[Crsd] A Labor Day Call to Action: Solidarity with National Prisoners Strike

[Monty Kroopkin]

---------- Forwarded Message ----------



Subject: A Labor Day Call to Action
From: IWW Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) <iwoc at iww.org>
To: <sandiego at iww.org>
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:03:25 +0000
 
 
 
 
  View this email in your browser  A Labor Day Call to ActionThe End of Prison Slavery, the Rebirth of Working Class ResistanceNews ArticleAugust 29, 2018Are you pissed off about the recent attacks against public employee unions? Are you disturbed by the continuation of literal slavery in the prison system? 
This Labor Day weekend take it to the barricades!
 
This is a call to establish encampments and coordinate direct actions surrounding the Labor Day weekend at the site of prison labor camps. Inspired by the recent wave of #AbolishICE organizing, prison abolitionists and labor activists have joined forces to call for an escalation of the movement to defend public service unions, stop prison slave labor, and end mass incarceration.
 
As prisoners launch what is anticipated to be the largest national prison strike in U.S. history, between August 21- September 9, we on the outside must also ask ourselves, what are we willing to do and how much are we willing to risk to demonstrate our solidarity to fellow workers?
 
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court announced one of the most devastating blows to union membership in decades. The Janus decision specifically targeted public employees of state and local agencies, in which the Court decreed that public workers who benefit from their unions' collective-bargaining efforts owe no obligation to offer financial support for those efforts. This ruling opens the door for corporate interests to decimate this organizing force of nearly 7 million members that has consistently stood up against privatization, including in the prison industry.
 
All hope is not lost and those whose dedication to working-class power is unhindered by right wing attacks know that this is a time to step up, not back. It's a time to fight harder and smarter.
 
So let's cut to the chase. It's no secret that police and prisons usurp a majority of funds available to the general budgets of state and local governments. It is not uncommon to have a quarter to half of any given city or county budget be dumped into police or sheriff coffers. As of 2017, the best attempts to assess total costs of prison and policing land around $182 billion a year. According to reports, all this spending does little towards achieving actual public safety.
 
This spending behavior has created  a police state and a national prison population that exceeds the entire population of major cities like Philadelphia and Dallas, as well as that of at least 14 US states. It has become a nation unto itself, comprised of exiles deprived of basic constitutional and human rights under the guise of empty words like “corrections.” For example, six million Americans have been denied access to the ballot based on a criminal conviction, not to mention their limited access to Due Process, Free Speech and other basic rights. These are all issues raised in the 10 primary demands of striking prisoners, initially presented by the organization Jailhouse Lawyers Speak.
 
The conditions prisoners face are constantly being exposed for abuse, exploitation, racism and brutal violence. Prisoners are not our enemies. They are neighbors, friends and family members. They are people who may have once worked in our communities, but due to a variety of circumstances including racism, poverty and mental illness, and domestic abuse, they are now locked in overcrowded human warehouses.
 
Thanks to the popularity of books like Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow and films like Ava DuVernay’s 13th, the disproportionate representation of Black communities in prison is no longer a secret or fringe issue. What may be lesser known is that free Black workers remain more likely to be union members than any other demographic. While it’s widely accepted that the prison population rose 700% since 1970 in a direct retaliation against the civil rights and Black power movements, a similar case can be made for the labor movement: today’s criminal justice policies serve the purpose of quelling progressive social movements today, just as they did following the U.S. Civil War 150 years ago.
 
We believe that an end to the police state and the mass incarceration it fuels could usher in an era of renewed public sector solidarity. Although prisons warehouse people of all types, the most common denominator for those inside is grinding poverty from inner city and rural communities that are nearly devoid of access to opportunities for social and cultural survival. The billions of dollars that get dumped into police and prison budgets annually could instead go towards effective rehabilitation and solid employment for the current prison population of over 2 million potential union members. 
 
Right now many union organizations are gearing up for picnics next week, others are organizing around raising the minimum wage. But for those reading this call to action, we invite you to take a step further and join the front lines of a long overdue working class resistance movement. 
 
Our brothers and sisters locked in cages are paid pennies on the hour if anything at all. In the Southern states Jim Crow prevails as many prisons systems still pay nothing. In state prison systems across the South, access to rehabilitative programs, an unbiased parole board or fair pricing at commissary is rare, not to mention that KKK members are still found in the guards’ ranks. 
 
