Way to start off strong! 221 signatures in the first 12 hours! That is a great start, but we have a long way to go. This email will draw out our plan to win and how you can get involved with this and other campaigns.
First, we have to understand what is at risk and what the issue is, because it is bigger than mail. Corrections, across the country are using the guise of safety and security to inhibit and remove families from their loved ones period of incarceration.
The loss of their freedom is their punishment, corrections is pushing for a loss of their humanity by inhibiting them to stay connected and engaged with the people who care about them.
This won't be the end. It's the mail, and then it is in person visitation, it's forcing families to bear the cost of their loved ones incarceration. The list goes on and on. We have to only open our eyes to have known this was coming a year ago. We must be diligent in watching what is coming and staying ahead of these things so that NDOC can't sneak them by us while we are not looking.
There is an extensive plan to win on this. Our goal is to two fold, first is to AT LEAST get the Board of Prison Commissioners to refuse to approve the temporary AR change, that would implement the changes previously identified and put a stay (hold) on it's implementation.
That gives us time to educate the media, the legislature, other elected officials and grow support by making this public by elevating the issue. We use our stories to educate and show them this isn't right, or moral or ethical but also that the data and research does not support this finding-federally or in the states.
Hopefully we can just get the AR revision blocked permanently, but that is probably unlikely, in the meantime, we buy time. Once this passes, it will be almost impossible to get it returned to the current policy.
Over the next week we will be meeting with media to do impact interviews and roundtables, we will reach out to elected officials to educate them, we will work with our coalition partners to ask them to help us find support and we will be meeting with legal experts to discuss the legality of this move, since their are many states already being sued on this issue.
If you want to be kept up to date, please register on our 15 minute activist form to get email updates and email or text notifications and updates on this issue and others that we are working on, on behalf of incarcerated people.
https://forms.gle/oCGHUF6SSNQNYMuA9
Tomorrow, please share the petition NAME with your loved ones who are incarcerated and ask them to spread the word to others in their unit and ask them to tell THEIR families to search the petition and get them to sign before it's too late.
"No mail bans for prison families"
Jodi Hocking
Founder/Executive Director
Return Strong!