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Mail Call! 
Please put me on your mailing list for The Razor Wire. I was
fortunate to come across your magazine and was very happy I did.
I am a first time nonviolent offender serving a 135-month sentence
for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. I've been locked up for
53 months now, and this was the first time I had ever come across
your paper. I think it is wonderful!
It is liberating to know there are people outside who recognize
the unfairness and destruction of mandatory minimum sentencing.
After reading your newspaper, I didn't feel so alone in this
world. I've lost my wife, my home, and the joys of watching my
son grow up. Because of wonderful people like those affiliated
with "The November Coalition", I'm able to hold on
to hopes of being released some day soon. While I'm financially
unable to send anything more than two stamps at this time, I
did speak to my parents and brother about your magazine. I would
like them put on your mailing list, and I'm positive they'll
contribute to the magazine.
Again, I'd like to thank you for giving me hope, and please keep
up the good work.
God Bless you all,
Barry Paige
I am impressed with your website. It's great to see your group
putting so much work into such a worthy cause. This "drug
war" the government is waging against its own citizens is
sickening.
I'm sending you a check with this letter to join your organization.
I wasn't able to print the membership from your website, as my
printer isn't working at this time. I'm hoping to receive your
newsletter in the mail on a regular basis.
Ben Pinkston
Here are a few names of people that left me for dead. Please
rush them a copy. Maybe it will wake them up.
Chris Carey 63359-061
I enjoy reading the Razor Wire when I get a chance. It's my
wish to be able to contribute to your effort. You will be hearing
financial and other information from me.
Ps: By the way, I have the honor of being the oldest (80 years)
inmate in this institution.
Sincerely yours
Drayton Curry #24017-037
I am incarcerated on a drug offense and have been locked up
for 10 years.
I have individuals who are all part of a close-knit group and
will assist you in your efforts once they are shown the way to
do so. When they read your publication, they will see that the
way to help is through group effort. They will provide assistance
in that area.
James Hicks 54063-079
(Editor's note: James, ask your friends to send us information/photos
on what they're doing.)
I'm a 50-year-old white male in Texas who has been a drug
addict for 35 years. I have been to prison four prior times for
a total of 14 calendar years for drug possession cases. This
time they are offering me 35 years. I have never been to or offered
treatment.
John Hudgens #10598
Hello, I find myself imprisoned and impoverished in Idaho
for a felony possession charge. I heard about your newsletter,
and I wish to receive it. I was led to believe it was a freebie,
but if not, I still want a subscription. Will work out the monetary
issues somehow.
I also wish to make others aware of my situation. My family and
friends need to know that I am not the only one this has happened
to: 5 years on .013 of a gram of heroin. Insane.
John McCrummen #57485
I've been in prison 16 years, three months, and your paper
is the best I've seen yet. I would really appreciate your consideration
of this matter.
You all keep up the good work. Being in Texas one tends to believe
no one cares about those in prison any longer. Good to see I
am wrong.
Keith Manning #381132
I was lucky enough to find your March/April edition of the
Razor Wire, and I have to tell you I'm impressed.
Please put me on your mail list, as the paper has information
that is vital for the convict. All too many other papers have
gone commercial or just to s__t! Thanks, and keep the news rolling.
Ken Sullivan #038790
I want to be a member of the November Coalition and receive
each issue of the Razor Wire. I really enjoy reading your paper.
I'm 52-years-old. I 'discharge' the 20th of October, 2,000 after
doing 8 years and 3 months for $2,500 abuse of credit cards.
I have never harmed any person in my life. I have a 21-year-old
son and 18-year-old daughter. I left my son when he was 14, and
then he didn't really know much about drugs or alcohol. Now he
is in prison doing 10 years for possession of drugs.
I'm so bitter, but hate no one. Sadly, I see no help for us in
the future. I'm not a negative person, but this place is a joke.
I have worked for 6 1/2 years since I've been locked up, earned
my G.E.D., graduated from "Changes" turning point",
participated in project Rio and attended substance abuse classes.
But, I still can't make parole. I have been wearing a hearing
aid for many years, but even with a $300,000,000 medical budget,
an inmate is only allowed one haring aid, and I have over 50%
loss of hearing in both ears. I could go on and on, but it would
serve no purpose.
Kenneth Lawrence
#656482
(Editor's note: Yeah, Kenneth, you're the one to serve a purpose.
Tell us your release plans.)
My name is Liz Wyatt. I'm an inmate at FCI Ft. Worth "Carswall".
I'm serving a 7-year sentence for aiding and abetting a quarter
ounce 'meth' sale to a girl who sold it to an undercover cop.
The girl I sold to is still free of course. Anyway, I don't have
much money coming in, but I'd love to receive the Razor Wire.
Thank you guys so much for the papers. It's the only way of knowing
what's really going on.
Thank You!
Liz Wyatt
I am writing from the new "supermax" prison in Ohio
at Youngstown.
