{"id":1206,"date":"2013-07-27T02:04:41","date_gmt":"2013-07-27T02:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/?p=1206"},"modified":"2013-08-03T02:06:23","modified_gmt":"2013-08-03T02:06:23","slug":"solitary-confinement-in-santa-cruz-1-attachment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/solitary-confinement-in-santa-cruz-1-attachment\/","title":{"rendered":"Solitary Confinement in Santa Cruz? [1 Attachment]"},"content":{"rendered":"
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[Attachment(s)<\/a>from Courtney Hanson included below]<\/p>\n
Thanks for the update. On that note…<\/p>\n
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Sin Barras is mobilizing for an international day of action on 7\/31<\/div>\n
Facebook event:<\/div>\n
https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/181093905402253\/?notif_t=plan_edited<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Please Forward Widely<\/div>\n
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HUNGER FOR JUSTICE in Santa Cruz — July 31st<\/strong><\/div>\n
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This Wednesday, July 31st, has been called for as an international day of action in solidarity with prisoners on hunger strike, Trayvon Martin, and the many Trayvons who have been killed by state and vigilante violence.<\/p>\n

In Santa Cruz, at least 37 prisoners have joined the statewide hunger strike to protest the horrendous conditions they are forced to live in. At least 5 people have died in the local jail since August. To amplify the voices of those inside and continue organizing & educating our community,\u00a0we plan to join this day of action.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday afternoon, Sin Barras & allies will do outreach in neighborhoods, downtown, and at the Farmer’s Market with the purpose of engaging community members in face to face conversations about the hunger strike, the case of Trayvon Martin, and connections between the two. At 6:30pm, crowds will gather at the Clocktower on the corner of Water & Pacific Ave. to make these struggles against racism and criminalization visible! Bring banners, candles, signs, whatever you want!<\/p>\n

Here’s how to get involved! We can be reached by email: sinbarras@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

-Come to the training on Monday, 6-8pm to learn more about these issues, how to talk to people about them, and what to expect when doing outreach. Email for address!
\n-Join thousands in a one-day or rolling fast on Wednesday 7\/31 in solidarity with the hunger strikers; call Jerry Brown to let him know and email Sin Barras so we can keep a count
\n-Email us if you can commit to flyering for an hour or two on Wednesday. We want teams out & about all day & we will get you info sheets
\n-MEET AT THE CLOCKTOWER DOWNTOWN @6:30pm for a wrap-up action<\/p>\n

Everywhere!
\n-Bring this to the attention of your friends and family and ask them to call Governor Jerry Brown and let him know you’re in solidarity with the strikers and ask him to meet their demands: (916) 445-2841<\/a>, (510) 289-0336<\/a>, (510) 628-0202<\/a><\/div>\n

