#prison struggle

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Poster for anarchist comrade Dino Yiagtzoglou (Greece)

admin | 325 | November 23rd 2017

On 28/10, Konstantinos (Dinos) Yiagtzoglou is arrested by armed assassins of the E.K.A.M. in Athens. He is accused of sending a parcel bomb to former technocrat prime minister Loukas Papademos, who was injured by the attack inside his car. The other charges against him are for explosive packages found at the same time as the attack and also the oppressive Article 187A, for participation in a criminal organization, alleged membership of Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, the group that claimed one of the explosive packages.

We do not care for democracy, for t...

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Folsom Hunger Strike: Media Release

On May 16th, inmates at Old Folsom State Prison made contact with the outside world to announce that they will begin a hunger strike on May 25th. This announcement comes in response to ongoing mistreatment, dehumanization, and unbearable living conditions at Old Folsom State Prison. Hunger strikes are a last resort, a measure taken by those who truly have no other way out. They often come with high risks and heavy costs to prisoners. Incarcerated people commonly face disciplinary actions, retaliation by prison officials, abuse, and further denial of their basic human rights during hunger strikes- simply for exerting their free will and resisting their mistreatment. The danger of these threats is compounded by the long-term health consequences and extreme physical weakness that accompany starving yourself in an environment that provides woefully inadequate medical care. In short, these prisoners will desperately need our support. When incarcerated people take action to fight for their dignity, their rights, and their lives, those of us on the outside must answer with solidarity. Our support is crucial in getting their demands met and minimizing retaliation against them. We must let these brave individuals know that we have their backs, and that they will not be forgotten.

Today, the hunger strike begins. Please read the information below and make phone calls as soon as possible. All of the contact information you need is included at the bottom. The following media release comes directly from incarcerated people at FSP who will be on strike:

Statement from Prisoners

On May 25th, 2017 prisoners in Folsom State Prison B4 ASU (Administrative Segregated Unit) in Represa, CA have started a hunger strike to peacefully protest the conditions of their confinement in the administrative segregated unit. Prisoners have exhausted all reasonable remedies, with no avail. Further, prisoners have attempted to open lines of communication with administrative officials and met with only resistance and silence. Folsom ASU is like stepping back in time to the era when prison officials blanketed the injustice impose on its solitary confined prisoners and bluntly turn a blind eye to mistreatment and the stripping away of basic human dignity and elements.

As CDCR made drastic changes throughout its prisons to put prisoners on roads of rehabilitation and more humane living conditions, Folsom officials reject the ideals and continue the injustice of the past. To those reading who may find it hard to believe, just a few years ago many will recall this same fight took place within the SHU (Security Housing Unit). The direction, message, and programs CDCR implemented for long term isolation to rehabilitate is ignored, shut out, and rejected here in Folsom ASU. Some might assume the impact of the struggle men endure within the SHU to gain fair, dignified living conditions would have a long-lasting effect, yet, men stand again, just as unified. Ready to sacrifice their bodies, health, and life to achieve what has already been hard fought for and accomplished. Why must California prisoners continue to sacrifice health and life, involve lawyers and courts, in order to be treated like human beings? We will continue to remind CDCR officials they will be held accountable for this type of treatment.

Prisoners in B4 ASU are forced to sit or stand idle in their cells or yard cages without meaningful exercise, education, or rehabilitative programs. We are already forced to endure atypical and significant hardships due to being in segregated housing and solitary confined. When taken together, these conditions constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the US Constitution.

We are being deprived of basic human needs, including normal human contact, environmental and sensory stimulation, mental and physical health, entertainment, physical exercise, sleep, access to courts, and meaningful activity. Prolonged exposure to these deprivations has caused and will cause serious physical and psychological harm.

FSP (Folsom State Prison) is deliberately indifferent to prisoners suffering. They are aware that prolonged social isolation, and lack of environmental stimuli causes “serious psychological pain and suffering and permanent psychological pain and suffering, and permanent psychological and physical injury.”

CDCR is aware (Madrid-Ashker-Coleman) that the conditions of extreme isolation will likely inflict some degree of psychological trauma, these injuries include: chronic insomnia, severe concentration and memory problems, anxiety and other ailments. This is why all SHUs and most ASUs within CDCR have provided prisoners with the opportunity to have TVs, pull up bars, education, social and rehabilitative programs. However, FSP continues to put lack of money as an excuse to not fall in line with CDCR’s stated goals, and are content to ignore the suffering of men in its care. We continue to be confined alone in our cells with only misery for company.

