Other Reviews:

Practical, non-judgmental, and incredibly helpful…fills a huge void in the marketplace.
- Traci Cothran, Audio Book Club

Your book is a handbook of life inside or outside a prison.
- Alvin Cooperman; Emmy award winning producer

Could be used as a tool by the courts and to orient folks to the upheaval of an arrest.
- Rick Stoff, Audio Publishers Association, Executive Director

I must say your book was quite fascinating! How did you ever manage to go on? I certainly tip my hat to you!
- Don Meyer, Literary Agent

Family Arrested by Ann Edenfield is a straightforward, “user friendly” guide to dealing with the incarceration of a loved one. Comprehensive, the information ranges from making bail; to what to expect during a visit to prison; to the illustrative personal experiences of a woman whose husband was sentenced to serve 15 years, Family Arrested is practical, well-researched, and filled from cover to cover with absolute need-to-know information. If you have a jailed or imprisoned friend, spouse, or family member, then give a careful reading to Family Arrested.
- The Midwest Book Review, Editor in Chief James A. Cox

I listened to your audiobook and it is excellent. Your writing is so clear and solid and you read the book beautifully. I personally enjoyed the "story" parts more than the advice part since I don't have a loved one incarcerated. But, I can see how this book would be of tremendous value to those who have gone through a similar experience.
- Grady Jim Robinson, Motivational Speaker

I have read your book. It's not a subject with which I was familiar, but I really found it very interesting and hard to put it down....and very well researched, organized and written. This book will be very helpful to people who find themselves having to go through the type of ordeal which you and your family did. It's quite a tribute to you and to your faith to be able to share this with others and allow others to learn from your first-hand experiences and the knowledge you have accumulated.

I am pleased that your book has been so well received......this confirms the book's quality and the need for such a book in uncharted waters. It should be especially pleasing to you to contemplate how many people will benefit from your work. I always say God's ways aren't really mysterious, just so amazingly glorious and loving for all of us created, that they're impossible for anyone to imagine until they have seen His work. Thanks for writing the book.
- President of large publishing distribution company



WHAT THE PRESS IS SAYING

Each suggestion is shared in an easy-to-read form that should be on the shelves of every battered women’s shelter, homeless shelter, prison library, halfway house, and public defender’s office.
- Richard Benke, Associated Press

WHAT CHURCH LEADERS & CHAPLAINS ARE SAYING

This book could be the most significant book of this decade! It's possibilities for help, comfort, understanding, inspiration, and faith are endless.”
- Doris E. Milligan, LOGOS System Associates

This is a story of faithfulness and perseverance that bolsters courage and offers hope. Ann Edenfield shares her story in ways that may help us examine our own attitudes of rejection or compassion.
- The Rev. Dr. Randall Webb, President of Global LOGOS

Ann Edenfield has put into this book her very heart and soul for families who are trying to piece together a life out of chaos.
- The Rev. Dr. Paul C. Collins, Prison Chaplain

It is a book without equal.
- John Charles, Director Public Relations, Crystal Cathedral Ministries

… find it as gripping as a novel. I think all parents would benefit from (the) suggestions.
- Sandy Bishop, American Bible Society, Operations Manager

I am encouraging and requesting you all to buy and read the book Family Arrested by Ann Edenfield, the founder and Director of Wings Ministry. Before you come for your next service or activity at the prison, I suggest all to have read it and forward to me your suggestions on how to get this book to every inmate. It is an excellent source of encouragement for you as volunteers as well as encouragement and resourceful to our incarcerated women. My goal for the next 18 months is to get this book in the hands of every inmate that comes through our doors...starting with RDC. Therefore we would need lots of financial help to do this.
- Chaplain Shirley Payne, Women’s Correctional Facility, Grants, NM

Very helpful - very practical. I was impressed with your honesty…you have been able to create a ministry out of the ashes of your experience.
- Mike Yaconelli, President and Founder of Youth Specialties

I have just finished reading Family Arrested and gained more insight into the turmoil that families of prisoners experience. My 23 years of experience in working with prisoners as a chaplain immersed me into some of the turmoil, but you have shared how it is further reaching and impacting literally all of life that I have ever been made privy to.

The information on the inner workings of a prison system is extremely valuable to prisoner's families. May times I have responded to calls from family asking questions that were addressed in your book. I found information and resources that I was not aware of. While every prison system is different, they have the same components addressing the same issues.

