A Second Draft
By Uhuru Rowe
October 1
(The following is a second draft of a preliminary proposal for a statewide, coalition-based campaign to close/shut down non-air-conditioned prisons in Virginia due to extreme heat conditions. I sent the first draft of this proposal to various abolitionist, climate justice, criminal justice, and prison reform organizations in Virginia about three weeks ago, asking for feedback and to sponsor this campaign. As of the date of this post, none of them have responded, so I am posting it on my blog hoping that someone will agree with the mission of this proposed campaign and will help to develop it into a movement with teeth.)
In a September 21, 2021 letter to New York governor Kathy Hochul and NYC mayor Bill de Blasio, US representatives Jerry Nadler, Jamaal Bowman, Nydia Velasquez, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez demanded the closure of the Rikers Island Jail Complex and the release of all people housed there because of conditions they described as “deplorable and nothing short of a humanitarian crisis.”
The decision to do so was the result of numerous complaints of long-standing violence, abuse, and neglect at Rikers, and a grassroots coalition consisting of the family and friends of inmates, community leaders, and activists, all demanding the jail be closed.
A similar grassroots campaign resulted in the notorious United States Prison in Marion, Illinois, then downgraded from a maximum security lockdown (control) unit to a medium security facility in 2006.
Currently, there is also a coalition-based campaign to shut down the Stewart Detention Center, a for-profit immigrant detention center in Lumpkin, Georgia, after complaints surfaced of women detained there experiencing abuse, medical neglect, and sexual violence by staff.
A similar coalition-based campaign to close/shut down non-air-conditioned prisons in Virginia due to extreme heat conditions is needed and can be just as successful.
Strategies and Tactics
I propose the initial stage of this campaign be the following:
* Identify which non-air-conditioned prisons to target for closure. I propose that Buckingham, Nottoway, and Augusta centers be the initial target of this campaign because the extreme heat conditions at these facilities has been consistently exposed in the media. Additionally, there is already an online petition demanding these three facilities be closed with close to 500 signatures. See petition at: Sign the Petition This petition can be used as the foundation for this campaign.
* Frame the extreme heat conditions at the targeted prisons as a humanitarian and climate crisis issue due to global warming. Framing it in this manner will remove it from the pale of simply prison reform or prison justice and recharacterize it as a human rights and climate justice issue.
* Identify the legislators representing the districts where the targeted prisons are located for the purpose of lobbying. Historically, these legislators are the first to resist the planned closure of prisons due to potential job losses for their constituents and loss of revenue for the local economy, so identifying and lobbying the elected delegate/senator representing the district where the targeted prisons are located will be vital.
* Engage in direct political action, especially during the summer months when the heat is the most extreme in the targeted prisons. Public protests, rallies, teach-ins, press releases, petition drives, phone/email zaps, social media blitzes, and inside/outside coordination will prove to be effective in raising public awareness in pressuring the state government to close/shut down the targeted prisons.
As the earth gets hotter due to global warming, the heat in the targeted prisons will become more extreme, further turning these non-air-conditioned prisons into virtual death camps, so the success of this campaign will save incarcerated lives, especially the lives of sick and elderly prisoners, while also reducing the overall prison population. This is an initial proposal designed to encourage discussion, dialogue, feedback, and planning on how to develop this statewide, coalition-based campaign for maximum effectiveness.
Your feedback is welcome and your assistance with and/or sponsorship of this campaign is needed and will be appreciated. Interested individuals and organizations can contact me directly via the JPay App or by my outside email, uhururowe76@yahoo.com.
