The Development of UPROAR

UPROAR (Uniting Prisoners’ Relatives Organizing Against Repression) is a grassroots movement founded in direct response to the Red Onion Crisis of 2024-2025 and the failure of NGOs to address systemic torture in Virginia’s prisons. Below is its full history, structure, and impact, contextualized within the broader struggle for prison abolition.

Pre-Formation Context: The Red Onion Crisis (2024-2025)

Events leading to UPROAR’s creation

1. October 2024: Incarcerated revolutionary organizer Kevin “Rashid” Johnson exposed a wave of self-immolations at Red Onion State Prison through smuggled writings. Prisoners like Ekong Eshiet, Charles Coleman, and Demetirus Wallace set themselves on fire to protest:
   • Medical neglect (e.g., untreated scabies, MRSA, vision loss).
   • Racist abuse by guards.
   • Prolonged solitary confinement.
2. December 7, 2024: The Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality hosted a public meeting with 100+ attendees, sharing testimonies from Red Onion prisoners. This event ignited public outrage and laid groundwork for the January 8 rally.
3. January 8, 2025 Rally:
   • Organized by the Virginia Defenders, over 50 activists, legislators, and families rallied at Capitol Square during the General Assembly’s opening session.
   • Demands:
     1. Shut down Red Onion & Wallens Ridge prisons.
     2. Fire VADOC Director Chadwick Dotson & Chief David Robinson.
     3. Establish independent oversight with enforcement powers.
   • Key Speakers:
     • Delegate Holly Seibold (Fairfax): Introduced a bill to regulate prison temperatures after visiting Red Onion in May 2024.
     • Delegate Michael Jones (Richmond): Pledged to limit prisoner transfers >75 miles from home after meeting self-immolated prisoners in December 2024.
   • Critical Catalyst: Leaflets distributed at the rally invited supporters to join People Against Prison Abuse (PAPA)—the precursor to UPROAR.
4. Media Firestorm:
   • Rashid’s reports, amplified by The Virginia Defender and Prison Radio, spurred coverage in The New York Times, NBC News, and The Guardian.
   • The Appeal (Jan. 8, 2025) exposed VADOC’s retaliation plans, including charging self-immolated prisoners for burn treatment.

Origins and Name Changes

• February 2025: PAPA formed in direct response to Rashid’s call to action.
• Rebranding:
  • PAPA abandoned due to a namesake group with reactionary politics.
  • Briefly considered “Families United Against Prison Abuse” (rejected for acronym issues).
  • Finalized as UPROAR using AI-generated acronym tools: Uniting Prisoners’ Relatives Organizing Against Repression.

Core Principles and Structure

UPROAR is built on four core principles:

1. Direct confrontation – organizing, resisting, and applying pressure rather than just advocating

2. Families as a force – a movement led by prisoners and their loved ones, not NGOs or career activists

3. Inside-outside unity – connecting struggles inside prisons to generate pressure outside

4. Material resistance – exposing repression, mobilizing communities, and dismantling systemic abuse

The group has adopted the 10 Point Program of the Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party as its basic unifying platform, indicating its revolutionary politics and connection to historical liberation movements.

The organization is structured with a support committee that will eventually become a steering committee through internal elections. Proposed roles, adopted as our program through vote, include Secretary of Finance, Secretary of Education and Culture, Secretary of Human Rights, Secretary of Justice, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Defense, and General Secretary, with some secretariat structures already in development with immediate ongoing need for more hands and eyes. The proposal we adopted is here.

Activities and Campaigns

UPROAR’s work is grounded in prisoners’ testimonies, grievances, and demands:

