I’m Rosalie, and I’m based in San Francisco. A Happy belated Easter if you celebrate! I’ve been a pen pal for a couple of years now. It’s been a big highlight for me to discuss our faith and spiritual lives with my pen pals. I write to three pen pals (although one actually got released this year!) who write at different frequencies, but no matter what, I want to make sure to take the time to respond thoughtfully at least once every few weeks. One challenge is hearing about the conditions inside, from getting their food cut down to not getting treatment for illnesses. It’s eye-opening to read about this, and a reminder to continue to fight for abolition.
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AA News Section:
Upcoming orientations:
Reminder: If you have not been matched with a pen pal yet, you must attend an orientation to get matched. If you’ve already attended an orientation or are already an active pen pal, you are still welcome to come to orientations to connect with new members of the community!
How to get involved: Are you interested in getting further involved in Letters for Liberation? Respond to this email or send a message in our Slack community!
Some of the things current volunteers do: Meeting attendance, note-taking, and record keeping, document drafting, agenda making. Send emails to potential outside penpals about upcoming orientations, send emails about collective decisions, compile and send newsletters. Respond to emails. Host orientations. Receive mail from people inside prisons who want a penpal and enter their requests into our database. Manage our penpal database by matching inside and outside penpals and keeping records and notes. Social media. Website maintenance. Oversee our donation intake, taxes, and pay bills for the software and intake PO Box we use. Hold space for education and support through book club and listening groups. Collective referral to resources we’ve compiled or people who may have more answers. Dream, rage, problem solve. Your skills are needed!
Have a question about being a penpal, like how to send a book or how to use email services like Securus? Check out our FAQ.
Support AA financially via OpenCollective. All organizing and administration is done by volunteers. Donations fund software and PO Boxes.
Abolitionist education:
I started listening to the audiobook “They Were Her Property” by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers. This historical account is connected to abolition because prison labor today descends from the enslavement of Black people. The book is a historical investigation of the role of white women in owning enslaved people and enforcing this system. Have any of you read this book or are you interested in reading it? Let me know your thoughts!
Other news:
The Trump administration has been cracking down on the rights of transgender people, including those who are incarcerated. Last month, a federal judge ordered the transfer of two transgender women back to federal women’s prisons after they had been sent to men’s facilities.
A federal appeals court ruled that California prisons have failed to provide proper mental health treatment and must pay fines that could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Former President Joe Biden’s prisons chief is being tapped to fix lagging mental health care in California prisons.
A Palestinian teen held for months without charges dies in Israeli prison
Illinois is the first state to mandate halal and kosher meals be available in public institutions such as schools and prisons, but concerns remain
Google is part of a Customs and Border Protection plan to use machine learning for surveillance, documents reviewed by The Intercept reveal.
A Maryland resident was erroneously deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration
In lighter news:
The movie “Sing Sing” stars Colman Domingo and is about an incarcerated man who joins a theater group. It’s now streaming on Max.
I loved this profile on the woman-owned company Pink Hats Construction, which was was founded by Traci Quinn, who said her mission to start a construction company came from God while she was in prison.
A discussion prompt:
Pop culture and media can be a great way to bond with pen pals. Ask them about what music they’ve been listening to lately, or what movie they’ve watched lately, or a book they’ve read lately. You can also share what you’ve been listening to, watching, or reading lately.
Art & Lit:
Here’s a photo of a dreamcatcher crafted by one of my penpals!
Here’s a beautiful piece of art submitted by Bella, created by her pen pal
In solidarity,
Rosalie
(she/her)
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