June 23: TOGETHER TO END SOLITARY Actions

Ithaca, NY  Oakland, CA —  Queens, NY 
San Diego, CA  — San Jose, CA —  Santa Cruz, CA

June is Torture Awareness Month. Click on the large titles below to see action details for June 23rd.

Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement began in March 2014 on the 23rd of every month -in recognition of the 23 or more hours a day that people in solitary spend in their cells. Monthly action coordination soon began nationwide, Together to End Solitary.  Please participate in a public action or event  planned in your area, or get one going yourself- however big or small.  Endorsing organizations here.

Email togethertoendsolitary@gmail.com or phssreachingout@gmail.com for more info and to share upcoming actions to end solitary or reportbacks.

Ithaca, NY: Vigil- Together to End Solitary

5:00pm – 6:30pm
Please join our VIGIL to end solitary confinement. Organized by CAIC, Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement, in partnership with Amnesty International. …Read More…

 

Oakland, CA: Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement

11:00am – 2:00pm
Please participate in an informational demonstration on Thursday, in conjunction with actions all over California and throughout the U.S. Connect with family members, formerly incarcerated people, activists, and attorneys who struggle for prisoner human rights. Unity inside, unity outside! … Read More…

 

NYC End Solitary Confinement Demonstration and Speakout

6:00pm – 7:30pm
This month we will be in Queens at Athens Square in Astoria at 30th Ave. & 30th Street (near the 30th Ave stop of the N/Q). The two legislators in this area, Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas and State Senator Michael Gianaris have been invited to attend. The former has signed on as a co-sponsor of the HALT (Humane Alternatives) to Solitary Confinement A4401/S2659. Come and join us.

 

San Diego, CA: Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement

4:00pm – 5:30pm
Join California Families Against Solitary Confinement and the Chicano Mexicano Prison Project in our monthly action. We will be out talking with people and providing information to END SOLITARY CONFINEMENT and PROMOTE THE AGREEMENT TO END HOSTILITIES. We ask you also to help us stop the current SLEEP DEPRIVATION TORTURE in solitary units. Please come stand (or sit) with us for an hour or two after the work day. …Read More…

 

San Jose, CA: Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement

5:00pm – 6:00pm

San Jose – 23rd of Each Month! (no more keeping people in isolation 23+ hours a day)  We will distribute leaflets and wear signs on our shirts demanding the end of the Sleep Deprivation and the end of Solitary Confinement. …Read More…

 

Santa Cruz, CA: Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement

12:00pm – 2:00pm
RALLY, SPEAK-OUT, READER’S THEATER Facebook event: www.facebook.com/events/988617214527474/

STOP SLEEP DEPRIVATION  The CA prisoners’ 2012 Agreement to End Hostilities between racial/ethnic and geographic groups made possible the Prisoner Hunger Strike of 2013 by over 30,000 CA prisoners and 100’s more nationwide. Prisoners’ human rights organizing has built an amazing movement and led to the historic 2015 settlement ending indefinite solitary confinement in CANow people are being awakened by guards every 30 minutes day and night in CA solitary confinement units: * in Central CA Women’s Facility Administrative Segregation death row since May 18, 2014 and * in Pelican Bay State Prison Security Housing Unit (SHU) since August 2, 2015 …Read More…

May 20th-23rd: Together to End Solitary Events/Actions

Bronx, NY — Ithaca, NY  — Manhasset, NY— Oakland, CA Richmond, CA — San Diego, CA  — San Jose, CA —San Francisco, CA —  Santa Cruz, CA —  Staten Island, NY

Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement began in March 2014 on the 23rd of every month -in recognition of the 23 hours or more per day that people in solitary spend in their cells. Monthly action coordination soon began nationwide, Together to End Solitary.  Please participate in these public actions and events planned in your area, or get one going yourself- however big or small. Here is a great brochure you can print and distribute!
Together to End Solitary BrochureDownload, print two-sided, and fold

Click HERE for more literature to hand out at California actions.

Click on the action/event titles for details.  The below listing includes events on May 20, 21, 22, and 23rd.  Please email togethertoendsolitary@gmail.com or phssreachingout@gmail.com for more info and to share your action details!

Oakland, CA: CARE NOT CAGES, with film “Breaking Down the Box”

Friday, May 20th    7:00pm 9:00pm
685 14th St, Oakland, CA 94612, USA

 

Richmond, CA: SOLITARY MAN – My Visit to Pelican Bay State Prison

Saturday, May 21st    4:00pm 6:30pm
551 23rd St, Richmond, CA 94804, USA

 

Staten Island Performance: Mariposa & the Saint

Saturday, May 21st     7:00pm 9:30pm
1 Campus Rd, Staten Island, NY 10301, USA

 

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March 23: HIP HOP FOR CHANGE and PHSS Event!

