73. Letter to a Prisoner – Mitchell S. Jackson
The letters kept me connected. They reminded me I had value. They gave me something to look forward to.
This me the night I got arrested with close to 5 ounces of hard and 9mm. Ain’t no tough guy mug shot. I was spooked. (For the record, telling was not an option and they asked.) Anyhow, that’s a side note. Posted this cause I can remember being locked down. And especially during this crisis, I’ve been thinking about what my life would look like behind the walls right now, what it looks like for the millions of humans who are currently incarcerated. It’s unimaginable. My life would be at risk. Their lives are at risk.
When I was incarcerated, mail call was second only to visiting hours as the most important part of any given day. The letters kept me connected. They reminded me I had value. They gave me something to look forward to. They helped me exercise my mind. Letter writing led me to the creative writing that eventually changed my life. Writing a letter to someone incarcerated can have all of those effects and more.
So write, write, write. Send pictures in the letters. Let them know what’s going on in the world. Remind them of their humanity; you can bet inside those walls someone is reminding them otherwise.
– Mitchell S. Jackson
Prompt:
In his seminal essay “On Ways of Seeing,” the critic John Berger writes, “To look is an act of choice.” In his essay “The Life of Images,” the poet Charles Simic writes, “the attentive eye turns the world mysterious.” Decide to look at things that you find beautiful or mysterious and write to someone about what you see, about why they are beautiful, sublime. Give them some joy. Be as particular as you can.
Send your letter to:
California Medical Facility
Attn: David Maldonado, CRM
1600 California Dr.
Vacaville, CA 95687
Our contact will distribute the letters to incarcerated persons in the prison’s hospice, medical wings, and other areas of need. If you’re open to a two-way correspondence, you can include your name and return address with the letter.
Jane Cerhan
Location: Rochester, MN
About: I loved knowing my letter would be delivered, whether I heard back or not. I tried to write a letter that was honest and might help us feel connected in the moment, no matter how different our lives might be.
Dear Friend,
I heard it is possible to write a letter to someone incarcerated, and that the letters will be delivered and might be appreciated. I have never done anything like this. Just now, I was trying to think of what I might write about. While I was thinking, I laid down on my back on the carpet next to my dog. As I looked up, I remembered how, as a kid I would lie on my back and imagine that I could walk around on the ceiling. Did you ever do that? I wonder why that seemed so fun at the time. Partly because kids like to see things in different ways, and to imagine they have super powers. Also, there would be no furniture on the ceiling and you could really run. Also it seemed great to climb over doorways, sit on ledges, and slide down the slanted parts, or roller skate, or now probably they would skate board. It felt free. If things are hard now, or you aren’t feeling well, I hope you have some places like that you can go in your mind where there are good memories of fun or of what you were like as a kid.
A lot of things seem upside down in the world right now to me, in a bad way (the virus) and in a good way (waking up to changes we need). I don’t have anything deep to say about it except that I’m just trying to get through it one day at a time, and have an open heart to try to bring some love into the picture each day. I also saw a bald eagle today, flying right over my head when I was on a walk. That was extremely cool (and it didn’t poop on me, haha), and gave me some hope that America can get better in the future.
You don’t know me, and I have no idea how you are doing today. But, I’m pretty sure there are places you’d rather be and that you have had better days. If that’s true, I hope it helps a bit to know that I care and will think good thoughts for you.
Best,
Jane Cerhan
Julia Engelhart
Location: Princeton, NJ
About: I am a 14-year-old rising 9th grader. I did the Isolation Journals with my mother and brother. My inspiration is that nature never changes no matter what happens in the world and nature does not know about any of it.
Age: 14
Dear Prisoner,
Sometimes people only view or see the negatives in life. Although there are a lot of good things not noticed. For example, even in the bad times flowers and trees are blooming and birds chirp every morning. This makes you realize wildlife has no idea what goes on in this world but it still comes back up every year. In a way it makes you feel like everything is ok, life moves on, and things happen for a reason.
Take Care,
Julia Engelhart
Leah Langley
Location: England, United Kingdom
About: When writing this letter to a prisoner, I wanted to focus on topics that weren’t related to their situation. I wanted to make it as meaningful as possible, and give them a chance to write a reply. It’s a letter I’d hope to get if I ever found myself in the same situation.
