from Iffy Books
April 13 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Are you anarcho-curious? Bring your thoughts and questions to an open discussion!
Posts by Philly Anti-Cap
In Contempt #39: Jack Out on Bond, Resistance at Tacoma Detention Center Continues
from It’s Going Down
Thereâs a lot happening, so letâs dive right in!
Political Prisoner News
The call for support to get adequate healthcare for longterm Black Liberation prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal continues, with a request to keep the pressure up on the Pennsylvania prison system. You can read a report from a recent visit with Mumia here. A new fundraiser has been set up to help the fight for Mumiaâs medical treatment.
General Prison News and Abolitionist Media
The Pennsylvania network of abolition study groups have organized a campaign in solidarity with prisoners at SCI Rockview, a prison where guards hung nooses up and prisoners who complained were sent to solidarity. You can read the original call for a phone zap here, along with an update for the second week of the campaign here. They also have documentation of the mass grievance letter-writing campaign that was launched by comrades inside the prison, and a set of broader reflections on abolitionist strategy.
Uprising Defendants
See Uprising Support for more info, and check out the Antirepression PDX site for updates from Portland cases. To the best of our knowledge they currently include:
David Elmakayes 77782-066
FCI McKean
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 8000
Bradford, PA 16701
Anthony Smith
14813-509
FCI Fort Dix
Federal Correctional Institution
Satellite Camp
P.O. Box 2000
Joint Base MDL, NJ 08640
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia is an award winning journalist and was one of the founders of the Black Panther Party chapter in Philadelphia, PA. He has struggled for justice and human rights for people of color since he was at least 14 years old; the age when he joined the Party. In December of 1982, Mumia, who moonlighted by driving a taxi, happened upon police who were beating his brother. During the melee, a police officer was shot and killed. Despite the fact that many people saw someone else shoot and then runaway from the scene, Mumia, in what could only be called a kangaroo court, was convicted and sentenced to death. During the summer of 1995, a death warrant was signed by Governor Tom Ridge, which sparked one of the most effective organizing efforts in defense of a political prisoner ever. Since that time, Mumia has had his death sentence overturned, but still has a life sentence with no opportunity for parole.
Pennsylvania uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going to connectnetwork.com, selecting âAdd a facility,â choosing âState: Pennsylvania, Facility: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections,â going into the âmessagingâ service, and then adding Mumia as a contact by searching his name or âAM8335.â
Birthday: April 24
Address:
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM8335
SCI Mahanoy
Post Office Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida 33733
Janiis Mathis
Pennsylvania uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going to connectnetwork.com, selecting âAdd a facility,â choosing âState: Pennsylvania, Facility: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections,â going into the âmessagingâ service, and then adding him as a contact by searching his name or âNU0423.â
Birthday: April 24
Address:
Janiis Mathis
SBI# 00492275
Sussex Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 500
Georgetown DE 19947
Timeline of the autonomous struggle to fire guards at SCI Rockview
Submission
Timeline of the last *two weeks* alone, in the autonomous struggle to fire guards for nooses at SCI Rockview:
March 13 Press Release :
March 13 we learn about letter campaign:
https://abolitioniststudy.com/2024/03/23/inside-letter-campaign-as-tactic/
March 14 Centre Daily article drops
https://www.centredaily.com/news/local/community/article286651355.html
March 18-22 Phone Zap:
https://abolitioniststudy.com/2024/03/18/phone-zap-in-solidarity-with-comrades-at-sci-rockview/
March 21: Notes on Insurgency
March 25-29 Phone Zap:
https://abolitioniststudy.com/2024/03/25/rock-zap-2nd-week-ftp/
March 26 Press Release:
March 26: Security Van Tires Slashed
- https://phlanticap.noblogs.org/security-van-tires-slashed/
- https://scenes.noblogs.org/post/2024/03/29/security-van-tires-slashed/
March 27: Public Call for Autonomous Campaign drops
https://phlanticap.noblogs.org/sci-rockview-autonomous-campaign/
https://scenes.noblogs.org/post/2024/03/29/sci-rockview-autonomous-campaign/
March 28: First audio clip of Charles G’s wife leaks
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5GbzSZOQy_/?igsh=b
March 28: Nicki Paul phone call audio leak:
https://abolitioniststudy.com/2024/03/28/conversations-with-grievance-coordinator/
March 29 Phone Zap update (updated again Mrch 31):
https://abolitioniststudy.com/2024/03/29/3-29-phone-zap-persists-update-rockview/
Nationalist White Power Band Condemned84 South Jersey Show Cancelled
from Jersey Counter-Info
In November 2023, Stomp Out NJ, a NJ hardcore show and event planning project run by Jay Baluski, announced it would be hosting a show on April 20, 2024 featuring nationalist punk band Condemned84.
