Prisoners' Rights - Alida Cardos Whaley - Wisconsin Books to Prisoners - Justseeds - ACLU of WI

Check out these First Wave and indie spoken word artists from Madison who performed at an art show "Artists Against the Prison Industrial Complex" that was organized by Wisconsin Books to Prisoners in Madison on Jan 30. Wisconsin Books to Prisoners, a project of Rainbow Bookstore, collected and put up over 70 drawings by prisoners that addressed the use of prisons, policing and punishment as a solution to social, political and economic problems. Spoken word artists Sophia Snow, Alida Cardos Whaley, Joe Briggs and Adam Levin all exploded the room with their pieces.

"Artists Against the Prison Industrial Complex" was inspired by 20 printmakers from the Justseeds Radical Artists Cooperative www.justseeds.org who created a portfolio of prints in 2008 in honor of the 10th anniversary of Critical Resistance, a prison abolitionist movement. Twenty posters from the Justseeds, which included prints by Wisconsin artists Nicolas Lampert and Colin Matthes were on display. Other political artists in Wisconsin have also contributed prints to the show. Feel bad you missed it? You've got another opportunity to see the radical work of Justseeds in a new exhibition "Which Side Are You On?" at the UWM Union Art Gallery in Milwaukee. Josh MacPhee one of the founders of Justseeds will give a talk "Then The Walls are Talking: Street Art and Social Movements" about activist printmaking around the world on Monday, March 2nd at 7 PM at the Union Fireside Lounge. For more information about the exhibit and talk call 414-229-3111. There will also be a printmaking workshop with Josh Macphee on Saturday, March 7th from 12:30 - 3:30 pm at the Union Studio Arts and Craft Centre. Fee and registration info: 414-299-5533.




The ACLU of WI is currently engaged in a number of initiatives to restore rights to prisoners in WI. They include:


• Assisting Wisconsin Books to Prisoners to restore the right of prisoners to receive used/donated books from their project. WI is the only state that is denying prisoners free books from book to prisoner projects in the U.S.

• Defending the rights of incarcerated at Taycheedah Womens Prison in Wisconsin. Even though these women may have broken the law, their sentences should not include permanent damage to their health or a shorter life span. Can YOU imagine giving birth with your hands and feet shackled?

• Restore the right to vote to ex-offenders immediately upon release from incarceration. These are our fellow community members, tax payers, neighbors who under current Wisconsin state law are being denied their right to vote for months, years, even their entire lives.

Find out more about the ACLU of Wisconsins initiatives email liberty@aclu-wi.org or visit www.aclu-wi.org or Facebook

Find out more about Wisconsin Book to Prisoners contact Camy Matthay maha@chorus.net or visit www.rainbowbookstore.org/b2p

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