Press releases

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Participants of “Rally” outside St. Cloud Prison respond to lockdown

St. Cloud, MN – On Friday, September 14th, nine people from Minneapolis staged a motorcycle ride to St. Cloud Correctional Facility to visit a friend who is imprisoned there. When they arrived, they discovered the prison facility on lockdown and SWAT teams guarding every entrance.  They later learned the lockdown was in response to their planned motorcycle ride.

This is their message to inmates in the St. Cloud prison, their families, and loved ones:

We were visiting in solidarity with our imprisoned friend to show that they have love, friendship, and long term support.  We aim to build human connections across the wire.

We regret that families and prisoners were denied visits on Friday.  It was the SWAT teams at the gates and the prison bureaucrats in their offices who made this a reality.  As several of us have spent time incarcerated, we know that prisons look for every excuse to isolate and deprive prisoners of human connections.  We hope that visitation was restored quickly.

We want the dignity and humanity of the inmates respected.  We question what prison officials find to be a threat–our love and commitment to those behind bars?

Perhaps, for in our hearts we hold dreams of a world without prisons.  If you are listening, know that your struggle is ours until this prison society is abolished.

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