by Rick Fisk | Mar 10, 2016 | From the Inside
An excerpt of a letter from Rick in February of 2014, when he was still in county jail, and about six months before he was moved to prison. He writes about his idea to start Adopt an Inmate.
I feel as though I am the most well-taken-care-of inmate in Del Valle. Having friends and family who have professed faith in my innocence and pledged support through cards, letters and books is a blessing more valuable than can be conveyed or repaid. It has allowed me to maintain my sanity. Without these blessings I believe I would have fallen into a bottomless pit of despair. This belief and the eye-opening real-life stories revealed to me by fellow inmates drives me to make some difference here. Now and in the future. For a good while I have been contemplating a non-profit I have tentatively dubbed “Adopt-an-inmate.”
The organization would seek to provide the blessings I have received as well as other services possibly required for those caught up in the system without local resources to help them.
While I suspect it is by design, there is no solid proof of a conspiracy to deprive an inmate the means to defend himself. Conspiracy or not, a confluence of jail conditions can prevent the incarcerated from effectively participating in his own defense. It is this predicament that I’d most like to eradicate. Hope is a scarce commodity in jail. Those who provide it to us are God’s own angels.
by Melissa Bee | Jun 8, 2026 | From the Staff, Your Sunday Read
Happy Sunday Monday, Friends 🐝,
Sometimes a Sunday Read becomes a Monday Read. Partly because WordPress happened. Partly because painting happened. Partly because cabinet delivery preparations happened. And partly because I continue to discover that I can only do one thing at a time, despite repeated attempts to prove otherwise.
My life is currently held together with painter’s tape and optimism.
The good news is that the delay came with progress: our new Volunteer Calendar & Events page is now live, event registration is up and running, and after a year without a kitchen, we’re making serious progress!
I’d call that a fair trade.
Here’s a peek at what we’ve been working on ⬇️.
Monthly Volunteer Sessions at Friends Church. We are so grateful to Eugene Friends Church for providing us with space for monthly volunteer gatherings.
New Volunteer Calendar & Event Registration Now Live. Spurred on by the above, we have created a public-facing Adopt an Inmate calendar, so you can see what we’re up to. Events marked with a 🐝 in the title are open for signups, using the button above the calendar.
Our Letters From Prison: In the Classroom initiative continues to grow, connecting students with the voices and experiences of people inside. We believe education, empathy, and human connection can change the conversation, and we’re excited about the partnerships already taking shape.
Bee Fest 2026. Most people see the finished work.
The letters and applications arrive & are processed.
The connections that are made.
The university partnerships.
The new programs.
The lives touched.
What they don’t always see are the volunteers behind the scenes making it happen. Every summer we bring those volunteers together – to plan, collaborate, solve problems, share ideas, and do a whole lot of work in support of the people we serve.
We’ve launched a campaign to help cover gathering expenses. If you’d like to help support the hive, you can do so here.
You can find the details of all of the above on our blog page.
🏠 Kitchen Corner
One year ago our kitchen was torn apart by water damage. Tomorrow the new cabinets finally arrive. Then we get to assemble them. Ourselves. 😱
We’ve spent the past year cooking with an egg cooker, washing dishes in the bathroom sink, and balancing colanders in the bathtub for larger pots and pans. And ordering takeout. Lots and lots of takeout.
The experience inspired Leah and me to create a “Prison Cooking” video series using only the tools available to people inside. I’m still trying to get my hands on a hot pot so we can do it authentically. Watch for those videos soon!
After a year of construction dust, detours, and workarounds, it finally feels like we’re turning a corner.
Thanks for buzzing by, and for all the ways you keep our hive humming. 🧡
With gratitude,
—Melissa 🐝
A question for readers:
What’s the longest home project you’ve ever lived through? Share with us in the comments below.
Quote of the Week:
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” — Vincent van Gogh
💌 Donate Stamps – SOS: Stamp out Silence!
✍️ Take the Quiz – How much do you know about U.S. prisons?
❤️ Give – Help us keep breathing together
🗣️ Add Your Voice – Submit your responses to our Good, Bad, Change poll
⏩ Forward This Email – Someone needs to see this
by Melissa Bee | Jun 5, 2026 | From the Staff
We’re excited to share that Adopt an Inmate has a new home for our (local) monthly volunteer sessions.
