For a Campaign Against Prison Slavery

Slave labour. That’s what the imprisoned call the forced work we’re compelled to perform whilst locked up. Imagine the situation where conditions are so bad and the 23 hour lock-up so arduous that you would welcome the chance to get out of your cell to perform some meaningless task just for the brief opportunity it gives you to socialise. Prison workers are prohibited from joining a union, going on strike or organising their workplaces. They face penalties, prosecution, segregation units and/or time added to their sentences. £1.50 per shift is the average wage, but is reported to be lower in some prisons. The most basic factory line assembly work is usually the only labour available and despite the political propaganda about “rehabilitation” there is very little vocational training and education here.

Private companies can make much more from the forced labour of prisoners and this undercuts the value of workers outside. Prison labour is a predatory practice, highly cynical and a direct attack against workers self-management. Any movement that seeks the destruction of capitalism must make prison labour a significant type of their activism. The surest way to do this is to begin in the private companies which are making profits off the exploitation of prisoners. The secondary target is the state itself and its prisons, which are already hardened against the pressure of the social struggle.

Prisoners are experts in the subversion of their workplaces and are waiting for those outside to join them. By improvement of prisoners’ working conditions and pay, those outside will see their struggle see immediate gains. Although this is merely an intermediate struggle it is highly critical as it hits key faultlines of the prison-industrial complex.

Long live Anarchy!

Toby Shone

17th November 2023

HMP Garth

Information about Toby’s case can be found here: https://brightonabc.org.uk/news.html#56a

You can write to Toby at:

Toby Shone A7645EP
HMP Garth
Ulnes Walton
Leyland
Preston
PR26 8NE

and you can donate to Toby here: 

The Bottled Wasp
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