What happens to the families left behind when someone is incarcerated?

Laure E. Clemons, Executive Director of Extended Family, knows this situation first hand and set out to create a support system for families of prisoners.

“In 2001, I started down a road I never thought I’d be on,” Clemons said. Her husband, who had been nine years sober, drank and was involved in a head-on collision in which the other driver was killed. Her husband was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He served six continually and is serving the rest on probation.

“I kept asking, ‘What’s out here for families of prisoners?’” she addressed the Pell City Rotary Club last Tuesday. 

“Nothing,” several members replied.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, about 1 in 38 adults are under some form of correctional supervision, including those in probation or parole and those incarcerated in prisons and local jails.

In 2003 Clemons started the Extended Family program for families of prisoners where she lived in Cherokee County. They met once a month and their focus was always positive she said.

“We don’t protest anything,” Clemons stated. “I didn’t think staying angry would be helpful for me.”

From the first groups that met in Cherokee County, the program has grown. In 2009, the program broadened to include children with incarcerated family members with Extended Family for Kids. It is a curriculum-based program for small groups of children that includes fun, flexible lessons that build self-esteem and communication skills, decrease stress, address anger issues, and increase a student’s ability to make good choices.

“One in 28 kids have a parent or family member incarcerated,” Clemons said. “These kids are the star players, the quiet ones, the shy kids, the smart ones. We are trying to give the kids tools to make better choices. 70 percent of children with a parent incarcerated will be in jail themselves. The impact study shows the program helps improve behavior and grades and kids are a lot less likely to go to jail.” 

The program is taught in schools once a week with nine 45-minute lessons. Currently, they are available in Baldwin, Cherokee, Dekalb, and Etowah County.

“We can teach school counselors how to do the program,” Clemons stated. “We want to train as many [counselors] as possible throughout the state. That is how our kids are going to succeed.”

In 2009, Clemons husband was released from prison on probation and she learned new lessons on someone returning to the community. These lessons started the “Going Home” workshop, which her husband helps to teach in prisons all over the state.

“There was one thing I longed for on that day my husband went to prison. I longed for someone to look me in the eye and say, ‘Laure, You can do this! I’ll show you the way.’ Friend, I’m looking you in the eye and saying, ‘You can do this!’ We at Extended Family will show you the way.”

For more information on the Extended Family program, visit www.extendedfamilyhelp.org or call 256-927-7997.