Abolition Apostles is currently in a period of transition as we determine a new organizing structure and name for our collective. Our collective is entirely volunteer-run, and we remain committed to abolition as a community and with our inside community.
Throughout 2022, our Structures Working Group lead us through a process of building organizational structures that support our work moving forward. This process involved collecting ideas from inside and outside pen pals, synthesizing themes, drafting initial statements, and approving a statement via consensus decision-making. Our new purpose statement is:
To spark & support meaningful connections between people inside and outside prison in a way that transforms us all, rooted in our abolitionist belief that no one is disposable.
In the months ahead we hope to create additional structures to define who we are and how we work as a collective. To stay up-to-date on any new developments, join our mailing list or our Slack group.
In the past, our approach to solidarity has included writing to pen pals and building relationships, as well as material support and advocacy. Material support can include adding money to commissary accounts, sending gifts such as books, and searching for needed resources on the internet. Advocacy on behalf of our pen pals can include writing letters or making phone calls to parole boards and other decision-makers and participating in local abolitionist organizing to struggle against the prison industrial complex in our respective communities. We also believe that the work of abolition is inseparable from Black liberation and anti-capitalism. We understand all of this work to be rooted in relationships and community, and pen pal relationships help us imagine and move toward our goal of abolition.