University of Virginia Library

Demonstrators
Stage Protest
On Prisons

By TIM WHEELER

Amidst the social activities of
Homecoming Weekend, a demonstration
to protest conditions at Attica State
Prison and the Charlottesville City Jail
will take place here on Saturday at 12:30
p.m.

An assembly and short rally will be
held preceding the demonstration at noon
on the University Avenue side of the
Rotunda. From there, the assembly will
move to the City Jail on Brown Street, the
planned site for the demonstration.

Show Solidarity

According to the sponsors of the protest-the
Charlottesville Defense Committee, the Radical
Student Union, and the staff of The Virginia
Weekly - the purpose of the activities Saturday
afternoon is "to show solidarity with the
prisoners of Attica and with their justified
rebellion against the inhuman, racist and unjust
conditions in the institution."

The demonstration organizers also condemn
the "slaughter" of prisoners and guards killed
last week at Attica State Prison, and the
support the demands drawn up by the rebelling
prisoners in the New York prison.

The twenty-seven article Manifesto of
Demands presented by the Attica prisoners
condemns the conditions in the prison and the
program of rehabilitation used at Attica State.
Included in the Manifesto are demands for:
upgrading of medical facilities and food; an end
to "discrimination" and "persecution" for
political reasons; permission to work for
minimum wages and attendant privileges; and
an end to "physical brutality being perpetrated
upon the inmates of New York State prisons."

Improve Conditions

The demonstration Saturday is also intended
to publicize the "inhuman conditions" of the
Charlottesville City Jail, and to demand better
food and improved visiting hours for the
prisoners. Other demands include "an end to
arbitrary and uncontrolled treatment of
prisoners by the guards", and a halt to "unfair
treatment of City prisoners, especially Black
prisoners".

Representatives of the Prisoners Solidarity
Committee of New York a group which has
supported prisoner movements at the San
Quentin Prison in California and other prisons,
will speak at the rally and the demonstration.
The Prisoners Solidarity Committee was also
involved at Attica State.

Statement Issued

The protest sponsors issued a statement
explaining the reasons for the demonstration
Saturday and for other prison rebellions across
the nation: "You never see rich people in
prison, only the poor and working people.
When there are no jobs, or when the wages are
too low to live off of, poor people are often
forced to steal to keep themselves and their
families alive."

"These are the so-called 'crimes' that they
put poor people in jail for. The real crimes are
those that the rich commit against the poor
everyday," the statement concludes.

Attica State Prison, in New York, was the
scene two weeks ago of an uprising by inmates.
The rebellion ended September 13 when
Governor Rockefeller ordered the New York
State Police into the prison. A number of dead
prisoners and prison guards were left in the
wake of the police action.