Call for Performance Artists to Help Picket the Tribune 7/8/09!

Tamms Year Ten, a coalition formed to end inhumane policies at Illinois's only remaining Supermax Prison, is demanding that the Chicago Tribune correct an editorial it published about Tamms.

 The Tribune editorial misrepresented the criteria for placement in Tamms, the significance of an Ohio Supreme Court case, and falsely claimed that Tamms had curbed gang violence. The editorial also presented a misleading summary of pending legislation, and neglected to address two central issues, the cruelty of placing mentally ill prisoners in the supermax and the harm of long-term isolation. 

Ex-prisoners, family members, and advocates will hold a protest rally Wednesday July 8th at the historic Tribune building to deliver “Ten Corrections” on two stone tablets, float helium balloons up to the editorial board conference room window, and demand a retraction. We're calling performance artists and activists to help us show the Tribune how many people care about this issue.

Prisoners at the supermax are kept in permanent solitary confinement and never leave their cells except to shower or exercise alone in a concrete pen. They are permitted no communal activity, phone calls, contact visits or educational or religious programs. Because of concerns about the treatment of mentally ill prisoners, the lack of due process, and the psychological damage caused by long-term isolation, both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called upon the Illinois Department of Corrections and Governor Quinn to immediately alleviate conditions at the prison. Although the prison was designed as a short-term “shock treatment” program, it was discovered last year that one-third of prisoners have been there for over a decade. Quinn recently appointed a new IDOC director with the top priority of reviewing conditions at Tamms supermax. Illinois legislators and Tamms Year Ten will meet with Director Michael Randle in July. 

Tribune Building 435 n. Michigan

7/8/09 12pm