PEARL, Miss. (AP) — Miss Mississippi Asya Branch has visited a prison in the state, saying she wants to inspire families with incarcerated parents like hers.
Branch’s father, Anthony Branch, plead guilty to burglary, larceny of a dwelling, one count of armed robbery and two counts of kidnapping in 2012. Ever since the age of ten, Asya Branch has grown up with only her mother and older brothers. She said living without her father was a challenge.
Branch spoke to both male and female inmates on Saturday at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl. Her father has been in prison since she was 10 years old and is in the Mississippi State Penitentiary.
Branch told the imprisoned mothers and fathers that their circumstance doesn’t have to define their future. Miss Mississippi says it can strengthen and shape them into the people they’re intended to be.
She told the inmates, “You just have to learn to make the right decisions and progress forward.”
The state department of corrections is giving Branch permission to write letters to inmates seeking to continue receiving inspiration from her.
Branch is a senior integrated marketing communications student from Booneville, who won the title of Most Beautiful in SAA’s 2018 Parade of Beauties at Ole Miss.
