#incarceration

[luulapants]

talking to people recently out of prison: a do-and-don't guide

Don't ask, "How was prison?" (Answer: traumatic!)

Do ask, "What are you most looking forward to doing again now that you're out?"

Don't ask, "How long were you in for?" (Answer: too long!)

Do ask, "Is there any technology or pop culture I can help catch you up on?"

Don't ask, "How are you going to avoid getting back into bad behaviors?" (Leave the paternalistic bullshit to their PO.)

Do ask, "How's your support network? Do you have people helping you adjust?"

Don't ask, "Do you have a job yet?" (Their PO is asking them ALL the time, don't worry.)

Do ask, "Are there any opportunities I should keep an ear out for and let you know about?"

Don't ask, "Do you have an ankle monitor?" (And definitely don't ask to see it - no one likes to be gawked at.)

Do ask, "Do you have parole restrictions we need to accommodate when making plans?"

Don't say, "Hey, you shouldn't be doing that - it's against your parole!" (A lot of parole restrictions are bullshit, and they are an adult who deserves agency, even the agency to take risks.)

Do ask, "Are there any bullshit parole restrictions you need help working around?"

Don't ask, "Are you an addict?" (Not everyone in prison is, and they'll tell you if they want you to know.)

Do say, "If there's stuff you might get in trouble for, like empty alcohol containers, I can throw them away at my place."

Don't say, "It's probably best if you put your whole prison life behind you and start fresh." (Just because it was traumatic doesn't mean important experiences and relationships didn't happen there.)

Do say, "If you have letters from friends on the inside that you don't want your PO to find, you can keep them at my place."

Don't say, "You paid your debt to society." (Regardless of what they may have done, harm cannot be repaid through senseless suffering.)

Do say, "You are more than the worst thing you've ever done."

Do not ever ask "What were you arrested for?"/"What did you do?"/"Were you guilty?"

People are more than the worst thing they've ever done.

[politijohn]

Source

[nateconnolly]

One-hundred-seventy-nine years ago, Douglass told the world that “killing a slave, or any [Black] person, in Talbot County, Maryland, is not treated as a crime, either by the courts or the community”. Two years ago, a bipartisan Senate report found that the Justice Department hadn’t even recorded the deaths of at least 990 inmates. A 2023 Marshall Project investigation discovered that New York State does not fire 90% of guards who “brutalize” prisoners. Among the list of injuries caused by those guards are “Shattered teeth,” “Punctured lungs,” and “Broken bones”. In at least three cases of brutality where prisoners died, the officers involved weren’t even disciplined.

One-hundred-seventy-nine years ago, Douglass wrote about handing the profits of his labor over to Thomas Auld. Four months ago, almost one thousand inmates fought the California wildfires. They were paid ten dollars and twenty-four cents a day, plus a dollar an hour in emergencies. If we assume they worked twenty four emergency hours in a day, their hourly rate would be less than two dollars. Their hourly pay is less than the cost of a soda. And that rate is pretty high for an inmate – the average pay for a US inmate is between thirteen and fifty two cents an hour, if they’re paid at all. In Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas, unless you work for a state corporation, the average maximum hourly wage is zero dollars zero cents. Nothing. 

One-hundred-seventy-nine years have passed, and we still have not put an end to unpaid forced captive labor – slavery by another name.

From "What Frederick Douglass and Modern American Inmates Have in Common". Available free on Spotify and YouTube

Script with Sources

[itscolossal]

‘The War of Art’ Charts the Catalyzing History of Artists’ Protests in the U.S.

[c-show]

This project is collecting zines for queer incarcerated people! It would be cool if anyone could share to get the word out.

Share with TranzmissionPrisonProject@gmail.com

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The Manitoba government has introduced legislation to further ensure a person with a communicable disease like tuberculosis can't be detained in a jail for public health reasons. Geraldine Mason, a 36-year-old from God's Lake First Nation, spent a month in jail after she was detained for tuberculosis treatment under the Public Health Act. "Folks should not be put in jail to receive health care," Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Wednesday.

Continue reading

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[sfde8871]

Your new “roommate” :

I promise I don’t snore much…

[luulapants]

Do prisoners actually want/enjoy those penpal programs? Because it seems like such an easy thing to do if it helps them but like with all things prison system related or possibly white savior esq feels I wonder if there's a catch

Ask me about incarceration!

YES.

Oh my god, yes, people are DESPERATE for penpals. Prisoners apply to join those programs and most have years-long waiting lists before they can get matched. These are people who are socially deprived and often feel like no one on the outside even knows they're alive. They need to talk to someone in the "real world" outside of prison.

