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<h2><b>
<a href="http://sfbayview.com/2012/starving-for-change-hunger-strike-underway-since-june-10-in-georgias-jackson-state-prison/">
Starving for change: Hunger strike underway since June 10 in Georgia’s
Jackson State Prison</a></b></h2><font size=3>July 2, 2012<br>
</font><font size=1>
<a href="http://sfbayview.com/2012/starving-for-change-hunger-strike-underway-since-june-10-in-georgias-jackson-state-prison/" eudora="autourl">
http://sfbayview.com/2012/starving-for-change-hunger-strike-underway-since-june-10-in-georgias-jackson-state-prison/<br>
<br>
</a></font><font size=3><b><i>by Black Agenda Report managing editor
Bruce A. Dixon<br><br>
</i></b>This is the photo of Miguel Jackson after he was beaten with a
hammer-like weapon. Guards suspected he was a leader of the mass sit-down
strike in Georgia prisons on Dec. 9, 2010.<br>
Since June 10, according to accounts from prisoners and their families
and Rev. Kenneth Glasgow of
<a href="http://www.wearetops.org/pages/Home/Home_Page.htm">The Ordinary
Peoples Society </a>and the Prodigal Child Project, an undetermined
number of prisoners at Georgia’s massive Diagnostic and Classification
Prison near the city of Jackson have been on a hunger strike.<br><br>
Back in December 2010, Black, Brown and white inmates in several Georgia
prisons
<a href="http://blackagendareport.com/category/us-politics/georgia-prison-strike">
staged a peaceful protest</a>, remaining in their dorms and cells rather
than go to meals or work assignments. Their reasonable demands included
wages for work, speedier and more transparent status reviews, decent
food, real medical care, a more sane visitation policy and the
availability of educational and vocational programs behind the
walls.<br><br>
State corrections officials responded with temporary cutoffs of heat,
water and electricity in some buildings, along with an orgy of savage
assaults and beatings across multiple institutions statewide. In one
instance, corrections officials apparently conspired to conceal the
whereabouts and condition of one prisoner who lingered near death in a
coma for most of a week while they shuffled him hundreds of miles between
prisons and hospitals.<br><br>
State corrections say they rounded up 37 whom they believed were the
strike leaders and put them under close confinement at Jackson, the same
prison where Troy Davis was executed last year. Most of these prisoners
have remained there in close confinement, with severely restricted access
to visits, communication and their attorneys, and without medical
attention for the past 18 months.<br><br>
Some of these men are the Jackson State prison hunger strikers. After two
weeks, according to the families of Miguel Jackson and Preston Whiting,
they are weak from hunger and subject to fainting spells. But they seem
to believe they have little to lose. They are, a letter from one of them
asserts, “starving for change.” There were originally 10 of them, but
some may have been transferred out, and some other prisoners joined the
strike. We hope to have clearer information soon.<br><br>
They are demanding access to proper hygiene, medical treatment for their
numerous and severe injuries, many of which were inflicted 18 months ago,
the restoration of their visiting and communications rights and access to
their meager personal property. They and their attorneys insist that the
Georgia Department of Corrections follow its own published procedures
requiring a status review of every inmate in punitive isolation every 30
days. They further insist that such evaluations be public and transparent
so as to preclude the possibility of prejudicial conduct on the party of
prison officials.<br><br>
One of the strikers is Miguel Jackson, who was taken in handcuffs from
his cell at Smith State Prison 18 months ago, removed to a secluded area
out of range of the video cameras that monitor almost every inch of most
Georgia prisons, and beaten with a hammer-like object. Jackson is one of
several brutalized prisoners whose injuries have been untreated
since.<br><br>
Despite a blizzard of demands by his attorney,
<a href="http://www.socialistalternative.org/news/article15.php?id=1866">
prison officials have refused Jackson and other prisoners medical
attention for months</a>. And although they have not eaten in two weeks,
Jackson’s wife said, at the nine-day mark when medical necessity usually
demands prisoners be removed to the infirmary, prison officials simply
told Jackson, “You’re going to die,” and left it at that.<br><br>
</font><h3><b>Some of these men are the Jackson State prison hunger
strikers. After two weeks, according to the families of Miguel Jackson
and Preston Whiting, they are weak from hunger and subject to fainting
spells. But they seem to believe they have little to lose. They are, a
letter from one of them asserts, “starving for
change.”</b></h3><font size=3>“Most of civilized humanity regards
extended solitary confinement as a crime,” said Rev. Kenneth Glasgow. “No
less an establishment figure than Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.,
convened an extraordinary public hearing on the subject less than a week
ago. We are calling on the governor to ensure proper medical treatment
for the hunger strikers, to restore their visitation and other rights and
to end their punitive confinement without delay.<br><br>
“We hope that people around the state and around the country will call
the prison, the Department of Corrections and Georgia’s governor to
express their concern for the well-being of the prisoners on hunger
strike, and we further hope that they will join us on Monday, July 2, for
a day-long fast in solidarity with the Georgia prisoners who are only
insisting upon their dignity, their humanity, their legal and human
rights.”<br><br>
</font><h3><b>How you can help</b></h3><font size=3>We at BAR and the
Georgia Green Party hope that you will take the time today and tomorrow
to do four things:<br><br>
1. Call, email and/or fax the numbers below. <b>Politely</b> convey your
deep concern for the welfare of the prison hunger strikers at Georgia
Diagnostic Prison, especially Mr. Jackson. We believe there are about 10
of them.<br><br>
2.
