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:
A new warden and captain took over earlier this year, making unpopular changes in the prison. On May 18th, only 20 inmates went to the dining hall for their noon meal. The prison went on lockdown immediately. On May 23rd, a few hours after the prison came off lockdown status, a group of inmates sat on the basketball court outside and refused to go in. Following negotiations, 2-4 inmates were released from the Security Housing Unit (isolation). The protesting inmates cheered and returned to their units. A few hours later, the facility was put on lockdown again.
It's not clear what the protestor's demands (if any) were, but we do know of a list of recent changes and complaints in the facility, including the onset of 24 hour lighting in the housing units, early curfew in some common rooms, being forced to lie face down on the dirty "spit-riddled" floor whenever alarms go off, reduction of library hours, and overcrowding (over 25 inmates per toilet).
You can support these inmates easily, right now, by writing a letter or email to the following people:
WARDEN SARLEY
FCI ELKTON
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 129
LISBON, OH 44432
ELK/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV
Or his apparent boss Joe Norwood (regional director, Northeast Region)
Joe Norwood
Northeast Regional Office
Federal Bureau of Prisons
2nd & Chesnut St., 7th Flr
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Phone: 215-521-7301
NERO/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV
Write letters demanding that inmate demands be met, that a public review of the personnel changes at FCI Elkton be made, or that the prison be emptied of inmates and burned to the ground. Please keep the tone of the letters polite and recognize that people none of us know may be punished for things we say or do.
We hope that with further research we're able to come up with more concrete information and actions. We'll keep you posted.
I called the prison, they wouldn't tell me anything. Told me to write to the warden asking questions. Also submitted a FOIA request.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see what, if anything, comes of that. I expect we'll get more information from inmate correspondence, but it can't hurt to try and get the official story as well.