Greetings to workers behind bars

The Militant sends New Year’s greetings to fellow workers behind bars. More than 2.3 million people in the U.S. are locked up in federal and state prisons, local jails, juvenile facilities, immigration detention centers, military brigs and Bureau of Indian Affair prisons.

Some 11 million have spent time in local jails this year, many not convicted of anything, just unable to afford bail. Another 5 million are caught up in the capitalist “justice” system on probation or parole.

With only 5 percent of the world’s population, the U.S. is home to 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, and has the largest number of prisoners in solitary confinement. No other country comes close.

The purpose of the rulers’ cops, courts and prisons is to intimidate and break workers, especially those who protest capitalism’s injustices and exploitation.

This year we registered important gains. The release a year ago of the last three members of the Cuban Five, framed in 1998 for defending the Cuban Revolution, is a victory for the Cuban people and for workers here. The Five set an example of human dignity and solidarity with all their brothers and sisters behind bars.

Their victory inspires all who demand freedom for Puerto Rican independence fighter Oscar López Rivera, jailed in the U.S. for 34 years. The Militant extends solidarity to all political prisoners, including Leonard Peltier; Mumia Abu-Jamal; the Omaha Two, Mondo we Langa and Ed Poindexter; and others.

From Chicago to Idaho, protests against police killings and brutality have forced the capitalist rulers to place some restraints on their cops, with more facing firing, indictment and trial for attacks on African-American and other workers.

In September a court ordered California prison officials to stop throwing prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison into solitary indefinitely by labeling them “gang affiliated,” a result of hunger strikes involving more than 30,000 inmates.

Undocumented workers held in immigration detention centers, including women forcibly separated from their children in Texas, have stood up to barbaric prison conditions, organizing hunger strike protests.

Cop frame-ups and the unconstitutional plea-bargain system that railroads millions to prison are under fire. In 2014, a record number of 133 people won exoneration with close to 90 more so far this year.

Executions and death sentences continue to fall. This year there were the fewest executions since 1991. Opposition to the death penalty is rising.

We stand with workers behind bars in the fight for dignity, respect and democratic rights. The Militant is proud to offer complimentary or reduced-rate subscriptions to prisoners, and the number requested is increasing. Readers can help by contributing to the Militant Prisoners’ Fund to help us continue this working-class tradition.

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