In Contempt #52: Mohsen Mahdawi Freed as Action Against ICE Heats Up

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, fundraisers, and birthdays.

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

Resistance Grows Against ICE as Push Back Against Repression of Student Protesters Continues

In some good news, student protester Mohsen Mahdawi has been released from ICE detention in Vermont, telling a crowd assembled outside in support, “I am saying it clear and loud to President Trump and his Cabinet: I am not afraid of you.” As TruthOut reported:

U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford ordered Mahdawi to be released on bail as his case continues. Local news sources who were present in the courtroom reported that Crawford said that he believes Mahdawi is not a flight risk.

The judge compared the Trump administration’s targeting of Mahdawi and other immigrants to the suppression of people with left-wing views during the Red Scare and McCarthy eras.

Despite this victory, many student protesters remain locked inside ICE prisons. Mahmoud Khalil has published a new letter on what his detention says about growing authoritarianism in America. From the Washington Post:

A detainee who was praying all night finally lies down. He was caught crossing the border with his pregnant wife and has never seen his baby, now 9 months old. I try to convince myself that this will not be my fate, though Friday’s ruling makes that possibility more real than I want to admit.

I write this letter as the sun rises, hoping that the suspension of my rights will raise alarm bells that yours are already in jeopardy. I hope it will inspire your outrage that the most basic human instinct, to protest shameless massacre, is being repressed by obscure laws, racist propaganda and a state terrified of an awakened public. I hope this writing will startle you into understanding that a democracy for some — a democracy of convenience — is no democracy at all. I hope it will shake you into acting before it is too late.

Mahmoud Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdalla, who recently gave birth to her child with Khalil imprisoned, has also published new writing, while ICE has admitted that they didn’t have a warrant when they arrested him.

Boston University Professor Nathan Phillips has launched a hunger strike to protest the detention of Rumeysa Ozturk.The environmental scientist began his strike on April 15, after university officials repeatedly took down a “Free Rumeysa” sign from his office window

— TRT World (@handle.invalid) 2025-04-21T15:23:11.878Z

Rumeysa Ozturk also remains imprisoned in ICE detention in Louisiana, as rallies and calls for her freedom grow, and Ozturk’s lawyers also continue the fight in court. A recent article in Teen Vogue discussed the role that community defense groups have played in her case:

Those volunteers are some of the more than 750 who have been trained in the last six weeks at “community hubs” in over a dozen cities across the state, where 50 hotline operators with member groups of the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts are now answering calls in five languages. (“LUCE” connotes “shining a light,” in Latin, a language familiar to the region’s large Catholic immigrant population.) And they’re providing other resources as well. Later in the week, the group gave know-your-rights training to more than 100 Tufts students and community members. Timpona credits a 40-page Google Doc that was published just Donald Trump was inaugurated.

LUCE is connecting immigrant community groups, prison abolition organizations, legal services, parent groups, and faith-based organizations. “Our coalition is rooted in the idea that we refuse to leave anyone behind because of their marginalized identity,” shares Jaya Savita, director of the Asian Pacific Islanders Civic Action Network and a member of the LUCE Network. “The hotline and ICE Watch resource is one of many ways we are empowering allies and impacted community members. We recognize that in order to build people power, we need to train, empower, and equip our communities and allies.”

Most of the group’s tactics, from the hotline dispatch system to neighborhood-based rights workshops, are modeled on those our team at Siembra NC used to organize immigrant workers and community members in North Carolina during Trump’s first term. And they’re not the only ones coming together to create new defense networks. Before his reelection, Trump made clear what he was going to do: demonize Latinos and all immigrants and use the threats of raids and deportation to destroy families and communities, keeping us all scared, demoralized, and hidden. He and his billionaire friends would continue stripping away our rights, gutting public services, and harming working people.

Calls to bring Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia back to the US, a man who was deported from the US to a mega-prison in El Salvador, are also growing. Various US politicians have traveled to El Salvador in an effort to push for Garcia’s return, and in a move that seems to signal a bow to growing pressure, Garcia has been moved to another facility.

