Tacoma, WA–On April 25, at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) Resistance, Colectivo de Detenidos, and Enlace joined the 2015 #PrisonDivest National Week of Engagement.
They called on all organizations and individuals to divest from owning stock in the global for-profit prison corporation, Geo Group, which owns and operates the NWDC.
They were joined by Christine Nahn, staffer for Congressman Adam Smith, who spoke about his work to increase transparency and improve conditions within detention centers and announced his bill, the 2015 Accountability in Immigration Detention Act.
The family of Paulino Ruiz, detained leader in Colectivo de Detenidos, travelled from Woodburn, Oregon, to be with supporters and advocate on behalf of others detained and imprisoned.
Paulino Ruiz led peaceful hunger strikes last year which protested inhuman conditions at the NWDC, including racial discrimination, high commissary costs, and $1/day wages for work.
ICE retaliated against Paulino. ICE first placed him in solitary confinement and then transferred him to NORCOR, a regional detention facility in The Dalles, OR to disrupt his organizing.
Abraham Ruiz spoke about his brother’s two-year imprisonment, “He didn’t kill or hurt anyone…. I don’t know why he’s experiencing such a deep punishment.” He also spoke about the trauma his family has experienced from their forcible separation from him, including the economic hardship and pain of separation.
Regino Gutierrez, a hunger-strike leader and member of the Colectivo de Detenidos, called the demonstrators from within the NWDC, where he is currently imprisoned. He continues to organize against the abuses inside and offered thanks to the gathered supporters.
Rosa Navarro of the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition and Enlace spoke about the week of engagement across the country.
From Tacoma, WA, to Middlebury, VT, campus and community organizers around the country were holding teach-ins, panels, and actions to educate about the ways in which mass incarceration, immigration enforcement, surveillance and policing are connected and perpetrated for private profit.
Navarro issued the call to colleges, universities and all organizations to divest from investment in the private prison industry.
We will continue to organize, march, protest, and act against an immigration system that profits from the separation of families and the exploitation of undocumented communities.
#Not1More means not one more!
