The jail post, part 3
Resources and what you can do
“If incarceration worked to secure safety, [the U.S.] would be the safest nation in all of human history. … If incarceration worked to stop violence, we would have eradicated it by now — because no nation has used incarceration more.”
— Danielle Sered, “Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and A Road to Repair”
N.b.: this is the pinky-promised follow-up to a previous Unruly Quaker post:
Jail --
“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” - Nelson Mandela My public library offers “Skip the Line” loans on popular titles. I have made quite the discoveries this way. From delightful treasures to … well … books whose best us…
Without further ado…
As pinky-promised: suggestions for contemplation and action.
Some of these suggestions are supercaliNEPOTISTICexpialidocious. I make no apologies for highlighting the work of people I know and love. But I will include a nepotism asterisk for honesty.
1. Donate to community bail funds.
Watch this quick video and listen to Muffin.* She’s an inspiring local activist who was kept in jail (pre-trial detention) because she didn’t have the money for bail.
Cash bail discriminates against people who are cash-poor.
Cash bail can also lead to people signing plea deals for crimes they didn’t commit, just so they can be released from the hell that is county jail. Folks want to go home, start working again, and take care of their families.
You can donate money directly to The N.C. Community Bail Fund of Durham or find your state or local bail fund, including Immigration Bail Funds, on this list from the National Bail Fund Network.
You can also buy merch to support the N.C. Community Bail Fund of Durham.
Dang, I’m a sucker for merch. Hashtag capitalism. Hashtag consumerism. Hashtag at least it’s for a great cause.
If you get a green shirt, we can be twinsies. If you get blue, you’ll be twinning with my teen.
2. Donate books to folks in jail and prison.
N.C. Women’s Prison Books* is a “volunteer-run collective that sends books and letters to people incarcerated in women’s prisons and jails across North Carolina. As a locally-oriented project … [they] also send books and letters to people detained in the Durham County Jail.”
Their book wishlist is here — and buying from this list on Bookshop.org supports Rofhiwa Bookcafé, a local, Black and queer - owned indy bookstore recently affected by violence. You’ll be doing double good!
You can also donate money to N.C. Women’s Prison Books to help with postage and other costs.
3. Support local re-entry programs.
Coming out from “the inside” is incredibly challenging.
Imagine being handed a $20 bill and a one-way bus ticket after being locked up in say, 1998.
You arrive in a city you haven’t seen in decades. It has changed so much in your time away. You can barely recognize it.
You do not have a place to live.
You do not have a job, and it’s hard to get one. You’ll have to tell folks you’ve been convicted of a crime.
You don’t have a support network.
You may have lost touch with your family.
You likely don’t have any form of identification.
You have never seen or used a cell phone or the internet.
The bus stops. You step onto the concrete. You look around.
What now?
Where do you even begin?
Support is vital for folks reentering and reconciling with their communities.
Local to Durham, I super-duper recommend Religious Coalition for Nonviolent Durham’s* Reentry and Reconciliation* practices.
The core of this practice connects support teams from local organizations or congregations to a person who has been recently released from prison.
This group of folks comes together in friendship and support, twice monthly, for one to two years.
It’s life-changing, paradigm-shifting, and rewarding for everyone involved.
You can also donate to supportive housing like Jubilee Home* and job programs like Step-Up Ministry.*
Research and support your own local supportive housing or job programs.
4. Support Restorative Justice (RJ).
RJ is a transformative alternative to the carceral criminal punishment system.
I don’t even know where to start talking about RJ. Even just the difference it’s made in my own life - I’m a volunteer RJ facilitator.
I have met the most wonderful people through RJ.
We build community, belonging, and accountability together. We address harm and work toward repair and reconciliation. We address systemic and racial injustice.
How? One circle at a time.
Whenever I’m sitting in court and my heart is breaking or I read the news and feel hopeless, I think about RJ. I think about what RJ does and what it can do.
RJ truly offers us a better way.
How can you support RJ?
If you’re more of a reader than a listener, The Guardian’s companion article, “Faced with a Violent Killing, a Family Chooses Forgiveness Over Prison,” is here, including wonderful photographs.
Volunteer! Donate locally! Research RJ programs in your community. Google “restorative justice near me” or ask local folks.
You can donate to Restorative Justice Durham,* which is the RJ organization I volunteer with. I’m biased, of course, but I believe we do good work. (You don’t have to take my word for it. Listen to The Guardian podcast or read the article above.)
Support Common Justice, The Vera Institute , and/or The Equal Justice Initiative. These are all wonderful organizations doing solid, good work.
Learn even more about RJ! I’ve recommended it before, I’ll recommend again:
Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair by Danielle Sered. Your local library probably has it in print, ebook, and / or audiobook.
I also recommend Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm by Kazu Haga. Your local library probably has this one on offer as well.
5. Support the Unlock the Box campaign to end solitary confinement.
We’ve already talked about how even our local jail is STILL on Level 1 “Covid” restriction, which comes awfully close to solitary confinement.
People die in solitary.
Folks can legit lose their grip on reality and their brain function can be permanently altered.
And we are keeping children as young as 14 in solitary confinement in adult prisons.
Plus! Solitary confinement used for more than 15 days violates the U.N.’s Nelson Mandela rules about torture.
How to help?
Support Unlock the Box: The National Campaign to End Solitary Confinement with donations and action.
6. Remember: what keeps us safe isn’t building prisons.
What keeps us safe is building community.
Okay, friends. Once again we are nearing the Substack email limit.
Hopefully this dispatch will inspire you to find your way in, or if you’re in it, to keep going, and keep going deeper.
Or just keep going.
Much love and gratitude to each of you.
And an extra cheers, raising a glass to you paid subscribers.
Blessings on your heads.
XOXO