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When

Sunday, September 1    
2:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Event Type

Join politically motivated locals who regularly use Indivisible’s guide in penning letters and signs. Write or make mail art to whomever you want – it feels good and is tangible action. We are always interested in new resources and addresses.

As we’ve become closer to the work of reaching people in private detention centers it’s really become more meaningful, more connecting I suppose.  The people who write from inside tend to send letters directly to Detainee Allies, who often post them here: https://www.facebook.com/DetaineeAllies/  You can learn a lot from these individual accounts.

Most enlightening has also been the recent notes from Kate Swanson, Detainee Allie’s academic advisor and geography professor.  To their knowledge no other delegation has seen the inside of Otay Mesa in a year.  It’s very well done with direct information about communication, treatment, the “voluntary” labor program, medical care, ICE, etc.  I’m attaching the report again.  Below are just a few takeaways of my own:

  • The detainees often use any small donations to buy better food at the commissary than they are given for meals.  They have a hard time getting enough nutrition otherwise.  Because Otay Mesa makes more money this way, the detainees believe it’s an intentional arrangement.  They are allowed 20 minutes to eat but spend less because they get yelled at to hurry by the guards.  The detainees report racist harassment in general from the guards.  BTW, we can donate funds, but unfortunately can’t send postage in – Otay Mesa just returns it.
  • All mail coming in and out gets screened.  (This means that there are guards reading our cards, which I think is a good thing.)
  • The biggest medical issues are mental health and chronic health problems that have never been treated in their home countries (i.e., diabetes).The staffing plan allows for 93 medical staff, but these positions are currently only 80% filled.   They have one psychologist who offers consults via teleconference. (I believe our cards are extra important for moral.)
  • There is a mix of kinds of cases, including people who were detained while living in the US.  (I encourage you to read Carnot’s account, who lived in the US for 14 years with his family, but is originally from Benin.)

I am quite interested in anyone’s thoughts who is interested in reading the report.  I personally feel motivated to put new thought into what we want to say, especially when we have the chance to write in our own language.  There is specific power and beauty in what we say.  This can be individualized too of course.  Scripts make it easy to start and go faster, but we can also expand our script options.  I’d really like to start recruiting fluent Spanish speakers to our team as well.  The visual beauty of these gifts we are sending is also part of their power.

As we evolve with our writing we should keep these guidelines in mind: http://www.detaineeallies.org/guidelines/

Pen Connection:
• Meets most Sundays
• We have writing supplies to share but can always use more stamps, cool pens, collage materials, etc, if you’ve get em!
• Coming for the beginning and bringing snacks are highly encouraged, but not terribly important.
• We try to strike a balance between discussion with solo writing time. There’s plenty of room for composing thoughts, but you may want to bring headphones 😉
• Write or make mail art to whomever you want. It feels good and is tangible action.

Contact Ethan Turpin to confirm any meeting and for more information at ethanseye@gmail.com or (805) 570-9439.