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Bail Fund for Ricky Zepeda

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Bail Fund for Ricky Zepeda

Bail Fund for Ricky Zepeda

Bail Fund for Ricky Zepeda

Bail Fund for Ricky Zepeda

Bail Fund for Ricky Zepeda

Lesley Haddock
Lesley Haddock
Lesley Haddock
Lesley Haddock
2 Campaigns |
Oakland, United States
$967 USD 14 backers
96% of $1,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
Highlights
Mountain Filled 2 Projects Mountain Filled 2 Projects

For over a decade Ricky Zepeda slept on a slab of cold concrete in an 8x10ft concrete room with no windows. Through the cold, the isolation, and the silence, he kept himself sane by creating beautiful artwork, writing letters, and thinking.

Since 2001 Ricky has been in and out of solitary confinement at Pelican Bay State Prison. After 14 years of psychological torture and social deprivation, Ricky was free. Prison guards handed over $200 and a bus ticket, and suddenly he was sent out into a beautiful world where birds sing in the mornings, trees stretch their roots through moist earth, and people push against each other shoulder to shoulder in crowded train stations.

No one can appreciate the beauty of this world more than someone who has been denied even a glance at the sky for so long.

But unfortunately this world is also built without Ricky in mind. With no money, no credit, and no recent employment history, Ricky entered a world that denies public housing, job opportunities, and resources to anyone who the state has labelled a “felon”. In desperate circumstances he now finds himself back in prison in Reno, NV, facing the state's "Repeat Criminal" law that could allow his judge to lock him away for life, simply because he has prior convictions.

Ricky is an incredible artist, friend, and writer. In 2013 he helped to organize the Prisoner Hunger Strike at Pelican Bay State Prison and though he was hospitalized twice he refused to eat until the protest was declared victorious. As an activist he has dedicated himself to building a world where all people are free.

Right now, we need to fight for him.

Every dollar you can give will help him raise the money he needs to bail out so that he can do the research NECESSARY to defend himself in court next week. He needs us, and so does his wonderful and supportive partner, who has done everything she can to hold him through the hardest things anyone can imagine.

 

Please support a dear friend and comrade in a struggle to rebuild his life and a better world where no one has to endure  the horrors of our prison system.

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If you feel shocked and horrified that someone could be caged up like this, please consider joining/supporting one of the many amazing organizations fighting to abolish torture and the prison system! Ricky and I met through a PenPal program, so you might also consider writing to someone in prison and building a relationship to let people inside know we haven’t forgotten them!

Human Rights Penpal Program
Black & Pink
TGI Justice Project

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