I am 60-years-old and serving a sentence of 20-to-80 years for
marijuana-based charges. My sentence may be the longest ever
imposed in Ohio for a violation of marijuana laws. It is also
worthy to note that my sentence is tantamount to a death sentence
because my age couples with the fact that I'm ill with the big
C word, namely, non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
I have received a copy of the Razor Wire, and I am writing to
your Ohio chapter (Kelly Ali) with information and details of
my case.
Thank you
Richard Armstrong #307213
(Editor's note: Keep me informed, Richard, about your situation.)
Thank you so much for my copies of your last two publications.
This is the best newspaper I have seen when it comes to telling
the truth about long-term incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders.
Most importantly, the call for amnesty for all nonviolent drug
offenders is the only sensible ending to this witchhunt.
This is so wrong. As I have stated in previous correspondence,
I am serving a life without parole sentence. I was one of the
very first to be sentenced so harshly in 1982. I have been in
federal prison for 18 years now, and for the rest of my life,
I will always wonder why. None of this makes any sense to me.
It is impossible to understand how this government can put so
many people into prison with so much time for getting involved
with drugs. Sure, people make mistakes, but when does the punishment
end? Apparently, your organization is doing more than anyone
out there in our "used-to-be" free society.
The purpose of this letter is to remind you to be sure to mail
a copy of your next edition, and to request that you send another
copy to a friend of mine who publishes a specialty banking and
insurance newspaper. He always includes an article about prison
population, nonviolent offenders, the misguided goal of putting
so many drug offenders in prison, and the costs of our current
law enforcement.
Very truly yours,
Ross Alan Milburn #18806-044
Thank you for all your efforts to stop the drug war. I really
enjoy your paper. I will be transferring to FCI Coleman I/A in
the near future. I will notify you with my new address when I
get there. I have asked for the institution to send you the money
that I make here. I only make 12¢ an hour, which equals
around eight dollars a month. I know it's not much, but I hope
it helps.
Stacy Bice 13313-058
I have the following suggestion. Let's have a regular column
just for listing, briefly, all of the human rights' abuses, and
where those abuses are happening at which jails or prisons, and
when.
What most federal prisoners do not know is this: Prison policy
28 CFR Sec 540.20 allows prisoners to send out letters to the
media via the "special mail box." Yes, you can mail
your letters to the Razor Wire without any of them being read
by your captor.
Instructions are simple: (1) seal your letter inside an envelope,
and for safety's sake, tape it shut very well; (2) Write on the
front of the envelope - SPECIAL MAIL: Inmate correspondence with
Media Representative - including the Razor Wires' name and editor;
(3) If you want the Razor Wire not to print your name, then be
sure to say so.
So, my fellow prisoners; let the free world know the real deal
of what is going on behind these bars. The sooner we all start
communicating our plights, the sooner we can end this crazy so
called "drug war".
Truth & justice
The Fighting Texan
Hello, my name is Tilmon. I saw one of your Razor Wire newspapers,
and I asked my friend if I could read his. I enjoyed the articles,
and I would like to receive the Razor Wire and would like issues
sent to my daughters, mother and one to someone I've been writing
since my entry into Atlanta penitentiary.
My daughter is only 3 years old. Her mother Tommie went to prison
along with me. She was given a deal I agreed to because one of
us needed to raise the baby. She served two years. I have life
for hearsay about a small amount of drugs. Just a simple possession
really. There's no violence in my past history, no escapes, and
no bad ass here.
They said they were cutting the dragon's head off so the body
would die. I am 54 years old now. They took everything we had
too, cars and all that.
I will send stamps as I can.
Sincerely,
Tilmon Partin
My wife died recently from suffering because of my absence
from her. We been together since 1999, and I have been incarcerated
since 1993. Her death was a result of this drug war. How long
must our beloved family members feel the pain of this phony drug
war?
Also, is it possible to have a chapter of November Coalition
while in prison?
Sincerely,
Charles Carver 89587-011
(Editor's note: You can not organize a coalition chapter in prison.
But you can become aware of the issues together as a study group.)
Hello Nora, Chuck, and friends. I am the law clerk here at
U.S.P. Terre Haute who wrote you last summer. I stated my desire
to share information and literature with the inmate population
here. Due to your personal efforts in response to that request,
Nora, I have received materials from virtually every reform organization
in the country.
While I have shared and disseminated all of the materials that
I have received, the Razor Wire is by far the most requested
item. I've made a point of trying to share each issue with at
least 20 inmates. Naturally, if you could send me multiple issues
I could reach more people. I spend a moment with each one who
reads your paper; I attempt to explain the importance of getting
involved, of doing SOMETHING! I tell them to write you, to write
their families, attorneys, friends, newspapers, I TELL THEM TO
WRITE! We have something to say, it needs to be said, and it
needs to be heard. I tell them to find their voices. I tell them
that "the pen is mightier than the sword.
Gary D. Jackson
#62449-065 J-54
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