On the deaths of two inmates in Escambia County Jail in 2010.

James Stallworth, 48, dies in March. John Gipson, 50, dies in December. In both cases, the details of the two mens deaths are not being released. This includes injuries, autopsy reports, etc. Pensacola News Journal, our local newspaper that never covers the issues that need to be covered, and always sides with the police, ran two short articles on the death of Gipson. The last article can be read here:

http://www.pnj.com/article/20101222/NEWS01/12220332/Details-of-Escamba-jail-inmate-s-death-released


As you can see by reading that article, the tone is apathetic and has no teeth, it doesn't pose the real question(s) that need to be asked, which are:

1. If Gipson was in such bad shape after allegedly being attacked by another inmate(whose name we of course do not know), that he had to be taken to the infirmary, why is it that he appears to have been left alone from 1am to 5:35am? It is the stated policy of Escambia County Jail to check on inmates in the infirmary every hour, so the odds that staff didn't notice Gipson dead until almost 5 hours later are small. Odds are, Gipson was left alone the entire time, or not adequately checked upon every hour.

2.If Gipsons injuries were so severe that they ended up causing him to die(?), why was he not taken to a hospital where he could have gotten proper medical attention? Surely if it was a guard or staff member attacked, they would have been rushed to a hospital? John Gipson might possibly be alive today had he been taken to a hospital.


In 2009 the Department of Justice announced an investigation into patrol operations of the jail and the Sheriff's Office. Though the official report of that investigation is still pending, there have been a few additional changes at the jail. One being an influx of an additional 163 cameras, which makes a total of 200. Of course, we of the revolutionary stripe know that these cameras are for no other use but to keep greater tabs on prisoners of the State. Point is, there is video footage somewhere of what happened to Mr. Gipson and Mr. Stallworth. With 200 cameras, at least one caught footage of something happening.

James Stallworth was found dead in the jail back in March. Of course there were very little details printed or published about his death. Having done plentiful research into this incident, there is yet to be any follow-up on the original report of his death which can be found here"

http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/local_news/escambia-county-jail-inmate-found-dead

A search of his name along with the words "inmate" or "pensacola" any other number of words that are relevant to him and his death, comes up with little or no results. Unfortunately, because of this lack of access to critical information, there cannot be much to say about his death. What is known is that he went to jail for failure to appear in court, a small "crime", and left in a body bag.

People of Pensacola, there have been 12 DEATHS IN ESCAMBIA JAIL SINCE 2006. That is a dozen people dead in 5 years at the hands of the police or as a direct result of being imprisoned by police in unsafe conditions without access to proper medical care, etc
What does it take for our community to become concerned? Do we wait until the number reaches 20,30, 40 dead? Or until it is one of us at a friend or relative's funeral?

We live in a community with a reputation for having violent and oppressive police and jails. Just last year Victor Steen, 17, was killed by Jerald Ard, who is still wearing the uniform of oppressor, still carrying the same taser used to shoot out of his window at Steen, possibly driving the same car that ran him down and dragged him 30 feet, dead within minutes.

Police and jails are the symptom of a much larger problem, that of Capitalism and the State. Capitalists are hiring workers to build cages for other workers who cannot or refuse to, keep up with the demands of this economy and the police that protect it. Poverty breeds violence and drug addiction. As does lack of access to education, employment, proper healthcare, and an environment that nurtures growth through support and understanding, not forced adaptation to a society that more and more kills our spirits and exploits our bodies and minds.


In a society without Capitalism and the State, there are no prisons and no jails. This is often seen as a suicidal idea, that people ought not be locked up for crimes committed most of the time out fincancial scarcity and desperation. The reality of it is that this system creates, breeds, and relies upon crime. This system, that creates and causes poverty, needs prisons and jails to justify the further exploitation and imprisonment of poor communities. It needs a "War on Drugs", intentionally set up to cover up for the building up of the prison-industrial complex that currently enslaves over 2 million people in the U.S. This is the highest prison rate in the world, and it increases everyday.

It is up to us to organize to expose the corruption and violence inherent in the prisons and jails, and in the system that needs us to build them. We need a movement that seeks collective liberation from this society, so that we may build a society that provides for all, at the expense of none.

