A nationwide prison strike over conditions and wages behind bars, which organizers tipped to be the biggest of its kind in US history, was under way in at least several correctional facilities across the country on Friday, according to prison rights advocates. Inmates and outside organizers say that many US prisons simply would not run without the labor of inmates, including the work of building maintenance, cooking and cleaning. A press release from the Free Alabama Movement said that a widespread strike at Holman correctional facility had been launched a minute after midnight on Friday. The Free Alabama Movement also said also that strikes were under way at other prisons in Florida, South Carolina and Texas. Strikes have happened at many prisons across the country over wages and conditions in the past several years.

Source: The Guardian September 09, 2016 22:47 UTC