The third Thursday of every month, at 7pm, the Flying Brick Library (506 South Pine Street) hosts a letterwriting session to political prisoners. Addresses and names provided.
Information on political and community events in and around Richmond, Virginia. There will be occasional listings for other nearby cities, mostly Charlottesville, Roanoke, and Washington DC. Also, less commonly, people's history, citizen journalism, information and instruction generally relevant to action. This is not a theory blog; its primary purpose is to compile news and opportunities for local action. Please note the side links, especially the Calendar link. All events reblogged or publicized here end up on the calendar.
• Who runs this blog?
• Calendar
• Updates
• Weekly Emails/Facebook
• Ongoing Fundraisers
• Ask
• Submit Active-RVA
Prisoner Letter Writing Nights at the Flying Brick Library
Wallens Ridge Hunger Strike: a Leader Speaks
Below is a message communicated by a leader of the recent Wallens Ridge Hunger Strike.
“I’ve attempted numerous time to send my love and solidarity, but these plantations keep me under extreme censorship, due to my activist activities and my political beliefs. I’ve been in segregation now since the summer of 2012 for attempting to kill a pig at Red Onion, while simultaneously organizing a hunger strike to address particular circumstances and conditions there…That plantation felt that they couldn’t let me back on the yard, because of my organizing and a pig’s life being in jeopardy, so they sent me to this plantation around winter time.
“The circumstances here were worse, due to the mentality of these pigs and the injustices and mistreatments they subject the prisoners to, directly and indirectly…I’ve just recently organized a hunger strike of about 20, a small scale hunger strike, out of desperation, because the issues addressed needed immediate attention…We were semi-successful.
“At the very least, the objective was to bring some attention to the treatment of the prisoners. We did that, bring about some changes, got internal affairs and the Director of Operations for Public Safety involved. The struggle continues and we haven’t even begun to look at the surface yet…”
“Plantation” is common parlance for “prison,” referencing mass incarceration’s use as a weapon against communities of color in America, especially black communities. “Pig” is a common, disrespectful term for a police or corrections officer.
April 17 - Palestinian Prisoners’ Day
For information on campaigns of boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel’s racist apartheid state, see this link.
(via dentonsocialists)
Hunger Strike Begins at Wallens Ridge State Prison
That these items must be demanded at all is evidence of a criminally abusive and negligent system.
VA DOC Director Harold W Clarke
Email: Harold.Clarke@VADOC.Virginia.Gov
Business Phone: 804 674 3118
WRSP Chief Warden Gregory Holloway
Email: Gregory.Holloway@VADOC.Virginia.Gov
Business Phone: 276 523 3310
A hunger strike recently took off at Wallens Ridge State Prison, the sister site of Red Onion, where last year’s hunger strike took place. This strike has produced ten demands, reproduced below. Those of you familiar with last year’s hunger strike will recognize them as identical to the Red Onion hunger striker’s demands.
“We (Prisoners at Wallens Ridge State Prison) demand the right to an adequate standard of living while in the custody of the state!
1. We demand fully cooked food, and access to a better quality of fresh fruit and vegetables. In addition, we demand increased portions on our trays, which allows us to meet our basic nutritional needs as defined by VDOC regulations.
2. We demand that every prisoner at WRSP have unrestricted access to complaint and grievance forms and other paperwork we may request.
3. We demand better communication between prisoners and higher- ranking guards. Presently higher-ranking guards invariably take the lower-ranking guards’ side in disputes between guards and prisoners, forcing the prisoner to act out in order to be heard. We demand that higher- ranking guards take prisoner complaints and grievances into consideration without prejudice.
4. We demand an end to torture in the form of indefinite segregation through the implementation of a fair and transparent process whereby prisoners can earn the right to be released from segregation. We demand that prison officials completely adhere to the security point system, insuring that prisoners are transferred to institutions that correspond with their particular security level.
5. We demand the right to an adequate standard of living, including access to quality materials that we may use to clean our own cells. Presently, we are forced to clean our entire cell, including the inside of our toilets, with a single sponge and our bare hands. This is unsanitary and promotes the spread of disease-carrying bacteria.
6. We demand the right to have 3rd party neutral observers visit and document the condition of the prisons to ensure an end to the corruption amongst prison officials and widespread human rights abuses of prisoners. Internal Affairs and Prison Administrator’s monitoring of prison conditions have not alleviated the dangerous circumstances we are living under while in custody of the state which include, but are not limited to: the threat of undue physical aggression by guards, sexual abuse and retaliatory measures, which violate prison policies and our human rights.
