The Organization for Black Struggle and MO Citizens for the Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE) have teamed up to do their part to keep prison families connected during COVID-19.
The Organization of Black Struggle Founding Member and Executive Director Jamala Rogers called CURE a few weeks ago to collaboratively raise funds for their members in prison to help them stay connected to their loved ones.
“We decided to raise some funds to put on their prison account so that they continue to at least have telephone conversations and emails to speak with their loved ones and their legal teams because some of them are working on their cases and this also has cut them off from their legal support,” Rogers said.
The two organizations have been working together since CURE’s inception in 1990. Rogers and CURE’s Co-Chair Edna Harden have been working together since the 1970s.
Inmates, who are members in at least one of the organizations – a total of nearly 400 – will benefit from the project’s fundraising efforts. The collaborative project raised $4k for their Prison Families Project.
MO CURE Co-Chair Keith Brown-El understands the importance of staying in touch with loved ones. Brown-El spent 36 years incarcerated in Missouri prisons.
“Prisoner communication with family members and loved ones is important because it carries with it the hope of one day being united with them no matter how the remote the possibility may seem,” Brown-El said in a statement.
“If you want to live in peace and harmony with people who have been formerly incarcerated, they have to be treated like human beings while they are incarcerated,” Brown-El continued.
Prisoners have been in lockdown and visits by families prohibited since Mid-March. Connection with families is one of the primary ways that prisoners maintain their sanity and humanity during the pandemic.
“Already being in a system that’s repressive and oppressive then those links to the outside are extremely important particularly during COVID when a number of these facilities have cases and there’s nowhere for these inmates to go,” Rogers said.
Missouri reported 786 deaths and 13,767 total cases since the onset of the pandemic as of June 3.
According to the state, 36.6% of the deaths and 31.85% of these positive cases were black people, though blacks form only 11.8% of the state’s population, according to the U.S. Census.
“We’ve been keeping track of the cases from inmates inside the facilities across the state and how many COVID cases that they are identifying,” Rogers said. “And there’s going to be information that helps us to say, ‘these facilities need to get some testing.’”
To donate to the Prison Families Project, visit www.obs-stl.org using PayPal button or call 314.367.5959.