Support Anarchist prisoner Harold Thompson

national | anti-capitalism | news report Tuesday February 05, 2008 22:17 by John - Belfast ABC abc.belfast at googlemail dot com

Below is a recent letter from US Anarchist prisoner Harold Thompson to a member of Belfast Anarchist Black Cross, who maintains regular contact with Harold and his struggle as a ‘Jail House Lawyer’ defending fellow prisoners against the repressive prison regime. A simple activity such as writing a letter goes a long way to breaking down the constant experience of isolation and confinement. As Harold writes,
“Any political movement or peoples struggle, which fails to provide support to fallen comrades, is doomed to failure as certain as day follows night. Prisoner support should be considered as a top priority within all political movements and with all activists, as we, you or I never knows when gulag gates will slam shut behind us or when those gates to the outside will open again to allow our passage back out once the system has us in its grasp."

10 January 08

I send my warmest greetings and friendship to all with Belfast Anarchist Black Cross and to you from this hate factory gulag! On this end though my health has not been the best of late, it appears to be improving other than sleep problems. My morale is fair and this place is about the same as always chaotic and often violent. The just past annual holidays had alot of violence with prisoner on prisoner assaults in the unit three in one day, a prisoner with mental health problems cutting himself non-fatally fortunately and all manners of negative class clown behaviour. I am glad to see the holidays over for another year, my 28th holiday season inside prison confines.
I now have a cell partner after my last one Caster, was released on parole 21st November 07. I was left alone in cell from 21 November until 19th December when staff moved a young man in cell with me. His name is Terry, he is in his early 30s, quiet, respectful of others and not a moron so will work out fine until he goes home sometime in late 2008. He is serving time for drug offences. I enjoyed the solicitude and semi-privacy of being alone in cell but the unit was full and he had to be assigned somewhere else. I could have done worse and got a class clown racist or something. I would have had to force to leave. I am glad to hear the Belfast Anarchist Bookfair, the first one of hopefully many, was successful, with good attendance and discussion. Good to read about the successful meeting during the West Belfast Festival (meeting on the situation of women prisoners) about horrible matters which need attention and addressing in the north in prisons. I would have liked to have heard and participated in that meeting and know those present left afterward with a better understanding and hopefully ideas of how to bring the conditions to public attention. I thoroughly appreciate and am thankful for the £150 raised to help me with the legal costs, etc, with the fundraiser. I am honoured you all are behind my support campaign which does all it can to help me with legal expenses and to live in this gulag.
In answer to your question if I get much visits inside from family, friends and supporters live to distant to make visitation regularly feasible. I only get a couple of visits a year on average and some years none, so rely on mail and the phone to retain contact with friends, supporters and family. I do not have a realistic chance of parole with my earliest possible hearing date being in 2013. However I have filed a petition or application for commutation of sentence which has been pending since June 2006. Several weeks ago I wrote to the “parole tech” which wrote to me confirming receipt of commutation petition. I had been told it was being forwarded to the Parole Board to determine if a hearing was merited and to make a recommendation to the governor but have heard nothing else in a year and a half, actually a little time over that. Hopefully I will hear something about this matter soon, though I don’t expect anything from it being a realist. I have had problems with mishandled mail here, comrade. I fact one such incident of opened, read and resealed mail I sent out is listed on my support campaigns website.
Time now to close and get this letter in the mail. Take care, stay strong and continue to struggle for what you know is right as I will do as long as there is life in my body! They will never get us all!
In struggle and solidarity,
Harold

Ps- This letter has been edited

For more information regarding writing to Harold and his Support Campaign please go to:
http://www.haroldhthompson.uwclub.net/