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Chowchilla Freedom Rally to draw hundreds of Bay Area residents to Central Valley to protest women’s prison
January 24, 2013
Hundreds of Bay Area residents will be getting on buses and into cars Saturday morning, Jan. 26, making the long trek to Chowchilla where they will join hundreds of other Californians at a Freedom Rally in protest of horrendous living conditions in the notorious prison, Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF). Let’s make enough noise so that the decision makers in Sacramento have no choice but to hear our demands! Solidarity actions are encouraged! Read more for when, where and how to get there …
A message to supporters of the Five Core Demands
January 23, 2013
As a devout supporter of the Five Core Demands, I write this article not only to commend you for your support and participation in the previous hunger strike, but also for getting us all on the same and most effective page throughout the California prison system on our next collective push to have these Five Core Demands met via continued hunger strikes.
It’s time to replace prison oppression with prisoner solidarity
January 19, 2013
The only way that we can stop the bleeding is by prisoners ending it first. By embracing the Agreement to End Hostilities, we can change our prison oppression into a more productive prison environment that serves the interests of us prisoners, as well as put an end to the policies that are inhumane.
Build a movement to close solitary confinement
January 18, 2013
You may think that you know something about solitary, but you don’t. You may have a loved one in prison who has experienced it and told you about it. But still I say, you don’t know it. For, as you know the word torture, you don’t know how it feels. For solitary is torture. State torture. Official torture. Government sanctioned torture.
The Pelikkkan Bay factor: An indictable offense
January 17, 2013
The CDCR justification for Pelican Bay is rooted in two primary criteria: 1) to isolate the so-called worst of the worst, who have proved too violent to be held at other prisons, and 2) to presumably minimize prison violence. What the CDCR intentionally neglected to tell the public is that it was their policy, both in practice and intent, that was responsible for the rapid increase in prison violence! Pelican Bay State Prison is rooted in deception, exploitation, extortion, violence and murder.
Against capitalism: To exist we must resist
January 16, 2013
In a world ruled by capitalism only the rich have rights. Everyone else exists solely to serve them, to enhance their wealth. Those of no profitable use should receive nothing. For sharing their wealth would only lead to the wealthy’s own impoverishment, making them equals of the common people, which was unthinkable.
Scare tactics: How loved ones are terrorized into breaking bonds with prisoners
January 12, 2013
I am writing to inform you of the scare tactics that California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) here at Pelican Bay State Prison Security Housing Unit (PBSP SHU) uses in order to intimidate our families, friends and associates away from corresponding with those of us who are held in these solitary confinement units – AdSegs and SHUs.
Gov. Brown tries to justify unconstitutional prison overcrowding, backslides on Corrections budget
January 11, 2013
The state of California filed another response to the federal court order to reduce dangerous overcrowding in California’s prisons, urging the court to end the 137.5 percent population cap. Gov. Brown’s 2013-14 budget echoes comments earlier this week that the administration has deserted plans to shrink California’s over-sized prison population, ignoring clear messages from voters.
Mind food
January 10, 2013
No sir, they don’t want another Jonathan Jackson. They want a masked man, later identified as a Black man. It’s more mysterious. Our enemy is serious. And I’ve been saying this before the planes came and the plain Jane drowned her kids. I awake to the sound of kids playing in the park. Gunfire interrupts their joy. The cops killed a baby holding a toy … gun. Labeled as boy one – boy two is you, me …
Prop 36: Justice denied, now what?
January 9, 2013
While addressing the news about California’s voters overwhelmingly supporting the Three Strikes Reform Act, Prop 36, one district attorney stated that there are about 250 people from Kern County who are eligible for resentencing under Prop 36. And it is her job to make sure that none of them are released. That sentiment is shared by other district attorneys and judges throughout the state.
FCC takes step toward fair prison phone rates and stronger communities
January 4, 2013
The Campaign for Prison Phone Justice applauds the FCC’s action to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which marks a turning point in the 10-year effort to make the price of interstate calls from prison affordable. Costing up to 24 times a normal call, prison phone rates unfairly punish inmates’ families, who are forced to cover these calls.
Invisible bodies
January 3, 2013
What are the effects of long-term incarceration on prisoners? In a country where mass incarceration has become the norm, what responsibilities do the state and the community have to prisoners and to protecting some of their most basic freedoms – access to health and freedom from torture being chief among them?
Fired up!
January 2, 2013
The Clean Lounge, a clean and sober space located in Bayview Hunters Point in San Francisco, was full of Fired Up! women and supporters, family and friends.There was so much collective healing wisdom in the room. Fired Up! is an insider-outsider grassroots network founded by CCWP former prisoners that meets weekly in the San Francisco County Jail.
Report from North Kern: Progress and chaos on the road to liberation
January 1, 2013
They released about 30 of us back to the general population yards here at North Kern State Prison and transferred a lot of people as well to various prisons. The end of hostilities is working so far. I had a study session on my tier with Southern and Northern Hispanics, a few whites, and both Crips and Bloods on the importance of unity within this mass struggle for liberation.
How CDCr scams California taxpayers
January 1, 2013
For the past 40 years, prisoners have been removed off general population due to being validated as alleged prison gang members or associates. This is the sole reason for our placement: not behavior. CDCr started this indefinite lockup in the mid- to late 70s and soon realized that there was an economic incentive for labeling prisoners as a threat to the safety and security of the institution.
Electroshock torture handcuffs now patented: Deliver shocking torture, ‘gas injections’ and ‘chemical restraints’ to prisoners via remote control
December 30, 2012
It’s like something ripped right out of a dystopian futuristic sci-fi novel: A U.S. patent has been uncovered that describes electronic handcuffs capable of delivering torturous electroshocks, “gas injections” and injectable “chemical restraints” to prisoners who wear them. The cuffs can be remote-controlled by prison guards, cops or MPs to deliver stronger or weaker electroshocks as desired.
If only you could see our beat up and emaciated bodies
December 30, 2012
Since the last hunger strike, the administration via the “Office of Corruptional Security” has instituted documented military torture tactics here at Pelican Bay State Prison in order to create hostile living conditions and attempt to turn prisoners on each other. But many of us have seen these tactics before, so we know how to deal with it.
CDCR’s Oct. 11, 2012, Security Threat Group Pilot Program
December 29, 2012
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation issued new rules in this October 2012 memorandum that profoundly affect the wellbeing of California’s 133,000 prisoners. Although these rules are already being implemented and have the force of law, the 125-page memorandum has not been made available online to the public. Therefore, the Bay View is posting it here for easy reference when reading stories commenting on the new program.
Political prisoner Khalfani Malik Khaldun puts the Indiana prison system on trial
December 29, 2012
Since Dec. 13, 1994, Indiana political prisoner Khalfani Malik Khaldun has been held in control units, i.e. administrative segregation or isolation. It began when police and prison investigators manufactured a murder charge against him after a guard was stabbed and killed. Brother Khalfani is a Muslim and New Afrikan revolutionary educator who professes a strong sense of radical politics and culture.
Report from the Pelican Bay SHU Short Corridor Representatives: Continued ignoring of Five Core Demands could prompt resumption of peaceful protest
December 28, 2012
It has been more than 13 months since we agreed to suspend our non-violent, peaceful protest hunger strike actions in response to CDCR’s top administrators’ admissions that all of our Five Core Demands were reasonable and would be responded to via substantively meaningful changes to the policies and practices at issue. This has NOT HAPPENED.