Hi all - I was arrested for participating in the Ramparts police station civil disobedience on August 16th. Despite the little show for the television cameras, prettily described in the LA Times as a "choreographed protest", the
dance came to an abrupt end at the sheriff's. Jane Doe'd
(booked anonymously) against my will. (I provided a drivers license which was egregiously ignored. When I pointed out the mistake on the bracelet, was told to fix it at booking.
At booking, was told it had to match the bracelet). The
Ramparts women were strip-searched (I was reading "All Things Censored" after my release. It's the same strip search routine given to prisoners on Death Row). Per boyfriend, the male demonstrators were not stripsearched at all, although they were frequently threatened with pepper spray guns and occaisonally subjected to pain compliance holds. We waited for 14 hours for arraignment after being pulled out of our cells to the court tanks. Received no privileged (not overheard by guards) communication with our law collective. We were told by the other inmates that the jail general population was held in lockdown (chained to their steel beds) for most of the last week and told it was because of "the protestors". I gather this was so they would be angry with us when we were deposited in the same tanks.
The other inmates, however, were friendly and supportive, if it a bit disapproving of the idea of voluntarily entering
LAPD custody. The remaining Ramparts women and the Uwa women
were being kept together in Twin Towers 231 Pod C, when I left the jail on Friday. It should be mentioned that I was
not out of jail until almost 14 hours after being released on my own recognizance by a judge and was subjected to a 2nd stripsearch with the paperwork in hand. The remaining Ramparts women began a hunger strike, but given that all the food besides an apple and two cookies was so putrid as to be inedible, why not? Jail diet was 6oz milk, 12oz of something called "fruit punch", two cookies, chocolate chip or sugar, 1 or 2 raw or overripe apples. The provided French toast, oatmeal and bologna sandwiches induced vomiting and gag reflexes. In 50 hours of custody, I slept for approximately 90 minutes. I'm writing this for two reasons - to provide accurate info about what conditions are like inside the jail, and also to suggest, gently, that the jail solidarity
technique, which is extending the jail stay, can be rather
difficult on people, and I'm a bit concerned that idealism not win out over the health and sanity of the folks still in
jail. For me, jail solidarity wasn't the right thing to do, but some of my cellmates were quite young and seemed a bit stuck in a peer pressure mode of not wanting to let down the
rest of the group. When this is all over, that needs to be talked about when these legal trainings are done. But more importantly, they need to get out now. The bullshit charges
can be settled later, let's just get them out of that place.
I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

In struggle

Ex-prisoner # 65679XX

We are well aware of the fact that protesters are treated unfairly and violently, but that's only because of what we are: revolutionaries, if that term doesn't sound too grandiose. They hate us NOT because we are protesting, but because of what we REPRESENT and because we are exposing their putridness to the public...or at least we are trying to. Eventually we will succeed in this manner and THAT is when the true revolution will begin. This is exactly why cops, corporate america and the government have so much animosity towards us.

We represent freedom, and that alone terrifies the establishment into doing everything in their power to subdue and control us...even if they have to kill us (ie. Kent State). Yes, that was back in 1970, but the government has not changed since then.....at all.

The cops and politicians will not keep us down for much longer.

In Freedom and Solidarity,
Tim

p.s. I don't think it's fair to say that the "younger" people acted out of "peer pressure". Although that may have played a part, it's not a fair generalization. There is something called principal and we are all together in true Solidarity. Please let's stick together through these turbulent times of drastic change.

I would have to agree that our Jail Solidarity tactics have outlived their usefullness.

I participated in jail solidarity as a JWTO in Seattle, and I must say it worked really well there, though in a different manner than we intended (ie. it fucked shit up for the police, but didn't get us the plea bargain we wanted.) In DC, solidarity worked just the way it was intended-- a resounding success.

But in Philly and LA, it's clear that jail solidarity accomplished nothing except longer stays and higher bails for activists. Neither cities were lacking cell space or police staff. They clearly preferred keeping people behind bars, rather than letting them back out into the streets.

