Prisoners are striking around the country as part of a nationwide protest demanding improved living conditions, greater access to resources and the end of what prisoners are calling “modern day slavery.” In Tacoma, Washington, immigrant rights advocates say 60 immigrants detained at the Northwest Detention Center continued their hunger strike Thursday. California prisoner Heriberto Garcia is also hunger-striking at New Folsom State Prison. He recorded video of himself refusing food in his cell, that was then posted on Twitter. Meanwhile, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, protesting prisoners issued a statement in solidarity with the U.S. prison strike. The statement said the prisoners were “warehoused as inmates, not treated as human beings.” Organizers also report actions in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida as the national prison strike moves into its fourth day. This comes as 10 prisoners have died behind bars in Mississippi this month. Activists and family members are demanding answers for the spike in prisoner deaths. The IWW’s Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee tweeted about the deaths, “Why #prisonstrike? Because at this point it’s about survival.”
Prison Strike Against “Modern-Day Slavery” Spreads Nationwide
HeadlineAug 24, 2018