Richmond, VA: Banner Drop in Solidarity with Striking Prisoners

Submitted to It’s Going Down

In the morning of September 9th, a few anti-prison rebels dropped a banner near interstate 95. Long live the Prison Strike!

Richmond has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country. Even with the construction of the new jail, conditions are deplorable at Richmond City, where sheriff’s deputies are abusive and neglectful. Virginia is also home to two Supermax Prisons. The prisons surrounding Richmond have been known to use inmates on work crews for work on private property, particularly on former plantations. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The expansion of Virginia Commonwealth University has utilized the power of its 112 officers to enforce its borders with brutality and prejudice. This has added to the continual displacement of the city’s large (and growing) homeless community, with no shelter or alternative, except the city jail where you’re lucky to get 3 hots and a cot. At least one woman deliberately smashed a window of the General Assembly of Virginia in order to have shelter in the jail.

So from our hearts to yours, let the fires burn in every cell. We don’t give a fuck about your “abolition”, which really just means bigger cages and longer chains. We want total freedom, nothing less. We hope this small gesture adds to the multitudes of rebellions to come.

– some anarchists in the River City