raelynnteam

[raelynnteam]

My friends, Ashley and Jaina, painted one of my favorite Pokemon for me. They're currently incarcerated. I've been pen pals with Ash for about ten years and Jaina for two. They're really looking forward to playing some Pokemon games when they get out.

[raelynnteam]

Missouri is scheduled to execute Marcellus Williams on Sept. 24 for a crime he didn’t commit. Last week, after previously accepting an Alford plea that was subsequently blocked by the Missouri Supreme Court, St. Louis County Judge Bruce Hilton denied the request to vacate Marcellus’ conviction and death sentence, despite the prosecutor’s admission that the previous administration committed constitutional errors in his case. We need everyone’s help to call on Gov. Mike Parson to stop Missouri from killing an innocent man.

Earlier, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed a motion to vacate Marcellus’ conviction because he believed forensic evidence excluded Marcellus from the crime.

Then, at an Aug. 28 evidentiary hearing, his office admitted that the prior administration had committed constitutional errors that contributed to Marcellus’ unreliable conviction and death sentence, including improperly handling the evidence in his case.

Now, Judge Hilton has denied PA Bell’s motion to vacate Marcellus’ conviction and death sentence, and the Missouri Supreme Court is moving forward with the Sept. 24 execution date.

Call Gov. Parson and urge him to stop the execution before it’s too late: 417-373-3400

[raelynnteam]

It's finally here! Our shop is open to everyone! If you're a fan of monster hunter and lobotomy corporation, we got you covered. And if not, expect more to be added at a later date!

[raelynnteam]

[raelynnteam]

Hey all, it's Juneteenth. I feel like this is a good day to talk about folks in prison.

I'm pen pals with several folks in prison. I've been doing this for many years now, and i think it's one of the most important things I've ever done. I started because i was interested in prison abolition, and i was told this was the way to get started in that movement. It's also a way to invest in our communities. Because queer, poc, poor, and disabled communities are disproportionately affected by the industrial prison complex. It's our people who are being thrown into cages and often being forgotten, tortured, enslaved, and denied their rights. We can invest in our communities and participate in mutual aid no matter what our resources or ability levels are. Being a pen pal requires investing a pretty small amount of time and money. Literally, if you can write a letter, you can do it (and often, you can send the letters online, so you don't even need paper).

I have made some true friends as a pen pal. People who have offered me support as much as i have offered them. I have one pen pal who i can talk to about things that i don't talk about with anyone else.

I won't lie, it's not always easy. There have been a couple pen pals that i didn't get along with well. I had to tell them that it wasn't working and gently end our correspondence. I've had two pen pals that stopped writing to me after they got out, and i just have to hope that they're ok out there. And these folks put up with really hard, sometimes horrifying shit inside. It can be hard to process that. Though, I've known other folks with pen pals who clearly set boundaries about what they're comfortable talking about and that's worked for them. I've had a pen pal ask me to do more than i was able to do for them, and i had to tell them no. They understood. You have to be able to set boundaries in any relationship, though.

You get to decide what you can do to help a pen pal. For some of us, that's just writing letters. I sometimes send gifts to folks (mostly books from Amazon). For one of my pen pals, i look up info about magic the gathering or D&D because she plays those games inside. For another, i wrote a letter to help support her case for getting a shorter sentence. One friend likes me to look up facts about his favorite actresses and sports teams. When one friend was facing transphobic discrimination, i organized a call in to the superintendent (and we really helped her). Some pen pals are looking for romantic connections (they generally tell you up front of that's the case). Many queer prisoners just need a connection to their community.

Please at least check out www.blackandpink.org and learn about what being a pen pal can mean for people on the inside. That organization has connected me with several queer pen pals. Even if you're not going to sign up to be a pen pal, just take a few minutes to learn about it.

Thanks!

Ps: you can ask me if you have any questions about

[raelynnteam]

With the help of friends, Ashley has saved up enough to start a paralegal training program. Yay! She says she's never saved up this long for something before. It was brutal, but it's worth it.

[raelynnteam]

Ashley and Jaina painted this table at the prison. They've been painting a lot, adding some color to the dining room and cells.

I send them reference pictures to help them draw characters from dragon ball, yuh-gi-oh, magic the gathering, and more. It's one of the small ways i can help as their pen pal.

Check out the organization Black & Pink to learn how you can help queer and trans prisoners!

