Peanut Butter and Jelly Time

New York city jails are cutting back on jelly.  Inmates can now only put one ounce on sandwiches, not two.  The Correction Department made the change to match the recently announced reduction in sliced bread from eight slices to six per day per inmate.  Jail officials report that the cut is expected to save $1.5 million next year.

Weed on Rikers

Correction officers discovered a 270-gram bag of weed inside of an inmate's cell on December 17, 2010.  According to news reports, jail officials believe an officier smuggled the pot to the inmate, who is doing life for murder.

The case has been referred to the city's Department of Investigation by the Correction Department.  The Department of Investigation oversees cases against corrupt city workers.

According to news reports, several jail insiders blamed Deputy Warden Anthony Toulon and Warden Emmanuel Bailey for the lax security inside the facility.

Prisoners' Strike of GA

Inmates in various Georgia Correctional Facilities launced a peaceful protest on December 9th.  Inmates have not taken over the prisons.  Inmates went on strike as an expression to voice their demands for proper food, access to loved ones, to be paid for their labor, an end to any excessive force being used on inmates, an end to retaliation against inmates who are practicing non-violent, peaceful demonstrations, fact-finding missions comprised of the Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisioner Rights to interview inmates at random, and a follow-up meeting with Gov. Sonny Perdue.  Inmates have taken this stand so that these claims and others such as lack of health care and end to cruel punishment, like turning off heat to below freezing, are addressed.

As recorded in a press release distributed by Elaine Brown, a spokesperson for the prisoners who spearheaded the supportl campaign and coalition have been the victims of retaliation.  "Many prisoners have been transferred to unknown facilities in overnight transports, most reportedly to an abandoned building at Georgia State Prison in Reidsville to be isolated in strip cells.  Others are still suffering from beatings, tear-gassing and other documented violent tactics employed to break the strike and force the men back to work without pay."

This strike is said to be the most historic prisoners' strike in history.  The strike is a peaceful protest which encompasses everyone from the most violent to the least violent.  Protesters are from all different ethnicities, people affiliated with gangs, with different religious groups, who have come together for a righteous agenda.

Kwasi Akwama, a member of the Detroit chapter of All of Us or None of Us believes the claims of inhumane treatement needs to be investigated.  He says "the inmates will be coming back into society.  If they are treated like animals now, and they act like animals when they come back out, then we shouldn't be surprised nor should we complain."

Expressions of support have come from as far away as Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Save The Children

2011 will be a productive year for True Vine Christian Academy's Prison Ministry.  Our missive for the year is SAVE THE CHILDREN.  The number of children with incarcerated parents are staggering.  Our goal is to continue providing preventive services, resources and counseling in an attempt to keep at-risk children from a cycle of incarceration.  We will continue to make bible studies, prayer, counseling and after care services available to all incarcerated souls.  True Vine Christian Academy Prison Ministry is nationwide.