From Privilege to Prison

A bubbly, outgoing young woman spirals out of control in a habitual cycle of addiction and alcoholism, indulging in immoral and criminal behaviors. Amy Wickes-Passmore pays a hefty price: a six month prison sentence that continues for almost 4 years, at times alongside of inmates serving life sentences. She is overwhelmed with the loss of her kids to the system as she tries to make sense of her situation while battling her newly diagnosed Bipolar I diagnosis.

Amy's animated, comedic personality serves her well behinds bars. She makes a vow to those whom she leaves behind to tell the unimaginable stories about what life is like on the inside. Some jaw dropping stories of inmates, the justice system, kickin' it with the lifers, and performing karaoke for the prison guards. When Amy is released, her personal growth while enduring the harshest of environments allows her to "flip the script" on her past.

About the Authors

Amy Wickes-Passmore has become a strong advocate in her Columbus, Ohio community as she fights to raise awareness about children of the incarcerated, proper mental health diagnosis, reducing the prison population and recidivism rates, drug addiction, and much more.

Kristine Stevens was raised at the Jersey Shore, earned a BS in Education from Central Michigan University, and an MBA from Northwest Nazarene University in Idaho. A mother of 4 fantastic daughters, she is a sports enthusiast, and currently lives in Central Michigan, where she works for a local college, assisting students and area businesses in the economic and workforce development arenas.

Kristine first met Amy Wickes-Passmore in November of 2011 while in Columbus, Ohio. Amy talked incessantly, asked a lot of questions, and then reacted to her answers with magnificent expression, more questions, and giggling. When Kristine learned that Amy was writing a book about her experiences in prison, she read some of the chapters, and was intrigued.

As a former English teacher, Kristine believes that the writer's voice Amy used was uniquely captivating; writing also seemed to help Amy face her past, and begin to heal. Rather than focus on sentence structure, diction, punctuation, and proper grammar, Kristine focused on Amy: Kristine chose to focus on Amy's potential, help her piece together the stories that she wanted to tell, and finalize her book so that she could continue on her journey, pay it forward, and advocate for those without a voice.