To Media, Activists, Family & Friends of prisoners, & People of conscience
Reporters, please be at every prison in Texas and at Austin Capital To Report Our Rallies!
PRISON RALLIES ALL ACROSS AMERICA On JULY 14th. Please join us!
* There are 2 million U.S. citizens in prison. If every inmate's family members (moms, dads, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, pastors, etc.) will get involved with us, as they should, we will be at least 8 million strong and be the largest organization in our country! We can change our laws and then we will not have 80% non violent prisoners incarcerated.
* We can work together and stop the deaths from heat strokes from occurring inside Texas prisons as the temperatures inside the cells rise from 110 to 140 degrees. Inmates need air conditioning or at least water coolers during the hot Texas summers.
* Our loved ones deserve better food.
* We want our loved ones who are nonviolent OUT of segregation. In my organization, there are inmate's families of all races who are banding together to get their loved ones out of the deplorable 8 by 9 foot segregation cells, where they are forced to live 23/7, with nothing to do except stare at the walls. Dr.Terry Kupers, psychiatrist and author, wrote an article about how a few weeks of segregation can cause inmates to have Shu Syndrome, a serious mental illness.
* We want the prison employees to stop abusing them.
* We want the contraband brought in by the guards, as well as the punishment of inmates for the criminal activity of these guards, to stop.
[Only the guards and wardens who are guilty of this inhumane treatment will be offended by our rally. The good honest TDCJ employees will be glad for our trying to stop the corruption.
I have letters from good, law abiding guards who hate the corrupt behavior of some guards because it gives them all a bad reputation.]
Make your own handmade signs telling what YOU want for YOUR loved ones and try to take pictures of your rally.
If you can't be a part of our peaceful rally, please spread the news.
HELP MAKE THIS PROJECT AN UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS FOR ALL!
PLEASE CONTACT THE PROJECT COORDINATORS FOR MORE INFORMATION OR DETAILS, OR TO FIND OUT WHICH STATES STILL NEED VOLUNTEERS FOR THE YEAR 2001 P.R.U.P.
CONTACT BY E-MAIL: Brenda Pitts Bennett at: bpb123@earthlink.net TEXAS PRUP LEADER
Prison Reform Unity Day 2001
will take place on
Saturday July 14, 2001 - Bastille Day
Because holding simultaneous demonstrations nationwide did not work out well for all time zones, it has been decided that the PRUP 2001 rallies will take place at the time best suited for maximum attendance, which is at the end of visitation. This will permit folks to walk out of visitation and join the rallies where they can express the emotions we all feel when leaving our loved ones behind the stone and steel walls. Therefore, the time decided upon is 4:00 PM, but may be adjusted to suit local visitation hours at some sites. PRUP rallies will be held at each prison in Texas and at the capital in Austin. If you know other inmate families at other Texas units that would be state leaders, please have them to E mail me? If you are at the Wynne Unit, please help me, Brenda Pitts Bennett.
Quite a few people expressed concern about the possibility of retaliation for participation in PRUP 2000, and we are pleased to announce that we have not received a single report of any such actions.
We are also pleased to announce that the prison systems in states in which PRUP was most active were made uneasy by it. They saw the beginning of the tidal wave which will wash over them and change the systems, and we who participated felt the empowerment of taking action to stop being victimized!
We can only assume that in the states which had NO PRUP 2000 and in the states where there was little participation, that the DOC's felt empowered and satisfied that they can continue as they have been, with no one to oppose them. We need to change that. Prison families and friends are respected. Let's face it folks, the DOCs aren't concerned about being opposed by an individual, family or even an individual organization. But if we all stand together,
ALL 10 - 20 MILLION OF US - THEY WILL LISTEN!
Put this image in your mind:
MORE PEOPLE STANDING OUTSIDE THE PRISONS THAN THERE ARE INSIDE IT
and the courtyards of every state capitol, jail and courthouse swarming with throngs of demonstrators protesting the conditions under which over 2 million of our loved ones exist.
Now, help us put that image on TV screens and on the front pages of newspapers all around the world!
THAT'S HOW WE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
They are not going to change things because it's the right thing to do.
THEY WILL CHANGE THINGS WHEN WE FORCE THEM TO!
There are enough of us! WE CAN DO IT! But YOU, and YOU, and YOU have to participate! They won't hear YOUR VOICE unless YOU speak out!
Please help assure that PRUP 2001 becomes the tidal wave that sweeps away the inhumanity and brings human rights into America's prisons.
Please Join us on July 14, 2001
STORM THE AMERICAN BASTILLES!
FYI: Demonstrations will be held on July 14, 2001 at every prison and every Capitol in the United States. PRUP is not an organization, but a movement of organizations, along with the families and friends of prisoners and other people of conscience. Because of this fact, the issues addressed at each rally and the lawful manner in which they're addressed, will be decided by each Rally Coordinator(s) and participants. All individuals, groups, and/or organizations interested in prison reform are asked to join this event. It is up to each one of us to help make the public aware of the abuse, neglect, and injustice done to America's prisoners and their families. We will show our politicians that there is power in our numbers!
Please help us promote PRUP2001 by printing and copying our flyer and cards for distributing.
THANK YOU!
Some thoughts to ponder:
"Building more prisons to address crime is like building more graveyards to address a fatal disease." ~Robert Gangi, Executive Director, Correctional Association of New York
"The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same things and expecting different results."
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has." ~Margaret Mead
"To be silent in the face of injustice is to be an accomplice to evil. I will not be silent." ~Lori Berenson
"The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilization of any country." ~Winston Churchill
"...it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds..." ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
"If you judge people, you have no time to love them" ~Mother Teresa
"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle." ~Plato
"The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. That is the essence of inhumanity." ~George Bernard Shaw