While we generally think any day is a good day to write political prisoners, we would be remiss to not mention how hard the holidays are for anyone in prison. Now is a great time to send cards or letters to people behind the walls.
Please check out our political prisoner page and consider sending a few holiday cards to some political prisoners. We also highly recommend NYC ABC’s Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners which has bios, addresses and information about U.S. held political prisoners and prisoners of war.
While there won’t be any of the big holiday card party gatherings (the image below has been used for an annual holiday card party between NYC ABC and Resistance in Brooklyn for years), you can still do something similar on your own or with your family.
One part of NYC ABC‘s every-other-week Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinners is presenting updates and announcements. These typically relate to PPs, POWs, or are especially relevant to folks in NYC. Since February 2011, we’ve been printing and mailing hard copies of the updates and announcements to about a dozen imprisoned comrades.
In April 2013, along with Denver Anarchist Black Cross and Sacramento Prisoner Support, we expanded printing and mailing to include all U.S. held political prisoners and prisoners of war. As of September, 2014, that work has diffused over several support crews, collectives, and individuals.
It is the last month of what some may say has been the longest year of their life. COVID 19 continues to rage on both sides of the walls, partially due to the ever insidious ‘individual american exceptionalism.’ All we can do is continue to support folx who are forced to weather the pandemic under the rule of the carceral state while we try to stay healthy and safe out here.
Dedicated followers of our bi-weeklyletter writing night may remember that we encouraged folx to write to Eric King in May of this year. Shortly after that week, Eric was placed on a mail restriction and could only correspond with his wife and mother. As of the end of November it was lifted, although it is unclear for how long. Not only that, but Eric tested positive for COVID 19 on November 27th. Because of that we are encouraging people to flood the prison with mail for Eric! Do not talk about his case or the mail ban in your letter.
Eric King was indicted in May 2019 by a grand jury in the District Court of Colorado for a new federal felony charge of Assaulting a Federal Official. This charge is based on what the government says happened during the interview in the Florence storage room with a Lieutenant. Eric now faces up to 20 additional years in federal prison and is fighting this charge while still in the custody of his accusers. Eric is pre-trial, do not mention his current charges.
Please take the time to write a letter to Eric King (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Eric King #27090-045 FCI Englewood 9595 West Quincy Avenue Littleton, CO 80123
In 1987 Dr. Shakur was sentenced to 60 years imprisonment for his role in the Black Liberation Movement. In March 1982, Dr. Shakur and 10 others were indicted by a federal grand jury under a set of U.S. conspiracy laws called Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) laws. These conspiracy laws were ostensibly developed to aid the government in its prosecution of organized crime figures; however, they have been used with varying degrees of success against revolutionary organizations.
Dr. Shakur was charged with conspiracy and participation in a group that carried out actual and attempted expropriations from several banks. Eight incidents were alleged to have occurred between December 1976 to October 1981. In addition, he was charged with participation in the 1979 prison escape of Assata Shakur, who is now in exile in Cuba. After five years underground, Dr. Shakur was arrested on February 12, 1986.
Dr. Shakur has worked to free political prisoners and to expose government abuses against political organizers. As an acupuncturist, Dr. Shakur challenged the use of methadone as a tool of recovery for addicts and founded the Black Acupuncture Advisory Association of North America as well as the Harlem Institute of Acupuncture. Many people credit Shakur with saving their lives. His accomplishments are featured in the recent podcast Dope is Death. There is a film by the same name that has been released. View the trailer.
While in prison, he has struggled to create peace between rival gangs. Dr. Shakur was diagnosed with cancer last year and recently contracted COVID-19 at FMC Lexington. In 2020, Dr. Shakur was denied compassionate release.
Write Dr. Mutulu Shakur #83205-012 FMC Lexington Post Office Box 14500 Lexington, KY 40512
Friday, December 11, 2020 @ 7 p.m. EST Russell Maroon Shoatz is a US-held political prisoner and community organizer who has spent 23 years in solitary confinement. Now, Maroon is suffering from Stage 4 cancer and COVID-19, but the PA DOC will not release him.
