AS PART OF an ongoing campaign against the prison system, the 27th-29th November saw some 80-100 innocent prisoners go on a three-day hunger strike in protest about their continuing incarceration by the State. Organised in conjunction with a series of demonstrations outside the Birmingham based Criminal Cases Review Commission, the event was a great success and helped to provide a very public focus for those struggling for freedom and a bit of dignity.

Prisoners involved in the campaign are inside for a whole variety of different reasons. Some have been set up by the police (like Warren Slaney from Leicester), others are inside for acts of self-defence (like Satpal Ram who is currently serving time for defending himself against a gang of racist thugs). What unites all the campaigns, though, is a resistance to the growing criminalisation of our class by the police. So keen is the state to lock us up that by the year 2000 it is estimated that one in two working class males will have been through the judicial system. Why the police decide to target people varies from case to case; the important thing is not to let them get away with it!

For further info on the hunger strike or the prisoners involved, contact:
Birmingham ABC
PO Box 3241
Saltley
Birmingham
B8 3DP

For stuff about framed prisoners write to:
CONVICTION
PO Box 522
Sheffield S13FF