From It’s Going Down
Love and solidarity from Denver! FIRE TO THE PRISONS!
– some anarchists
Author Archives: Editor
Central Florida: Solidarity with Prison Strikers, September 10
On September 10 movement supporters will gather outside of Federal Correctional Complex Coleman (846 NE 54th Terrace, Wildwood, Florida) from 10 am to 12 pm to stand in solidarity with prison strikers across the nation.
Get to the event page here.
Bring signs, banners and drums to let the Bureau of Prisons know we are watching.
Several cities around FL are planning local events in and around their communities on Sept 9, then coming out for this on Sept 10.
One suggestion is a Friday demo at your closest jail or prisons, perhaps coupled with a potluck, letter-writing session and/or film showing about prisons, Attica, etc.
Check back on this page for further details and updates on the event.
Background:
Sept 9th is the 45th anniversary of the Attica Uprising in New York, where national attention was drawn to the problem of prisons in this country. This year there will public demonstrations in support of prisoners who have a called for a coordinated national work strike in response to extreme abuses they face, including toxic environments, discrimination and literal slavery based on the 13th Amendment which wrote prison slave labor into the U.S. Constitution. Continue reading
Atlanta: Noise Demo in Solidarity With Prison Rebels, August 10
From It’s Going Down
Prisoners all over the country are gearing up for a strike in September. Let’s show solidarity with them, and let inmates know that we stand with them when they resist!
Noise Demo Wed. Aug 10th
Meet 8pm @ Woodruff Park
March to Atlanta City Jail
Bring Drums, Noise, Lights!
Wisconsin Prison ‘Dying to Live’ Hunger Strikers Continue Quest to End Prolonged Solitary Confinement – LaRon McKinley Bey
From Arawak City Anarchist Black Cross, by Laron McKinley Bey, #42642
In a nation that would not tolerate shutting in zoo animals 23-24 hours per day the State of Wisconsin has no compunction confining prisoners to indefinite isolative Administrative Confinement (AC) alone in a parking-space size cell for 164 of the 168 hour week. Such prolongued social, environmental, and occupational isolation and lack of stimulation is well known to pose a substantial risk of harm to mental and physical health.
Norman Uhuru Green and I, 2 of the longest standing Wisconsin prisoners held in this type of endless isolation at 18 years, and nearly 28 years respectively, together with Cesar DeLeon, form the 3 remaining original ‘Dying to Live’ movement hunger strikers who continue to refuse to eat or drink in hopes of forcing an end to the state’s practice of indeterminate seclusion.
On June 7, 2016, a group of 10 Wisconsin prisoners in solitary confinement at the Waupun and Columbia correctional institutions began refusing nourishment to expose the inhumane conditions of their confinement, and to facilitate dignified treatment of all humans. Within a few weeks the Department of Corrections had obtained court orders to force-feed Uhuru, DeLeon, and I 3 times daily which entails being placed in full restraints, and then strapped into a ‘restraint chair’ and having a nasal-gastro tube inserted in one nostril to the stomach where a liquid mixture of nutrition is funneled. Besides violating the sanctity of our bodies, this procedure is an invalid state response to a dignified struggle and it can cause significant internal injury.
It’s Time We Recognize Black Lives Matter Behind Bars, Too
From Ebony.com, by J. Soffiyah Elijah
Similar to police officers on the streets, violence between guards in jails and prisons is a crucial problem that has gone from brutality to outright homicide. As is the case with police violence, African Americans and other people of color are disproportionately the victims of abuse at the hands of prison and jail officials.
Last week, the shocking video footage of Darius Robinson’s April 4, 2016 death while in police custody was released. The 41-year-old father of seven was being held on charges of failure to pay child support when he apparently experienced a mental meltdown. He reportedly tore up paper and walked about his cell waving a blanket. In the video, Robinson can be seen sitting on a bench, two guards in front of him. Robinson appeared to lean or step forward when one of the guards, Allen Smith, struggled with Robinson and the other guard, Vicki Richardson, sprayed Robinson with pepper spray. Both men fell to the ground and struggled when Smith choked Robinson until he was all but motionless.
Warning: The below video contains graphic content which some may find disturbing.
ALERT! Call in to defend Hasan now!
Siddique Abdullah Hasan, of the Free Ohio Movement has been transferred to the hole and denied access to communication and property.
Please call OSP immediately and daily 330-743-0700 until they release him.
