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DC Jail Solidarity

by Kendall CLARK

Thursday, 20 April 2000

.....

Over 200 activists, most arrested Monday, 4/17 in the afternoon outside the World Bank meeting remain jailed. They are successfully practicing jail solidarity, in which they refuse en masse to cooperate with the authorities, clogging the system and indicating their willingness to stay in jail indefinitely unless their demands are met. They are fasting. Conditions are considered good for the women, and improving for the men. The women's warden, a woman, is said to be impressed by the group's organization and resolve, and has allowed the women to meet together in a spokescouncil, and to grant fairly ready access to the lawyers of the Midnight Special Law Collective. It is unclear if the men have been allowed this opportunity. Jews For Global Justice are trying to organize seder for prisoners.

There are some protesters who have been kept in isolation, and beaten. One, a woman named Jenny (this may be a code name, as part of jail solidarity involves remaining anonymous to authorities) was arrested at 8:30 am on Monday, and has been in isolation since. Two men at least are also in isolation.

The prisoners in solidarity have presented the following demands to the authorities to gain their cooperation. The deciding prosecutors are the DC Corporation Counsel (DCCC) and the US Attorney's Office (US). Any reaction to the demands from these two entities is noted.

  1. All charges be reduced to infractions. OK'd by DCCC
  2. No monetary fines. DCCC wants $10 each.
  3. No names will be given. OK'd by DCCC, not OK w/ US
  4. Drop the 5 bogus felony charges (such as brushing up against a cop counting as assault).
  5. Accept a no contest plea (DCCC says it's up to the judge)
  6. These terms will cover all IMF/WB arrests made between 4/12-4/17.
  7. These terms will be retroactively applied to people who "cited out" (ie, gave their names, either due to work obligation, etc. or, as we have heard, due to violent intimidation by the US Marshals). OK'd by DCCC.


The DC jails are illegally over capacity. They have 72 hours to remedy the situation, and clearly want the protesters to go away. They're not leaving until these demands are met.

How can you help?

Call the following places with these demands:

  1. The IMF/WB political prisoners be granted their plea bargain.
  2. All prisoners in isolation be returned to the same place as the other political prisoners.
  3. Express outrage at the brutality of the U.S. Marshals during their attempts to intimidate people into breaking jail solidarity.

Phone numbers:

This is DC Jail Solidarity <http://monkeyfist.com/articles/460>

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