Some updates from Monday's Stop Police Crimes meeting. Please read to stay updated on the day to day work we're doing and see how you can get involved.
Emergency: Gerald Reed, who survived being tortured by Jon Burge, is sick with covid-19 symptoms. He is currently in Stateville NRC and we need to get him out.
We cannot trust politicians, much less IDOC, to do the right thing, which is why we need to put mass pressure on them.
Call your state representatives. We need to flood these politicians phone lines and inboxes until they act to free Gerald Reed and #FreeThemAll.
You can find out who your state representative is here: house.gov/representative…
We are increasing the pressure on @GovPritzker because he has the legislative authority to immediately pardon Gerald Reed and other incarcerated people. Calls often don't get through but you can use this link to make your demands: www2.illinois.gov/sites/gov/cont…
And SIGN THIS PETITION to the governor: caarpr.org/pardonreed
We are raising this issue through as many avenues as possible. Gerald Reed should have been free a long time ago and we need to free him and everyone else who is put in danger of covid-19 by the prison system.
Clayborn Smith, who is also a torture survivor, tested positive for covid-19 yesterday. We are also demanding his immediate release from Cook County Jail.
Share the demands, scripts, and phone numbers on all your social media and tell everyone you know to make the calls
We were joined by Mark Clements, @Prisonspeaks, who was arrested last week Wednesday in a blatant act of police retaliation for the #MassReleaseNow protest on Tuesday. He was held at a jail in Maywood IL that has the red flags of a black site, a place where police torture people.
People locked up in Maywood have no running water, no cleaning supplies, and little protective gear in addition to being fed very little. Many have gone days without showering and they are afraid for their lives due to the covid-19 pandemic.
We flooded the lines together with dozens of other organizations and supporters and the staff in the Maywood lockup were very annoyed, which is always a good thing.
Mark is now out of the lockup and still fighting for #MassReleaseNow
Some clarification from @fchapman5: when we say #FreeThemAll we mean let EVERYONE out of jails, prisons, and detention centers, because every single person who is locked up is in danger of losing their life to covid-19. We also support smaller demands, but this is our main goal.
Tamon Russell is still at Hill Correctional. No one has been able to speak to him or anyone else inside because they are on lockdown, but we know the situation is worsening and some people there have contracted covid-19.
Call the warden, Christine Brannon: (309) 343-4212
We are gearing up for the CFIST kickoff event on May 16th. There are 40 or 50 torture survivors in Stateville alone, and we need to raise their stories as part of the fight to #FreeThemAll. Stay tuned for more information on that event.
CFIST has meetings on the 3rd Saturday of each month from 1:30 to 3:30. If you would like to be in this week's meeting or if you want to be involved in CFIST in general, reach out by email to CFIST@CAARPR.org.
Some of us are on tik tok: tiktok.com/@kobiguillotin…
We'll be using as many different methods of getting information out as possible so stay tuned!
Good and Welfare:
1) the HALE collective has started a new podcast that is currently focusing on the effects of the covid-19 pandemic on oppressed and marginalized people. Episode 1, decarcerate for public health, is available here: soundcloud.com/halecollective…
2) #PalestinianPrisonersDay is this Friday, April 17th. We are working with @uspcn on building for the event and the twitter storm afterward and we encourage all organizations and supporters to join us on Friday.
#FreeThemAll from the global system of white supremacy!
3) @frso_chicago is having a forum for International Worker's Day, Sunday May 3rd at 4pm. One of our members will be speaking and the event will be on how to use solidarity & the power of the people to protect our communities during this pandemic crisis.
facebook.com/events/2504911…
One more thing, we have a new venmo account! We usually pass the bucket around at meetings, so picture that bucket when you drop some dollars into @/The-CAARPR
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