And That's How We Began

Joe served half his life in prison for taking the life of another man. Sheila met Joe while he was serving his time. She was 20 years older than him, a former foreign correspondent for the New York Times, a mother, a homeowner and she fell in love and married a man in prison. Joe was behind bars for twelve years of their relationship. I first learned about Sheila and Joe's love story in an incredible book by Elizabeth Greenwood called Love Lockdown: Dating, Sex and Marriage in America's Prisons. Sheila and Joe's story got under my skin for a lot of reasons. I couldn't imagine how someone like Sheila would fall in love with someone incarcerated for murder. But she did. And their love thrived behind bars and is still thriving today.