FROM giving birth whilst incarcerated to saying I Do in a prison – life for Lynette Barrios has been nothing short of straightforward.
She spent eight months behind bars but after getting back out into reality, soon found herself regularly visiting a prison to meet her locked up lover.
On a recent episode of Love Within Walls: A Prison Wife Podcast, Lynette was joined by her husband Angel Barrios, where they spoke on how they met and navigated their extremely unique relationship.
Lynette also revealed all on her past, and confirmed that she spent eight months in prison and even gave birth whilst doing time.
She explained: “I was pregnant while I was there and I gave birth to my third son while I was incarcerated.
“They transported me [to a hospital], I had the baby there, within 24 hours I was back at the facility, I didn’t have the baby with me, it’s really wild to think about.”
Lynette opened up on her childhood, as she confessed: “I was on the streets and into drugs by the time I was 14. We were just running the streets at a young age
“My kids are 12, 13 and 15, my oldest is 24 – my kids are young. This is the time for us to make sure we are good role models for our children.
“I’m fighting for my kids to have a better life than I did.
“When I got out of rehab, I came home and I didn’t have anything. Not a curling iron, I had the shoes and underwear and bra that I had and I had nothing, I had no belongings.”
The brunette beauty was paroled from prison in 2010 and it was four years later, at the end of 2014, when she began her relationship with Angel.
But their relationship was a unique one, with Angel behind bars, as Lynette admitted: “We met back in 2014 on Facebook.
“He popped up on my feed, we had a few friends in common, I could tell by his profile picture that he was incarcerated, he was in a cell.
“I clicked add and it started from there.”
Lynette is 11 years older than Angel, but the age gap wasn’t an issue for this mum-of-four, as she shared: “We hit it off and were good friends for a while, but it did escalate pretty quick.”
But not only was Angel behind bars when he first started chatting to Lynette, but he was also married too.
Angel confessed: “At the time, I was married, but I wasn’t with my wife. We had already separated, but I was still legally married.
“I had access to communicate through social media. I ran across her page and sent her a message. One thing led to another and we started talking more and more.”
We’ve had our ups and downs. We were together in prison, then we separated, then we got back together, then we got married
Angel Barrios
And when it came to the pair meeting in person, there was a slight issue. As Lynette had previously been in prison herself, she was denied a visitor application.
Despite this, Lynette appealed the application and eventually, six months later, it was approved.
The pair began to speak every day and after a year, they were able to have their first conjugal visit whilst he was inside.
Angel was incarcerated for 11 years – he was just 19 when he was locked up in January 2013, and was 30 when he left in April 2024.
Whilst their relationship wasn’t always straightforward, the pair got to know everything about each other.
Angel acknowledged: “We’re good at communicating with one another.
“We’ve had our ups and downs as well. We were together in prison, then we separated, then we got back together, then we got married.
“It was more of an emotional connection, we got to know everything about each other.”
The couple officially tied the knot in 2020 in a small ceremony in the prison where Angel was being held at the time.
And after six years together, Lynette stressed how much she saw Angel develop and mature, whilst also making sure to prioritise focusing on herself too.
The 42-year-old construction worker recalled: “He’s really grown. I’ve seen the transition in him.
“I was so big on making sure that I maintained a healthy balance. I wasn’t at the prison every single weekend, even sometimes when I could be, I wasn’t. I had kids that I was raising. I had a job that I had to work.
“I wanted to be there every weekend, don’t get me wrong. I’m so glad that I didn’t because I invested just as much time in my kids and my outside life, and so when Angel came home, my kids don’t feel any type of way about Angel, they don’t feel like they missed out on having me in their lives.
“I worked really hard on standing on my own two feet and then taking that in my marriage.
“Just because he’s doing time, doesn’t mean that I’m locked down too. I had this opportunity to live and to thrive and to push forward.”
