[Editor’s Note: what follows is an open letter to those incarcerated in Alabama from the organization Mothers and F.A.M.ilies.]

Greetings from Mothers and F.A.M.ilies:

May this letter find you in the best of spirit and health in spite of
your circumstance of being incarcerated in Alabama. We hope to lift your
spirit by letting you know that we are in this fight with you for
freedom, justice, and civil and human rights until the end.

Over the past 3 years, we have been fighting relentlessly alongside FREE
ALABAMA MOVEMENT and all others for justice in Alabama. Among our many
activities have been:

1) Conducting protests at numerous prisons and in Montgomery to help
bring awareness to the problems with ADOC, including the need for a mass
release;

2) Promoting the Alabama FREEDOM BILL and demanding its passage by the
Alabama Legislature;

3) Hosting rallies and workshops under the banner of INCARCERATED LIVES
MATTER at Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham, Alabama;

4) Meeting with local, state and federal official to address police
brutality and other forms of corruption in ADOC;

5) Fighting for real wages for labor in ADOC so that working men and
women can send money home to their families and children instead of
enriching politicians in Montgomery;

6) Demanding changes to the Alabama parole board to provide for more
paroles and more clearly defined criteria for mandatory parole;

7) Transparency and media access inside of ADOC; and more.

For the remainder of 2016, M.A.F. will be coordinating and conducting a
Freedom Tour 2016 to canvas all of the prisons in the State of Alabama
to garner support from more mothers and family members for our Movement
to end Mass Incarceration in Alabama and throughout the Nation.

If you are interested in becoming a part of this Movement or if you have
any information that may be of use to us, please contact us.
Lastly, we want to remind everyone that the fight against Governor
Bentley’s Alabama Prison Transformation Initiative Act and the
construction of new prisons spending millions of dollars in Alabama is
not over.

The bill will now head to the Senate floor for debate and a vote in
the next regular session of the Alabama Legislature. Be sure to
contact your State Representatives to let them know that we oppose this
plan. We want Education, Rehabilitation and Re- Entry Programs, not more
economic exploitation and abuse.

Thank You,

Mothers and F.A.M.ilies