For Immediate Release
May 27, 2009
Contact: media@famm.org
Barbara Bates Teams Up with FAMM to Raise Community Awareness of Unjust Sentencing Laws
WHAT: Reception and fundraiser for Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), hosted by Barbara Bates Designs.
Known for fashion-forward looks coveted by celebrities from Oprah Winfrey to Whitney Houston, Chicago’s talented designer, Barbara Bates, recently learned firsthand about the injustice of mandatory sentencing laws that do not allow courts to fit the punishment to the crime. Her youngest son, Kristopher Davis, received a 19-year federal prison sentence for conspiracy to distribute crack and powder cocaine in March. Just 25 years old, Kristopher began serving his sentence almost one month ago.
Inspired to fight for justice in the sentencing system, Bates contacted Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) and learned more about inflexible mandatory sentencing laws, and FAMM’s work to change them. Rigid mandatory sentencing laws fill prison cells and cost millions while doing little to enhance public safety. Federal and state prison systems are packed with nonviolent and low-level offenders, including disproportionate numbers of people of color and a rapidly growing population of women.
FAMM has been leading the fight for individualized and proportionate sentences for 18 years. The group has been especially active in the campaign to change the laws that set unjustifiably harsh crack sentences, recently criticized by the Obama Administration’s Department of Justice and many members of Congress.
WHEN: Thursday, May 28, 2009; 5:00 PM
WHERE: Barbara Bates Designs, 2031 South Indiana, Chicago, Ill. 60616
WHO: Julie Stewart, Families Against Mandatory Minimums president and founder.
Barbara Bates, Barbara Bates Designs and Bates Foundation president and founder.
Larry Love, former prisoner who served eight years for a nonviolent drug offense.
Families Against Mandatory Minimums is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that supports cost effective sentencing policies that promote judicial discretion while maintaining public safety.
Barbara Bates and Julie Stewart are available for interviews on Wednesday, May 27 and Thursday, May 28. To learn more about the reception or to arrange an interview, contact Monica Pratt Raffanel at 202-621-5044 or email monica@famm.org.
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