Left to Right: Safety Executive Director Armando Saldate, Councilwoman Shontel Lewis, Goodwill Central Park Store Manager Sherri Tomerlin, Sheriff Elias Diggins.

The line is often long at the Central Park Goodwill store, with people donating bags of clothes and household goods. Some of those clothes will now go to individuals in custody at the Denver County Jail on Smith Rd. so dignity can be part of in-person visits with family members.

“My dad was in this jail when I was a kid,” said Denver Sheriff Elias Diggins, whose department operates the jail. “I can tell you that coming into a stark white room, and seeing your parent coming out in an inmate uniform, is something that you never get out of your mind. If we want to bring families together, and if we want to reduce the trauma that families have by their incarceration experience —because families are doing time as well—why not change those folks out into regular clothes?”

This idea came from the sheriff after he watched the Netflix film Daughters. In the film, young girls visited with their fathers inside a prison, and the men were dressed in regular clothes during the visits.

Diggins shared the idea with Denver City Councilwoman Shontel Lewis during the ribbon cutting of the new visitation area last summer, when in-person visits were brought back to the jail for the first time since 2005.

Lewis already had a connection to Goodwill, an organization that took a chance on her “when no one else would” after she pleaded guilty in a misdemeanor theft case in 2008.

“They gave me an opportunity to rebuild, to grow, and to serve,” Lewis said. “Without that opportunity, I would not be standing here today as your councilwoman. That is the power of believing in people, not in spite of their worst day, but because they are more than their mistakes. And that’s exactly what makes today’s launch of the in-person visitation clothing process so meaningful.”

The donated clothes and shoes are on racks in a room around the corner from the jail’s renovated visiting space, where white walls are now covered with colorful murals next to family rooms decorated with Disney characters.

The people in custody will select and change into clothes before seeing their families, and will go through body scans after the visits. Diggins hopes the attention given to the visitation and clothing programs in Denver will inspire other facilities to do the same.

The new clothing area inside the Denver County Jail.

Sherri Tomerlin, manager of the Central Park Goodwill store, said the clothing program is meaningful for her and the team at the store.

“When you treat people with dignity, you create space and healing and the connection of hope,” Tomerlin said. “The roots start right here in our neighborhood. The donations come from throughout the stores, from neighbors, from friends, from families that directly help people in our whole community.”

Tomerlin said she hopes these donations continue to stock the Goodwill store shelves and help with this new program.

The Central Park Goodwill store is located in Quebec Square at 7797 E 36th Ave.

Front Porch photos by Linda Kotsaftis