The biggest prison strike in America’s history is happening right now, but the media isn’t talking about it, which means many of you probably didn’t know it was even happening.
Inmates in approximately 12 states and 29 prisons have taken part in the strike to protest free prison labor, totaling about 24,000 inmates. The strike began on September 9, which is the 45th anniversary of the Attica uprising.
“They cannot run these facilities without us,” said one organizing flyer. “We hope to end prison slavery by making it impossible, by refusing to be slaves any longer.”
Certain subject matter can sometimes challenge the attention spans of news consumers in the social media age, so writer and teacher Clint Smith broke the specifics of the story down to a 15-part tweetstorm:
1) The election cycle is taking all of the media's attention, but the biggest strike in US history has now been happening for over a month.
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) October 16, 2016
2) Since September 9th, prisoners across at least 29 (& potentially 50) prisons have staged labor strikes, hunger strikes & other protests.
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) October 16, 2016
3) The national prison strike has been taking place in at least 12 different states & involved at least 24,000 ppl inside of various prisons
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) October 16, 2016
4) The strikes were organized across prisons throughout the country to align with the 45th anniversary of the famous Attica prison uprising.
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) October 16, 2016
5) Leaders of the prison strikes have been put into solitary confinement, transferred to other prisons, & had basic human rights restricted.
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) October 16, 2016
6) In Florida, prisoners refused to work, took over cell blocks & dormitories, w/riot squads sent in to squash the uprising w/ gas canisters
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) October 16, 2016
7) In Michigan, prisoners refused to work and held a march in the prison yard. 150 prisoners were handcuffed & left in the rain for 6 hours.
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) October 16, 2016
8) In Wisconsin, prisoners have been on a long term hunger strike, and have been force-fed through nasal tubes to break their protests.
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) October 16, 2016
9) In Texas, in response to peaceful organizing from protestors, prisoners have been given less food with barely enough calories to survive.
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) October 16, 2016
10) In California, hundreds of prisoners are on hunger strike.
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) October 16, 2016
11) In Alabama, according to some reports, guards joined striking prisoners to protest the unsafe and inhumane prison conditions.
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) October 16, 2016
12) On October 6th, the DOJ announced it would conduct an investigation of the prison conditions in Alabama, likely in response to strikes.
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) October 16, 2016
13) Per Ohio prisoner Siddique Abdullah Hasan the goals of the strike are to “abolish prison slavery” & “economic exploitation of prisoners”
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) October 16, 2016
14) We often speak of ppl in prison as devoid of agency but this strike demonstrates that prisoners are seeking to reassert their humanity.
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) October 16, 2016
15) The implicit function of prison is social isolation & silence. Most important thing we can do is share that the strikes are happening.
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) October 16, 2016
Forcing inmates to do labor for little to no money is still a common practice in U.S. prisons. Making the practice possible is the fact that he 13th Amendment banned slavery for all except the criminally convicted.
From Mother Jones:
Inmates in state and federal prisons do many different types of work. All inmates who are medically able must do mandatory jobs, such as maintenance, cleaning, and kitchen duties. Inmates may be paid for this work—usually between 12 to 40 cents an hour. But some states, including Texas, Arkansas, and Georgia, do not pay inmates at all. Eligible inmates may participate in work programs, such as the Federal Prison Industries programs (known as UNICOR) or the Prison Industry Enhancement (PIE) Certification program, which pay wages and generally teach work skills. In UNICOR programs, wages range from 23 cents to $1.15 an hour. However, only about 7 percent of eligible inmates are employed by federal prison industry programs.
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