Content warning – death, prison, suicide, transphobia, sexual assault references
Another life has been swallowed up by HMP Eastwood Park
Just after Christmas, Clare Dupree died after a fire started in her cell. Prisoners in several wings heard her screams for help, but the screws did nothing to extinguish the flames. Women shouted out for the officers to help Clare, but they would not open the door of Clare’s cell, and failed to put a firehose through the cell’s hatch.
We didn’t know Clare, but we want to invite her friends and family to reach out to us. We hate the system that killed Clare, and we hate HMP Eastwood Park. Although we never met Clare, we feel deep anger and sadness at her death.
Clare was at least the fourth person to die in Eastwood Park’s custody in 2022. Some of us knew Taylor, who cut his own throat and bled to death at Eastwood Park in July 2022. Taylor had faced violence and transphobia from officers. Guards beat him viciously just weeks before he killed himself. You can read more at https://bristolabc.org/riptaylor/
The same week that Taylor died, another prisoner named Kayleigh took her own life. She too had been the victim of a violent assault by officers just before her death.
Attacks by screws are common in Eastwood Park, and so is sexual violence. Taylor and others have shared with us how women have been forced to give oral sex to officers in exchange for drugs being brought from outside.
The governor Zoe Short, is apparently calling Clare’s death a suicide. But – like Taylor and Kayleigh – Clare was murdered by the state. Their names – and their murderers – should not be forgotten.
We are actively involved in supporting friends and comrades in HMP Eastwood Park right now – and we are scared of what this rotten institution might do to them. We want to invite anyone whose loved ones are imprisoned in Eastwood Park to get in touch, so we can support each other. Solidarity is strength!
Fuck HMP
Free them All