Fairness for Prisoners' Families
Families of Prisoners and the Georgia Department of Corrections:
Obstacles and FrustrationsWhen a citizen who has strong ties with family and friends is incarcerated in a Georgia prison, his or her loved ones rally to support that person and work hard to nourish their relationships across prison walls. Loving contact between people in prison and their families and friends is indispensable to everyone’s well being.
Relationships between people in prison and their loved ones on the outside are important in other ways as well. When those in prison are able to count on contact with their loved ones, the prison environment becomes safer and healthier. Family and friends hold those in prison accountable for their behavior while incarcerated, encouraging them to serve their time peacefully and in accordance with prison rules. In addition, support from loved ones motivates people in prison to use the tools for self-improvement (such as vocational training or GED classes) offered by the prison.
The relationships between people in prison and their loved ones are especially important after release from prison. A person who doesn’t have a network of family and friends to return to after getting out of prison has a much more difficult time doing well in the free world. The scarcity of programs which help formerly incarcerated citizens re-enter society makes the problems worse. The results can be disastrous, not only for individuals, but also for the community at large.
Officials at the GDC themselves say that the communities, families and friends of prisoners are highly important in enhancing prison safety and ensuring that people are less likely to return. Prison administrators view prisoners without family or community ties as being higher security risks.
Given the importance of prisoners’ families and friends, it would seem that promoting these relationships would be a priority for the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC). Yet families and friends of those in prison experience a number of difficulties in dealing with the GDC. The GDC has standard operating procedures and other polices that put up walls between prisoners and their loved ones on the outside. Families and friends of those in prison face disrespectful, rude and humiliating treatment by corrections officers during visitation. When trying to express concern for the health and safety of an imprisoned loved one, families find the GDC staff unresponsive or uninterested. When families or friends have important questions about the Standard Operating Procedures at their loved one’s facility, they can’t get reasonable answers from the GDC. Families and friends of people in prison frequently experience being ignored by the GDC when attempting to bring their grievances to the staff’s attention.
It often seems that the only relationship the GDC cares to have with the families of prisoners is financial. More than 21 million dollars was collected from the families of Georgia prisoners in fiscal year 2005. This revenue came from unfair fees for imprisoned loved ones’ basic medical care, processing of money orders, and disciplinary reports. It came from the vending machines in prison visitation rooms. And it came from the inflated fees paid by families and friends accepting collect calls from their imprisoned loved ones. The GDC uses the prison pay phones to generate revenue, and has negotiated a phone contract to yield maximum profits. Because of this contract, families and friends pay outrageous tolls for accepting their loved ones’ collect phone calls. All these things are a direct result of GDC policies and make nourishing a relationship with imprisoned loved ones very hard.
One of the worst problems faced by those with loved ones in Georgia’s prisoners is the lack of an effective means for communicating grievances to GDC officials. The GDC has perceived itself as having no obligation to respond to the questions and concerns of families and friends of prisoners and has often ignored these citizens. As a result, the GDC functions as an impenetrable bureaucracy rather than the tax funded service agency it is. In addition, many families and friends are afraid to contact officials such as the warden out of fear that doing so will result in retaliation against their loved ones in prison. Dialogue between families and the GDC is made even more difficult by the fact that many of the family members of prisoners have not had experience in political activities such as voting and letter writing. But even those families and friends who have such experience often feel a sense of frustration, isolation, and powerlessness when they confront the system.
Not Alone, Not Powerless
Whether because of societal attitudes about prisoners and their families, or because of the attitude toward prisoners and their families displayed by the GDC, the loved ones of Georgia’s inmates have felt alone and powerless for a long time. Politicians have long repeated the mantra that there is no constituency for prison reform. However, the fact that there are over 600,000 people on Georgia inmate visitation lists clearly speaks to the contrary, particularly because these 600,000 represent only a fraction of supportive loved ones impacted by GDC policies. The growing number of people with a loved one in the criminal justice system sees the often hidden truths about our society’s tendency toward over-incarceration, such as the sanctioned exploitation of those in prison for private profits. This exploitation, be it in the form of private prisons or inflated tolls for collect phone calls, is being challenged by citizens with loved ones in Georgia prisons. Now the loved ones of the incarcerated are seeing that they are not at all alone, and that they are not at all powerless. Finding empowerment through active political engagement, the families and friends of the incarcerated are calling the GDC to accountability for the care of the massive number of people in its prisons and jails. GEJ is proud to be a part of that effort.
For more information about Fairness to Prisoners’ Families, or to obtain our Advocacy Handbook, please contact our office at 404/681-5576.