THE PRISON GUARD WHO MARRIED A PRISONER

Tameka faced more judgement than most for falling in love with a man in jail

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As a little girl, when Tameka dreamt of falling in love, she imagined Prince Charming sweeping her off her feet in a fairy-tale moment. She grew up, got an honourable job as a prison officer, but she was yet to find that special someone.

‘I started at the Department of Corrections in 2015,’ she explains, describing the job as ‘very tough’. ‘You are around some of the worst criminals in the city of New York all day,’ she says. ‘We use a snap tie so we don’t get choked.’ She describes having to have a thick skin too. ‘They call you names, at times your coworkers are just as foul as your inmates, so you're in an environment where you don’t know who to trust.’

REIGNITED FLAME

So when Tameka received a letter from a man who was serving a life sentence in prison, declaring his love for her, it seemed unlikely that she'd fall for him. But that’s exactly what happened.

‘I met Jonathan when we were kids, we grew up in the same neighbourhood,’ she explains. ‘He was just a little boy who always had a crush on me.’