Raleigh, NC: Keeping Up the Pressure Against Prison Strike Retaliation

At least four NC prisoners are currently being held in segregation for their role in allegedly organizing participation in the August prison strike. What follows is a recent account of a picket held in support on the outside..

On the first day of a week of announced solidarity with these prisoners, a crew of supporters and anti-prison rebels picketed outside of NC DPS’ Division of Prisons building bright and early at the beginning of the work week.

There was a marked uptick in police presence compared with previous pickets, with three different jurisdictions staging groups of police around the area. We see this demo as one part of an ongoing, long-term, collective strategy to support NC prison rebels and build our power to attack the walls from both inside and out.

From a participant:

We gathered at the corner of Trophy Brewery and began handing out handbills to people in the area. There were three folks having a conversation near us, and when we presented them with handbills they instantly began discussing their own cases of injustice. One of them shared how they had been forced to sign a plea deal that they had no say in and without their consent.

The energy mounted as the clock struck 8am, and we pulled out out the three banners we had composed. There were a couple officers already outside the building, but the police presence quickly grew as time passed. We read the Operation POW IGD announcement and chanted before the building. The cops consistently kept telling us to keep it peaceful in between their laughing circle-jerk fraternizing, and to not block the entrance to the building.

After more chanting in that initial spot, we crossed to the other side of the street to be in better view of the building’s windows, getting followed by two cops, and faced off more directly with the head of N.C. DPS, Kenneth Lassiter, who at this point had come outside the building. When a brave soul directly called him out on why he was smiling, he said it was a beautiful day while weakly asking us for our names.

Folks posted flyers on several parked cars in the vicinity. As the clock struck 8:30, a line of officers grew closer to us and asked to speak to our leader. We refused to entertain any conversation with them. They asked who had organized the event and when somebody said prisoners they laughed and said folks on the inside couldn’t do that.

At this point, they started citing an unverifiable public ordinance that purportedly requires all banners to be no more than 3 feet by 3 feet. As the overseers grew closer we decided to walk down the street while chanting and folded up our banners, but not our hearts. One of our final chants was, “Striking prisoners to the streets! Keep up the pressure, keep up the heat!”