Condemned84 has decades long ties to Britainâs nationalist socialist and white power movements. Immediately upon the shows announcement there was understandable outcry from the local hardcore community over the organization of the show.
Baluski/Stomp Out NJ played dumb and tried to shrug off peopleâs legitimate concerns like Condemned84âs nationalist and racist history, the date of the show overlapping with Hitlerâs birthday (a well known and celebrated âholidayâ among national socialists), the event flier having a coded swastika on it, and the location of the show being a secret.
While Baluski tried to play coy about the show and offered half-assed excuses to avoid any heat, the NJ hardcore scene and antifascists started to apply pressure to get the show cancelled. With consistent public pressure applied to Baluski/Stomp Out NJ, information about the scheduled April 20, 2024 show went dark for several months. In March 2024, Baluski made a public announcement on his social media that he had cancelled the Condemned84 show and was refunding ticket sales.
The cancellation of the Condemned84 show can be attributed to the collective effort between the NJ hardcore scene and NJ antifascists, who created an inhospitable environment for racist nazi bullshit. Baluski/Stomp Out NJ do not currently have plans to reschedule the show or host future national socialist shows but both should be regarded with extreme caution. Nazi sympathizers and their ilk have no place in NJ.
Encuentro Internacional de PrĂĄcticas Anarquicas Antiautoritarias Contra las Fronteras Reporte & Filmes Cortos
Submission
International Gathering on Anarchic and Anti-Authoritarian Practices Against Borders
Report-back & Short Films
A brief bilingual report-back, Q&A, and conversation on the anarchist convergence against borders that took place in Tijuana, MX at the end of January
Will be followed by some shorts in English.
Wednesday, April 3rd
6:30 @ ORCA
DM for address:
@OrcaPhilly (Xitter)
accessibility info:
Encuentro Internacional de PrĂĄcticas Anarquicas Antiautoritarias Contra las Fronteras
Reporte & Filmes Cortos
Un breve reportaje, Q&A, y conversaciĂłn bilingĂŒe sobre el encuentro anarquista anti-fronterizo que ocurriĂł en Tijuana, MX a fines de enero.
Serå seguido por algunos cortos en inglés.
Miércoles, 3 de Abril
6:30 @ ORCA
pregĂșntenos la direcciĂłn:
@OrcaPhilly (Xitter)
Impunity and Cover-up: Correctional Officers Hang Nooses in SCI Rockview, Prisoners Speak Out!
from Dreaming Freedom, Practicing Abolition
March 26, 2024
For Immediate Release
Benner Township, PA.- On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the COâs 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 âunethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmatesâ and âunsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.â 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 over two months later by February 5, 2024 under the guise that it was âbeing investigated.â However, the sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions for this racist act.