You are a Survivor! I understand the exasperation of dealing with bureaucracies. I am most pleased to hear that our Heavenly Father turned your experience into a Romans 8:28.
- Chaplain Don Snyder, New York

It's fascinating! It's just full of good, practical advice for family members that must be invaluable to them. But also the personal stories are so interesting to read. What a picture of the trauma that your family endured.
- Liz Perraud, LOGOS System Associates Northeast Regional Director

Ann Edenfield's book, Family Arrested, is an awesome book. Every inmate and their families should be required to read this book. Ann has covered every possible question that could be asked when a family has been incarcerated. This book was not written from a stale, statistical angle, but was written from the personal experiences of a woman whose own husband was incarcerated. Ann has taken what could have been devastating and turned it into something that would benefit others by providing information that is not readily available.
- Libbie Combee, Leland Family Ministries

WHAT CORRECTIONAL LEADERS ARE SAYING

A must for families of an inmate. Ann brings rays of faith when all seems hopeless.
- Cel Vigil, Criminal Justice National Consultant

Edenfield’s Family Arrested is a must read for corrections’ administrators, criminal justice students, and the families of defendants who are facing incarceration. In all of my 33 years in law enforcement I never considered what has to be faced by the “other victim” of most crimes - the family of the prisoner.
- Lou Campanozi, Retired Police Chief

Although the focus of her information is to help those victims, her book is a must read for anyone who truly desires to understand the full meaning of incarceration.
- Eloy L. Mondragon, former New Mexico Secretary of Corrections

This book is filled with practical suggestions and coping strategies…
- Jim Mustin, Executive Director Family and Corrections Network

Ann is to be commended for shining a little light on an otherwise darkened corner of American society.
- William Harmening, Former Manager of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Halfway Program

Ms. Edenfield’s enthusiasm and passion for what she does and believes in has proven to be promising and invaluable. Inmates without family or community connections are at a much higher risk of failing when they are released. Ms. Edenfield makes every effort to provide support and encouragement for inmates and their families so that they may be successful in life. Her desire is to promote family reunification and support children’s needs so that they are able to build their lives on a solid foundation and thrive.
- Joe R. Williams, New Mexico Secretary of Corrections

I read the book and LOVED it. You have done a great service to so many families with your forthright advice and with your sharing of the difficulties you faced. The Lord is using you to bring comfort to many.
- Judge Mike Jeffery

I realize that mere words cannot portray the pain and suffering that you experienced during your ordeal, but somehow you were able to pull the reader into the situation to the point where the pain and anguish were felt. As you point out in your book, all correctional systems are different with a wide variety of rules and regulations. Working in corrections also kept me close to my faith. I have no idea how anyone can survive and get through life without having God in their life. You certainly could not have made it through your ordeal without His presence in your life then or now.
- Warden Ted Koehler, retired

WHAT CIVIC LEADERS ARE SAYING

Edenfield not only gives families the tools and guidance they need to copy and rebuild their lives, but also offers challenge to communities, institutions, and congregations about how they can be sources of help, hope, and healing for these spouses and children, who are too often shunned or forgotten in their time of greatest need.
- Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, Director of Family and Congregation Initiatives, Search Institute

It is so readable and so honest. I could sit at Ms. Edenfield’s feet and learn a lot.
- Ginger Newlin, Child Therapist, Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Whatever social-economical level you are on, you will find help in Ann Edenfield's new book, Family Arrested. She gives step-by -step instructions on what to do and what to expect when your loved one is imprisoned. This is a must read for anyone who has a family member or friend in prison. Cheers to Ann for having the courage to write a well overdue book on this sensitive subject.”
- Jim Tewell

Endorsement: Family Arrested is the basic primer for everything you needed to know
about the criminal justice system and what it means to you and your family on a personal
basis beginning at an arrest, through the trial, and during incarceration. If you or someone
in your family has been arrested, you must read this book!
- Richard Winn Henderson, M.D.

This book is a wonderful handbook that I am sure will be utilized over and over again for years to come.
- Karen Hughes

I loved how you interspersed your own experience in with the advice to others - the book's impact would be so much less if you didn't come into this having gone through it yourself. For that reason too, beginning the book with your own (gripping - and written grippingly) story was a very good thing. I admired the way in the first part of the book you told the story of your husband's imprisonment and its results on your family and also provided detailed advice - and didn't go into a lot about your faith, the religious aspects etc. until the last section. I think this made it so that anyone, of any faith could see them self in your story and absorb the advice you gave. You let the reader know that the last part of the book was more about you and your personal faith journey. This seemed kind, humble, and light-handed.

