I have been wrongly imprisoned since September 2007 when I aged just 20 years old, and subsequently subjected to a miscarriage of justice which resulted in the infliction of a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 35 years for joint enterprise murder. As it was said in court that I was not convicted for firing the gun responsible for the crime, it is difficult to comprehend how such a sentence can be deemed to be justified.
While actively working to appeal this injustice, I was attacked by prison guards at HMP Frankland with racist motives. As well as for being a person of colour, they also took a dislike to me assisting other prisoners to combat the oppression of the system such as by helping to prepare defences for internal prison disciplinary proceedings, and drafting complaints for the wrongdoing they suffered. After I unsuccessfully attempted to defend myself against this racist gang of prison guards, they concocted false allegations leading to me being wrongly charged with multiple counts of attempted murder against the culprits. I was immediately relocated to solitary confinement, and despite being vindicated by the unanimous Criminal Court verdicts of Not Guilty which subsequently followed I have remained within these conditions managed within what is known as the Close Supervision Centre (CSC)1 ever since.
As I go into my thirteenth year of Solitary Confinement, I see more and more how the support from those outside the walls have empowered me to continue to resist and battle against the oppressors. Although people cannot always see the results of their solidarity with those of us locked away, I can assure you that all of your efforts are always well received and appreciated and urge you to do what you can to help bring about a world without prisons. Although abolition is the objective, providing energy to those of us doing what we can to achieve this is just as valuable as standing on the front line. Sending letters, emails, stamps, and even photos through the mail or by using services like www.freeprints.co.uk and emailaprisoner.com all help, so thank you for doing what you can.
Prisoners have been informed that all mail (letters, cards, drawings) received from friends, family or others will no longer be given directly to them. Instead, prisoners will receive photocopies of their mail. They were informed that the original copies will either be destroyed or posted to a person nominated by the prisoner at the prisoners expense.
We are asking you to put pressure on HMP Eastwood Park in order to retract this decision and to allow prisoners to continue receiving their original mail as they have done so for decades past.
* This is an unnecessary and punitive measure that only harms women and others in Eastwood Park.
* People in prison cannot afford to pay additional postage costs for it to be kept.
* It is a violation of Article 8 of the Human Rights Act “Everyone has the right to respect for his of her private and family life, home and correspondence.”
* A large majority of women and others in Eastwood Park are mothers and parents – communication with their children is vital. Receiving ‘real-life’ materials e.g. drawings from children is essential to their mental health, well-being and relationships.
* Scanning and photocopying mail is an act of surveillance that leads to further criminalisation.
* There is no guarantee of the quality of the photocopies – many are unreadable.
* Eastwood Park is already slow at processing prisoner mail due to staff shortages. Any further delays to the mail process are unacceptable and will harm people.
* The prison is using the guise of ‘spice’ and illicit substances, however, there is little to no evidence to show that intercepting prisoner mail reduces the inflow of substances into the prison. Officer corruption, passing via visits and other measures are far more evidenced routes for drug entry into prisons.
* People in prison depend on post. It is a key tool in preventing self-harm.
If this measure is not withdrawn, we will be forced to take further legal action.
Matt has been sentenced to 5 years in prison after the Kill the Bill demonstration in Bristol in March 2021. Show him that he is not alone! If you are against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, please support people now imprisoned for fighting back against police violence.
Write to Matt: Matthew O’Neil A1596CT, HMP Bristol, 19 Cambridge Road, BS7 8PS or use emailaprisoner.com
Last Monday a solidarity banner drop was held in Bristol, along with many other places as part of a day of action for Libre Flot. Since then he has been released from prison!!
Last Monday, the 4th of April, we saw enthusiastic responses to the call of action in solidarity with Libre Flot. There were actions across Europe including demonstrations in front of French embassies and consulates; letter writing events and other forms of support were also seen in other parts of the world, as far as Russia and the United States. It is exhilarating to see the amount of international support generated organically in such short amount of time and without coordination.
In the evening of the 4th, Libre Flot decided to end the hunger strike amidst deteriorating health. Later on Thursday, the 7th of April, Libre Flot was released by order of the judge based on medical reason, and was transferred to a civilian hospital to receive recovery treatment.
However, it needs to be stressed that this is not the end to his struggle, nor the international support for him should ceased. Libre Flot is obligated to report to the police regularly and is required to wear an electronic bracelet. More over, it is the prerogative of the judge to throw him back into jail should his health improves.
Libre Flot’s statement on the end of his hunger strike:
While these almost 16 months of solitary confinement have left me with much more consequences both physical but above all mental and psychological than 10 months of war in Syria.
