The Final Straw Radio Jay Ward on Hunger Strike + Antifascists Organizing in Europe
We’re sharing our episode a few days early this week and it contains two segments.
Jay Ward Hunger StrikeFirst up, a recent interview with James “Jay” Ward. Jay was featured in a show about a year ago: he went into prison at 15 years old in Ohio and has been in for 19 years at this point. He participated in the 2018 Nationwide Prisoner Strike as well as other self-advocacy protests since and is trying to raise funds with his outside supporters to pay for a lawyer to help him win his release as his mandatory minimum date comes up next year. When this was recorded, Jay was 11 days into a hunger strike demanding a return of his personal items and a transfer to a space where he won’t be targeted for violence by gangs, alongside a couple of other requests listed in his letter at the end of this post. You can hear how tired he is from subsisting only on water for the last week and a half, struggling to keep focus and concentrate on the conversation throughout our chat. You can find his gofundme for updates and ways to donate.
If you want to support his hunger strike, his supporters are requesting people call between 9am and 5pm central time (Mon-Fri) the following numbers to voice concern for the safety and conditions of James Ward A517461 on hunger strike :
- Mansfield Correctional Institution at 419-525-4455 and ask to talk to Warden Harold May
- the Central ODRC office at 614-387-0588
At the bottom of our show notes you can find Jay’s public announcement of his circumstances and requests. You can also email your concerns to drc.manci@odrc.state.ohio.us as well as to the ODRC Director Annette Chambers-Smith (via annette.chambers-smith@odrc.state.ohio.us ).
Jay is wanting people to reach out to contact him via his mailing address (below) or JPay.com (using the info in his mailing address):
James Ward A517461 Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Mail Processing Center (OMPC) 884 Coitsville-Hubbard Road Youngstown, Ohio 44505
Antifascist Voices in EuropeThen you’ll hear an interview conducted by our comrades at crna luknja in Ljubljana, Slovenia with antifascists countering neonazi demonstrations in Budapest, Hungary, and Sofia, Bulgaria. This was featured in the latest episode of B(A)D News from the A-Radio Network, a monthly podcast from a network that we affiliate with and worth checking out for “angry voices from around the world”.
Finally, you’ll hear Sean Swain’s promise for a brighter, goldener era for the USA (and subsequently the world)
Announcements Malik Muhammad Phone ZapThere's a phone zap currently on to move 2020 "Palestinian pansexual Muslim... anarchist antifascist, anti-racist abolitionist" prisoner Malik Muhammad out of solitary confinement at Snake River Correctional in Oregon.
Call Snake River Correctional with the following demands weekdays between 9am and 5pm pacific time:
- Return Malik to general inmate population;
- Restore communications rights and mail;
- Return all books and possessions immediately;
- End the persecution now!
Master Control: 541-881-5018 Superintendent: 541-881-5002 Inspector: 541-881-5081 Chaplains: 541-881-4624, 541-881-4625, 541-881-4626, 541-881-4686 General Line: 541-881-5000
Please write to Malik and let him know you stand with him!
Malik Muhammad #23935744 Snake River Correctional Institution 777 Stanton Blvd Ontario, OR 97914-8335
*Note*: Please include page numbers and return addresses on each page because the prison typically does not give inmates the envelopes.
Update on Fund Raising and supporting TFSRA quick update to the patreon request we made in recent episodes: We’re back where we were a month ago, covering the basic costs. Big thanks to those who stepped up to help! We have other costs beyond that (printing and mailing our small contribution to prisoner zines per month, replenishing our stickers, equipment upgrades) that we could also use support in if you have a few bucks a month. We have that patreon with it’s early audio releases and other thank-yous, or anonymized payments via liberapay that can be one-time or recurring. We also have a big cartel store with some merch and can take payments via venmo and paypal. These are linked at https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/donate
If you appreciate the work we do but don’t have the extra money, the best way to contribute is to get involved in face to face organizing where you are, integrating movements against oppression and capitalism into your life and brings others along with you since we can’t get there without each other.
If you want to support the podcast without money, you can spread word about the podcast by getting in touch, offering up graphic skills, helping us proof our transcripts, talking about us to friends, incorporating our zines or episodes into a discussion group, sending zines to prisoners, rating us on google and apple podcasts or spreading word on social media. We also take audio submissions and if you’re interested in getting involved, the production and interviews don’t get us paid but they open up avenues to talk to authors about their ideas as well as raise awareness and involvement in social struggles and pick up the skills along the way.
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Statement from Jay on his conditionsThis is Jay’s letter to the head of the Ohio DRC:
Dear Annette chambers-smith
This is James Ward from ManCI. The last time I wrote to you I had explained a lot to you that has been going on here concerning my safety. And after that letter the administration got mad at me for going to you because they have not been trying to do anything to really ensure my safety here at Mansfield. And I'm writing you again because I don't know who else to go to with my recent situation and concerns, because nobody has been helpful. And currently, my safety is back at risk.
About 7 months ago right before the admin got the letter I sent you, UMC Henry got me placed in unit 4B (the faith based block here), mainly for my safety concerns. Every block that I've been put in since I been here, I've became a victim to gangs and have also got a hit put on me, which UMC Henry and the rest other admin doesn't want to believe although they seen and heard proof. So it makes it to where I have to go on PC invest, suicide watch or hunger strike to ensure my safety. But I honestly don't like being in the hole unless I legitimately did something wrong. So my current situation is that I am on hunger strike to ensure my safety, but also for other reasons that I will explain.
