Author Archives: Editor

Democracy Now! Interview with FAM

dnkinetikFrom DemocracyNow.org
Part 2 gets into broader organizing, including the Sept 9th Call for Nationally Coordinated Workstoppage and Protest.

We go behind bars to get an update on the end of a 10-day strike by Alabama prisoners to protest severe overcrowding, poor living conditions and the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which bans slavery and servitude “except as a punishment for crime,” thus sanctioning the legality of forced, unpaid prison labor. “These strikes are our methods of challenging mass incarceration, as we understand the prison system is a continuation of the slave system, which is an economic system,” says Kinetik Justice, who joins us by phone from solitary confinement in Holman Correctional Facility. He is co-founder of the Free Alabama Movement and one of the organizers of the strike. He says organizers tried petitioning their conditions via the courts and lawmakers, but when they were unsuccessful, “we understood our incarceration was pretty much about our labor and the money that was being generated from the prison system, therefore we began organizing around our labor and used it as a means and a method to bring about reform in the Alabama prison system.”

Transcript:NERMEEN SHAIKH: We end today’s show in Alabama, where men at several prisons have ended a 10-day strike over unpaid labor and poor prison conditions. Their coordinated strike kicked off on May 1st, International Workers’ Day, when prisoners at the Holman and Elmore Correctional Facilities refused to report to their prison jobs—and later expanded to three other prisons. The strike focused on severe overcrowding, poor living conditions and the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which bans slavery and servitude, quote, “except as a punishment for crime,” thus sanctioning the legality of forced, unpaid prison labor. Alabama operates the country’s most crowded prison system, holding nearly twice as many people as it’s designed to contain.
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Alabama Prison Strikes Ends After Work-Release Strike Breakers Brought In Failure of Prison Expansion Bill Seen as Small Victory

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC)

Alabama Prison Strikes Ends After Work-Release Strike Breakers Brought In

Failure of Prison Expansion Bill Seen as Small Victory

IWW General Headquarters, Chicago, IL. May 12, 2016 Prisoners at Holman Correctional Institution have ended their ten-day shutdown of the State of Alabama’s auto license plate plant. Their work stoppage, initiated on May Day, spread to Elmore, St Clair, Donaldson and Staton facilities over the following week shutting down Alabama Department of Correction’s (ADOC) canning plant, fleet services, and chemical industry as well as the license plate plant. “That was our leverage, that was our power to negotiate with” said Kinetic, a member of both the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union and the Free Alabama Movement (FAM). In an interview with media representatives of the IWW-Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee he explained how the strike achieved one objective but was broken by the unexpected employment of work-release prisoners as strike-breakers.
The strike achieved its first objective after only two days when the Alabama State Legislature killed the $800 million “Prison Transformation Initiative” that would have greatly expanded Alabama’s prison system, which is plagued with overcrowding, violence, deteriorating buildings and budget shortfalls. The defeated law tried to allocate ADOC $800 million to build four 3500 bed super-max facilities. Prisoners initiated their strike to draw national attention to ADOC’s problems and propose other solutions. On May 1st the prisoners stopped reporting to their work stations, and activists organized rallies and solidarity protests according to journalists who interviewed the prisoner’s spokespersons via clandestine cell-phones. On May 3rd, the ADOC’s new prison bill died on the state senate floor. Prisoners contend that their strike tipped the scales against the bill. Continue reading

One Month till June 11 Convergence Against Toxic Prisons

From -Fight Toxic Prisons
www.fighttoxicprisons.org
fighttoxicprisons@gmail.com

In one month, people from across the country will converge on Washington DC for the Convergence to Support Eco-prisoners and Fight Toxic Prisons <https://fighttoxicprisons.wordpress.com/2016/03/18/convergence-in-support-of-eco-prisoners-against-toxic-prisons/>
June 11-13 . Over 25 organizations from across the country <https://fighttoxicprisons.wordpress.com/endorsers/> have endorsed that Convergence, including prison abolition, eco-defense, anti-police violence, environmental justice, and anti-authoritarian groups  for a weekend of
workshops, strategizing and direct action <https://fighttoxicprisons.wordpress.com/2016/05/03/schedule-for-the-convergence-against-toxic-prisons-in-support-of-eco-prisoners/>.
We are excited to announce that several former political prisoners and supporters including Eric McDavid, Ramona Africa, Peg Millet, Jihad Abdulmumit, and more, will join us to share there Continue reading

Alabama prisoners strike to end slave labor, unjust conditions Prison officials retaliate with inhumane tactics as prisoners issue demands

From thedotonline.com

Inmates at three Alabama prisons have issued unified demands after initiating a widespread work stoppage on May 1, 2016. They are protesting exploitative labor policies and horrific prison conditions caused, in part, by overcrowding; Alabama’s prisons are operating at close to 200 percent over capacity.

Prison staff have attempted to suppress the civil disobedience by significantly reducing prisoners’ meal portions, a tactic known as “bird feeding.” Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) has brought work release prisoners from other facilities in an effort to undermine the strike.

Strikes are taking place at St. Clair Correctional Facility, Holman Correctional Facility, and Staton Correctional Facility.

The Free Alabama Movement, an organization comprised of inmates at numerous prisons, recently released demands through their advocate on the outside, Pastor Kenneth Glasgow. Glasgow is the founder of The Ordinary People Society and a leader in the Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People and Families Movement. He announced the demands in a press conference on May 7, 2016.

