Read our editorial on mass deportations here, and the ongoing struggle against it here.
The arrestees accused of participating in an armed action targeting the ultra-reactionary, anti-people Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas on July 4th are facing deplorable conditions at the Johnson County Jail where they are being held, according to the solidarity campaign for the detainees.
Monopoly media reported at the time of the action that the accused created a diversion by launching fireworks at the detention center to “ambush” the guards at the facility. One responding police officer was reportedly shot in the neck during the action, receiving a non-life threatening injury. In addition to the initial arrests of 10 people alleged to have participated, six more were later arrested accused of connections to the incident according to the arrestees’ legal support campaign—a July 16 Department of Homeland Security statement lists the total arrests at 14.
The accused face a mix of state and federal charges, including attempted murder of federal agents and discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. Following their arrest, organizers, family, and friends formed the group DFW Support Committee in order to fight for the accused.
According to the updates posted in the support group’s fundraising campaign, following the initial arrests, defendants’ families and friends reported raids on their homes. Agents threw flashbang grenades, detained those associated with those arrested without cause, and tackled and detained the adult child of one of the defendants—who later faced interrogation in jail.
The political prisoners have faced retaliation from Johnson County Jail where they are held, according to the support campaign—defendants have been denied public defenders for weeks with the jail citing “incomplete paperwork” and multiple defendants have been placed in solitary confinement as they refuse to speak with the police without a public defender present.
The arrestees have been denied showers and commissary, then placed “on punishment” and denied in-person visits for “rule violations” such as taking their medication at their scheduled time and receiving a writing utensil and paper from another inmate. One defendant who was transferred into solitary confinement was forced to clean feces off the wall of the cell that was left by a previous prisoner.
The jail has been conducting multiple daily strip searches on defendants in solitary confinement. A statement from one of the defendants reads:
“Usually awoken by yelling of my name, I am ordered to strip completely naked. Bleary eyed I am ordered to hand my shirt, pants, underwear, socks, and shoes through the single dirty metal mail slot that passes all of my food, books, trash, broom, toilet plunger. I am ordered to hold my mouth open with my fingers. I am ordered to lift and move my genitals with my hands. Turn around, squat and cough three times, make sure it’s forceful and loud.
“Then I quickly dress and am handcuffed and taken out of my cell.
“So all of my belongings can be tossed and picked through. Leaving random piles with no declaration or explanation. I can stress and search to find out if anything is taken.
“Sometimes it’s all my food. Sometimes it’s my legally protected questions and notes for my attorneys.
“Sometimes it’s a random poem or doodle. Sometimes nothing is taken.
“This happens at any time, at all hours, without warning. Multiple times a day. Every day. Without reason or ever finding anything like contraband.”
The DFW Support Committee has asked for the public to join in support of these political prisoners who took conscientious action against reaction and now endure state terror in retaliation.
Their website can be found here with links to their social media platforms, while their fundraising campaign is linked here.
Photo: Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado TX.
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