June Newsletter from Letters for Liberation
Collective liberation, upcoming dates, a message from my penpal, news, resources, & art from inside
Letter From a Collective Editor
Dear comrades,
My name is Hunter, & I reside in Louisville, Kentucky. I hope that you all are enjoying the official advent of summer despite the heat. I know that I for one, although I’m perhaps in the minority, have felt very blessed by & miss my neighborhood cicadas buzzing and flying around. I am relatively new to Letters for Liberation; I was given the contact for my first penpal in January, &, due to complications on his end, we began correspondence in March. His name is Nick & is incarcerated in Texas—he is a true Texan at heart with a charming southern accent. We write pretty frequently, discussing an array of topics from philosophy to religion to psychology. He contributed to this newsletter farther down. My close friendship with him has impacted my life for the better in ways that I did not expect, & I encourage everyone to at least attend an orientation to see if penpaling with an incarcerated person is right for you. I know that Nick has given me a lot of love, comfort, & hope, & I want everyone to have the opportunity to develop that kind of relationship with a penpal.
I’ve been thinking a lot about collective liberation recently: the image of protestors in L.A. picking up rocks in defense against the U.S. police state mirroring the image of Palestinians picking up rocks in defense against the IOF. My penpal & I have exchanged thoughts on these recent events, & he expressed frustration at the deployment of the military on civilians but also pride at the power of the people when we come together.
What will it take to achieve true liberation? I teach high school English, & this is a question that comes up when I teach an abolitionist themed unit in which I teach A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines, Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis, the episode “Left Behind” from the Ear Hustle podcast, & the documentary 13th. My students & I spend a lot of time talking about, reflecting upon, & imagining a world without prisons, without cops, without incarceration. It’s perhaps surprising how little effort it takes to humanize incarcerated people, at least for most people—all it requires is a shift in language & a shift in perspective from the one passed down from a government whose aim is to turn us against one another. I urge you to reflect on liberation & what you can do to strength ties with your community.
June also happens to be pride month, & there are a lot of different types of celebrations going on across the world. These moments of joy are important, but in celebrating my queerness, I am in a place of immense privilege as a white settler. I mourn for all the queer people incarcerated who are unable to participate in these events. I mourn for the incarcerated trans folk who may not receive proper healthcare. I mourn for the queer people across the globe facing genocide. None of us are free until all of us are free, & I want my queerness & my celebration to be a continued fight for that global liberation.
I can safely say that commencing my friendship with my penpal is one of the best decisions I have ever made; it has changed my life more than I expected, & it has all been for the better. If you have not signed up for an orientation yet, I highly encourage you to sign up for one of the dates below. After all, developing relationships with people inside prison is one small thing we can all do to take one small step closer to liberation for all. Take care, folks.
Your June editor,
Hunter Westenhofer
Coming Up in July
-Orientations-
If you have not been matched with a pen pal yet, now’s your time! You must attend an orientation to get matched. I found my orientation to be super informative & helpful; it’s not just a “checking off a box” type thing. If you’ve already attended an orientation or are already an active penpal, you are still welcome to come to orientations to connect with new members of the community. Here are the two current dates for orientations in June:
-Volunteer-
If you are interested in volunteering for Letters for Liberation, here are some ways that people volunteer to keep our community alive & work toward a more liberated future:
Meeting attendance, note-taking, record keeping, document drafting, and agenda making
Sending emails to potential outside penpals about upcoming orientations, sending emails about collective decisions, compiling and sending newsletters
Responding to emails
Hosting orientations
Receiving mail from people inside prisons who want a penpal and entering their requests into our database
Managing our penpal database by matching inside and outside penpals and keeping records and notes
Maintaining social media pages
Maintaining the website maintenance
Holding 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
Dreaming, raging, problem solving
Other skills you have are needed & appreciated!
If you’re interested, our next Penpals Backend team meeting is on July 13, 2025 at 8:30pm EST at this meeting link: https://tulane.zoom.us/j/96858816880.
