Following a highly successful callout last month, the Empty Cages Collective has announced the details of a ten-day run around Britain for its Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons (CFTP) tour, talking about the fight against the social and ecological impact of the United States prison-industrial complex. The topic is of particular interest in Britain, which as in many other arenas has been undergoing a long-running transformation to bring its prison system more into line with US norms.

The tour is set to kick off in London on Thursday (see full details below). Writing in an essay last month, CFTP explained:

The ‘Prison Industrial Complex’ (PIC) is a term coined to describe the overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance, policing and imprisonment as solutions to economic, social and political problems.

The UK currently has the largest prison system of all Western European countries and is home to the most privatised prison system in Europe. Its cultural embrace of surveillance, policing and repressive policies are making it open ground for colonisation from North American and other companies seeking to exploit the custodial markets in the UK. This capitalist force is now extending to other repressive projects in Europe.

Britain is in the midst of a massive prison building programme which activists fear will not only lead to significantly worse conditions for prisoners and their families but further prise open the sector to private interests, raising the spectre of jailings for profit, environmental destruction and lethal resource-grabbing becoming as common as they are in the US.

The tour is set to coincide with a day of action at the Australian High Commission in London on September 29th against youth prisons. An aboriginal-led coalition of Australian abolitionists initially made the call, seeking international support for their campaign to close youth detention centres and end deaths in custody, which is being backed by British prison abolitionists.

Upcoming events

Thursday September 28th

London

7pm, 125 Caledonian Road, London, N1 9RG

https://www.facebook.com/events/114869449183950/

Friday September 29th

Cardiff

With IWW Cymru Wales and No Prisons De Cymru

Connect International English Academy, First Floor, 26-28 Churchill Way, CF10 2DY Cardiff

https://www.facebook.com/events/129793397664005/

Saturday September 30th

Port Talbot

10.30am, Aberavon Beach Hotel, The Princess Margaret Way, Swansea Bay, Port Talbot, SA12 6QP

https://www.facebook.com/events/116023012410416/

Swansea September 30th

With No Prisons De Cymru

7pm, Swansea Environment Centre, SA1 1RY

https://www.facebook.com/events/115834292452554/

Sunday October 1st

Bristol

With Bristol Anarchist Black Cross

7pm, Kebele, 14 Robertson Road, Bristol, BS5 6JZ

https://www.facebook.com/events/686514301554356/

Monday October 2nd

Manchester

With Manchester No Prisons

11am, Partisan Collective, 19 Cheetham Hill Road, M4 4FY Manchester,

https://www.facebook.com/events/695802160615245/

Tuesday October 3rd

Leeds

With Yorkshire Campaign Against Prisons

Wharf Chambers, 23-25 Wharf St, Leeds LS2 7EQ

https://www.facebook.com/events/262431267610681/

Wednesday October 4th

Leicester

With Leicester Prison Resistance

Venue TBA

https://www.facebook.com/events/664969193699307/

Thursday 5th October

Norwich

With DIT Collective

Space Studio, Swan Lane, Norwich, NR2 1HZ

https://www.facebook.com/events/538149689910439/

Friday 6th October

Liverpool

Venue TBA

https://www.facebook.com/events/167401487144097/