Forum Post: Occupy Pittsburgh Noise Demo Against the Prison-Industrial Complex

27 occupants mached from Firstside Park to the Allegheny County Jail last night around 11:30 PM. We carried with us a large portable speaker playing music, a sign that read "DESTROY PRISONS" and solidarity in our hearts. When we got to the jail we most certainly made our presents clear to the officers around the institution as well as the prisoners inside of it. As we were making our way back around to the jail a paddy wagon pulled up and told us to stop marching so we kept marching and after we got about 5ft closer to the vehicle the officer jumped out and drew his sidearm on us as a crowd. As more police showed up (about 30-40 altogether with M4 assault rifles and bad attitudes) they had us line up against a wall while they had a K-9 officer sniff us down while his trainer threatened us with bites if we mouthed off. After about an hour and a half they officers received a call about a gunfire fight on an officer and apparently 5 other people who were shot too, but that is unconfirmed. The police dept tried telling us that we broke two of their building windows during our march, which we didn't do and luckily there were numerous securrity cameras around to prove our innocence. After a 3 hour detention against a stone wall in freezing temperatures the police dept let us all go besides one man who they booked for a reason I don't really know yet. Several detainees were even forced to urinated on themselves because of the unnessisarily long detention. This is exactly why this demonstration had to happen. The authoritarian figures in our society have no compassion for criminals and the reasons crimes are committed. My personal beliefs are that we need to change or jails and prisons into therapeutic mental institutions run by doctors, not corrupt politicians, where criminals are treated as a patients and not a degenerate worthless members of society. The only way to prevent crime and wrong doing is to understand why men commit said crimes and aid the public with ways to help. Anyway, I just wanted to inform everyone that Pittsburgh stood with you last night against the prison-industrial complex.