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 facilityâs virulent institutional racism.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendentâs assistant and âgrievance coordinatorâ informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong. When family and friends of prisoners in the facility called en mass between March 18th and 25th to voice their concern, Paul was flippant, dishonest, and dismissive to nearly every caller. Several family members of prisoners felt incredibly disrespected by the behavior of Paul and other staff who answered their calls. In the process of calling in, it also became known that Paul holds several other titles within the prison, including âstaff officer,â âlieutenantâs assistant,â and âcommunity liaison.â Samuel Condo, a PA-DOC official responsible for overseeing SCI Rockview, was called over a dozen of times to no avail. When contact was finally made with Condo, he simply would redirect calls back to Nicki Paul whose multiple roles on the prison staff create severe conflicts of interest.
Paul admits that SCI Rockview does indeed have video footage, yet the reasons why they refuse to make this footage public has not been given any reasonable justification. As of the week of March 18th, SCI Rockview has closed the internal investigation, choosing to protect the guards who did this hateful and racist act over the safety and well-being of the prisoners. In the meantime, the administration removed two prisoners from general population who brought the situation to public light. One was transferred out of the prison, and the other one is still in administrative custody, aka âthe holeâ under accusations of âencouraging group activity.â
This incident is coming after a year that saw 11 prisoners die in custody. Seven people died amidst an outbreak of legionnaires disease, and four people died while in administrative custody (punitive solitary units with very little public oversight and severely limited communication access). Unfortunately, there is a well-known pattern of premature death and racist discriminatory practices (including beatings and verbal harassment) at SCI Rockview.
There is a resistance campaign that has emerged from the persistent actions of prisoners and outside supporters, who together are demanding an external investigation of the facility & its staff for the cover-up of hanging the nooses. The severity of retaliation for speaking out must also be considered a central object of investigation. We believe the inaction of officials at this facility is symptomatic of a deeper condition of antiBlackness, white supremacy, and class warfare that PA-DOC legally sanctions and politically condones. On both sides of the wall, people most impacted by the racism of SCI Rockview continue to uplift the demands of prisoners to investigate the noose incident as a hate crime, to terminate Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard, and to require mandatory therapy for CO Kirchner. While a grassroots campaign is indeed growing, and as PA-DOC slides further into dissonant inaction, the call for popular resistance to SCI Rockviewâs lethal conditions rings louder by the day.
Contact: abolitionist-study@protonmail.com
SCI Rockview Autonomous Campaign
Submission
What is happening right now at SCI Rockview is an autonomous campaign to get two guards fired and for one to received mandated therapy as an act of âmercy.â An autonomous campaign means that it is open to all for participation, using tactics according to their own abilities and needs. It means it is decentralized and not led by a single party, non-profit, or institutionalized entity. It is a type of campaign that anyone who is impacted by the violence of PA-DOCÂ can join in, anonymously or as their full legal selves. It means a diversity of tactics and direct action are on the table always. It is a type of campaign that has no registration form or membership fees. It simply means that if you are moved by or can relate to the unfolding struggle of prisoners at Rockview, then you are qualified to participate. The situation is becoming more dire by the day in this facility, with the staff initiating a backlash that has put multiple people in the hole (solitary) and even transferred one prisoner out of state.
Press release:
Impunity and Cover-up: Correctional Officers Hang Nooses in SCI Rockview, Prisoners Speak Out!
Phone zap:
One specific need that potentially can be fulfilled is further research into specific highly responsible prison officials, which is information available in the phone zap scripts and press releases. This information can be circulated somewhere where people familiar with this kind of research can encounter it, like Scenes from the Atlanta Forest or Philadelphia Anti-Capitalist.
Scenes:
https://scenes.noblogs.org/submissions/
Philly Anti-Capitalist:
Here is an example of this type of call for research, offered by imprisoned anarchist Sean Swain back in 2018:
On Slavery, Nat Turner, John Brown, and Drones: A Statement from Sean Swain
1312/ FTP
Security Van Tires Slashed
Submission
“Are people within prisons/jail/detention the only ones who are expected to engage in material disruption? To take risks? Are we just vessels of emotional solidarity?”
“Where are the vulnerabilities to prison management’s morale and how does one remove the will of guards to endure?”