1. Documentation and Exposure:
   • Track abuses using physical descriptions of guards (due to generational nepotism in staff hiring).
   • Translate smuggled testimonies into mass email and phone zap demands amplified by social media posts (e.g., Austin Arocho’s self-immolation, Roy Moffett’s MRSA neglect).
2. Direct Action:
   • 🔥 May 24 Rally: Shut Down Red Onion & Wallens Ridge
     • When: May 24, 1 PM
     • Where: General Assembly Building, Richmond, VA
     • Demands:
       1. Immediate closure of Red Onion and Wallens Ridge.
       2. Termination of VADOC Director Chadwick Dotson and Chief David Robinson.
       3. Independent oversight committee with enforcement powers.
       4. Dismiss retaliatory charges against prisoners like Austin Arocho.
     • Why Rally?
       • Red Onion and Wallens Ridge are notorious for medical torture, racist abuse, and retaliatory solitary confinement.
       • Prisoners like Justin Harrell (denied hospital care after self-immolation) and Isaac Montoya (losing vision from untreated scabies) are dying from neglect.
     • How to Participate:
       • RSVP: bit.ly/redonion-may24-rsvp
       • Bring: Signs, masks, and loud voices.
   • ⚖️ June 25: Pack the Court for Austin Arocho
     • Background:
       Austin Arocho, imprisoned at Wallens Ridge, self-immolated in 2023 to protest racist abuse and medical neglect. VADOC retaliated with felony charges for “using an explosive device to destroy state property.”
     • Event Details:
       • When: June 25, 2025 (Time TBA – monitor UPROAR’s social media).
       • Where: Wise County Courthouse, VA.
       • Action: UPROAR is renting a bus from Richmond to transport supporters. Austin’s mother, a UPROAR organizer, will lead the delegation.
     • Why Pack the Court?
       • Public pressure forces judges/prosecutors to take note.
       • Media attention pressures VADOC to drop absurd charges.
     • How to Support:
       • RSVP for the bus: Email uproar1966@proton.me (limited seats; priority to families & media).
       • Donate for bus rental: $UPROAR1966 on CashApp or PayPal: shareyourcloud@gmail.com (note “UPROAR”).
       • Flood the Prosecutor’s Office: Use the phone zap script: bit.ly/uproar-may-phonezap.
3. Phone Zaps & Email Campaigns:
   • Recent Wins:
     • 🔥 Fired a Red Onion CO who assaulted a prisoner (identified via smuggled testimonies).
     • 🔥 Contributed to the firing/reassignment of a Wallens Ridge Warden
     • 🩺 Assisted the Free Shaka Shakur Campaign in securing a colonoscopy for a prisoner denied care for years after 500+ emails to VADOC.
     • ⚽ Won increased rec time at Wallens Ridge via phone zaps & email blasts.
   • Tools:
     • Phone Zap Script: bit.ly/uproar-may-phonezap
     • 1-Click Email Blast: bit.ly/hunger-strike-support
4. Grievance Reporting:
   • This grievance and incident report form has been sent in to ~60 prisoners and a version of it is avaialable for loved ones on the outside to use to
5. Website Development:
   • WordPress Hub: Hosted on Mayfirst, launching soon with:
     • Live grievance tracking.
     • Campaign toolkits.
     • Prisoner-family resources.
6. Political Education:
   • Study groups on political and organizational theory and history
   • Prisoner Newsletters: Inside-Outside updates countering VADOC lies.

Digital Infrastructure

UPROAR’s tech stack ensures secure, scalable resistance:

1. Social Media Strategy:
   • Canva Templates: Branded posts for Instagram/Facebook (@uproaragainstrepression).
   • TikTok: @GulagUSA channel to bypass algorithmic suppression.
2. Website:
   • WordPress: Tagged content (campaigns, people, facilities).
   • Mayfirst Hosting: Privacy-focused, independent server.
3. Communication Tools:
   • Signal Chats: Encrypted coordination between inside/outside members.
   • Telegram channel for announcements, telegram chat for discussion
   • Proton Mail: Secure email for sensitive outreach (uproar1966@proton.me).
   • Listserv: hosted by May First Movement Technologies
   • Action Network: Mass email campaigns (e.g., hunger strike alerts).
4. Content Creation:
   • AI Drafting: Generate initial social/media content (human-edited for accuracy).
   • Bitly Links: Track engagement on calls-to-action (e.g., bit.ly/join-uproar).
5. Data Security:
   • Cryptpad: Encrypted forms for whistleblowers.
   • Password Vaults: Securely store guard/staff data.

Challenges and Growth

UPROAR faces several challenges:

1. Communication with Prisoners: Dealing with censorship of newsletters and communications to prisoners, with discussions about using lawyers to send materials to avoid censorship.

2. Building a Mass Movement: Working to draw in people directly affected by incarceration while providing them with political education tools.

3. Balancing Immediate Needs and Long-term Goals: Addressing urgent prisoner concerns while building organizational capacity for sustained pressure.

4. Limited resources: Both finiancial and human resources are limited by the lack of institutional funding, the all-volunteer team members’ personal schedules, and the grassroots character of the work.

The organization aims to sustain monthly public actions while building capacity, with plans to allow other organizations to submit events to their calendar to serve as a hub for prison activism.

Future Direction

UPROAR is positioning itself as a mass organization rather than a vanguard party or a careerist NGO. We aim to:

• Connect the visceral, street-level understanding of those directly affected by incarceration with broader political analysis and movements and effective organizing strategies.
• Serve as a hub for prison activism, working with allied groups to maintain a movement calendar on our website.
• Connect more broadly and deeply with labor organizations and other liberation movements locally and globally.
• Continue onboarding new members from all walks of life and bringing them into the practical work of the secretariats, while developing strategies of protest, exposure, and resistance. 

How do you fit in to all of this?

We meet weekly on Mondays at 8pm EST, with a regular agenda that includes inside and outside movement updates, secretariat work updates, new grievance and demand documentation, and political education, and we coordinate between meetings in a signal chat.

If you have signed up to join uproar via bit.ly/join-uproar and haven’t been onboarded yet, we encourage you to send us an email at uproar1966@proton.me and to fill out an onboarding form.