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Oct 2, 22

In Contempt #21: Running Down the Walls, Alabama Prison Strike Kicks Off, Political Prisoner Updates

photo: Anarchist Black Cross Federation

In this column, we present our monthly roundup of political prisoner, prison rebel, and repression news, happenings, announcements, action and analysis. Packed in as always is updates, calls to action, fundraisers, and birthdays.

There’s a lot happening, so let’s dive right in!

Political Prisoner News

September saw the annual Running Down the Walls event to raise money for political prisoners take place in a number of cities, and you can read a collection of reports from the various events here. Statements for the event were issued by prisoners Eric King, Dan Baker, Toby Shone, and Oso Blanco.

The Civil Liberties Defense Center recently organized a discussion in support of long-time earth liberation prisoner Marius Mason, which has now been broadcast as a two–part special on Kite Line Radio.

The Earth Liberation Front is the subject of a new BBC podcast series, and former ELF prisoner Daniel McGowan has recently appeared on the Green and Red podcast discussing the problems with this new series.

The campaign to free elderly Black Liberation prisoner Mutulu Shakur has published an update on their ongoing legal battle, which will see Mutulu face another parole hearing in early October.

Long-term Black Liberation prisoner Ronald Reed has been moved, his new address is:

Ronald Reed #219531
Minnesota Correctional Facility-Oak Park Heights
5329 Osgood Avenue North
Stillwater, MN 55082

The Coffee With Comrades podcast has released a new episode on the case of antifascist prisoner Dan Baker, featuring a short clip of Dan talking in his own words. Dan has also published a new article setting out his current thinking.

The 2023 Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners calendar is now available for pre-order.

Anarchist prisoner Eric King is being held at the supermax facility in Florence, but does not appear to currently be on a mail ban, and so supporters are encouraged to both write to him and order books from his wishlist:

Eric King #27090-045
USP Florence ADMAX
PO Box 8500
Florence, CO 81226

A new support fund has been set up for the medical needs of Maumin Khabir, a former New Afrikan political prisoner who was granted compassionate release in February after serving 27 years.

Hanif Bey of the Virgin Island 3 recently published a new short piece of writing on Mongoose Distro.

Uprising Defendants

Unicorn Riot has published a major report on the case of Khalif Miller, a Philadelphia defendant being held in Federal prison awaiting trial on charges related to the 2020 George Floyd uprising. A new petition is circulating in support of South Carolina uprising defendant Brittany Martin, and Kite Line Radio recently broadcast an interview with former North Carolina uprising prisoner Shawn Sutton.

Alabama Prison Strike

As reported on It’s Going Down, a major prison strike began in the Alabama Department of Corrections on September 26th. At time of writing, there was little media coverage beyond local sites like the Montgomery Advertiser, but the Free Alabama Movement blog and accounts such as Unheard Voices OTCJ, Free Alabama Movement and Jay Beware on twitter are good sources of updates, along with the #shutdownadoc2022 hashtag.

General Prison News

Fight Toxic Prisons have issued an urgent call for a phone zap to protect prisoners in the path of Hurricane Ian, and you can read the latest news from that campaign here.

Alabama anarchist prisoner Michael Kimble is fundraising for a new legal team.

Incarcerated organizer Kevin “Rashid” Johnson has just been transferred to Sussex 1 State Prison, and has also published a new article on the neglect of terminally ill prisoners.

Texas prison writer and organizer Jason Renard Walker has published a new article on how guards have denied prisoners access to much-needed relief from the deadly heat of Texas summers.

In Indiana, IDOC Watch have organized a phone zap for Robert Peacher, a prisoner who’s been left to starve after guards poisoned his food, and are working towards freedom for Christopher Trotter of the Pendleton 2 and for Kim Baldwin, a victim of wrongful conviction.

Texas anarchist prisoner Noah “Kado” Coffin is looking forward to an upcoming parole date, and making plans for his life post-incarceration.

Adding to the growing body of criticism of mail digitization services, Emancipate NC recently published a prisoner’s writing critiquing Text Behind, the company that has the contract for the North Carolina prison mail system.

The Louisiana prison system has attracted widespread criticism for a new decision to allow minors to be sent to the notorious state penitentiary at Angola, a plan that was even described as “distressing”, “untenable”, and “disturbing” by the judge who decided to allow it.

Abolitionist Media

The San Francisco Bay View recently published an obituary for Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3, written by his close comrade Kenny “Zulu” Whitmore.

Michigan Abolition and Prisoner Solidarity have released a new issue of their newsletter, The Opening Statement, and the fifth issue of Philadelphia prisoner zine IB64 has also just been published.

Mongoose Distro also recently published an article by Virginia prisoner David Annarelli on mail censorship, along with several articles by Texas prisoner Steven McCain.

