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Dec 30, 22

In Contempt #24: Mumia Pushes for New Trial, Updates on Antifascist Prisoners, Support #StopCopCity Arrestees

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 are updates, calls to action, fundraisers, and birthdays.

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

New Year’s Eve Noise Demos

It’s almost New Year’s Eve, which means there’s a call for noise demonstrations outside prisons, jails, detention centers, and juvenile halls. At the time of this writing, confirmed call-outs have gone out for:

Police Raids and Domestic Terrorism Charges in Atlanta

One big story in repression news this month has been the police raids and domestic terrorism charges against forest defenders in Atlanta. You can read coverage of the raids, and subsequent community resistance, from It’s Going Down, the Atlanta Press Collective, the Intercept, Saporta Report, and Unicorn Riot. This is America and The Final Straw Radio Show have both broadcast more in-depth interviews about the situation.

As of this writing, all six arrestees have been bonded out of jail – but solidarity is still needed! To contribute to help with legal costs of those facing charges, you can donate to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund here.

Political Prisoner News

One major piece of political prisoner news is that Mumia Abu-Jamal has an important chance to overturn his conviction after 41 years behind bars. As Democracy Now! reports, a Philadelphia judge has given the prosecution and defense 60 days to review all the evidence in Mumia’s case, including new files that the defense has never had access to before, and is then expected to make a decision on whether or not to grant Mumia a new trial. Key evidence from the files includes a letter seeming to indicate that the prosecution was paying a witness for testimony.

In more good news, elderly Black Liberation prisoner Mutulu Shakur has finally been released and is now at home with his family. A fundraising appeal has been set up for Kazi Toure, another former Black Panther and political prisoner who now serves as one of the directors of the Jericho Movement.

Anarchist prisoner Eric King’s support crew are selling a limited number of t-shirts to help raise money for his release fund, and report that he now has a pillow for the first time since his arrival in a new facility.

Uprising Defendants and Other Ongoing Cases

Portland George Floyd uprising prisoner Cyan Bass is currently out of funds and there’s a call for people to donate to his commissary. A fundraiser has been set up to support uprising prisoner Malik Muhammad and his family through his sentence, and you can find more about his case at his support site and instagram page.

Kite Line Radio have broadcast a new interview with Isaiah Willoughby, a former uprising prisoner who’s now been returned to prison on a parole violation.

Defense attorneys acting for water protectors have warned of serious overcharging in cases related to the Line 3 Tar Sands pipeline, and also report that progress on the cases has stalled, leaving defendants in an endless legal limbo.

An emergency legal fund has been set up to help meet the costs of the Portland anarchist hit with fines of almost $50,000 after being held responsible for everything that happened during a protest of almost 300 people.

Antifascist prisoner Ben Varela has been moved, and his new address is now:

Benjamin Varela #434577
Stafford Creek Corrections Center
191 Constantine Way
Aberdeen, WA 98520

Trans antifascist prisoner Nikki Hubbard’s address has now been confirmed, she is requesting mail and books are sent to:

Erich Yach #BU6682
Wasco State Prison – Reception Center
P.O. Box 8800
701 Scofield Avenue,
Wasco, CA 93280

The prison is insisting mail has to be sent under her deadname, if anyone has experience of helping trans prisoners with these issues then her support crew would appreciate any assistance.

Ashton Park Defendant Support has shared an update on the ongoing case of the Asheville mutual aid organizers facing “felony littering” charges from last December.

Alex Stokes also has a new support website and there is a new short video out about his case and how to support him. His support crew is asking folks to spread the video on social media and with friends.

General Prison and Abolitionist News

IDOC Watch have launched a call for an urgent phone and email zap to get Khalfani Malik Khaldun moved to a medical facility where he’ll be able to get adequate treatment. They have also exposed the scandal of Indiana prisoners being left without heat in sub-zero temperatures. The issue of prisoners being left in freezing temperatures has also been raised in a new article on TruthOut, and by Both Sides of the Wall highlighting conditions at Bullock CF in Alabama, as well as Fight Toxic Prisons, who are running a fundraiser to get supplies to incarcerated women in Texas.

January 2023 is still set to see the launch of a strike across the Pennsylvania prison system. From an article by Kim Kelly:

On January 6, incarcerated workers across Pennsylvania will launch a statewide strike in solidarity with the Alabama strikers, and in protest of the inhumane policies to which they and other incarcerated workers are subjected by the state of Pennsylvania and the U.S. carceral system writ large. They announced their intention to strike with a November 26 communique that was circulated on social media and within the broader abolitionist community. Organized under the name Subaltern Peoples Abolitionist Revolutionary Collective (SPARC), the workers outlined their demands while castigating the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PA DOC). “The PA DOC is the enemy of public safety,” they wrote. “It is the enemy of human decency.”

