Welcome to the Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Three inmates from the J6 pod share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail.
To find out more about these inmates, their information is provided below:
Bryan Smith- Inmate # 389884
Gregory Purdy- Inmate #390028
Joseph Hutchinson- Inmate #388311https://www.givesendgo.com/GBMN3
Welcome to the Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Two inmates from the J6 pod share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail.
To find out more about these inmates, their information is provided below:
Daniel Ball: https://www.givesendgo.com/GAUX1
Gregory Purdy- Inmate #390028
Welcome to the Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Three inmates from the J6 pod share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail.
To find out more about these inmates, their information is provided below:
Bryan Smith- Inmate # 389884
Gregory Purdy- Inmate #390028
Joseph Hutchinson- Inmate #388311https://www.givesendgo.com/GBMN3
Welcome to the Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Three inmates from the J6 pod share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail.
To find out more about these inmates, their information is provided below:
Sean Dennison- Inmate #383772
Bryan Smith- Inmate # 389884
Greg Purdy - Inmate #390028
Welcome to the Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Three inmates from the J6 pod share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail.
To find out more about these inmates, their information is provided below:
Gregory Purdy- Inmate #390028
Jonathan Copeland- https://www.givesendgo.https://www.givesendgo.com/G9ER1com/G9ER1
Dominic Box-Inmate # 387287 https://www.givesendgo.com/freedomj6
Welcome to the Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Joseph, from the J6 pod, shares inspirational thoughts from the Bible and relating to our Constitution. To find out more, pray or donate to Joseph, please visit:
Joseph Hutchinson- Inmate #388311https://www.givesendgo.com/GBMN3
Welcome to the Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Two inmates from the J6 pod share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail. This was a hard one, please pray for these people.
To find out more about these inmates, their information is provided below:
Joseph Hutchinson- Inmate #388311https://www.givesendgo.com/GBMN3
Dominic Box- Inmate # 387287 https://www.givesendgo.com/freedomj6
Prayer Requests: For Curtis Tate, David Gietzen, Chris Quaglin, David Dempsey, Dominic Box
Welcome to the Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Three inmates from the J6 pod share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail. Today we hear about faith, looking forward with hope and trusting God.
To find out more about these inmates, their information is provided below:
Gregory Purdy- Inmate #390028
Jonathan Pollock- https://www.givesendgo.com/GBKHV
Dominic Box- https://www.givesendgo.com/freedomj6
Welcome to the Sunday Devotional from the Washington DC jail. Two inmates, from the J6 pod, share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail.
Bryan Smith- Inmate # 389884
Gregory Purdy- Inmate #390028
Welcome to the Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Two inmates from the J6 pod share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail.
John Todd- #388351 https://www.givesendgo.com/johntoddIII
Jonathan Copeland- https://www.givesendgo.https://www.givesendgo.com/G9ER1com/G9ER1
Welcome to the Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Two inmates from the J6 pod share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail. This week they both share on unity within the pod, within brothers and men and within our country.
To find out more about these inmates, their links are provided below:
Joseph Hutchinson- Inmate #388311https://www.givesendgo.com/GBMN3
Dominic Box- https://www.givesendgo.com/freedomj6
Welcome to the Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Three inmates from the J6 pod share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail.
To find out more about these inmates and to help them and their families, their links are provided below:
Joseph Hutchinson- Inmate #388311https://www.givesendgo.com/GBMN3
Olivia Pollock https://www.givesendgo.com/GBKHV
Ben Burlew- https://www.givesendgo.com/G9WTA
Bryan Smith - https://www.givesendgo.com/BryanJ6Legalfund/donate
Time has flown by and has dragged on, all at the same time. We have yet to settle, while we wait for our home to sale. The plan is to move to be closer to Taylor. I have faith that that will happen when it is supposed to, but the process has pulled at my heart strings.
