Anyone relying on mainstream media wouldn’t know it, but the US prison system is shaking up right now.

No one knows how big the initial strike was yet, but the information is slowly leaking out between the cracks in the prisons’ machinery of obscurity and isolation. Here are some speculative numbers we can share with confidence at this time:

At least 29 prisons were affected. These are places where either prisoners reported to outside supporters, or where the authorities locked the institutions down probably because of protests. We expect this number to rise dramatically as we gather reports from prisoners and keep calling prisons in the coming days and weeks.

More than 24,000 prisoners missed work. The facilities experiencing full shutdowns that we know about hold approximately 24,000 prisoners. There are probably thousands more who didn’t work that we don’t know about, yet. Many are still are not working today and intend to continue the strike until their demands are satisfied or the prisons break under the economic strain of operating without their slaves.

You can get up to date info and help IWOC research and improve their data by visiting this document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kyq-sEN5RRjWd9xDYp8Tq0U2zwquqTYHkGptnL-ZNbw/edit?usp=sharing

Meanwhile, more than 60 cities across the US and around the world lit up in solidarity with the prisoners. You can read and see pictures from some of the most exciting stories of protests on either side of the walls here: https://itsgoingdown.org/prisonstrike-resistance-to-slavery-across-the-world/

A group of people cannot hurt the American empire as much as this protest is without facing retaliation. There were about a dozen arrests across the US, and hundreds or thousands of punitive transfers inside the prisons. IWOC inreach is maintaining a list of perceived leaders who have been targeted and isolated for Sep 9 organizing. Please check out this list, write to these prisoners and let us know if there’s anyone missing: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AvLraNisdAp1N0enIg9keE_k9rvH7J9DZ3LKNr9pwcc/edit?usp=sharing

IWOC has also created a phone zap system to help people keep constant pressure on prison officials and deter them from harming the organizers. https://goo.gl/forms/v3kTjt00s6ybO2Of1

On the outside, most of the arrests were minor citations, but three protesters in Atlanta are facing serious felony charges. You can contribute to their legal fund here: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/bail-out-prison-strike-supporters