Abolition Across Walls: A look back at our 2020 inside/outside study group

Abolition Across Walls

A look back at our 2020 Inside / Outside Prison Abolition

WHY DO WE STUDY?

Theaimofthisstudygroup bothinside&outsideparticipantsin buildingrelationshipSanddeepeningour criticalandintersectionalunderstandingsof theprisonindustrialcomplex(“PIC”)& prisonabolitionframeworks,especiallyas theyrelatetoourqueer/transidentities.

Tofulfillhertaskofbuildingorganizationsanda broadermovement,theconsciousorganizermustbe guidedinherworkbyheranswerstobasicquestions:

“

Whatarethecurrentconditionswithinthissystem? Andwhoaretheforcesthathavetheinterestandthe

We share our process & learnings in hopes it will be of service to and inspire others. Dymitri and toran compiled this zine and did our best to represent all the voices in the group.

Despitethethreedistinctly-themedsessions,ourstudygroup stillhadanorganicallyanarchicboundarilessness,andcertain concernsandperspectivesregularlyrosetothetopofour discussions.Thisgroupwasneverjustaone-notechorusof agreement,andnotsurprisingly,onemajorrecurringpointof debatewasthefearofviolenceandhowthebrutalityof humancagingforcesaharmfulstateofvigilance.While threatstosafetyareaseriousconcerntoallprisoners, irrespectiveofsexuality,gender,age,ethnicity,orcriminal conviction,itisoftenespeciallystressfulforgender non-conforminginmates.Throughoutourgroup,many transgendermembersofferedharrowingstoriesofviolence andthespecialdangersoftrans-queernessinprison,along withtheheartbreakinghopelessnessastowhatcanbedone aboutit,ifanything.~Dymitri

Thisgroupwaswildlyinfluencedbytheeventsof2020.From our1stsessiontoour2nd,apandemichaderupted,andwe werenavigatingrisk,survival,andsurveillanceinnewand novelways.Betweenour2ndand3rdsessions,theGeorge floyduprisingshadbegun,re-shapingourracialjustice movementsandourvisionsofwhatotherworldsmightbe possible.Wehopethatthiszinecanservetoarchivebothour journeythroughthisstudygroupaswellasourjourney throughthischangingworld.

Trigger warning: this zine contains direct and explicit statements from incarcerated folks about their experiences, which includes mention of sexual, physical, and emotional assault.

REFLECTIONS

How did we do it?

Here’showwelaidoutthelogisticsforourInside/Outsidestudy group:

● 13incarcerated(inside)folkswerepairedwith12“freeworld” (outside)folks.

● Wehad4meetingsoverthecourseof6months.

● Asyou’llseeonthefollowingpages,thethemeswere:1)History& BackgroundofthePIC,2)Queer&TransIntersectionswiththePIC andAbolition,and3)EnvisioningAlternativesandAbolition

● Wesent2-5readingsatatimetoourinsideandoutsidemembers. Foraccessibility,weaimedforthereadingstobevariedinstyle–articles,bookchapterexcerpts,graphicnovels,poetry,andmixed media/art.Readingscanbefoundatflyingoverwalls.org

● insidemembersmailedlettersbackwiththeirresponsestothe readings(mostly,butnotalways)aheadofeachmeeting.

● Outsidemembersbroughttheirthoughts,questionsandreflections tothemeetings.Relevantsectionsofeachinsideperson’sletter werereadaloudduringthemeetingbytheiroutsidepartner,woven intotheconversation.

● Eachdiscussionwasrecordedandtranscribed.Insideletterswere typedup.Anycontentthatmightgetlabeledasa“securitythreat” waseditedouttoincreasesafetyofourincarceratedmembers.

● Thenthenextpacketwassenttoeachinsideparticipant,including: thetranscribedmeetingdiscussion,thenextmonth’sreadings,and ashortletterfromtheoutsidestudybuddy.

● Theinsidebuddythensenttheirnextsetofresponses(tothe transcriptsand/orthenextsetofreadings)andthecyclerepeated..

● Onegoalwehaveforthefutureistofigureouthowtoallowfor moredirectresponseandongoingconversationbetweenourinside members..

History & Background OF THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

Readingsforthissessionfocusedonconnectingthedots betweenthePICandgovernment,media,corporateinterests.-andunderstandingthePICasmoderndayslavery.Wetalked aboutforcedlabor,whyprisonersaren’tpermittedtounionize, andconnectionsfromthePICtoboththemilitaryandmedical industrialcomplexes.