To offer a single example, the state of Florida's Department of Transportation paid the state’s Department of Corrections 19 million dollars last year in a contract for prison labor. Little has changed since one hundred years ago when many of that state’s first roads were built by convict-leased former slaves. 
 
In places where prisoners do get paid a nominal amount, it’s actually going down. As of last year, the average of the minimum daily wages paid to incarcerated workers for non-industry prison jobs is now 86 cents, down from 93 cents reported in 2001. The average maximum daily wage for the same prison jobs has declined more significantly, from $4.73 in 2001 to $3.45 today.
 
But prisoners don't just maintain the roads and toil in license plate factories. They actually run the entire prison system too. They cook, they clean, they paint, they weld, they repair cars, they do plumbing and maintain waste treatment facilities, they staff law libraries. All while prison guards generally stand and watch.
 
While it is encouraging to see some unions pushing back against prison privatization, it is a push that needs to be redirected against the prison system as a whole. Prison guards are modern day slave overseers whether the prison is private or public. No one grows up wanting to be in that role, and studies have concluded that those who are entrenched in it bring that violence back into their own households and communities.
 
Just as environmentalists call for a just transition away from dirty energy, unions must call for a just transition away from prisons and over-policing. Valuable labor power is wasted in overseeing prison slaves that deserve actual rehabilitation and opportunities for release.
 
To be clear, when we speak of ending mass incarceration and abolition of prison slavery, we call for the immediate redistribution of the billions spent in policing and prisons into good jobs and social programs that address the roots of our social problems including racism, substance abuse, domestic violence, poverty and mental illness. These are social issues that will never be resolved by policies like the “war on drugs” or criminalizing immigration.
 
Come this Labor Day, for those who hear the call, we suggest blockades of prison labor facilities, encampments at their gates, and steadfast resolve to end slavery once and for all.
 
Endorsed by 
Gainesville IWOC and IWW General Membership Branch (FL)
Tampa IWW 
Kansas City IWOC
 

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Imam Hasan SMP decision August 14, 2018August 29, 2018Disposition of the Rules Infraction Board [see note below], August 14, 2018.  The “facts that explain the board’s decision” are said to be as follows:            “The Serious Misconduct Panel believes that inmate Sanders R130559 did attempt to incite others to riot by misusing the DRC phone system referring to the 2016 prison strike/work stoppage and violent events that occurred in our nation’s prisons and jails to promote the 2018 prison strike/work stoppage that is suspected to occur on August 21, 2018 that will end on September 9, 2018.  Inmate Sanders stated on the DRC phone system that two years later, the decision has been that from August 21 to September 9, there is going to be another National Work Stoppage and it entails many more things than what happened in 2016.  We intend to put up stiff resistance.”            A Supplemental page of the Disposition sets forth additional allegations concerning a supposed event not mentioned in the Conduct Report and as to which no evidence was offered at the hearing:  “the SMP believes that Sanders R130559 did misuse the JPay privilege by answering an anti-Aramark Food Service organizer’s JPay message to him.  The organizer asked inmate Sanders R130559 to recruit other inmates via JPay to stop Aramark from being used at the University of Cincinnati until they stopped feeding inmates incarcerated in Ohio.”            The Serious Misconduct Panel recommended placement in ERH3 (reduction in level of privileges), and suspension of Hasan’s phone and JPay privileges for up to one year. The Disposition form and the Appeal form refer to the Rules Infraction Board, but the Conduct Report was heard by the Serious Misconduct Panel.  hasan_-_smp_disposition_8-14-18.pdfPublication Year 2018
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Imam Hasan conduct report July 27, 2018August 29, 2018Conduct Report, July 27, 2018.  Hasan is said to have violated five prison rules:“Rioting, or encouraging others to riot”;“Engaging in or encouraging a group demonstration or work stoppage”;“Conducting business operations with any person or entity, without permission”;“Use of telephone or mail in furtherance of any criminal activity (encouraging disturbance/riot)”;“Violation of other policy, specifically rules on receiving money from unapproved sources [and] by his own admission on July 15, 2018 Inmate Sanders is also acting as a leader and spokesperson.” hasan_-_conduct_report_july_2018.pdfPublication Year 2018
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Imam Hasan's appeal to the August 14, 2018 conduct report ruling.August 29, 2018Imam Hasan's appeal to the August 14, 2018 conduct report ruling.
 
