January 15th, 2018 –
Prisoners in Florida are engaging in a work stoppage with three main demands:
1. Payment for our labor, rather than the current slave arrangement
2. An end to outrageous canteen prices
3. Reintroduction of parole incentives to lifers and those with Buck Rogers dates
To learn more about the brutal and inhumane conditions, check out this article by prisoner Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, “Florida Prisoners are Laying It Down”. Prisoners are gassed, tortured, and beaten, and prison officials discourage grievances. And even though prison labor is unpaid, prisoners still have to pay for basic necessities like toilet paper ($1.00 a roll) and multivitamins ($7.21)–or do without.
Johnson writes:
The objectionable conditions being protested include unpaid slave labor, compounded by outright price-gouging in the system’s commissary and package services, and the gain-time scam that replaced parole, which, coupled with extreme sentencing, has created overcrowding and inhumane conditions.
How can we show solidarity for striking prisoners? Check out “5 Ways to Support Florida Prisoners” for more details. Where to start? Get informed, spread the news by social media, and contribute to this campaign.
Solidarity!
Seattle Industrial Workers of the World 