The Florida legal term is akin to solitary confinement, employed as retaliation against prisoners participating in the latest prison strike against a system of mass incarceration that effectively perpetuates the racial caste system of twentieth century Jim Crow law.
Inmate resistance to the “modern slavery” of a prison labor system that forces them to work for as little as four cents per hour is growing. The nation-wide prison strike that launched August 21 (on the anniversary of the 1971 murder of George Jackson), confirmed in at least five Florida prisons, inspires complementary actions in prisons from North Carolina to California, reports Tarpley Hitt for The Daily Beast — and statements of solidarity from 21 American cities and several foreign countries:
“Today, we extend our solidarity to the prisoners in the jails of the United States participating in the national prison strike beginning on August 21,” wrote the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group of imprisoned Palestinians in Israel. “Black communities, Latino communities, Arab communities are under attack, facing mass incarceration and a system that seeks to imprison and exploit rather than support and nurture youth and elders.”
Prison Strike 2018 is a response to the April 15 uprising in Lee Correctional Institution, South Carolina. Seven inmates lost their lives in an institution-provoked riot. In addition to condemnation of indentured labor, prisoner demands address living conditions, life without parole, racial discrimination, health and rehabilitation care, financial aid for education, and voting rights.
“Prisoner demands… are taking their rightful place at the table in all conversations on how to begin to undo the atrocity that is mass incarceration in America,” concludes the Prison Strike Media Team. “The prisoners’ bold action must be followed up on the outside with policy changes and continuous conversations about living conditions and human rights abuse in the prisons.”
2.3 million Americans, disproportionately Black and Latino, are incarcerated. RefuseFascism.org indicts the Trump/Pence Regime for White Supremacy, Police Brutality, and Mass Incarceration. Organizers have a plan to stop these and all the crimes of our government. World Can’t Wait urges you to join them. A better world is possible.