How we can Observe Earth Day 2019

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

My ideals on how we can observe Earth Day 2019 and why:

1) Clean a elder neighbor’s yard

2) Make a list of fracking sites in your area and number of earthquakes since fracking began in that area, then tweet/use instagram about it

3) Research history of the land use before the prison in your area was built, connect that to complaints prisoners have with toxicity inside the prisons

4) Make others aware of enviromental regulations Trump has deregulated and the potential inpact of that

5) Create a small garden, help a elder maintain theirs.

We must be reactive and proactive! There are no border walls between good and bad air, good and bad water. The earth is ours, lets reclaim it!

Freedom First,

Greg Curry

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Reflection 26 years after the fall, by Greg Curry

From: Lucasville Amnesty:

Last year on the 25th anniversary the State of Ohio silenced me and my comrades whom are on death row from any communication with the outside world. Afraid our message of truth justice and equality for all would be too radical, as a result, our comrades Ben Turk and Joyce Jones was barred from our visit list. Siddique Hasan has been put on extended communications restrictions and Bomani Shakur (aka Keith LaMar) has officially been given a execution date. I’ve finally been transferred out of Youngstown only to find that the van carrying me out of Youngstown carried a load of ideas on how this prison in Toledo could further harass me.

Just a year ago we recognized 25 years since America’s longest prison riot. By now most of you know the details of the event that immediately brought in a unyielding era of state oppression from the selection of judges, and prosecutors to bribing witnesses to lie on us all while being harassed and assaulted by prison staff. Harassment that has been constant for 26 years now for those of us that speak out, that refuse 2 accept unjust verdicts as legally binding.

Through cell shakedowns, book censorship, lengthy delays in email processing if the email contain any mention of how we can fight the system. I’ve been under constant ”investigation” for 26 years. Now yet still I must march forth and I need the support, wisdom, connections of those of you you there that recognize enough is enough. Silence is complicity! To the victorious brothaz known as the vaugn17, yes the criminal trials are over, yes the loss of your property, the prison transfers, delay in mail deliveries, staff harassment, maximum penalties for minor rule violationsis all part of state oppression designed to test your will.

There is a group of us here in Ohio that has had to deal with this 26 years and counting one of my co-defendants passed away this year while being held hostage. Don’t be surprised, be prepared. Share your experience with young soldiers so they will know what can be gained, and be honest about the pain. The pain of accepting oppression and the pain of fighting it. Be clear this struggle is happening whether we acknowledge it or not, oppression knows no boundaries has no limits, it aims to control our actions and reactions. Prepare soldiers you’re proud to have in the trenches with you, comrades. Reflections 26 years after the fall and mental rising lets get free!!!

Freedom First!

Greg Curry

Support Greg with this teeshirt!

This shirt is being sold in support of Greg Curry, an innocent person convicted during the aftermath of the Lucasville Prison Uprising. Greg is serving life in prison in Supermax for crimes he did not commit. All shirt profits will go directly to Greg.

Please click here to order the teeshirt and wear it with pride!

 

Greg speaks during the Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit 2019

Here is the text and recording of Greg Curry speaking at the Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit 2019, on 26th of January. Thanks to Pittsburgh ABC!

Here is the recording, and below is the text.

Hello everyone,

Greg Curry at the kiosk where he can have a picture made, phone and write a Jpay to his family and friends.

Thank you for taking time to attend this important conference. Since last year I was finally allowed to leave the Supermax prison and come to a more normal prison setting. Comrades among you agitated for my
transfer and we won the transfer, so never underestimate the power of collective energy coming out of this conference. I do have a few ideas I’d like to share with you.

First, I feel you should get to know the prisoners you advocate for and
establish a bond so that even if you make a wrong decision we will
understand you weren’t working against us. Also, don’t settle for a
response that supports your position on prison or race issues– ask
more questions, examine the logical conclusions. For example, in the
last election in Ohio, many progressives supported issue 1 of a bill to
let only non-violent drug offenders out of prison. No one asked the
question, if progressives don’t advocate for violent offenders’ release,
especially those who have already done lengthy sentences, then who will?

Your support and your calls to prisons, to parole boards, the media, all
matter in time of crisis. Continue to support us in that way, as well
as visit. Many of us have limited human contact. Encourage up and
coming journalists, documentary makers, and attorneys to make a name of
this self by looking into some of these cases involving in race, class,
and sexual orientation.

