74.-taking-direct-action-to-free-them-all.pdf
Web PDF • Imposed PDF • Raw TXT (OCR)















Woy

Tarn Diwecr Action
Te heeclevku.

To THE Front YARW
OF ITS wreven


There has been a major shift
in tactics and strategy for the
grassroots campaign to
#FreeThemAll in U.S.
prisons, jails, and detention
centers, quite noticeably
right now throughout the
Midwest.

“This story was first published on the website I¢+ Gosigg Doo,
(author unknown). The oxiginal version is found at the urk

https: / /itegoingdown org /direct-action-to-freethemall-from-
‘statevile-prison-to-the-front-yard-of-ts-warden/


Stateville Correctional Center in

Joliet, ILis quickly unfolding into a nightmare
scenario of lethal punishment and carceral-police
violence. As cf April 20th, 123 imprisoned people
and 65 guards/staff officially tested positive for the
COVID-19 virus at Stateville. Infections are
assumed to be multiplying exponentially.


(On Friday, April 17, a group of concerned loved
‘ones and advocates for prisoners in the Midwest
took the fight against conditions at Stateville into
their own hands and to the fascist's front door
where they used life-size replicas of body bags to
block the driveway of prison warden David Gomez.



These body bags represent the ongoing
accumulation of causal ties from the COVID-19

pancemic at Stateville, as the infection continues
to spread rapidly throughout its carceral facilities.

Unfurling body bags at the foot o* Gomez's
driveway, the masked group reads off the
following statement:


“David Gomez! we uplift the names Larry
Bourbon, Russell Sedelmaier, Joseph
Wilson, Rodney Rice, and countless others
unnamed that are languishing behind your
prison walls. The conditions at Stateville
have always been horrific, ripe with
medical neglect and fascist abuse of power
but now they are truly. Undeniable death
camps. While COVID-19 carves up our
friends and fanily held at Stateville. You
are the warden there David Gonez..and blood
is on your hands! The deaths of our 9
friends and family are on your shoulders!
In the names of those fallen and those
struggling still to live we uplift the
following demands. The people [across
prison walls] demand that you:







1. TEST EVERYONE FOR COVID-19

2. INCREASE HEALTHCARE AND
MEDICAL STAFF & SUPPLY

3. END LOCKDOWN: ALLOW YARD ACCESS

4. KEEP FACILITIES SANITIZED

5. FREE UNLIMITED PHONE &
VIDEO CALLE

6. PROVIDE THOSE CAPTIVE WITH
SAME PROTECTIVE GEAR AS STAFF

FREE THEM ALL!
FREE THEM ALL!




The day this action took place, an estimated 10
men were already killec by the virus while in
custody at Stateville, with numbers estimeted to
actually be much higher, with increasing numbers
of captives infected throughout the prison. Experts,
say this is because “social distancing” is virtually
impossible in the context of prison life. While there
is a long-documented history of Stateville
‘operating as a site of industrialized genocide and
rredical violence acainst its imprisoned
population, the COVID-19 pandemic, as it
progressively spreads throughout prisons, makes
clear tha: imminent death is a now the accepted
norm of carceral state practices.

Russell Sedelmaier, Larry Bourbon, Rodney Rice,
Joseph Wilson, and six other un-named priscners
have been killed in cus:ody by the state's poor
handling of :he COVID outbreak. itis these
persons who inspired abolitionists to day a visit to
the warden’s house. Such
sanctioned and state-condoned manslaughter
reveal systematc patterns of medical neglect by
Gomez and current prison staff as well as Louis
Schicker and Steve Meeks, former and current
medical directors of Illinois Department of
Corrections (IDOC), and the Wexford Health
Sources.





stances of legally-




ON OM RS Oe

AWS

ee a


As is the inherent nature of incarceration and
policing, rarking authorities like Gomez are
objectively culpable for murder yet enjoy
complete impunity as well as an income paid by
the state.

Numerous lawsuits against IDOC medical
administration reflect a long history of open
naglect and violence against incarcerated persons
while Gomez, Meeks, and Wexford C=Os continue
to profit. Moreover, Wexford Health Sources (a
subsidiary of Bantry Group), which holds a contract
for administering a large percentage of medical
services throughout IDOC facilities, has a
demonstrable pattern of abuse of prisoners in
other states as evidenced by lawsuits in Alabama,
Mississippi, and New York.



Stateville holds an incapacitated population of
about 2,674 prisoners overall. Many are elders, 3
significant portion sentenced as juveniles for long
sentences of upwards 20, 30, and even 40+ years.
Awhopping 687 people held in Stateville are over
the age of 50, 35 people are in their 70s or older,
and 1 person is older than 80. This is no different
than a majority of facilities around the country. Ifit
isn't elderly people, then there are a host of other
vulnerabilities to premature death inherent to the
prison regime.

Other questions that must be asked of the
Stateville administration, and specifically its
warden and medical directors, include: How many
people do you hold captive have such conditions
as diabetes? How many prisoners have high blood
pressure simply as an effect of their incarceration?
How many people have asthma and respiratory
issues from gratuitous immobilization of their
bodies, from inadequate meals, and exposure 10
facility-wide pestilence? How many of the captive
imprisoned are immunocompromised? It is getting
more cifficult by the day to see the gruesome truth
of the prison regime's sadism shed its liberal cloak
for all the world to see.


According to IDOC reporting, 13,000 people out
of 43,657 within its facilities could be eligible for
release immediately. This number is nowhere near
high encugh to prevent a world-historical
catastrophe inside the Northem Illinois prison. The
concerned loved ones participating in this
courageous action vocalize a rajection the idea
that only “non-violent” offenders are deserving of
consideration fcr release. They emphatically use
the language of #FreeThemAll #NoMorelsolaticn
#NoMoreDeaths and #AbolitionNOW.

In an effort to lead by example, these folks are
asking that other non-imprisoned activists join
them in future militant direct actions to smash the
fascist state. The U.S. prison industrial complex is
enabled by every and all established social
institution ard the dominant culture of white
Anerican society more generally. This means that
the targets of our actions to abolich it are therefore
not only aimed at the physical site of the prison/jail
itself but extend into every facet of daily life, from
institutions to the rcads and streets and in spaces
of everyday life.



Powerful actions and disruptions can take place in
numerous spheres cf the so-called “free-world.”
Such as the maneuvers of the commu
struggle that executed this action. Itis long time
the demands of loved ones of prisoners and
abolitionists, inside and out, are brought directly
10 the front-yards of those who are responsible for
tand make a living from) killing and terrerizing
people in state custody. We hope that they can
experience a hint of the unbearable terror, fear,
and trauma that they inflict on others.



We need militant direct action to #FreeThemAll

We need revolutionary community organizing for
Abolition NOW.