Families of prisoners matter, too!

August marks the 25th anniversary of Humanity for Prisoners. This is the fourth in a series of reflections by founder Doug Tjapkes. 

 

I have no idea how Joyce obtained my home telephone number, but she did…and she called me. 

An elderly Black woman living on fixed income and battling cancer, I had never met Joyce. But, she knew about Humanity for Prisoners, she found my personal telephone number and she was begging for help. 

Joyce explained that she had a son in prison who was experiencing serious mental issues. She feared that he might try to take his own life and she asked if we could not only check on him, but perhaps even find some help for him. 

My immediate response was, “Why don’t you visit him, yourself? A chat with his mother would certainly be best!” And that’s when I learned of a bigger problem. Her reply: “I’m not allowed to visit him!” 

Long story short…she has not one, but two sons in prison, and she hadn’t been allowed to visit them for more than a year because of unpaid traffic tickets! A bench warrant had been issued for her arrest, and that information popped up on prison computers when she tried to make a visit. 

Unpaid traffic tickets were no surprise for people in her financial situation. The purchase of food and the rent payment came first. 

I promised help. Upon further investigation, the HFP staff and I soon learned that the unpaid total was substantial…well over a thousand bucks. As we researched her plight and what to do about it, 2 wonderful agencies jumped in to help us. Equal Justice Under Law is a prominent Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that focuses primarily on unfair money bail systems. The Marshall Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that investigates the criminal justice system. 

Within minutes those two agencies set up a “Go-Fund-Me” account on the internet, and within hours we received enough contributions from around the county to cover the unpaid traffic ticket total! 

The next steps were tricky. We didn’t think it wise to just send that amount of money to a stranger in the hope hat it would settle these matters. We had no assurance that the dollars would ever be used to cover the unpaid traffic tickets. So, a member of the HFP staff actually made the trip to Detroit with the money, picked up Joyce and together they went to the courtroom to settle this matter. 

Joyce is finally able to visit both of her sons! 

I share this story to underscore, once again, that HFP is concerned about the families of incarcerated men and women as well as those who actually live behind bars. 

We’ve been known to arrange a birthday visit for an 8-year-old girl whose mother was in prison, for example. And when we learned that an elderly handicapped mom had no way to visit her son, an HFP volunteer provided the necessary transportation. Those are not isolated incidents. We care! 

That’s an important message from us as we observe our 25th birthday.

 

Action with compassion!

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