HMP GARTH ‘RAID’ OCTOBER 2024

The Incarcerated Workers Organising Committee (IWOC) is shocked to hear of a violent raid on the prisoners at HMP Garth by the National Search Team (NST, a national tactical unit of prison officers, analogous to police units like the Territorial Support Group). The NST uses equipment normally associated with riot police such as batons, body army, shields, CS gas (tear gas), search dogs and attack dogs. Fellow worker and anarchist Toby Shone described to us this horrific event. The “raid” at HMP Garth happened on the 22nd October and, while this officially might be described as a search of cells, in reality it was a brutal and senseless attack against prisoners. The NST screws (allegedly) brutally beat many people in the facility, unprovoked. They choked out others. They had attack dogs with them to terrify people. The screws verbally abused the people of colour with racist terms such as n*gg** and p*ki. Everything was done to intimidate and degrade the prisoners. People’s cells were trashed, their TVs smashed, games consoles stolen and stereos broken. No reason for the “raid” was given. The NST screws were not even interested in the drugs in some peoples’ cells, as spice was thrown around along with all of the prisoners’ other belongings. Tellingly, they did not have personnel numbers on their shoulder, so they could not be identified. The NST screws explicitly said to prisoners that “they can do what they like.”

This “raid” was a disgusting exercise of power over others by the State’s uniformed thugs. A brute assertion of control. Apparently some of HMP Garth’s screws were even shocked and opposed to this attack, knowing how antagonising such provocations can be for imprisoned people. This state-sponsored terrorism is designed to break the spirits of prisoners. TVs, game consoles, stereos etc. help people pass the time while inside. These are not items that are easily replaced.

Toby believes it to be no coincidence that this happened at a time when the government is releasing people from prison and is trying to depressurise the prison system that is chronically overcrowded. He believes this was a way for the authorities to kick back, to get revenge on a population they feel entitled to terrorise, but its exact purpose remains unclear. Toby said that whilst the government releases people into the pseudo ‘rehabilitation’ of house arrest, probation, etc. (extending the carceral network of prison into wider society), this merely serves to hide the brutal state violence of the prison system. Toby has heard that this has been done at other prisons, but IWOC have not been able to confirm this as of yet.

Toby remained strong and defiant. The NST screws asked for him to give his name and prisoner number in a petty attempt at humiliation but Toby remained silent. His cell was ‘searched’ (trashed), he was handcuffed and put in a wet room (where prisoners shower) for half an hour, along with another prisoner (we believe this was done to all prisoners, as they worked their way through the cells two at a time). However, such tactics cannot break Toby’s spirit.

On the outside, surveillance is increasing. Peaceful protesters are being locked up to the extent even the UN is concerned. The NHS is increasingly being privatised. These may all seem unconnected but it’s all indicative of the already fascist UK State becoming increasingly authoritarian. At a time when the State is increasingly calling activists “terrorists” and prosecuting them as such, we see in this instance that always and for as long as it exists, the first terrorist is the State. All of us who struggle for a better world must realise that prison abolition and support for prisoners are necessities for our movement to resist State fascism.

Violence like this tries to stop prisoners from asserting their ideological and psychological identity. It attempts to crush their human dignity and emphasise their powerlessness, to destroy their mental and physical integrity. But it fails.

Toby describes the aftermath from this attack and the feelings and the response from fellow prisoners. “The lads were super pissed off.” The following day, 122 prisoners took direct action in response to being terrorised and abused. Normally, prisoners in HMP Garth are banged up from about 9am in the morning but this time they collectively refused to return to their cells and stayed out until 12.15pm. We express our admiration and solidarity to the prisoners of HMP Garth for taking this powerful action. Toby said how during this act of defiance they talked about what happened, cooked food together and Toby went to the prison gym with other fellow inmates. He describes how events like this serve to build the relationships between prisoners and to strengthen their solidarity. State violence “doesn’t stop this basic resistance”; the prisoners will not give up their sense of self; their human dignity survives – they “exist in a state of adversity”, but “misery breeds rebellion.”

Toby has been persistently persecuted by the state for the anarchist beliefs that he holds for all the years he has been in prison. The day before the raid he was being punished for refusing to cooperate with counter-terror police and for his speaking out by being confined to his cell and not allowed his 30 minutes of yard exercise, with his lunch being brought to his cell. Authorities reluctantly allowed him a planned visit for 45 minutes rather than the hour and half or so as normal. Recently he has had friends and comrades taken off his contacts list for an article he dictated to Brighton Anarchist Black Cross about the State’s repression and surveillance of himself and the anarchist movement. Yet again he is being denied his mail and hasn’t received any for a while. He found out that some recent letters he wrote were never sent by the prison staff. There has been a persistent attempt to isolate Toby from comrades in the movement and his friends and supporters. Toby notes that whilst this is an attack on him, it also an attack on his comrades on the outside, in trying to deprive them of his communication. Toby mentions with irony how the European Court of Human Rights even recognises that it is a right to be able to receive and impart information, acknowledging that the UK State will do what it likes and any rights that exist will only exist if we are prepared to defend them.

Toby sends his love to all comrades on the outside.

IWOC encourages anyone angered by these events to write to Toby. The more letters sent the more we show that the state will not succeed in isolating him nor any other brave radicals and activists who they throw in prison.

Toby Shone A7645EP

HMP Garth

Ulnes Walton

Leyland

Preston

PR26 8NE

They might be able to imprison us, beat us, and kill us. But they cannot stop our hearts from being free.