What’s the deal with my monthly First Amend This! newsletter? An inquiring mind recently messaged me over JPay to ask.
[T]he reason that I haven’t published anything for December and January is that I began questioning the overall utility of my newsletter while struggling to keep up with it. It’s actually quite rare that I hear from anyone who follows my advocacy efforts. Same goes for the many organizations and individuals that I reach out to. I’m disappointed to have to admit this, but that collective silence finally took a big enough toll on me that I found it necessary to redirect my time and efforts.
I’m still considering ways to keep folks informed at the local level, but I can’t predict how the switch from JPay to ViaPath will complicate things.
. . . I’ve not given up on advocacy or writing, just making a few adjustments.
In preparation for Idaho’s conscious uncoupling from JPay, Book of Irving 82431 has set up BlueSky account. From what I’m told, BlueSky is like X but without the Elon factor. With a little help from family, I should be able to use the platform to continue sharing news coverage on Idaho corrections, regardless of the capitalist messaging hell ViaPath Technologies has in store for us.
Today I’ll be linking to an Idaho Capital Sun entry on how the Idaho Department of Correction is asking state legislators for money to digitize its mail service. This will effectively prevent people incarcerated in Idaho prisons from receiving original copies of letters, pictures and birthday cards. It will also store all the personal letters from loved ones on corporate servers, where they can be used and abused without any official oversight. The Prison Policy Initiative has reported on how this growing practice runs contrary to public safety. I plan to share that link on BlueSky as well.
More updates soon…
#PrisonNews #IDOC #IncarcerationNation #WorthRises