[raelynnteam]

incarcerated people are shutting down Alabama prisons and asking for your solidarity

Alabama prisons are the deadliest and most crowded prisons in the US. Their violence extends to gas chamber executions and illegal organ harvesting. The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) is currently facing two federal lawsuits: one for enslaving Black detainees by denying them parole and leasing out their forced labor and another for targeting strike organizers. ADOC rakes in more than $450 million annually in profits from forced labor, and that's not including the profits incarcerated people generate for private corporations such as McDonald's and Raytheon. In response to these abuses, and in particular the horrific beating of six handcuffed detainees by Lt. Edmonds at Donaldson Prison on February 24th, the Free Alabama Movement (FAM) has organized a minimum 90-day statewide prison shutdown/work stoppage. They are calling on supporters outside the prison walls to show solidarity. If you're located in or around Alabama, show up to the protest at St. Clair Prison in Springville, AL on Saturday March 2nd. For rideshare coordination contact the Tennessee Student Solidarity Network on IG or by email: tnstudentsolidaritynetwork@gmail.com "Outside support for us starts at the prisons. That's where we need people. Come to one of the protests, show your face, and tell us that you support us. That's how we know that you support us. Outside support is the first step." - FAM

Everyone in the US, call Donaldson Prison at (205) 436-3681 and ask them to fire Lt. Edmonds for his brutal violence against incarcerated people.

[raelynnteam]

Ashley asked me to share this pic of her. She's very proud of how strong she is!

[raelynnteam]

About us

Hi all, I'm just making a new pinned post.

This blog is a place for three trans prisoners to share their experiences. We started when Jaina and Ashley were unfairly punished and we asked the community for help. You can read more about that here. Now Jaina, Ashley, and Pharaoh are sharing their experiences and art here.

Jaina (she/her) is a trans woman with a passion for writing, dungeon and dragons, Rick and Morty, and crafting creative boxes out of items she can get in prison. She and Ashley have unofficially adopted each other as sisters.

Ashley (she/her) is also a trans woman who runs the D&D games (as well as pathfinder), plays Magic the Gathering (with playing cards that have the MtG card text written on them, a popular game at the prison), draws, paints, and loves video games. Check out her deviant art here.

Pharaoh (they/them) is a gender nonconforming person who loves drawing, painting, gardening, drag, and motorcycles. They cook meals for the three of them with what the three of them can purchase with their limited funds. You can purchase Pharaoh's art at enbywerewolf's etsy store.

This blog is run by @enbycarp. I'm a nonbinary trans guy (they/he) who is penpals with all three of the blog contributors. My art blog is @enbywerewolf

If you'd like to write to Ashley, Jaina, or Pharoah, please send me a message and I can share their contact information.

[raelynnteam]

Ashley and Jaina have asked me to change the blog name to raelynnteam as we transition to making this a place where they can talk about the issues that trans folks face in prison. They'll have more blog posts to share over time, as well as art. I'll start things related to prison abolition as well.

Thanks for following! It means a lot to Jaina, Ashley, and Pharaoh to know that there are folks who care about them.

[raelynnteam]

A blog post from Jaina, 12/3/23

Friday December 1st the associate superintendent Karen Arnold singled me out under the guise of enforcing policy. She claimed it was against policy for me to be wearing a white shirt. She was too cowardly to address it with me personally. She went to my counselor and had HIM direct me to change my shirt. Ashley and I later discussed it with the counselor and asked to see the policy that directed us to exchange all our white shirts for grey ones. No such policy or written directive exists. Instead we were shown a state issue property list that is absent any mention of white shirts however, the clothing room was still issuing white shirts after this property list was added to policy, they had simply switched to ordering only grey shirts at that time. So to interpret this list to be a directive to exchange all white shirts for grey ones is simply a convenient weapon to turn against me. There is no such policy that says I am not allowed to wear the white shirts issued to me by this prison's own clothing room, that is absurd.

This is the same associate superintendent who was firmly convinced that Ashley and I were guilty of the previous bogus accusations. So convinced that she ignored the Unit Supervisor's investigation and conducted her own, spanning over the course of 90 days.

That same day I watched several other inmates wearing white shirts to whom nobody said anything. Another administrative staff member was in the unit the same day having a conversation with an inmate wearing a white shirt. Nobody directed this other inmate to change their shirt. Even my celly was wearing a white shirt, and still does.

Her complaint was that you could see my bra outlined through the white shirt. (Oh god, can't have that, someone might mistake that faggot for a woman.)

Side note: Please forgive my profanity, sarcasm, and facetious humor. My goal is simply to illustrate the point. I include hateful speech because it underlines the subtext of hateful actions against me, and I want my readers to feel the outrage that I feel.

Targeted for being trans in prison, what else is new?

I'd wager that woman misgenders me on purpose when I'm not around. She is incapable of seeing: a woman assigned male at birth trying desperately to present as female. She just thinks I'm: some faggot trying to sexually entice men. It's really sad too, because her attitude isn't just damaging to transwomen, it also serves to reinforce the patriarchal ideal that women in general are just objects of male sexual desire.

Her defensive posturing with the counselors was to express her concern for my safety as there are many sex offenders here. It saddens me that she feels compelled to force me to disguise the fact that I am a woman and hide my femininity for fear that her staff could not otherwise ensure my safety.

