Activists who came out to the Philly streets to make their voices heard, to demand a response to the issues of police brutality, the criminal injustice system, and the brutal effects of corporate globalization are being met with inhumane and torturous conditions in Philly jails and prisons.
Activists who came out to the Philly streets to make their voices heard, to demand a response to the issues of police brutality, the criminal injustice system, and the brutal effects of corporate globalization are being met with inhumane and torturous conditions in Philly jails and prisons. Our first priority is to get people out of these conditions-- and that means an urgent push to raise bail funds and legal fees. The Philly IMC webpage has received 1 million hits. What if every one of those people made a donation? We are asking people to make donations, to organize benefits, to ask everyone you know to give to this fund. This is a way you can contribute whether or not you live in Philly: by helping us get people out of jail. For more information on the conditions prisoners in the Philly jails are facing right now, see below or check out www.thepartysover.org.
To make a donation:
Please make out your tax-deductible check to ISMCH (the Institute of Social Medicine and Community Health, our fiscal sponsor) and write "legal fund" in the memo line. Send checks to PDAG/ PO Box 40683/ Philly, PA 19107
Philly imprisonment conditions
Prosecuters have set unreasonably high bail for demonstrators: from ,000 to ,000 for most. Two individuals have bail of million, an amount typically reserved for serial killers, never before applied in a civil disobedience case. "I consider this a civil rights catastrophe of the first order," R2K legal counsel Ron McGuire stated.
Demonstrators continue to demand medical treatment, access to lawyers, access to phones, and timely release as constitutional violations persist in Philadelphia jails. Many of the prisoners are on hunger strike, and a water strike has been started. Guards, police, and administrators continue to attack protestors in jail, seeking to demoralize and divide. There has been one sexual assault, by a female officer who pulled and twisted a prisoner's penis. There are reports of genitals and nipples being pulled and twisted, as well as attempts to break protestors toes by stomping on them. One released activist reports men have been dragged face down through a 'trash trough' containing refuse, spittle, and urine. Arrestees have been verbally abused, punched, kicked, thrown against walls, bloodied, dragged naked across floors. Diabetics, epileptics, and asthmatics continue to be denied medication. Trauma and psychological stress are evident. Released prisoners consistently report beatings during arrest and beatings in jail, with highest charges pressed on those most damaged.
For more info visit PDAG at www.thepartysover.org
Original: Urgent Appeal for Legal Funds