Security guards protect property. They help the police put people in prisons, they are part of the prison industrial complex. As people attack property private security acts as the auxiliary of the prison and police state. With this in mind as well as reading about the conditions at SCI Rockview we slashed the tires of a Securitas van. This was a small, easy, and replicate-able action that you can do with a friend. We agree with the comrade at SCI Rockview that âan assault on both fronts” is necessary, targets are everywhere. In the amerikkkan hellscape our lives are deeply embedded in the infrastructure of confinement. This is why we chose to attack the security van. Small actions like these can build capacity to be able to break down the prison walls.
Destroy PA-DOC
Fuck security guards
Fire to the prisons
-some anarchists
Notes on abolitionist insurgency & prisoner support in Pennsylvania
Submission
There are some dire questions that non-imprisoned abolitionists keep asking, of what solidarity with collective action inside entails. Central among them is: How do we embolden our comrades in prison or jail to feel protected enough, seen enough, and empowered enough to take action when they desire to?
Yet what is less discussed is the question posed in self-reflection: How can we embolden our comrades on the outside (who are willing to take physical risks) to provide forms solidarity that actually give inside demands a little more teeth?
- What does autonomous direct action in solidarity with collective action inside look like for abolitionists on the outside, and where are the targets that would be most decisive for attack?
- How can we better develop collective capacity for decisive attacks on PA-DOC from the outside, in conjunction with demands on the inside?
- What targets can we choose on the outside that do not exacerbate repression for the comrades situated on the inside? Or is this simply part of the equation that we must equip and be prepared for?
- How, then, can inside and outside move at once? And in this context, how do aboveground formations move horizontally with an underground to fill in the gaps in work that one another is unable to do?
These are questions that shift conversations about strategy from mere activism toward insurgency. As a comrade who was at SCI Rockview last summer writes:
âAs prisoners, we can riot & take control of the prison at any time, but that wonât relieve us of this living death. We need our comrades in the world to take the fight out of the halls of legislation & to the prison walls themselves. Only then can we actually end this war. An assault on both fronts would make the difference between us banging on the walls & us breaking them down. When the world sees this, it will show that the facade of invincibility that the system has cultivated over generations of slavery is just that: an illusion.â
To compliment this ask from the inside, we believe it is equally important to attack & disrupt the everyday operations of structures and relations that compose PA-DOCâs instiutional form in ways that strategically compliment inside collective action.
For autonomous attack as abolitionist prisoner support to be decisive and effective, it first means decentering (not ignoring but thinking beyond) the âreifiedâ site/scene of the prison facility itself in our ideas of the terrain of struggle and attack. A prison facility, such as SCI Rockview, is one among many other sites and nodes in a web of structures and social relations that make up PA-DOCâs institutional form. The targets of insurgent outside solidarity through sabotage therefore consist of everything and anything that upholds the reproduction of the prison facility itself or a DOC system from without.
Some questions we may want to ask ourselves in outside support circles include:
- What are the institutions, contractors, buildings, and other structures that enable PA-DOC to function in the first place?
- If it is a prison âindustrial complexâ what is the constellation of sites that allow it to function, that give it coherence and life?
One way abolitionists can support people on the inside during a strike is to initiate (and sustain) conflict w/ the state & capital. To either disrupt its logistical operations and/or weaken the regimeâs resolve.
One example that comes to mind is during the 2016 nationwide prison strike, which saw sporadic instances solidarity actions that did not abide by codes of non-conflictual demonstration.
For example, ABC Chicago in 2017 writes:
âIn the context of prison struggle, a recent example of solid praxis that comes to mind was in Pittsburgh at Allegheny County Jail. About eighty prisoners began a work refusal and released a list of demands that included more case workers, better medical services, and a legitimate grievance procedure. After those on the outside heard of this sit-in, they took to the jail in masks, smashed windows of the jail, a security camera, and several police vehicles. Similar models of solidarity occurred around the September 9th prison strike where people all over the US and even other continents took action in solidarity with those on the inside rising up. This took the form of noise demos and marches, as well as direct attacks on prisons and those who profit off prison⊠This is a type of solidarity that can produce results.â
Some more questions to consider are as follows:
- If the prison regime is upheld by numerous institutional connections & centers of gravity â that exist far beyond the âreifiedâ site/scene of âthe prisonâ itself â then where are the most impactful targets to attack in solidarity w/ prisoners taking collective action?
