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Central Park 5 honored with Freedom Fighter Award at End Mass Incarceration event

Yusef Salaam and Raymond Santana accepted the award on behalf of the group at a conference aimed to end overcrowding prisons.

A conference called End Mass Incarceration kicked off in Atlanta Monday, with members of Central Park 5 accepting awards. 

The goal of the three-day interfaith event is to find ways to advance the criminal justice reform started by former Georgia Governor Nathan Deal by using prisons for violent criminals and releasing non-violent offenders of minor crimes into court-supervised treatment and training. 

People gathered inside Ebenezer Baptist Church to call for the end of the cycle. 

During the beginning of the 7 p.m. service, the Central Park 5 -- now being called The Exonerated 5 -- were presented the Freedom Fighter Award on behalf of the church. 

Pastor Ralph Warnock presented the award to Yusef Salaam and Raymond Santana, who live in Atlanta. 

"Thanks for keeping the faith, transforming your pain into power and for empowering others in the process," said Warnock.

Salaam and Santana not only accepted this award on behalf of the group, but also accepted a certificate of Congressional Recognition on behalf of Congressman John Lewis. 

RELATED: Rapper TI, Ebenezer's Pastor Raphael Warnock, more join forces to help end mass incarceration

“They threw diamonds in the dirt but we were still diamonds, we arose like the Phoenix 30 years later to take our rightful place in this world," said Salaam. 

A day earlier, rapper T.I., Warnock and Salaam, gathered for a press conference outside the church. Warnock explained why the conference was important. 

"There is still a whole lot of work to be done in the state of Georgia. The land of the free is in the incarceration capitol of the world. Georgia still is Ground Zero for the sheer numbers of people still under correctional control and too many of them are there for small offenses, sometimes traffic offenses."

T.I. ended the press conference by saying he understood from first-hand experience the roots of mass incarceration, having little to do with mass crime and a lot to do with racism and bigotry. 

"You can leave the house on the way to the store and end up with five to ten years, just because someone thinks that you look like you did something," the rapper and activist said. 

Tuesday is day two for the conference and will focus on multiple panels and session dealing with a range of issues such as holding police accountable, breaking the school to prison pipeline, and challenging the role of implicit bias.

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