Unfortunately our voice in here can be drowned out by administration but those out there can help by making their voice heard in concern with our treatment. We urge you to call and email all officials and ask questions on the conditions here, and make sure procedures are met for those hunger striking.

Call In Campaign

The following are officials to contact:

Chief Deputy Inspector General – Roy Wesley – [phone]

Ombudsman Sara L. Smith (the person who is supposed to check on welfare, investigate complaints, etc.) – [phone] // [email protected]

Secretary Scott Kernan – [email protected]

Undersecretary Ralph M. Diaz – [email protected]

Governor Jerry Brown – [phone]

Chief Office of the Ombudsman – Sara Malone – [email protected]

Public Information Office of Folsom – Jack Huey – [phone] // [email protected]

Folsom Warden – Ron Rackley – [email protected]

In addition, you can call the prison itself at [phone].

To get someone on the line, press #1 for English, then #3 for administrative services, and #1 for the P.I.O (public info).

Sent to a secretary or voicemail? Leave a message.

First time calling in? You can find a detailed guide here.

SAMPLE SCRIPT:

“Hello, my name is ____________and I’m a resident of California. I am calling in support of the hunger strike that is beginning today at Folsom State Prison. I am deeply concerned about the inhumane conditions of confinement that have brought this on, and strongly urge you to act upon the prisoners’ demands, which are reasonable and amount to basic human rights.”*

*If you are calling the prison or a prison official, you can also urge them to not retaliate against the hunger strikers.

It’s up to us to stand with these prisoners as they fight for their rights and personhood to be recognized by Old Folsom State Prison. A flood of outside support is often what it takes for prisoners to be heard, even when those prisoners are taking extreme measures that sacrifice their health and wellbeing. Please email and call as many of the above contacts as you can in the following days, and look for updates as the situation unfolds.

You can reach the support crew at [email protected]

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Call out – International Week of Solidarity to Anarchist Prisoners, August 23-30 – 2017

admin | 325 | July 21st 2017

International solidarity week for anarchist prisoners

This year, the International solidarity week for anarchist prisoners will be spent for the fifth time in 23rd to 30th August and we come stronger than ever!

Some political prisoners are already supported, but far from all of them. Also, the supported are usually involved in authoritarian politics and not grassroots activities. Anarchist prisoners are not often well-known people, even though they might be long term activists. Their ways to fight back oppressors and wrongdoings are not necessary following the current laws of their location, which is judged by some authoritarian organisations. The vast amount and diversity of cases of anarchist prisoners is surprising to many.

We wanted to choose a week, so that it would be easy as possible to organise different kinds of expressions of solidarity, which would be supported by one another. The beginning of the week was chosen to be the...

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Long-term radical prisoner John Bowden denied parole because of his anti-authoritarian views and contact with Anarchist Black Cross groups (UK)

admin | 325 | July 21st 2017

There is currently a massive population of “post-tariff” life sentence prisoners over-crowding British Prisons. Lifers who remain detained long beyond the time originally recommended by the judiciary or secretary of state, which includes prisoners sentenced under the IPP (‘Imprisonment for Public Protection’) Law. Although this law has been scrapped, it has left a legacy of thousands of prisoners still languishing in jail. Britain has more life sentenced prisoners than the whole of Europe combined, a consequence of a “lock em up and throw away the key” culture and mentality that pervades the bourgeois judiciary and justice apparatus, as well as a Parole Board that exists just to legitimise what is in reality the unlawful detention of thousands of prisoners. “Preventative Detention” was created by the Nazi Party in Germany in 1939 to “cleanse” society of anti-social elements and Britain is a zealous inheritor of that instrument of repression, while British prisons are now little m...

