Most inmates make no more than 55 cents an hour at their prison jobs. They save up their money to buy a TV or radio, or just the toiletries that are in short supply when you're doing time. Shortly before Christmas 2009, a group of prisoners at the Monroe Correctional Complex who call themselves Concerned Lifers came up with another idea: donating to the families of six Puget Sound police officers who had recently been slain, including the four gunned down at a Lakewood coffee shop. "I'll be honest with you, a lot of people in prison don't like police officers," says Tony Wheat, 65, one of the men who launched the notion. He says his group got to thinking, though: "How would we feel if one of our own family members was killed?" Plus, there was the recognition, at least for Wheat, that "police officers don't put us in prison; we do." Soliciting donations from within the wider prison, his group raised around $600, including, from one man, $30 of a $36 paycheck. A prison volunteer who works with Concerned Lifers matched the donation, bringing the total to $1,200. —Nina Shapiro
