Here's @phillipvancesmith2.bsky.social, a journalist incarcerated in North Carolina, talking about his recent story in @boltsmag.org about three-strikes laws—featuring the voices of a man serving life, and the victim he shot who’s been pushing for his release full story boltsmag.org/north-caroli...

For #Quakers wanting to visit friends behind bars, @pendlehillusa.bsky.social has a pamphlet on that. Once we have friends inside, the need for #prisonabolition becomes clear. pendlehill.org/product/beyo...

Sojourners@sojo.net · 6d ago

"While each of the nearly 2 million incarcerated people in the U.S. has their own story, they all share one experience: losing access to their neighbors on the outside," writes Tate Young. sojo.net/articles/new...

From my morning walk (details in alt text)

“Turning Southern plantations into Southern prisons is not a secret. It’s not an innovation, either. It’s a distinguished tradition in the South." washingtoncitypaper.com/article/2683...

jacob biba@jacobbiba.bsky.social · 2w ago

"A state official, who requested anonymity to discuss private planning, said the facility could be open as soon as late September." www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/u...

Modern Day Slavery in the United States: Exploring Forced Labor for Prison Inmates www.humanrightsresearch.org/post/modern-...

Modern Day Slavery in the United States: Exploring Forced Labor for Prison Inmates

Author: Kaitlyn Andres, MPH & MSJune 2, 2026The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States (U.S.) Constitution was passed in 1865 as a means to codify President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamat...

humanrightsresearch.org

"When that door closes and I am sealed in metal mesh while a white man watches...something in my body goes backward in time. I feel the transatlantic crossing I never lived through but carry in my blood..." @kwanetaharris.bsky.social kwanetaharris.substack.com/p/all-our-at...

All of Our Attorney Visits Are Inside a Literal Cage

I sat in a chair with no arms, and then they closed a cage around me.

kwanetaharris.substack.com

A poem by my friend Ojore McKinnon "I remember on the slave ship The crew forced us to the ground, assaulting us with barbs "Now we lay spread-eagle on prison yards, the crew standing over us are prison guards" prisonerswithchildren.org/newspaper/po...

The latest from @phillipvancesmith2.bsky.social, a phenomenal journalist incarcerated in North Carolina, is this striking piece about three-strikes laws, how they condemned someone to prison for life, and the man he shot who's trying to get him out "If I can forgive him, why can’t everybody else?"

In North Carolina, a Shooting Victim Pleads for His Shooter’s Release After 30 Years - Bolts

Ramulus Mason was sentenced to life without parole due to North Carolina’s three-strikes law. The man he shot insists that he shouldn’t still be in prison.

boltsmag.org

"San Quentin will always be the bulldozed crime scene where the state’s first prison Warden—a white slave owner—secured a lease from the state legislature, which permitted him to lease captives out to area businesses for personal profit." #prisonabolition prisonerswithchildren.org/newspaper/th...

I am really looking forward to this! #prisonabolition #Quakers

Hannah Bowman@hannahnpbowman.com · 4mo ago

For real now: YOU CAN PRE-ORDER MY BOOK!!! www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...

I appreciated the 2012 @pbs.org documentary, Slavey By Another Name. I learned a lot about US history between Reconstruction & WWII. But I was disappointed that PBS did not acknowledge the fact that slavery STILL persists in the US. news.uchicago.edu/story/rethin... www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-...

Watch Slavery by Another Name | PBS

SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME is a 90-minute documentary that challenges the belief that slavery ended with the Civil War.

pbs.org

"Of the state’s 141,000 prisoners, more than 85,000 are held in cells without air conditioning where internal temperatures regularly exceed 115F (46C) in summer months. "A high of 149F has been recorded." #prisonabolition #FreeThemAll

Prison Policy Initiative@prisonpolicy.org · 3w ago

Texas, which has one of the largest carceral systems in the world, refuses to provide AC in all of its prisons. Incarcerated people "spill dirty toilet water on the concrete floors of their cells and lie in it," desperate for relief from temps that regularly exceed 115 degrees. This is torture.

You need to read this.

Kwaneta Harris@kwanetaharris.bsky.social · 3w ago

Assata Shakur would have been 79 today. After she passed last year, Kwaneta wrote this poem. kwanetaharris.substack.com/p/when-assat...

My neighbor's Black Eyed Susans and Beautyberries in my yard #NativePlants

My neighbor's sunflowers 🌻

This post was profoundly disturbing. And sadly, no surprise to me. "Prison doctors act as gatekeepers to health. If they don’t think we deserve adequate healthcare, because of personal or professional bias, we won’t get it. Full stop." @ncgovernor.bsky.social

Works by Phillip Vance Smith, II@phillipvancesmith2.bsky.social · 3w ago

Read the full story and subscribe. #NorthCarolina prisonlifeunlocked.substack.com/p/medical-ma...

💯 #NorthCarolina #ncpol #prisonabolition @ncgovernor.bsky.social

Prison Policy Initiative@prisonpolicy.org · 4w ago

Hey, North Carolina: Increasing CO wages won't work — that's because "understaffing" is an untreatable symptom of mass incarceration, not a recruitment issue.

