July 31st International Day of Action in Solidarity with CA Prisoner Hunger Strikers

[annm4peace]

July 31st International Day of Action in Solidarity with CA Prisoner Hunger Strikers & Justice for Trayvon.

http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/july-31st-international-day-of-action-in-solidarity-with-ca-prisoner-hunger-strikers-justice-for-trayvon/



Family Members, Activists and Celebrities “Hunger for Justice”.

On July 31st, day 24 of the California Prisoner Hunger Strike, communities across the country will fast and hold events in solidarity with the hunger strikers and their 5 core demands. Thus far close to 1,000 people have signed on to participate. They will also be asking for justice for Trayvon Martin. In Oakland, a press conference at 11:00 a.m. will be followed by a short rally at Oscar Grant Plaza and a procession to the State Building at 1515 Clay Street.

“Governor Brown’s absolute silence in the face of this hunger strike is a quiet endorsement of torture,” says Margaret Prescod, from Women of Color Global Women’s Strike and host of the Sojourner Truth Show on KPFK. “And we know the criminalization that killed Trayvon Martin, and the criminalization that justifies torture of prisoners is one and the same.” Two years ago a United Nations’ expert on torture called on all countries to ban solitary confinement lasting longer than 15 days. The Governor hasn’t spoken about any of the three rounds of hunger strikes in the past two years.

“I am looking forward to this historical event, in the coming together of all races as we work toward bringing an end to injustices everywhere, from solitary confinement to racial profiling to mass incarceration,” says Dolores Canales, an organizer with California Families Against Solitary Confinement whose son is on Hunger Strike in the SHU at Pelican Bay. “Governor Brown, how much longer can you ignore what is going on in the State of California?”

The most recent statement by the Short Corridor Collective in Pelican Bay State Prison says, “We are being tortured each day by state officials (Governor Brown, his appointee CDCR Secretary Beard, and all his underlings). Increased retaliation has been perpetuated upon defenseless and starving prisoners who only seek what any human being strives for—humane treatment, dignity, equality, and justice for our families, loved ones, and ourselves. These are the fundamental rights of all people, including those incarcerated by the state.”

Actions will be held in Oakland, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Jackson Mississippi, London ,Guyana and Germany.

“Hunger for Justice” is endorsed by James Cromwell, Angela Davis, Mike Farrell, Danny Glover, Elliott Gould, Chris Hedges, Alice Walker, and Cornel West and by the following individuals and organizations: Alexandria House; Alliance for Global Justice; American Muslims for Palestine; Anti-Racist Action-LA; Arab Resource & Organizing Center; Asian Prisoner Support Committee; Black Organizing Project; Brandywine Peace Community; California Families to Abolish Solitary Confinement; California Coalition for Women Prisoners; California Justice for Youth Network; California Prisoner Solidarity Coalition; Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB); Causa Justa – Just Cause; Critical Resistance; DCFS/DHS-Give Us Back Our Children; Ecosocialist Horizons, Every Mother is a Working Mother Network; Erotic Service Providers Union; FACTS Education Fund; Fair Chance Project; Flying Over Walls; Friends of Deir Ibzi’a; Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People’s Movement/ Nat’l; Freedom Archives; F*WORD of RCNB; Global Women’s Strike; Haiti Action Committee; Hank Jones – San Francisco 8; Imam & UC Berkeley Professor Hatem Bazian; Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace; International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network; Justice NOW!; LA Laborfest; LACAN, Lives Worth Saving Gang Intervention; Malcolm X Grassroots Movement; Martin Luther King Coalition of Greater LA; the MOVE organization; National Hood Alliance; Ordinary People’s Society/ Alabama; Palestinian Youth Movement; Payday men’s network; the Philadelphia Innocence Project; Pier 5 Law Offices; Peter Laarman/Progressive Christians Uniting and Justice not Jails; POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE; Prodigal Child Project, Alabama; Project South; Queer Strike; Rev. Louis Logan; Ruckus Society, Scientific Soul Sessions; Sin Barras; Stuart Hanlon, partner in Hanlon and Rief; Theresa Shoatz – Maroon Philly Committee; Transgender, Gender-Variant, Intersex Justice; US PROStitutes Collective; White Noise Collective; Women of Color/Global Women’s Strike; Youth Justice Coalition; Decarcerate PA; Peacehome Campaigns, and Mumia Abu-Jamal.

[annm4peace]

1. Today is Day 23 of the CA Hunger strike

I'm in MN but I'm calling Gov Brown every day. Sometimes I get a live person to give the message to, and sometimes it is a machine.

