ARTISTS
- Audio & Video
- Calligraphy
- Drawings
- Paintings
- Poetry
- Pottery & Models
- Prayer Beads, Jewelry, & Art Objects
- Quilts & Embroidery
Dina Wakid [formerly Israeli-held]
Dina Wakid is a former Palestinian prisoner; she served 24 months in Damon Israeli prison.
June Jordan [US-based artist]
One of the most widely-published and highly-acclaimed Jamaican American writers of her generation. Poet, playwright and essayist June Jordan was known for her fierce commitment to human rights and political activism. She founded Poetry for the People
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/june-jordan
Marilyn Buck [formerly US-held]
Marilyn was an anti-imperialist political prisoner. She lived most of her adult life in controlled, restrictive spaces: from clandestinity, to prisons, to control units within prisons. She developed a richly imaginative, expansive view of human liberation, and built a bridge to a world we hunger for but have yet to create. She died days after being released from prison in 2010.
Abu Jihad Museum [Palestine-based artists]
Abu Jihad Museum for Prisoner Movement Affairs is a museum, library, archive, and office space located on the campus of Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, just outside Jerusalem in the West Bank. The museum is one of several institutions in Palestine dedicated to telling the story of Palestinian prisoners and their relationship to the national liberation struggle and human rights issues.
Shukri Abu Baker [currently US-held]
Shukri Abu Baker co-founded the Holy Land Foundation in 1990 and is one of the Holy Land Five political prisoners. He is Brazilian-born Italian-Palestinian from Silwad, Palestine. He is serving a 65 year sentence in a maximum security prison in Beaumont, TX. IG: @BreadandBeads
Abu Jihad Museum [Palestine-based artists]
Abu Jihad Museum for Prisoner Movement Affairs is a museum, library, archive, and office space located on the campus of Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, just outside Jerusalem in the West Bank. The museum is one of several institutions in Palestine dedicated to telling the story of Palestinian prisoners and their relationship to the national liberation struggle and human rights issues.
Alicia Rodríguez Vélez [formerly US-held]
A lifelong Independentista, and one of the ex Puerto Rican political prisoners released in 1999, Alicia works and teaches ceramics in Puerto Rico and directs Taller Guaguarey.
Amer Qawasmi [formerly and currently Israeli-held]
Several Palestinian male prisoners mainly from Ashkelon Israeli prison, which is composed of five sections including an isolation section composed of cells labeled “A, B, C, D, E” situated to the north of other prison sections. There is also a special wing for the Israeli Shabak (security services) for interrogating Palestinian and Arab prisoners.
Ghassan Elashi [currently US-held]
Ghassan Elashi co-founded the Holy Land Foundation in 1990 and is one of the Holy Land Five political prisoners. He was born in Gaza City, Palestine. He is serving a 65 year sentence in a maximum security prison. He says: “I do not apologize for feeding orphans and needy families. I know what the government’s goal was, it was to make an example of me. But they failed, because I felt a love from my community that I couldn’t imagine.”
http://freedomtogive.com/the-holy-land-foundation/
John T. Vance [currently US-held]
John T. Vance is currently incarcerated in Indiana. He has been incarcerated for 50 years, since he was 15 years old. He is currently scheduled for release the month before his 72nd birthday. At that time, he will have been incarcerated for 80% of his life.
Laura Lutrell [currently US-held]
Laura Lutrell is currently incarcerated inside Central California Women’s Facility with a life sentence.
Laura Whitehorn [formerly US-held]
Laura served 14 years in federal prison for political actions including the “Resistance Conspiracy” case, and co-founded Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP. She edited “The War Before,” by the late Black Panther political prisoner and organizer Safiya Bukhari and was a member of the 2016 Prison, Labor, and Academic delegation to Palestine.
Marius Mason [currently US-held]
Marius Mason is an anarchist, environmental and animal rights activist currently serving nearly 22 years in federal prison for acts of property damage carried out in defense of the planet.
https://supportmariusmason.org/
Marj Na’ja School [Palestine-based artists]
Marj Na’ja Co-ed school is located in Jericho, West Bank. These drawings are made by students.
Rashid Johnson [currently US-held]
Rashid Johnson is a revolutionary, writer, social activist, and founding member and Minister of Defense of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party, member of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee. He is currently incarcerated in the Indiana Department of Corrections.