Age: 22
Hello,
I wish I knew your name so I could make this letter a little more personal to you. My name is Leah and I live in a small town in England, United Kingdom. I’m writing this as I’m surrounded by my mum and younger sister and yet I still feel alone. I can’t imagine how you must be feeling right now and so I just wanted to let you know that you haven’t been forgotten. I won’t ask what you did to end up where you are because that is your story, and if life has taught me anything it is that we should give people a chance to be known beyond their stories. Instead I’d like to get to know you with some lighthearted questions because that seems like it could be fun - I hope you agree!
What is your favourite colour? Mine is purple. Partly because I love lavender flowers and partly because it is the colour that represents the volunteering community that I am part of.
Do you have a favourite song or artist? Picking a favourite song creates the turmoil I imagine parents encounter when asked which of their children is the favourite. I love artists such as Jack Garratt, Demi Lovato, Jessie J, and Gavin DeGraw. Music is a big healer for me, do you have chance to listen to much music?
Do you have a favourite book? Again, I’m not sure I could pick just one, but I’m currently working my way through a pile that contains Glennon Doyle’s ‘Untamed’ and Ruthie Lindsey’s memoir. Reading is one of my favourite pastimes and each book I read allows me to escape to new realities and meet new characters.
I hope this letter finds you well and brings a smile to your face if nothing else. I look forward to your reply.
Your friend,
Leah
Sharif Wahab
Location: Bloomington, Indiana
About: I am a PhD Student in Indiana University Bloomington. The prompt reminded me of my friend I lost longtime ago. Also, I wanted to convey what I could see.
Age: 30
Thunderstorms always amaze me - the randomness, the ephemeral visit of the light, the crashing sounds through which the rainclouds send their regards to the earth. When I was a little kid, my religious friend made me believe that God uses thunders as flashlights to take a snapshot of the world underneath! I lost contact with my friend decades ago when he was arrested during political turmoil. I wish I could meet him to ask – if thunders are God’s flashlights, why does he often burn innocent people and trees? Photographers don’t burn their subjects. Do they?
Growing up, I cherished and chased the thunders and imagined what it looks like into this good light, if not the God’s light! Since the beginning of the pandemic, I got stuck inside my apartment, and I started to pay attention to the little details. I started learning to see mundane objects from different angles like never before. Sitting on my porch in the dark was not attractive to me. Nowadays, one of the regular things I do is sit on the porch at different times of the day and observe – what is happening in the 180-degree frame outside my building. When I took the first photo, it was already raining. The bright light reflecting from the middle of the treetop rows is coming from a lonely building located not so far from the neighborhood. But the contrasting lights in the night somehow convinces me that it is coming from a castle – from a different world located in the jungle. Beyond the borderlines of the forest, nobody actually knows what belongs there. They only heard stories. It is similar to the folktales told by the urban parents to their kids during bedtime. They live on the other side of the curtains in the apartments. My mind wanders around the color pallets and the differentiated brightness of the windows – what did they have for dinners? Are they early risers or night owls like me? Do they miss their childhood friends? When was the last time they read a poem? Are they discussing about Laurence Ralph’s newly released book – “The Torture Letters: Reckoning with Police Violence” where he masterfully portrays the struggles of African Americans in Chicago through series of letters? Do they write letters? What do they think about the thunderstorms?
At that very moment, the electrifying light flashed and brightened the landscape in front of me. Coincidentally I clicked my camera at the same time. The momentary thunderlight found a more permanent stay in my frame. The illuminating thunder displaced the preexisting patterns of light and shadow and created its own canvas – even if for a fraction of a second. In this short-lived canvas, the mysterious light from the castle standing beyond the forest is blurred. The lonely barbeque stand, red bricks of the wall, the empty lawn, wet rooftops reflecting fading colors, and steam extinguishers become vivid and force me to focus on the prominent details in a surreal perspective. In this perspective, the trees and the sky above the rooftops suddenly become hazy, turning the upper landscape into a water-colored painting.
