Demand Mass Clemency On ‘National Freedom Day’

As supporters of the #CagingCOVID campaign, the Antistasis Project is calling for decentralized actions on February 1st across the so-called United States, and internationally, in support of mass clemency for people held in jails, prisons and detention centers.

Reports updated as of Jan. 19, show at least 355,957  prisoners have gotten the virus, and more than 2,232 died as a result of it. . The pandemic has resulted in prisons and jails abusing isolation more than ever before. Social distance is necessary but solitary confinement is torture.

Crowded quarters, a lack of PPE, inadequate medical care, an aging population, and unsanitary conditions have contributed to an infection rate 5.5 times higher than the already ballooned average in the U.S.

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What 2,392 Incarcerated People Think About #DefundThePolice

How do we fix policing in America? Can it be fixed? Donald Trump has made “law and order” a central message of his campaign, portraying anti–police brutality protesters as dangerous. Joe Biden has emphatically rejected protesters’ calls to defund the police and insists that less drastic reform can make a difference.

Whoever wins the election will help shape the future of criminal justice. But while the effects of the pandemic and police violence are magnified for people behind bars, the vast majority of them will not be able to press for solutions by voting.

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‘People Are Still Putting Their Bodies On The Line To Stop This Pipeline’

Bias lived in the anti-pipeline camps for five months and got sev­en state mis­de­meanor charges of their own. Bias has been deal­ing with the gen­er­al legal after­math of Stand­ing Rock ever since, fight­ing their own charges and sup­port­ing the fed­er­al felony defendants.

As peo­ple cel­e­brate the court rul­ing against the pipeline, Bias wants to remind them that the phys­i­cal part of the strug­gle is not over.

“We’re still fight­ing this pipeline, because we still have peo­ple incar­cer­at­ed for the work we did in camp,” Bias says. ​“Peo­ple have got to rec­og­nize that peo­ple are still putting their bod­ies on the line in prison to stop this pipeline.”

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Solidarity With Ohio prisoners

Over 200 people demonstrated outside the state prison in Marion, Ohio, May 2 to protest the conditions inside and demand prisoners who meet certain criteria be released. The prison drew national attention after 80 percent of the prisoners tested positive for COVID-19.

Conditions are now deplorable, with the prisoners only receiving two meals a day. Those meals do not meet the caloric intake or nutritional needs of an adult male. The excuse given is that staff needs extra time to sanitize. However, the more critical steps of requiring masks and social distancing have not been taken.

The protesters demanded that all the 400 prisoners housed at the Marion Reintegration Center be given clemency by Gov. Mike DeWine. Most of them are deemed “low risk” and are within a year of their release date.

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Injustice Prevails Despite Mass Prisoner Release In Cleveland

Since March 14 the Cuyahoga County jail, located in downtown Cleveland, has released hundreds of prisoners to reduce the jail population in light of the coronavirus COVID-19 health emergency. Many people are now asking the obvious question: “Why can’t Cleveland’s example be followed across the country?” Most of the prisoners freed were so-called “nonviolent offenders” not convicted of a crime, yet kept in jail because they lacked the funds to post bail. There are untold numbers of people across the country in a similar situation. They should be released, too.

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CIA Used Prisoner As ‘Training Prop’ For Torture, Psychologist Testifies

A man accused of helping finance the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was subjected to “excessive” abuse at the hands of CIA interrogators who used him as a training tool for employees learning the agency’s torture techniques. That’s according to testimony Thursday from a psychologist who helped design the torture program. James Mitchell, who co-owned a company that was paid $80 million by the U.S. government to develop what the CIA called “enhanced interrogation techniques,”…

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South Carolina Prisoners Appeal To The UN For Relief From Torturous Conditions

Can you imagine living without sunlight? Many of us experience seasonal affective (SAD) disorder in the winter months, causing symptoms ranging from depression and lethargy to thoughts of suicide. SAD can also exacerbate the symptoms of some mental illnesses, like bipolar disorder. But while grey skies may be depressing, or even hazardous to our health, most of us can’t fathom what it would be like to go over a year without sunlight. For prisoners in South Carolina’s Level 3 prisons, this scenario is all too real.

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Right2Vote Campaign

This is a nationwide campaign being initiated by people currently confined in the United States. This campaign grew out of the August 21 National Prison Strike Demand #10: The voting rights of all confined citizens serving prison sentences, pretrial detainees, and so-called “ex-felons” must be counted. Representation is demanded. All voices count! To meet this 10th demand a collaborative effort of prison lead organizations and outside allies have an ongoing mission to bridge the gap with people that were formerly confined in order to build a potent voting bloc. The Right 2 Vote campaign has incorporated two initiatives, Bar 2 Ballots and Vote 4 me. Inside U.S prisons, there has been a wave of awareness building amongst those confined who understand that they must gain political power by capturing their right to vote in order to end the dehumanization process in the U.S jails, prisons, and even after release.

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