Ongoing Work Strike at Holman Prison

From Anarchy Live!

On the evening of Friday, October 3, 2017 prisoners at Holman prison in Alabama began a work strike in protest to the suspension of weekend family visitation, the continued and ongoing of harassment by Alabama Department of Corrections CERT (riot squad) against prisoners, including physical assaults on prisoners, arbitrary shakedowns and the total disrespect CERT members show towards prisoners.

The CERT has been assigned to Holman October of 2016 after rebellious prisoners staged a number of work strikes, riots and the stabbings of warden Carter Davenport corrections officer Tait and the killing of corrections officer Bettis.

The work strike length is indefinite. Pass the word on and express your solidarity with the prison rebels held captive at Holman by demonstrating and direct action.

Michael Kimble
Holman Prison

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Hunger Strike: Statement from Walter Bond

Statement from Walter Bond recorded by the North American Animal Liberation Press Office on 11/15/17

(Audio Message)

Since my arrival in Greenville two-and-a-half years ago, my communications with the world have been made incredibly difficult and at times impossible. I have been repeatedly denied books, magazines, letters and pictures. It’s standard operating procedure that my mail – be it my email or snail mail — is habitually days, weeks and even months late. It is not at all uncommon for my mail, both incoming and outgoing, to simply never arrive.”

I’ve been…. I’ve even been denied copies of my own book, “Always Looking Forward,” which I wrote in prison and is approved for me to have.

It has also become impossible for me to adhere to my Vegan diet, because none of the so-called “meat options” offered at Greenville, Illinois are even close to Vegan. Because of this, I have been forced at great cost to my friends, family and supporters to pay outrageously for foods from the commissary that continue to be an inadequate version….

I have tried now for over a year to obtain a transfer from FCI Greenville, Illinois closer to New York City where I intend to live upon my release, but I have been denied this as well through petty and irrelevant disciplinary reports.

Despite all of this, I have maintained years of patience, quietly awaiting my freedom. But, my cooperation has got me nothing. So in the tradition of A.L.F. activists before me, such as Barry Horne, I am going on hunger strike. I will not eat anything and will starve until these issues are remedied.

I’m asking everybody in the Animal Rights and Anarchist communities to stand with me with your protests and actions of solidarity.

You can reach the institution concerning my health and my well-being at:
(618) 664-6200

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Support Wabash Valley Prisoners on Hunger Strike!

From IDOC Watch

Several inmates at Wabash Valley Correctional Facility have announced that they have begun a hunger strike to protest their deteriorating conditions. Their immediate demands include: removal from camera monitored cells, relocation from abusive staff, and the cessation of tampering with food and the confiscation, reading and withholding of mail by administration. The announcement follows a sequence of escalating problems that have unfolded in the prison for the past several months, rekindling a too-long dormant culture of resistance to IDOC policies. Last year, a significant challenge to the censorship of Afro-Centric literature such as the San Francisco Bay View, which effects all prisons in the Indiana Department of Corrections, began a process of increasing clampdown on political prisoners. This was merely the spark which lit the fire. The hunger strike now in motion has its origins in the entire structure of the IDOC, in particular, and of mass incarceration, in general.

For some time, the IDOC has pursued a path of repression characterized by the isolation of inmates whom it perceives as threatening to the stability of their regime of oppression. These inmates are often kept in Indiana’s form of solitary confinement known as “Secure Control Units.” Wabash Valley has taken this practice, widely recognized to be a form of torture, to new extremes by indefinitely detaining inmates in isolation cells monitored 24 hours a day through video surveillance. Shaka Shakur, a political prisoner currently incarcerated at Wabash Valley, has demonstrated how these cells are intended to function as psychological torture, and the policies which are supposed to govern their use are flagrantly violated by administration.