Ask to speak to the warden and demand that Hasan be allowed back into his regular cell and regain access to his property. The person they connect you to may pretend they only know Hasan by the name Carlos Sanders, even though his name was legally changed to Siddique Abdullah Hasan decades ago. His prison number is R130-559.
Hasan is one of the few public spokespeople for the national protest that will start on September 9 of this year. Last week he was visited by law enforcement who inaccurately described Sep 9 as a plot to harm people and blow up buildings.
It is important that we stand up to repression and terror-baiting as soon as it rears it’s head. Please call the prison and share this alert as widely as possible.
Thank you.
Continuous Rebellion, A Letter From Prisoner and Comrade Michael Kimble
From Anarchy Live
[Note: Below is a text from anarchist comrade Michael Kimble, who just got thrown into segregation for allegedly participating in the most recent rebellion at Holman Prison.]
At the moment I’m writing from segregation (lockup) after being stripped, handcuffed, slapped, and placed here by the CERT (riot squad) on Monday, August 1, 2016 at approximately 11:45 pm. It’s now Wednesday and I haven’t been given my personal property (shoes/slides, soap, deodorant, clothes, toothbrush, etc.) nor have I received a 72 hour investigation notice as to why I’m being held in segregation.
I’m assuming that I’m being held for being involved in a rebellion (riot) that popped off on August 1, 2016 at around 3:06 pm. Initially there was a fight between prisoners, but escalated into a rebellion against the guards when they tried to intervene after being told numerous times that things were under control.
The guards didn’t listen and was chased out of C-dorm, which has become a space of self-governance and resistance against prison officials. Fires were set, control units taken.
I’m one of about ten prisoners who was also placed in segregation.
So, if you don’t hear from me personally, it means that all my property, including letters, addresses, phone numbers, have been destroyed or lost. I’ve had to borrow writing materials to get this out.
You can write Michael at,
Michael Kimble # 00138017
Holman 3700
Atmore, AL 36503-3700
Philadelphia: Graffiti For Sept 9th Prison Strike!
From It’s Going Down
Disturbance at Nebraska State Penitentiary Followed Change in Mealtime Procedures
From Omaha World Herald
A prison disturbance Tuesday that required the firing of a warning shot to quell it followed a change in mealtime procedures at the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
The change restricted the number of inmates who could eat in the dining hall at any given time and went into effect at the evening meal on Tuesday. Afterward, some inmates ignored multiple orders to return to their housing unit.
Groups of inmates throughout the prison then became defiant and verbally aggressive, according to a Corrections Department press release. After a group of inmates gathered and converged on staff, a warning shot was fired from a tower.
Milwaukee IWOC calls for a national day of action in solidarity with the Dying to Live hunger strike at Waupun Correctional Institution (WCI).
“…Well the past few days have been hard. Apart from the pain, humiliation, and sick process I have to go through 3 times per day in this force-feeding, I am okay. The weather though make it hard. It makes you dizzy and sick. Plus it makes you hungry as well. I try not to think of food or else you break,”
– Cesar DeLeon’s most recent letter to Milwaukee IWOC.
Cesar DeLeon and LaRon McKinley-Bey began refusing food on June 7. They called their protest Dying to Live, and demanded an end to indefinite solitary confinement, what the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (WI DOC) calls Administrative Confinement (AC). On June 17 the DOC requested and got approval to force feed the hunger striking prisoners.
Milwaukee IWOC (The Incarcerated Worker’s Organizing Committee of the IWW) has been supporting this protest, in coalition with other groups for 60 days now. We have marched on the DOC twice, held rallies in Milwaukee and Madison, shamed DOC Secretary Jon Litscher at a public meeting he chaired, passed out hundreds of flyers and held banners over freeways many times. The DOC has conceded nothing, and conditions for the prisoners have remained abysmal.
June 10, Milwaukee, Photo credit: Sam Caravana. Published by Milwaukee Journal Sentinal
Now Milwaukee IWOC is calling for national solidarity and mobilization to back up our next action. On Aug 13, we will mobilize against the WI DOC and we need others to amplify the signal and make the Dying to Live protest a national issue.
Why get involved?
Cesar DeLeon is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) a militant labor union whose slogan is “An Injury to One is an Injury to All”. Cesar and LaRon have had tubes shoved down their noses to force bottles of ensure into their stomachs well over 100 times at this point. For a while, the staff doctor had advised that feeding three times a day was excessive, and changed the practice to once every couple of days, so we’re not clear on the actual number of
tube feedings. Continue reading