Saturday, September 3, 2022

In Contempt #20: Black August, Running Down the Walls, Prisoner Hunger and Work Strikes

In this column, we present our monthly roundup of political prisoner, prison rebel, and repression news, happenings, announcements, action and analysis. Packed in as always is updates, calls to action, fundraisers, and birthdays.

There’s a lot happening, so let’s dive right in!

Black August

Every year, imprisoned revolutionaries observe Black August, a month of study and struggle marking the anniversary of a number of important dates in the history of Black Liberation, but particularly the deaths of George and Jonathan Jackson. This year, an online project, Black August Solidarity Cypher, has been put together, allowing comrades on both sides of the prison walls to connect. See their introduction page and “how this project works” to learn more, or check out their instagram page.

Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners

While Black August is observed in the US, internationally, the dates of 23-30 August are marked as a week of solidarity with anarchist prisoners, commemorating the date that Sacco and Vanzetti were executed. This year, events for the week took place in Tristán Narvaja, Uruguay, Koblenz, Germany, London, UK, Newcastle, UK, Dresden, Germany, Dublin, Ireland, Moscow, Russia, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Warsaw, Poland, Leipzig, Germany, Lübeck, Germany, Tbilisi, Georgia, and Vienna, Austria. Anarchists in Poland also wrote graffiti and dropped a banner, and anarchist prisoners Toby Shone, Juan Flores, and Juan Aliste have all published statements for the week.

Running Down the Walls

The Anarchist Black Cross Federation’s annual Running Down the Walls fundraiser will be taking place in mid-September. Events are planned for Chicago on September 10th, Philadelphia on the 11th, Austin and Richmond on the 17th, Portland, New York, Lowell and Pomona on the 18th. Statements in support of the event have been published by Dan Baker and Oso Blanco.

Prisoner News

Anarchist prisoner Eric King has now been transferred to a “supermax” unit, USP Florence ADX. Despite being found not guilty at his recent trial, and being eligible for release in the relatively near future, he is now being held at a prison designed mainly for violent prisoners serving life sentences, including a number of inmates convicted of charges related to Al-Qaeda activity. For context, Julian Assange’s lawyers were able to delay his extradition to the United States by pointing to the likelihood of him being sent to Florence, which persuaded a judge to block the extradition, and the US government had to issue a guarantee that he would not be sent to a supermax before the extradition could go ahead.

The fight to win compassionate release for long-term Black/New Afrikan liberation prisoner Dr Mutulu Shakur continues. The Final Straw Radio just broadcast a new interview on the campaign, which was also recently covered on Democracy Now.

Lucasville Uprising prisoner Keith Lamar/Bomani Shakur recently fought a successful hunger strike over phone access. Kite Line Radio recorded an interview with him discussing the situation, and his support campaign wrote:

HUNGER STRIKE SUSPENDED!

Keith sends his heartfelt love and appreciation to all who called in, wrote messages, shared his situation, and/or held space for him in their prayers and meditations. He felt the collective love!

Warden Bowen came and talked to him and brought a technician from GTL to his cell to test the signal and repair it. Keith has agreed to suspend his hunger strike on good faith for now with the agreement that he will log his calls and report back to the warden any issues he still has after this, if any. If after 10 days the tablet is still giving him difficulty, the warden has agreed to give him the cordless phone back. Keith feels this is a reasonable compromise. He will be satisfied with a reliable way to call family and media as he fights for his freedom this next year. That’s what he wanted to begin with.

Please suspend calls to the prison for now… and thank you all again for your support!

In another piece of good news related to Lucasville prisoners, Greg Curry, who recently carried out another hunger strike after being sent to solitary confinement, has now been returned to general population. You can write to Greg at:

Greg Curry #A213159
Toledo CI
PO Box 80033
Toledo OH, 43608

In Austin, Texas, a rally is being organized for November 21st, demanding freedom for the Chicano anarchist political prisoner Xinachtli/Alvaro Luna Hernandez, and commemorating the 100-year anniversary of the death of Ricardo Flores Magón, the legendary Mexican anarchist who died in USP Leavenworth in November 2022. Contact Central Texas ABC at twitchon@gmail.com for more information.

Lore Blumenthal, a George Floyd uprising defendant from Philadelphia, has now been released.

Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3, who spent almost 44 years in solitary confinement, has passed away at the age of 75.

It’s Going Down has published updates on the situation of Fidencio Aldama, an indigenous Yaqui political prisoner held by the Mexican state who’s just had an appeal denied, and Miguel Peralta, a former anarchist political prisoner who’s now facing a new arrest warrant. You can read more about Miguel’s situation here.

