Write a letter, save a life: Restoration Project - Florence

 Sunday, JAN 8 2-4pm

Letter writing to people in detention

Arizona Worker's Rights Center

331 East Willetta St, PHX

Florence Restoration Project

People in detention have said that receiving letters and visits can be solace, encouragement, the difference between staying and fighting their case and signing "voluntary" deportation orders. Some people in detention have said that guards in detention centers treat them better when they know that they have support from the outside. Join the Phoenix Restoration Project for our first monthly letter-writing party and come get connected with a penpal who is currently in detention. We will connect volunteers with people inside of detention centers who have expressed interest in writing ongoing letters with a new friend on the outside. The detention system works to isolate people and keep their stories hidden. By reaching out to people on the inside, we let them know that we remember them and their struggle, even though the system works to keep them out of sight and out of mind. If you have not been to a Restoration Project training before, please come at 2pm for a brief training and q&a about things to keep in mind when becoming penpals with someone in detention. We will provide contact information of people interested in writing and receiving letters, paper and envelopes, postage, and snacks. Bring a friend (or two) and if you are able, please bring stamps to share!

Community & family ties reduce recidivism.

Anyone who has done research into evidence-based practice knows this...AZ legislator John Kavanaugh only shows his ignorance in the article below...

Prisoners have families, too.
AZ State Capitol Complex, Phoenix
(November 2009)

---------from the Huffington Post-------

Prison Visits Make Inmates Less Likely To Commit Crimes After Release, Study Finds

John Rudolf Huffington Post

Posted: 12/ 7/11 07:27 PM ET

Just a single visit from a family member or a friend can make a big difference in whether or not a prisoner ends up back behind bars after their release, a new study finds.

The study, by researchers with the Minnesota Department of Corrections, determined that prisoners who received at least one personal visit at any time during their incarceration were 13 percent less likely to commit another felony and 25 percent less likely to end up back in prison on a technical parole violation. Data showed that the more visits prisoners received, the lower their chance of re-offending after release.

The study tracked 16,000 prisoners over nearly five years, making it the largest such study of its kind, according to Grant Duwe, director of research for the Minnesota Department of Corrections, who led the research team. The study will be published in the Criminal Justice Policy Review, a peer-reviewed academic journal.

Duwe said prison officials in Minnesota were already weighing how to apply its results to the state's corrections policies.

"I think the completion of this study gives us some tangible evidence to show that if we can increase visitation, we can give offenders more of the social support they need to succeed," he said.

Several previous, smaller-scale studies have found an even larger correlation between prison visitation and inmates' likelihood of re-offending. But most state prison systems continue to see visitation as a privilege, not a tool to help inmates establish law-abiding lives after their release, Duwe said.

"I think visitation has been largely viewed as a concession that's given to inmates," he said. "I don't know if there has been a great deal of thought given to the public safety benefits that visitation might have."

As the economic slowdown has bitten into state budgets, some prison systems have already altered visitation policies in order to save money. In Minnesota, a temporary government shutdown earlier this year led to the suspension of all prisoner visitation as a cost-saving measure.

In July, Arizona lawmakers imposed a one-time $25 fee on all adult visitors to inmates. Funds from the fee are to be directed to maintenance of state prisons. Middle Ground Prison Reform, an advocacy group, filed suit against the state, calling the fee an "unconstitutional tax."

"If this policy results in delaying or diminishing or eliminating prison visitation for anyone, the state is shooting themselves in the foot in terms of rehabilitation," Donna Hamm, a retired municipal court judge and executive director of the group, said in September, according to the Associated Press. "That's a very short-sighted view of public safety policy."

John Kavanagh, the Republican legislator who wrote the provision, scoffed at the idea that the fee would discourage prison visitors, however.

"If a one-time charge of $25 is enough to dissuade you from visiting your loved one, then I'm wondering how much of a loved one he or she is," he told the Arizona Daily Star.

Duwe declined to comment specifically on the Arizona policy. But he said the results of the Minnesota study clearly suggested that states have a fiscal incentive to encourage visitation, not discourage it.

A single parole violation that returns a released inmate to prison, even briefly, costs upwards of $9,000. A prisoner who commits a new felony and spends additional years behind bars will cost far more.

