Chicago, IL: Solidarity With CCJ Jail Rebels!

On Saturday, April 15th, inmates at the living hell known as Cook County Jail (Chicago) set fire to new uniforms intended to mark off “problematic detainees who engage in sexual misconduct.” According to mainstream media, prisoners “used a microwave to ignite a wick to light the uniforms on fire,” which “sent four corrections officers to the hospital.” A video is here.

Inspired by this destructive act of open revolt, a couple of us took to the streets Tuesday night and wheat-pasted dozens of posters on corporate businesses, bus stops, and benches around the neighborhood surrounding the jail. We did this to communicate our love for those held captive in the belly of the carceral beast, our deep hatred for all prisons, jails, and the pieces of human shit who guard them, and as a small gesture of complicity with everyone attacking them from inside and out. We hope the message will somehow reach those inside. The posters read: JAILS ARE FOR BURNING. TO PRISONERS EVERYWHERE: STAY UNCONTROLLABLE! EVERY CAGE MUST GO!

If the discourse of “prison abolitionism” is to be more than an empty moral posture, it demands a practice of demolitionism. Let’s make sure this fire is only the first of many to come.

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