Something kind of amazing happened at Solitary Watch last week.

You may know about our pen pal program for people in solitary confinement—people who often live without any contact or connection to the outside world. It gives these people a person to write to—a person who will always write back—and it’s called Lifelines to Solitary.

Which brings us to last week, when we received a staggering $25,000 matching grant to help raise money for and grow this simple but powerful program.

This matching fund—where every donation is doubled—will make it possible for us to deliver real, immediate relief to hundreds of people in solitary.

Currently, Lifelines manages more than 500 pairs of pen pals across the country. That’s over 500 people in solitary—alone and shut off from the world—who have someone to connect with.

But the success of Lifelines has left us with more demand than we can handle. We have a waiting list with hundreds of people in solitary who have asked for a pen pal. With no dedicated funding, we’ve never had the resources needed to grow and connect more people with outside pen pals.

You likely know Solitary Watch as journalists—as watchdogs, covering the issue of solitary confinement everywhere it exists. But Lifelines allows us to provide something different. It allows us—it allows all of us—to reach out to people not just removed from society, but disconnected from humanity.

To each and every person it touches, Lifelines offers community and comfort–in the here and now. 

That’s why these next two weeks are so important. We can’t deliver on the promise of Lifelines if we don’t make the full match. We have the opportunity to actually grow Lifelines—to make it known that if you are in solitary, we have someone for you to talk to.

With so many issues today creating a sense of helplessness, Lifelines offers a chance to actually do something good—today.

This week and next, we’ll be sharing some stories of the lives changed by Lifelines to Solitary, because it’s never just the person inside who benefits from being a pen pal. It’s two lives—inside and out—that are changed, time and again, by a single stamp.

The need for human connection lives at the very center of our souls. Lifelines is the only program to actually offer that connection to people living in solitary. In a place designed for secrecy and isolation, our pen pals are able to reach in with a reminder: You are not alone.

Please join the match—in any way you can. Read about Lifelines and the obstacles we overcome to carry human contact across prison walls. I’m confident you’ll understand how important this is, because it’s as simple as it is powerful.

As always, sincere thanks for your support,
Jean