THOUSANDS OF INVISIBLE PICKETS Workers Solidarity Alliance Statement in Support of the Recent and Ongoing Prisoners Strike in Georgia

THOUSANDS OF INVISIBLE PICKETS

Workers Solidarity Alliance Statement in Support of the Recent and Ongoing Prisoners Strike in Georgia

December 13, 2010

We express our utmost support and solidarity to all of the prisoners in Georgia who have been on strike for the past three days, refusing to leave their cells to work or perform any prisoner-related duties assigned them by the prison. The strike is astounding in more than one way, perhaps the most important of which is that it has broken the racial boundaries that structure prisons. Black, white, and hispanic prisoners are uniting together to demand the following:

• A LIVING WAGE FOR WORK: In violation of the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude, the DOC [Department of Corrections] demands prisoners work for free.
• EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES: For the great majority of prisoners, the DOC denies all opportunities for education beyond the GED, despite the benefit to both prisoners and society.
• DECENT HEALTH CARE: In violation of the 8^th Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments, the DOC denies adequate medical care to prisoners, charges excessive fees for the most minimal care and is responsible for extraordinary pain and suffering.
• AN END TO CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENTS: In further violation of the 8^th Amendment, the DOC is responsible for cruel prisoner punishments for minor infractions of rules.
• DECENT LIVING CONDITIONS: Georgia prisoners are confined in over-crowded, substandard conditions, with little heat in winter and oppressive heat in summer.
• NUTRITIONAL MEALS: Vegetables and fruit are in short supply in DOC facilities while starches and fatty foods are plentiful.
• VOCATIONAL AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES: The DOC has stripped its facilities of all opportunities for skills training, self-improvement and proper exercise.
• ACCESS TO FAMILIES: The DOC has disconnected thousands of prisoners from their families by imposing excessive telephone charges and innumerable barriers to visitation.
• JUST PAROLE DECISIONS: The Parole Board capriciously and regularly denies parole to the majority of prisoners despite evidence of eligibility.

In the prisoners own words: “No more slavery. Injustice in one place is injustice to all. Inform your family to support our cause. Lock down for liberty!”

The strike is taking place in at least half a dozen prisons across Georgia, involving thousands of prisoners. There have been reports of Telfair and Macon State prisons sending in tactical squads to brutally assault prisoners, in what can only be described as state terrorism aimed at silencing dissent. We stand in the company of countless others, condemning this brutal policy of repression and violence. We know that this is a strike that threatens the balance of power in the prisons, something that the wardens and guards will not allow.

That is, if the prisoners are left isolated, without public support, without us taking on their call for justice and taking action in solidarity with their struggle.

The prisoners in Macon, Hays, Telfair, Baldwin, Valdosta, and Smith state prisons do not have picket signs we can read, no do they have speeches that can be read out loud to us. We cannot see their faces or hear their voices. They are mostly invisible to us. It is now up to us to break though this wall of invisibility purposely imposed upon us and prisoners, by those who control society and our lives. The right to strike is the right of every exploited person in an exploitive society, prisoner or not. The wardens and guards in Telfair prison tuned off the heat last Thursday night when temperatures reached 30 degrees, in yet another attempt to silence the striking prisoners through dangerous and life-threatening measures. A prison system that first, does not provide adequate health-care, is now turning off the heat in the December cold of Georgia! The message is clear: “YOU DO NOT HAVE RIGHTS, WE CAN AND WILL STOP THIS STRIKE!”

We cannot allow the prisoners’ struggle to be an isolated struggle, it is a fight that needs fighting outside of prisons in order to win. Isolation kills struggles and movements, especially movements that are in firm opposition to the power of an elite class and its institutions, and the practice of those institutions. The Georgia prisoners strike demands our attention, we cannot afford to ignore struggles for human dignity. Every day is a struggle for us to retain some sense of dignity. Capitalist society lives off the dignity plundered from our lives; it exists with the exploitation of its masses for the sake of the few who build their mansions within sight of our prisons. It will exist this way until we destroy it. The working class is the victim of the global crime of Capitalism and State. We labor to build it up, all the while it buries us, quite literally. If we are going to change our society we are going to have to recognize the sources of our oppression. The oppression of the prisoners in Georgia, and all prisoners, is our oppression. Prisons are our oppression, as is the State that requires working class people to build prisons for other working class people. Support the struggle of the striking prisoners: CALL THE PRISONS DEMANDING HANDS OFF THE STRIKERS!