My love for our beautiful country is strong and strained. This 4th of July we spent with friends, which was lovely. The kids ran all over their farm yard in bare feet, jumped on the two trampolines they have touching each other (so that the kids can jump between the two). We played pickleball, and after starting out playing best to 5, then jumping to best out of 7, then 15, then 21, Fisher finally pulled ahead and beat me:). We came home and had our own fireworks, with just me and the three younger kids. In the summers the two oldest head to a scout camp in Idaho, where they are camp counselors. The 4th of July has been just Taylor and I and the three boys for quit a few years now. This year it was me and the three boys. Taylor is the fun one on the 4th. He has always been the one to encourage adventure in the kids, and his love for fireworks was something that spread like wildfire to the little boys. Each year the boys line the fountain fireworks up around the fireplace ring,and light them one at a time. The drill is that they all gather as one lights the wick. When they see the first sign of a spark they “run for the hills”. It never gets old and it’s always entertaining for Taylor and I… it was entertaining for just me this year… I missed seeing him next to me. Thank God for America and everything good that that means. I pray for her.
Happy 4th everyone!
All,
I hope this 4th of July finds you all well. It's been an interesting experience today, inside prison walls, experiencing a holiday which celebrates the birth of our nation and the shared Freedoms, Rights and Privileges that this nation was created to represent and protect for her people.
My experience that has lead me into these walls has been interesting to say the least. Most of all, what has been interesting was to see my assumptions about what our nation is and does, be challenged and in many ways disproven. You know what they say when you "Assume", you make and "Ass" out of "U" and "ME!
When I studied Political Science, I grew a great appreciation for the principles that lead to the founding of our nation. In many ways, the revolution to free the 13 colonies from England, was not so much about what we wanted to become, as much as it was about what WE, 'the People', did not want to BE. We did not want to be a society of people who had limited freedoms, we did not want to be dictated to about rules of commerce beyond the reasonable, we did not want to have our private lives invaded by government speculation. We wanted to be free of false imprisonment, bills of attainder and many more invasions the British monarch imposed upon the colonists. The Americas were populated with people who came through ventures such as Jamestown, seeking economic opportunity in the New World. It was founded by people who were brought by providence to places like Plymouth Rock, seeking freedom from religious persecutions, to be able to determine, as they saw fit, what was morally right or wrong based on the dictates of their conscious. Some combination of those two things, for hundreds of years now, have caused people to abandon the land of their nativity and join the Union of States, which represents liberation from what we don't want to be, and an opportunity to chart our own course.
I myself have ancestry that immigrated to the Americas through BOTH Jamestown in its first decade and also landed with the Pilgrims on Plymouth rock itself. I have an ancestor who at the age of 43, left his farm and family to join the North Carolina Cavalry Militia to fight in the Revolutionary war itself. The cause of America runs deep within my veins.
From this prison, I reflect upon that which Americans assume. We assume our rights are unalienable. But, when we encounter the criminal justice system, as it is currently constituted, we often find that our assumptions do indeed make an ASS out of U and ME...Many a soldier has signed up for military or other's for public service, under the premise that they were protecting our sacred rights. However, the place where protection is needed most, inside a courtroom, those rights, secured by blood of patriots, are often surrendered and waived as if they had no importance at all. Rights enumerated and secured by the people, as a bargain to the passing of the Constitution, called the Bill of Rights, include things like the right to freedom of speech, assembly, and press. The right to self defense, the right to due process, privacy and to be secure in their person, papers, homes and things. A right to counsel, to confront your accuser, to settle claims made against you, and the right to a speedy trial, to name a few.
These rights, in many ways, are those rights that people need inside a courtroom, more than any other place! Yet in our current justice system, the moment a criminal defendant is charged he, 1) waives his right to confront his accuser, 2) is told not to speak publicly and freely, 3) given limits of association and advised not to talk to the press, 4) his right to self defense is stripped, 5) his right to privacy is curtailed by pre-trial conditions often including home visits, and other invasive medical interventions, 6) the right to a speedy trial is almost always immediately waved, 7) a right to a trial by jury is waived because the 'trial tax' plea deals are sought to make the pain go away.These are just a few of the rights that are almost immediately surrendered or waived because the mechanisms of the system demands it. For those who are brave enough to 'stand on their rights' the consequences can be severe...
The minority communities in this country have some very low sentiments when it comes to patriotic fervor. They have complained for decades about the unjust system. Having gone through this myself, I can say their complaints are not unjustified. Until this touches you, it's hard to comprehend how you feel when your rights evaporate before your eyes. ONLY someone who benefits from this system in some way, or contributes to its continuation would make arguments to the contrary. As my defense attorney said at one point, when I pointed out how 'my rights' seemed non-existent, "I won't defend the system".
