Thank you to all who joined and participated in the Missouri Prison Town Hall 2022 yesterday August 29th, 2022.
We were able to hear directly from those impacted by the carceral system in Missouri, loved ones of those inside, and several folks working to make a difference outside of prison. To our panelists and moderators, your voices are what will leave a lasting impact and change conditions well into the future!
Watch the Missouri Prison Town Hall below!
More info about the Missouri Prison Town Hall:
The Missouri Prison Town Hall will focus on uplifting the humanity of those living under mass incarceration in the Missouri Department of Corrections. Discussions had will include the impact of the latest mail policy and explore how other states have dealt with unfair harsh policies. Panelists include members of our incarcerated community, Norman Brown, Keri Blakinger, Lori Curry of Missouri Prison Reform and more! About Keri: Keri is a Texas-based journalist and the author of the Corrections in Ink, a memoir tracing her path from figure skating to heroin addiction to prison and, finally, to life as an investigative reporter covering mass incarceration.
Co-sponsored by Liberation Lit, Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center, Missouri Justice Coalition, Missouri Prison Reform, Missouri State Conference of the NAACP, and Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
Additional Resources:
Liberation Lit: During the Missouri Prison Town Hall Liberation Lit collected recorded works of folks inside who shared about their experiences about the latest mail policy change and how it has affected them and fellow community members inside prison. You can read the transcribed recordings here.
"Let me tell you something. I got out of prison in 2007, and to this day, I still have my daughter’s first birthday card she scribbled over on a piece of paper. You can't replace that, man. You can take this from a person that's been in this for a long time: Taking my mail away from me, where I cannot go back and relive that… Hey man, that's trauma. That's trauma." -Terrell Robinson
"I was just talking with a guy yesterday. He got his first letter through Securus and they scanned it in and the last two pages came out blurry. He couldn't even read 'em and he had to call his sister to find out what the last two pages said." -Adam Hamilton
"The one thing that really affects me and many of the older prisoners in the state is the doing away with offender-to-offender correspondence. I have dear friends that I've known for 30 plus years. But we're not in the same institutions anymore. So now all communication is cut off between us. You know, I no longer have my support mechanism... you couldn't know what I go through as a trans person. Nobody could, other than another trans person. Even another trans person on the outside doesn't know what it is to be trans on the inside. So it's so imperative that we not lose our ability to communicate" -Patricia Trimble
"You know when you talk about sentimental things like cards and these type of things–when you go into an average man’s cell, he’ll have cards out that his family sent him, you know, throughout the years people pass away, we can always go back and look at those cards and reflect back on, you know, some euphoric time.
And now you take these away from us, and that's--it's wretched, man." -Terrell Robinson
Stay in touch with Co-Sponsors of the Missouri Prison Town Hall!
Keri Blakinger, www.read.macmillan.com/lp/corrections-in-ink/
Missouri Justice Coalition, www.facebook.com/MoJusticeOrg
Missouri Prison Reform, www.moprisonreform.org
Missouri NAACP, www.monaacp.org
Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center, www.macarthurjustice.org
Liberation Lit, www.liberationlit.org
Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, www.madpmo.org