Please join Hip Hop for Change and Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition (PHSS) for an evening of powerful Spoken Word and discussion from 6pm to 9pm at the Niebyl-Proctor Library in Oakland, CA.  

This event is in solidarity with the CA prisoners who challenged the torture of solitary confinement and created the historic Agreement to End Hostilities.  We hope to help cultivate strong community connections inside and outside prisons and grow community support in the prisoner class struggle.  The work to end solitary confinement and create true social justice continues.  Social justice does not include destroying lives, families and communities with incarceration, isolation, and torture. 

Right now we must stop the cruel Sleep Deprivation that began many months ago against people in solitary at Pelican Bay and CA Central Women’s Facility.

Saturday, March 23rd is a day of Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement and, nationwide, groups are conducting actions as part of Together to End Solitary. This event in Oakland is connected to a nationwide momentum to end solitary confinement.

Please share the Facebook event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/973551582700324/

EVENT DETAILS:
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
6:00pm – 9:00pm
Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library 6501 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, California 94609
Donations gladly accepted
For more info:  510.426.5322, jp@hiphopforchange.org, phssreachingout@gmail.com
hiphopforchange.org
prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com  

PHSS is excited to collaborate with Hip Hop for Change!  For three years, Hip Hop for Change has been educating youth about social justice issues, Hip Hop culture, history, and the power of self-expression!!! They volunteer with organizations that are uplifting historically marginalized community, they start gardens and donate thousands of hours. Hip Hop for Change throws Hip Hop shows that provide platforms for artists with empowering social justice-oriented narratives!!! 

December 23rd Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement

LAST MINUTE POST

Wednesday, Dec 23 ACTIONS by Location  (alphabetical order)

Beacon, NY –  Eureka, CA – Harlem, NY – Ithaca, NY – Long Island, NY –  Oakland, CA – Poughkeepsie, NY – San Diego (Vista) CA –San Jose, CA – Santa Cruz, CA –

Please see the TOGETHER TO END SOLITARY site for action details.

 


If you don’t see your locale, we haven’t received the details or YOU might need to set up a simple action where you are!!  Here are two resources with ideas to mark the day:
http://www.cjpc.org/2015/CEPS-Action-Packet-final.pdf
http://www.nrcat.org/torture-in-us-prisons/together-campaign

Co-sponsors

Endorsers

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PHSS bannerMedia Advisory – Thursday, October 22, 2015

Communities to rally across the country,
incl. Pelican Bay & Oakland
against solitary confinement

Advocates are rallying against sleep deprivation of prisoners; national effort, “Together to End Solitary,” to launch website

Press Contact:
Mohamed Shehk – 408.910.2618 – mohamed@criticalresistance.org
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition

What:   Rallies against solitary confinement and
“welfare  checks”

Following the historic gains made against solitary confinement in August, prisoners in Pelican Bay State Prison’s SHU report the use of “welfare” or “suicide” checks occurring every thirty minutes, 48 times a day. The checks are being conducted in an aggressive way and prevent people from sleeping for over thirty minutes at a time. Loud stomping, the slamming of doors, the striking of electronic wands against buttons installed by cell doors, and the shining of lights into prisoners’ faces are routine. Deprivation of sleep is widely seen as a form of torture. Additionally, a national effort “Together to End Solitary,” will be launching its website tomorrow in coordination with the monthly actions on the 23rd, www.togethertoendsolitary.org.

 

Who:    Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition
(PHSS)

PHSS is a statewide coalition that includes California Families Against Solitary Confinement, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, Critical Resistance, California Prison Focus, American Friends Service Committee, and many other organizations and individuals who work against imprisonment and solitary confinement.

Where +
When:   Fri, Oct 23 at locations throughout California and
across the country, including:

1:00pm
Across from Pelican Bay State Prison
5905 Lake Earl Dr, Crescent City, CA 95532

                  For a full list of the actions, please visit
https://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/

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Mohamed Shehk
Media and Communications Director
Critical Resistance
1904 Franklin St, Suite 504
Oakland, CA 94612
510.444.0484

Oct. 23rd Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement: Locations & Details

Also, on October 23rd, groups nationwide introduce the Together to End Solitary campaign!

