Online support within TNC

TNC Regional Leader Deitra Lied posted the following message to the November Coalition's november-d list. The response she received from Alisa Knickerbocker follows. This type of online exchange is activism in the Internet Age. This exchange of emails often begins contacts between individuals which leads to more interest and the possibility of adding one more voice of resistance to our growing numbers.

Deitra wrote:

I attended a meeting last night of the Texas Inmates' Families Assn., or TIFA. I keep looking for sister organizations to link up with and was wondering if other states had such organizations. I went to the meeting armed with Razor Wires and flyers about the BOP phone restrictions. They were very excited about the CANpaign, but I found out that they talk to their loved ones every couple of months for just a few (3-5) minutes! Is it this way with other states? Visiting for them is almost as bad. Texas is a BIG state, and we have prisons all over. Their main topic, after me, covered raising funds for travel expenses. They welcome my participation and will join me in our endeavors. Together we stand!

Alisa Knickerbocker replied:

My brother Michael is in Florida State Prison. They do not have ANY PHONES AT ALL. The inmates have no phone privileges. He has been there for over 4 years without a phone call yet. He gets a one-hour visit every 90 days behind glass, and only one person is allowed to go. They are in their cells 24/7, and there is no heat, air conditioning or televisions or windows. They are behind steel doors with no human contact at all, similar to being buried alive.

Now that makes you want to stop and think about life in the BOP huh? My husband was released last month from federal prison; he is in the halfway house now but gets to come home on weekends. We are always talking about how lucky we are and think about Michael and the conditions in which he lives.