Tag Archives: action

DYING TO LIVE Food Refusal Starts June 10th

From SolitaryTorture.blogspot.com

Download flyers:
Outside WI (print 2 sided and cut in half)
WI FullWI 1/4 sheet (print 2 sided and cut in half)

Humanitarian Food Refusal Campaign  Against Solitary Torture

June10th Wisconsin prisoners held in long term Solitary confinement at Waupun Correctional Institution will start a “Food Refusal Campaign.” The wish to bring the horror of Administrative Confinement (AC) to the public’s Attention and end this torturous practice. Solitary confinement for more than 15 days has been deemed “torture” by the United Nations but Wisconsin the DOC has held many prisoners in isolation for decades. AS the debate and outrage grows nationwide, join us in supporting these prisoners who are making a courageous sacrifice to Wake Us Up.

 
prisoner  in “obs”- the”Treatment” for trying to harm oneself

Madison Rally         
1pm. Fri June 10
at the Capital Building
Contact: 262-443-7831
Sophiaorganizer1@gmail.com

Milwaukee Rally
Noon, Saturday June 11
At the County Courthouse
Contact:414-379-2374
argentum111@me.com

Both events will have a life-sized replica of the tiny cell these prisoners spend years in. There will be families of AC prisoners speaking as well as activists, and legislators. ALL are welcome and needed.

Sign our petition at

https://www.change.org/p/wi-doc-secretary-jon-litscher-waupun-prisoners-begin-food-refusal-to-protest-solitary-torture

Use social media to let your friends and coworkers know about this! Continue reading →

Nashville: Protest, Blockade, Banners to Resist CCA Shareholder Meeting

Submitted to It’s Going Down

A feisty group of protestors took on the annual shareholder’s meeting of the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) in Nashville on May 12th. Among the 50 to 60 people who gathered were former prisoners from CCA facilities, religious radicals, members of peace and justice groups, and a large contingent of rural queer and trans folks, including many anarchists.

One contingent held a steady presence by the entrance to the meeting at the CCA corporate headquarters, confronting shareholders and employees as they entered and exited, and hearing from a number of speakers discussing private prisons and exploitation. Another rowdy crew marched to a nearby major road and disrupted traffic, blockaded the road leading to the CCA headquarters at two different intersections, and confronted police before marching back to rejoin the rest of the protest. An activist shareholder from Prison Legal News returned to the demonstration and reported on the proceedings inside, and energetic protesters harangued the profiteers as they left the parking lot.

Attendees at the demonstration distributed literature about CCA’s slimy profiteering from racist mass incarceration, their role in promoting policies that maximize sentences and destroy communities, scandals around corruption, riots, and deaths in their facilities over the last year, and the particularly terrible conditions in CCA prisons that stem directly from their profit motive, as minimizing expenses on health care, food, and other basic necessities translates directly into more money for their shareholders. Protesters also promoted the upcoming national prison work stoppage planned for September of this year, handing out hundreds of copies of “This is a Call to Action Against Slavery in America.” Continue reading →

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 →

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.

Continue reading →

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

Alabama Strike Coverage Round Up

alabamamoldThe May Day Strike in Alabama is getting attention from many media outlets, some with more thorough coverage, some with broader reach. We’ve collected and summarized these stories here so our readers can find the info they need.

1. SolitaryWatch.com did a great article and interview with some of the founders of FAM about both the strike, and about conditions in seg units. Read it here: http://solitarywatch.com/2016/05/05/prison-labor-strike-in-alabama-we-will-no-longer-contribute-to-our-own-oppression/

2. Listen to FAM members speak from behind the walls on their weekly show, here:  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/freealabamamovement You can even call in and join the conversation. Email prisonerresistance@gmail.com to find out how. You’ll be asked a few questions to make sure you’re not a cop or troll.  Continue reading →

May Day Strike and Solidarity

FAM-imagePrisoners at multiple facilities in Alabama initiated a work stoppage on Sunday May 1st. Prisoners at Holman, Elmore, and St Clair announced the strike, there are reports of shut downs elsewhere in Alabama, and the administration denies that any facility other than Holman is on strike. Holman Prison, outside of Atmore Alabama has been the site of ongoing resistance since two back-to-back uprisings took over the facility in early March.

Holman houses the tag plant, a factory that produces license-plates for the State of Alabama with coerced labor of prisoners.
Perhaps more impact than shutting down the tag plant, striking prisoners are refusing to do the various jobs needed to maintain the prison itself. Everything from menial tasks of laundry and cleaning to preparing food and skilled maintenance jobs are typically done for free by prisoners themselves.

When they refuse, ADOC is forced to pay people- either correctional officers, or scabs, to maintain the prison and feed the prisoners. As a result, already unsanitary and substandard conditions at these prisons are degrading further. Paying staff overtime, or hiring outside workers will strain the already tenuous budget of the Alabama prison system. ADOC can hardly afford to operate it’s prisons with the help of compliant prisoner-slaves, so by refusing to work, the prisoners render their continued confinement impossible. Continue reading →

Texas Prison Strikes to Wind Down After Achieving Results IWW Prisoners Union Continues to Grow

IWW General Headquarters, Chicago, IL. May 2, 2016

The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee announces that the Texas prison strikes initiated by IWW members have achieved their desired short-term results and that the first phase of planned long-term strategic strike actions is drawing to an end. The strike actions began on April 4, 2016 and spread to at least a half-dozen locations.

IWW sources within the Texas prison system report that even with lockdowns and other forms of coercion against those who refuse to work as slaves, the strikes have resulted in Texas Department of Criminal Justice authorities now giving more prompt attention to prisoner’s previously ignored grievances. Organizers are now ready to pause and regroup while considering their next move in the struggle for humane treatment. Despite lockdowns and corporate media blackout, an IWW Union member was able to get a strike report outside, stating that “Since this strike action started the prison administration has been much more responsive, and we have had a much easier time getting our grievances addressed.” She shared that the administration just ignored grievance complaints before the strikes began, but now they are addressing them with unprecedented speed. This confirms the power of Union direct action in the form of organization, strikes, and work slow-downs. Continue reading →

Free Alabama May Day Strike!

12495092_10208600490667061_654856713704924885_nThis is the May Day call to action from The Free Alabama Movement. Learn more about outside support for this action here.

In 4 days- Saturday night @ 12:01 May 1st- We will begin the process using our Economic Power to Peacefully bring about a true and transparent reform to the Alabama Judicial and Penal System.

MAY DAY MAY DAY is not just about the Conditions of Confinement. This is more so about the cause of those Conditions- THE 13th AMENDMENT, THE ALABAMA CONSTITUTION OF 1901 and the STATUTORY LAWS that have been created from both- Laws that drive and maintains this Mass Warehousing of men and women for extended periods of time in the name of profits.
All that is required of each of us is to STAND AND SPEAK AS ONE- With the Economic Voice of “WE WILL NO LONGER VOLUNTARILY PARTICIPATE IN THIS SLAVE SYSTEM WHERE ECONOMICS ARE PLACED OVER OUR HUMANITY. Continue reading →

Solidarity Events and Materials

maydayPrisoners in Texas are still on strike, prisoners in Alabama will be joining them on May 1st, food protests continue in Michigan, as well as hunger strikes in Louisiana. Holman Unit in Alabama continues to be a place of strife and open conflict with the authorities.

The fight against slavery, torture and confinement is raging on the inside, and calling for support on the outside. Prisoner supporters and the IWOC are responding to the call, with rallies, phone zaps, and educational events and outreach. See below for ways you can participate! Continue reading →