- For abolitionists who are not inside the prison itself, what does disruption in solidarity with collective prisoner action look like beyond (only) non-conflictual protest?
- Are people within prisons/jail/detention the only ones who are expected to engage in material disruption? To take risks? Are we just vessels of emotional solidarity?
- Where then, would the targets be, for outside abolitionists to exert greater pressure? How might this change perspectives of strategy? How might thinking more expansively about the terrain of engagement illumine new tactical horizons?
- Or maybe the objective of pressuring the state to meet a specific demand from inside is the wrong way to practice attack and direct action altogether?
- Yet strikes typically have demands. So what then do we do with our bodies, our (relative) mobility and access to information/resources/tools that are foreclosed to people who take collection action for particular goals while locked up?
- Where are the logistical chokepoints? What are targets of attack and sites of disruption that donât result in severe backlash to comrades struggling on the inside? Â Where are the vulnerabilities to prison managementâs morale and how does one remove the will of guards to endure?
- What is the relationship between a local-to-state government, the internal fiefdoms of prisons & jails, & the contractors whose fate is tethered to the regimeâs institutional reproduction? How can tensions or antagonisms between such entities be exacerbated by outside sabotage?
To bring this strategy to life we not only need comrades who are up for the task of directly attacking in solidarity with inside collective action, but we also need a range of people to take up this cause at the level of research, propagation, and expanding capacity for regional anti-repression work and community care.
We need people who can map the institutional form of PA-DOC. We need people to map the digital communications infrastructure. We need people that understand how the nodes of institutions that make up PA-DOC within Pennsylvania branch out to every corner of the US settler colonial territory, with offices, remote workers, contractors, etc⊠all within reach of someone who is willing to take action, yet simply needs a map to take part. We also need a more focused effort of people who are not involved in combative actions directly to participate in defending the fire of revolt as it spreads. This can be done by simply organizing letter writing nights to support people in the case that they catch charges for the risks they take. This can also be done by focusing in on building or strengthening networks that provide care and mutual aid within your local spheres of movement and community.
Phone Zap in Solidarity with Comrades at SCI Rockview
from Dreaming Freedom, Practicing Abolition
đâĄÂ Monday 3/18 â Friday 3/22
Call anytime between:Â Â 9am â 5pm est / 6am â 2pm pst
Send reportbacks to: abolitionist-study@protonmail.com
or DM on twitter: @abolitionstudyÂ
Trigger warning: Mentions racist violence by guards at SCI Rockview
About
In November 2023, a group of guards hung two nooses in the office (bubble) at SCI Rockview â a location visible to roughly a hundred prisoners. Prisoners who witnessed the nooses have been outraged by this disturbing racist act, and have since demanded that these guards face consequences. In January we launched a two week phone zap campaign that forced PA-DOC main offices to contact the warden. While many Black prisoners remain tormented by this racist act, the guards responsible have enjoyed impunity, with officials in the facility even making attempts to silence anyone on the inside who speaks out. One captive comrade was actually transferred out of state because of their agitation around this issue, while another captive comradeâs grievances have been outright rejected by the administration.
We have little reason to believe an internal investigation will achieve what the prisoners have been demanding, which includes the following:
- Investigate the hanging of nooses as a âhate crimeâ and take their impact seriously
- Terminate Sgt. Mosser and c/o Richards
- Mandatory therapy for c/o Kirchner
SCI Rockview has seen 11 deaths (that we know of) in 2023 and a severe pattern of racist discriminatory practices. Please join us in calling PA-DOC offices and officials, to further expose this incident and amplify the demands of our captive comrades.
