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Collected Item: “Tweets from Inside a Prison 08/30-09/05/2020 by Railroad Underground”

Give your story a title.

Tweets from Inside a Prison 08/30-09/05/2020 by Railroad Underground

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

images

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

These images show the Tweets of an incarcerated person utilizing a contraband cell phone to let the outside world know about prison conditions during the pandemic. This week he talks about forever loosing his right to vote because he is now a felon, the logic of incarceration where people are told everyday how worthless they are as a way to make them "fit" into society, the daily request he receives to send or receive messages on his contraband cell phone, that the phone represents hope, a dream about Donald Trump, he never had role models growing up but now has them inside prison and they are other incarcerated people, and his greatest fear is not knowing. He says that used to relate to not knowing when he would get out, or if his parents would die before he is released but Covid has changed this into not knowing when he will be allowed to shower or get a bar of soap.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

HSE, incarceration, cell phone, vote, death, SOS, contraband, hope, Twitter

Enter a URL associated with this object, if relevant.

https://twitter.com/RailroadUnderg1

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

unknown

Give this story a date.

2020-08-30
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