"The benefits we could see from a reduction in recidivism could vastly outweigh the cost of increasing visitation," he said.

A few states, such as Idaho and Virginia, are already experimenting with a novel and cost-effective way to boost interaction between inmates and their loved ones: internet-based video visitation systems, which have proven popular with inmates and administrators.

Yet while a growing body of research shows that overall, visits by family, friends, religious figures and community mentors are overwhelmingly positive for inmates, data from the Minnesota study shows that one type of visitor should probably be avoided. Visits by an ex-wife or ex-husband, it found, can actually lead inmates to commit more crime after their release.

"Visits from ex-spouses could do more harm than good," Duwe said. "That was kind of an interesting finding."

Black and Pink: Queer Prisoner Support

This is how they do it in Massachusetts - awesome group; excellent analysis...check out their site for their monthly newsletter - download, print and share!

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BLACK and PINK: STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Black & Pink is an open family of LGBTQ prisoners and “free world” allies who support each other. Our work toward the abolition of the prison industrial complex is rooted in the experience of currently and formerly incarcerated people. We are outraged by the specific violence of the prison industrial complex against LGBTQ people, and respond through advocacy, education, direct service, and organizing.

CURRENT PROJECTS

1. An online pen pal program where LGBTQ prisoners can list their name, address, and 25-word (non-sexual) ad describing what they want from a pen pal.

2. A monthly newsletter made up of stories, poetry, art, and essays by currently and formerly incarcerated LGBTQ people. Currently incarcerated folks are encouraged to share their stories with Black & Pink so we can put them in the newsletter and nurture a sense of connection between LGBTQ people incarcerated around the country.

3. An art project that sells artwork sent to us by LGBTQ prisoners. All of the money we get for the artwork is put back into the commissary accounts of the artists. The artwork supports prisoners who are exploring their creativity and allows them to connect with “free world” folks who purchase and sell their artwork.

4. Direct advocacy and support for a few select individuals who are experiencing harassment, sexual violence, lack of access to health care, mistreatment, etc. We are not able to do advocacy work for everyone at this time because of capacity, but we do the best we can.

ANALYSIS

Our organizing efforts are guided by a larger goal of collective liberation. We hold strong to a feminist, anti-racist, queer liberationist, anti-capitalist, radical analysis of social, ecological, and economic struggles. We understand the prison industrial complex to be part of a larger system that utilizes systems of oppression to divide people and exploit our individual and collective power. Through movement building and sustained direct action against these systems of violence we will create the world we dream of.

We also celebrate in the beauty of what exists now including our love for each other, the strength of our planet, incredible human resiliency, and all of the power we have to continue existing. While dreaming and struggling for a better world we embody a deep commitment to living in the present.

We understand abolition as not only our end goal but also our pragmatic strategy for action. Any advocacy, services, organizing, and direct action we take will be sure to remove bricks from the system, not put in others we will need to abolish later. We will willingly work with reformist organizations on campaigns we believe are abolitionist, even if they are only small steps at alleviating the suffering caused by the prison industrial complex.

We root our work in the experience of currently and formerly incarcerated people. To best maintain an accountable relationship to incarcerated people, half of those in the leadership circle are currently incarcerated. We also prioritize the voices of formerly incarcerated people as our “free-world” members of the leadership circle. We know that those most impacted by the violence of the prison industrial complex are best equipped with the knowledge of how to tear it down.

As of today Black & Pink’s “free-world” membership is primarily Boston-based. We commit to supporting one another, sharing the work of our organizing efforts, and nurturing the growth of our family both inside and outside the walls. We intend to expand our national and international membership, creating chapters in other cities, towns, schools, neighborhoods, etc.

TERMINOLOGY

There are many “buzz” words used in our statement of purpose and shared analysis. We wanted to provide a brief glossary of terms to help clarify our intentions behind our choice of wording.

