Inmates in Georgia Prisons Use Contraband Phones to Coordinate Protest

The prison protest has entered the wireless age. Inmates in at least seven Georgia prisons have used contraband cellphones to coordinate a nonviolent strike this weekend, saying they want better living conditions and to be paid for work they do in the prisons.

Inmates said they would not perform chores, work for the Corrections Department’s industrial arm or shop at prison commissaries until a list of demands are addressed, including compensation for their work, more educational opportunities, better food and sentencing rules changes. The protest began Dec 9, but inmates said that organizers had spent months building a web of disparate factions and gangs -- groups not known to cooperate -- into a unified coalition using text messaging and word of mouth.