In Georgia, 1 of 18 adults — more than 525,000 people — are either incarcerated, on probation, or on parole. Georgia has the highest rate of correctional supervision in the country. It’s 73% higher than Pennsylvania, which has the next highest rate.
That means more than half of the people in Georgia have had a family member in the incarceration system. Episcopalians have Biblical calls to respond, such as “Remember those in prison, as though you were in prison with them. Remember those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (Hebrews 13:2).
Stigma of Incarceration Blocks Healing
“A lot of churches may not welcome people who have been incarcerated,” said ECF Board Member Claudia Zimmermann, who in her profession helps secure and steward reentry resources.
“If we just talked about it and people came forward, that would lift some of the stigma,” she said. “Churches should welcome people coming out of prison because surely you have people in your parish affected by incarceration.”
Zimmermann is Director of Grants and Compliance at the National Incarceration Association (NIA), which is based in Georgia, and a member of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Roswell. Her expertise aligns with ECF’s mission of helping resolve pressing community issues, including the impact of the criminal justice system.
ECF’s mission is to lift up people facing poverty and oppression. One invisible form of oppression is stigma.
Cycle Fueled by Stigma
More than 90 percent of all people incarcerated return to our communities, and every person released from prison in Georgia is supposed to have tools and support needed to succeed in the community.
Stigma, however, creates an invisible second sentence.
A major review of 59 studies, involving over 21,000 individuals, reveals that stigma is a massive barrier to successful reentry. Criminal history is the primary label that triggers judgment, but there’s added bias from substance use, mental health, race, and ethnicity. Stigma has a direct, negative impact on behavior and health. And it is tied to a higher risk of returning to the legal system.
“Stigma by association” affects families of people who were incarcerated. Research published in August 2025[1] showed, through a survey of 1,300 people, that they are significantly less likely to donate, volunteer, or support government assistance when a family’s hardship is linked to incarceration rather than a car accident.
Talk and Act
Like mental health, incarceration can be de-stigmatized by open discussion and community acceptance. For example, the NIA was started by Kate Boccia, a suburban mom “whose son went to prison and was addicted to heroin. She started talking about these things, and then other people came out of the woodwork,” Zimmermann said. “Some people do deserve to be in prison, but they also deserve help. And a lot shouldn’t be in prison.”
Larry Lee, who was exonerated after more than 20 years on Georgia’s death row, felt less stigmatized when he received care packages and holiday cards from the parishioners at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta which were delivered by ECF grant recipient New Hope House.
“I felt like the world hated me, and here would come these packages from people that I didn’t even know,” he wrote. “It gave me hope more than anything that maybe I wasn’t as hated as I imagined.”
[1] Hickert, A., Shi, L., Shaw, O. P., & Yan, S. (2025). Behind Bars and Beyond: A Vignette Experiment to Explore Public Willingness to Assist Families Impacted by Incarceration. Crime & Delinquency, 0(0). https://doi-org.proxy.library.emory.edu/10.1177/00111287251363969
