Welcome to Policy vs. People, a series that cuts through the fog of political soundbites to ask one critical question: Who is this policy hurting?
Every law, budget cut, and bureaucratic barrier has a human cost. And too often, the people impacted—especially those behind bars or living on the margins — are left out of the conversation.
In this series, we break down policies that affect incarcerated people and their loved ones. We look at what’s really being funded (or defunded), whose voices are being silenced, and how we can shift the narrative.
From overpriced prison phone calls to the quiet gutting funding for public defenders, we’re here to expose the policies that punish and profit at the expense of humanity.
Because when policy ignores people, we all pay the price.
If you’ve ever received a handwritten letter from someone in prison, you already know how powerful it can be.
For people inside, mail isn’t just a lifeline — it’s evidence that someone cares.
Stamps are especially costly and limited on the inside, so we buy them on the outside to help keep that lifeline going. Right now, our stockpile is running low and we need your help to keep correspondence flowing.
We’re launching a Spring 2025 Stamp Drive to send more love in the mail.
How You Can Help:
💌 Order from USPS: Purchase Forever stamps online and ship directly to us:
Shipping Address:
Adopt an Inmate
PO Box 1543
Veneta, OR 97487
💌 Find discounted stamps online: Search “Forever stamps” on eBay or Amazon. Just be sure the seller is legit. If you find a good deal, let us know — we’ll share it!
💌 Give to our general fund: We’ll use your donation to purchase stamps and other critical supplies for our mail-based outreach.
Every stamp is a bridge — between someone isolated and someone who sees their humanity.
Thank you for helping us keep those connections alive. 🐝💌
We hear it all the time: “Vote! Get involved! Pay attention!” But most of us never got a basic education in how power actually works in this country. Who makes the rules? Who enforces them? Who can change them? And what can regular people actually do when the system seems stacked against us?
Welcome to Civics 101 — a new blog series from Adopt an Inmate designed to demystify the structures that shape our lives, especially for those most impacted by the criminal legal system. Each post will break down a foundational civics concept in plain English, with a focus on justice, equity, and participation. Whether you’re a student, an advocate, or just someone who wants to understand what the heck is going on — this series is for you.
We’ll cover things like:
How a bill becomes a law (and what usually stops it)
The difference between laws, policies, and institutional rules
The roles of local officials like sheriffs, DAs, and city councils
How budgets reflect our values — and why you should care
Our goal is simple: help you understand the moving parts so you can better advocate for the people and causes you care about. Knowledge is power, and civics is the map.
We were honored to join Leilani on her podcast, There’s Danger Here for a deeply personal conversation about how Adopt an Inmate began — and why we continue this work. What started with a single phone call from jail has grown into a nationwide movement of connection, advocacy, and love.
Listen as Rick and I share our story, the roots of our mission, and what it means to walk alongside those society too often casts aside. 💌
🎧 Listen to the episode below, and follow the podcast for more interesting episodes.
The wonderful Rick and Melissa, founders of adoptaninmate, allowed me to have a conversation with them. The pair discuss how the vision came forward after their family came to an abrupt realization of what the judicial system can be for both those incarcerated and those who love the incarcerated. Now they work to change the minds of the masses, one letter at a time.
A woman who processes billing envelopes for a health system isn’t the most obvious person to spark an emotional reaction. But Emily Margolis, an accounting clerk for MJHS Health System, does exactly that. With a pen and a little spare time, she transforms bland white envelopes into tiny masterpieces—portraits, nature scenes, animals, patterns. Art that turns the transactional into something personal. Something beautiful.
Her envelope art is now being displayed in a local coffee shop, and people are touched not only by her talent, but by the gesture. The effort. The intentionality behind saying: “Here. I see you.”
It reminded me of the people who write to us at Adopt an Inmate. Their envelopes are often adorned with flowers, doves, cartoon bees, elaborate typography, even shading techniques done entirely in pen. We’ve received artwork so breathtaking it should be framed. But more than that, it’s deeply human.
Many people in prison have little to no access to art supplies. What they do have is time, and the will to reach out. Envelope art is often the first impression we get of someone writing to us. It’s a sign of care. Of presence. Of someone reaching through the system to say:
“I’m here. I’m more than this number.”
And yet in recent years, many prison mailrooms have banned this kind of expression, both outgoing and incoming. Envelope art, or even just a colored envelope, is labeled a security risk, and rejected. Many prisons require all mail to be scanned and delivered to the person’s tablet, or as black-and-white photocopies. In those cases, the art — made with limited resources — is reduced to grainy shadows. The heart behind it, nearly erased.
