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Starke - Repression & Rebellion

By VVAW

On October 27th, approximately 100 people marched 38 miles from Gainesville, Fla. to the Florida State Prison at Starke. The purpose of this action was to bring public attention to the inhuman living conditions and prevailing racism present at Starke. The action was co-sponsored by VVAW/WSO, African Peoples Socialist Party, Tampa Social Collective and the Anti-Imperialist Union.

Responses to the march were positive and by the time the marchers reached the prison, another 100 people had joined the demonstration. The marchers circled the Starke/Raiford institution and then proceeded to the black community in Starke where they rallied and speeches were given. Even after marching for nearly 12 hours, the rally was filled with an atmosphere of unity and solidarity with the struggle going on behind the Starke walls.

The city of Starke had warned the marchers that if they persisted in conducting this action, they would be arrested upon entrance to the town, but the "threats" were unfounded and the demonstration came off without a hitch. As Joe Waller (African Peoples Socialist Party) put it: "The police warnings didn't stop us. We are here and will be here from now on and the brothers should unit together in the struggle to free the oppressed people in our prisons today."

VVAW/WSO began doing educational and agitational work around the situation at Starke early this year. The inmates have been plagued with such blatantly racist policies that they were forced to resort to outright rebellion. On April 30th, four prison officials attacked one of the inmates working in the garment factory and fellow factory workers came to the beaten inmate's defense. 41 inmates (all black) were "rounded up" in connection with this incident and thrown into segregation while being investigated. Out of the 41, 14 have been charged with arson, assault, and riot. The remainder of the 41 inmates remain in confinement, yet they have not been charged. None of the 41 are guilty of anything other than saying "No" to the oppression permeating their lives.

Again on August 5th, the inmates stood up for their rights, and the prison experienced a rebellion by nearly half the inmate population. Even the prison officials have admitted that the cause of the disturbance was racial. The inmates also maintain that the disturbance was due to racial conflict, but that conflict is not among inmates -- it is between inmates and the tyrannical rule of the prison administrators.

The Starke inmates are now trying to get their struggle into the courts, in hopes that the justice will be done and the living conditions in Starke made decent. They have recently released an inmate document, the Florida State Prisoners' Manifesto of Demands and Platform. This manifesto begins with the lines: "We the inmates of Florida State Prison come united to change inhuman and brutal conditions that are now maintained and imposed by the administrators of the Florida Department of Corrections." The manifesto goes on to demand such things as adequate medical care, release of inmates in administrative confinement, fair wages for labor, an inmate legal committee to handle legal needs, rights to order and receive literature, an unbiased parole system, an end to medical research being done on inmates, and a bi-racial committee set up to investigate the living conditions within the prison.

The fight for legal and human rights which is going on in Starke is, in reality, no different from the struggles of inmates being held in prisons around the country. However, the "battle" going on inside Starke is becoming particularly intensified. The brothers need your support if their manifesto is to be implemented, and they need funds to cover expenses for the upcoming trials of the 14 indicted inmates and to get their legal complaints into the courts. The Raiford Legal Defense Fund has been established by VVAW/WSO and will handle the defense of these brothers. The much needed funds and letters of support should be sent to: P.O. Box 122, Gainesville, Florida 32601.