The prison system is fucked up for multiple reasons. It once and again shows how it doesn’t work or “rehabilitate offenders”. It has been designed to push further class divide and to ensure those dissenting are silenced. Worse of all, it is a blatant corporate business where a few enterprises control the trade within the walls, making reoffending a profitable action!
For those reasons, and many more, we stand against all prisons. Prison abolition cannot come soon enough.
There is another huge layer to the prison system that as a movement we keep forgetting about. There are folks in prison who were thrown behind those walls for the crime of fighting for a just world. From black panthers (seriously, still) to anti GMO activists and animal liberation folks, many folks are locked up to keep their mouth shut and their spirits low simply because their actions were a threat to the status quo.
People are forgotten behind those walls whilst we write “heroes” under any HIT REPORT comment section. The same people who are praised on instagram could be forgotten the day they enter prison.
This is why we insist on prison solidarity. From our side, we divert quite a bit of the money we make to help stock up the accounts of some prisoners, so they can get commissary food or buy stamps or make some calls. But you can also help, even if you don’t have money to donate. Writing a letter can open a window to the outside, can remind them that they are not alone, can ensure they know they are not forgotten.
Send them news (sometimes, a report or two are nice to read, just remember not to send anything incriminating), tell them about the last hike you did, or the demo you went to, or about your favourite ice cream flavour. The content doesn’t necessarily matter if you’re able to transport them away from prison and into a world of colours other than beige and grey. It might feel like a difficult task, writing to someone you don’t know, but you will 100% make someones day.
You can find a few addresses under our “Prisoner Support” tab on our website:
https://www.unoffensiveanimal.is/prisoner-support/
On that same link you’ll find other sites that have even more addresses, resources on how to write to prisoners and ideas about what to talk about as well as political texts on prison abolition.
Please, take 20 minutes of this evening and write a letter. Choose someone at random, it does not matter. Write a letter today.
And remember, comrades break comrades out of prison.
UNTIL ALL PRISONS ARE LIBRARIES!
PS: Art by No Bonzo (@nobonzo)