Enjoy the freedom you do have, we still are a free country. I do believe with all my heart that liberty trumps all, and over time it's cause will prevail. There is a lot to work on to live up to the blood spilt and sacrifices that were made to set up the principles we must strive to live up to. I make no excuses for the prisoner, myself included, but I do think about how our system of justice can be improved, to live up to the ethos and principles our nation assumes to have.
"He who stands on his rights, injures no one"
Happy 4th of July.
Taylor
*Invitation to join a fast for our Nation: July 1-July 3
Welcome to the Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Three inmates from the J6 pod share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail.
Joseph Hutchinson- Inmate #388311https://www.givesendgo.com/GBMN3
Jonathan Pollock- https://www.givesendgo.com/GBKHV
Dominic Box- https://www.givesendgo.com/freedomj6
We homeschool all of our kids. Elise was the first to attend a public school two years ago, when she started a local program where you can earn your Associate’s Degree the last two years of High School. About a week ago she graduated with her Associates in General Studies. She has done an incredible job.
Kids keep getting bigger and time seems to be going slowly and quickly.
There have been a lot of ups and downs in our home…the ups have definitely outnumbered the downs and we are so grateful for that. Things aren’t quit right with part of our family (Taylor) away, but we are making due.
Overall, we continue to carry on in a hopeful way. I have been overwhelmed with gratitude for the fact that we are still making it financially. We are in a sort of limbo until our home sales.We have received help and support from so many of you, and we are incredibly grateful. I wonder often how we will make it, and can’t help but look back at all the miracles we have seen so far. I thank the Lord every day for His continued care for our family.
This last Sunday Devotional Joseph mentioned that the inmates inside of the DC Jail will be doing a fast for our Nation. I wanted to let you all know, so that you could join.
***God, please bless and heal our land and the people here…
Welcome to the Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Three inmates from the J6 pod share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail. This week we were invited to join a fast for this nation, July 1st-3rd. We would love for you all to join and spread the word!
To find out more about these inmates, their links are provided below:
John Todd- #388351 https://www.givesendgo.com/johntoddIII
Joseph Hutchinson- Inmate #388311https://www.givesendgo.com/GBMN3
Welcome to the Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Today is Father's Day, and we want to wish all of our J6 men a Happy Father's Day. This week we get to hear from a former inmate, and we are so happy for his release. We will also hear from 4 inmates from the DC Jail share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail.
Thank you for joining us!
Larry Brock: https://x.com/LarryBrockJr
Dominic Box- https://www.givesendgo.com/freedomj6
Ben Burlew- https://www.givesendgo.com/G9WTA
Jonathan Copeland- https://www.givesendgo.https://www.givesendgo.com/G9ER1com/G9ER1
Welome to the J6 Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Two inmates from the J6 pod share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail.
To find out more about these inmates, their links are provided below:
Joseph Hutchinson- Inmate #388311https://www.givesendgo.com/GBMN3
Curtis Tate- https://www.givesendgo.com/CurtisTate
The fireworks always start being set off early here in Kingston. That’s something you can expect each year. We have a couple of Indian reservations around where we live, and they usually start selling fireworks pretty early…the really fun ones. As I lay here in my bed tonight I am loving the energy of the fireworks being set off, somewhere not too far.
Fireworks are so reminiscent of the 4th, and them being set off early creates such anticipation. The holidays have been strange without Taylor. Everything has really. I wonder what the 4th of July will bring…
I’ve been thinking about how it’s amazing that each person in a family creates this sort of energy that meshes together with everyone else to create a kind of harmony. Sometimes the harmonies play in minor chords and it begs for some sort of resolve. But, most the time the melodies come and go and there’s a sort of rhythm about it all that is just beautiful.
Elise is leaving soon. Technically her and Ben will be leaving soon. They both have worked as camp counselors at a boy scout camp in McCall Idaho for the past few summers, and they will be headed back there soon. But, this summer is different. She graduates in one week and after they get done at the camp she is headed to Utah on a new adventure.
I haven’t really minded change in the past, but it seems to be something so destabilizing the last little while. I want to keep everyone close…I’m really going to miss her.
