Help Harvey Furnish His New Home

Those of you who know me well know that I have been working on a memoir in two voices with my friend and former client, Harvey Jones. Our memoir tells the story of our time together challenging prison brutality in Arkansas in the 1980s. Those of you who have read drafts of our work know that Harvey is a gifted writer.

I am writing to ask your help to furnish the apartment that Harvey has finally been approved to receive.

Harvey was incarcerated at the Tucker Maximum Security Unit in 1984, where he was beaten by two guards for not working fast enough on one of Arkansas' infamous hoe squads. Arkansas is one of only five states in the country that refuses to pay its incarcerated men and women for the work they are forced to perform, including working the cotton, soy, and rice fields of the former plantation lands upon which these prisons are located.

Harvey was finally released from prison in May of 2023. Since then, he has struggled to obtain stable housing. He has managed to keep a series of roofs over his head by couch-surfing and living in various boarding houses in Little Rock. Despite these struggles, he has managed to keep on writing.

It has taken two years, but Harvey has FINALLY been approved by the public housing authority to move into his own apartment. On May 1, 2025, Harvey will have a one-bedroom apartment to call his own. He has no furniture and very few household items. He is prepared to sleep on the floor until he saves enough money from his disability check to buy a bed and just keep slowly furnishing his apartment that way. But it would be so amazing if he didn't have to do that.

Freedom is wonderful, but re-entry is hard. I would love to surprise Harvey with the help he needs to furnish his place. Can you pitch in? Any little bit you can donate would be so appreciated. I will pool the funds and make sure he knows that all of you are out here supporting him.