Russell “Maroon” Shoatz [currently US-held]
Russell Maroon Shoatz is 77 years old. A dedicated community activist, Maroon has been incarcerated and serving multiple life sentences since 1972, including nearly 30 years in solitary confinement.
https://russellmaroonshoats.wordpress.com/
Salam Jum’a [Palestine-based artist]
Salam Jum’a, a Palestinian artist, created these illustrations to shed light on the unjust Israeli policies against Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Shukri Abu Baker [currently US-held]
Shukri Abu Baker co-founded the Holy Land Foundation in 1990 and is one of the Holy Land Five political prisoners. He is Brazilian-born Italian-Palestinian from Silwad, Palestine. He is serving a 65 year sentence in a maximum security prison in Beaumont, TX. IG: @BreadandBeads
http://freedomtogive.com/the-holy-land-foundation/
Suhaib Al-Faqeeh [currently Israeli-held]
Suhaib Al-Faqeeh, from Dura Hebron, is serving a 16 year sentence in Al-Naqab Israeli prison.
The Fire Inside [US-held artists]
The Fire Inside is the newsletter of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP). It has been publishing essays, poetry and art by women and transgender people since 1996.
Todd Hyung Rae Tarselli [currently US-held]
Todd “Hyung-Rae” Tarselli was adopted at an early age from South Korea. He uses his art as a weapon of healing and a tool of liberation. He was a student in the solitary political education classes with Russell “Maroon” Shoatz.
Yaser Abu Baker [currently Israeli-held]
Prisoner Yaser Abu Baker is currently serving three life sentences in addition to 40 years in Israeli prison.
Areej O’ruq [formerly Israeli-held]
Areej O’ruq is a former Palestinian Prisoner, made her art for her Seminar Titled “Female Prisoners, however..?”
Elizam Escobar [formerly US-held]
A lifelong Independentista, and one of the ex Puerto Rican political prisoners released in 1999, Elizam was a teacher, poet and artist who remained active until his transition in 2021.
Emory Douglas [formerly US-held]
Emory Douglas is a revolutionary artist and formerly Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party from February 1967 until the early 1980s. Douglas’s art and design concepts were always seen on the front and back pages of the Black Panther newspaper, reflecting the politics of the Party and the concerns of the community. He continues his work as a world-renowned artist and educator in the San Francisco Bay Area.
https://www.facebook.com/emory.douglas
Kevin Cooper [currently US-held]
Kevin Cooper is currently on Death Row in the state of California. He was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1983. The case has a long history of police and prosecutorial misconduct, evidence tampering, and numerous constitutional violations including many incidences of the prosecution withholding evidence of innocence from the defense (known as Brady violations).
Leonard Peltier [currently US-held]
Leonard Peltier (of the Anishinabe, Dakota, and Lakota Nations) traces the roots of his political activism to the rank racism and brutal poverty he experienced every day as an Indian child growing up on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa and Fort Totten Sioux reservations in North Dakota. He has been imprisoned since 1977.
https://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/
Mohannad Abu Ghosh [formerly Israeli-held]
Mohannad is a Palestinian artist and writer.
https://www.instagram.com/daffawi/
Nijmeh Salameh [Palestine-based artist]
Nijmeh Salameh is a wife of Mohmmad Salamah, A former Palestinian Prisoner in Israeli Prisons. She Made The Piece of Art to her Husband.
Oscar López Rivera [formerly US-held]
Oscar was the longest held Puerto Rican political prisoner – 36 years – released in 2017. He remains a committed Independentista.
Sara Manasra [Palestine based artist]
A Palestinian Artist.
Scotty Scott [currently US-held]
Scotty Scot is currently incarcerated in California.
Tom Manning [formerly US-held]
Tom was a lifelong revolutionary freedom fighter. From the early 1970s, Tom was a public activist and organizer and later an armed militant in the anti-imperialist underground. He was captured in 1985 and died in prison of medical neglect in 2019.
https://www.certaindays.org/uncategorized/tributes-to-political-prisoner-tom-manning/
Abdul-Jalil Rashid Al-Imarah (Samuel Baptiste) [currently US-held]
Samuel Baptiste Abdul-Jalil Rashid Al-Imarah’s initial arrest came about as he was in the midst of efforts to provide relief to victims of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti. He was targeted and entrapped by the FBI.
https://www.civilfreedoms.org/
David Gilbert [currently US-held]
David is a lifelong anti-imperialist activist and former member of the Weather Underground Organization. David is in prison for activities in support of the Black Liberation Movement and has been imprisoned since 1981. He continues to engage in organizing work and political writing.
https://prisonersolidarity.com/prisoner/david-gilbert
Jalil Muntaqim [formerly US-held]
Jalil was released in October of 2020 after 49 years in prison for the first time since he was 19-years-old. He was a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army.
https://www.prisonersolidarity.com/prisoner/jalil-muntaqim
Michael Singh [currently US-held]
Michael Singh is currently incarcerated in California.
Sami Al-Arian [formerly US-held]
Sami Al-Arian is a prominent Palestinian civil rights organizer who endured a decade-long campaign of government persecution in which Al-Arian was systematically denied his freedom and saw his personal and professional life effectively destroyed. He was deported to Turkey in 2015 where he continues to work as an advocate for his people.
https://www.civilfreedoms.org/
Scotty Scott [currently US-held]
Scotty Scott is currently incarcerated in California.