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Letter from anarchist comrade Joaquin Garcia (Chile)

admin | 325 | March 10th 2017

It has been five months since I returned to inhabit the cells of the Maximum Security Section of the High Security Prison and I think it is necessary to refer to both the personal and the prison scenario. The reasons for not writing before are obviously personal; but more than anything it is due to the belief – despite being convinced that sharing experiences generates inexhaustible links – that the virtual platforms and their set of communications is far removed from the real and approaches an abstract idea of the day to day life of jail and that of the individual. Irreducible? Yes, whether or not there is a swing of emotions, neither conviction nor mind falters, but that disgusting idea of the steel martyr behind the bars must fall. By the suicide of the image and the fetish, by the real destructive complicity.

“Pessimism is the opium of intellectuals, optimism belongs to the stupid. A fanatical and dreamy realism, the awareness that we do not fit ...

into this world, the values we will defend in each moment, plus the complicit warmth of those we love and cherish.”

Five months ago, a bit about detention:

On September 7th [2017], at approximately five in the afternoon and a little more than two months after the breakdown of the total domiciliary arrest dictated by the legal apparatus, I was arrested when I boarded a rural bus in the direction of some place. I climb in, I greet the driver, I advance a meter, a hand on my chest, “get off”, “hands behind your head”, to the floor, face against the floor, I look left, the sea, its breeze, smell of land and vegetation, a fleeting moment but with absolute awareness of what was going on, now would be replaced by the smell of chlorine and clean floor liquid, the yellow vest and the subtle but harassing smell of saliva in the dungeon. Despite the personal significance, the arrest was nothing spectacular and I would not write about it if I did not want to clarify a point; the journalistic propagandistic idea about an alleged “preventive control” as if it were random! The sickly obsession with vigilance and control must constantly be reaffirmed in the paranoid citizen, what better time than the capture of the “fugitive terrorist”.

Was it worth it? Impossible to respond with a simple “yes”, sometimes so dry, empty and self-indulgent, there are many more things to put on the balance. But it is undeniable that every experience in search of freedom is worth it; to take charge of existence with all its victories, its defeats, its joys and its sorrows, those are priceless experiences that the submissive can never know. It is not a question of whether it was worth trying, to think it in that way would condemn me to be an eternal loser, what is valued is the first step to all action, which – perhaps more spiritual than materially – will always be a profit. “The pen and gun are made of the same metal. The new urban guerrilla depends much less on the operational means and much more of our decision to attack power.”

Eco-extremism and Anarchy

I share the words expressed by the colleagues of the Revolutionary Cell Paulino Scarfó/FAI-FRI, an attack has morals and this obviously responds to the code of values and objectives of each revolutionary cell, its motives and contributions to the advance of antagonistic theories and practices. From this point of view, I believe that criticism of other currents cannot be made in any comparative way, and I am specifically referring to eco-extremism, because today there is a tendency, perhaps a little suspicious, toward the latter, as of who has betrayed its beginnings and has exceeded the threshold of what “we would not do”. And the truth is that little and nothing matters as to what is the root of this current and the individuals that compose it, as it is of the utmost importance to worry about the present and to assume that there is an irreconcilable difference between the different thoughts (objectives – motives – values). I want to make it clear that I am not referring to what each individual can do with his/her life or how much they articulate ideas and practical goals, I could not talk about the nonexistent “duties” of an immovable idea. If I write this it is, without caveats, about the generic. As soon as there is a paternalistic criticism, there will be an accusation, with reason of purism. To assume that criticism has to be removed from our expressions is a mistake; criticism, as the essential axiom of all revolutionary thought and action, must be severe and constant. I analyze, criticize, position myself and advance, for the evolution of individual and collective consciousness.

As a parenthesis: I am clear that when people talk about morals and values, many people have a stomach ache, especially the children of the replica, who eliminate words from their vocabulary to meet who knows what requirement of Denial, and thus not lose nihilism points (1). So, to clarify, to recognize the existence of values and morals does not mean that these are carved in stone, and are subject to question by the same conjuncture. And if there are pillars in my thinking and my feeling it is because I have chosen it.

Speaking of conjuncture, I applaud the attack on Oscar Landerretche [CEO of a mining company in Chile who was the victim of a successful letter-bomb attack by ITS-Chile], as a symbolic and practical objective. I admire and greet (2) the energy of all who take charge of their thoughts and annihilate the lethargy of social peace. Those who call for an imminent state offensive have to be questioned; strategies exist, of course, but to expect some kind of compassion from Power is not to understand the costs of confrontation. I detest until antipathy (3) the eco-extremist discourse, I distance myself completely from its reasoning, its mysticism and the apologies to absurd personifications. To reject the mass and its values is logical and consistent, but assuming that the masses all embody counter-hegemonic values on their own just for existing is stupid.

