Two tripods and a concrete blockade were deployed yesterday to shutdown the Bristol County Prison and an adjacent ICE facility. The first tripod was torn down by police, sending the climber falling to the ground.
Sherrie, still atop her 24 foot tripod, used a lock box to attach themselves to their poles. Police then tore down Sherrie’s tripod, with Sherrie falling hard on their back while still locked in.
Police used pain compliance tactics to try to force them to unlock. Despite this violence Sherrie still refused to unlock. They were dragged across the road where they were eventually cut out of their lock box.
Violence defines institutions like ICE, the police and the prison industry. Especially in Bristol County.
Listen to this Earth Watch interview with Sherrie from 2016, when she was a medic for the Standing Rock encampment.
The County Jail is facing multiple lawsuits and in response to the deplorable conditions there , including inedible food, nearly nonexistent medical care, and abuse from facility employees, ICE detainees launched a hunger strike in protest on July 18th. By the next week the general population at the prison was also staging a hunger strike in solidarity with the ICE detainees.
A reflection of the conditions at these facilities is the fact that between 2006-2016 Bristol County accounted for 25% of jail suicides in Massachusetts despite only making up 13% of the statewide jail population.
We are going to keep taking action until we #ShutDownICE and hold institutions like the Bristol County Sheriffs Department accountable.
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PLEASE DONATE to support this action and to help cover legal costs: bit.ly/FANG-Collective
And you can read more about the action here: https://upriseri.com/news/immigration/2018-08-20-fang/