Abu Jihad Museum [Palestine-based artists]
Abu Jihad Museum for Prisoner Movement Affairs is a museum, library, archive, and office space located on the campus of Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, just outside Jerusalem in the West Bank. The museum is one of several institutions in Palestine dedicated to telling the story of Palestinian prisoners and their relationship to the national liberation struggle and human rights issues.
Amer Qawasmi [formerly and currently Israeli-held]
Several Palestinian male prisoners mainly from Ashkelon Israeli prison, which is composed of five sections including an isolation section composed of cells labeled “A, B, C, D, E” situated to the north of other prison sections. There is also a special wing for the Israeli Shabak (security services) for interrogating Palestinian and Arab prisoners.
Hatem Al-Araj [currently Israeli-held]
Hatem Al-Araj, from Al-Walajeh in Bethlehem ,was arrested in 2004. He is currently serving a 40 year sentence in addition to three life sentences in Ofer Israeli prison. During his first years of incarceration from 2004 till 2007, in Ofer Israeli prison, Hatem spent most of his time making artwork.
Ida Luz Rodríguez Vélez [formerly US-held]
A lifelong Independentista, and one of the ex Puerto Rican political prisoners released in 1999, Lucy is the archivist for Antonio Martorell at UPR Cayey and continues to work with ceramics in Puerto Rico.
Abu Jihad Museum [Palestine-based artists]
Abu Jihad Museum for Prisoner Movement Affairs is a museum, library, archive, and office space located on the campus of Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, just outside Jerusalem in the West Bank. The museum is one of several institutions in Palestine dedicated to telling the story of Palestinian prisoners and their relationship to the national liberation struggle and human rights issues.
Laura Whitehorn [formerly US-held]
Laura served 14 years in federal prison for political actions including the “Resistance Conspiracy” case, and co-founded Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP. She edited “The War Before,” by the late Black Panther political prisoner and organizer Safiya Bukhari and was a member of the 2016 Prison, Labor, and Academic delegation to Palestine.
Mahmoud Shehadeh [currently Israeli-held]
Mahmoud Shehadeh, from Qalandia Palestinian refugee camp, is a Palestinian prisoner serving 14 years and six months in Israeli prison. He was arrested on 4 December 2014.
Marah Bakeer [Palestine-based artist]
Several Palestinian female prisoners in Damon Israeli prison. Palestinian female prisoners are held in Damon prison under harsh living conditions that do not align with the bare minimum of adequate living standards. Other than the unsuitable environment, women also suffer from medical negligence, bad treatment from the IPS, humiliation, and harassment during transfers, and problems with electricity and family visits.
Rana Abu Kweik [formerly Israeli-held]
Rana Abu Kweik was arrested back in 2013, she served an eight month sentence in Israeli prison. She is a mother of five.
Shukri Abu Baker [currently US-held]
Shukri Abu Baker co-founded the Holy Land Foundation in 1990 and is one of the Holy Land Five political prisoners. He is Brazilian-born Italian-Palestinian from Silwad, Palestine. He is serving a 65 year sentence in a maximum security prison in Beaumont, TX. IG: @BreadandBeads
Abu Jihad Museum [Palestine-based artists]
Abu Jihad Museum for Prisoner Movement Affairs is a museum, library, archive, and office space located on the campus of Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, just outside Jerusalem in the West Bank. The museum is one of several institutions in Palestine dedicated to telling the story of Palestinian prisoners and their relationship to the national liberation struggle and human rights issues.
Amer Qawasmi [formerly and currently Israeli-held]
Several Palestinian male prisoners mainly from Ashkelon Israeli prison, which is composed of five sections including an isolation section composed of cells labeled “A, B, C, D, E” situated to the north of other prison sections. There is also a special wing for the Israeli Shabak (security services) for interrogating Palestinian and Arab prisoners.
Linda Evans [formerly US-held]
Linda Evans is a lifelong organizer against white supremacy and police terror, in solidarity with national liberation movements fighting US imperialism. In 1985 she was sentenced to 40 years in prison for revolutionary actions against the US government. Since her release by Presidential pardon in 2001, she continues to organize for human rights, working with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, the Center for Political Education, and the Immigrant Defense Taskforce.
Marah Bakeer [Palestine-based artist]
Several Palestinian female prisoners in Damon Israeli prison. Palestinian female prisoners are held in Damon prison under harsh living conditions that do not align with the bare minimum of adequate living standards. Other than the unsuitable environment, women also suffer from medical negligence, bad treatment from the IPS, humiliation, and harassment during transfers, and problems with electricity and family visits.