People Against Prisons Aotearoa does vitally important work every day to help build a fairer, more just Aotearoa. This work happens because our members do all of the day to day things that go into building a movement. PAPA is driven by its membership, and demonstrates what we can do when we engage in collective efforts for change.

Throughout history, people have stood up against oppression. Prisons are one of the fundamental sources of oppression of our time. Prisons reinforce the most violent aspects of racism and entrench the inequality between the rich and poor. Our ancestors built movements to address the injustices of their times. Now it’s our turn.

If you care about these injustices, we encourage you to become a member of PAPA. You can sign up as a member here. By becoming a member of PAPA, you can help us address these injustices and build something better.

As members, we attend local branch meetings, where we learn about criminal justice issues and discuss what to do about them. Branch meetings are where we build our skills as organisers who know how to mobilise people power. Members can get involved in working groups, doing things like organising protests, advocating for prisoners, helping to run our penpal network, and researching current criminal justice issues. We currently have branches in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin; meeting details are available online to members and supporters after signing up.

PAPA exists because the people recognise that something has to be done about the crisis of incarceration. Our members are our greatest resource and do incredible work every day to end the violence of the prisons.

If you don’t have the capacity to become a member of People Against Prisons Aotearoa, or you aren’t fully on board with our kaupapa, we encourage you to become a supporter.

As a PAPA supporter, we encourage you to do these things:

• Turn up to events that we organise. This is the most important thing our supporters can do. PAPA does not achieve its goals through backroom negotiations with bosses and bureaucrats. We win because we mobilise the power of the people to bring about social change. You don’t have to sign up as a member to be part of that power! As a supporter, coming to our rallies and marches is a material way in which you can contribute to our victories.
• Join our mailing list to find out about future events by becoming a supporter.
• Donate to PAPA. Dedication alone isn’t always enough to get things done. Financial restraints can limit what our different prisoner advocacy programmes can achieve. If you want to help out, donating money is a really important way to do that. You can donate to PAPA by clicking the Donate button at the bottom of this page, or by putting money directly in our bank account: People Against Prisons Aotearoa 38-9018-0691197-00
• Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. You can find out about events we’re organising, as well as the latest news about the criminal justice system. Please boost our posts on social media so we can get our message out!
• Become a prisoner penpal. Regularly writing to an incarcerated person can help to cut through the isolation and loneliness of prison. We often get letters from our incarcerated penpals talking about how important their outside penpal has been for them. Penpal friendships can be a lifeline in an otherwise miserable world in prison. To become a penpal to a prisoner or to find out more, visit the Prisoner Correspondence Network website.
• Talk to friends and whānau about the criminal justice system. PAPA has a lot of resources on our website that can help you to have informed discussions with the people you love about why we need to fundamentally change our justice system. This change starts with everyday conversations.