No visits? No hope, no future!

 Joyce was on the line. I have no idea how Joyce got my telephone number, but the mother of two adult sons in prison was calling me from Detroit. A Black senior citizen on fixed income and battling cancer had heard of HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS. She asked me to check on one of her sons who, she felt, was becoming suicidal. 

I readily agreed, but my next question was why didn’t she personally visit her son? Then came the tears. Months ago, when Joyce was getting checked in to visit one of her sons, the desk officer informed her that she had to go home. Prison visits were banned because a bench warrant had been issued due to unpaid traffic tickets. Being on a fixed income, it was traffic tickets or groceries for Joyce. She chose to keep on eating. 

I’ll make this story very short. Assisted by several national agencies HFP, within days, raised money for her traffic tickets, personally delivered the money to her and the judge. She was finally able to see her boys...the first visit in two years!

I’m reminded of this story because HFP will be holding its annual fund raiser on September 25, assisted by a fine organization called Citizens for Prison Reform. 

CPR is hoping to raise public awareness of Michigan prison visitation policies that need change. These include arbitrary and permanent visitor bans. (Marilyn, wife of an HFP client, called us in a panic. Her prison visits had been banned for life because an officer claimed she wore inappropriate clothing while hoping to see her husband!) 

Another important aim in these efforts: protecting visitation rights for individuals in solitary confinement. CPR and other organizations recognize that solitary confinement can cut a person off from all outside human contact. 

Lois Pullano, CPR CEO, says their goal is simply shifting the prison system's approach from one focused purely on punishment to one that recognizes the benefits of maintaining strong family bonds and prepares individuals for successful reintegration into the community. Lois is not firing from the hip. She comes armed with data showing that a reformed prison policy would reduce recidivism, improve prison behavior and make prison families healthier. 

All of this leads me to an invitation. I’m hoping that you can and will attend our annual fundraiser/dinner, VOICES OF HUMANITY, scheduled for Thursday evening, September 25, in Grand Haven’s Central Park Place. 

Among three short videos to be shown is "Michigan Visits Matter: The Family Cost of Incarceration,” a short documentary by CPR that explores the negative impacts of visitation restrictions on families of incarcerated individuals in Michigan. The film is highly rated, having won awards or been shown in 26 film festivals in the past year! 

Make your reservations soon at humanityforprisoners.org. I hope to see you there. 

In California, a study shows that nearly 40% of inmates had no visitors. For inmates who had visitors they saw a 13% reduction in felony reconvictions, and a 25% reduction in technical violations.  Running those recidivism reduction percentages against the California statistics, the savings to taxpayers in that state alone could be in the hundreds of millions per year if prisons could operate a successful inmate visitation program. 

Advice to Michigan: Listen to Lois!