Austin Anarchist Black Cross have a new guide to protecting yourself from government harassment while crossing borders.

International

Early September saw Palestinian political prisoner Khalil Awawdeh successfully finish a 182-day hunger strike after the Israeli state agreed to his release. More recently, 30 Palestinian prisoners have now launched a new hunger strike against the policy of “adminstrative detention”, which allows detainees to be held without charge or trial.

In Iran, the political prisoner Behnam Mousivand has also been on hunger strike for much of September, and is reported to be facing deteriorating health due to medical neglect.

The Moscow Anarchist Black Cross continues to support prisoners facing repression from the Russian state, and are fundraising for six antifascist defendants facing terror charges in the “Tyumen case”. The International Antifascist Defence Fund has helped pay for another antifascist to escape further away from Russian territory. A new initiative, Solidarity Zone, aims to support anti-war defendants in Russia.

In Belarus, the anarchist defendants in the “International Criminal Organization” trial have been sentenced to between 5-17 years each. ABC Belarus have also published a general overview of summer repression in Belarus, along with an article on two of the historical founders of the Anarchist Black Cross movement, accompanying their new fundraiser t-shirts. News has just come through of another series of arrests targeting three more Belarusian antifascists.

Abolition Media reports that a mass break-out took place in a Haitian women’s prison, and a solidarity fund is fundraising for the support of revolutionary prisoners in Greece.

Uprising Defendants

Everyone should support the defendants facing charges related to their alleged participation in the George Floyd uprising – this list of our imprisoned comrades needs to be getting shorter, not longer. See Uprising Support for more info, and check out the Antirepression PDX site for updates from Portland cases. The status of pre-trial defendants changes frequently, but to the best of our knowledge they currently include:

Tyre Means 49981-086
USP Beaumont
PO BOX 26030
Beaumont, TX 77720

Kelly Jackson 50288-086
FCI Sheridan Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. BOX 5000
Sheridan, OR 97378

Margaret Channon 49955-086
FCI Aliceville
PO Box 4000
Aliceville, AL 35442

Malik Muhammad #23935744
Oregon State Penitentiary
2605 State Street
Salem, OR 97310

Jacob Michael Gaines #81973-065
FCI Sheridan
P.O. BOX 5000
Sheridan, OR 97378

Jacob asks that people include an email address associated with their corrlinks account so he can return an email instead of a letter.

Cyan Waters Bass #23905849
Oregon State Correctional Institution
3405 Deer Park Drive SE
Salem, Oregon 97310

Gavaughn Streeter-Hillerich #19203494
Oregon State Penitentiary
2605 State Street
Salem, Oregon 97310

Montez Lee 22429-041
FCI Ray Brook
Federal Correctional Institution
PO Box 900
Ray Brook, NY 12977

Matthew White #21434-041
USP McCreary
P.O. Box 3000
Pine Knot, KY 42635

Matthew Rupert #55013-424
USP McCreary
P.O. Box 3000
Pine Knot, KY 42635

José Felan
Sherburne County Jail
13880 Business Center Dr.
NW Suite 200 Elk River, MN 55330-1692

Branden Wolf #22425-041
FCI Oxford
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. BOX 1000
Oxford, WI  53952

Dylan Robinson 45802-013
USP Leavenworth
P.O. BOX 1000
LEAVENWORTH, KS  66048

David Elmakayes 77782-066
FCI McKean
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 8000
Bradford, PA 16701

Christopher West 04670-509
USP Canaan
U.S. Penitentiary
P.O. Box 300
Waymart, PA 18472

You can also buy fundraiser clothing for Christopher “Brother Hush” West here.

Andrew Augustyniak-Duncan
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Andrew Duncan-Augustyniak / QN9211
SCI Rockview
PO Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida 33733

Ellie Brett 14822509
FCI Petersburg Medium
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 1000
Petersburg, VA 23804

John Wade 14762509
FCI Beckley
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 350
General & Legal Mail
Beaver, WV 25813

Alvin Joseph 1002016959
Metro Reentry Facility
PO Box 17668
Atlanta, GA 30316

Shamar Betts 22080-043
FCI Hazelton Federal Correction Inst.
P.O. Box 5000
Bruceton Mills, WV 26525

Diego Vargas 55070-424
FCI Allenwood Medium
PO Box 2000
White Deer, PA 17887

Adam Walton 55322-424
FCI Forrest City Medium
PO Box 3000
Forest City, AR 72336

Kyree Robertson #597000
Parnall Correctional Facility
1780 E. Parnall Rd.
Jackson, MI 49201

Howard Eugene Nall #586907
Kent County Correctional Facility
703 Ball Avenue NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Antonio Wooden 17569-028 (Tony Cushe)
FCI McDowell
PO Box 1009
Welch, WV 24801

T’andre Buchanan 67637-060
Milan FCI
PO Box 1000
Milan, MI 48160

Upcoming Birthdays

Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, Imam

Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly H. Rap Brown, was a legendary black liberation leader, serving as the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and later the Justice Minister of the Black Panther Party. Wrongfully convicted of murder in the 1990s after an intense campaign of state harassment.

