Abolitionist Expressions
60 pieces on display in two rooms the average size of solitary confinement cells.
January 19 – February 13
Gallery Hours: 10 -4pm
Susan and Benjamin
Winter Visual Art Center
825 Buchanon Ave,
Lancaster, PA 17603
Two Painting Raffle’s Supporting imprisoned artists
Winners picked on February 12 at 5pm
Films
Across the Walls is a documentary film that offers an intimate glimpse into the experiences of women sentenced to life in prison without parole in the state of Pennsylvania. After decades of activism and community building, recently Avis Lee and Paulette Carrington were released from life sentences after each serving over 40 years. As they adjust to life outside, they’ve kept their focus on organizing to end life without parole, and helping the women they left inside be released. Read this article that came out when the film was released.
Daughter’s Magazine
Daughters is a magazine founded by Sarita Miller (SCI Muncy) in collaboration with Let’s Get Free. The first issue was published in December of 2020. Daughters is a faith-based, political publication that aims to illuminate issues and perspectives, specifically those of women, pertaining to the crisis of mass incarceration in this country. A platform for us and by us, Daughters will be a pathway to the expression of our fears, our struggles, our pain and our needs. Although for now we are confined, our spirits and voices soar free.
Let’s Get Free’s Art Collection
Our permanent art collection is meant to be borrowed and utilize the art gallery as a tool for organizing for liberation. Consider bringing it to your space.
This is Me Poetry Book
This Is Me, the theme of Let’s Get Free’s 7th annual art exhibition, invited artists and poets to bring an introspective element to their pieces, uplifting the humanity and individuality of
everyone in the movement to end death by incarceration.
Alongside visual art, this is the third exhibition including poetry. This year, 118 poets submitted over 125 poems, the
highest number of submissions Let’s Get Free has received
to date. Of these poets, 62 are in Pennsylvania and 56 are
out-of-state.
by the numbers
women with life sentences
188
women sentenced to die in PA prisons
5
people who identify as transgender with DBI (that we know of)
13
women have been commuted since 2015 (3 women were commuted between 1992-2015)
36
women have died in custody since 1982
We got issues
There are many facets to the issue of death by incarceration in PA and how it intersects with gender. Here are some of them explained.
- Aging in Prison
- Life Sentences are Death Sentences
- Commutation
- Domestic and Sexual Violence
- Transformation, Resilience & Redemption
- Compassionate/Medical Release
- Public Safety
The Creative Resistance Committee is just one part of Let’s Get Free. We are a group working to end perpetual punishment, build a pathway out of the prisons back to our communities through commutation reform, support successful possibilities for people formerly and currently incarcerated, and shift to a culture of transformative justice.