Current Case

The repression against Asheville mutual aid organizers continues, as a grand jury has now indicted all 16 of the defendants charged with “felony littering”. On a similar note, the NYPD recently carried out a violent raid against mutual aid organizers and homeless people at Washington Square Park.

The International Antifascist Defence Fund is currently helping with the legal costs of an antifascist facing charges related to a confrontation in Portland, and have a report on the case of someone facing a month in jail and an $8,000 fine for graffiti during the George Floyd uprising in Los Angeles.

Phone/Email-Zaps

The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee has called for a phone/email zap demanding the release of two Washington prisoners who were sent to solitary on trumped-up charges, as well as another for Texas anarchist prisoner Julio “Comrade Z” Zuniga, who is currently receiving needed treatment and will be in danger if sent back to the Darrington Unit. North Carolina revolutionary prisoner Joseph “Shine White” Stewart is still being held in solitary without access to property, including his medication, and supporters are calling for a phone zap to get him transferred out of state.

General Prison News

A new documentary has been produced about the Pendleton 2, two Indiana prisoners given extremely long sentences for challenging a white supremacist guard gang. You can find more about the fight to free the Pendleton 2 here.

In one high-profile story, two Pennsylvania judges involved in the “kids-for-cash” scandal have now been ordered to pay $200 million in compensation to some of the many children they sent to for-profit prisons in exchange for kickbacks.

Immigrant detainees at two federal detention centers launched a strike. As Labor Notes wrote:

At two federal detention centers in California, more than 50 immigrant workers are on strike over unsafe working conditions and low wages.

“We are being exploited for our labor and are being paid $1 per day to clean the dormitories,” said strikers at a central California detention center in a June statement received by public radio station KQED.

Detained workers, known as “housing porters,” participate in a supposedly volunteer working program while locked up. They use their earnings to pay for the exorbitant cost of phone calls and commissary items like dental floss and tortillas.

“They are compelled to do this,” says Alan Benjamin, a delegate to the San Francisco Labor Council who heard directly from striking workers during a call with the labor council. “It’s not voluntary; it’s compulsory work, without proper sanitation and equipment.”

“The mold is terrible,” adds Benjamin. “People are getting sick, one after the other.”

Long-time prison organizer Kevin “Rashid” Johnson has published a new article describing how he and other prisoners have faced serious medical neglect from the prison system.

The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee have a new post about the issue of prison mail surveillance and censorship.

In Texas, Jason Walker has published a new article with important advice for prisoners on how to protect themselves during a violent cell extraction, and a former prisoner has now won over $27,000 in compensation after a 2007 incident where a Polunsky Unit guard paid a gang to beat him.

Prisoner resistance continues at the Jefferson City Correctional Center in Missouri, where a guard is now suing over a July attack by an inmate. The same prison also saw a larger-scale uprising in May.

Acts of prisoner resistance logged by Perilous Chronicle during August include an escape from Concordia Parish Correctional Facility in Louisiana, a riot and attack on guards at Coxasackie Correctional Facility in New York, an escape attempt at Morgan County Jail in Alabama, a protest by ICE detainees at Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana, an escape from the Alcorn County Jail in Mississippi, a riot at the California Correctional Institution, an uprising at the Orleans Justice Center in Louisiana, a protest at the Erie County Jail in Ohio, a hunger strike at the Rhode Island Maximum Security Prison, an attack on guards and escape from the Lincoln County Jail in Washington, an uprising at the Ottawa County Jail in Oklahoma, a hunger strike among ICE detainees at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in New York, an escape from Chester County Jail in Tennessee, and a hunger strike at Harnett Correctional in North Carolina. The statement on It’s Going Down also has contact details for how supporters can show solidarity with the Harnett hunger strike.

Abolitionist Media Projects

True Leap Press is running a fundraiser so they can afford to carry on sending reading materials into prisons. Scalawag Magazine has just published an article on the growing incarceration rate among women in Texas, along with one on how research on prisons has only covered the male population. Truthout has published an essay by Kwaneta Harris, who was forced to work in Texas prison fields.

The San Francisco Bay View continues to publish prisoner writings on a regular basis, including an article on deadly heat conditions in Virginia prisons, a report on racist abuse by staff in the California prison system, and reflections on the tradition of Black August. The Bay View will be hosting an event in San Francisco on September 16th, celebrating the 90th birthday of the paper’s founder, Willie Ratcliff, and launching new projects to keep the paper alive and thriving.

The Prisons Kill site has published a new report on the successful struggle to free Prakash Churaman from Rikers Island. Mongoose Distro has online copies of the first few issues of IB 64, a new mini-zine produced entirely by Pennsylvania prisoners.

