Listen here: Tonight Thursday June 2 2016 6pm est 5pm central Benjamin Michael Turk, from Insurgent will speaking on the Nationally Coordinated Prisoner Work Stoppage for Sept 9 and on Friday we are featuring the Brothers of the Sun Free Alabama Freedom Movement with Bob Witnek of Decarcerate the Garden State. Mass Incarceration and over prosecution is a systemic, social, economic and political problem, that has allowed for the legal enslavement of generations of black, brown and economically challenged individuals and families. Please join in the solution . LISTEN and Participate via the web at www.blogtalkradio.com/nupowerradionetwork or call in 917-889-8059! Don’t forget to push 1 to come into the conversation! See you on the airwaves!!! QT See you on the airwaves!
Category Archives: General
New Prisoners On Ferguson Site
From INTRODUCTIONS
“For freedom we want and will have,
for we have served this cruel land long enuff,
and we are full able to conquer by any means.”
-correspondence between slaves, 18th century
“Those who are locked up
know better than their jailers
the taste of free air.”
-Hélène Cixous
Presented here is a series of interviews with and articles by prisoners on the recent wave of Black-led riots, uprisings, direct action, and protest against the police across the US. The conversations and correspondence that resulted in these pieces took place mostly in the spring of 2016, marking some time since the beginning of the 2014 uprising in Ferguson, Missouri. Reflecting on the ongoing rebellions that have reverberated on both sides of prison walls since that summer almost two years ago, the insights and clarity of these pieces feel no less immediate. While a print version exists so that people can mail copies into prison or table copies on the outside, I also wanted to have an online venue to continue to feature new pieces by prisoners with whom I write.
Continue reading
‘Fight Toxic Prisons’ Convergence Challenges Department of Justice to Eradicate Environmental Health Hazards in U.S. Prisons
From fighttoxicprisons.wordpress.com Political Prisoners and Environmentalists Vow to Stop Prison Plan on Appalachian Coal Mine
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former political prisoners will converge with environmental and prisoners’ rights activists in Washington D.C. under the banner of the #PrisonEcology movement. Direct actions, demonstrations, forums, and lobbying June 10th – 13th will focus on prison pollution affecting the 2.3 million individuals currently incarcerated in the U.S., as well as prison workers and residential communities surrounding detention facilities. The Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons (FTP) brought together the coalition participating in this multi-pronged weekend of protest.
“We knew we were held on a Superfund site at FCI Victorville, our only water contaminated with heavy metals and the very air we breathed laden with toxic dust,” said Eric McDavid, an environmental activist who served 9 years before the FBI released previously suppressed files that outlined his entrapment. California’s Victorville Prison is only one of many facilities around the country where serious environmental hazards put the health of inmates at risk of injury, disease, and death. Click here for a map of Examples of Environmental Justice Issues for U.S. Prisoner and Detainee Populations. Continue reading
What Would You Create in Your Community with $444 Million?
From Hello allies,
$444 million has been allocated for the construction of a federal prison in Letcher County, Kentucky, making it the only federal prison in progress in the country. While public officials tout the proposed prison as a surefire way to boost our local economy, we know mass incarceration to be a false solution in communities across the country. This would be the fourth federal prison Congressman Hal Roger’s has built in our Congressional District. The previous three facilities were placed in economically distressed counties and have done very little to help local communities.
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Waupun Inmates To Engage In Hunger Strike To Protest Illegal Prolonged Solitary Confinement In Prison System
From Hispanic News Network.
Inmates hunger strike protest planned against illegal prolonged solitary confinement used in the Wisconsin Department of Corrections prison system as punishment for minor violations resulting from 180 to 360 days and even up to 13 years in solitary confinement of inmates resulting in psychological defects.
By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
May 30, 2016
Waupun, WI – Inmates at the Waupun prison (Waupun Correctional Institution-WCI) plan a hunger strike on June 10 to bring attention to what they say is the illegal prolonged solitary confinement for minor violations, which can result with 180 to 360 days and decades of isolation in a small cell 24-7 with one hour to stretch outside of the cell per day. The solitary confinement is known as Administrative Confinement (AC) and inmates can be placed on AC for long periods of isolation for falsely accusing prison staff of violations, disrespect, poor personal hygiene, loitering and the misuse of federal or state property, which inmates once accused have no recourse to appeal or challenge alleged discipline charges by prison staff. Prison staff (guards) can file inmate violations without any merits and compile alleged violations to add solitary confinement time as punishment to cover-up guard mistreatment, harassment and human rights violations of inmates, according to inmates in isolation. Prison guards are not mandated to wear body cameras in Wisconsin.
Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA) has learned that even state inmates who become witnesses and testify in criminal cases and are placed under the witness protection program also endure prolonged solitary confinement simply because the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (WDOC) has no facility to keep witness protection inmates in a safe environment. In one case, an inmate who testified in a gang murder was placed under the state witness protection program and spend more than six years in isolation until parole.
The inmates involved in a planned hunger strike are requesting for the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate the illegal practice of AC in the state prison system and for the immediate release of inmates from AC that have been in isolation for more than one year. The United Nations has determined that prolonged solitary confinement is torture and studies have shown that it causes psychological defects, which inmates once released on parole have no access to mental health treatment and most can’t adjust within society and return to prison for committing other crimes.
According to WCI inmate in Waupun, Cesar Deleón, 33, in a press release indicated that, prisoners in solitary at WCI are never allowed to go outside or see the sun. The one hour per day of recreation they’re allowed out of their bathroom-sized cells is spent in an indoor recreation cage, which is often filthy with urine and feces because once a prisoner is moved to the cage, requests to be allowed access to a bathroom are ignored by staff. Prisoners in administrative confinement (AC) are not only extraordinarily isolated from general population, but also from loved ones and spiritual leaders. AC prisoners are allowed one 15 minute phone call and one 15 minute video visit per week, the calls and conferences are closely monitored and can be cut off with very little pretext. Spiritual leaders who regularly visit other prisoners are not allowed to visit the AC unit, which is a clear violation of the constitutional right to religious practice.
The WDOC holds over 100 people in administrative confinement, some have been in one form of isolation or another for decades. Last August, WDOC announced an 90 day limit on their use of segregation as punishment for all but the most severe cases. Those changes did not apply to AC prisoners though, because according to WDOC, Administrative Confinement is “non-punitive.”
The prisoners are calling for an end to the practice, entirely. Their six demands include a legislative cap on the use of AC, compliance with the UN Mandela Rules on solitary confinement, increased oversight, one year limits, mental health treatment and a federal investigation of harassment by staff, which the prisoners describe as a mind control program, designed to “break and recondition” anyone staff perceives as a threat.
The prisoners are calling for an end to the practice, entirely. Their six demands include a legislative cap on the use of AC, compliance with the UN Mandela Rules on solitary confinement, increased oversight, one year limits, mental health treatment and a federal investigation of harassment by staff, which the prisoners describe as a mind control program, designed to “break and recondition” anyone staff perceives as a threat.
Several public rallies are scheduled in Madison and Milwaukee to bring attention to the WDOC illegal prolonged solitary confinement under Administrative Confinement practices in the state prison system.
The Madison rally is scheduled for Friday, June 10 at 1 p.m. at the Capital building and the Milwaukee rally on Saturday, June 11 at noon at the Milwaukee County Courthouse.
A replica of a small isolation cell in which inmates spent years incarcerated will be in exhibition at both rallies including families of inmates in isolation will also speak.
The Thread Interviews Kinetik of The Free Alabama Movement
From The Thread. go there for links to everything mentioned.
EPISODE 1: June’s episode of The Thread featured interviews with Kinetik Justice, the leader of the Free Alabama Movement and the recent Alabama prison strike, and Cheri Honkala, the founder of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign and former Vice Presidential candidate.
Kinetik Justice is currently incarcerated at Holman Correctional Facility, and because of his involvement with the prison strike, is being held in solitary confinement. For more information about Kinetik Justice and the Free Alabama Movement, check out their homepage. You can also read their Freedom Bill that Kinetik mentions in his interview. You can also see Kinetik in the news.
Cheri Honkala continues to fight for the rights of people living in poverty across the nation. You can see more of the work she does on the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign homepage. Cheri continues to be on Front Line USA’s danger list for her work as a human rights activist. You can read about Front Line’s work with Cheri and other human rights defenders, click here. Cheri and her running mate in the 2012 election, Jill Stein, are currently suing the Commission on Presidential Debates. If you want to read more about their arrest, click here. If you want to read more about her lawsuit, click here.
The Struggle Inside & Out: Supporting Prisoner Strikes
From Prison Pipeline on KBOO radio.