We need to re-think all our tactics before doing another mass action like the DNC, WTO, etc. again, not just Jail Solidarity. It's clear the Man has figured out how to counteract all our same-old-same-old tactics. It's time to try new ones...

My $.002...

In Solidarity,

RedRob

So I got to spend two nights in LA County jail last week for riding my bike, which is pretty funny except for the fact that the guards there were such assholes. Almost all of us critical massers left the jail o.r. on thursday, and it seemed to us that the best form of jail solidarity was for those who were released to put together money to bail out those who weren't. Keeping the jails full of protesters, after all, is only a temporary solution for filling the state's need to keep all its new jails full. The classic civil disobediance tactic "lets all keep going to jail until there's no more room left in the jails" simply isn't a good way to fight the prison-industrial complex, or the corporate media, or the corporations themselves. The industry would be more than happy to build more jails to house us, and the media hasn't shown anything so far except a collosal ability to ignore whats going on.
Which isn't to say that the current strategies are misguided, just that we need to continue to adapt, and to first off beat these bogus charges they're throwing at us and get our comrades out of jail.

Charlie

I appreciate your comments about the drawbacks of jail solidarity strategies. It is importment to keep an open debate about our methods in order for people to feel that this movement reflects their interests.

I was a Jane WTO in Seattle, and worked as office coordinator for the DAN Legal team during our trials, and also with Midnight Special in Washington D.C. I could not make it to L.A., but kept in close contact with the collective during your incarceration there. I am a big fan of solidarity for many reasons, though I know it is not an easy route. Here are a few examples of what this strategy can do. . .

First, it can protect foreign nationals. Individuals from other countries can damage their ability to travel to our country, even face deportation, for expressing their beliefs in the streets. While it would be easy for Americans with no priors to just "get out of that place," for those who are juveniles (young people can be put on probation for a very long time for civil disobediance)and internationals, that is often not an option.

Second, it can empower inmates by paving the way to negotiations with the prosecution. Typically, the prosecutor does not have to justify his/her actions until trial. In Los Angeles, the prosecutor actually came to the jails to negotiate with the inmates themselves. When the state has to see first hand what they are doing to nonviolent demonstrators, it becomes more dificult to just sweep them under the rug.

Third, even in cases when jail solidarity does not work the way we planned (i.e. Seattle and Philly), court solidarity steps in to steal the show. For example, in Seattle, almost every arrestee invoked their rights to a speedy, jury trial and a court appointed attorney. The result of this was an onslaught of dismissals...over five hundred. We only had three cases go to trial, and only lost on a banner hang case. This is a resounding success for solidarity. If nothing else, perhaps the prosecutor in Seattle realized that it would have been much cheaper to negotiate with the demonstrators on "the inside."

I am sorry you got swept up in the solidarity strategy against your will...that is highly unusual. I hope we can continue to present new ideas that will meet our needs and keep us together in hardship.

Stay Strong,

Natalie

I agree that jail solidarity may have outlived its usefulness. I, too participated in jail solidarity in Seattle and it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. The reason it was so powerful was not because it worked (it didn't - explanation follows) but because I was able to experience the company of 30 (and many more total) beautiful, strong, revolutionary women who were fighting the same thing I was.
As I learned many months later from an insider working with labor unions in Seattle, the reason everybody was released on my fifth day in jail was not because jail solidarity was sucessful, but because leaders of the longshoreman union marched into the mayor's office and threatened to shut down coastal commerce if the mayor did not relent. The next day, we were out.
Jail solidarity is a wonderful theory. But re-explaining what it's supposed to do doesn't make it work better. Even in Seattle I had a nagging feeling that we, as protestors and solidarity trainees, were lambs being led to slaughter. The experience of being in jail and the gamble of solidarity should not be glossed over to potential prisoners.
New tactics are a necessity, not just with regards to jail but in general. It's going to take much more than we've put out to restructure this system.
Tofu "Chocolate" Pie