Prison

Protestors Bring Ongoing ‘Situation’ To New FERC Chairman

April 17, 2015 Anne Meador, www.dcmediagroup.us Resist! Environment, FERC, Fossil Fuel, Prison

At his first meeting as FERC Chairman, Commissioner Norman Bay gave the cold shoulder to demonstrators who repeatedly interrupted him to protest what they say is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s rubberstamp approach to regulation. “Oh my God, we have a situation here. The situation is not going away,” shouted protestor Charles Chandler. “There is no democracy here. You just ignore what I write on my computer.” “Well, I guess one wouldn’t be the chairman of FERC without having to deal with protesters,” Bay said, after the first of six were escorted out of the room one at a time. Bay was acknowledging a new reality for the formerly obscure agency. As former FERC Chairwoman Cheryl LaFleur put it, “We have a situation here.” FERC has come to the forefront as gas infrastructure projects have increased exponentially.

We All Need To Keep Our Eyes On Mumia

April 14, 2015 Noelle Hanrahan, http://www.prisonradio.org/ Petitions and Online Actions Education, Mumia Abu-Jamal, political prisoners, Prison

On Thursday Mumia's wife Wadiya Jamal visited him. She shared with us that his weakened state continues, and she is deeply concerned that he still has not had the appropriate care and diagnosis-- and in fact has been returned to the environment that allowed his chronic but treatable conditions to nearly kill him. We demand that: 1) Mumia’s chosen private physician has immediate regular phone access to Mumia in the infirmary. Phone access is limited in the infirmary, and Mumia and his physician need to be in conversation throughout each week. 2) His doctor be allowed to communicate freely and regularly with the prison infirmary physicians who are currently overseeing Mumia’s care. . .

Barrett Brown Stripped Of Prison Email After Talking To Media

April 8, 2015 Cyrus Farivar, www.arstechnica.com Resist! Freedom of Expression, Prison, Privacy, Surveillance

Barrett Brown, the brash journalist and former member of Anonymous who was sentenced in January 2015 to over five years in federal prison, had his e-mail privileges suddenly revoked, seemingly for corresponding with journalists. On Sunday, Brown’s supporters published his account of the punishment, describing how he suddenly lost access to his prison-supplied e-mail account on March 31. In the ensuing days, Brown attempted to contact various prison officials to get further information, including someone named “Trust Fund Manager Coleman.” As Ars reported previously, in April 2014 Brown took a plea deal admitting guilt on three charges: “transmitting a threat in interstate commerce,” interfering with the execution of a search warrant, and being "accessory after the fact in the unauthorized access to a protected computer."

Stop Trying To Kill My Husband; Free Mumia Now!!

April 7, 2015 Wadiya Jamal, Resist! Human Rights, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Political Prisoner, Prison

Enough is enough!!! Today is my birthday. April 24 is Mumia’s 61st birthday. But today my husband is in critical condition in a cell in the infirmary at SCI Mahanoy. We need Mumia free and home!!! This rotten ass system has made many attempts on my husband's life when his only crime is that on December 9, 1981 he survived a cop’s gunshot to the chest through his lungs to the liver, a serious ass whipping by cops on the street of 13th and Locust, then cops surrounding his hospital bed stepping on his urine bag making the poison go back up into his body. He is innocent in the murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner and the cops on the scene all knew that. But Mumia was convicted for a murder he did not commit and sentenced to death. For over 30 years my husband was on death row in solitary confinement!!! where he was caged 24 hours a day, in his cell and even when outside. In general population these past three years, he has yet to receive his correct diet,!!!

Hungerstrike For Access To Programming & Recreation At OSP

March 23, 2015 Lucasville Amnesty, www.lucasvilleamnesty.org Resist! Human Rights, Hunger Strike, Prison

According to both Hasan and Warden Forshey, there are over 30 people officially on hunger strike at OSP (meaning they have skipped 9 meals, and submitted to having their cells shook down and getting medical check ups). Officer Charmainge Bracy (sp?) met with all the hunger striking prisoners. The Warden and other officials also came through the cell blocks talking with prisoners. Thus far none of the demands have been met and no changes made. Chief Legal Council for the ODRC, Trevor Clark came to the prison and said this was the first he's heard of the issues the hunger striking prisoners are raising, which (if true) means OSP thinks they can change policies regarding access to recreation and religious programming with no concern about the legality of these changes.