“Prison is a place where you forget the sound of a baby’s cry. You forget the sound of a dog’s bark or even the sound of true laughter and joy.” ~Darrell

“In Angela Davis’ “The Prison Industrial Complex,” she points out a lot of different truths about how we (minorities) are targeted by racist police policies.. abused by the modus operandi of corrupt courts (D.A.’s and Judges) and then exploited by the forced prison profiting labor. And it is forced, because if we “refuse assignment” we will lose accumulated credit and other privileges... once incarcerated, prisoners are seen as profit...” ~Ayanna

The metaphor Lisa used was that there's too much money in prisons, prisons are a business, and a world without them would be like imagining a world without guns. The technology of violence is the technology of money.

Artwork by Dymitri

“In the readings there's such a clear way that the manifestation of carceral-ness is in so many levels of our society, this web. I'm thinking about how we were just sharing about the interruption of communication inside and outside and how this web of literally imprisonment, literally, the physical space, the metaphor of incarceration, interrupts the speed of communication or the speed of change.” ~Audrey

“Over the years, I’ve been around and seen the worst conditions, the worst that could befall a human being. I’ve been in the middle of riots where people were trying to kill each other, all set in motion by cops who stood 2 floors up and watched with smiles.”

~Orlando

“It seems like that logic of containment, like that whole idea of trying to isolate groups of people and institutionalize them is what needs to shift and be broken up.” ~Clio

“The logic of separation as safety seeps into so many social dynamics, that like distance makes you safe. We internalize that as well as confinement makes you safe… Someone else being confined and you being far away. Distance and confinement.” ~Ary

“While it captures the ‘racialization’ of prison, it is shocking how [Angela Davis] defined the relationship between the military industrial complex and the PIC. ‘These two complexes mutually support and promote each other and, in fact, often share technologies.’ I found that so disturbing. To understand that I AM CURRENTLY the RAW MATERIAL she is describing… hardens my heart, and WILLS ME to activism, and fighting the only fight that matters… ABOLITION.” ~Ms. Kelli

hospital’s, or any other mega corporation.” ~Amy

Signs from a protest outside san quentin the day we got news that orlando had been hospitalized

Queer&Trans Intersectionswith thePICandAbolition

Thissessionfocusedonourlivedrealitiesasqueerandtrans folksandManyofourinsidemembersexpressedthegeneral environmentoffeartheyexperience.

Prison is definitely not the same for everyone... Imagine, 1200 men in an enclosed space making catcalls, lewd gestures, gyrations, and plain obscenities, rooting each other on; trying to one-up each other in vulgarity. Put that poor woman in the middle. Now you begin to feel the struggle of being a transwoman in prison. ~Anastasia (paraphrased)

Inside membersalso expressed frustrationat thelackof solidarity

amongqueer

“Most of the LGBTQ ‘family’ in prison is so separated and cutthroat, it’s scary. We come from hard backgrounds, violence is all they know, there’s no real trust and everyone is hustling to

“The LGBTQ community is shot to hell in prison. Instead of the family concept, there’s now several gay and trans prison gangs fighting against each other instead of uniting to fight the PIC, so I want to see issues in the community fixed before

Somemembersstruggledwiththequestionofhowtostaysafe inaworldwithoutprisons.Manysharedexamplesofviolence fromotherinmatesandfearofwhatmoreviolencetherewould bewithoutthestatusquostructuresofpunishmentand containment,whileotherssharedabouthowoftentheweapons ofthePICareturnedagainstthevictimsofviolencethemselves.

“There’s the rape, the physical and mental abuse of transgenders by staff and inmates; speaking on this results in the victim being fucked over worse so we just have to take it and deal with the PTSD on our own.” ~Sylvia (inside member)

Miss Kelli shared her experience of being assaulted by two white supremacists just for being herself, yet she was the one charged and sent to solitary.

“We all know the PIC is evil, corrupt, and has to go. TGIJP asked for input on pending legislation to end solitary confinement, including Ad-Seg. I have been in Ad-Seg for non-disciplinary reasons and it was traumatic. Everyone in our transgender support group was against eliminating it. For us, abuse is a constant danger, so without ad-seg how can we be protected against our abusers? If we can answer this, we can end the PIC.” ~Anastasia

“When a man hits a transgirl, the officers either toss her in the hole or do nothing. But if I assault a man I get punished fully, and I know it’s even worse outside these walls.” ~Nicole

“How can we improve prisoners’ lives today without legitimizing and strengthening the system we ultimately want destroyed?’ I know I have no answers, there :(. It’s a paradox..” ~Dymitri

Weheldthistensionbetweenknowing thatwearenotsafeinaworldwith prisons,butalsonotknowingyethowto besafeinaworldwithoutprisons. Wealsoheldthetensionbetweenhow wepushforabolitionwhilealso pushingforwaystoimprovequeer& translivesintheshort-term.

Artwork by Debbie Southorn & toran

Envisioning Alternatives and Abolition

I am interested in what we are going to do when we have a world without prisons—that’s right, I said, “WHEN.” Because it is going to happen: we willwin…But then what?”

