Political Prisoner and Prison Rebel Birthdays for June

Inspired by the spirit of the Political Prisoners Birthday crew, here’s a short listing of some rebel prisoners who have upcoming birthdays in June.

For an introduction on how to write to prisoners and some things to do and not to do, go here. If you have the time, please also check IWOC’s listing of prisoners facing retaliation for prison strike-related organizing.

June also sees the International Day of Solidarity with Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners on the 11th, and the Day of Solidarity with Eric King on the 28th, so you may want to do something to mark those dates.

Happy birthday to former Wikileaks/Anonymous-related prisoner Matthew DeHart, who’ll be celebrating in freedom this year, RIP to Tom Manning, whose birthday would have been this month, and congratulations to Spanish anarchist prisoner Amadeu Casellas, who was provisionally freed in May.

Much as I hate to see even more of our lives and communications being enclosed by tech companies, it seems inescapable at the moment, so for anyone who doesn’t want to leave their house to buy stamps/cards/envelopes or to send mail, a reminder that many prisoners can be contacted electronically, via Jpay or similar services.

Jay Chase

Last remaining prisoner from the “Nato 3” case, sentenced for helping an undercover cop make molotov cocktails.

Illinois uses Jpay, so you should be able to send him a message by going to jpay.com, clicking “inmate search”, then selecting “State: Illinois, Inmate ID: M44710”.

Birthday: June 12th

Address:

Jared Chase M44710
Dixon Correctional Center
2600 North Brinton Avenue
Dixon, IL 61021‬
United States

Stephen Kelly

Kings Bay Ploughshares prisoner, imprisoned for his role in taking direct action against a nuclear submarine base in Georgia in 2018.

Birthday: June 12^th

Address:

Stephen Kelly #015634
Glynn County Detention Center
100 Sulphur Springs Road
Brunswick, GA 31520

Jarreau Ayers

Vaughn Uprising prisoner, one of the only two prisoners from the Vaughn 17 to be convicted. As one write-up put it, “Jarreau Ayers and Dwayne Staats, already incarcerated under the hopeless sentence of life without parole, took it upon themselves to admit to involvement to prevent the rest of their comrades being found unjustifiably guilty, which led to success – not guilty verdicts or their charges being dropped.” You can learn more about Jarreau in his own words here and here.

Pennsylvania uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going to connectnetwork.com, selecting “Add a facility”, choosing “State: Pennsylvania, Facility: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections”, going into the “messaging” service, and then adding him as a contact by searching his name or “NS9994”.

Birthday: June 15

Address:

Smart Communications / PA DOC
Jarreau Ayers – NS9994
SCI Huntington
PO Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL, 33733

Jason Renard Walker

Texas prison writer and organizer associated with the 2016 prison strike, contributor to the Fire Inside zine, facing down heavy repression for his ongoing attempts to expose the brutality of the prison system. You can find his writings at his website, Jason’s Prison Journal, and his work has been collected as an ebook, Reports from Within the Belly of the Beast. To find out more about Jason, you can also listen to this interview he recently conducted with the Final Straw.

Birthday: June 17th

Address:

Note: Texas prisons have now banned all greeting cards and postcards. As Texas uses Jpay, you can send him a message by going to jpay.com, clicking “inmate search”, then selecting “State: Texas, Inmate ID: 1532092”. Or to send him a letter on standard white paper that complies with Texas restrictions, write to:

Jason Renard Walker
#1532092
Clements Unit
9601 Spur 591
Amarillo, TX 79107