Prison Path
Inmates Strike Against: “Modern-Day Slavery”
On August 21, inmates in South Carolina and Alabama called for a nationwide prison strike to protest inmate slave labor, and for humane living conditions. The inmates via contraband cell phones and outside volunteers planned their strike using social media to spread their call for a national strike.
The idea to strike came after 7 inmates died in a South Carolina prison riot this past April. The strike began with the Twitter video of 26-year-old Folsom Prison inmate Heriberto Garcia refusing food. With the video, word spread to prisons in at least 15- 17 states.
The strike organizers, a group of imprisoned activists, known as Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, (supported by Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee), issued 10 demands. The most important demand called for an end to “Prison Slave Labor,”where inmates are paid pennies per hour for their work.
For example, inmates at Louisiana’s Angola prison, (ironically, located on a former slave plantation), work for as little as four cents an hour. This exploitation of inmates–slave labor varies from state to state. At the same time, many prison commissaries charge inmates and their families, exorbitant prices for food, and hygiene items.
Organizers reported strike actions in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Sixty immigrants held at the Northwest Detention Center also held a hunger strike to protest terrible living conditions. Protesting prisoners in Nova Scotia joined the U.S. prison strike, and issued a statement that prisoners were “warehoused as inmates, not treated as human beings.”
Detained Immigrant Children in June
Ten inmates have died in Mississippi this month. Strike activists and family members are demanding answers for the sudden major increase in inmate’s deaths. The IWW’s Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee tweeted about the Mississippi deaths, “Why #prisonstrike? Because at this point it’s about survival.”
“Prison Slave Labor”, and inhumane prison conditions defy rehabilitation and increase recidivism.
By: Bradley Schwartz
Founder of prisonpath.com
Prison Consultant
I think the gaurds should lock them up then go on strike too
By–Robin
Wow the ignorance shown with these comments—Everyday there are people released due to new test such as D.N.A—How can you say they have no rights–Were are still in Am,erica are we not?
You’re prisoners. You have no rights as far as I’m concerned. Your rights were taken away when you stepped foot in the yard. So go back to busting rocks and be glad you’re alive
By-Lucian
Wow aren’t you the smart one! Get your ass off your shoulders–These are still human beings– People are arrested everyday–But there are also people that are paroled everyday–and some exonerated for a crime that they did not commit because of how screwed up our legal system is. And you say they have no rights–well last I checked we are in America– You know people make some stupid decisions in life (I’m sure you are a perfect person, NOT). My husband was a cop-narcotics officer and DEA–He will be the first one to tell you how screwed this system is–He saw… Read more »
Thats exactly right!! My brother had no rights ..no final requests no NOTHING when a man viciously stabbed and SLAUGHTERED him . Why should tge man that murdered him in cold blood have more rights than the victims do? When you go to prison you lose all rights!
Why don’t you walk on the yard at McAllister and tell em how you feel.I’m sure you’ll be okay. Just remind them you’re a native. That should help
By–Jeff
I fully support the strike. As long as prison industries like Unicor make huge profits off inmates, I say pay them a minimum of$30 a month. 2.2 million Americans in the system and yet the crime rate is lower than 20 years ago. Federal prison population went from 68,000 in the mid 80s to over 180,000 today. It’s a for profit enterprise. The inmates deserve at least $30 a month.
By–Parks