2010 Georgia prison strike

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2010 Georgia prison strike
DateDecember 9–15, 2010
Location

The 2010 Georgia prison strike was a prison strike involving prisoners at 7 prisons in the U.S. state of Georgia. The strike, organized by the prisoners using contraband cell phones, began on December 9 and ended on December 15. It was reported at the time to be the largest prison strike in United States history and was followed by similar strikes in several other states, as well as nationwide strikes several years later, in 2016 and 2018.

Contents

Background and beginning

The labor strike was organized by prison inmates over the course of several months in 2010 using contraband cell phones, with The New York Times claiming that the strike may be the first instance of cell phones being used to organize a grassroots protest of this nature in prisons. [1] Several inmates with cell phones had called The New York Times and said they had learned about the planned strike through text messages and were unaware of who exactly were behind it. [2] American prison activist Elaine Brown called the strike an "organic effort" by the inmates. [2] The strike, involving 7 prisons in the state, [1] [3] officially began on December 9, 2010, with inmates refusing to work and many refusing to leave their cells. [2] According to an article published in The New York Times, the prisoners "would not perform chores, work for the Corrections Department’s industrial arm or shop at prison commissaries until a list of demands is addressed, including compensation for their work, more educational opportunities, better food and sentencing rules changes." [1]

The prisons involved were: [4]

While an exact number was not specified, it was widely reported that several thousand inmates were participating in the strike. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Course of the strike

Following the start of the prison strike, the strikers issued a press release that outlined several demands. [3] The demands, as reported by the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center, included the following demands: [4] [6]

On December 9, in anticipation of the protest, several of the prisons involved were placed on lockdown. [5] While the strike was initially planned as a one-day event, it was extended for several more days after prisoners reported that prison officers at several of the prisons had responded to the strike with violence. [3] On December 15, multiple news sources announced that the strike was over. [7] [8] That same day, an article published in ColorLines called it "the largest prison strike in U.S. history." [7] Following the strike action in Georgia, similar large-scale prison strikes were held at prisons in several other U.S. states, including Illinois, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington. Several years later in 2016, a nationwide prison strike, referred to as "one of the biggest prison protests in modern history", was held during the 45th anniversary of the Attica Prison riot. [9] In 2018, another nationwide prison strike was held that affected prisons in at least 17 states. [10]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Wheaton, Sarah (December 12, 2010). "Inmates in Georgia Prisons Use Contraband Phones to Coordinate Protest". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Wheaton, Sarah (December 12, 2020). "Prisoners Strike in Georgia". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Spencer, Naomi (December 13, 2010). "US: Georgia prison inmates strike". World Socialist Web Site . International Committee of the Fourth International. Archived from the original on June 28, 2019. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 "More on GA prison strike (said to be the biggest in U$ history)". San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center . December 13, 2010. Archived from the original on September 28, 2017. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  5. 1 2 Dixon, Bruce A. (December 13, 2010). "Prisoners on strike in Georgia". Socialist Worker . International Socialist Organization. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  6. Chen, Michelle (December 17, 2010). "Georgia Prison Strike: A Hidden Labor Force Resists". In These Times . Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
  7. 1 2 Hing, Julianne (December 15, 2010). "Georgia Prisoners End Protest, But Continue Demands". ColorLines . Applied Research Center. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  8. Cook, Rhonda (December 15, 2010). "Prisoners' protest over. For now". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . Cox Enterprises. Archived from the original on December 18, 2010. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  9. Kaleem, Jaweed (October 28, 2016). "'This is slavery': U.S. inmates strike in what activists call one of the biggest prison protests in modern history". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on December 24, 2020. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  10. Lopez, German (August 17, 2018). "America's prisoners are going on strike in at least 17 states". Vox . Vox Media. Archived from the original on December 17, 2020. Retrieved December 25, 2020.

Further reading