Prison Industrial Complex – The prison industrial complex is a multifaceted construction of control and domination, most commonly seen as the U.S. prison and jail system, the concrete and steel buildings that warehouse individuals. While prisons and jails are a pivotal aspect, the prison industrial complex includes an entire culture of state and corporate collusion to control, discipline, and torture poor/low-income communities and communities of color. The tactics range from police forces to cameras mounted in communities; from the (in)justice system to corporate profiteering from prison phone calls; from immigration enforcement to media depictions of “criminals”; and on and on. (adapted from Critical Resistance)

Abolition – “Abolition defines both the goal we seek and the way we do our work today. Abolition means a world where we do not use prisons, policing and the larger system of the prison industrial complex as an ‘answer’ to what are social, political, and economic problems. Abolition means that instead we put in place the things that would reduce incidents of harm at the front end and address harm in a non-punitive manner when harm does occur. Abolition means that harm will occur far less often and that, when harm does occur, we address the causes of that harm rather than rely on the failed solutions of punishment. Thus, abolition is taking a harm reductionist approach to our society’s problems. Abolition means creating sustainable, healthy communities empowered to create safety and rooted in accountability, instead of relying on policing, courts, and imprisonment which are not creating safe communities.” ~Rose Braz, former director of Critical Resistance

“Free World” – We understand “free world” people to be those who are not currently in prison/jail/detention/etc. We use quotation marks because we understand the terminology of freedom to be deeply complex. There are those who would suggest that none of us are free as there is such heavy surveillance in our communities—the tentacles of the prison industrial complex are expansive. Others would suggest that freedom exists within ourselves and that it can never be taken from us. Regardless of how one understands freedom, in our terminology “free world” refers to those not currently confined in prison/jail/detention/etc.

LGBTQ – This acronym stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. We understand that human sexuality and gender is far more complicated than this acronym. We are striving to find better terminology to include all people who identify outside of heterosexual and gender-conforming boundaries. Other identities people have used when writing to us that we are striving to affirm include same gender loving, homosexual, homophile, transsexual, transvestite, nelly, sissy, and dyke, along with many others.

B&P Family Structure

Members: Members are self-defined individuals who agree with our Purpose and Analysis. These people are free world folks, prisoners, pen-pals, outreach folks, newsletter stuffers, etc. All members can share thoughts about B&P activities. Free world members will be provided information by the e-newsletter and/or website, and can give input by email, phone, or in person. Members in prison will be provided information by the monthly Newsletter, and can respond with general input by mail by writing “Leadership” on the address line. When a vote takes place on a decision, a “B&P ballot” will be sent out with the monthly Newsletter and e-newsletter, and 2 votes will be counted for every person in prison voting and 1 for every free world person.

Coordinators: Coordinators are people who have agreed to coordinate a specific project, committee, chapter, or task, i.e. the art program, or campus outreach, or are contact people for a prison or geographic area. They may be members or part of the Leadership Circle. They have responsibility to make decisions about projects, based on collective input, and are accountable to both the members and the leadership circle.

Committees: Committees are groups of people taking on a specific task or projects, for example outreach or the E-newsletter or accountability. They meet as needed. They will check in with the Leadership Circle and the membership before making big decisions.

Chapters: Chapters can be started by free world and members in prison in order to work on advocacy, education, direct service, and/or organizing projects that are in keeping with the Purpose and Analysis of B&P. Chapters are accountable to the membership of their chapter and the Leadership Circle.

Advisory Group: This is a group of people who have experience with anti-prison and anti-oppression activism. The group will be majority formerly incarcerated people. They are recognized for their amazing and valuable experiences and insight, and are invited to provide input and guidance on the analysis, activities and structure of B&P. They are not necessarily involved in the day-to-day activities of the family and don’t have formal decision making power.

Leadership Circle (LC): Leadership can make decisions about B&P as a family, and is responsible to see that the members and activities follow our Purpose and Analysis. LC can update the Purpose and Analysis. Leadership Circle provides strategic short- and long-term planning for B&P. Leadership Circle will be responsible for raising, managing, and using general B&P funds.

1. The LC will be made up of no more than 10 free world folks and no more than 10 prisoners.
2. To join, members should have spent 3 months volunteering with B&P or received the Newsletter for 3 months.
3. Each LC member needs to make a 1 year commitment.
4. All LC members should agree to the B&P analysis.
5. LC decisions will be made by consensus, which means that everyone agrees to a decision (not majority rule). In consensus, one person can “block” a decision based on principle, but not preference.
6. The LC should be made up of people in different places across the country, in prison and out.
7. Communication between inside/outside will work on a “Buddy system.” Each free world member will be paired with an incarcerated LC member. The free world buddy is responsible for representing the incarcerated person in Leadership Circle meeting/decisions.
8. The free world LC will meet monthly.

