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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Over the past month as the Coronavirus pandemic has swept across the United States, precautions have been made to protect residents including enhancements to operational capacity of health care facilities, closing of non-essential business and the establishment of statewide lockdowns that mandate individuals to self-quarantine. Unfortunately these provisions have not extended far enough to protect […]
We are only as safe from an epidemic as our most vulnerable are. At this time communities across the country are aware of the risks of not practicing the five habits that help to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. We have been encouraged to self-quarantine and many have been “locked down” for weeks. Some […]
Being one of the first areas to have encountered Covid-19, the West Coast is ahead of the rest of the country in its response and preventative efforts. Like many states the entry of nonessential personnel into state facilities have been suspended, this includes visitation, extended family visits, social outings and work release as well as […]
In 2019, we saw unprecedented progress in the conversation surrounding felony disenfranchisement. Last year, over a dozen states introduced legislation towards ending felony disenfranchisement: eleven (CA, WA, CO, IA, MN, CT, NJ, TX, KY, TN, NM) of those states were fighting to restore the voting rights of people immediately upon their release from prison and […]