Author Archives: Editor

Detailed Update from Imam Siddique Abdullah Hasan and Other Hunger Strikers.

From Lucasville Amnesty

They have given me thirty (30) days restrictions. It was a deliberate plan to cut off my direct communications with the outside world prior to the national event/action, notwithstanding their own policy only permits them to suspend my privileges for a period of up to two hundred eighty-eight hours (See paragraph (C) of rule 5120:1-10-12 of the Administrative Code or disciplinary isolation.) This restriction policy became effective 2/16/2016.
I agree that prison officials are “so used to being invisible and hiding its corruption and abuses from the public”; however, we must reveal what happened in my recent situation. Thus continue to work with the media and attorneys to expose the problems in my case. (I plan on filing my appeal to the Warden on Monday.)
There are three of us–Keith Dewitt Jr., David Martin and myself–still on hunger strike. We are all Muslims and are dissatisfied with the contract Imam’s work performance, treatment of Muslims, and using his position to remove Muslims from their services merely because they disagree with some of his teachings. The others that were on the hunger strike were showing their solidarity about me being wrongfully put in the hole. They were demanding that I be released from isolation. When that materialized, they ended their strike.
Hereunder are some of the problems in my case: Continue reading →

September 9 Announcement in Portugese

From Mulheres abolicionistas

Pessoas, está rolando um chamado geral para diversas ações de resistência nas prisões dos EUA. Traduzimos o documento abaixo (junto com o amigo Fernando Henrique) e estamos divulgando. Leiam. O texto é uma preciosidade.

***

>> Este é um chamado à ação contra a escravidão na América <<

Em uma só voz, que se ergue das celas de confinamento solitário de longa duração e ecoa pelos dormitórios e pavilhões da Virginia ao Oregon, nós, presos dos Estados Unidos, decidimos, finalmente, acabar com a escravidão em 2016.

Em 09 de setembro de 1971, presos tomaram e fecharam Attica, a prisão mais conhecida do estado de Nova York. Em 09 de setembro de 2016, nós vamos iniciar uma ação para fechar as prisões de todo o país. Não vamos apenas exigir o fim da escravidão carcerária, vamos acabar com ela deixando de ser escravos.

Nos anos 1970, o sistema prisional americano desmoronava. Em Walpole, San Quentin, Soledad, Angola e muitas outras prisões, as pessoas se levantaram, lutaram e retomaram, das colônias agrícolas, o controle sobre suas vidas e seus corpos.

Durante os últimos seis anos, nós relembramos e renovamos aquela luta. Neste ínterim, a população carcerária inchou e as tecnologias de controle e confinamento se desenvolveram como as mais sofisticadas e repressivas da história mundial. As prisões, para se manterem estáveis, tornaram-se mais dependentes da escravidão e da tortura. Continue reading →

Hasan Update: Retaliation Against Prisoner Leader Inspires Hunger Strike

hasan prayerFrom LucasvilleAmnesty.org

Youngstown, OH- On Thursday August 18, 2016 the Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) Rules Infraction Board (RIB) restricted Imam Siddique Hasan, of the Free Ohio Movement, from phone and email kiosk access. In response, Hasan and other Muslim prisoners have begun a hunger strike.

The RIB found Hasan guilty of violating Rule 59 of the OAC (Ohio Administrative Code) Section 5120-9-06 Inmate Rules of Conduct, which reads, (59) Any act not otherwise set forth herein, knowingly done which constitutes a threat to the security of the institution, its staff, other inmates, or to the acting inmate. (http://codes.ohio.gov/oac/5120-9-06 )

According to the RIB conduct report, S. Ishmael, a freelance Imam who leads prayers and religious study classes at OSP and nearby Trumbul Correctional, accused Siddique Hasan of making threats against the institution. On August 1, 2016, Ishmael told OSP staff that Hasan had asked him to wear a suicide vest in to the institution. This conversation was supposed to have taken place during religious study on July 22. Hasan and other Muslims attending the class deny Imam Ishmael’s allegation.

“The staff Imam’s story is an absurd and offensive stereotype.” OSP prisoner David Martin told supporters over the phone. “If Hasan was supposed to have made this threat on July 22, why did it take nine days before the man told staff about it? What was he doing for those nine days?”

Continue reading →

New Orleans: September 9th Prison Strike Banner Drop

From It’s Going Down

As residents of New Orleans, the incarceration capitol of Louisiana, and Louisiana, the incarceration capitol of so-called Amerikkka, we greatly look forward to seeing prisons across the country go on strike on September 9th. For those trapped within Orleans Parish Prison, we dropped some banners to lift y’all’s spirits; to those who drove by on their morning commute, it’s time to start acting out. This is also to let OPP’s head-pig-in-charge, Sheriff Gusman, know that this city is sick of taking his shit.

