Showing posts with label Georgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Georgia. Show all posts

Monday, August 06, 2012

Report-back: July 16th Rally in Solidarity with the Georgia Prison Hunger Strikers

Atlanta Black Cross

On Monday, July 16th, 2012 there was a rally held in Forsyth, Georgia to show solidarity with Hunger Strikers in the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center (also known as GDC or Jackson State Prison).  About 80 people attended the event, which was organized and coordinated by many local radical organizations and members of the Hunger Strikers’ families. Some of the groups involved included Project South, The Ordinary People’s Society, Prodigal Child Project, Take Back the Block, Industrial Workers of the World – Atlanta Chapter, and the Atlanta Black Cross to name a few.

The rally began with demonstrators on the public sidewalk dancing, chanting, and drumming right in front of Georgia’s Department of Corrections. After about a half an hour or so the crowd became emboldened by the lack of response by the police and enraged by the lack of concern shown by the on looking Department of Corrections officials. The crowd then proceeded to move onto the private grounds and right in front of the building where Commissioner Brian Owens’s office is located in order to show their lack of fear and their passion and solidarity for the strikers who have led this fight.

Delma Jackson, Wife of Miguel Jackson (currently on Hunger Strike) speaking to the crowd.

At the rally’s peak, about 80 people rallied for the prisoners in a successful display of inter-racial solidarity that is often not seen in Atlanta.

The rally allowed us to make connections with organizations and members of the Atlanta community with whom our bonds have often been weak. It also allowed us all to see that the struggle against prisons is struggle we do not have to fight alone. We are able to work together and organize against the oppressive prison system and the State.

There were many groups there with many different perspectives and this diversity of approaches will allow us to fight the battle against prisons on multiple fronts.

We acknowledge the shortcomings of the rally as a tactic and even debate amongst ourselves the effectiveness of such demonstrations and appeals to the power structure that we fight against. However, we also realize the necessity of showing solidarity with other individuals and organizations that have a similar passion for justice and freedom. As well as sending strong messages of support to those currently kept away from us behind bars.

As the Atlanta Black Cross, we stand in solidarity with all prisoners. We envision a world without prisons, free from oppression- and work to create that world.

As long as a soul remains behind bars, no one can be free.

Atlanta Black Cross

Photo Credit: Bruce A. Dixon, Black Agenda Report

Monday, July 16, 2012

Tortured men face death in 33-day Georgia hunger strike for human rights

July 14, 2012 Examiner.com By: Deborah Dupre

Nine prisoners face death on a hunger strike for human rights that began June 11 at Georgia’s massive Diagnostic and Classification prison, where Troy Davis was murdered last year and where men are tortured in solitary confinement.

“It has been 33 days since these men have eaten. We must move swiftly or people are going to start dying,” writes Delma Jackson, wife of the inmate who leads the strike, Miguel Jackson.

Miguel Jackson is the prisoner beaten with a hammer-like object in retaliation for his role in the December 2010 mass sit-down strike to raise awareness about slave labor and other atrocities at Georgia's massive Diagnostic and Classification prison, what CBS Atlanta reported the inmates call "unreasonable and inhumane treatment by prison guards and officials."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, based on claims by the Georgia Department of Corrections, reported Tuesday that the strike is over:
"A hunger strike by 10 inmates at the Georgia Classification & Diagnostic Prison has ended, according to the Department of Corrections. The strike, which sparked a protest at the state capitol building Monday, lasted from June 10 to July 6. Corrections is also denying claims that it mistreated the striking prisoners.
"'The hunger strike ended when inmates requested food from GDC officials,' said Dabney Weems, a public relations official."
Families and an attorney for the prisoners, however, "insist that the nine hunger strikers remain resolved and continue to insist on administrative review of their status, adequate medical care, and access to mail and visitation privileges with their families and attorneys which have been arbitrarily denied them," reports San Francisco Bay View News, based on the story by Bruce A. Dixon, managing editor at Black Agenda Report where this story first appeared.

Dixon is a member of the state committee of the Georgia Green Party and is heard on Black Agenda Radio Commentaries.

(Listen to Bruce Dixon's commentary on the Georgia prison strike here.)

Georgia's Green Party called on Americans to fast for one day in solidarity with the prisoners, saying in a written statement:
"Eighteen months after Georgia Department of Corrections employees brutally suppressed a non-violent work stoppage led by inmates in as many as eleven of the state's 34 prisons, it is believed that the "Hidden-37" have been in solitary confinement ever since. The Georgia Green Party today called on Governor Deal to end the torture; and on Georgians to join hunger striking Georgia inmates in a one day solidarity fast."
"Prison officials are surprised at the level of outside support the inmates enjoy despite a virtual news whiteout," states Bruce Dixon, editor of The Black Agenda Report.

Georgia denies inmates hygiene and medical treatment for injuries inflicted 18 months ago

"Miguel and other inmates at Georgia Diagnostics have been denied access to proper hygiene [and] medical treatment for their numerous and severe injuries, many of which were inflicted 18 months ago," wrote Delma Jackson in a Change.org petition.

Jackson's family alleges that he was beaten by prison guards at Smith State Prison in December 2010, transferred in 2011 to the Georgia Classification & Diagnostic Prison where he has been kept in solitary confinement for the past 18 months.

The Department of Corrections denied those allegations in a statement to the AJC.

"[The Georgia Bureau of Investigation] investigated the claim filed by inmate Miguel Jackson regarding the 2010 Smith State Prison incident and found no validity to the inmate's complaint," stated Dabney Weems, a public relations official.

