NC Prisoner’s Hunger Strike Ends Successfully

August 10, 2011 by prisonbookscollective

On July 15th, North Carolina prisoner and anarchist James Graham began a
hunger strike at Lanesboro CI in solidarity with the thousands of striking
prisoners across California. For over a year Graham has been isolated in
solitary conditions similar to those being protested by the prisoners of
Pelican Bay, where California’s hunger strike began.

In addition to acting in solidarity with California’s prison rebels,
Graham also used his strike to address a number of immediate issues
surrounding living conditions on lock-up at Lanesboro. Less than a week
after submitting his demands along with an announcement of his strike,
most of his requests were addressed. We recently received word of this by
mail. Below is a list of the demands accompanied by the results of the
strike.

“This notice brings to light a hunger strike that will start on July 15th,
2011 and includes the following demands:

-Provide toilet brushes, so that prisoners can adequately clean their
toilets on lock-up during weekly clean-up.

Results: On 7/19, the Unit Manager and Assistant Unit Manager came
personally to show me we now have toilet brushes to clean our toilets.

-Provide shower mats outside the shower, to prevent injury by slipping.

Results: On 7/22, the Asst. Unit Manager passed ou shower mats to go
outside the showers on every block.

-Provide Adequate Food/Medical Soft Diet. We want wholesome nutritional
food served in sanitary conditions. Also, I requested personally to be put
on a soft vegan diet due to a medical condition.

Results: On 7/20, I was finally placed on a soft vegan diet after being
denied and lied to by saying, “There is no such thing…” Also,
prisoners have been saying that portions have increased.

-Fix Prisoner’s Nightlights.

Results: On 7/18, maintenance men came to every block and replaced ever
prisoner’s bulbs that were out.

-Provide Adequate Medical Care. We want nurses to execute prompt response
to sick-calls and medical emergencies and to perform daily seg checks.

Results: On 7/21, they finally called prisoners for sick-calls that had
been waiting for over a month. They still haven’t been performing daily
seg checks to check on the well-being of lock- up prisoners.”

We’ll do our best to keep folks updated about struggles going on at
Lanesboro, particularly if there is a need or call for outside solidarity
actions of any kind. We hope that small victories like this one can
encourage greater unity and resistance behind the walls.

In love and rage,

-a few anarchists against prison

Hands Off NC Prison Rebels: National Call-in Day Feb. 23

Feb. 17, 2011 Anarchist News

On Wednesday February 23rd, there will be a national call-in day to the
North Carolina Department of Corrections, in solidarity with prison rebels
across the state, and in particular those facing repercussions for
organizing study groups and collective actions at Bertie Correctional
Institution in Windsor, NC.

Organizing in Windsor has happened alongside the now famous rebellion in
Georgia, where in mid-December of 2010 prisoners organized the largest
coordinated prison strike in US history. For six days, in at least six
facilities across the state, thousands of prisoners refused to work in
response to the brutality and indignity of prison. Anarchists and radicals
responded with call-in days and solidarity demonstrations outside of jails
and prisons in their own towns. Similar tactics, low-risk but diffuse and
constant, were recently used to great success in conjunction with a hunger
strike by four Ohio prisoners on death row for their role in the
Lucasville prison rebellion.

Though it has not garnered the attention of the mainstream media or large
national organizations and figureheads, this struggle has been
consistently growing in North Carolina prisons as well, and has been
supported by a number of small collectives, publishing projects, and
individuals on the outside. Of particular note is the struggle at Bertie
C.I. Over the last year, prisoners there have organized large study groups
focusing on Black anarchist and anti-authoritarian ideas, as well as the
history and politics of gang truce efforts. Radicals there have made the
effort to reach across racial and gang-based divisions, and the effort has
borne fruit: on at least three occasions in the past few months prisoners
have taken collective action around issues of food, clothing, and
exercise, successfully occupying yards or refusing to leave their cells en
masse until given what they want. Though achieving small victories in this
process is encouraging and important, we see these developments and the
practices of solidarity we exercise alongside them not as part of a
specific campaign around a particular set of grievances or demands, but as
a process of growth and resistance that seeks to destabilize prisons and
render them increasingly ungovernable.

Several prisoners have faced repercussions for their roles in this
activity. One prisoner, an outspoken anarchist and gang leader named James
Graham, has been thrown in solitary confinement on a more or less
permanent basis, and was brutally beaten by six guards during a cell
extraction several weeks ago. Others have also faced time in solitary, the
loss of “privileges,” and other punishments.

February 23rd will be a national call-in day to show support for all North
Carolina prison rebels, to tell the North Carolina DOC and Bertie CI
officials that we're paying attention and that our comrades in Windsor are
not alone. Call them. Fax them. Email them. The authorities at Bertie feel
empowered to beat and isolate rebellious prisoners in part because they
think the prisoners have no outside support, and that there will be no
consequences; February 23rd is the first step in proving them wrong.

Tell the DOC: Hands off James Graham! Hands off all Prison Rebels!

NC DOC
Phone : (919)838-4000
Fax: (919)733-8272
Email: info@doc.state.nc.us

BERTIE C.I.
Phone: (252)794-8600
Fax: (252)794-4608