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Oregon prisoners driven to suicide by torture in solitary confinement units
March 30, 2013
I am not one prone to fits of temper. But a few days ago I almost lost it. My outrage was prompted by witnessing the steady deterioration of another prisoner, resulting from particularly acute mental torture inflicted in Oregon’s Disciplinary Segregation Units, which duplicate almost exactly conditions of torture practiced at Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary that were outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1800s.
Medical neglect and pepper spray bring death to mentally ill man in SCI Albion’s dark hole
March 29, 2013
Amid rumors that SCI (State Correctional Institution) Albion has been authorized to establish a brutal and bloody regime in its solitary confinement hole, prison guards murdered Stony Schaeffer (DW8560) in his cell using chemical munitions – Oleoresin Capsicum (O.C. or pepper) spray – and electro-shock weapons. Stony, 44, had been in the hole for the past eight years straight.
Kevin ‘Rashid’ Johnson: They waited, wanted and watched for me to die…
March 18, 2013
Even before I began my political journey in 2001, I maintained certain principles – a variety of things I just don’t do. And usually, if ever I deviated from those principles, even in error, I’d end up in a tangle of trouble. February 2013 was an ordeal. I broke some of my rules and things got ugly. What happened is yet another experience that those who blindly trust the system – and those who don’t – need to know about.
From slavery to suicide
December 22, 2012
A common denominator among individuals who commit suicide is a traumatic event and/or long-term torment which can result in psychosis. If left untreated, it can lead to suicidal thoughts with the intent to end the internal distress and anguish. This same diagnostic assessment is equally applicable to mass suicide.
Is Britain burning with racism and economic inequality?
September 1, 2011
For days, the world witnessed the flames of discontent and disenchantment engulfing the urban streets of England in the aftermath of the shooting death of 29-year-old Mark Duggan by the Metropolitan Police Service on Aug. 4.
Letter of support for the hunger strikers from Bomani Shakur of the Lucasville 5 – and other strike updates
July 3, 2011
Ask anyone who has ever been on a hunger strike; the process of intentionally starving oneself is a very painful ordeal. And yet, there are places on this planet where the idea of death is preferable to continuing down a path that offers no hope or relief from suffering. I live in such a place; I know.
Hunger strikers protest perpetual solitary confinement
June 29, 2011
On July 1, 2011, I and my fellow prisoners – on their own free will – will be commencing a hunger strike to protest the denial of our human rights and equality via the use of perpetual solitary confinement. The Supreme Court has referred to “solitary confinement” as one of the techniques of “physical and mental torture.”
Battling the fear of ‘our’ kids
April 23, 2011
From it’s inception, the juvenile justice system has treated youth of color unfairly: When the first detention facility established a “colored section” in 1834, Black children were excluded from rehabilitation because it would be a “waste” of resources.
Africa for the Africans: U.S.-Euro forces out of Libya and Cote d’Ivoire
April 23, 2011
“All of our institutions have failed us if they do not use their power and act against this crime against humanity being carried out in Africa today. I received a call this morning from an Ivorian friend who calls it genocide what Sarkozy’s troops are doing there. Blood, blood, everywhere. Depleted uranium in Libya. Generations to come will suffer the health effects. We must try to stop President Obama. He has the power to say no. So far, he is good at saying yes to all the wrong people. So we must do more than we think we can. Anything less places more blood on everyone’s hands.” – Cynthia McKinney
Prison teacher and advocate Ikemba beaten while handcuffed at Ely State Prison, Nevada
June 4, 2010
On June 2, 2010, Marritte Funches, known affectionately as Ikemba, a longtime contributor to the SF Bay View, a mentor for consciousness and our brother on the frontlines of the plantations in Nevada, was attacked while shackled in chains by riot police in Unit 3 of Ely State Prison in Nevada when they wanted to conduct a cell search.
Investigation continues into suspicious death of Black sophomore in San Jose State frat house
February 9, 2009
“He was making plans to live, not to die.” The mother of Gregory Johnson Jr., 20, questions the suicide theory posed by law enforcement officials, remembering her son as a positive, cheerful young man.