Want to learn more about prison abolition? Looking to explore the role of information in the prison industrial complex? Excited to discuss ways we can collectively offer resources to address violence caused by mass incarceration? Join the club (literally!).

METRO is collaborating with Prison Library Support Network in 2022 to host Abolitionist Futures: A PLSN Discussion Group. There will be a rotating calendar of media resources for discussion, including: books (for kids and adults), podcasts, videos, zines, and more! This group will meet the 2nd Monday of each month at 7:30PM.

While the group's facilitators (and host) are affiliated with libraries, you do not need to be a librarian, or information professional to attend this group. We will share our discussion calendar regularly through METRO and the PLSN listserv, so that folks can plan ahead to attend the months that sound interesting to them.

See below for the materials we will be discussing to kick off the year!

Monday, January 10 at 7:30pm
Selected Searching for Justice spotlights from PBS News. Each video is 5-9 minutes long: 

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

Optional:

• For girls with mothers in prison, summer camp offers support
• Business owners with records are haunted by the past
• How arrest records become invisible handcuffs

Register for the January 10 meeting here.

Monday, February 14 at 7:30pm
Join us for a special Valentine's Day podcast discussion about love and romance behind bars. Ear Hustle episodes (45 minutes) can be listened to directly from the website, Spotify, or however you get your podcasts. For our discussion please listen to the following episodes

• Prime Real Estate
• Hold That Space
• I Want the Fairy Tale

Optional:

• The Boom Boom Room *

* note that this episode is about sex

Register for the February 14 meeting here.

 

Monday, March 14 at 7:30pm
We will be discussing the realities of motherhood and pregnancy while incarcerated.

• Digitized issue of Tenacious Zine #5 Mothers Day issue
• Excerpt from Tenacious Issue 27
• Tutwiler a Marshall Project/Frontline documentary (30 mins)
• The realities of Pregnancy and Mothering While Incarcerated (PDF article - recommended)

Optional: 

• Pregnant Behind Bars: What We Do and Don't Know About Pregnancy and Incarceration NPR Radio Interview (4 mins),
• Mothers leaving prison try reconnecting with family (7 minutes video)

Register for the March 14 meeting here.

 

Content for this announcement was provided by EmmaKarin Eriksson. Thanks, Emma!