FOCUS Families Initiative

The FOCUS Families Initiative is an organization associated with IDOC Watch and our reentry organization, FOCUS Initiatives LTD, whose focus is on issues that family members of incarcerated individuals face.  It is our vision to activate empathy and sympathy to manifest a very present support system to deal with oppressions of the families of the incarcerated that are a direct result of the capitalistic existence of the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) and its  violent, oppressive practices. FOCUS Familes believes that the current exploitative practices of the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) need not be reformed – but done away with completely.  The oppressions of the PIC do not only affect our incarcerated loved ones.  They are extended to the families that are left to cope with their loved ones being taken away from them and caged in dangerous facilities where communication with them is very difficult. FOCUS: Forever On Course United in Solidarity.

The immediate goal of the support system for FOCUS Families is providing information on how to get information concerning imprisoned loved ones.  We plan to accomplish that goal by way of the following avenues:

  • Developing support groups to serve as a coping mechanism in cases of isolation, humiliation, depression,  sadness, and anger.

  •  Financial aid and technical support for interactive communication for FOCUS Families family members and their loved ones



The long-term vision of the FOCUS Families is to further collaborate to give families access to a counseling network of empathetic licensed individuals willing to help our members tackle the mental stresses associated with having your loved one caged away.



It is no secret that the United States of America houses twenty-five percent of the WORLD’S incarcerated population while only being 5% of the total world population.  FOCUS Families believes that for change to truly take place the laws of the land need to be changed.  This ideology is the motivation for the second strategy adopted by the group: political mobilization. Our intent is to generate a voice for families affected by incarceration in the political arena.  



FOCUS Families will target the already registered votes of incarcerated individuals’ family members to develop a voice focused on changing the laws of the land that govern the prison system,  thereby giving the very vote they suppress an even more powerful voice.  With this strategy, we position ourselves to:

  • Have some leverage with the policymakers to:

    • Limit actual incarceration time based on age, time served, and health

    • Curtail Re-incarceration based on technical parole and probation violations

    • Improve conditions and time-cut programming in the prisons

    • Reduce the cost of communication services so that we may stay more closely connected to our incarcerated loved ones

  •  Fight back against systemic voter suppression

  • Force the state government to revisit its practices for inmates’ agents for Power of Attorney roles



In addition to organizing as voters, FOCUS Families as an organization believes in the power of strategic community mobilization, protest and direct action, when voting and politicians fail to effectively address our concerns. 



Currently we are organizing the first chapter of the FOCUS Families in Evansville, IN. To get involved in the Evansville chapter or start a new chapter where you live, please email GSFI.EVV@gmail.com.

Join our Facebook group if you have a loved one incarcerated in Indiana and want to get involved!