In 1986, Linda Badger was convicted of murdering her husband. She maintained that she was innocent and received a Federal court ruling in 1997 recommending a pardon based on a miscarriage of justice. However, it would be another 17 years before she was released on parole.

During her time behind bars, Badger, who is Jewish, learned Torah with volunteers, including Rabbi Miriam Hamrell of Ahavat Torah Congregation. Together, with other Jewish inmates, they would celebrate Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and Jewish holidays, hear about Talmudic teachings and take classes on ethics and justice.

The volunteer teachers brought their own special skills, and each one, in a different way, prepared us to make the most of our lives while in prison, said Badger. [Wed think] about the challenges when we were released so that we would know how to adapt in positive ways to the free world.

When she was released in 2014, Badger joined Ahavat Torah, where she has been executive director for five years. At the synagogue, shes organized clothing drives for homeless veterans and toy drives for children with parents in the military. She also created the synagogues Holocaust tent for a Jewish World Watch fundraising walk.

In Judaism, we are taught to take care of the stranger, the widow, the orphan, the hungry and those who are oppressed, Badger said. I am always seeking out additional projects or programs which will translate these Jewish ideals into action.

Hamrell began volunteering at the prison 14 years ago at the encouragement of Shayna Lester, Ahavat Torahs current president who was the Lead Volunteer Chaplain at the prison under Rabbi Moshe Halfon. Twice a month, Hamrell would drive four hours round trip to teach and learn with seven to 30 Jewish women there.

It was important for the rabbi to make the trek, she said, because for these women to be able to become functioning, loving and contributing members of the Jewish community once they got out of prison, they needed to know and feel and experience that we support them, even in the hell hole they were experiencing in prison. Its a hell hole of no freedom: no freedom to speak, no freedom to act.

When Hamrell arrived at the prison, she would guide them spiritually if they came to her for advice as well as teach them Talmud and how to solve problems.

The way of the Talmud is that there is more than one way of solving an issue, even with your rival, she said. Many of the women are incarcerated because they thought or felt that there was only one way to resolve a situation. The Talmud shows them there are many ways to resolve it, and we have to take all angles into account.

Hamrell is so dedicated to helping the women and teaching them Talmud that one time, Badger recalled how she bought a new wardrobe just to get inside the prison.

Volunteers were not allowed [to wear] the [same] color clothing that the inmates had [on], said Badger. Once, the rabbi came, and the guards would not let her in because of a blue line in her dress. She went to the local Kmart store, bought a $5 dress off the rack, went into the dressing room and changed her clothes. She returned to the prison where, now, she was allowed to enter. Keep in mind that for most volunteers, the round trip to and from the prison was about 100 miles.

Since the volunteer program started, several other inmates aside from Badger have become members of the synagogue. One of them was Terri Scrape, who got out after 33 years behind bars for a crime she said she didnt commit, according to Lester. Scrape, who has since passed away, rose to become the president of Ahavat Torah.

Its an opportunity to engage in something that they might have lost and now, they want to reconnect. That has to be supported. That is teshuva. Rabbi Miriam Hamrell

Though serving time is incredibly difficult and heart-wrenching, Hamrell said that there was a chance for the women to look inward. They could feel connected to their Jewish roots and would not feel forgotten. They could think, Maybe God is giving me the time to look into my roots. Its an opportunity to engage in something that they might have lost and now, they want to reconnect. That has to be supported. That is teshuva.

This past Purim, Ahavat Torah celebrated the holiday with a party and honored the rabbi, as well as several congregants, who volunteered at the California Institute for Women over the years. They were presented with certificates from the Mayors office, Congressman Ted Lieu and Senator Dianne Feinstein for their work.

Since COVID struck, the volunteer program has been put on hold, but according to Lester, they want to resume it again.

We hope to begin to be able to go back in with special programs again as soon as it is deemed safe with COVID, she said. We are highly involved in social action and believe, as a synagogue, this is one way we can help in tikkun olam. We have seen over the 16 years the healing that has taken place for the women and for the volunteers involved.

When COVID is more under control and it becomes safer to go, Hamrell encourages other rabbis and Jewish men and women to volunteer with inmates.

They are good human beings who have done something wrong, she said. Their neshama has to be fanned with some oxygen from the outside world. Each one of us has a little flame of God within us. We need to show them they are not forgotten. We need to show them the way to connect with their own godliness and come back to the path of righteousness.

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Ahavat Torah Is Teaching Torah to Women Prisoners - Jewish Journal