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| For prisoners, sundries and solace |
| By Court TV |
| Published: 01/07/2002 |
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Imagine J.Crew offering marital advice with its sweaters or The Gap dispensing job tips with its T-shirts, and you'll have some idea of what Adrienne Smalls' merchandise company does for New York inmates and their families. Smalls, dubbed 'the L.L. Bean of the New York Prison system,' sells everything from tube sox to hair gel to those incarcerated in 31 of the state's correctional facilities. But aboard the buses that shuttle relatives from Manhattan to upstate prisons and on her popular Web site, www.prisonhelp.com, Smalls is known as a compassionate guide through the criminal justice system and a one-woman testament to hope beyond the prison walls. 'The name of the business is exactly what it is - prison help. Not just selling, but help,' she said. 'The sense that there is somebody who has been there, done that and will go the distance with you - that's me.' Smalls has no trouble relating to her clients. The 44-year-old Bronx woman spent three years in jail for hitting a police officer, and her son did five years in state prison for a drug offense. Smalls' business has two components. She sells toiletries and other items to prisoners' relatives who take bus trips, some as long as 36 hours, to visit inmates. She also sells merchandise to prisoners themselves, through the mail or through relatives. Smalls' most valuable asset is her comprehensive knowledge of what will be accepted by corrections officials and what will be rejected. Each prison's rules are slightly different, often leading to frustration for families and anger for inmates. Smalls' Web site is more informational than commercial. In addition to news articles about prisons, the site includes visiting schedules for Rikers Island and bus schedules to other prisons. Customers can peruse her order form and look at pictures of the merchandise. Smalls said the site gets about 500 hits a week, and she hopes to increase the number of visitors by developing a new address that doesn't contain the word 'prison.' Around the clock, she fields e-mails and phone calls and faxes from concerned relatives. They want to order a pair of Timberland boots - her best-selling item - but they also want to know how to finesse a dispute with jail officials. Or they want advice about how to keep a family together while its leader is behind bars. When inmates are released, she refers them to job training programs. Still, she draws the line. Smalls will not deal with prisoners serving time for sexual assault or abuse. |
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