I spent 10 Christmases behind bars. I wish joy and forgiveness for those still there.

Editor's note: On Tuesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the administration's decision not to send incarcerated people who were released because of COVID-19 back to prison. 

Melisha Johnson is one of thousands of people who were put on home confinement last year, and who is now hoping for a commuted sentence. 

I can still hear my granddad calling out to me and my cousins early on Christmas Day, waking us up for family prayers. He would lead them, and we all joined, giving thanks to God for his many blessings.

As a child, I cherished spending Christmas with my family. My grandparents had 14 children. Christmases were noisy and joyous. 

More: I was forgotten by the reform movement | First Christmas with my mother in 20 years

Just as I experienced joy with my family, so many who are behind bars now need to experience the same – and the forgiveness that is one of the principles of Christianity. 

10 Christmases behind bars 

My incarceration and separation were of my own doing.

As an event planner, I lived a careless life. I spent money like I was crazy and did illegal things to get it. This led to an embarrassing and disgraceful downfall. On Aug. 31, 2011, I was sentenced to 12 years in prison for wire fraud.

COLUMN: On death row for 30 years, his execution was the epitome of cruel and unusual

In an effort to control the COVID-19 virus, I was released on Nov. 18, 2020, to home confinement. 

But before that, I spent 10 Christmases behind bars.

The first was awful. It was painful to wake up alone, unable to embrace my son and exchange love and gifts with him. I spent the day crying in my cell. On the phone that afternoon, I spent more time crying in my son's ear than talking to him. As the years went by, the anguish never got easier, but I learned to put on a smile for new inmates I knew were having a worse time than me. 

One bright spot was attending Christmas plays written and produced by Alice Marie Johnson, who is now a criminal justice reform advocate. Her group, Taking Action for Good, is now working to, among other things, commute sentences for people like me. 

I tried every year I was away from home to send a little gift to my son. The women I served with were very creative and knew how to make something from nothing. One year, I sent crochet socks (made by a fellow inmate) and another I sent a mug with the New England Patriots logo (hand-painted by a cellmate) filled with candies I bought at the commissary.

I later found out that my son looked forward to those gifts each year.

We deserve and need love of family  

I thank God that confinement is in my past. I hope it stays that way. This holiday, I will be home with my family. I, along with thousands of others who have been released, deserve no less. 

On home confinement, I'm under the supervision of a halfway house, but I am gainfully employed as an operations quality assurance manager at a manufacturing plant and have received two promotions in a six-month period. I will be spending Christmas with my 8-month-old twin grandsons.

COLUMN: As police brutality cases continue to mount, six things officers should do to build trust

What a gift to be with my family, which is so central in my life. They were important before my incarceration, and they were vital during my incarceration. They cared for my teenage son, who was already without his father and left without the daily touch and care of his mother. And their love comforted and carried me through those difficult times. 

Unfortunately, many of the women I was incarcerated with have broken relationships with their parents, children and siblings. The ties were too severed, the family members who were on the outside were too hurt, angered or embarrassed to recover lost years. 

Serving a prison sentence is hard enough with the love and support of family. It is unbearable to do so without it. What a glorious Christmas gift it would be for an incarcerated man or woman to hear the loving voice of an estranged family member say: I love you,  and I forgive you.

Of all my many Christmas wishes, the greatest wish is for those who have loved ones incarcerated to forgive them, no matter what crime they may have committed.

That one act will remove tremendous burdens of guilt. They will know that they are loved. Forgiveness and reconciliation will allow them to have a clean slate, and become the person God created them to be.

Melisha Johnson is a manager at a manufacturing plant in Augusta, Georgia, and is an advocate for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals.