This story is part of Locked Out, a special series from PJP about voting, politics and democracy behind bars. Click here to read more.

Incarceration has changed my views of politics drastically. I never dedicated a lot of time to educate myself on issues or candidates before I was incarcerated. But since I have been in prison, I’ve used it to explore politics more thoroughly, especially the issues that directly affect me and my loved ones.

The single most important issue to me this election season is violence. The most disturbing is violence fueled by people seeking to be elected to office.

For example, I recently saw a TV ad by Bill Eigel, a conservative candidate for governor of Missouri. In the ad, he says we need to rid our schools of “transgender trash” and uses a flamethrower to torch a cardboard box with the phrase scrawled across it. This is hate speech. Eigel is currently a Missouri state lawmaker who has the power to incite violence against the trans community. This is my community, which he appears to believe is trash that should be burned.

Harmful speech like this has no place in politics. Some have even suggested that the increase of violent, hateful rhetoric in American politics may be the cause of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

I only voted once in my life, back in 2008. I remember how empowered I felt when I cast my ballot. Now, sitting in prison, I can’t vote for candidates who I believe would welcome my community. Nor can I vote against candidates who want to watch it go up in flames.

— Summer Breeze, Missouri

I am 60 years old, and I have never voted. I’ve been incarcerated nearly my entire life in Michigan, one of 48 states that disenfranchise prisoners. 

Still, I have nonetheless spent a lot of time considering the meaning and value of this much-lauded right. I have concluded that we have vastly overrated it.

I believe voting is to democracy what drying off is to showering.

It’s important to dry off, but should we aggrandize it beyond all other aspects of showering?  Imagine raising a generation of people who think drying off is the end-all-be-all of maintaining hygiene. In truth, it’s something we do after completing a long list of other important tasks. 

I have begun to think of everything I do in the community as a referendum. If I pick up a bit of trash, I am voting for a clean community. If I leave it there, well, that’s a vote too. If I refrain from violence, even in thought, I am voting for a more loving world. Even though the state has the power to stop me from drying off, it can never keep me from getting into the water of democracy. It’s where we live and I’m gonna splash around as much as I can.

— Troy Chapman, Mich.

Before incarceration, I didn’t give much thought to politics. That world was so far removed from mine that we may as well have been on different planets. But now that I have officially become a statistic — a thing trotted out during campaign speeches about public safety — I realize that I do care. A lot.

I wish I could vote, but I can’t. Instead, I’m forced to watch from a distance as bedrock tenets of this country crumble, one brick at a time, most noticeably in the reversal of Roe v. Wade. This case has become the symbol of personal freedom to many Americans. It’s astonishing to see just how many states have fallen in line with the decision, even going so far as to make it illegal to have an abortion in cases of rape or incest. 

I fear the next freedom in the crosshairs of far-right conservatives will be limiting access to birth control, or penalizing poor women who get pregnant. This is not the freedom the America of my childhood stood for. 

— Crystal Avilla, Oklahoma

The political issue most at the forefront of my mind is that of the rights of transgender folks. As an out and proud trans woman, this issue affects me directly. 

Over the last two or three years, the amount of political attacks on trans rights has increased drastically. Despite having a vast wealth of accurate information at their fingertips, politicians seem to be content not only to believe misinformation but to spread it.  

Why is it acceptable for politicians to treat transgender folks as undeserving of the rights afforded to every human being on this earth? Why is it their concern what bathroom someone uses, what sports team they play on or what pronoun they use? Why do these issues — marginal relative to the broader society — seem more serious to them than the inhumane rates of bullying, violence and homelessness experienced by trans people?  

I am a human being who just wants to live a productive and peaceful life upon leaving prison. Why should I or anyone else be penalized for living our truth?

— Lexie Handling, Missouri