Ever get nostalgic about the days of pen pals?

TIPS for writing someone in prison!

Where to begin?!

• contact RedBird (redbirdprisonabolition@gmail.com) and let us know you’re interested in a pen pal!
• We will send you a list of people in prison who have contacted us and are interested in writing someone.  Our list is varied, and it includes political prisoners, politicized prisoners, people not interested in politics at all, religious people, pagans, men, women, queer, and everything in between!
• start your first letter!  And always, contact us with questions or concerns.

What should I write about!?

It’s true that writing the first letter can be intimidating, but it’s just a matter of getting started!

• Begin with talking about who you are, why you were interested in participating in the project, what your interests are, and maybe where you’d like to see this correspondence go.  Ask them a couple questions too, like where they’re from and what they like to do for fun.  You know, all that first date small talk chit chat!  After one or two letters it will become obvious what your pen pal likes to talk about and how, so don’t be too nervous about the first correspondence.  Just keep it simple.
• Include some basic questions in your initial letter about what kind of boundaries or restrictions your penpal might have to abide by in their prison. Sometimes you can only send a certain amount of pages, write in certain color pens, etc., and these specifications vary from prison to prison.
• Finally, maybe let them know how often you think you’ll be able to write.  If it’s only once a month or every few months, that’s totally fine, just try set up those expectations from the very beginning!

Cleveland Four Sentencing trials.

I went to court for the Cleveland 4 sentencing trial earlier this week. It was very dramatic. We need to pack the court room again on Nov 20th, 9am [note date change] when the judge will be giving his decision. Anyone who wants to participate in a car pool from Columbus, please contact me, 614 704 4699.

In lieu of a reportback, I'd like to share some letters I wrote, the first is to the judge, and the 2nd was written to Anthony Hayne, the guy who rolled, and sent back, because they're controlling his mail now. I hope someone who is allowed to mail things to Tony gets these and sends them his way. Please. 

Anyway, read them after the jump.

Update on NW Grand Jury Resisters

Hey everyone-

One of the resisters we wrote to at our last letter writers has put out a letter to her supporters, so here's what she wrote:

"I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the incredible and constant support that I have been receiving since being locked up at the FDC over a month ago.
I want to thank my family for their unwavering support, pride, and love—throughout this situation and throughout my life.

I want to thank my closest friends for supporting me out of love, regardless of political beliefs; for your constant letters, for keeping my life on the outs in order, for spreading the word of my incarceration, and for reminding me daily that I am never alone.

I want to thank all the incredible support team for getting the word out there; through the internet, through word of mouth, radical media, anarchist media, lefty media, and mainstream media. I want to thank you all for all the fundraising you have been doing; and for your constant reminder of solidarity and friendship.

I want to thank my wonderful attorney; you are such a badass!

I want to thank all of my old friends from across the States and the world who are spreading the word to their friends and networks both through the use of technology and face to face communication (which I have to say is pretty rad).

To all of the rad people organizing on our behalf, I thank you for dedicating your precious time, energy, and love to our release and well-being.

I want to thank all of my new friends who have heard about our case from mutual friends, the internet, political groups; any number of forms of media; ya’ll have been consistently writing letters and spreading the word since day one. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

To a whole lot of anarchists who have written me every day, thank you!

To a whole lot of people who are not anarchists, who have written to me every day, thank you!

To those who have made it their life’s work to write prisoners, thank you!

To those who are writing me because they have experienced the red scare, and said never again, thank you!

To all of you who have inquired about donating (I hope I gave you the info), those who donated, and those who are planning benefits, thank you!

To my community of downtowners, thank you for having my back. Thank you for not forgetting me, thank you for loving me, thank you for proving that communities can be strong regardless of political beliefs, and for proving that all of this is about so much more than political affiliations.

So, to all of you; I know I did not do anyone any favors by staying out of the public eye until my incarceration, but every single one of you has done so much to bring light to what is going on.

Every single one of you has done so much to bring light to what is going on. Every single one of you helps me to grow stronger every day.

To all of those who have written me; I have received about 100 letters every week since I have been in here (over 400 letters so far), and I am so sorry to all of those I have not written back yet. All of your words, artwork, and photos have inspired me and I can not thank you enough. Again, I’m really very sorry if I have not written you back yet; postage is a bit of an issue. Also to all of you who have sent me books, most of them have not contained return addresses, but I still want to let ya’ll know that they are loved by myself and my new friends on the inside. To the friend that sent me Soledad Brother and the beautiful letter within days of being here, I do not have an address for you, but I love you and your words have helped to strengthen my resolve.

Anywho…to all of you again, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!

Keep smiling, keep struggling; in solidarity, gratitude, and love,

Kteeo

PS: ….to another old friend, I got your postcard. Live to eat."

Katherine Olejnik #42592-086
FDC SeaTac,
P.O. Box 13900
Seattle, WA 9819

Also,  another person has been called- here is more about that:

"On October 25, 2012 a fifth subpoena was served to Matthew “Maddy” Pfeiffer to appear before the federal grand jury on November 7, 2012. Early this week, they declared their intent to resist the grand jury. You can read their statement at our website: http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/matthew-maddy-pfeiffer-subpoenaed-for-grand-jury/. We are preparing to support Maddy as they go in front of the grand jury next week. Check our website for updates on what you can do.

Matt Duran and Kteeo Olejink are still being held in contempt of court at Seatac Federal Prison and continue to need your support. Please consider writing or sending them books, donating money so we can fill up their commissary or having a solidarity action in your community. ... Thank you for your continued support."

Support Sean Swain

From SeanSwain.org

Anarchist prisoner Sean Swain is still under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) and the FBI for alleged involvement in “The Army of the 12 Monkeys” a group that allegedly committed acts of sabotage and vandalism inside ManCI. On September 19th, Swain was put in a suicide cell for 5 days, denied heat, bedding, and normal clothes. They knew he was not suicidal, they were trying to break him. He refused food for the first two days, and after 5 was transferred to administrative segregation. Two other prisoners have been transferred to Seg as well. No charges have been made against any of the three. According to the prison rules, when someone is transferred to seg for the purpose of investigation, they must be charged within 21 days, or returned to general population. It’s been more than 21 days.

Super-Max Prisoner on Hunger Strike

  

 [UPDATE 11/7: According to the Lynds, Rayshan is getting medical attention and has resumed eating, but still wants to raise awareness and organize around the lack of proper medical care at OSP]

Rayshan Watley, #347-921, is a prisoner at the Ohio State Penitentiary.  On July 2, 2010, he went on a hunger strike because he was denied treatment recommended by medical specialists.

   As of October 26, 2012, Mr Watley is once again going on hunger strike for being denied medical care. See the complaint he filed in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas (attached).

   Please call Warden David Bobby at OSP (330) 743-0700 and tell him you support Rayshan and all other prisoners at OSP getting better medical care.

 
    The handwritten complaint is difficult to read. However, based on the allegations of the complaint, it would appear that Mr. Watley is being denied adequate medical care at OSP and that some of his complaints are of a kind that would affect other prisoners as well as himself. Alice Lynd has summarized the following issues alleged in Mr. Watley's complaint: