Posted on

Pictures Becoming Real: Essay by Bobby Bostic

A lot has changed since the last time we featured Bobby Bostic’s story on our blog in 2021. Bobby was released on parole in November 2022, after serving 27 years of a 241-year sentence. We are honored to have been part of his life while he was incarcerated, keeping him connected with friends and family on the outside through photos. We celebrate not only his release, but his accomplishments and perseverance. You can learn more about Bobby’s story and his current projects at his website here.

It’s our pleasure to once again feature Bobby’s personal incarceration story in his own words as he reflects on the true impact of sending photos to someone in jail or prison.

A few years ago while serving a 241-year sentence, I started using Pelipost to receive pictures of my loved ones. While I served 27 years in prison, I only had photos to imagine the streets. Pictures highlighted what I was missing and served as my lens to the streets. I went to prison in 1995 when I was just 16 years old. Pictures served as my lifeline to the streets. I was released 4 months ago and now I am 44 years old.

While I was in prison, not everyone could come and see me. Pictures were the only way I could see them. I had nothing but childhood memories, but the pictures made everything real to me. I want to thank Pelipost for its wonderful service of helping prisoners like me to be able to get visuals of the free world. Words can’t express how much prison separates us from the streets.

On the other hand, words cannot express how valuable Pelipost is to prisoners. Pictures are so valuable to us in prison. In my book Time: Endless Moments in Prison, I wrote an entire chapter on pictures: ‘Pictures in Prison.’ I encourage everyone to please read this book if you want to know the value of pictures inside of prison and why a service like Pelipost is so valuable to prisoners.

While inside of a cell, pictures are like 3D for us. Pictures are alive and full of life. On a personal level I wrote about this in my soon-to-be-released autobiography ‘Humbled to the Dust: Still I Rise.’ In the meantime to find out more about my story, just Google ‘Bobby Bostic’ or follow @freebobbybostic on Instagram and Twitter. Check out some of my art, and my books on Amazon.

Pictures are not motionless in prison. Pictures are our motion picture to the free world.

Bobby Bostic

Pictures are real to prisoners. They are real life to us. They capture moments in time for us to see that which we could not otherwise see. We thank you Pelipost for the service you provide for us prisoners and our friends and family. As my late mom used to say when she mailed me pictures to prison: “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Pelipost, a picture is worth a thousand words, and in a prison cell a picture speaks a thousand words to us over the many years that we keep those pictures while looking at them dozens of times in our cell. Pictures are not motionless in prison. Pictures are our motion picture to the free world. We hold the visual in our hands, and as we sit in the cell: pictures become real.

Posted on

Advice for Prison Wives: Interview with Ashley Martinez

We founded Pelipost from a family’s real experience with incarceration. We know how difficult the experience can be because we’ve lived it from both sides. A major part of our mission is sharing perspectives from the incarcerated and their families in order to support our community. We sat down with TikTok’s Ashley Martinez to hear how this former prison wife coped with her husband’s incarceration, her advice for loved ones, and supporting others in the Prison Wives communities on social media. We believe that voices like Ashley’s can be a powerful tool to help us shatter the stigma of having a loved one incarcerated. This also helps us in the fight to keep real photos in our loved one’s hands. You can follow Ashley on TikTok at @ashllllllay_ashes.

Hey, guys. My name is Ashley. Most of you may know me on TikTok as @ashllllllay_ashes, former prison wife. My husband served a two year and nine month sentence in prison on a six year sentence. He is out on parole. He got out September 9th of 2021. I’m going to answer a couple of questions.

How did sending photos help you and your husband stay connected through his incarceration?

I made sure that my husband had tons and tons and tons of pictures. In that way, it gave him a sense of freedom while being incarcerated. And that’s something that they appreciate the most. Other than talking on the phone, of course. So, yes, it is very important that you all send pictures.

What advice would you give someone who is experiencing having a loved one incarcerated?

Dealing with someone who is incarcerated is overwhelming, and it’s just so stressful. One of the main things, while my husband was incarcerated, that we worked on was trust and communication. If you don’t have trust and communication when dealing with a relationship, of course it’s going to be very, very hard. Always let them know that you’re waiting for them, you support them, and anything that they do when they get out, you’re going to be there to help them. So that way they don’t ever go back. Just speak positivity into them and let them know that they have someone who actually cares about them. Because a lot of the times when they go to prison, they feel like everybody just turns their back on them and that’s not cool.

Tell us about the Prison Wives community on TikTok and social media. How did these communities help support you during your husband’s incarceration?

So back in 2019, my husband got arrested and sentenced. I didn’t start my TikTok until 2020. At that time, I didn’t really see anybody on TikTok doing the Prison Wife thing. So I had a conversation with my cousin and she told me to start posting and overnight, maybe in a couple of days, my videos were going viral. I was supportive, helpful, and motivational to a lot of women out there because I spoke and still speak a lot of positive things. When dealing with this situation, we already get enough backlash from everybody else. They actually helped me keep going because it was helping them. What you pour out is what you give in, you know? And me posting videos continued, because I loved helping people and being supportive, being motivational, being encouraging. So that’s one of the things that kept me going- the other prison wives kind of looking up to me in a sense.

