Cody and his dad, JIm Every day I receive letters from family members whose loved ones are serving mandatory minimum sentences. On special occasions like Father's Day, the sting of a loved one's absence only deepens. Please take a moment to read about what it will be like for one FAMM member and her son to spend this upcoming Sunday without Dad.
"This will mark our fourth Father's Day without my husband home with his son. I met my husband, Jim, after he was arrested for drug charges. Over the next three years of legal battles, we were married and had our son, Cody. Cody was one-and-a-half-years-old when Jim went away.
Cody has seen his father two hours a week for the past four years. He has begun to get quiet in the visits and very teary and sad. He thinks Jim is at work and has just started asking why his Dad can't be home with us.
We do the best we can and our son is as well adjusted as he can possibly be given the circumstances. It does not take a rocket scientist to look at the facts of mandatory minimums and see that they just do not make any sense. We would happily pay the state a monthly probation fee rather than have the state paying $3,500 every month to incarcerate Jim.
Four Father's Days down...one more to go. It saddens me that there are many other families who have a lot more to go than that. I can only hope the state smartens up sooner rather than later."
-- Amy Broadbent, wife of Jim, who is serving a five-year mandatory minimum sentence in Massachusetts.
I hate these stories. I hope you'll stand with me to prevent more of them from occurring. Please donate now to help us change mandatory sentencing laws.
Best,
Julie
Julie Stewart
President & Founder