Visiting A Modern Day Slave Plantation --An Interview With Nancy A. Heitzeg (tags)
My interest in Angola is as both a paradigm of the Southern transformation of plantations into prisons and as a prototype for what we now call the prison industrial complex. Many old plantations in the South became prisons after the Civil War. Angela Y. Davis traces the initial rise of the penitentiary system to the abolition of slavery, writing: “in the immediate aftermath of slavery, the southern states hastened to develop a criminal justice system that could legally restrict the possibilities of freedom for the newly released slaves.”
The Mark of Cain: God and Man at Angola Prison (tags)
This article by James Ridgeway is featured at a brand new website focusing on the issue of solitary confinement in prisons. The Solitary Watch News site (http://www.solitarywatch.wordpress.com) is part of an emerging project called Solitary Watch, an innovative public web site aimed at bringing this issue out of the shadows and into the light of the public square.
Southern Injustice: Herman Wallace of the Angola 3 (tags)
Convicted of murder in a deeply flawed trial, Herman Wallace has spent nearly 37 years in solitary confinement. Will new evidence finally lead to his release?
Letter from Atenco Political Prisoners (tags)
SANTIAGUITO PRISONERS DENOUNCE ATTACK BY GUARD AGAINST POLITICAL PRISONER posted by Resistencia, Radio Pacheco
A macabre flight of fancy (tags)
Story (graphic)
Former San Quentin prison warden opposes the execution (on 1/17) of Clarence Ray Allen (tags)
Allen's capital crimes were repugnant, but they bear little on the assessment of the threat he poses. They occurred long ago and under very different circumstances.... It will be particularly difficult for the execution of Allen to be accomplished in a dignified way.... Must we insist on dragging a dying man out of the hospital just so we can inject the chemicals that will kill him a little bit sooner? ...sparing Allen from execution would be an act of decency, compassion and justice.
April 2 Rally a CSP-LAC Lancaster Prison (tags)
Five inmates are dead since Sept., others are being tortured. Warden Harrison is very certain people aren't going to drive 60 miles into the desert to stand up to this. We are hoping for mothers, grandmothers, older people but all are welcome.