Valentine’s Day: some people love the romance, others decry it as an obligatory expression of love or lament the misery of being single on a day devoted to coupledom. If being single on February 14 seems unbearable, imagine if you were not just alone but locked away from everything — your family, your friends, the outside world.

This Valentine's Day, tell a prisoner: "I choo-choo-choose you!"

Such is the plight of our nation’s political prisoners. Some, like Leonard Peltier, have spent decades behind bars. Others, like the NATO 5 are victims of a new wave of political repression. To bring comfort to these victims of the system, Anonymous, occupiers, Anarchist Black Cross groups and other activists have come together to create Operation Valentine (#OpValentine):

Where will we be on Valentine’s day? With whom? One thing is certain, most of us will have the freedom to tell whom we care ‘I love you’ and shower them with hugs. Separated from their friends, their family, all of their love ones, many of our brothers and sisters will be deprived of this most basic human right. They have sacrificed their freedom to expose corruption and human rights violations. And as would say Che: ‘At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love.’

It’s easy to participate in #OpValentine. Just pick a prisoner (or more than one), write or make a note or postcard, and send it in the mail. Valentine’s Day is less than a week away as of this writing and our postal service is being gutted, but I guarantee you’ll brighten someone’s dreary day no matter when you send your mail.

When you’re writing to a political prisoner, it’s best to share your love and daily life. These are regular people who need our support, not heroes to worship. It’s also important not to discuss a case with pre-trial prisoners or to write anything you wouldn’t want read by police, the government, or the media. The New York Anarchist Black Cross has a great guide to writing political prisoners:

For the first letter, it’s best to offer an introduction, how you heard about the prisoner, a little about yourself. Tell stories, write about anything you are passionate about–movement work and community work are great topics until you have a sense of the prisoner’s interests outside of political organizing.

And what we hear from prisoners time and time again is to include detail. Prison is so total that the details of life on the outside become distant memories. Smells, textures, sounds of the street all get grayed out behind bars. That’s not to say that you should pen a stream-of-consciousness novel.

Remember, even the simplest of notes is a potentially life- or sanity-saving connection to the outside world.

I’m going to include the complete #OpValentine document below, but an updated list can be found in this pastebin.

[Editor's Note: See the comments for more political prisoners who need our love. -MyFDL Editor]

#OpValentine

Where will we be on Valentine’s day? With whom? One thing is certain, most of us will have the freedom to tell whom we care “I love you” and shower them with hugs. Separated from their friends, their family, all of their love ones, many of our brothers and sisters will be deprived of this most basic human right. They have sacrificed their freedom to expose corruption and human rights violations. And as would say Che: “At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love.” So, Valentine day is a most appropriate occasion to share in their spirit and remind them, that their isolation is only physical. They are not alone, not forgotten and we stand with them and care. So lets our Valentine day cards show that we are indeed Legion, that we do do forget and that our gratitude and solidarity can be expected.

Mail List:

Higinio Ochoa III (Anonw0rmer)

Inmate number: 72022279

USP ATLANTA, GA 30315

U.S. PENITENTIARY P.O. BOX 150160

The PayPal 14 are a group of individuals accused of participating in a DDoS attack on paypal. They are currently awaiting trial and face up to 15 years in prison. While awaiting trial they have to adhear to certain bail release conditions. One of those conditions is no contact with anons (lol whats an anon?) so its imperative that when you send letters or valentines you make sure not to mention anonymous or anything that might be associated with anonymous (what ever anonymous is lol)

Vincent Kershaw

C/O Omar Figueroa

7770 Healdsburg Ave

Suite A

Sebastopol,CA 95472

Ethan Miles-

c/o Graham Archer

95 S. Market Street

Suite 300

San Jose, Ca 95113

Christopher Vo-

C/O Gregory Bentley

506 Broadway

San Francisco, CA 94133

Drew Phillips-

C/o George Boisseau

740 4th street, Second Floor

Santa Rosa, CA 95404

James Murphy

C/O Robert Carey Jr

P.O. Box 1040

Palo Alto, CA 94302-1040

Mercedes Haefer

C/O Stanley Cohen

119 Avenue D, Fifth Floor

New York, NY 10009

Keith Downcy

C/o John Hamasaki

1112 Bryant Street, 3rd Floor

San Francisco CA 94103

Dennis Collins

C/O Peter Leeming

108 Locust Suite 7

Santa Cruz, CA 95062

Jeffrey Puglisi

C/O Jogn Lueck

8034 Haven Ave Ste.A

Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730

Daniel Sullivan

C/O Michelle Dee Spencer

55 River Street, Suite 100

Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Tracy Valenzuela

C/O James Thompson

PO Box 636

Los Gatos, CA 95031

Donal Husband

C/O EAan Vizzi

506 Broadway

San Francisco CA 94133

Christopher Cooper

C/O Michael Whelan Jr.

703 Market Street #913

San Francisco CA 94103

Josh Covelli

C/O Shira Kieval, Esq.

