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The more than 8,000 fudge pieces are made by a variety of groups and they must follow a strict recipe. Hard candies, packages of peanuts and homemade cards -- usually written by students in fifth grade or below -- are also included, Moerman said.
• "A lot of times the guys at the prison are sort of, you know, the idea of abandoned or cast aside or neglected and in some ways the fudge, though it's simple, is a way of saying that there's people who still care," Moerman said.
• Inmate Jeff Howard said he and others are heartened by the gifts. Howard, who is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, has been unrepentant, maintaining his innocence during the more than 30 years he has been in prison. But the Rev. Moerman said that even those who've done the unthinkable deserve love and acknowledgement come Christmas. The gifts are distributed even to non-Christians.
• "There is really excitement to get this stuff and guys really appreciate it," Moerman said.
• Other inmates get through the holidays knowing they are creating gifts for children outside the prison, said Hope Johnson, the Corrections Program and Contracts Manager at the Department of Corrections.
• About 20 inmates at the state penitentiary learn to knit stocking caps throughout the year, and around Christmas, the hats are donated to local agencies to be used as Christmas gifts. More than 2,000 hats and 1,000 mittens are being distributed to different agencies across the state, along with more than 3,000 wooden toys made by inmates using scrap lumber from the prison shops.
• "In a roundabout way, we are giving back in the best way we have in prison," Johnson said.
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• MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A member of a Native American gang has pleaded guilty to murdering another gang member in Minneapolis.
• The U.S. Attorney's office says Native Mob member Shaun Martinez admitted in a plea agreement Friday that he shot and killed Jeremee Kraskey in February 2011 to keep him from giving information to law enforcement.
• Martinez faces a potential sentence of life in prison. Sentencing is not scheduled yet.
• A federal indictment last January accused two-dozen suspected Native Mob members of conspiracy to participate in racketeering, alleging they used violence and intimidation to keep the gang in power. So far, 20 defendants have pleaded

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