Even as I survived the liberation of Raqqa, facing Daesh troops defending tooth and nail the capital of their caliphate,
I remain flabbergasted not only by the censorship that is made around my situation, but especially in front of the silence vis-à-vis my legitimate and reasonable request on the part of the French government, the PNAT (National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office), the investigating judge Jean-Marc Herbaut, thus demonstrating their choice to let me die!
Yet on this birthday, after 36 days of hunger strike when my state of health becomes more hazardous than ever, I make the choice of life as a rebirth, a new life that this spring accompanies and turns its back on a potential fatal outcome. This April 4, 2022 at 6 p.m., I decided to refuel.
But nothing ends now, I remain locked up, buried alive and more than ever, I hope for your support and call for solidarity.
I reiterate that I ask only to be treated like all co-accused, namely to be released the time to be able to demonstrate the slanderous side of this shameful terrorist accusation that does not hold water.
Greetings and respect,
Libre Flot.
Libre Flot’s message regarding his release:
Today, 7 April 2022, I have been released, under electronic bracelet, for medical reasons…
I have been transferred to a hospital, free, to benefit from all the care necessary as a result of this long period of inanition. I will be able to focus on rebuilding my body, my intellect and my psyche.
This is great news for me, although the road ahead to shatter the charade of the terrorist accusation, known as the 8.12 affair, is probably still long.
But I have not forgotten you and I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart all the people, collectives and organizations that supported me and spread the word.
What happened last week was a small yet significant step of international solidarity as well as prison struggle. Nonetheless, there is no time to be complacent. Many more remain locked up across the world. We call for the continuous support for Libre Flot and all prisoners until everyone is free.
On Dec 8, 2020 a group of seven people were arrested by the French state for alleged terrorist association. All but one of them have been released with no specific charges beyond ‘criminal conspiracy,’ a charge that can be used to enhance sentences and strip away rights. Libre Flot was transferred to solitary confinement days after his arrest and is the only one of those arrested still behind bars.
Throughout his incarceration, the French state has attempted to say that Flot’s actions of joining the liberatory struggle against the Islamic State is the same as those who traveled to Syria to join ISIS.
As of Feb 27, Flot began a hunger strike in protest of the 14-plus months of pretrial detention, the allegation that seven people who did not even know one another committed a conspiracy, and the attempts of the French state to assert that those who fought the Islamic State are no different than the ISIS members they opposed.
On the 24th of March, after having lost a lot of weight and presenting health problems, Libre Flot was hospitalized.
The 4th of April will be his 36th day of hunger strike.
The 4th of April is also his birthday.
On this day, we call for an international day of solidarity. We call upon all comrades and every decent human being with a sense of justice to protest outside French embassies, consulates or institutes, or to find any other way to voice their objection to this blatant injustice.
DESTROY ALL PRISONS. FREEDOM FOR INCARCERATED COMRADES.
You can write to Toby at: Toby Shone A7645EP, HM Prison Parc, Heol Hobcyn John, Coity, Bridgend CF35 6AP
Anarchist prisoner Toby Shone is being held in the Category B facility HM Prison Parc, a privately run prison in South Wales, despite being in reality a Category C or D prisoner who was eligible for Release on Temporary License (ROTL) on 21 January 2022, according to paperwork he received on 26th March 2022. ROTL is home leave from prison in preparation for release. Category B prisoners are not eligible for home leave.
Despite being found Not Guilty of political offences in court and with no evidence linking him to the website and publication 325.nostate.net, Toby is being held without legal process and without possibility of redress as a Category B, High Risk prisoner where he is not eligible for ROTL (home leave). A probation official told Toby previously that his categorisation is because of his anarchist beliefs, and the fact that he is considered by the authorities to act on those beliefs.
His beliefs are also the reason that police are still trying to fuck him by asking the court to agree to a Serious Crime Prevention Order against Toby which will allow the police to monitor and control Toby and his associates for five years and imprison him again for an additional five years should he breach the Order which is so intrusive and inhuman it would be impossible not to breach it. The hearing for the SCPO is on the morning of 6 May 2022 at Bristol Crown Court.
Toby was ghosted from HMP Bristol on Friday 18th March. While at Bristol, the prison withheld two parcels of legal papers sent by his legal team and which he has never received.
He has been permanently confined to his cell at HM Prison Parc since March 18th with no exercise, no time out of his cell except for one shower, minimal interaction (guards frequently just throw his food on the floor and shut the door), and refusal of healthcare which he requested due to an eye infection. Unlike most prisons where you can purchase your own fruit and vegetables to supplement the prison food which is unfit for human health, HMP & YOI Parc deny prisoners this possibility by designating fresh food a “security risk”. They also force prisoners to choose between phone credit to stay in touch with loved ones and necessities from the prison shop. In most prisons, phone credit is additional to the weekly spend on extra food and toiletries, but at Parc phone credit has to be bought out of the weekly spend allowance.