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On Sat, Jul 27, 2013 at 7:57 AM, Robert Norse <rnorse3@hotmail.com<\/a>> wrote:<\/p>\n
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NOTE BY NORSE:\u00a0 A protest several months ago highlighted concerns about incompetence and\/or malice in the medical treatment of Santa Cruz prisoners under the new privatized medical system (https:\/\/www.indybay.org\/newsitems\/2013\/04\/15\/18735207.php<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a> )
\nQuoting from his recent Community TV show, Steve Pleich, an officeseeker and political activist, writes of the Sin\u00a0 Barras<\/strong><\/em> organization:\u00a0 “They are asking why our country imprisons a greater percentage of its citizens than any other country in the world. They are asking why Black Americans who comprise 12% of the population compose 40% of all prison populations. They are asking why 65% of all those incarcerated are non-violent drug offenders. They are asking our President why the federal sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine are 18 times that of the punishment for powder.
\n“They are asking why our county jail is operating at 120% capacity at a time when the State of California is under a federal consent decreee to reduce the overall prison population by 30,000.<\/strong> The are asking why, in consideration of the fact that the consent decree is based on a finding by the court that the level of medical care provided to prison inmates violates their constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment, our county jail has decided to outsource its medical care and place it beyond local control. And they are asking why our young non-criminal Latinos are being racially profiled and placed on immigration holds by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement with the cooperation of our county Sheriff’s Department.\u00a0 <\/strong>[emphasis mine]
\nSteve Argue’s ordeal is also described in other articles (http:\/\/www.huffsantacruz.org\/StreetSpiritSantaCruz\/126.Homeless%20Activist%20Faces%20Years%20in%20Prison%20for%20Coming%20to%20Defense%20of%20Mother%20and%20Child%20in%20Ant-War%20Protest=7-99.pdf<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/wbr><\/wbr><\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a>\u00a0 & http:\/\/www.huffsantacruz.org\/StreetSpiritSantaCruz\/127.Activist%20Defends%20Woman%28cont.%29=7-99.pdf<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a> ).
\nHow many people are being held in solitary confinement here in Santa Cruz?\u00a0 What are the criteria?\u00a0\u00a0 Has the policy meaningfully changed since Argue’s experience, or has it gotten worse?\u00a0 What kind of racial profiling goes on in the jails?\u00a0 Public inquiry, public protest, and publicity all have an impact.<\/p>\n


\n<\/span>My Experiences in Solitary Confinement and..Santa Cruz Organizing For Trayvon Martin and Against Solitary Confinement<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span> I myself spent about 5 months out of my 9 month sentence in the Santa Cruz County Jail in solitary confinement. I was in jail for coming to the defense of a woman and small child who were being brutalized by the police at a protest against the U.S. bombing of Yugoslavia. In jail, I was immediately put in solitary confinement, being told, “Mr. Argue, I have put you in administrative segregation because I deem you a threat in potentially organizing against authority”. <\/span>
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\nIn solitary I wrote a lot and what I was writing was getting published on the outside. I was threatened by guards that they would hurt my wrist if I kept writing. I kept writing. The guards then one day handcuffed me and then brutally beat me, hurting my wrist so bad that I couldn’t write for months.<\/span>
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\nProtests outside the jail against my beating then got me out of solitary confinement for a while, but I was put back in after getting caught with an extra blanket another prisoner had gotten to me to fight excessive cold of the nights. (As an additional punishment, they turn up the air conditioning at night and deny additional bedding or clothing to inmates.) <\/span>
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\nThe next time I got out of solitary I started petitions against the privatization of the commissary and the increase in price for materials needed to contact the outside world.<\/p>\n

Everyone in my cell block signed the petition and it was published on the outside. Prices for some materials were brought down, and I was put in the hole (i.e. solitary confinement without reading or writing materials) for the rest of my stay.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n-Steven Argue of the Revolutionary Tendency<\/p>\n

To Join Santa Cruz Organizing Efforts, See:
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/181093905402253\/<\/wbr><\/a><\/p>\n

For more on Trayvon Martin, see:<\/p>\n

The Case of Trayvon Martin: There is No Justice in The Capitalist Courts!
\nhttp:\/\/neworleans.indymedia.org\/news\/2013\/07\/18241.php<\/wbr><\/a><\/p>\n

ILWU Local 10 Pledges Support For Trayvon Martin Actions
\nhttp:\/\/www.indybay.org\/newsitems\/2013\/07\/21\/18740161.php<\/wbr><\/a><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Attachment(s) from Courtney Hanson<\/p>\n

1 of 1 Photo(s)<\/p>\n

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\"HungerforJustice.jpg\"<\/a><\/div>\n
HungerforJustice.jpg<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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[Attachment(s)from Courtney Hanson included below] Thanks for the update. On that note… Sin Barras is mobilizing for an international day of action on 7\/31 Facebook event: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/181093905402253\/?notif_t=plan_edited Please Forward Widely<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,56],"tags":[80,112],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1207,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206\/revisions\/1207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}