We understand the need for safety. But banning creativity isn’t about safety. It’s about control. And punishment.
If envelope art from an accounting clerk can make headlines and inspire a city, surely we can see the value in honoring that same spirit in people behind bars. Their art might never hang in a coffee shop. But it still deserves to be seen.
Let them draw. Let them be human. Let them reach us.
Franz Bakery is awarding $5,000 grants to five nonprofits, and your nomination could help us win!
We love Franz Bakery not just for their bread, but also for giving back to their community. Their generosity helps small, grassroots organizations like ours do big, meaningful work. Around here, we’re especially fond of their Cherry Breakfast, 1906 Wheat, and Columbia River Sweet Dark breads. Read their inspiring story.
At Adopt an Inmate, we share that spirit of hard, honest, and meaningful work. Our nonprofit was built by and for people impacted by incarceration — those who’ve lived it, and those who’ve loved someone through it.
Help us Drop a Dime on Injustice — without spending a penny.
Franz is asking nominators for a few words (maximum 100) explaining why you’re nominating Adopt an Inmate and how our work benefits the community.
If you’d like to nominate Adopt an Inmate, here’s a bit about our organization and work:
💛 We’re a grassroots nonprofit, building human connection across prison walls.
📬 We’ve facilitated over 6,000 connections between people in prison and outside volunteers—offering friendship, mentorship, and hope.
🎓 Our STEP program partners with universities to create transformative learning through direct engagement with incarcerated individuals.
🐝 We rely on volunteers and small donations, not corporate funding.
💬 Our board includes people of color, and people who are both formerly and currently incarcerated.
📣 We just launched a national campaign — Drop a Dime on Injustice — to raise awareness through storytelling and immersive exhibit about mass incarceration. 📣
✨ If our work moves you, we’d be honored to have your nomination.
Thank you for being part of this work. Whether you’ve supported us by writing a letter, sharing a story, donating, or showing up for our campaigns — you keep this work alive.
Nominators must be legal U.S. residents 18 years of age or older as of the date of Submission and residing in (a) the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, or Alaska, or (b) Butte, Humboldt, Siskiyou, Shasta, Los Angeles, or Trinity counties in the state of California (collectively, the “Territory”).
Submission Deadline: 11:59 p.m. PST on April 30th
Essay portions of Submissions must not exceed 100 words and must be in English. The Submission must be the original work of the Nominator who entered, created and uploaded the Submission. By entering a Submission, each Nominator guarantees that he or she is the author and copyright holder of the Submission and that all content described in the Submission is truthful and accurate.
“We need more prisons because they’re full of dangerous, violent criminals.”
🔍 Fact check: FALSE.
📣 TRUTH: According to the Prison Policy Initiative, only 1 in 7 people in state prisons is incarcerated for offenses categorized as violent by legal standards. The majority are imprisoned for:
Drug-related offenses
Property crimes
Technical parole/probation violations (like missing a meeting or failing a drug test)
Many of these individuals pose no threat to public safety—but are still locked away in harsh conditions, often for years.
People in prison aren’t monsters. They’re our neighbors, our family members, and our fellow citizens—often struggling with poverty, trauma, or addiction, and in need of support, not cages.
At Adopt an Inmate, we believe that education is a form of resistance—and truth is a powerful tool for change.
Starting this week, we’re launching Fact-Check Friday, a series that tackles myths, misconceptions, and misleading narratives about incarceration in the U.S. With nearly 2 million people behind bars, it’s more important than ever to question the policies and assumptions that keep our friends, loved ones, and neighbors locked away.
Each Friday, we’ll spotlight a common claim about the justice system—then hold it up to the light.
With facts. With humanity. With hope.
Because behind every statistic is a person. And every person deserves the truth.
At Adopt an Inmate, we believe in the power of storytelling to change hearts and minds. Our Good, Bad, Changecampaign invites people in prison to reflect on three simple yet profound prompts. By sharing these personal responses, we amplify the voices of those directly impacted by incarceration — voices too often silenced or ignored.
This new series will highlight responses from our inside-outside network. To submit your responses:
Snail mail:
Adopt an Inmate
*Good Bad Change*
PO Box 1543
Veneta, OR 97487
💬 The Good: What’s one positive thing you’ve seen or experienced in prison?
A: Inmates help each other out regardless of race or color. For example, I have personally done this—when someone does not have soap, I have given them soap or stamps to write a letter. I have done this even when I had very few things or little to nothing. But it is prison, and not everybody is the same. The good people who do good things are few—at least from what I have seen. As far as officers go, I have seen them help people out, which is part of their job. However, a good officer doing good and treating people like humans is rare. I have seen an officer go out of his way to make something right if it was wrong. For instance, I had just received my Level One status, but they still had me listed as Level Two. An officer helped me get it fixed so I could get my property for my Level One status.