<a href="http://endmassincarceration.org/content/sign-petition-stop-torture-georgia-prisons">
Sign the petition to Georgia’s governor demanding an end to the torture
of solitary confinement and punitive isolation in its state prisons
</a>at
<a href="http://endmassincarceration.org/content/sign-petition-stop-torture-georgia-prisons">
http://endmassincarceration.org/content/sign-petition-stop-torture-georgia-priso</a>
<br><br>
3. Forward this article and the link to it to all your friends, family
and co-workers and ask them to do the same. Send or carry a copy to your
pastor and ask him to mention the fast on Sunday, and invite him to fast
that day as well.<br><br>
4. Participate in the July 2 solidarity fast with Georgia’s prisoners who
are standing up for their human rights across lines of race and religion.
The prisoners, like the rest of us, are Black, Brown and white and of
varying religious beliefs.<br><br>
</font><h2><b>We demand justice for Miguel and the hunger
strikers</b></h2><font size=3><b><i>by Delma Jackson, wife of Miguel
Jackson<br><br>
</i></b>In January 1994, the “Georgia General Assembly passed Senate Bill
440, which gives the Superior/Adult Court exclusive jurisdiction over
youth ages 13 to 17 who have been arrested for one of seven violent
offenses, otherwise known as the
“<a href="http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_Georgia_7_deadly_sins#ixzz1yUKI5Kmq">
Seven Deadly Sins</a>.” These crimes include murder, rape, armed robbery
(with a firearm), aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy,
aggravated sexual battery and voluntary manslaughter,” according to
<a href="http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_Georgia_7_deadly_sins#ixzz1yUKI5Kmq">
Wiki.answers.com</a>.<br><br>
In 1995 Miguel was convicted of armed robbery; it was his first offense,
and he waived his right to a jury trial. He was convicted and sentenced
by Judge William Daniel under the Georgia Seven Deadly Sins law. Judge
Daniel was unfamiliar with the new law and he somehow thought that Miguel
would be eligible for parole after 10 years. The Seven Deadly Sins law
states that parole is not an option. Judge Daniel passed away two years
after he sentenced Miguel, and we have been unable to get his sentenced
corrected.<br><br>
</font><h3><b>The day that shook our world</b></h3><font size=3>On Dec.
31, 2010, Miguel was handcuffed and beaten by correctional officers at
Smith State Prison. He was taken to the hospital and treated for his
injuries. That night they took Miguel back to Smith State Prison. The
following morning someone took pictures of Miguel and sent them to his
mother and I. We immediately drove to Smith State Prison and attempted to
visit with Miguel because it was our visitation day. The prison
authorities refused to allow us to visit with him despite our deep
concerns for Miguel’s safety.<br><br>
They told us that Miguel was OK and nothing had happened to him.
Unbeknownst to them, we had pictures that said otherwise. We asked them
to just let us see him to give us peace of mind and they refused. They
advised us that Warden Donnie Thompson had given them orders that if we
did not leave, they would call the police and have us arrested.<br><br>
Needless to say, we left and headed back to Atlanta to find help for
Miguel. We contacted Channel 11 News and they got us in contact with the
NAACP. We retained our attorney, Mario Williams, on Monday Jan. 3, 2011.
The following day he went to visit with Miguel, and Warden Donnie
Thompson refused to let him speak with his client.<br><br>
Mr. Williams left and spoke with the Superior Court judge of Tattnall
County. He showed the judge the pictures of Miguel, and the judge called
the prison and instructed Warden Thompson to allow Mr. Williams to see
his client. Mr. Williams returned to the prison and Warden Thompson would
not let him see Miguel.<br><br>
The head attorney for the Georgia Department of Corrections contacted
Warden Thompson and instructed him to allow Mr. Williams to see Miguel
and the warden still refused. Mr. Williams was informed that they would
make a way for him to see his client and assured him that Miguel would be
moved immediately. He also advised Mr. Williams that he would be able to
visit Miguel the following day at the new institution. Miguel was
transferred to GDCP in Jackson, Georgia, where he has been since Jan. 4,
2011.<br><br>
Miguel suffers daily for the injuries he sustained at Smith State Prison.
