Despite Corporate Media Whiteout, Largest Prison Uprising in U.S. History Continues

From Tom Kutsch, September 9, 2016:

“… Inmates from several states, who had bound together with the help of activists and organizing groups, aimed the national strikes – which had been in the making for several months – against what they said amounted to slave labor conditions amid mass incarceration in the country.

 

The coordinated events, which organizers targeted in as many as 24 states, occurred on the 45th anniversary of the riots at Attica prison in New York – the largest prison uprising in American history – over grievances today’s protesters say are similar, including poor sanitary conditions and prison jobs that amount to forced labor.“

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/09/us-nationwide-prison-strike-alabama-south-carolina-texas

 

From Danny F. Quest, September 19, 2016:

“… Thousands of prisoners in over 24 states began a labor strike on September 9, the 45th anniversary of the Attica prison uprising, to demand better conditions and healthcare, the right to unionize and what one organizing group calls an “end to slavery in America.” But one would hardly know it watching major U.S. media, which has mostly ignored the largest prison labor strike in history. One week on, the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC News, ABC News, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, and NPR have not covered the prison strikes at all.”

http://wearechange.org/largest-prison-strike-ignored/

 

From Aljazeera: The Stream – September 26, 2016:

“For months inmates have been using smuggled cellphones and social media to mobilise strikes that began on September 9 in prisons across the United States.  

 

Prisoners refused to report to their jobs, demanding better wages and safer working conditions. Some inmates make as little as 12 cents an hour in prison work programmes, while some states reportedly don’t require wages be paid at all. Strikers and activists call this “modern-day slavery”. But correction officials have a different perspective. They say it’s rehabilitation, preparing those incarcerated with skills they’ll need once they are released.

 

This month’s strike came on the anniversary of the 1971 Attica prison uprising, when thousands of prisoners at a New York correctional facility took over part of the prison to demand better treatment. So, 45 years on, what’s changed?”

http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201609262257-0025288