As a convicted member of the Lucasville riot case, I can tell you the
injustice that no one saw was in plain sight. Don’t let that be the case
with the members on trial for the Vaughn incident. Call the judge,
the defense attorneys, write the prisoners on trial, send them a few
dollars for stamps and books, and be ready to support them through all
forms of retaliation that will come as a result of convictions, so they
will not suffer in silence as the Lucasville convicted did.

In closing, I’d like to say, let’s bring some people home and be sure to those who put on this event on.

Freedom First!
Greg Curry

Greg Curry: Let’s love with our actions

HELLO EVERYONE,

Greg Curry

It has been quite a year for me personally. As many of you know, I was finally let out of the SUPERMAX prison after 25 years. Actually, I wasn’t LET out, many of you made demands, continually called, refused to give up, prayed, legally put the STATE on notice, or some combination of the above. PEOPLE POWER at its best.

Many of you have never expressed any particular feeling for me specifically, yet your love for humanity is felt by your actions, not your words. Many of you continue to be concerned about my adjustment at a regular prison and I just want y’all to know I feel you, I’m adjusting I’m looking forward to getting my case in the courts this coming year.

Your support on all levels the pictures, cards, hugs, calls, visits, they all keep me connected, keep me looking forward to FREEDOM. Let’s make the new year even bigger. And those of you that could have done better, well it’s never too late! I need you, this struggle for JUSTICE needs you.
Let’s love with our actions.

FREEDOM FIRST,
GREG

Greg holding a picture depicting a beach with “Free All Prisoners” written in the sand

Columbus, OH: Rally to End ODRC #PrisonStrike Retaliation

Action report from abolitionist and anarchist groups coming together to push back against repression following the National Prison Strike in Ohio
From It’s Going Down and Pittsburg ABC:

On Friday November 16th, activists from across Ohio and Pennsylvania collaborated for an action outside the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) Central Office in Columbus. The rally was in response to a number of repressive and retaliatory actions against prisoners following the massive #August21 prison strike.

Organizers of the action included Lucasville Amnesty, Pittsburgh Anarchist Black Cross, Central Ohio IWOC and BQIC (Black Queer & Intersectional Collective). Amplified voices recounted the demands of 2018 prison strikers, sounded off on the mistreatment of the prison strikers and all prisoners by the ODRC, and called for solidarity with queer and trans prisoners. Interested ODRC staff lined the windows to witness the spectacle.  A few pedestrians that passed by the rally stopped to speak about the harm that the ODRC had inflicted on their lives.  The rally culminated when the following demands were hand delivered to the Central Office receptionist and security by the protestors:

1. End all retaliatory communication restrictions against Siddique Abdullah Hasan and throw out the Serious Misconduct Panel decision.

2. Cease the violent attacks on Toledo Correctional hunger strikers and meet their demands.

3. Reverse all visitation restrictions imposed on the prisoners’ supporters and new policies designed to harass prisoners’ visitors at OSP.

 

Free All Lucasville Uprising Prisoners: Rally on 18th Nov 2018 at ODRC Hq, Columbus, OH

 

More information on the demands:

1. Siddique Abduallah Hasan is an outspoken prisoner movement leader who the ODRC retaliated against for merely trying to speak to the public about the #August21 prison strike. He was brought before a “Serious Misconduct Panel” which violated due process to impose a year long ban on his phone and email access, and permanent visiting restrictions on some of his supporters and close friends. These restrictions take away vital connection to the outside world, which have helped Hasan survive decades in supermax solitary confinement at the Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP). More details on Hasan’s situation can be found in a recent Shadowproof article.

 

No More Prisons: rally outside Ohio Dept. of rehab. and corr. (ODRC) 18 Nov. 2018

 

2. David Easley, James Ward and others at Toledo Correctional have been engaged in off and on hunger strike protests since the national strike started August 21. Their main demand is that the ODRC release them from solitary confinement and stop using solitary confinement to exacerbate the mental health crises that confinement in prison causes. The latest hunger strike started on Saturday November 2, and staff at Toledo Correctional responded by shooting the strikers with chemical weapons and refusing them access to showers so they can clean the mace and pepper spray off. Learn more from announcement post on It’s Going Down by hunger strike supporters.

3. Following the strike and the highly suspect “mysterious toxic substance” scare in Ohio and Pennsylvania, ODRC has changed visitation policies for many prisoners, especially at OSP. Experts have described the scare as a “mass psychogenic illness” caused by guards’ paranoia, not the actual presence of toxic substances. Moreover, drugs are much more likely to be smuggled into Ohio prisons by staff than by visitors. Yet, the ODRC persists in new visitation policies (such as requiring visitors to use bathrooms in the downstairs lobby rather than the visiting room) that harass visitors and waste precious time with their incarcerated loved ones.

