Jess took responsibility for dismantling parts of the #DAPL before it was operational in 2017. In 2021 @JoeBiden labeled her a terrorist, sent her to prison for 8 yrs, & order over 3 mill in restitution to ETP, who’s responsible for fueling climate crisis & human rights abuses

Without you I don’t know where I’d be during these dark times. Thank you so very much." You can write directly to Jess at: Fresh Start Women’s Center (Women’s Residential Correctional Facility) 1917 Hickman Rd, Des Moines, IA 50314

Or maybe I could blame the fact the world, at a glance, seems as bad as it ever was? All I know is that for a while now the laughter has left me. I thank everyone for their prayers, thoughts, letters, and contributions along the way.

In a real way, no probably not. I am sad all the time. It is hard to be hopeful about too many good days ahead any time soon. Did prison do that to me? Can I blame the BOP? Is it because I still can’t garden or hike or swim?

Any and all doctor’s appointments, mental health therapy sessions, all communication on my phone and email, any employment endeavors, all overseen by BOP. Taking it all in, where I’ve been, where I am now, and heading toward home confinement, am I doing alright?

Wow! It kind of hit me in a different way at that moment. So, although there is no longer a fence surrounding me, until 10/01/2027, every move I make is monitored.

Well, a few of the women got a little too much sun and by the following morning were pretty red-faced, and then one of the women was called to her counselor’s office to receive a disciplinary write up for her sunburn: “destruction of government property”.

It was early in the year, and so we were all pretty stir crazy after a long winter indoors and eager to get out of our housing units and to get a little sunshine and fresh air.

If I had any doubt about what it means to be BOP property, it was cleared up when one time, a few years back, a group of us were playing a prison yard softball game.

So I’ve been in the halfway house scene for a few weeks now, settling in as well as possible, I suppose. Although I am no longer in prison, I am still Bureau of Prison property. Let me expand on that a bit further...

It had been over 5 years since she and I said our goodbyes on the Des Moines Catholic Worker front porch, both shedding a few tears at the time, me a nervous wreck preparing for the greatest unknown I’d yet experienced. Needless to say, it was a heartfelt reunion.

A message from Jess: "I am surprised to say that I now reside in transitional housing. I left Waseca on 10/1, thanking God to have seen the beautiful face of my dear friend Julie Brown in the prison parking lot there to pick me up and transport me to my new home, a halfway house.

Water protectors are jailed, imprisoned, murdered. Climate criminals are traveling in total opulence on private jets via the stolen well-being of children across the globe. A category 5 hurricane is about to hit Jamaica. It’s only the beginning of hurricane season. Prayers up.

To make sure Jess and her families books are kept please write checks to "Des Moines Catholic Worker" w/ a note for "Jess Prison Fund". Mail check to: Frank Cordaro, Berrigan CW House, 713 Indiana Ave., Des Moines IA 50314. For more info:

And so what I am saying is that when you make the decision to support me, you are in reality supporting of us. And thank you so much for all you do. Love, Jessica Reznicek 19293030 & The Good People of Wascca"

But then we laugh together, sing. Dance. Pray. Celebrate. We stick together. All of it, together as a family. The emphasis I’ve placed on ‘connectedness’ has transformed in recent years into a rich and deep sense of love for my human family...

This truly is the biggest, realest human family I’ve ever known. Good, bad and ugly. We grieve together. We laugh together.  Get sick together. Heal together. Our hearts break and so then we cry together. Break bread together. We fight together. Hide the bruises together...

We belong to each other and so we name it. We are family. We are aunties and uncles to one another. Sisters and brothers, dads and moms, sons, daughters, wives and husbands. We embody these roles as we learn how best to look out for each other...

In some ways, I expected this depth of closeness to develop but was for the most part unaware of the intimacies which would form within the relationships of my prison family. In here we do not hesitate to give tithe to the bonds that create between one and another...

Your gestures of care and concern are constantly lightening the burden of incarceration for me and my prison family. Well, I am a few years into my prison sentence now and fully immersed in the culture here...