If you’ve written to an inmate for any length of time, chances are you’ve received a card, similar to the ones above. Cartoon characters are a popular subject for artists on the inside. Because no cash is allowed in prison, inmates will trade goods from commissary or other services for cards. This is technically against the rules, but not strictly enforced. The most commonly traded commissary items are stamps, coffee, and soups.
Reading a book about the work of someone who has dedicated his life to freeing the innocent is inspiring. When youâre reading that book behind bars, it also evokes melancholy and wishful thinking. No matter where you are when you crack the cover on Bryan Stevensonâs Just Mercy, be prepared to stay put until youâre finished reading it. Be prepared also to have your eyes opened – maybe even welling with tears.
Stevenson, who founded the Equal Justice Initiative, takes readers inside prison walls and courtrooms, introducing us to the human beings sentenced to die by the hands of justice system officials and a public whoâve forgotten to, or refuse to, view them as humans.
  From an inmate in Texas
Jason in Texas writes often, has a big heart, and has connected us with others on the inside who need adopting. Jason is one of the fortunate ones in that he has access to his own funds for commissary, and wants to reimburse us for the cost of sending him e-mail and books. (Jpay charges 49¢ per page for an e-mail.)
TDCJ (Texas Department of Criminal Justice), where Jason is, offers a service called “e-comm,” that allows friends and family from the outside to purchase commissary-like items that do not count against the inmates’ spend limit for commissary ($85 every two weeks). There is also a spend limit for e-comm, which is $50 per calendar quarter, per inmate. Because e-comm is through a different provider than commissary, they carry different items, so inmates can have a little variety.
We are sending Jason some books that he can read and pass on to others. See our sidebar for a long list of prison book programs.
Please comment or send us an email if you know other angels on the inside that we can spotlight.
We love you Jason!
Treat people as if they were who they ought to be, and you may contribute to their becoming all they are capable of being. – German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Most of the adoptee names we receive come from inmates. Ron, an inmate in TDCJ, is one of our own adoptees who we first told about the idea for our organization.
“Adopt An Inmate,” that sounds cool. Thank God that my mom is putting money on my books for me, but there are a lot of good guys in here that have been left behind by their families that would love to be adopted.
Jason writes that he prefers a cell to a dorm. In a dorm, it’s just you and your celly doing time; but in a dorm you are doing everyone’s time.
If you are interested in writing to Jason, please send us an email: info@adoptaninmate.org to get his mailing address.
Due to recent scrutiny of American jurisprudence, specifically, an astonishing number of death row exonerations, there has been renewed debate regarding use of the death penalty. Some argue that the death penalty should be abolished because too many innocent people have been convicted, some seek to end its practice because it is biased against the poor and people of color, some are against it because it is âcruel and unusual,â and some adamantly argue that it should be continued even if the state must illegally obtain the drugs which make executions âlegalâ under the eighth amendment. None on either side of the debate satisfactorily explains where governments obtain the authority to administer death.
Adopt an Inmate seeks to remind the world that inmates are human. It is not our contention that all, or even most, inmates are innocent. But that, in the words of Bryan Stevenson, âEach of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.â
The Voices From Within project gives inmates the chance to use their own stories, to change someone else’s story. Human beings who have made terrible mistakes, can better serve their communities when their voices can be heard.
You can be the good that happens, you see what I’m saying? You can be the good – if I could – oh, Jesus, Lord, please, if this could be, if I could right now be, if the question is maybe if something good happens, and that’s me, for you, right now, come, listen … I’m asking you, a favor, I’m asking you for a little help, here.
I’m asking you for a little bit of redemption – here, alright? I’m saying, if this could be the good, then maybe you can help me. Can you save me a bit? I’m trying to save you. And in respect for that, maybe we can make a deal, ’cause if I can do something, if this could help you, then I could be the good for you, right? And you could be the good for me. Because if I do that, if, then maybe, the bad could kinda be offset, if I’m the good for you, right? Work with me, work with me here, that’s all I’m saying.