Script for Calling
I am calling on behalf of a community of people who are distressed by a recent incident of antiBlack harassment by a group of COâs at SCI Rockview, who have faced no consequences for their racist actions. On 11/24/23, prisoners at SCI Rockview found two nooses made from extension cords hung by guards in the office (bubble). Two internal grievances have been submitted by prisoners who witnessed the incident, and prison officials have rejected both. We would like to make you aware that the facility admin has rejected both internal grievances, submitted by prisoners through the proper channels. The guards have faced no consequences. We have little reason to believe an internal investigation will achieve what the prisoners have been demanding, which includes the following:
- Investigate the hanging of nooses as a âhate crimeâ and take its impact seriously
- Terminate Sgt. Mosser and c/o Richards
- Mandatory therapy for c/o Kirchner
The hanging of two nooses is understood by many people imprisoned at SCI Rockview to be a hostile act and deeply offensive. Some are disclosing how these acts are part of a larger pattern of discriminatory practices used by correctional officers at this specific facility. If this was any other workplace, the act of hanging nooses would lead to severe consequences. The admin at SCi Rockview have not only displayed indifference to the racist act, but some even have made efforts to silence prisoners in distress by the incident. We urge PA-DOC officials to recognize the significance of the prisoner demands, which are derived from the exhausted grievances.Â
Updates
Calls began this morning, reports include:
-called the pa doc for laurel harry and it went to voicemail, left a message with the script
-called a US attorneyâs office #, but they said theyâre federal and to instead call State attorney general 717-787-3391 (Harrisburg)
-âI called PA-DOC Eastern: Morris Houser, Acting Deputy Secretary Eastern Region 717.728.4122 â a secretary picked up. i left a message with her and she forwarded me to Samuel Condo, Staff Assistant 717.728.4747 of PADOC eastern? I left a message with reading the scriptâ
-âPpl have contacted all PA-DOC main offices this morning now. We could use a few more ppl tapping in. All of them went to voicemail or secretary seny us to Samuel Condoâs voicemail (who wonât pick up). Kept emphasizing how we have no faith in the internal investigation process.â
Phone Contacts
Central Office Main Phone Line:
717.728.2573
Abuse Report 24/7 Voicemail Center:
1.800.677.0330
PA-DOC Admin:
Laurel Harry, Secretary of Corrections
717.728.4109
Randee Brant, Chief of Staff
717.728.4107
David Radziewicz, Special Assistant
717.728.4117
Deanna Washington, Executive Secretary,
Deputy Secretaryâs Office
717.728.4122
Tim Holmes, Chief Counsel
717.728.7763
PA-DOC Eastern:
Morris Houser, Acting Deputy Secretary Eastern Region
717.728.4122 / 4123
Marilyn Richards, Staff Assistant
717.728.4114
Samuel Condo, Staff Assistant
717.728.4747
Capt. Bly, Inspection Captain
717.728.4126 (number was disconnected)
Emails can be sent to:
General inmate-related issues, send emails to:
ra-contactdoc@pa.gov
Email the DOC Secretary at
ra-crpadocsecretary@pa.gov
PA-DOC Contact Form:
https://py-forms-prod.powerappsportals.us/DOCContactUs/
Press Release â March 13, 2024
Re: Correctional Officers Hang Nooses and SCI Rockview Does Nothing
Bellefonte, Pa. â On November 24, 2023, prisoners at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the COâs office, displayed visibly for prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hanging there, they were told it was a joke. By December 4, pris- oners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was âunethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmatesâ and âunsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.â (For perspective: Rockviewâs pris- oner population is 45% black.) In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richards be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Cap- tain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance over two months later by February 5, 2024 under the guise that it was âbeing investigatedâ. However, the sergeant and Cos are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions except getting moved to another block.