Friday, Oct. 23 ACTIONS by Location
(alphabetical order)

Albany, NY –  Brooklyn, NY – Crescent City, CA (Pelican Bay) – Los Angeles, CA (Newbury Park, CA) –  Oakland, CA – Princeton, NJ – San Diego, CA – San Jose, CA – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Cruz, CA

Full post here. If you don’t see your locale, we haven’t received the details or YOU might need to set up a simple action where you are!!  Here are two resources with ideas to mark the day:
http://www.cjpc.org/2015/CEPS-Action-Packet-final.pdf
http://www.nrcat.org/torture-in-us-prisons/together-campaign

Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement (SCATESC) has a PHSS Facebook Event page.  SCATESC’s growing list of Co-sponsors and Endorsers is below.

Oct. 23 locations & details
below and at Together to End Solitary

Continue reading

Sept. 23rd Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement: Locations & Details

Wed, Sept. 23 ACTIONS by Location
alphabetical order)

 the Bronx, NY –  Crescent City, CA (Pelican Bay) – Los Angeles, CA –   Nationwide for Yom Kippur – Oakland, CA –San Diego, CA – Santa Cruz, CA

If you still don’t see your locale, we haven’t received the details or YOU just might need to set up a simple action where you are!!  Here are two resources with ideas to mark the day:
http://www.cjpc.org/2015/CEPS-Action-Packet-final.pdf
http://www.nrcat.org/torture-in-us-prisons/together-campaign

Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement (SCATESC) has a PHSS Facebook Event page.  SCATESC’s growing list of Co-sponsors and Endorsers is below.  Look soon for a website launch for ‘Together to End Solitary’, the nationwide collaboration

Sept. 23 Locations & Details

the BRONX, NY:
All are welcome to join this monthly demonstration against the torture of solitary confinement.  New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement (CAIC) asks you to lend NY_Together Sept. 23 Flyer_Page_1support to abolish Solitary Confinement in New York State.
Here’s the Bronx Flier & NY Solitary Fact Sheet
Bronx Action Details
Time:  6:00pm EST
Location:  corner of White Plains Rd and Gunn Hill Rd, Bronx, NY 10467
For more info, email caicny@gmail.com
Website: http://nycaic.org/
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/435402853327387/
#HALTSolitaryConfinement

 

CRESCENT CITY , CA:
Headed to demonstrate outside Pelican Bay State Prison (Crescent City, CA)

Sleep Deprivation is Torture”
Please join us on Wednesday, Sept 23rd to protest the sleep deprivation torture that began on the night of Aug 2nd in Pelican Bay SHU, perpetrated by the guards. People in SHU cannot escape the constant noise, and they can’t sleep. It’s torture and it’s really hurting them.

We plan to set up across from Pelican Bay in protest of the 30 minute so-called welfare checks, the guards’ bogus excuse for the sleep deprivation. These “checks” happen 48 times a day, keeping people in SHU sleep deprived DAY & NIGHT.

Want to join us?  We will have a banner and music and information (you can learn, if you don’t know much about solitary).  People have been writing letters, sending emails, and making phone calls about the sleep deprivation, which seems to be retaliation for two successful lawsuits settled on behalf of prisoners.∗

The men inside will learn of our solidarity action which, we hope, will lift their spirits.

We will leave for Crescent City from Eureka on Wednesday morning and come back in the evening. Also, we will be demonstrating against CA prisons entombing people in solitary confinement, period.
Crescent City Action Details
Time:  Carpool from Eureka about 9:00am PST
Protest  12:00pm – 5:00pm PST

Location: across from Pelican Bay, 5905 Lake Earl Dr, Crescent City, CA 95532
For more info, call  707-267-4249
Contact Name: Verbena
Contact Email: phssreachingout@gmail.com
#CAHungerStrike #StopSolitary #Together #SleepDeprivationIsTorture #StopSolitaryCA

 

LOS ANGELES, CA:
If the SHU Fits – Sept 23 Voices to End Solitary Confinement  If the SHU Fits – Voices from Solitary Confinement is a play which uses the history, use of, and statistics about solitary confinement in the United States to paint a broad picture of the practice. But the heart of the play comes from letters, articles, statements, stories and commentaries from those imprisoned and their family members, as well as legal and SHU923v3-LAcommunity testimony.On Sept 1, 2015 an historic legal settlement was announced between CA and prisoners held in isolation for 10 years or more at Pelican Bay State Prison, calling for the end of the use of solitary confinement for people based on alleged prison gang affiliation.  Despite that, the struggle is not over.Come join us to learn more about the ongoing efforts to end solitary confinement and to take action yourself!
HERE‘s the Los Angeles flier!
Los Angeles Action Details

