Comment on ‘God Pods’ help inmates find straight and narrow

Yakima — Nina Vickers was in the Yakima County jail in 2004 on a probation violation and other offenses. “I couldn’t pass a drug test to save my life,” Vickers recalled. But this time, she decided to get into one of the jail’s faith-based housing units — “God Pods” as they’re called by inmates and guards — in order to score a few extra privileges, such as television and coffee. What she learned in the religion and life-skills classes taught by volunteers helped her eventually break the cycle of substance abuse and incarceration that had dominated her life, she now says.