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Committee to End the Marion Lockdown

The Committee to End the Marion Lockdown (CEML) was a movement organization that opposed control unit prisons in particular, and racism and oppression in general. It was founded in 1985 and came to a close in 2000. Over the course of those 15 years, CEML led and organized hundreds of educational programs and demonstrations in many parts of the country and tried to build a national movement against “end-of-the-line” prisons. Along the way the Committee wrote thousands of pages of educational and agitational literature and pioneered new ways of analyzing and fighting against this national quagmire that morphed into the proliferation of the “prison industrial complex.”

Collection includes: Publications on their efforts to shut down the Marion Prison control unit, prevent the opening of USP Florence, CO; protests against toxic water at Crab Orchard Lake; efforts to improve conditions for inmates; efforts to stop the proliferation of Control Units in general; and further human rights and social justice in the US prison system.

Kurshan, N. (2012). OUT OF CONTROL: A Chronological Narrative of the Committee to End the Marion Lockdown's 15 Year Struggle (manuscript ed., p. 1).

Documents

Mass Incarceration and Control Units in Prisons: Mind Control or Social Control? Mass Incarceration and Control Units in Prisons: Mind Control or Social Control?
Date: 10/21/1995Call Number: PM 336Format: Cass A & BProducers: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown (CEML)Collection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Mind Control or Social Control? About closing the control units at Marion Prison. Nancy Kurshan of CEML (Committee to End the Marion Lockdown), Dr. Alan Berkman who has provided medical care for Black Liberation Army and Panther members as well as AIM activists at Wounded Knee in the 1970s. Berkman also speaks about being a former political prisoner, the prison system and control units as forms of social control which target revolutionary movements. Film segments about former LA gang member and Pelican Bay prisoner Sanyika Shakur. Transcript available for download.
Mass Incarceration and Control Units in Prisons: Mind Control or Social Control? CEML #3 Mass Incarceration and Control Units in Prisons: Mind Control or Social Control? CEML #3
Date: 10/21/1995Call Number: PM 345AFormat: Cass AProducers: Committee to End the Marion LockdownCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
A program sponsored by the Committee to End the Marion Lockdown (CEML), an organization dedicated to closing the control units at Marion Prison. Nancy Kurshan of CEML introduces Jose Lopez, Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, member of the Movimiento de Liberacion Nacional, and brother of political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera. He discusses the connections between American colonialism/imperialism and the extensive use of prisons in the US. This tape is a continuation of PM 336. Transcript available for download.
Mass Incarceration and Control Units in Prisons: Mind Control or Social Control? Mass Incarceration and Control Units in Prisons: Mind Control or Social Control?
Date: 10/21/1995Call Number: PM 419Format: Cass A & BProducers: Committee to End the Marion LockdownCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
A program sponsored by the Committee to End the Marion Lockdown (CEML), an organization dedicated to closing the control units at Marion Prison. Nancy Kurshan of CEML introduces Jose Lopez, Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, member of the Movimiento de Liberacion Nacional, and brother of political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera. He discusses the connections between American colonialism/imperialism and the extensive use of prisons in the US. This tape is a better copy of PM 336 and PM 345 A. Transcript available for download.
Reflections on conscientious objection to Vietname was and incarceration Reflections on conscientious objection to Vietname was and incarceration
Author: Tony HintzPublisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Petition to Dir. J. Michael Quinlan Regarding Marion Water Supply Petition to Dir. J. Michael Quinlan Regarding Marion Water Supply
Publisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownFormat: PetitionCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
No Control Unit Prisons at Marion, Florence or Anywhere Else! No Control Unit Prisons at Marion, Florence or Anywhere Else!
Publisher: Committee to End the Marion lockdownFormat: PetitionCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Bill Dunne Re Colorado Bill Dunne Re Colorado
Author: Bill DunneFormat: CorrespondenceCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Suggestions for campaign.
Women and Imprisonment in the US Women and Imprisonment in the US
Author: Nancy KurshanFormat: MonographCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
History of women's imprisonment since medieval ages. Discusses the disproportionate ratio of white to minority incarceration rates. Includes feminist discourse. Hard copy is reproduction of version that appeared in Cages of steel, edited by Ward Churchill and J.J. Vanderwall.
Marion Prison's Toxic Water: The Slow Death Penalty Marion Prison's Toxic Water: The Slow Death Penalty
Publisher: John Brown Anti-Klan Committee; Prairie Fire Organizing Committee; Freedom Now!; Committee to End the Marion LockdownFormat: FlyerCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Demonstration on 4/24/; no year.
Illinois Supermax -- Not a Solution! Illinois Supermax -- Not a Solution!
Publisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownFormat: FlyerCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Educational flyer on Supermax prisons.