Catacomb's goal is twofold—to broadcast the writings & artwork of incarcerated people to the public and to disseminate literature & art within the country's carceral facilities.  ​

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As the United States wages war in its own streets and drops bombs on others across the globe, we cannot help but speculate about our collective future. We hope that it is a future of care and community, one in which every one of us is free. But as we strive toward these brighter horizons, we must not forget those who have been relegated to the margins. As you read this, there are nearly 2 million people living out their days in American prisons, jails, and detention centers. These individuals—citizens, parents, partners, siblings, children, friends—are co-heirs to our collective future. The cry for liberation must include the voices of those warehoused in our country's carceral facilities, those whose lived reality is the brutality of the criminal injustice system. ​​

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A catacomb is an underground tunnel network used for the burial of the dead. The 6,000+ carceral facilities in the U.S. compose their own such system; within their walls exists a permanent underclass—a walking dead of sorts whose bodies we bleed and exploit. We eat food, wear clothes, and drive cars produced by their forced labor. We quite literally walk the roads built by their hands. 

 

And yet, there is power in this image. In a root system outstretched, connecting our invisibilized communities together in a model of mutual care. Catacomb Press is one branch in this underground network, a grassroots organization that believes liberation will not be handed down from above but must be seized from below.