• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Greater Boston's Alternative News Source

DISPATCH FROM THE MARCH AGAINST CAGES

Written by GINO CANELLA Posted August 7, 2019 Filed Under: News, NEWS+OPINIONS

ACA Rally. Photo by Gino Canella.
ACA Rally. Photo by Gino Canella.

 

Prison reformers protest Baker and Walsh-endorsed corrections conference

 

Activists from 19 grassroots organizations marched through downtown Boston Sunday afternoon to protest the American Correctional Association (ACA), which was holding its annual conference at the Hynes Convention Center.

 

The ACA is one of the largest accreditation agencies in the United States. It ensures for-profit prisons and immigration detention facilities meet federal and local guidelines, and health and safety standards.

 

The protest was part of a week of actions against the ACA. Last Thursday, activists with Deeper Than Water and Black & Pink hung a large banner on the Green Monster at Fenway Park that read, “No ICE, No Prisons, No More Cages.”

 

Rachel Bishop, an organizer with Deeper Than Water and SURJ Boston, said the demonstration was held to draw attention to and put public pressure on the ACA and its business practices. 

 

“What’s going on at the border is not an anomaly,” she said. “It is, in fact, a business model. There are corporations that make their money throwing people in cages—whether it’s because they’re poor, or they’re black, or they’re migrants.”

 


Video by Gino Canella

 

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh welcomed ACA members to the “149th Congress of Correction,” with letters published in the conference program. Mayor Walsh wrote, in part, “Boston’s thriving institutions provide the perfect backdrop for your members to learn about new, emerging technologies and develop leadership skills in your industry.”

 

Watertown resident Inbal Alon was among the roughly 200 people who attended the March Against Cages. “Regardless of what people think about immigration, having children in cages and families separated is cruel, and it’s not the country I want to live in,” she said as she marched down Boylston Street with her young son. “I brought my son because I want him to know that we stand up to injustice.”

 

Dan Joyner of Lexington said he felt compelled to “do something” following the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. “Those tragic events really emphasize how we need to stand up and be active for progressive values in a positive way,” he said. “Stand up against evil.”

 

Martin Henson, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Boston, said the broad coalition of community groups that came together for the rally reflected the scope of the issue.

 

“There’s an intersection between the prison industrial complex, criminality, and xenophobia and immigration,” he said. “People need to know that, so we’re out here pushing that message.”

 

Demonstrators shouted through bull horns, held signs, and chanted outside the Convention Center for about three hours on Sunday, while conference attendees watched through windows. Bishop said organizers were demanding the abolition of the carceral system. While that may sound “too radical,” she said, the support in the streets shows that people want alternatives to incarceration, including restorative community justice.

 

“I really want people to stop thinking about this as a system that is broken, but can be fixed,” she said. “Even a well-appointed cage is still a cage, and it’s not a place where anyone belongs.”

GINO CANELLA
+ posts

Gino Canella is an assistant professor of journalism at Emerson College. He produces documentary films in collaboration with community groups and researches activist media, social movements, and journalism.

    This author does not have any more posts.

Filed Under: News, NEWS+OPINIONS Tagged With: ACA, Black Lives Matter, Boston, children, Deeper Than Water, Gov Charlie Baker, immigrant, immigration, March Against Cages, Massachusetts, mayor Marty Walsh, prison, Protest, rally, SURJ

WHAT’S NEW

State Wire: Funds Aim To Support Municipalities With Expanded Mail Voting

State Wire: Funds Aim To Support Municipalities With Expanded Mail Voting

Parks & Checks: Wasteful, Opaque Bookkeeping At Two City Of Boston Nonprofit Arms

Parks & Checks: Wasteful, Opaque Bookkeeping At Two City Of Boston Nonprofit Arms

Surf’s Upcycled: Meet The Bay State Surfers Conserving The Oceans Where They Ride

Surf’s Upcycled: Meet The Bay State Surfers Conserving The Oceans Where They Ride

State Wire: Public Supports Changes To High-Stakes Testing For Mass Students

State Wire: Public Supports Changes To High-Stakes Testing For Mass Students

State Wire: White Supremacist Gatherings, Incidents Hit All-Time High In New England

State Wire: White Supremacist Gatherings, Incidents Hit All-Time High In New England

State Wire: Protests, Construction Continue at East Boston Substation

State Wire: Protests, Construction Continue at East Boston Substation

Primary Sidebar

LOCAL EVENTS

AAN Wire


Most Popular

  • Does Massachusetts Underestimate Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
  • The Most Expensive Massachusetts City For Car Insurance (No, It’s Not Boston)
  • If You Find A Mini Felted Animal Around Boston, This Is Where It Came From
  • Photo Dispatch: “Ukraine Day” Rally In Boston’s Copley Square
  • As Prices Soar, Fossil Fuel Industry Looks After Its Interests On Beacon Hill

Footer

Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Advertise

Customer Service

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an email blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: sales@digboston.com To reach editorial (and for inquiries about internship opportunities): editorial@digboston.com