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<h1><font size=4><b>Prisoners' protest over. For
now.</b></font></h1><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/prisoners-protest-over-for-778293.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.ajc.com/news/prisoners-protest-over-for-778293.html<br>
</a>By <a href="mailto:rcook@ajc.com">Rhonda Cook</a> <br><br>
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution <br>
3:49 p.m. Wednesday, December 15, 2010 <br><br>
The prison system began lifting lock downs at four institutions and
returning the facilities to normal operations Wednesday and inmate said
they were ending their protest for now and reporting to work
assignments.<br><br>
One of the organizers of the protest said prisoners are still going to
pursue their concerns. If the Department of Corrections ignores their
requests, the next protest will be violent, he said.<br><br>
Prison officials did not say what led to the decision to end the lock
downs that had been in place since last Thursday. But an inmate at Smith
State Prison in Glenville said in a telephone interview prisoners had
agreed to end their “non-violent” protest to allow administrators time to
focus on their concerns rather than operating the institutions without
inmate labor.<br><br>
“We’ve ended the protest,” said Mike, a convicted armed robber who was
one of the inmates who planned and coordinated the work stoppage. “We
needed to come off lock down so we can go to the law library and start
... the paperwork for a [prison conditions] lawsuit.<br><br>
“We’re just giving them time to … meet our requests without having to
worry about us on lock down,” Mike told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday.<br><br>
Mike is one of the inmates who organized the protest at Smith prison who
has talked to the AJC about it. He did not want his last name published
for fear of retaliation from prison officials, but agreed to allow the
AJC to verify his prisoner identification number, which the paper then
cross-checked with the Department of Corrections website.<br><br>
Inmates began planning the protest in early September when tobacco was
banned throughout the prison system. The inmates said they picked
Dec. 9 as the day to start because it allowed time for the word to spread
throughout the system and because the temperature in the cellblocks would
be cooler by then, which is important when otherwise violent men are
trying to keep their tempers in check.<br><br>
Over the months before the protest and in the days after it began,
updates and details were spread inmate-to-inmate and prison-to-prison
using cell phones, text messages and word of mouth.<br><br>
Beginning last Thursday and for six days inmates at several prisons
refused to leave their cells in protest of the lack of pay for the work
they do maintaining and running prison operations and cleaning other
government properties; state law forbids paying inmates except for one
limited program. The prisoners also were protesting the quality of
the food and the lack of fruits and vegetables, the quality of
medical care, the availability of education and job training programs,
parole decisions and overall conditions.<br><br>
After learning a protest was planned, the Department of Corrections
said, wardens decided to implement lock downs at Hays, Smith,
Telfair and Macon State Prisons, the institutions where inmates were most
active. Prisoners locked down are not allowed to leave their cells, make
collect calls from the phones in each cellblock or have
visitors.<br><br>
Inmates insisted, however, that they locked down themselves.<br><br>
Inmates called The Atlanta Journal-Constitution several times ,using
contraband cell phones or “three-way” calling feature their friends
or relatives had on their telephone service.<br><br>
Then wardens began easing restrictions Tuesday evening.<br><br>
Inmates were allowed to use the cellblock telephones, take showers and
watch television. Some inmates reported to job assignments in prison
kitchens and laundries Tuesday evening. More reported to their work
details on Wednesday.<br><br>
“We have a responsibility to ensure public safety by operating safe and
secure prisons,” said Assistant Commissioner Derrick Schofield said in a
statement Wednesday. “As with any facility lock down, we will take a
systematic approach in ensuring a safe and secure environment is
maintained for staff and offenders, before resuming normal operations at
those facilities.”<br><br>
The DOC statement said there have been no problems at any of the four
prisons since they began easing restrictions.<br><br>
Mike said some inmates talked with the warden as he walked the
institution Tuesday.<br><br>
“He [the warden] said they were in the process of getting to the
requests,” said Mike, an inmate at Smith State Prison near Savannah. “We
let them know if they didn’t meet the requests, the next time it would be
pretty bad and it was not going to be inmate on inmate; it would be
inmate on administration.”<br><br>
The prison system, which holds almost 53,000 inmates, declined to comment
on the threat.<br><br>
“We did it peacefully and tried to do it the right way. But these guys
are to the point that if this [the protest] don’t work, they’re going to
go about it the way they know best [with violence]," Mike said.
"They wanted to go about it that way the first time, but we let them
know that was not the way to go."<br><br>
Mike said he feared inmates' reactions if the prison administration does
not respond to their requests.<br><br>
“Wardens and administrators [will be] the ones they [inmates] will be
trying to get a hold of if it does go violent," Mike said."
They feel like if they go past the guards and to the warden they will be
taken more seriously... These guys have nothing to lose. They’re going to
spend their lives in prison.<br><br>
“We know the tactical squad [riot team] cannot be at more than one prison
Mike said. "If you have five prisons popping off, you can’t send the
tactical squad to all prisons. You’ll have to send in the National Guard
and by then it’ll be too late.”<br><br>
<br><br>
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