Today, on the fourteenth day of Black History Month 2024, Sitawa Jamaa was finally released from over 40 years in California (CA) prison, roughly 30 years of which were spent in solitary confinement as repression for his steadfast organizing and support of imprisoned people. Critical Resistance (CR) joins Sitawa, his life-long friends, family, and a number of movement partners and advocates inspired by his tireless work and sacrifice behind bars in welcoming him back home–and free!-– in Oakland, CA.
A founding member of the Short Corridor Collective (SCC) in Pelican Bay State Prison’s Security Housing Unit (SHU), Sitawa organized with his SCC brothers across militarized isolation tactics while inside, sparking the historic statewide prisoner-led hunger strikes against solitary confinement in 2011 and 2013 that rocked the prison system and garnered international support. As part of this work, Sitawa initiated the Agreement to End Hostilities in 2012, also a historic organizing tactic that called for our communities inside AND outside of cages who are targeted by imprisonment and policing to cease any and all hostilities or conflicts across prison manufactured racial lines.
Last year, Critical Resistance published it’s 40th issue of our cross-wall bilingual newspaper, The Abolitionist, on control units and resistance, featuring an article by CR’s National Media Organizer and Project Coordinator of The Abolitionist, Molly Porzig, on CR’s work with Sitawa and the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition to support the Short Corridor’s demands to end long-term and indefinite solitary confinement, and abolish the CA Department of Corrections (CDCR)’s use of gang validation along with the debriefing practice that forced imprisoned people to snitch on each other in order to get out of solitary.
After multiple strokes due to torturous conditions while imprisoned, Sitawa now needs extensive care to live and thrive. Please donate to his coming home fund, help us spread the word and encourage your loved ones to give too, so that we can take care of our brave & resilient elder: bit.ly/sitawa-jamaa
Links to resources for parts of Sitawa’s organizing impacts & legacy:
- Article written by Sitawa in 2016 for San Francisco Bay View Newspaper
- Agreement to End Hostilities
- “Resisting Torture: Refusing to Surrender” – An article for The Abolitionist Issue 40 on Control Units & Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity supporting the Short Corridor Collective
