Vanessa Roll

From Prison to Paradise Vanessa Roll

One of the worst things a parent can hear their teen say is, "Judge, I am a heroin addict". Prison to Paradise is a memoir that takes the reader on a mother's raw and emotional journey from living a seemingly normal life in the suburbs to visiting her son in a maximum-security prison.

So many families feel that drug addiction and the problems that ensue are only the problems of other people. Addiction is not discriminatory to demographics or socioecomic status. Prison to Paradise gives you an insight to how a bright young man, with an optimistic future, traded it all for a drug he would have "given his right arm for".

Her son traded freedom for prison after receiving a very lengthy sentence for crimes he committed to feed his addiction. Even though they had made plans for his future free of heroin and prison bars; after five years, her son committed suicide, alone, in a prison cell.

The story is an ugly story of the realities of addiction, shame, and poor choices, threaded with faith, forgiveness and ultimately redemption. There is no guidebook for parents fighting for their children battling with addiction. The purpose of this book is to share hope in a seemingly hopeless situation, even if things do not turn out like you had planned.