Beyond These Walls: Reimagining Justice for LGBTQ+ Impacted By Incarceration
By Biff Chaplow
My path to leading an organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ people impacted by incarceration began almost by accident.
More than a decade ago, I volunteered to send holiday cards to LGBTQ+ people in prison. At the time, I expected a simple volunteer opportunity.
Instead, I found myself building relationships with people whose stories challenged everything I thought I knew about incarceration, justice, and community. Those letters turned into friendships, and those friendships transformed my understanding of the world.
A few years later, I helped co-found Beyond These Walls, an organization dedicated to supporting LGBTQIA2S+ people impacted by incarceration. Since our founding, I have remained deeply involved in the organization and its growth, and today I continue to serve in a leadership role because I believe wholeheartedly in the work we do and the community we serve.
Those Most Impacted Should Lead
One of the core values that guides Beyond These Walls is our belief that currently and formerly incarcerated LGBTQIA2S+ people should be leading this work. Too often, decisions about our communities are made by people who have never experienced the systems they seek to change.
We take a different approach. Our staff, board, and leadership are deeply connected to the communities we serve because many of us have lived these experiences ourselves.. We know the people closest to a problem are often closest to the solution, and we have seen what is possible when they are trusted to lead.
Punishment Doesn’t Create Safety
Over the years, I have learned that criminal justice is far more complicated than most of us want it to be. I have met people who have caused serious harm and who have also demonstrated profound accountability, growth, and healing.
I have come to believe that our safety depends on having systems of accountability that actually work.
For that to happen, we have to care for all members of our community, including those who have caused harm. Not because everyone is simply better than their worst decision, although I believe that is true, but because we are all safer when people who have caused harm are equipped with the tools, support, and opportunities they need to make different choices.
Punishment does not create safety. Healing, accountability, connection, and stability do.
Building Beyond the Prison System
That perspective informs what I often describe as our pragmatic approach to abolition. Beyond These Walls recognizes the immense harm caused by prisons and the criminal legal system, particularly for LGBTQIA2S+ people.
At the same time, we know that people are living inside these systems right now and cannot wait for a future solution. We constantly weigh our values against our ability to help people in real time.
That means providing housing, reentry support, advocacy, community, and practical resources today while continuing to work toward a future that relies less on incarceration and more on genuine accountability and healing.
I believe that roughly ninety percent of the people currently incarcerated do not need to be in prison. Their incarceration does not serve them, their families, or our communities.
But abolition is not about eliminating systems of justice or accountability. It is about replacing ineffective and harmful systems with approaches that actually work. It is about creating pathways for healing, accountability, restoration, and safety that honor the humanity of everyone involved.
Meeting Needs, Building Power
At Beyond These Walls, we also strive to remain flexible because the LGBTQIA2S+ community impacted by incarceration is incredibly diverse. Our community includes transgender women, queer people of color, disabled people, rural LGBTQ+ people, survivors of violence, people living with addiction, and many others whose experiences do not fit neatly into a single framework.
We know that no one program can meet every need, so we listen carefully, adapt often, and allow our community to shape our work.
We have helped people access housing, healthcare, legal support, community, and reentry services. We have organized Pride celebrations inside prisons, created leadership opportunities for incarcerated people, and advocated for policy changes that improve conditions for LGBTQIA2S+ people behind bars.
When I think about the accomplishments I am most proud of, I immediately think about the people and communities that have been built along the way. Over the years, Beyond These Walls has grown from a small volunteer effort into an organization serving hundreds of LGBTQIA2S+ people impacted by incarceration across Oregon.
What Community Makes Possible
When I think about the accomplishments I am most proud of, I immediately think about the people and communities that have been built along the way. Over the years, Beyond These Walls has grown from a small volunteer effort into an organization serving hundreds of LGBTQIA2S+ people impacted by incarceration across Oregon.
One of our proudest achievements was opening the first transitional housing program in Multnomah County specifically for LGBTQIA2S+ people leaving prison. Housing is one of the most significant barriers our community faces, and creating a place where people can land safely after incarceration has changed lives.
Some of the most meaningful wins are the individual stories.
I think of a transgender woman who spent nearly two decades incarcerated and later came through our programs after her release.. With support and community, she was able to rebuild her life and eventually step into a leadership role where she now helps support others navigating the same challenges.
Stories like hers remind me that people are capable of extraordinary growth when they are met with dignity, opportunity, and belief.
Building the Future We Deserve
When I think about our dreams for the future, I think about a world where LGBTQIA2S+ people have access to housing, healthcare, community, and economic opportunity without first having to survive incarceration.
I want to see systems that prioritize healing, accountability, and prevention rather than punishment and isolation. I want to see communities equipped to address harm in ways that make everyone safer and more connected.
Until that world exists, Beyond These Walls will continue building toward it. We will continue investing in the leadership of currently and formerly incarcerated LGBTQIA2S+ people, creating opportunities for connection and stability, and advocating for systems that recognize the humanity and potential of every person.
That vision is what motivates me, what motivates Beyond These Walls, and what keeps us building toward a future where LGBTQIA2S+ people impacted by incarceration have the opportunity not just to survive, but to thrive.
Biff Chaplow is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Beyond These Walls. He is a parent, artist, and activist specializing in economic justice and incarceration, and was named one of GLAPN’s Queer Heroes in 2023.
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