A Note from the Editors: Issue 32

We chose “Prison“ as the theme for our October issue while we were taking a break from work and had tumbled down our respective social media rabbit holes. It was around the time when everyone was posting black squares on their feeds, and we spoke about how frustrated we were that conversations about justice were bound to be fleeting when they happened as a social media trend. We wanted more sustained engagement with Black Lives Matter and the subsequent conversations about abolishing the police and carceral systems, both of which are rooted in white supremacy. We noted down “prison” as a potential theme and continued scrolling.

As we considered this theme, we were struck by the language that surrounds the pandemic. While many of us experienced “lockdown,” “isolation,” and “containment,” prisons became a footnote of the global pandemic narrative as they transformed into coronavirus hotspots. People in prison are among our most vulnerable populations, and they have not received the waves of empathy and outrage that other susceptible groups have. But this year, the tides have been turning on how we think about prisons and imprisoned people.

Prison, inmates, and feelings of imprisonment have reached both our headlines and our ways of thinking about ourselves and the systems we live in. We were interested in exploring those intersections—as always, we left our theme open to interpretation to see which nuances and complexities our contributors would bring to the conversation. At first, we wanted to engage with actual prisons for this issue, but we have since reflected on that intention. We have decided to actively encourage imprisoned people to submit their work to any theme, not just this one. If you are reading this as someone who has been incarcerated, we encourage you to submit your work, and we will be promoting and partnering with other publications that have worked hard to provide a platform for imprisoned people.

While you read the work we have published, we ask that you rethink your preconceptions about prisons and the people who have been imprisoned under unfair, punitive, and unempathetic justice systems. We ask that you extend your empathy to all those who are imprisoned: whether it is their bodies, families, gender roles, narratives, mental patterns, or justice systems that imprison them. 

Love always, 
Zoe & Vamika

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