Director of HM Parc, Janet Wallsgrove was awarded an OBE this year by the Queen for “services to the prison service”. HM Prison Parc is a leader in prison slavery and routinely locks young offenders and adults up beyond the legal limit. One prisoner on Toby’s wing has been locked up for 24 hours a day for 18 days. This is torture, but no surprise that Parc is running this kind of regime – this prison is run by G4S, whose guards are famous for murdering Angolan man Jimmy Mubenga on a crowded passenger plane on 12 October 2010.
About: Samantha Faulder is a long-term anarchist prisoner in England. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2016, beginning a long journey of medical neglect in the prison system where access to treatment faced significant delays and disruption. One prison cancelled a total of 9 hospital appointments for surgery over a period of 2 years.
After six years of struggle and three major surgeries, her cancer has returned.
She is now at HMP Eastwood Park. Her six monthly check ups did not happen due to the pandemic and prison failings. At her last check up on the 3rd February the doctor said she needs to come back within 2 weeks for an emergency appointment to go to theatre to take biopsies.
It’s now been nearly 2 months. HMP Eastwood Park failed to take Sam for her pre-operative assessment appointment meaning her biopsies are pushed back again to an unknown date in the future. We have no idea how many times this may have already happened (she is not told for security reasons so we do not know if it’s the NHS or the prison causing delays).
Please contact HMP Eastwood Park today demanding:
Organise the biopsies with urgency
No more disruption of Samantha’s medical treatment
Better communication between the admin workers and prison officers – no more missed appointments or pre-op instructions that sabotage her healthcare
CC: Sirona Care & Health (CIC) are commissioned to provide healthcare & social care to HMP Eastwood Park. Siorna Care & Health* (sirona.hello@nhs.net)
Template:
RE: Governor Zoe Short
The neglectful treatment of a prisoner at HMP Eastwood Park has come to my attention. Samantha Faulder A1209CF was informed by a doctor at Southmead hospital that she needed an urgent appointment within two weeks for further biopsies to investigate her anal cancer.
This has not happened because the prison failed to take Samantha to her pre-operative assessment. As you are aware, cancer is a life-threatening illness.
What assurances can HMP Eastwood Park give that Samantha will be taken to hospital as soon as possible and that no more extremely important healthcare appointments will be missed?
What will the prison do differently to ensure no further medical mistreatment of Samantha and other prisoners?
Yours sincerely,
Write to Sam!
She loves pictures of nature, animals, pagan and punk cards. Her address is Samantha Faulder A1209CF, HMP Eastwood Park, Falfield, Wotton-under-Edge GL12 8DB
Mariella is a woman of colour who was violently kneed to the floor by police officers at ther KILL THE BILL demonstrations in Bristol in March 2021. Mariella was sentenced to 5.5 years for riot. Read her story here. She now needs your support and Solidarity. Write to Mariella and show her she is not alone.
MARIELLA GEDGE-ROGERS, A8811ET, HMP EASTWOOD PARK, FALFIELD, WOTTON-UNDER-EDGE, GL12 8DB.
Ryan has been moved! His new address is: Ryan Roberts A5155EM, HMP Swaleside, Brabazon Rd, Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey ME12 4AX
He has also written a letter to share:
Firstly I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone that has read the reports, followed our stories, and even taken time to write us letters! It means so much to me, and I will be forever grateful. Also, as we all know we move from time to time. So there is a new address for me! I also want to say that in the end we will win and we will not be defeated. With unity we have power. Even people in power don’t have unity, and are weak.
All mail and books sent in to Toby Shone at HMP Bristol is being withheld from him under orders of right-wing Senior Officer Steve Sollars. This officer has decided to target anarchist prisoner Toby Shone after googling his case and after Toby refused to continue attending this screw’s workshop (as of February 9) due to the racist, politically motivated and denigrating abuse he and other prisoners were subjected to by said officer.
The Correspondence Department are now claiming that Toby has no mail, including legal correspondence. We know this isn’t true!
We are asking people to bombard the prison with mail for Toby and to complain to HMP Bristol to stop the abuse and targeting of Toby.
Write to Toby
Remember to put a name and address on the back, and if you can afford to, please send it via the Royal Mail Signed For service so that you can see it has been delivered via the tracking number. Toby replies to every letter he is sent IF he receives it.
Toby Shone A7645EP
HMP Bristol
19 Cambridge Road
Bristol
BS7 8PS
Contact HMP Bristol
Express your concerns about the targeting of Toby Shone. Governor James Lucas
