What Showing Up at Eddie Warrior Taught Me About Legacy

I am a real estate agent. I sell homes, manage properties, train agents, and spend most of my professional life thinking about equity, investment, and the future.

But once a month I walk through a security gate at Eddie Warrior Correctional Center in Taft, Oklahoma, and I sit with women who are in one of the hardest seasons of their lives. And what happens in that room has changed me in ways that no transaction ever has.

This post starts with data because the data matters. It tells a story that most Oklahomans do not know and that everyone should.

What the Numbers Say About Women and Incarceration in Oklahoma

How does Oklahoma rank for female incarceration compared to other states?

Oklahoma currently ranks fourth in the nation for female incarceration with a rate of 108 women per 100,000 female residents, and incarcerates women at a rate of 222 per 100,000 total residents, higher than nearly every country on earth according to the Prison Policy Initiative.

That number deserves a moment of stillness.

Not every state. Not most countries. Nearly every country on earth.

As recently as 2018 Oklahoma held the number one spot nationally with a rate of 281 per 100,000 female residents. Criminal justice reforms since then have brought that number down significantly, which is meaningful progress. But Oklahoma still incarcerates women at more than double the national average of 49 per 100,000 according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (https://www.bjs.gov).

Nationally the trend is moving in the wrong direction. Since 2020 women's incarceration rates have climbed faster than men's. Prison rates for women are up 9% while men's rates have declined. Globally female prisoner numbers have increased 60% since 2000 compared to 22% for men according to the Prison Policy Initiative (https://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/OK.html).

And the detail that stops me every time I read it: 83% of women incarcerated in Oklahoma were convicted of nonviolent crimes. Most of them are there because of choices driven by trauma, addiction, poverty, or circumstances that compounded over time until the justice system became involved.

These are not abstractions. These are women. Mothers, daughters, sisters, best friends. And in Taft, Oklahoma, 95 of them sat in a room with us last month and leaned in.

Why I Started Going to Eddie Warrior

I did not start a ministry because I felt a general calling to serve incarcerated women. I started because someone I love needed me.

In July 2025 one of my best friends Yvonne, someone I have done life with since 1998, got incarcerated. We met at work. We discovered we were neighbors. We worked out together, celebrated together, grieved together, and built a friendship that became one of the anchors of my adult life.

When she got incarcerated I did not know what to do except move. I went to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and got my volunteer certification so I could go in and support her. Then I recruited three of my friends to do the same. Not because we had a plan. Because someone we loved was behind a fence and we were not going to let that fence be the end of our presence in her life.

Yvonne was released on July 24, 2026. But instead of closing that chapter, her pain became the foundation of something neither of us expected. The women still inside that facility deserve the same presence, the same investment, the same belief that their story is not over. So we kept going. My life-long friend from kindergarten, Julie, started serving alongside me. Two women who have known each other their entire lives, walking into Eddie Warrior together every month, pouring into women who are in the middle of their hardest chapter.

What Happens Inside That Room

What is the Legacy in Motion ministry program at Eddie Warrior Correctional Center?

Legacy in Motion is a monthly personal growth, movement, and faith program at Eddie Warrior Correctional Center in Taft, Oklahoma, built around affirmations, community, scripture, and the belief that freedom begins within regardless of physical circumstance.

Each month we follow a structure that has evolved over the past year. We open with praise and worship. We even have a live band now made up of 5 women, the drummer in her 15th year serving a life sentence for murder. Yes, I said that….and the love of God pouring out of her like you have never seen! We check in with the women and hear where they are. We go deep into a theme, this month was trust and leaning into Jesus, and we anchor it in scripture and story. We close with a 3-2-1 framework that gives every woman something to take back to her bunk that night.

In September we broke into three small groups of thirty women each. Every leader got to go deep with her group in a way that a large room setting never allows. The conversations that happened in those circles were the kind that only happen when someone feels genuinely seen and genuinely safe.

Our average monthly attendance is 48 women. In September 95 showed up.

I do not think that is a coincidence. I think that is what happens when God blesses the people who show up to bless others.

What Giving Back Actually Does to You

I want to be honest about something because I think it gets left out of most conversations about service and ministry.

Showing up for others changes you. Not in a vague inspirational sense. In a specific, measurable, undeniable sense.

Every month I walk into Eddie Warrior carrying whatever the week has dropped on me. Deals that fell apart, clients who are frustrated, the weight of running a business and a team and a life. And every month I walk out lighter than I walked in.

A phrase that I have heard that reminds me of that room. What pours into you eventually pours out of you. I originally I thought about what we were pouring into them. But I have come to understand that it works in both directions. When you pour into others, something pours back into you that no transaction, no commission check, and no business milestone can replicate.

God does not call us to serve because we have it all together. He calls us to serve so that serving puts us together. Every woman in that room at Eddie Warrior, inside the fence and outside it, leaves more whole than she arrived.

That is the blessing that comes from being the blessing.

What 95 Women in a Room Taught Me About Legacy

Legacy is a word I use every day in a professional context. Legacy Realty Advisors. Legacy Leasing Solutions. Legacy Realty University. Legacy Coaching Solutions. The word is not accidental. It reflects something I believe about why the work matters beyond the transaction.

But the most clarifying thing that has ever happened to my understanding of legacy happened inside Eddie Warrior.

