A few further updates on the repression/legal front:
Here in the UK, five people are currently on trial facing charges related to their alleged participation in an uprising at HMP Lewes. The Incarcerated Workers Organising Committee are asking supporters to attend court throughout the trial at Hove Crown Court. One of the defendants writes:
“On the 2nd July 2018 myself & my 4 co-defendants Steve Goodwin, Dave Carlin, Shane Simpson, & John Udy are due to stand trial at Hove crown court on charges of prison mutiny, criminal damage (£239,259.91) & violent disorder in relation to an incident at HMP Lewes on 29th October 2016.
The trial is due to last 4-5 weeks, and will hopefully highlight the unsafe, unhygienic and unlawful conditions that prisoners are being held In.
On the 9th December 2015 the Guardian published an article about a prison officer Kim Lennon who raised concern over the levels of violence & overcrowding at HMP Lewes she said “everything was dangerous in the prison”, unfortunately instead of taking on board & addressing the issues, HM Prison Service ‘sacked’ Kim Lennon & completely ignored the issues effecting HMP LEWES, allowing them to manifest into one big cocktail of disaster.
There were a number of incidents in 2016 not only HMP Lewes but at HMP’s Erlestoke, Bedford,Birmingham & Swaleside all arising out of the same issues inc. Overcrowding, 23 + hour lock up, unhygienic, unsafe & unlawful conditions.
Which is little wonder when you consider that In his report titled Life in prison: Living conditions (published October 2017) HMCIP Peter Clarke stated “I would urge readers not to assume this paper Is simply another account of some dilapidated prisons, but to look at the details of what we describe, and ask themselves whether it is acceptable for prisoners to be held In these conditions in the united kingdom in 2017.”
For anyone who watched ITV’s Prisons Uncovered: Out Of Control? (Shown on Monday 11th June 2018) the reality of what Peter Clarke describes In his report is all too real. However without Incidents of the calibre at Birmingham etc. none of these issues would ever be exposed to the extent they have been.
Unfortunately HM Prison Service, The Police & the CPS are now going all out to secure unnecessary and vindictive Mutiny Charges which carry lengthy prison sentences.
In solidarity,
Ross A Macpherson
A6791AD
HMP Belmarsh
Western Way
Thamesmead
SE28 0EB”
Also in the UK, some of the people spied on by undercover police are launching a legal challenge to try and make the deeply flawed spycops inquiry fit for purpose, and are collecting donations to cover their legal costs. Those in London will be able to learn more about the whole situation at the “50 Years of Resistance” event this weekend.
Elsewhere, Freedom News have an update on the imprisoned anarchists in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, there’s been an uprising in the oddly-named El Dorado prison in Kansas, and radical prisoner Keith “Malik” Washington is asking people to help him get out of solitary confinement and get his medical situation sorted out. His supporters write:
“Several weeks ago, friends and supporters of incarcerated freedom fighter Comrade Malik Washington were overjoyed to hear that he was getting released, finally, from Administrative Segregation (solitary confinement) at Eastham Unit in Texas–until TDCJ pulled a fast one, falsely claiming that he refused to participate in the Ad-Seg Transition Program to get him released back to general population.
This is a complete lie: Malik has been fighting to get out of Ad-Seg from the moment he was thrown in there two years ago on a bogus riot charge (which was, itself, retaliation for prison strike organizing and agitating against inhumane, discriminatory conditions).
Here’s what actually happened: when Malik arrived at Ramsey Unit on June 21, he was assigned to a top bunk, which is prohibited by his medical restrictions as a seizure patient. TDCJ had failed to transfer his medical restrictions records, or had erased them, and are now claiming no record of these restrictions, which have been on file and in place for the past ten years. Malik wrote a detailed statement requesting to be placed on a lower bunk in order to avoid injury; later that night, he was abruptly transferred back to Ad-Seg at a new Unit (McConnell).
Malik was told that Ramsey staff claimed he refused to participate in the Ad-Seg Transition program–this is NOT true, and he needs to be re-instated to the program immediately! He also urgently needs his medical restrictions put back into his records!
We are extremely concerned for Malik’s safety, and urgently need the help of everyone reading this. Please take one or more of the following actions, and get a couple friends to do the same!
Call Senior Warden Phillip Sifuentes at Malik’s current facility (McConnell) and tell them Keith Washington (#1487958) must be transferred out of McConnell and re-admitted to the Ad-Seg Transition Program!
Phone #: (361) 362-2300 (**048) 00 — ask to be connected to the senior warden’s office/receptionist–try to talk to someone, but also can leave a message.
Sample Script: “Hello, I’m calling because I’m concerned about Keith H. Washington (#1487958) who was recently transferred to your facility. I understand he was transferred there from Ramsey Unit, because he supposedly refused to participate in the Ad-Seg transition program there, but this is not true; Malik never refused to participate, and he needs to be re-admitted to the transition program immediately! I am also concerned that his heat restrictions seem to have been removed from his records. He is a seizure patient and has been on heat and work restriction for years, and these restrictions must be reinstated immediately.”
Please let us know how your call goes at blueridgeABC@riseup.net
Flood TDCJ Executive Director Bryan Collier with calls/emails!You can use the above phone script as a guide for emails.
exec.director@tdcj.texas.gov
(936) 437-2101 / (936) 437-2123
Flood TDCJ with emails demanding that Malik’s health restrictions and work restrictions be restored: Health.services@tdcj.texas.gov
You can use the call script above as a guide; you don’t need to mention the Ad-Seg situation, but just focus on the need to restore his heat and work restrictions!
File a complaint with the Ombudsman’s Office (the office in charge of investigating departmental misconduct); you can use the above phone script as a guide for emails.
Ombudsman@tdcj.texas.gov
Write to Malik! Every letter he receives lifts his spirit and PROTECTS him, because prison officials know he has people around him, watching for what happens to him.
Keith H. Washington
#1487958
McConnell Unit
3100 South Emily Drive
Beeville, TX 78103”
Cautiously pessimistic 