Introduction by Isaac Ontiveros, Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition After a mediation meeting June 19 ordered by a federal judge between prisoners being held in solitary confinement at Pelican Bay State Prison and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), prisoners issued the following statement. Wednesday’s mediation stems from …
In just a few weeks, prisoners across California – and perhaps across the united states – are going to embark on a strike against isolation torture and for basic improvements in their conditions. This is a follow-up to the 2011 California prisoner hunger strikes, in which over 12,000 people participated, …
Oakland— Less than a month before state-wide hunger strikes are set to resume, The California Department of Corrections has instituted a new policy at Pelican Bay State Prison which has resulted in chronic sleep deprivation for prisoners in solitary confinement. Both guards and prisoners complained to lawyers conducting legal visits …
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is clearly panicked at the prospect of prisoner hunger strikes and possible work stoppages this summer, and is already retaliating against prisoners’ organizing for basic human rights. As an attorney who works with California prisoners explained a few days ago: Starting this …
Editorial by Ed Mead Censorship California’s written regulations require that CDCR issue the written reasons for a rejection or censorship of any publication. Those regulations require that the publisher be notified within 15 days of the rejection. California Prison Focus received notice of the rejection of their last issue of Prison Focus from Pelican Bay about …
WHEREAS The Prisoners of Pelican Bay Prison have declared a prison hunger and work strike starting on Monday July 8th 2013 based off their 5 basic demands; WHEREAS, in July 2011 and in October 2011, California state prisoners organized two statewide hunger strikes as a protest against inhumane conditions as …
Editorial by Ed Mead As many of you may know, I am also the editor of the Prison Focus newspaper, a position I’ve held alone or jointly for the past thirteen years. Prison Focus #39 was mailed out to readers in early March. This week California Prison Focus received word …
As a species, to continue living we must first and foremost procreate, feed, clothe, and shelter ourselves above all else. And only through cooperating with one another can these necessities be realized. Hence the source of our social essence. Today in the current state of economic development (capitalism-imperialism) the vast …
It is a fact that never in the history of this country’s parasitical existence has it every fully supported itself. Just as the settler economy of the east was erected on the backs of African and indigenous slaves, so too was the economy of the west erected on the blood …
Today’s social reality for the oppressed under Amerika continues to sport a paint job dripping from a colonizer’s brush of centuries past. Our deluge of oppression has reached a stage of sophistication where even many of the left have become hoodwinked into the myth of a “colorblind” era where even …