Fifty-eight cars participated in a demonstration at the Westville Detention Center Saturday afternoon, May 2nd, demanding the immediate release of incarcerated people in the interest of public health. In defiance of the National Guard and at least 38 squad cars of the Indiana State Police and Westville Police, demonstrators blocked the road in front of the prison/death trap and rallied to protest the mistreatment of their loved ones.
The event, which began as a rally at Bluhm County Park, was hosted by The Free Them All Coalition, a group of indiana political organizations including IDOC Watch, the New Afrikan Black Panther Party, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Indy10 Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter South Bend, Indy SURJ, the Michiana Autonomous Defense Collective, Northern Indiana DSA, Indiana Undocumented Youth Alliance, Maple City IWW GMB, NWI Resist, and others.
The group demanded that caged humans be humanely cared for during the current world health crisis, asserting that the only way to properly and humanely follow social distancing guidelines is to release those who have already served their time, who have less than a year left on their sentence, who are incarcerated on technical parole violations, being held by ICE, and all prisoners whose medical condition(s) or age put them at higher risk for COVID-19. They also demand that the state use funds set aside for law enforcement to provide these formerly incarcerated people with hotel housing, so they are not left to fend for themselves in the midst of a pandemic.
As cars filed to the meeting point. Banners were handed out to those who didn’t have their own, with messages such as “Dignity for All” and “FREE THEM ALL!”.
Noah Leininger, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, led the rally. Leininger spoke on the most important issues to be addressed and how to do that. He described the coalition that organized the event as a new “Rainbow Coalition,” which unites under the urgency to pressure IDOC to properly address the outbreaks of COVID 19 in prisons, jails, and detention centers across Indiana. Organizers played the recorded words of people in cages at Westville CF, describing their experiences of medical neglect and fear of pandemic’s spread within Westville CF, including reports of correctional staff who had tested positive returning to work after only a short period of isolation (listen to the audio below). People caged at Westville discussed how correctional officers are working while in the death trap while infected with COVID-19, spreading the deadly disease wherever they go. According to those caged at Westville, nearly everyone locked up there now has the disease.
Leininger spoke on the scale of the prison industrial complex in the US and the disproportionate effect incarceration has on communities of color and low income communities. The rally ended with a chant led by Leininger using the words of Assata Shakur, a former Black panther and Black liberation activist, who is currently in political exile. The crowd, which stood at social distance, chanted “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
The cars then filed in procession from Bluhm County Park to Westville Correctional Facility. Here protesters honked repeatedly as they drove slowly past the prison multiple times for half an hour. A second rally followed as cars pulled to the side of the road in front of the prison. Those incarcerated in Westville could be seen waving out of their windows and multiple banners were unfurled with messages to those on the outside. Familiy members with loved ones who are currently incarcerated spoke to the crowd and to the prisoners inside, describing the cruel conditions of the prisons and of the worry they felt for their loved ones’ safety every day. Many partners and children of those inside Westville spoke of missing their family members and wishing they could care for those who are sick at home. Faheem Shabazz, a member of IDOC Watch incarcerated at Westville CF, broadcast a message of appreciation and encouragement to the crowd via phone. These testimonies drove home the point that for incarcerated people, prisons have become death traps.
Hoosiers stand in solidarity with their incarcerated neighbors, and will continue fighting for their rights, health, and safety!
Protesters rally in the road outside Westville CF as people with loved ones caged in the death trap speak out and send messages of love to their caged family and friends