life was taquita. jerome and taquita first locked eyes at an indiana mall in 1996, at a time when both of them were struggling to get back on their feet. what was going on in your life when you met her? i just lost a job. i was in a bad state. bad time. she just caught my eye. she was pregnant. the guy left her. she just needed someone to show her some love. in the 20 years since that first meeting, much has changed. despite jerome s incarceration and takita s move to arizona six years ago, they kept the spark alive. can we see some of the videos that you two have exchanged? absolutely. they stay connected through kiosks in indiana s prisons, who let inmates exchange videos with loved ones. that s why arizona is
meet with students of his marriage counseling class. this is a class that the men and women take together and it will be the first time they will have seen each other in six years. taquita arrived here from arizona yesterday. she enters the facility with little more than her i.d. and a heart full of anticipation. on the other side of the wall, jerome is shaken down for contraband. for taquita, the moments before the reunion seem endless. i m gonna kiss him, hug him. i m so excited. it s overwhelming. i love you, baby. i miss you.
and their fight to marry continues. come here. is she trying to get all the attention? yeah. she s sitting on my lap now. so she is getting all the attention. their lawsuit against the rhode island department of corrections is ongoing. until the courts make a decision cody and shelby are in limbo. when you think about your future with cody what does it look like? i imagine us living somewhere in the woods, somewhere quieter with the dogs. so you re going to go to the law library and do some work? yeah, somebody had asked me to i m not going to romanticize it. some days are more difficult than others. however, i have learned value in having patience for the things that matter. he matters. i ll talk to you later. bye. bye. taquita s back in arizona.
real cute. yeah, that s pretty. the past is always in the back of her mind. i was born in indianapolis and i was the baby of six. all my sisters and brothers are older than me. i started out a loner. i wanted to be connected in a way where somebody showed me that they cared for me. how would y define the relationships you had with other men before you met jerome? young. and dumb. absolutely. when i met jerome, i was pregnant. i was scared. he was just like a knight in shining armor at the time. he embraced my pregnancy. he was so kind. he was so compassionate. no one else had ever cared for me like that. i was a very lonely person. he came in and i wasn t lonely anymore. 20 years ago, jerome and taquita set off on a whirlwind romance, moving in together just
you think it takes to counteract one negative? a lot. 20. it s simple advice, but for these couples it could be invaluable. marriages in which one partner is incarcerated are significantly more likely to end in divorce. this is a very dehumanizing place. there are going to be times when we lock the place down and, therefore, he misses the 7:00 phone call. the next thing you know intimacy is breaking down, relationships are breaking down. everyone we have spoken with are so optimistic. do you think that is sustainable? they re forever labeled as that ex-con. society doesn t look favorable on that. to deal with that you need to make a choice of loving someone through the good times and bad. taquita and jerome have a long road ahead of them.