Human Rights Pen Pals

Human Rights Pen Pals Human Rights Pen Pals is a grassroots, racial justice community organization, in solidarity with people in California's solitary confinement cells.

Through letter writing and community organizing, we promote principled, mutually educational relationships between people in solitary confinement and human rights supporters outside the prison walls. We envision a world without prisons and an end to the torture of long-term solitary confinement in California. The Human Rights Pen Pal program takes its inspiration from the poetic words of Assata Sh

akur, "A wall is just a wall; It can be broken down." The program is centered around the relationships between people who believe in human rights inside and outside the prison walls. We assume that the developing relationships will lead to a growing commitment of those 'outside the walls' to work in solidarity with prisoners working for their human rights 'inside the walls. The program promotes principled relationships that transcend the walls by providing an opportunity for pen pals in the community to meet online to discuss our common work. We share our experiences of learning from imprisoned human rights activists what life is like in a cage the size of a large bathroom. We read portions of our pen pals' letters in a powerful exercise called 'Bringing the Brothers into the Room.' We study and discuss the history of prisons and of solitary confinement. We learn about basic ways we can advocate for our pen pals with prison authorities. For pen pals who are outside of the Bay Area, we will work collaboratively to develop our materials on line, and to organize other means of communication convenient and beneficial to all of us. We believe that the organized power of people of conscience is a crucial part in building a movement to challenge the human rights violations of California's prison system of solitary confinement, and its selective targeting human rights activists and justice leaders within the prisons. We also believe that this movement is inspired and led by those most affected by the prison system: imprisoned people, their families and loved ones, and formerly incarcerated people.

more on that
12/23/2018

more on that

First Step Act reduces the mandatory sentence for three-strikes offenders but the provisions will not be made retroactive

"Even with all the attention it receives, the scale of incarceration and punishment in the United States can still be ha...
12/22/2018

"Even with all the attention it receives, the scale of incarceration and punishment in the United States can still be hard to comprehend. On any given day, about 1.5 million people are in state and federal prisons; another 750,000 are in county jails (most still awaiting trial); and over 4.5 million are on probation or parole. Over the course of a year, over 600,000 people enter prison, and roughly the same number are sent home; and over 10 million people are admitted to jails annually. About 2.5 million more enter or leave parole or probation.'"

If we really want to scale back our reliance on prison, we need to change how we approach violence, and most people—politicians, reformers, the public—seem unwilling to do this.

Haven't shared much about the FSA... definitely a step in the right direction but impacts such a small proportion of in...
12/22/2018

Haven't shared much about the FSA... definitely a step in the right direction but impacts such a small proportion of incarcerated Americans

The First Step Act, signed on Friday by President Trump, will shorten sentences for federal prisoners. It is a bright moment in a highly partisan time.

Adnan Khan is a co-founder of Re:store Justice and is currently incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison.
12/19/2018

Adnan Khan is a co-founder of Re:store Justice and is currently incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison.

California scales back its felony murder rule.

SACRAMENTO — A federal judge ordered an independent investigation Thursday into whether top California corrections offic...
12/14/2018

SACRAMENTO — A federal judge ordered an independent investigation Thursday into whether top California corrections officials deliberately misled court officials into believing that mentally ill inmates generally receive proper care.

A judge ordered an investigation into whether top state corrections officials deliberately misled court officials into believing that mentally ill inmates generally receive proper care.

"It's absolutely unacceptable to be holding people who are in effect our wards of the state, to have them dying on our w...
12/11/2018

"It's absolutely unacceptable to be holding people who are in effect our wards of the state, to have them dying on our watch for use of illegal substances," said state Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, who chairs the Senate's Public Safety Committee and has called for corrections officials to do a better job of preventing illegal opioid drugs from entering the prison system.

There have been six suspected drug overdoses at San Quentin so far this month.

Intense heat has been shown to inflict both physical and psychological suffering. “The success or failure of correctiona...
12/11/2018

Intense heat has been shown to inflict both physical and psychological suffering. “The success or failure of correctional adaptation efforts will be measured in human lives as well as public dollars,” wrote Daniel Holt, a legal scholar who authored a report titled Heat in U.S. Prisons and Jails. “Every death is a haunting, tragic occurrence.”

Harsh conditions inside U.S. prisons and jails have led to growing concerns about the unsustainability and climate vulnerability of mass incarceration.

12/08/2018

A new study finds that mass incarceration has ruinous consequences for the 113 million people in the United States whose family members have spent time in prisons or jails, and people of color are disproportionately impacted.

12/05/2018

Calling on California to sever ties with the private prison industry, a state lawmaker wants to nix contracts with for-profit prisons and ban the state’s public pension funds from ever investing in…

12/04/2018

Gov. Jerry Brown has issued more than 1,100 pardons and commuted more than 150 sentences since taking office in 2011 — far more than have his recent predecessors — with the latest announced Nov. 21. The governor’s intervention creates a new pathway to justice for people serving long prison sen...

12/01/2018

In recent months, Gov. Jerry Brown has signed numerous criminal justice reform bills on topics ranging from bail reform and an overhaul of rules regarding felony murder charges to revisions of juvenile detention law.

In 2006, David Harding, then faculty member at the University of Michigan, initiated a seven-year research project on th...
12/01/2018

In 2006, David Harding, then faculty member at the University of Michigan, initiated a seven-year research project on the successes and failures of systemic prisoner rehabilitation.

With two other colleagues, Harding gathered data from roughly 11,000 former state prisoners in Michigan who were released in 2003, 22 of whom they continuously followed up on for three years. They wanted to make readers aware of the various plights prisoners face in their process of rejoining societ...

Address

P. O. Box 71378
Oakland, CA
94612

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Human Rights Pen Pals posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Human Rights Pen Pals:

Shortcuts

Share

Category