PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Female inmates at the Cumberland County Jail are finding their voices through a special program that partners with women in the community to help the inmates make better decisions in the future.

'Sister Stories' is part of the faith based program called 'My Sister's Keeper' which provides released inmates with a mentor in the community. The inmates and women from the outside worked for seven weeks on writing stories about personal experiences in their lives. Today, at the Cumberland County Jail all of the women read their stories publicly for the first time. The inmates we spoke with say they connected with the women from the community right away because they didn't face any judgement about their past and were treated as women, not inmates.

'They didn't treat us like we were criminals, they treated us like regular people and shared their feeligns with us and that made me feel better about myself, said inmate Veronica Brown.

The jail hopes to hold another 'Sister Stories' class next fall and include women who have been released from prison.