The selective treatment of politically conscious inmates is not limited to isolation and surveillance, however. Prisons in Indiana have developed a parallel judicial system in which the civil protections available to free citizens are completely absent. Inmates are consistently penalized and charged with internal violations which can result in their placement in isolation or loss of “good time” which by Indiana Code cannot be regained. In these faux-courts, prisoners are deprived of any right to representation or possibility of viewing the “evidence” used against them. Charges are often brought as a form of reprisal, beginning with disciplinary reports filed by disgruntled or sadistic guards looking to punish inmates for refusing passive obedience to their oppression.

The increasingly severe forms of repression manifest on all levels of the IDOC and affect all inmates as well. Several trends have coalesced and finally culminated in an irreconcilable crisis. The current landscape of the IDOC is the result of these trends, primarily the entrenchment at the tops levels of executive administration of old-guard prison staff experienced in the ways of prisoner abuse, the construction of prison facilities in rural, economically depleted areas which produces a situation that pits the solidarity of largely euro/ “white” communities against predominately non-euro/ “white” prisoners, and finally the privatization of all aspects of prison operation and management. These trends mutual influence and extend one another, creating an increasingly antagonistic atmosphere, resolvable only through the initiative of prisoners in taking all measures to reassert their humanity.

The current crisis can be explained only by observing these facts. For example, guards in the Security Control Unit at Wabash Valley leverage their familial and professional ties to maintain impunity while threatening and intimidating inmates under their “protection.” The former commander of the SCU, Lt. Gary McMillin, consistently stated that he would “stand by” his guards whenever they filed disciplinary reports. Reports are supposed to be reviewed once filed and approved by the Lieutenant before any action can be taken against an inmate. In this case, those reviews were performed by Mr. McMillin’s wife, Mrs. S. McMillin. Her “reviews” tend to result in conviction rates that would make any prosecutor blush. The result of this circle of corruption? More good time lost, more years spent inside, more money to J-Pay, Union Supply, Aramark, and Global Tel-Link.

On the state level, the IDOC just this month “reviewed” its new mail restriction policies. As many know by now, inmates can no longer send or receive correspondence unless it is written on lined, white paper in a white envelope. The IDOC claimed this was to counter drug trafficking, but has provided zero data on the flow of drugs into the facility coming through mail. Ironically, the only confirmed source of trafficking in the recent past is that conducted by a former corrections officer at Wabash Valley. There are no indications that the mail ban will be overturned, and more inmates and their families are forced to go through J-pay for all correspondence and increasingly, visitations.

The current crisis is the latest iteration of the fundamentally racist and increasingly corporatist exploitation at work in the IDOC. The kinds of oppression outlined here are well-documented as ineradicable aspects of mass incarceration in Indiana. Indeed the condition in Indiana prisons was meticulously outlined in the 1997 Human Rights Watch Report, Cold Storage: Super-Maximum Security Confinement in Indiana. Since that time, conditions have only worsened. Now inmates are fighting back. Their selfless struggle deserves the widest possible, most dedicated support. IDOC watch firmly stands with Shaka Shakur and all the hunger strikers. We demand that their demands are met, and further that an independent investigation be permitted to inspect the facility. Those will be the first steps, and very far from the last, in a long march toward eradicating the unjust, racist prison system in Indiana and, one day, the united states.

Information on Wabash Valley and the case of Shaka Shakur can be found on our blog at idocwatch.org

Please call: Warden Richard Brown (812) 398-5050

IDOC Commissioner Robert Carter (317) 232-5711

IDOC Chief of Staff Randy Koester (317) 232-5711

Demand that the inmates on hunger strike be moved from abusive guards and camera-monitored cells, and that their mail and food be secured from tampering.

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Support Cleve Cunningham

In September 2016, prisoners all over the United States rose up to demand an end to prison slavery and of prison itself. One of the epicenters of this wave of revolt was Holman prison in Alabama, where in throughout the year prisoners took over dorms, rioted, stabbed a warden and correctional officer, and engaged in other informal forms of resistance.