Life…
Written 6/4/2024
All,
I took a 13th Amendment Job in the woodshop today to pass the time and learn some new skills. Today I got to work with Drill Guns, a planer, a jointer, table saw, belt sand and circular sander...all in one day. The woodshop makes American Flag plaques and challenge coin holders for retiring C.O.'s around the country. They also fix cabinets, chairs, and pretty much anything else dealing with wood. It's nice because I am in the woodshop with 2 other Jaysixers, we are pretty busy working, but it was nice to be around those guys. The C.O. over the woodshop is really cool and supportive. I will be doing less walking now, today after Woodshop I only got about 5.4 miles in before count. It's starting to get warm and humid. The weather here reminds me a lot of Brazil. It is humid, when it rains, it rains really hard, and the rain isn't really cold like it is in Seattle. When storm systems roll in they usually only last 1/2 day or even faster. I am accustomed to the Seattle area, when weather systems roll in there, they last for days coming of the Pacific ocean like they do. When it rains, it often rains or drizzles for days. I haven't seen anything like that here.
One of our Jaysixers went home this morning (or more accurately to a 1/2 way house). He had a 2 year sentence, with first step and 2nd chance act he ended up dong I think 16 months. (It would have been less but he was in the hole for 127 days and lost good time due to an email he sent that ruffled feathers). I will miss him, he was a Lt. Colonel in the US Air Force and flew A-10 warthog planes on multiple deployments in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. He was in active combat a lot and had great stories. He also had a Political Science degree with a minor in International Studies and Military Science...the exact same degrees I have, even the minors. He and I took very different paths...but ultimately ended up in the same place, lol. I only knew him the short time I was here, but he looked out for me when I got here and helped soften the landing. He was the first one here, and did the same for the others when they arrived. It just goes to show the extremely diverse backgrounds of people involved in the jaysix incident. There is a shared trauma bond, and we helped each other find purpose and meaning in all this.
I sometimes am overwhelmed when I think about the duration of time I 'might' end up being here. The gentlemen who left this morning filed an appeal and WON, his appeal is what reduced my guidelines from 109-135 down to 70-87 (of which I got 87 months). His appeal is also applicable to my current sentence should we appeal.
Last night we asked him what he learned while he was here, anything good he took from his time. He said he loves this country, and while there is a lot of hurt being prosecuted by your own country, he shared some intimate things that only someone going through this can truly understand and I can't really share here...BUT, please be cognizant each one of you have a role to play...Your vote matters, your energy matters, there are undecided voters who we all know. I know I probably preach to the choir a little here, but don't underestimate your ability to make a difference. My recommendation is to listen to the candidates themselves, and not what people say about them, encourage others to do the same.
I love yawl,
Taylor
The pain almost feels too great. It’s like a giant boulder, burning on my chest. During the day there are so many things to do and people to care for, but the nights are haunting.
I fell asleep tonight, only to be woken by thoughts of prison and Taylor. Fears of the future. I know that faith cant survive in an atmosphere of fear, but sometimes that faith stays hidden for a moment and fear is allowed too much power.
Oh God, where is your pavilion?! I listen to the breathing of my children. I pray their dreams are sweet, but I know that they suffer from nightmares like me.
I think we humans try to find purpose in everything, I guess that’s one of our gifts. You wonder if it’s delusional, maybe a coping mechanism.
What heals a heart from something so terrible? How do you move on when the pit doesn’t go away?
Nights like these seem to always come back once my sleep starts to get caught up. It’s almost more bearable to live with the sleep exhaustion, because I don’t have to face the nights of hell. I’m just too tired to wake up, and can get longer nights of sleep. But now it’s back.
God, it hurts so bad
God, please watch over him.
God, please heal my impossible heart.
Please heal my children, with their broken hearts.
Caleb asked my mom the other day if she had Trump’s phone number…she said she didn’t, but asked why he needed it.
“….. I just wanted to call and to ask if he is winning”
Weeks ago he asked how long dad will be gone. I told him it will be a long time and I wasn’t quite sure. I said it might be sooner if Trump wins…
He asked, “Mom, is Trump good at the game”
My reply was, “ I hope so”.
I hate that things are getting hotter on the political front. I hate to see more and more people getting locked up, and the political right getting more and more agitated.
I pray that men’s hearts will not fail them. I see so much escalation on both sides of the political isle.
