CA Prison Hunger Strike Solidarity events 7/21 Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun. They need our support.

[annm4peace]

NO ONE should be treated this inhumanely. Prisoners from all ethnic background are together in solidarity and trying to bring change non-violently.

Hello Everyone. Entering the 21st day of the Hunger Strike. Thankfully we have heard of no deaths as of yet. Today takes off a weekend of back to back events. Please make sure you come out and support! There has also been a request that we do a mass call-in these next couple of days. So make sure you flood in the governor and CDCr with phone calls!

According to PB Hunger Strike solidarity blog:
“While the daily numbers of hunger strikers fluctuates, the CDCR is certainly under-estimating how many people inside prison are participating in and supporting this strike…Despite these attempts, the hunger strike led by prisoners to change prison conditions and outside support for this courageous action has only grown. Thousands of people worldwide are supporting the strike by calling the CDCR and legislators to negotiate with the prisoners immediately, in good faith, before people die and medical conditions get even worse.”


Special Opportunity: Conference call with Marilyn McMahon, Director of California Prison Focus, with up to the minute news and analysis on the prison hunger strike. Write [e-mail] if you would like to be on the 60 minute phone call THURSDAY.THURSDAY July 21 10:00 pm EST, 7:00PM Pacific.

* you don't have to be in CA to make the calls, show your solidarity. WE have to treat all people as human beings and with human rights. As a nation we have to work together to change the Prison Industrial Complex.




EVENTS TO PLUG INTO!
THURSDAY JULY 21

12:30PM
Press Conference in South Central LA
YOUTH AND COMMUNITY STAND BY PELICAN BAY HUNGER STRIKERS & CALL FOR HUMANE TREATMENT FOR EVERYONE INSIDE
@ Chuco’s Justice Center
1137 EE. Redondo Blvd.
Inglewood, CA 90302
(1 block West of Florence and Crenshaw)

1:00PM-8:00PM
Human Rights Support for Hunger Strike Rally
220 W. Broadway
San Diego, CA 92101
(Across from SD courthouse, Front St and Broadway)

3:45PM
March & Demo at CDCR Headquarters
1515 S st.
( Meet at Freemont Park, on 15th and Q)
Bring signs for Department of Corrections to stop torture.
For more info contact: sacprisonersupport@ri ​seup.net

5:00PM-7:00PM
Solidarity Vigil
Alameda County Courthouse (Near Lake Merit Bart Station)
1225 Fallon St.
Oakland, CA

6:00PM-8:00PM
PANEL @ UCSB in Solidarity with Prison Hunger Strikes
UCSB Multi Cultural Center (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Driving directions: http://mcc.sa.ucsb.edu/About/D ​irections.aspx

7:00PM, 10:00 pm EST
Conference call with Marilyn McMahon, Director of California Prison Focus
(withup to the minute news and analysis on the prison hunger strike.)
Write [e-mail] if you would like to be on the 60 minute phone call

Thursday and Friday JULY 21 & 22
10AM-2PM Eastern (1PM-5PM Pacific)
Two Days of Mass Call-Ins for Prisoners in Solitary Confinement
Call for the Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers and Leonard Peltier!

FRIDAY JULY 22

9:00AM-5:00PM
All Day Action
Downtown Los Angeles
Ronald Reagan State Building
300 South Spring St (between 3rd and 4th st)
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(@ 5pm march to LA County Jail)

7:00PM-8:30PM
Los Angeles County Jail
441 Bauchet St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(Be ready to walk through the streets of LA)

Montreal (Canada): 12pm – 1:30pm, July 22 (and every Friday for as long as the strike continues) @ the United States Consulate at 1155 rue St-Alexandre (metro Place des Arts) To find out more, get in touch: Web: contrelesprisons.blogspot.com – Telephone: [phone] – Email: [e-mail] ​m

SATURDAY JULY 23

9:00AM- 2:30PM
Chino Institute for Men
14901 Central Ave.
Chino, CA 91710
(try to arrive by 8am)

TUESDAY JULY 26
Meeting for family members and friends of Hunger Strikers
Oakland, CA
for more info contact: [e-mail]

PLEASE MAKE THOSE PHONE CALLS! It takes one minute!

