As most of you know, frequent flyer miles often expire before it is possible to save enough of them for a free airline ticket, seating upgrade, or other costly prize. Supermax Subscriptions asks people with these surplus miles to exchange small quantities of unused miles for magazine subscriptions to supermax prisoners. For as few as 400 miles, you can give the gift of a yearly magazine subscription to a prisoner with little or no reading material.

The first goal of Supermax Subscriptions is to provide every prisoner in Tamms C-MAX supermax prison with at least one magazine subscription. Men in Tamms are in their cells 23-24 hours a day in permanent solitary confinement. The men have been there for years on end—many for ten years. They have no communal activity, no phone calls, no programs, no education, no work, no librarian, and virtually no reading (mostly children’s books). A magazine subscription is one way to give these men your support. Your gift will not be taken for granted.

In conjunction with the Tamms Year Ten campaign, we kicked-off the Supermax Subscriptions project at Mess Hall on the day of the ten-year anniversary of the opening of Tamms supermax prison. We signed letters to each man in Tamms C-MAX, asking them to pick their magazine preferences. Each handwritten signature showed them that someone on the outside knows and cares about their situation. Almost immediately we began receiving replies with the magazine preferences of many of the men. Just as quickly we began filling those requests with donated miles.

This project is a collaborative effort by Tamms Poetry Committee, Sarah Ross, Temporary Services, and you!