Slavery Never Ended: Call For National Prison Strike #August21

Above: Inmates in Correctional Industries’ Tumwater facility unload materials that will be used in a furniture factory. By Alan Berbner of the Seattle Times

This call is for a two-week national strike beginning on Aug. 21, the anniversary of George Jackson’s assassination, and extending until Sept. 9, the anniversary of the Attica Prison Rebellion in 1971. The call has been taken up inside from coast to coast, and across at least 17 different states. The author of this call, Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, is a national collective of incarcerated people who fight for human rights by providing other incarcerated people with access to legal education, resources and assistance.

Men and women incarcerated in prisons across the nation declare a nationwide strike in response to the riot in Lee Correctional Institution, a maximum security prison in South Carolina. Seven comrades lost their lives during a senseless uprising that could have been avoided had the prison not been so overcrowded from the greed wrought by mass incarceration and a lack of respect for human life that is embedded in our nation’s penal ideology.

These men and women are demanding humane living conditions, access to rehabilitation, sentencing reform and the end of modern day slavery.

These are the NATIONAL DEMANDS of the men and women in federal, immigration and state prisons:

1. Immediate improvements to the conditions of prisons and prison policies that recognize the humanity of imprisoned men and women.
2. An immediate end to prison slavery. All persons imprisoned in any place of detention under United States jurisdiction must be paid the prevailing wage in their state or territory for their labor.
3. Rescission of the Prison Litigation Reform Act, allowing imprisoned humans a proper channel to address grievances and violations of their rights.
4. Rescission of the Truth in Sentencing Act and the Sentencing Reform Act so that imprisoned humans have a possibility of rehabilitation and parole. No human shall be sentenced to Death by Incarceration or serve any sentence without the possibility of parole.
5. An immediate end to the racial overcharging, over-sentencing and parole denials of Black and Brown humans. Black humans shall no longer be denied parole because the victim of the crime was white, which is a particular problem in Southern states.
6. An immediate end to racist gang enhancement laws targeting Black and brown humans.
7. No denial of access to rehabilitation programs for any imprisoned human at their place of detention because of their label as a violent offender.
8. Funding for state prisons specifically to offer more rehabilitation services.
9. Reinstatement of Pell grants in all U.S. states and territories.
10. Recognition of the voting rights and counting the votes of all confined citizens serving prison sentences, pretrial detainees and so-called “ex-felons.” Representation is demanded. All voices count.

We all agree to spread this strike throughout the prisons of Ameri$$$a! From Aug. 21 to Sept. 9, 2018, men and women in prisons across the nation will strike in the following manner:

• Work Strikes: Prisoners will not report to assigned jobs. Each place of detention will determine how long its strike will last. Some of these strikes may translate into a local list of demands designed to improve conditions and reduce harm within the prison.
• Sit-ins: In certain prisons, men and women will engage in peaceful sit-in protests.
• Boycotts: All spending should be halted. We ask those outside the walls not to make financial judgments for those inside. Men and women on the inside will inform you if they are participating in this boycott.
• Hunger Strikes: Men and women shall refuse to eat.

We support the call of the Free Alabama Movement Campaign to “Redistribute the Pain” 2018 as Bennu Hannibal Ra-Sun, formerly known as Melvin Ray, has laid out – with the exception of refusing visitation. See these principles described here: https://redistributethepain.wordpress.com/.

How You Can Help

• Make the nation take a look at our demands. Demand action on our demands by contacting your local, state and federal political representatives with these demands. Ask them where they stand.
• Spread the strike and word of the strike in every place of detention.
• Contact a supporting local organization to see how you can be supportive. If you are unsure of who to connect with, email millionsforprisonersmarch@gmail.com.
• Be prepared by making contact with people in prison, family members of prisoners and prisoner support organizations in your state to assist in notifying the public and media on strike conditions.
• Assist in our announced initiatives to have the votes of people in jail and prison counted in elections.

To reach Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, contact Oakland IWOC (Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee), whose motto is “Inside Outside All on the Same Side,” email iwoc.oakland@gmail.com. Contact them to endorse the strike.