Prison activism and reform sound like monumental tasks. True, the most visible efforts require collective efforts over decades. Nevertheless, there are things that can be done by a single person. One letter to an inmate is all it takes to contribute to real change, a first step to breaking both the generational prison cycle and the system that relies on it.

 

 

 

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One letter might seem like a trifling thing, yet a few paragraphs can start to slow the cycle of incarceration that has devastated individuals, families, and communities.

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Correspondence, of any kind, from outside of prison are rare for many inmates. For some the closest they come to letters are TV guides, or catalogues for discount books. People in a situation like this would cherish any personal letter, even from a stranger.

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Loved ones of inmates often have difficulty overcoming the obstacles erected by the system. The barriers thrown up around incarcerated persons are masterpieces of social engineering. Meant to physically isolate prisoners from the public remoteness of facilities, institutional security, and societal stigma sheer ties with family and friends. The system creates arduous physical, emotion and psychology distances in relationships. Often, these gaps go in bridged, and the strain takes a toll on all involved, especially inmates.

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In the age of mass communication, the idea that someone is unreachable is strange. Yet, even with phone, email and video visitation services inside of prisons this is still very much the case. Most people in prison come from very little and contact that is cheap of free to the public, is expensive, since inmates and their families are at the mercy of monopolies. And though letters are in expensive, time is required to write them is. In the rush of a day letters are easily left for another time. Those unwritten words echo in an inmate's loneliness. Over time, as the worlds in- and outside of the wire turn, distortions creep into the silence, and into the heart.

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At one point or another, everyone in prison doubts their worth, their very humanity. It is what the system does. Despite political correctness, there is little meaningful correction provided. The desire to change has to come from within. The seed of this is in every incarcerated person.One letter can foster this desire to change. One email can lift a person up and let them know that they matter, that someone in the world beyond the walls knows that they are still human. For one inmate, a single letter can affect their entire world.

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Something as simple as how horrible the commute home was, or a critique of a movie can have a big impact. These are things that most in prison can relate to because they are human. The sum of their life experience will be different, yet there will be common ground. What's more, one leaf of paper with a few sentences can give hope, a fresh perspective, or even a direction.