When I got put in 4B, its an inmate that the unit refers to as frank (4B/128 bottom) and they basically let him control the operation of the block. How? He's been in that block for a long time and manages the faith base programs, etc. But due to the reputation he has built up with the unit staff, Sgt Knowlton and others believes everything he tells them. So when I first got moved over their, I was honestly selling food to people that didn't have any. But frank went to the unit and told them that I was selling drugs to try and get me moved out of the block. The unit called me over and talked to me about it and I stopped selling food for awhile. I was do in everything I was required to do and haven't got no ticket. Recently, I was trying to organize a group meal for people that really didn't have much. And an inmate named Green wanted to be involved. But when I told Green that a prisoner support group was going to do a fundraiser to raise the money for the meal he backed out. He then went to inmate frank and told frank that I was trying to scam people and get them outside cases. Franks celly told me that frank said this and was going to put a stop to what I was doing. Next thing you know I'm on the list to move out of the block ( I was sent to 2B). I then sent a kite to Sgt. Knowlton and basically asked him why I got moved and also told him things that frank and others are doing in that block, but he disregarded everything I told him and only told me "you were doing too much, use your imagination". So I then kited UMC Henry and told him what happened and he said he'd look into it. But before Henry could let me know anything, my Cally told me that someone wanted him to take the hit on me. I then went on suicide watch to ensure my safety. Because PC invest has not gotten me anything and they put you in a cell with someone else that can have their family look you up. That's what people do here (sneak thru your stuff to find your ID number and have their family look you up). And I also started my hunger strike because I know that the admin won't do anything to help me.
Recently, henry talked to me and said that he will investigate what happened in 4B, but that a hunger strike isn't how I will get moved back. But for me to go to a regular block while he investigates. And I get it that a hunger strike is not the way to get moved back, but I refuse to go to a regular block where my safety will be at risk. Henry wanting me to go to a regular block while he investigates is like saying go get jumped on while I look into this. 4C is the only block here that I will be safe in, because its the intake block (all of the new people that don't know anything about e hit on me goes to that block), but Henry will not put me there.
During the time that I was on PC invest before I got moved to 4B, I found out that property of mine came up missing from the TPU vault. While I was in TPU I was writing complaints on LT. Brooks and Sgt. Risner for not allowing me to do my 2.4. The end result was that the active AIIS at the time (B. Lower) and the IIS D. Blankenship falsified a modified response to my complaint to make it seem like I was lying and that they found the items in my cell. But 2 days before Lower came to search my cell, I was called to the inspectors office concerning my lost property because someone in your office wanted to know what property was I talking about in my complaint. So I told them everything and that a theft report was filed. But the theft report was not put on onbase yet, so lower had to contact the block officer that wrote it (officer Comstock). So they called me back up to the inspectors office and offered to reimburse me with $42+ on my commissary and a few items from contraband. So I told them I'd think about it. They called me back up the next day and I told them I didn't want it because they wouldn't replace everything I was missing. So the next day after that is when lower came to search my cell. And when he left he told me that I should have taken the deal. After that, IIS Blankenship wrote 13 false statements in her modified response, which is a criminal offence that I can prove with the paperwork that I have. And now they have lower walking around as a Lt. Blankenship was already caught falsifying state documents in Darryl Smith' lawsuit.
I been 5 years R.I.B ticket free. 3 of those years was when I was in level 4. I been here 2 years with no real trouble. The first year when I went up for my security review it was said that I needed time to adjust. This past year when I went up, the admin recommended level decrease. But then I find out that I didn't get my level dropped, because an incident that took place 8 years ago and isn't true. The BOC said that my level decrease was denied because I tried to kill a staff. I've never been a threat to anybody since I been locked up. And the time that they referred to is when I had just got put in a regular cell on suicide watch. They didn't have a crisis cell to use. So the cuff port had to stay open. And I had joked with the officer saying that I found a razor, so without really knowing if I had one he sprayed me in the face with OC. So they removed me from the cell to clean it, but they never found a razor. And I told them not to put that officer back on my watch cuz he sprayed me for no reason, and I was honestly mad. But they put him back on my watch. So to try and get him off my watch, in a fast motion I acted like I was reaching out to grab him. He was too far from the door for me to grab or anything, but he wrote me up saying that I tried to cut him with a razor. And they never allowed me to go to my R.I.B or SMP hearing. But that happened 8 years ago. And majority of that time since then I have continuously show a dramatic change in my behavior with no R.I.B tickets. I believe the only reason my level decrease was denied is because UMC Henry contacted someone in your office to find something that they can use against me to hold me here. Because I have wrote complaints against Henry and wrote that letter to you. And he knows how much I been wanting to leave this prison, but he won't transfer me even though my safety is continuously at risk here.
Lastly! I have chronic damage in both of my shoulders that causes them to be able to dislocate if I'm not paying attention to how I use my arms, mainly only when it comes to having my arms outstretched or if I have to climb something. The last time I was placed on the top bunk, my left shoulder dislocated when I was trying to climb up. I feel backwards and busted my head open on a dresser, then on the floor. And that is in my medical record from when I was at W.C.I. And since then, I have had many other dislocations that is in my medical record. I was given bottom rack restriction each time, but I never really needed it since I been at level 4. Since I been here I been trying to get it back but medical tells me its not required for my injuries. They gave it to me for 3 months and that was it. If my shoulder dislocates while trying to climb onto the top bunk and I bust my head open again, then I can sue the medical department for negligence and deliberate indifference because I have told them about my chronic dislocations and they choose not to do anything about it.
All I ask for: 1) My property to be replaced 2) My bottom bunk restriction 3) My level decreased so I can leave ManCI 4) If I can't get 3, then I ask to be placed in 4C for the remaining time that I'm at ManCI
These are reasonable request and within reason.