Nationwide #ShutEmDown Prison Demonstrations Take Place Across Michigan

Report from Michigan Abolition and Prisoner Solidarity (MAPS) on action across the state of so-called Michigan in solidarity with #ShutEmDown2021.

Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, a nationwide collective of imprisoned freedom fighters, has called for mass mobilizations to take place in August and September 2021 against the racist and violent prison system. In response to this call, Michigan Abolition and Prisoner Solidarity (MAPS), in collaboration with Cosecha Washtenaw, took part in a day of public “noise demonstrations” outside prisons, jails, and immigrant detention facilities across the state.

across the state of Michigan today, autonomous actions against the PIC sprung up as part of the nationwide #ShutEmDown2021 call to action. Today, we reminded prisoners across MI that they are not forgotten, and that abolition is the goal

— MI Prison Abolition (@MI_Abolition) September 4, 2021

On September 4, noise demonstrations—including drive-by caravans, loud honking, music, chanting, drums—sent a message of solidarity to prisoners on the other side of the walls at prisons across the state, including Parnall Correctional Facility, G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility, Charles Egeler Reception Center, Cooper Street Correctional Facility, Jackson County Jail, Jackson County Youth Center, Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility, and the Federal Correctional Institution at Milan.

Our friends and comrades at Women’s Huron Valley got some sweet tunes during yard time today ❤️🖤 #FreeThemAll pic.twitter.com/KtIEmvkb0b

— free abortion on demand without apology (@NiMaitresses) September 4, 2021

2021 marks the 5th anniversary of the prisoner rebellion at Michigan’s Kinross Correctional Facility and the 50th anniversary of the Attica prison uprising. “Prisoners have always been in the front lines of the movement to abolish prisons,” said MAPS spokesperson Jorge Jackson. “Last year’s uprisings against policing and white supremacy came in the wake of the most significant prisoner uprisings in recent history: the 2016 and 2018 prisoner strikes. On September 4, we continue[d] this fight in the spirit of Abolition.”