1970 Folsom Prison strike

Prisoners from different backgrounds, including members of the Black Panther Party and Brown Berets, participated, helping the strike gain attention nationwide.

In our efforts to intellectually expand in keeping with the outside world, through all categories of News Media, we are systematically restricted and punitively offended to isolation status when we insist on our human rights to the wisdom of awareness.

Fueled by outside support and media coverage from both local radio and television stations, the strike gained enough fire to last a historic 19 days.

On November 22, Warden Craven broadcast a speech to the prisoners, offering them a chance to return to work, along with the consequences if they refused, thus ending the strike.

This strike was influenced by a history of prison organizing that gained momentum in the 1960s and 1970s, as activists recognized the connections between their confinement and the ongoing racial oppression prevalent in society.

The Folsom strike, in particular, highlighted grievances such as inadequate healthcare, racial discrimination, and inhumane living conditions, echoing demands made by other prison movements of the time.

[5] The manifesto produced by the inmates at Folsom outlined a series of demands aimed at reforming these injustices, such as improved medical services, access to legal counsel, and an end to racial segregation and forced labor.