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Books to Prisoners Spokane @books2prisonersspo.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

"[A]bout 60% of people coming into the Spokane County Jail have behavioral health disorders, and 20% of people leaving the jail are homeless." This mass incarceration does NOT provide solutions or better our community. #EndMassIncarceration www.spokesman.com/stories/2022...

spokesman.com

Maggie Yates, the woman leading the region's criminal justice reform efforts, resigns

Yates had been focusing on reducing Spokane County's jail population and reducing racial disparities within the criminal justice system.

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Prison Journalism Project @prisonjournalism.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

We're halfway there. Please help us spread the word. Have a great weekend, folks!

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Books to Prisoners Spokane @books2prisonersspo.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

We are so excited! Portrait artists at Terrain are partnering with Jupiter's Eye to do a book drive for Books to Prisoners!! Come in Friday, June 6th from 6-8 pm at 411 W Riverside Ave, Spokane, WA and purchase books for Books to Prisoners and you will receive a portrait drawing FREE!

The poster's background looks like corkboard. On the left is bright green lettering ascending from the bottom of the page to the top in 2 rows saying, "Portrait Club + Jupiter's Eye + Books to Prisoners"

The top of the remaining poster is a picture of 2 individuals sitting on bright green seats in front of the windows of Jupiter's Eye. More windows fill the 2nd and 3rd floors above the shop. There is a tree towering above the people, framing them from the left. Two black and white portraits of people from the neck up are attached with a bright green dot in front of the tree and 3rd story windows.

At the bottom of the page, underneath the picture, is the event description. "Free portraits for book drive participants! June 6th 2025 6-8 pm at 411 W Riverside Ave, Spokane, WA"

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Books to Prisoners Spokane @books2prisonersspo.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Another week, another pile of books being shipped to fulfill folks' requests. Our volunteer team can do this because of community donations. Thank you to everyone who has bought from our wishlist on bookshop!! We receive a matching grant from the Hull Foundation and are able to send even more!

A pile of ~20 packages sits on a table. There are a couple boxes of books in the background.

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Johnathan Perkins @johnathanperk.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

My Fellow Black People‼️ There is no non-racist capitalism; there is no non-deadly capitalism. Black People‼️ Please, PLEASE heed the words of our ancestors. There is no place for us in this nation—no safe place for Black America to thrive within the capitalistic structures of these United States.🇺🇸

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Prisoners Literature Project @prisonerlitproj.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

[Book requests from prisoners] remind us that reading, at its core, isn’t about cultural capital or carceral control. It’s about maintaining our essential human right to imagine differently, to choose freely, and to find joy in our own way, even within confinement. #MustRead

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Anodyne @anodynesix.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

"I first make a sketch using white or brown regular colored pencils. Next I add a few highlights with my watercolor pencils. Then I get my Q-tips out and start dipping them into my paints and filling in the sketch. ... Once that's finished, I take a Q-tip or toothpick and begin to dot the work."

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Books to Prisoners Spokane @books2prisonersspo.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

We always learn something reading people's letter requests. In this letter, that Paul Morphy could play chess blindfolded. Imagine that! Not many prisons accept hard cover books anymore, so it was doubly special that we had just the book requested--and that the facility would accept it!

Handwritten letter reads as follows:

Navasota, TX 77868
Feb 2025
CHESSters and Witchcraft

Dear Left Bank Folks,
The Chessaholics, me included have been watching a TV series where three pretty witches are persistently looking up Hexes and Spells in a big book of 'Rituals, Hexes, and Spells' so we'd like to have a book like that.
Also, since I'm a Paul Morphy phenatic [fanatic] I'd like a book full of his games. He was a genius, back in late 1800s, and early 1900s. He could play chess blindfolded. Imagine that.
Hope you can help us.
Thank you
Sincerely,
Name redacted

The hard cover book is a marbled, dark blue color. There is a gold border with three gold sun bursts clustered in the center--two on the right and the third left-of-center middle.

In big white lettering the title, "THE BOOK OF SPELLS" is centered, and overlaps some of the sun-bursts' rays. Beneath is smaller white lettering, "The Magick of Witchcraft"

The author, Jamie Delia, is in tiny gold lettering center top.