Wall Tappings: Voices from Perryville Prison.

("Who was Brenda Todd?" Arizona State Capitol/Wes Bolin Memorial Plaza, Phoenix. February 17, 2011)

I haven't received word from any of the AZ state prisons for a week now - which hasn't happened in months. I seem to be persona non grata at the ADC these days. I think they've stopped my mail from prisoners because I was encouraging people to fight for their rights and offering to help them gather evidence they aren't aware is out here for their 8th Amendment lawsuits. Either that or they think that I might be scheming a Georgia-style action or something (wouldn't think of it - prisoners aren't allowed to strike, anyway). In any case, I suspect they are not pleased with me.


Anyway, as some people know, state prisoner Leona Nieves, who told Stephen Lemons all about Brenda Todd's death, was violated on her probation with the state the morning the article came off the presses, so to speak - before it was even on-line. She'd only been free for a few days. She's back at Perryville for another 3.5 years now for violating probation. Since I'm not getting my mail out of there, though, I don't know how she is.


I naturally wondered if the ADC tracked Leona down and had her PO dig garbage up on her as soon as we started making inquiries for records about Brenda's death that week - and made that allegation pretty directly, asking a couple of legislators to investigate. The ADC was no help in clearing that up for us (they're ignoring my emails, now, too - it's creepy), but the court records are all on-line now and I spent some time with them, as did Stephen. Here's the scoop, to the best of my understanding:


Leona had just done her time in prison on a DUI from LaPaz, but that offense was a violation of a 2009 probation she was on in Maricopa County from 2009...my math tells me she should have seen this coming, but I really don't think she did (or she would have probably tried to stay under their radar before going back in there). I doubt she expected the consequences to be so severe, in any case, since the probation was originally only for two years. She plead guilty and was on her way back to prison within four minutes of appearing in court...nice to know that judges put so much time and thought into sentencing before they chew up a piece of someone's life; she was probably just following the ADC PO's recommendations, though. Can't imagine why they came down so hard on Leona like that.


Anyway, since my communication with prisoners has apparently been cut off (I'll retract that one, too, if I'm wrong), let's try this: Renee, a courageous blogger at Jon's Jail Journal (awesome prisoner journal hosted by an ex-Tent City resident from Great Britain) happens to be a prisoner at Perryville in Goodyear, where Marcia Powell was killed, and where Brenda Todd just died. I'm posting the link to one of her latest pieces here, in which she comes out and talks about the loneliness of prison. Leave an encouraging comment for her; the Journal will get the word to her somehow, and she can let the other women inside know that folks are listening to them out here. It makes a huge difference.


I think this would be important because even if the ADC didn't target Leona for speaking out, all the women must know she was the one by now, and saw her come back in just days wearing orange and chains. For all I know they stopped writing about the conditions in there on their own, fearful of the possible consequences. Bottom line is that no matter our intentions, there's little we can do to protect them from the state if it really wants to hurt them, short of trying to bring their struggle to public light and asserting our expectations that their rights are to be respected. Knowing someone is bearing witness also makes resistance to one's oppressors stronger.


It would be especially cool if folks would write to Leona to thank her for going out on that limb that just got cut out from under her, since I don't know if my mail is getting in to prison, either. She wasn't picking fights with power, like I do, and probably doesn't want to be a "political" prisoner (which would kind of suggest she was a threat to the institution, which could restrict her movement and activities) - Leona was just trying to do the right thing by the women she thought she left behind. Just give her some credit for putting her name out there to give Brenda's death a real witness. Her address is:


Leona Nieves 259842
ASPC-Perryville
PO Box 3000
Goodyear, AZ 85395

Restoration Project - Florence: doing justice...

Hey all -

Let's turn out and support these folks - they're doing good work in our communities, and we can learn a lot from them. Below is an excerpt from an email telling you a little more...

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...Basically, the Restoration Project in Tucson and the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project (www.firrp.org) are collaborating on a new visitation and hosting project, tentatively named Restoration Project - Florence. The website is http://www.restorationprojectflorence.blogspot.com/, and we are also on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Restoration-Project-Florence/148345411885866). The idea is to have a network of people in Phoenix and Tucson who are willing to support people in immigration detention, either by writing letters, visiting them, and/or hosting people upon release.

