Compared with the billions in public and private aid destined for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the $5,000 raised for storm relief by inmates in Alabama’s prisons seems almost inconsequential.

In its way, however, it’s one of the points of light in the darkness brought on by the storm.

Many of the inmates are in prison for crimes against their fellow man. Some are doing time for murder, others for rape, theft and robbery.

But news coverage of the hurricane’s impact and the plight of the storm victims breached their self-centered barricades. For perhaps the first time in their adult lives, some of the inmates wanted to reach out and help other people.

It wasn’t a thing done easily. Few inmates have much money in their prison accounts. Moreover, the contributions had to be made independently, not as part of any coordinated outside relief effort. The Department of Corrections did allow inmates to hang posters announcing their drive and gauging their progress.

Yet a few dollars here and a few dollars there added up. In Kilby Prison, inmates in a faith-based dorm got the ball rolling. The contributions they and other prisoners made to the American Red Cross totaled $1,112.37.

One of the inmates involved in the fund drive is serving a life sentence for manslaughter. “It’s a strange thing to say," he commented, “but it made me feel proud of the neighborhood I live in -- even though my neighborhood is in prison right now."

The donations, though small, are indeed a source for pride. Perhaps they’re also a small but significant step on the road to redemption.

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