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Interrupting Criminalization @interruptcrim.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

If you're looking for some more inspiration for ways you can take action in your community, explore our One Million Experiments website—you'll find snapshots of community-based projects exploring how we can define and create safety and reduce harm without police and prisons. Plus zines + a podcast:

millionexperiments.com

One Million Experiments

Exploring snapshots of community-based projects that expand our ideas about what keeps us safe.

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Interrupting Criminalization @interruptcrim.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

To learn about why policing doesn’t stop violence, why police reforms will never work, and more about how the demand to defund police is the floor, No More Police by @prisonculture.bsky.social and @dreanyc123.bsky.social is essential. For excerpts, interviews, and resources related to the book:

interruptingcriminalization.com

No More Police: A Case for Abolition — Interrupting Criminalization

In this powerful call to action, New York Times bestselling author Mariame Kaba and attorney and organizer Andrea J. Ritchie detail why policing doesn’t stop violence, instead perpetuating widespread ...

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DC Books to Prisons @dcbookstoprisons.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Did you miss Independent Bookstore Day? Don’t worry! You can donate a book to DCBTP today from bookshop.org and get free shipping! Support independent bookstores and send books to prisoners - linktr.ee/dcbtp #BooksToPeopleInPrison #IndieBookstoreDay #PrisonBooksWishlists

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Books to Prisoners Spokane @books2prisonersspo.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

Books to Prisoners Spokane gets all our letters from @bookstoprisoners.bsky.social Seattle. The letters are as unique as you and me and the individuals that write them. One common theme is always that books HELP. They provide entertainment, information, connection, spirituality, and HOPE.

The cursive hand-written letter says:

Dear Books to Prisoners,
Thanks a lot for the last shipment + for volunteering to help us prisoners! You bring a little light into my life! If you can, I would like some comic books, and as you can see I am also into artwork. So also art/drawing books, pictures of flowers, butterflies, etc.
Thanks very much!
Name & prisoner number redacted
Rusk, TX

The hand-written letter reads as follows:
11-15-2021
Dear Sir/Madam,
first of all please allow me to thank you for this Bible that you have sent me. i am enjoying it and it is the exact one that i needed (compact and referenced) and easy to travel with and i see the note you had sent me about the stamps that you needed for your ministry.
well have i have sent you a few stamps that you have ask for; i showed a few inmates the Bible and they all loved it and they ask me where i got it from so i gave them your address and they said that they are going to be writing you (to God be the Glory Great things he has Done!)
well you will be hearing from me again. thanks again for this beautiful Bible

The hand-written letter reads as follows:

To: Books to Prisoners + Left Bark Bookstore

Hello, I hope all is well there!! I a writing from a facility in lockdown. This time it was a two on two fight between the Paisa's + the Gangs or one of the Gangs + it was over a card game. But since it wasn't within one group or 1 on 1 we are locked down until SIS can confirm there will not be any blowback. + that it is finished + they will do shakedowns also. Anyways I write not to whine but to beg for books. I like Fantasy, sci-fi, + horror or any thriller. I am currently reading "Acacia" by David Anthony Durham. It is book one of the "Acacia Trilogy" I wish I had more it was written in 2007 so I'm sure the others are out. Anyways I will read whatever you send + Thanks for all you do + I will of course donate all books to the Library after finished. Thanx again =) I am allowed up to 5 books per package, new + used, hard + soft. Must say "Books" on pkg. Please mail to:
Name & prisoner number redacted
PO Box 1002
Thomson IL 61285

The hand-written letter reads as follows:

Name & prisoner number redacted.
Ancora Psychiatric Hospital
301 Spring Garden Road
Ancora, New Jersey
08037-9699
December 8, 2023

Books to Prisoners
90 Left Bank Books
92 Pike Street, Box A
Seattle, Washington 98101

Dear Sirs/Madam:

I would like to receive some books from you. I am interested in books about diabetes and up to date on computers and up to date dictionary and disease management on hepatitis #C.

You can send them to me at the above address.

Thank you for your time and efforts in helping me out.

Sincerely yours,
Name redacted

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Books to Prisoners Spokane @books2prisonersspo.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Another week, another huge pile of packages Books to Prisoners is fulfilling to ship to incarcerated folks! Due to limited funds each package contains 3 books usually. Recently we've been receiving a lot of requests for adult coloring books. Thank you to our community for helping make this happen!

