Holiday greetings to fellow workers behind bars! The Militant will continue telling the truth about what workers face on either side of prison walls and spreading the word about our common struggles.
The dog-eat-dog capitalist rulers in the U.S. claim their criminal “justice” system is a beacon for human rights worldwide. But their plea-bargain system, “own-your-own-crime” requirements for release, and overall degrading conditions they impose on workers caught up in their prisons expose that claim as a lie.
Over 1.8 million people are confined in U.S. prisons, the highest incarceration rate anywhere in the world. The overwhelming majority never get a jury trial, a constitutional right won in struggle. Under the plea-bargain setup, they’re bullied to “confess” to a lesser crime to avoid threats of even longer jail time.
The entire system, from the cops and courts to jails, prisons, and parole boards, is aimed at protecting the wealth and power of the country’s rulers, and at punishing and imparting fear in the working class. It’s reinforced by the capitalist rulers’ barbaric use of solitary confinement and the death penalty.
What all working people face in prison comes down especially hard on African Americans. Blacks are 14% of the U.S. population, but 39% of all federal prisoners.
Many of those behind prison walls are framed up. The Militant salutes the fight by Carlos Harris, his family and supporters who won his release in October after nearly two decades in California state prisons. Harris never gave up fighting his wrongful conviction.
The horrors inflicted on prisoners under Bashar al-Assad in Syria are becoming more widely known since his overthrow. Thousands of prisoners are incarcerated in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s gulag for opposing his war against Ukraine. Journalists are thrown into prison in Hong Kong for reporting on protests against Beijing’s stifling control. Novelist Boualem Sansal was seized last month in Algeria for the anti-autocratic political themes in his books.
The Militant joins in fighting for freedom for all those imprisoned for speaking out against tyranny, exploitation and oppression.
In addition to the torturous conditions imposed on all workers in U.S. prisons, political prisoners like Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal face special indignities.
This issue celebrates 10 years since the last of the Cuban Five — revolutionaries who were framed up and imprisoned for actions in defense of Cuba’s socialist revolution — were released and returned home.
The Militant will continue to challenge every attempt by authorities to ban prisoners from receiving our paper. We have a long and proud record standing up for the rights of prisoners to read material of their own choosing. We make available a paper that keeps them in touch with working-class struggles in and outside prison walls. It is a tool for building working-class solidarity that provides a revolutionary road forward for workers and all the oppressed.
The Militant offers reduced-rate or free subscriptions to our readers behind bars, made possible by contributions from the paper’s working-class readers. The number of prisoners subscribing continues to climb, going over 300 this year. Contribute whatever you can to the Militant Prisoners’ Fund!