To do this, we're asking that people come to a training - the next two are scheduled for February 12th and March 5th, at 115 North 12th Ave, Phoenix, AZ. To RSVP or for more info, folks should contact Carol (restorationprojectflorence@gmail.com, or her phone number is 520.429.9792). I am also happy answer questions that people might have.

Just so you know, the Florence Project is a non-profit legal services organization that serves people in immigration detention. We work with adults processed through the Eloy and Florence courts, and up here in Phoenix with unaccompanied minors in detention. I work with the kids, and am always very happy to talk to people about what we do - its a little known aspect of the detention/deportation system.

I'd love to talk to you about this more, if you're interested. And feel free to forward on the fliers about the trainings...


dorien ediger-seto
dorienes@gmail.com

AZ prisoner and immigrant support needed...

Just got tipped off to this meeting tonight. Though most of us will miss the chance to attend, there's a contact name, number and email address for more info on getting involved in supporting immigrant prisoners and detention releasees.

You can also contact me for info about support for folks warehoused in our state prisons. I'll be parking myself at Conspire (901 N. 5th St., PHX) every Thursday at 5pm (before the 6:30 pm Phoenix Anarchist Coalition meeting) for anyone interested in volunteering with AZ Prison Watch. Call me for more on that (480-580-6807). Prisoners' friends and family members who themselves need support in their efforts are also welcome.

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From: dorien ediger-seto dorienes@gmail.com
Subject: Florence Visitation/Hosting Project info session

Hi all,

I know this is super last minute, but I wanted to invite all of you to an informational meeting hosted by the Florence Project and the Tucson Restoration Project on a brand-new, very exciting visitation and hospitality program that we are coordinating. The goal is to build a network of people willing to either host people being released from immigration detention (including my clients), or participate in writing letters and visiting people in immigration detention in Florence, AZ.

At the meeting, we'll be going through basic information about the program, as well as coordinating times for a training that will happen next month.

So:

Visitation/Hosting Project Information Session
7pm, Monday January 24th
1203 W Polk Street, Phoenix, AZ
For information or directions you can call me at 480-291-2203

Hope to see you there! And please forward to anyone you think might be interested.

Thanks so much,
Dorien

Georgia Prisoners transform dialogue on Civil Rights: Strike update.

"Prisoners are people, too..."

AZ State Capitol Complex/Wes Bolin Plaza, Phoenix.
(Thanksgiving, 2009)

The above chalking was my holiday gift to the prisoners maintaining state grounds who had to clean up after me last year once I discovered this form of free speech was legal. Feel free to download and distribute - I've made postcards out of it to mail to prisoners, politicians and media alike in the past year. It's still a good present.

The following update comes from the Black Agenda Report yesterday, via Claude at the Freedom Archives' Political Prisoner News list-serve. Both are awesome sources of information about prisoner rights and activism.

Members of the public should continue to call the Georgia DOC numbers below - let them know we're still watching, and that we expect these prisoners to be treated with respect. The rest of us could learn something from their courageous resistance to the brutality and violence of incarceration in America.


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GA Prison Inmate Strike Enters New Phase, Prisoners Demand Human Rights, Education, Wages For Work

By The Editors
Created 12/15/2010 - 14:40
Submitted by The Editors on Wed, 12/15/2010 - 14:40
Story by Bruce A. Dixon, audio interview by Glen Ford



Georgia prisoners who began a courageous, peaceful and nonviolent protest strike for educational opportunities, wages for their work, medical care and human rights have captured the attention of the world. Black Agenda Report intends to closely cover their continuing story. Glen Ford recorded a conversation with activist Elaine Brown and one of the striking inmates in Georgia on Wednesday, December 15.



Updated story on the strike and support efforts of the newly formed Concerned Coalition to Protect Prisoner Rights below the fold. (hit the Black Agenda Report and click the flash player below the article to listen to the interview).



GA Prison Inmate Strike Enters New Phase, Prisoners Demand Human Rights, Education, Wages For Work



Story by Bruce A. Dixon, audio interview by Glen Ford



The historic strike of Georgia prisoners, demanding wages for their labor, educational opportunities, adequate health care and nutrition, and better conditions is entering a new phase. Strikers remain firm in their demands for full human rights, though after several days many have emerged from their cells, if only to take hot showers and hot food. Many of these, however, are still refusing their involuntary and unpaid work assignments.



