Return to previous page

Ten things you can do to support the struggle for prisoners' rights

1. Contact a prisoners’ rights organization and volunteer your time.
   A comprehensive list of organizations is available from the Prison Activist Resource Center
   
   
2. Read and respond to newspaper stories. Write letters of encouragement for sympathetic editorials and challenge tough-on-crime op-eds.
   
   
3. Keep informed about relevant bills/laws and contact your representative to voice your opinion. The following organizations provide guidance in identifying and contacting lawmakers:
   
   
   • Congress.org
   • Families Against Mandatory Minimums
   
   
4. Come to demonstrations and other events as a show of support and to be connected to those who do this work.
   
   
5. Become informed about conditions of confinement and the movement against the prison industrial complex. Challenge those around you who subscribe to stereotypes about prisoners.
   
   
6. If you are an employer, consider hiring former prisoners for job vacancies.
   
   
7. Invite a prisoners’ rights activist to speak at your organization’s (high schools, churches, universities, conferences) function.
   
   
8. Make a monetary donation to a prisoners’ rights organization. Most of these groups have very limited resources.
   
   
9. Donate supplies (furniture, computers, equipment) to a prisoners’ rights organization.
   
   
10. Become a pen pal to a person in prison.

Compiled by Legal Services for Prisoners with Children.