A million years and at least 20 lifetimes ago, I did public speaking to challenge stereotypes and raise people's awareness of what a lesbian actually is: ie not all that different from anybody else.......

One gig was with a group called Friends Outside, for women who were doing/had done time. It was a 90 minute bus ride to get to the gig. I was dry mouthed and sweating. "Prisoners: oooow, scarey."
(Of course what I didn't realize at the time, was, they were waiting for me going: "Lesbian: oooooooow, scarey.")

Turned out we were all just women. We had a great time chowing donw on a pot luck spread (ex-prisoners eat good food,too), sharing stories, laughing a lot. Most had done time for petty non-violent crimes. Frequently poverty related. (Now we have meth and crack and a lot of prisoners are caught up in that mess which add a new level of scarey..)

Poverty has soooo much to do with women in prison..... abusive relationships have so much to do with women in prison..... Connecting with an organization that keeps the dangerous gals off the pen pal list could be a way to go.

Or check in with your local public defender's office to see if somebody local could use some support wherever they ended up to do their time.

Whenever I get a 2 for 1 offer from a magazine, I send the extra subscription to my local jail's prisoner services.

I pay attention to local crime and when it looks like an innocent person is being railroaded, I go to the court proceedings (others show up too) to see for myself (and let the powers that be know somebody gives a poo).

Let me tell ya, it ain't Perry Mason in there.... anybody who has never been to a real courtroom to follow a real case hasn't got a clue as to how things really work "in the system". Adversarial justice is not about getting to the truth like is looks on tv. Adversarial justice is about winning. The folks with the most money usually win. Truth be damned.

The most powerful people in our communities are DA's and Judges. Yet most of us have no idea...... I learned social studies when I was 13. Like I understood the context of what I was learning..... not. Real life ain't pretty out there in the judicial system. It ain't pretty at all.