A group that includes relatives, friends and a broad range of supporters of the prisoners on the outside has emerged. They are seeking to sit down with Georgia correctional officials this week to discuss how some of the just demands of inmates can begin to be implemented. Initially, Georgia-based representatives of this coalition supporting the prisoner demands included the Georgia NAACP, the Nation of Islam, the National Association for Radical Prison Reform, the Green Party of Georgia, and the Ordinary Peoples Society among others. Civil rights attorneys, ministers, community organizations and other prisoner advocates are also joining the group which calls itself the Concerned Coalition to Protect Prisoner Rights.



Prisoners have stood up for themselves, and the communities they came from are lining up to support them. Today, at a ground breaking for a private prison 300 miles southeast of Atlanta in Millen GA, residents of that local community opposed to the private prison are greeting the governor and corrections brass with a protest. They will be joined by dozens more coming in from Atlanta who will respectfully urge state authorities to talk to the prisoners. We understand that one person there has been arrested. Black Agenda Report will have photos and footage of that event on Thursday.



The broad-based Concerned Coalition to Protect Prisoners Rights fully supports the heroic stand of Georgia's prisoners. “This isn't Attica,” one representative of the coalition explained. “No violent acts have been committed by any of the inmates involved. We hope state corrections officials will be as peaceful and respectful as the prisoners have been, and start a good faith dialog about quickly addressing their concerns.”



Right now, the ball is in the hands of state corrections officials, and reports are that in some of the affected prisons, authorities are fumbling that ball, engaging



“They transferred some of the high Muslims here to max already,” one prisoner told Black Agenda Report this morning. “They want to break up the unity we have here. We have the Crips and the Bloods, we have the Muslims, we have the head Mexicans, and we have the Aryans all with a peaceful understanding, all on common ground. We all want to be paid for our work, and we all want education in here. There's people in here who can't even read...



“They're trying to provoke people to violence in here, but we're not letting that happen. We just want our human rights.”



The transfers are intended to deprive groups of leadership and demoralize them. In some cases they may be having the opposite effect, stiffening prisoner morale and making room for still more leaders to emerge.



“The prisoners insist that punitive transfers are an act of bad faith, the opposite of what we should be doing,” said Minister Charles Muhammad, of the Nation of Islam in Atlanta. “The coalition supports them and demands no punitive transfers, either within or between institutions, and absolutely no transfers to institutions outside Georgia.”



Members of the public should continue to call the prisons listed below, and the GA Department of Corrections and the office of Georgia's governor, Sonny Perdue. Ask them firmly but respectfully to resolve the situation non-violently and without punitive measures. Tell them you believe prisoners deserve wages for work and education. Ask them to talk to prisoners and the communities they come from. It's simple. With one in twelve Georgia adults in jail or prison, parole or probation or other court and correctional supervision, prisoners are us. They are our families. They are our fathers and our mothers, our sons and daughters, our nieces and nephews and aunts and uncles and cousins.



Most prisoners will be back out in society sooner, not later. It's time for us all to grow up and realize that warehousing, malnourishing, mistreating and abusing prisoners does not make us safer. Denying prisoners meaningful training and educational opportunities, and forcing them to work for no wages is not the way to do. It's time to fundamentally reconsider prison as we know it, and America's public policy of mass incarceration.



Bruce Dixon and Glen Ford are reachable at bruce.dixon(at)blackagendareport.com and glen.ford(at)blackagendareport.com, respectively. Black Agenda Report intends to provide ongoing coverage several times per week of the ongoing struggle of Georgia prisoners.



The Georgia Department of Corrections is at http://www.dcor.state.ga.us and their phone number is 478-992-5246



Macon State Prison is 978-472-3900


Hays State Prison is at (706) 857-0400


Telfair State prison is 229-868-7721


Baldwin State Prison is at (478) 445- 5218


Valdosta State Prison is 229-333-7900


Smith State Prison is at (912) 654-5000

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Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977


www.Freedomarchives.org

Questions and comments may be sent to claude@freedomarchives.org