Fairness for Prisoners' Families
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Fairness for Prisoners' Families
Group reaches out to family members of prisoners
by: Dana Clark Felty December 19, 2004
An Atlanta-based organization for prisoners' rights is seeking new supporters in the Coastal Empire.Fairness for Prisoners' Families, a nonprofit program of Georgians for Equal Justice, is planning its second meeting in Savannah in January at the Bull Street library.
About 22 people attended the group's first local gathering on Dec. 15.
Gale "Sky" Edeawo was pleased with the group's presentation and plans to attend the next meeting.
"I'm one of their allies here in Savannah," said Edeawo, who runs Project Welcome Home, a program to help local women make the transition from prison to life outside.
Edeawo and others want to start a support group for prisoners' families, a service not offered locally.
Supporters "aren't trying to get their family members out of jail," Edeawo said. "They just want to look out for their rights while they're in prison."
Georgia has the sixth largest prison system in the nation, according to the state Department of Corrections. More than 49,000 prisoners are in state facilities.
Fairness for Prisoners' Families aims to educate families about how to ensure their relatives in prison receive adequate medical attention, safe living conditions and a fair parole review.
"There's too many people affected by this," said coordinator Althea Francois.
The group also lobbies for access to parole records and more alternatives to prison, such as reducing minimum sentencing guidelines, more construction of half-way housing, and greater use of drug treatment programs for nonviolent criminals.
The membership organization's sponsor, Georgians for Equal Justice, was founded by the Southern Center for Human Rights as a nonprofit seeking reform of the criminal justice system.
In 2002, members testified at the Georgia General Assembly on behalf of incarcerated family members about inhumane treatment in prison.