I loved the carefully built detail in your advice. Even though I (thankfully) don't have need of the advice for things like what to pack up for a loved one, details like that really helped me understand some of the complexity and enormity of going to prison, being in prison, being a family member in a way that no general description could. Those details in themselves gave me something more like a first-hand experience of this other world.
- Cynthia Gair

WHAT ATTORNEYS AND PUBLIC DEFENDERS ARE SAYING

Family Arrested taught me many things about the prison system and how families can cope with what is an extremely traumatic situation.
- Tom Smidt, Attorney

I read your book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Having worked with inner-city youth returning to high school after incarceration, it hit home.
- Joan Rodriguez, Attorney

I have read FAMILY ARRESTED, and it is wonderful ...no one is thinking clearly when these things happen - no one has an understanding of the legal system when they suddenly get thrown into it. This book addresses the things a family in distress would not know to think about, but needs to. Additionally it is a time when the family member left behind (quite often a man with his children these days) needs to talk to someone, and no one is interested beyond the dirty gossip part. This book takes the place of 'someone to talk to' about the things the devastated spouse needs to know.
- Ann J. Cunningham, Esq.

I really enjoyed your book. I have worked as an attorney at the Public Defenders (PD) office for almost eight years now and I have had to deal with numerous family members. I think your book should be essential reading for PDs, particularly for new felony attorneys. Often, I have noticed my fellow attorney being short with their client's family. Mainly in part to our high case load. Your book serves as a great reminder that families of the defendant, many times are even more impacted by the consequences of the crimes than even the defendant. I really liked the fact that you book was easy to read and very well organized. I think that you have touched on every topic that has been asked of me in past by family members.
- Maria Dominguez, Public Defender



WHAT INMATES ARE SAYING

Thank you just doesn’t seem to say enough for all the HEART and Energy you put into getting it (your book) into print! It really has so much, in such an easy to access form! I have to admit that during and after reading it, I wanted to bang my head against a wall...Your book in such a clear, matter of act, easy and quick to read format, left me feeling like there wasn’t much I did right on any level, from the beginning to the moment I turned the last page. It’s truly is SO very easy to get lost in thinking we’re the ones suffering, and over look the incredible suffering and struggle our spouses, family, and friends are subjected to! They are the ones making all the tough choices and living the consequences of our bad choices! Yes, you covered beautifully so much of both the legal and most challenging aspect of the emotional stability involved in surviving with an intact and healthy family connection and relationships.
- Inmate David R.

This book is incredible. Every family with a loved one incarcerated should have this book. Most think they are the only ones who have someone going to prison, when thousands are caught up in the same tribulation. For whatever reason when others share the same circumstances, the ‘why me’ is easier to swallow. You were clearly thorough in the preparation process before incarceration, right down to getting the storage shed for your possessions. (We had to do that). The overall basics were covered throughout, with the difference in institutions and regulations you were incredibly accurate. Nice job.
- Ray Paulson, Inmate

One's first experience with the justice system as an accused is a horrifying time. Instead of being on the "right-side" of the law and having the system as an ally, one is cast as the "bad-guy" and the system loses all empathy for you. At such a time confusion reigns and it is not clear what the priorities and correct action should be. If one has one clear thought, it should be to read Family Arrested. Ann Edenfield provides the information necessary to make your choices more informed and avoid many pitfalls; how to choose an attorney, make bail and bond, even the possibility escape or suicide? Do NOT expect any of the authorities to have compassion for you. Their job is to protect the public from "bad-guys" and you're one. Ms. Edenfield's story about financial difficulties with the IRS is typical of the response you can expect from the spectrum of officials that you will encounter - they will make your life harder, not easier. I suffered throughout probation because of a mistake I made in the Pre-Sentence Investigation (PSI). I expected a bit of understanding, but my comments were exaggerated and used against me. Ann correctly points out the importance of the PSI.

