Tuesday, January 24th – Letter Writing for Alex Stokes

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: Tuesday, January 24th, 2023
WHERE: from wherever you happen to be
COST: Free

We are living in a time in which there is more to keep up with than is seemingly possible, both in terms of repression, but also resistance. As everyone reading this probably knows, forest defender Tortuguita was shot and killed in a raid by multiple armed police forces just days ago, on January 18th. There have also been several more arrests, with ‘terrorism’ charges being levied at even more protestors opposing Cop City. As horrific as this repression is, it points to the serious challenge posed to the Cop City project by the Forest Defenders, and the strength of the intersectional movements supporting them.

This brings to mind other recent episodes of heavy repression against those resisting oppression and fighting; the abolitionist uprising following the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, and the anti-fascist resistance surrounding the attempted coup of January 2021. Fortunately, good people did what they could to help expose the murderous nature of racial policing in the United States in the former, and to help defend their communities against fascist violence in the latter. Unfortunately though, good comrades are being locked behind bars for both, sometimes with brutally long prison sentences.

One of these is Alex Stokes, who we are asking everyone to write to this week. From Alex’s support site:
On January 6, 2021, protestors gathered outside the New York State Capitol in Albany, NY in support of the Stop the Steal rally in Washington DC. A handful of counter protesters spoke out against them and a melee broke out after a Proud Boy tased a Black man in the neck. Alex was watching from the sidelines and ran to help others. Police did not intervene until the violence had ended and ultimately arrested three Black activists. Alex was charged with several violent felonies. The Proud Boys that engaged in the violence were not arrested at the scene.

Alex’s family and friends maintain that he was railroaded by the system. He was a journalist under a court-ordered gag-order for over a year. His previous work and experience with dangerous hate groups were inadmissible for his defense, but the prosecution picked apart his social media accounts and portrayed his actions as premeditated. He was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison, despite the fact that no one died and neither of the victims received life-altering injuries.

In addition to being a journalist and an activist, Alex is also a talented artist with an interest in graphic novels if anyone wants to send him some reading material. There is also a donation page set up to help with Alex’s legal bills to help overturn the horrendously long sentence he is serving. More information at freealexstokes.com

NYC ABC is asking you to please help send Alex some love and solidarity. Write him a letter!
(As always, please refer to the “Write a Letter” section if it’s your first time writing someone inside.

Please take the time to write a letter to Alex (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Alexander Contompasis 22-B-5028
Upstate Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 2001
Malone, New York 12953

October 23rd-30th – New Incentive For Alex Stuck (Tinley Park Five) Donors

From October 23rd-30th, whoever makes the largest donation of over $30 to the Alex Stuck release fund can choose a t-shirt with either of the two designs pictured above.

New Campaign: Welcome Home Alex Stuck (Tinley Park Five)

Alex Stuck of the Tinley Park 5 is due to be released from prison at the end of this month or by early November. So , Bloomington ABC , NYC ABC , and Sacramento Prisoner Support have launched a campaign to start a release fund for Alex.

From j.mp/alexstuck:
“Alex…was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for attacking and stopping an organizing luncheon of white supremacists. The meeting of white nationalists and neo-Nazis took place in Tinley Park, Illinois in May 2012.

With good time, Alex will be getting out in late October or early November. Alex has enjoyed many letters, correspondences and book & commissary donations from his supporters during his time in captivity (y’all have helped to make his time much more tolerable!), but prisoner support doesn’t end when our comrades are released; transitioning out of prison can be a difficult time for former prisoners.

Having felonies on one’s record creates barriers to housing and employment. Many things about their lives and communities may have changed during their time inside, so extra effort is required to provide support and build solidarity to avoid isolation and undue financial hardship. Please help us create a gracious homecoming and a smooth re-entry for Alex.”

Please remember that prisoner support doesn’t end when a comrade is released. Through halfway houses, supervised release, parole, or probation, there is usually state supervision beyond the initial sentence. Also, prison is traumatic. And of course there is the stigma of being a former prisoner that effects nearly every aspect of one’s life. All of this adds up to the less obvious, but equally necessary, support needed when our loved ones come home. Donate to your ability and show an anti-fascist comrade how we welcome folks home.

