Dear Friends and Supporters:
We, the Prison Books Collective of Chapel Hill, write to you in a time of crisis.
After more than six years of workdays, meetings, planning, and package-filling at our North Graham Street location, the Collective is losing that space. The landlord that owns the property has decided to kick out the current tenants and drastically raise the rent. By joining a long line of property owners’ gentrification of the Northside neighborhood, his profit-seeking is not just hurting one group of tenants, but entire communities on the other side of the prison walls. Read more…
Prison Scholar Fund Seeks Support
A fund that organizes scholarships to allow prisoners to take college courses is desperately seeking support. The Prison Scholar Fund is asking for financial support, from both prisoners as well as family members, friends, and supporters on the outide: Read more…
Prisoners Seize Private Prison in Mississippi
(from capitalist press)
The inmates have taken over the asylum.
A privately-owned prison in Natchez, Mississippi has been taken over by prisoners after a riot broke out on Sunday. This prison is mostly occupied by Mexican illegal immigrants arrested on drug charges and awaiting deportation. As of May 21st, the prisoners still had control over the building.
Eight prison employees are currently inside of the building and one, a 23-year-old guard, has been killed, dying from blunt force trauma to the head. Five other prison employees and an inmate were injured and sent to a hospital outside the facility.
Witnesses and neighbors living near the prison say they have seen smoke coming from the prison after a fire was lit.
The company that owns the prison, Corrections Corporation of America, says they have deployed special response teams, including local law enforcement, to secure the area and protect the public from harm.
No reason for the riot has been determined yet.
KKK Openly Organizing In NC
By David Edwards
Residents in Reidsville, North Carolina have begun receiving fliers inviting them to a May 26 Ku Klux Klan cross burning intended for “white people only.”
Reidsville Police Department Captain Ken Hanks confirmed to Raw Story that people in several neighborhoods had reported receiving the invitations.
Asked if the fliers had broken any law, Hanks replied, “Not that I’m aware of,” and added that the matter was not being investigated.
“I’m a little bothered by it,” Annie P. Pinnix, who received a flier, told the Winston-Salem Journal on Monday.
Pinnex said her husband found the flier in their driveway. It reads: Read more…
By Elizabeth Chuck, msnbc.comSexual misconduct by male correctional staff toward inmates at Alabama’s Tutwiler Prison for Women is “commonplace” and has resulted in numerous women becoming pregnant while incarcerated, a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Justice alleges.
Equal Justice Initiative, a private nonprofit organization, filed the complaint about the all-female prison in Wetumpka, Ala., Tuesday after receiving dozens of claims of sexual misconduct involving male staff between 2004 and 2011.
In interviews with more than 50 women incarcerated at the prison, EJI said it discovered “frequent and severe officer-on-inmate sexual violence,” ranging from women being coerced into performing sexual favors in exchange for contraband goods to rape by a male correctional staff member while another male officer served as a lookout. Read more…
Solidarity With Virginia Prison Hunger Strikers
Solidarity with Virginia Prison Hunger Strikers has been formed to support and publicize the hunger strike being launched by prisoner comrades at Red Onion State Prison beginning Tuesday May 22nd when men in segregation refused their first meal.
Ten Demands of Red Onion State Prison (ROSP) Hunger Strikers
We (Prisoners at Red Onion State Prison) demand the right to an adequate standard of living while in the custody of the state!
1. We demand fully cooked food, and access to a better quality of fresh fruit and vegetables. In addition, we demand increased portions on our trays, which allows us to meet our basic nutritional needs as defined by VDOC regulations.
2. We demand that every prisoner at ROSP have unrestricted access to complaint and grievance forms and other paperwork we may request. Read more…
An owie to one is an owie to all: A six-step plan for helping your parent-friends remain activists
From Libcom
A member of Seattle Solidarity Network shares some steps she thinks organizations could take to encourage involvement from their members with children.
Eight days after my daughter was born, I sent this message to the organizing committee members of the Seattle Solidarity Network:
“I wanted to let you all know that I need to take a few week hiatus from coming to SeaSol meetings…. Baby is doing well, we just need to clear the decks while I recover and while we figure out this whole nursing thing. Thanks for understanding, and we’ll see you in a few weeks! (I’d estimate three.)”
