Beyond prison walls

AUBURN - It's a secret, Maria Ferrin says. It's not something you talk about beyond your closest circle of friends; not something you tell prospective employers, landlords, baby-sitters; not something you want your children repeating to playmates.

That, says Ferrin, is one of the first things you learn when your husband is an inmate in Auburn Correctional Facility and you want to avoid trouble in Auburn.

"A lot of people are scared to talk, and they end up getting treated like trash," she said.