Glasgow Prisoner Solidarity and Prisoner Solidarity Network are UK based groups working across prison walls to support people in prison. Over the last few years, both groups have done important work providing support and resources to prisoners, and resisting state violence. Glasgow Prisoner Solidarity and Prisoner Solidarity Network approach their organising in the spirit of mutual aid and cooperation, offering models for non-judgemental and non-hierarchical approaches to direct abolitionist organising.

In this joint workshop the groups will talk through the work they’ve done over the last years, their principles and aims, and the current conditions faced by people imprisoned across the UK.

The Prisoner Solidarity Network is a group of people committed to dismantling the criminal justice system and building a society based on collective care. Our members include people inside and outside of prisons. Some of us are ex-prisoners and some are children, partners, or friends of people inside. Many of us are survivors of interpersonal and state violence. Some of us come to this work through our values rather than direct experience of the prison system. We want to build a society where conflicts can be resolved without resorting to imprisonment and punishment, where our relationships with each other are not shaped by capitalism and where we are not divided by race, class, or gender.

Glasgow Prisoner Solidarity are a small group of people in Scotland working together inside and outside of prison to get support to those inside who need it most. We know that prison causes harm, disruption and isolation both for those inside and friends and family. Despite wide recognition of this Scotland’s prison population continues to grow with one of the highest imprisonment rates in the world.