Rally outside ODRC HQ in Columbus, Ohio: Solidarity with the hunger strikers

The protest was part of an ongoing campaign to gain amnesty for Lucasville Uprising prisoners, who were falsely implicated for crimes after the 1993 riot, which erupted in response to the horrendous state prison conditions. This October, after over 20 years of solitary confinement at the OSP supermax, Greg Curry, was transferred into general population at lower security, Toledo Correctional Institution.  He credited his supporters’ pressure on the ODRC for this huge victory in his ongoing fight for freedom. For more information on Lucasville Uprising prisoners, visit LucasvilleAmnesty.org.

Greg’s supporters’ tweet of 25 Oct 2018

Greg Curry in Solidarity with the Vaughn 17

This dates from Oct. 24th, published on Lucasville Amnesty, and also on the Vaughn 17 Support site.

Support the Vaughn 17

From Lucasville Amnesty:

On Monday the Vaughn 17 trials began, sending the first 4 defendants to trial. Like Lucasville, the state is relying entirely on informant testimony, underfunding defense lawyers and improperly witholding evidence. Two of the four starting trial this week kicked their court appointed attorneys off and are defending themselves.

Unlike Lucasville, there’s active public support and solidarity with the prisoners, rather than petitions calling for their executions.

Greg wrote the following statement in solidarity with the defendants.

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My clenched fist salute to the brothaz known as the Vaughn 17!

I personally know how you felt leading up to the day you made demands to be treated like human beings, I know the state’s abusive response, I know the journey you will face in the weeks to come as your trials begin, with attorneys underpaid, unprepared, and unenthused.

I know what it’s like to be skeptical of…

View original post 86 more words

Update: Greg is in Toledo C.I.!

Greg Curry in the video-visiting booth at OSP, 2018

Update 10-25-2018:
Greg called from Toledo C.I., and he sounded excited about being there, being on a real yard, with geese (yes the geese have landed there), and going to a chow hall to eat together with other people. He also was excited that he was no longer accompanied by guards whenever he leaves his single cell, and that he can use the phone more or less when he wants to during the day. There is so much he has missed for the last 25 years that he was entombed in the Ohio supermax that is called Ohio State Penitentiary.

Greg also had a message for all the supporters, thanking everyone for getting him transferred, and that he hoped that even though he no longer was in OSP, he hoped peopel would not forget about his plight to regain his freedom, his release after being falsely accused and wrongfully convicted since 1993. So please, stick with Greg Curry! Thank you all!

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Even though Toledo C.I. has the same level 4 as what Greg was qualified for as security level, there are differences between Ohio State Penitentiary level 4 (max.) and other maximum prisons in Ohio. For instance, at OSP Greg can only go in an outside cage for “yard.” He can only have visits behind glass, whereas in other maximum prisons there is apparently normal visiting. He can go to a chow hall to eat together with others, and at OSP he could only eat alone in his cell.

It will be a big change, and there will be different challenges, but there will also be opportunities for gaining justice and doing programs and such. There will be different staff and people in captivity. This is what Greg wrote:

“Finally since 1993 I’m being returned 2 a “normal” prison. I’m looking 4ward 2 yard, chow hall and being away from this repressive place.”

We understand from different sources that Greg is already in Toledo CI, even though the inmate locator says he is still at OSP. His new address and info about the prison (incl. phone numbers for the warden, how to send money, write, etc) can be found here: https://www.drc.ohio.gov/toci

They give as correspondence address for prisoners:

(name prisoner: Greg Curry #213159)
Toledo CI
PO Box 80033
Toledo, OH 43608

You can also write him via Jpay dot com. The Jpay email system gives his location as being at Toledo C.I.

We really hope that this is the chance for Greg to march on to justice, with all of our support of course. Let’s do this!

Lucasville Prisoner Supporters being retaliated against at OSP by having visits restricted!

From Greg:
“BEN T. has been and believe will be a unyielding friend, comrade, Brother. A MAN of his word and that apparently disqualified him from visiting me here at OSP.

 

I know BEN will not accept defeat easy so I hope y’all out there are able to support his effort to continually expose the STATE for the conditions they hold me in, the arbitrary use of policy/rules/judgement to keep me at a high security prison while I fight to get FREE.

