Fed up with their living and working conditions, prisoners across the state of Georgia last week staged a six-day mass peaceful protest that transcended racial boundaries.

 

Black, Latino and white inmates at least six prisons, including Hays State Prison, Telfair State Prison, Macon State Prison and Smith State Prison, banded together to show their unhappiness by staying in their cells. The families of some prisoners reported that corrections officers responded violently, destroying personal effects and beating inmates at one penitentiary while another facility cut off the hot water supply.

 

Inmates spent months coordinating the protest by using cell phones smuggled into the prisons.

 

They have demanded better living conditions, medical care and nutrition, more educational and self-improvement opportunities, wages for work performed in prison and better access to their families, among other demands.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

GA Prisoner Strike Continues a Second Day, Corporate Media Mostly Ignores Them, Corrections Officials Decline Comment (Black Agenda Report)

Inmates in Georgia Prisons Use Contraband Phones to Coordinate Protest (by Sarah Wheaton, New York Times)

The Largest Prison Strike in US History Rages On (News Junkie Post)

Georgia Prison Strike: A Hidden Labor Force Resists (by Michelle Chen, In These Times)