Time Zone

Lashonia Etheridge-Bey spent 18 years in prison for a double murder. “I was one of the worst people you would probably ever meet,” she says of her life just prior to her violent and irreversible crime. Lashonia worked hard to transform her life in prison by turning to Islam, immersing herself in classes, and working out intensively. After being paroled at her first hearing, she succeeded at reintegrating into the Washington, D.C. community, quickly obtaining housing, a full-time job, and continuing her education. However, the less perceptible currents of her life – rebuilding her relationship with her family, and answering for her past – have gone less smoothly. Lashonia’s children, Charnal and Allante, were 3 years and 10 months old when she went to prison, and they are now both adults. “I think those relationships are damaged beyond repair,” she says at one point. And she struggles with the question of whether she will be able to forgive herself. “People say you did your time, you paid your debt, but is there really a debt that you can pay?”