​Washington, DC – On September 9th, on the 45th anniversary of the Attica prison riot, prison inmates throughout the country kicked off a peaceful strike against the use of their forced labor and are calling for reforms to prison policies and practices and improved living conditions. The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA) rises in solidarity with these incarcerated folks and voices concern for use of forced labor in a criminal justice system built to criminalize communities of color, including Black folks and the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.
 
APALA National President Johanna Hester stated: “It is unacceptable that the use of forced labor in our prison system is a legalized and continued practice. The fact that a disproportionate amount of folks inside are people of color makes it even worse – it basically legalizes a form of modern day slavery within a system meant to cage in people of color, immigrants, and poor folks. APALA stands with incarcerated folks whose labor has too often and too long been exploited by the prison system.”
 
The strikes come at a time where community organizations and advocacy groups are urging the Department of Homeland Security and especially the Bureau of Prisons and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to follow the Department of Justice’s lead to end the use of private prisons and detainment centers. Abuse, mistreatment and poor living conditions are not uncommon in prisons and detention centers, especially in private operated institutions. 
 
“Prison labor has often been cited to reduce the cost of running prisons. Meanwhile, prisons and detention centers are becoming increasingly privatized, and the corporations behind the private prison industry profit from the free labor of inmates and this systematic mass incarceration of communities of color,” added APALA Executive Director Gregory A. Cendana. “Tactics like forced labor serve as a way to deprive folks of any dignity or worth of their work in society. Our criminal justice system needs to focus on restorative and transformative models of justice that value the person as a whole, and we’re calling on the labor movement as a whole to address the rights of workers inside.”
 
APALA is a proud member of AAPIs Beyond Bars, a coalition of labor, education, civil rights and criminal justice organizations that work to address mass incarceration and deportation in the AAPI community. With the coalition, APALA is working to push for more research and disaggregated data on accurate figures of AAPIs behind bars, to disrupt the school-to-prison-to-deportation pipeline, and to fight for the rights of formerly incarcerated folks and reforms in our criminal justice system.
 

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Washington, DC – Yesterday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a memo indicating the department would end the use of private prisons on the federal level. The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA) recognizes that the DOJ’s decision is a step in the right direction. However, we continue to urge the discontinuation of private prison use at the federal level in regards to immigration detention centers in addition to operation of private prisons at the state and county levels.

APALA National President Johanna Hester commented: “Yes, the DOJ decision is in fact a historic decision that shows some progress in criminal justice reform, and the 40,000 lives affected in those 13 prisons will hopefully improve for the better. Still, the private prison industry has larger customers than the Justice Department.”

Today’s announcement will not affect state and county prisons nor does it affect immigrant detention centers throughout the U.S. In 2015, private corporations operated 62% of immigration detention beds of the 250 detention centers throughout the U.S., compared to the 11% that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) operated.

Hester added: “The increasingly disproportionate corporate operation of detention center beds speaks to how much influence the private prison industry has over the mass criminalization of immigrant communities. The DHS and state and county governments absolutely need to follow the Justice Department’s lead in ending private prisons.”

“The private prison industry is exactly what we call it – an industry. It’s a business model that profits from locking up human beings for years on end in appalling living conditions. The private prison industry doesn’t care for the human dignity nor the genuine rehabilitation of its inmates – it only cares about filling beds to maximize profits,” stated APALA Executive Director Gregory A. Cendana. “While we welcome the DOJ’s decision, we know there is more work that has and must be done."
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In the 1990s, the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) prison population boomed by 250%. Even today, many formerly incarcerated AAPIs face deportation orders and detention centers when finishing their sentences. APALA remains dedicated to disrupting this school-to-prison-to-deportation pipeline and urges governments to divest from corporations which continue to profit from the mass incarceration of communities of color and immigrant communities. Read the AAPIs Behind Bars report that APALA co-authored here: bit.ly/AAPIsBehindBars

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Seattle, WA - On Thursday and Friday, over 40 Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) activists from labor, education, civil rights, and criminal justice organizations, along with prisoners at the Monroe Correctional Complex, gathered in the Seattle area for a grassroots convening called "AAPIs Beyond Bars & Beyond Borders." Eddy Zheng, co-chair of the Asian Prisoner Support Committee and a Soros Justice Fellow, said, "The AAPIs Beyond Bars & Beyond Borders national convening offers a historic opportunity for AAPI individuals and organizations to strengthen our tools and maximize our power to end mass incarceration and deportation." Participants strategized around collective action to address mass incarceration and deportation in the AAPI community.
 
