August 19, 2017: Nearly 100 prisoners at a women’s facility refuse meals for one day in solidarity with Millions for Prisoners and those experiencing repression following the national prison strike of September, 2016. Prisoners share commissary food items and make sure each other’s needs are met as they refuse to go to the chow hall. Outside demonstrators rally outside the prison gates, releasing balloons and demonstrating solidarity.
2017
19
Aug
Uprising at Boyd County Detention Center, Kentucky
August 19, 2017: Prisoners damage the sprinkler system in their cell and when guards respond by shutting off the water, the prisoners attack, forcing their cell door open and setting fires in the hallway beyond. Less than a month previous, four prisoners had escaped from the same facility.
17
Aug
Uprising at Fairbanks Correctional Center, Fairbanks, Alaska
August 17, 2017: After an unexplained and unexpected change in prison policy regarding which prisoners are assigned to which housing units, a group of approximately 15 prisoners refused to return to their cells and took control of a section of the prison in protest. The prisoners refused to surrender, broke out windows and poured soap on the floor. After tactical response teams fired tear gas into the unit, the prisoners surrendered.
12
Aug
Uprising at North Bay Jail, Ontario, Canada
August 12, 2017: Prisoners staged an uprising that lasted eight hours. The uprising resulted in broken windows and one guard receiving treatment for minor injuries. According to a representative from the prison guard union, Ontario Public Service Employees Union local 616, the uprising was the result of overcrowding and lack of adequate resources to help prisoners. He also stated that this was the third such incident in the past five months.
08
Aug
Hunger Strike at Northwest Detention Center, Washington
August 8, 2017: For at least the fourth time in a year, detainees at the NWDC go on hunger strike. This time 20 detainees refuse meals after being placed in the hole for protesting an assault by guards on an 18-year-old detainee.
07
Aug
Uprising at Tucker Maximum Security Unit, Arkansas – Part 2
August 7, 2017: Just weeks after the July 22 attack on guards at the same facility, six prisoners attack and overcome three guards. They take keys and a Taser which they use to take over part of the facility for hours. The three guards were held by the prisoners in the parts of the facility under prisoner control. Four prisoners are injured, one seriously.
03
Aug
Youth Uprising at Lincoln Hills School, Wisconsin
August 3, 2017: Youth prisoners scale a building, and attack guards with metal, shingles and rocks they tear from the roof. According to news reports, “one inmate was seen doing back flips and another threatened a guard, saying the whole ordeal could have been prevented if she had just played chess with him. Another inmate argued he should have been able to participate in a pizza party.”