• Macon State Prison is 978-472-3900.
• Hays State Prison is at 706-857-0400
• Telfair State prison is 229-868-7721
• Baldwin State Prison is at 478-445- 5218
• Valdosta State Prison is 229-333-7900
• Smith State Prison is at 912-654-5000
• The Georgia Department of Corrections is at www.dcor.state.ga.us and their phone number is 478-992-5246

The Workers Solidarity Alliance aims to build a working class movement that can challenge this political and social environment, and transform society into one of self-management, where the needs of all its members are met, and none are exploited.

FOR A WORLD WITHOUT BOSSES, BUREAUCRATS OR STATES

workersolidarity.org // ideasandaction.info

Jimmy John’s Workers Union—Here to Stay!

Jimmy John’s Workers Union—Here to Stay!

WE WILL NEVER FORGET: JUSTICE FOR VICTOR STEEN!!!

On October 3, 2009, Jerald Ard of the Pensacola Police Department, killed Victor Steen, a local youth, then planted a gun in his pocket. The rest of Ard's friends in the department were soon on the scene to harass, intimidate, and threaten patrons across the street who witnessed Ard running over Steen, who had fled on his bike. Police threatened to take witnesses cell phones who were using them to videotape the scene across the street. The ones on Ard's team even made it as difficult as possible to see the scene, parking their cruisers to obstruct view.

These tragedies should shock no one. The police are a trained paramilitary army trained and armed by the government, the State, those who enforce laws. Is it a coincidence that the same ones enforcing private property and economic oppression through corrupt laws, would then give the physical means to harm or kill those who step out of line and ignore or break the rules?

This is not an opportunity to exploit Victor Steen's death to advance an idea or a cause, to win over the reader to "radical" ideas. One must look at the relationship between the poor and the police. It is a relationship of intimidation, aggressiveness, and violence. Such has always been the case, and will continue to be so long as the poor remain powerless over our own lives. Jerald Ard would not have been able to kill in a strong and conscious community that asserts its power and autonomy whenever outside forces try to coerce or harm. If we protected our own, and resistance to authoritarian violence and intimidation were never a second thought, we could avoid future deaths like Victors.

NEVER FORGET, NEVER FORGIVE.


ARD PLANTS GUN ON VICTORS BODY:

More local coverage of Nov.14th Publix picket.

From:La Costa Latina Protesta por comida justa El pasado domingo 14 de noviembre hubo una protesta frente al supermercado Publix localizado en la esquina de Bayou Blvd y la Novena Ave. (9th Ave.) en Pensacola. La organización Workers Solidarity Alliance Pensacola y el Proggresive Student Alliance de la Universidad de West Florida se unieron con la Coalición de los Trabajadores de Immokalee (CIV) Campana para Comida Justa. El propósito de la protesta fue el exigir a Publix a prometer ayudar a mejorar las condiciones de trabajo para los labradores e incluir el incremento de un centavo por libra de tomates que ellos compren. Miembros de los dos grupos locales marchaban organizadamente en la congestionada intersección, vociferando “ Abajo con la explotación, arriba con compensación justa! El evento fue parte de un movimiento nacional. Demostraciones similares se llevaron a cabo en Kansas, New York y otras regiones durante lo que el CIV refiere como la Semana de Acción en los Supermercados. “Este Noviembre del 14 al 21, seguidores del CIV le informaran a los almaceneros locales que es tiempo de dar gracias a los labradores de agricultura cuyas miserias ha enriquecido a sus negocios”, tomado de la página de Facebook del CIV. En Octubre, El Museo de Esclavitud Moderna hizo paradas en Pensacola y Tallahassee para demostrar la conexión entre la esclavitud de tiempos pasados y lo presente. También informaron al público sobre las condiciones laborales que existen en la producción de tomates cosechados para la cadena de supermercado, Publix Inc. El museo ambulante hizo un parada en el edificio del U.S States Department y el National Mall en Washington, D.C. Las exhibiciones fueron creadas con la ayuda de labradores que lograron escapar de las granjas donde habían sido esclavizados y con académicos especialistas en esclavitud e historia laboral de la Florida. El museo depende del apoyo que le brindan varias agencias que protegen los derechos humanos y organizaciones anti-exclavidutd incluyendo al Amnesty Internacional y Anti-Esclavitud Internacional.

