Prisoners in Florida are planning to go on strike on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to protest “prison slavery” and “deplorable conditions within FL prisons.”
In a campaign nicknamed “Operation PUSH”, organizers say inmates are expected to protest at the Reception and Medical Center state prison and hospital for men in Lake Butler, Florida.
Several rallies in support of the campaign have also been planned for this week at locations including the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) offices in Tallahassee and Miami, as well as at a talk scheduled to be given by political activist Angela Davis at Florida State University (FSU) Tuesday evening.
Davis has long been an outspoken critic of the U.S. justice system, calling for the abolition of the nation’s “obsolete” prison system.
Organizers of the rallies say prisoners are demanding payment for labor, branding the current system a “slave arrangement,” as well as “ending outrageous canteen prices” and reintroducing parole incentives to those with life sentences.