The excitement inside valley state prison for women erupted in an impromptu pep rally as these emotional moms waited to see their children. Meanwhile, just outside the metal fence, the buses carrying their kids from across California finally arrived.
The anxious young visitors quickly made their way to a waiting room. And then the long awaited reunions began.
"I love you so much!"
Diana could not fight back tears as she hugged her sons for the first time in months, "I love my kids and I miss them, and I'm just happy they're here," Knight-Bent said.
"It feels great, I missed her," her son Eli Knight said.
Diana will finish her two year sentence this fall, but Shannon Guillory is just six years in to a life sentence.
"I missed you so much! Kisses..."
This annual mother's day event is the only time she sees her son and this is the first time she's seen her own mom in six years.
"It's been a long time since I've seen my momma (crying) I'm just so happy I got the chance to see both of them, I love it," Shannon Guillory said.
"This is the most wonderful Mother's Day I've had in a long time," Jimmie Lee Jackson said.
These emotional reunions are made possible through the non-profit "Get On The Bus Program." Officials say the visits help keep families together and inspire the inmates to stay on the right path once they're released.
"By allowing them to see their children, be with their children is a big boost for them and helps them get back on track and hopefully when they come back into our communities they won't reoffend," Debra Dexter Herndon said.
Diana has vowed never to return to prison once she's released. "All I think about is them. They're my life, not this place, they are."
And Shannon says she's working to be worthy of parole, "Throughout the year I look forward to this. It makes me want to do better, do right and try to go home."
