RFJ Mutual Aid Project

UPDATE: The campaign has ended with great success. Thank you to everyone for your overwhelming kindness and compassion.

Read: ReFraming Justice Mutual Aid Campaign FAQs


Help Support Incarcerated People During COVID-19!

You can help protect people inside Arizona’s state prisons by contributing to the ReFraming Justice (RFJ) Mutual Aid Project, providing incarcerated people across the state with much-needed supplies to help keep themselves safe from COVID-19, and making all of our communities – on the inside and out – safer.

RFJ Covid-19 Mutual Aid Donations

According to CDC guidelines, the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) should “ensure that sufficient stocks of hygiene supplies, cleaning supplies, PPE, and medical supplies (consistent with the healthcare capabilities of the facility) are on hand and available, and have a plan in place to restock as needed if COVID-19 transmission occurs within the facility.” However, AFSC-Arizona has received reports from those inside, their loved ones, and ADC staff that the department is failing to provide such items to people who are incarcerated, or keep these important supplies stocked throughout the state.

The Virus is on the Move

jimmy jenkins COVID-19 in prison map

Jimmy Jenkins of NPR affiliate KJZZ-Phoenix has created a tool to track cases of COVID-19 in Arizona’s state prisons. As the virus spreads, the delivery of this much-needed aid will be all the more urgent.


What the RFJ Mutual Aid Project Provides for Incarcerated Loved Ones:

  1. Paper towels
  2. Toilet paper
  3. Bar soap
  4. Feminine hygiene products

How Donated Items Make Their Way Inside:

Our RFJ team has been in regular contact with ADC staff to confirm that there is a need, and that community donations would be the best way to get these items into the hands of the incarcerated.

Accordingly, AFSC-AZ has set up an Amazon Wish List of items you can purchase online. Your donated purchases will be shipped to our team and we will hand deliver them to ADC for delivery to prisons across the state.

AFSC-AZ acknowledges Amazon’s problematic history in collaborating with companies like Palantir, who directly profit off of the surveillance, detention, and deportation of our migrant brothers and sisters. At present, we are hindered by the limited types of products ADC will accept and the few platforms that allow wide-participation that maintains social-distancing safety practices. We will continue to explore more ethical platform options over the course of this campaign. Suggestions of alternatives are always appreciated.

How AFSC-AZ Tracks Donated Items:

ADC will store items at its headquarters in Phoenix until ready for transport to other facilities. AFSC-Arizona will collect all available documentation indicating that your mutual aid donations were received.

Thank You!

Please join us in getting these supplies to our loved ones inside.

Browse our supply list and purchase on Amazon. We’ll make sure your donated supplies get to ADC.

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AFSC-Arizona Launches Mutual Aid Effort to Protect People in State Prisons

UPDATE: The campaign has ended with great success. Thank you to everyone for your overwhelming kindness and compassion.

By AFSC-AZ Staff |

AFSC-Arizona has launched an online effort led by families across the state to provide necessary hygiene items to people who are incarcerated in state prisons and to help protect them and our communities from COVID-19.

The ReFraming Justice (RFJ) Mutual Aid Project will help thousands of people incarcerated in state- and privately-run prisons – from Douglas to Winslow, Kingman to Yuma, and all Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) prison complexes in between – to acquire soap, gloves, masks, tampons & pads, toilet paper and paper towels. Families and communities will assist this effort by ordering supplies through an Amazon Wish List that will be delivered weekly to ADC headquarters near the Arizona Capitol through May 14, 2020, and then distributed to people who are incarcerated throughout the state.

According to CDC guidelines, all correctional facilities in Arizona and across the country should “ensure that sufficient stocks of hygiene supplies, cleaning supplies, PPE, and medical supplies (consistent with the healthcare capabilities of the facility) are on hand and available, and have a plan in place to restock as needed if COVID-19 transmission occurs within the facility.”

For well over a month now, AFSC-Arizona has received hundreds of reports from those inside, their loved ones, and ADC staff that the department is failing to provide these CDC-recommended items to all people who are incarcerated, or keep these important supplies stocked throughout the state. These reports not only prompted the launch of the RFJ Mutual Aid Project, but were also the basis for last week’s efforts – led by AFSC-Arizona – to compel the Arizona Department of Health Services to inspect all ADC facilities for compliance with CDC guidelines.

“This pandemic has helped teach us the proper way to wash our hands, sanitize our homes, and practice social distancing. But we also must learn how to build a self-sustaining network across Arizona we can rely on to protect ourselves, build safe communities, and protect vulnerable people inside prisons, jails and detention facilities,” said Grace Gámez, Ph.D., coordinator of AFSC-Arizona’s ReFraming Justice Project, which helps to build the leadership capacity of people who are currently and formerly incarcerated, have conviction histories, or have loved ones within the punishment system.

AFSC-AZ will post updates on the status and effectiveness of our mutual aid efforts over the coming weeks. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay connected.

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