Notice of Disciplinary Appeal, August 22, 2018.  This document is entirely in Hasan’s handwriting and was mailed to the appropriate reviewing entity, the Division of Legal Services of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
 hasan_-_appeal_8-22-18.pdfPublication Year 2018
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Restore Communication Access to Imam HasanLocation OhioCampaign Scope NationalIn late July of 2018 Imam Siddique Abdullah Hasan was cut off from phone and email access and had most of his property confiscated and his cell locked down in a clear move to silence his advocacy for prisoners leading up to the nationwide prison strike. Hasan is an IWOC member who has been held in solitary confinement on death row since 1993 on false charges deriving from the Lucasville Uprising.  

Hasan has been an effective organizer, frequent hunger striker, and was a key spokesperson leading up to the September 9, 2016 nationally coordinated prisoner strike and protest. In 2018 he was prevented from taking such a role by this pre-emptive restriction on his communication access. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) put Hasan before a serious misconduct panel (SMP) on August 14th, 2018, where he was, as expected railroaded and charged with five rules violations and sentenced to a communication restriction of indefinite, but likely extensive length. Hasan considers this an infringement on his free speech and is appealing the decision.  
Immediately upon restriction Imam Hasan started a hunger strike, and supporters a phone zap call in campaign to support him. Hasan's situation will come up for review every 3 months, we're hoping to influence the process to restore his communication access either by overturning the SMP decision or seeing a favorable decision at one of these reviews.
 

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Strike Statement to the Press; August 28, 2018News ArticleAugust 28, 2018Statement regarding the ongoing Nationwide Prison StrikeIssued August 28, 2018 (week two of the strike) by the Prison Strike Media Team Amani Sawariofficial outside media representative of Jailhouse Lawyers Speakprisonstrikemedia at gmail.com Jared WareFreelance journalist covering prisoner movementsjaybeware at gmail.com@jaybeware on Twitter Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC)National Media Subcommittee, media at incarceratedworkers.org@IWW_IWOC on twitter 
This is a growing movement and the Nationwide Prison Strike of 2018 is an unparalleled success for prisoner organizing in the modern era. However, it is important that in recognizing that success that we not lose sight of the demands that prisoners have laid out. Each of them is crucial. As the continued prisoner-on-prisoner violence within prisons over the past week suggests, the people who run the US prison system have not yet made the necessary changes to stop the violence they produce behind the walls. These are changes which are necessary to ensure that prisoners are safe, that they have can have hopes and dreams for the future, that they can build towards redemption, rather than being condemned to a slow death inside a concrete box.
 
Right now we know that thousands of prisoners are risking torturous repression to bring this agenda forward, and we do not take their sacrifice lightly and neither should you. Prisoners are facing repression right now as we speak and it is our duty on the outside to do whatever we can to shield them from that violence of the state.
 
We have had incidents where media have had the opportunity to interview imprisoned prison strike leadership and have refused to print their words because the prisoner refused to give out his government name out of an understanding of the very real dangers of reprisal. Opportunities to interview prisoners who are connected to the organization of this protest from the inside are precious and we will not squander them again on institutions who don't understand and value what is at risk for prisoners in this moment.
 
To reiterate and raise up the voices of the prisoners’ themselves, below again are the demands:
 
“These are the NATIONAL DEMANDS of the men and women in federal, immigration, and state prisons:
 
Immediate improvements to the conditions of prisons and prison policies that recognize the humanity of imprisoned men and women.

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.

The Prison Litigation Reform Act must be rescinded, allowing imprisoned humans a proper channel to address grievances and violations of their rights.

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.

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.

An immediate end to racist gang enhancement laws targeting Black and brown humans.

No imprisoned human shall be denied access to rehabilitation programs at their place of detention because of their label as a violent offender.

State prisons must be funded specifically to offer more rehabilitation services.

Pell grants must be reinstated in all US states and territories.

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!

