[lbo-talk] future generations

[John Thornton]

Chuck wrote:
> Let me point out that anarchists have been doing the lion's share of 
> work on the prison abolition front, as well as doing solidarity work for 
> prisoners. There are anarchists involved in Critical Resistance, as well 
> as various Book Through Bars projects around the country. The 
> international Anarchist Black Cross network has been doing prisoner 
> support and prison abolition activism for some time.
>
> I'll toot my own horn here and point out that Infoshop News is an 
> excellent source of information about prisoner campaign and anti-prison 
> activism (news.infoshop.org). We also have a more specifically prison 
> news site (http://www.infoshop.org/prisons/public_html/) which is 
> looking for more volunteers. I've worked on plenty of campaigns and even 
> won a few. A friend reminded me recently that Infoshop News was 
> instrumental in getting the State of West Virginia to change a prison 
> rule which was sending prisoners to the hole if people were posting news 
> and information about their case on the Internet. This was a minor 
> campaign, but it made a big difference in the lives of a few prisoners.
>
> If people are looking for one campaign relating to prisons which needs 
> extra help right now, I'd suggest that people lean on their local 
> politicians and their state Department of Corrections to ease 
> restrictions about books, magazines and printed materials being sent to 
> prisoners. The regulations on sending printed materials to prisoners 
> have gone insane in the past 15 years. Families can't even send books to 
> their loved ones behind bars. They have to arrange for publishers to 
> send materials directly. If more people get active on this issue, we can 
> roll back these regulations.
>
> Chuck
>   

They can have materials sent by bookstores, it doesn't have to be 
publishers, but that is still part of the problem.
There is no good reason why families shouldn't be able to send books.
Many book retailers hate sending books to prisons because prison 
authorities arbitrarily reject book packages.
The prisoners families come back to the stores requesting a refund 
because the books were never received by the inmate.
If they weren't returned to the store however no refund will be given. 
It often takes 6 months or more to even find out if the book has been 
received.
Frequently books are returned to the bookseller after 8 to 10 months and 
the family that purchased it cannot be contacted because their contact 
information is out of date because they have moved. There are as many 
obstacles placed in the path of book intended to be sent to prisoners as 
one can possibly imagine.
Add to that theft by guards on a huge level.
Amazon sometimes discourages people from having Amazon ship to prisons 
and is sometimes helpful.
B & N is the same way. If you get the wrong person at either company 
they have been known on many occasions to tell customers to do it 
themselves!

The Womens Prison Book Project, the Prison Book Program, Inside Books 
Project, and the already mentioned Books through Bars are all 
overwhelmed with requests to send books to prisoners.

Since infoshop sells books and periodicals you should be able to send 
them to prisoners yourself through the infoshop.
You have a business license correct? You have to have a license to sell 
and that should enable you to do this.

John Thornton