Help Needed for Joe-Joe Bowen
We’ve received a letter from our comrade and political prisoner Joseph “Joe-Joe” Bowen, aka The Old Man. Last year, after four decades of continuous detention in solitary confinement, Joe-Joe was released into general population. Recently, after a verbal argument with a corrections officer (CO) over the content of a book Joe-Joe is writing, he was transferred to another prison and has been held in solitary confinement since. Joe-Joe needs our help.
- Call or email DOC Secretary John Wetzel: 717.728.2577
Ra-crpadocsecretary@pa.gov
pacontactdoc@pa.gov
Demand that Wetzel not put Joseph Bowen AM4272 on the restricted release list or on permanent lock-down status. Please let us know what response you receive. NYC ABC can be reached by email at nycabc at riseup dot net, or on twitter, instagram, or facebook at @NYCABC - Since his transfer, Joe-Joe has had no access to the very basics to get by in solitary confinement during a winter in Pennsylvania: thermal underwear tops or bottoms, shower sandals, t-shirts, a towel, or washcloths. Please donate at paypal.me/nycabc or send well-concealed cash, a check, or money order (made payable to NYC ABC) to:
NYC ABC
Post Office Box 110034
Brooklyn, New York 11211Please note that the funds you are donating are for Joe-Joe.
Illustrated Guide Version 14.1 Uploaded!
We’ve finished the latest version of the NYC ABC “Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War” and it’s available for viewing (and download) by clicking on the tab at the top of this page. This update includes updated mini-bios, photos, and address changes for several prisoners.
BK/NY – Tuesday, February 19th – Letter-Writing Dinner For Chip Fitzgerald, Cinque Magee, and Andrew Mickel
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, February 19th, 2019
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
COST: Free
As usual, you can find NYC ABC on our bi-weekly vibe, serving up some delicious vegan food and writing letters to three long standing political prisoners. Come join us as we send these folks some love and support.
Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald, born and raised in Compton, California, joined the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party in early 1969 as a teenager who had just been released from the California Youth Authority. In September of that year, as a dedicated member of the Party, Chip was arrested in connection with a police shoot-out and tried for assault on police and related charges, including the murder of a security guard. He was sentenced to death. More information here.
Commonly regarded as the longest held political prisoner in the U.S., Ruchell “Cinque” Magee has been imprisoned since 1963. He was politicized in prison and participated in the August 7, 1970 Marin County Courthouse Rebellion— the attempted liberation of political prisoner George Jackson and the Soledad Brothers by Jackson’s younger brother Jonathan. Magee was seriously injured in the incident and subsequently pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping. He was sentenced in 1975 to life in prison and has been denied parole numerous times. More information here.
On November 19, 2002 Andrew Mickel shot and killed a cop named David Mobilio of the Red Bluff, California Police Department. There were no witnesses to the killing, and the crime would have gone unsolved had there not been Internet postings about the crime six days later. The postings read, “Hello Everyone, my name’s Andy. I killed a Police Officer in Red Bluff, California in a motion to bring attention to, and halt, the police-state tactics that have come to be used throughout our country.” In April 2005, Mickel was convicted of one count of first-degree murder. He was subsequently sentenced to death, and is being held on Death Row at San Quentin State Prison.
If for some unforeseeable reason you are unable to make it Tuesday, please take the time to write to these folx on your own time:
Chip Fitzgerald* #B27527
California State Prison – LAC
Post Office Box 4490
B-4-150
Lancaster, California 93539
*Address envelope to Romaine Fitzgerald
Cinque Magee* #A92051
B3-138
California Mens Colony
Post Office Box 8103
San Luis Obispo, California 93409
*Address envelope to Ruchell Magee
Andrew Mickel V77400
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin, California 94974
BK/NY – Tuesday, February 5th – Revolutionary Love For an Early Valentine’s Day
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, February 5th, 2019
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
COST: Free
This time last year, we were watching the state’s case against the J20 defendants begin to unravel. This year, we see comrades from Portugal to Iraq to Germany continuing to attack the state and capital. There’s a palpable tension between the authorities who keep cracking skulls and those rebels who continue to fight back. And for those rebels–still in the streets, or locked in a prison cell, NYC ABC holds revolutionary love. With that love burning in our hearts, we host another of our every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinners.