-Resources-
Check out our FAQ for answers to questions about challenges with penpaling, how to send a book inside, & how to use email services like Securus.
-Support-
We accept donations via OpenCollective where you can view details of our expenses. More details on our webpage.
Moreover, Cleme, a friend & penpal of a volunteer for Letters for Liberation, is up for parole in August & will be immediately deported upon release. If you are able to donate through GoFundMe, he needs support for basic needs & to make it back to his home & family in Guerrero, Mexico (as he will just be dropped off in Tijuana). Here is a message from him:
Hola, mi nombre es Cleme C. Me dirijo a ustedes para pedirles ayuda económica. Lo que pasa es que soy mexicano y no tengo ninguna ayuda, toda mi familia está en México. Yo estoy cumpliendo una sentencia de 16 años a vida, 16 to life. Pero fui a la BPH por segunda vez y me encontraron elegible para una libertad condicional, y saldré a medidados de agosto. Ya cumplí 20 años encerrado. Y pues con lo que me puedan, yo lo usaré principalmente para mi ropa, zapatos, higiene, comida. Y soy de una región del estado de Guerrero y necesitaré para el pasaje de Tijuana a Guerrero. Muchas gracias, se los agradezco sinceramente. -Cleme
[Translated by Google]: Hello, my name is Cleme C. I'm writing to you to ask for financial help. The thing is, I'm Mexican and I don't have any; my entire family is in Mexico. I'm serving a 16-year-to-life sentence. But I went to the BPH for the second time and they found me eligible for parole, and I'll be out in mid-August. I've already served 20 years in prison. So, with whatever you can get me, I'll use it mainly for my clothes, shoes, hygiene, and food. I'm from a region in the state of Guerrero and I'll need it for the trip from Tijuana to Guerrero. Thank you very much, I sincerely appreciate it. -Cleme
Pen Pal Spotlight
When I told my penpal that I was writing this month’s newsletter, I asked him if he wanted to write anything which he eagerly embraced. He wrote a poem which is featured further below, but he wrote a short letter as well. He wanted me to include his TDCJ number in case you wanted to reach out to him yourself, & his message follows:
Dear Letters for Liberation,
I'm Nickolas Wolfford, and I'm writing this letter. I want to first thank God for my blessing that I have received and second you guys, as well, as I've gotten the world’s greatest penpal and friend. You guys have helped me when I was at my lowest point and thoughts of suicide filled my mind. My prayers, I even thought God could not hear, or I felt He did not care about me. I was praying that God would send me someone that cared about me and wanted to help me through this incarceration. When I had given up all hope, faith, & prayer, a very good person reached out to me, and he has made me feel loved and cared about. Then I knew in my soul and heart that God could hear my prayers and He answered one, then upon that one answered prayer, several more were answered, too! I truly want to thank all the hard work the volunteers give to connect us guys and girls locked away as I had honestly lost all hope and gave up on life, and even God. Thank you guys so very much and God bless.
-Nickolas Wolfford #02281052
Abolitionist News
Setbacks to be aware of:
Palestinians seeking aid continue to be massacred by the Israeli occupation
Florida plans to build an immigration prison in the Everglades
Supreme Court rules to allow trafficking of immigrants to third countries
Victories to celebrate:
Political Education
I am an avid reader, so here is a list of political texts I’ve read or have on my shelf to read that are related to abolition.
Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis - I believe this book should be required reading, & there are many .pdfs available. Davis’s writing is super approachable, & she makes her argument well. This is perfect if you are still new to prison abolition.
Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis - I am currently reading this collection of speeches & interviews, & it does an incredible job of showing the interrelatedness of the prison industrial complex & the Zionist occupation of Palestine. The crux of her argument is that we cannot believe in prison abolition & fight for prison abolition without also fighting against imperialism across the globe—from the walls in Palestine to the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Mutual Aid by Dean Spade - I have not read this one yet, but it is another short book on how to develop & participate in mutual aid networks—central to our fight to achieve collective liberation.