Ohio Prisoners On Hunger Strike

March 18, 2015 Lucasville Amnesty, www.lucasvilleamnesty.org Resist! Human Rights, police brutality, Prison, Wars and Militarism

With recent changes, only 15 or so of the over 400 prisoners at OSP are allowed congregate recreation on the range anymore and the prison is severely restricting outdoor rec. There are not enough outdoor rec cages get prisoners their legally required 5 hours a week if prisoners are only allowed out one at a time. Staff said the elevators going five of the semi-underground rec cages were broken, so access to rec is even more restricted. We don't know how many prisoners are participating in the hunger strike, but Hasan suspects many have joined in. 5B (the highest security level, about 57 prisoners) have also been denied access to programming, including constitutionally protected religious programming.

Anarchists Storm Greek Ruling Party HQ

March 9, 2015 AFP, www.france24.com Educate! Anarchism, Greece, Prison, Syriza, Torture

Anarchists occupied Greece's ruling party headquarters on Sunday in support of hunger strikers protesting against conditions in the country's maximum-security jails. A group of 50 anarchists burst into the offices of the radical left-wing Syriza party in downtown Athens on Sunday, forcing staff to leave the building, party officials said. "I was inside my office giving my first official interview to a radio station," the party's new spokeswoman Rania Svigou told AFP. "I had locked the door so I wouldn't be disturbed. Then I heard banging and shouting." she said. "I finished the interview and went out to see what was happening and they told us to get out," she added. Svigou said party workers did not call the police. Syriza has often criticised heavy-handed policing of anti-austerity protests in the past.

Texas Prison Riot: 2,800 Inmates Moved From ‘Uninhabitable’ Facility

February 23, 2015 RT, www.rt.com Resist! Immigration, Law, Mass Incarceration, Prison, Privatization, Texas

After 2,000 inmates, mostly immigrants, took over a Texas prison in a riot over poor medical services, federal authorities have decided to relocate all the detainees from the now “uninhabitable” correctional facility. The riot at the Willacy County Correctional Center erupted on Friday afternoon, when prisoners refused to eat breakfast or report for work to protest medical services at the facility. The prison was practically run over by the inmates, who continue to hold down the fort. It still remains unclear what medical service issues had upset the inmates. Only around 800 to 900 inmates have refused to riot in a facility that holds some 2,900 people, most of whom are immigrants with criminal record.

Kathy Kelly: A Note From Lexington Prison

February 12, 2015 Kathy Kelly, www.antiwar.com Educate! mental health, Prison, Wars and Militarism

Here in Lexington federal prison, Atwood Hall defies the normal Bureau of Prisons fixation on gleaming floors and spotless surfaces. Creaky, rusty, full of peeling paint, chipped tiles, and leaky plumbing, Atwood just won’t pass muster. But of the four federal prisons I’ve lived in, this particular “unit” may be the most conducive to mental health. Generally, the Bureau of Prisons system pushes guards to value buffed floors more than the people buffing the floors, walking the floors. Here, the atmosphere seems less uptight, albeit tinged with resigned acceptance that everyone is more or less “stuck” in what one prisoner described as “the armpit of the system.”

Lawsuits Claim Missouri Towns Jail Poor People For Profit

February 11, 2015 Carey Gillam, www.news.yahoo.com Resist! Capitalism, Ferguson, Mass Incarceration, Prison

Ferguson, Missouri and a second St. Louis suburb are being accused in separate lawsuits of operating a "debtors' prison scheme," illegally jailing poor people who are unable to pay traffic tickets or fines tied to other minor offenses. The lawsuits, filed on Sunday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis by 20 black residents, allege that officials in Ferguson and neighboring Jennings have routinely been abusing and exploiting impoverished individuals to boost city revenues. The plaintiffs are seeking class-action status for the cases. The plaintiffs claim the money they are told they owe is often arbitrarily modified, and the individuals are frequently kept locked in a cycle of jail time and indebtedness to the municipal courts as late fees and surcharges are added to initial fines.

