Mother’s Day brings joy and tears at Richmond City Jail

Sometimes it doesn't matter that mom wears an orange jumpsuit and lives -- for now -- behind bars.

So when Catherine Bishop had to say goodbye yesterday to her family at the conclusion of a joyand tear-filled Mother's Day celebration at the Richmond City Jail, it only made sense that her two sons trailed dutifully behind her as she made her way back to her cell.

A deputy intervened and gently turned the boys back from their mom.

Ta'Koda, 9, and Kyvonte, 6, would have to wait for another day. So would their two sisters and Bishop's fiancé, all of whom celebrated Mother's Day yesterday in a first-of-its kind ceremony that broke with tradition and likely started another.

"We can't have contact visits, so this was special for all of us," said Bishop, 34, who is awaiting trial on an attempted-robbery charge.

It's a case of mistaken identity, Bishop said.

But there was no mistaking the bonds, no matter how strained by circumstance, that wrapped a bit tighter yesterday in a hot, humid jailhouse cafeteria.

"This is about you, not C.T. Woody Jr.," the Richmond sheriff told a crowd of perhaps 100 children, a smattering of husbands and dozens of jailed moms -- most dealing with drug, driving or prostitution arrests.

Under the watchful eyes of deputies, the mothers gave their children stuffed bears donated by Bon Air Baptist Church and Richmond sheriff's chaplains. And Wilkinson's Flowers chipped in by donating carnations that children could give to their moms.

Woody described the two-hour event as an exercise in forgiveness that also harkens back to his own mother's influence on him. And it explored an act essential to healing, understanding and moving on.

"Only the forgiven can forgive, and that is why the children being present is so important," the sheriff said in a written statement.

In the front row of the cafeteria, listening to the women's choir and prayers, Karen Rogers held her 2½-month-old grandson for the first time and beamed as she felt the long-missed hugs of her two daughters and son, Legend, 3, dressed in his Sunday best.

"I got caught up in a six-year drug run on crack cocaine," she said in front of her children. "I sacrificed the love and care of my children. It was something I will never sacrifice again."

Her daughters, both in their 20s, listened intently, nodding in agreement that the woman who now was sitting beside them was the loving person they remembered before the drug addiction began.

"Next to C.T. releasing me today, this is the next best thing that could happen," Rogers said.

But the magic moments had to end. The hard sounds of closing metal doors and the rattle of keys mixed with tearful expressions of sad goodbyes and silent kisses on soft cheeks.

Jessica Frith's last moments with her 2-week-old son and her own weeping mother were especially moving.

"I'm laughing because I have no idea what's going on," read grandmother Ruth Austin's T-shirt.

The family has been splintered for years.

"I was in institutions most of the time I was growing up," Frith said. "My little sister -- she's 8 -- has to tell her friends at school that I'm on drugs and walking Chamberlayne Avenue.

"She prays every night her sister gets off drugs," Frith said.

So the 8-year-old sister cried, Austin turned away to wipe tears from her eyes and a deputy tried to look comfortable handling the baby seat.

"I went into labor in jail. Today is his 2-week birthday," said Frith, fighting back her own tears after her family had left. "And this is the first time I've held him since I left the hospital.

"His name is Uzziah. That means 'The Lord is my strength.'"

Frith will need a lot of strength.

"I'm looking at maybe a year" in jail, she said.

Until next Mother's Day.

Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or .