ANN ARBOR, MI - A grieving mother, with three years of pain spilling down her cheeks, turned her head toward the courthouse ceiling when it was finally said - an apology.

The admission by Diana Callahan, 49, of Flint came as she stifled her own brief wail when given a chance to speak before being sentenced to two years probation, including six months of jail time, Thursday, Dec. 20 at the Washtenaw County Trial Court. She nodded when she heard the sentence.

The former Michigan Department of Corrections officer pleaded no contest in October to one count of involuntary manslaughter in the 2015 suicide death of inmate Janika Edmond. Through a so-called “Cobbs agreement” with the judge, a second charge of willful neglect of duty was dismissed.

Callahan's life is forever changed, but the Edmond family's life has been changed even more so, Callahan said at the hearing.

"I cannot speak for the department of corrections, I can only speak for myself, and so I ask them to forgive me for my actions and then maybe one day they will forgive me," Callahan said through tears.

That forgiveness came quickly for some members of the family, who offered it in their own victim impact statements before Callahan spoke.

Tina Edmond, Janika Edmond’s mother, frequently paused to collect herself.

She said God has forgiven her own mistakes, “and I know he can forgive you, and I hope you get the help that you need.”

Still, she added, "I don't know why you wouldn't help my baby."

Callahan was accused of failing to act when Edmond expressed suicidal ideations and asked for a suicide-prevention vest before a suicide attempt Nov. 2, 2015 in the segregation shower unit of the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Pittsfield Township.

Callahan said “somebody owes me lunch” in apparent response to the statements, according to testimony at a preliminary examination.

Edmond was pronounced dead at a hospital days later.

Following an investigation by MLive/ The Ann Arbor News, Callahan was fired in March 2016 and charged in December 2016.

Her Pontiac-based attorney William Hatchett told Washtenaw County Trial Court Judge Archie Brown of the deep remorse his client feels and staked his career on the fact that Callahan would never reoffend. He also asked for alternatives to incarceration.

She was hospitalized for an "emotional breakdown" at the start of the month, he also noted at the hearing.

"No one should leave this court thinking this woman is not torn apart from what happened," he said.

Still, the sentence was "a slap on the wrist," in the eyes of Tina Price, Edmond's emergency contact who referred to Edmond as her daughter during a victim impact statement read in court.

"Nothing we can say or do will bring her back, but a person should be held responsible for the consequences of their actions," she said, according to the statement.

Edmond's grandfather, Jaami Muhammad, and the representative of her estate and aunt Sheila Clarke, echoed one opinion of Hatchett's following the hearing - that Callahan should not have been the only person charged.

A federal lawsuit in the incident, now approaching a settlement, blames the Michigan Department of Corrections, a number of employees and two former employees in the death, including Callahan.

Aside from Callahan, one employee left the department after being fired, then reinstated in connection to the death. A warden and two deputy wardens were initially named in the lawsuit, but were later removed while another employee was added.