Dear John,
 
Happy Mental Health Awareness Month! This May, we want to acknowledge that currently and formerly incarcerated people deserve accessible mental health services, too. Too many people with mental health conditions end up in jails and prisons, and often, those who need therapy while incarcerated either fear seeking help or face barriers to access. 

To address this, ARC is pleased to offer mental health services free of charge to our Members. Thank you to supporters like you who allow us to provide this necessary service as part of our Members comprehensive reentry plan. Your support helps keep formerly incarcerated people home instead of back inside our prison system.
 

We have been providing mental health programming to our Members for years and this year, we are fighting for the same rights for our community inside. We are proud to announce that we are co-sponsoring AB 2142 – a bill aiming to launch a pilot program inside California prisons to provide mental health services to the general population. Many of our Members have expressed a need for therapy while incarcerated but have struggled to access it. This bill will change that.

Prioritizing therapy and mental health support is essential to combat mass incarceration, and we know that increasing access to mental health resources can help break the cycle of imprisonment. Friend, consider donating to ARC this Mental Health Awareness Month to help address the link between mental health and incarceration, and to support our efforts at fostering a compassionate and equitable society where mental health is respected, prioritized and valued. 

Thank you, as always, for your belief in our mission to end incarceration and the tools we use to drive towards our goal.

Sincerely,


Sam Lewis
Executive Director
Anti-Recidivism Coalition