The Federal system uses Corrlinks, a system where a prisoner must send a request to connect to someone on the outside before they can exchange emails, so if you’re not already connected to Imam Jalil then you’re best off just sending him a card or a letter.

Birthday: October 4

Address:

Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin #99974-555
USP Tucson
P.O. Box 24550
Tucson, AZ 85734
United States

Jennifer Rose

Jennifer Amelia Rose (previously known as Jennifer Gann) is an anti-authoritarian trans woman and insurrectionist amazon held captive for over 25 years for armed robberies and a 1995 attack on a district attorney and associate prison warden. She took part in the 1991 Folsom Prison hunger strike, after which she was beaten and tortured, convicted for armed resistance, and sentenced to multiple 25-to-life sentences under the Three Strikes Law. She has spent over ten years in solitary confinement at Folsom and the Pelican Bay Secure Housing Unit. Despite all of this, Jennifer continues to struggle for freedom, remaining a committed anti-authoritarian, anti-imperialist, anti-racist, anti-fascist, and anti-capitalist. For more information, you can listen to this recent interview she did with the Final Straw.

California uses Jpay, so you can send her a message by going to jpay.com, clicking “inmate search”, then selecting “State: California, Inmate ID: E23852”.

Birthday: October 6

Address:

Jennifer Amelia Rose #E-23852
Salinas Valley State Prison
P. O. Box 1050
Soledad, CA 93960-1050

Malik Bey (Meral Smith)

Malik is one of the Virgin Island 5 serving 8 consecutive life sentences after being tortured into a false confession then wrongly imprisoned since 2001 when his sentence was vacated.

Malik is in an institution run by CoreCivic, and it appears that you can email him here.

Birthday: October 8

Address:

Meral Smith #19-1874
Citrus County Detention Facility
2604 W. Woodland Ridge Dr.
Lecanto, FL 34461
United States

Aleksandr Zaitsev

Aliaksandr Zaytsev is an anarchist who was accused of attempting to set fire to Chairman of the Supreme Court Sukalo’s dacha. On April 15, 2022 Aliaksandr was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Belarusian prisons will usually only accept letters in Belarusian or Russian, so if you don’t speak one of those languages your best bet is to email your message to belarus_abc(AT)riseup.net or use this online form and they should be able to translate your greetings and pass them on.

Birthday: October 8

Address:

(Belarusian or Russian letters only – use this form for English messages)

Zaitsev Aleksandr Vladimirovich
212013, Mogilev, p/o Veino, Slavgorodskoe shosse 183, IK №15
Belarus

Kenny Zulu Whitmore

Kenny Zulu Whitmore is a former Black Panther, wrongfully held for over 45 years, over 30 of which were spent in solitary confinement. You can read more about Zulu’s case here. Zulu is not allowed to receive greeting cards.

Louisiana uses JPay, so you can send him a message by going to jpay.com, clicking “inmate search”, then selecting “State: Louisiana, Inmate ID: 86468”.

Birthday: October 14

Address:

Kenny Zulu Whitmore
86468 – Cypress#3
LA State Prison
Angola, LA 70712

Alexander Kozlyanko

Anarchist from Brest. Detained on 2 March 2021 on suspicion of involvement in a criminal organization of anarchists and gross violation of public order (Articles 285 and 342 of the Criminal Code). Allegedly he was involved in a road blockage in Brest in May 2018: anarchists then blocked three lanes of the M1 motorway, opposing the construction of a battery plant. On September 6, 2022, Aliaksandr was sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Belarusian prisons will usually only accept letters in Belarusian or Russian, so if you don’t speak one of those languages your best bet is to email your message to belarus_abc(AT)riseup.net or use this online form and they should be able to translate your greetings and pass them on.

Birthday: October 15

Address:

(Belarusian or Russian letters only – use this form for English messages)

SIZO-1, ul. Volodarskogo 2, Minsk, 220030
Alexander Kozlyanko
Belarus

Toby Shone

Toby Shone is an anarchist who was prosecuted under terrorism charges for alleged involvement with the insurrectionist website 325, and then later sentenced for drugs charges when the terror charges were dropped for lack of evidence. He continues to receive repressive treatment from the state due to his unapologetic anarchist politics. You can read more about his case here and here.

Birthday: October 20

Address:

Toby Shone A7645EP
HM Prison Parc
Heol Hobcyn John
Coity
Bridgend
CF35 6AP
United Kingdom

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A monthly report on prison rebels, State repression, and news from an abolitionist perspective.

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