Holiday Card Party: Writing to People Incarcerated in MA, with the Abolitionist Mail Project

On December 6, 2025, Decarcerate Western MA hosted a party at the Northampton Center for the Arts, where we wrote holiday cards to people who are currently incarcerated in Massachusetts. Abolitionist Mail Project provided bios — written by the letter recipients — and their addresses. We had great food and a stellar turnout; 40 people attended and wrote 114 cards.

Especially around the holidays, prison can feel very lonely and isolating. We all wanted to reach out and remind people on the inside that there are people on the outside who are thinking of them and who are working to end the prison state.

When reflecting on the event, one participant said, “I found the bios particularly helpful. We could connect with people in terms of their interests and hopes and dreams, instead of as a number in a prison cell. I remember writing to one woman about gardening. Even in prison she was trying to grow things, while she was looking forward to getting out of prison, so that she could plant flowers and do some real gardening again. I love to garden, too, and wrote to her about my many attempts at growing different plants with varying levels of success. Maybe for a moment we were both transported to a thriving garden in an open and free place outside of prison walls.”

Special DWM holiday card, designed by Jason Kotoch