Thanks to the generosity of our friends at the Eugene Friends Church, we’ll be gathering once each month in their conference room to process mail, work on projects, organize materials, and tackle the many behind-the-scenes tasks that keep the organization running.
Whether you’ve volunteered with us before or are simply curious about what we do, these sessions are a great way to get involved.
Many people are surprised to learn that Adopt an Inmate is powered entirely by volunteers. From matching participants and answering emails to processing mail and preparing educational materials, everything we do depends on people who are willing to donate a few hours of their time.
You don’t need special experience to help. We’ll provide guidance, explain the work, and find tasks that match your interests and comfort level.
We’ve also launched a public Adopt an Inmate calendar where you can view upcoming volunteer sessions, office hours, meetings, and special events. Events with the 🐝 are open to volunteers, click the “Reserve Your Spot” button on the calendar page to sign up.
*New volunteers, please complete our volunteer registration form (one time only) prior to signing up for events.
Whether you can help once, occasionally, or on a regular basis, we’d love to meet you.
Together, we’re building meaningful connections between people inside and outside prison walls – one letter at a time.
by Melissa Bee | Jun 3, 2026 | From the Staff
Every summer, we gather a small group of volunteers, board members, supporters, and friends for Bee Fest – our annual Adopt an Inmate volunteer work weekend.
This year’s Bee Fest will take place August 7–10 in Veneta, Oregon. and is especially meaningful as we expand Letters From Prison: In the Classroom, develop new mentorship opportunities, and prepare to launch our new self-serve matching app.
As always, we’re keeping it intentionally small. A handful of familiar faces will gather by the lake to work, plan, laugh, eat, and dream about what’s next for Adopt an Inmate.
Funds raised through our Bee Fest campaign help cover event expenses, meals, meeting space, volunteer support, and other costs associated with bringing people together to strengthen and sustain the mission.
Thanks to an early gift from one of our longtime supporters, we’ve already raised $250 toward our $2,000 Bee Fest goal.
If you’d like to support the hive, we’d be grateful for your help.
Whether you contribute financially, share the campaign, or simply help spread the word, you’re helping us continue building meaningful connections between people inside and outside prison walls.
by Melissa Bee | Jun 2, 2026 | From the Staff, Letters From Prison, Letters From Prison: In The Classroom
For more than a decade, Adopt an Inmate has focused on one simple but powerful idea: meaningful human connection changes lives.
Through various forms of correspondence, we have connected thousands of people on the outside with incarcerated individuals seeking friendship, encouragement, accountability, and support. That work remains at the heart of who we are.
Over the last several months, however, Rick and I have been asking an important question:
Where can Adopt an Inmate make the greatest impact?
The answer has become increasingly clear.
Our work has grown naturally out of our long-running Letters From Prison blog series. From the beginning, we’ve believed that if people want to understand incarceration, they need to hear directly from those living it. Statistics, policies, and research are important, but they can never fully replace the insight that comes from a real person’s story told in their own words.
Over the years, we’ve seen how powerfully those stories can challenge assumptions and foster empathy. That belief now serves as the foundation of our growing Letters From Prison: In the Classroom initiative.
What we’ve learned through these collaborations is that they do far more than connect students with incarcerated people. They create opportunities for learning, critical thinking, professional development, and meaningful dialogue about justice, rehabilitation, and human dignity. They also give incarcerated participants the opportunity to share their experiences, expertise, and perspectives in ways that can inform and inspire future professionals.
As a result, we are beginning to intentionally center more of our work around education, mentorship, communication, and community engagement. This is not a departure from our mission. It is a natural evolution of it.
For the remainder of 2026, we plan to keep the program intentionally small, focusing on a limited number of pilot partnerships while we continue developing materials, workflows, expectations, and sustainable funding models. We want to grow thoughtfully and responsibly, ensuring that every partnership is meaningful for both students and incarcerated participants.
We’re also working to align other mentoring initiatives, including Pros & Cons, with this broader educational vision. As we continue developing the program, we hope to recruit volunteers from a variety of professional backgrounds who are willing to share their knowledge, experience, and encouragement with incarcerated individuals interested in similar career paths and areas of study.
To support this direction, we’ve launched a dedicated Letters From Prison: In the Classroom page on our website, along with an interest form for educators, students, and community partners who would like to learn more.