Recent episodes of Kite Line Radio have included one on a mass transfer of Illinois prisoners due to a black mold problem, Keith Lamar on his recent hunger strike, and a two-part interview with former Black Liberation prisoner Zolo Azania.

International

It’s Going Down has published an interview with Tameio, a solidarity fund for imprisoned revolutionaries in Greece. You can donate to their fundraising campaign here.

Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails have begun a mass hunger strike.

The International Antifascist Defence Fund are working with a woman trying to escape the Philippines after her colleagues were massacred by government-backed forces.

ABC Moscow continue to support anarchists and others resisting Putin’s regime. As well as holding a public event for the international week of solidarity, they are working with defendants facing charges for arson attacks against government buildings such as Vladimir Zolotarev and Igor Paskar. Network case defendant Victor Filinkov has won some victories against the prison system’s attempts to punish him with additional trumped-up disciplinary charges.

Siberian punks and anarchists continue to face new charges over both anti-war actions and clashes with right-wingers. Autonomous Action are fundraising so they can keep sharing vital updates from the anarchist movement in Russia.

In the UK, trials connected to the Bristol Kill the Bill riot are still continuing, with one defendant being given a 14-month sentence, while another managed to beat all the charges against her. There’s also a major trial coming up in October, where defendants from the Palestine solidarity movement are facing charges of burglary, criminal damage and blackmail in connection to alleged actions against the Israeli arms company Elbit.

Uprising Defendants

Everyone should support the defendants facing charges related to their alleged participation in the George Floyd uprising – this list of our imprisoned comrades needs to be getting shorter, not longer. See Uprising Support for more info, and check out the Antirepression PDX site for updates from Portland cases. The status of pre-trial defendants changes frequently, but to the best of our knowledge they currently include:

Kelly Jackson 50288-086
FCI Sheridan Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. BOX 5000
Sheridan, OR 97378

Tyre Means 49981-086
USP Beaumont
PO BOX 26030
Beaumont, TX 77720

Margaret Channon 49955-086
FCI Aliceville
PO Box 4000
Aliceville, AL 35442

Malik Muhammad #23935744
Oregon State Penitentiary
2605 State Street
Salem, OR 97310

Jacob Michael Gaines #81973-065
FCI Sheridan
P.O. BOX 5000
Sheridan, OR 97378

Jacob asks that people include an email address associated with their corrlinks account so he can return an email instead of a letter.

Cyan Waters Bass #23905849
Oregon State Correctional Institution
3405 Deer Park Drive SE
Salem, Oregon 97310

Gavaughn Streeter-Hillerich #19203494
Oregon State Penitentiary
2605 State Street
Salem, Oregon 97310

Montez Lee 22429-041
FCI Ray Brook
Federal Correctional Institution
PO Box 900
Ray Brook, NY 12977

Matthew White #21434-041
USP McCreary
P.O. Box 3000
Pine Knot, KY 42635

Matthew Rupert #55013-424
USP McCreary
P.O. Box 3000
Pine Knot, KY 42635

José Felan
Sherburne County Jail
13880 Business Center Dr.
NW Suite 200 Elk River, MN 55330-1692

Branden Wolf #22425-041
FCI Oxford
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. BOX 1000
Oxford, WI  53952

Dylan Robinson 45802-013
USP Leavenworth
P.O. BOX 1000
LEAVENWORTH, KS  66048

David Elmakayes 77782-066
FCI McKean
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 8000
Bradford, PA 16701

Andrew Augustyniak-Duncan
2016-0021433
100 W. Cherry Ave.
Washington, PA 15301

Christopher West 04670-509
USP Canaan
U.S. Penitentiary
P.O. Box 300
Waymart, PA 18472

You can also buy fundraiser clothing for Christopher “Brother Hush” West here.

Ellie Brett 14822509
Robert A. Deyton Detention Facility
PO BOX 730
Lovejoy, GA 30250

John Wade 14762509
Robert A. Deyton Detention Facility
PO BOX 730
Lovejoy, GA 30250

Alvin Joseph
Updated address coming soon

Shamar Betts 22080-043
FCI Hazelton Federal Correction Inst.
P.O. Box 5000
Bruceton Mills, WV 26525

Diego Vargas 55070-424
FCI Allenwood Medium
PO Box 2000
White Deer, PA 17887

Adam Walton 55322-424
FCI Forrest City Medium
PO Box 3000
Forest City, AR 72336

Kyree Robertson #597000
Parnall Correctional Facility
1780 E. Parnall Rd.
Jackson, MI 49201

Howard Eugene Nall #586907
Kent County Correctional Facility
703 Ball Avenue NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Antonio Wooden 17569-028 (Tony Cushe)
FCI McDowell
PO Box 1009
Welch, WV 24801

T’andre Buchanan 67637-060
Milan FCI
PO Box 1000
Milan, MI 48160

Upcoming Birthdays

John Bramble

A former Vaughn 17 defendant and contributor to the Vaughn zines, “Live from the Trenches”, and “United We Stood.” While the state has now dropped its attempts to criminalize John in relation to the uprising, he, like all of the Vaughn 17, deserves respect and support for making it through the entire process while staying in solidarity with his co-defendants and refusing to co-operate with the prosecution.

