Horror, Sleaze and Trash.

queeranarchism

Wanna do direct action but you can’t run, can’t fight, can’t deal with stress, can’t risk getting arrested? Not near a community to support? You can still do something.
Like write to prisoners.
Prisons try to disappear people, isolate them, crush them. Don’t let that happen.
Write to activists in prison, write to trans people in prison, write to isolated prisoners, write to prisoners who no one else thinks are worth writing to.
Write to prisoners.

hunterinabrowncoat

Are there any programs or websites that help facilitate this which are based on the UK that you know of? Most of the info I’ve found tends to be US-based or just gov.uk general info about writing to someone you know in prison.
But given that I’m chronically ill or seems like a great way to actually do something and be an active part of change.

queeranarchism

Great to hear that you’re interested!
The Anarchist Black Cross is a prisoner support network that has chapters in a lot of countries and cities. In the UK there are:

London: https://network23.org/londonabc/
Brighton: https://www.brightonabc.org.uk/
Bristol: https://bristolabc.wordpress.com/

Other UK based groups include:

SOAS Detainee Support: https://soasdetaineesupport.wordpress.com (focused on supporting people in migrant detention)
The Bent Bars project: http://www.bentbarsproject.org/ (focused on LGBTIAQ+ prisoners)
The Empty Cages Collective: http://www.prisonabolition.org/
Prison Action London: http://www.prisonabolition.org/prison-action-london/

You can also find a prisoner to write to on your own via:
http://prisonersolidarity.net/data-explorer
Do check out some of the ‘do’s and don’t’ on one of these websites before you start, there are some basics like ‘don’t talk about illegal activities’ and ‘don’t stop writing without being honest to the person about the fact that you’re going to stop writing’ that are essential to know, and a lot of less important tips that just make it easier to start writing to someone you don’t know yet. Goodluck!

queeranarchism

Shoutout to @freackthejester for pointing out Black and Pink (http://www.blackandpink.org), that can help you find LGBTIAQ+ prisoners in prison in the US, with chapters in:

Dorchester: members@blackandpink.org
Boise: boise@blackandpink.org – Chapter page
Chicago- blackandpinkchicago@gmail.com – Chapter page
Milwaukee – Milwaukee@blackandpink.org
New Orleans- neworleans@blackandpink.org – Chapter page
NYC- nyc@blackandpink.org – Chapter page
Providence – providence@blackandpink.org
San Francisco- flyingoverwalls@gmail.com
http://flyingoverwalls.wordpress.com/ – Chapter page

queeranarchism

Someone also requested resources for Australia so I’m going to add those to this reblog chain:

Anarchist Black Cross Oceania https://www.facebook.com/abcoceania/
Anarchist Black Cross Melbourne https://abcmelb.wordpress.com/
Indigenous Social Justice Association Melbourne http://www.isjamelbourne.com/

Antifascist Action Brisbane has also hosted prisoner solidarity events (https://www.facebook.com/AntifascistBrisbane/)
And whenever there is no explicit prisoner-support organization, ask your local anarchists! Most anarchist groups do some prisoner support as well since supporting those who defy the state is basic anarchist praxis. This long list of Australia anarchist organizations probably includes groups that do some prisoner support: https://anarchy.org.au/directory/
Also contributed by people in the notes of this post so far:
Canada: Inmate Innk Calgary, http://www.inmateink.ca/
Japan (English-speaking prisoners): http://franciscanchapelcentertokyo.org/prison-outreach/

queeranarchism

Turns out people really like the extra resources on this post so here we go. Most of these urls were listen by Anarchist Black Cross Gent but I took out some dead urls and make them clickable.
ABC Argentina:
https://cnario.noblogs.org/
ABC Austria: https://www.abc-wien.net/
ABC Belarus: https://abc-belarus.org/
Belgium: