Raze the Walls!: Benefit Show for Lake Worth Anti-Prison Groups
The United States incarcerates people at a higher rate than any other country in the world. While the U.S. makes up only 5% of the world’s population, it is home to almost 25% of its prisoners. One in every 100 U.S. adults is incarcerated, and 60% of those are Black or Latino.
Nearly 245 thousand people are currently under the supervision of the Florida corrections system, making up about 3.5% of all people locked up, on parole, or on probation in the United States. Over 320 inmates died in Florida prisons last year, with 100 of those deaths under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Two organizations in Lake Worth are working to respond to this alarming trend. Prison Legal News publishes a 64-page monthly magazine, sent to prisoners all over the country, providing news on prison justice issues. The magazine operates as part of the Human Rights Defense Center, which advocates for prisoner rights by litigating prisoner abuse cases and providing legal information for prisoners.
The South Florida Prison Book Project, founded in 2011, sends free books to prisoners in the state of Florida upon request. Every week, they receive letters from inmates asking for reading material ranging from novels to cookbooks to dictionaries, and they fulfill these requests with books from their library at the Outspokin warehouse.
Prison Legal News and the South Florida Prison Book Project will be holding a benefit acoustic and spoken word concert at Outspokin, 131 South F Street, Lake Worth on Saturday, March 7, at 6pm. Acts will include Grant Peeples (legendary Florida folk), Unity Rise (folk/punk from Miami), Bed Burner, and spoken word poetry from Autumn Springs. Admission to this benefit show is $5 and one or two used paperback books, if possible, to be sent to prisoners.
For more information, visit Prison Legal News at prisonlegalnews.org, the South Florida Prison Book Project at sflprisonbookproject.org, or contact Serafima at 305-479-0350.
