Statement from Marius Mason to mark June 11th, International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason & All Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners. See the original June 11th call here.

Greetings and Gratitude to my community,

I want to begin with thanking everyone who wrote a support letter or went to a support event this past year – thank you so much! I know that your solidarity connects incarcerated resisters with so much strength and love. I wish I could have replied to every letter I received – and I will be adding several new contacts to my correspondence list and writing back as much as I can…..This year has been a tough one for me. My twelve-years-long gender-affirming surgery quest was abruptly torpedoed by an administration whose sole mission has been hate and division. On the verge of surgery, successfully integrated into a predominantly-male identified prison population (for years) – I was unceremoniously kidnapped and thrown into the SHU due to an Executive Order making my gender illegal and erasing my rights as a citizen.

Since then, I have been transferred to a predominantly female-identified prison population at the Federal Satellite Low in Danbury, Connecticut. It’s been an adjustment socially, but my community here has been very welcoming and affirming. I work as a peer support for an integrated program treating trauma and addiction. That feels meaningful, as so many people lose control over their lives, and often even their very lives, because of untreated addiction problems. I really feel that the international epidemic has at its heart the sense of despair and alienation that so many feel right now.

It’s been an intense year for all communities of resistance – whether we were focusing on the war on Gaza or the war on immigrants. We have been hard-pressed to provide support to those among us who have been damaged by the increasing attacks on women, immigrants, as well as transgender and queer people. The past six months have been a military march backward in human evolution as even the most basic social agreements on the rights of individuals in a society have been violated time and again. Rights guaranteed at the signing of the Magna Carta – rights that were at the heart of the conflict between England and the former colonies, are being systematically disemboweled.

It has been said that if we do not learn from history, then we are doomed to repeat it. We have seen the onset of fascism before, and should recognize it now. So…these times are a challenge to any who desire real freedom, who passionately espouse justice and who honor and respect human dignity – and who persist in the belief that we are responsible for each other and to each other and our shared home, this Earth. The strength to face this challenge will come from solidarity…this is always our secret weapon against the venal brutalities of fascism.

Persist and Resist!
Love and Solidarity, Marius Mason

Write to:

Marie (Marius) Mason #04672-061
FCI Danbury
Route 37
Danbury, CT 06811

In 2013, Marius came out as a transman, while incarcerated in FMC Carswell, Texas. Since then, Marius has fought for any recognition or affirmation of his gender, with little concrete response from the BOP. In addition to gender affirming surgery, ultrasound test results have indicated that Marius may have other serious medical needs that continue to go unaddressed.

Now, Marius is asking that we offer him support by writing to Colette Peters, the Director of the Federal Bureau Prisons. This letter will bring attention to his case. This example letter was written by Marius, along with his support team and attorney.

Director Colette Peters
Federal Bureau of Prisons
320 First Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20534

Dear Director Peters:

Thank you for prioritizing the rehabilitative purpose and programming of the BOP in your role as Director. It was encouraging to see the Transgender Policy Manual posted again, after years of being unavailable on the FBOP site when you came into office. I appreciate the atmosphere of respect, acceptance and safety fostered at the highest level under your administration for all LGBTQIA+ people currently in the carceral system.

I am writing today to call attention to the situation of Marius Mason (née Marie Mason, #04672-061). Mason has been approved by the FBOP for gender-affirming surgery since 2022. He was transferred from FCI Danbury, a male facility, and after living there for two years, he was transported to FMC Fort Worth, where he was to undergo gender affirming surgery. This was the culmination of a 10-year process, beginning in 2013 when Mason asked to be considered for the new transgender medical policy, after a lawsuit created a pathway to medical transition.

However, Mason was informed at a meeting with Dr. Mercado (the Health Services Administrator), Mr. Strickland and Mason’s therapist, Dr. Bartholomew on 5/24/24 that despite having been approved for surgery, the health services contractor that was working for FMC Fort Worth was not willing to provide gender-affirming hysterectomy. It is our understanding that there are in fact local medical professionals who can perform this procedure, without which the other surgeries will be delayed.

Also at this same meeting, Mason was informed that test results from a prior ultrasound had revealed that there was indications of an early onset of cancer in his uterus, and a further test was being ordered to confirm this possible result. If indeed Marius requires a hysterectomy due to uterine cancer, we hope this will be carried out with all possible speed.
I am asking that you please investigate the apparent refusal of a contracted health care to provide care to a trans prisoner, and also to ensure that this denial and delay do not endanger Mason’s health and safety or delay the approved care long enough to prevent it being fulfilled. Thank you for continuing to be an ally to LGBTQIA+ prisoners in the Federal system.
Sincerely, XXXXXXXXX

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for coming together to support all anarchist prisoners still kept from freedom. Your positivity and encouragement have meant the world to me, literally, this past year. Now that it has been some 16 years away from the free world for me, your stories have allowed me to connect to campaigns as different as saving the commons in Georgia to ending genocide in Gaza.

And as diverse as they are, these struggles hold at their heart the need to shift our system away from exploitation and disregard to one of mutual aid and respect; first for our planet, and then for our animal and plant relations and so importantly, for each other. Though my body is still caged, my heart is with you all. La lucha continua!

