Barbara Allan was a school teacher, a wife, a mother who had no contact with the criminal justice system until 1968 when her husband was incarcerated. Then, alone, devastated and confused she began talking with two other women in the prison waiting room. Together, recognizing the benefit of their support for one another, they formed Prison Families Anonymous which is currently known as Prison Families Alliance, as a nonprofit organization which is now believed to have been the first-ever prison family support group in the United States. For the past fifty years, Barbara has remained at the helm of the organization, dedicated to easing the pain of families affected by the incarceration of a loved one. Through the years she has become increasingly involved in criminal justice reform, especially in the State of New York where she has taken the message of how the prison system has grown and succeeded by its failures to legislators and social service leaders and the general public. Barbara has volunteered with Women in Distress and after two years was Volunter of the Year. She was a VISTA volunteer at a Women’s Prison in Florida. To this day, Barbara continues to facilitate prison family support groups. She has represented Prison Families Anonymous before two reentry tasks force and the Suffolk County Criminal Justice Council and was on the board of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty. Barbara published her memoir, Doing Our Time on the Outside, hoping to educate the public on the affects of incarceration on families and to empower impacted families.