Instead of inmates being able to receive donated books in the mail from family members and community groups, inmates at three New York prisons now have to purchase books selected by six, state-approved vendors. And the selection is limited. And expensive, activists say.
And about a quarter of the titles are coloring books.
According to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the directive is in an effort to restrict contraband from entering the prison “through a more controlled inmate package program.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office has made the point that inmates still have access to prison libraries, but some say it’s not enough. “The problem with prison libraries is that [the prisons] control who has access to them,” said Amy Peterson with NYC Books Through Bars. “So people who are in solitary confinement don’t have access to prison libraries.”
Peterson’s group has been mailing books to prisoners all over the country for nearly two decades, with a focus on New York. “We get letters from people saying they had to borrow a stamp in order to write to us. So if these people can’t even afford postage, we don’t know how they’re going to be able to afford buying books from a vendor,” she said.
Over the past several days, inmate advocates pointed out that the vendors combined offered only five romance novels, 14 religious texts, 24 drawing or coloring books, 21 puzzle books, 11 how-to books, one dictionary, and one thesaurus.
“No books that help people learn to overcome addictions or learn how to improve as parents. No Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, Maya Angelou, or other literature that helps people connect with what it means to be human. No texts that help provide skills essential to finding and maintaining work after release from prison. No books about health, about history, about almost anything inside or outside the prison walls,” advocacy group Books Behind Bars complained in a letter to the governor.
Contempt poisons our compassion just as the desire for punishment corrupts our concern for justice, for, just between us, nothing could be farther from the love of virtue than the sinister and pusillanimous ardor with which se seek to eliminate from society whatever we believe endangers its dubious harmony. The position of magistrate is to a certain extent merely a tribute we pay to the prince of this world, to the father of deception; the jailer and the executioner would satisfy ideal justice for most of us. For, not content with being more ferocious than the tiger, craftier than the fox, and more venomous than the serpent, we have been able to add to these bestial advantages that purely human virtue, the spirit of vengeance. Once past thirty years of age, the majority of human beings live only in order to avenge themselves. We avenge ourselves of the harm that is done to us, and we avenge ourselves also of the good that we do; there you have the reason that our life so strongly resembles a pile of filth soaked in blood.
O.V. De L. Milosz, Amorous Initiation: A Novel of Sacred and Profane Love (via flamingkorybante)
When we took Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” into a maximum security woman’s prison on the West Side…there’s a scene there where a young woman is told by a very powerful official that “If you sleep with me, I will pardon your brother. And if you don’t sleep with me, I’ll execute him.” And he leaves the stage. And this character, Isabel, turned out to the audience and said: “To whom should I complain?” And a woman in the audience shouted: “The Police!” And then she looked right at that woman and said: “If I did relate this, who would believe me?” And the woman answered back, “No one, girl.” And it was astonishing because not only was it an amazing sense of connection between the audience and the actress, but you also realized that this was a kind of an historical lesson in theater reception. That’s what must have happened at The Globe. These soliloquies were not simply monologues that people spoke, they were call and response to the audience. And you realized that vibrancy, that that sense of connectedness is not only what makes theater great in prisons, it’s what makes theater great, period.
The function of the app is simple: In less than 60 seconds, connect the
account you use to make everyday purchases. Here, your purchases will be
rounded up to the nearest dollar to automatically donate each time you
reach at least $2 in spare change. Users can pause and resume their
contributions at any time. On the topic of his goals with the project,
Ziegler explains:
“Our short term goals are to get as many folks
home for the holidays as possible so we hope many folks join the
platform for Giving Tuesday and contribute their holiday spending change
to those in need.
Long term, we see the platform being used in a variety of
ways to bolster the voices of those in need beyond just a financial
contribution.”
This now exists. Today I’m linking my bank account to become the first customer. https://t.co/h2IcVlKoY5
Why though? They are prisoners because they broke the law and they deserve to pay the price of their actions. Not just to be set free because they are black.
It’s pretty obvious you didn’t read the article where they brought up all of the stats that show why the school-to-prison pipeline unfairly targets the black (and in some states, latino) population.
People can be held for months without due trial or even a reason, all because they can’t make bail. Some people get stuck in jail for weeks, and sometimes months, over basic traffic violations.
Not to mention that breaking the law can be done for good reasons, for just reasons (look at how many protesters have been arrested even tho they were peacefully protesting, which is supposed to be covered and acceptable by our laws), and that “breaking the law” can sorta kinda mean whatever tf a cop wants it to mean. Quite literally. They can apprehend people simply because they can. Slap them with “resisting arrest” and call it a day. And then the person can rot in jail for who knows how long.
There are lots of resources to learn about this online. Please go educate yourself.
Portrait of Native trans and two-spirit elder Rickie Blue-Sky. Please help us free Blue-Sky by signing here: bit.ly/FreeBlueSky!
Blue-Sky is serving his 33rd year in prison and in April he will have his 5th parole hearing. At his last hearing, he was denied parole for “lack of insight” because he has claimed innocence since his trial.
The parole board also accepted arguments that Blue-Sky is a threat because he “lies” about his gender. As a transgender person of color, Blue-Sky has faced blatant discrimination since his arrest and throughout his trial and imprisonment. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Update: the art helped generate more than 600 additional signatures to #FreeBlueSky, but he was denied parole for the 5th time. Statement from California Coalition for Women Prisoners:
“We come together outraged by how the State of California continues to punish Blue-Sky for maintaining his innocence and criminalize him for existing as a Native American transgender elder. Blue-Sky told us that they used his “refusal to admit the crime” and his “unstable childhood” to argue that he lacks insight and is therefore a threat to public safety. He said that when the board assessed him under the “Elderly Parole Program” they found that even though he is 70 years old, “he looks so young” and therefore is still a public safety risk.
Thanks to your support with Blue-Sky’s petition, the DA did not use transphobic arguments against him. However, Blue-Sky is still caught in a system designed to keep people endlessly caged.
We ask for your continued solidarity with imprisoned trans people. Please stay in touch with our coalition of legal advocacy & organizing groups listed below for updates on how to keep showing up for the survival and freedom of Blue-Sky and other imprisoned trans people in California and beyond.
From Blue-Sky: “I wish to thank everyone who supported me by signing the petition, and a special thanks to all those who wrote personal letters of support. I hope you will continue to support me.”
On the bright side(???), cis people are more likely to donate if she crowdfunds since she’s so famous? ugh idk, this is bullshit, everything about it is bullshit.
Freetown, Sierra Leone: Prisoners line up in the remand section of the Pedemba Road Prison. Dozens of suspected juveniles are mixed with adult prisoners in prisons throughout Africa, but because of a lack of birth certificates, it is difficult for officials to ascertain who are juveniles and who are adults.
Right now, call: 202-353-1555 and say something along the lines of – “Hi I’m [NAME] from [TOWN] in [STATE] and I would like ask that Chelsea Manning’s sentence be commuted to time served. Thank you for your time.” It takes literally a minute. And if you have phone anxiety–don’t worry, it’s a voicemail! You don’t have to talk to anyone!
alder-knight 