If you know a professor, teacher, department chair, student organization, researcher, or community group that may be interested in participating, we would be grateful if you would share the page with them.
This new chapter is exciting. It is also ambitious. But it feels deeply aligned with who we are, what we’ve learned, and where we believe our organization can make the greatest difference.
Thank you for being part of the journey.
— Rick & Melissa
Co-Founders, Adopt an Inmate
by Melissa Bee | Jun 1, 2026 | From the Staff
If you’ve noticed things have been a little quieter than usual around here, you’re not wrong.
Like many volunteer-run organizations, sometimes we have to step back from talking about the work in order to do the work. Over the past several months, we’ve been focused on program development, partnerships, volunteers, grant applications, and building new tools that will help us serve more people.
The good news? We’ve got a lot to share.
North Carolina Field Visit Funded
We’re excited to announce that Adopt an Inmate recently received grant funding to support a field visit to North Carolina later this year.
The trip will allow us to connect with organizations and individuals doing important work in the areas of incarceration, reentry, and community support. We’re especially looking forward to learning from others, sharing ideas, and building relationships that can strengthen our own programs.
If you’re in North Carolina, we’d love to connect while we’re there. We’re still finalizing the itinerary and meeting schedule, but we’ll share more details as those plans come together. One of the things we’re most excited about is the opportunity to meet people face-to-face – volunteers, supporters, partner organizations, and members of our community whom we’ve only known through letters, phone calls, emails, and social media.
We spend so much of our work connecting across distances. It’s a special thing when those connections can happen in person.
Letters From Prison: In the Classroom
One of the projects we’re most excited about is the continued development of Letters From Prison: In the Classroom, a program that connects students and incarcerated individuals through education, dialogue, and shared learning.
As part of that effort, students in an Occupational Therapy program are currently developing an OT Survival Handbook for Prisoners – a practical resource designed to help people navigate challenges related to health, routines, pain management, stress, and daily life while incarcerated.
The handbook is still in development, but we’re eager to share more as it progresses.
New Volunteer Workspace
We are incredibly grateful to The Friends Church in Eugene for generously providing meeting space for our volunteer work sessions through the end of the year.
Having a consistent location for volunteer gatherings will help us train new volunteers, process applications, organize projects, and continue building community around this work.
Community support like this makes a tremendous difference for a small, volunteer-powered organization.
Blueprint App Nearing Completion
Many of you have heard us talk about the Blueprint matching app we’ve been developing in partnership with students from UC Berkeley.
We’re happy to report that the project is nearing completion.
While we still have testing and final refinements ahead of us, we’re getting closer to launching a new system that will make the matching process more efficient, accessible, and user-friendly for future adopters.
We’re not ready to announce a launch date just yet – but we’re getting close.
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Bee-Fest Is Coming
August will bring another opportunity for our community to gather, connect, and support the work of Adopt an Inmate.
More details about this year’s Bee-Fest (our annual volunteer gathering) will be coming soon, including ways to participate and support the event. Every dollar raised helps us continue connecting people in prison with volunteers who care.
What’s Coming This Week
We’re also excited to get back into a more regular rhythm of blogging and storytelling.
This week we’ll be sharing several reflections, stories, and conversations inspired by the work we do every day, including some thoughts about language, justice, and the assumptions hidden inside the words we use.
We’re looking forward to the conversation.
As always, thank you for being part of this community. Whether you’ve volunteered, donated, shared a post, written a letter, or simply followed along, you help make this work possible.
We’re glad to be back.
💬 Your turn:
Have a story, insight, or reflection of your own? Scroll down and leave a comment – we’d love to hear from you.
P.S. Our Linktree is one easy place to find everything we’re sharing, watching, posting, and building.
✍️ Take the Quiz – How much do you know about U.S. prisons?
🗣️ Add Your Voice – Submit your responses to our Good, Bad, Change poll
🤲 Get Involved – Help behind the scenes
💌 Donate Stamps – SOS: Stamp out Silence!
❤ Give – Help us build a world where no one is forgotten
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by Ray Corona | Dec 14, 2025 | From the Inside, Inmate Ingenuity, Ray Corona
Living life day to day as an incarcerated individual has a very unique set of challenges. There are innumerable necessities from the modern world that a lot of us take for granted. There are obvious freedoms an inmate no longer has, such as our choices in personal clothing, but others are a little harder to imagine. As the amazingly adaptable creatures we are, nothing brings out the old adage “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” like restricting us to a very small set of items in which to live with for years, if not decades.
