2018 Prison Strike

I take it you're talking about Merca specifically.

 

Dude, come on! You smoke weed - you're literally a criminal, you just haven't been caught.

 

Criminals come in all forms.

 

Prisoners in Nova Scotia have joined the strike in solidarity as well. Good coverage of this on Democracy Now! (Democracynow.org).

 

Can someone give me some accurate info on why they are striking ?? Besides the fact that there are quite a few that shouldn't be there. On a side note, there are many that need to be there forever, but all cups of coffee do not taste the same.

 

Because it's 2018 and little Tom, dick and Harry want their voices heard, even from behind concrete cells. Lol.

 

I think this is why they're striking, one reason anyways

Private corporations are essentially using prisoners as a free labor supply

If only there was a word for that....

 

From IWOC:

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. The Prison Litigation Reform Act must be rescinded, allowing imprisoned humans a proper channel to address grievances and violations of their rights.
4. The Truth in Sentencing Act and the Sentencing Reform Act must be rescinded so that imprisoned humans have a possibility of rehabilitation and parole.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 imprisoned human shall be denied access to rehabilitation programs at their place of detention because of their label as a violent offender.
8. State prisons must be funded specifically to offer more rehabilitation services.
9. Pell grants must be reinstated in all US states and territories.
10. The voting rights of all confined citizens serving prison sentences, pretrial detainees, and so-called “ex-felons” must be counted. Representation is demanded. All voices count.

These are just the national ones, many facilities are also fighting issues such as group punishment and indefinite solitary confinement (torture).

 

Thank you, thank you I'm reading it now.

 

American slavery was technically abolished in 1865, but a loophole in the 13th Amendment has allowed it to continue “as a punishment for crimes” well into the 21st century. Not surprisingly, corporations have lobbied for a broader and broader definition of “crime” in the last 150 years. As a result, there are more (mostly dark-skinned) people performing mandatory, essentially unpaid, hard labor in America today than there were in 1830.

With 5 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s prison population, the United States has the largest incarcerated population in the world. No other society in history has imprisoned more of its own citizens. There are half a million more prisoners in the U.S. than in China, which has five times our population. Approximately 1 in 100 adults in America were incarcerated in 2014. Out of an adult population of 245 million that year, there were 2.4 million people in prison, jail or some form of detention center.

The vast majority – 86 percent – of prisoners have been locked up for non-violent, victimless crimes, many of them drug-related.

From the article How Prison Labor is the New American Slavery and Most of Us Unknowingly Support it which then lists 50 companies using prison slavery, some of which are; Whole Foods, AT&T, BP, Bank of America, Bayer, Cargill, Caterpillar, Chevron, Chrysler, Costco, John Deere, Eli Lilly and Company, Exxon Mobil, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson and Johnson, K-Mart, Koch Industries, McDonald’s, Merck, Microsoft, Motorola, Nintendo, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Pepsi, ConAgra Foods, Shell, Starbucks, UPS, Verizon, WalMart and Wendy’s.

 

They use it as a cash cow......

 

I think everyone pretty much knows how to avoid prison.

 

nope still nothing in the pa system about this. .good luck with that tho..

 

BTW I have a medicinal marijuana card, so no, me smoking weed isn't illegal.

 

The irony of needing permission to use a plant, while the food in our corner grocery stores is for the most part, beyond toxic is NOT lost....lol

 

Here are some podcasts on the strike:

• Inside, Outside, All On the Same Side: Prison Strike Round Table
• Final Straw: #PrisonStrike Discussion with Oakland IWOC
• Rust Belt Abolition Radio: Prelude to the 2018 Prison Strike
• Kite Line: Strike Season
• The Guillotine: #PrisonStrike2018, Infowars/OathKeeping Fascists, Climate Chaos, & Socialist Art

And here is an in-depth article which explains some prison-specific issues such as:

#1.) End of group punishments. Especially the “off the record” policy known as “redtag” used at Sterling. This is in reference to Colorado’s prisons locking down entire groups for one person’s actions. And it is almost exclusively used to lockdown groups of Hispanic inmates, which can force anywhere between 20-100 Hispanic inmates to be held indefinitely in solitary (for no action of their own) for months at a time. At any given moment.

#2.) Abolish solitary confinement, but especially as a punishment to retaliate against inmates who refuse to attend/participate in intel/ICC interviews.

#3.) C.D.O.C must comply with all parts of the settlement reached in Decoteau v.Raemisch as well as adhere to the statements made by Rick Raemisch himself in a Oct. 2017 New York Times article and statements where he stated “solitary confinement and extended restrictive housing have been abolished in Colorado. No inmate will be held in RH [restrictive housing] longer than 15 days.”

#4.) Refund all inmates; money for outstanding subscription and GTL Linkunit accounts due to tablets being recalled.

#5.) Expand educational programs to include some correspondence courses and programs to help build and strengthen family unity between inmates and their families in the outside world.

 

Its worth noting that the US has one of the highest recidivism rates in the world.
So whatever we're doing, ain't working.

 

I've known (and know) a number of "ex-cons"...and I will state without doubt and unequivocally that the SC Dept of Corrections does NOTHING to help reintegrate a single inmate into society. If anything, they try and make it as difficult as possible. Now with DOLT45 up there backing up private prisons for profit, I find it frightening what may come.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Exactly the correctional system is big business, they employ thousands of people from prison guards to civilian contractors and doctors to food service vendors.

Like all businesses they need to expand. How do you do that? By keeping a steady stream of customers

 

And this is just those who make it to prison. Over 1000 people are killed by police every year.
Police have killed 646 people in 2018.
Killed By Police - Solidarity Not Charity