On Saturday past, hundreds of Palestinian political prisoners announced a stunning victory against the repressive conditions in Israeli prisons.
After Israeli prison officials granted some concessions, a majority of Palestinian prisoners who had engaged in a huge hunger strike, called off the 40-day action.
According to these officials, some 1,578 prisoners joined the strike, and 834 ended it on Saturday, the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. Eighteen others were hospitalized.
The hunger strike was led by Marwan Barghouti, a political prisoner who has been held by the occupation forces for 13 years, and also a commander of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The prisoners were protesting poor food, overcrowding, denial of educational opportunities, better medical care, and an end to solitary confinement.
Another key demand was an end to what Israeli officials term administrative detention — or confinement without trial or even a charge. The Palestinian prisoners prevailed on all these points.
The hunger strike, called “Strike for Dignity and Freedom: was a bold political action against the Israeli apartheid state.
The Palestinian prisoner support network, Samidoun, praised the prisoner hunger strikers for their steadfastness, and saluted their victory. They also seriously critiqued the International Red Cross (IRC) for its failure to support a second monthly family visit, citing budgetary concerns.
Samidoun and other Palestinian supporters praised the prisoners’ action, and noted that Israel holds some 6,000 Palestinian prisoners, including children, illegally.
![Prison Radio is sharing an abbreviated version of a press release covering recent racist incidents at SCI Rockview in PA and the organizing to demand accountability. We are reaching out to people incarcerated at Rockview as well as recently transferred folks, inviting them to call, in hopes of hearing commentaries from them.
Benner Township, PA.-
On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for many prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hung, they were told it was a joke.
By December 4th, prisoners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates" and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Captain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance.
The sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions...
As of March 10th, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending 100 copies of the grievance. Copies of the letter also were mailed to Governor Shapiro, Senator Fetterman, Senator Street, and various advocacy groups. The demands for relief in the original grievance have now become the platform of demands for this campaign. About 20 of the 100 letters were withheld by the prison.
Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, flooding the phone lines of DOC offices, assisting with outreach to media, and circulating the stories of prisoners who have found unity in opposition to the facility's virulent institutional racism.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendent's assistant and "grievance coordinator" informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong.
Read the full article at i
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