Also, let me just say that I was wearing was not at all provocative, and I am appalled by her attitude which is closely akin to: "she was asking for it, I mean did you see how she was dressed?"

Fact is, I wasn't doing anything inappropriate or else I would have been infracted. If the policy did in fact call for everyone to exchange their previously issued white shirts for grey ones by a certain date, then she should have enforced it the same for everyone, rather than singling me out for matters related to my gender. She just felt compelled to harass me about something, because she dislikes that I'm allowed to be a woman.

Hilariously, as it turns out, you can still tell I have breasts when I'm wearing a grey shirt, so maybe they should just put chastity devices on all the sex offenders since we can't keep them all separated from the apparent temptation of a woman within reach of their rapist paws. Oh wait, some of the staff are women too! Cisgendered women who look distinctively feminine without going to great lengths to present as such! I guess the only solution for women to be safe within these gates is to castrate all the rapists. No wait, just have all the women disguise themselves as men, so the rapists can't recognize them. Of course we would still have to worry about the GAY rapists mistaking us for men...

OR MAYBE THERE COULD BE CAMERAS ALL OVER THE PLACE AND UNIFORMED OFFICERS WALKING ABOUT WITH PEPPER SPRAY AND RADIOS, and women could just be ourselves.

Q.E.D. Nobody's safe in prison (or everyone is safe because the supervision is adequate).

Don't make silly excuses to justify your prejudice. I will always call out your transphobic bullshit.

[raelynnteam]

A message from Jaina 11/30/23

I finally got the bra that was special ordered and took 10 weeks to get to me. It is not a cup support bra, nor is it at all gender affirming.

It is basically a loop of spandex with spaghetti straps: More breast binding nipple compression, courtesy of the idiocracy. These people will go to great lengths to prevent me from having anything remotely feminine. The pamphlet that came with this bra features an image of someone with a hairy chest and a beard wearing something similar.

(Which is perfectly acceptable for that person if that person wants to be who they are and exude a mix-gendered vibe that's fine, but the problem seems to be that these transphobic bureaucrats have a mental image of me as being similar to THAT, which is very much NOT who I am, how I appear, or how I wish to appear or identify.)

They believe that the closest I'll ever come to being a woman is something queer between male and female. The worst of them WANT it to be that way. They are willing to ALLOW me to appear gender neutral, but they have this insatiable need to prevent me from successfully "passing" as a woman. They don't want me to appear decisively female. It makes them uncomfortable to think that someone might see me walking around and not immediately know that I was assigned male at birth. Oh the horror that I might "trick" them into seeing me as a woman.

They OUGHT to give me a goddamn push-up bra, frankly THAT would be ideal for helping my breasts to appear more feminine. Of course we know THAT will never happen, because the bottom line is that the administration in DOC regard breasts as an object of sexual enticement for men, rather than regarding them as an emblem of my femininity.

This is, at its root, a problem of sexism and the patriarchal ideal that women are nothing more than objects of men's sexual fantasies. These are the same people who still find it inappropriate for a woman to bear her midriff on a hot summer day. I have THAT in writing from the administration. Meanwhile men run amok in the yard, sweaty and shirtless, whilst the administration denies it and concentrates their efforts on ensuring that the breasts I grew against their will (and despite their efforts to deny me HRT) are successfully bound to my chest, so as not to have me mistaken as a woman.

[raelynnteam]

Graphite drawings and oil paintings by Pharaoh Rohn Grayson now on my etsy shop: enbywerewolf.etsy.com

Pharaoh is a nonbinary artist currently incarcerated in a mens prison. They are trying to raise funds to help a fellow trans prisoner pay for paralegal training. I had trouble opening an etsy store of their own (issues with their name change not going through with social security), so I'm putting their pieces for sale in my shop.

Graphite drawings are $495 and oil painting $325. Check out the shop for details. And share with folks you think may be interested!

[raelynnteam]

Jaina made these boxes for my sister

[raelynnteam]

My friend, Jaina, makes these really cool boxes. She's in prison, and I'm not sure what the process is for making them. The black box is a Christmas present, and the trans box she made when i helped her with some stuff a few months ago.

[raelynnteam]

Hi all, I've created a fundraiser for my friend Ashley, who is a trans woman in prison. She wants to take a paralegal course in order to help herself and other queer prisoners navigate the prison industrial complex, and also give her a skill she can use when she is released. If you can help with anything at all, it would be much appreciated. She already has some of the funds she needs to pay for the course and is trying to raise $665 more. This is hard, since prisoners in Washington state are only allowed to earn about $100 a month by working in prison (and much of this money is used to pay for basic needs, like hygiene products, food, and clothing).

Please share, too! Thank you!