Episode Details

We're sharing our episode a few days early this week and it contains two segments.

First up, a recent interview with James "Jay" Ward. Jay was featured in a show about a year ago: he went into prison at 15 years old in Ohio and has been in for 19 years at this point. He participated in the 2018 Nationwide Prisoner Strike as well as other self-advocacy protests since and is trying to raise funds with his outside supporters to pay for a lawyer to help him win his release as his mandatory minimum date comes up next year. When this was recorded, Jay was 11 days into a hunger strike demanding a return of his personal items and a transfer to a space where he won't be targeted for violence by gangs, alongside a couple of other requests listed in his letter at the end of this post. You can hear how tired he is from subsisting only on water for the last week and a half, struggling to keep focus and concentrate on the conversation throughout our chat. You can find his gofundme for updates and ways to donate.

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If you want to support his hunger strike, his supporters are requesting people call between 9am and 5pm central time (Mon-Fri) the following numbers to voice concern for the safety and conditions of James Ward A517461 on hunger strike :

• Mansfield Correctional Institution at 419-525-4455 and ask to talk to Warden Harold May
• the Central ODRC office at 614-387-0588

At the bottom of our show notes you can find Jay's public announcement of his circumstances and requests. You can also email your concerns to drc.manci@odrc.state.ohio.us as well as to the ODRC Director Annette Chambers-Smith (via annette.chambers-smith@odrc.state.ohio.us ).

Jay is wanting people to reach out to contact him via his mailing address (below) or JPay.com (using the info in his mailing address):

James Ward A517461 Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Mail Processing Center (OMPC) 884 Coitsville-Hubbard Road Youngstown, Ohio 44505

Then you'll hear an interview conducted by our comrades at crna luknja in Ljubljana, Slovenia with antifascists countering neonazi demonstrations in Budapest, Hungary, and Sofia, Bulgaria. This was featured in the latest episode of B(A)D News from the A-Radio Network, a monthly podcast from a network that we affiliate with and worth checking out for "angry voices from around the world".

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