My name is Alesha Monteiro; my husband, Anthony Monteiro has served over 20 years in prison for a crime that he was convicted of as a youth. My passion for upholding the rights of the incarcerated come from my close and personal experiences with the prison industrial complex and understanding all too well the devastating effects it has on people, particularly and specifically, black and brown people.

I have witnessed the very real phenomenon of prison turning actual victims into criminals, the propaganda used to control the public’s perception and the continued oppression of the already oppressed.

The affect that this very flawed system has had on my family, the pain caused to my children and the isolation felt as a spouse of an incarcerated man have caused a visceral and palpable shift in my moral compass.

I could no longer sit by and do nothing, complaining was not enough; I had to be part of the solution. My passion for the work started with the deep love and pride I have for my husband and very quickly became about the entire incarcerated population. When Covid-19 shut down all of the prison facilities in California and then the entire state, I was already an active member of Essie Justice group and had been since 2018 and I was also an active member of the IFC. When the pandemic struck and I witnessed such indifference on the part of both the Governor and CDCR, I was motivated in a way that I had never been before. I wrote letters, I sent emails, I researched bills. I attended all the Plata vs. Newsom Case Management conferences and attended the senator oversight meeting via Zoom. It was during the July 16th Case Management conference that I took the next step; the “facts” as presented in that conference were not facts at all and I knew it and I wanted the judge to know it. Not believing that he would listen to just one little letter, I drafted an email and blasted it out to every connection and resource I knew. I woke up the next morning to find the email all over social media and people actively  searching for and discussing the email so that they could also forward it to Judge Tigar.  My first email zap was a success.

I continued to take to social media and attended protests, I made connections with non-profits and used those connections to get information on lifers that were being released that needed help. I then successfully organized, blasted and collected donations to help those coming home and reached out to journalists if I felt something was missed or not correct in stories they reported. I responded to stories like “The Gap Between the Number of Black and Whites in Prison is Shrinking” By, John Gramlick with Pew Research Center with an email reply.

When I read Eugene Scott’s articles “Four Reasons Coronavirus Is Hitting Black Communities So Hard” in the Washington Post, I sent him an email to let him know that I think the list should actually be “five” reasons rather than just four.

I stayed engaged because I know how duplicitous and evil this system is and I wanted to do everything in my power to be a voice for those inside.

However, those inside are not the only ones affected, as long as mass incarceration exists, we are all affected. I know what it is like to be on this side of the wall, desperate for information, confused and even a bit apprehensive to ask. I am just as passionate about helping the families of the incarcerated as I am about helping the incarcerated themselves. 

I sought out information anywhere and every way I could so that I could bring it back to the support group that I run for the loved ones of those incarcerated at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. I even appeared in multiple prison podcast shows of both “Ear Hustle” and “Uncuffed” and started to help the editor seek out loved ones of the incarcerated to appear on multiple episodes; I know how cathartic it was for me doing those episodes and wanted to help others achieve the same. I have stayed close to this issue from every angle and I do not intend to change that. My involvement in social justice extends past incarcerated lives, to all marginalized lives. I try to stay connected to the people of disenfranchised communities at all times so, when Senator Scott Wiener’s SB-145 bill passed and I witnessed people in my own community not understanding the bill, I took to my keyboard again and made a post on social medial and quickly copied and pasted that post to all groups I belong to and then soon after had a conversation with the Senator about it.  I am only getting more and more comfortable in this world and I know my voice is powerful. My immediate goal is to procure a job in advocacy that will allow me to both help those in need as well as showcase my talent for writing and research. My long-term goal is to eventually open my own non-profit and continue to fight for this cause that I have so much invested in and so much empathy around.

Latest email I sent to the LA times in response to the article – “Tracking the Coronavirus in California State Prisons.”