 

This decision is about silencing our message at a time when more people are becoming aware of the injustice of the 1993 prison riot and the treatment of us ever since including placing me and HASAN in the hole during BLACK AUGUST. The STATE knows what is at stake. DO YOU?! “

 

Greg added to this today: “please include Ms Joyce Jones,” who has also been restricted in visiting Ohio State Prison supermax, including Hasan and Greg! Joyce has been an enormous support for the men, and the prison wants to punish the supporters and at the same time silence the vocal prisoners.

We must let the autorities know they must stop the restrictions at once.

Black August at OSP

This was published on: Lucasville Amnesty, Sept. 10th, 2018

Statement by Greg Curry.
Greg Curry intended to make this statement at the recent pig roast solidarity event in Central Ohio, but was unable to connect with organizers at that time. Instead we’re printing it here.

Salute,

Today I’d like to give you a mental picture of how Ohio’s supermax is set up so that the context of what follows will make sense.

There is severely limited movement here in 4 blocks: A, B, C, D.

A & B are on top of each other, C & D are on the other side of the prison on top of each other.

In each block there are 8 pods. Eeach of those pods holds up to 16 people.

Each pod is isolated from the next so much so you may never see them even though its just a door/wall between y’all. Likewise, the blocks are even more cut off since there’s a floor between A & B, then 1/2 a football field between the other side of the prison where C & D blocks are similarly set up.

There is actually only one or two jobs per pod. This is the backdrop for which any organizing would take place within these walls.

However, we do have successes. Usually it’s some situation brought on by repressive cops armed with oppressive rules, drawing a response that temporarily disrupts operations around here.

For Black August, one of my closest Comrades, Siddique Hasan is accused of organizing Statewide action against the orderly operations of prisons. In the process, this Comrade was placed in the hole, stripped of his personal property and his access to communicate is severely cut back.

Of course he continues to lead, to deeply care about justice for us all, even as he fights for justice to keep the State from murdering him.

Some of you know the prison rules was twisted up just to find that Hasan broke any rule. He did 3 weeks on hunger strike while many of you made calls demanding fairness.

I want to say on his behalf: THANK YOU!
I want to encourage you all to continue your work CONVENTIONALLY & NOT SO CONVENTIONALLY.

HASAN & I appreciate you. Our collective Energy is what will tear down all resistance to FREEDOM!

As for the events inside of this prison with all attempts to FREE people you first have to wake them up to their condition. In the process of doing that, late in July, the cops was being overly aggressive writing prisoners up for minor stuff just to put them on restrictions. In my pod I noticed the frustration & started sharing reading material, even with the Trump-supporting white supremacists, about the value of of their labor, about Black August.

Events across the country and how just by refusing to continue to work for cops that treat them so bad that they could make a difference. Because I have a reputation for being solid and my actions speak for themselves, all over Ohio Prisons people began to say let’s do this right here, right now.

Of course there was a number of SUPER JANITORS the cops knew they could count on for information & work. These guys was excluded from any idea sharing and as the cops put pressure on them for info and work equally, the pressure was put on them by prisoners to stay out the way of this protest. READ INTO THAT WHAT YOU WISH! As this strike took place ahead of the nationally planned Black August dates but for 3 weeks this strike was every bit Black August inspired and I hope we made all our comrades past and present Proud.

That pod was shut down, the administration wanted to hear OUR concerns, no one crossed the Pickett line, and although I was put in the hole, and LOST personal property, the whole pod was relocated to bust the spirit!!!

Here now several of us did a 3-day fast while refusing to spend money with commissary during the national protest. I have heard in other parts of this prison there is also hunger strikes / commissary boycotts but I can’t confirm this due to the isolation of each section.

In closing I speak for myself and I’m sure Hasan would agree, we need y’all out there, we need all that energy aimed at a time when 3 weeks in August Injustice has a moment and the rest of the year justice prevail for Black folks, for immigrants, for Women, for living wages, for the environment, for the poor, for LGBTQ.

“Our collective Energy is what will tear down all resistance to FREEDOM!”

At this moment in time it has been placed upon us to move humanity forward. Let’s get it done.

I’d like to ask you all a small favor tonight. Sign a post card or email to the SAN FRANCISCO BAYVIEW, tell them thank you for participating in the liberation of us trapped inside.

FREEDOM FIRST,

GREG CURRY

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Greg’s Birthday is coming up on September 26, he’s asking people to make Tshirts that say “Free Greg Curry” on them, with “GregCurry.org” on the back and send photos of yourself wearing it to his Facebook page. 

Also write to Greg: Greg Curry
213-159
878 Coitsville-Hubbard Rd
Youngstown OH 44505

Donate to his Justice Fund please by clicking here.

Website: Gregcurry.org