In this Rattling the Cages panel talk, former political prisoners Eric King and Jason and Jeremy Hammond discuss state vs. federal prisons, solidarity inside and out, and readjusting to life once released. These three antifascists were imprisoned for very different actions and faced very different circumstances and environments, and yet all three came out of prison determined to fight back against the carceral system until all are free. 

Published by AK Press, Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners is a project of abolitionists Josh Davidson and Eric King. The book is filled with the experience and wisdom of over thirty current and former North American political prisoners. It provides first-hand details of prison life and the political commitments that continue to lead prisoners into direct confrontation with state authorities and institutions.

If you missed the previous panel discussions you can watch the recordings here.

Jason Hammond is an antifascist anarchist from Chicago who participated in Anti-Racist Action and other movements towards liberation and abolition. In 2012, Jason was arrested along with the Tinley Park 5 after a militant action against a white supremacist conference. He spent 14 months in a southern Illinois prison, and upon release, doubled down on prisoner support and other modes of solidarity with movements resisting the fascist state. Jason is also co-host of the Twin Trouble podcast as well as co-developer of the riot & rally indie game SmashMAGA! along with his brother Jeremy.

Jeremy Hammond is an activist from Chicago, founder of the computer security training website HackThisSite, and former political prisoner connected to Anonymous. Arrested numerous times for his civil disobedience, Jeremy has served two prison sentences for his activism: one in connection with a hack of the pro-war Protest Warrior website in 2005 (for which he served almost two years), and again in 2013, for hacking the private intelligence firm Stratfor and releasing data to WikiLeaks (he spent over nine years imprisoned on this second case). In 2019, while still in prison, Jeremy refused to cooperate with a federal grand jury investigating WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, and was held in civil contempt of court. He was released from prison in November 2020. His sentencing statement is included in the book Defiance: Anarchist Statements Before Judge and Jury (Detritus Books, 2019).

Eric King is a father, poet, author, and activist. Last December, he was released from the supermax ADX prison after spending nearly ten years as a political prisoner for an act of protest over the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. He was held in solitary confinement for years and was met with violence by guards throughout his incarceration. Eric has published three zines: Battle Tested (2015), Antifa in Prison (2019), and Pacing in My Cell (2019). His sentencing statement is included in the book Defiance: Anarchist Statements Before Judge and Jury (2019). Eric now works as a paralegal for the Bread and Roses Legal Center.