Washington
In reply to the discussion: Events 2013 [View all]eridani
(51,907 posts)In June of 2011 I flew down to the Bay Area to help support a hunger strike by some California prisoners protesting conditions in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay. I thought it would be about a dozen prisoners participating, each with a hefty supply of food stashed away in their respective cells. I was wrong.
The first hunger strike kicked off on July 1st and was followed by the second one in October of 2011. During the first hunger strike (HS1) the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) publicly admitted that there were 6,600 prisoners on hunger strike in 13 prisons. The number of participants in HS2 peeked at nearly 12,000 (11,898 according to the Office of the Special Master, and slightly less than that, 11,619, according to CDCRs own figures). Each HS went on for three weeks. There was no food stashed, as CDCRs written policy is to remove all food from the cell of any prisoner on HS.
To date the CDCR has not met the prisoners quite reasonable demands.
On August 12, 2012, Californias leading prisoners issue an Agreement to End Hostilities, which was signed by the leadership of all racial groups, and which called for the cessation of all gang hostilities throughout the state. So far that call has been honored. Prisoners are not fighting each other. Instead they are preparing to struggle for justice.
The unified leadership of all races and gangs have issued a call for more than a HS. On July 8th all prisoners in As Seg and SHU units are to stop eating. All mainline (general population) prisoners are instructed to withhold their labor, without which the prisons cannot function.
During HS1 and HS2 there was massive outside support, especially in the Bay Area but to a lesser degree in every major California city. Hunger Strike 3 (HS3) and Work Strike 1 (WS1) will be kicking off in less than two months. The leadership of that struggle has asked for support not only from prisoners in other states, but from community activists from across the nation.
Some friends and I are building that support here in Washington. We call ourselves Free Us All. We are holding a meeting of concerned citizens on May 18th, from 1:00 to 3:30 pm, at the American Friends Service Committees meeting hall, located at 814 NE 40th Street, Seattle, WA 98105. I would like you to attend this meeting, and to bring as many friends with you as you can.
Let me know,
Ed Mead
Prison Art Project
P.O. Box 47439
Seattle, WA 98146-7439
http://www.prisonart.org
[email protected]