Free Them All: An introduction to the Prisoner Correspondence Project
Welcome to another episode of 1919Radio. In this episode, our host Caleb is joined by Stevie from the Prisoner Correspondence Project (PCP). This episode is a part of our outreach program to provide support for their penpal initiative.
Established in 2007 in Montreal, The Prisoner Correspondence Project (PCP) organizes to facilitate communication between LGBTQIA2S+ prisoners in Canada and the United States with individuals of their communities outside of prison. They view their work as an opportunity to draw the wider LGBTQIA2S+ community into prison justice organizing and build upon gay liberation legacies and the larger prison justice movement.
Their work emphasizes that letter writing is the basic first step of any kind of prison support and has a tangible impact on the isolation of a prison sentence. If you are interested in initiating a correspondence and helping link incarcerated folx to resources, education and community support not reachable in prison, check out the PCP website.
Title sequence credits:
Introduction clip: Angela Davis on Democracy Now!
Second clip: Sister Souljah response to Bill Clinton
Third clip: Kwame Ture on Organizaiton and mobilization Song: The Pharcyde - Runnin'
Transcript
1919Radio Intro audio clip (0:00)
I never experienced anything like the conditions we are currently experiencing.
I am mentally spiritually, physically, emotionally, intellectually and academically developed and acutely aware of the condition of African people throughout the entire world.
We don't want fortune, we dont want popularity, we want power, power, and power comes only from the organized masses.
CY (0:49)
Welcome to another episode of 1919Radio. My name is Caleb, and I'm your host for today. In this episode, I'm joined by Stevie from the Prisoner Correspondence Project. This episode is a part of our outreach programs to provide support for their pen pals initiative. Established in 2007 in Montreal, the prisoner correspondence project or PCP, organizes to facilitate communication between LGBTQIA2S+ prisoners in Canada and the United States, with individuals of their communities outside of prison. They view their work as an opportunity to draw the wider LGBTQ plus community into present justice organizing and build upon gay liberation legacy to end the larger prison justice movement. Their work emphasizes that letter writing the basic first step of any kind of prison support and has a tangible impact on the isolation of our prison sentence. If you or anybody you know are interested in initiating a correspondence and helping link incarcerated folks to resources, education and community support, not reachable in prison, check out the PCP website or visit nice 1919mag for a link to their website on ours.
Could you just tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to this work?
Stevie (2:08)
Sure. Well, I'm My name is Stevie. And I've been a part of the project, I believe. It's probably three ish years as well. I got interested, I started reading a book called captive genders, which is about trans inprisonment and the prison industrial complex, I think it's called anyways, at the back of it, they had PCP as one the resources in the back. And I was like, Hey, I live in Montreal, so I just sort of joined it. And here I am.
CY (2:49)
That's, that's beautiful. Can you tell our listeners about what the prisoner correspondence project is? The significance of this project and your role as an organizer with this team?
Stevie (3:01)
So the prisoner correspondence project is a pen pal, project for incarcerated LGBTQ plus people we've been around for I think it's 13 years now. It's definitely over 10. There's about 2000 people waiting on our database right now to be matched up. I'd say we're about seven or so volunteers at the moment. And most of us are based in, in Montreal, but we do have other people be in BC taking care of our newsletter, we also have about 40 or so inside collective members, so people who are currently incarcerated or recently released, we basically send out our meeting minutes to them, and they are a big part of the decision making process and offer insight and stuff.
CY (4:04)
yeah, thanks. Thanks. That's a good background. What are some of the barriers or obstacles prospective pen pals have faced joining this solidarity program?
Stevie (4:17)
So I think one of the biggest, I guess one of the most common things that we get, from people who want to sign up are usually people who've gotten past the reading the expectations and guidelines, and now they're able to choose their own pen pals. But the thing is, a lot of the profiles that pop up immediately are usually people who are seeking romance and I think that is what turns a lot of people off. Just remember that there are 2000 people waiting , so I am sure that if you go on to the website and you just, you know, do the first two or three pages, which tend to be the people who have been waiting the most. They are really romantic in nature. So I would, I guess the way to get around that barrier would be to just keep looking and really go through all the pages really well. Even if somebody says that they are looking for a romantic relationship, chances are they're are super isolated. So they would probably be willing to correspond with anyone. I guess another issue. This one is more like, if you've already started the correspondence, one thing that comes up a lot is people discussing not discussing their boundaries, clearly. So, for instance, if somebody is, if their relationship is too sexual or romantic in nature, you would have to sort of be able to communicate those boundaries with that person. Also make sure that the other person knows how often you're willing to correspond. Because often people will be very enthusiastic about doing it. You know, sending letters two or three times a week when obviously, that isn't within everybody's capabilities. So yeah, just another way to get around that.
CY ( 6:40)
Thanks. That was really helpful. And I could, I think an important word that came out to me while you're talking is patience as well. You guys have a really thoughtful and meaningful collection of frequently asked questions on your website that I think is, is a really great resource. So definitely recommend anyone to check that out. Check that out as well.
Stevie (7:05)
Yes.
CY (7:06)
What have been some of the benefits inside and outside members have experienced during their time as a penpal with the PCP?
