Jesus fucking Christ.
#ThisCantBeReformed #AbolishPrisons
❝
Inmates in their underwear, their heads bowed and hands zip-tied, sit cross-legged facing the wall while jail guards in riot gear train laser-pointed pepper-ball guns at the backs of their heads.
Surveying the scene as he walks through the hallway, the jail’s superintendent doles out congratulatory fist bumps and back pats.
❞
Edited to add no-paywall link, thanks to @DavidM_yeg
https://archive.ph/qU5C0
It’s legal for prisoners to unionize — and it can be invaluable for incarcerated people who are often laboring in difficult conditions without pay. @TexasObserver’s Michelle Pitcher talked to Texans in and out of prisons who are helping empower prisoners to seek better conditions — including the right to be paid and to refuse work.
Journalists Must Report on Prisons — But We Need to Protect Incarcerated Sources
Incarcerated people risk harsh reprisal when they speak out about the abuses they face. We must protect them
https://truthout.org/articles/journalists-must-report-on-prisons-but-we-need-to-protect-incarcerated-sources
Never Going Back: Releasing Inmates During a Pandemic
https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/never-going-back-releasing-inmates-during-a-pandemic/600b18d59e92e45f4e0353e1
U.S. Dept. Justice: Texas juvenile detention centers violated youth offenders’ rights
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/01/texas-juvenile-justice-facilities-doj
* unconstitutional conditions at all 5 of Texas’ juvenile detention facilities
* children exposed to excessive force, sexual abuse
* disabled children faced discrimination that kept them in custody longer or sent them to adult prisons
DoJ report: https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-07/2024_tjjd_findings_report.pdf
/1
Prisoners fight against working in heat on former slave plantation
https://apnews.com/article/prisons-labor-lawsuit-investigation-b41d72f87dc22e0a351a1a8f5345b9bc
13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Penal labor exemption
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Penal_labor_exemption
* exempts penal labor f. prohibition of forced labor
* allows prisoners convicted of crimes to be required to perform labor else face punishment
Private prison giant GEO Group ramps up lobbying on immigrant surveillance
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2024/07/private-prison-giant-geo-group-ramps-up-lobbying-on-immigrant-surveillance
* one of the world’s largest private prison companies
* ramping up lobbying as lawmakers in Washington eye budget cuts to “alternatives to detention” programs
[thread] prisons, conditions:
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/110653873757382969
I recently posted something with the stat that over half of the prisoners in Ontario are awaiting trial, therefore not convicted of a goddamn thing.
Holy shit was I wrong.
81% in provincial jails are awaiting trial.
EIGHTY-ONE PERCENT.
❝
Former inmates of provincial correctional facilities and immigration detainees who were held there are suing the Ontario and federal governments, alleging that inmates are commonly held in their cells for "hours, days or even weeks" because there is not enough staff on hand to safely let them out.
The lawsuits covers a period up to 2017, but the most recent data from the province shows that 81 per cent of inmates in provincial jails are awaiting trial and presumptively innocent.
The lockdowns strip inmates of basic human rights and violate their Charter rights to life, liberty and security of the person, and the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, the lawsuits allege.
❞
Together, we can and must promote a prison system that focuses on rehabilitation rather than punishment, a system that reflects the values of justice and humanity that we all deserve.
____
#IHRF #HumanRights #Prison #Jail #PrisonReform #CriminalJusticeReform #EndMassIncarceration #JusticeSystem #PrisonersRights #Incarceration #SolitaryConfinement #PrisonAbolition #Decarceration #PrisonIndustrialComplex #overcrowding #overpopulation
Phone Zap:
❝Carrying out a hunger strike for nearly eight weeks is either an act of insanity or extreme desperation. A Virginia court has already ruled that Rashid is competent to make his own decisions. This must mean that he believes he is already facing a life-or-death situation by not receiving necessary medical care.❞
Please contact Director Dotson. It may save a courageous man’s life.
Chadwick Dotson
Director, Virginia Department of Corrections
Email: Chadwick.Dotson@vadoc.virginia.gov
Phone: 804-674-3000
(Not his direct line. Call this number and ask to be connected with his office.)
WHY?
❝
For the first month of the hunger strike, Rashid was kept in a cell with no running water. He was denied bottled water, along with soap, toothpaste and other hygiene items. The only water he had to drink was from the toilet, which he was not able to clean.
❞
https://www.anarchistfederation.net/take-action-help-save-kevin-rashid-johnsons-life/
Cheney says Stefanik calling Jan. 6 prisoners hostages a ‘disgrace’
Addendum 3 cont'd
* allegations: sub-par medical care; neglect of medical & physical needs; sexual & physical assault by staff; use of force, threats, and retaliation by staff
* families report incarcerated loved ones often go hungry, have cell doors w. broken locks, live in unsanitary conditions, & are denied essential medicine
* gangs; contraband drugs
Addendum 3
CON JOB: Inside privatized prison industry
https://inthepublicinterest.org/con-job/#highlight3
* national advocacy group Families Against Mandatory Minimums called for federal investigation into Trousdale Turner prison, operated by private for-profit corporation CoreCivic
@molly0xfff
Indeed. Like the barest minimum level of medical care
https://mastodon.world/@jrefior@hachyderm.io/110435058507688865
Thanks for publishing that and bringing attention to this (long-ignored) issue.
Worth noting that many incarcerated people are no more guilty of crimes than many not-incarcerated people
https://hachyderm.io/@jrefior/109559577274329614
--
#PrisonersRights #PrivatePrisons #PrisonMedicalCare #racism
Though it's tempting to get out the world's tiniest violin when Sam Bankman-Fried complains about his peanut butter sandwiches, it should make you wonder: if even he can't have his basic needs met in jail, what about the less privileged?
https://newsletter.mollywhite.net/p/sam-bankman-frieds-jail-conditions
Addendum 2
Parole Didn’t Integrate Me Into Society. It Kept Me Out of It
Parole supervision destabilized my life, kept me homeless
https://truthout.org/articles/parole-didnt-integrate-me-into-society-it-kept-me-out-of-it
" ... much easier to obtain/sustain basic adult necessities req'd to be tax paying, positively contributing member of polite society as fugitive f. justice than as compliant ward of Dept. Corrections. ..."
Why are we* here?
This police presence is for a PRESS CONFERENCE.
Local AND Provincial cops here to intimidate people.
*Specifically Legal Observers from the Movement Defence Committee.
Presser is about to start.
No more deaths in custody.
At the Solicitor General's office.
Up tomorrow:
Prisoners Justice Day 2023 Press Conference
Demand improvements of healthcare in prison; demand action on Jan 2023 Coroners Report regarding rights of those incarcerated in Ontario Jails
August 10, 2023
12:00 pm - 13:00 pm
Solicitor Generals Office
25 Grosvenor Street