Students and supporters rallied today at the University of Minnesota to protest ICE’s detainment of a graduate student. 📸: Jerry Holt

— Minnesota Star Tribune (@startribune.com) 2025-03-31T23:29:10.313Z

New horror stories of repression continue to mount on a daily basis, with TruthOut reporting that seven people have now died in ICE custody since Trump came into office, small children having to appear in court with no attorneys, a 19-year-old US citizen with learning disabilities being detained for 10 days, plainclothes ICE officers wearing balaclavas raiding a courthouse in Charlottesville, ICE agents attacking a couple in their car with a hammer, and wildly arbitrary deportations of anyone accused of connections to Tren de Aragua on extremely spurious grounds. Deported migrants and their families have described people being “moved around like animals” and compared conditions to “hell on earth.”

Students across the US are rallying on campuses to demand an end to sweeping attacks on international students, as the Trump administration moves to revoke visas for hundreds. Protests in the last few days have taken place in Indiana, Florida, Texas, Michigan and beyond.

— It's Going Down (@igd.bsky.social) 2025-04-11T19:11:00.801Z

Tom Homan recently stated that he wanted to see ICE working “like Amazon Prime, but with human beings”, drawing attention to the way that the deportation machine is based on logistics infrastructure. ICE surveillance plans include “bring[ing] together data from a wide variety of other U.S. government agencies, including the Department of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to make a centralized database to identify immigration targets” according to 404media, who have also written about ICE’s partnership with Palantir to form a mass database of targets. Prison profiteers GEO Group have also partnered with ICE to extend mass surveillance of immigrants, meaning that Palantir and GEO are both excellent targets for social movements and struggles looking to resist the deportation machine.

As reported by TruthOut, the ACLU has obtained documents showing how the Trump administration plans to work with GEO Group and CoreCivic on a massive expansion of privately-run detention centers. TruthOut also reports that the DHS is monitoring the social media accounts of immigrants in order to refuse anyone who expresses “antisemitism,” which they describe as “a seeming code word for speech criticizing Israel’s U.S.-backed occupation of Palestine and genocide of Palestinians.”

One of the most incredible protest signs I've ever seen. A Japanese American woman folded a huge origami crane to honor the children of Japanese American internment camps & protest current ICE camps. 📸 permission at the Vigil to Stop ICE Expansion in Dublin, CA 4/16/25✊🏻 NEVER AGAIN IS NOW ❤️

— Jill Kelley (she/they) (@justicejoyandjill.bsky.social) 2025-04-17T21:04:10.475Z

In the face of these attacks, people are mobilizing to push back. The Black Rose Anarchist Federation have contributed their take on strategy for resisting deportations with an article, It Will Take Collective Direct Action to Stop the Abductions. An piece in the Boston Review, Mutual Aid in the Age of Fascism, examines some of the networks that have begun forming to combat ICE. From the article:

Mutual aid is the brigade of volunteers mucking out basements after a flood, the church basement food pantry staffed by retirees, the GoFundMe to pay the rent for a tenant about to be evicted. It can look like an easier alternative to politics, which requires not just generosity but toughness, not just tolerance but side-taking.

But mutual aid is more than glorified good neighborliness. The response to the Somerville abduction is a case in point: such projects can channel rage and fear into disciplined, concrete action, linking movements and bringing new individuals into them. Rather than sidestep politics, it can make politics happen. The LUCE group encompasses immigrant rights and tenants’ rights, prison abolition and workplace safety; it unites communities from Asian Pacific Islanders to Dominicans, Muslims to Unitarians.

Labor Notes has put out a podcast discussing how union members are defending their immigrant co-workers, along with an article looking at how Kentucky unions have responded to the threat of mass deportations in Louisville. It Could Happen Here also has a recent episode on the targeting of farmworker union organizer Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez by ICE.

Vicky Osterweil has written on how the Trump administration’s refusal to comply with the courts in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia indicates a further step towards dictatorship, along with an examination of the regime’s continuing weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Natasha Lennard has written for the Intercept on how Trump has now escalated this process further by ordering the arrest of a judge in Wisconsin.

“Say it once. Say it twice. Free Doroudi. No more ICE!” More than 100 people marched and chanted in front of Tuscaloosa’s Richard Shelby Federal Courthouse on Monday to protest the detainment of an Iranian doctoral student from the University of Alabama." www.al.com/news/2025/04…

— It's Going Down (@igd.bsky.social) 2025-04-01T18:30:05.228Z

On the streets, resistance against ICE is heating up, with students organizing walkouts, communities rallying outside of ICE facilities and court hearings, and protests taking place in solidarity with those targeted by DHS. One encouraging victory has come from the town of Sackets Harbor, New York, where mass protests outside the house of Tom Homan led to a family being released from ICE detention. In Tallahassee, FL, community members rallied to demand the release of Juan Carlos, who was quickly freed by ICE. The state has also moved to restore visas for many international students in the face of growing legal challenges, however the fight remains ongoing. The labor movement is also stepping up, holding rallies to demand the release of members that have been imprisoned. Mass rallies against ICE took place on May Day, with hundreds marching on the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA. A new campaign, in part inspired by the ongoing protests against Musk and Tesla, is also now targeting Avelo Airlines, which has been contracted to carry out deportation flights. Protests have now taken place in various cities.

Political Prisoner News

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has denied a request to appeal by Black Liberation prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, closing down his attempt to overturn his conviction. Mumia turned 71 in April, with the date being marked by an online event and in-person Mumia Freedom events in the Bay Area.

Former anarchist political prisoner Eric King recently appeared on the Pod Damn America podcast to discuss his upcoming book A Clean Hell, which is now available for pre-order through PM Press. Eric also appeared on the Sitdown, a Mafia-focused YouTube channel, to discuss his experiences in ADX, and at a public event in Kansas City in support of trans prisoners.

The Dugout podcast recently ran an episode looking at the legacy of Black anarchist political prisoner Martin Sostre.

Ferguson prisoner Josh Williams is requesting support as he enters the final year of his sentence and prepares for release, while coping with continuing staff harassment. Anyone who can help provide him with support is encouraged to reach out to:

Joshua Williams #1292002
C/O Digital Mail Center-Missouri DOC
PO Box 25678
Tampa, FL 33622-5678

Josh can also be reached via Securus.

New support materials and zines for printing have been produced for anarchist prisoner Brian “Peppy” DiPeppa.

Gabriella Oropesa has begun her four-month sentence for graffiti targeting fake pregnancy crisis centers. Her address will be:

Gabriella Oropesa #51617-510
FCI Tallahassee
PO Box 5000
Tallahassee, FL
32314

Former United Freedom Front prisoner Ray Luc Levasseur was recently interviewed by Unity of Fields.

Ángel Facing Deportation to Chile

Little Rock Uprising defendant Ángel has been released from federal custody and is now awaiting deportation to Chile. As at the time of writing this column, Ángel is currently in transfer to an undisclosed location, but has not been able to contact loved ones yet. You can donate to Ángel’s support funds here.

These messages were received by loved ones on the outside throughout the past 3 weeks and she has given explicit permission to publicize these statements.

“We dance a lot, draw our hopes and homes on the walls of this place any way we can. We tell stories of home, hold each other past language barriers because we all know all too well what it’s like to be torn away from our families, hold onto hope, only for it to be crushed cruelly by these heartless fascist traitors. To remain utterly powerless at the mercy of the abusers of gluttonous power. People are quite literally dragged out, hogtied, by these pirates that speak of protecting democracy yet dehumanize and humiliate us without so much as a look in our eyes before ripping us apart from our newfound friends, and, more distantly, our families we have here. They rob us of the little money we have and have no paths of recovery. They tell us clean water is a privilege and not a right. That speaking to our families is a privilege. That seeing the sun is a privilege. That if we get too loud of this constant mistreatment, then we should get ready to eat mace.”

“Most people here don’t have the means to speak out against these human rights’ violations we face every day. But I will take any and every chance to fight, to expose the way they treat us that these human traitors have normalized.”

“This was supposed to never happen again. But here it is again. We need everyone demanding our freedom, to expose all the vultures robbing these vulnerable people of everything from money to merely see our families and small children. We’re not even allowed to say goodbye, to hug our children goodbye. What madness is this? How is this STILL happening to us, I ask myself when I wake up. Is this country for the free? For those yearning for a safe, happy life? If this country and its people care about freedom and safety, then people should refuse to let this government and administration work a second longer until they free us ALL.”

