As a heads up, this episode contains discussions of sexual abuse/assault, self-harm, and domestic abuse.

Sara Kielly is a trans woman and criminalized survivor serving a 25 years to life sentence at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. From inside, Sara works as a journalist and a jailhouse lawyer, speaking out on prisoners’ rights and advocating for herself and her peers.

In this episode, Sara tells her own story about how the sexual and physical abuse she suffered starting from an early age and later in her intimate relationship ultimately led to the incident for which she was criminalized. Growing up, Sara’s gender expression made her a target. Sara’s story shows how incarceration further compounds the violence that trans people are subjected to and the abuse that survivors suffer prior to incarceration. 

Sara’s clemency application has been sitting on Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk since 2021. Despite support from the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Legal Aid, the Osborne Association, Parole Preparation Project, and Senator Julia Salazar, Sara seeks clemency from the Governor to return to her family— both biological and chosen.

• Read Sara’s reporting on the HALT Solitary Act here.
• Read the essay "Building an Abolitionist Trans and Queer Movement with Everything We've Got" by Morgan Bassichis, Alexander Lee, and Dean Spade
• Read Survived and Punished’s report, “Punished by Design: The Criminalization of Trans & Queer Incarcerated Survivors”

If you enjoy this episode, please like and subscribe. We'll be releasing episodes bi-weekly about survivors in our mass clemency campaign, and we'll have occasional episodes stepping back for history and context from organizers and leaders fighting the criminalization of survival.

Written by Linda Luu and Jade Abdul-Mallik. Produced by Jade Abdul-Mallik. Photo courtesy of Sara Kielly.