Write & Call Governor Jerry Brown and your elected officials and urge them to pressure the CDCR to negotiate with the prisoners and honor their demands!:

Governor Jerry Brown
State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814

Phone: [phone]
Send Gov Brown emails: http://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mai ​l/mail.php

To look up your state legislature:
http://www.congress.org/congre ​ssorg/dbq/officials

Sample Script for Phone Calls:
“My name is _____. I support the reasonable “five core demands” of the hunger striking prisoners. I urge the Governor to become involved or to direct Secretary Cate to negotiate with the prisoners immediately & in good faith. During this crisis and afterward, the prisoners’ human and civil rights must be respected. Thank you.”

“Hi my name is _________ and I live your district. I’m calling about the statewide prisoner hunger strike that began at Pelican Bay. I support the prisoners & their reasonable “five core demands.” I am alarmed by the rapidly deteriorating medical conditions of the hunger strikers & the inaction of the CDCR. I urge you to visit the hunger strikers, and make sure the CDCR negotiates with the prisoners and the outside mediation team the prisoners have approved, immediately & in good faith, before prisoners are force-fed or even die. Thank you.”

Make Calls and Write Letters to:
Secretary Matthew Cate
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
1515 S Street
Sacramento 95814

Phone: [phone]

CDCR Public Affairs Office: [phone]
Public safety committee website: http://spsf.senate.ca ​.gov/

Sample Script for Phone Calls: (choose one)
“Hi my name is _________ . I’m calling about the statewide prisoner hunger strike that began at Pelican Bay. I support the prisoners & their reasonable “five core demands.” I am alarmed by the rapidly deteriorating medical conditions of the hunger strikers & the inaction of the CDCR. I urge you to make sure the CDCR negotiates with the prisoners and the outside mediation team the prisoners have approved, immediately & in good faith, before prisoners are force-fed or even die. Thank you.”

“My name is _____. I support the reasonable “five core demands” of the hunger striking prisoners. I urge you to become involved or to direct Secretary Cate to negotiate with the prisoners immediately & in good faith. During this crisis and afterward, the prisoners’ human and civil rights must be respected. Thank you.”

CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate @ [phone]— calls now redirected to [phone]
PBSP Warden Greg Lewis: 707-465-1000 x 9040; and
Ombudsman Ralyn Conner: 916-324-6123

IF BUSY, please Call The Public Safety Committee:

Senator Loni Hancock – (Chair)
Capitol Office Phone: [phone]
District Office Phone: [phone]

Senator Joel Anderson- (Vice Chair)
Capitol Office Phone: [phone]
El Cajon District Office Phone: [phone]
Temecula District Office phone: [phone]

Senator Roderick Wright:
Capitol office Phone: [phone]
District Office Phone:[phone]
Long Beach District Office: [phone]

Public Safety Standing Committee of Assembly
Tom Ammiano (Chair)
[phone]
[phone]

Steve Knight- (Vice Chair)
[phone]
[phone]
[phone]

[annm4peace]

1. A matter of life and death

http://sfbayview.com/2011/a-matter-of-life-and-death/

I am writing because it is a matter of life and death and I am afraid. I have been on a mediation team for the last couple of weeks on behalf of the prisoners in Pelican Bay State Prison and the talks have broken down.

Prisoners in Pelican Bay have not eaten in 18 days. I have been told that the prison hospital is full with prisoners who are being hydrated intravenously because some have started to refuse water. Others are having a problem just keeping their water down at this point. Members of the prisoner negotiation team have lost between 20 and 35 pounds. It is truly a matter of luck and or untiring spirit that nobody has died so far.

During the last conversation that I had with the prisoner negotiation team, they told me that nothing substantial was being offered. They felt disrespected but are staying committed to this course of action until CDC stops the torture. Some of them have been in solitary lockup for multiple decades with no possibly of getting out of the hole. They would rather die or continue to be tortured before they’d surrender their soul.