A box is overflowing with packages. They are filled with books, usually 3 books each due to limited donations and funds.

These packages are assembled weekly by Books to Prisoners Spokane's volunteer team, to fulfill letter requests from incarcerated folks across the country.

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Books to Prisoners Spokane @books2prisonersspo.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Spokane County Jail discriminately incarcerates more Black people—something the JFA Institute reported when Spokane County paid them to analyze jail disparities. Increased police state disproportionately harms people of color—and benefits the wealthy. #FreeThemAll www.inlander.com/news/spokane...

inlander.com

Spokane jail inmate population analysis finds racial disparities, high number of bookings for misdemeanors and nonviolent offenses

Spokane County disproportionately incarcerates people of color for longer stints and predominantly books inmates for misdemeanor charges and non-violent felonies, according to a new consultant...

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Books to Prisoners Spokane @books2prisonersspo.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Incarceration disappears people from our community. Legally they can be used as slave labor to enrich the billionaire class. Spokane has contracts using incarcerated folks' labor for cheap furniture, etc. This does our community no good. #FreeThemAll #EndMassIncarceration

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Books to Prisoners Spokane @books2prisonersspo.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Spokane County Jail is no exception. We must demand our officials prioritize medical treatment for medical emergencies. Addiction is a disease, and withdrawal can be fatal. Locking up people for drug-use offenses—preventing treatment—only harms our community. www.spokesman.com/stories/2019...

spokesman.com

‘They should have taken him to the hospital’: Records detail Spokane County inmate’s overdose death

Shane Carson, 31, overdosed on methamphetamine and some type of opioid. But at the time, corrections officers believed he was “detoxing” or experiencing withdrawal symptoms, and they dismissed the con...

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Books to Prisoners Spokane @books2prisonersspo.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Books to Prisoners Spokane has a wish list on Bookshop! Help us purchase these relevant, requested books so our volunteer team can ship your donation to incarcerated folks across the country. Books stimulate not only the imagination but growth for the future. bookshop.org/wishlists/e8...

bookshop.org

Books to Prisoners Spokane Matching Grant Wishlist

Bookshop.org Custom Registry

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Books to Prisoners Spokane @books2prisonersspo.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

When Books to Prisoners Spokane receives letter requesting free books, we don't just get authors or subjects or book titles. Incarcerated writers pour their personality through drawings sometimes. We're grateful to be able to be able to donate so much through community support!

A piece of paper folded in thirds long-wise (hot dog/burrito style) with colored pencil drawings.

There is a red and black butterfly in the top. The colored pencils have beautifully shaded the circles and longer, ellipses-esque shapes in the butterfly's symmetrical wings. The tips of the top wings are golden, with the upper right's wing having a gold sunburst emanating from the tip.

The butterfly is trailed by three blue flowers, descending vertically to the bottom of the page. Each flower has 5 petals, with the blue shading heavier in the center of the flower, lightening towards the middle of each petal before it stops. The center of each flower is an orange circle. The top two flowers each have 2 green leaves; the bottom-most flower has 1. The green leaves are shaded heaviest on their perimeter, lightening to nothing colored in the center.

The identically vertically folded paper on the right has a red rose in the center, surrounded by leaves, with a butterfly on either, most vertically-extreme end. Everything is free hand.

The rose's petal edges contain the most color pencil shading, however the very tip of the petals are very light red. This gives the rose the illusion of being positioned in front of a light-source, with the perimeter of each petal being illuminated.

This is contrasted against the darkest red shading, with the bottom-most (from flower center) petals having more shading than the upper. This gives the rose the illusion of 3-dimension-ality.

There is 1 leaf to the direct left of the rose, two angled at + and - 45 degrees from direct right. There is 1 leaf at the bottom of the rose, with a second leaf seemingly coming from behind the first that is slightly to its left (our right) and further down the page. A third leaf is similarly coming from behind the 2nd to its left (our right) and further down the page. A 4th and final leaf behind that.

The top of the rose has two adjacent leaves coming from underneath. A third leaf is nestled in between the two, not directly in the middle but closer to the left. Only half of it is showing, appearing to originate from behind the left-most leaf. The 4th leaf is the highest on the page, with its base originating just under the 3rd leaf's tip.