Aswemovedinour3rdsession tofocusingonimaginingaworld withoutprisons,wecontinuedto grapplewiththequestionof howtorespondtoharm.

“I've had a lot of like fear, too, around thinking if we got rid of police and prisons tomorrow, what's our response to extreme things that could also happen tomorrow.” ~Karyn

“I think of how we’re so scared of each other, and what that fear does in our society. I think about people’s misplaced fear in terms of how it perpetuates incarceration of the PIC. I want to ask, what do we think is the right answer to help people who are so fearful of others to learn that they are not actually, mostly, in danger, and that they just need to be kind and understand that we’re living in this world together.” ~Kari

Buttogetherwemoved pastthatinto wondering-howisfear usedtocontrolus,to limitoursenseofwhat ispossible?Canwesee throughthestories we’vebeentoldabout harm&safety?

“A lot of intention went into making us think that prisons make us safe. The narrative got crafted to convince us that prison was a thing we needed, and to make us think we’d always believed that. This is how the story was told, that prisons and policing are the only things to keep us safe, and in telling this story, they also removed all the other structures that might keep us safe.” ~Toran

~MiaMingus,StillChoosingtoLeap:Building Alternatives

Thereadingschallengedustorethinksomeofourassumptions aboutabolition

“This article cleared up many misconceptions about what abolitionist means. I always thought that abolitionists worked to stop the use of prisons and incarceration with no middle ground. But now I get it. That in order to bring about change abolition must be the goal. Like it said in the reading abolitionists must stay with that goal in order to bring at least small changes that take the state’s power to dehumanize those already marginalized by society.” ~Katt & Mauro

“It’s so important to consider not just tearing down prisons, but how can we actually build up something better.” ~Sylvia (outside member)

toquestiontheideaofpunishmentitself

“Maybe our focus should be less on prison abolition than on punishment abolition. Of course, dismantling the paradigm of punishment necessarily includes abolishing prisons, but it goes beyond that. Punishment never teaches people morality… It only teaches how to be obedient.” ~Dymitri

“Punishment is the easy button. It doesn’t require thought and society gets to feel like, ‘We took action; we fixed it.’ But usually it’s only made things worse, not just for the directly affected individuals but for families and others on both sides.” ~Felanie

It’s not just ‘what do we do’ with people after they’ve done violence, it’s also everything leading up to that point, including thinking about how we can cultivate environments that allow people to hold themselves accountable (in contrast to the existing punishment system that radically discourages any personal responsibility and acceptance of blame).” ~Caz

“I loved the quote, ‘Abolition is about presence, not absence. It’s about building life-affirming institutions.’ That gets lost in the convos I have about abolition. What are the life-affirming institutions we should push for? What do I say when people ask “so if prisons are gone, what is there instead?” I grew up taking prisons for granted, like most ppl, I think, so it’s hard too to fully wrap my head around what abolition really means, in the end.” ~Dymitri

I don't think that we can effectively reduce violence in our communities without engaging with people who have experienced harm, but also people who have done harm, and the traumas they have likely experienced. There's just no way to actually be reducing harm in our communities without being engaged with folks. ~Anja

Maybe just maybe, now's the time to push for our prison alternatives. The time seems more ripe now than ever. ~Anastasia

“It really puts into perspective how backwards we have it. And how much more helpful it could be to have alternative responses to these scenarios and how feasible it seems when you read the alternatives that are out there.” ~Racheli

“The ways we're trying to support each other and resist the violence of the system can also be a way that we come together and connect with each other and build our own systems.” ~Dorsey

From: Who’s Left: Prison Abolition

AndfinalwordsfromourlastletterfromOrlando

PARTICIPANTS

We dedicate this zine to Orlando, who died of covid in 2020 and to Shadow, who died in 2021. Rest in peace and in power, dear comrades.

About Flying Over Walls

FLYING OVER WALLS IS a Queer/Trans Prisoner Solidarity Project & abolitionist organization in the SF Bay Area,

We respond to the violence and isolation of the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) through advocacy, education, direct action, and community building and by connecting queer and trans prisoners to community members outside of prison through letterwriting, study groups, and penpal relationships.

flyingoverwalls.org/

Lovely (pictured with his mom)

starting from top, going right: Toran, Racheli, Felanie, Anja, Ary, Sylvia, Kari, Karyn, Caz, Dorsey, Clio, Audrey

Shadow (aka mauro) and katt

Anastasia, released in 2022

orlando

jasmine, released in 2020

Dymitri

Ayanna, released in 2022

Lisa, released in 2020

Not pictured: Nicole, Amy, Sylvia (released in 2022)

Ms Kelli