The Prison/Prisoners Rights Movement (1960s-1970s) grew in response to the growing number of people confined in US jails and prisons, and national and international movements for self-determination and human rights. Especially in Alabama’s prison system, forced labor, dehumanizing conditions, and the disproportionate number of black people confined, represented to many the continuation of slavery under a different name.

Alabama’s prisons were overcrowded and prisoners were routinely denied basic essentials such as clean drinking water and eating utensils, while being subjected to violence and extended periods of solitary confinement. To call attention to their demands for improved conditions, prisoners organized as Inmates for Action (IFA), and engaged in work stoppages and strikes in Alabama’s Atmore and Holman prisons. IFA also led classes for prisoners on subjects such as Revolutionary Theory and Black History. In response to prisoner activism, prison guards tortured and murdered IFA leaders Chagina (George Dobbins), Yukeena (Tommy Dotson) and Frank X. Moore. Furthermore, guards continued to deny access to necessities, and attempted to repress continued organizing among the prisoners. Outside of prison, the Committee for Prisoner Support in Birmingham (CPSB) and the Atmore-Holman Defense Committee planned demonstrations, assisted with legal strategy in support of IFA and campaigned for accountability for the murders.

The Atmore-Holman Brothers collection documents efforts from 1969 to the late 1970’s to improve conditions in Alabama prisons, and to shed light on the murders of Inmates for Action (IFA) leaders Chagina (George Dobbins), Yukeena (Tommy Dotson) and Frank X. Moore. It includes flyers, newspapers, newsletters, strategy papers, legal documents, press releases, photographs and extensive correspondence related to IFA, and the organizations supporting their work such as the Committee for Prisoner Support in Birmingham (CPSB) and the Atmore-Holman Defense Committee. It also includes reports related to the broader issues of grassroots organizing in the South, among prisoners, students and workers.

Find out about what's currently happening in Alabama's prisons: Holman Prison Rebellion 2016

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/04/02/incarcerated-organizers-complete-eight-weeks-of-alabama-prison-shutdown/