Responding to Jeffrey Beard, head of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) By Joe Veale Four weeks ago, 30,000 people in prisons in California and surrounding states went on a hunger strike to protest their conditions, in particular in… Read More ›
Prisons
The First Death
We received the following letter just this morning. We deeply morn the loss of ‘Guero,’ the first to die in the hunger strike. He died for more than himself. Killed by his conditions, by this system, we remember him. It… Read More ›
‘Crack baby’ study ends with unexpected but clear result
By Susan FitzGerald Jaimee Drakewood hurried in from the rain, eager to get to her final appointment at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Ever since her birth 23 years ago, a team of researchers has been tracking every aspect of her… Read More ›
American Party of Labor Statement on the George Zimmerman Verdict
George Zimmerman is a murderer. On February 26, 2012 Zimmerman stalked and shot his victim, 17-year-old High School student Trayvon Martin, unarmed and on his way home from a convenience store. On July 13, 2013 he succeeded in escaping justice… Read More ›
Who Will March for Marissa Alexander?
by Marissa Jackson On the morning after the Morning After, the racial tension in this country could be popped with a needle. If the prevailing narrative is to be believed, Black America is furious, outraged and depressed about George Zimmerman’s… Read More ›
Inmates claim prison guards are retaliating against hunger-strikers in California
California prison inmates engaged in a nearly two-week-long hunger-strike say that jailers are beginning to retaliate for what has become an item of embarrassment for state officials. At least 1,457 inmates across the state of California remained engaged in an… Read More ›
Will California prison hunger strike lead to Gitmo-style force-feeding?
Amid a massive hunger-strike being waged across the state of California by thousands of prisoners in several facilities, officials may move to begin force-feeding inmates if it could prevent a larger uprising from occurring. California is one of only three… Read More ›
Prisoner Hunger Strike Continues, Californians Gather From Across the State to Show Support and Continue Pressuring Gov. Brown and CDCR to Meet the Demands
For Immediate Release—July 15, 2013 Prisoner Hunger Strike Continues, Californians Gather From Across the State to Show Support and Continue Pressuring Gov. Brown and CDCR to Meet the Demands Press Contact: Kamau Walton Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition Ph. 510.444.0484… Read More ›
California prisons sterilized female inmates without permission
Prison doctors in California sterilized nearly 150 female inmates during the course of four years without ever obtaining proper approval from the state, a new investigation reveals. According to The Center for Investigative Reporting, at least 148 women at a… Read More ›
30,000 California prisoners refuse meals in apparent hunger strike
Protesting California prison policies of indefinite isolation, inmates signal beginning of a hunger strike by refusing meals. By Paige St. John SACRAMENTO — Officials said 30,000 California inmates refused meals Monday at the start of a prison strike involving two-thirds of the… Read More ›
Philadelphia Closes 23 Schools, New $400 Million Prison Being Built
By Michael Allen Philadelphia officials are closing almost two dozen schools and decimating the budgets of the remaining schools under a so-called “doomsday” education plan. However, amid all these cuts for education, the state of Pennsylvania is building a new $400… Read More ›
It’s Juneteenth 2013. More Black people are in prison than were slaves and Paula Deen wants to bring slavery back
Today is June 19, or Juneteenth. While the Emancipation Proclamation was signed on January 1, 1863, slaves in Texas didn’t find out slavery was over until June 19, 1865, hence commemorating this date as the end of legal slavery in… Read More ›
Black Man Sentenced to 50 Years for Stealing Ribs
Willie Smith Ward of Waco, TX was sentenced to 50 years for tucking a rack of ribs under his shirt inside of a local grocery store in September 2011. The jurors in Waco’s 19th State District Court were less than impressed… Read More ›
America’s Corrupt Justice System: Federal Private Prison Populations Grew by 784% in 10 Year Span
By David Harris-Gershon (@David_EHG) From 1999-2010, the total U.S. prison population rose 18 percent, an increase largely reflected by the “drug war” and stringent sentencing guidelines, such as three strikes laws and mandatory minimum sentences. However, total private prison populations exploded fivefold during… Read More ›
“Don’t interact, don’t talk, they are not humans” – Gitmo guard’s basic orders
One of the methods used to extract information from Muslim inmates in Guantanamo was to apply sexual interrogation techniques, Terry Holdbrooks, former guard at the camp has told RT. Such a degradation methods, the former US soldier said, were used… Read More ›