Besides dealing with the system, one also has family, friends, neighbors, and their church. None of these will be easy. Some will provide support and others will abandon you. Family Arrested offers great advice in handling the personal relationships - some of which will become invaluable. Time will pass and get better, but the journey will be much smoother if one follows the wisdom in Family Arrested.
- LR, a former inmate

Your "wings" are definitely spreading as you sweep the country with your philosophy and love for others in greatest need. Truly God has blessed your work and given you so much joy in seeing your program grow into much more than the initial seed you planted when you began it all. I am very impressed with your work and will continue to follow your journey. I finished your book and was very impressed with the message it sent. Too bad it wasn't around when I went through my own experience. I continue to work hard to be an example for those still facing difficulties in accepting responsibility for whatever got them into trouble to begin with. Life is indeed a challenge from where I have been, but the road back to where I am now has been rich and wonderful. So much has been gained by just meeting the demons head on instead of running from them like I did in the past. Please know that I deeply appreciate the work you are doing and the love you are spreading around the country.
- Ben Gastellum

I have to admit the book took me for a real loop. The things Ann Edenfield shared were very deep, even for someone like myself. The book allowed me to see and accept my wife’s decision to move on with her life. The one thing we can never get back is “Time”, and happiness is something that can not be placed on “Hold”. Every man incarcerated should read it in order to see the reality of what our actions have caused our family to suffer through.
- Kaleem K., inmate

WHAT INMATES’ LOVED ONES ARE SAYING

I want you to know how I blessed I feel to have found your book. I finished the audio version yesterday and when your pastor spoke at the end, it filled my heart with faith and hope for a better life for all of us. "Thy Will and not mine own" is truly the mantra I live my life by. I had to learn as a very young child to find comfort where I could, and yet again, God has comforted me through your book. Your words really touch my heart! Thank you!

This book is almost impossible to describe when it comes to the amount of help it is able to give a person. I have been comforted emotionally, physically and spiritually because of the many threads you weave together to show the "whole life" impact that a loved one's incarceration creates for families. The devastation that results, so immediately, is truly, as you say, like death. I am healing in many ways, but it is still an uphill battle. Your book soothes me every time I pick it up. I haven't lost my mind; I will NOT lose my sanity. I am a strong and capable woman, and I am grateful to you for helping me to allow that for myself.

I love the affirmations you include. That in itself is a good place to start creating self esteem.
- Cathie Raines, Inmate’s Wife

I truly enjoyed the book. It is the fastest I've read in a long time I must say. It held my attention and had much needed information for those that might be new to the prison system. I will highly recommend it to others. I intend on going over the book a few times and like that you had forms and a few pages on contact numbers and lists, etc. I think those are extremely important. There are many young inmates that would benefit from this book as well.
- Teresa, Wife of an inmate

He read Family Arrested, and was so extraordinarily affected by it. He wrote me a letter telling me that although he knew it had been tough for me out here, his only real focus had been on himself. He said that he had found it extremely challenging for him to get into the book because it brought up all of his feelings of responsibility, guilt, and shame. "Facing that fire" within himself, he said, was the best medicine. He was awestruck by the way you processed through your life, and what your present life looks like now. He said it brought him to a place of extreme humility and has been so appreciative of me, and our family. I know we still have miles to go Ann, but your book has been pivotal in our experience.
- Cathie, Wife of an Inmate

Congratulations. Your book has certainly helped me, and I applaud what you are doing. Unfortunately, I don't think my marriage will survive, and as you warned in your book, his time at home was not a healing time as we had hoped. I especially admire you for continuing your work even after your marriage failed. Honestly I don't know how you did it, because I am numb all over. I have learned so much about the prison and legal system, stuff I didn't want to know, stuff I'm shocked and sorry that I do know. It amazes me that you were able to channel all the emotions (and there's a broad range of them, believe me) that I'm feeling now, and that you must have felt, into such a positive and blessed program. I guess, now that I think of it, that is why you were called.
- Lori, Wife of an Inmate

I believe that I had to experience and go through all the pain and heartache, trials and tribulations that I have in order to be compassionate, accepting, non-judgmental and supportive of those who are where I have been and am going. I had to suffer in order to learn and grow and to serve others. I just want to thank you again for your book. It is divinely inspired and a great resource for all of us going through this journey. Although most of the families I will be serving will have loved ones going into the state prisons, I see your book as transcending and relevant to both federal and state. It feels so comforting to connect with someone who has been there.
- Carolyn, Wife of an Inmate

I read your book and I must tell you how useful that book is going to be for SO MANY people…it’s the kind of book that SHOULD be on the shelves of every major bookstore in this nation. It is estimated that within the first decade of the 21st century, one in twenty Americans will be in prison. That’s five percent of the population, roughly!
- Tilda, mother of an Inmate