Georgia prisons on the brink: Prisoners end strike, pledge violent resistance if demands are not met…

From Capitalist News:

The prison system began lifting lock downs at four institutions and returning the facilities to normal operations Wednesday and inmate said they were ending their protest for now and reporting to work assignments.

One of the organizers of the protest said prisoners are still going to pursue their concerns. If the Department of Corrections ignores their requests, the next protest will be violent, he said.

Prison officials did not say what led to the decision to end the lock downs that had been in place since last Thursday. But an inmate at Smith State Prison in Glenville said in a telephone interview prisoners had agreed to end their “non-violent” protest to allow administrators time to focus on their concerns rather than operating the institutions without inmate labor.

“We’ve ended the protest,” said Mike, a convicted armed robber who was one of the inmates who planned and coordinated the work stoppage. “We needed to come off lock down so we can go to the law library and start … the paperwork for a [prison conditions] lawsuit.

“We’re just giving them time to … meet our requests without having to worry about us on lock down,” Mike told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday.

Georgia prisoners continue strike for 5th day

DABC Note: This is one of the most comprehensive articles we’ve found about the strike, and confirms that it has been ongoing since Thursday until at least yesterday. There has been no word yet if prisoners are still participating today, on what would be day 6 of the strike. Solidarity to the Georgia rebels!

From the Irish Times:

THOUSANDS OF prisoners in at least four penitentiaries across the state of Georgia continued a non-violent strike for the fifth consecutive day yesterday in a showdown between the Department of Corrections and inmates over forced labour and poor living conditions.

The strike is unprecedented in at least two ways: it was organised by mobile phones that were smuggled into the prisons, and it has united prisoners across ethnic and religious lines, in an environment where racially-based gangs often fight each other.

“They have set aside their differences,” said Elaine Brown, a former Black Panther leader and adviser to the prisoners, whose 27- year-old adopted son is incarcerated at Macon State prison.

“You have blacks, Mexicans, whites, Muslims, Christians, Rastafarians, you name it. They are all united and they are conscious that they are united around their common interests.”

Georgia Prison Rebellion: Strike continues into 4th day, action coordinated by cell phones

From NewsOne:

Georgia — On Thursday morning, December 9, 2010, thousands of Georgia prisoners refused to work, stopped all other activities and locked down in their cells in a peaceful protest for their human rights.

The December 9 Strike became the biggest prisoner protest in the history of the United States. Thousands of men, from Augusta, Baldwin, Hancock, Hays, Macon, Smith and Telfair State Prisons, among others, initiated this strike to press the Georgia Department of Corrections (“DOC”) to stop treating them like animals and slaves and institute programs that address their basic human rights. They set forth the following demands:

* · A LIVING WAGE FOR WORK
* · EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
* · DECENT HEALTH CARE
* · AN END TO CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENTS
* · DECENT LIVING CONDITIONS
* · NUTRITIONAL MEALS
* · VOCATIONAL AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
* · ACCESS TO FAMILIES
* · JUST PAROLE DECISIONS

Georgia: Prisoners on strike

DABC Note: There has been very little capitalist media coverage of this event, and we’re struggling to find out exactly what went down yesterday in Georgia. However. we’d like to express full solidarity to the rebels in the Georgia prisons! Fire to the prisons!

PRISONERS ON STRIKE

In an incredibly historic action, black, brown and white prisoners in the dreadful prison system of the state of Georgia have gone on a one day strike. You can be of some help or at least express your support. Read the article below from Firedoglake.

You can still make that call.

Georgia Prison Inmates Stage Historic 1-Day Peaceful Strike

By Bruce Dixon

December 9, 2010

In an action which is unprecedented on several levels, black, brown and white inmates of Georgia’s notorious state prison system are standing together for a historic one day peaceful strike today, during which they are remaining in their cells, refusing work and other assignments and activities. This is a groundbreaking event not only because inmates are standing up for themselves and their own human rughts, but because prisoners are setting an example by reaching across racial boundaries which, in prisons, have historically been used to pit oppressed communities against each other.