Prisoners in Alabama, organized under the Free Alabama Movement (FAM), have announced their second strike of the year. Prisoners at the St. Clair correctional facility have decided to strike. According to incarcerated activist Melvin Ray , an earlier strike in January drew in 1100 of St. Clair’s 1300 inmates and spread to two other prisons in the state. Prisoners are hoping this strike will be even larger. Also this time around, the Free Alabama Movement has linked with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and its newly created Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee. The IWW hopes to coordinate outside support, offer publicity, and generally be a voice for the prisoners on the outside.
The prisoners’ goal is to end prison labor – which, under Alabama law, can be employed by private employers for private profit – and to fundamentally reshape the prison system. In the interim, prisoners have grievances regarding overcrowding, lack of educational and rehabilitational facilities, and the use of solitary confinement. Or, as it’s put more broadly by Ray, “When there is no focus on education or rehab but solely on profit margins, human suffering is inevitable.” the inmates have so far stood united across racial and ethnic lines in what they have emphasized is a “non-violent” action.
Where the FAM strike goes from here is yet to be seen, but one thing is clear: from Georgia to California to Alabama, there is a movement brewing in America’s prisons. Perhaps the FAM, with their explicitly class perspective, can bring that solidarity and anger more fully to the public consciousness.
Melvin Ray has been thrown into solitary confinement with no clothes and no bed in retaliation for struggling for the freedom of the thousands of incarcerated people in Alabama and the 3 million people behind bars in the United States today.
More Information:
http://www.freealabamamovement.com/
FAM/IWW Statement on Alabama Prison Strike:
http://atliww.org/2014/04/21/famiww-statemet-on-alabama-prison-strike/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/incarceratedworkers
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