UPDATE: PAN is Closing
We would like to share that the Prisoner Advocacy Network (PAN) has made the difficult decision to close. We will stop responding to general mail requests on January 1st 2022, and close down our operations by April 1st 2022.
We made this decision for a variety of reasons. As you may know, PAN is led by volunteers, and while being a volunteer-run organization has many benefits, it has also been difficult to keep PAN open without paid staff. PAN has done its best to keep up with the times. During the COVID-19 pandemic, with feedback from our team of incarcerated advisors, our “Inside Leadership Team,” we changed our programming and shifted from working with people one-on-one to offering self-advocacy handouts and information to quickly help as many incarcerated people as possible. In just 8 weeks, PAN made multiple handouts for the COVID-19 crisis, including the habeas corpus guide, and hosted online training sessions to hundreds of family members on how incarcerated people could seek release from prison due to COVID-19. Also, in response to the needs expressed by people inside, PAN has become the leading information provider on the CARES Act in CDCr.
As many of you know, PAN was started by a group of volunteers in 2014 in response to a call for support from the loved ones of those held in indefinite solitary confinement. In the time since, the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, Abolition movement, Defund Movement, and other political movements and organizations led by impacted people has changed the political context and landscape for groups aiming to support incarcerated people and their loved ones. We are happy to see this transformation in public consciousness around decarceration and abolition stemming from and benefiting from the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement. We are very inspired by the success of new organizations, many led by those most impacted. We have aimed to support those groups with skill sharing, co-organizing, training, resource development, and other forms of support. The needs that motivated our founding have changed while the challenges with building capacity to support an exclusively volunteer-run law clinic have only grown. Rather than continuing to redefine our organization to fit into the changing landscape, we have realized that our volunteers’ energy and skills would be better utilized supporting impacted-led groups and no longer running an organization ourselves.
PAN is dedicated to closing responsibly, both morally as a player in the movement for decarceration and abolition, and ethically, as an attorney-run clinic providing legal services.We want to make sure that we close in a way that respects our supporters, volunteers, and all incarcerated people we have communicated with over the years. PAN is working to move our information to other organizations and to store it online so that the knowledge we have gained will still be available to those inside and their loved ones. Thank you all for the support over the years- we will keep you informed on any further updates
In solidarity,
PAN Leadership Team
We would like to share that the Prisoner Advocacy Network (PAN) has made the difficult decision to close. We will stop responding to general mail requests on January 1st 2022, and close down our operations by April 1st 2022.
We made this decision for a variety of reasons. As you may know, PAN is led by volunteers, and while being a volunteer-run organization has many benefits, it has also been difficult to keep PAN open without paid staff. PAN has done its best to keep up with the times. During the COVID-19 pandemic, with feedback from our team of incarcerated advisors, our “Inside Leadership Team,” we changed our programming and shifted from working with people one-on-one to offering self-advocacy handouts and information to quickly help as many incarcerated people as possible. In just 8 weeks, PAN made multiple handouts for the COVID-19 crisis, including the habeas corpus guide, and hosted online training sessions to hundreds of family members on how incarcerated people could seek release from prison due to COVID-19. Also, in response to the needs expressed by people inside, PAN has become the leading information provider on the CARES Act in CDCr.
As many of you know, PAN was started by a group of volunteers in 2014 in response to a call for support from the loved ones of those held in indefinite solitary confinement. In the time since, the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, Abolition movement, Defund Movement, and other political movements and organizations led by impacted people has changed the political context and landscape for groups aiming to support incarcerated people and their loved ones. We are happy to see this transformation in public consciousness around decarceration and abolition stemming from and benefiting from the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement. We are very inspired by the success of new organizations, many led by those most impacted. We have aimed to support those groups with skill sharing, co-organizing, training, resource development, and other forms of support. The needs that motivated our founding have changed while the challenges with building capacity to support an exclusively volunteer-run law clinic have only grown. Rather than continuing to redefine our organization to fit into the changing landscape, we have realized that our volunteers’ energy and skills would be better utilized supporting impacted-led groups and no longer running an organization ourselves.
PAN is dedicated to closing responsibly, both morally as a player in the movement for decarceration and abolition, and ethically, as an attorney-run clinic providing legal services.We want to make sure that we close in a way that respects our supporters, volunteers, and all incarcerated people we have communicated with over the years. PAN is working to move our information to other organizations and to store it online so that the knowledge we have gained will still be available to those inside and their loved ones. Thank you all for the support over the years- we will keep you informed on any further updates
In solidarity,
PAN Leadership Team
ABOUT AND MISSION
The Prisoner Advocacy Network (PAN) is a volunteer network of activists, attorneys, legal workers, and law students. We work to improve conditions for activists and those experiencing grave injustice inside California prisons and to promote accountability of the people and institutions charged with their care.
Through correspondence, solidarity, co-education, and advocacy, PAN partners with incarcerated people to improve conditions for imprisoned activists and those experiencing grave injustice inside California prisons and to promote accountability of the people and institutions charged with their care.
Through correspondence, solidarity, co-education, and advocacy, PAN partners with incarcerated people to improve conditions for imprisoned activists and those experiencing grave injustice inside California prisons and to promote accountability of the people and institutions charged with their care.
Scope
PAN provides non-litigation support. We advocate for individuals by providing issue-specific resources, guides for self-advocacy and offering support on how to exhaust administrative remedies. We support in building a record of evidence for jailhouse lawyers or other litigators to show deliberate indifference, failure to protect, or medical malpractice.
OutcomesSince 2015, PAN has:
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