Dear Friend,
Emily from Address This!, who we appreciate and respect, asked us to share this urgent action – and we jumped right on it. Please take a moment to read and act now.
Address This! has worked for a decade building political education and curriculums from the inside out.
Thomas Gordon, of the Vaughn Correctional Uprising, is incarcerated in a South Carolina prison, where his life is being threatened. He is on a hunger strike to demand an immediate transfer and needs your support!
Thomas is a Delaware State prisoner who was transferred under the Interstate Compact to the South Carolina prison system several years ago. In September, he was attacked in an altercation with two gang-affiliated prisoners; he was stabbed and he also stabbed those two individuals in self-defense. As a result of that altercation, there is now a bounty on his life and he has been facing imminent death threats. You can read a letter from Thomas describing the situation here. We are asking everyone to contact the Delaware State Prison System to demand he be transferred out of South Carolina immediately.
Thomas Gordon is currently at Ridgeland Correctional Institute and his # is 387021. Once you have made the calls, please email Emily (e.e.abendroth@gmail.com) to let us know what kind of response you got. A call script is included below. Thank you so much in advance!
In Delaware, CALL:
- Michael Tipton, DE Office of the Commissioner at 302-739-5601, ext 5235
- Heather Hamlett at 302-857-5218 (if that # doesn’t go through, try 302-739-5601, ext 405218)
Call the number. If someone answers, ask to speak with Heather/Michael. If you get a voicemail, you can leave a message based on the call script below. If it rings and rings or you get a busy signal, hang up and try back later. If you actually get connected to the person:
Hi, my name is ________ and I am calling because I am concerned for the safety of Thomas Gordon. Thomas is a Delaware State prisoner (#387021) who is currently being housed at Ridgeland Correctional Institute in South Carolina where he is on hunger strike. Thomas is currently facing credible death threats from other prisoners at this facility and needs to be transferred out of the SC Department of Corrections for his safety. This prison has been the site of many recent stabbings, and just last week a 34 year old prisoner named Patrick Chase Massey was killed in his cell. I believe Thomas’s life is in imminent danger.
Thomas is a Delaware State Prisoner and his safety is your responsibility. I am calling to ask you to transfer him immediately out of South Carolina. Are you able to transfer him today?
If they say vaguely that they will look into it: When is a good time for me to call back to check on the status of this?
If they say they can’t do anything: Is there someone else you can transfer me to who can address this urgent issue?
In South Carolina, CALL:
- Salley Elliot, Deputy Director of Legal and Compliance: 803-896-8508
- Ombudsman’s office: (803) 896-9409
Call the number. If someone answers, ask to speak with Salley or the Ombudsman. If neither of them are in, leave a message with who is. If you get a voicemail, you can leave a message based on the call script below. If it rings and rings or you get a busy signal, hang up and try back later. If you actually get connected to the person:
Hi, my name is ________ and I am calling because I am concerned for the safety of Thomas Gordon (#387021) who is at Ridgeland Correctional. Thomas is currently on hunger strike and facing credible death threats from other prisoners at this facility. He needs to be transferred out immediately. He should be transferred to Kirkland Correctional Institute for his safety until Delaware can transfer him out of state. Ridgeland prison has been the site of many recent stabbings. Last week a prisoner named Patrick Chase Massey was killed in his cell. I believe Thomas’s life is in imminent danger and he should be transferred to Kirkland.
If they ask for additional info in any of the above calls:
On September 10, two other incarcerated people rushed into Mr. Gordon’s cell with weapons. Thomas was involved in an altercation in which he was stabbed and he stabbed two gang members in self defense. Part of this was captured by prison security cameras, and Thomas was sent into lock-up. None of the individuals involved gave statements. While he was in lock up, he began to receive credible threats to his safety that would involve multiple people attacking him and trying to seriously injure or kill him.
Thomas was just moved back into general population from the hole on Monday afternoon (12/9) and the entire prison was on lock down Tuesday (12/10) because of an altercation at the prison on Friday where another individual was severely stabbed by gang members.
Thomas has sent a letter to prison administrators detailing the situation, which you can read here.
To allow or require Thomas to stay in that prison for even another hour, let alone another day is to set him up for certain injury or death. He must be transferred to another state immediately.
We at Prison Radio know that we can rely on our network to show up in moments of crisis. Let’s show Thomas our support by calling today. Our organizing could help save his life.
In Solidarity,
For Emily, at “Address This!”