On New Year’s Eve around 30 people turned up outside the gates of Nottingham prison to make some noise and show solidarity with the people being held inside. We toured the perimeter of the fence with a sound-system, banging pots and pans against the side of the fence, chanting and shouting, whilst fireworks were set off and thrown over the walls.

A parent of one of the prisoners had this to say afterwards: ‘‘Thanks very much for doing this. My son says it’s fucking amazing and when he heard the shouting he said it made him smile. Too many working class boys are in prison and it’s all because everything is unequal and the rich ones are taking the piss. But it’s great that you did that and that people inside heard. Love and respect to all of you’’.

This was just one of many prisoner solidarity demos that happened around the world on New Year’s Eve (http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2013/01/505180.html). The prison system is a brutal and violent means of repression and control by the state that needs to be challenged and resisted in our struggle for freedom. Noise demos are just one small way of breaking the isolation that prisoners are subjected to, letting them know that they are not forgotten.