According to the ACJ, the department also said Jackson has not been in solitary confinement.

In a petition that citizens of faith and conscience are asked to sign, The Black Agenda Report states about solitary confinement torture:
"As the international community has examined the research, including over a century of scientific studies suggesting that prolonged solitary confinement leads to irreversable mental degredation, experts have found that use of segregation for period in excess of fifteen days constitutes torture and cannot be supported under existing international standards for human rights."
Many of the men now on hunger strike were involved in a hunger strike launched in December 2010.
"Unfortunately the peaceful demonstration was cut short by the brutal beating of inmate Miguel Jackson and others who were allegedly targeted for participating in the protest," reported CBS Atlanta on Monday.
"Thirty-seven of the men who participated in the original hunger strike were singled out as leaders, and as punishment they were sent to the Diagnostic and Classification Prison, where they were placed in solitary confinement."
Monday, Jackson said he still suffers splitting migraines as a result of the attack.

The strike gained national attention Monday, July 9 after approximately 30 people gathered at Georgia’s state capitol to visit the governor’s office, where they left support letters for the hunger strikers.
A Solidarity Rally will be held Monday at the Georgia Department of Corrections headquarters, 300 Patrol Rd., Forsyth, Ga.

"We will be demanding a meeting and we will not leave until Commissioner Brian Owens agrees to meet with us," stated Delma Jackson. "We need your support and prayers for these courageous men.”
Delma Jackson heads the Prodigal Child Project Atlanta.

Citizen support requested
"Your phone calls to the prison warden, the Department of Corrections and the governor of Georgia have already made a difference," stated San Francisco Bay News editor, Mary Ratcliff. "Delma Jackson, wife of hunger striker Miguel Jackson, asks everyone to 'post this flier on social media, blogs etc. It is imperative that we build awareness and gain all the support we can.' Click to enlarge."

"Whether or not the hunger strike lasts much longer, the nine prisoners involved have already demonstrated their unshakable resolve and deserve your continued concern and support – and your calls, which are still needed," states Ratcliff.

"When you call, ask about the men by name and ID number. Here are the names and ID numbers of the nine prisoners now in the fifth week of their hunger strike."
  • Justin Boston, ID 1305227
  • Quentin D. Cooks, ID 1142336
  • Contravius Grier, ID 591396
  • Miguel Jackson, ID 890692
  • Bobby Anthony Minor, ID 1191993
  • Dexter Shaw, ID 429768
  • Robert Watkins, ID 1245402
  • Demetrius White, ID 581709
Call, fax and email:
  • Warden, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison, phone (770) 504-2000, fax (770) 504-2006.
  • Commissioner Brian Owens, Georgia Department of Corrections; ask for his administrative assistant, Peggy Chapman, phone (478) 992-5258.
  • Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, phone (404) 656-1776, fax (404) 657-7332; you can also send the governor a letter online by clicking here.
  • Georgia Department of Corrections Ombudsman, phone (478) 992-5367 or (478) 992-5358, email Ombudsman@dcor.state.ga.us. Please add a cc to the email, info@georgiagreenparty.org.
“We’re also having an international call-in day to support Georgia hunger strikers this Monday, July 16,” said Delma Jackson.

“Please encourage everyone to call Commissioner Brian Owens while we are outside the Department of Corrections demonstrating, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET (7-10 a.m. PT).”

Friday, July 13, 2012

GA Prison Hunger Strike Enters 5th Week

July 12, 2012 Black Agenda Report

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon
As the hunger strike by 9 Georgia prisoners demanding medical care, due process and human rights enters its 5th week, prison officials are surprised at the level of outside support the inmates enjoy despite a virtual news whiteout. Concerned family members and others plan to visit the Department of Corrections headquarters on Monday, July 16.
The hunger strike begun on June 11 by nine prisoners at Georgia's massive Diagnostic and Classification prison, the same place where Troy Davis was murdered last year, continues into its fifth week. Though reports published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution declare the strike over, the families and one of the attorneys of inmates insist that the nine prisoners remain resolved, and continue to insist on administrative review of their status, adequate medical care, and access to mail and visitation privileges with their families and attorneys which have been arbitrarily denied them.
Our sources claim that these nine were among the 37 singled out by corrections officials in late 2010 and early 2011 after the peaceful strike by Georgia prisoners of December 2010. They were rounded up, many severely beaten, and transferred to close confinement and constant lockdown at Jackson, where they have remained ever since.
On Monday July 9, about 30 people showed up at Georgia's state capitol to visit the governor's office, where they left letters of support for the hunger strikers. Through direct and indirect contacts with their families and attorneys and other inmates, the prisoners know that they DO have significant support on the outside. The warden, for example, remarked to Miguel Jackson his surprise that the Georgia Green Party was supporting the strikers. Your phone calls to the prison warden, to the Department of Corrections, and the governor of Georgia have already made a difference.
Whether or not the hunger strike lasts much longer, the nine prisoners involved have already demonstrated their unshakable resolve , and deserve your continued concern and support, and your calls, which are still needed.
When you call, ask about them by name and ID number. Here are the names and ID numbers of the nine prisoners now in the fifth week of their hunger strike. They are
 
Justin Boston, ID 1305227
Quentin D. Cooks, ID 1142336
Contravius Grier, ID 591396
Miguel Jackson, ID 890692
Bobby Anthony Minor, ID 1191993
Dexter Shaw, ID 429768
Robert Watkins, ID 1245402
Demetrius White, ID 581709
 