The big catch is that it's a HUGE commitment - not easy at all. If you become a penpal, you are most likely going to become that person's primary emotional support. If they've got 7 years, you better be ready to do 7 years, keep up with it, and set boundaries for frequency. The absolute worst thing you can do is over-commit, burn yourself out, panic, and ghost them. That happens, and it's devastating.

That said, if you're willing to take that on, you could change or even save someone's life. I'll put more guidance on things to consider if you become a penpal below the cut.

One alternative that's come up in my community, which seems like it was a really low barrier to get started, are card writing events. Before holidays (even things like St. Patrick's day and 4th of July - anything Hallmark has a card for), the group will do a pop-up at a local church. They provide names of incarcerated people who have requested holiday cards, as well as donated greeting cards. They recommend that you write as much as you can - about anything. I once described the scenery on the drive I'd be taking to get home for the holidays, and I bet you anything the recipient read it ten times, because that's how much they crave contact. The nice thing about a program like this is it avoids that long-term commitment. I would love to see more of those crop up around the country.

A prison penpal will most likely, at some point, ask you for money. Financially supporting someone in prison is a lot - incarceration is disgustingly expensive - and you will have some complicated emotions about your level of comfort on the outside compared to theirs, what you're able to give, what you want to give, if you're being taken advantage of, etc. You have to set boundaries with them and yourself before you begin - decide on a number that you're willing to give, and stick to it.

You also have to set relationship boundaries, especially if you're a woman writing to a straight man. Again, these are socially deprived people. Not being allowed to interact with any women for years at a time does not cultivate appropriate behavior. They're lonely, and you will seem like the Only Woman In The World, and that tends to lead to some feelings that can be uncomfortable for the penpal.

You also have to think about your return address in terms of boundaries. Most people in prison will get out someday, and they will likely have very few connections or resources on the outside. Unless you're willing to have this person show up at your house asking for somewhere to live, you might need to go through a program that lets you use its address or get a PO box. You'll probably feel conflicted and gross about that, too, but again, supporting a whole grown person is probably more than you're looking to sign up for when you become a penpal.

[alyfoxxxen]

Judge orders Trump admin to maintain gender-affirming care for transgender inmates - POLITICO

[feralparsnip]

Hundreds Riot in Tennessee Prison Over Food Shortages, Take 3 Correctional Officers Hostage (The Worker)

published june 14th, 2025

i want you to read this, and understand that these people had no choice but to riot, because otherwise they were going to die

and then i also want you to think about how even the declassified CIA documents admitted the soviets fed their prisoners. and i want you to understand that while communists DO value human life, they also understand that if you do not feed your prisoners, this is inevitable.

this will continue to happen so long as the usamerican imperial regime does not feed its prisoners. we need to be organizing with people on the inside and people on the outside to find a VIABLE ROUTE to tear these boxes down, for good. to tear them down as many times as it takes such that they are never rebuilt. our people are starving in there. they are starving, and desperate, and struggling, and through trial and error, with their own bodies, in tithes of blood, they are showing the rest of us the path to victory

it is beyond time those of us lucky enough to be outside the big house had skin in the game

and if we are deported for trying, we will set those prisons on fire from the inside

[itscolossal]

In ‘The Quilters,’ Men in a Missouri Prison Sew Gifts for Children

[timothysnyder]

Reporters writing about Trump’s Alcatraz fantasy - please mention current US incarceration rates and the huge associated costs, human and financial.

[jadeseadragon]

"The First Hundred Days" by Barry Blitt

The New Yorker Magazine, May 5, 2025

[mindblowingscience]

A study from The University of Texas at El Paso reveals a gender disparity in prison infractions that disproportionately affects women. The study, led by Melinda Tasca, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Security Studies at UTEP, and published in Justice Quarterly, analyzed the disciplinary infraction records of more than 20,000 males and females in a large western state prison, who were released between 2010 and 2013. The researchers set out to answer three questions: 1) whether women were more likely than men to receive defiance infractions; 2) whether women received a greater number of defiance infractions than men; and 3) whether the gender differences observed for defiance were unique from other types of infractions (e.g., nonviolent and violent). Defiance acts are the most minor of rule violations and are often verbal in nature, including disrespect, being disruptive or disobeying an order. Defiance infractions can also come as the result of committing unallowed consensual contact, unauthorized altering of one's appearance, or failing to adhere to hygiene requirements. "Despite being minor violations, defiance infractions can have profound consequences," Tasca said. Individuals found guilty of defiance infractions may be subject to solitary confinement, be denied phone calls and visits with loved ones, and be negatively impacted when it comes to parole board decisions.

Continue Reading.

[macmanx]

John Oliver discusses how the U.S. incarcerates kids at a higher rate than other nations and the facilities those kids are being funneled into.

[nando161mando]

Florida leaving prisoners to die in the Hurricane