Our Impact Thus Far: SawariMedia's advocacy work is focused on preserving democracy for the most marginalized, dehumanized and disenfranchised people in the US: citizens incarcerated in federal prisons, state prisons, jails and detention facilities across the country.
SawariMedia has been publishing prisoner newsletters since 2016, with SawariMedia's current Right2Vote Report circulates across hundreds of prisons in 33 states educating disenfranchised populations on impactful pieces of state and federal legislation, as well as providing representative mailing information while encouraging readers to act as constituents by writing to their representative committees about the conditions they endure throughout their incarceration. It's essential that legislators are aware of the dilapidated conditions of those facilities within their jurisdiction.
Understanding that in a majority of states incarcerated citizens will regain their voting rights following their release, SawariMedia plans to expand the Right2Vote Report to the Re-entry Report that would highlight voting rights along with legislative updates and reentry advice targeted towards reducing recidivism. The current Right2Vote Report includes articles and artwork produced by people in prison, the Re-entry Report will do the same along with incorporating pieces written by formerly incarcerated citizens who've successfully adjusted in their transition from long-term incarceration. However, unlike the Right2Vote which is strictly distributed in print, the Re-entry Report will also be distributed digitally, uploaded to prisoner tablets and facility kiosks where incarcerated citizens could access reguardless of subscription.
What Your Contribution Will Support A national magazine humanizing the experiences of and encouraging civically engaged incarcerated citizens, distributed in print and digitally at no cost to themselves or the facility with practical guidance on reentry centering the voices of impacted citizens themselves.
Your dollars will help us to
- Increase the number of facilities in new states receiving the SawariMedia publications
- Increase the number of subscriptions being sent to incarcerated supporters at no cost to subscribers
- Increase the amount of media distributed for greater awareness of voting rights and civic education opportunities
Show your support for this campaign by endorsing it and sharing why!
March 20, 2023
SawariMedia Launches Weekly Talk Show Series to Spotlight Incarcerated Reader Experiences
This past week was the 2nd of Amani's reading reflections featuring a handwritten letter from a beautiful woman who has spent too much of her life trying to communicate with the outside world in order to share her story. Her mail has been censored for decades and decades by prison officials trying to keep her from sharing her story, so I share this letter as an amplification of Naomi’s perspective.
Please take a moment to listen, share and you’re welcome to look into her case, the invitation is outlined within her letter that we’ll take a very deep look at this week.
Following that I’ve got some special artwork to show, possibly THE MOST influential piece drawn for SawariMedia’s Right2Vote Report newsletter. I was off-site for this one, next recording I’ll make sure to have my microphone handy, if you have trouble hearing let me know in the comments as well as any other reflections you have on the narrative and/or artwork that I’m sure my readers will look forward to. TEN in the PEN aims to establish a two-way dialogue between inside readers and outside viewers for the benefit of all those impacted by PISC.
