In a small room at the headquarters of the nonprofit decARcerate on Sunday, a group of almost 20 people began planning for a fight to win hearts and minds.

The group -- made up of former convicted felons, their loved ones and people who care -- began coordinating their efforts to prevent a proposed 3,000-bed prison from being built in Franklin County.

The group was led by one of the organization's co-directors, Kaleem Nazeem, who founded the statewide organization in 2015 to address issues with the prison system.

The meeting -- which included organization leaders and advocates -- was part of an effort to "turbocharge" the movement against the prison, decARcerate organizer Rebecca Berry said.

"The reason that we're here today is ... to kind of educate the general public on what's going

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