Register to participate in the Life Cycles Toward Freedom, virtual film

            screenings of three short films.                

August 2020 Life Cycles Toward Freedom Calendar of Events

                       There will be live closed captioning at all the events.

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• August 11: Tuesday – 7 – 8:30 pm Virtual Film Screening Premier

  • This evening’s special guest is musician BL Shirelle. BL Shirelle knows many of the women featured in the films and is the Deputy Director of Die Jim Crow Records a nonprofit record label for currently and formerly incarcerated people. BL will be performing a couple of songs from the recently released album – Assata Twoi.

  • Register Here for August 11th

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• August 18: Tuesday – 7 – 8:30 pm Virtual Film Screening

  • Special Guests: Naomi Blount is the 2nd woman to receive commutation in the state of PA in 30 years. (Invited Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Brandon Flood)

  • Register Here for August 18th

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• August 25: Tuesday – 7 – 8:30 pm Virtual Film Screening

  • Special Guests: Stanley Mitchell who was released 7 years ago under the 2012 “Unger” Ruling. We will hear how the state of Maryland managed a mass release of aging prisoners.

  • Additional Screening: The Ungers: A Matter of Time 10 minutes

  • Register Here for August 25th

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Each film screening will showcase the latest series of short films produced by Tusko Films, which features currently incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and includes footage from inside the two women’s prisons in PA, SCI Muncy and SCI Cambridge Springs.

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The film entitled Pennsylvania’s Commutation Process:  Naomi Blount’s Experience takes you through one woman’s journey of the lengthy and laborious steps of achieving freedom from a life sentence. Naomi Blount was the second woman to receive commutation in the last 30 years and has been home for one year. Lt. Governor John Fetterman, a leader in PA’s commutation reform, is also featured in this film. 

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We Are More Than Our Worst Day, a 12 minute short, radiates resilience and the power to change that is widespread amongst people with death by incarceration sentences. This poignant vignette features the transformative journeys of Tequilla Fields and Tameka Flowers who are both seeking commutation.

You Deserve Better Than Prison: Messages to Youth from Women Serving Life (4 minutes) was the idea of Avis Lee who is currently awaiting a public hearing that will decide her freedom. The desire to protect young people from similar paths is echoed throughout PA prisons and this piece showcases many voices, including family members and formerly incarcerated women who were sentenced to die as young people. 

HEALTH REPORT

SCI-Muncy inmates reveal stories of medical neglect, high cancer rates

 Written by:  Melissa Farenish

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Muncy, Pa. --  “Shavonne had a great sense of humor. She really liked her friends. What you see is what you got with her. She was a straight shooter. She was well liked at Muncy,” said Ellen Melchiondo, a volunteer from the Pennsylvania Prison Society. She recently spoke about Shavonne Robbins, one of the many inmates she became acquainted with at the women’s State Correctional Institute – Muncy.

Robbins is one of the recent cancer deaths among women who served time at Muncy. She died on December 15, 2019 at the age of 43 after battling several years with a rare abdominal mucous cancer. Robbins, who was serving a life sentence, was at Muncy for 25 years before being released in 2017.  READ MORE

Message from WLRP

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Physical and Mental Health issues continue to be a concerning factor as women age behind prison walls. Are they getting the proper care needed to remain healthy?  What type of physical and mental health issues do they face every day?  

The women were asked if they would like to share some of their health issues in order to better inform the public about living life behind prison walls.  Positive responses were received so, Health Report is now a new topic added on the resume'.  The written resume' assessments of the women's health issues do not necessarily represent diagnosis made by the medical community but they do identify personal health conditions of which, through pain and uncertainty, the women continue to progressively work through in their quest for continuing education and living as active working participants within their prison community -  as they continue to pray that one day, in the near future, they will be blessed with the opportunity to take their skills and knowledge to the outside communities.  

Click Here to Sign the petition

Sylvia Boykin

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Sylvia Boykin, age 61, is a mother of three, a grandmother of seven, an enthusiastic member of her church community, a Certified Mental Health Peer Specialist, and a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While growing up in a Philadelphia home destroyed by drugs and alcohol, she was a victim of both incest and rape at a young age. These crimes were 

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READ MORE  

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