And here are the people to call
Voice phone
Fax phone
Warden, GA Diagnostic & Classification Prison, Butts County GA
770-504-2000
770-504-2006
Brian Owens, Commissioner, GA Department of Corrections, ask for his administrative assistant Peggy Chapman
478-992-5258
 
Georgia governor Nathan Deal
404-656-1776
Fax the governor at 404-657-7332. You can also send the Governor a letter online by clicking here.
GA Department of Corrections Ombudsman
478-992-5367 or 478-992-5358
No fax, but you can email them at Ombudsman@dcor.state.ga.us. Please add a cc to the email, info@georgiagreenparty.org.
Sign the petition in support of the Jackson Prison hunger strikers ---- Click here
 
If you're in the Atlanta area on Monday, July 16, join us as we travel by van and carpool to the headquarters of the Georgia Department of Corrections in Forsyth GA where, along with the families of some of the strikers, we will demand a meeting with Brian Owens, the head of the department. Meet us at the West End MARTA station, 9 AM sharp. Some cars will be returning around lunch time, some others will probably stay in Forsyth the whole day.
The prisoners behind those walls have done all they can do. What you can do is sign the petition supporting the demands of the hunger strikers. You can pick up the phone to call and express your concern and support. You can forward this to your email and social networks, family, friends and acquaintances.
For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Bruce Dixon. Find us on the web at www.blackagendareport.com.
Bruce A. Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report, and a member of the state committee of the Georgia Green Party. He can be reached via this site's contact page, or at bruce.dixon(at)blackagendareport.com.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Starving for change: Hunger strike underway since June 10 in Georgia’s Jackson State Prison

July 2, 2012 Black Agenda Report

This is the photo of Miguel Jackson after he was beaten with a hammer-like weapon. Guards suspected he was a leader of the mass sit-down strike in Georgia prisons on Dec. 9, 2010.

Since June 10, according to accounts from prisoners and their families and Rev. Kenneth Glasgow of The Ordinary Peoples Society and the Prodigal Child Project, an undetermined number of prisoners at Georgia’s massive Diagnostic and Classification Prison near the city of Jackson have been on a hunger strike. Back in December 2010, Black, Brown and white inmates in several Georgia prisons staged a peaceful protest, remaining in their dorms and cells rather than go to meals or work assignments. Their reasonable demands included wages for work, speedier and more transparent status reviews, decent food, real medical care, a more sane visitation policy and the availability of educational and vocational programs behind the walls.

State corrections officials responded with temporary cutoffs of heat, water and electricity in some buildings, along with an orgy of savage assaults and beatings across multiple institutions statewide. In one instance, corrections officials apparently conspired to conceal the whereabouts and condition of one prisoner who lingered near death in a coma for most of a week while they shuffled him hundreds of miles between prisons and hospitals.

State corrections say they rounded up 37 whom they believed were the strike leaders and put them under close confinement at Jackson, the same prison where Troy Davis was executed last year. Most of these prisoners have remained there in close confinement, with severely restricted access to visits, communication and their attorneys, and without medical attention for the past 18 months.

Some of these men are the Jackson State prison hunger strikers. After two weeks, according to the families of Miguel Jackson and Preston Whiting, they are weak from hunger and subject to fainting spells. But they seem to believe they have little to lose. They are, a letter from one of them asserts, “starving for change.” There were originally 10 of them, but some may have been transferred out, and some other prisoners joined the strike. We hope to have clearer information soon.


This photo of a prisoner in Georgia lying on the cell floor in a pool of his own blood comes this week from a reliable source. More information about the circumstances has been requested and will be posted as soon as it comes in. The photo appears to have been taken by a cell phone camera, probably by a fellow prisoner. The foot and hand on the bottom and right side of the photo appear to be those of prisoners.
They are demanding access to proper hygiene, medical treatment for their numerous and severe injuries, many of which were inflicted 18 months ago, the restoration of their visiting and communications rights and access to their meager personal property. They and their attorneys insist that the Georgia Department of Corrections follow its own published procedures requiring a status review of every inmate in punitive isolation every 30 days. They further insist that such evaluations be public and transparent so as to preclude the possibility of prejudicial conduct on the party of prison officials.

One of the strikers is Miguel Jackson, who was taken in handcuffs from his cell at Smith State Prison 18 months ago, removed to a secluded area out of range of the video cameras that monitor almost every inch of most Georgia prisons, and beaten with a hammer-like object. Jackson is one of several brutalized prisoners whose injuries have been untreated since.

Despite a blizzard of demands by his attorney, prison officials have refused Jackson and other prisoners medical attention for months. And although they have not eaten in two weeks, Jackson’s wife said, at the nine-day mark when medical necessity usually demands prisoners be removed to the infirmary, prison officials simply told Jackson, “You’re going to die,” and left it at that.

Some of these men are the Jackson State prison hunger strikers. After two weeks, according to the families of Miguel Jackson and Preston Whiting, they are weak from hunger and subject to fainting spells. But they seem to believe they have little to lose. They are, a letter from one of them asserts, “starving for change.”

 

“Most of civilized humanity regards extended solitary confinement as a crime,” said Rev. Kenneth Glasgow. “No less an establishment figure than Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., convened an extraordinary public hearing on the subject less than a week ago. We are calling on the governor to ensure proper medical treatment for the hunger strikers, to restore their visitation and other rights and to end their punitive confinement without delay.