Protest for “Fair Food” A demonstration was held in front of the Publix grocery store on the corner of Nine Avenue and Bayou Blvd in Pensacola on Sunday, Nov. 14. The Workers Solidarity Alliance Pensacola and the University of West Florida Progressive Student Alliance protested in solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIV) Campaign for Fair Food. The picket was intended to demand Publix to pledge help to improve working conditions for farm workers to include an increase of cent per pound for the tomatoes they buy. Members of the two local groups organized to march on the busy intersection, chanting "Down with exploitation! Up with fair compensation!" The event was part of a national movement. Similar demonstrations in Kansas, New York, and other regions during what the CIV refers to as The Supermarket Week of Action. “This November 14-21, CIW allies across the country will be letting their local grocers know that it's time to give thanks to the farm workers whose poverty has driven their profits for years,” is posted on the CIV Facebook web page. In October, the Modern-Day Slavery Museum stopped in Pensacola and in Tallahassee to display the connections between past and present-day slavery. It also addresses labor conditions in the tomato supply chain of Publix Supermarkets, Inc. The visit followed an appearance at the U.S. State Department building and the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Museum exhibits were developed with the help of workers who have escaped from forced labor operations and leading academic authorities on slavery and labor history in Florida. The museum is endorsed by many leading human rights and anti-slavery organizations, including Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International.

We go where you are! Pensacola WSA and Progressive Student Alliance to picket Grand Opening of Daphne Publix

We go where you are! Pensacola WSA and Progressive Student Alliance to picket Grand Opening of Daphne Publix

Time	Saturday, December 11 · 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Location	Publix 27955 US Hwy. 98 Daphne, AL

Immigrant farmworkers in Immokalee, FL work in the harshest conditions and Publix turns a profit from their exploitation. Farmworkers are still paid by the piece and the rate of wage has not increased since the 1980’s. Farmworkers often work 10-12 hours a day but don’t receive overtime pay. If a farmworker is injured on the job, the worker has to pay out of pocket medical expenses because of a lack of medical coverage. Publix ha...s an opportunity to help improve the wages yet they come up with excuse after excuse about how they don’t get involved in labor disputes. The Workers Solidarity Alliance Pensacola and the U.W.F. Progressive Student Alliance stand in solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and demands that Publix sit down and negotiate to implement a code of conduct in their supply chain and pay one cent more per pound for tomatoes picked.

Join the Workers Solidarity Alliance and the Progressive Student Alliance in a protest at the grand opening of the new Publix in Daphne, AL on Saturday, December 11 at 12:00 P.M. The address is 27955 US Hwy. 98, Daphne, AL. For more information, contact wsapensacola@gmail.com or psa@uwf.edu

There will be carpooling from Pensacola for the event.

For more information on the CIW campaign, http://www.ciw-online.org/

If you live in the Baldwin County area or the Mobile County area, please forward this to all of your facebook friends and help spread the word.

People of Pensacola picket Publix for farmworker poverty

November 22, 2010

DUSTIN TONEY - The Corsair

November 24, 2010

The Workers Solidarity Alliance (WSA) and the Progressive Student Alliance (PSA), a political group based at the University of West Florida, staged a picket Nov. 14 at the Publix Supermarket on 9th Avenue. The picket was organized in conjunction with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and their Fair Food Campaign.

The CIW is calling on produce suppliers and distributors to agree to a one-cent-per-pound pay raise for tomato farmers in Immokalee, Fla., in addition to a code of conduct which guarantees workers are being treated humanely.