If for whatever reason you’d rather donate to Alex offline, please make the check payable to Alex Stuck and mail it to:
Sacramento Prisoner Support
Post Office Box 163126
Sacramento, California 95816

If you’d like to write to Alex to let him know you’re thinking of him and that you’re glad he’s getting out soon, he’d love to hear from you. His current address is:
Alex Stuck M34020
Dixon Correctional Center
2600 North Brinton Avenue
Dixon, Illinois 61021

More information is available at tinleyparkfive.wordpress.com and j.mp/alexstuck

A request from Alex Stuck (Tinley Park Five)

By way of Sacramento Prisoner Support and Bloomington Anarchist Black Cross, we’ve received a request from Tinley Park Five prisoner Alex Stuck. Alex is looking for books and articles. The requests read:
“Alex Stuck of the Tinley Park 5 wanted it to be spread around a little that he’d very much appreciate any book by Milton Erickson or Moshe Feldenkrais. He’d also like  articles on hypnotherapy. He did not request any specific titles, just anything by Milton Erickson and anything by Feldenkrais or by others about the Feldenkrais method. he is also interested in transpersonal psychology and kinesics.”

Anything you can do to help this antifascist comrade is appreciated. If you do decide to send a book, please contact folks from the Hoosier Anti Racist Movement (H.A.R.M.) or Bloomington ABC and let them know. This will help insure that Alex isn’t receiving multiples of the same titles. E-mail H.A.R.M. at harm@riseup.net or Bloomington ABC at ellicit@riseup.net.

Here are some suggested titles:
Milton Erickson
Hypnotic Realities (With Ernest L. Rossi)
Healing in Hypnosis SENT
Hypnotherapy – An Exploratory Casebook (With Ernest L. Rossi)
Experiencing Hypnosis (With Ernest L. Rossi)
Time Distortion in Hypnosis (With Linn F. Cooper)

Moshe Feldenkrais
The Elusive Obvious
The Master Moves
Awareness through Movement SENT
The Potent Self
Practical Unarmed Combat
Judo: The Art of Defense and Attack
Higher Judo (Groundwork)

Books, articles, and letters can be sent to Alex at:
Alex Stuck M34020
Dixon Correctional Center
2600 North Brinton Avenue
Dixon, Illinois 61021

For more information on sending letters, articles, and books, checkout our guide to writing a letter.

A Letter from Alex Hundert

Not long after he was remanded to prison, NYC ABC focused one of our letter-writing dinners on G20 “main conspiracy” prisoner Alex Hundert. Recently, we received a reply that we’d like to share with you. If you haven’t been reading his blog, you should; it’s great. It’s at alexhundert.wordpress.com.

Without further ado…

Dear New York,

Thanks so much for your card and well wishes! Solidarity, especially across borders, is so important for all of our struggles. I got letters from NYC ABC while I was in jail for pre-trial custody in 2010, and it was so nice to hear from y’all again, now that I’ve been sentenced.

I’m doing well in here. I spend almost all my time reading and writing (my blog is at alexhundert.wordpress.com), which keeps me both relaxed and sustained. Also, Canadian prisons aren’t as bad as ones in the states (though, on the other hand, not as good as ones in Scandinavia). I’m not sure if people south of the imaginary (but militarized) line (aka, the border) know that. But yeah, I’m good.

I’m working on setting up a pen pal program with one of the womens’ prisons in the province, among other projects.

Anyway, I wanted to thank you all, and send the solidarity right back to you.

Solidarity, Love, + Respect,
Alex

NYC – Tuesday, June 19th – Letter-writing for Marissa Alexander – NEW LOCATION

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, June 19, 2012
WHERE: CAGE – 83A Hester Street New York, New York 10002 (directions below)
COST: Free

Never let it be said that the folks in NYC Anarchist Black Cross are lazy. Since our last letter-writing night, we’ve co-organized a benefit for two long-term earth and animal liberation prisoners as well as a Father’s Day Eve noise demonstration outside of the Metropolitan Correction Center in downtown Manhattan. Now, one day before the summer solstice, we’re hosting another of our every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinners. This week we are writing to self-defense prisoner Marissa Alexander.