“We hope that people around the state and around the country will call the prison, the Department of Corrections and Georgia’s governor to express their concern for the well-being of the prisoners on hunger strike, and we further hope that they will join us on Monday, July 2, for a day-long fast in solidarity with the Georgia prisoners who are only insisting upon their dignity, their humanity, their legal and human rights.”

How you can help

 

We at BAR and the Georgia Green Party hope that you will take the time today and tomorrow to do four things:
1. Call, email and/or fax the numbers below. Politely convey your deep concern for the welfare of the prison hunger strikers at Georgia Diagnostic Prison, especially Mr. Jackson. We believe there are about 10 of them.
2. Sign the petition to Georgia’s governor demanding an end to the torture of solitary confinement and punitive isolation in its state prisons at http://endmassincarceration.org/content/sign-petition-stop-torture-georgia-prisons.

A Georgia prisoner advocate at a Jan. 6, 2011, press conference holds a poster showing beaten prisoners. – Photo: Kristi E. Swartz, AJC.com
3. Forward this article and the link to it to all your friends, family and co-workers and ask them to do the same. Send or carry a copy to your pastor and ask him to mention the fast on Sunday, and invite him to fast that day as well.

4. Participate in the July 2 solidarity fast with Georgia’s prisoners who are standing up for their human rights across lines of race and religion. The prisoners, like the rest of us, are Black, Brown and white and of varying religious beliefs.

We demand justice for Miguel and the hunger strikers

 

by Delma Jackson, wife of Miguel Jackson

In January 1994, the “Georgia General Assembly passed Senate Bill 440, which gives the Superior/Adult Court exclusive jurisdiction over youth ages 13 to 17 who have been arrested for one of seven violent offenses, otherwise known as the “Seven Deadly Sins.” These crimes include murder, rape, armed robbery (with a firearm), aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery and voluntary manslaughter,” according to Wiki.answers.com.

In 1995 Miguel was convicted of armed robbery; it was his first offense, and he waived his right to a jury trial. He was convicted and sentenced by Judge William Daniel under the Georgia Seven Deadly Sins law. Judge Daniel was unfamiliar with the new law and he somehow thought that Miguel would be eligible for parole after 10 years. The Seven Deadly Sins law states that parole is not an option. Judge Daniel passed away two years after he sentenced Miguel, and we have been unable to get his sentenced corrected.

 

The day that shook our world

 

On Dec. 31, 2010, Miguel was handcuffed and beaten by correctional officers at Smith State Prison. He was taken to the hospital and treated for his injuries. That night they took Miguel back to Smith State Prison. The following morning someone took pictures of Miguel and sent them to his mother and I. We immediately drove to Smith State Prison and attempted to visit with Miguel because it was our visitation day. The prison authorities refused to allow us to visit with him despite our deep concerns for Miguel’s safety.

This drawing commemorates the Georgia Prison Strike of 2010, emphasizing that, like all the prison strikes since then, it was multi-racial. Race is used to divide and conquer prisoners in every prison system in the U.S., and prisoners gain power by resisting that scheme and uniting across racial lines.
They told us that Miguel was OK and nothing had happened to him. Unbeknownst to them, we had pictures that said otherwise. We asked them to just let us see him to give us peace of mind and they refused. They advised us that Warden Donnie Thompson had given them orders that if we did not leave, they would call the police and have us arrested.

Needless to say, we left and headed back to Atlanta to find help for Miguel. We contacted Channel 11 News and they got us in contact with the NAACP. We retained our attorney, Mario Williams, on Monday Jan. 3, 2011. The following day he went to visit with Miguel, and Warden Donnie Thompson refused to let him speak with his client.

Mr. Williams left and spoke with the Superior Court judge of Tattnall County. He showed the judge the pictures of Miguel, and the judge called the prison and instructed Warden Thompson to allow Mr. Williams to see his client. Mr. Williams returned to the prison and Warden Thompson would not let him see Miguel.
The head attorney for the Georgia Department of Corrections contacted Warden Thompson and instructed him to allow Mr. Williams to see Miguel and the warden still refused. Mr. Williams was informed that they would make a way for him to see his client and assured him that Miguel would be moved immediately. He also advised Mr. Williams that he would be able to visit Miguel the following day at the new institution. Miguel was transferred to GDCP in Jackson, Georgia, where he has been since Jan. 4, 2011.

Miguel suffers daily for the injuries he sustained at Smith State Prison. He has chronic migraine headaches, a broken nose, and he suffers from post-traumatic syndrome. He still has the hammer indentations in his head. He has been complaining about the headaches and has been told that he would be seeing a neurologist, which still hasn’t happened.

The medication he was recently given for his headaches is actually Neurontin. Neurontin (gabapentin) is an anti-epileptic medication, also called an anticonvulsant. It affects chemicals and nerves in the body that are involved in the cause of seizures and some types of pain. Neurontin is also used in adults to treat nerve pain caused by herpes virus or shingles (herpes zoster). Why would they give him Neurontin medicine when he is complaining of severe headaches and pain in his knees?

On Sunday, June 11, nine inmates along with Miguel declared a hunger strike, stating that they “are starving for change.”