“A lot of women here are fighting their cases because they’ve been following protocol to obtain legal papers or asylum or were just rounded up randomly from racial profiling. One woman here lost her purse with all her money on a train and went to church to seek help. The church called ICE on her because she couldn’t speak English! Another woman here was late to her job and her boss called ICE on her. Few of us have criminal records. Most were just following advice from their lawyers and continuing their appointments with ICE and USCIS to get their visa or temporary protected status or whatever it was they were doing. But because of Trump’s administration they’re all rounded up by ICE and deported.”

“I’m feeling alright, mostly numb since being locked up is so abusive and heart wrenching. Here… It’s a rollercoaster. I witness, every single day, cries of agony and anger and despair. I see people hogtied and dragged out. People being yelled at to gather their things and go into the unknown, being threatened with PREA for hugging as we say our goodbyes and well wishes. This place is much worse than prison in many ways. I hear guttural wails and sobs so many times a day. It’s like being at a perpetual funeral; laying to rest this person’s life, that one’s dreams, the other’s hope. Knowing they’ll be inevitably harmed, kidnapped, sometimes disappeared or even killed when they go and we can do absolutely nothing.”

“We’re just hostages. Being one for so long now… I’m so hollow on the inside. I haven’t dropped any tears the last year and a half. I just can’t. Not even when I was sentenced. I don’t know how I’ll even begin to heal, but I sure as fuck ain’t ever gonna stop fighting. My hope and ambition to fight… I’ve just been refueling this entire time being down.”

“Fighting brings me solace. Helping others brings me solace, some meaningfulness, a melting of stone in my petrified heart. I spend most of my time going around and helping people as much as I can; working the tablets, giving phone calls, cooking food, doing little chores and tasks for the older, sick, or disabled ladies.”

The Final Straw has also just released an interview with Ángel here.

Uprising Defendants, Stop Cop City, and other Ongoing Cases

Casey Goonan’s support crew have shared an update, as Casey’s sentencing hearing has been moved back to June 10th. They also write that “since the plea deal the US Attorney has entered substantial new material into evidence consisting of a large amount of phone call audio and copies of correspondence between Casey and supporters obtained via the jail’s monitoring of communications. This is concerning, but let it serve as a reminder that all comms into jails and prisons are actively monitored and that it is incumbent upon everyone to maintain responsible communication habits.

Rescheduling the sentencing hearing also means there is more time for people who know Casey personally to send the lawyers letters of character to file with the judge. If you want the guidelines and details, hit us up at cscommittee@proton.me.”

Casey’s birthday was on April 24th, and was marked by an in-person letter-writing event in Chicago. Casey is also having difficulty getting adequate food, and so supporters are asked to venmo juliepetersonG to help them purchase appropriate food, as well as donating to their legal funds through a crowdfunder.

George Floyd Uprising defendant Matthew White is approaching his release date. He writes:

I hope all of you out there know that I’m grateful for the support I received from all of you there during my imprisonment. Your inclusion of my name/ information in subsequent installments of your newsletter has been greatly appreciated. In a carceral setting, just knowing that you aren’t being forgotten, that the people who share your values, your dreams, and your belief in a better world still think of you and say your name – it means the world. Inside I’m surrounded by people who have become so desensitized to cruelty and injustice, or even more incomprehensibly, support the neo-fascism infecting our world at every level. After years of this, it’s hard to keep hope and to maintain my resolve. Being reminded why I started to get involved in the first place – by seeing your regular updates of activism and direct action across the country — has helped me to not forget who I am or what is important to me. I might have lost some years, but George Floyd lost his life. That truth, that perspective, grounds me.

Apart from the mental and emotional strain of this experience, unfortunately a lot of other things have to be dealt with. When this all started I had a good job, years in recovery, and a stable, full, rich life like I’d never known before. I’m leaving federal prison with nothing. I have only a little family left in this world, and a whole list of things to overcome when I touch down.

With that in mind, I have two things to ask of you brothers & sisters. One, for all the political prisoners locked away in this system, I would ask that you continue to share the mailing/email addresses of the activists who sent you their info. That support is vital. My other request is that you update our community of my upcoming release, and let everyone know that any help when I’m touching down would be appreciated, My sister’s CashApp is SJessicaBail and anyone who can aid in smoothing this transition is welcome to send what they can and drop a note for me. I’m grateful.