On September 1, 2016, a correctional officer was stabbed in the dining hall at Holman prison. He later died from the injuries. Cleve Cunningham allegedly stabbed the CO when he refused to provide Cleve with an extra tray of food. In response, COs attacked Cleve, severely injuring his leg. He was then transferred to Limestone Correctional Facility awaiting trial for the alleged murder.

As the prison strike begins to fade in people’s memories, we should remember that many of those who engaged in collective and individual resistance during the strike continue to face retaliation and legal charges. We should continue to act in solidarity with those who took risks to further the fight against prison society, bringing to life relationships that can transcend the walls that separate us.

Please consider sending Cleve a letter, card, zine, photo, drawing, or whatever else. He is particularly interested in reading about the Black Panther Party.

CLEVE IS STILL AWAITING TRIAL, SO PLEASE DO NOT ASK ABOUT THE INCIDENT HE IS BEING ACCUSED OF.

Write to Cleve:
Cleve Cunningham III
#288500
Limestone Correctional Facility
28779 Nick Davis Rd
Harvest, AL 35749

First time writing to a prisoner? Click here for some tips!

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Interview with Walter Bond

Check out this new interview with Animal Liberation Front Lone Wolf Walter Bond.

Walter discusses intersectionality, direct action, veganism, moving away from Islam and toward atheism, and his identification with insurrectionary and black anarchy.

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Statement from Michael Kimble for Bloomington Running Down the Walls

From Anarchy Live!

I just want everyone to know that i and a few others will be running on October 1st. i don’t know if we will run the entire 5k, but if not, we’ll walk the rest.

This will be my first time participating and i’m excited to be acting in sync with comrades all over the u.s., in and out of the prisons, to show my solidarity for political prisoners.

This is really cool and promotes healthy and cooperative attitudes and action.

Free All Political Prisoners!

Free Marius Mason!

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Looking Back: Three Years Since Eric’s Arrest

Photo taken 09/16/2014

A poem written by Eric

I was arrested by two ugly shades,
holding two ugly guns
pointed directly at my face
wearing a backpack full of gasoline and paint thinner

One to create, one to tear down
pockets full of shells and notes to remember
my tshirt was solid black
my jeans hadn’t been washed in weeks

Calvin was patted and released
he had to work for me that night
the cops of me of the beatings and sexual assault
that I had to look forward to that evening in holding
while handcuffed to a bench
stayed there for 3 days
ate 1 cinnamon bun

Was wearing the red pumas with the white laces
that Andrea had given me for surviving to be 25
achievements of all sizes

I was arrested on September 16th, 3 years ago
although it always feels
much longer ago

the interrogator was
fuming after my laughing
subsided
after they asked if “was
this an occupy plot?!”

They had a warrant for my
body
A warrant for my spit

My mom cried on the
phone ” your family saw
you all over the news!
And they used a terrible picture!”

 

Eric has been locked up for three years now, he was arrested on September 16th 2014. Between Kansas, Oklahoma, and now Colorado he has seen a lot of different jails and prisons and has had his share of struggles along the way. There’s no denying it has been a long road and unfortunately there’s an even longer road ahead. Continue reading

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Support the Bloomington ABC Anarchist Prisoner War Fund!

DONATE HERE

Since October 2015, Bloomington Anarchist Black Cross has been providing consistent  monthly funds to anarchist prisoners throughout the United States via our Anarchist Prisoner War Fund. We are now asking for help keeping this project going strong into the future.

We have specifically chosen comrades who were receiving very little money or support from the outside, who have no familial support, or who were otherwise in need of monetary aid. These funds have been essential when some comrades did stints in solitary due to activities surrounding the September 9th prison strike, aiding their survival in the most oppressive conditions. We also emphasize support for rebellious prisoners who have maintained the struggle behind the walls. We want to make it clear to our comrades in prison and those taking action on the outside that they can continue to struggle without fear of abandonment if they are caught.