In response to the 2010 Georgia prison strike, several solidarity actions were held around the country. Here, protesters from the Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisoners’ Rights and All of Us or None of Us rally at the Mound Road prison in Detroit on Dec. 14, 2010.
The failure to treat Miguel for the injuries he sustained at the hands of the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDOC) officers has caused extreme stress and worry for the our family. The GDOC don’t even follow their own Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), examples below:
  • Ref# II0090001 Section N-8: Inmates shall be assigned all of his or her property consistent with the length of assignment and security need of the unit. (Inmates are not given their property.)
  • Section N-5: Visitation shall be the same as the general population. (General population has open visitation; Miguel’s visits are behind a glass.)
  • Section N-10: Inmates may order items from the commissary. Items for the commissary may be withheld if determined by the Correctional Supervisor to be a threat to the security of the Administrative Segregation Unit.
  • Exercise shall be available five hours per week, one hour per day. (This is not happening: there is a shortage of guards, so inmates are not given time to exercise.)
Miguel has been held in maximum security for 18 months. He is being punished for officers beating him, and the officers are going on with their lives as if nothing happened. Where is the justice in that?

 

Urgent action needed!

 

We must demand justice for Miguel Jackson and other Georgia state prisoners who are being targeted and brutalized for exposing their inhumane conditions and standing up for their most basic human rights.

On Dec. 17, 2010, eight days after the strike, Oaklanders rallied and marched through a driving rainstorm – Jabari Shaw in the lead – in solidarity with the striking prisoners in Georgia. – Photo: Malaika Kambon
Pastor Glasgow is organizing a solidarity fasting for the hunger strike inmates, including Miguel Jackson, and against the inhumane torturous acts of Georgia prison officials. He’s hosting a rally at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta on Friday, June 29, 2012, from 12-2 p.m. Pastor Glasgow is calling on all to come and stand with him and other groups for Miguel Jackson and all inmates being treated wrongly throughout the country.

Please immediately make phone calls and send emails and/or letters to Department of Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens, as well as Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (contact info listed below). Also, help spread the word by re-posting this solidarity appeal on blogs, email lists, social media etc. If you are part of an organization, send letters and make calls in the name of your group.
Please send copies of protest letters to nysocialists@hotmail.com. For more information, contact Socialist Alternative at (206) 526-7185 or info@socialistalternative.org.

We must demand justice for Miguel Jackson and other Georgia state prisoners who are being targeted and brutalized for exposing their inhumane conditions and standing up for their most basic human rights.

 

Register your protest and support for the 10 GDCP hunger strikers and demand justice by contacting:
  • Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison, Hwy 36 West, P.O. Box 3877, Jackson GA 30233, phone (770) 504-2000, fax (770) 504-2006
  • Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens, at
    • (478) 992-5258 (This is the number for Owens’ administrative assistant, Peggy Chapman. Urge her to give him the message.)
    • (478) 992-5367 (This is the Office of the Ombudsman, which is the official channel for raising concerns over prisoner treatment)
  • Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, at (404) 656-1776, by fax at (404) 657-7332, online at http://gov.georgia.gov/00/gov/contact_us/0,2657,165937316_166563415,00.html or by mail to Office of the Gov. Nathan Deal, State of Georgia, 203 State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

“They Are Starving for Change” - The Struggle for Justice at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison (GDCP)

Jun 22, 2012 By Eljeer Hawkins and Delma Jackson Socialist Alternative

"If you’re black, you were born in jail.” - Malcolm X

The prisoners of Georgia state, California’s Pelican Bay, Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison, and the Lucasville prisoners at Ohio State Penitentiary have utilized the weapons of strikes and hunger strikes to decry the deplorable conditions prisoners face in the prison-industrial complex.

There are six million people under “correctional supervision” in America. There are more black and brown men in the criminal justice system today than there were in slavery in 1850, as women are the fastest-growing section of the population within the prison system. As Georgia state prisoner Shawn Whatley states: “Prison is the modern-day slavery, the largest slave plantation...All prison labor is done due to force, coercion, trickery, threats of punishment, or after punishment is applied.”

After the historic Georgia state prisoners’ strike in December 2010, the prisoners of the GDCP in Jackson are facing daily violence. The case of Georgia state prisoner Miguel Jackson speaks volumes to the harsh and vile conditions prisoners face. Miguel’s wife Delma Jackson tells his story.

- Eljeer Hawkins for Justice

We Demand Justice for Miguel and the Hunger Strikers

by Delma Jackson

In January 1994, the “Georgia General Assembly passed Senate Bill 440 (SB 440) which gives the Superior/Adult court exclusive jurisdiction over youth ages 13 to 17 who have been arrested for one of seven violent offenses, otherwise known as the "Seven Deadly Sins." These crimes include: murder, rape, armed robbery (with a firearm), aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery and voluntary manslaughter.”

-(http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_Georgia_7_deadly_sins#ixzz1yUKI5Kmq).

In 1995 Miguel was convicted of armed robbery; it was his first offense, and he waived his right to a jury trial. He was convicted and sentenced by Judge William Daniel under the Georgia Seven Deadly Sins law. Judge Daniel was unfamiliar with the new law and he somehow thought that Miguel would be eligible for parole after 10 years. The seven deadly sins law states that parole is not an option if convicted of one the seven deadly sins. Judge Daniel passed away two years after he sentenced Miguel and we have been unable to get his sentenced corrected.

The Day That Shook Our World

On December 31, 2010, Miguel was handcuffed and beaten by correctional officers at Smith State Prison. He was taken to the hospital and treated for his injuries. That night they took Miguel back to Smith State Prison. The following morning someone took pictures of Miguel and sent them to his mother and I. We immediately drove to Smith State Prison and attempted to visit with Miguel because it was our visitation day. The prison authorities refused to allow us to visit with him despite our deep concerns for Miguel's safety.

