Building an international movement to abolish the prison industrial complex (PIC) requires communities, organizers, and advocates outside of cages to remain connected to imprisoned people. Help Critical Resistance strengthen political relationships with people locked up in jails, prisons and detention centers so that we can support imprisoned people resist repression and cycles of isolation, while building political unity and cross-wall power for abolition.

CR runs a Prisoner Solidarity Phone Line every weekend (Friday-Monday from 8am – 6pm PST) to stay connected to people inside cages. Each week, volunteers and CR members take on shifts to answer calls from imprisoned people, share political education and organizing resources and connect prisoners to CR’s projects and campaigns.

Have you been looking for a way to get more involved with CR or to support imprisoned people? Sign up to become a Prisoner Solidarity Phone Line Volunteer today by attending two workshops this fall in September & October. 

• Part 1: Introduction, Orientation & Scenario Practice on Sunday, September 29 from 10am-12pm PT on Zoom (link provided when you RSVP!)

• Part 2: Logistics of Answering Calls & CR’s Prisoner Correspondence WebApp on Sunday, October 13 from 10am-12pm PT on Zoom (link provided after you attend Part 1)

In these workshops, you’ll learn CR’s orientation and approaches to working with imprisoned people, practice how to talk with imprisoned people about PIC abolition, and the logistics of how to answer CR’s Prisoner Solidarity Phone Lines remotely & record your calls for the organization from anywhere in the world you’re located. The workshops will be spaced two weekends apart with some abolitionist reading homework in between, allowing trainees time to digest CR’s materials and engage deeply with the content.

All volunteers are asked to commit to taking on two shifts per month (each shift is two-hours) after completing both trainings.

**Formerly imprisoned people, people with imprisoned loved ones, and those with experience in prisoner solidarity and correspondence work are highly encouraged to volunteer. We also welcome bi-lingual or multi-lingual volunteers (especially fluent Spanish speakers) to help us broaden our support.

Check out more details about our Phone Lines here and complete this RSVP form for the September & October trainings. 

If you have any questions, contact CR’s Prisoner Correspondence Coordinator, Anastasia Franco: anastasia@criticalresistance.org