On Sept. 9, prisoners in 24 states are protesting inadequate prison conditions on the 45th anniversary of the prison uprising in Attica, New York.
In the 1971 uprising, prisoners took over the correctional facility to protest the poor healthcare they received, long periods of isolation, overcrowding and slave labor.
On the day of the riots, NY State Troopers raided the complex killing 29 prisoners.
Democracy Now spoke to the co-founder of the Free Alabama Movement, Kinetik Justice.
He is one of many organizers responsible for the nationwide protest today.
At the time of the interview, the organizer was in solitary confinement at the Holman Correctional Facility.
Kinetik Justice tells reporters that he and other prisoners have reached out to governmental officials to solve the issues they have brought forward.
However, their grievances have not been addressed.
“We understood that our incarceration is about our labor and the money being generated, ” he says. “… We began organizing around our labor and used it as a means to bring about reforms in our prison system.”