Four months later, I had still not returned to SeaSol meetings more than a handful of times. I was an I.W.W. member and had been organizing with SeaSol since our first fight in 2008. I was the only female-identified person to consistently attend SeaSol meetings for our entire first year and for several more years for the IWW branch in Seattle. Both groups planned to pay for childcare, and I was committed to continuing my activism after giving birth, but somehow I was not managing to make it happen. What was the problem?
What follows are some reflections on becoming a mom while trying to continue work as a class warrior. Read more…
On Self-Defense & Women of Color…
From US Prison Culture
I have not written about the Marissa Alexander case on this blog though I have been closely following the developments in her trial. Well on Friday, Ms. Alexander was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
For those who are unfamiliar with the case, here is a very brief summary. Marissa Alexander is an African-American mother of 3 who tried to protect herself from an abusive husband by firing a warning shot into the ceiling after he had beat her up again. There is of course much more to the case including the fact that her attorney tried to use the infamous “Stand Your Ground” law as her defense and was prohibited from doing so by the judge in the case. You can read much more about the case here.
This is another example of the system re-victimizing survivors of violence and speaks to what I wrote about on Monday with respect to the inadequacy of the efforts to actually support survivors of rape and domestic violence. This case brings to mind countless other stories of battered women and rape survivors who I have known over the years. But there is also something more… Read more…
Solidarity with Jeremy Hawthorne
From Anarchist News:
“Jeremy’s said he needs about $30 a week to pay for decent non-carnivorous food, stamps, sanitary supplies, and so on. Assuming a release date sometime in August, he’ll need somewhere near $500 all up from now til his release.
I’m assuming like roughly $100 will go to the ChipIn, Paypal, and jail percentages. We can minimize the amount of money wasted (and given to the state!) by donating it all at once.
So, put up some cash for our friend!”
Help make Jeremy’s time easier in jail by donating money so he can have phone privileges to call his family (collect!), write letters (paper & stamps cost dollars), and eat something vegetarian (mostly Cheetos & Ramen minus the flav packet).
I know he and all of his loved ones will really appreciate it.
http://jeremycommissary.chipin.com/mypages/view/id/00c7a462ca2f7222
From Don’t Frack NC
Join us in the capital to march through downtown Raleigh and raise awareness about the resistance to fracking in North Carolina. We’ll be assembling near Nash Square around 11:30 a.m. and around 12 noon marching to the Legislative Building at 16 West Jones Street.
We encourage folks to bring musical instruments: drums, violins, trumpets, colorful banners and signs, puppets… anything that will make this fun. The march is family friendly and fully permitted.
If your group would like to officially sign onto the march as a co-sponsor contact us at dontfracknc@riseup.net or call 919-200-0061 for more details. We encourage everyone to share this event on their facebook or on listserves they are on. This date is within the legislative session that begins in May where legislators plan on disregarding public outcry by legalizing fracking and wastewater injection in our state.
It’s time to let them know we won’t let this happen here. See you in the streets!
This event is also co-sponsored by Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League & Cumnock Preservation Association.
Ohio: Prisoners end hunger strike, declare results
From Red Bird Abolition
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012, Youngstown OH- OSP Hunger Strike Ends. After long negotiations with Warden David Bobby on Monday, May 7th, the hunger-striking prisoners at Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) began eating again. Two of the men held out through Tuesday, unsatisfied with the agreement. The warden met with them separately, and they agreed to come off the strike. Warden Bobby reported that “by lunch time today, everyone was eating.” This was confirmed by two prisoner sources.
At this point, details on agreements are unclear, but sources inside say that the hunger strikers are satisfied and feel they achieved results. One source described the demands and the Warden’s response as “reasonable”. Without going into detail, the main concerns were in regards to commissary costs, state pay rates, phone costs, length of stay, and harsh penalties for petty conduct reports. The Warden said that he discussed “many things” at Monday’s meeting with strike representatives, “many things beyond the main demands” but he would not share any of the details.
The strikers are resting and recovering, but have mailed detailed information to outside supporters at RedBird Prison Abolition, which will be released to the public as soon as possible. Read more…