Currently, we provide $40 each month to five anarchist prisoners:

  • Michael Kimble, a gay, Black anarchist and long-time prison rebel imprisoned for the self-defense killing of a racist homophobe.
  • Sean Swain, an anarchist prison rebel in Ohio.
  • Eric King, an anarchist doing 10 years for attempting to firebomb a Congressman’s office in solidarity with the Ferguson rebellion.
  • Jennifer Gann, an anarchist trans woman and long-time prison rebel in California.
  • Andy H., a local anarchist comrade in prison for assaulting a cop.
  • In addition, we have sent substantial amounts of money to other comrades and projects on a temporary basis: Casey Brezik, the Cleveland 4, Marius Mason, prison rebels facing repression for organizing and revolt, an anarchist social space in Malaysia in need of repairs after a fire, and imprisoned fighters of other social struggles.

Thus far, we have raised this ourselves through fundraising, exclusively through the support of local friends and comrades. This constant need for funds means our other efforts (two prison zine distros, a monthly anti-prison info night, letter writing events, a widely-distributed prison newsletter, correspondence and visits with our imprisoned comrades, sending monthly packages of zines and books to anarchist prisoners, maintaining anarchist infrastructure in Bloomington, etc) sometimes have to take a backseat. We live in a small town, and the pool of people willing to give money to anarchist prisoners isn’t large. In an effort to alleviate this, we’re asking people elsewhere to help us keep the War Fund going.

All money sent to us will go directly to imprisoned comrades:  consistently to those on our list, and periodically to others who need it.

If we can meet our goal, we will begin sending consistent funds to additional imprisoned comrades.

We thank anyone who donates, and we carry forth the promise of expanding and deepening our efforts to set our comrades free and destroy the  prison society that keeps us all confined.

Solidarity,
Bloomington ABC

[En Español] [Portuguese]

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Running Down the Walls 2017: 5k Run for Political Prisoners

WHAT: Running Down the Walls – 5k run/walk/jog
WHEN: 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM, Sunday, October 1st
WHERE: Ninth Street Park, Bloomington Indiana
COST: Suggested registration $20 (food and drink afterwards)
[Facebook event page]

Running Down the Walls is an annual 5k run/walk/jog organized by Anarchist Black Cross chapters internationally to raise money for political prisoners/prisoners of war. This is the first year that Bloomington ABC will be participating.

Register as, or Sponsor, a Participant

* Promote – Print and distribute this poster to friends and around town.

* Run/walk/bike/roll in the 5k – If you want to participate, please contact us to register with your name (or an alias) and how much money you plan to pledge. We are asking for $20, but any amount of money will work. Please contact us at rundownthewallsbloomy [at] riseup [dot] net to register.

* Sponsor a participant. If you have a friend or family member participating in the 5k, you can sponsor them by giving them money to bring to the event, or coming yourself and donating there.

All money raised during Running Down the Walls will go directly to eco-anarchist trans prisoner and former Bloomington resident Marius Mason.

Continue reading

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Post-June 11th statement from Michael Kimble

From Anarchy Live

One of the things that power wants to do is isolate all those held captive by the state and induce a sense of helplessness and abandonment in the captive’s psyche towards those on the outside – especially towards those who are part of resisting the state’s excesses. But i’d like to give a big thanks to all those who have sent me letters and cards this June 11th.

You don’t know how much it really means to me and there are no words that i can adequately use to express what it means. i can tell you this, i know that i am not alone and forgotten. The banners, drawings, pictures, and descriptions of the environment (flowers, butterflies, etc.) really gives me a moment of escape as i picture it all in my mind from the dreary and suffocating experience of this physical captivity. i long to be out there with you all and this gives clarity to my sense of agency in joining you all, and reminds me that i must dislodge the police from my head and put that agency into action in gaining my freedom from power’s institutions of control, coercion, and authority. Never should we lay down and accept the state’s logic of submission by depending on the state to free us. Freedom is in our hands. Thanks for reminding me of this. The best solidarity one can give.

You truly are beautiful people.

Love and Rage in my heart and mind.

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