Keep fighting,
Matthew White

Protesters against Margaret Taylor Greene in Georgia are facing enhanced charges, with the Morgan County Citizen reporting that “Tuesday night, the city of Acworth reported that Andrew Russell Nelms, 40, of Atlanta, was charged with two misdemeanors — obstruction of a law enforcement officer and simple battery on a law enforcement officer — and that Johnny Keith Williams, 45, of Dallas, was charged with misdemeanor battery on an officer and felony obstruction. Cobb Jail records show that Nelms was given an additional disorderly conduct charge and that his obstruction charge was upgraded to a felony. Williams got an additional felony charge of terroristic threats.”

Buckle-up! We've got a banger episode with resistance roundups, interviews with frontline organizers, and an anti-capitalist deep-dive analysis on the tariff chaos and what it means. thebeautifulidea.show/people-hit-t…

— The Beautiful Idea (@beautifulidea.bsky.social) 2025-04-17T08:34:19.357Z

The Stop Cop City: Imaginary Crimes Tour began in April, and will continue over the next few months. The Beautiful Idea recently interviewed an organizer with the Imaginary Crimes Tour, along with an organizer of the recent Florida Abolitionist Gathering. Don’t miss the tour if it is coming through your area – check out upcoming dates here.

In San Jose, twelve people associated with the Stanford Palestine encampment have been charged with felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass, and the FBI have also raided houses allegedly connected to the Palestine solidarity movement in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Sam Beard, an activist in the movement to Stop Cop City, a host of the Party Girls Podcast, and also spokesperson for the defense fund for Luigi Mangione, issued a statement that they were visited by two FBI agents that were part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), hours before Beard appeared on NewsNation, speaking about the ongoing case of Luigi Mangione, who is accused of assassinating the CEO of United Healthcare. In a statement posted to social media, Beard stated: “This task force targeted me, not because of anything I’ve done, but for what I’ve said.”

Unoffensive Animal has shared a quick update on the case of Cara and Celeste, defendants accused of a mink liberation action who are arguing that their charges should be dismissed. They have now filed a continuance, meaning that a court date scheduled for April 21st has now been postponed.

A student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts and host of the Green Scare podcast has filmed a visit from the FBI, which this article from Worcester Sucks puts into a longer history of state repression.

The current version of the George Floyd Uprising Prisoner zine can be found here.

Self-Immolation in Illinois Prisons

⚡URGENT⚡ call for help from inside Red Onion SP in VAAnother self-immolation, more cutting themselves, 8 people r on hunger strikePrisoners and their solidarity support are calling for you to pressure official in VA with emails and calls. It's easy w link belowactionnetwork.org/letters/apri…

— Oakland Abolition & Solidarity (@oaklandabosol.bsky.social) 2025-05-01T05:04:04.000Z

For the Discourse, a new abolitionist journal, has set up a new page tracking the extent of people setting themselves on fire in the Illinois Department of Corrections. They also have a more in-depth report on the case of Jason Stevens, who died in a hospital after being left in a burning cell at the IDOC’s Joliet Treatment Center.

There has also been a “call for help from inside Red Onion SP in VA. Another self-immolation, more cutting themselves, 8 people r on hunger strike.”

Phone-Zaps

A phone zap is being organized for Strawberry, a trans woman held in the Illinois Department of Corrections who was sexually assaulted and hospitalized by another inmate, before being ordered back to the same unit where the assault occurred.

The new prisoner support formation, Uproar, has been organizing phone and email zaps in support of several prisoners held in the Virginia prison system. You can find a list of their recent calls and how to participate here.

General Prison News and Abolitionist Media Updates

“Our society is on a learning curve rn re the common sense liberal assumption: whether a person or movement is going to be repressed is a q of legality, legal actions are protected & illegal actions get repressed. We’re seeing that assumption disintegrate in real time…“ – K.W. (Outlaw Ep 3) 1/4

— Outlaw Podcast (@outlawpod.bsky.social) 2025-05-02T17:26:56.632Z

Outlaw, a new podcast focused on legal repression, has launched.