 
As the first week of the prison strike comes to a close, we are seeing the strike spread across the US as the imprisoned organizers predicted. Within prisons, what we see and are able to report on the outside is always only the tip of the iceberg. For every documented form of protest that we are able to share with you, we know there are many others that aren't even on our radar yet.
 
Here is a list of the states and prisons that have reported strike activity to Jailhouse Lawyers Speak or the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee as of August 28,2 2018:
 
Washington - Representatives of over 200 immigrant detainees at Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington declared a hunger strike on day one of the national prison strike. Amid fears of retaliation, 70 across three blocks participated. As of this time, seven continue to refuse food into a second week.
 
Georgia - Prisoners in Georgia State Prison "Reidsville" have reported a strike according to Jailhouse Lawyers Speak.
 
South Carolina - Jailhouse Lawyers Speak is reporting that prisoners in the following facilities are on strike: Broad River Correctional Institution, Lee Correctional Institution, McCormick Correctional Institution, Turbeville Correctional Institute, Kershaw Correctional Institution, and Lieber Correctional Institution. The actions in these facilities include widespread workstrikes, with only a few prisoners reporting to their jobs, and commissary boycotts.
 
North Carolina - Prisoners at Hyde Correctional Institution in Swanquarter, NC demonstrated in solidarity with the strike. There have been unconfirmed reports of strikes at other institutions across the state.
 
California - at New Folsom Prison a hunger strike started by Heriberto Garcia on August 21 has grown...
 
Ohio - At least two prisoners at Toledo Correctional Institution began a hunger strike on August 21. David Easley and James Ward were moved into isolation for participating and authorities have cut off their means of communication to outside contacts.
 
Indiana -  prisoners in the segregation unit at Wabash Valley Correctional Institutioninitiated a hunger strike on Monday August 27 demanding adequate food and an end to cold temperatures in the unit.
 
New Mexico - On August 9, prisoners at Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, NM organized a work stoppage against conditions at the prison, operated by private corporation GEO Group. Tensions at the prison reached a tipping point prior to the date of the strike and prisoners could not wait before initiating their protest. All facilities in New Mexico were placed on lockdown status on the morning of August 20. This statewide lockdown has since been lifted except for Lea County C.F..
 
Florida - Jailhouse Lawyers Speak asserts that five Florida facilities are seeing strike activity: Charlotte CI reports 40 refusing work, and 100 boycotting commissary. Prisoners at Dade Correctional say 30-40 on strike, Franklin Correctional report 30-60, Holmes Correctional reports 70, Appalachee Correctional report an unknown number.
 
Nova Scotia, Canada - at Burnside County Jail in Halifax prisoners went on strike and issued a protest statement in solidarity with the strike and naming local demands.  They went through a lockdown and extensive negotiations with authorities, those who refused to cooperate with humiliating body scans were punished by being locked in a dry cell (no water or working toilets) for three days. 
 
Texas
IWOC was forwarded a message dated 8/23 from inside administrative segregation, (solitary) of Stiles Unit, Beaumont TX confirming that 2 prisoners are on hunger strike in solidarity with the national action:  "I feel great. But very hungry! And not because I don't have food but because of our 48 hours solidarity with our brothers and sisters. It's the only way we can show support from inside of Seg. Let everyone know we got their backs."

IWOC has confirmed that Robert Uvalle is on hunger strike in solitary at Michael Unit, Anderson County, TX in solidarity with the nationwide strike. Robert has been in solitary for most of his 25 years inside.

 
 
Prison authorities have begun responding to the strike in media interviews denying that anything unusual is occuring in their facilities. Inside organizers predicted this would happen and urge continued skepticism and investigation. Organizers with Jailhouse Lawyers Speak struggle to rebut these claims because of the need to protect themselves from targeted reprisals. 
 
Before the strike started, prisoner leaders in Ohio, Florida and Texas were targeted and isolated. The state’s attempts to pre-empt or deter strike action in some facilities included humiliating and demoralizing rituals.
 
In previous years, prisoners who openly spoke to media suffered greatly for it. For example, Melvin Ray, Dhati Khalid and Kinetik Justice of the Free Alabama Movement were transferred to isolation in 2014 after publicly announcing a work stoppage. Then in 2016, while still in isolation from that incident, they continued to openly advocate the September 9 national strike. Kinetik Justice was sent to notoriously dangerous Kilby and Limestone prisons where he believed authorities intended to kill him, but continued to protest and draw attention, protecting himself from further harm.  
 
