Since there have been institutions of confinement, those locked within them have stood together again and again to insist that they be treated as the human beings they are. From these uprisings we learn so much about justice and injustice in this country as well as about power. And yet, because prisons are deliberately so closed to the public, and routinely resist accountability to that same public, we know far less than we need to about the times when people stand up for better conditions on the inside. Indeed, even when we do hear about them, we simply accept the account of what happened provided us by the keepers which virtually never offers us the real story about why their institutions have erupted. For all of these reasons we must, together, work to know when uprisings on the inside have happened, why they happened, and, when they happen now, to insist that the imprisoned be able to tell their own stories about why the uprising took place and to make sure that they are protected in the wake of daring to have disrupted the institution. This web project, the first ever timeline of prisoner resistance, is essential to this effort.
Since 2010, North America has witnessed a cascading series of rebellions in jails, prisons, and detention centers. Within the most damaging and dangerous institutions, incarcerated people have used protests, uprisings, and labor and hunger strikes to demand change. Although it has been hard to see through the obstruction of concrete walls and concertina wire, their calls for human rights have been increasingly interlinked. Perilous Chronicle provides an accessible account of this wave of urgent protest. Deeply researched, impressively organized, and sorely needed, this timeline brings together the wide array of actions that have happened across the United States and Canada. It is a vital resource for journalists, teachers, students, and anyone else looking to understand the scale of protest emanating from inside the awful world of confinement.