600 University Av

Palo Alto CA 94301

Jeremy Hammond, charged with hacking Strafor is currently in a NY jail awaiting trial

- #18729-424 Metropolitan Correctional Center

150 Park Row

New York, New York 10007

Barrett Brown, charged with linking to a public download of the Stratfor leak is currently in a texas jail awaiting trial- #45047177

Mansfield Law Enforcement Center

1601 Heritage Parkway

Mansfield TX, 7606

The Nato5 http://nato5support.wordpress.com/contact Charged with terrorism before the NATO protests in Chicago, after being infiltrated by undercover police officers.

Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, aka (anakata) The Pirate Bay (TPB) founder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfrid_Svartholm

Prison address: Gottfrid Svartholm Warg

Box 105

647 23 Mariefred

SWEDEN”

Bradley Manning, charged with leaking 100s of thousands of diplomatic cables to Wikileaks – http://www.bradleymanning.org/learn-more/write-to-bradley-manning

Phillip Ruiz #V91301

CIM P.O. Box 128

Chino Ca 91708

Douglas Wright, an occupy cleveland activist charged with terrorism related charges steaming from a undercover FBI setup. is currently serving a 11 year 6 month prison sentence

57973-060

United States Penitentiary Hazelton

P.O. Box 2000

Bruceton Mills, WV 26525

Connor Stevens, an occupy cleveland activist charged with terrorism related charges steaming from a undercover FBI setup. is currently serving an 8 year 1 month prison sentence

57978-060

FCI McKean

PO Box 8000

Bradford, PA 16701

Brandon Baxter, an occupy cleveland activist charged with terrorism related charges steaming from a undercover FBI setup. is currently serving a 9 year 9 month prison sentence

57972-060

USP Canaan

U.S. Penitentiary

P.O. Box 300

Waymart, PA 18472

Stafford, Joshua, an occupy cleveland activist charged with terrorism related charges steaming from a undercover FBI setup. is currently awaiting trial in a Ohio prison

#57976-060

2240 Hubbard Road

Youngstown, OH 44505

MUMIA ABU-JAMAL, currently serving a life sentence for the murder of a police officer even though witness saw someone else do it.

AM-8335

SCI-Mahanoy

301 Morea Rd.

Frackville, PA. 17932

LEONARD PELTIER, currently serving two life sentences after being wrongfully convicted of murdering two fbi agents

#89637-132

USP COLEMAN I

U.S. PENITENTIARY

P.O. BOX 1033

COLEMAN, FL 33521

George Martorano-serving LIFE without parole for Marijuana; has been incarcerated for 29+ years!

inmate number 12973-004

FCI COLEMAN MEDIUM

FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION

P.O. BOX 1032

COLEMAN, FL 33521

Hugo Pinell- longest serving prisoner in solitary confinment in USA; 42+ years

Hugo L.A. Pinell

A88401 SHU D3-221

P.O. Box 7500

Crescent City, CA 95531-7500

Lynne Stewart, 72, noted activist and “people’s lawyer,” is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence at Carswell Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. She was convicted in 2005 of distributing press releases for a jailed client, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. Originally sentenced to 28 months in prison, a federal court judge upped her time to a 10-year term. Stewart, who has been treated for breast cancer, entered prison in November, 2009. Her attorneys appealed her sentence in federal appeals court in February; she and her supporters are awaiting a decision.

Lynne Stewart #53504-054

Federal Medical Center, Carswell

PO Box 27137

Ft. Worth, TX 76127

SEATTLE GRANDJURY RESISTANCE PRISONERS- more info http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/content/information-visiting-or-sending-mail-grand-jury-resistance-prisoners

Matthew Pfeiffer-#42421-086

FDC SeaTac

P.O. Box 13900

Seattle, WA 98198

Matthew Kyle Duran #42565-086

FDC SeaTac

P.O. Box 13900

Seattle, WA 98198

Katherine Olejnik- #42592-086

FDC SeaTac,

P.O. Box 13900

Seattle, WA 98198

TINLEY PARK 5 – http://tinleyparkfive.wordpress.com/

Saturday May 19, 2012 five men were arrested in Tinley Park, a Chicago Suburb, for allegedly assaulting a number of white-supremacist organizers. One of the alleged “victims” was arrested on warrants for child pornography and another was arrested for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

All 5 have accepted a non-cooperating plea bargain and are being transferred to other facilities to serve their sentences, ranging from 3.5 to 6 years each. As we receive their new mailing info, we will add it here.

Cody Sutherlin M34021

13423 E 1150th Ave

Robinson, IL 62454

Jason W. Sutherlin M34023

100 Hillcrest Rd

East Moline, IL 61244

Askia Sabur #11-4752 (more info http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Are-Askia/158208450871969?sk=info)

60 Eagleville Rd.

Norristown, PA 19403

Imprisoned Members of the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (Greece):

http://pastebin.com/HyryFJjB

Social Movement Prisoners: http://bit.ly/UWCf98

Politicized .. : http://bit.ly/UWCf9b

Other .. : http://bit.ly/UWCf9d

http://actforfree.nostate.net/

There is an excellent pdf flyer produced by Brighton ABC on writing to prisoners (http://bristolabc.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/writing-to-prisoners.pdf as well as a new Leeds ABC pamphlet pdf released in 2012 on writing to prisoners (http://leedsabc.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/writing-to-prisoners-2012.pdf) They are similar but both well worth reading.

Vintage valentine photographed by Karen Horton, released under a Creative Commons license.