“I had to go to prison to live”: How Jeniffer Kent Found Hope and Restoration Through Faith and Reentry
Two decades ago, Jennifer Kent’s life was headed down a dark road. She’d been addicted to crack cocaine for 26 years. Eventually, in 2004, she landed in jail after being charged with armed robbery. After two jury trials, she received a sentence of 20 years in prison.
“I had no idea I was going to be in jail as long as I did.”
During her incarceration, Ms. Kent faced a number of ordeals. She got into two horrific fights with female gang members. In one altercation, she was beaten with locks so severely that she was hospitalized for several days and later experienced seizures.
In the long, intervening years behind bars, Ms. Kent turned to her Christian faith for strength. She estimates that while she was in prison, she read the Bible cover to cover at least 50 times.
After 17 years in prison, Ms. Kent found herself at the Metro Transition Center and preparing to be released in June of 2022. But one day, she was asked to put on a jumpsuit. A clerical mistake had been made, and she was being sent back to prison for another 15 months.
“That broke my heart in a million pieces,” she said. “One girl asked me how I can still trust and love God after that. I said, ‘How can I not love God? I should be dead. But God saw fit to give me another chance to live.’”
“I had to go to prison to live.”
Finally, after 18 years of incarceration, Ms. Kent was released from prison. The TikTok video of her emotional reunion with her family went viral and has been viewed over 100,000 times.
“I had to go to prison to live,” she said. “I had to die to self. A lot of people say that I got that jailhouse religion. I don't care what they say. I thank God that I got this jailhouse religion because it's real. And it's not a religion. I have a personal relationship with God now.”
Today, Ms. Kent has been out of prison for several months. During that time, she’s remained completely sober. And she’s been working with the Reentry Team at City of Refuge (our team to support individuals returning to society from incarceration, helping prevent recidivism) to get her life back on track.
Together, they’re working on getting her driver’s license reinstated, her social security benefits, and her insurance. She credits her Reentry Team for being so supportive. “Anything I need, I know I can go to them…They have given me so much encouragement.”
As Ms. Kent thinks about the future, she's filled with hopes and dreams. City of Refuge is also helping her with family reunification efforts with her three children to heal the wounds of the past two decades. She also dreams of becoming a minister and teaching the Bible to others.
As she considers her journey, Ms. Kent reflects on the words of Jesus from John 15.
“God is the head of our life. He's been with us. He's going to continue to stay with us. But like His word said, we are as close to Him as we choose to be…Choose God, because without Him, we can do nothing.”
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