Limitless Letters Intake Form

We are super excited to tell you all about Limitless Letters, the pen pal program Los Angeles Spoonie Collective is collaborating with Trans Latina Coalition to create. It is our hope that this program can serve as a connection between two very isolated parts of the LGBTQIA+ community: disabled trans folks and incarcerated trans folks.

Reading Michel Foucault’s ‘Discipline and Punish’ (although flawed and problematic) opened our eyes to the similarities between our respective communities. Whether or not you’re familiar with panopticism (a design that allows all prisoners of an institution to be observed by a single security guard, without the inmates being able to tell whether they are being watched), you may be aware of the ways disabled folks are violently surveilled by the medical industrial complex, and the ways that modern medical institutions and prison dehumanize and commodify our bodyminds. It is because of these shared experiences that we have a common ground in which to build solidarity from. Incarcerated folks are also frequently disabled, as members of multiply marginalized communities tend to be. Therefore, we have even more incentive to write and connect with someone who might relate to us in a way that we’ve never imagined.

Isolated prisoners are easier targets for violence, so sending them letters actually creates more safety for them by showing the cruel prison guards, who are power-tripping slave-driving overseers, that someone on the outside cares about them and can report the abuse they’re subject to if needed. We can help keep our siblings alive, but also know that incarcerated folks are likely to abundantly reciprocate the love that you show them. It is both our duty and our joy to be included in this amazing program!