human consumption. Yeah, they were giving us the frozen McRibbs at one point when they all expired. Yeah, when McDonald's discontinued it. Yeah.

We got all those in prison. We did get those danishes and honey bones. Those are good, yeah. Yeah. Did you guys have like the scratch bakery there where they would make them fresh or now? We had that. Yeah, we'd get the. We had the chicken, you know.

Chicken Day was the best. It was good. I wouldn't consider myself a peak of eater. I'll pretty much eat anything, but I don't hardly eat chicken on the bone anymore. Yeah, but it's, I'd rather have a boneless chicken. That's for sure. Now, would the women have to, support the penitentiary at all? Like say they were in lockdown. Did you guys have to make

bag lunches or anything? No. Okay. Yeah, when I was at the camp, whenever the medium got locked down, they would have to support, yeah, support the medium and whatnot. Yeah. No, not to my, not to my knowledge, we did get, like the guards were on rotation. So the guards at the SFF were always real strict and stern because, you know, they'd be up to, at the USP, and then the next quarter they would switch down to us and you could tell that they were just really hard. What about your job? Did you work a job there or no because you weren't an Ardap? I worked a compound, which was taking the trash out and mowing with the rowing mower. You know what I mean?

The non-electric one. They will not cut the dandelions. Never. That's so funny. And how much did they pay you for that? I don't remember. It was $35 a month. So you were able to still work and do Ardap?

Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah. Go ahead. There weren't many jobs that you could have doing ARDAAP, but that was one of them because it was late in the evening. I would take garbage out and you could work around the ARDAP hours. Did you make a lot of friends in there that you still know to this day?

I did. I came across a lot of people. And that's one thing that I mean, I met a lot of people that I became very close with. And it takes, we need each other in there. Like, we have to have each other's support. So they really helped me get to. a lot of tough times. Did your daughter come visit you in prison? She did come visit some while I was in

county jail, but you've got to think my entire family was locked up, right? And so it was on the left on my sister-in-law to try and do the best they could for the entire family. Was that hard being away from her for that long? It was extremely hard. When I was still in county jail local, they would bring her and we would do the video visits because it had to be on the kiosk. And I remember watching the first time that she called my sister-in-law mom, and that was heartbreaking. But, you know, I would look around at other women and their kids were in the system. And, you know, my daughter got to go be with family. And I could not ask for any better person to care for her.

Yeah, I mean, you think about those situations. If you're in prison and then your kid is in prison, like you already have no power in prison, but then you're even more powerless because your kid is gone. That's got a, I can't even imagine. It is. It's hard. And so I think for me, I just kind of coped with it, this little contact with home. And she was a baby.

She wouldn't hardly talk on the phone anyways, even as she got a little bit older. So I just called home once a week, and, you know, you just kind of separate yourself from the home life. So with ARDAP, how long did you end up doing? 36 months. And that's with halfway house time? That was with halfway house.

Yeah. Okay. So I had to do the T-DAP after R-DAP. Yeah. And what was that experience like after? Did you run into any complications, violations, anything like that? I didn't. I did have, so I didn't get the full 12 months off my sentence because I had a pending charge in Arkansas, Kentucky.

There's an Arkansas, Kentucky. I meant Arkansas. Oh. Not Arkansas, Kentucky. The state, Arkansas. I had a pending charge in Arkansas. And so that was. was keeping me from being able to go to halfway house.

But I worked for months trying to get that resolved, and I finally did, but it kind of had already eaten into my year off. But I guess getting out, I'd never had a driver's license. I'd never really worked. I worked at the dollar store one time for two weeks in my lifespan, and that was it. So I guess there was a lot of fear. I was facing a lot of, you know, things that I didn't really, I couldn't see it working out in my mind.

But I got out first thing, got that first job at McDonald's at the halfway house. And the halfway house was a bit confusing for me because I felt like I was free, but I wasn't. I still had all these rules to follow. I was still an inmate, so it was kind of tricky, and I kind of pushed the limits a little bit. But I'm not going to say it was completely easy, but it's doable, you know. Doing the right thing isn't always easy. But they did have a lot of resources. Like, they help you through the whole process.

