Palestinian political prisoner Khader Adnan upon his release from Israeli prison on July 12.

A weekly roundup of news and action alerts about political prisoners, prison struggles, and organizing against the prison industrial complex (PIC), both nationally and internationally. If you’ve got something you’d like to see included, leave a comment or send me an email.

• Egyptian journalist and prisoner of conscience Mahmoud Abu Zied, who has been jailed for two years without charge, is rapidly declining in health and requires treatment for Hepatitis C. More information on the Freedom for Shawkan Facebook page.

• Professor and former political prisoner James Kilgore wrote a piece reflecting on “Why Dylann Roof’s Racism Will Only be Nurtured in Prison.” A second piece by Kilgore this week discusses the current political climate regarding mass incarceration in the U.S. and the opportunities and pitfalls it poses for social justice organizers.

• From July 2 – 8, Israeli occupation forces arrested 40 Palestinian civilians, including eight children, in the occupied West Bank.

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A weekly roundup of news and action alerts about political prisoners, prison struggles, and organizing against the prison industrial complex (PIC), both nationally and internationally. If you’ve got something you’d like to see included, leave a comment or send me an email.

• From June 25 – July 1, Israeli occupation forces arrested 17 Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, including seven children and two women.

• On July 1, more than 60 of the currently 401 Palestinian administrative detainees held without charge by Israel announced their intention to “boycott the Israeli Occupation’s military courts in protest of the administrative detention policy and the false trials they are subjected to.”

• Al-Jazeera conducted a lengthy interview with Gerardo Hernández, former political prisoner and one of the Cuban Five who was released in December 2014 after more than 16 years in prison.

• U.S. political prisoner Robert Seth Hayes is suffering from “undiagnosed and untreated chronic bleeding and abdominal growths.” Supporters are being asked to call and fax New York State prison officials this week requesting Seth gets the medical attention he needs.

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A weekly roundup of news and action alerts about political prisoners, prison struggles, and organizing against the prison industrial complex (PIC), both nationally and internationally. If you’ve got something you’d like to see included, leave a comment or send me an email.

• Internationally recognized experts on the effects of torture filed an amicus curiae (‘friend of the court’) brief regarding the appeal of prominent Palestinian-American activist Rasmea Odeh, who is challenging her November 2014 conviction on an immigration charge. The brief argues that Odeh, who was tortured and raped in Israeli prison, was denied the right to present a meaningful defense in her trial and that the judge erred in not allowing mention of the torture or expert testimony on its effects.

• On Thursday, June 25, the No New SF Jail coalition packed a public hearing on the Environmental Impact Report, arguing the proposed new jail in San Francisco is indeed an environmentally hazardous project.

• On Friday, June 26, there was a statewide mobilization in Sacramento to stop jail expansions in communities around the state.

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Inspired by Solitary Watch’s “Seven Days in Solitary” weekly post, it is my intention to start here a weekly roundup of news and action alerts that I become aware of about political prisoners, prison struggles, and organizing against the prison industrial complex (PIC), both nationally and internationally. For a variety of reasons I will elaborate on in future posts, I feel passionate about issues of detention, imprisonment and the PIC. Given the format of this blog, however, a post for each piece of news wouldn’t make sense. Yet I would like to call attention to them – hence, a weekly roundup. These posts cannot be and do not aim to be comprehensive. If you’ve got something you’d like to see included, leave a comment or send me an email.

• June 16-19 saw the most recent in a series of Medical Justice Days of Action for U.S. political prisoner and former Black Panther Robert Seth Hayes. The pressure seems to have been somewhat successful, but Seth’s team is requesting donations for legal and medical efforts, as well as for people to send him letters of support.

• Today marks Palestinian political prisoner Khader Adnan’s 50th day on hunger strike against his ongoing detention without charge by Israel. Supporters and the Red Cross say that he is at grave risk of death. In response, the Israeli government is attempting to pass a law permitting the force-feeding of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners. Take action to support Khader Adnan here.

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