Firestorm Books have shared a list of tips to help people avoid surveillance when visiting their store or other locations.

A hybrid in-person and online event was held in Pittsburgh to support the freedom campaign for Sundiata Jawanzaa. There’s still an urgent call for people to submit letters in support of Sundiata’s parole application, with a deadline of May 19th.

Nate Lindell, a prisoner held in the Wisconsin prison system, is currently suing prison officials for their retaliation against his work, and requesting access to body camera footage that the prison has so far refused. Just Mason wrote on Substack: “If the case is decided in Lindell’s favor, it could strengthen the precedent for incarcerated people obtaining footage that supports their allegations of abuse, neglect, or mistreatment. This could greatly increase the transparency of carceral institutions, and help protect the rights of those housed in them.”

Reveal News have a podcast episode looking at the history of the Pelican Bay hunger strike movement in California, as well as the new film that’s just been released about the strike.

PM Press has just published Shadows in the Struggle for Equality, a book on the history of the early Anarchist Red Cross.

In Mississippi, a County Sheriff has been exposed as using prisoners to work on his family farm. Sheriff Bryan Bailey’s lawyer stated that the prisoners were paid as part of a work release program, but as Mississippi Today reports:

“That’s absolutely a lie,” said one of the former trusties who worked on the farm. He maintained he was never paid for that work…

But jail logs show that the four former trusties who told Mississippi Today they worked on the farm were released from the jail before the sheriff’s department established the work release program in 2021. There is no statute covering the payment of jail trusties who do not participate in a work release program.

It is unclear how trusties were paid prior to the work release program. The sheriff’s department did not fulfill a request made early this month for records of any payments made to trusties for their work on or off jail property, for which Mississippi Today paid the department $150.

At least three former trusties said they were never paid for their work on the farm.”

A company providing drug tests to the California prison system has been found to have given thousands of false positives, which will have wrongly affected many people’s eligibility for things like parole.

After 10+ years in prison, I wonder how much of myself will be left when I finally go home, Olethus Hill Jr. writes. “I can only hope that when my bout in this arena is over, I’m not institutionalized beyond recognition or repair.”prismreports.org/2025/04/08/b…

— Prism (@prismreports.org) 2025-04-20T15:01:02.754277+00:00

Prism has published an article from Ohio prisoner Olethus Hill Jr on the fight to preserve a sense of self and sanity in prison.

TruthOut has an article looking at the possibilities for an anti-carceral labor movement.

ProPublica has published a series investigating how true crime shows such as “The First 48” contribute to wrongful convictions.

Jailhouse Lawyers Speak have announced that they are looking at forming an outside committee, and more details will be circulated soon if the proposal is approved. They have also been fundraising to buy court outfits for a member who has been accused of assault on a CO.

In Kansas City, local organizers have been fighting against a proposed new tax to fund the construction of a new jail. The jail tax has now been passed, but an article in the Kansas City Defender responds “We Lost the Vote. But We Will Win the World.”

In Texas, the Liberty County Jail is being shut down after a fire and a riot.

A Cook County Sheriffs Deputy recently sent UR a 46-page exposé testifying to administrative corruption and abuse at one of the most notorious jails' in the U.S.unicornriot.ninja/2025/whistle…

— Unicorn Riot (@unicornriot.bsky.social) 2025-04-27T18:01:11.898Z

The new issue of Time/Cut, an Indiana prisoner newsletter, is available for download now.

Texas prisoner Jason Renard Walker has a new article looking at recent developments in the Trump administration.

Mongoose Distro has an article from California prisoner Ronin Grey, looking at the overlap of prisons and psychiatric incarceration.

The Final Straw Radio recently interviewed Kate Bertash on Flock cameras and the use of tech to automate mass surveillance.

IDOC Watch has written on the FCC’s new rates for phone and video communication in prisons, which have ordered providers to slash their rates.

Jersey Counter-Info has published a new zine, Freeing Assata, about the liberation of Assata Shakur.

Finally, Unicorn Riot has recently published stories on a whistleblower at the Cook County Jail in Illinois, the campaign to end prison slavery in Minnesota, and the ongoing court case over the death of Hardel Sherrell at Beltrami County Jail in Minnesota.

