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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.
Voices on and of Prisons Voices on and of Prisons
Date: 2/1/1996Call Number: PM 417AFormat: Cass AProducers: WMVA AmherstProgram: UndercurrentsCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Steve Whitman on: The basics of imprisonment rates, racial hysteria and its beginnings, what kind of people are in control units and how control units are used against political prisoners, as well as the Amnesty International investigation into control units violations of human rights.
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.
CEML Ex-Prisoner Panel and Discussion CEML Ex-Prisoner Panel and Discussion
Date: 3/16/1990Call Number: PM 424Format: Cass A & BProducers: Committee to End the Marion LockdownCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Former political prisoners talking about their struggles, cases and the cruel policies and procedures of control unit prisons.
Judge Bruce Wright on racism Judge Bruce Wright on racism
Date: 11/4/1989Call Number: PM 428Format: Cass A & BProducers: Konnections, Commitee to End the Marion LockdownCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Introduction by Nancy Kurshan and preliminary comments by Jose Lopez. Lecture by Bruce Wright, judge, scholar, poet and activist for social justice. Using his own experience as a Black man, he describes the history of US racism and the criminal justice system. Transcript available for download: http://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC3_scans/3.wright.speech.bangs.whispers.1989.pdf
NPR Report on Lexington Control Unit NPR Report on Lexington Control Unit
Date: 10/1/1986Call Number: PM 430Format: CassetteProducers: National Public RadioCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Jacki Lyden reports on the lawsuit challenging the placement of Susan Rosenberg, Alejandrina Torres and Silvia Beraldini in the Lexington control unit, which resulted in Lexington's closure.
Marion Appeal Press Conference Marion Appeal Press Conference
Date: 3/1/1988Call Number: PM 431Format: CassetteProducers: Committee to End the Marion LockdownCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Press conference on the appeal of Bureau of Prisons decision to keep the Marion Lock down, they're treatment of prisoners in violation of Human Rights standards and the 8th Amendment, and the classification of prisoners or lack thereof. Speakers include Dr. Steve Whitman and Attorney Jan Susler.
NPR Report on Marion Lockdown NPR Report on Marion Lockdown
Date: 10/1/1986Call Number: PM 435AFormat: Cass AProducers: National Public RadioCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Jacki Lydon reports on the 3rd year of the Marion lockdown. Describes conditions, who is imprisoned and why, and allegations of ill treatment and Human Rights violations. Includes interviews with administration and inmates. Transcript is available for download: http://www.freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC3_scans/3.inside.marion.008.pdf
Today's Legal Repression Session 1 Today's Legal Repression Session 1
Date: 11/1/1986Call Number: PM 434Format: CassetteProducers: CEMLCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
Rachel Rosen Degolia on the government's war on the bill of rights and the Freedom of Information Act. Maryann Corley on the Sanctuary movement and the use of prohibition laws to conduct illegal searches. Michael Deutsch on the fundamental use of repression by the state, especially in the last 10 years.