April 3, 2018: Kansas City, MO. Widespread problems with food and health care quality are standard in U.S. prisons, according to a new report by the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) and Research Action Cooperative. 65% of prisoners reported that food made them sick in the last year and 63% reported being denied needed health care.
“The plantation system in the American South no longer exists in its earlier historical form. The wage system of the North clearly established its hegemonic position over its competitor after the Civil War. However, the fundamental issue the abolitionists raised—the matter of slavery and slave society—was not only never resolved, but has been normalized, legalized, and expanded.
Twenty-Five years after the longest prison uprising in which people died, the full story has not been told. April 11, 2018 will be the 25th Anniversary of the Lucasville Uprising, a defining event in the history of criminal justice and prison systems in Ohio and the United States.
From The NCAA Says Student-Athletes Shouldn’t Be Paid Because the 13th Amendment Allows Unpaid Prison Labor, Shaun King, The Intercept, February 22 2018:
In a previous post, Jason reported on the murder of a fellow inmate, and how staff responded to his attempts at whistleblowing by raiding his room and confiscating everything he owned. In this update, he reveals how public support and solidarity following that earlier post was successful in forcing the administration to back off, and discusses some of the other tactics used to retaliate against him.
“To rise beyond the limits of protest, we must chart out our political intentions, organizational goals, and a larger vision about our direction. First, and foremost, militant self-defense, and the capacity for larger militant actions must be addressed at the inception of the organizing process.
On January 22, 2018, Reverend Joy Powell did a TV interview exposing the brutality of Bedford Hills Correctional Facility (including the recent Fentenyl OD-related death of a prisoner there).
Jason Renard Walker shares information on, and calls for outside support in addressing, the unhygenic living standards at the Ramsey Unit in Texas.
Bennu Hannibal from the Free Alabama Movement on the launch of their boycott campaign for 2018.
