Pelican Bay Solidarity

On July 1st hundreds of inmates in SHU in California started an indefinite hungerstrike. The mainstream media is (of course) not making a peep about this, but you can read about it and follow events here.

You can also take action by signing this petition or calling these politicians. Please do.

We couldn't help but take this opportunity to point out the irony of our nationwide celebration of america's independence from an authority far weaker than the authority the US currently holds us under and exercises  around the world. So, we made up some flyers and handed them out first at Red White and Boom and then at the Doo Dah Parade. Of course, handing out flyers isn't going to tear down any prison walls, but we got some new ideas about prison and the fact of the hunger strike's existence into hundreds of people's hands.

FCI Elkton Food Strike Update #1

A few weeks ago we learned that there had been a mass protest demonstration in FCI Elkton. More about that here.

We've been pursuing information about this and unfortunately, we haven't got much to report at this time. Either something big went down or they're really paranoid about sharing any information at all. I expect the latter.

After calling almost daily for over a week, as media, because I was planning to write an article for Street Speech I finally got through to the PR person. He simply told me he doesn't think Street Speech fits his criteria for being media and therefore he would not talk to me.

June 11th reportback

This event ended up being a rather intimate and informal gathering. About ten of us got together, discussed police, safe space, community accountability and long term political prisoners. We had a great dinner in the beautiful backyard of the king house and had a lot of fun with the staged reading of Accidental Death of an Anarchist. Tim Dechristopher showed up as the play was wrapping up, so we got a chance to meet and chat with him. Its unfortunate that our event was overshadowed by a multitude of other things (graduation parties, concerts, naked bike ride) if you couldn't make it, you definitely missed out on a good time. But you don't need to miss out on most of the reasons we got together, because you can still get involved in them.

Prisoner Food Strike in Ohio

Last month (May 18-23) inmates at FCI Elkton (in Lisbon, OH) went on food strike. We have very little information about this right now. One of our penpals mentioned it, and the only information online about it were announcements of the subsequent lockdown and one post on prisonfamilyonline.com. We'll do some follow up and hopefully have more information soon.

Here's what we know now:

Dinner Theatre Solidarity Fundraiser

[read the reportback from this event here.]


June 11th is a new holiday! It's the international day of solidarity with long term anarchist prisoners.

RedBird Prison Abolition is planning an event to celebrate this holiday in Columbus. Please join us at 64 King Ave, on Sat June 11th for the following activities.


6PM- Discussion Circle, come talk about and take action on making ourselves and our community less dependent on the police and prison system. Continue and join the conversations we had after the last performance of Ad Seg.

Ad Seg reportback...

We performed Ad Seg after the weekly 64 King potluck on Tuesday, and followed with an intentional and fruitful discussion about what we, as a group of people from various backgrounds and social groupings can do to reduce our dependence on police.

There were about 20 people there and we first talked about the play a little, then did a go around sharing stories of times we'd called the police, or avoided calling the police. Meg from CAAC was also there and shared insights about transformative justice and her experiences with CAAC.

Things that came from this discussion include:

• suggestion that housemates/friendship groups have intentional discussions among themselves about things like when they're comfortable or not

Special Performance of Ad Seg

Insurgent Theatre has been touring with this show called Ad Seg since February. After a recent jaunt to Ben and Kate's former homeland of Wisconsin we decided to do a local performance in Columbus focusing on the radical community here and centering the discussion on alternatives to police and prison.

This performance will be at 64 King Ave, following the weekly vegan potluck (food starts at 7, play around 9) and the discussion will feature members of RedBird Prison Abolition and Megan Zakany from Community Accountability Action Collective (CAAC). 

The potluck is not exclusively vegan food, but please label any non-vegan things you bring. The play is about 40 minutes long, and discussion will go as long as people want to talk about things. There is nudity in the play. A donation jar will be passed, some of the proceeds will go to covering RedBird Prison Abolition's very low operating expenses.