Take action to support mail access in Texas prisons
Dear Abolition Apostles community members,
In 2023, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) implemented sweeping new changes to prisons across the state. Physical mail is banned from entering Texas prisons and all prisons are shifting to using the private company Securus for digital mail. If you have a penpal in Texas, you may have noticed that this shift has been tumultuous. Mail has been delayed by weeks – and in some cases months. One inside penpal* wrote the following to their outside penpal:
“On the mail issue the last paper letter I received from you took 2 months. I heard one of the guys say that they just received a paper letter from some a month and a half ago. While some one else received one from 3 weeks ago. They have found out if you’re STG (Security Threat Group), your letters aren't getting forwarded by the mail room to the GI (Gang Investigator). Even if you're not on the gang file, everyone is having trouble getting mail at all. Some people's paper letters are getting sent to the Dallas Center instead of being mailed out to the person they're supposed to. We've asked the mailroom about it and we've filed a grievance on it but they all go unanswered.”
The rollout to Securus has also been plagued by technological malfunction and situations that can result in incarcerated individuals being even more isolated from their families and communities. Another inside penpal wrote:
“My mother, for example, is technology challenged. She can't even set up her email account to email me so all her mail goes through an extremely slow process making it impossible to get current info. Another negative is that all mail is sent to our tablets but if our tablets are broken, lost or stolen, then we have to rely on the mailroom to send us our mail from the prison mailroom cloud which can take a long process in itself, making mail even more delayed to receive then the average already delayed mail.”
Abolition Apostles believes that relationships between people inside and outside prisons are a lifeline, and have the power to be transformative for both participants. This policy harms relationships between people in prisons and their family and friends.
A group of Abolition Apostles volunteers have been working hard on challenging the current situation in Texas. We have been partnering with local Texas organizations including Lioness Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance, the Texas Civil Rights Project, Showing Up for Racial Justice’s Abolition Action Hour, and others to strategize how to best challenge the new Texas mail policy.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice meets next on April 26, 2024 in Austin, Texas. This meeting is in-person and open for members of the public to offer comments. Abolition Apostles is organizing an in-person contingent to attend and challenge this policy. If you are in the Austin, Texas area and would like to attend and offer a comment, please contact Abolition Apostles collective member Mckenna Lucas at mckennalucas13@gmail.com or via Slack. Mckenna is attending in person and is happy to discuss possible carpooling/pre-meeting prep. If you do want to speak, you must register by Mon 4/22 by emailing tbcj@tdcj.texas.gov for details.
If you are not in Texas or unable to attend, you can still take action via email! Please see here for an email template to send before the April 26 meeting. After sending an email to the board, feel free to fill out this google form so Abolition Apostles can tall the total number of emails sent
In solidarity,
Aisha, Anna, Erin, Joe, and Mckenna on behalf of Abolition Apostles
*Messages are anonymous and shared with permission by penpals.