Occupy for Prisoners

America is the Prisonhouse of Nations, holding 2.3 million people behind bars. This is by far the highest incarceration rate in the world. The US police and surveillance forces are expanding every day. We live in the most sophisticated police state history has ever known. The state of Ohio houses over 50,000 prisoners and kills people on death row at a rate exceeded only by the state of Texas.


If Occupy is any kind of movement for the 99% then it must shine light on america's prisoners, and resist the further expansion of the US police state.

We'll be hosting two events on the intersection between prisoners and occupy, in response to the call found on Occupy4Prisoners.org.

Fri Feb 17th- workshop sharing prisoner perspectives on the occupy movement. 7PM at the Free Press Carriage House. Invite your friends: http://www.facebook.com/events/343754312313460/
Mon Feb 20th- demonstration against prisons. 3PM-5PM around downtown Columbus. Departs from statehouse at 3:00, call to find us if you're late: 614 704 4699. Invite your friends: http://www.facebook.com/events/224815447611584/

Demonstration Details

On the afternoon of Monday Feb 20th, we will be visiting the offices of the following politicians and officials involved in the prison system, delivering polite letters, in the traditional form of democratic process.

• Governor John Kasich, who has the rarely used ability to pardon death row prisoners, and often used ability to appoint corporate cronies to positions of power.
• Senator Robert Portman, who was paid $272,853 by special interests to support the NDAA (the law allowing indefinite detention of US citizens).
• Gary Mohr, director of the Ohio Department of Retribution and Corruption (and former managing director of Corrections Corporation of America- the largest private prison corp in the country).
• Stephen Gammill, chief of the Columbus Police Department.
• This action will be non-violent, low arrest risk, very proper and polite. We want to make sure these fascists can't ever say that we didn't ask them nicely.

Workshop details

• Workshop Part One: Perspectives from Ohio Prisoners
• - Reading letters from our prisoner pen pals.
• - A call-in from death row prisoner Siddique Abdullah Hasan.  
• - Formerly incarcerated prison activist ers.
• - Group discussion.

• Workshop Part Two: Perspectives from militant history.
• -Letters from David Gilbert (weather underground and BLA prisoner serving life)- some of his thoughts on occupy, radical organizing, and book launch of his new book, "Love and Struggle" More info: http://www.kersplebedeb.com/davidgilbert/ls_events.html
• -Others TBA
• -Group Discussion.

• Brainstorm for Demonstration:
• On Mon the 20th, we'll be delivering letters to politicians and officials in downtown Columbus. At the end of the workshop, we'll brainstorm demands for Monday's action.