So far, the campaign has reached agreements with leading food retailers, including McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Whole Foods, Compass Group, Aramark and with three Florida tomato growers, including the state’s third largest supplier, East Coast Growers and Packers. As a whole, the CIW has aided the Department of Justice with convicting six slavery operations and the accumulated liberation of over 1,000 workers.

“We decided to put this campaign together to help educate the general public about the reality that slavery continues to happen in this country, particularly to farm workers here in Florida,” said Oscar Otzoy, a member from the CIW. “Unfortunately, even though these abuses we are talking about are well documented and widely known facts and nine different major corporations have signed agreements with us.”

“Publix is refusing to do these very simple things we are asking them to do, despite the fact that they claim to be a good force in the community. We are calling on them to step up and take responsibility for the conditions that farm workers are facing.”

What conditions are the workers facing? In a 2008 report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that “poverty among farm workers is more than double that of all wage and salary employees” and considering the additional risks of farm labor from other industrial work, such as exposure to pesticides, inadequate sanitary facilities (despite harvesting food commonly found in the nation’s largest grocery chains) and substandard housing, they, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, “not only lost ground relative to other workers in the private sector, they lost ground absolutely.”

Unlike most professions which are covered under labor laws dating back to the New Deal, farm workers also have no right to overtime pay, no right to employment benefits, and no right to collectively bargain with their employers.

To make matters worse, the average pay rate for a 32-pound bucket of tomatoes is 50 cents. In order to maintain an income equal to minimum wage, over 2.25 tons of tomatoes must be picked in a 10-hour workday by a single worker. The pay rate of farm workers has remained stagnant, if not dwindled heavily in the last five years. The rate for the same work in 1980 would pay 40 cents. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, if this wage had kept up just with inflation, then workers today would be getting paid $1.06 per 32 pounds of tomatoes. If Publix and the CIW come to an agreement, the average pay for the same amount would be 82 cents.

“We want Publix to improve the sub-poverty wages farm workers in Florida currently earn, but we also want them to work together with us to implement a stringent code that gives workers respect and a voice in the agricultural industry which includes zero-tolerance for abuses such as slavery,” said Otzoy.

Though it is certainly not the norm, there have been nine convictions of forced labor in the last 13 years, most of them involving Florida farms. In 2007, employed once by Frank Johns, former Chairman of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, the lobby for Florida’s extremely large agricultural industry, Ronald Evans, was convicted on drug conspiracy and financial re-structuring, amongst other charges, after recruiting then trapping homeless Americans from shelters. At Palatka, Fla., Evans set up a labor camp where he “perpetually indebted” workers with the use of food, alcohol and cocaine, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

In December 2008, Cesar and Geovanni Navarratee received a 12-year sentence on charges of conspiracy, holding workers in involuntary servitude. The defendants admitted to beating workers, forcing them to work and locking them in trucks to prevent their escape. Some of those enslaved workers labored in fields for Six L’s (based in Immokalee) and Pacific Tomato Growers (based in Palmetto). Publix sustained purchases from these two companies up to a year after the persecutions were made said the CIW.

“Slavery still happens and a lot of human trafficking is involved with this,” said Lee Pryor, organizer of the event and member of the Workers Solidarity Alliance and UWF’s Progressive Student Alliance. “We are attempting to get the student and consumer base to get out into the community to help the struggle. There are a couple of methods locals can use to influence Publix’s decisions. We don’t want consumers to stop buying products, but we want them to support what the CIW is doing and show Publix that they want their company to accept that agreement.”

Publix Media & Community Relations Manager Dwaine Stevens said in an interview, “We don’t get involved with labor disputes, but we do encourage growers and the CIW to come a resolution. There are issues with labor and working conditions in which they CIW has come to resolutions and we applaud those efforts, but we are a retail grocer and it is not our business to get involved with our sppliers’ labor issues.”

Those wanting to help the CIW can send Publix managers letters, send pre-made post cards directly to the CEO of Publix, or join the next picket on Dec. 11. To get this information or for any particular questions e-mail Lee Pryor at Progressive Student Alliance at psa@uwf.edu or visit the Workers Solidarity Alliance website at wsapensacola.com. For more information about the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and their campaign, visit ciw-online.org.