I have interviewed several men in my state facility (some of which have been incarcerated since before the turn of the century) to discover some of the simplest and some of the most creative ingenuity that has helped make our lives a little easier. While exploring inmate ingenuity, there is one item that came up more than any other: trash bags.
The flexibility of a sheet of mildly opaque plastic* is pretty much endless.
Screen Mounts: Access to tablets in most state prisons around the country has been a massive blessing and boon, especially for personal rehabilitation. The ability to watch a selection of films and movies on demand has also generated a level of communal enjoyment. With each inmate having access to their own screen, space in the day room can get cramped fairly quickly. This problem is solved by turning the bars themselves into a screen wall.
By stretching out two small trash bags, tying one end to the bars above and two loops on the bottom to slip around the sides of the device, a tablet can comfortably hang and lean against the bars from any preferred height for two inmates to enjoy with minimal distractions.
Laundry Lines: Whether an inmate prefers to do their own laundry (which I will touch on how in a later post), they make a mess out of sync with their facility’s laundry protocols, or those protocols fail entirely, they’re gonna be drying something eventually. As expressed in the first entry, stretching out a trash bag creates a surprisingly sturdy rope that can be tied together, looped, hooked, and strung up basically anywhere. One of the first times I saw this done was to hang wet clothing and linen all around a cell, regardless of the space available.
Curtains: Within our personal space, we are allowed minimal privacy, even within individual “wet” cells that feature a suite of complete plumbing. This can be partially alleviated with make shift, low trash bag curtains, which enables staff to still guarantee security. These could also be hung over windows to minimize the intensity of natural light, also with the added effect of not creating security concerns.
Insulation: Most prison facilities are built straight from cement with basic ventilation and acoustics, prioritizing functionality over any aesthetic, though a lot of state facilities still lack any air conditioning.
Our rooms feature small vents in each cell which have varying degrees of success at keeping us comfortable. This can be adjusted for personal preference blocking some or all of the vent with trash bags.
Heating ovens: For my state, higher security facilities are not allowed access to microwaves, but some do have faucets that supply near boiling water. Keeping a packaged snack or meal in it’s container, they can fill a small trash bag with hot water and let any sealed food heat up while submerged.
In the next post, I’ll go over what some inmates do in compromise for one of the most valuable tools of the modern age; Adhesives!
- Size: The small ones are about two feet long for our cells, and there are industrial sized ones for the trash bin in the day rooms.
Image by Yamu_Jay on Pixabay.
by Ray Corona | Dec 10, 2025 | From the Inside, Inmate Contributors, Ray Corona
I used to be just like you. Working as hard as hard as I could to stay safe, stay comfortable and stay content every day. Through the endless barrage of society’s flashes and bangs, I was horrified of pain or the experience of any loss. I did everything I could to numb the memories of suffering from my past. After so many years, the fear never lessened, but my desperation grew, and the meaninglessness of it all became more and more apparent. As the hollow feeling overwhelmed me, nothing and no one could stop me from doing what I felt was the only chance I had to feel anything meaningful again. With these actions, I shattered my world and left all I knew and loved forsaken. This is the state in which you will find 99% of the inmate population. Most of us will be despised by society for the rest of our lives. Some of our families have completely abandoned us. But no matter what level of exile we experience, nothing will ever fully purge us from the wretched guilt of our actions. I firmly believe that everyone has an innate longing for compassion and righteousness within them. Through the complexity of our fallen world we are swept away from this desire and become content with empty platitudes; bells and whistles of good intentions and moral posturing. We give a dollar to a homeless woman, a monthly check to a charity organization, we attend church fundraisers, we spend a few hours in a soup kitchen.