They told us that Miguel was okay and nothing had happened to him. Unbeknownst to them, we had pictures that said otherwise. We asked them to just let us see him to give us peace of mind and they refused. They advised us that Warden Donnie Thompson had given them orders that if we did not leave, they would call the police and have us arrested.

Needless to say, we left and headed back to Atlanta to find help for Miguel. We contacted Channel 11 News and they got us in contact with the NAACP. We retained our attorney Mario Williams on Monday January 3, 2011. The following day he went to visit with Miguel, and Warden Donnie Thompson refused to let him speak with his client. Mr. Williams left and spoke with the Superior Court Judge of Tattnall county. He showed the judge the pictures of Miguel, and the Judge called the prison and instructed Warden Thompson to allow Mr. Williams to see his client. Mr. Williams returned to the prison and Warden Thompson would not let him see Miguel.

The head attorney for the Georgia Department of Corrections contacted Warden Thompson and instructed him to allow Mr. Williams to see Miguel and the Warden still refused. Mr. Williams was informed that they would make a way for him to see his client and assured him that Miguel would be moved immediately. He also advised Mr. Williams that he would be able to visit Miguel the following day at the new institution. Miguel was transferred to GDCP in Jackson, Georgia where he has been since January 4, 2011.

Miguel suffers daily for the injuries he sustained at Smith State Prison. He has chronic migraine headaches, a broken nose, and he suffers from post traumatic syndrome. He still has the hammer indentations in his head. He has been complaining about the headaches and has been told that he would be seeing a neurologist, which still hasn’t happened. The medication he was recently given for his headaches is actually Neurontin. Neurontin (gabapentin) is an anti-epileptic medication, also called an anticonvulsant. It affects chemicals and nerves in the body that are involved in the cause of seizures and some types of pain. Neurontin is also used in adults to treat nerve pain caused by herpes virus or shingles (herpes zoster). Why would they give him Neurontin medicine when he is complaining of severe headaches and pain in his knees?

On Sunday, June 11, nine inmates along with Miguel declared a hunger strike stating that they “are starving for change."

The failure to treat Miguel for the injuries he sustained at the hands of the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDOC) officers has caused extreme stress and worry for the our family. The GDOC don’t even follow their own Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) examples below:
  • Ref# II0090001 Section N-8: Inmates shall be assigned all of his or her property consistent with the length of assignment and security need of the unit. (INMATES ARE NOT GIVEN THEIR PROPERTY)
  • Section N-5: Visitation shall be the same as the general population. (General population has open visitation; Miguel's visits are behind a glass)
  • Section N-10: Inmates may order items from the commissary. Items for the commissary may be withheld if determined by the Correctional Supervisor to be a threat to the security of the administrative Segregation Unit.
  • Exercise shall be available five hours per week, one hour per day. (This is not happening: there is a shortage of guards, so inmates are not given time to exercise.
Miguel has been held in maximum security for 18 months. He is being punished for officers beating him, and the officers are going on with their lives as if nothing happened. Where is the justice in that?

Urgent Action Needed!

We must demand justice for Miguel Jackson and other Georgia State prisoners who are being targeted and brutalized for exposing their inhumane conditions and standing up for their most basic human rights.

Pastor Glasgow is organizing a solidarity fasting for the hunger strike inmates including Miguel Jackson and against the inhumane torturous acts of Georgia prison officials. He’s hosting a rally at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta on Friday June 29,2012 from 12-2pm. Pastor Glasgow is calling on all to come and stand with him and other groups for Miguel Jackson and all inmates being treated wrongly throughout the country.

Please immediately make phone calls and send emails and/or letters to Department of Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens, as well as Georgia Governor Nathan Deal (contact info listed below). Also, help spread the word by re-posting this solidarity appeal on blogs, email lists, social media, etc. If you are part of an organization, send letters and make calls in the name of your group.

Please send copies of protest letters to nysocialists@hotmail.com. For more information, contact Socialist Alternative at (206) 526-7185 or info@socialistalternative.org.

Register your protest and support for the 10 GDCP hunger strikers and demand justice by contacting:

Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison
HWY 36 WEST
POST OFFICE BOX 3877
JACKSON, GA 30233
PHONE:(770) 504-2000 / FAX: (770) 504-2006

Brian Owens, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections
  • Call: 478-992-5258 (This is the number for Owens’ administrative assistant Peggy Chapman. Urge her to give him the message.)
  • Call: 478-992-5367 (This is the Office of the Ombudsman, which is the official channel for raising concerns over prisoner treatment)
Nathan Deal, Governor of Georgia
  • Call: 404-656-1776
  • Send the Governor a letter online by clicking here.
Letters can also be mailed or faxed:
Office of the Governor Nathan Deal, State of Georgia
203 State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334
Fax: 404-657-7332

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Atl Anti-Police March Nov.21

Tonight, Atlanta's campaign against the police continues.