This year has marked a number of changes for me in prison. In September of last year, I was transferred to FMC Fort Worth in Texas. It felt ironic to be about a mile away from where I had spent so many years at FMC Carswell. It’s a small distance in miles, but a massive shift in ways of being, and a big step in fulfilling my request to medically transition.

This year will mark 11 years since I came out as trans at Carswell and officially requested Gender Reassignment Surgery (GRS) . To date, I have been on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) for nine years and have seen just one doctor to discuss the possibilities of a GRS procedure. I am now in my third year of living as a man in a men’s prison, having spent more than two years in FCI Danbury before this prison.

Things have moved glacially, and that has been both frustrating and concerning. The very real possibility of a roll-back on trans rights generally and an out and out refusal of trans rights in prison looms in the outcome of the next election. I have been at the gate and sent back once before, as the administration changed.

Conditions for trans people in prison are often humiliating and can be dangerous. Names matter to anyone, but in prison they can make the difference between safety and risk, between dignity and degradation, and between privacy and notoriety. It is part of the 2016 Transgender Prisoner Policy that a legal name change can be affected while in custody.

This new, legal name can be used in all official capacities, but only if the presiding judge in your instant offense is willing to make the change. If they are not, either because of prejudice or because of sheer laziness, then the policy right is not given and the BOP facility can ignore the right with impunity. It seems like a glitch in the policy, as it keeps it from being equally applied to all prisoners.

Not being able to use my legal name on prison documents has resulted in my degrees earned while in prison going to another name and I will have to use these credentials to get a job and be forced to disclose my status as trans in that first interview. The status of being trans is not a protected category, so that may affect my employment options like others similarly situated).

Also, hearing your dead name chanted at you by strangers in the chow hall is super weird or being accosted for sex anonymously (by a note, in another prison) because the name triggered something for somebody is gross and jarring. The risk is real when being “outed” as trans.

Worse treatment is still reserved for the young trans folks and transwomen in particular. I have been told of trans people’s experiences of being physically intimidated to hide caches of drugs or hooch, of being forced to perform sex acts for viewers or being beaten because of these performances, or of trading sex for safety or commissary.

It’s a cycle of abuse and Special Housing Unit (SHU) punitive time that steals trans women’s autonomy and “good time” while in prison. These experiences seem like a powerful argument for transwomen to be in female facilities for safety (if they choose), and for all trans people to use the legal name that best reflects them.

I hope that my community on the outside will stand by me in my continuing quest to access care. At 62 years of age, I have already passed the age when I could get the radial forearm phalloplasty procedure that I really wanted – but may still be able to get a simpler procedure. I was given this assessment by a caring and capable doctor, so I believe the advice.

I don’t want to “age out” of GRS entirely – but the clock is ticking. Please join me in advocating for all trans people, incarcerated or free, young or old to live their truth and to be treated with compassion and respect.

Next year, a better world!
Love and solidarity,
Marius Mason

Dear friends and family,

I am now at FMC Ft. Worth, as of September 18, and am waiting to find out what possible timelines it will take or even if I will be allowed to continue my transition surgically. I continue to take my HRT therapy and am meeting other trans inmates here – all transwomen who are oftentimes waiting for THEIR transfer to a female facility! I am hoping that this policy will continue to help many trans people, but am concerned that this policy may be in danger of reversal if the far right has their way! Please continue to fight for trans and queer people in prison, as so often we are invisible to the wider public and easier to shove under the rug and hide. I know that it is the support that we have from our community on the outside that helps our cause and gives us care and strength.

 
Thank you very much for your support in letters and cards this past year – I have a list of everywhere I got mail from, but it is packed up in my property and in a box on its way to Texas right now! I have even gotten a few letters at my new address here – but also, sadly, a few documents saying that the intended letter was returned to sender because of the new rules here at FMC Ft. Worth. So, to lessen the aggravation for anyone kind enough to write to me – here are a few of the different rules…

1) all letters have to be written on only one side of the page and are limited to 5 pages.
2) no letters that are on colored paper or on cardstock. 
3) any photos must be sent through a company and not directly from the sender. No more than 25 photos will be accepted.
4) all acceptable letters will be photo-copied in black and white and that copy given to the inmate.

I am sorry to say that all the beautiful original artwork that I have received over the years will not be allowed into this facility. That is a great sadness to me, as I have been given such amazing original art from so many great people from all over the world. Thank you, everyone, for keeping me in their thoughts and including me in their outreach and educational work. I am so encouraged by the campaigns that continue to run bravely in the face of the worst destructive efforts – long live the Wild Free Earth!
I want to make more of an effort to reach out to you all – especially as it will be harder to write as many emails or send as many letters as I have before (which never seemed enough then). I will be facing a higher monthly fine payment now, as Congress has asked the prison administrators to enforce higher payments….but I will use the website more to compensate.

Thank you all, again – for taking this journey with me, for seeing me through so many years and over so many hurdles….I am constantly humbled and warmed by the power of solidarity. Together, we are strong!