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Striking Prisoners in Alabama Accuse Officials of Using Food as Weapon

From The Intercept
Alice Speri May 10 2016, 2:24 p.m.
Alabama prisoners who have been on strike for ten days over unpaid labor and prison conditions are accusing officials of retaliating against their protest by starving them. The coordinated strike started on May 1, International Workers’ Day, when prisoners at the Holman and Elmore facilities refused to report to their prison jobs and has since expanded to Staton, St. Clair, and Donaldson’s facilities, according to organizers with the Free Alabama Movement, a network of prison activists.

Prison officials responded by putting the facilities on lockdown, partially to allow guards to perform jobs normally carried out by prisoners. But prisoners told The Intercept that officials also punished them by serving meals that are significantly smaller than usual, a practice they have referred to as “bird feeding.”

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Job Opportunity: Prison Branch Builder – Traveling Organizer

INCARCERATED WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

IWW Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee

Job Opportunity: Prison Branch Builder – Traveling Organizer

IWW Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee

Open until filled: First Review June 1st, 2016

The IWW’s Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee is incarcerated people and their allies organizing to transform prison conditions and end mass incarceration. We work in solidarity with all human beings behind bars. Our purpose is to organize prison labor to make the current prison system unprofitable, unmanageable, and unattractive. We stand for revolutionary democracy in the free world as well.   Continue reading

Media Roundup

Some updates on media coverage of prisoner resistance movements.

1. Free Alabama Movement Blogtalk radio call-in show May 6th episode was devoted to the strike: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/freealabamamovement They do these shows twice a week, you can listen on line, or call in to express support.

2. Atlantablackstar.com published an article connecting the current action to past FAM actions and corporations who profit from prison labor.  http://atlantablackstar.com/2016/05/09/alabama-inmates-organize-multi-prison-strike-in-protest-of-prison-labor-we-wont-contribute-to-our-own-oppression/

3. The Final Straw an anarchist radio show out of Asheville, NC did an episode on the June 11 Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons and rebroadcast a prison-radio interview with Ben Turk about the Sept 9th action.

4. Local Alabama media frames failure of a prison reform bill in he context of the work-stoppage.  http://whnt.com/2016/05/06/failure-of-alabama-prison-bill-sets-the-stage-for-federal-intervention/

5. This Jack Denton article for solitarywatch.com has been reposted widely, as has the Incarcerated Workers Take the Lead article from UnityandStruggle.org.

Anything we’re missing? Let us know: prisonerresistance@gmail.com

Solidarity Weekend Action Roundup…

The weekend of May 7-8 saw solidarity actions with the Free Alabama Movement’s May Day strike in at least three cities across the US. Making this work stoppage a national issue, raising public awareness of prison slavery, and shaming the state of Alabama and ADOC for their abysmal practices are good ways to support the actions on the inside. Please consider organizing an event, a rally, or workshop in your town. If you do, let us know at prisonerresistance@gmail.com. Thank you.

Check it out:
13119790_1212916832052596_5129826404894964395_o

Mothers and Families at Holman Prison on May 7th.

About a dozen protesters from Mothers and Families (MAF) of the Free Alabama Movement (FAM) marched on Holman prison on Saturday, shouting Free Alabama! and Incarcerated Lives Matter!
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Building Bridges with Nebraska Prison Rebels

From It’sGoingDown.org

 

Download Poster Here

Below is a list of Nebraska prison rebels who were willing to have their names and addresses released in hopes of building connection with those on the outside. This information is also available in poster format. This list represents just a few of the many rebellious prisoners who took a stand on Mother’s Day, 2015. Print and distribute the poster and, as always, build those links between outside and inside. Happy Mother’s Day!

On Mother’s Day, 2015, prisoners at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution in Nebraska took control of multiple housing units in the prison, including staff­ offices. Prisoners of all races fought off­ guards together, set fires, destroyed took control of multiple housing units in the prison walls and other infrastructure. They used office phones to call their mothers and the media and chanted “Hands up! Don’t shoot!”—echoing those struggling against the police on the other side of the prison walls.

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More Images of Solidarity with May Day Strike

Chicago March and Noise Demo

chicagoMarch and noise demo, some folks got arrested, including Jack M, who is facing down a high bond, you can help him out, here: https://chicagobond.org/free_jack/index.html13119133_613801825437608_8332322682490879607_n

Kansas City, March and Noise Demo

Kansas City kc marchThe white sign says Alabama Prison Strike May 1

https://youtu.be/_UqhSOsAKDM

Video of their noise demo, hey sexy!

Milwaukee, WI

Showed up at the 8000+ person immigrant rights march, dozens of IWW members, many with anti-prison signs. Handed out hundreds of flyers and left from the end of that march to a second march against prison profiteers and a noise demo at the Milwaukee Secure detention facility.
mke-vocesVoces De La Frontera march.

mke-iwwMKE Wobblies rolling deep. mkefire noise demo

New York City

nyc

Find videos on their twitter: https://twitter.com/nycabc

Portland, OR

eeeeJoined the local May Day march with a large banner and handed out 600 flyers.

Tucson AZ

Designed and mass produced a beautiful flyer which they distroed at the May Day march.

aztucsonthe march

tucson-machine the machinetucson-holmanthe centerfold