Georgia prisoners continue strike for 5th day

[Hadar]

Georgia prisoners continue strike for 5th day
by Denver Anarchist Black Cross on Tuesday, December 14, 2010 at 8:00am

DABC Note: This is one of the most comprehensive articles we’ve found about the strike, and confirms that it has been ongoing since Thursday until at least yesterday. There has been no word yet if prisoners are still participating today, on what would be day 6 of the strike. Solidarity to the Georgia rebels!

From the Irish Times:

THOUSANDS OF prisoners in at least four penitentiaries across the state of Georgia continued a non-violent strike for the fifth consecutive day yesterday in a showdown between the Department of Corrections and inmates over forced labour and poor living conditions.

The strike is unprecedented in at least two ways: it was organised by mobile phones that were smuggled into the prisons, and it has united prisoners across ethnic and religious lines, in an environment where racially-based gangs often fight each other.

“They have set aside their differences,” said Elaine Brown, a former Black Panther leader and adviser to the prisoners, whose 27- year-old adopted son is incarcerated at Macon State prison.

“You have blacks, Mexicans, whites, Muslims, Christians, Rastafarians, you name it. They are all united and they are conscious that they are united around their common interests.”

The department of corrections yesterday issued a two-paragraph statement saying that “four facilities still remain in a lockdown status and there have been no major incidents or issues reported”.

A spokeswoman reached by telephone refused to comment on reports that at least six prisoners were beaten at Augusta State Prison, that several suffered broken ribs and that one was beaten “beyond recognition”.

Ms Brown spoke to The Irish Times by telephone from Oakland, California. She fielded incoming calls and text messages from prisoners as we talked.

“Mostly what they’re saying is: ‘We’re still here. What’s going on out there?’” she said. “They’re all right with themselves. They stay in the cells, read, call me, hide their phones and tell the guards they’re not coming out. They’re pretty much on a pattern now.”

The strike has diminished since it started on December 9th. “They’re tired, dirty, in a trash-filled environment,” Ms Brown said. “The situation is certainly going to deteriorate. The greatest fear we have is that the guards will trigger an escalation to a violent confrontation . . . They know they can put it down, because they can start killing people.”

Since the strike started, guards have cut heat and hot water. “They sent swat teams into cells to destroy people’s property, pushed people around, put dogs on people,” Ms Brown said.

“They have even gone so far as to try to make people urinate in cups so they can allegedly check for drugs. They’ve done it out in the cold. The men have to stand outside and are being told to drop their pants so the guards can manhandle them and force them to urinate.”

The strike is total in affected prisons, Ms Brown said. “If you’re at Macon or Smith or Hayes, you’re participating in the strike. It’s not five people. This isn’t rabble-rousing. It’s a universal, unified effort on the part of men who have been treated like slaves, whether they are black, white or Latino.”

Prisoners began planning the strike at the end of the summer, when prison authorities cut the cigarette supply. For the past three months, they have organised by word of mouth and mobile phone. One prisoner told the New York Times that 10 per cent of inmates had contraband mobile phones.

The prisoners’ main demand is an end to forced labour without pay, which they say is a violation of the 13th amendment of the constitution banning slavery and involuntary servitude. Georgia state law prohibits paying them. Inmates are required to do prison chores, cook and serve meals and are sent out to maintain other government buildings. On release, they are given $25 and a bus ticket.

With 60,000 prisoners and 150,000 people on probation, Georgia has the highest prisoner-to-resident ratio in the US. African-Americans comprise 63 per cent of the prison population but only 30 per cent of state residents. The striking prisoners are also demanding educational opportunities beyond the General Equivalency Diploma certificate.

They object to a monopoly on money transfers from their families to them, held by the private company J-Pay, which takes a 10 per cent commission. Global Tel-Link, another private company, charges $55 a month for once weekly 15-minute phone conversations between prisoners and families.

Prisoners say they are over-charged for medical care, and want better food, especially fruit and vegetables. Georgia spends $49 a day per prisoner, compared to a national average of $79.

[Hadar]

I just found out that Victoria Secret is one company that takes advantage of prison labor.

[Heavenzsun]

Majority of the prisoners in GA are not true criminals. They have been imprisoned for stupid shit like traffic tickettes failing to make court appearances walking on the same side walk as a drug dealer... in fact most offenses are drug related. (Weed) which if you think about it... Growing plant/herb is no crime and should be a right imo.

I have heard folks say that criminals don't deserve justice but I swear these guys are not even real criminals. The friends I had that ended up in jail were REALLY GOOD no GREAT people... BUT... Their flaw was hanging with the wrong crowd. Their crime was being born black.

This makes me hopeful because I remember coming to school one day and this guy was in the lobby looking like the end of the world had come. Just totally powerless. It really bothered me because this was a really intense active energetic guy who was sooooo into life. He was a very talented musician and a good student who was not well like by the staff. I inquired... What is going on man??? And he tells me he is waiting to be picked up by a police officer because he is going to prison. i laugh because he is obviouslyu joking. Well actually he wasn't. His crime was that he was associated with a drug dealer. (weed). He barely knows the guy... But because the cop sees them walking to school together they are both in trouble. I tried to wrap my head around the whole situation and the logic behind his being lock up. I couldn't understand. The thing that upset me the most was the reaction by the school staff. They literally when on like it was business as usual. a man in tears becuase he was going to prison and the school staff are simply going on as usual. I later found out upon further investigation that this was happening very often with people I did not know. Very similar stories all across the board.

I have no proof but I swear I always had a very bad feeling about the school staff. they were all greeks and very proud of it and they had a strange attitude towards the students. they literally treated them like animals. At lunch we would all be in lockdown. it was very prison style. the security guards went crazy when someone stood up for too long in the cafeteria. I also will say that a counselour told me and other gifted students that they did not care about the other students only about us because we made good grades. The staff always made it a point to seperate the "good stock" from the "ghetto nigga trash". I hated that culture sooooo much. They were soo stuck up and did not support the student body at all.

I just always had a nasty feeling that they were a part of the system to imprison the student population who was not on their side cultrally speaking. That is to say... If they were not of a certain mindset (Greek) they were looked upon as being less than human.

I never personally had any problems with the staff and was well liked by some. But for the most part I sensed that I was tolerated. I had been enveloped into some strange culture I really did not understand. Only after learning about secret black societies like the boule did I begin to understand the conflict between this artificial class structure. I had no side and that is why I was able to stay out it being ignorant f the conflict as well as sheltered from it by my parents.

Any way... I really hope these folks get their due justice!!!

[Hadar]

@heavensun

Very true words! I am not black but even then I have seen, experienced and have first hand knowledge of the very things you speak of. It does seem that it is a way to keep slavery alive and yet legal in their eyes. And as long as it shows a profit why not.

I also stand corrected on the Victoria secret thing...they once did but after a huge boycott they stopped.  There might be a chance that Hanes does and I will check it out.

[satori]

The 13th amendment abolished slavery everywhere except for in prisons, therefore they knowingly are using slave labor. When slavery was abolished, they had to fill the financial gap. That's when they started making the jim crow laws and black codes to criminalize black behavior, so they could still profit off of their slave labor legally.

yeah, 3 years ago, I told my man not to get me anything from victorias secret due to their use of prison labor. I hardly use bras anyway. Lol. But seriously, even if they stopped using it, I would still never buy anything that EVER profited off of the prison industrial complex because they were exploiters who only stopped because they were afraid of losing money. Pizza hut, boeing, mcdonalds and toys r us are also invested into the prison industrial complex. burn down babylon!