A Future In Prison

January 26, 2015 Kathy Kelly, www.thestringer.com.au Resist! Drones, Prison, Wars and Militarism

The Bureau of Prisons contacted me today, assigning me a prison number and a new address: for the next 90 days, beginning tomorrow, I’ll live at FMC Lexington, in the satellite prison camp for women, adjacent to Lexington’s federal medical center for men. Very early tomorrow morning, Buddy Bell, Cassandra Dixon, and Paco and Silver, two house guests whom we first met in protests on South Korea’s Jeju Island, will travel with me to Kentucky and deliver me to the satellite women’s prison outside the Federal Medical Center for men. In December, 2014, Judge Matt Whitworth sentenced me to three months in federal prison after Georgia Walker and I had attempted to deliver a loaf of bread and a letter to the commander of Whiteman Air Force base, asking him to stop his troops from piloting lethal drone flights over Afghanistan from within the base.

Letter From Occupy Prisoner Connor Stevents

January 9, 2015 Sue Udry, www.defendingdissent.org Organize! FBI, Occupy, Prison

The NYC Anarchist Black Cross has just posted a letter from Connor Stevens, an activist with Occupy Cleveland who was ensnared in an FBI-manufactured terrorism plot. An FBI informant spent months building a relationship with Connor Stevens, Brandon Baxter, Doug Wright and Joshua Stafford. These four young men joined Occupy to help build a better world, but they were manipulated by Shaquille Azir, a ruthless FBI informant, into planning a crime they never would have even considered on their own: "I very much appreciate the letters. Despite my slacking on keeping up with correspondence,these letters, whether from groups or individuals, help me to maintain my focus and sense of perception. It is all-too-easy to go through life with blinders on, cutting ourselves off from our greatest sources of strength and purpose."

Five Guantanamo Prisoners Released & Sent To Kazakhstan

January 1, 2015 Kevin Gosztola, www.dissenter.firedoglake.com Educate! Guantanamo Bay, Prison

Three Yemenis and two Tunisians, who had each been cleared for release years ago, were released from Guantanamo Bay prison on December 30. They were sent to Kazakhstan and their release brought the number of prisoners who remain in detention to 127. According to Carol Rosenberg of The Miami Herald, Abdullah Bin Ali al Lutfi, a 48 year-old Tunisian, Adel al Hakeemy, a 49 year-old Tunisian, Asim Thahit Abdullah al Khalaqi, a 46 year-old Yemeni, Mohammed Ali Hussain, a 36 year-old Yemeni and Sabri Muhammed Ibrahim al Qurashi, a 44 year-old Yemeni, were resettled. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which has represented various Guantanamo prisoners, reacted, “We are encouraged by additional transfers and resettlements and hope they will continue until all Guantánamo prisoners the administration does not intend to charge are freed.”

National Protest Against Prison At Guantanamo Planned For Miami

January 1, 2015 Cassia Laham, www.fightbacknews.com Resist! Cuba, Guantanamo, Human Rights, Prison, Torture

Following the recent CIA torture report, determined activists in Florida are gearing up for the annual march and protest to shut down the U.S. torture prison at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. Anti-war leaders expect hundreds will protest outside the gates of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) on Jan. 11 in Doral, Florida, which is located near Miami. Notable speakers from across the country include Nancy Mancias of CodePink!, Camilo Mejia of Veterans for Peace and Holly Kent-Payne of Chicago with the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. “We need to continue to oppose U.S. torture of citizens and non-citizens alike. The detention centers at Guantanamo Bay are symbols of oppression and violence and must be shut down,” said Pamela Maldonado, an organizer with People’s Opposition to War, Imperialism, and Racism (POWIR).

How Lifetime Of Violence Led to In-Prison Activism

December 29, 2014 Victoria Law, www.wagingnonviolence.org Resist! Prison, Women's Rights

Nineteen years ago, in 1995, Kelly Savage was arrested and jailed after her abusive husband killed her 3-year-old son. Three years later, she was convicted of torture and first-degree murder, sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and sent to Valley State Prison for Women, then one of California’s three women’s prisons. I wrote about Kelly’s case and the efforts to free her for Truthout. After enduring a lifetime of violence and abuse and then facing the rest of her life behind prison walls, it would be easy for a person to become bitter, disillusioned and self-destructive. But instead, as I spoke with Kelly, outside advocates and the attorneys helping her file her writ of habeas corpus, I found that, rather than sinking into despair, Kelly has instead become an in-prison activist.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 »

Daily movement news and resources