Time: 6:30 pm
Location: St. John’s United Methodist Church 1715 Santa Ana Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90002
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/997504186975480/
Website: iftheshufits.net
For more info, call 310-704-3217
Contact email: info@iftheshufits.net

 

NATIONWIDE FOR YOM KIPPUR:
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights is asking people to dedicate their fast for Yom Kippur (which is on Sept. 23rd) to people in solitary and to educate themselves.
‪#‎StopSolitary‬ ‪#‎Together‬ ‪#‎StopTorture‬

Unfortunately, for many people in America, being alone–continuously–is a daily reality. Between 80,000 and 100,000 incarcerated persons in solitary confinement are alone for 23 hours a day. In support with those who face isolation, activists around the country have dedicated the 23rd of every month as a day of action and solidarity. This month, the 23rd is Yom Kippur. T’ruah is calling on Jews across the country to dedicate their fast to those who suffer in prolonged solitary confinement and renew their commitment to ending it.

Full Invite including Resources from T’ruah about solitary confinement
Website: www.truah.org
Contact email: office@truah.org
For more info, call: (212) 845-5201

 

OAKLAND, CA (two actions, day & night):
Oakland Daytime Action
The big banner and new placards will put attention on the horrendous noise at Pelican Bay SHU 24/7, caused by the ‘wellness checks’.
SLEEP DEPRIVATION = TORTURE
The architecture of the SHU at Pelican Bay amplifies the slamming of the pod doors, the guards clambering up and down the tiers as well as the beeper and wand action by guards. The interpretation of these wellness checks by Pelican Bay staffers is unacceptable. Turn out to hear the latest and sign up for our emergency response network.
Daytime Oakland Action Details
Time: 11:30am – 2:00pm
Location: in front of the CA State Building, 1515 Clay St, Oakland, CA 94612
(between 14th and 15th Streets)
Contact phone: 510-435-1898
Contact email: phssreachingout@gmail.com

Oakland Nighttime Action
Flying Over Walls will be hosting their Oakland LGBTQ+ Prisoner Letterwriting Nightagain in conjunction with Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement – and discussing the recent Ashker v. Governor of California settlement, including what it means and what we are still fighting for.

As the SF Bay Area chapter of Black & Pink, our focus is to connect the non-incarcerated LGBTQ+ folks who participate in our events to B&P members in Northern California prisons.
Nighttime Oakland Action Details
Time: 6:30pm – 8:30pm PST
Location: The Flight Deck, 1540 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612
Website: https://flyingoverwalls.wordpress.com/about/
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1635556230055874/

 

SAN DIEGO, CA:
We will be out talking with people and providing information to END SOLITARY CONFINEMENT and promote the AGREEMENT TO END HOSTILITIES. Please come join us for an hour after the work day.
San Diego Action Details
Time: 6:30pm – 7:30pm PST
Location: Rosa Park (park is next to the library) City Heights, San Diego  92105
Contact Person: Martha Esquivel
Contact Email:  emartha42@yahoo.com

 

SANTA CRUZ, CA:
Join us on Wednesday September 23rd, 2015 in Santa Cruz as part of actions statewide throughout California and state-by-state nationwide.  We will have sign-making, leafletting, and a rally. Also:
Zines and other literature
•Security Housing Unit (SHU) / solitary model food tray
Updates on the landmark victory of Ashker v. Gov. Brown and Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement in CA & nationwide
Readers’ Theater: plaintiffs’ statement on the settlement of Ashker v. Governor of California; women in and against solitary confinement.

On September 1, 2015 a landmark settlement ended indeterminate long-term solitary confinement in California prisons. The settlement may release 2,000 prisoners from solitary confinement. Let’s keep up the pressure to make sure it is implemented, and to end solitary confinement (15 days is torture), abusive prison conditions, and mass incarceration of the poor, particularly communities of color. 90% of people in the SHU in CA are people of color.

