Incarcerated Pen Pal Art | Invitation

Hello! yasmine, jelly of all trades, here! I feel fortunate to be writing to you with art passed to us from Artistic Apothecary’s incarcerated pen pals. Prison abolition, and the infinite possible alternatives to carceral systems, have been close to my heart for a long while. It was only in 2019 though that I was shown how easy it can be to reach out to and connect with someone who has been incarcerated. At that moment, I was given a sheet about the essential work done by Black and Pink. I’ll be honest, I was a little nervous at first, why would anyone want to talk to me? Some stranger, far away? And, having A.D.H.D., being in school and working almost full time, I worried, what if I am not able to be reliable? These concerns scared me away from following through on writing a letter for a long while.

And it is important to be aware of your availability to be reliable. I am glad that I waited until I felt prepared to write consistently – even if this has only been recently. Here, Black and Pink provides us with some important reflection questions and thoughts about this. Another important question they invite us to ask before writing is “Why do I want to write to someone in prison?” I had been fretting about why someone would want to talk to me, but the real question is why do I want to? People get to decide for themselves whether to write you back, but what purpose does it serve me? Ego? A sense of saviourship? Fulfilling something inside of me, aside from the people I may be speaking to?

I cannot say what my answers would have been in the past. Now though, in my Pen Pal intentions, I try to center my hope for connection with people I may never have known otherwise. And with this, the recognition that I may learn new things about a new person, difficult things and beautiful, hope filled things, and learn to be a better ally/accomplice (if ever I might be called these) through a life-long process of relationship-building. I want to be a connection for someone who has been overwhelmingly isolated from society, but I am not trying to just “be a friend” to someone else. Instead, through genuine relationship, I am also looking to make a friend of my own. Being honest about why we choose to do the work we do and being able to recognize what we may gain is fundamental to genuine relationship-building.

So, along with some shares from a couple of Artistic Apothecary’s Pen Pals, we invite to consider starting your own Pen Pal correspondence. We have created a Summer Pen Pal Postcard that you can print out and write to your pen pal on the back. Along with a Fall Letter image for your use, image below!

You can find resources for writing to inmates, as well as contact methods, in the links below:

• Artistic Apothecary – Free Them All: Inmate Solidarity
• Artistic Apothecary – Writing Incarcerated Folks – How to
• Artistic Apothecary – Addresses for Incarcerated Pen Pals
• Black and Pink – General letter writing instructions and Frequently Asked Questions
• Black and Pink – Queer Incarcerated
• Wire Of Hope Pen Pal List
• Firefighter Incarcerated
• Kamau Sadiki – Black Panther is requesting letters
• NTC Anarchist Black Cross – PP/POW Birthday Calendar
• Voices From Solitary – Flipping the Script