An ongoing campaign to stop the police, who have been murdering Atlantans at an increasing rate recently, and who have been repressing Occupy Atlanta demonstrators, had a march today to commemorate the 5th year after the murder of 92 year old Kathryn Johnston. Demonstrators also remembered 19 year old Joetavious Stafford, killed by a MARTA cop on his way home from homecoming just last month, and Dwight Person who was executed by police in the service of a fraudulent no-knock warrant just 5 days ago. Demonstrators also cried the names of Oscar Grant and Sean Bell and reminded each other of the ongoing repression in Oakland, Seattle, Chapel Hill, Boston, New York, Cairo, Greece and around the world. The narrative of this growing campaign has been explicityl anti-police, as a mechanism of control. Calls to fight "police brutality" have been marginal as well as calls for "justice" or "accountability" - the marchers and literature have focused almost exclusively on the police as an apparatus and on how much "fuck" them all.

By 8:30, the park was filled with almost 100 people who had shown up for the march. Roughly half of them had shown up en bloc - black hoods, pants, gloves, flags and goggles were seen en masse. Additionally, street kids with red and blue bandanas were out showing colors and ready to throw down (hostility between street gangs has been, for a few, suspended in favor of fighting the police and growing Occupy Atlanta). With over half of the soon-to-be-marchers masked, a group of anarchists began passing out stacks of anti-cop fliers (which totaled 2,000) and insisted that people distribute them however they see fit during the march, whether by tossing them or passing them to bystanders. A large banner was unfurled reading "Cops, Pigs = Murderers" an a bass drum inscribed with a red Circle-A on its side began picking up a beat. Many of these faces were new and many of them were obscured by goggles, tied shirts, bandanas, and ski masks.

At one point, someone called for the demonstrators to meet by "the big tree" to discuss the route of the march. Immediately following the call to meet-up, I overheard a kid wearing a red bandana yell "Man, fuck!" to his other friend in red. I asked him what the problem was and he looked at me and said, "These people always out here talking 'solidarity-this', 'solidarity-that' but as soon as a cop kills someone all I see are these black masks, red masks, and blue masks." I told him I knew what he meant but that at least he now knew who was down. He agreed.

After a few brief reminders about the details of the murder, which amplified the palpable anger of the march, a man asked if the march was going to remain "non-violent", to which nobody responded at all. This man would later be seen run up to cops with both fingers in the air screaming "fuck the police." I guess everything changes rapidly in the streets.

Marchers began chanting "Our passion for freedom is stronger than their prisons" and made their way to the police station located immediately across the street from the park - we were gonna take the fight right up to their shit. The march spilled across the street and up to the glass doors and windows of the station and demonstrators began chanting into the station at the police officers inside who stood confused and surprised. As fliers rained down on the crowd, the march wound its up up to Peachtree Street, going toward the Five Points MARTA station. Chanting "Cops,Pigs, Murderers" and "No Justice, no peace/fuck the police" the march entered the station. Our voices reverberated off of the walls all around the terminal which quickly filled with police. In response, the demonstrators turned their backs to the police with their hands up chanting "Shot in the back/there's no excuse for that" and "Hey hey/ho ho/ what did you do to Joe?".

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lv1qw0tasa1qdmheio1_500.jpg

"Shot in the back/There's No Excuse for That!"

At this point, fliers were blowing everywhere and several citizen-cops began picking them up off of the ground feverishly. When one kid donning a red bandana asked a peace police officer named Daniel, in a truly inquisitive tone, why he was doing that, he responded that the kid needed to "shut the fuck up, you pussy-bitch." Quite violent rhetoric coming from one of the neo-Gandhians. Coupled with the violence of actively censoring the political outreach of demonstrators, I would say this kid and those who share his intense hatred of freedom are pushing the limits of absurdity.

Rather then wait around for the police, the march wound its way back into the street headed toward Mitchell. At this point, protesters who had at previous demonstrations always remained on the sidewalks spilled into the street. Citizen-cops who had urged us to stop using "violent" language against the police just a few weeks ago began leading chants such as "Fuck the pigs, we don't need 'em all we want is total freedom". Something really is happening in this city.

Turning left onto a one-way, the marchers headed toward the Pryor Street police station. Upon arrival, there was a "mic-check". While blocking traffic, a demonstrator reminded everyone of the magnitude of the struggle and encouraged us to, again, remember Kathryn Johnston, Joetavious Stafford, Dwight Person, and Troy Davis who was unjustly murdered by the state recently for allegedly killing a cop in 1989.

As a few chanted "Atlanta - Oakland - Egypt - France: Fuck the pigs and fucking dance" the march continued to make its rowdy way up the street back toward the park.

Upon arrival to the park, the march decided that it would march up Peacthree Street toward the business district - the "neighborhood of the 1% in this city" as one demonstrator phrased it. Although in retrospect, maybe the march should've ended here, at the time it seemed like a good idea: spirits were high and the march was still ready to roll out.

After several blocks of blocking traffic in all lanes going both ways, and a few minutes of rowdiness in a Suntrust Plaza, the march continued up Baker street and made the first right onto another one-way. After a few blocks in this direction, it was brought to the attention of the march by friends driving around the block that riot police and busses had stationed themselves at Courtland and Auburn, just a few blocks away from our current location and right where we were headed. Following a brief and impromptu assembly, the marchers decided that, rather than face-off with the boys in blue, tonight they would call the march a victory and seize full control over the terms of engagement. With a few welps of joy and advice on how to disperse the march into small groups of friends walking in multiple directions, the march ended on a high note.

No arrests, no injury and an overwhelming presence of masked protesters who maintained the anti-police discourse over the liberal "police brutality" narrative. The masked protesters also maintained an open and impromptu public discourse over the trajectory the march should take, encouraging those who dissented with the majority to go through with their plans anyway autonomously - the element of social management was broken down completely during the march except for the few citizen-police picking up leaflets at the beginning off of the ground.

