Call for June 3 action for prison reform

Calling all activists, protesters and supporters to join us in refusing to move on June 3, until prison and education reform has been accomplished.

This is a call to action for all Pennsylvania prisoners and supporters. We encourage every person incarcerated throughout the country to join us in solidarity to combat our nation’s judicial iniquities and oppression of the lower class. Our nation’s elite have been profiting from the incarceration of those who can’t afford to defend themselves in the court of law. The state of Pennsylvania has become a paragon example of how state officials take advantage of and incarcerate people for profit. 

Philadelphia [police] officers are recognized for abuse and ignoring people’s rights in order to arrest and convict our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers and children. The courts are known to protect this fraternal brotherhood that is made up by a majority of corrupt officers. Judges in this state have their own list of discernable injustices against humanity and have been locking away the lower class and innocent people at an exorbitant rate. 

An example of this became public after a poor child committed suicide during the “cash for kids” scheme the courts had going on, where they [judges] were paid by the [private] prisons to throw children into prison. Prisons also have been cashing in on our flesh, as a few examples have been made public: In 2019, a prison superintendent was given the opportunity to resign as opposed to being arrested, when he was caught stealing money from inmates and paying off parole board members so that they deny people their freedom. The more people incarcerated, the more money is made by these few elites. This all happens as a result of making money, and the victims of this are our schools and children.

We have had enough of sitting silently in our cells. We watch as the teachers in this country struggle to get children proper supplies to educate, because all the money is being wasted on incarceration for profit, and they are continuing to make money from us. The prison has cut food portions and increased commissary prices. We are forced to beg our families for money so that we are no longer hungry. Our jobs, which run the prison, only pay 19 to 42 cents an hour. Some state prisoners are forced to work for no money. 

The state pays million-dollar contracts to companies that extort inmates, so that they receive more monetary incentives. A $3 million-$4 million contract was made with a company in Florida to scan our mail, then fax it to our prison. State’s elites have invested in this company and others, such as the phone and email systems that charge our families outrageous amounts of money to communicate with us. An electronic cigarette company charges $6 for a dangerously made cigarette.

I’m asking that we all stand together and refuse to work, beginning June 03, 2023. The inmates in Alabama did it, because they too were left with no choice, and I’m sorry we didn’t hear of it sooner so that we could have stood with them. 

We’re standing now though, for all the people in this state and country who have been oppressed by the judicial system. We are doing this for our families, who suffer without us and support us regardless of these companies extorting them; for the children, for the teachers and people who truly deserve the attention and money; for those sitting in a prison cell [who] don’t belong there but are there, because the state withheld or manufactured evidence; and those who have done more than enough time in jail; and those who are held past their release date. We are fed up with it. The elite have got enough from us and our families.

If you’re wondering how we let this happen, it’s because we sat quietly as our state has circumvented and manipulated the Constitution, so that they may imprison and continue to imprison people who can’t afford a defense in court. The U.S. Supreme Court determined that mandatory sentencing was unconstitutional, yet Pennsylvania continues to sentence people to “mandatory” life in prison without the possibility of parole. There are thousands who have received this sentence and have never even hurt anyone. 

The courts will manipulate wording so that they could convict you. A conviction rate has replaced the agenda of justice, and anyone without the financial means or political ties is subject to this judicial abuse. The government has made too many abject failures and lies so that they may profit from our lives. The war on drugs has made it so that police focus more on arresting drug addicts rather than going through the rigorous investigation of many violent crimes. 

It’s easier to arrest and convict a drug addict. The arrest quota is the new limit to public safety. No longer is investigating a crime to discover the actual perpetrator the objective. It’s the first and easiest target to convict. We are not safe with this form of justice anymore, and there are a lot of innocent people in prison. 

We need to intervene now, and our demands are to benefit the people of this country, not to harm it. June 03, 2023, we are all going to refuse to do the work you need us to do; we are going to stand up to your oppression once and for all until the following occurs:

1. Reduce prison funding and allot that money into public schools and education for children. A simple audit of prison funding will show how much money is wasted and abused, which could/should be going to our state’s schools. Find a way to invest into education programs.

2. Eliminate mandatory life without parole and implement sentence reform. Offer things like good-time and incentive. Rehabilitation should be the goal, not profit. There are too many people in prison [who] don’t belong, or who have been there for far too long. There are women in prison for defending themselves while in a caustic relationship or because of some insignificant reason. These are our mothers, daughters and wives. We need alternatives to incarceration.

3. Implement a new impartial grievance and misconduct procedure, so that issues could be resolved and not ignored. There is too much abuse and assaults by prison staff that gets swept under the rug. People are being thrown into solitary confinement just to fill bed space. Misconducts are being used as a form of intentional harm that lands people in solitary confinement. There should be alternatives to solitary confinement for people. Have we not evolved from the days of cruel and unusual punishment? Are we not better than Caligula and Adolf Hitler?

4. A better and more efficient way for parole. There are thousands in Pennsylvania alone [who] are being denied parole for years based on negligible reasons. Many of these people are nonviolent offenders, now serving many years in prison for things like misconduct. If the parole board is to determine if a person is ready for society, they need to come out of their offices and get to know the people they are adjudicating. You cannot know a person’s character based on biased reports.

5. Medically treat addiction with adequate Medicated Assisted Treatment. The prisons are now filled with people who suffer from addiction and are being released back to society in the same or worse condition than when they were received. Treatment needs to be allocated without prejudice to prisoners, long before they are released, in order to properly rehabilitate and reduce recidivism.

6. Better tobacco products, food and increased pay for employment. We should not be forced to beg our families and friends for support. A plain soup should not cost 40 cents, when we are making 19 cents an hour. The e-cigs offered have created a violent and tumultuous environment, because of the pathetic manufacturing. 

We should be focusing on rehabilitation, not basic survival. This should be a priority to our country just as it is to us. Many of us will be released back to the community. Do you not recognize the increase in crime? People are being treated as animals, then released. These are not arduous or unreasonable requests and should be a priority for all.

We are doing this because we love our country, and we want our country to love us back. Please help us pass this message and join in our movement. Email, post on social media, send to the news or media: This is for everyone, and everyone may join in our stand for reform on June 03, 2023. We will stand until these issues are amended in Pennsylvania and throughout the country.

This is an anonymous message, created anonymously for those voices that are suppressed by the razor wire and judicial system. For those who have been inaudible but wish to have a voice, and for those who want to help others but don’t have the ability because you are incarcerated. You don’t need to shout anymore; just stand and refuse the work on June 03, 2023.

United we stand in solidarity, 

A.T.I.K.O.R.