Our incarcerated sex worker community has a member that just was diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer. She will receive cancer treatment while in prison at Lowell Womens Correctional Institution where we already know that health care is horrible, inconsistent and often more dangerous than the disease itself. It took them more than 6 months to even get her to see a doctor for testing and another three months to get a diagnosis. She will not start receiving treatment for another 30 days and we are concerned for her welfare. Her release date is in 2023 and there is a good chance she won’t make it out alive.
If you could take a moment and send her a letter or a card of love and support, it would do 2 things. It would put the prison and the prison officials on alert that we are watching them and this woman has people on the outside that care about her. Secondly – it would let her know we love and support her and are actively seeking to get her high quality healthcare on her behalf. Please pour a MOUNTAIN of mail into this prison and overwhelm them with support for this lovely lady. You may also send a Money Order with your letter with her name and her DOC number on it if you are able. The letters and postcards are the MOST important part. Please DON’T forget to a return address on it. You may use the SWOP Behind Bars return address if you prefer. That address is:
SWOP Behind Bars 340 S Lemon Ave Walnut, CA 91789
Because we are in the beginning stages of advocating for her to receive the best healthcare the prison offers, we ask that you post her real name an info on social media as we have had been able to get her consent to advocate on her behalf. You may use and follow the hashtag #WeAreWatching and #Hope4Helen if you want to spread the word on social media.
As always…we are grateful for your support and for everything you do to assist incarcerated sex workers and we hope that you can pause the holiday madness to share good wishes to Helen.
The address to send postcards, letters and money orders is:
Helen K Tidwell H07116 RMC Main Unit P.O. Box 628 Lake Butler, Florida 32054-0628
Please do not send letters or cards that contain glue, glitter, crayon or stickers. Use plain white writing or computer paper and be sure to address your good wishes exactly as follows.
Sincerely,
The SWOP Behind Bars Team