Mariposa is Finally Free! Now She Needs Our Help...

After 18 years, Mariposa (Sara) Fonseca, co-author of Mariposa & the Saint: From Solitary Confinement, A Play Through Letters will finally be released from prison. Like most people, she re-enters without the essential support to enable a safe and successful transition. She is not guaranteed stable housing, even in the midst of a pandemic that requires social distance and self-quarantine. Mariposa has spent her entire adult life in prison, and the experience of getting out is overwhelming and terrifying, even in the best conditions.

Help us raise $5000 to cover the costs for securing stable housing for her and her family. This campaign will cover the deposit, first month rent, last month rent, start-up utilities and other costs associated with setting up a home for the first time.

Mariposa co-wrote Mariposa & the Saint: From Solitary Confinement, A Play Through Letters, a play that traveled the country, and in partnership with a national movement, activated and inspired audiences to take action to end solitary confinement in their own states. The play was performed for judges, wardens, legislators, corrections officials, faith-based communities, students and thousands of others. Mariposa recieved over 800 postcards from audience members across the country who were so moved by her words and experience, they wanted to reach out to her directly.

She is an activist, artist, mother, lesbian, and proud member of the Miwok Tribe.

In conjunction with this fundraiser, we are releasing a full-length video performance of the play for the first time. At Mariposa's request, the play is performed by co-writer and producer, Julia Steele Allen. We are also releasing a report: “Transformative Art/ Creative Organizing: How a Play Helped Grow the Movement to End Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons” by Julia Steele Allen and Evan Bissell. The report tells the story of how the play was developed, how it became an organizing tool and the impact it had across the country. It features photos, drawings, case studies and is beautifully designed by Chris Abueg.

A prison within a prison, solitary confinement is the practice of isolating someone in a small space without any human contact as a form of punishment, and is common throughout the nation's prisons and jails. On any given day, there are between 80,000–100,000 people held in solitary confinement, and some have been there for decades. Considered torture by the U.N., there is so nation in the world that uses solitary confinement in this way- without any oversight or federal regulation- people held in solitary include children, pregnant women, the elderly, those with acute mental or physical health issues, and LGBTQ people locked up "for their own protection." People can be placed there for any kind of infraction and for any length of time. Mariposa got 15 months for having a pair of tweezers, and wound up being left there for over two years.

Our play sheds a light on this inhumane reality. Those held inside solitary are made invisible to the public and are deeply vulnerable, but Mariposa's voice was able to reach thousands on the outside, activating them to take action across ten different states.

The crisis of mass incarceration in this country and the need to dismantel the prison industrial complex has been made even more urgent as people are dying of COVID behind bars. Mariposa is getting out, but like most formerly incarcerated people, she is not provided with the necesary support to successfully transition to life on the outside. Safe, stable housing will be essential.