The efforts by authorities to disrupt communication between prisoner organizers and outside support also interfere with and impede communication between prisons by inside organizers. Before the strike started Jailhouse Lawyers Speak heard commitments to the strike and its demands from prisoners in 17 states. Prison authorities may prove successful in concealing or even deterring participation in some of those states, but they cannot refute the righteousness of the 10 prisoner demands.  
 
Outside supporters have and will continue to advocate for the demands with vibrant protests across the United States. Hundreds of rallies, protests, informational events, and other actions have been recorded. Phone zaps to support striking prisoners have seen wide participation. The impact of the strike on policy and public dialog about mass incarceration in the United States will be deep and sustained.
 
There have been many questions about whether the prison strike can be successful. To the first question, the success of the prison strike will not be determined in a simple easily digestible news bite, but by the recognition by enough people with enough power to force society to view prisoners as human beings, and view the concerns of incarcerated humans as legitimate human rights concerns. The strike has clearly already achieved greater success than the 2016 strike, as it has reached publications and milestones that were never reached in 2016. Prisoner demands have permeated the mainstream conversation and they are taking their rightful place at the table in all conversations on how to begin to undo the atrocity that is mass incarceration in America. Organizations are signing on in solidarity faster than organizers can update the endorsement list and by the time we hit the one week mark there are over 300 organizations, and groups officially in solidarity with the prison strike.
 
The full realization of prisoners demands requires broad changes to the prison system and US society. The prisoners’ bold action must be followed up on the outside with policy changes and continuous conversations about living conditions and human rights abuse in the prisons.

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Phonezap for Wabash Valley Hunger Strikers in the SHU!MAKE THE LINES RING ALL DAY! FRIDAY, AUG 31, sunrise to sunset!

Several inmates in the Secure Housing Unit(SHU) at Wabash Valley Correctional Facility are initiating a hunger strike in protest of their already starvation-level meal portions, their lack of access to basic necessities like adequate clothing, and access to commissary items . Food portions are extremely small, imagine a high school lunch tray where the section for your main course isn't even half full. The food they receive is already lacking in nutrition and comes in boxes labelled "not for human consumption." Food services in the IDOC are managed by the private corporation Aramark, and food served to inmates lacks basic nutritional value and is often served rotten. To make matters worse, Corrections Officers are known to contaminate food with saliva and feces.

The SHU is kept extremely cold in order to limit inmates activity and keep them in their beds. Their bodies burn calories to keep warm that can't even be replaced by the meager meals they are given.

Wabash's Valley's Secure Housing Unit is the end of the line for prisoners facing abuse by the IDOC. It is the most extreme form of isolation, sensory deprivation, mental and physical torture that the prison system can offer. Some inmates are kept under 24/7 video and audio surveillance. They are unable to order items from commissary and must subsist on the crumbs they are given. The SHU has a notorious history of unspeakable abuse against inmates. In the 1990's its commander James Basinger oversaw a cabal of sadisitc guards that engaged in daily torture and even murder of the inmates in their custody. Today, James Basinger is the Deputy Commissioner of the IDOC, extending his techniques throughout the whole system.

The inmates now attempting to resist are putting themselves in extreme danger in order to have their voices heard. It is up to outside supporters to put the spotlight on the strike. Wabash Valley is content to let its inmates starve as long as they believe no one is paying attention.

Pledge to make calls to Warden Richard Brown, IDOC Commissioner Robert Carter, and governor Eric Holcomb.

Wabash Valley Warden Richard Brown | (812) 398-5050
Commissioner Robert Carter | (317) 232-5711
Governor Eric Holcomb | (317) 232-4567

Sample Script: "I am calling to voice concern about the treatment of inmates at the Secure Housing Unit at Wabash Valley Correctional Facility. Inmates on the SHU are currently on hunger strike to protest their deplorable conditions. I ask that you grant these inmates demands immediately."

Reportbacks on calls are to be sent to idocwatch at gmail.com or you can comment on the fb event: https://www.facebook.com/events/324034711667100/
# of Call Ins Made 0Status Urgent
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