Was it hard finding work? I know you said you got a job at McDonald's. I was in Manchester, Kentucky, so there wasn't a lot of job options. But McDonald's is what I had. And they didn't discriminate against your criminal history or anything? No, they didn't at all. And did they start you at, like, a reasonable wage? Normal pay, yeah.

I got the same pay as anybody else. And there's a lot of second-chance employers out there. I mean, it does make it more difficult. Like, I can't go work at the school if I wanted to. You know, but there's still a lot of other options. You're not limited to where there's no hope at all. Now, how did you transition into what you do now? How did you, you know, find recovery and getting involved in this line of work?

Well, once I got out of the halfway house, I started working back home at this gas station, and it was a gas station I was already familiar with and comfortable with. It was kind of where I hung out a lot before I went to prison. Probably wasn't the best environment for me. but they took the poker machines out, so it wasn't as bad. But I would see people from home that I used to run with, and they just didn't have no life in them. They just looked older and sad and lifeless.

And so my heart kind of would go out to them, you know? Like, there's a better way. You don't have to keep living this way. And then Jessica Renner kept coming in the gas station. and she wanted me to get a job in recovery. And so I told you I'd never had a driver's license before. I had all these fines I had to pay off and like a wreck from so many years ago. And I kept telling her I'm going to.

I just got to get a driver's license first, right? Because it's out of town. And I'm barely making it to work as it is, boom and rides every day. So that's how it happened. I finally got that car. It took me a year after getting out of prison to get a job. a vehicle and get a driver's license. But I did it. And then

Jessica had just came in and she said there's this new place opening up in London, Kentucky. There's Recovery Works at the time. She's like, come, you know, put your application in. So I did. And I went and they were brand new. They didn't even have clients yet when I interviewed. And so they didn't need residential

staff at the time. They needed somebody in housekeeping. So I was like, okay, we've got to get my foot in the door, right? So that's what we done. And I went into housekeeping. And before you know and I was residential staff within no time. And I knew just being surrounded by them that that's where I belonged.

Like they were my people. I didn't feel like out of sorts or anything there because they had been to the same thing that I had, you know, and I had something to offer them. Yeah, did you feel, you know, more trusting because they were in your shoes before, people like Jessica and those around? Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. I think that makes like a huge difference, you know, in the reentry and recovery space. Just having people that you can, you know, trust. Yeah, and seeing like Jessica, Renner, knowing her before and seeing that new version of her. Oh, you knew the old her. Yeah, I knew the old Jessica. Right. She's from the same town.

So I knew Jess. So that gave you hope. Yeah, and it's like, gosh, you know. Do you feel like you finally found like the missing piece of the puzzle that you didn't have growing up and in your childhood? And I found that with God. That's what I'd been missing the whole time. And I think we all go on this search to just be loved and find our worth and something in the world. And God can feel that for you.

He did for me. That's awesome. What is the next stage of your life look like? What's your plan? What do you want to do? What I want to do now? Yeah. I mean, just show up every day and help people as much as I can.

Of course, I would like to, you know, grow personally. But I don't know. I don't really have, like I'm happy with where I'm at right now. But I could see myself just, I don't know. I like having a team. I like helping people, but I also like training other people on how to help people. So that's it. Are you still close with your siblings now?

What's your relationship with them like? We're not as close. They're all addicts too. So I've had to set some boundaries with my oldest, brother when I first got out, but he's sober now. He's doing well. I don't ever see him. He lives in Tennessee. And then my younger brother that did go to prison with me, he got out a couple years ago, and we're still pretty close. And then my youngest brother, we're pretty close to. I guess we're, I love them all. I just have, I have to have healthy boundaries when it comes to any negative

things going on in their life, right? I can't allow it to affect mine. What kind of keeps you grounded now and to stay on the right path? God and my support. Man, it's just, it's amazing what it will do for you to just surround yourself by a couple people that believe in you and that have your back no matter what. And then I talk to God a lot. He's my best friend. That's awesome. Well, Megan, thank you so much for coming on the show. It means a lot and I'm glad you got to share your story with us. And, you know, we wish you all the best and continue doing what you're doing. You too. Thank you very much. Of course.