alert

Starting Thursday, October 1: Call DOC to ask "What's going on at Greene?"

According to prisoner reports, September was a lively month for abusive staff in the RHU at SCI Greene! Two recent attacks by guards on prisoners--occurring within a day of each other--testify to the continued conditions of racist terror perpetrated by staff at Greene:

September 4, 2009

Emergency Response Network Urgent Action Alert
Prisoner assaulted, denied medical treatment at SCI Greene

Allies in the struggle for human rights:

A report came in Thursday night about Anthony Ferliano, a prisoner at SCI Greene, who has been assaulted and denied medical treatment at SCI Greene. The situation is serious, his mother is requesting all of our aid, so please take a moment to review the alert, make the phone calls, and prove to ourselves that our solidarity is real, we have each other's backs, and that together, little by little, we're going to build a movement to end this terror once and for all.

Anthony Ferliano #GS3317: Other prisoners have written family members of Anthony Ferliano to report that on Tuesday, August 25th, a cell extraction team in full riot gear attacked Mr. Ferliano, ripped him from his cell, and placed him in a suicide watch cell without property.

For Immediate Release-Forward Far and Wide and Take Action Today

Andre Jacobs, a 26-year-old state prisoner confined at Fayette prison, was assaulted on Friday, April 24th according to multiple eyewitness reports when C/O Keller slammed his body and head into a wall upon the orders of Lt. Vojacek. The day before Andre was deprived of hundreds upon hundreds of pages legal mail directly related to the $185,000 lawsuit he won in November, which is in the appeal stage. The DOC is attempting to force him to forfeit his victory and in doing so send a message to all under their control: you have no rights, there will never be justice. (additional background below-please read)

We cannot allow this.

HRC/Fed Up! is calling on all members of the Emergency Response Network to take action today and throughout the week by calling the State Correctional Institution (SCI) at Fayette, DOC Secretary Jeffrey Beard, and the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) in defense of Andre Jacobs.

This needs to stop! An attack on Andre is an attack on all jailhouse lawyers and all prisoners! Please take action now.

Chemical and electro-shock weapons used
Racist violence and repression on the rise again
Take action Today Tomorrow and Next Week.

Forward further and wider than ever because enough is enough!
 
On January 20, 2009 guards in the Special Management Unit (SMU) at the State Correctional [sic] Institution (SCI) in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania assaulted six prisoners, reportedly citing as reasons that these men file grievances against guard misconduct and are engaged in civil litigation against DOC officials; contact outside organizations (HRC/Fed Up! and www.prisoners.com in particular) to expose conditions of torture; also to send a message-in their words: "fuck a historical day, y'all always going to be niggers."

In the aftermath of Andre Jacobs recent victory in a federal civil rights suit against PA DOC employees to the tune of $185,000 the DOC has wasted no time in sending a message to prisoners fighting for their constitutional and human rights that any such efforts to combat the system of state torture will be met with relentless punishment.

SCI Camp Hill Update—Call for Action, Increased Monitoring, Constant Vigilance

As Pressure Fades, Retaliation Escalates

Prisoners in the Camp Hill Special Management Unit report that the retaliation against them has escalated again.  The timing of the reports indicate that the last action alert stayed the hands of the guards for a while, but once the calls died down, the threats, deprivations of food, fabricated misconducts, and other forms of harassment and torture have escalated again.

Michael Edwards, Damont Hagan, and Gary Tucker have been targeted most heavily by prison guards as a result of their efforts to expose racist brutality and maintain their dignity while being subjected to systematic dehumanization.

These men, and the others listed below, need the following from all of us:

1)—Take immediate action (detailed below)

2)—Establish channels of communication with these men; write them letters

3)—Committed and strategic thinking for a long-term battle with the DOC and the Governor's office, involving intensive monitoring, visitation, legal battles, media work, community organizing, and—not least of all—transformation of an unsustainable, oppressive social order.

There is no other way to begin to address the conditions in the Camp Hill SMU, or any other solitary unit in PA or the country for that matter.  Please take a deep breath and make a commitment right now to make a phone call and write a letter sometime in the next couple of days.

Summary of Prisoner Reports

In the last four months over a dozen prisoners confined in the Special Management Unit (SMU) at State Correctional Institution (SCI) Camp Hill have written HRC/Fed Up! about conditions of severe brutality, white supremacy, and the systematic sabotage at all inmate efforts to file grievances and/or obtain legal assistance.  See the attached 14-page document culled from prisoner reports detailing a violent program of dehumanization.  The SMU at Camp Hill is one of two such control