From Marius:

Greetings, Friends and Family,

It feels like this will actually happen at this point — so I finally think it’s time to reach out and say thank to all of you who have been steadfastly in my corner, backing me up and helping me stay centered all of these 17 years incarcerated in the FBOP. I will be leaving prison in May and returning to my home state of Michigan, back to Detroit.

This time would not have been the same without you all — and I have met so many people who had no one to turn to while they did their time, so I know what a difference it made to always have my people holding me up. And there has been a lot to get through, what with advocating for my transition, at each step — I knew that I had legal advice, medical information and material support. Thank you so much, I owe you all more than I can ever repay.

I have tried for my own part to be a support and comfort to the people around me in each place the BOP put me, passing on the love I have been shown.

What I really want you all to know is how incredibly proud it made me to be part of a community of resistance that stood together. It impressed the people I met in prison for so much love and solidarity to be expressed so powerfully for someone who was behind the walls.

It demonstrated that in our movement, though we were physically separated, we could stay together in spirit, that solidarity and love are action words, and that we are all in it for the long haul.

Change does not come easy, but solidarity is when we flex our strength as a people. I don’t really know what comes next, but I hope I can still serve my community in some way to help. I have been studying to be a writing tutor through my Yale Prison Education Initiative scholarship — and hope to volunteer at the Literacy Project in Detroit. I have earned a Paralegal Degree and studied immigration law, and hope to be of service in that capacity, also.

So much to do, but many hands make the work easy! Thank you, thank you, a million times over — thank you! As Elton John used to sing — I’m Still Standin’ (yeah, yeah, yeah).

See you on the outside!

Love and Solidarity, Marius