Support the Figurasmiths
Donation protected
Stephen Figurasmith is an activist who was wrongfully arrested and charged with a felony in Nassau County, NY while participating in a nonviolent, legal act of political theater to protest prison slave labor.
The arrest was widely reported in local media, who misrepresented many aspects of the story. Due to the damaging media attention, he has lost his job teaching music and is unable to find new employment in the area. Nassau County has also kept his car as evidence, creating additional hardships for his family. He is currently facing a class D felony charge carrying a sentence of 4-7 years.
Stephen is an early childhood music teacher, a father and husband, and a friend and comrade to many. His young daughter will soon turn three, and his wife just left a full-time job in pursuit of other work the day before his arrest, under the assumption that she would be able to go onto Stephen's health insurance through his work
We ask that you donate to assist his family with legal fees and other financial loses due to loss of employment. Stephen and his family are deeply grateful for your support.
Thank you!
*****************************************************************************
The Story:
Stephen was arrested while participating in the "Ten Plagues to End Prison Slavery" campaign - a series of ten nonviolent actions symbolically representing each of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, drawing on the long faith-based tradition of human rights activism and harking back to the Biblical story of Moses, Pharaoh, and the enslaved Israelites.
In order to represent the First Plague (when God turned all of Egypt’s water into blood), members of the organization Prison Abolitionists of Nassau Inciting Change (PANIC) spent weeks adding red food coloring and custom-made labels to hundreds of water bottles. Cases of the “blood” water bottles were intended to be delivered to county officials who are complicit in perpetuating mass incarceration, prison slave labor, and inhumane conditions inside Nassau County Jail.
Importantly, the custom printed labels on each bottle offered a clear explanation of the bottles contents, what they were meant to represent, and why.
“Ingredients: Water, Red Food Coloring (100% Safe and Non-Toxic)” was centered prominently on the labels. Additionally, each case of water contained a copy of PANIC’s press release (see below) which clearly explained the campaign and emphasized its nonviolent nature. The same press release was sent to dozens of local media outlets on the morning of Monday, June 11.
On Thursday June 14, Stephen and another PANIC member dressed in costume as Moses and his brother Aaron and attempted to deliver the water bottles to each of the 19 county legislators. They were immediately denied entrance to the legislative building but were told they may set the bottles on the steps of the building and remain there as long as they did not impede anybody’s access to the building. They were never ordered to leave or asked to remove the bottles from the steps of the legislative building.
After placing a few phone calls to various legislator’s offices inside the building, they resigned themselves to not getting inside to personally deliver the bottles. The decided instead to spend some time getting photo and video footage of themselves carrying and stacking up the bottles. During this time, more and more law enforcement officers began to arrive at the building, including the Chief of Detectives, the Chief of Police, the Bomb Squad, and the Anti-Terrorism Taskforce.
Two detectives explained that they understood what the protestors were doing and believed that the bottles contained nothing dangerous. However, they said, just to be safe they needed to test the liquid. The activists were told that if nothing hazardous was found, they would be free to go.
After several hours of waiting and complying with every request from the building’s security guards and every order from law enforcement, and after the tests confirmed that no hazardous materials were present inside the bottles, Stephen and the other activist were taken into custody and held overnight with no explanation of the charges against them. The following morning they were each arraigned on the fabricated charge of "Placing a Fake Bomb in Hazardous Material in the 1st Degree", a Class D felony carrying a sentence of 4-7 years.
Although the Assistant District Attorney requested bail set at $5,000, the judge multiplied it tenfold at $50,000 - something that is unheard of, unconstitutional and probably illegally.
Both Stephen and the other activist were eventually bailed out and are safe at home, each working with private attorneys to beat these trumped up charges which are so clearly a politically motivated attempt to silence dissent against the US police state and prison-industrial-slave complex.
Stephen's next court hearing is on Thurday, August 2 at the Nassau County District Court located at 252 Old Country Rd. Mineola, NY 11501. Supporters are invited to witness the proceedings at 9:15 AM and join for a press conference immediately following outside the courthouse.
*****************************************************************************
The Press Release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2018
Abolitionist Group Will Deliver “Ten Biblical Plagues” Upon Local Officials to Protest Modern Day Slavery in Prisons
The series of non-violent direct actions will symbolically recreate each of the Ten Plagues over the coming weeks.