SPARC’s demands echo those of past prison strikers, from the 1971 Attica Rebellion to the massive nationwide prison strikes of 2016 and 2018 as well as their Alabama brethren. The unifying factor in all of these actions — and in the many other strikes, protests and acts of resistance that have taken place in prisons and central facilities throughout the centuries — is a simple request for humanity. The strikers want to be treated as people, to be acknowledged as the human beings that they are and treated with basic decency, compassion and respect. Their list of demands shows a deep desire for connection with loved ones and the world outside the walls. Requests for video visits, easier access to communication devices, and family picnic days sit alongside economic concerns like higher wages and ending the loss of jobs, like mail sorting and commissary, that are meant to be available to incarcerated workers but are being outsourced to vendors like Secure Pak.

It is clear that, like so many other unions, SPARC is not only concerned with so-called bread-and-butter economic issues. The collective is also calling for material improvements to members’ quality of life, both on and off the job, and for sweeping reforms to the state’s criminal punishment system.

Pitgoose Prisoner Books, a books-to-prisoners group based in New York, is currently running a donation appeal to cover their postage costs.

The campaign to get Kevin “Rashid” Johnson adequate medical treatment for his cancer continues, and was recently highlighted in a new interview on the Final Straw, as well as a new article by Joseph “Shine White” Stewart.

In Oregon, the outgoing governor has just commuted all remaining capital sentences in the state.

Mongoose Distro continues to publish new prisoner writings regularly, including the Cries from the Gulag zine, and the Pennsylvania prisoner zine IB64, as well as individual pieces from writers such as Dan Baker, Jason Renard Walker, Jesse Mocha Scoggins, and Steven McCain.

At around the same time as his new article, “Prison-Assisted Death Matches” reached the outside world, Jason Renard Walker was moved again, and he is now housed at:

Jason Renard Walker #1532092
Wayne Scott Unit
4 Jester Road
Richmond, TX 77406

This move is causing concern among his supporters, since Wayne Scott is a psychiatric unit, suggesting that the Texas Department of Corrections may be trying to undermine Jason’s resistance through pathologizing him.

The San Francisco Bay View recently published a new statement from Kwame Shakur on the Prison Lives Matter campaign.

Other recent updates from abolitionist media projects include TruthOut publishing a new article by Victoria Law on federal prisoners awaiting the outcome of their clemency applications, and the Final Straw putting out a new episode on the Alabama prison system featuring anarchist prisoner Michael Kimble. The Final Straw is also selling t-shirts designed by Michael to raise funds for him.

The International Antifascist Defense Fund are running a fundraising drive so they can keep operating, you can watch a video about the importance of their work here and donate to them here.

Recent episodes of Kite Line Radio have included a rebroadcast interview with Alfred Woodfox and Robert King of the Angola 3, an episode on the fight against new jails in Bloomington, Indiana, and an interview on life after lockup with Kunta Kenyatta.

International

Palestinian prisoner Nasser Abu Hmeid has been killed by medical neglect. Meanwhile, in the UK, four people who allegedly took direct action against an arms company involved in Israel’s supply chain have been denied bail and are being held awaiting trial.

UK anarchist prisoner Toby Shone is due to be released to a halfway house on December 28th, where he will have to continue his legal battle against the state’s attempts to impose incredibly harsh post-release conditions on him. You can read a translation of a recent Italian statement on his situation here. The British state also continues its repression against the “Kill the Bill” defendants, with Gopal Clark being the latest to be sentenced to 18 months.

Italian anarchist prisoner Alfredo Cospito, who’s been on hunger strike against the repressive “41 bis” prison regime, has had his appeal rejected. He has stated that he expected the rejection and intends to continue his hunger strike.

In Chile, four people have been detained after a series of raids in response to an explosive attack against the Gendarmerie, who run the Chilean jail service.

German antifascist defendant Adel has been freed after beating all charges against him.

ABC Belarus have published their latest monthly round-up of repression, and one of the Belarus rail partisans has just been given 16 years in prison.

An international call has gone out for actions to support Thanos Chatzianggelou, a Greek anarchist prisoner on hunger and thirst strike after being transferred to another prison. You can read a statement from Thanos about his strike here, and he is now in danger of being force-fed. Giannis Michailidis, another anarchist prisoner, has launched a solidarity hunger strike.

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
FCI Terre Haute
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. BOX 33
Terre Haute, IN  47808

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

José Felan
FCI Terre Haute
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. BOX 33
Terre Haute, IN  47808

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

Nicholas Lucia 06868-509
FCI Petersburg Low
Federal Correctional Institution
PO Box 1000
Petersburg, VA 23804

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

Olivia Marie Hull
Kent County Correctional Facility
703 Ball Avenue NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

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

Howard Eugene Nall #586907
Newberry Correctional Facility
13747 E. County Road 428
Newberry, MI 49868

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

Upcoming Birthdays

Nikita Dranets

Nikita Dranets is a Belarusian political prisoner detained as part of a case brought against the anarchist movement. On September 6, 2022, Mikita was sentenced to 6 years in a reinforced regime colony and a fine of about $6,300.

