Democracy Now--Prison Slave Labor Strike

Andreas Wenzel

Soc. 122: Social Movements

Democracy Now

Alabama Prison Strike

                Inmates at an Alabama prison launched an organized ten day strike in protest against dirty living conditions, overcrowding, and the 13^th Amendment excusing the practice of un-paid slave labor of prisoners. The strike, kicked off on International Workers' Day on May 1^st, sought to bring attention and change to the Alabama prison system housing over twice the capacity of what the buildings were designed to contain, as well as the mass incarceration-enabling policies that allow these types of incidences to continue to increase. Protesters refused to return to their prison work stations, and in response were met with punishments including leaving dorms in filth, leaving soiled laundry and showers unclean, and reducing meal sizes from approximately 2000 calories daily to below 1000 calories over the last ten days, a practice termed as "bird-feeding." The strike was organized by the Free Alabama Movement, a movement for the freedom, justice, and equality to the 30,000 prisoners incarcerated in the Alabama Prison System.

Amy Goodman had the opportunity to speak with Kinetik Justice about the event, who is currently serving his 28^th month in solitary confinement for supposedly organizing and leading the Free Alabama Movement in 2014 over similar issues, now deemed a threat by the Alabama prison system. He sees the prison system as an economic continuation of the slave system, extracting the labor and revenue generated by prisoner work, and shared with Goodman the necessity to overhaul not just the Alabama prison system, but the criminal justice system as a whole. Framing Theory and Resource Mobilization Theory were the two theories most present here. The framing of the event was specifically targeted at helping those incarcerated by the Alabama prison system, but attacked the prison practices that are being used on a national level to exploit inmates, and also called for a reform of the whole criminal justice system to effectively end such practices. Resource mobilization was displayed by prisoner protesters by using their bodies and the few other resources available to them. Protesters effectively stopped the production of products by refusing to return to their labor posts, not allowing their bodies and labor to be further exploited by the prison production line.

 

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/5/13/alabama_prison_strike_organizer_speaks_from