Friday, November 16, 2:3-4pm
Ohio Dept of Rehabilitation, 770 West Broad St.
Stand up to ODRC retaliation against the prisoner protest movement in Ohio!

During the massive #August21 2018 prison strike, the Ohio Department of Retribution and Corruption (ODRC) engaged in a number of repressive and retaliatory actions against prisoners. These practices continue to this day. 

On Friday supporters from across Ohio and the wider region will gather outside the ODRC central office to demand an end to retaliation against prisoner protests. 

Out of town people will park near and gather at the corner of State and Dakota (behind the Franklinton library) starting at 2, then march together up to the DRC Central Office at 770 W Broad at around 2:30.

Speakers: 
Ishaq Alkhair - a friend of Imam Hasan who was incarcerated at Lucasville during the 1993 uprising. 
Pittsburg Anarchist Black Cross
Central Ohio IWOC

Organizations calling this demo: 
Central Ohio IWOC
Anarchist Black Cross Pittsburg
Lucasville Amnesty
BQIC (black queer and intersectional collective)

Our demands: 

1. End all retaliatory communication restrictions against Siddique Abdullah Hasan and throw out the Serious Misconduct Panel decision. 

2. Cease the violent attacks on Toledo Correctional Hunger strikers and meet their demands. 

3. Reverse all visitation restrictions imposed on the prisoners' supporters and new policies designed to harass prisoners' visitors at OSP.

More information: 

1. Siddique Abduallah Hasan is an outspoken prisoner movement leader who the ODRC retaliated against for merely trying to speak to the public about the #August21 prison strike. He was brought before a "Serious Misconduct Panel" which violated due process to impose a year long ban on his phone and email access, and permanent visiting restrictions on some of his supporters and close friends. These restrictions take away vital connection to the outside world, which have helped Hasan survive decades in supermax solitary confinement at the Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP). More details on Hasan's situation can be found here: https://shadowproof.com/2018/10/18/ohio-prisons-deny-appeal-incarcerated-activist-punished-supporting-prison-strike/

2. David Easley, James Ward and others at Toledo Correctional have been engaged in off and on hunger strike protests since the national strike started August 21. Their main demand is that the ODRC release them from solitary confinement and stop using solitary confinement to exacerbate the mental health crises that confinement in prison causes. The latest hunger strike started on Saturday November 2, and staff at Toledo Correctional responded by shooting the strikers with chemical weapons and refusing them access to showers so they can clean the mace and pepperspray off. Learn more: https://itsgoingdown.org/phone-zap-ohio-prison-strikers-attacked-with-mace/

3. Following the strike and the highly suspect "mysterious toxic substance" scare in Ohio and Pennsylvania, ODRC has changed visitation policies for many prisoners, especially at OSP. Experts have described the scare as a "mass psychogenic illness" caused by guards' paranoia, not the actual presence of toxic substances. Moreover, drugs are much more likely to be smuggled into Ohio prisons by staff than by visitors. Yet, the ODRC persists in new visitation policies (such as requiring visitors to use bathrooms in the downstairs lobby rather than the visiting room) that harass visitors and waste precious time with their incarcerated loved ones.