The Opening Statement: Summer 2022

Introducing The Opening Statement, a new abolitionist publication from Michigan Abolition and Prisoner Solidarity.

The Opening Statement is a free quarterly newsletter that features articles written by those currently imprisoned by the state of Michigan. We publish poetry, political writing and opinion pieces, as well as other relevant pieces by non-incarcerated authors.

“Between 2017 and 2020, we did what we’d set out to do, regularly publishing articles, opinion pieces, poetry, and other writing by prisoners, along with other relevant articles by folks on the outside. Occasionally they [the MDOC] blocked an issue or article because they claimed that the specific language in a specific article was a ‘threat to security.’ But all of a sudden in the spring or summer of 2020, right around when the pandemic kicked off, MDOC mailrooms started to reject the newsletter for a new reason we’d never seen before. They claimed that articles written by prisoners counted as ‘prisoner-to-prisoner communication,’ as if they were private letters sent from one prisoner to another, which are prohibited under the mail policy. This is obviously bullshit. We know for a fact that MDOC doesn’t block other newsletters or publications that feature prisoner writings. It’s pretty clear they are targeting The Opening Statement because they disagree with the content we publish (and prisoners write).”

OPENING STATEMENT – SUMMER 2022  (CLICK THE LINK TO DOWNLOAD PDF)

ARTICLES AND AUTHORS LISTED BELOW:

• Abolitionist Greetings and Happy Summer! MAPS Editorial Team
• 2022 Alternative Awards for “Excellence” in MDOC MAPS Editorial Team
• The City in the Forest: Reinventing Resistance for an Age of Climate Crisis and Police Militarization  Anonymous, Crimethinc
• Abortion and Abolition Jane’s Revenge
• Truth and Justice for Álvaro Sebastián Ramírez Network Against Repression and For Solidarity

photo: Антон Дмитриев via Unsplash