Texas 'Prison Show' links familiar voices worlds away

"Maybe you could use it in your appeal," she jests.

Often, the weather and location of cells affect inmates' reception. But even the prison system recognizes the broadcast's worth. "It's a good show; a lot of inmates listen to it," says Larry Todd, spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Austin.

He says the show is important because it helps dispel rumors that crop up inside prison walls. "Accurate and timely information is so important, and that is what Ray Hill provides."

As for the inmates worrying that the most intimate parts of their lives are aired for everyone to hear, says Todd, "there is so little privacy or modesty in a prison unit, you take [communication] how you can get it and when you can get it."

Many of the show's callers are regulars – Alma from Abilene, Donna from Plymouth, Wis., Pat from Glendale, Ariz.

Calling in is just as therapeutic for the families as it is for their loved ones locked up – but it's often hard to make that initial call. Having a family member in prison can be humiliating at first, says Patsy Halanski, a board member with the Texas Inmates Families Association in Austin. "Most people are embarrassed to say they have a loved one in prison. They think they will be judged for that. But when they listen to this show, they realize that they are not alone, that other people can relate to what they're going through. It's very educational."

However, not all the calls are so upbeat. Some are just plain heart wrenching.

Sandy Nelson, for instance, came to the studio to send a message to her husband, Stephen, on the Darrington Unit, a prison south of Houston. He's doing 99 years for aggravated robbery, and the two got married on "The Prison Show" last spring.

"My sweet husband, I love you so very, very much, and I'm so glad to hear that you are feeling a little better," she reads from a letter jotted down earlier. "It always worries me like crazy when I know you are not feeling up to par. It's just another one of those terrible disadvantages of being apart and not being there for the person you love when they need you. But please go to sleep tonight feeling very loved and very wanted because you have a wife out here that loves you beyond words."

The listening audience is moved again – and after about 25 calls (50 more don't get through), the show comes to a close for another week. Hill quickly gets serious in his summary.

"You know we laugh and hoot and holler, and then those gals call in from Dallas talking to them boys on death row with a lot of spirit in their voice," he says. "It takes a great deal of grace to do that.... The people that we love are locked up in the hellhole that is Texas prison.... But, by golly, we can sing and write poetry and laugh and love one another."

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