Quarantine Discoveries

July 5, 2020

Prison Pen Pals

<p><strong>Prison Pen Pals is a series created by Jeffrey Lee and Alicia Ying (nicknamed Jack and Ali for privacy reasons) with the intent to destigmatize prisoners as well as to paint a vivid and accurate picture of the day to day experience of incarcerated prisoners. In this episode, we will discuss our findings after writing to 4 Asian inmates incarcerated in the state of Washington, for a late celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month. My (Alicia’s) pen pals' ages range from 20s to 50s, and they originate from Vietnam, Cambodia, and China. I (Alicia) handpicked them to be my penpals from a writeaprisoner.com, a site where loved ones can upload a picture and biography for others to contact them. After every email received, I (Alicia) would text Jeffrey, excited with all the information in their response!</strong></p> <p><strong>In this episode, you will hear about how my pen pals have retained their culture despite being a racial minority, how they bond with Native Americans and Asian Pacific Islanders, cultural events they hold, their relationship with their families, and their daily routines. At the end, we have some interesting tidbits about prison life, a simulation of how it’s like to live in a cell, and takeaways from a month of correspondence. We find it very interesting that they face similar issues that we do in our outside world, such as dealing with Asian stereotypes. We had a lot of fun making and editing this podcast, and we hope you listen to it with an open mind and enjoy it as much as we do. :)</strong></p>