The  Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee  stands in solidarity with the Shut 'Em Down 2024 inside collective demonstrations advocating for an end to legalized slavery and the abolition of the prison industrial slave complex. Prisons and police were created on principles of colonization and white supremacy culture and are a continuation of slavery under the 13th amendment exception clause. Communities of color and the poor experience criminalization, state violence and the fragmentation of families due to incarceration at an ever increasing rate. The School to Prison Pipeline absorbs the hopes, dreams, and potential of our youth. People warehoused in youth and adult prisons alike undergo dehumanizing conditions leading to unquantifiable life long trauma and harm that has generational impacts. Poor and working class communities face exploitation of their labor while material resources and housing become increasingly inaccessible and more of us become unhoused. The Supreme Court is gearing up to hear the Johnson vs Grants Pass case in which unhoused communities face further criminalization and risk being shuffled into the Prison Industrial Complex to be exploited for pennies on the dollar for their labor while the so-called United States continues to invest billions into the ongoing genocide in Gaza. 

An injury to one is an injury to all and so we call for outside support in the form of self-directed actions from individuals and organizations. We also strongly encourage participation and solidarity from labor unions far and wide to take part in demos to uplift shared struggles and amplify the voices of working class people in prison, especially those engaging in collective action or who put their own lives at risk to improve the conditions of all. As long time partners with aligned values and principles, we stand with Jailhouse Lawyers Speak and all those who are behind enemy lines fighting for liberation and a future free from our oppressors.