Suggestions for Letters to Detainees

Detainees appreciate letters as welcome signs that people in America know they are there and that they care about them. You should feel free to write whatever you wish. This outline contains a few suggestions to help you get started; it is not meant to limit you or to provide a formula.

The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights protects your right to speak your mind in your letter. Writing to a Guantánamo detainee is completely legal. However, you should be aware that all letters to Guantánamo detainees are censored, and some are completely rejected and returned to their sender. Therefore, you may want to consider carefully what you say. Furthermore, most of the remaining detainees are not native English speakers, and some know very few English words, so you should keep your language simple.

Introduce yourself (for example, give your name, gender, citizenship, where you live, occupation if any, family)

Let him know that you found out about him and that you are concerned for him.

Feel free to expand. For example:

• Tell him that you are part of a group of Americans who are working to help secure the rights of detainees by telling their stories to people in their communities
• Describe your commitment to justice, freedom, and human rights and relate it to Guantánamo in general or the detainee’s experience before or during his detention
• Make a connection between his life and yours or your family’s (ancestors’?) experiences with oppression, immigration to the U.S., etc.
• Convey your wishes for the detainee and explain how you would like to help him, if possible.

Invite him to write to you and tell you about himself and how he is doing.

See also Communicate with a Detainee, for sample group letter and group card.