Legacy is not what you build. It is what you pour. Into your clients, your community, your team, the women sitting in plastic chairs in a correctional facility in Taft, Oklahoma, who are leaning forward because someone showed up for them when it would have been easier not to.

Yvonne's pain became a ministry. Julie's friendship became a calling. And 95 women showed up last month because something in that room is real and they can feel it.

Freedom begins within. And when we give freely, God gives back in ways we could never plan for. Freedom Ministries is the name of the organization that we serve under!

If this story moved you, share it. Someone in your circle needs to hear that their hardest chapter is not their last one.

And if you are interested in learning more about volunteering at Eddie Warrior Correctional Center or supporting the work happening there, reach out to me directly at [email protected].

Book a time with me at Legacy Coaching Solutions if you are ready to take your dreams to the next level and make them a reality. https://link.cncsdirect.com/widget/booking/2BPftOW1aYttaxdttERz

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FAQ: What People Ask About Prison Ministry and Giving Back in Tulsa

Why does Oklahoma have such a high female incarceration rate?

Oklahoma's high female incarceration rate is driven primarily by drug-related offenses and nonviolent crimes, with research showing that 83% of women incarcerated in the state were convicted of nonviolent offenses, many of them connected to trauma, addiction, and systemic factors that treatment and community support could address more effectively than incarceration.

Criminal justice researchers and advocacy organizations have consistently pointed to Oklahoma's sentencing structure, limited access to diversion programs, and underfunded community mental health and addiction treatment resources as contributing factors. The good news is that reforms implemented since 2018 have brought Oklahoma's female incarceration rate down from first in the nation to fourth, a significant reduction that shows the system can change when there is political will to change it. The work happening inside facilities like Eddie Warrior is part of that larger ecosystem of change, one woman and one conversation at a time.

How can Tulsa area residents volunteer at Eddie Warrior Correctional Center?

Volunteering at Eddie Warrior Correctional Center in Taft, Oklahoma requires completing a volunteer certification through the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, which involves an application, background check, and orientation before you are cleared to enter the facility.

The process takes time but it is straightforward and the need is significant. If you feel called to serve incarcerated women in Oklahoma and want to know more about what that process looks like, reach out to me directly at [email protected]. I went through the certification process in July 2025 and can walk you through exactly what to expect.

What does research show about the impact of community support on incarcerated women?

Research consistently shows that incarcerated women who have consistent outside support, including volunteers, mentors, and faith-based programming, have significantly better outcomes during incarceration and lower recidivism rates after release than women who experience incarceration without that community connection.

The women in that room at Eddie Warrior are not statistics. They are people in a hard season who are capable of transformation when someone shows up and believes that transformation is possible. Over 50% of women in prison have never had a visit from their children according to Still She Rises Tulsa (https://stillsherises.org/the-issue). One in three mothers has never spoken with her children by phone while incarcerated. The presence of volunteers and faith communities inside correctional facilities is not a nice-to-have. It is a documented factor in whether women leave incarceration ready to rebuild or return.

How does faith-based ministry inside a correctional facility actually work?

Faith-based ministry inside a correctional facility like Eddie Warrior operates within the boundaries set by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, typically involving approved volunteers who follow established guidelines about what can be brought in, how sessions are structured, and how relationships with incarcerated individuals are maintained.

Our Legacy in Motion program follows a consistent monthly structure built around affirmations, community check-in, a theme-based teaching anchored in scripture, and a practical framework the women can carry with them after the session ends. We do not come in with an agenda beyond presence and truth. What pours into you eventually pours out of you. Every month that principle proves itself in the room.

3-2-1 Takeaway

3 Things to Remember

• Oklahoma ranks fourth in the nation for female incarceration with a rate more than double the national average, and 83% of women incarcerated in the state were convicted of nonviolent crimes. These are not abstractions. They are women in a hard season who are capable of transformation when someone shows up for them.

• Legacy in Motion at Eddie Warrior Correctional Center grew from one woman's pain into a ministry that brought 95 women into a room last month, more than double the average attendance, because what pours into you eventually pours out of you in ways you cannot plan for.

• Giving back does not deplete you. It restores you. Every month inside Eddie Warrior I walk out lighter than I walked in because God blesses the people who show up to bless others. That is not a motivational phrase. It is a lived experience.

2 Questions Worth Asking

• Is there someone in your life right now who is behind a fence, literal or figurative, who needs you to show up even when showing up is inconvenient?

• What would it mean for your own legacy if the hardest thing that ever happened to someone you love became the foundation of something that changed other people's lives?

1 Thing to Do Next

Share this post with someone who needs to hear that their hardest chapter is not their last one. And if you feel called to serve incarcerated women in Oklahoma, reach out to me at [email protected]. The door is open and the need is real.

As my favorite mentor Brian Buffini says, Education without implementation is only entertainment. — Jennifer Mount, Legacy Realty Advisors

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics (https://www.bjs.gov), Prison Policy Initiative (https://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/OK.html), Still She Rises Tulsa (https://stillsherises.org/the-issue), Council on Criminal Justice (https://counciloncj.org/womens-justice-by-the-numbers/), Oklahoma Watch (https://oklahomawatch.org). Statistics are approximate and subject to change as new data becomes available.