7. We demand to be informed of any and all changes to VDOC/IOP policies as soon as these changes are made.
8. We demand the right to adequate medical care. Our right to medical care is guaranteed under the eight amendment of the constitution, and thus the deliberate indifference of prison officials to our medical needs constitutes a violation of our constitutional rights. In particular, the toothpaste we are forced to purchase in the prison is a danger to our dental health and causes widespread gum disease and associated illnesses.
9. We demand our right as enumerated through VDOC policy, to a monthly haircut. Presently, we have been denied haircuts for nearly three months. We also demand to have our razors changed out on a weekly basis. The current practice of changing out the razors every three weeks leaves prisoners exposed to the risk of dangerous infections and injury.
10. We demand that there be no reprisals for any of the participants in the Hunger Strike. We are simply organizing in the interest of more humane living conditions.”
That these items must be demanded at all is evidence of a criminally abusive and negligent system.
Contact these individuals to demand the Virginia Department of Corrections immediately fulfill the prisoners’ demands:
VA DOC Director Harold W Clarke
Email: Harold.Clarke@VADOC.Virginia.Gov
Business Phone: 804 674 3118
WRSP Chief Warden Gregory Holloway
Email: Gregory.Holloway@VADOC.Virginia.Gov
Business Phone: 276 523 3310
The Flying Brick Library is wheelchair accessible.
Test reads: Prisoner Letter Writing Night, Third Thursday of Every Month, 7pm, Flying Brick Library, 506 South Pine Street. Letter writing supplies and penpal list provided.
(Source: deadmoonjaws, via peepantsrepulsa)
American LGBTQ Prisoners Seeking Pen Pals
A list of incarcerated LGBTQ folks who would like penpals.
SPARC Fundraiser for Jailhouse Lawyer Manuels Nearly Over
Supporting Prisoners and Acting For Radical Change (SPARC)’s fundraiser for Jailhouse Lawyer Manuals and other self-advocacy supplies for prisoners ends on March 30th. They’ve only got 37% of their goal, but there are eight days to go before the campaign expires. This is an important and valuable project. You can donate through the link.
From SPARC:
“Our Fundraising drive is about to conclude, if you haven’t done so yet and are able, please contribute to the funds for Jailhouse Lawyer Manuals and Commissary that will directly benefit our 200+ prisoner contacts. Just click on that purple donate button. A big thanks to everyone who has contributed thus far, as of right now we will be able to purchase over half a dozen copies of the JLM’s!”
Yet another lawsuit over yet another horrific death at the Richmond City Jail
Trigger warnings: abuse of prisoners, abuse of the mentally ill, amputation, death, neglect of prisoners, forced nudity.
An inmate apparently awaiting trial in the Richmond City jail was not given prescribed psychiatric medication, placed naked in a solitary cell with no mattress, blankets, or running water, was not given sufficient medical treatment and, when finally taken to a hospital, had acute kidney failure and gangrene requiring the amputation of his leg. He died some days later.
His estate is suing a doctor who was supposed to have overseen his care, and Sheriff C.T Woody, who continues to maintain- as he does every time someone dies in the Richmond City Jail- that the jail has a death rate twice that of the national average because the inmates they process are simply more prone to illness than anywhere else in the country.
Letter writing to political prisoners during Food Not Bombs cooking time.
From the Wingnut website:
“Richmond Food Not Bombs cooks from 12:30 to 3:45 every Sunday at the Wingnut Anarchist Collective at 2005 Barton Avenue.
Often there is some downtime during the meal preparation and cooking time. To take advantage of that time to do more politically with Food Not Bombs we are trying the following idea.
The Wingnut will now be providing the info and address of one political prisoner each week, who has a birthday that month, that folks can write a short note or a few words of encouragement to, which we will then mail out.
We know that a lot of folks are not used to writing full letters, and we hope that through collaborating to fill paper with notes and drawings we can bring some cheer and solidarity to folks from various radical social movements (like ours) who are incarcerated.
Folks interested in further prisoner support work should get in touch with SPARC- Supporting Prisoners and Acting for Radical Change.”
The Wingnut (the cook site, where letters will be written and food is prepared each Sunday) is not wheelchair accessible, has non-sex-specific bathroom facilities, and has dogs. If you have a service animal, please send notice a few minutes before your arrival (or be prepared to wait on the porch for a few minutes) for the dogs that live there to be secured in another area. For more allergy information, see this link (http://wingnutrva.org/accessibilityallergies/).