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: January 1

Address:

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

SIZO-1, ul. Volodarskogo 2, Minsk, 220030
Nikita Vadimovich Dranets

Fran Thompson

Serving life plus 10 years for killing a man who broke into her home in self-defense. Before her imprisonment, Fran was an eco, animal and anti-nuke campaigner and it is believed this biased the court against her.

Nebraska uses Jpay, so you should be able to send her a message by going to jpay.com, clicking “inmate search”, then selecting “State: Nebraska, Inmate ID: 93341”.

Birthday: January 4

Address:

Fran Thompson #93341
Nebraska Correctional Center for Women
1107 Recharge Rd.
York, NE 68467-8003
USA

Siddique Abdullah Hasan (Carlos Sanders)

Long-time prison rebel on Death Row for his role in the Lucasville Uprising of 1993. Facing heavy retaliation, including attempts to smear him as a terrorist, for his ongoing organizing and support of prison strikes. You can learn more about Siddique in his own words by listening to his interviews on the Final Straw.

Ohio uses Jpay, so you can send him a message by going to jpay.com, clicking “inmate search”, then selecting “State: Ohio, Inmate ID: R130559”.

Birthday: January 4

Address:

Siddique Abdullah Hasan (Address envelope to Carlos A. Sanders)
#R130559
Ohio State Penitentiary
PO Box 1436
Youngstown, Ohio 44505

Abdul Azeez (Warren Ballentine)

Abdul is one of the Virgin Island 3 serving 8 consecutive life sentences after being tortured into a false confession then wrongly imprisoned since 2001 when his sentence was vacated. He was 23 at the time of his arrest in 1972. Now in his 60s, he has several chronic health issues that are difficult to treat inside prison. A new Virgin Island 3 support site is due to be launched in the near future.

Abdul is in a prison run by CoreCivic/CCA, who appear to use 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 Abdul then you’re best off just sending him a card or a letter.

Birthday: January 9

Address:

Abdul Aziz (address envelope to Warren Ballantine)
#16-047
Citrus County Detention Facility
2604 West Woodland Ridge Drive
Lecanto, Florida 34461

Joseph “Shine White” Stewart

Joseph “Shine White” Stewart is a revolutionary prisoner in North Carolina who was sent to solitary confinement for his prominent role in the 2018 prison strikes. Many of his writings have been published by the Atlanta Anarchist Black Cross.

North Carolina inmates can now be contacted using textbehind.com

Birthday: January 14

Address:

Joseph Stewart #0802041
Granville Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 247
Phoenix, MD 21131

Joseph “Joe-Joe” Bowen

Black Liberation Army (BLA) Prisoner of War, serving two life sentences for the assassination of a prison warden and deputy warden, as well as an attempted prison break which resulted in a five-day standoff.

Pennsylvania uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going to connectnetwork.com, selecting “Add a facility,” choosing “State: Pennsylvania, Facility: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections”, going into the “messaging” service, and then adding him as a contact by searching his name or “AM-4272”.

Birthday: January 15

Address:

Smart Communications/PADOC
Joseph Bowen #AM-4272
SCI Fayette
P.O. Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
United States

Jacob Montgomery

Ferguson uprising prisoner, serving a 13-year sentence which is partly for looting during the Ferguson riots of November 2014, along with unrelated robbery and burglary charges.

Missouri uses Securus, so you can send him a message by going to securustech.net, clicking “inmate search,” then selecting “State: Missouri, Inmate ID: 1287870.”

Birthday: January 17

Address:

Jacob Montgomery #1287870
C/O Digital Mail Center-Missouri DOC
PO Box 25678
Tampa, FL 33622-5678

Anastasia Kukhta

Anastasia is a social activist from Minsk, was detained on 17 February 2022 and arrested for 15 days allegedly for disorderly conduct. Later she was declared a suspect in a criminal case.

She was accused of participation in protests (Article 342), calling for sanctions or actions aimed at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus (Article 361.3) and creation or participation in an extremist formation (Article 361-1.1 of the Criminal Code).

On 11 November 2022 she was sentenced to 5 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: January 17

Address:

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

Anastasia Sergeyevna Kukhta
ul. Volodarskogo 2, SIZO-1
220030 Minsk

Abdush-Shahid Faruq (Timothy Grinnel)

Abdush-Shahid Faruq is one of the prisoners wrongfully convicted in the aftermath of the historic Lucasville Uprising.

Ohio uses Jpay, so you can send him a message by going to jpay.com, clicking “inmate search”, then selecting “State: Ohio, Inmate ID: 218140”.

Birthday: January 23

Address:

Timothy Grinnel #218-140
Ross Correctional Institution
16149 State Rt. 104
Chillicothe, Ohio 45601

Marius Mason

Marius Mason is an anarchist, environmental and animal rights activist currently serving nearly 22 years in federal prison for acts of property damage carried out in defense of the planet.

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 Marius then you’re best off just sending him a card or a letter.

Birthday: January 26

Address:

Marie (Marius) Mason 04672-061
FCI Danbury
Route 37
Danbury, CT 06811

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

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