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
Safiya Bukhari Interview with Albert Nuh Washington
Date: 2/24/2000Call Number: PM 168Format: Cass A & BProducers: Sally O’Brien, Safiya BukhariProgram: Where We LiveCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Interview for WBAI program ‘Where we Live’ - Safiya Bukhari with Albert Nuh Washington, shortly before his death in prison.
Alan Berkman Interview
Date: 10/30/1990Call Number: PM 218AFormat: Cass AProgram: Where We LiveCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
An interview with political prisoner Dr. Alan Berkman’s lawyer, on his then deteriorating health condition and the medical treatment of prisoners, political prisoners in particular, within the prison system.
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.
You Can’t Jail the Spirit: Political Prisoners in the United States
Call Number: PM 226Format: CassetteProducers: Gloria AlonzoCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
This program takes a look at political prisoners within the United States and their contributions and efforts to the social justice movement. The program takes a look at four specific cases. The first portion of the program addresses Cuban detainees being held without due process in U.S. federal prisons. The second part takes a look at Haitian refugees in the U.S. The third part discusses Irish national Joseph Daugherty who was imprisoned in 1983 without being charged of a crime within the U.S. The final portion of the program takes a look at the case of Silvia Baraldini, an Italian national who was imprisoned on charges of conspiring to free prominent Black Panther leader Asada Shakur and conspirancy to commit a bank robbery.
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.
Interview with Susan Rosenberg
Susan Rosenberg speaks from the Metropolitan Corretional Center in New York City about political prisoners and prisons. She describes the conditions in the control unit in Lexington women’s prison and the government’s reasons for selecting the women sent to Lexington.
Interview with Susan Rosenberg on KMUD
Susan Rosenberg speaks over the phone from a Washington DC jail. As political activists, Rosenberg and others were charged with conspiracy to influence foreign domestic policy by illegal violent means. With a right to have a necessity to resist, Rosenberg and others actively fought against US war crimes of injustice. While being charged for four DC bombings (Capital Bombings), multiple organizations claimed responsibility. Rosenberg was initially caught with explosives and was linked to the conspiracy. A usual sentence for explosives is 3 ½ years, however her situation is politically charged and she first received a 58-year sentence. With no evidence of her doing the bombings, she was charged by political association. With no direct evidence, Susan explains that involvement can mean responsibility and potential conviction.
Along with her explanation of past problems with the government, Rosenberg talks about her recent struggle with confinement in the Lexington Control Unit and her movement to shut it down. She speaks of the injustices of sending political prisoners to solitary confinement (Lexington Control Unit). Rosenberg also explains her experiences with being retried a second time with no new evidence. The second indictment was for bombing, while the first was conspiracy. These actions were illegal due to laws of double jeopardy. Eventually, a federal judge dismissed the case. As the struggle continues, Susan Rosenberg describes that she is gaining more opportunities to fight her case and political prisoners will have more rights as well.
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.
Women Political Prisoners Panel
A panel features several women who served time as political prisoners. Main issues discussed include Puerto Rican political prisoners and the effect prison has on families as the women share their experiences. Speakers include a former member of the Weather Underground arrested for planning to bomb the offices of California State Senator John Briggs.
