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#DeeperThanWater

DeeperThanWater is a coalition of organizations dedicated to exposing the rampant human rights abuses that prisoners in the United States are subjected to, using the lens of water justice to highlight the toxicity of the carceral state.

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Videos

Posted on January 10, 2018January 10, 2018

We are #DeeperThanWater

We Are #DeeperThanWater

Posted by Deeper Than Water on Monday, January 8, 2018

#MDCBrooklyn on Twitter

This is the women’s block at #MDCBrooklyn right now. Human beings in dungeon conditions, pleading for human rights, hoping to live. Hear them. Come here and join their fight! pic.twitter.com/s3fQbMDXOH

— Karl Blumenthal (@landlibrarian) February 2, 2019

MA DOC rejects 1st petition for medical parole as # of aging/sick inmates increases. Here's our story on problem: https://t.co/kuhKfB52jB Here's @globeabraham column on denial. At Department of Correction, a death of compassion https://t.co/j8NaBXh1kp via @BostonGlobe @necirbu

— Jenifer Mckim (@jbmckim) June 28, 2018

What is manganese?

https://vimeo.com/246701214?loop=0

"Rise up, resist, no cops, no nails / the whole damn system is guilty as hell" #PrisonStrike rally in Boston is over
"brick by brick wall by wall, free the prisoners, free them all". Prisoner in window waves as crowd departs pic.twitter.com/CFU2R8OvB0

— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) August 24, 2018

Day 3 of the #prisonstrike! Join #DeeperThanWater at Suffolk County Jail at 7 PM to show solidarity and #StopSolitaryMA! pic.twitter.com/tdi3ByhCUq

— The Democracy Center (@DemocracyCnter) August 23, 2018

Heat emergency

  • Background
  • phone zap
  • retaliation
  • August update
  • Aug. 28 heat wave alert

Follow the strike on Twitter

The Abolition journal collective stands in solidarity with ongoing organizing for the planned August 21st, 2018 nationwide prison strike. #August21 #prisonstrikehttps://t.co/AErnmtwIJZ pic.twitter.com/20eWyV8pOr

— Abolition (@AbolitionJ) July 8, 2018

 
Search hashtags: #august21 #prisonstrike

Ways to boycott

 

  1. Don’t set foot in a McDonald’s. Encourage others to do the same. 
     
  2. Flyer outside a McDonald’s to let them know that one of the reasons they are so massive, is their unending commitment to using products made with prison slave labor.  
     
  3. Cancel bank accounts and credit cards. When they ask why you are cancelling, tell them that you don’t want to support modern slavery. 
     
  4. Take those credit card applications you get in the mail, leave it blank and write “END MODERN SLAVERY” (or custom message) and mail it back, postage already paid. Please note: the barcode at the bottom of the return envelopes allow them to trace where it is coming from. Please do at your own risk. 
     
  5. Find your local ongoing anti-eviction group. Boston folks: join City Life / Vida Urbana, which fights the predatory practices of banks like Bank of America every single day. 
     
  6. Participate in eviction blockades. 
     
  7. Use alternative gas stations. Major GPS applications make it easy to find alternative gas stations in your area. 
     

 

“In conclusion, consider this: the wall of a so-called ‘correctional institution’ is not there to keep the incarcerated from getting out. It’s there to keep you from looking in.”

Things to consider

  • We recognize that there are various levels of commitment to a boycott. For example, under capitalism, many people are forced to patron a specific company for a special food or medicine.
  • If you are voting for a boycott of a particular medication manufacturer, for example, please be explicit in your support for those who need these to survive. True solidarity includes finding ways to make boycotted products available without contributing to spending.
  • Do NOT shame those that need these services to survive. If comrades who must use these services are interested, help them identify other actions they can take to participate in the BDS campaign. As you can see, the list is depressingly endless of target companies.

In his own words

https://deeperthanwater.org/media/WaylandPressConference.mp3

CALL TODAY AND DEMAND WAYLAND’S RELEASE FROM SOLITARY!

(508) 660 – 5900, ext. 299, ask for Deputy Superintendent Tiana Bennett

Deputy Director of the Central Inmate Disciplinary Unit, Christopher Langlois (508) 660-5990

Governor Baker’s office: (617) 725-4005

 

Sample call script

Hello, my name is ____________________ and I am a friend of Wayland Coleman’s. He has been thrown in solitary confinement yet again and has not received any information about why. We understand this to be part of a pattern of retaliation against prisoner activists. I demand his immediate release!

Why is Wayland in solitary? Will you confirm he will be released immediately? If not, why and when will you release him?

 

Alex Phillips

Full text [ download as PDF ]

 

Make yourself heard

Not sure what to write? Click below to load our template:

send with template (opens email client)

Did you already send an email? Let us know!

Let them know how you feel about injustice:

Thomas A. Turco III
Commissioner
Tel: (508) 422-3330
Fax: (508) 422-3385
Thomas.Turco@massmail.state.ma.us

Bruce I. Gelb
Deputy Commissioner
Tel: (508) 422-3495
Fax: (508) 422-3385
Bruce.Gelb@massmail.state.ma.us

Charlie Baker
Governor of Massachusetts
Contact his office directly through this form
Tel: (617) 725-4005

Downloadable letter to Gov. Baker:

Letter to Gov. Baker [PDF]

Baker Letter template [ editable RTF ]

 

Baker’s email: charlie.baker@massmail.state.ma.us

Click on image for full size

Email

Today through Monday morning, we will be flooding MA Department of Correction Commissioner Turco and DOC Chief of Staff John O’Malley’s inboxes to demand Alex immediately be released to his family.
 
Find below a sample email and a photo - please download and embed this photo of Alex to your email, so that Commissioner Turco has to look at the man they are killing.
 
email them!
 
Template
 
Dear Commissioner Turco and Chief of Staff O’Malley,

I am outraged at your administration’s decision to cruelly sentence Alexander Phillips (W92949) to death by prison. The MA Department of Correction is to blame for Alex’s stage 4 cancer, which is a direct result of systematic medical neglect and toxic conditions at MCI Norfolk.

You testified against Alex’s compassionate release, sealing his death sentence and signing off on the provision of inadequate medical care. The DOC has demonstrated it is willing to turn a 15 year sentence into a death sentence. I demand you free Alex immediately.

Sincerely,
[name]

 
Send to:
 
Thomas.Turco@massmail.state.ma.us
John.A.OMalley@MassMail.State.MA.US

“A friend of mine joked the other day that when he washed his face, he got a chunk of water stuck in his eye. We joke, but men have come back from having tumors removed that were laced with heavy metals, and random headaches come a dime a dozen.”

Download the original document here [PDF]

Release Wayland Coleman

Wayland stands in an old photograph in front of a snowman he painted

Sign up to receive updates from #DeeperThanWater

What’s wrong with the water in the DOC?

https://vimeo.com/246701214?loop=0

Press Conference

https://vimeo.com/246627488?loop=0

Letter to the DOC

Read the letter that #DeeperThanWater sent Commissioner Thomas Turco on November 28, 2017 here.

Spread the word

Romano call-in script

Hello, I’m a [ concerned citizen/friend/loved one ] calling about Romano Newball, MA DOC prisoner W41909. Romano has been suffering from a debilitating flesh-eating skin rash and has been asking to see an outside physician for some time now since the treatment offered by prison medical has been ineffective.

We are deeply worried about his health, and ask that the DOC send him to an outside doctor for treatment right away. Can you confirm that Romano will see an outside physician?

[If so] how quickly can he see a doctor?

Who should I call to make sure that this has happened?

[ Note: the DOC has been telling callers that information is inaccurate but that they cannot tell you which information they believe is wrong. Here is a possible response: ]

Can you confirm that Romano has seen a doctor who is not part of the prison medical staff?

NIC education report

The Norfolk Inmate Council releases an education report every year analyzing the efficacy of education dollars allocated to the prison. To read a copy of the 2017 report, click here.

Alex Phillips, 1987 – 2018

Centerville – Alex J. Phillips, 31, died on November 24, 2018 after a nine month journey through the harsh landscape of cancer. He died peacefully at home under the loving care of his family and VNA Hospice. Alex is survived by his mother Ann Burke, his father Dennis Phillips and step-mother Dale Phillips, his brother Justin Phillips and sister-in-law Emily Phillips. Alex was a loving uncle to his niece Grace Phillips and nephew to Melody and Mark Burke and his aunt Dawn (Phillips). He also leaves several cousins. Alex earned his BA, graduating magna cum laude from Boston University this past June. Writing and debating were two of his passions and he was the featured speaker at the graduation ceremony where he urged his classmates to “stand up and make a difference for the better”, and to see graduation not as an end but as the story of a new beginning. His family trusts that now his struggles are over. He has a new and peaceful beginning held in the loving arms of those who passed before him. Donations in his memory can be made to VNA Hospice, 434 Route 134, Suite D3, South Dennis, MA 02660. Visiting hours will be on Saturday, December 1, 2018 from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm with a funeral service to follow at John Lawrence Funeral Home, 3778 Falmouth Rd., Marstons Mills, MA.
 
Obituary and funeral information: found here.
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