Marissa Alexander was repeatedly abused and assaulted by her husband, Edward Rico Gray, including while she was pregnant. On August 1, 2010, Marissa’s premature newborn daughter was in the Baptist South N.I.C.U. fighting for her life. At that exact moment,  Marissa, too,  fought for life in her own home against her husband. Marissa tried to escape her husband, only to find herself trapped in their garage. Unable to open the garage door, she took action and likely saved her own life. Marissa legally owned a licensed handgun. In fact, she was also licensed to carry a concealed weapon.  When her husband entered the garage, Marissa fired a single warning shot into the ceiling.

Florida, under its controversial “Stand Your Ground” law, allows that a person may use force in self-defense when there is reasonable belief of a threat, without an obligation to retreat first. Such has been the defense of George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin killing. And yet Marissa Alexander, who did first retreat and had no previous criminal history, was denied a “stand your ground” defense and convicted of three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon with no intent to harm. She has since been sentenced to 20 years in state prison.

If you are unable to make it to dinner, please take the time to write a letter to Marissa at:
Marissa Alexander DC# J46944
Lowell Annex
11120 NW Gainesville Road
Ocala, Florida 34482-1479

For more information, visit justice4marissa.com

May 1st – May Day letter-writing for Anarchist Prisoners

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: May 1st, 2023
WHERE: your home (or wherever you happen to be)
COST: Free

“Give flowers to the rebels who failed,
Their sight fixed upon the break of dawn,
To the bold rebel who fights and works
To the far-seeing poet who sings and dies”
from Primo Maggio (The First of May),
by Pietro Gori, 1890

May Day is historically an anarchist holiday, which honors the date called for a nation-wide general strike for the 8 hour day work day in 1886. The tumultuous days that followed in the mid-western states resulted in multiple skirmishes and several casualties on both sides, and ultimately led to the railroaded conviction of 8 known anarchists from the Chicago scene. On November 11th, 1887, four anarchists were hanged—Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel, Adolph Fischer; Louis Lingg took his own life the night before to deny the state the satisfaction. Their sacrifice became symbolic of the sacrifices, struggles, and victories of anarchists the world over who have given their time, energy, and risked their lived and freedom for the Beautiful Ideal.

So this May Day NYC ABC is asking you to write letters to some anarchists and comrades currently held in U.S. prisons. Please drop them a line or send a card to let them know you are thinking of them. (Note: the addresses below are correct to the best of our knowledge as of the time of this posting, though in some cases links to info about their cases does not reflect this; ie, Casey’s address has changed due to new digitized mail protocols.)

Gage Halupowski #21894460
South Fork Forest Camp
48300 Wilson River Highway
Tillamook, Oregon 97141-9799

Alexander Contompasis 22-B-5028
Upstate Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 2001
Malone, New York 12953

Benjamin Varela #434577
Stafford Creek Corrections Center
191 Constantine Way
Aberdeen, Washington 98520

Eric King #27090-045
USP Florence ADMAX
Post Office Box 8500
Florence, Colorado 81226

Daniel Baker #25765-509
FCI Memphis
Post Office Box 34550
Memphis, Tennessee 38184

Marius Mason* #04672-061
FCI Danbury
Route 37
Danbury, Connecticut 06811
*Address envelope to Marie (Marius) Mason.

Xinachtli* #255735
W.G. McConnell Unit
3001 Emily Drive
Beeville, Texas 78102
*Address envelope to Alvaro Hernández

Casey Brezik #1154765
c/o Digital Mail Center- Missouri DOC
Post Office Box 25678
Tampa, Florida 33622-5678

Bill Dunne #10916-086
FCI Victorville Medium I
Post Office Box 3725
Adelanto, California 92301

Tuesday, April 4 – Letter Writing to Joe-Joe Bowen

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, April 4, 2023
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free

“I ain’t no angel, I’ll do my time. All we want is to be recognized as what we are, human beings.”
These are words of long-term U.S.-held political prisoner Joe-Joe Bowen. What the carceral system consistently seeks to do to political prisoners is deny their humanity. This applies to veterans of Black Liberation movements such as Joe-Joe, as well as to more recently incarcerated Forest Defenders or defenders against right-wing violence, or anyone else caught up for their part in struggles in defense of our communities and our planet. As always, NYC ABC continues our dedication to supporting and asserting the humanity of those imprisoned for their active association with anti-oppression movements in a country that claims to have no political prisoners. This week we ask you to write Black Liberation prisoner Joe-Joe Bowen.

