We are a Queer/Trans
Prisoner Solidarity Project in the SF Bay Area
Prisoner Solidarity Project in the SF Bay Area
Prison abolition is our goal, and our strategy for action. Any advocacy, services, organizing, and direct action we take will remove bricks from the system, not put up more walls.
Our work towards the abolition of the prison industrial complex is rooted in the experiences and wisdom of currently and formerly incarcerated people. We are outraged by the violence of the prison industrial complex against LGBTQ people, and respond through advocacy, education, direct action, and community building.
Our letterwriting & penpal program resists the violent isolation of the prison system by connecting queer and trans prisoners to community members outside of prison. We always welcome new participants, ideas and leadership. If you would like to get involved, please email flyingoverwalls [at] gmail.com or join us at an upcoming event.
We acknowledge how economic resources, political access, and histories of assimilation have impacted our movements and our solidarity work. We want to support everyone’s desire to deepen their understanding of the PIC and systems of white supremacy while being intentional about creating a safer space for QTPOC and formerly incarcerated individuals who want to participate in this work towards collective liberation.
We always welcome new folks to join our events and invite QTPOC & formerly incarcerated individuals who would like to join in our local and national leadership teams!
Our work towards the abolition of the prison industrial complex is rooted in the experiences and wisdom of currently and formerly incarcerated people. We are outraged by the violence of the prison industrial complex against LGBTQ people, and respond through advocacy, education, direct action, and community building.
Our letterwriting & penpal program resists the violent isolation of the prison system by connecting queer and trans prisoners to community members outside of prison. We always welcome new participants, ideas and leadership. If you would like to get involved, please email flyingoverwalls [at] gmail.com or join us at an upcoming event.
We acknowledge how economic resources, political access, and histories of assimilation have impacted our movements and our solidarity work. We want to support everyone’s desire to deepen their understanding of the PIC and systems of white supremacy while being intentional about creating a safer space for QTPOC and formerly incarcerated individuals who want to participate in this work towards collective liberation.
We always welcome new folks to join our events and invite QTPOC & formerly incarcerated individuals who would like to join in our local and national leadership teams!
A core framework of our group has always been to act in relationship with and support of TGI Justice Project, including encouraging volunteers to attend their weekly legal support letter writing clinics (though these are currently on hiatus). TGIJP is is a group of transgender people—inside and outside of prison—creating a united family in the struggle for survival and freedom. Our support of TGIJP has given us the opportunity to increase our legal support skills, our knowledge about resources and current situations facing queer/trans prisoners, and our ability to take leadership from those most impacted by the prison system. We look to the leaders of TGIJP as advisors to the work we do.
We also work in coalition with and in support of a number of other local, statewide and national organizations, and have joined in a number of campaigns over the past decade or so as we fight together for collective liberation and a world without prisons. Check out our Resources page and our social media to find out more and plug in with these other rad orgs.
Every month, we host virtual and in-person Letterwriting events. These sometimes include discussions of current issues within the criminalization system/prison industrial complex or spotlights of individuals who have been targeted by the PIC. We are always available to lead an orientation of our penpal guidelines for new folks, do group check-ins and offer support regarding ongoing penpal relationships, and include quiet/social time for letterwriting. Starting in 2019, we now meet twice a month, once on SF and once in Oakland, and we try to send birthday cards to every incarcerated Black & Pink member incarcerated in CA. At our Oakland nights, we also do mail processing of the letters we receive to our PO Box.
Making mutually educational relationships based in respect, friendship, support and solidarity between “free world” and incarcerated queer and trans folks is one of the most important ways to fight the prison and criminalization systems, which is *designed* to isolate folks from their families and communities. As much as possible, we try to meet in locations that offer food or drinks, and we center connection and flexibility into the format of our events in order to support physical and spiritual well-being. We consider our events and our organization very D-I-Y. We are always open to new ideas and innovations.
Making mutually educational relationships based in respect, friendship, support and solidarity between “free world” and incarcerated queer and trans folks is one of the most important ways to fight the prison and criminalization systems, which is *designed* to isolate folks from their families and communities. As much as possible, we try to meet in locations that offer food or drinks, and we center connection and flexibility into the format of our events in order to support physical and spiritual well-being. We consider our events and our organization very D-I-Y. We are always open to new ideas and innovations.
To be transparent, a majority of the outside folks who have been involved with our group are white and not formerly incarcerated. We recognize this partially as a result of the founding members of Flying Over Walls being white, which will always affect who we reach and who responds. Beyond this, however, we recognize the ways that privileged identities tend to dominate solidarity work (we have spent time discussing this on both a local and national level).
More information
Flying Over Walls is a grassroots collective. Contributions to Flying Over Walls are not tax-deductible. Fore more information visit our social media platforms.
Flying Over Walls is a grassroots collective. Contributions to Flying Over Walls are not tax-deductible. Fore more information visit our social media platforms.
Flying Over Walls
Prisoner Solidarity Project
P.O. Box 401014
San Francisco, CA 94140
Prisoner Solidarity Project
P.O. Box 401014
San Francisco, CA 94140
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