Solidarity Message from Liberate Baltimore

We, Liberate Baltimore, stand in solidarity with our incarcerated
brothers on hunger strike  in Red Onion State Prison. The inhumane
conditions in Red Onion State Prison have been well documented by
Human Rights Watch (HRW) in their "Report on Human Rights Violations
in the United States" published in April 1999. In their report, HRW
wrote, "At Red Onion, unfortunately, the Virginia Department of
Corrections has failed to embrace basic tenets of sound correctional
practice and laws protecting inmates from abusive, degrading or cruel
treatment."  In addition, HRW writes, "The Virginia Department of
Corrections is responsible for safely and humanely confining all its
inmates, even those deemed to be violent, disruptive or who pose other
security risks."

Liberate Baltimore recognizes the prison industrial complex as a
continuation of the white supremacist and capitalist control,
exploitation, and violence against people of color upon which this
country (and the state of Virginia) was founded. The criminal
(in)justice system has been designed to systematically oppress and
profit from communities of color. Given the need to destroy these
systems of oppression, the hunger strikers’ demands for BASIC human
rights should be met without delay. The incarcerated brothers at Red
Onion State Prison should be treated with the respect and dignity that
they deserve.

We stand in solidarity with their struggle and with the struggle of
all prisoners in the United States and its empire – FREE ‘EM ALL!

In struggle,
Sine for Liberate Baltimore