As of March 10, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending copies of the grievance. Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, which continue to be dismissed by the administration at Rockview.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, the staff and administration at SCI Rockview continue to dodge public accountability. In fact, the prison has a history of fostering systemic racism, like in 2013 when admin blocked a Muslim prisoner from wearing religious garb. Kerry X. Marshall, then incarcerated at SCI Rockview, sued and six years later the courts determined that the prison had violated his religious freedom.
This incident is coming at a time when in 2023, 11 prisoners died in custody. Seven people died amid an outbreak of legionnaires disease, and four people died while in the RHU (punitive solitary units with very little public oversight). Unfortunately, there is a well-known pattern of premature death at SCI Rockview. Most well known is an incident in 2012, when COs killed the prisoner John Carter during a âcell extractionâ while he was in the RHU, in what other prisoners described as âturning his cell into a gas chamberâ using ânon-lethalâ weapon OC pepper spray. Carterâs family never received justice for what the prison did to him, and PA DOC never acknowledged or reprimanded the guards who killed him.
In short, prisoner demands to investigate the hanging of nooses as a hate crime, terminate Sgt. Mosser and CO Richards, and mandatory therapy for CO Kirchner, need be taken seriously.
March discussion: Aaron Bushnell
from Viscera
Join us on Sunday, March 24th from 1-3 in Clark Park to discuss a few recent pieces about Aaron Bushnell, an anarchist who recently immolated himself in protest against the ongoing horror in Gaza.
anonymous â Or Just Say Nothing: A Response to CrimethInc.âs Initial Statement on Aaron Bushnell
Masha Gessen â Aaron Bushnellâs Act of Political Despair
See you there!
Queer Ultraviolence Reading Group
Submission
Can you not wait for the North East Bash Back! Regional Convergence? Want to get your butt wet a little in the lead up? Have you been asking yourself âwho is this Bash Back! girlie? whatâs she all about?â
This will be a reading group to discuss some of the texts that came out of the original Bash Back! network. Weâll be talking about them to better make queer anarchy generally and to get hype for the Bash Back! convergence happening at the end of next month.
March 30 at 1pm at O.R.C.A.
The readings:
Introduction to Be Gay Do Crime
(optional) Introduction to Queer Ultraviolence Anthology
April 6th at 1pm at O.R.C.A.
The readings:
I Donât Bash Back I Shoot First
Some Questions to be Addressed Before the 2010 Bash Back! Convergence in Denver
(Optional) Conclusion to Queer Ultraviolence
Runaway ram in Mount Laurel, NJ
from Unravel
A ram that escaped from a property in Mount Laurel was corralled by police Friday morning after having spent several days wandering the South Jersey township.
The male bighorn sheep was captured on a residential property following “a fairly extensive foot pursuit,” police said. The animal since has been reunited with its owner.
In recent days, police had received numerous reports from residents about the ram as it roamed around the area. It was spotted at multiple locations in Mount Laurel.
Authorities didn’t say how the animal got loose. Rams have been described as “amazing escape artists” if they aren’t kept in secured enclosures. In the wild, during the fall mating season, males often “ram” into one another after charging head-on at speeds up to 40 mph, according to the National Park Service.
Photos shared on social media showed officers and township workers posing with the husky-looking ram, who was held still by his curled horns.
It was an odd coincidence in a week that saw a horse escape from a stable in Philadelphia and gallop down the shoulder of I-95. That unusual sight was captured in a viral video that shows the horse in stride with its hooves audibly pounding the roadway. Police used their cars to eventually corner the animal at the bottom of the Allegheny Avenue off-ramp. It was later determined the horse belonged to the Fletcher Street Urban Racing Club, which said the animal may have been intentionally released after closing hours.
There have been quite a few notable animal escapes in the region over the last decade. In 2015, a pair of zebras escaped from a circus in West Philly and were seen running through the streets and in the parking lot of a Planet Fitness before they were captured. On X, formerly Twitter, Philly police wrote, “They are already sporting old-timey prisoner getup ahead of trial and sentencing.”