Hosted by:
Produced by:
KBOO
Produced for (Program name):
Air date:
Mon, 05/23/2016 –
6:30pm to 7:00pm
Adam Carpinelli will interview activist Ben Turk. A long term activist supporting all prisoners including Political Prisoners, Turk is connected to several different movements and organizations working around national prisoner strikes. We will discuss the upcoming September 9th call for a national prisoner strike to end prison slavery for good. The organizers for this national prison strike campaign chose the start date for symbolic reasons. On Sept. 9, 1971, prisoners shut down and took over Attica, New York’s most notorious prison. A total of 43 people were killed in the Attica prison riots—one of the darkest chapters in American penal history. Continue reading
Free Alabama Movement May Day Work Stoppage Interview
From Truth-Out.org
Free Alabama Movement May Day Work Stoppage Interview
Friday, 27 May 2016 00:00 By Ben Turk, Speakout | Interview
From May 1 to May 9, 2016, prisoners at multiple facilities across Alabama engaged in work stoppages, refusing to labor for the Alabama Department of Corrections. This strike was the second major work stoppage in prisons this spring. In April, prisoners in Texas refused to work for most of the month. The striking Alabama prisoners, along with revolutionary prisoners in other states, have also called for a nationally coordinated work stoppage and protest September 9 of this year, the 45th anniversary of the Attica rebellion.
At the end of the strike, we interviewed Free Alabama Movement (FAM) cofounder Kinetik Justice Amun to get a deeper understanding of the context and strategy of their work stoppage, as well as a better understanding of the state’s response and possible strategic lessons going forward. Kinetik has been held in solitary confinement at Holman Correctional since 2014 as retaliation for FAM’s work stoppage that January.
Upcoming Dates for Prisoner Support.
Below is a list of dates when people on either side of the prison fences may want to mobilize support and demonstrate power building up to the Anniversary of Attica. Some of these are specific actions called by prisoners or organizers that could be replicated or supported through solidarity actions. Others are holidays that resonate with freedom struggles, when demonstrations of solidarity may be extra visible or resonant. We have also included times when the authorities are gathering for conferences and conventions, which could be confronted like the recent CCA meeting in Nashville.
June 10th – Prisoners in Wisconsin initiate a food refusal against solitary confinement.
June 11th – the International Day of Solidarity with Long Term Anarchist Prisoners.
June 11-13 – the national convergence of the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons, Washington, DC.
July 11-13 – United States Deputy Warden’s Association Annual Conference, Des Moines, IA
June 19th – Juneteenth Independence Day celebration of the (supposed) end of slavery.
June 25th – First #IncarceratedLivesMatter rally in Birmingham, AL.
July 4th – Celebration of America’s (supposed) freedom.
July 14th – Bastille Day, commemoration of a French prison break that kicked off the revolution there.
July 18-21 – Republic National Convention, Cleveland, OH
July 25-28 – Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia, PA
August 10th – Prisoner’s Justice Day (Canada)
August 5-10 – American Corrections Association Annual Congress of Correction, Boston, MA
August 12th – One year anniversary of Hugo “Yogi Bear” Pinell’s assassination.
August 28-September 1 – Association of Correctional Food Service Affilliates Annual International Conference, Minneapolis-Bloomington, MN
September 9th – Anniversary of Attica, Nationally Coordinated Work Stoppage and Protest.
November 8 – Election Day
October 22nd – International Day Against Police Brutality and Terror
October 22-26 – National Conference on Correctional Health Care, Las Vegas, NV
January 20 – Presidential Inauguration
January 20-25, 2017 – American Corrections Association Annual Winter Conference, San Antonio, TX
Kinetik Justice and The Free Alabama Movement
Peace, Blessings and Revolutionary Greetings!
First and foremost, I’m honored that the Creative Energy and the Spirit of Our Ancestors have brought us all together, at this time and in this space. . . Amun Ra!
I am Kinetik Justice Amun (g/n Robert Earl Council), a New Afrikaans Political Prisoner of War. 22 years ago at the age of 20, I defended myself by shooting and killing a white man whose intent was to bring about bodily harm to me.
The white man I killed was a U. S. National Guardsman Ronald Henderson, the son of a predominant family of affluence and cousin to Mayor in Enterprise, Alabama. The tragedy which I am serving a capital murder sentence of life without parole was a set up for my demise due to relationships of white privilege. As police officers intimidated and coerced the only eye witness, the judge appointed M. Dale Marsh, a friend of Mr. Henderson, as (my) Robert Earl Council’s lead attorney, the D. A. Empanelled an all-white jury and the judge assured a guilty verdict by amending the indictment with his jury instruction. Adding in an additional element of robbery to seal my fate to a capital murder charge. Continue reading