Nassau County – Prison Abolitionists of Nassau Inciting Change (PANIC) launches its “Ten Plagues to End Prison Slavery” campaign this week in order to protest the unpaid forced labor of prisoners in Nassau County Jail and other correctional facilities throughout the United States. The campaign launch precedes nationwide anti-slavery demonstrations scheduled to take place on Juneteenth, an annual celebration on June 19 that commemorates Black Americans’ emancipation from slavery.
“We are demanding that Nassau County inmates on work assignment be paid the hourly minimum wage for their labor, that the Nassau County Legislature pass legislation outlawing all forms of slavery with no exceptions, and that members of the derelict jail oversight committee called the Board of Visitors be replaced by people who’ve actually been detained inside the jail and experienced its many problems firsthand,” said Stephen Figurasmith, PANIC co-founder.
As told in the book of Exodus, God delivered plagues upon the Egyptians to make the Pharaoh release the Hebrew slaves from bondage. This week PANIC will symbolize the first Biblical Plague, when God turned all of Egypt’s water into blood, by delivering nearly 300 bottles of water mixed with red food coloring to county officials who are complicit in mass incarceration, prison slavery, and inhumane conditions at the county jail. Cases of red water will be delivered to the offices of all 19 county legislators, the County Executive, District Attorney, Sheriff, and the Nassau County District and Supreme Courthouses.
“The unpaid labor of prisoners creates a profit motive for locking people up, while at the same time driving down wages for working-class people on the outside” said another PANIC member. “Private corporations and public government institutions are both guilty of exploiting this mostly Black and Brown pool of surplus labor, to the detriment of those communities who are disproportionately policed and incarcerated, and working-class people of all backgrounds.”
A prisoner-led movement to remove the exception clause from the 13th Amendment, which while nominally banning slavery still preserved it as legal for anyone convicted of a crime, has received a groundswell of mainstream support since the 2016 release of Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13th. Activists see this loophole as fundamentally immoral, as well as a key force in driving America’s mass incarceration crisis. Nassau County activists are not waiting for the United States Congress to close the slavery loophole. They are demanding local action now.
PANIC is a community-based organization committed to the abolition of the Prison-Industrial Complex and the creation of safe, healthy, and equitable communities, achieved through the empowerment of those targeted by incarceration and over-policing, and the promotion restorative justice, harm reduction, and public health as alternatives to policing and jails.
The arrest was widely reported in local media, who misrepresented many aspects of the story. Due to the damaging media attention, he has lost his job teaching music and is unable to find new employment in the area. Nassau County has also kept his car as evidence, creating additional hardships for his family. He is currently facing a class D felony charge carrying a sentence of 4-7 years.
Stephen is an early childhood music teacher, a father and husband, and a friend and comrade to many. His young daughter will soon turn three, and his wife just left a full-time job in pursuit of other work the day before his arrest, under the assumption that she would be able to go onto Stephen's health insurance through his work
We ask that you donate to assist his family with legal fees and other financial loses due to loss of employment. Stephen and his family are deeply grateful for your support.
Thank you!
*****************************************************************************
The Story:
Stephen was arrested while participating in the "Ten Plagues to End Prison Slavery" campaign - a series of ten nonviolent actions symbolically representing each of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, drawing on the long faith-based tradition of human rights activism and harking back to the Biblical story of Moses, Pharaoh, and the enslaved Israelites.
In order to represent the First Plague (when God turned all of Egypt’s water into blood), members of the organization Prison Abolitionists of Nassau Inciting Change (PANIC) spent weeks adding red food coloring and custom-made labels to hundreds of water bottles. Cases of the “blood” water bottles were intended to be delivered to county officials who are complicit in perpetuating mass incarceration, prison slave labor, and inhumane conditions inside Nassau County Jail.
Importantly, the custom printed labels on each bottle offered a clear explanation of the bottles contents, what they were meant to represent, and why.
“Ingredients: Water, Red Food Coloring (100% Safe and Non-Toxic)” was centered prominently on the labels. Additionally, each case of water contained a copy of PANIC’s press release (see below) which clearly explained the campaign and emphasized its nonviolent nature. The same press release was sent to dozens of local media outlets on the morning of Monday, June 11.
On Thursday June 14, Stephen and another PANIC member dressed in costume as Moses and his brother Aaron and attempted to deliver the water bottles to each of the 19 county legislators. They were immediately denied entrance to the legislative building but were told they may set the bottles on the steps of the building and remain there as long as they did not impede anybody’s access to the building. They were never ordered to leave or asked to remove the bottles from the steps of the legislative building.
