For the second seminar in our series, Romarilyn Ralston joined us to discuss incarceration, community, her work with Project Rebound at California State University Fullerton, and her experiences of writing a memoir. Dr Nicole M. Gipson generously joined us to help facilitate the conversation, adding critical nuance with her expertise in the structural causes of homelessness in African American communities.

Romarilyn dedicated most of our time together to the celebration of community, both that "in the prison but not of the prison," and the community of scholars and activists that continue to challenge carceral regimes in the United States. For much of the conversation, Romarilyn shared moving stories about the community of women she was part of within the California Institution for Women, women whose radical solidarity encouraged Romarilyn to survive and organise. Together, this community ran study groups, celebrated holidays, organised fashion shows, and supported each other's development. Critically, they mentored younger women who entered the prison, hoping to stop them becoming trapped in the "revolving door" that charcterises so many young people's experiences of incarceration. This organising was, Romarilyn argued, a movement - this was not just about surviving incarceration, but resisting the regime.

The spirit of this organising lives beyond the prison walls. Romarilyn spoke about the formerly-incarcerated women who helped her to adjust to life after imprisonment, and the work that she does with Project Rebound. Speaking of formerly-incarcerated people, Romarilyn stessed that "the state cannot heal us" - this work needs to be done by a compassionate, cohesive community. Crucially, this care must be combined with broader anticarceral activism. Romarilyn stated that "we as abolitionists need to aid inmates while they're there." She emphasised the importance of working to improve the quality of life of incarcerated people in the present in addition to organizing towards abolition in the future.

Audience members steered the conversation in productive directions. We had an important conversation about the medical abuses that incarcerated women face, including forced sterilisation, and the experiences of mothers in prison. Romarilyn and Dr Gipson highlighted some of the different ways in which identity can be used as a tool of resilience and survival, either as an act of reclamation and community (such as using the label of prisoner to encourage solidarity) or as something to resist to avoid despair (distancing oneself from the label of 'homeless' in order to continue to imagine a different future).