Jailed Denver anti-racist leaders subjected to dangerous and degrading conditions in custody

Donate to the organizers’ legal and political defense fund: https://www.pslweb.org/donate4denver Sign the petition demanding that all charges be dropped against the organizers: https://www.pslweb.org/dropthecharges The following is a report from Ryan Hamby, a Party for Socialism and Liberation member and the long-time partner of Lillian House, one of the four PSL organizers who were rounded up and thrown in jail with multiple bogus felony charges. They were targeted for their leadership in the anti-racist movement in the Denver area, especially the struggle for justice for Elijah McClain. Three of them have been in jail without a bond hearing since they were arrested on Thursday, September 17. Other organizers and protesters across Colorado have been arrested in recent weeks as well. Please make an urgently-needed donation to support their defense effort. The unjustly incarcerated Denver-area organizers are being subjected to terrible conditions while locked up. Some of what they are facing is just the horrible conditions of most jails — Lillian House knows this well, having just written an article exposing the conditions that women face in prison for the latest issue of Breaking the Chains. Some of it is certainly the incompetence of a rotten and incompetant bureaucracy. But without a doubt, in a situation so political, much of what they are experiencing is punitive. Another one of the arrested organizers, Joel Northam, is in a pod with seven to eight other men for 23 hours and 20 minutes a day. Although there have been positive COVID cases in the nearby pods, Joel has been given only one face mask since he was arrested. Joel has had phone calls with us and with his family cut off before his time ran out without warning or explanation. He tells us that he has watched many men come and go as they receive bond hearings while he remains incarcerated. The targeted activists have been inside since Thursday, meaning that they have been held without being able to post bond, or even have a hearing before a judge, for six days. This is a violation of the 14th Amendment, which is supposed to protect the right to due process. Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/jailed-denver-anti-racist-leaders-subjected-to-dangerous-and-degrading-conditions-in-custody/