TROY , Virginia ( CNN ) -- `` My total sentence was 55 years -- for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute , '' recalls Carolyn LeCroy . Carolyn LeCroy started The Messages Project after seeing how a lack of family visits left other prisoners unhappy . Twelve years ago , LeCroy walked out of prison , only to walk right back in -- but this time , on her own terms . After witnessing firsthand the effects of broken relationships between incarcerated parents and their children , the former inmate and mother of two now works to help repair those bonds . Her tool : video messages from prison . `` I took a bad situation and I made something good of it , '' she says . In 1994 , LeCroy 's life took an unexpected turn when she was arrested . The news producer claims she had been allowing a former friend to use her storage unit . `` Believe me , I knew that it was marijuana [ in there ] ; he had told me , '' LeCroy says . `` I had no idea the amount . '' LeCroy says police were looking for something else when their drug dog hit on her unit . `` The guy it belonged to ran , so I was literally left holding the bag , '' LeCroy recalls . `` I 'd never had even a traffic ticket . And then this happened . And I got 55 years . '' LeCroy 's sentence was eventually reduced and she served a fraction of that amount . But the experience in prison changed her life . `` When I was in prison , and I would get visits , I would come back to the floor , and I would see the women who never got visits , '' LeCroy recalls . `` And they were always depressed and unhappy . '' According to the U.S. Department of Justice , only 20 percent of prison inmates receive monthly visits from their children . As an exception to the statistic , LeCroy calls herself one of the lucky ones . Visits from her sons , ages 18 and 22 , kept her going . `` Sometimes these prisons are a three- or four-hour drive away from home and little children have no way of getting themselves there , '' she says . `` If there is n't a caretaker who can make the commitment , the kids just do not get to see mom or dad . '' Witnessing fellow inmates ' sadness , LeCroy remembers thinking , `` If the women are feeling this , I can imagine what the children are feeling . '' So after making parole in 1996 , LeCroy used her background as a film and video producer to start The Messages Project . In December 1999 , she and volunteer camera crews were granted admission to Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Troy , Virginia . There , they recorded video messages with mothers to be mailed to their children and families as Christmas gifts . Since then , The Messages Project has worked in six state prisons at least three times a year . Watch LeCroy describe the personal experience that led her from marijuana to messages » . `` For many of the inmates , these videos are the first time they have taken responsibility and apologized to their kids , and the first step to establishing a bond that was lost when they went to jail , '' LeCroy says . Watch how LeCroy 's Messages Project helps inmates connect to their children » . LeCroy and volunteers have recorded roughly 3,000 video messages , stories , poems and wishes from inmates to their children and families . Watch LeCroy and volunteers help an incarcerated mother record her emotional message » . `` One inmate taught his son how to shoot hoops ; others have read their children bedtime stories , '' she says . `` The kids play it over and over . Some wo n't go to sleep unless mom reads them that book . '' When funds allow , LeCroy sends the book with the inmate 's video . `` I think a lot of people have a preconceived notion of what an inmate is , '' says LeCroy . `` One of the things I try to do is to show that they 're humans ; they 're real people . And they have children and they have families and they all love them . ''
In prison , Carolyn LeCroy saw other inmates depressed by a lack of family visits . Out on parole , LeCroy used her video experience to start The Messages Project . The project has helped inmates send about 3,000 video messages home .