“Lifelines to Solitary”

Voices from Solitary: “That’s the Only Mail I Get…”

The following was written a few days before Christmas by a man, now in his fifties, who has been in prison for 26 years. He wrote this in response to receiving a holiday card and note from Solitary Watch.

To help us keep in touch with people in solitary confinement throughout the year, please consider a donation to our “Lifelines to Solitary” project. (Even $10 allows us to keep in touch with someone in isolation for a full year.) Our kickstarter runs out in just six days, and from now through January 15, a generous donor (who prefers to remain anonymous) has pledged to match all donations, up to $500.

To make a donation, please follow this link. Thank you for your support! –Jean Casella and James Ridgeway

Thank you for replying. I was surprised when they called mail call and they called my name. I never receive any mail except once a month, one letter a month from my mom, she’s barely able to write…Best if you take me serious, and not pull my leg. Please don’t take me wrong and no pun intended. It is just over the years I’ve wrote hundreds of different groups and a lot of big ministries and nobody has ever wrote to me. I used to trade my food trays for stamps and envelopes but nobody wants to help or cares…

Heck, we stay locked in for 22 out of 24 hours in this cold concrete and steel. They won’t give us winter clothes. The jacket they hand out you can see through it. Our food is brought to us and it is always ice cold, most of the time straight out of the freezer and it’s left overs…and most of the time the loaf meat they give us is raw and stinks. On Thanksgiving we had peanut butter sandwich with meat sandwich and a pack of cookies…There were lots of us hungry that night. And it’s coming again Christmas and New Years. I dread it. The wardens here are big and fat. We’ll be locked down most of Christmas day. Because they have a Christmas party for the officers. You can smell the food cooking.

Anyways my friend, this life is and has got old. Tomorrow brings nothing but the same thing and at my age, well, who wants to see tomorrow. A human has to have something to hold on to or they lose all hope. And this old body is getting hard to even move around. I’ve got arthritis so bad it hurts to just move-from this cold air. I am sorry I don’t have a Christmas card to send you. You have a Merry Christmas up there in Washington and thank you for writing. That’s the only mail I get…

Support Our Holiday Project: “Lifelines to Solitary”

Many, many thanks to those of you who have generously given to our “Lifelines from Solitary” Project so far. We have already raised more than a thousand dollars to help us send cards, letters, and newsletters to nearly 500 people in prison–most of them in solitary confinement. With your help we’ve been able to send them holiday cards with a specially printed message: “Wishing you peace, strength, and hope this holiday season and throughout the coming year.” And we have begun to receive responses. Here’s just one example:

“I can’t tell you how touched I am for you giving me any attention. I am so grateful to you and cried tears reading your card because the torture, abuse and neglect I’m facing makes this cell and my world a lonely place, and many days I think of how to take my own life and end the misery and pain but you inspire me and I continue to fight on.’’ –Texas

In order to keep up our correspondence throughout the year, we hope to raise $2,500 by January 15. For people in conditions of isolation and sensory deprivation–conditions known to cause anguish, madness, and even suicide–these communications can be a crucial lifeline, a connection to the outside world, and a reminder that they are not forgotten. Even $10 enables us to keep in touch with one person in solitary for a full year. Please click on the link below or in the sidebar to support “Lifelines to Solitary.”

http://www.razoo.com/story/Lifelines-To-Solitary