Notes on Prison Organizing in Lockdown

If you’re in a lockdown prison, that is if you are confined to your cell 21 hours a day unless you are attending a school program or a work assignment, there are still ways available that facilitate organizing efforts.

First, put together a collection of prisoner/prison literature and related legal issues, and anti-imperialist publications. Ask anyone and everyone you have contact with if they’re interested in reading about these subjects. If they say yes, let them read your publications. After a while, encourage them to obtain their own publications and to “circulate to educate, educate to liberate.”

Second, try to obtain a program/work assignment in any one of the following areas: teacher’s aid, housing area porter, food service, or law library clerk. Teacher’s aids have daily contact with lots of prisoners, the same goes for food service workers. Housing area porters have daily access to all prisoners in the housing area, and law library clerks have daily contact with prisoners from all over the prison plus they usually have access to a photocopy machine operated by prisoners.

“Without struggle there is no progress” - Frederick Douglass

MIM(Prisons) adds: This is good advice, it’s important that everyone do what they can within their conditions. And in prison you have to be creative about what’s possible. We also offer prisoners on lockdown (and others) the opportunity to study when they are locked in the cell, by joining our study groups. Cell time should be study time, whether it’s part of our study group through the mail or studying material on your own. And there are many other productive activities you can do from your cell: writing articles, creating art, translating into Spanish, and writing poetry are just a few examples. Write to us with your own ideas and we’ll help you get involved.