Prisoner’s blog rattles Ministry of Justice

Shepton Mallet prisoner Ben Gunn’s blog has got the Ministry of (In)Justice all in a tizzy, and his blog is only 23 days old.

The blog is believed to be the first, or at least the only current blog, to be updated by a serving prisoner. Of course, he doesn’t personally post new articles to the blog, because as a prisoner he has no internet access. So he writes them by hand, and then gets friends to post the articles up on his blog for him.

The MoJ insist that Ben Gunn’s blog breaks the rules. He disagrees: “In 2008, the justice minister, Maria Eagle, told MP Sion Simon that prisoners could blog, subject to the rules of correspondence. Yet despite my complying with the law and ministerial pronouncements, the prison service is now reverting to its old habits – attempting to squash the vocal dissenter.”

A gathering against the prison society

On 31st Oct/1st Nov 2009, at the Cowley Club, 12 London Road, Brighton, UK.
2 Days of discussions & presentations about the struggle for liberation, inside and outside of the prison walls. Organised by random anarchists and the Anarchist Black Cross, and in attendance comrades from across Europe. Topics/Themes include:

Prisoner support at the bookfair and comutiny

bookfair mural in the city centre

Bristol ABC prisoner support group will have a stall at this Saturday’s Bristol anarchist bookfair. We’ll have lots of info/advice about supporting prisoners and writing to them, along with lists of prisoners requesting to support. If you are nervous about writing to a prisoner, fear not – we’ll have postcards on the day you can use.

New resource for animal rights prisoners

A new resource and support group for animal rights prisoners has emerged recently, called quite simply ‘Animal Rights Prisoner Support’. They do exactly what it says on the tin, which is much needed because the animal rights movement has faced the full force of the state in the last few years, resulting in massive surveillance, harassment, legal action, arrests and imprisonment – with long sentences.

News from the campaign against prison slavery

The last couple of days has seen the Guardian newspaper publish a major article by Richard Cookson and Phil Chamberlain headlined ‘Inside the sell blocks: Major companies are using prisoners as cheap labour through secretive government contracts. But who else benefits?’ on prison labour in the UK, which mentions the Campaign Against Prison Slavery (CAPS). See http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/sep/09/prisoners-cheap-labour-major-companies

EDO Decommissioners update & benefit bash

As the legal case around the 6 Bristol EDO Decommissioners grows ever more complicated, there’s timely news of another benefit for their support campaign this Friday, 4 September, from 8.30pm at The Plough – see image! These benefits help pay for publicity and research in defence of the six, along with some travel costs and of course prisoner support – Elija (James) Smith is still on remand remember, nearly 8 months in jail without a trial.

Not guilty? Get your DNA wiped!

The growing retention of people’s DNA by the state, from birth upwards, often when the individual is guilty of no crime, is just one aspect of the ever growing authoritarian state and prison society controlling our daily lives.

Good news then that some people who have had their DNA taken, and then found not guilty (or never charged), are getting their DNA wiped from the state’s databases – even if a most well known case is Tory MP Damian Green. Now Liberty, with the backing of Dianne Abbott MP, are going to try and remedy some more cases of wrongly held DNA. Here’s an invite from them that may be useful, not just for innocent activists, but for innocents everywhere: