| Wisconsin prisoner workers threaten strike |
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| Staff | |
| Tuesday, 05 June 2007 | |
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Part 1 Annabelle Parker of Forum For Understanding Prisons, Europe division, wrote to the Bay View: “Forum for Understanding Prisons, a prisoner advocacy organization in Wisconsin, as well as Prisoners’ Action Coalition received word from prisoners in Green Bay Correctional Institution (GBCI) who were sacked from their jobs and who sent in a grievance, which resulted in the longest lockdown in the history of the facility. The inmates who demanded their jobs back were made to wear a ‘G’ on their clothes, as a sign that they are members of a ‘Gang’ that does not exist. It may remind you of the yellow Star of David that Jews were made to wear during the Second World War in Europe. “Here are some documents we received from the inmates who were afflicted. You can receive more information from Peggy Swan of FFUP at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ” The prisoners’ complaint, filed Feb. 9, follows. Watch for their account of the retaliation sparked by the complaint in next week’s Bay View. ‘Conditions of Confinement Complaint’ The oppressiveness of the conditions of confinement for us, the prisoner body, within the prisons of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) have become unendurable, making it impossible for us to meaningfully survive within this system and diminishing our chances of survival outside of this system. Suicide and suicide attempts are nearly double the national average and our expenses continue to increase – court filing fees, prison restitutions, canteen prices, outside purchases etc. – yet our pay continues to decrease. Disrespect and other abuses upon us, physical and verbal, occur daily. Society continues to advance, yet our access to society and these societal advancements continues to be denied. Our conduct as a prisoner body is commendable – no frequent homicides, rapes or riots – however, for this, we are disrespected, deprived and punished more severely for minor offenses instead of rewarded with more privileges. You would think that with mere minor offenses, we would be rewarded with more privileges, better prison jobs and wages, a greater good-time program etc. Instead we are tortured with more new control segregation units – instead of needed general population bed space – which are used in place of the general population bed space that was supposed to have been built. We are deprived of CDs and cassette tapes, most hip-hop magazines, all adult magazines, smoking areas even outside, and we have suffered a 30 percent wage cut, with threats of more. Without outside assistance, which many of us do not have, the vast majority of us cannot even afford personal effects, which compels many prisoners to engage in behavior, both illegal and immoral, just to get by. The slave wages within this system are so low, and our expense so high – such as $7.50 medical co-pay, more than many of us get in month – that it forces many of us to have to choose between personal effects or medical care, a greeting card for a special occasion or a stick of deodorant, a letter to the family or a letter to the court. We are being kept in perpetual debt and forced to re-enter society in this state of crisis – a deliberate recipe for recidivism. This economic oppression is compounded daily by a myriad onslaught of more vexing repressions and harassments, such as being aggressively assailed for having shoes untied, pants too loose, too low, too high, too new, shirt not tucked in, our hair style, for playing chess as a pastime, talking to a neighbor, not walking fast enough or not eating fast enough and being forced to stop eating, not showering quick enough and being forced to stop showering, personal property gangstered by staff to do with it as they wish – like a mob shakedown – being shouted at and demeaned by staff etc., etc, any of which can send one of us to the box, and all of which has placed and continues to place undue pressures upon us, which have reached critical mass. It appears that the orchestrators of these types of repressions and harassments – superiors directing correctional officers (COs) to pressure us in these ways – are deliberately provoking us with such disrespect and abuses to engage in violent altercations with staff, which some staff themselves have opined to also be the case. Our collective desire, as evinced here, is not to engage in any violent altercations with anyone. However, we will not continue to be violently attacked, pepper sprayed for no legitimate reason, disrespected, berated, demeaned, degraded, barked at like dogs, treated like slaves and talked to like we are their children – often by staff young enough to be many of OUR children – without legitimate action such as this. Our request here is for RELIEF reflective of our contributions and significance to the various prisons at which we are confined and at which our work performance is VITAL to their operations. To be sure, DOC Administrative Code 303.62 (appendix) has long recognized and continues to recognize that: “Performance of work assignments is vital to the operation of each institution. Laundry, food preparation, cleaning and maintenance are among the tasks performed by inmates. Enforcement, through the disciplinary process, of the duty to work is necessary to the smooth running of the institution. Food service is an example of such work.” Moreover, “Standard 4295, National Advisory Commission, Corrections (1973), suggests that inmates be paid at the prevailing wage paid in the community. Such a positive incentive to work, if it could be implemented in Wisconsin, might greatly reduce the NEED for discipline to force the inmates to work …. Also, it would duplicate much more closely the work conditions existing on the outside, and thus would provide better preparation for working after release.” At present, we are forced to work jobs that we were denied in society – and for a few pennies of the wage, and often nothing at all. The DOC cannot afford and is unwilling to pay citizens on the outside the going wage rate for the industrial proportions of laundry, food, service, cleaning and maintenance that we do every day statewide. For our significant, vital and indispensable contributions, we demand the following RELIEF (listed below and/or attached hereto), and in the absence of this RELIEF, it is our request to be exempt from DOC 303.61-62, or have them nullified, so that we may STRIKE FROM ALL WORK AND/OR SCHOOL AND PROGRAM ASSIGNMENTS for an initial period of 30 days, beginning May 1, 2007, i.e., MAY DAY, the international holiday in honor of workers worldwide, and ending June 1, 2007. During this time, we should not be retaliated against in any form – which will be pursued in litigation if perpetrated – and our REQUEST is that prisoner work duties be suspended and prison staff be ordered to fill in for us to give them a better appreciation and respect for our contributions and respect for us. If by June 1, 2007, there is no guarantee of the RELIEF we’ve requested here, then it is our desire to STRIKE again for a period of 90 days beginning on Labor Day, the first Monday in September, and ending the first Monday of December, 2007. During this time, if necessary, it is our REQUEST that prisoner work duties again be suspended and prison staff be ordered to fill in for us. During this time, we should not be retaliated against in any form – which will be pursued in litigation if perpetrated. “Punishment for crime is loss of liberty, not humanity.” All of us, the guilty and the innocent, have lost our liberty. We refuse to relinquish our humanity any further than we already have. We, the prison body, collectively and respectfully move for all of the RELIEF requested herein. |
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