These small gestures, collectively, do achieve something. But do you feel the change? Can these token actions really satisfy our own need for what’s right? To make a real change, there must be a level of accountability not many people are comfortable with. There is no accountability from the soup ladle to a stranger’s bowl. There is no accountability from the number on a slip of paper. There is no accountability from the loose change in a plastic cup. We all want to be comfortable, but still position ourselves in a righteous way so at least we feel better about our miserable selves. But what satisfaction may come with making a real, powerful and sustained difference? What feeling of love and joy may come from uplifting someone from this pit they find themselves in? What if, from your earnest intervention, you find a brother or sister, mother or father, son or daughter, or even a grandparent you never knew you wish you had? The ones behind those bars are not just a distraction. We are not charity. We are the members of your community that have seen the bottom. If you reach down to grab one of our hands, prepare to be accountable to the changes you can and will make in someone else’s life, and prepare to discover a new and empowered side of who you are.
by Ray Corona | Dec 8, 2025 | Inmate Contributors, Ray Corona
I used to breathe just like you, filling my lungs deeply with the smell of early morning dew and grass as I left the house for work on my favorite mountain bike. I was young, and my first job at a quick lube shop was a short two miles away. I realized quickly I didn’t need coffee or any other stimulant to help sharpen my mind for the simple but fast paced work; the fresh wind on my face and the blood rushing through my legs during the quick commute was more than enough. I enjoyed the work, and found comfort in the unique scent of my employment, breathing in again as I locked my bicycle to utility pipes behind the building. New, used and burnt oil, gasoline, grease, hot rubber and metal filled my lungs as my coworkers started their morning taunts about how I work at an oil change and car maintenance place and didn’t have a license yet. What can I say? The managers liked my attitude.
I don’t breathe as deep as I used to. When the cell doors open at dawn for breakfast, I breathe shallow as I make my way to and from the meal line, doing my best to avoid inmates with the worst hygiene, praying that the milk in my carton isn’t spoiled, hoping that weird smell coming out of my cell’s plumbing hasn’t been magnified by the rainfall during the night before.
Only when something reminds me of my olfactory senses do I make the mistake of bringing it back to my attention. A memory of a family
member’s favorite car air freshener, a commercial featuring succulent images of BBQ ribs, a conversation about a salt water beach. Immediately a if to grasp hopelessly at those scents so far away in time in space, I inhale.
I used to breathe like you, but now I know the smells of every smoked chemical and intoxicant. I can detect the distance and type of administered pepper spray. 
I know the potency of a body owned by someone who is simply waiting to die, the strength permeating out of an open wound, and the all-consuming and commanding presence of a man in a cage who has completely abandoned his humanity. I make a choice every morning to deny my lungs the tragedy of this place. I pray one day soon, I can enjoy breathing in my life again.
Featured image Image by truthseeker08 on Pixabay.
by Melissa Bee | Dec 5, 2025 | From the Staff
Connection changes everything.
We’re pleased to share a new video we created for the Neighborhood Anarchist Collective’s Solidarity Share Fair, a community event that brings together organizations working to support unhoused and marginalized people in Eugene.
Our presentation, “Where Data Meets Humanity,” blends the hard truths of incarceration statistics with the heart of our mission: reminding the world that every number represents a human being.
🎥 Watch the Video
🌻 Because Suffering Is the Problem, Not the Solution
Every letter is a lifeline.
Every person is more than a number.
Connection changes everything.
📨 Get Involved
If this presentation moves you, here are ways to take action:
Volunteer FAQ
Adopting FAQ
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by Melissa Bee | Dec 2, 2025 | From the Staff
Today is Giving Tuesday, the biggest giving day of the year — and we are asking for your help to keep this work alive.
Every day, Adopt an Inmate hears from people in prison who feel forgotten. A single letter, a volunteer connection, or even one encouraging message can change someone’s safety, their mental health, and their hope for the future. Mail is a lifeline. Human connection is a lifeline.
This work relies on community support — and today, we’re part of GiveButter’s nationwide Giving Tuesday campaign, joining thousands across the country who are choosing generosity, justice, and connection.
Your gift helps us:
- Match volunteers with people inside who urgently need support
- Process thousands of letters and applications every year
- Provide educational opportunities
- Publish stories and advocacy that challenge harmful narratives
- Build our Drop a Dime on Injustice prison-cell exhibit
- Make sure every person in a cell knows someone on the outside cares
Giving Tuesday is our biggest fundraising day of the year, and your donation genuinely keeps this work going.
Whether your gift represents a loved one, someone inside, yourself, or a survivor of injustice — your generosity today helps us reach people who are too often left behind.
Thank you for dropping a dime on injustice.
With gratitude,
Rick & Melissa
