In mid-August 2023, columnist of The Abolitionist newspaper and imprisoned abolitionist writer and educator, Stevie Wilson, was targeted for his work and politics and thrown into solitary confinement for five days. While isolated in solitary, he was interrogated about some screened and blocked emails regarding his writing, abolition, and critiques of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PADOC). 16 of his books and 32 zines–all with titles containing terms for “organizing,” “Black liberation,” or “abolition”–were seized and confiscated from his cell.
Play the audiogram below (transcription included on the graphic) and listen to Stevie explain the fascist tendencies of imprisonment and the Department of Corrections (DOC), and how censorship is used to target and isolate abolitionists behind bars.
After you listen, support Stevie get his study materials back by calling the PADOC and Central Office: bit.ly/steviezap823
More Quotes from Stevie
Once out of solitary, Stevie shared more of the following thoughts:
(Note: Stevie wants his words to be used for abolitionist resistance and struggle. Please quote him if useful to your work, but also please make sure to give him credit)
“What’s happening in here is the DOC [Department of Corrections] is targeting anyone who’s criticizing or speaking out against the DOC. And that’s fascism—speaking out against those in power, and administration, and being sent to the hole [isolation] for it, that’s punishing us. Seizing our books, our writing, trying to silence us. That’s fascism.”
-Stevie Wilson, prisoner in PA, columnist of The Abolitionist Newspaper
“They’re punishing people for talking about what’s happening behind the walls. We’re not advocating for violence. We’re just talking about what’s happening to us, so ‘What do you have to hide?’ They’re targeting abolitionists, looking for the word ‘abolition’—that’s the new buzz word for them and what they’re looking for to lock us up.”
-Stevie Wilson, prisoner in PA, columnist of The Abolitionist Newspaper
“We already deal with issues of our bodily autonomy every day, now they are coming for our consciousness. This is fascism, and that’s no hyperbole.”
-Stevie Wilson, prisoner in PA, columnist of The Abolitionist Newspaper
“They’re not going to stop me. They want to silence us, that’s why they’re doing this. And it’s not going to happen. Nothing will stop me from speaking the truth and talking about what’s going on behind the wall in these prisons, except shutting the prisons down. When there aren’t any more prisons, that’s when I’ll stop talking about it.”
-Stevie Wilson, prisoner in PA, columnist of The Abolitionist Newspaper
“Solutions to this aren’t going to come from liberal reforms. Limiting who is sent to the hole or for how long, those are liberal reforms. Torture is torture—it doesn’t matter for how long or who you’re torturing and why. We need to organize to ‘shrink and starve’–as Critical Resistance says and does– the DOCs capacity to torture people: that’s reducing the number of cells for solitary confinement, resisting the construction or expansion of control units and practices of solitary confinement—throwing people into isolation through other means and so on.”
-Stevie Wilson, prisoner in PA, columnist of The Abolitionist Newspaper