A ban on pencils in cells. A one-hour decrease in rec time, unexplained. C.O brutality covered up. An inmate death barely mentioned. Arbitrary rules on visitor IDs. And all of this on top of the usual: innutritious food, exorbitant phone and commissary prices, medical negligence and long detentions without court appearances.
But many prisoners at the Durham jail haven’t been taking this repression sitting down, and have come together in the past year to protest these conditions through various means, including petitions, disobedience, and by writing about their experiences (check out: amplifyvoices.com). Please come to show your support and solidarity with them and all prisoners and your commitment to doing what you can to tear down the walls in 2014.
For several years, people all over the world have chosen to protest prison society and celebrate the struggles of people behind bars on New Year’s Eve. For the third year in a row, we are coming together at the Durham jail, the modern day plantation that sits adjacent to the symbol of Durham’s glittering night life–the Performing Arts Center (DPAC)–and the carefree ‘cool’ downtown exemplified by American Tobacco Campus. The Durham County Detention Center warehouses human beings and is part of a society that snuffs out potential and destroys real community. We’ll come together the final night of 2013 to show our solidarity and express our rage and bring light to the struggles taking place in Durham and throughout prisons and jails in North Carolina (and beyond).
As a Durham jail prisoner recently wrote: “The Justice system has its claws sunk deep and it will take a hell of a lot to change and uproot (it).†How true—but it can and must be done. Come join us to point the way toward deepening struggles in 2014. Bring anti- prison banners and flags, drums, pots and pans, and anything that makes light and noise. Bring your hopes and visions for 2014, and your rage and anger for the prison system that locks up our friends, comrades, and family members.