My final bit of bird took me to HMP Highdown, a C Cat resettlement prison – one of the capital’s satellite jails. I’d been on a nick-in (charge) having refused to go previously when Wandsworth’s finest demanded I pack up and skidaddle. It was my cellmate who said you can refuse, otherwise I might have
Tag: Prison
Hunger strike of Ihar Alinevich: What is known now
Ihar Alinevich , an anarcho-partisan sentenced to 20 years for participating in the Belarusian uprising, went on hunger strike. Members of the Anarchist Black Cross collected the latest information about Igor from the Facebook of his mother Valentina Alinevich and from his close friends. Here’s what we were able to find out. On October 5,
Spain: antifascist rapper to serve prison sentence for ‘insulting the crown’
On Sunday 7th February, Spanish police are due to arrest rapper Pablo Hasél. On 28th January, the Audiencia Nacional (National Court) gave him ten days to voluntarily enter prison, but he has already made it clear that he will not turn himself in. At a press conference on 1st February, Hasél complained that the court
Boris’ Sentencing Bonanza – Part One
This week, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Robert “fuck the law” Buckland QC, launched a new white paper A Smarter Approach to Sentencing, which outlines the government’s latest proposals for punishing law breakers who aren’t members of the Tory party. Keen to spare us the misery of digesting all 115 pages
Virtual Panopticon: Prison video calls and family support during the pandemic and beyond
The following text was kindly contributed to Freedom by Lisa Selby @bluebaglife (follow them on Instagram and Twitter), UK Prison Wives and the UK Prison Support Group. It describes the experiences of people in prisons and their loved in the time of COVID-19 and beyond. My partner, Elliot, has been out of prison for almost
The View Magazine: Artful Ways and Means
Note from the editor: this text contains a discussion on issues which may be triggering and difficult to read. However, we decided to publish it as it concerns hard questions prison abolitionists need to face. (zb) The View Magazine started at the request of the governor at HMP Downview, a new governor, who was woefully
No one left alone in the hands of the state: Greek prison Solidarity Fund calls for emergency support
The Greek Prison Solidarity Fund have commenced an online fundraiser, asking for emergency support during the time of COVID-19. COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown across the globe continue to have a massive impact on our lives: many are struggling to make ends meet and worrying about the future; some are struggling with the lockdown itself,
“I’ve never felt more trapped and powerless in my life” – Letter lays bare the cruel realities of prison during the pandemic
The following letter from ‘D’ – passed to us by Carl Cattermole and Lisa & Elliot of @bluebaglife – lays bare the horrific conditions being endured by prisoners during the Covid-19 pandemic. As Carl wrote yesterday, British prisons are a Petri dish for this virus and unless people are released en masse, hundreds of prisoners
British prisons are Petri dishes for this pandemic; without immediate action it’s the death penalty by any other name
Carl Cattermole This past Tory decade has left public services looking like a bicycle locked up too long in East London: valuable parts stolen, everything else rusted. And if the service still has two wheels then I guarantee it doesn’t have the suspension to cope with bumps… and… COVID-19 isn’t a bump, it’s an assault
Free Kevan Thakrar – End solitary confinement in the UK!
On Monday 9th March, the Incarcerated Workers Organising Committee (IWOC) have called a protest outside the Royal College of Psychiatrists to mark the 10 years that IWOC member Kevan Thakrar has spent in Close Supervision Centres within the British prison system. Close Supervisions Centres (CSCs) are the most extreme form of imprisonment in the UK,