Incarcerated radical intellectuals elucidate the nature of political struggle and its various arenas. Alongside these writers are solidarity groups that propagate their writings and intellectual products. Through a close reading of Black Communist trans prisoner Alyssa V. Hope’s legal efforts and writings, this article unearths how a pen-pal relationship transformed into a comprehensive abolitionist community. This case study provides an ex-ample of how abolitionists are grappling with the need to support the material needs of marginalised communities while still building otherwise possible worlds separate from a failing welfare state. Mutual aid projects, like the one formed by Hope’s supporters, showcase that otherwise possible worlds are not only possible, but they are being created right now be-fore us. . . .
Prison Abolition
Objective Facts
Objective Facts is poem from Darius Simpson about the necessity African resistance to the forces of exploitation and oppression. . . .
Everyday Abolition
Abolition is a verb, a practice. The act of abolition generates an abundance of new opportunities. It is alive with possibility! Abolition is presence. It requires our attention and care. It forces us to think wide and imagine. What does a just world look like? What does mass peace feel like? . . .
Jailhouse Lawyers Speak calls for National Shut ‘Em Down Demonstrations
Jailhouse Lawyers Speak announces the call for National Abolition Demonstrations inside the prisons and Jails of America. . . .
Black August, Letter Writing and the ‘Harm Reduction’ Administration
There are four major components in the yearly commemorations of Black August: study, fast, train, and fight. People are encouraged to study the works and words of former and current political and politicized prisoners. People are encouraged to fast from sunrise to sunset. People are encouraged to train and become more physically active. People are encouraged to fight against the system. However, one of the lesser centered but equally important aspects of Black August is letter writing. Nearly a half-century ago, Gresham Sykes wrote in The Society of Captives: A Study of a Maximum Security Prison that, “life in the . . .
In The Spirit of Abolition, Let’s Shut’em Down!
A call to action. National “Shut’em Down” demonstrations are called for August 21st and September 9th. Originally published on the Jailhouse Lawyers Speak blog. . . .
Remembering Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald
On March 30, 2021, the African Liberation Struggle gained a new ancestor, Romain “Chip” Fitzgerald. Chip, a former member of Black Panther Party for Self Defense, was a 50 year hostage of the California prison system, making him California’s longest serving Black Panther. . . .
Lynchings By Law
By: Aaron Greene, member of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) & a coordinator for the JLS Right2Vote Movement. The U.S. death penalty has always been a symbol of white supremacy and a violation of human rights law. Having already executed 11 people this year, the Trump administration plans to execute five people (four of them Black) during a lame-duck session. This would be the first time a president has carried out executions during a lame-duck session since the Cleveland administration carried out the execution of an Indigenous man in 1890. The profound anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells once said: . . .