Prisoner Correspondence Project

The Prisoner Correspondence Project is a collectively-run initiative based out of Montreal, Quebec. It coordinates a direct-correspondence program for gay, lesbian, transsexual, transgender, gendervariant, two-spirit, intersex, bisexual and queer inmates in Canada and the United States, linking these inmates with people a part of these same communities outside of prison.

We are always looking for new non-incarcerated folks to become penpals! If you are interested, check out the get involved section of the website and then get in touch.

Feminist Troubles with Protection in a Prison Nation
–a panel featuring Erica Meiners followed by a presentation by the Prisoner Correspondence Project

THURSDAY, MARCH 18th, 2010
4:30-6:30pm
H-760 (7th floor, Hall Building, 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. West)

Using recent work by anti-prison theorists and community-based activists who are working against prison industrial complex in the US, this talk links prison abolition to feminist frameworks to question escalating sex offender registries and community notification laws that are the state’s response to sexual violence against children and women. This will be followed by a discussion on the queer history of sex offender registries in the United States and their growth in the last two decades, the foundation to use current shifts in the U.S. juvenile justice system, and how using abolition as a possible framework to shift public dialogues about safety and conceptions about childhood and family.

This event is wheelchair accessible; elevators are located on the ground floor of the Hall Building, accessible via de Maisonneuve or Bishop street entrances.

If you require childcare for this event, please contact us 48 hours before the event.

The Prisoner Correspondence Project is a working group of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) at Concordia University.

This event is presented by the Simone de Beauvoir Institute.

This year, for the first time, the Project is doing a holiday mailout for the 150+ members of the Project spending the holidays in prison. To raise funds, we’re selling the beautiful holiday card that we’re mailing, based on a screen print by the very talented Ms. Sara Pupo.

The cards are blank and being sold 5 for $10, envelopes included.

To buy a set, you have two options:

A) Via our paypal account. Please include $1 for postage in Canada, $2 for postage in the US and remember to give us your mailing address.

B) Email info@prisonercorrespondenceproject.com with your address and then send a cheque (including $1 for postage in Canada, $2 for postage in the US) made out to “QPIRG-Concordia,” to our mailing address found here:

Here’s hoping your holidays are merry and gay…

Collective members Julia and Liam were interviewed last month by the prisoner justice media collective Stark Raven about safer sex for queer and trans prisoners. Click here to listen to the show!

Stark Raven produces a radio program three times a month featuring in-depth interviews, news and analysis on issues related to prisons and criminalization, both locally and from around the world. The radio program has been on the air for 21 years.

Renata Hill has been moved to Albion – here is her new address:

Renata Hill 07-G-0636
Albion Correctional Facility
3595 State Road
Albion, NY 14411-9399

Please send her thoughts, letters, art, poetry, and anything else that might help keep her spirit strong.

For information about the NJ4, visit: http://freenj4.wordpress.com