We visited the women in hospice. Claudia, one of the inmate patients, was in her final stages of liver cancer. She looked at me and said, “Oh! You’re Terry’s mother. I met you at Woodman State Jail.” Claudia spoke about how she loved it when Terry sang He Rescued Me! “That’s what Jesus did for me. This is so difficult for my daughter and my mother. But now I know the Lord.”
Then we prayed, and from her deathbed she began to sing How Great is our God! Karen, the Chaplain’s assistant who is also an inmate, came with us to bring Bibles and books. She had just received a two-year set off. She has been in prison 19 years and was with me the night of Karla’s execution.
Before we went into the hospice unit she told me, “I’m a mess today. I’m trying to figure out how to tell my family I will not see the parole board again for two more years.” However, when Claudia began to sing, I looked across at Karen. Tears were streaming down her face, and in her brokenness, she sang How Great is our God.