Bent Bars Project

The Bent Bars Project is a letter-writing project for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, gender-variant, intersex, and queer prisoners in Britain. The project was founded in 2009, responding to a clear need to develop stronger connections and build solidarity between LGBTQ communities inside and outside prison walls. LGBTQ+ people have a long history of being policed and criminalized (and of resisting that decriminalization) and the criminal justice system continues to target and criminalize queer, trans and gender non-conforming people,making them feel very isolated. This is why organisations like us, who specifically support LGBTQ+ people in prison are so important. Bent Bars aims to work in solidarity with prisoners by organising pen-pal matches, sharing resources, providing mutual support and drawing public attention to the struggles of queer and trans people behind bars.