The women imprisoned in Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Connecticut are convicted drug dealers, bank robbers, even murderers. They are also mothers and grandmas. Paying the price for their awful crimes has taken them away from their families.
So this winter 300 of the prisoners decided to join in a generous act of love. They wanted to grant a child's wish, because many of them missed their own children terribly.
"The idea of helping a sick child we didn't even know made us feel so good," prisoner Miriam Ledesma told TFK. The inmates chose to help Casey Kingman, 14, a local boy who suffers from a rare form of cancer. The Make-a-Wish Foundation, which helps grant sick kids' wishes, told the prisoners Casey's dream: to take his family to Walt Disney World.
The women began to save money from their prison jobs. Inmates make as little as 12¢ an hour working in the prison factory or cleaning. They skipped buying cafeteria treats and other extras. They saved $3,769--enough to send Casey on the trip of his dreams in February.
To the inmates' surprise, Casey insisted on going to the prison to say thank you in person. "I was a little bit scared going to a prison. But it was fine," Casey told TFK. "I thanked the ladies for their help. Each one of them said, 'God bless you.' Each one!"
Some call Disney World the Magic Kingdom. But Casey has learned that true magic can come from people's hearts. In his case, the people happened to live behind the barbed-wire-topped wall of a women's prison. He calls his wish-granting inmates "Casey's Fairy Godmothers."