Dear Mom, A Period Piece
"These words are not a plea for radical new ideas, Mom. It’s a plea to start restoring humanity at its most fundamental levels. It’s a plea to begin considering what outcomes we want to see when the cage doors re-open. Healthcare is a human right, even in jail. We need to believe that even in our carceral systems, this nation cares for reproductive health. It is an essential human need and immensely impactful to greater society."
More Than a Fish
"...But in that moment, it was a reminder of what it feels like to have a human, genuine reaction to the world. Existing in a job that prioritizes rules and laws to an extreme, it was freedom to break them in the name of something stronger. It was the pull of human dignity and respect."
Even Without Balloons
"The vision I look towards is not one of reshaping every detail of crime, law enforcement action or the courts. It is to start handing people with immense periods of confinement tools to manifest their own growth. It is giving freedom to people with virtually none otherwise the choice to participate in reshaping what their exit from our carceral systems will look like."
Dear Aunt A.
"...And that snowball hasn’t stopped rolling downhill. Each time we go into the community, each time we step into the post office with a stack of care packages, we create new connections, the word spreads a little further, and this movement grows bigger."
Dear Mom
"It's about the fact that, for some reason, when everyone else seemed to understand Eli, and I looked good on paper, I didn't understand a single thing about my own identity. I lived my life from the cockpit of an airplane I wasn't flying, just watching the clouds drift by. And with no reason to steer the plane in any intentional direction, I let life steer me. I let friends and family be the pilot, my career be the flight plan, privilege be the airplane, and alcohol be the gasoline. I merely rode along and wondered what might happen if I disrupted the most outwardly stable seeming flight of all time so I could try flying."
The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves
"That’s the entire approach. They are taking people with mental illness, denying them meds, putting them in sensory deprivation chambers, and then punishing them further for not being on their best behavior. All while they are presumed innocent until proven guilty. That’s what this boils down to. "
Not Even an Alcoholic
"...this is something that people who haven't gone through the mental health system often don't fully realize or conceptualize. Mental health treatment is not as intuitive as it might seem. I think people believe that asking for and going to get help are the singular battle that one faces. Then you enter the hospital or the treatment center or whatever form of psychiatric care you may need, you receive the help, and you come out better. After all, that's what happens with medicine, isn't it? It's done to you. "
Arriba Abajo Al Centro Pa’ Dentro
"My journey from trauma to addiction to the criminal justice system? I thought of a few different ways to start it, before I landed here, a few different methods of trying to get people to understand....I think I start with the combustible liquid powering the ill-fated airplane. We follow the alcohol....perhaps by starting from the beginning and telling it all, we can banish some of the demons that thrive in the darkness."
Hugs Not Jugs
"I’ve found it helpful to deal with this event using sarcasm and humor, but this incident demonstrates a culture problem I’ve witnessed throughout law enforcement. It shows how officers of the law view, treat, and interact with members of minority populations. Things that are problematic and said outright behind the scenes come out in small actions and statements, such as Deputy H classifying me as female. Such occurrences may seem small, but imagine how repeated invalidation could undermine someone in my position. It’s not just this incident; it’s the underlying attitude that is the seed of the problem."
Origins
While staying in seg, you can expect to receive no commissary, no visitations, no mail, and no programming offered in the rest of the jail. You will never go outside or even see a window to remind you the world still exists beyond your walls. You do not bathe or shower, you do not speak to anyone, nor are you spoken to. You effectively exist as an object placed in a room designed for total and complete sensory deprivation.