This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.

Amerikkkan Prisons on Trial Conference

Feb 22-25, 1999

Recent projections based on u.s. government statistics show that if current trends in imprisonment continue, there will be almost 10 million prisoners in the u.s. by 2020. Blacks would be imprisoned at a rate of 9,517 per 100,000 if current trends continue- that means almost 1 Black person out of 10 would be in prison, not to mention on parole or on probation.(MIM Notes, May 1, 1997, p.1)

This bleak future is not inevitable, but it will take the consistent efforts of activists within and outside prisons to prevent it. This is why we are organizing the 2nd annual Amerikan Prisons on Trial Conference. The culmination of last year's conference was a trip to the Jericho March on the White House for Political Prisoners, and a prisons teach-in in Washington D.C.

The conference will help educate the public about the truth about prisons and crime, and help mobilize people in defense of prisoners and against the criminal injustice system. RAIL is initating this conference because it sees the struggle against Amerika's incarceration craze as part of larger struggles for national liberation within the borders of the United States; as prison is a large part of Amerika's war against the Black, Latino and First Nations.

RAIL is actively encouraging individuals and other organizations to help us build and organize "Amerikan Prisons on Trial". Individuals not currently associated with political movements are encouraged to join RAIL, or to work with us on these events without membership in RAIL..

We especially want to encourage people to help us do research, lead discussions and make presentations. We are also eager to expand the Conference to other sites in the Pioneer Valley. To help build the Amerikan Prisons on Trial Conference, or if you have questions or comments, contact: PO Box 712 Amherst MA 01004-0712 voicemail:(413) 582-3934

Monday Feb 22 7pm UMass Campus Center 903 Panel Discussion on Death Penalty : 15 minute video: Johnny D. 60 minutes clip on a random poor Black man framed for murder and sent to death row.
Local activist who had a pen pal murdered on death row
FoRAIL activist
Amnesty International activist

Tuesday Feb 23 7pm UMass Campus Center 905 Education in prisons. The Last Graduation. Video about the end of Pell Grants for prisoners. Studies show that education reduces recidivism, but Congress cut Pell grants anyway.

Wednesday Feb 24 7pm UMass Campus Center 903 Torture, heath care, slave labor and abuse in prisons. Discussion about control units, access to health care, and the rampant brutality in Amerika's prisons. The legal slave labor in Amerika's gulags will also be discussed.

Thursday Feb 25 7pm UMass Campus Center 904 The Farm: Angola: New documentary about the largest prison in Amerika. The film downplays the brutality of the system, but does effectively show that prisoners are people. Unfortunately, that's an idea that politicians and prisoncrats try to ignore.

Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) mim@mim.org PO Box 712 Amherst MA 01004-0712 voicemail:(413) 582-3934

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