This week we’re having a Valentine’s Day card writing party for PPs and POWs in the region. But rather than looking to a holiday based on Christian martyrs from millennia ago and kept alive through consumerism and romantic coupling, we’re celebrating revolutionary love and solidarity. We love our imprisoned comrades and use this week’s card-writing night to manifest that love.
BK/NY – Tuesday, January 22 – Letter Writing Dinner for Joe-Joe Bowen
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, January 22nd, 2019
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
COST: Free
Since we know that prisons, and more specifically prison officials, create a culture of fear and retaliation, this week NYC ABC will be focusing our every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinner on Joe-Joe Bowen, who is no stranger to rebelling against captors as a path towards collective liberation. Joe-Joe was recently transferred and put into solitary confinement and in addition to letters, NEEDS YOUR HELP.
A native of Philadelphia, Joe-Joe was a young member of the “30th and Norris” street gang before his incarceration politicized him. Released in 1971, his outside activism was cut short a week following his release when Joe-Joe was confronted by an officer of the notoriously brutal Philadelphia police department. The police officer was killed in the confrontation, and Bowen fled. After his capture and incarceration, Bowen became a Black Liberation Army combatant, defiant to authorities at every turn. In 1973, Joe-Joe assassinated Holmesberg prison’s warden and deputy warden as well as wounded the guard commander in retaliation for intense repression against Muslim prisoners in the facility. In 1981, Bowen led a six-day standoff with authorities when he and six other captives took 39 hostages at Graterford Prison as a freedom attempt and protest of the prison conditions.
If you will not be able to join us this upcoming Tuesday, you can still write to Joe-Joe:
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Joseph Bowen AM4272
Post Office Box 33028
Saint Petersburg, Florida 33733
*Address cards/letters to Joe-Joe.
Illustrated Guide Version 14 Uploaded!
We’ve finished the latest version of the NYC ABC “Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War” and it’s available for viewing (and download) by clicking on the tab at the top of this page. This update includes updated mini-bios, photos, and address changes for several prisoners.
BK/NY – Tuesday, January 8th – Letter-Writing Dinner For David, Jalil, and Joy
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, January 8th, 2019
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
COST: Free
While the majority of Americans use New Years Eve as an excuse to drink as much alcohol as they can consume only to ‘turn over a new leaf’ the following day by joining a gym, we at NYC ABC are doing the work we always do. We were excited to see your smiling (albeit it rain-drenched) faces at our annual New Year’s Eve Noise Demo at MCC in Manhattan. And as per usual, we will be kicking off yet another calendar year of bi-weekly letter writing nights and hope to see y’all there, too.
NYC ABC is starting the first month of the year by focusing on comrades near to us, both in affinity and proximity–David Gilbert, Jalil Muntaqim, and Joy Powell, three of our New York state political prisoners.
David Gilbert was moved in 2016 to Wende Correctional Facility, luckily closer to some comrades and unfortunately farther from others. David is a long time anti-racist and anti-imperialist who is serving a life sentence for his involvement as a white comrade to the Black Liberation Army during an attempted expropriation, better known as the Brinks Robbery. He has continued the struggle while held captive. For more information, see here.
Jalil Muntaqim has been rejected by the New York state parole board a total of ten times. December 2018 was the last time Jalil appeared before the Board, and the tenth time he has been denied, despite having an excellent record and meeting all requirements to be released on parole. Jalil has submitted a request to Governor Cuomo requesting commutation of sentence to time served, as the parole board is obviously biased. A fair and just parole hearing is impossible for Jalil and our other New York State political prisoners. More information at freejalil.com
Reverend Joy Powell was warned by the Rochester Police department that she was a target because of her speaking out against corruption. On many occasions, Rev. Joy held rallies and spoke out against the police brutality and “police justifications” in Rochester, New York. As a result, she was accused and convicted of 1st Degree Burglary and Assault. Rev. Joy has filed multiple grievances for sexual assault and religious discrimination among other things, and has been repeatedly denied medical attention for her diabetes and asthma. For more information on how you can help support, read here.
We expect to see you on Tuesday. If you can’t make it, please take the time to write a letter to David, Jalil, and Joy:
David Gilbert #83-A-6158
Wende Correctional Facility
3040 Wende Road
Alden, New York 14004
Jalil Muntaqim* #77-A-4283
Sullivan Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 116
Fallsburg, New York 12733-0116
*Address envelope to Anthony Bottom.
Reverend Joy Powell #07-G-0632
Bedford Hills Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 1000
Bedford Hills, New York 10507-2499
