Attention prisoners!
Throughout our 25-year history, this newspaper has maintained a policy of offering free subscriptions, through a special fund provided by our readers, to those held captive by the political state—prisoners and GIs. This is not done as an act of charity or social work, but as an expression of solidarity with those suffering in two of class society’s most authoritarian and key institutions—prison and the armed forces.
However, as of this issue, we find the finances of our fund are being severely strained. A large influx of prisoner requests have come in as a result of the Fifth Estate being listed in several prison resource publications as giving free subs to those incarcerated. While we welcome new prisoner subscribers, we are concerned that most of the recent requests come from those who are not familiar with the paper, but only saw the listing.
Given our limited resources, we ask prisoners who are receiving their first copy to review and decide whether you would like to receive it regularly. Remember, this is a sample only and you must write again if you wish to become a subscriber.
Finally, we unfortunately are unable to assist prisoners with legal matters or run personal ads.
Given the increased prisoner requests, we ask that readers on the outside consider contributing to our prisoner/GI fund in order to keep this program financially viable. Our subscription and renewal forms contain a box which allows a contribution of an extra dollar to the fund.
Thank you
Also, prisoners and other readers may be interested in an excellent journal we receive: Prison News Service, POB 6052, Station. A, Toronto, Ont., Canada. Free to prisoners; donation from others.