Report on Durango Jail Solidarity Rally : AZ IMC

by Collin Sick
Monsoon Anarchist Collective
member collective of the Phoenix Anarchist Coalition

Over 30 people, including members of the Phoenix Anarchist Coalition, Phoenix Copwatch, Mothers Against Arpaio, and Bring the Ruckus came together on June 26 for a solidarity rally for the hunger strike at the Durango Jail in southwest Phoenix.

Over 2,200 inmates of the Durango Jail refused meals beginning on Thursday, June 24, in a hunger strike protest against the conditions of the jail food, and to demand healthier food and that a third meal be served. Maricopa County Jails, which are administered by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO), are notorious for the horrible quality of the food, the rough conditions at the two tent city jails, and for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the man who uses chain gangs for men, women, and children, clearly hates his inmates population, and has created a strong media personality for himself and his human rights violating jails. The hunger strike received almost no media coverage in the local news, none of the newspapers covered it, and only three of the TV stations did stories on the hunger strike. By the time of the solidarity rally, little was known by the organizer, or participants as to whether or not the hunger strike had ended, or if inmates would even know that supporters were rallying in support outside of the jail.

We met up at the main entrance to the Durango Jail, which is also the area where family members and friends of inmates wait for hours to visit their loved ones. Most folks waiting for visitation were eye-balling us as we stood around, some of us with signs, others with folded up banners, so a few of us decided to let the folks waiting for visitation know that a demonstration was about to happen. Everyone we spoke with gave us the thumbs up and told us they would pass the word along to their loved one inside, but a few asked that we be careful, as even the slightest disruption has caused the Sheriff's Deputies and jail guards to shut down the visitation. We were very understanding, as the waiting area is outside, and some folks had been waiting there since 6 AM in the morning, suffering through the brutal Arizona summer heat, so we decided to move around the corner from the visitation waiting area.

Just before we moved around the corner, we were joined by the Mothers Against Arpaio, a group of mothers and women whose loved ones have been abused, neglected, or even killed inside of the Maricopa County Jails, and who specifically take aim at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio as the man responsible for the brutality. We held up our banners, one, a Phoenix Anarchist Coalition banner reading "AS LONG AS ONE PERSON IS OPPRESSED, NO ONE IS FREE!" and another reading "WE SUPPORT INMATES RIGHTS + HUNGER STRIKE."

After only a few minutes of standing outside of the vistation area, some of the same people we'd spoken to minutes before, were now inviting us back into the shade of the visitation area, people came up to us and joined in, carrying anti-Sheriff Joe signs and striking up conversations with us. A Phoenix New Times photographer was present and people wanted their photos taken with us, something the photographer was happy to oblige. Gradually people sat back down, or got back in line for visitation, the Mothers Against Arpaio left and marched to another jail, just down the street, and as many of us had to get to work, we made our way back to the parking lot, but not before a couple of Sheriff's Deputies appeared who ran out of the jail and warned us not to come back, or we'd be trespassing. Most of us laughed them off and continued on chanting "Sheriff Joe has go to go," hoping that the inmates behind the concrete and steel walls could hear our chants,

In the car ride back to home, I got a phone call from a friend, who had just spoken to one of the hunger strike organizers on the phone, he said that word had gotten around the jail about the rally, and that a smaller core group of inmates were still continuing the hunger strike. We plan to continue solidarity activities with the inmates resisting the dehumanizing and brutal conditions of Maricopa County jails until the conditions change.

Photos of the action:
http://arizona.indymedia.org/news/2004/06/19891.php