International

April 17th is commemorated internationally as Palestinian Prisoners Day. You can read statements for the day from Palestinian prisoner support groups here  and here. Samidoun also prepared a series of posters highlighting individual prisoners. Recent reports on Samidoun have covered Musaab Hassan Adili, a prisoner who died on Palestinian Prisoners Day, three days before his release date, Nasser Khalil Radaideh, another prisoner who died a few days later, and a call for international solidarity with Raja Eghbarieh. In the UK, the South Asians for Palestine collective marked the date by issuing a new zine, “They Cannot Extinguish the Moon: Political Prisoners from South Asia to Palestine.”

Freedom News reports that the Austrian state has launched a new crackdown on antifascists, while a French court has refused to extradite Rexhino “Gino” Abazaj to Hungary as part of the ongoing Budapest antifa case.

Novara Media has a new podcast, Committed, interviewing climate activists from Just Stop Oil held in the UK prison system. Sean Middlebrough, a UK Palestine solidarity prisoner held awaiting trial as part of the Filton 18 case, also has a regular podcast, Diary of a Political Prisoner.

IWOC Ireland have released a new edition of their zine Bulldozer.

The international anti-repression project No Trace continues to publish regular case studies of specific police operations.

Greek prisoner Dimitris Koufontinas has shared a short text on the history of the November 17 Revolutionary Organization.

The Chilean court system has acquitted 17 Mapuche defendants who were accused of kidnapping gendarmes, while Mapuche political prisoners held in Temuco prison have shared a statement on their mistreatment.

In Italy, anarchist Luca “Stecco” Dolce has been sentenced to 3 years and 6 months for helping a fugitive, anarchist prisoner Salvatore “Ghespe” Vespertino has been transferred to a new prison, and Massimo Passamani has been sentenced to “semi-freedom”.

10 revolutionary prisoners in the Turkish prison system have launched an indefinite hunger strike.

ABC Belarus have published a roundup of news about anarchist political prisoners in Belarus.

ABC Moscow report that anarchist prisoner Alexander Snezhkov has been held in punitive isolation for over 58 days, and anarchist prisoner Ruslan Siddiqi has been transferred to a new prison. They have also published birthday greetings for Network Case defendant Ilya Shakursky, and a new interview with recently-released former Network Case prisoner Victor Filinkov, who has now been deported to Kazakhstan.

Uprising Defendants

See Uprising Support for more info, and check out the Antirepression PDX site for updates from Portland cases. You can also check With Whatever Weapons for regularly-updated zines listing current prisoners. To the best of our knowledge they currently include:

Tyre Means 49981-086
USP Victorville
US Penitentiary
P.O. Box 3900
Adelanto, CA 92301

Margaret Channon 49955-086
FCI Tallahassee
P.O. Box 5000
Tallahassee, FL 32314

Malik Muhammad #23935744
Snake River Correctional
777 Stanton Blvd
Ontario, OR 97914

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

Matthew White #21434-041
USP Terre Haute
PO Box 33
Terre Haute, IN 47808

Matthew Rupert #55013-424
USP Big Sandy
US Penitentiary
P.O. Box 2068
Inez, KY 41224

José Felan #54146-380
FCI Terre Haute
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 33
Terre Haute, IN 47808

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

Khalif Miller #QQ9287
Camp Hill
PO Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733

Alvin Joseph 1002016959
Hays State Prison
PO Box 668
Trion, GA 30753

John Wade #1003510744
PO Box 3877
Jackson, GA 30233

Aline Espinosa-Villegas #22814-509
Currently in transit

Mujera Benjamin Lunga’ho #08572-509
FCI Beaumont Medium
P.O. Box 26040
Beaumont, TX 77720

Christopher Tindal 04392-509
FCI Cumberland
PO Box 1000
Cumberland, MD 21501

Upcoming Birthdays

Xinachtli (Alvaro Luna Hernandez)