He has chronic migraine headaches, a broken nose, and he suffers from
post-traumatic syndrome. He still has the hammer indentations in his
head. He has been complaining about the headaches and has been told that
he would be seeing a neurologist, which still hasn’t happened.<br><br>
The medication he was recently given for his headaches is actually
Neurontin. Neurontin (gabapentin) is an anti-epileptic medication, also
called an anticonvulsant. It affects chemicals and nerves in the body
that are involved in the cause of seizures and some types of pain.
Neurontin is also used in adults to treat nerve pain caused by herpes
virus or shingles (herpes zoster). Why would they give him Neurontin
medicine when he is complaining of severe headaches and pain in his
knees?<br><br>
On Sunday, June 11, nine inmates along with Miguel declared a hunger
strike, stating that they “are starving for change.”<br><br>
In response to the 2010 Georgia prison strike, several solidarity actions
were held around the country. Here, protesters from the Concerned
Coalition to Respect Prisoners’ Rights and All of Us or None of Us rally
at the Mound Road prison in Detroit on Dec. 14, 2010.<br>
The failure to treat Miguel for the injuries he sustained at the hands of
the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDOC) officers has caused extreme
stress and worry for the our family. The GDOC don’t even follow their own
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), examples below:
<ul>
<li>Ref# II0090001 Section N-8: Inmates shall be assigned all of his or
her property consistent with the length of assignment and security need
of the unit. (Inmates are not given their property.)
<li>Section N-5: Visitation shall be the same as the general population.
(General population has open visitation; Miguel’s visits are behind a
glass.)
<li>Section N-10: Inmates may order items from the commissary. Items for
the commissary may be withheld if determined by the Correctional
Supervisor to be a threat to the security of the Administrative
Segregation Unit.
<li>Exercise shall be available five hours per week, one hour per day.
(This is not happening: there is a shortage of guards, so inmates are not
given time to exercise.)
</ul>Miguel has been held in maximum security for 18 months. He is being
punished for officers beating him, and the officers are going on with
their lives as if nothing happened. Where is the justice in
that?<br><br>
</font><h3><b>Urgent action needed!</b></h3><font size=3>We must demand
justice for Miguel Jackson and other Georgia state prisoners who are
being targeted and brutalized for exposing their inhumane conditions and
standing up for their most basic human rights.<br><br>
On Dec. 17, 2010, eight days after the strike, Oaklanders rallied and
marched through a driving rainstorm – Jabari Shaw in the lead – in
solidarity with the striking prisoners in Georgia. – Photo: Malaika
Kambon<br>
Pastor Glasgow is organizing a solidarity fasting for the hunger strike
inmates, including Miguel Jackson, and against the inhumane torturous
acts of Georgia prison officials. He’s hosting a rally at the Georgia
State Capitol in Atlanta on Friday, June 29, 2012, from 12-2 p.m. Pastor
Glasgow is calling on all to come and stand with him and other groups for
Miguel Jackson and all inmates being treated wrongly throughout the
country.<br><br>
Please immediately make phone calls and send emails and/or letters to
Department of Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens, as well as Georgia
Gov. Nathan Deal (contact info listed below). Also, help spread the word
by re-posting this solidarity appeal on blogs, email lists, social media
etc. If you are part of an organization, send letters and make calls in
the name of your group.<br><br>
Please send copies of protest letters to
<a href="mailto:nysocialists@hotmail.com">nysocialists@hotmail.com</a>.
For more information, contact Socialist Alternative at (206) 526-7185 or
<a href="mailto:info@socialistalternative.org">
info@socialistalternative.org</a>.<br><br>
</font><h3><b>We must demand justice for Miguel Jackson and other Georgia
state prisoners who are being targeted and brutalized for exposing their
inhumane conditions and standing up for their most basic human
rights.</b></h3><font size=3>Register your protest and support for the 10
GDCP hunger strikers and demand justice by contacting:
<ul>
<li>Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison, Hwy 36 West, P.O. Box
3877, Jackson GA 30233, phone (770) 504-2000, fax (770) 504-2006
<li>Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens, at
<ul>
<li>(478) 992-5258 (This is the number for Owens’ administrative
assistant, Peggy Chapman. Urge her to give him the message.)
<li>(478) 992-5367 (This is the Office of the Ombudsman, which is the
official channel for raising concerns over prisoner treatment)
</ul>
<li>Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, at (404) 656-1776, by fax at (404)
657-7332, online at
<a href="http://gov.georgia.gov/00/gov/contact_us/0,2657,165937316_166563415,00.html">
http://gov.georgia.gov/00/gov/contact_us/0,2657,165937316_166563415,00.html</a>
or by mail to Office of the Gov. Nathan Deal, State of Georgia, 203
State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. </font>
</ul><br><br>
<br>
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