WHAT “IN THE BELLY” IS ABOUT
In The Belly is a journal by and for people who are held captive by the Prison-Industrial Complex. For people whose lives are impacted, determined, and overshadowed by punishment and incarceration daily: prisoners and their families, loved ones, friends, communities and comrades.
Our project is to strengthen the bonds between all of us to overcome the state’s regime of isolation, to study and learn together, and to build a world without prisons. We want this to work like a kind of forum, a tool for faciliating discussion and a platform for mutual political education. Sometimes that will mean questions in one issue, and answers in the next. Principled disagreement. Call and response.
Subscription for incarcerated people is 100% free. Just write us to tell us you want to keep receiving In The Belly, and we’ll keep sending it in. Money-wise, we are completely sustained by outside supporters’ donations.
OUR PRINCIPLES OF UNITY
We oppose the exploitation of land, labor, and life for profit. We reject imperialism in all its forms—including the U.S. settler empire—and support the right of all people to self-determination. We fight patriarchy as a weapon of colonization, and we reject all forms of misogyny, transphobia, and gender-based violence.
We are abolitionists because these systems—capitalism, imperialism, patriarchy, and prisons—are interconnected. To dismantle one, we must confront them all. Our work is about destruction, yes—but also about building. Abolition demands imagination, memory, and collective struggle toward a liberated future.
We prioritize political education and the autonomy of incarcerated people. We believe in lifting up the voices of those facing the sharpest edge of state violence. In a system where prisons have always upheld slavery and colonization, we center those inside as thinkers, organizers, and leaders in the fight to abolish the cage.