Pennsylvania uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going to connectnetwork.com, selecting “Add a facility”, choosing “State: Pennsylvania, Facility: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections”, going into the “messaging” service, and then adding him as a contact by searching his name or “NT0282”.

Birthday: September 1

Address:

Smart Communications / PA DOC
John Bramble – NT0282
SCI Phoenix
PO Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL, 33733

Aleksandr Belov

An anarchist from Belarus who was detained on 29 July 2021 and given five years in prison on charges of organisation of actions that disrupted public order during post-election protests in Belarus.

Belarusian prisons will usually only accept letters in Belarusian or Russian, so if you don’t speak one of those languages your best bet is to email your message to belarus_abc(AT)riseup.net or use this online form and they should be able to translate your greetings and pass them on.

Birthday: September 1

Address:

(Belarusian or Russian letters only – use this form for English messages)

Aleksandr Andreevich Belov
IK №22, Brest region, Ivacevichy,
225295, stanciya Damanava, PO Box 20
Belarus

Leonard Peltier

American Indian Movement activist jailed since 1977 after being framed for shooting two FBI agents. Prosecutors and federal agents manufactured evidence against him (including the so-called “murder weapon”); hid proof of his innocence; presented false testimony obtained through torturous interrogation techniques; ignored court orders; and lied to the jury.

The Federal system uses Corrlinks, a system where a prisoner must send a request to connect to someone on the outside before they can exchange emails, so if you’re not already connected to Leonard then you’re best off just sending him a card or a letter.

Birthday: September 12

Address:

Leonard Peltier
#89637-132
USP Coleman I
P.O. Box 1033
Coleman, FL 33521

Sean Swain

Long-term anarchist prisoner and contributor to projects such as the Final Straw Radio and Fire Ant zine.

Ohio uses Jpay, so you can send him a message by going to jpay.com, clicking “inmate search”, then selecting “State: Ohio, Inmate ID: A243205”. Although be aware that Sean is a frequent target for censorship so his jpay access may be unreliable.

Birthday: September 12

Address:

Sean Swain #A243205
OSP Youngstown
878 Coitsville-Hubbard Rd
Youngstown, OH 44505

Dan Baker

Daniel Baker is an anti-fascist activist who was arrested on January 15, 2021 for social media posts that called for defense against possible far-right attacks on the state’s capitol in the wake of the January 6th riots. Daniel was facing up to 10 years for two counts of transmitting a communication in interstate commerce containing a threat to kidnap or injure. On October 12th, 2021 he was sentenced to 44 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release.

The Federal system uses Corrlinks, a system where a prisoner must send a request to connect to someone on the outside before they can exchange emails, so if you’re not already connected to Dan then you’re best off just sending him a card or a letter.

Birthday: September 17

Address:

Daniel Baker #25765-509
FCI Memphis
P.O. Box 34550
Memphis, TN 38184

Greg Curry

Falsely convicted in the aftermath of the historic Lucasville prison uprising. You can learn more about Greg by reading his writings or listening to his interview with the Final Straw. Greg is currently working on an appeal against his wrongful conviction, so if you know a good attorney then please hit him up!

Ohio uses Jpay, so you can send him a message by going to jpay.com, clicking “inmate search”, then selecting “State: Ohio, Inmate ID: 213-159”.

Birthday: September 26

Address:

Greg Curry #213-159
Toledo C.I.
2001 East Central Ave.
Toledo, OH 43608

Jorge P. Cornell (King Jay)

Inca of the North Carolina Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation, community organizer who worked to broker truces and end gang violence and was given 28 years on a racketeering charge. You can learn more about King Jay by reading this profile of him. The Final Straw also broadcast two interviews with supporters, Sara Lee and Savannah, involved in solidarity efforts at the time of his trial. Again, King Jay is held in the Federal system, so you can only contact him via Corrlinks if he’s added you as a contact.

Birthday: September 29

Address:

Jorge P. Cornell #28152-057
FCI McKean
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 8000
Bradford, PA 16701


by In Contempt via It's Going Down
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