The middle of each leaf is a medium to dark brown vein running down the center falling just short of the leaf tip. There are alternating yellow veins that originate from the brown center line and extend half way to the jagged leaf sides.

Surrounding the brown center vein is the darkest green shading, but the yellow side veins appear to be on top of this dark green. This gives 3D look w/ the yellow leaf veins the appearance of being on top. The leaf fades to yellow green and finally yellow to the edges, which are jagged black lines.

The 2 butterflies are complimentary pink/purple colors framing the rose.

An 8.5" x 11" piece of paper has been folded into 3rds. The middle panel is a free hand colored pencil sketch of 2 butterflies: 1 above and 1 below the words Thinking of You. The left-most and right-most panels are a hand written letter.

The top butterfly appears in flight, with its wings together. The wing farther away is barely visible. The circles and long teardrops that decorate the wing are shaded purple, with the body of the wing shaded pink.

The bottom butterfly's geometric pattern is identical to the top, with the colors swapped. The geometric circles lining the wings are pink and the majority of the wings purple.

The letter (with apostrophe and light grammatical editing) reads:
11-22-24
Happy Holidays friends. It's hard times out there everything's going, food etc it even scary the way constants of threats Russia, China, Middle East, climate change....(sigh) We must remain faithful to God in these times and pray for-
the women & -children they are catching the most hell. We are a blessed country. Covid is an up & down ride. The nurses, first responders, the elderly God please remember them all. And thank you guys for not giving up. We will get through this!

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Hannah Riley Fernandez @hannahcrileyy.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

if we're defining a constitutional crisis as a breakdown in the rule of law or the erosion of constitutional protections, then we’ve been in one for a long time (see: US prisons.) what we’re seeing now is just that breakdown becoming more visible to people who were never directly targeted before

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Appalachian Prison Book Project (APBP) @appalachianpbp.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

April is Second Chances Month, which means we're thinking a lot about life after prison. And that's exactly what our friend Renaldo Hudson spoke about when he visited us a couple of years ago. Listen to his talk on perpetual punishment:

youtube.com

Renaldo Hudson: Understanding Perpetual Punishment

YouTube video by Appalachian Prison Book Project (APBP)

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Books to Prisoners Spokane @books2prisonersspo.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

Books to Prisoners Spokane has a table at Get Lit tomorrow! Join us as we listen to featured authors, guest speakers, and SpokAnimal open mic time. There's poetry and more. We're selling t-shirts and books we cannot send to incarcerated folks, to fund sending more! inside.ewu.edu/getlit/get-l...

The background is book titles. There are 3 rows and 15 rows of books composing this background. The different colors form a diverse feeling.

There's a person's upper half holding an open book centered by the background. The book they are holding says, "get lit!" on one panel and "2025" on the other with the spine reading "A Literary Festival."

The person holding the book is wearing a pink plaid, long sleeve top and has pink flowers in their hair. We can just see their glasses over the top of the book. The lenses have pine trees reflected, implying images the person reading get lit! 2025 must be seeing (externally or in their mind's eye).

The background book titles we can make out are:

In Inheritance of Drowning
Mettleworn
World Without End
Grief in the Fourth Dimension
Transplants
Auto Bio Myth Ography
Deep Water
The Rule of Three
Restoring Eden
A Quiet Day With the West on Fire
Bluff
We Are Animals
Elita
Survival Strategies
The Girl in the Walls
Depth Control
Rodeo
The Story Thief
Ordinary Omens
Doom Glove
The Mystery Writer
The Dream-catcher in the Wry
Beyond the Watershed
Transitory
Subduction
Vessel
Sing the Salmon Home
Salmon Weather
The Invention of the Darling
The Burrow
Four Fields
A Little Bit of Land
Dear Writer
City of Dancing Gargoyles
Three Alarm Fire
True West
Gunflower
The Sea Gives Up the Dead
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea
Pine

Get Lit! Programs

Get Lit! is a program housed within Eastern Washington University's College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Our program is responsible for the Get Lit! Festival, Washington State's longest-running annual literary festival, which has grown over the last 27 years from a single day of readings to, historically, a week-long celebration of literature. Get Lit! is currently a four-day festival, Thursday through Sunday, which includes full days of readings, writing workshops, craft classes, panel discussions, literary happy hours, virtual events, a book fair, and more—all offered for free or low-cost. Each festival brings a diverse lineup of highly sought-after authors to our region, while also celebrating our local literary talent.

