By Rhonda Cook
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — Inmates ended their nonviolent protests and started reporting to work assignments Wednesday, ending weeklong prison lockdowns at four state facilities.
A September tobacco ban throughout the prison system was one of several grievances that led to the work stoppage, which began last Thursday.
Prison officials wouldn’t say why they ended the lockdowns, but an inmate at Smith State Prison in Glenville said in a phone interview that prisoners had agreed to return to work.
“We’ve ended the protest,” said Mike, a convicted armed robber and protest leader who wouldn’t supply his last name for fear of prison official retaliation. “We needed to come off lockdown so we can go to the law library and start the paperwork for a lawsuit.”
For six days, inmates at several prisons refused to leave their cells, protesting the lack of pay for maintaining and running prison operations and cleaning other government properties; state law forbids inmate payments except for a limited program. The prisoners had a long list of grievances: the quality of food and lack of fruits and vegetables, quality of medical care, availability of education and job training programs, parole decisions and overall conditions.
Inmates called The Atlanta Journal-Constitution several times, using contraband cell phones or three-way calling features supplied through friends or relatives.
After learning of the inmate protests, wardens implemented lockdowns at Hays, Smith, Telfair and Macon state prisons. Prisoners were confined to their cells and not allowed to make collect phone calls or have visitors.
Another protest organizer said prisoners were still pursuing their concerns and said if the Department of Corrections ignores their requests, the next protest will be violent.
The prison system, which holds almost 53,000 inmates, declined to comment on the threat.
Copyright 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution