Prisons on Fire
Freedom Archives
Thirty years ago, America's prisons burned. Here's how, why, and what happened.
Who were the Attica Brothers? Why did 1,500 Black, Puerto Rican, and white prisoners seize control of the New York prison?
And who was George Jackson? And the Soledad Brothers? And why was he murdered by the San Quentin prison administration?
What is the legacy of the prison movement? And what do these forgotten histories tell us about prisons, repression, and the struggle for freedom today?
Through a mixtures of archival audio and contemporary interviews, music and narration, we hear the voices of George Jackson; Jonathan Jackson Jr.; Georgia Jackson (mother of George and Jonathan Jackson); Angela Davis; David Hilliard (former Black Panther Party leader); James Baldwin; Harry Belafonte; David Johnson, Hugo Pinell, Luis Talamantez and Sundiata Tate; Frank "Big Black" Smith (Attica Brother and prison activist); William Kunstler; Elizabeth Fink and Michael Deutsch (attorneys for the Attica Brothers); L.D. Barkley (Attica Brother, murdered in the retaking of the prison in September of 1971, and who announced the "Attica Manifesto" to the world); and Ruchell Magee (prison activist and leader, still in prison for his political activities).
This documentary introduces and grapples with this history as well as lessons for today, and tomorrow.
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1 comment:
there is a lot of misinformation being spread about the conditions inside prisons. The truth is prisoners eat better and have better medical than 90% of the world. Do you have your meals prepared with the aid of a dietician? Do you have nurses standing by 24/7 for you if anything goes wrong? Do you have a psychologist coming by your house every week to see how you are? Can you afford to go to the DR or dentist for ANY little problem? Do you have guards standing by to keep you safe at all times (even if it is from yourself)? The things I describe are usually reserved for millionaires and up.. oh yeah and prisoners. Imagine never having to work a day in your life again. Imagine meals brought to your door. Homeless people on the streets would commit crimes just to go to prison if they knew how good it is. Words like inhumane, torture, gulag, barbaric, etc.. are absolutely false when used to describe prison life. There is no such thing as solitary confinement in the SHU. Prisoners are master manipulators, and this is what it comes down to: inmates spreading false information that gullible people believe, PERIOD. There is no torture, no inhumane conditions, no solitary confinement. WAKE UP PEOPLE! oh yeah, one more thing, the cells are NOT soundproof.
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