I can very much distance myself from ITS-Chile, but it is inevitable to feel rage when reading the shit from the official press, “alternative”, and “left”. Without pretending to please the masses, nor waiting for the approval of anyone: for the cowardice and defamation, fire. “Whoever does not want to see the elevation of a man fixes his sight in a more penetrating way in what is low and superficial in him – and thereby betrays himself.” – Friedrich Nietzsche.

Long live the strange anarcho-nihilist conjugation! If nihilist praxis stumbled with anarchy, welcome.

Joaquín García Chancks

Maximum Security Section of the High Security Prison

End of January 2017

(1) ism, suffix forbidden (2) quiet, I know you do not care (3) see (2)

– ES

[leftpress]

‘Down with patriarchy: On the social, racist & patriarchal problems faced by women in prison’ – Letter from imprisoned anarchist comrade (Germany)

admin | 325 | March 9th 2017

Here we publish a letter from our anarchist comrade who is locked up in a German prison, in Köln, since several months. She is accused of carrying out a bank robbery in Aachen and is already facing the trial. She wrote this letter in the context of the 8th of March, International Day of Women’s Struggle.

Down with patriarchy: On the social, racist & patriarchal problems faced by women in prison

It is generally well known that German society is rife with inequality. The upper classes are secure and cared for, they have no existential concerns and, despite all the wider problems of the world, they are able to offer their children a promising future which is not available to the under classes. Whilst a small minority of people are able to get richer, the majority are left to exist on the bare minimum, working for a shitty low wage and constantly being pushed towards pointless consumption so that the profit driven system that we live in ca...

n continue to function.

While some sun themselves on their extravagantly expensive yachts in the Mediterranean, or get flown around the globe in their private jets, many cannot afford to go on holiday once in their lives, or to pay their rent or electricity bill or to buy a couple of new teeth. While the super-rich save their abundant wealth from taxes by securing it in off-shore tax havens or mailbox companies, for which they never face any serious judicial proceedings, the poor are doing months or years in prison for fines or petty crimes- for sums of money that the rich spend in minutes on a daily basis.

The state and the media promote the idea that every child is born into a world of equal opportunity, but every child knows that those who are rich and powerful don’t end up in prison because they are able to afford an expensive, good lawyer. Those who have a bad lawyer or, due to social or racist reasons, are perceived as one of the ‘usual suspects’ are simply dealt a bad hand. Those who aren’t able to use the German language or who aren’t able to read or write have practically no chances of being defended and are constantly dependent on the help of others which is often not available. Society doesn’t care about any of this. As per usual an image of the enemy is created around the idea of the criminal foreigner, the Arabic and north African terrorist and the dangerous refugee who should all be either locked up or deported as quickly as possible. Germany likes to promote itself as a country that is open to the world and that takes in refugees but this is only the case when they either successfully integrate into the work system so that they can be profited from, or when they allow themselves to be labelled as victims. When, however, they come to Germany as families or in their so called ‘gangs’ logically hoping to find a better way to survive in a richer country where people have more than they do, then they are not only locked up or deported but are also made an example of and used to justify xenophobic politics. For the state this is all about the protection of the rich and their property. Those who reject this notion of ownership will be punished hardest. Prisons are filled with so called burglars, fraudsters, robbers and thieves, not with murderers and rapists as is so often presented. And of course the quota of foreigners is very high but not because foreigners are more criminal than Germans are but because in general they belong to the under-classes. In a land of immigrants like Germany this was always the case and this is how it will stay.

There is another point that must be mentioned here that perhaps even surpasses the already stated inequalities and structural oppressions: patriarchal violence. And that affects the women in prison even more. Women make up a tiny percentage of the prison population. As a whole and for this reason their needs are hardly considered. The health, medical and hygiene related options available to women in prisons or women’s facilities are shockingly bad. There are fundamentally more activities, sports options and educational or training options for men than for women. Most women come directly from situations of domestic or sexual violence, often they will have been forced into stealing or shop lifting by their husbands or fathers or are imprisoned because they have defended themselves against their tormentor. If women take part in criminal activity the state and society scandalises them on a sexual level especially if the women take on roles that normally men fulfill. Aside from this the state even now maintains its hold on and decisive power over women’s bodies and, when necessary, holds them criminally responsible if they refuse to give their bodies up to authority. Nothing has really changed since the middle ages, it is simply the case that instead of women being burnt at the state they now end up in prison. While men are often visited by their wives in prison, the reverse is much more rare. Often the husbands of women in prison are also incarcerated themselves, on the run, or do not take care of them. In addition almost all women in prison have children on the outside and therefore the problem of who is able to look after them. So women are forced to look after their families and to keep them together from inside prison despite it being enormously difficult to organise. In the best case the women still have contact to their own mother. Finally, in almost all cultures women in prison are frowned upon and scorned at, and even more so if they are suspected of having been violent as any act of self-empowerment rejects the classical role of women. In this way it can been seen how patriarchal state structures and the law work together with family power dynamics towards the complete domination and oppression of women. And despite this crushing reality small initiatives of self-determination and self-organisation between women in prison continue to exist. It is perhaps the case that empathy is stronger than between men, in certain situations people will sometimes help each other and show solidarity with those who are weaker or less privileged or rebellious. Each example of such behaviour and gestures, although so small, is vital to each individual in prison but also as a sign against oppression and the structures of repression.

The struggle continues- until all prisons are destroyed! For total liberation from all social, racist and patriarchal power structures.

Strength, rage and rebellion for all those in struggle! Freedom for everyone!

January 2017

[leftpress]

Free at Last! Monica Caballero and Francisco Solar onto the Streets! (Chile)

admin | 325 | March 9th 2017

SANTIAGO – Chilean Anarchists, Monica Caballero and Francisco Solar, arrived this morning at Santiago’s International Airport, after having been expulsed from Spanish custody and deported back to their home country.

Monica and Francisco had been charged under Spanish Anti-terrorism legislation for the alleged bombing of the Basilica del Pilar Church in Zaragoza, on Oct 2nd, 2013, and were arrested a month after the incident. Spanish prosecution initially sought a 44 year sentence for the accused, but instead received a 12 year sentence in 2014. The Defense took Monica and Francisco’s case to the Spanish Supreme Court, where the sentence was further reduced to 4 and a half years this past December, having dropped one of the initial charges.

At the time, the Spanish Supreme Court recognized that the intent of the bombing was to cause str...

uctural damage to a religious symbol and thus were charged for loses and damages.

As a final recourse, the Defense submitted a claim under Spanish Penal Law No. 89, which states that foreigners can be deported to their country of origin after having spent a year in prison. The claim was accepted by the court, resulting in the expulsion of Monica and Francisco back to Chile where they will be completely released from custody, pending any possible infractions with the Chilean justice system. Since they have none, they are able to walk free upon arrival passing through Chilean customs. Neither Monica or Francisco ever recognized their involvement in the bombing, and in fact alleged the charges were part of broader state political persecution as Anarchists.

Monica Caballero and Francisco Solar first came to Spain after their charges in the Chilean Anarchist Bombs Case were withdrawn by the Santiago court in 2012. The case was heavily publicized by the mass media throughout Chile when it first came to light in 2010, publically broadcasting the arrest of the 12 accused who were depicted as terrorists. But the case quickly fell apart after insufficient and flimsy evidence was presented by State Prosecution in courts, resulting in the absolution of the Anarchists, as well as a governmental crisis of legitimacy. The Santiago Court ordered the State Prosecution to award $460 million Chilean pesos (approximately $700,000 USD) to the former Anarchist accused for losses and damages of having gone through the legal system, which was later upheld by the Chilean Supreme Court. Francisco Solar was awarded $100 million pesos, while Monica Caballero was awarded $80 million pesos, which they then used to start a new life together as a couple in Spain.

Today, Monica and Francisco will be able to walk free on the streets of Santiago and begin a new life together with their friends, family and comrades. We salute them in the brave dignified efforts throughout all these years of repression and persecution in resisting the confines of State prisons around the world.

In love and rage,

Viva la Anarquia! The Women’s Coordinating Committee for a Free Wallmapu [Toronto]