The Free Alabama Movement (FAM) is an inmates rights group based in the United States. With the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee,^[1] the Free Alabama Movement has organized the 2016 U.S. prison strike that involved an estimated 24,000 prisoners in 24 states, the largest prison strike in U.S. history.^[2] The strike began on September 9, 2016, the 45th anniversary of the Attica Prison uprising.^[3]

The Free Alabama Movement was founded at St. Clair Correctional Facility in 2013 by Robert Earl Council and Melvin Ray. Prior to their transfer to St. Clair, the founding members of FAM were incarcerated at Holman Correctional with Richard “Mafundi” Lake, a founding member of the 1970s prison rights group, Inmates for Action. Along with the legal education that they received at Holman, FAM founders credit Lake for their political education.^[4]

FAM methods include work strikes, boycotts, protests and social media campaigns.^[5] The organization first called for a strike in January 2014.^[4][5] That same year, conversations between FAM and Brianna Peril of the Industrial Workers of the World led to the formation of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee.^[6]

• Penal labor in the United States