Volunteer Honored for 60 Years of Jail Ministry

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Illa Wright

SALT LAKE CITY—“Trouble” – that’s what former Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder used to jokingly call the team of Illa Wright and Carol Dillingham, but for many years the duo and their volunteers have brought the exact opposite to inmates at detention facilities and jails across the state.

Wright, 88, a Sts. Peter and Paul parishioner, recently was honored as the 2017 Volunteer of the Year by the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office for her more than 60 years of volunteer work. Over the course of that time she has provided more than 72,000 hours of volunteer service as the Diocese of Salt Lake City’s incarcerated ministry volunteer coordinator, working with four different sheriffs and six different bishops.

Dillingham joined Wright in the work close to 30 years ago, and the two have been an inseparable team ever since.

Originally from Texas, Wright moved to Salt Lake City, where she married Robert Wright in the early 1950s. The couple has six children, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. When her oldest child was an infant she began to volunteer at the Salt Lake Youth Detention Center.

“I just saw a need for them to have visits, especially the children,” she said.

Not long after, Wright began a program speaking to local elementary students about the dangers of drugs, alcohol and tobacco. This was many years prior to the first DARE program.

“Illa is basically a child protector,” said Dillingham, whom Wright refers to as her “trusty sidekick.” “All the kids knew they could go to Illa.”

When Msgr. Victor G. Bonnell was appointed as a prison chaplain at Utah State Prison, Wright began visiting the inmates with him. The two subsequently organized a small onsite chapel for the then-new women’s facility.

Wright also enlisted the help of Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, who was then the diocese’s vicar general, to get county officials to allow Mass to be offered at Salt Lake City’s Oxbow Jail.

Over the years Wright’s ministry spread to the Salt Lake Adult Detention Center, Wasatch Youth Center, Decker Lake Youth Facility, Pioneer Valley Hospital and Salt Lake Regional Hospital.

“When you visit the incarcerated, you meet the whole family in a sense,” because the inmates often ask the visitor to check on their children, parents and homes, Wright said, adding that frequently it is through his children that the Lord answers his other children’s pleas.

“It’s like we’re all in this great big toolbox,” she said. “God will select the people who will go and do his work, and this is where we are.”

As she became acquainted with those who were incarcerated, Wright has become an intimate part of many former inmates’ lives, attending weddings, christenings, baptisms and funerals.

“Our main purpose is to bring the family together,” she said. “Our aim is to break down the cycle of incarceration that exists in many families.”

Wright’s love has transcended many barriers. For example, she first met two young brothers when their parents were incarcerated. While she offered them what support she could, eventually the two turned to the Aryan Nation to provide the family they never had, she said. Over the years as they got in trouble with the law they frequently found themselves behind bars, where Wright continued to visit them, she said.

Eventually, one ended up in a federal penitentiary with other members of the Aryan Nation, she said. When she requested to visit him, prison authorities, fearing for Wright’s safety as a woman of color, hesitated, but she insisted. When the man saw Wright, he fell into her arms, she said, adding that she was never afraid.

 “We look at everybody as God’s people,” Wright said. “When we get information about someone who needs us, we figure God is in the plan.”

Both Wright and Dillingham said they have received tremendous support from their families in their calling. When they go out to visit in the community, even in precarious situations, the two take nothing more than the rosary for protection.

In their work, Wright and Dillingham are helped by a core group of about 15 volunteers. To recognize the work those volunteers do, Wright and Dillingham organized the annual Fr. Kaiser Volunteer Awards Dinner and plaque. Wright was the first recipient of the plaque.

Wright has received many awards and letters of commendations from law enforcement, education and religious leaders across the community for her work. In recognition of her many years of jail ministry, she was a recipient of the Madeline Award for Faithful Service, a diocesan award instituted by Msgr. Colin F. Bircumshaw, vicar general, to recognize those who have exemplified faithful service to a parish or the community over many years. Wright also has been a speaker at many churches and communities across the Wasatch Front. In addition, she was deeply involved with Black Catholics of Utah and remains active in the Legion of Mary and the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women.

Wright said she took a break from the jail ministry for a while but is again involved in the work.

“They pulled her back; she’s so useful,” said Dillingham, who is dealing with some health challenges but helps Wright whenever she can.