After placing a few phone calls to various legislator’s offices inside the building, they resigned themselves to not getting inside to personally deliver the bottles. The decided instead to spend some time getting photo and video footage of themselves carrying and stacking up the bottles. During this time, more and more law enforcement officers began to arrive at the building, including the Chief of Detectives, the Chief of Police, the Bomb Squad, and the Anti-Terrorism Taskforce.
Two detectives explained that they understood what the protestors were doing and believed that the bottles contained nothing dangerous. However, they said, just to be safe they needed to test the liquid. The activists were told that if nothing hazardous was found, they would be free to go.
After several hours of waiting and complying with every request from the building’s security guards and every order from law enforcement, and after the tests confirmed that no hazardous materials were present inside the bottles, Stephen and the other activist were taken into custody and held overnight with no explanation of the charges against them. The following morning they were each arraigned on the fabricated charge of "Placing a Fake Bomb in Hazardous Material in the 1st Degree", a Class D felony carrying a sentence of 4-7 years.
Although the Assistant District Attorney requested bail set at $5,000, the judge multiplied it tenfold at $50,000 - something that is unheard of, unconstitutional and probably illegally.
Both Stephen and the other activist were eventually bailed out and are safe at home, each working with private attorneys to beat these trumped up charges which are so clearly a politically motivated attempt to silence dissent against the US police state and prison-industrial-slave complex.
Stephen's next court hearing is on Thurday, August 2 at the Nassau County District Court located at 252 Old Country Rd. Mineola, NY 11501. Supporters are invited to witness the proceedings at 9:15 AM and join for a press conference immediately following outside the courthouse.
*****************************************************************************
The Press Release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2018
Abolitionist Group Will Deliver “Ten Biblical Plagues” Upon Local Officials to Protest Modern Day Slavery in Prisons
The series of non-violent direct actions will symbolically recreate each of the Ten Plagues over the coming weeks.
Nassau County – Prison Abolitionists of Nassau Inciting Change (PANIC) launches its “Ten Plagues to End Prison Slavery” campaign this week in order to protest the unpaid forced labor of prisoners in Nassau County Jail and other correctional facilities throughout the United States. The campaign launch precedes nationwide anti-slavery demonstrations scheduled to take place on Juneteenth, an annual celebration on June 19 that commemorates Black Americans’ emancipation from slavery.
“We are demanding that Nassau County inmates on work assignment be paid the hourly minimum wage for their labor, that the Nassau County Legislature pass legislation outlawing all forms of slavery with no exceptions, and that members of the derelict jail oversight committee called the Board of Visitors be replaced by people who’ve actually been detained inside the jail and experienced its many problems firsthand,” said Stephen Figurasmith, PANIC co-founder.
As told in the book of Exodus, God delivered plagues upon the Egyptians to make the Pharaoh release the Hebrew slaves from bondage. This week PANIC will symbolize the first Biblical Plague, when God turned all of Egypt’s water into blood, by delivering nearly 300 bottles of water mixed with red food coloring to county officials who are complicit in mass incarceration, prison slavery, and inhumane conditions at the county jail. Cases of red water will be delivered to the offices of all 19 county legislators, the County Executive, District Attorney, Sheriff, and the Nassau County District and Supreme Courthouses.
“The unpaid labor of prisoners creates a profit motive for locking people up, while at the same time driving down wages for working-class people on the outside” said another PANIC member. “Private corporations and public government institutions are both guilty of exploiting this mostly Black and Brown pool of surplus labor, to the detriment of those communities who are disproportionately policed and incarcerated, and working-class people of all backgrounds.”
A prisoner-led movement to remove the exception clause from the 13th Amendment, which while nominally banning slavery still preserved it as legal for anyone convicted of a crime, has received a groundswell of mainstream support since the 2016 release of Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13th. Activists see this loophole as fundamentally immoral, as well as a key force in driving America’s mass incarceration crisis. Nassau County activists are not waiting for the United States Congress to close the slavery loophole. They are demanding local action now.
PANIC is a community-based organization committed to the abolition of the Prison-Industrial Complex and the creation of safe, healthy, and equitable communities, achieved through the empowerment of those targeted by incarceration and over-policing, and the promotion restorative justice, harm reduction, and public health as alternatives to policing and jails.
Organiser
Panic LI
Organiser
Valley Stream, NY
