READ FIRST

1. WHAT THE CHANNEL IS ABOUT

This channel is a collection point for the names and prison addresses of people currently imprisoned in the United Kingdom for any of the following reasons, and who have expressed a wish to receive letters, postcards and gifts from people on the outside:

So-called "hate speech," mean words, proscribed opinions, membership in banned organizations, owning or downloading books that some judge doesn't like.

At present the list is limited to prisoners whose conviction does not include violent actions or advocacy of such.

I do not endorse anything that the prisoners have said or done. It is not illegal to correspond with any prisoner, no matter what the nature of his conviction.

2. MOTIVATION & GOAL;S

My art projects carry a risk that someday I might be inside and if I were I could hardly ask for help if I had given none when I was outside.

Such support makes a lot of difference to the prisoners, out of proportion to the small cost to the supporters. Consider the symbol of the fasces, that the sense of moral support and unity against a common enemy may well hasten the day when these various laws are discredited and judges less easy about enforcing them. The state may be forced either to resort to naked terror or to concede.

I sense also that things will get a bit hotter before that point is reached, so now is the time to start.

I'll create a website once we grow a bit. Right now I have only one name, given below.

Mr. Vincent REYNOUARD - 160071
HMP Edinburgh
Scottish Prison Service
33 Stenhouse Road
EH113LN EDINBURGH

I am corresponding with Vincent. He is a holocaust revisionist who is wanted by the French government for expressing his views. He sought asylum in the UK and was imprisoned pending extradition to France, despite "holocaust denial" not being illegal in the UK.

There is a way to e-mail prisoners:

https://www.emailaprisoner.com

The "identifier" that you need to enter varies by prison but for Edinburgh at least it is like this: VINCENTREYNOUARD

You have to pay for each message that you send, and for a little extra you can include a "return sheet" for the prisoner to reply at no charge to himself. The cost is current;ly 68p per message including a return sheet. You need to identify yourself.

I am currently testing whether a postcard can be sent anonymously/pseudonymously.

Vincent's month;y batch of books can be received by him after the 25th of this month so I have that batch under control. However, he might like some money in his canteen account - I haven't checked.

We need more prisoners' details.

Speaking of the rules governing books for prisoners at various prisons, there is a discussion site dedicated to the subject: http://sendbookstoprisoners.co.uk/

1. Books can only be sent from a book seller, such as Blackwells, Amazon. EDIT: Each prison has a list of approved vendors so ask which are approved. For Edinburgh, for example, it is only Blackwells.

2. One batch a month, per prisoner (at least at Edinburgh). So ask the prisoner when he can next receive a batch of books.

3. Soft cover only.

I added personal and political motivations to the pinned post.

Vincent received the postcard which I signed only with my first name and he told me that it is OK to send postcards and letters with no return name or address, or whatever you want to put on it.

However, I would avoid edgy content as that could cause it to be withheld. I'll find out more on this subject.

So feel free to drop him some cards and letters!

He tells me that he has enough money.

His case is to be decided on the 6th of April and he will be released if it is favourable, If the decision is to extradite him he will lodge an appeal.

I may soon have Charlie Big Potatoes' prisoner number. According to a newspaper article he is in HMP Chelmsford. He is the former fitness training officer for PA. I hadn't known that he has been in prison for almost a year because PA said nothing.

Here's the thing: In England and Wales it is not so easy to get the necessary information about a prisoner, in particular his prison and prisoner number, which are required in order to send mail, books, e-mail and canteen money. Then there are the prisoners we don't even know about unless we happen to see a newspaper article about their conviction. But as the number of subscribers grows, they will become a funnel for prisoners' names and details to be added. With enough of us, someone will either know or know of someone who knows, the information. Thus we can work around the system.

Alison Chabloz lodged the appeal against her prison sentence on Friday and I suppose the decision will come soon. I hope she succeeds, of course, but if she doesn't then I shall add her details as soon as I have them.

I added further info on the Kris Kearney case in the comments. Nothing in it impacts the purpose of this channel.

Update: I received an e-mail from Vincent summarized as follows:

Book requests for this month are in hand.

France lodged a second arrest warrant with additional charges, and request for extradition, and the next hearing will now be 8th June.

His cellmate does not watch television which means that Vincent has a quiet cell in which to read, draw and write.

Thanks to Thomas Sewell for the shout-out. which has more than doubled the channel's subscribers and got Vincent's contact details more than forty times more views.

Would anyone like to handle next month's batch of books for Vincent? It would be for delivery around 25th April. You would need to open an account at Blackwells - who are the only approved vendor for his prison. Their delivery time within the UK is about a week. You would need to ask him what he wants. The last batch was £50 for four books.

Or I can ask him on you behalf, if you prefer.

I wrote to Julian Assange in HMP Belmarsh, a "category A" (maximum security) prison.

The thing is, from everything I've read, is that the operation of Belmarsh is completely capricious and unpredictable, with communications taking months to receive a reply. I sent the letter by recorded mail over a week ago, including my (mobile) phone number, and have received no reply. I got his date of birth from Wikipedia, so the letter follows all the rules. It was signed for by "Belmarsh" the day after posting. But i have no idea whether the prison administration or Assange's mental state is to blame for the lack of reply. His medical interviewers state that his intellect has declined from high to below average, reportedly having trouble recalling his name in a court hearing.

Why Assange, you might ask? Why not! He passes the test of the channel, especially given that most of us might agree that anything that embarrasses the people that run the US government is quite OK.

I also sent a letter over a week ago by recorded mail to Kris Kearney (Charlie Big Potatoes) at HMP Chelmsford (a category C prison, a men's ordinary prison). No reply. That letter's addressing did not include his date of birth (DOB, nor his prisoner number); I sent it anyway because we know that mail sometimes gets through despite not having such items in the address. That letter was signed for by someone in the prison administration. I don't know if it was delivered to the prisoner.

I've been contacting private investigators for quotes to find out his DOB, and it's been a mixed bag, of excessively high, to one that was quite reasonable but he chickened out because of the nature of the charge. I should have a couple more replies of quotes on Monday.