Our Approach

Honoring the humanity of those impacted by incarceration

Viewing incarcerated people as multifaceted human beings is at the core of our work. For that reason, we avoid language like “inmate” and “offender” in our memorials and instead use person-first language. Because incarcerated people are so often reduced to their crimes of conviction, we never mention crimes in our memorials, to avoid creating divisions and justifying the inequities experienced by people incarcerated. 

While we refuse to dehumanize incarcerated individuals the way the prison system does every day, we are deliberate in exposing the conditions they endured behind bars, which often led to their deaths. Our memorials embrace advocacy and movement-building, through telling stories that mourn and celebrate their lives.

Centering those directly impacted

In our work, we follow the lead of our members directly impacted by incarceration: people who are currently or formerly incarcerated or whose loved ones have experienced incarceration. We carry out that commitment through ensuring that many of our core organizers are directly impacted, and through working with an Advisory Council of people currently incarcerated or who have lost loved ones behind bars during the pandemic. Advisory Council members live in California, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, and Virginia, and provide feedback to the core organizers on a monthly basis.

We strive to let people inside know that we hear them, that we care, and that we grieve the loss of those who have died. We encourage everyone who has lost a friend, colleague, or family member to submit a memorial.

Regarding language

MOL Statement on Social Media Comments 

Mourning Our Losses views EVERY life as valuable, and our memorials represent those  we have lost as full humans who are loved and grieved in their absence. As such, we  are subject to criticism and commentary on our public facing communication from  people who have strong opinions about our work. Sometimes this commentary is simple  “hate mail” from persons who simply disagree with our mission. Other times  commentary comes from people who are in some way directly impacted by the person  memorialized on our site. We believe that it is important to acknowledge that harm while  simultaneously remaining true to our mission to honor those who have died while living  or working in prisons. In the case of messaging left on our social media that takes away  from that mission, we agree that simply deleting the comments is the best action. With  respect, these memorials are not about anyone’s crimes. Our memorials are about  seeing people as human beings who are loved and grieved. We understand that some  of the people we memorialize have caused harm in their lives and we empathize with  those affected by that harm. That empathy does not negate our belief in the innate  value of human life and that all lives lost are worthy of grieving. 

MOL’s Spring 2021 Report

To learn more about our work, please read our Spring 2021 report, which describes our activities and milestones in memorializing lives lost over the past year. The report includes quotes from inside volunteers, outside volunteers, and loved ones about this project, as well as descriptions of the conditions that our incarcerated members continue to face today.