The incarceration rate of AAPIs has skyrocketed since the 1990s, and certain AAPI groups are deported at disproportionately high rates because of criminal convictions. Often overlooked in the immigration and criminal justice debates, the convening highlighted the experiences and stories of AAPI immigrants and refugees whose contact with the criminal justice system makes them automatically deportable, even if they are lawful permanent residents.
 
During the convening, prisoners with pending ICE holds at Monroe Correctional Complex in Washington talked about their fears of being deported upon completion of their sentences. For those who are not deported right away, the lack of access to critical re-entry services and the lengthy and expensive process to get authorization to work in the US creates additional hardships. "Southeast Asian American communities are three to four times more likely to be deported for old convictions, compared to other immigrant communities," stated Naroen Chhin, co-director of 1Love Movement. "For our families, it feels like a life sentence, even after serving time." The majority of Southeast Asian Americans with deportation orders remain in the US for months or years awaiting deportation.
 
Participants at the convening also had the opportunity to talk over Skype with US deportees living in Cambodia. Almost 700 Cambodian American deportees are living in Cambodia, the majority of whom were refugees and lawful permanent residents in the US. Some do not speak the language and many have no family or support system in the country. Chhin continued, "Many of these individuals were convicted as juveniles and grew up incarcerated. Now, they are living a life sentence of physical isolation and family separation."
 
"Formerly incarcerated immigrants and refugees pay a particularly high cost in our criminal justice system due to laws that automatically funnel them into the deportation pipeline," said Quyen Dinh, executive director of the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC). "Many Southeast Asian Americans have transformed their lives and enriched their communities, yet are offered no path to a second chance."
 
AAPI youth growing up in poverty are subject to the same school-to-prison pipeline that has fueled mass incarceration for all communities of color. In California, Samoans, Cambodians, and Laotians have disproportionately high rates of arrest and incarceration. [1] These juveniles are more likely to be tried as adults compared to their white counterparts. [2] Gregory Cendana, executive director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA), stated, "In order to disrupt the school-to-prison-to-deportation pipeline, we need to not only engage allies and the broader labor movement but also prioritize the stories, dignity, and humanity of all formerly and currently incarcerated individuals."
 
The "AAPIs Beyond Bars & Beyond Borders" convening continues the dialogue that was started last year at the "AAPIs Behind Bars: Exposing the School-to-Prison-to-Deportation Pipeline" convening at San Quentin State prison in California, which focused on education and information sharing by advocates, formerly incarcerated, and currently incarcerated AAPIs. This year's gathering in Seattle focused on creating actionable next steps driven by grassroots organizing and supported by national advocacy.
 
Zheng added, "If we focus on identifying our collective struggles and embracing our differences, then we can make systemic change." 
 
The convening will conclude with a community rally entitled "Stand Together 4 Love" at the Tacoma Northwest Detention Center, where participants will join other local immigrant rights advocates to demand an end to deportation and family separation.
 
Sources: 
1. Males, M., and Macallair, D. The color of justice. Washington, DC: Building Blocks For Youth, 2000.
2. API Youth Violence Prevention Center (2007). Under the Microscope: Asian and Pacific Islander Youth in Oakland - Needs, Issues, Solutions. Oakland: National Center for Crime & Delinquency.

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​Contact:
Chanravy Proeung, 1Love Movement
chanravy.proeung@gmail.com
401-440-6975
 
Marian Manapsal, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA)
mmanapsal@apalanet.org
202-508-3733

Ben Wang, Asian Prisoner Support Committee
bmw3030@gmail.com
510-292-0852
 
Katrina Dizon Mariategue, Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
katrina@searac.org
202-601-2968