BURN DOWN THE AMERICAN PLANTATION!

LET THE CROPS ROT IN THE FIELDS!banner-1

Being Safe When Taking Action, Words from the NLG

[Remember that the temperaments of different cities in regards to criminal law and legal matters varies, and it is important to have knowledge for your specific area, or the specific area where you are acting. Much of the material that follows is New York or Ohio Specific, and none of this is legal advice; and also remember never talk to the police.]

Here are all the more or less current Know Your Rights (KYR) things I can
think of, attached or as links.

The way I have always done legal support for protesters is to educate
people using these, and at the same time, either be or find a lawyer who is
not only licensed in the state, but actually familiar with the local
courts. It is crucial to actually find someone who is qualified (like,
don’t get a housing attorney to advise you on criminal defense matters) and
politically on board (someone who actually knows and cares about the nexus
of expressive rights and criminal defense).
Continue reading →

Private Prisons: Just Bit Players in Mass Incarceration

[Rather than sharing articles like this one about private prisons, we are re-printing this article from 2015. Do not get pacified by tiny changes.]

A prison guard on duty outside as President Barack Obama tours the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Okla., July 16, 2015. (Doug Mills / The New York Times)

Social justice activists love to hate private prisons. The loathing is easy to justify. Making profit by locking people up and keeping them there is repulsive. Moreover, major private prison operators like the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group have a history of tragedy and ruthless behavior. From the early days of CCA when cofounder Tom Beasley described marketing prisons as “just like … selling cars, or real estate, or hamburgers” to more recent revelations of locking up preschoolers, private prisons have plumbed the depths of immorality. And they have thrown money at the project, spending millions on lobbying for harsher sentencing laws to secure their bottom lines, even bribing judges to incarcerate juveniles. Continue reading →

Indiana: Two Rebellions in One Week in County Jails

From Where the River Frowns

Inmates in Indiana’s jails have been tearing it up this month, with two rebellions in a week.

The first riot occurred on August 1st in Vanderburgh County Jail in Evansville where, according to the mainstream media, inmates refused to be handcuffed, flooded their jail cell, put soap on the floor to trip the guards when they entered and used bed bunks and mattresses as barricades and shields.

The second occurred in Henry County Jail on August 3rd and 4th where inmates set fire to mattresses and jail uniforms on two subsequent nights. The first fire was set by male inmates and the second, the next night, by female inmates. According to their captors, prisoners were attempting to deactivate the locks on their jail cell.

As usual, the mainstream media made no effort whatsoever to interview the inmates involved in the disturbances or to capture the potential reasons behind their rebellion. For now, we are unfortunately left wondering what may have caused these individuals to choose to fight back against their captors instead of keeping their heads down.
Continue reading →

IWW General Defense Committee Bail Fund

The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee of the Industrial Workers of the World has been working with prisoners and groups from across the United States organizing a Nationally Coordinated Prisoner Workstoppage for September 9, 2016. In anticipation of state reprisals against our members on the inside and outside, the IWW General Defense Committee is expanding it bail fund to assist those fighting to end prisoner slavery.

Please donate and share this page!!!

IWOC National Prison Strike September 2016 event page.

Announcement of Nationally Coordinated Prisoner Workstoppage for Sept 9, 2016.

again, donate to the bail fund here.

Message from Keith ‘Malik’ Washington Spokesperson for End Prison Slavery in Texas

[The following is an open letter from a comrade associated with End Prison Slavery in Texas addressed to IWOC; all typos, etc, remain as in the original letter.]

Revolutionary Greetings Comrades!

I hope all of you are doing well.Today is August 8th, 2016 – yesterday I was notified by a friend that the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles DENIED my release on Parole for the 5th time!

My Good Time, Work Time, and Flat Time calculations equal to 100% of my current 20 year sentence – yet here I remain.

And this is one of the key issues we are challenging in Texas – I am a Text – Book example which exposes the Flaws in a system which continues to enslave the poorest cross-section of Amerikan society.

I would like to thank the IWW – IWOC for referring Free-Lance Journalist John Washington to me. Hopefully we will see a detailed essay in The Nation Magazine which highlights our strength to abolish Prison Slavery.

The Grassroots organizing for the September 9th action is going well. Texas Prisoners are not just suffering from physical enslavement. Many are psychologically enslaved. This makes my job and Rashid’s job of awakening the lumpen difficult but not impossible. Continue reading →