The next year, a bull got loose from a truck while being transported to a slaughterhouse in West Kensington and briefly wandered onto the shoulder of I-95 near Rivers Casino in Fishtown. The bull eventually was euthanized by a Pennsylvania Game Commission officer near Old City.
When an old barn caught fire at Malvern’s Canter Hill Farms in 2017, an ostrich there escaped from its pen and was seen streaking down the side of Swedesford Road and at other locations. The flightless bird was eventually cornered at a baseball field about five miles away from the farm, whose owner was able to capture it in a trailer and bring it to safety. No people were injured in the fire.
Then in 2018, four peacocks escaped from the Philadelphia Zoo and traveled down the Schuylkill Expressway. At least one of them died and two others were confirmed to have returned to the zoo, which allows them to roam freely on its grounds. Later that year, in the middle of a snowstorm, a camel was spotted in Bucks County on the side of Route 309 in Sellersville. That incident was not an escape. The camel was being taken from a petting zoo to an event in Philadelphia, but never made it due to the storm.
About two years ago in Danville â roughly 135 miles northwest of Philly, in Montour County â a truck carrying 100 monkeys crashed with another vehicle on Route 54 near I-80. Four of them got loose, including three that set off a lengthy search by state police before they were captured and euthanized. The incident drew outrage from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which condemned the use of monkeys for lab experiments. Kenya Airlines, which had shipped the monkeys to the U.S. from the island nation of Mauritius, said it would stop transporting the animals.
Around the same time, a mysterious dog was found near a home in Fairfield Township, about 70 miles east of Pittsburgh. The dog’s mangey appearance left wildlife experts stumped over whether it was a coyote or some other breed â and it led to a lot of sleuthing online. A wildlife rescue that took the canine in discovered one morning that it had “demolished” its cage and “clambered up on a set of shelves” before chewing through ceiling-high window seals to break out of a hospital room, returning to the wild. The genetic samples that the rescue had sent out for analysis later determined that the canine was 100% coyote, which makes a lot of sense in hindsight.
Finally, last fall, in Gettysburg, the owners of a 200-pound pet pig named Kevin Bacon spent 17 days trying to capture him after he broke out of his pen. The search involved flying drones and concocting various lures until the pig was sedated with veterinary Benadryl that had been hidden in a cinnamon bun. News of the comical saga made its way to the famed “Footloose” actor and Philadelphia native, who wrote on social media, “Bring Kevin Bacon home!”
The ram that escaped in Mount Laurel is now home safe, having experienced a taste of freedom â and he evidently put police through quite the obstacle course before he was captured.
“He was jumping bushes and running all over the place,” Mount Laurel police officer Kyle Gardner told 6ABC. “We were able to, with a handful of officers and the division of public works, we were able to kind of chase him down, tire him out, and grab him by the horns, literally.”
Informality, Anarchy, and the Black Radical Tradition at Wooden Shoe
Submission
A lecture based discussion on organization and strategy in the 21st century.
Bring a friend. No prior reading required, this will be an introductory discussion.
March 24
5pm
Wooden Shoe Books 704 South St
La Haine & Les Miserables â Two Screenings at O.R.C.A.
Submission
Two films about rebellion and alienation in the Paris suburbs.
La Haine
March 15
Doors 6pm
Film 8pm
La Haine is a cult classic following three friends as they wander Paris and a suburb in the aftermath of a riot against police.
(98 mins)
Les Miserables
March 16
Doors 2pm
Film 3pm
Les Miserables is a story of policing and tension in the French suburbs.
(104 mins)
Located in Southwest Philly off a trolley line, the space is up two flights of stairs in a building without an elevator. There are two gender-neutral bathrooms on the same floor as O.R.C.A.. Inside the space, we have couches, a variety of chairs, benches, and blankets. The space is cold in the winter and warm in the summer. We expect people to wear masks at this event. O.R.C.A. has masks and COVID tests available for free.
Email or DM for location
orca.philly@protonmail.com
@orcaphilly on twitter
@orcaphilly on twitter