Sept. 5, 2015 is the 2-year anniversary of the suspension of the third nonviolent CA Prisoner Hunger Strike and work stoppage by over 30,000 prisoners. It was based on 5 Core Human Rights Demands and the Agreement to End Hostilities between all racial/ethnic and geographic groups in CA prisons, jails, and communities.
Santa Cruz Action Details
Time: 11:30am Sign-Making and Set Up
12 noon Leaflet and Talk with passersby
12:30pm – 2:30pm RALLY

Location: corner of Pacific Ave. and Cooper St., next to O’Neill’s, 110 Cooper St., Santa Cruz 95060
For more info, call  831-325-3251
Contact email: phssreachingout@gmail.com
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1685905584966193/

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Sunday, Aug. 23rd– Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement

Action Locations and Details — from San Diego to Arcata, CA to New York City  HERE

Solitary Is Torture

Important Upcoming AUGUST 2015 Events

SAVE THESE DATES

⇒August 23rd, Sunday:
Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement

Use this Facebook Event page to find what is happening in different locales throughout CA and across the nation on August 23rd.   Add your own action information to that Event Page or  HERE so we can post it.  Together we will End Solitary!! Here are materials you can use for your action.

⇒August 29th, Saturday and August 30th, Sunday:
Two gatherings to grow California Families Against Solitary Confinement (CFASC)

Inviting all family members, loved ones and formerly incarcerated individuals to be a part of CFASC.  Please post/share this weekend of events in Oakland, allies also welcome!

Aug 29th, Saturday
Strategy/Organizing Training for people working to end solitary confinement and for people wanting to get involved.
10am-4pm
First Unitarian Church in Oakland, Wendte Room
685 14th St, Oakland, CA
Free event, food included!
Hosted by Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition (PHSS)

Aug 30th, Sunday
Barbeque at Mosswood Park, Oakland CA
12-5pm
Mosswood Park is at 3650 Webster St.
We’ll be at the BBQ area on Webster
Free event, food included! Food at 1pm

This BBQ gathering is especially for family members and loved ones of people in prison and formerly incarcerated individuals.  Help continue to build a strong family base of CFASC members.

Bring what you have to share, especially your passion for stopping the torture of long-term solitary confinement (and lawn chair, side dish, lawn game if you have them). Active participation/volunteers will be needed to make this event a success!
We’ll also take some time for reflection on the training from the day before.  Hosted by Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition (PHSS).

Contact phssreachingout@gmail.com or (510) 426-5322 for more info about the events, or to get in contact in the future.

RSVP to phssreachingout@gmail.com, 510-426-5322, or HERE

Nationwide Actions to Honor Two Year Anniversary of Largest Prisoner Hunger Strike in History

Media Advisory – Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Activists plan nationwide actions
to honor two year anniversary
of largest prisoner hunger strike in history

Press Contact:
Mohamed Shehk  408.910.2618 mohamed@criticalresistance.org
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity (PHSS) Coalition

What:     Prison activists plan nationwide mobilizations against solitary confinement

Community organizations, families and loved ones of people in solitary, and prisoner human rights advocates across California and the country will be mobilizing a day of Statewide Coordinated Actions to End Solitary Confinement on July 23, as part of an ongoing series of monthly actions to oppose solitary confinement. July 2015 marks the two year anniversary of the largest prisoner hunger strike in history, when over 30,000 prisoners in California began refusing meals on July 8, 2013 for two months in a protest initiated by people in Pelican Bay State Prison’s solitary confinement units.

Who:   Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition, as well as over 75 groups nationwide

These actions were initiated by PHSS organizations including California Families Against Solitary Confinement, California Prison Focus, Critical Resistance, Sin Barras, American Friends Service Committee, People’s Action for Rights and Community, and others, but have now grown to include over 75 groups nationwide. For a full list, visit http://tinyurl.com/STATESCsupport

When:    Thursday, July 23, 2015

Times will vary for each action – see http://tinyurl.com/ActionsAgainstSolitary for information

Where:   Over 13 cities in California and across the country, including Oakland, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, as well as in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and more. See http://tinyurl.com/ActionsAgainstSolitary for information on all planned actions.

Why:    Despite international condemnation of solitary confinement as torture, California continues to use the practice and deny basic human rights

These mobilizations are a response to a proposal from prisoners in Pelican Bay State Prison involved in the 2011 and 2013 Hunger Strikes, who put forward the idea of designating a day each month as Prisoner’s Rights Day. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) refuses to respect basic human rights by continuing to keep people isolated in cells, often for many years, despite international condemnation calling on California to end its practice of solitary confinement. Solitary confinement has been defined as torture by the U.N., yet the U.S. puts more people in solitary and for longer periods than any other country, and California continues to be an outlier in the U.S. Activists are demanding an end to solitary confinement, and that the five human rights demands of prisoners who participated in the hunger strikes be met: http://tinyurl.com/FiveDemands

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