[annm4peace]

2. The CDCR has prematurely announced that the hunger strike is over

http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/

We Keep Fighting: Until the Demands are Won!
Posted on July 21, 2011

The CDCR has prematurely announced that the hunger strike is over and that the prisoners now have “a better understanding” of last week’s “offer” to the hunger strikers at Pelican Bay. However, the prisoner-approved mediation team (which the hunger strike leaders have insisted participate in any negotiations) was not involved in this so-called resolution around the strike, and the CDCR has not fully announced what was agreed upon. Clearly the CDCR is more interested in improving their Public Relations image than addressing real issues of torture.

Support for the hunger strike is at a crucial tipping point. One thing is absolutely clear: the five core demands have not been met. Long-term solitary confinement is still being used as torture. Supporters everywhere must amplify the prisoners voices even more fiercely than before. The goal of supporting the hunger strike was not to make sure prisoners continue to starve, rather to support the prisoners in winning their demands to change conditions of imprisonment. This struggle is not over.

We urge everyone to continue to attend and organize events, continue to put pressure on media to cover this struggle, and continue to urge legislators to get involved in winning the hunger strikers 5 demands.

We will not accept the CDCR’s word until we have direct confirmation from the hunger strike leaders, and will continue to support the prisoners in winning their demands, until they are won.


Repression Breeds Resistance!
Posted on July 20, 2011
5

Reaching at least 6,600 prisoners across 13 prisons, this massive and inspiring act of solidarity and people power across prison-manufactured & exacerbated racial and geographic lines has dumb-founded the CDCR.

[denbot]

3. People don't just end up at the S.H.U. in Pelican Bay

They get there by killing or assaulting guards, and other inmates. Fuck'em.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[annm4peace]

5. that is a very ignorant statement

You should take some time to read or listen to the prisoners and their families stories.

I personally worked with someone who was a Pelican Bay and he did not kill anyone. He was only 20.

[annm4peace]

6. I'm disappointed in Gov Brown, he isn't like the previous Gov Brown

Continue reading on Examiner.com Gov. Brown to face nat'l anti-torture religious group as inmates lay dying - National Human Rights | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/gov-brown-to-face-nat-l-anti-torture-religious-group-as-inmates-lay-dying#ixzz1SqOMpFX9



The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a membership organization of religious organizations committed to ending torture sponsored or enabled by the United States.


Please Sign the Statement

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2162/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7373


Recognizing that prolonged solitary confinement can cause serious harm to prisoners, it has long been considered a form of torture. As a person of faith, I oppose the use of prolonged solitary confinement.

Experts estimate that at least 25,000 people in the U.S. criminal justice system are currently being held in solitary confinement. The vast majority of these inmates are detained in state prison facilities. Prisoners held in solitary confinement are often detained in a cell by themselves for 23 hours a day. Some prisoners are kept in these conditions for months, years, or even decades. Medical experts have stated that prisoners held in isolation for extended periods experience symptoms akin to delirium, and the impact on mentally ill prisoners is especially damaging. Alarmingly, these prisoners are sometimes released from solitary confinement units directly to their communities when they complete their prison sentence.

We need to invest in humane alternatives that address the mental health needs of prisoners in a way that effectively contributes both to their rehabilitation and to their successful transition back into society. Because holding prisoners in solitary confinement units is significantly more expensive than keeping them in the general prison population, instituting humane alternatives makes sense, both financially and morally.

We must end the use of prolonged solitary confinement in all 50 states and the federal prison system. It is costly, inhumane and ineffective; it harms prisoners and our communities. I call upon state legislators and departments of corrections to begin now to take steps to end prolonged solitary confinement.

[annm4peace]

10. I hope people made calls

I made calls and it is interesting the responses you get from the staff

[Cid_B]

11. Im sure he was there for saving too many kittens from trees...

[ej510]

7. I am down, it is amazing people do not care about prisoners when most

of them aren't violent.

[annm4peace]

8. True, true.

they are us and we are them.

Especially people are so called Christians who make those statements. Torture does not make a better person.

[Starry Messenger]

9. k&r