Hero Rich Paul is behind bars again! He is currently wearing orange and being held in D-Block. (That’s where they keep prisoners who haven’t yet been sentenced.) He can accept visitors, but not phone calls. The best way to write to him is using a free service called http://MailtoJail.com. He might be in there for a while, so please write him often, as it is his only connection to the outside world.
Except one. The Jail Sign-Wave is an activism event where people bring banners, posters, and flags outside the jail, and they wave up at the prisoners caged inside. Word quickly spreads around the cell block, and soon everyone is at their windows waving back. Many of them will never have a single visitor for months or years. There’s a reason they come to the windows and wave every week. Humans need connection.
Though Rich’s jail cell doesn’t have a window facing the street (his faces a brick wall), the other inmates in the cell block tell him what the signs say and describe the people holding them so he can know who’s out there supporting him.
It gives him the opportunity to be “Man of the Hour” once a week. All the other inmates want to know why there’s a group of people out there supporting one of the guys they’re in with. Rich explains each week, “I’m a political prisoner pushing to end the drug war.” It gives him a soapbox, and the others listen. “What does ‘No Victim, No Crime’ mean?” one inmate asks. And as Rich indulges the other inmates, his words can’t escape the ears of equally curious jail guards. They quietly eavesdrop as they’re confronted with the startling proclamation that they’re guarding a bunch of victims: peaceful people made criminals by an act of tyrannical politicians. The realization can be so startling for some that they’ve quit their jobs working for the State.
There is a fundraiser for Rich Paul at http://gofundme.com/GoRichPaul.