Stevie (7:16)
I guess, the most obvious one, I guess, the biggest thing is that what we keep getting back from our from letters is that the project is 100%, life saving for a lot of people. People have told us so many times that just receiving letters, or just having communication with the outside world is obviously super important for mental health. But um, yeah, so I would say that a lot of people in the program don't have access to the outside world at all. So being queer or trans, a lot of their families will have abandoned them, especially like post incarceration. So really, a lot of people do not have access to the outside world, and being able to provide that to people being able to provide some kind of emotional support, or even, I guess, not only just emotional support, but sending letters to people on the inside, who otherwise don't have communication with the outside world. Also signals to people that that the person is being cared for and looked after. So let's say somebody who isn't receiving letters would be more of a target to both other inmates and like, corrupt guards or whatever to, you know, targets of violence or hate crime or whatever. Just just having the letters go in signals to everyone around them that there's somebody paying attention. Otherwise, the other benefits for I guess, outside members. I guess the obvious one would be just friendship. I've had a couple of pen pals over the years, and I've met some really incredible people that I would have otherwise never have gotten to know. If not.
CY (9:30)
Absolutely, I definitely agree with you. I think the benefits arent really just benefits because we're talking about saving lives. We’re talking about helping people as well as helping ourselves.
Stevie (9:42)
Yeah, exactly. If people are looking for a way to get into solidarity work or looking for a way to really help people and in really direct and concrete ways, it's definitely a very good way to do that.
CY (9:57)
Can you walk us through the process of getting a penpal, initiating the correspondence, sending the mail and other mail related or other concerns or restrictions that may incur in the initial process.
Stevie (10:14)
So the signup process is pretty simple, you basically just got to send an email to, to the PCP email saying that you're interested, then we just direct you to the website to read the expectations and guidelines, like you were saying before. And once a person has read through them, they basically get access to the database, which is everyone's profile. And they get to pick whoever they want to be matched up with. And then basically, we just send you their address, and then it just kind of starts off like that.
We've had had quite a few people ask how to start the conversation, or what to include in the first letter, and it's really a lot more simple than people might think it out to be. It's like, if you've ever written a letter to someone in a classroom, or if you've, you know, even written an email, it's basically the same thing. You just introduce yourself, you tell them, what interests you in talking to this person. And like I said before, the just sort of setting the boundaries about what is expected. Yeah, just setting up boundaries and talking about yourself, honestly, just like I said, it's it's a lot of isolation in there and it's a lot of people who need to connect with people on the outside. A lot of people are willing to talk and ready to do that with whoever basically chooses them.
CY (11:54)
Thanks. Thanks. That was really great as well, this kind of touches on some of the things you've talked about. But I think it's an important question, especially since it kind of outlines why this solidarity work is so important.
A prisoner correspondence provides, much more than emotional support. In the frequently asked question section of on your website, you describe it as a link to resources, education and community support, not reachable and prison. Can you expand upon the importance of this idea for our listeners?
Stevie (12:26)
Yeah. So in addition to just being a pen pal project, we also have a biannual newsletter that we send out, which, is sort of like a compilation of news articles that we put together with themed responses to past call outs, we have horoscopes, it's basically just a regular newsletter that we send out. But I think that in and of itself is also a life saving aspect of the project. And that for all these 2000 or so people who are waiting on the inside, who don't have a pen pal, it gives access to the community, it gives access to information. And yeah, we also have a resource library, which we carry. Basically, it's only zines. But it's zines from people from inside the project people from outside the project, we have zines about mental health, we have zines about physical health. What else, we have queer history, we have spirituality stuff that you can't necessarily find very easily at all from inside prisons. So it becomes a very valuable resource library for a lot of people on the inside.
CY (13:57)
Thank you. I think I'm glad you touched upon that because I think your resource library is not only a great resource to learn about what the unique and intensified struggles of LGBTQ plus trans prisoners, it also talks about abolition and from the eyes of formerly incarcerated people. I think one question we get asked a lot, is people ask how can we either participate or offer solidairty to prisoners without, without contributing to the system without holding it up without perpetuating it? And I think this project is a really great way because you're, you're getting to the grassroots without necessarily offering your labor to the prison in like a volunteer form or something like that.
Stevie (14:47)
Yeah, I would say the only way that we do kind of contribute to the system would be through J pay or j mail, which is like email services that the prisons have that we unfortunately have to pay money to. But other than that,
CY (15:02)
and that's a part of their really exploitive communication practice.
Stevie (15:06)
Right.
CY (15:08)
The last question that I have is that is there any other ways community members can contribute or support the PCP if they aren't interested in writing letters?
Stevie (15:18)
There definitely is. I would say that the best and easiest way is to become a pen pal. But I know that's not available for everyone. The thing is with pen pals is we really try to encourage people to sort of foster like really long term relationships that their pen pals only because again, it offers just so much help and support to them. And having them kind of go in and out of our database really isn't helpful at all. And it could get messy and blah, blah, blah.
So really, I totally get that people can't always become a pen pal. But there are other ways. Especially if you're in Montreal. We used to do box checking hours, so it was like volunteer drop in hours, but we don't so much do that anymore because of COVID. But I do think we prepare small packages for people that they can take home and go through some of the mail and answer it. We also have like some transcribing tasks, I believe, that are always sort of ready to be done. Obviously you can donate to us. We also encourage people to hold their own fundraisers or ad campaigns. If you want to create merch for us, that's always an option. If you really want to help out, and you don't really know what to do, you can always send us an email and I'm sure somebody will find something for you to help.
