Boycott Wells Fargo

Our next Criminal (in)Justice Committee meeting will be on June 13th at Howard University.

We will be out in front of the Wells Fargo Banks in Shaw and Columbia Heights this Friday starting at 4:00 p.m.

Join us for our weekly street interventions in Shaw and Columbia Heights this Friday from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m

AND this week we will also be at the Wells Fargo in Columbia Heights on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Those of you who can’t make Friday afternoons, now is your chance.

On Sunday at 4:00 p.m., Students Against Mass Incarceration are hosting a forum on Malcolm X and the Education Behind Prison Walls at Sankofa.

Come out for our weekly Criminal INjustice Committee meeting on Wednesday night and our weekly street interventions in Shaw and Columbia Heights on Friday.

There are two ONE DC events about the Criminal (in)Justice System. On April 10th there is a workshop called Occupy the Justice System: End Mass Incarceration. On April 13th Christopher Glenn is leading a workshop on our Wells Fargo boycott.

Also on Wednesday, April 11th, there is a film screening of Justice on Trial at Sankofa Video, Books & Cafe.

Friday, April 13th, there is a Free Mumia pre-event for Occupy the DOJ at Busboys and Poets.

And don’t forget to Occupy the Justice Department on April 24th.

Come out for our weekly Criminal INjustice Committee meeting on Wednesday night and our weekly street interventions in Shaw and Columbia Heights on Friday.

March 29th,  the 2012 Coalition for Justice & Progressive Change  will be having a protest to abolish Maryland’s death penalty and to free political prisoner Marshall Eddie Conway.

April 4th, Jobs Not Jails Coalition is having a protest.

And on April 7th there will be a Million Hoodies March in Malcolm X Park.

Come out for our weekly Criminal INjustice Committee meeting on Wednesday night and our weekly street interventions in Shaw and Columbia Heights.

On March 22nd, Jobs Not Jails will be Occupying Hope Village.

March 29th,  the 2012 Coalition for Justice & Progressive Change  will be having a protest to abolish Maryland’s death penalty and to free political prisoner Marshall Eddie Conway.

Come out for our weekly Criminal INjustice Committee meeting on Wednesday night and our weekly street interventions in Shaw and Columbia Heights.

On March 17th, there will be outreach at the Interim Library around HIV/AIDS, housing, condom distribution, education and the Wells Fargo Campaign/Mass Incarceration/Jobs not Jails

On March 22nd, Jobs Not Jails will be Occupying Hope Village.

And on March 26th,  the 2012 Coalition for Justice & Progressive Change  will be launching a massive campaign to abolish Maryland’s death penalty and to free political prisoner Marshall Eddie Conway.

Come out for our weekly Criminal INjustice Committee meeting on Wednesday night and our weekly street interventions in Shaw and Columbia Heights.

Thanks to everyone who came out for yesterday’s protest at the DC Jail. For those of you who couldn’t make it out in person, video of the speakers is below.

Part 1

The Criminal (In-)Justice Committee of Occupy DC will carry out a protest action on Monday, February 20th, at noon in front of the DC Jail (1901 D Street SE).

The action will be in solidarity with a call by Occupy Oakland for a national day of  support for prisoner contributions to the struggle against mass incarceration, the prison industrial complex, inhumane treatment of prisoners, and the general glaring injustices  and contradictions of the criminal American judicial system.

On average, one new prison is built each week and the number of Americans behind bars has increased tenfold from what it was 40 year ago, with the vast majority being for non-violent, petty drug offenses under the “War on Drugs.” Institutional racism is the ugly beating heart of the US system of incarceration.  More African-Americans are in the system today, in some way shape or form (whether in prison, or on parole or probation) than were enslaved in the period before the Civil War.

DC is home to roughly 60,000 ex-prisoners, which is about 12% of the total population of the city. Up to 8,000 ex-prisoners return to the city each year after completing their sentences. With the intense racial gentrification of the city, they are returning to a place where they may no longer have a community, jobs, or affordable housing. Additionally, they face a hostile city government that offers them no support. African-American residents are confronted by a judiciary system that sees them as nothing more than numbers. Simple stepping stones in the career ladder; the more incarcerations the better for their resume. It is no wonder then that after three years, half of all returning citizens are back behind bars. Over 50% of DC residents sent to prison each year are sent for parole violations, NOT for felony convictions. Due to employer discrimination, the unemployment rate in DC, among returing ex-prisoners, is 70%.

Approximately 1,000 DC residents are imprisoned in Rivers Correctional Institution each year. This is a for-profit prison, owned by the GEO Group, the 2nd largest for-profit prison company in the world behind the Correction Association of America (which runs the Corrections Treatment Facility connected to the DC jail). The DC government pays GEO approximately $30,000 per person, per year, to hold DC residents at Rivers Correctional Facility. This amounts to huge profits for GEO, and for Wells Fargo, which is a major investor, underwriter, broker-dealer of shares, trustee, documentation agent, and financial adviser to GEO Group. Wells Fargo owns $100 million of stock in GEO group, and sadly the DC government banks with Wells Fargo. It is for these reasons that we have launched a boycott of Wells Fargo and demand that the city cease doing business with it.

Another aspect of why we will be assembling outside the DC jail at noon on Monday, February 20th, is to heighten public awareness of the horrendous conditions and wholly punitive treatment to which persons held in the jail, and their families, are being subjected. Most people in the jail are there on misdemeanor charges or alleged parole violations. They are supposedly pre-trial detainees, yet are treated worse than convicted felons. They do not have meaningful access to the courts, are locked-down constantly, are not allowed reading material.  Their families are subjected to all forms of needless and oppressive requirements to visit, and now the DC jail is installing video screens and cameras so that the prisoners will no longer be able to see their families face to face. There is no justification for the oppressive and punitive nature by which the DC jail operates, and no plans for improving it.

We will be handing out flyers, talking with family, concerned community members, and the general public about these issues and encouraging people to take action. We will be holding a press conference at 12:30, at which time the issues laid out here will be discussed in much greater detail.

For further information call (202) 643-2818 and/or write http://www.wellsfargoboycott.com/.