Xinachtli (Nahuatl, meaning “seed”) is an anarchist-communist community organizer and Chicano movement revolutionary from Texas. Police informants were used to monitor Xinachtli’s organizing activities in the barrio. They were told Xinachtli was “typing legal papers,” “had many books” and was working on police brutality cases in Alpine. The police knew of Xinachtli’s history of community-based organizing and his legal skills. Xinachtli was recognized nationally and internationally as the national coordinator of the Ricardo Aldape Guerra Defense Committee, which led the struggle to free Mexican national Aldape Guerra from Texas’ death row after being framed by Houston police for allegedly killing a cop. Xinachtli’s human rights work was recognized in Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Mexico and other countries. He was sentenced in Odessa, Texas on June 2-9, 1997 to 50 years in prison for defending himself by disarming a police officer drawing a weapon on him. The trial evidence clearly showed Xinachtli was the victim of witch hunts and a police-orchestrated conspiracy to frame or eliminate him.

To learn more, you can listen to this interview he did with the Final Straw.

Birthday: May 12

Address:

Note: Texas prisons have now banned all greeting cards and postcards. Texas prisons have now switched over to Securus, so you can contact him by registering at securustech.online and then searching for Alvaro Hernandez, state: Texas, facility: Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

TDCJ
Alvaro Luna Hernandez #255735
PO Box 660400
Dallas, TX 75266-0400

John-Paul Wootton

John-Paul Wootton is a vegan anarchist prisoner and IWW/IWOC member, wrongfully convicted of the murder of a police officer in the “Craigavon 2” case, after a trial before a “Diplock” court, a secret military court with no jury. The case has been supported as a miscarriage of justice by high profile campaigners, legal experts and human rights activists. The prosecution used discredited witnesses, inconclusive forensics, and tampered evidence to secure a conviction that does not stand up to scrutiny. Security services destroyed evidence, intimidated witnesses and defence lawyers. Following his wrongful conviction, he attempted to appeal, but his defence campaign was infiltrated and sabotaged by an undercover agent working for the British state.

For more information about John-Paul and the Craigavon 2 case, you can read this interview he did with IWOC Ireland, watch the short film “Was Justice Done in Craigavon?”, and see the new Justice for the Craigavon 2 website.

UK prisoners can be emailed using emailaprisoner.com

Birthday: May 15

Address:

John Paul Wootton
Maghaberry Prison,
17 Old Road
Lisburn
BT28 2PT
Northern Ireland

Brendan McConville

Brendan McConville is the other defendant in the Craigavon 2 case, wrongfully convicted of the murder of a police officer alongside John-Paul Wootton.

UK prisoners can be emailed using emailaprisoner.com

Birthday: May 19

Address:

Brendan McConville
Maghaberry Prison,
17 Old Road
Lisburn
BT28 2PT
Northern Ireland

Kojo Bomani Sababu (Grailing Brown)

Kojo Bomani Sababu is a New Afrikan Prisoner of War serving a 55 year sentence. Kojo was captured on December 19th 1975 along with anarchist Ojore Lutalo during a bank expropriation. He was subsequently charged with conspiracy for an alleged plan to use rockets, hand grenades and a helicopter in an attempt to free Puerto Rican Prisoner of War Oscar Lopez Rivera from the federal prison where he was serving.

The Federal system, where Kojo is held, 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 Kojo then you’re best off just sending him a card or a letter.

Birthday: May 27

Address:

Kojo Bomani Sababu* #39384-066
FMC Butner
Post Office Box 1600
Butner, North Carolina 27509

*Address envelope to Grailing Brown

Bomani Shakur (Keith LaMar)

Bomani Shakur is on death row awaiting execution after being convicted of involvement in the 1993 Lucasville Uprising. If you’d like to learn more about Bomani and his perspectives, We Want Bomani Shakur Free!: A Zine Commemorating RAM’s Month of Action for Bomani, which was put together by True Leap Press, is a great place to start, or you can check out The Real Killer, a true crime podcast that casts doubt on his conviction. Keith was scheduled for execution in November last year, and you can read his thoughts on that here.

Ohio uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going to connectnetwork.com, selecting “Add a facility”, choosing “State: Ohio, Facility: Ohio Department of Rehabiliation and Corrections,” going into the “messaging” service, and then adding him as a contact by searching his name or “317117.”

Birthday: May 31

Address:

Keith LaMar, #317117
OSP
878 Coitsville-Hubbard Road
Youngstown, OH 4450

photo: Screenshot NBC News