Fairness for Prisoners' Families
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Fairness for Prisoners' Families
Woman fights for prisoner rights
By Adam Folk
March 18, 2006
Shelby Smith realizes many Georgians don't agree with her.
She is a staff member of Fairness for Prisoners' Families, an organization that advocates for prisoner rights, and she came to Milledgeville today to listen to Commissioner James E. Donald speak to the family members of prisoners.
Smith acknowledges that many people feel that prisoner rights are two words that don't deserve to go together. Despite this, Smith believes it’s easy to forget that prisoners are people too.
"Even though not everyone agrees with it, people in prisons have rights," Smith said. "They deserve to be treated fairly."
Smith attended the Fairness for Prisoners' Families Meeting on Friday at St. Stephen¹s Episcopal Church on South Wayne Street. She said her organization regularly holds their "shadow meetings" following the Department of Correction's Family meetings. These meetings allow prisoners' family members to meet and discuss how they felt about the DOC meeting.
According to Smith, the meetings also help the family members to feel like they are not alone in dealing with these issues. Smith feels two of the most pressing issues facing inmates in Georgia's correctional system are access to proper medical care and the ability to communicate with their loved ones.
"It’s counter-intuitive to try to break somebody down and expect them to succeed once they leave the prison cell," Smith said. "They need those family connections in order to be successful."
She said many of the programs for inmates leaving prison are not supported at the level they need to be and many of the non-profit organizations are simply overwhelmed by the numbers. Smith said many of the proposals made at the DOC meeting sounded promising but there was much more to do.