Freedom News

Alfredo Cospito fights punitive prison conditions with hunger strike

Alfredo Cospito was imprisoned for 10 years in 2014 for the kneecapping of a power plant owner, in 2012, carried out by the Olga Cell of the Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI). He was later sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for ‘political massacre’ (where no one was hurt) for his role in Operation Scripta Manent

People, Prisons & Profit: Contemporary Abolition in the UK

When discussing matters of inequality and oppression, particularly through a radical framework, there always awaits a countering opinion that deep-rooted systemic issues such as the prison industrial complex are somehow uniquely American; the implication being that Britain, a nation regarded for its pragmatism, has nowhere near such issues and thus does not need to concern

Racist attacks on Muslim prisoners in HMP Long Lartin exposed by protest

Protestors gathered at HMP Long Lartin on Saturday night to condemn the ongoing racist and Islamophobic abuse by prison officers. People held at the prison have said that Senior Officer (SO) Mark Noah participated in targeted attacks on Black Muslim prisoners. The protestors chanted, “No Justice, No Peace”. There have been at least three attacks

Anti-prison activists to target Kier Construction in New Year campaign

Anti-prison campaigners from Community Action on Prison Expansion (CAPE) are targeting Kier Construction with “New Year, No Kier” campaign. Kier is being targeted as the company contracted to build the mega-prison HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, the most advanced of the new mega-prisons announced in the Prison Estate Transformation Programme in 2016. Kier Construction

Prisons in Argentina: a long-term abandonment

“Between 1776 and 1800, during the first decades of the Viceroyalty of Río de La Plata, the prison population varied between 33 and 130 prisoners. Overcrowding, spreading of illnesses, hunger and cold were part of the conditions of imprisonment, anticipating the logic of what would be the future prisons. The Chapter didn’t have an allocated

London Anarchist Black Cross launches online prisoner letter writing service

London Anarchist Black Cross has launched a virtual prisoner letter writing service. On their website, London ABC writes: “To write a letter just send an email with the content to london_abc(at)riseup.net with the number of the solidarity card of your choice (between 1,2,3 above). Include the name of the prisoner you would like send the

Old and jailing: Tories have prison population problems if unrest occurs

A great number of aggressive new laws have been introduced in recent months, from £10,000 fines for organising protests (a dictator’s wet dream that one) to increasing maximum sentences for anything related to assault PC. On Tuesday alone Boris Johnson was shouting the odds about ending early release. The strong implication is that the State

Protesters gather at Secretary of State for Justice home demanding prisons are emptied in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic

On Monday morning, a protest took place on the doorstep of the home of the Secretary of State for Justice, Robert Buckland in Wroughton, Borough of Swindon. The protesters demanded the immediate release of all incarcerated people from the unsafe conditions in which they are being held in prisons, detention centres and psychiatric hospitals, in

‘This place is a death trap’: inside HMPs during COVID-19 

Content warnings: state violence, medical abuse and neglect, self-harm and suicide  The Ministry of Justice’s lack of response to COVID-19 is nothing short of genocidal. So far, there have been twelve recorded deaths of incarcerated people in HMP. Inadequate hygiene plus solitary confinement plus medical abuse and neglect have already proven lethal, and worse is