This week, a global climate justice convergence in San Francisco will coincide with the national prison strike. Alongside the Prison Ecology Project and Fight Toxic Prisons, Nation Inside’s #StopTheHeat Campaign has been drawing connections between these movements, and now it’s time to turn it up a notch.
In recent years, prisoners across the country having been decrying chronic abuse due to extreme heat, cold and flooding (among other abysmal conditions.)
By highlighting the climate-related abuses, we can help amplify the striking prisoners #1 demand: “Immediate improvements to the conditions of prisons and prison policies that recognize the humanity of imprisoned men and women.”
#StopTheHeat has previously called on various agencies to address the torture and deaths that have resulted from extreme heat. Now we are looking to build off that work by engaging a national movement that organizes at the intersection of climate justice and criminal justice.
One way to move this forward is by having federal agencies recognize prisoners as “environmental justice communities,” requiring government agencies to recognize their human right to a healthy environment despite social status, as required by Executive Order 12898, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Share this link:
One last thing! If you are interested in being involved on an ongoing basis in a working group advocating for prisoners during disasters, please let us know by emailing [email protected]
Yours in struggle and solidarity,
