What happened to that sacred American idea, No taxation without representation? It seems to have missed the mark for millions of incarcerated citizens who pay taxes on the items they purchase while incarcerated, sometimes for decades, without a designated path for dialogue with their representatives. Though not all can vote, all people in prison are […]
This consolidation of music is an invitation to find fuel with me. In 2017, my most refueling hobby while living in the Pacific Northwest was writing music, during that time I picked up my guitar and wrote the prelude to an neo-soul album I didn’t even know existed, a project destined for release March 2023. […]
For the past year I’ve read selections from subscriber mailings as a part of an Instagram Livestream series opening submissions from my incarcerated readers for Mailroom Mondays and you can still find those here. While those livestreams gave whomever happened to be on instagram at the time a taste of prisoner realities, this new series […]
A slew of states have made progress towards ending felony disenfranchisement implementing universal suffrage for all adult citizens residing in their state. The following have bills proposed with exciting congressional updates. In some states an amendment to the constitution is required in order to reverse the injustice of felony disenfranchisment. For example, in New York, […]
In Illinois, there are just under 30,000 people incarcerated in state prisons who are restricted from voting, but yet are still impacted by the decisions of those elected officials that they cannot vote for. Advocates at Chicago Votes have identified this as a critical error in state government after observing an off-putting intersection in those […]
This was the first time I’ve ever felt unhinged excitement entering a county jail, here’s why: October 24th 2022 at 10:00am, six candidates running on the ballot in Michigan this November, accepted the invitation to speak directly to jailed voters in-person. After a round of introductions participants, including media and outside community members like myself, […]
“Money bond is ransom!” That’s what community members plastered on posters in protest as they advocated for a world where people’s freedom didn’t depend on their bank account balance. The assumption that those who can afford an arbitrarily assigned bond amount are less likely to be guilty is absurd. The assumption that pretrial incarceration determined […]
Over the past few months I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with a small group of college students studying at Yale university during this Summer of 2022. Several Yale students responded to my request for support with developing a Digitized Archive of Incarcerated Reader Submissions that’ve mailed to SawariMedia over the past five years. I […]
This past weekend All of Us or None Publishing hosted a book release event at Rutgers University’s Center for Law and Justice in celebration of Rutger’s alma mater, Tia Ryans and Karen Kaplan’s new book Your Journey Behind the Cell: Pre-Release Manual for People Incarcerated in New Jersey. This manual consolidates the stories of several […]
Over this past year Michigan United (MU) took on the heavy lift of hosting an initiative campaign. According to the board of canvassers, the minimum number of valid signatures required for each petition is based on the total number of votes cast for the most recent gubernatorial election. This past year, after more than 4 […]