Our Vision
Solidarity with prisoners, mass struggle against the Prison-Industrial Complex
The Function of Prisons
We understand that prisons are institutions that warehouse internal colonies, oppressed nations, and surplus labor forces of the United States, and that prisons are an institution of genocide. We cannot view prisons as isolated institutions that are to be abolished alone, but rather, as a part of, a vital tool of, class rule within the euro-settler-imperialist system -- a system that needs to be abolished entirely. And this can only be done by the liberation of internal colonies, oppressed nations, within and outside of the U.S., and the end of capitalist relations of private property and classes altogether.
We strive to educate people on the outside, particularly people with incarcerated loved ones, about the neo-colonial functions of prisons, so we can better understand them, and in turn, better fight them.
Reforms and Abolition
IDOC Watch does not view reform as a means of eliminating systemic violence against incarcerated people. However, we support various reforms that facilitate the transformation of prisons into spaces of liberatory education. How can prisoners learn together and work toward abolition if they don’t have proper medical care or nutrition, if they are constantly shaken down and brutalized by C.O.s, or if they are censored and cut off from people and materials on the outside? Reform and policy changes can help create the conditions for revolutionary, abolitionist action, but we are under no illusion that the work ends there.
We are actively supporting reforms, rollbacks of harmful initiatives and policies, and encouraging communication between prisoners and their loved ones and comrades in order to foster the conditions in which people can transform themselves and others into revolutionaries through education.
To learn more about what is discussed in this section, and how we view organizing more in depth, please read our political line linked below.
IDOC Watch Supports the National Prison Strike Movement & Stands in Solidarity with the Unfulfilled Demands of the 2018 National Prison Strike
Prison Strike Demands
1. Immediate improvements to the conditions of prisons and prison policies that recognize the humanity of imprisoned men and women.
2. An immediate end to prison slavery. All persons imprisoned in any place of detention under United States jurisdiction must be paid the prevailing wage in their state or territory for their labor.
3. The Prison Litigation Reform Act must be rescinded, allowing imprisoned humans a proper channel to address grievances and violations of their rights.
4. The Truth in Sentencing Act and the Sentencing Reform Act must be rescinded so that imprisoned humans have a possibility of rehabilitation and parole. No human shall be sentenced to Death by Incarceration or serve any sentence without the possibility of parole.
5. An immediate end to the racial overcharging, over-sentencing and parole denials of Black and Brown humans. Black humans shall no longer be denied parole because the victim of the crime was white, which is a particular problem in Southern states.
6. An immediate end to racist gang enhancement laws targeting Black and Brown humans.
7. No denial of access to rehabilitation programs for any imprisoned human at their place of detention because of their label as a violent offender.
8. State prisons must be funded specifically to offer more rehabilitation services.
9. Pell grants must be reinstated in all U.S. states and territories.
10. The voting rights of all confined citizens serving prison sentences, pretrial detainees and so-called “ex-felons” must be counted. Representation is demanded. All voices count.
A graphic highlighting the demands of striking prisoners at Wabash Valley during the 2018 Prison Strike.