Gig Harbor, WA: Noise Demo in Solidarity with Prison Strike

From Puget Sound Anarchists

Last Sunday, September 25th, just before 8:00pm about 30-40 people convened in front of the Gig Harbor Women’s Correctional Center, in a very suburban town about twenty minutes west of Tacoma, WA. With a bangin’ sound system, a banner that read “Brick By Brick, Wall By Wall, We Will Make Your Prisons Fall,” a megaphone along with pots and pans, we began creating a wall of noise directed towards the dorms of the prison, aiming at breaking down the walls of isolation and confinement constructed by the State.

We had received word that three women inside had been placed in segregation following their alleged roles in spreading the September 9th Prison Strike. Almost immediately we saw lights flickering in response in a dorm, and we proceeded down the street on the sidewalk so as to be closer to the windows along the closest dorm-building. We were lucky enough that the holding-cells where prisoners sleep are less than a block’s distance from the street, and they could easily hear us.

Throughout the hour or so that we were there, prison guards patrolled the perimeter fence that separated us from the prison, and attempted to keep the prisoners from opening their windows and blinds. Each time a guard would walk up to a window and tell them to close their blinds or window, those inside would comply, only to re-open their windows as soon as the guard walked away. This continued for practically the entire time we were there, implicating
that those inside welcomed our noisy presence. Not having much connection with those inside prior to this noise-demo, this warmed our hearts outside in the cold.

We left without incident, with promises of our return. Our hope is that this proves to be a step towards a relationship of struggle with those held inside.

Until all cages are empty!