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The Long Drive to Visit a Loved One


On paper, it’s only a little more than 200 miles between the middle of Nashville to Northwest Correctional Center in Tiptonville, Tenn. But it might as well have been 2,000 miles.


I was the only family member who was able to visit my incarcerated nephew during the four years he was behind the walls of the NW center. Other family members wanted to, but Tennessee and other states make it exceedingly hard to make visitation happen. You need to fill out forms, spend money, take time off from work, and then, perhaps, drive across the state to visit an inmate.


Tiptonville is a good example of a prison site convenient to few. Nearer to Missouri than to Memphis, it’s far away from most urban areas of the state, and it’s an oddly expensive place to visit. That’s because it’s home to Reelfoot Lake State Park, a beautiful and exotic natural area of the state where tourist resorts drive up the nightly cost of lodging to well more than $100.


While staying at one of the lakeside lodges takes some of the sting away from the prison visits—with its overpriced vending machines and hard plastic chairs—you count yourself as fortunate that you could afford the stay and navigate small state roads to make the effort.


We all know how important visitation is to inmates’ success and rehabilitation. While prisons such as the NW complex support an economy based on little else, there should also be a better way for the system—the public, private and nonprofit worlds—to help families overcome the 200, or 400-miles that keep them apart.


Jane DuBose (pictured here with her husband Mike) is a former board member of the Family Reconciliation Center. Every week, FRC welcomes families and friends from throughout Tennessee and other states to stay at our guest house free of charge when they visit the prisons in Nashville.



Family Reconciliation Center is celebrating 40 years of hospitality! Please consider donating by clicking the link below to help Family Reconciliation Center continue to provide hospitality for another 40 years. https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=KDQT2CK23PHS6&source=url&ssrt=1722449951649


We also have an Amazon wish list linked below if you would like to help keep the Guest House fully supplied and ready to welcome guests.

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