Preservation of the Rights of Prisoners (PROP) was a prisoner's rights organisation set up in the early 1970s in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, which organised more than one hundred prison demonstrations, strikes and protests.

Formation

PROP was launched on 11 May 1972 in a public house named the Prince Arthur opposite Pentonville Prison, formed to "preserve, protect and to extend the rights of prisoners and ex-prisoners and to assist in their rehabilitation and re-integration into society, so as to bring about a reduction in crime."

PROP's foundation meeting was held in Hull and was attended by 60 people. Speakers included Norwegian sociologist Thomas Mathiesen

Thomas Mathiesen

Thomas Mathiesen is a Norwegian sociologist.Mathiesen studied sociology at the University of Wisconsin . He graduated as M.A. in 1958 from the University of Oslo, where he did his doctorate in 1965...

, Jack Ashwell local branch secretary of the TGWU and Ros Kane from Radical Alternatives to Prison.

Prison Strike

Later, on 4 August 1972, PROP organise a 24-hour general strike involving 10,000 prisoners in 33 prisons in favour of the demands in the PROP charter.