In addition to the festival, Get Lit! also helps to promote EWU's Visiting Writers Series and works closely with EWU's Writers in the Community program, which places graduate students into local spaces of need to teach creative writing.

It is our mission, both in our festival programming and our educational outreach, to celebrate the arts, amplify diverse voices, and empower creativity.

Our 27th annual festival takes place April 10th-13th, 2025 and will feature 40+ literary events both in-person and virtual, celebrating 65+ talented writers from our region and beyond. 2025's headliners include Maggie Smith, Li-Young Lee, and Danez Smith. www.getlitfestival.org

Get Lit! 2025's Saturday April 12 schedule:

9:00 am PDT: Book Fair
9:30 am PDT: Conversations Over Coffee (Erin Popeika)
10:30 am PDT: Writing the Unspeakable: Excavating Silence in Narrative (Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum; Kristen Millares Young; Margot Kahn; Molly Olguin)
11:00 am PDT: Silent Reading Party
11:30 am PDT: Imagining the End: Writing Fictional Apocalypses (Laura Jean McKay; Tara Campbell)
12:00 pm PDT: ReWriting the West: Dispatches From a New Frontier (Tiffany Midge; Rena Priest; Betsy Gaines Quammen) also Decompress with Pets
12:30 pm PDT: Drop In and Write with Spark Central (Jenny Davis)
1:00 pm PDT: Rural American Writing with Willow Springs Books

Get Lit! 2025's Saturday April 12 schedule Continued:

1:30 pm PDT: Dear Writer: Creativity in Community (Molly Olguin; Jennifer Yu; Lauren W. Westerfield; Maggie Smith; Tara Campbell)
2:00 pm PDT: Lynx House Press Reception
2:30 pm PDT: Haunted Cities: Perspectives From the Pacific (Josh Fomon; Juan Carlos Reyes; Daniel Tam-Claiborne; Diana Xin)
3:00 pm PDT: Transgenerational Transgender Poetics: A Conversation for All Ages (Fig DePaolo; Gwendolyn Owens; Juno Williams; Subhaga Crystal Bacon; Tennison S. Black)
3:30 pm PDT: SpokAnimal Open Mic featuring Jessica E. Johnson (Jessica E. Johnson)
4:30 pm PDT: Poetry Salon (Danez Smith; Margot Kahn; Rena Priest; Subhaga Crystal Bacon; Tennison S. Black)
7:00 pm PDT: An Evening with Danez Smith and Maggie Smith (Aileen Keown Vaux; Danez Smith; Maggie Smith)
9:00 pm PDT: Foray: Get Lit! Festival Edition (Shraya Singh; Daniel Tam-Claiborne; Diana Xin; Greg Bem; Josh Fomon; Juan Carlos Reyes; Kristen Millares Young; Lauren W. Westerfield; Sarah Rooney; Tiffany Midge; Taylor Waring; Margaret Albaugh

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Books to Prisoners Spokane @books2prisonersspo.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Spokane's criminal legal system similarly discriminates. SPD + Prosecutor Larry Haskell overcharge individuals—both in # of charges & severity of charges—to guarantee plea deals. If you hit 9 charges, they'll then demand max sentencing. www.scarspokane.org/haskell-back...

scarspokane.org

Haskell Backs Off — The role of systemic racism (Part 2) - Spokane Community Against Racism

SCAR advances civil rights and racial equity through education, advocacy, research, policy impact, and community engagement to address racial disparities.

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Books to Prisoners Spokane @books2prisonersspo.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

We send books to incarcerated individuals almost every week! Here is an example of the packages we put together to send out—each package contains ~3 books.

Around 30 packages full of ~3 books each are overfilling a large plastic container. The excess are on a table where there are other books as well. There is a pile of Ta-Nehisi Coates novel The Water Dancer in the background next to a box containing flyers labeled "Spanish."

The packaged books are each going to be mailed to an incarcerated individual. We try to match the books we choose to their request as much as we can.

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