A native of Philadelphia, Joe-Joe was a young member of the “30th and Norris” street gang before his incarceration politicized him. Released in 1971, his outside activism was cut short a week following his release when Joe-Joe was confronted by an officer of the notoriously brutal Philadelphia police department. The police officer was killed in the confrontation, and Bowen fled. After his capture and incarceration, Bowen became a Black Liberation Army combatant, defiant to authorities at every turn. In 1973, Joe-Joe assassinated Holmesberg prison’s warden and deputy warden as well as wounded the guard commander in retaliation for intense repression against Muslim prisoners in the facility.  In 1981, Bowen led a six-day standoff with authorities when he and six other captives took 39 hostages at Graterford Prison as a freedom attempt and protest of the prison conditions. More information here.

Please take the time to write a letter to Joe-Joe!
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Joseph Bowen AM4272
SCI Fayette
Post Office Box 33028
Saint Petersburg, Florida 33733
*Address cards/letters to Joe-Joe.

Illustrated Guide Version 16 Uploaded!

We’ve finished the latest version of the NYC ABC “Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War” and it’s available for viewing (and download) by clicking on the tab at the top of this page. This update includes updated mini-bios, photos, and address changes for several prisoners. Unfortunately, we are adding a prisoner to the guide this month–anti-racist Alex Stokes.

Tuesday, December 27th – Letter Writing To Nikki Hubbard

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, December 27th, 2022
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free

There are always ebbs and flows in every aspect of the intersecting avenues of liberation struggles and supporting political prisoners is no exception. Actually this work that we do together might be a bellwether for both the state of our movements and social/political trends of society at large. It is certainly a better barometer than election cycles for instance. And we are unfortunately entering a time in which the trend of seeing a few comrades be able to come home over the past few years (while others have been sadly left to die inside) is being reversed, as harsh charges and sentences are being meted out to several activists for organizing against police brutality, standing up to right wing violence, and defending what is left our natural spaces. But it is important to remember that as much as we are heartbroken that our comrades are forcibly caged and kept separated from their lives and loved ones, we must also honor and celebrate their courage and determination to actively resist harm to their communities and our shared planet.

This week, we are encouraging you to join us in writing to Nikki Hubbard. Nikki is a BLM activist who was recently sentenced to over 4 years for counter-protesting a Pro-Trump “Patriot’s March” in Pacific Beach, CA. According to her supporters, none of the Pro-Trump protesters were detained however Nikki and many other defendants were arrested for conspiracy, assault, and unlawful tear gas (for having pepper spray). Nikki is trans femme and is currently being held in a men’s facility despite her legal Driver’s License gender being changed to Female. Her partner has set up a link tree for her where you can find social media, mutual aid, and donation links related to Nikki’s case and causes. From what we hear, Nikki is interested in psychology, viking-era fantasy fiction, and history.

Also, Nikki’s birthday is January 7th, so please wish her the happiest of birthdays possible while inside!

Note: The prison system is inhumane and cis-heterosexist, so envelopes must be addressed to Nikki’s State/deadname (below). Address the letter itself to her actual name, Nikki. (A petition to get her moved to a women’s prison will be set up in the near future.)

Free Nikki! Free Them All!

Please join NYC ABC in a letter to Nikki Hubbard:

Erich Yach #BU6682
Wasco State Prison Recpetion Center
701 Scofield Ave.,
P.O. Box 5500,
Wasco, CA 93280
*address letter to Nikki*

As always, please refer to the “Write a Letter” section if it’s your first time writing someone inside.