💬 The Bad: What’s one negative thing you’ve seen or experienced in prison?
A: There are so many bad experiences, and a lot of those things I cannot say openly because they are too severe. But this is prison, so I will try to name a few. I have seen people throw feces and urine on each other. I have seen us get rotten food on our trays. I have seen people fight. A lot of racism exists. There are just so many bad things to name. For one, you do not want to live in prison. Despite everything, it is still prison, and bad things happen here. But there are good things too.
💬 The Change: If you could change one thing about prison, what would it be?
A: I would say encourage prison reform nationwide for all prisons. This includes improving living conditions, creating second-chance programs, providing better education, offering better food, fixing the grievance system, improving health services, and reforming the parole system to actually give people a chance to go home. There is so much more that can be done.
Responses by:
Iris
(Ray’s Adopter)
💬 Please tell us about your experience adopting an Inmate.
A: When I first encountered Ray at the end of 2022, I couldn’t have imagined how profoundly his story would impact me. What began as an exchange of letters turned into an extraordinary friendship, bridging two vastly different worlds: mine as an insights consultant and his as a former gang member navigating the isolating confines of solitary confinement. Over the past two years, this unlikely connection has become a profound source of learning and growth for us both.
About a year and a half ago, I created a blog to document this journey. Through the posts, I shared Ray’s experiences, my reflections, and the insights we uncovered together. Writing these entries gave me a platform to amplify his voice—a voice shaped by resilience, creativity, and a determination to grow despite unimaginable constraints.
Ray’s transformation is nothing short of remarkable. His artistic talent, which he continues to hone, has become a cornerstone of his personal and emotional rehabilitation. It’s not just about the stunning realism of his drawings but about how art provides him a means to process his past and imagine a future beyond the prison walls.
This friendship has deepened my understanding of what it means to extend empathy and support, to see the humanity in someone society has often overlooked. It’s taught me to celebrate progress, however incremental, and to believe in second chances.
Writing about my experience for Adopt an Inmate feels like a natural continuation of this journey. My hope is that sharing our story will inspire others to connect with those incarcerated—not out of charity, but out of recognition of their potential and shared humanity. Adopting an inmate is as much about changing our own perspectives as it is about helping them.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share this journey.
We’re delighted to share the work of our friend Phillip Alvin Jones, a talented writer, speaker, and advocate. In this post, you’ll find links to his website, podcasts, and books—offering powerful insights from inside the walls. Don’t miss the chance to explore his work and support his voice!
We are delighted to share Phillip A. Jones, Jr. is the founder and CEO of Phillip A. Jones Consulting LLC, providing a wide range of services to government agencies, educational institutions, and advocacy organizations to bring meaningful and sustainable changes to the carceral system through substantive policy change, focused curricula, and public speaking engagements and events. Mr. Jones is also the founder of Inside-Outside Consults, a comprehensive and full-service nonprofit organization supporting and teaching justice-impacted men and women how to successfully reintegrate into mainstream society. Mr. Jones hosts a podcast called The Wall: Behind and Beyond, talking to guests about topics ranging from mental health support to reentry services. In short, Mr. Jones is a justice-impacted individual who has used his time behind bars to not only change the trajectory of his own life but to help countless other incarcerated men and women as well as their families. Mr. Jones has just published his second book, From Risk 2 Resilience, which is a gang prevention manual for adolescents. This critical work complements his education curriculum, Exit 2 Excellence Workbook, and follows his first book of the same name. This comprehensive workbook teaches about the reentry process from start to finish, with crucial resources, activities and support. Both books can be purchased on Amazon.
Mr. Jones was born and raised on the harsh streets of southwest Baltimore and was unavoidably both the product of his environment, as well as collateral damage in the brutal world of gangs and poverty. At the age of only 19, Mr. Jones got into an altercation over drugs. As a result, he ended up shooting another young man, who thankfully survived his injuries. For these offenses, Mr. Jones was arrested, tried, and sentenced to two concurrent life sentences plus an additional 20 years. He has spent more than three decades behind bars and, despite the statistics and predictions, Mr. Jones has reinvented himself into a hardworking and dedicated advocate of change. Mr. Jones firmly believes that education is the key to growth and has built educational programs and modules to teach what he has learned both through the process of earning various degrees, as well from the demoralizing experiences to which he has been subjected during his incarceration. Mr. Jones uses his knowledge and experience to educate justice[1]impacted individuals, and his expertise to effect meaningful changes within the justice system.
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