Please Lord, please bless this divided country. Bless us as brothers and sisters. God, please bless that chaos doesn't prevail and that love for our neighbor rules the day.
Please God, please grant us grace. Grace for our neighbor, grace for ourselves. Thank you Lord, for the calm that can only come through you. This world is a fallen world and maybe that’s the point… Please give all of us the wisdom to see things as they are and things as they can be. Please bless that this fallen state can rise in our hearts to be a paradise for one another.
I pray for the prisoner tonight.
I pray for the wanderer that is seeking to find
I pray for the wounded children
I pray for the wounded adults that silently suffer
I pray for the broken hearted
I pray for the widower
I pray for the medically ill
I pray for the mentally ill
God please grant us grace and the eyes to see one another as you see us. Please help us live the gospel that we profess to believe.
Thank you God,
Your daughter who loves you,
-Marie
Join us for this Sunday devotional from the Washington DC jail. Two inmates share inspirational thoughts, things they are going through and insights from inside the jail.
Heather is inmate # 389468- c/o Victoria Hughes 12747 Julmar Dr., Byron MI. 48418
To find out more about Olivia you can visit their family's Give Send Go page: https://www.givesendgo.com/GBKHV
Thank you for listening, Marie
Thought I would share a recent message from Taylor
All,
In discussions with people about the 'state of the nation', I often take an objective view that, while we often remember or fantasize about better days gone past, that is not always the case, in fact, there is a saying that "there is Nothing New under the Sun". Our founding fathers recognized that Human Nature never changes, that absolute power corrupts absolutely, that power is best diffused from the hands of the few, to the hands of many. Ultimately the founding fathers enshrined that all Power not specifically given to the three branches of government (a scheme to avoid absolute tyranny) was reserved to "the People". (See Marie's website for my writings on "the People vs the Person").
General Joseph Smith, who ran for President of the United States of America, wrote the following about the prison system on February 7, 1844 (the year of his martyrdom).
"Born in a land of liberty, and breathing an air uncorrupted with the sirocco of barbarous climes, i ever feel a double anxiety for the happiness of all men, both in time and in eternity...when I viewed the condition of men throughout the world, and more especially in this boasted realm, where the Declaration of Independence "holds these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, "but at the same time some two or three millions of people are held as slaves for life, because the spirit in them is covered with a darker skin than ours: and hundreds of our kindred" (this is key, this is what I found so interesting...) "for an infraction, or supposed infraction of some over wise statue, have to be incarcerated in dudgeon glooms, or suffer more moral penitentiary gravitation of mercy in a nut-shell, while the duelist, the debauchee, and the defaulter for millions, and other criminals, take the upper-most rooms at feasts, or, like the bird of passage find a more congenial clime by flight."
In 1844 he saw much the same condition that we see today, slavery excepting, but since then the growth of the Prison system he railed against, has grown exponentially, in many ways to take place of slavery as an institution (see the 13th amendment).
He goes on to offer his solution in his Presidential platform:
"Petition your state legislatures to pardon every convict in their several penitentiaries, blessing them as they go, and saying to them, in the name of the Lord, go thy way and sin no more. Advise your legislators when they make laws for larceny, burglary or any felony, to make the penalty applicable to work upon roads, public works, or any place where the culprit can be taught more wisdom and more virtue; and become more enlightened. Rigor and seclusion will never do as much to reform the propensities of man as reason and friendship. Murder only can claim confinement or death. Let the penitentiaries be turned into seminaries of learning, where intelligence, like the angels of heaven, would banish such fragments of barbarism: Imprisonment for debt is a meaner practice than the save tolerates with all his ferocity; "Amor vincit amnia." Love conquers All.
I found this enlightening, we deal with many of the same problems that have been dealt with for centuries. General Joseph Smith had personally spent multiple stints imprisoned, HE WAS A MAN ON THE INSIDE who knew the inmates plight. Few who pass the laws, have experienced the same...He DID.
If you always do what you have always done, you'll always get what you have always had. To solve age old solutions, perhaps something that has never been tried should be...
Go in Peace and Sin no more...What a novel idea, from a master, a verdict passed over a woman condemned to death, it was good enough for him, why would it not be good enough for us?
Just some thoughts I thought I might share.
God Bless,
Taylor
