Friend –

One of my favorite things about the holidays is opening my holiday cards. I love seeing photos of friends and family on the front covers, reading updates about people's lives in the past year, holding those cards, and knowing that my loved ones – especially those I don't get to see that often – hold them, too.

Now imagine that all of your holiday cards look like the one in the image above. It's nice, but just not the same. That original card, with its handwritten note, has been discarded. Instead, you receive a photocopy of that card, one your loved one didn't touch. It's colder and detached – another reminder that your connections to your loved one aren't considered as important as others.

In Wisconsin prisons, no matter the type or time of year, all mail is handled this way. Connections to the outside world – to loved ones, support, resources, to our shared humanity – are constantly limited, bypassed, and usurped, creating trauma to both those incarcerated and their families and communities.

Connection is the heart of the holiday season – and of being human. We believe we all deserve better.

Also, we know you deserve better – we believe they do, too. Visit our website for more information about the work we are doing to improve prison conditions in Wisconsin and the impact of legal mail in these institutions.

Happy Holidays,

Tina Itson
Director of Development and Engagement, ACLU of Wisconsin