The march, which was roughly an hour and a half, was larger then any of the other marches that have happened in the last 2 weeks and more broadly participated in. Several people, at different points, even ran off of the sidewalks to enthusiastically join the march.

Afterword, many radicals, including mostly anarchists but also several Marxists, gathered at a local house to celebrate the event (a ritual we agreed to continue going forward) and the birthday of one of the participants. Gathering around a fire (start off tee-pee, transition to log cabin to allow the flames to breath), many discussed their feelings about the march and their surprise at the overwhelming force that we have become at these marches. We also revelled about anti-nazi street battles that we've heard about in other places (particularly in Trenton and Phoenix) and discussed prison revolts and the general state of prisons in Georgia (the jails are run by the guards, the prisons by the prisoners).

The struggle goes on.

Solidarity with our comrades in Chapel Hill who also marched tonight against the police.

The text of the leaflet distributed (2,000 were thrown into the air and passed out to bystanders):

Background:

Fuck

The

Police

Foreground:

Atlanta's Cop Problem

Kathryn Johnston - November 21, 2006

Police murder 92 year old Kathryn Johnston - undercover cops raid the house with a "no-knock" warrant and shoot 39 times.

Atlanta Eagle Bar - September 10, 2009

SWAT raids gay bar with no probably cause - with guns drawn, officers make homophobic/transphobic slurs to club patrons and illegaly detain eveyrone in the club for an excessive period of time.

Brian Kidd and Shawn Venegas - January 2011

Police pull over two men in broad daylight and perform illegal cavity searches by the side of the road and sexually molest the men by groping their genitalia.

Roxanne Taylor - May 27, 2011

58 year old woman shot and killed by APD after allegedly stealing from a drug store.

Minors Molested by APD - September, 2011

Several minors sue City of Atlanta for being illegally strip searched in public and suffering groping and molestation by APD - som claims of anal penetrations with police batons.

Joetavious Stafford - October 15, 2011

19 year old shot by the MARTA police 3 times - twice in the back as he lay face down - as he comes home from a homecoming football game. Initial reports that he was armed are denied by eyewitnesses.

Dwight Person - November 17, 2011

54 year old veteran, and father of 2, is shot to death in his East Point home by APD.

The police, protectors of this social order, security guards of the 1% who control us, are everywhere. Their control, their violence, is everywhere that nothing happens. All adventure, managed;all desire; disarmed: all passion, sated; all fires, extinguished -- but in us is a fire that never goes out.

There can be no dialogue with the terrorists in blue. As they run over our comrades with motorcylces, abduct our friends from the city sidewalks and quarantine our loved-ones inside their prison walls, they fan the flames of our discontent.

In Seattle, Chapel Hill, Greece, Chile, Bahrain, Egypt, Oakland, Denver, Moscow the struggle against the police grows. Inside Pelican Bay, the memory of Attica lives.

Fire to the prisons and the society that created them. (A)

Several hundred other leaflets where distributed as well:

The back: OCCUPY EVERYTHING! DON'T FUCK WITH ATLANTA

The front:

Occupy Everything! (Really)

In a crisis, it does not make sense anymore to beg. Though it is certainly no longer possible, many of us do not year to "go back" to the golden-age of our grandparents generation - a Keynesian control that resulted in the complete flattening out of any adventure, on the one hand, and the real subsumption of product into an every-expanding, ecologically perilous, global factory on the other. The age of austerity, which we face today, is a necessary result of the so-called "responsible capitalism" of the last few decades.

Although we are active in the current "Occupy Together" movement, many of us are distressed by the presence of those for whom the seizure of public parks and plazas represents a forum in which to "voice grievances" to Power - as if anyone was listening anyway.

The point of an occupation is not to "send a message" to Power, nor is it to demand to Power this-or-that resotration of normalcy. The occupation is a commoning, if you will, of resources and tools. The occupation must expand to all other spheres of social life as a necessary consequence of what it is: we must take over more shit so we can share it!; communization of this sort does not need to wait for the proper structures or the "right time" just as we do not need to go to culinary school before planning pot-luck dinners with our friends and neighbors. It is this sense of urgency that brought us into the parks int he first place - when so many in the established "activist" milieu remained skeptical, we came together to act outside of the political script to create something that was frankly unimaginable in scope just a few months ago.

The precedent has been set, and eveyrone already feels it on the tip of their tongues anyway:

To move forward, we have to start taking over buildings.

In Oakland, as well as in Chapel Hill, the landscape of struggle is being questioned altogether - that is to say, the struggle over landscape is being addressed for the first time in a meaningful way: how are we supposed to defend a park from police violence? how are we supposed to stay warm in the winter?

The answer is obvious to many of us.

This question, the question of weathering abuse as well as the question of expansion, is not a new one. Many of us occupiers have spent the last several weeks buildings relationships with houseless people - ask them how they live through the winter. more than likely, there are vacant buildings all over your city and most, if not all, of them can be used in new and exciting ways. Or perhaps the city is littered with buildings begging for a new content - universities come to mind as does city hall.

"Stop taking orders - Start taking over."

Our comrades in Europe have been taking over buildings for decades now. Abandoned buildings everywhere have been transformed in "social centers" that serve as matrices of struggle and activity in the face of global capitalism which would render the buildings lifeless. Perhaps the "Occupy Together" movement can learn some lessons from the autonomous movements of decades past in the European context and expand on it for the American landscape.

-some scheming anarchists.