Prisoner Support

from email, 20 April 2008: Daniel McGowan is an an environmental and social justice activist from New York City, currently serving a 7 year sentence for 2 actions involving arson in the Pacific Northwest. Daniel was, and still is, a major source of support for Jeff. We wanted to share an article with you that Daniel wrote about Jeff, recently posted on his blog: http://supportdaniel.org/blog/?p=30 Please read and share, and please also offer support to Daniel as he has done for Jeff over the years.  more

from email, 16 April 2008: Sentencing has been re-scheduled for May 1st 2008. When re-scheduling the date, Eric's lawyer attempted to set it for April 24, but was unable to do so because Judge England will be getting married next week. In lieu of wedding gifts, we're asking that folks make a small donation to Eric's commissary fund to help his transition to federal prison. When he moves to a federal facility, his commissary account will move with him.  more

from email, 15 April 2008: TEN protesters have been convicted but spared jail time for their part in the violent G20 riots, for behaviour described as "defiant" and "aggressive". Magistrate Sarah Dawes today told the court they had shown a callous disregard for the wellbeing of police. Melbourne Magistrates Court heard police were outnumbered and attacked by demonstrators trying to get to delegates at the Group of 20 nations summit at Melbourne's Grand Hyatt Hotel in November, 2006. more

from imc-athens, 10 April 2008: The "Conspiracy of Cells of Fire" claimed responsibility for the actions via e-mail to directactiongr@yahoo.gr. This is a translation of the communique:

"On Wednesday April 9 we spotted and torched agencies of Italian interests (Car agencies, Greco-Iralian school bus). By this movement, we send to the imprisoned Italian comrades accused for membership in F.A.I. (Informal Anarchist Federation) our salutation with fire. This is how we re-activate vigorously the internationalist revolutionary solidarity..." more

from email, 7 April 2007: Kristin Bricker (mywordismyweapon.blogspot.com) reports that on Tuesday, April 1, "the Chiapas government freed thirty political prisoners in response to years of protests for their freedom, but not before giving some of them one last thorough beating." Seventeen more people are still incarcerated, however the government refuses to negotiate their release. As of April 1, thirteen of them have been on a hunger strike for 37 days. more

from infoshop, 1 April 2008: We are happy to report that despite a mind numbing amount of red tape and drama from the probation dept. and the associated electronic tether, Marie was released from jail Tuesday. She is under house arrest at a relative's house and only able to go outside with permission 2 hours a week. She also needs special permission to see her lawyer because his office falls outside the western district. There is a tentative trial-date set for May 27, 2008, but we have been informed by her attorney that this date will almost certainly be pushed back as there has not been adequate time to prepare the case. more

from infoshop, 31 March 2008: Federal prosecutors have agreed not to retry convicted University of Washington arsonist Briana Waters on a charge that could have sent her to prison for an automatic 30 years. Waters was convicted this month on two counts of arson stemming from an ecoterror fire that destroyed the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture in 2001. But the jury deadlocked on three other counts, including the big one, using a destructive device during a crime of violence. That carried a mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison. more

from infoshop, 28 March 2008: Corporate media report of the sentencing of Rod Coronado ++++ "An activist once tied to the radical Earth Liberation Front was sentenced Thursday to a year and a day in federal prison for showing people how to make a fire bomb. Rodney Coronado, 41, pleaded guilty on Dec. 14 to a rarely used federal law that makes it a crime to teach how to make a destructive device that could be used to commit arson. A jury deadlocked in his trial three months earlier..." more

from email, 27 March 2008: In November 2006, people took to the streets of Melbourne to confront the G20, a meeting of the world’s most powerful finance ministers whose policies perpetrate suffering and violence in countless communities around the world every day. Since that protest, Victorian and Federal police have carried out a vast operation of surveillance and arrests, raiding houses at dawn and slapping protestors with ludicrous charges and repressive bail conditions.  more

from email, 19 March 2008: Giorgos Voutsis-Vogiatzis was arrested after a bank robbery in Athens, Greece, in October 2007. "That morning everything was ready for the big charge in the cashiers of the national bank. Adrenaline on full, minute-hands giving the tempo of countdown, armed pistols going around unsuspected citizens in their hidden crypts. Days became hours and the hours became seconds with images. The world of work bows in front of your steps and the feeling if illegal touches for a bit total freedom..." more

from email 17 March 2008: "On the 12th February 2008, begun the hunger strike of Zacario Hernández Hernández in prison nº 14 of Cintalapa (in Chiapas). On the 25th February 12 more political prisoners begun a hungers strike, 8 from the "La Voz del Amate" group that participates in the other campaign and 4 that are Zapatista political prisoners..." more

from infoshop, 13 March 2008: Financiers, real-estate agents and car salesmen might be suffering from America's economic malaise, but bulging jails have triggered a profit boom for corrections companies. The United States leads the world in the number of people it incarcerates and government figures show the country's prison population grew by three percent to a record 2.3 million inmates in 2006. more

from portland-imc, 13 March 2008: A magistrate judge ordered Briana Waters held until her sentencing date on May 30th 2008. The prosecutors have said that they will be asking for a sentencing "much longer" than the 5 year minimum the arson counts carry, and have said that they will have Stanislas Meyehoff testify that Briana participated in the Susanville horse coral fire in October 2001. more

from athens-imc, 11 March 2008: A briefing and a translation of his two recent letters - Nikos Kountardas was arrested on 9/1/08 and convicted with 10 days in prison (for "mockery against a policeman"), while he was out on parole, having a warrant against him for 15 months in prison for lifting two banners (against the new sports terror-law and of solidarity to its arrestees) in OAKA olympic stadium... Nikos is in a circular hunger strike (one week on, one off) and is determined to go on with a strict hunger strike. more

from portland-imc, 4 March 2008: In this new interview, Ramona Africa talks about the upcoming MOVE 9 Parole Hearings that are scheduled for April. MOVE is asking for support. Stay tuned for an online petition and sample letter to send to the Parole Board.  more