Workshop 7:

Building community in the wake of incarceration

Friday 16 April 2021 ~ 3:20 - 4:40pm Pacific

Recording available here (56 mins)

The Second Life Project is a radical, all-volunteer community project that builds towards collective freedom centered on the wisdom, goals, and vision of citizens who have been directly impacted by prisons. The community includes formerly incarcerated folks, survivors of trauma and violence, academics, folks with mental illness, folks with disabilities, entrepreneurs, folks with incarcerated loved ones, and folks without direct experience in the criminal justice system who have a passion for connection and transformation. The humans of the Second Life Project are committed to alternative forms of justice, building community for everyone, and the power of self-governance.

In this talk we will share ways to create community beyond the divisions created by prisons and traditional criminal justice systems, transform the harms inflicted by carceral systems, and leverage the unique experience of those harmed by prisons to break free from oppressive societies. Drawing from personal experience, we will share not only ways to build communities like ours, but also ways to transcend the walls built by the prison industrial complex that imprison people who have been directly impacted by incarceration even after they have been released. Our goal is to help abolitionist communities bridge the false gap between activists and returning citizens and start learning from the wisdom of those who have directly experienced the impact of the institutions we are trying to abolish.

The Second Life Project is an autonomous, self-determined intentional community, built around transformation and empowerment, by, with, and for formerly incarcerated humans, and manifesting alternative justices approaches and values with the goal of supporting prison abolition world-wide.