We Do This Until We Free Us by Mariame Kaba - I have also not read this one yet, but I have heard so many great things about it & that it is a perfect text for those first starting to organize around prison abolition.
Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell - I haven’t read this one either, but it was listed on a prison abolition reading list & there was a .pdf available, so I wanted to include it. It seems like a great primer on abolition.
Golden Gulag by Ruth Wilson Gilmore - This is another text that I haven’t read (I accrue more titles that I want to read faster than I can read them), but it seems like an incredible breakdown of the prison industrial complex, particularly in California.
Resources
Red cards that state your rights as a person in the United States, regardless of immigration status *not legal advice; available in multiple languages*
Family preparedness plan for families with mixed immigration statuses
Immigrants’ rights that are important for you to know
Abortion funds because reproductive healthcare should be accessible to all
Let’s Discuss!
Each month, we like to provide a conversation starter that you may include in your next letter to your penpal. This month’s follows: What unique childhood hyper-fixation did you have? Were you obsessed with the Titanic? Ancient Greece? Or were you weird like me & pretending to be a monk?
Another idea that I borrowed from The Defender’s Freedom School Curriculum follows: Imagine that it’s the year 2050. You have a $100 budget for the city. How much would you allot to the following categories?
Healthcare
Mental Health Services
Education
Arts & Culture
Housing
Public Transportation
Public Safety
Jails, Prisons, & Policing
Describe what this world looks like and what is different. What major differences are there in this new world? What new possibilities are there? Do you feel safe? Is there more harm or less? This is also an opportunity to reflect upon how much money your city puts into policing you & your neighbors (for example, my city of Louisville uses around 30% of its budget to police my community).
Share yours & your penpal’s responses on our Slack! Let’s strengthen our community through these prompts & imagine a better world.
Art From The Inside
This is always one of my favorite sections of the newsletter, & I am personally really fond of the art that people submitted for this month.
First, we have Bella’s penpal (name not provided)’s musings on graffiti art as well as two pictures of graffiti that he has done. Graffiti is such an important art form because it sends an important message that, at the end of the day, the streets are for the people. I’m quite a fan of this man’s reflections & his red & green contrast in his art.
Next, we have Ali’s penpal Calvin’s colored image of a cat. Serendipitously, Ali & Calvin both love cats, & they have developed a custom of sending cat-themed (or otherwise) coloring sheets back & forth to one another—another idea for you & your penpal if their prison permits.
As I previously mentioned, my penpal wrote a poem for the newsletter. I want to include a trigger warning for mentions of suicide. Not only do I appreciate this poem because my friend & penpal wrote it, but I think that it illustrates the detriment that incarceration can have on people in addition to the impact that developing relationships with incarcerated people can have. I hope that this inspires you to attend an orientation if you haven’t yet.
“Wasted Days” by Nickolas Wolfford #02281052
wasted days to wasted nights locked away out of sight days to months that's turned to years waiting on mail that never appears we pray for mercy at a 2nd chance but mirrored lines on our faces dance we watch our hair turn to gray wasted night that turn to day I was alone doing time after losing my beloved mom I was alone at my lowest low thoughts of suicide was all I knew then one day thanks to y'all I heard my name at mail call I thank the ones who really care for so many of us feel despair wasted days that turn to night thanks to letters for liberation I haven't taken my life I found a friend through letters for liberation thank you God, my prayers you've listened I feel there's hope in wasted days for Hunter is the friend, the friend I've made!
Thank you, Nick—now one of my closest friends. You are the friend, the friend I’ve made, & I can’t wait to give you a big hug & eat some fresh produce together.
Take care, y’all.
Connect
If you wish to get in touch with Letters for Liberation, our email is abolitionapostles@gmail.com. If you want to follow us on more social media platforms, here are the links: Slack, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you want to get in touch with me (Hunter, this month’s editor), you may email me at hwestenhofer@yahoo.com or follow me on my main social media, Bluesky. My handle is @hwestenhofer.bsky.social.
Loved how you put this together Hunter!!