A call to support the men at Florida State Prison 

‘Turn-the-iron-houses-of-oppression-into-schools-of-liberation-art-by-Rashid-2005-1400x900, A call to support the men at Florida State Prison , Abolition Now!
“Turn the iron houses of oppression into schools of liberation!” – Art: Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, 2005

by Kevin Rashid Johnson, Minister of Defense, on behalf of the Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party (RIBPP)

We stand in support of those in prison at Florida State Prison (FSP) who are in need of sustained public protest and support against intolerable conditions, which includes months of denied access to clean linen during an unprecedented Covid-19 outbreak, frequent brutal assaults at the hands of guards who use “blind spots” – areas where there are no surveillance cameras – to carry out these beatings against prisoners who are most often handcuffed and defenseless, serving unsanitary and spoiled foods, housing those confined in “Close Management” – long-term solitary confinement – cells with commodes that they cannot flush from inside the cell and which the guards refuse to flush and numerous other outrages.

We call on everyone capable to participate in a mass call-in and emailing blitz against FSP and FDOC officials and members of Florida’s Legislature listed below supporting the demands of those confined at FSP.

Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win!

All Power to the People!

List of demands

  1. We demand access to food that is not spoiled or molded and fit for human consumption. As it stands, many prisoners already deal with completely preventable health complications, such as high cholesterol and hypertension, which are a direct result of the forced commissary diet of food products that are laden with near toxic levels of sodium and preservatives. This issue is compounded by trays that are spoiled, forcing many prisoners to go without eating.
  2. We demand an end to the unhygienic and unsanitary conditions that we have been subjected to, which include toilets that do not flush from the inside and guards who refuse to flush them, lack of showers – and when they are granted, we are not given sufficient soap to clean ourselves – and bed linen that hasn’t been laundered in excess of five months. 
  3. We demand access to adequate winter clothing and the opportunity to order winter clothing. 
  4. We demand an end to the use of strip cells being used in conjunction with exhaust fans and broken windows as punitive measures. Florida is currently experiencing record temperature lows and several prisoners have been hospitalized with hypothermia from this practice. 
  5. We demand an end to the practice of wanton and indiscriminate gassing with no process of decontamination. 
  6. We demand access to mental health without fear of retaliation or coercive measures, including the destruction of property and ransacked cells of those individuals who do choose to attend group sessions for mental health. 
  7. We demand an end to the beatings while cuffed and off camera. For a long while, it has been customary to take prisoners off camera or to the medical wing, which has no cameras, in order to beat and maim them. This practice is especially common on weekends when there is no one in the administrative offices.

We call on everyone capable to participate in a mass call-in and emailing blitz against FSP and FDOC officials and members of Florida’s Legislature listed below supporting the demands of those confined at FSP.

Officials to contact

  1. Angela Nixon, Florida House of Representatives, District 14. Phone: 904-924-1500, Email: angie.nixon@myfloridahouse.gov.
  2. Evan Jenne, Florida House of Representatives. Phone: (850) 488-9622, email: evan.jenne@myfloridahouse.gov.
  3. Doug Broxson, Florida State Senate. Phone: 850-595-1036, email: broxson.doug.web@flsenate.gov
  4. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary of Florida Department of Corrections. Phone: (850) 488-7052, email: ricky.dixon@fdc.myflorida.com.

Rashid Johnson, a prisoner in Virginia who was transferred to Oregon in 2012 and subsequently to Texas, Florida and now Indiana, has been held in segregation since 1993. While in prison, he founded the New Afrikan Black Panther Party. As a writer, Rashid has been compared to George Jackson, and he is also the renowned artist who drew the image that became the icon of the California hunger strikes. See his writing and art at rashidmod.com. Send our brother some love and light: Kevin Johnson, 1007485, Nottoway Correction Center, P.O. Box 488, Burkeville VA 239221.