Peach Tree Times

Chalana McFarland, a 50-year-old mother, having served approximately 13 years of a 30-year federal sentence for a mortgage fraud conviction, may be a deserving candidate for clemency.

"The judge chose to make an example of me by handing down was is still considered one of the harshest sentences for mortgage fraud in the country," McFarland told the CAN-DO Foundation. "The same judge a year later, sentenced two attorneys with similar conduct but greater monetary losses to 28 and 37 months respectively."

Her only child, Nia, was only 3 years old when McFarland was sentenced as a first-time nonviolent offender.

"I have one daughter, who at the age of 16, will soon embark on her own life," McFarland said. "Will I miss her graduations, wedding, and the birth of her children as I have all the other events in her life so far?"

McFarland's daughter is a successful student at Valdosta High School, where she founded Children of Incarcerated Parents (CHIPS).

"I am one of the thousands of children in this country who has an incarcerated parent," Nia Cosby told the CAN-DO Foundation. "I am writing to express how important it is for me to have my mother at home with me."

In prison, McFarland has an exemplary disciplinary record. Her re-entry plan is to return home to her daughter, who is currently being cared for by McFarland's parents, both in their seventies. She also has a job lined up for when she is released, working as an outside sales representative for TJM Painting.

McFarland has demonstrated in prison skills that will be valuable to the community when she is released.

"For me, her contributions were immediate because I lost my 50 year old son to a massive heart attack, 3 months after arriving in federal prison," Patricia G. Sullivan, a woman who is serving time with McFarland, wrote to the CAN-DO Foundation.  "Chay walked me through the furlough process and provided comfort during my grief."