Solitary confinement

There have been many women dissenters who have been jailed by the American government as political prisoners.  There are women in jail now who are undergoing punishment as perceived enemies of the American Empire.  Two such women are nuclear resister Elizabeth McAlister and alleged “terrorist” Aafia Siddiqui.  When I wrote about Pakistani-born Aafia Siddiqui as one of the “women  politicals (not) in the news” eight years ago, she had just begun her 86-year sentence at Carswell Federal Prison

Robert H. King and Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3 are issuing a call to everybody concerned about the human rights of US prisoners: “We know the economic situation for African Americans, other minority communities, and poor whites is very difficult. However, if there is any way possible for you to get to the Millions for Prisoners Human Rights March in Washington DC on August 19, so that your voice can be heard, so that we can speak in one voice, please join us. Enough is Enough!”

Perhaps it was fitting that the most significant act of organized mass resistance by Palestinians to the occupation in many years was launched from behind bars. In April of this year more than 1,500 political prisoners began an indefinite hunger strike against their increasingly degrading treatment by the Israeli authorities. Some called it a prison “intifada,” the word Palestinians use for their serial efforts to “shake off” Israeli oppression.

The United States Army whistleblower’s release marks the culmination of a major victory for a grassroots effort led by committed activists.
Published in partnership with Shadowproof.
Chelsea Manning exited the walls of Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas this morning.

Published in partnership with Shadowproof.
The “Angola 3” spent more time in solitary confinement than any other incarcerated individuals in the United States, and now, a documentary telling their story will soon be released.

Photo from report by Project South and the Penn State Law Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic.
Published in partnership with Shadowproof.
Georgia immigrant detention centers frequently put asylum seekers and other migrants into solitary confinement as punishment for going on hunger strike.

On Oct. 30, 2016, Robert Earl Council was found sprawled unconscious on the floor of his cell in Alabama’s Limestone Correctional Facility after being on hunger strike for 10 days. Medical staff at the prison force-fed him intravenously, as his blood sugar levels had reached dangerous levels.

Tears flowed freely down my face as I told my partner that Chelsea’s imprisonment is commuted.
Contradictions galore! The jingoist nation’s most warring president just committed the one decent thing in his eight years of war-making against seven nations, conjuring up false enemies with competing capitalist states Russia and China, and harsh treatment against all the whistle-blowers during his contentious term.

An artist’s rendition of how whistleblower Chelsea Manning sees herself.
(REPORT) — Whistleblower Chelsea Manning is on President Barack Obama’s “short list” for a potential commutation, a Department of Justice source told NBC News, which adds that the president’s decision could be announced as early as Wednesday.