EVENTS
March 7, 2014 @ 6:00pm -- Benefit Show for South Florida Prison Book Project and Prison Legal News
We are having a benefit show at the Outspokin warehouse (131 S F Street, Lake Worth) in conjunction with the Prison Legal News on March 7, 2014. For the event page, visit our Facebook page. Also, here is a press release with further information:
The United States incarcerates people at a higher rate than any other country in the world. While the U.S. makes up only 5% of the world’s population, it is home to almost 25% of its prisoners. One in every 100 U.S. adults is incarcerated, and 60% of those are Black or Latino.
Nearly 245 thousand people are currently under the supervision of the Florida corrections system, making up about 3.5% of all people locked up, on parole, or on probation in the United States. Over 320 inmates died in Florida prisons last year, with 100 of those deaths under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Two organizations in Lake Worth are working to respond to this alarming trend.
Prison Legal News, headquartered on Lucerne Ave and North G Street, publishes a 64-page monthly magazine, sent to prisoners all over the country, providing news on prison justice issues. The magazine operates as part of the Human Rights Defense Center, which advocates for prisoner rights by litigating prisoner abuse cases and providing legal information for prisoners.
The South Florida Prison Book Project, founded in 2011, sends free books to prisoners in the state of Florida upon request. Every week, they receive letters from inmates asking for reading material ranging from novels to cookbooks to dictionaries, and they fulfill these requests with books from their library at the Outspokin warehouse on 2nd Ave and South F Street.
Prison Legal News and the South Florida Prison Book Project will be holding a benefit acoustic and spoken word concert at Outspokin (131 South F Street, Lake Worth) on Saturday, March 7, at 6:00pm. Acts will include Grant Peeples (legendary Florida folk), The Whiskey Wasps (members of Raggy Monster), Unity Rise (folk/punk from Miami), Bed Burner, and spoken word poetry from Autumn Springs.
Admission to this benefit show will be $5 and one to two used paperback books, if possible, to be sent to prisoners.
For more information, visit Prison Legal News at prisonlegalnews.org, the South Florida Prison Book Project at sflprisonbookproject.org, or contact Serafima at 305-479-0350.
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The Second Saturday Sidewalk Sale went really well! We sold a lot of books and made a lot of new connections, and we're excited about all the books we can send with the donations we collected. We also sold books at Lake Worth's Street Painting Festival on February 21 and 22--another success! Here are some pictures:
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We will be tabling at the Lake Worth's next Second Saturday Sale on February 14, 2015. The sale takes place between 10AM and 4PM, and we will be somewhere on Lake Avenue between Dixie Highway and Federal Highway, selling used books for $2-3 donations. We might also have some books to sell from Prison Legal News, our local friends in the fight for prisoner rights, and we will have some books for free, as well. Join us for a romantic day of love, literature, and prison justice!
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We will be selling books at Lake Worth's Second Saturday Sidewalk Sale on Saturday, June 14. The sale will be located in Downtown Lake Worth on Lake Ave. between Dixie Hwy and Federal Hwy, and it will last from 10AM to 4PM. For more information, visit LakeWorthArts.com.
There will be lots of other artists and vendors selling their goods at this event. Be sure to stop by and say hello!
For information about some of our past events, visit our Facebook page.
UPDATE: The Sidewalk Sale is over, and it was fabulous!! It was very sunny and there weren't as many people as we would have hoped, but we made some great connections and got a few donations, too. Check out pics from the event below, and be on the lookout for more Sidewalk Sales with the South Florida Prison Book Project in the future.
