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by 24 inmates of the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility
>We are 24 male prisoners currently held
at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility for our participation or attempted
participation in the August 1st non-violent direct actions against the
Republican convention in Philadelphia. The carefully choreographed conventions
of both major parties have nothing to do with democracy. They are corporate
sponsored pageants designed to legitimize a system of corporate class
rule that crushes the human spirit and that is destroying the planet.
The criminal justice system of cops, courts and prisons that targets poor
and working class people in general and people of color in particular
is a cornerstone of a system that serves the rich and maintains their
rule. Our actions in the streets of Philadelphia were intended to shine
a light on the incarceration of 2 million people in the U.S., on the systematic
use of police brutality to terrorise whole communities, on the racism
and cruelty of the death penalty, on the many political prisoners, including
Mumia Abu-Jamal, who are caged for their commitment to social justice.
Our actions were aimed at disrupting the Republican convention to the
best of our ability. While weíre sorry any inconvenience we may
have caused the people of Philadelphia, we are proud of what we did to
expose this rotten system.
>From the moment of our arrest we have
experienced and witnessed
the workings of a system designed to dehumanize
people. Many of us were brutalized in the course of arrests. Some of us
were beaten or peppersprayed after we were handcuffed. In jail as many
as nine people were packed into cells designed for two people. People
with dietary restrictions went without food for up to 48 hours. In some
cases our hands and feet were cuffed together and some of us had our cuffs
so tight that we lost feelings in our hands or bled as a result.
>We were denied the opportunity to meet with
our lawyers prior to arraignment and were arraigned in a court room closed
to the general public with the exception of select members of the capitalist
media. We were arraigned with a court appointed public defender serving
as counsel despite our explicitly and repeatedly stated desire to be represented
by our own counsel who were denied access to the proceedings. We were
charged with a variety of misdemeanors and in a few cases with felonies.
Our individual bails have been set at between $10,000 and $1,000,000.
Many if not all of the charges against us are either greatly exaggerated
or completely falsified.
>At Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility
County Jail-we have been placed in a special pod where we have little
contact with other prisoners. While we regard our conditions here as dehumanizing
we recognise that we are receiving special treatment such as extra food.
So far we have not been beaten or physically hurt by personnel here.
>Throughout this process we have sought to
resist and stand in solidarity with each other to the best of our abilities.
Almost all of us have refused to give our names. Many of us have had to
be physically dragged through the various stages of this process. We have
kept our spirits high through singing and chanting and pounding on our
cell walls. We developed systems for communicating with each other and
for reaching decisions by consensus. Many of us ripped the bracelets intended
to identify us off our wrists. We resisted fingerprinting and attempts
to photograph us. Some of us have refused food. In jail we stripped naked
to make our processing more difficult. In the course of all this we have
discovered strengths we never knew we had and have built a wall of solidarity
based on profound love and respect for each other. We have drawn particular
strength from the proud defiance of the sisters whose loud voices we have
heard and whose acts of resistance we have occasionally been able to witness.
While our access to information is restricted we are aware of the efforts
of those on the outside to assist us. We love you all. We are in here
for you and know that you are out there for us.
>We believe that our experiences so far strongly
vindicate us in our decision to take powerful action to expose the brutality
and injustice of the so-called criminal justice system. As we go through
this process we are learning personally of the mistreatment people experience
every day in this country. As a group of mainly white and mainly middle
class men we know full well that the treatment routinely received by poor
people, people of color, and other marginalized people is much worse than
what we have received.
>While we have had little contact with other
prisoners, that contact has been overwhelmingly positive, they know why
we are here and they let us know in many ways that they support our actions
and respect our commitment and solidarity. In turn we are learning from
them about the workings of the prison and their own traditions of resistance.
They have our respect, admiration and solidarity. So far the efforts of
some personnel to cultivate distrust and antagonism between us and the
other prisoners have failed.
>We are political prisoners:
>We are being held on outrageous charges,
in many cases with no foundation whatsoever in our actual actions; Our
bail figures are far out of proportion even for the crimes we are falsely
accused of; We are here because of our political commitment and because
we dared to defy the corporate powers that be as they were attempting
to give a veneer of popular support to the rule of the few.
>We call on those who support us to continue
to put pressure on the Philadelphia authorities to win our quick release.
We urge you all to continue to organize protests on our behalf and to
write and call the mayorís office, the prosecutors and the prison
authorities to demand:
>1.Our immediate and unconditional release
on our own recognizance
>2. That all charges be dropped and
>3. That prisoners with dietary restrictions
(vegans and vegetarians) be provided with adequate food that they can
eat.
>Call these officials and let them know that
you support our demands:
>District Attorney Lynne Abraham 215-686-8701
Mayor John Street 215-686-2181
>City Solicitor Ken Trujillo 215-683-5003
>30 of us have gone on hunger strike to win
these demands. We want everyone to know that we are in good spirits and
remain strong in our solidarity. We come from a variety of backgrounds
and perspectives, but we are united in our commitment to genuine democracy
and an end to corporate rule in general and to the criminal injustice
system in particular.
>FREE MUMIA ABU JAMAL AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
STOP POLICE TERROR
>TEAR DOWN THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
END THE DEATH PENALTY
>Write to us:
>John Doe ìJDî Professor
>John Doe ODB
>John Doe Wolfman
>John Doe 6010 ìDingerî
>John Doe ìThatís not good
for businessî John Doe Slick
>Camilo Viveiros Jr.
>John Doe 6013
>Christopher Hartley
>John Doe Mac
>John Doe Mango
>John Doe ìB.A.î
>John Doe Sparky
>John Doe Flea
>John Doe ìHank H. Partsî
>John Doe ìWispî
>John Doe Tennessee/Jimnikov
>John Doe Buckshot
>John Doe GOD
>John Doe Switchblade
>John Doe Ms. Pac Man
>John Doe Zeke
>JD Lovebug
>J.D. Kowbone
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