“Abolitionists don’t begin with punishment. They begin with harm. When someone is hurt, what would healing look like? When someone causes harm, how do we repair it, reduce it, and prevent it from happening again?” #prisonabolition #Quakers davisvanguard.org/2025/04/pris...

Op-Ed | What Prison Abolition Is—and Why 'Forks and Dorms' Matter - Davis Vanguard

Prison abolitionists argue that the U.S. prison system is ineffective and that alternatives such as restorative justice and community-based systems of care can better address root causes of crime and ...

davisvanguard.org

"There are more children with parents in prison than there are people in prison." This was an excellent @prisonpolicy.org webinar. I highly recommend. www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2026/06...

WEBINAR: Fighting for families: How advocates are resisting attacks on visitation and physical mail

Protecting family connections and bonds with loved ones during incarceration is one of the most important and, increasingly, one of the most difficult things advocates ...

prisonpolicy.org

"When we allow ourselves to be separated from each other, we are creating...greater brokenness." #Quakers #prisonabolition #transformativejustice quakerspeak.com/video/how-qu...

How Quakers Can Help End Mass Incarceration - QuakerSpeak

The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world, with over 2.4 million people currently behind bars. What can Quakers do about it?

quakerspeak.com

A grim reminder this 4th of July: The US has the highest incarceration rate of any independent democracy on Earth, making it a leader in mass incarceration. Far too many people are locked up in the “land of the free.”

The violent carceral system of the US is built on this very war-shipful posture & explains why the US has - by far - the highest incarceration rate of any democracy. We are at war with ourselves. The casualties are those who can least bear the cost. open.substack.com/pub/rwoodley...

Special Issue: What Are You Celebrating? | War, the Star-Spangled Banner, Frederick Douglass, and the DNA of MAGA

250 Years of American Myth: With God on Our Side? | THE JULY 4TH ISSUE

open.substack.com

Love this. Read Phill's blog if you don't already: prisonlifeunlocked.substack.com

Works by Phillip Vance Smith, II@phillipvancesmith2.bsky.social · last mo.

I've been enjoying the Quakers Today Podcast, hosted by @petersontoscano.bsky.social , as they explore #Quakers & money. The best part so far was a prophetic listener comment by John Choe at the end of the June 16 episode. Thank you, John. www.friendsjournal.org/podcast/quak... #prisonabolition

Quaker Podcast - Podcast Exploring Quaker Life & Religious Beliefs

Quakers Today, hosted by Peterson Toscano, features writers, musicians, and thinkers who are seeking wisdom and understanding in a rapidly changing world.

friendsjournal.org

Excellent resource from @hannahnpbowman.com exploring a theological basis for abolition. christiansforabolition.org/wp-content/u... #prisonabolition #restorativejustice #Quakers

My heart just swells with joy reading this inspiring vision of an abolitionist future. #transformativejustice

Kwaneta Harris@kwanetaharris.bsky.social · last mo.

For Scalawag Magazine, Kwaneta presents this Southern dystopian short fiction inspired by the works of Octavia Butler and the realities of modern debt slavery. scalawagmagazine.org/2026/06/lett...

A mistaken impression I see all the time is that abolitionists object to incremental steps. That’s not true at all! Abolitionists don’t object to making change incrementally rather than all at once, we just want abolition to be the goal that guides the direction our incremental steps go in!

Congratulations to Phill, @deborahmw.bsky.social , and Marsha Weissman for this well-deserved honor! prisonlifeunlocked.substack.com/p/phill-rece...

Phill Receives an Award from Temple University's Participatory Law Fund

In August of 2025, Phillip Vance Smith, II became an award recipient of the Participatory Law Fund from Temple University, alongside Professors Deborah and Marsha Weissman, for coauthoring a law journ...

prisonlifeunlocked.substack.com

1/ Today is Father's Day. In #NorthCarolina, more than 20K children have a parent incarcerated in the state prison system (which does not include federal prisons, jails or detention centers in NC). This is a staggering number. www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2024/04/15/o...

Over 20,000 children in NC have a parent who’s incarcerated. A handful of them visited prison for a day of bonding and connecting.

With growing recognition that children are also affected by incarceration, some prisons are looking for ways to build and maintain family ties.

northcarolinahealthnews.org

Read this thread. In #NorthCarolina, incarcerated workers earn $0.40 to $1.00 per DAY, lower than the national average. One postage stamp can be 2 days' wages. A 15-min call to the kids? A week's wages #EndTheException #prisonabolition #ncpol @jeffjacksonnc.bsky.social @ncgovernor.bsky.social

Prison Policy Initiative@prisonpolicy.org · 2mo ago

So incarcerated people keep the prisons running, and they're paid abysmally low wages. Nationwide, the average paid to incarcerated workers is between $0.86 and $3.45 PER DAY for most prison jobs. And in 5 states (AL, AR, FL, GA and TX), regular prison jobs are still unpaid.