SUPPORT JAILHOUSE LAWYERS SPEAK PRISONERS INITIATIVES
Jailhouse Lawyers Speak (JLS) is a national collective of imprisoned persons who fight for human rights, by providing other prisoners with access to legal education, resources, and assistance. JLS is the organizing force behind the 2018 National Prison Strike, the 2017 Millions for Prisoners March on Washington D.C. and the National Prison Strike of 2016. All of these events were monumental organizing efforts that broke historical ground in the realm of organized prisoner resistance, accurately displaying the capacity and strength of imprisoned individuals to organize.
The National Prison Strikes called by JLS continue to break record as the largest prisoner strikes in US history. JLS is strong, organized, well formatted and capable of leading social and political change in the US criminal justice system. Through JLS work, the national narrative surrounding prisoners’ rights has transformed and JLS is eager to influence policy in order to complete the transformation of our country’s desperate criminal justice system. Prisoners have a voice and through JLS work their voice has been amplified to dramatic heights. As we prepare to move into the next phase of organizing on behalf of prisoners, JLS invites you to be apart of the Millions for Prisoners’ Human Rights Coalition.
These are the NATIONAL DEMANDS of the men and women in federal, im- migration and state prisons:
- Immediate improvements to the conditions of prisons and prison policies that recognize the humanity of imprisoned men and women.
- An immediate end to prison slavery. All persons imprisoned in any place of detention under United States jurisdiction must be paid the prevailing wage in their state or territory for their labor.
- Rescission of the Prison Litigation Reform Act, allowing imprisoned humans a proper channel to address grievances and violations of their rights.
- Rescission of the Truth in Sentencing Act and the Sentencing Reform Act so that imprisoned humans have a possibility of rehabilitation and parole. No human shall be sentenced to death by incarceration or serve any sentence without the possibility of parole.
- An immediate end to the racial overcharging, over-sentencing and parole denials of Black and brown humans. Black humans shall no longer be denied parole be- cause the victim of the crime was white, which is a particular problem in Southern states.
- An immediate end to racist gang enhancement laws targeting Black and Brown humans.
- No denial of access to rehabilitation programs for imprisoned humans at their place of detention because of their label as a violent offender.
- State prisons must be funded specifically to offer more rehabilitation services.
- Reinstatement of Pell grant eligibility to prisoners in all US states and territories .
- Recognition of voting rights for all confined citizens serving prison sentences, pretrial detainees and so-called “ex-felons.” Their votes must be counted. Rep- resentation is demanded. All voices count!
Inside: Join JLS
In order for an individual to register as a member of JLS all they need to do is write the group at the secure address below with their interest in membership. In order for a JLS member to form a committee they would need to write the group with their interest in membership along with three additional members who would serve in one of each of the following roles: chair, co-chair, secretary and treasurer. Members must include their position in the committee when writing JLS.
In addition to joining JLS as an individual or a committee, there are two types of ways that they can register
1. Traditional membership – identity is withheld
2. General membership – identity not withheld
On the letter interested members should identify whether they’d like to be a traditional or general member.
It’s important that we relay this information to as many incarcerated folks as possible. Many are very interested in connecting to the organizers of the national prison strike but are not informed of how to do so and we want as many incarcerated people to be apart of JLS as possible in preparation for the next call to action.
Jailhouse Lawyers Speak
P.O. Box 1076
Knightdale NC 27545
Outside: Join the Coalition
Hundreds of groups and organizations signed on to endorse the national prison strike in 2018. We know that the desire to support prisoner led initiatives is there which is why JLS is excited to establish the coalition focused on transformative criminal justice reform under the leadership of the prisoners whose lives depend on these changes. The Coalition is a collection of individuals and groups across the county committed to pushing JLS demands until they are achieved. To join the coalition please contact it’s organizers directly. As a part of the coalition you will receive updates on actions from JLS. Current actions are the circulation of a prisoners human rights petition. You can view the petition: Demand basic human rights for incarcerated people here. For tax deductible donations to JLS click here.
Prisoner initiatives are set by incarcerated leaders and carried out through the organizing of outside solidarity groups, these groups will make up the Coalition. The Coalition’s commitment is to the fulfillment of each demand that prisoners bravely fought for during the two and a half weeks of this year’s National Prison Strike listed below.