As our democracy stands, the act of being incarcerated is completely disenfranchising. Not always because the law permits it, there are eligible imprisoned voters in every state: some with felonies in states like Maine, others with misdemeanors in states like Wisconsin and then there are those who are incarcerated pre-trial in every part of the […]
Without An Aggressive Mass Decarceration Effort a Second Wave Will Devastate the United States Black August has been recognized by the prison class as a month of resistance since the early 1970s. The demands of prisoners have not changed much over the decades. Over the last few years, as people in prison expand their networks […]
I want to begin this piece with my empathy for my brothers and sisters behind the wall, we have not forgotten about you. I empathize, rather than sympathize. Sympathy is recognition through a lens of pity, saying, “I see what’s happening to you” while empathy is recognition through the lens of shared understanding, saying, “I […]
by Lacino Hamilton Stark statistics have come to light showing that Black Americans are disproportionately contracting and dying from COVID-19. However, the focus on why this is may be less racial than it is economic? Furthermore, when Whites and Blacks are convinced that their basic health and economic interests are the same they may find […]
Impactful Political Organizing while in Quarantine Resource List Links Elements of Traditional Community Organizing: https://www.movementmatters.net/ 2018 National Prison Strike Event Overview: https://sawarimi.org/national-prison-strike Jailhouse Lawyers Speak: https://sawarimi.org/jls-prisoners-initiative Solid Black Fist NPS Newsletter: https://sawarimi.org/npsnewsletter Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign: https://harvardprisondivest.org/ University Beyond Bars: http://www.universitybeyondbars.org/ Books to Prisoners: https://www.bookstoprisoners.net/ Jpay Paid Emailing Vendor: www.jpay.com Connect Network, Phone Calling Vendor: […]
Weeks after passing the stimulus package, the IRS made a recent determination that convicted, incarcerated people were not eligible to receive stimulus money. This extremely disheartening for me as a prisoner human rights advocate and community organizer because after seeing that incarcerated people were not written out of the legislation I was excited to look […]
by Lacino Hamilton at Macomb Correctional Facility The last few years I have written many articles attempting to diagnose the deep malaise within the American criminal justice system. In particular, the human costs of high walls, razor wire, locked doors, grossly restricted mobility, punishment-violence, and execution–prison’s defining characteristics. I have also attempted to expose and […]
The Coronavirus pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the lives of people all over the world, especially those in prison. While the CDC has posted their recommendations for all people to follow, prisoners have no freedom to protect themselves from the spread. People in prison are limited in their ability to keep a safe […]
By: Mr. Jermaine Glenn, incarcerated in MDOC Kinross Correctional Facility Never in my wildest nightmares have I imagined or experienced anything like the Covid-19 pandemic. It takes us back to the influenza pandemic in 1918 when we lost 50 – 100 million people globally and roughly 675,000 lives nationally. That was over a 100 years […]
JLS National Prison Strike Calls Cover Corona Before the conditions of the word crumbled; when people were allowed to gather, rally and protest; prisoners around the world shifted the mass consciousness away from any last remaining tendencies from the “tough-on-crime” era. A spotlight beamed into the darkest corners of society as people in prison in […]