Political Prisoners- General Info
Political prisoners are
people prosecuted for their political beliefs or ideologies, activities, and
affiliations with social movements. Political prisoners can be anybody from any
race, culture, age, or gender. They are often associated and identified as
leaders in organizations or movements opposed to the atrocities committed by
the United States government. Some examples of these crimes are the
infringement of privacy, police brutality, genocide of indigenous people,
forced dispossession of land.
The objective of the incarceration of political leaders by the government is to destabilize social movements of resistance. Political prisoners are often given harsh, long term sentences in prisons where they are mistreated on a daily basis. Mistreatment includes extensive periods of time in solitary confinement, denied recreational time, and insufficient visiting time. The primary purpose of mistreatment of political prisoners is to prevent organizing behind prison walls. The government often paints a negative picture of political prisoners by calling them criminals or terrorists in an effort to justify the imprisonment of these people to the general public. Often times when Political Prisoners are being prosecuted, they are charged with other crimes to hide the fact they are being imprisoned for their political beliefs. Their commonality is that they are fighting government oppression and were unjustly prosecuted in an effort to destroy their respective movements.
The objective of the incarceration of political leaders by the government is to destabilize social movements of resistance. Political prisoners are often given harsh, long term sentences in prisons where they are mistreated on a daily basis. Mistreatment includes extensive periods of time in solitary confinement, denied recreational time, and insufficient visiting time. The primary purpose of mistreatment of political prisoners is to prevent organizing behind prison walls. The government often paints a negative picture of political prisoners by calling them criminals or terrorists in an effort to justify the imprisonment of these people to the general public. Often times when Political Prisoners are being prosecuted, they are charged with other crimes to hide the fact they are being imprisoned for their political beliefs. Their commonality is that they are fighting government oppression and were unjustly prosecuted in an effort to destroy their respective movements.
Documents
4 Documents Found
Profiles: A series on U.S. Political Prisoners
Date: 12/1/1990Call Number: PM 219Format: CassetteProducers: Zenzile Khoisan, Sally O’BrienCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
A series on U.S Political Prisoners produced for the Special International Tribunal on the Violation of Human Rights of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War in United States Prisons and Jails. The series of profiles offer insight into the political activity, incarceration, and prison conditions of: Dr. Alan Berkman, Sekou Abdullah Odinga, Marilyn Buck, Assata Shakur, Bashir Hameed and Susan Rosenberg. They individually discuss their treatment as prisoners and specifically political prisoners. Other issues brought up are Black Liberation Movement, Panther 21 case, the relationship of revolutionary struggle to the mass movement, government and media depictions of revolutionaries, life in prison, and continued struggle and action within the prison system.
The Resistance Conspiracy
Date: 4/13/1989Call Number: PM 222Format: CassetteProgram: In our VoicesCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Judy Greenspan, Mary O’Melviney, and Nikichi Taifa -- lawyers and activists-- discuss the Resistance Conspiracy Case and the struggles for Laura Whitehorn, Marilyn Buck, Linda Evans, Tim Blunk, Susan Rosenberg, and Alan Berkman, all charged with "conspiracy to protest and alter government policies through use of violence," specifically stemming from a bombing of the Capitol Building in 1983.
This broadcast explores the political nature of the case, the lack of evidence and due process involved in this case, as well as the horrendous conditions faced by these prisoners of war. Judy Greenspan, Mary O'Melviney, and Nikichi Taifa also try to contextualize the actions of these prisoners with a broader justice movement against the crimes of the U.S. nationally and internationally.
Interview with Susan Rosenberg about conditions in the women’s political prison, Lexington.
Call Number: PM 438AFormat: Cass AProducers: Sally O’Brian, Terry BissonCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Interview with Susan Rosenberg, an American revoluntionary anti-imperialist female political prisoner, about Lexington prison. . Susan Rosenberg describes the focus of Lexington as “the psychological element of incarceration to disintigrate the personality”. She speaks about the terribly harsh and restrictive conditions of Lexington, as well as the psychological impact of the prison. Rosenberg speaks about how every prisoner is there for political reasons, as the control unit is not based on disciplinary measures, but on classificationof who and what the prisoners are associated with.
Susan Rosenberg’s attorney, Michael Schubert, speaks about the isolation and solitary confinement the Lesington prisoners experience, and how such isolation is aimed at keeping the prisoners isolated from politics.
Political Prisoners in the US
Call Number: PM 256Format: CassetteProducers: Prison Radio ProjectProgram: You Can’t Jail the Spirit #8Collection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Political prisoners Ed Mead and Linda Evans, former political prisoner Pat Levasseur and Marilyn Kalmen, attorney and a member of Out of Control: Lesbian Community in Support of Political Prisoners. A discussion of their anti-imperialist actions; defying the government by using armed guerrilla tactics. Government repression of anti-imperialist action (labeled "terrorism") through lengthy jail sentences, harsh prison conditions, corruption of the prison industrial complex, and organizing support for political prisoners.
4 Documents Found