Featuring Speakers and artists: Mike Africa Sr. Tommy Joshua Saleem Holbrook Jean Schneider Kempis Ghani Songster Sister Lavinia “Vee” Etta Cetera Ben Barson Jasiri X Blak Rapp Madusa Afro Yaqui Music Collective
72 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was established, the Jericho Movement and UpRooted and Rising will host a Zoom forum to examine the health conditions of some of the longest held Political Prisoners in the U.S. under Covid19. We will hear from family members and recently released Political Prisoners about the current situation inside. Speakers: Jericho National Chair Jihad Abdulmumit Jalil Muntaqim on his experience contracting Covid in prison Theresa Shoatz on her father Russell Maroon Shoatz Family of Alvin Joyner, Maroon’s co-defendant Ksisay Sadiki on her father Kamau Sadiki Pam Africa on Mumia Abu-Jamal Marqueeta Peltier Shields on her father Leonard Peltier Janet & Janine Africa on Phil & Merle Africa’s suspicious illnesses and deaths in prison Updates on Dr. Mutulu Shakur, Ed Poindexter, Sundiata Acoli, Jamil Al-Amin Music and Poetry by:Uprooted and Rising Professor Louie Other Cultural Warriors To Be Announced
This is the title of an editorial in Rochester City newspaper. We do not agree with the suggestion that Jalil did anything wrong. It appears he filled out paperwork given to him by a social work, one of the forms being a voter registration form.
When COVID entered the federal medical prison in Carswell, Texas, it ballooned within weeks — of the 1,288 people tested, 504 were positive. In one housing unit of 300 women, only 26 women tested negative, including 56-year-old Sandra Shoulders.
Shoulders has severe diabetes, respiratory problems, and, since entering prison in 2015, chronic kidney disease, leaving her at only 30 percent kidney function. All of these make her more vulnerable to becoming debilitated, if not dying, from COVID.
Meanwhile, the prison’s practices discourage people from getting tested for COVID. “Even when inmates feel ill now, they are so scared of those conditions to speak up,” Shoulders explained. She described how those who tested positive were treated: “You are held in a room, and expected to wear the same set of clothes for 21+ days, without laundry facilities. Food is dropped by the door and physically kicked into the room by the guards.”
Please phone the Nebraska Pardons Board as many times as you and your friends, comrades, associates, and family can between December 10th and December 20, 2020. We have provided a script below. Please give your name and the state that you live in, and if you can, leave a phone number.
Nebraska Board of Pardons P.O. Box 95007 Lincoln, NE 68509 EMAIL: [email protected]
CALL: Governor Pete Ricketts 402-471-2244 Attorney General Peterson: 402-471-2683 Secretary of State Evnen: 402-471-2554
Free Ed Poindexter Immediately (Script):
“Dear Pardons Board member, I am calling to demand and pray for the Compassionate Release/Commutation of Sentence and rapid release of Mr. Edward Poindexter. Ed Poindexter is one of the eldest prisoners in the state penitentiary and as such, along with other elderly prisoners in Nebraska, is at great risk of serious illness or death should he contract the coronavirus. We are focusing on Ed, but also pray for the release of other elderly prisoners.
Therefore, I request you schedule a special Pardons Board hearing this month to consider ALL the commutation applications at once, particularly for prisoners over the age of 60.
Nebraska is not alone in facing this crisis, and if you act now with compassion to protect the lives of elders in prison, you will be in step with several other states who have taken this important step toward humanity and toward the application of the basic principle of human rights.
Please release Ed Poindexter and his peers immediately! Thank you for having compassion for elderly prisoners who are at high risk of dying from covid19, and for recognizing that holding them during this worsening pandemic is tantamount to inflicting a sentence of death or debilitation.”