Like I said, you do have a lot of people that are negative towards our situation and it’s just different when you have somebody who you can relate to and who’s not going to judge you for loving a person who simply because they’re incarcerated.

@ashllllllay_ashes

♥️ #fyp #MakeItGucci #ShowUsYourDrawers #prison #prisontok #prisontiktok #prisonlife #prisonwife #prisonwifelife #tdcj

♬ Corazón (You’re Not Alone) – Prima J

Why do you believe it’s important to reduce the stigma of having a friend, family member, or a partner incarcerated?

Having somebody incarcerated, you’re already going to get a lot of backlash, whether you’re in a relationship or whether you’re just there supporting a family member, being there for them as emotional support while they’re going through their sentence. You always get, “Oh, they’re just going to go back in.” The vast majority do go back in, but there’s always that small percentage that actually go in there and utilize their resources to become a better person, if not for themselves and for the people that love them.

Some of the smartest men come out of prison. They go in there and they utilize their resources. They go get their certificates, they get their degrees, they go to the law library and they gain knowledge, and some people really do change their life in there. And I feel like everybody shouldn’t judge one person off of what they went to prison for, because if they’re in prison, they’re serving their time. Once they get out and they’re changed, they shouldn’t be judged on their past. And that’s one thing that I really do have a problem with, because once you’re in the system, it’s hard to get out of. It’s hard to see someone in a different light. Nobody wants to see people change for some reason. And it’s hard for them to accept and grasp the fact that people actually do get out, and do better than probably people who have never even been in prison.

I just feel like society needs to accept the fact that once someone gets out of prison and they paid their debt to society, you should no longer hold their past against them. It should no longer hinder you from trying to prosper and get ahead in life.

@ashllllllay_ashes

im so proud of you! #fyp #prisonwifelife #prisonlife #prisontiktok #prisontok #tdcj #prison #felon #felonsoftiktok #MyBrawlSuper #cashapp13plus

♬ original sound – carter

If you are interested in sharing your experience with family incarceration or how the Pelipost app has helped you stay connected, please reach out to us at marketing@pelipost.com

Posted on

How is Thanksgiving celebrated in jail or prison?

If you have a loved one who is spending Thanksgiving in jail or prison, you may be wondering how to approach the Holidays. Should you send cards and photos, or does that make the fact that they’re far away more painful?
We spoke to Pelipost’s Co-Founder and COO, Becky, about how the power of photos helped her through the holidays while she was incarcerated.

What is Thanksgiving like on the inside?

You know, surprisingly, there is a lot of warmth inside. There is a lot of camaraderie, and you truly become family with the people in your cell or the people that you see every day. You walk the track with them, they serve the role as your family there. And so in the same instance, Thanksgiving, it wasn’t a thing that you like, ignore. We all knew it was Thanksgiving- “What are we going to do for Thanksgiving?” “Let’s share stories,” “let’s talk,” “let’s watch something special on TV.” You know, you find a way to make it celebratory.

Does sending photos and mail really make an impact?

As soon as the holidays came about – Thanksgiving Day was a big one – friends sending me, “Happy Thanksgiving, thinking of you” cards- all those are bonuses in there to receive. The value of a card changes. And what I mean is, out here where you can go and see hundreds of thousands of cards at Hallmark Store or anything like that, inside, when you receive a card, it means so much more. And I loved it. And I loved receiving cards. And you share them with everyone. They bring you so much joy. So to receive a card with photos inside is jackpot. When I was feeling like my tank was running on empty, with feelings, with emotions, with trying to get through another week, and I would get the envelope and pictures and reminders of home, it would refuel my gas tank and make it possible for me just to get through another week or another month or whatever it was. But it means a lot.

How can families be supportive?

A lot of my family used to think that receiving photos of the holidays was hurtful to me. So they would say, you know, “is it okay if I send you?” or, you know, “we don’t want to make you feel worse.” And they were concerned about that, and I’m sure that there are differing opinions about that. For me, it actually helped to see the families still going on, still celebrating, still living life. And although I was on the inside, it made me personally feel good that people were okay. I got to see my dad. I got to see my mom. I got to see- and don’t get me wrong, it is hard because I’m not there. But the- the happiness that you see. “Oh, my dad looks good.” “Oh, so-and-so’s growing up.” That supersedes what I feel by not being there. I feel good because I was able to at least catch up with that day and be part of the day. And it brought me joy.

Watch our full interview with Becky on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVGhYoqwANI

To read more about the experiences Becky has been through, check out Becky’s Story Inside Incarceration on the Pelipost blog. To download the Pelipost app go to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.