Restore Media Access to CA Prisoners!
Date of Alert:
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Restore Media Access to CA Prisoners! Sign the Petition NOW!
Last year when prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison launched a hunger strike, Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity hustled to get mainstream media to cover the strike and expose the torturous conditions within CA prisons. During the first week of the strike in 2011, CA Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said only a few dozen prisoners were on strike. When Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity members pressured the LA Times to get exact numbers from the CDCR, it was revealed that more than 6,600 prisoners were striking (reaching at least a third of the state's prisons). Some of the very prisoners involved in the 2011 CA Hunger Strike organized a similar hunger strike in the early 2000's, but were unable to get word out to the media. Media exposure helped spread awareness of and grew support for the 2011 CA Hunger Strike exponentially, so much that the CDCR was forced to negotiate with the hunger strikers.
Assembly Bill 1270 is a prison media access bill that was introduced by Assembly member Tom Ammiano to lift the media ban on CA prisons. It will allow journalists greater access to interview California state prisoners. The CA Appropriations Committee will be making an important vote concerning AB1270 on Monday, August 13th.
Help Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity get more signatures on the petition in favor of this bill and support the prisoners in their struggle for human rights!
http://signon.org/sign/let-the-light-in-restore?source=s.fwd&r_by=5247989
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