Shalanda Thompson, Neighbor

Shalanda Thompson is an author and human resources professional whose debut memoir, Around the River Bend: A Memoir of Love While Locked Up, offers an intimate look at love, family, and life on the outside of incarceration.

A working professional and mother who had built an independent and stable life, Shalanda never imagined that reconnecting with someone from her childhood would lead her into a world she knew little about. What began with a sympathy card eventually became a relationship that required her to navigate prison visitation, costly phone calls, institutional rules, separation, uncertainty, and ultimately the parole and reentry process.

Through Around the River Bend, Shalanda shares a perspective on incarceration that is often overlooked—the experiences of the families and loved ones who remain on the outside. Her story explores the emotional, financial, and relational impact of incarceration while opening conversations about love, resilience, rehabilitation, second chances, and the complicated realities of supporting someone behind prison walls.

Shalanda hopes her work encourages readers to look beyond assumptions and recognize that incarceration reaches far beyond the person serving the sentence. As she often reminds audiences, there are multiple sides to incarceration: the incarcerated individual, the families who love and support them, and the families of victims whose lives have also been forever changed.

Through her writing and public conversations, Shalanda seeks to create space for understanding without asking readers to agree with every choice she made: “You don’t have to make the same choices I made to understand why I made them.”