I'm also calling my US Rep. Keith Ellison who is co-chair of the Progressive Caucus and member of the Black Caucus.
His staff tells me he knows of the strike but not what he is doing about it. I keep asking.

please join me in Calling Gov Brown, especially if you are from another state.

Call Governor Jerry Brown
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Suggested script: I’m calling in support of the prisoners on hunger strike. The governor has the power to stop the torture of solitary confinement. I urge the governor to compel the CDCR to enter into negotiations to end the strike. RIGHT NOW is their chance to enter into clear, honest negotiations with the strikers to end the torture.

[annm4peace]

2. their demands

The hunger strike has been organized by prisoners in an inspiring show of unity across prison-manufactured racial and geographical lines.

The changes the prisoners are demanding are standards in other Supermax prisons (eg, Federal Florence, Colorado, and Ohio), which supports the prisoners’ position that CDCR’s claim of such demands being a threat to safety and security are exaggerations. The hunger strikers** have developed these five, straight-forward, core demands, as shown below in their own words:

1. End Group Punishment & Administrative Abuse – This is in response to PBSP’s application of “group punishment” as a means to address individual inmates rule violations. This includes the administration’s abusive, pretextual use of “safety and concern” to justify what are unnecessary punitive acts. This policy has been applied in the context of justifying indefinite SHU status, and progressively restricting our programming and privileges.

2. Abolish the Debriefing Policy, and Modify Active/Inactive Gang Status Criteria -

Perceived gang membership is one of the leading reasons for placement in solitary confinement.
The practice of “debriefing,” or offering up information about fellow prisoners particularly regarding gang status, is often demanded in return for better food or release from the SHU. Debriefing puts the safety of prisoners and their families at risk, because they are then viewed as “snitches.”
The validation procedure used by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) employs such criteria as tattoos, readings materials, and associations with other prisoners (which can amount to as little as greeting) to identify gang members.
Many prisoners report that they are validated as gang members with evidence that is clearly false or using procedures that do not follow the Castillo v. Alameida settlement which restricted the use of photographs to prove association.
3. Comply with the US Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons 2006 Recommendations Regarding an End to Long-Term Solitary Confinement – CDCR shall implement the findings and recommendations of the US commission on safety and abuse in America’s prisons final 2006 report regarding CDCR SHU facilities as follows:

End Conditions of Isolation (p. 14) Ensure that prisoners in SHU and Ad-Seg (Administrative Segregation) have regular meaningful contact and freedom from extreme physical deprivations that are known to cause lasting harm. (pp. 52-57)
Make Segregation a Last Resort (p. 14). Create a more productive form of confinement in the areas of allowing inmates in SHU and Ad-Seg [Administrative Segregation] the opportunity to engage in meaningful self-help treatment, work, education, religious, and other productive activities relating to having a sense of being a part of the community.
End Long-Term Solitary Confinement. Release inmates to general prison population who have been warehoused indefinitely in SHU for the last 10 to 40 years (and counting).
Provide SHU Inmates Immediate Meaningful Access to: i) adequate natural sunlight ii) quality health care and treatment, including the mandate of transferring all PBSP- SHU inmates with chronic health care problems to the New Folsom Medical SHU facility.
4. Provide Adequate and Nutritious Food – cease the practice of denying adequate food, and provide a wholesome nutritional meals including special diet meals, and allow inmates to purchase additional vitamin supplements.

PBSP staff must cease their use of food as a tool to punish SHU inmates.
Provide a sergeant/lieutenant to independently observe the serving of each meal, and ensure each tray has the complete issue of food on it.
Feed the inmates whose job it is to serve SHU meals with meals that are separate from the pans of food sent from kitchen for SHU meals.
5. Expand and Provide Constructive Programming and Privileges for Indefinite SHU Status Inmates.

Examples include:

Expand visiting regarding amount of time and adding one day per week.
Allow one photo per year.
Allow a weekly phone call.
Allow Two (2) annual packages per year. A 30 lb. package based on “item” weight and not packaging and box weight.
Expand canteen and package items allowed. Allow us to have the items in their original packaging [the cost for cosmetics, stationary, envelopes, should not count towards the max draw limit]
More TV channels.
Allow TV/Radio combinations, or TV and small battery operated radio
Allow Hobby Craft Items – art paper, colored pens, small pieces of colored pencils, watercolors, chalk, etc.
Allow sweat suits and watch caps.
Allow wall calendars.
Install pull-up/dip bars on SHU yards.
Allow correspondence courses that require proctored exams.

[annm4peace]

3. Petition to sign

Last edited Thu Aug 1, 2013, 12:25 AM - Edit history (1)

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[Mnemosyne]

4. K&R nt