Know Your Red Flags.
Know Your Options.
A guide created with the knowledge and lived experience of currently incarcerated survivors to help people inside recognize grooming, boundary violations, and abuse of power.
"For us, by us."
Built from the
Inside Out.
The Red Flag Guide was created through Unapologetically HERS' Participatory Action Research Leadership Program (PARLP), where incarcerated Community Researchers lead research projects grounded in lived experience and community knowledge.
This is not a guide created by outside experts speaking for incarcerated people. It was shaped by people inside who understand how power operates within prisons — because they have lived it.
This guide was developed to help people inside recognize early warning signs, understand how grooming and abuse of power can develop, reflect on what they may be experiencing, and think through possible options and support pathways — on their own terms, at their own pace.
Community-Generated Knowledge
Every section was shaped by incarcerated Community Researchers with lived expertise — not outside observers.
Yours to Use, On Your Terms
Reading this guide is not a commitment to do anything. What you do with this information is always your choice.
Power inside is
different.
Inside prison, abuse of power can be difficult to recognize because staff control nearly everything: movement, housing, discipline, access to programs, communication, safety, and basic resources.
Boundary violations and grooming often develop slowly, feel confusing, become normalized, and involve manipulation, secrecy, coercion, retaliation, or dependency. Many people do not immediately recognize what is happening.
This guide was created to provide information without pressure. Harm is never the fault of the person experiencing it. People deserve information and options — and support without judgment.
Movement & Housing
Staff determine where you go, who you're near, and where you sleep.
Discipline & Records
Write-ups, reports, and case outcomes sit in staff hands.
Communication
Phone calls, mail, and messages are often monitored and controlled.
Safety & Resources
Access to programs, medical care, and basic needs flows through the system.
Harm is never your fault.
You deserve information and options.
You deserve safety and support without judgment.
Leaders. Analysts.
Knowledge Producers.
These Community Researchers brought their lived experience, analysis, care, courage, and leadership into every stage of this process. Their insight shaped this guide from beginning to end. They are not subjects of research — they are its architects.
"Bringing my experience into this work meant naming things that others might not want to see. That takes courage. And it matters."
"This work is about collective safety. What I know — what we know — deserves to be in people's hands."
"People inside deserve to have language for what they're experiencing. This guide gives them that."
"Naming grooming and abuse of power means resisting normalization. That's research. That's leadership."
"This is for us. Made by people who know what it's like. That is what makes it real."
"Our insight, our voices, our analysis. This guide carries all of that — and it belongs to the community."
Created Through
Participatory
Action Research
PARLP Cohort 5 focused on grooming, abuse of power, and boundary violations inside prison — and how people recognize and navigate these dynamics. The process was led by people inside, grounded in collective reflection, and shaped at every stage by lived experience.
When the Plan Had to Pivot
The cohort originally planned to conduct community circles with peers inside prison. But institutional lockdowns, movement restrictions, and operational barriers made that impossible.
So Community Researchers adapted — because that is what leadership under constraint looks like.
Community Researchers Identified the Focus
People inside named grooming, boundary violations, and abuse of power as urgent issues that needed direct, honest documentation.
Reflection Surveys & Peer Activities
Because community circles were blocked by lockdowns, researchers engaged peers through written reflection tools — designed to be honest and accessible.
Collaborative Theme Analysis
Researchers inside and outside prison worked together to identify recurring themes, analyze patterns, and synthesize what participants shared.
Community Validation & Language Refinement
Multiple rounds of review ensured the guide's language reflected lived experience — not outsider interpretation.
Advisory Review & Final Shaping
Advisory partners with lived expertise reviewed drafts, grounding the work in the realities people inside actually navigate.
Design, Distribution & Return
The final guide — printable, portable, shareable — was built to go back inside. Community knowledge returning to community.
Practical. Grounded.
Yours to Use.
You Are Not Alone
Your Choices Matter
Common Red Flags
What This Can Look Like
How Grooming Can Develop
Serious Violations
Reflecting on What You're Experiencing
What You Can Do
Reporting Options
Finding Trusted Support
Support & Resources
Foldable Zine — printable, portable, designed to be passed along
"Survival is not weakness. Silence is not agreement."
Download the Full Guide →Download it.
Print it. Share it.
The Red Flag Guide is available as a PDF you can download, print, and share. The foldable zine version prints on one sheet and is designed to move — from hand to hand, facility to facility.
Download the Guide (PDF)Print-ready. Foldable zine format. Designed to share.
Physical Copies
Reach People
Digital Can't.
Many people inside have limited or inconsistent digital access. A physical copy — handed over during a legal visit, mailed in, distributed by an advocate — can reach someone when a screen cannot.
Unapologetically HERS is seeking movement partners, legal advocates, survivor support organizations, and community supporters to help get physical copies of the Red Flag Guide into the hands of incarcerated survivors.
This guide was created to circulate among people inside and support collective awareness, safety, and reflection. Getting it inside is part of the work.
Print Booklet CopiesThe foldable zine prints on one sheet. Print and share freely.
Mail Copies InsidePhysical mail is one of the most reliable pathways in. Advocates can mail directly to facilities.
Distribute During Legal VisitsAttorneys and legal advocates can bring printed copies into facilities.
Connect as a Movement PartnerHelp us reach organizations working inside prisons and detention facilities.
Support Printing
& Distribution
Your support helps get professionally printed booklets into the hands of incarcerated survivors — directly, through legal channels, and through trusted advocates.
- Professional booklet printing
- Mailing costs to incarcerated people
- Distribution inside prisons and detention facilities
- Getting physical copies into trusted hands
- Supporting broader dissemination
Community-funded. Community-distributed. Community-led.
This work belongs
to the community.
This project was made possible through the leadership of incarcerated Community Researchers, the guidance of advisory partners, and the support of organizations committed to survivor-centered, community-led work.
Advisory Partners
- Tina Marie SilvaCA Coalition for Women Prisoners
- Kendra DrysdaleCA Coalition for Women Prisoners & Be Free Foundation
- For reviewing drafts, grounding the work in lived expertise, and helping ensure the guide remained aligned with the realities people inside navigate.
Funding Partners
- Race, Gender & Human Rights Fund
- Circle for Justice Innovation (CJI)
- People's Life Fund
- Their support helped make this collaborative process — research, design, and dissemination — possible.
Deep gratitude to every person who contributed their reflection, their time, their trust, and their knowledge to this work.
You are not alone.
You are not to blame.
And you deserve to be safe.
Created by Unapologetically HERS with the knowledge and lived experience of currently incarcerated survivors.
This guide belongs to you.
For Us, By Us. · Unapologetically HERS
