This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
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THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT
MIM Notes 169 SEPTEMBER 1, 1998
MIM Notes speaks to and from the viewpoint of the
world's oppressed majority, and against the
imperialist-patriarchy. Pick it up and wield it in
the service of the people. support it, struggle
with it and write for it.
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. NO U.$. MILITARY INTERVENTION IN THE PHILIPPINES !
2. MIM LEGAL NOTES CORRECTION
3. LETTERS
4. STRIKE OVER, STRUGGLE CONTINUES IN PUERTO RICO
5. PRISONERS DENIED LEGAL AID, EVEN FROM THEIR COMRADES
UNDER LOCK & KEY
6. ANNOUNCING SERVE THE PEOPLE PRISONERS' LEGAL CLINIC:
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
7. PRISONER BARRED FROM CONTRIBUTING TO MIM NOTES
8. PRISONERS START HUNGER STRIKE IN S.C. GULAGS
9. THE ISSUE OF DRUGS AND REVOLUTION
10. CALIFORNIA "THREE-STRIKES" DEFENDANT ELECTROCUTED FOR
SPEAKING OUT OF TURN
11. FOOTBALL PLAYERS PAID IN PARASITISM
12. PAN-EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM MOVES FORWARD
13. BLACK NATION PARASITISM CONSOLIDATING
14. MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE VOTES TO REVOKE PRISONER VOTE
15. REVIEW: BULWORTH UPHOLD LIBERALS' AMERIKKKAN FAIRYTALE
16. REVIEW: SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
17. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS
* * *
WHAT IS MIM?
The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a
revolutionary communist party that upholds
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, comprising the collection
of existing or emerging Maoist internationalist
parties in the English-speaking imperialist
countries and their English-speaking internal
semi-colonies, as well as the existing or emerging
Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties
of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of
the U.S. Empire. MIM Notes is the newspaper of
MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-
speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM.
MIM is an internationalist organization that works
from the vantage point of the Third World
proletariat; thus, its members are not Amerikans,
but world citizens.
MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups
over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM
knows this is only possible by building public
opinion to seize power through armed struggle.
Revolution is a reality for North America as the
military becomes over-extended in the government's
attempts to maintain world hegemony.
MIM differs from other communist parties on three
main questions: (1) MIM holds that after the
proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution,
the potential exists for capitalist restoration
under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within
the communist party itself. In the case of the
USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the death
of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's
death and the overthrow of the "Gang of Four" in
1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural
Revolution as the farthest advance of communism in
human history. (3) MIM believes the North American
white-working-class is primarily a non-
revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it
is not the principal vehicle to advance Maoism in
this country.
MIM accepts people as members who agree on these
basic principles and accept democratic centralism,
the system of majority rule, on other questions of
party line.
"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is
universally applicable. We should regard it not as
dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is
not merely a matter of learning terms and phrases,
but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of
revolution."
-- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208
* * *
NO U.$. MILITARY INTERVENTION IN THE PHILIPPINES !
The united $tates and the puppet government of the
Philippines have renewed their campaign to overturn the
victory the Filipino people won on September 16, 1991, when
they pressured the Philippine Senate to reject the treaty
which would renew u.$. bases in the Philippines. The united
$tates and the new Estrada regime are now promoting the
Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which will essentially
grant the u.$. military direct control over Philippine
territory. The VFA will soon be deliberated by the
Philippine senate, and the toady Estrada regime guaranteed
that it will "lobby very hard" for the ratification of the
VFA.
Because the so-called "Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and
Security" was not renewed in 1991, the united $tates closed
its large military bases in the Philippines: Subic Bay Naval
Station and Clarke Air Force Base. These bases had a
pernicious history, since they were used both as a base for
supporting u.$. aggression against countries like Vietnam
and as a base for aggression against the people of the
Philippines themselves. The closing of these bases, which
was the culmination of decades of anti-imperialist and anti-
militarist struggle, was a great step towards true self-
determination for the Filipino people.
But as soon as the treaty was rejected and the bases closed,
reactionaries in the u.$. and their pals in the Philippines
began looking for ways for the u.$. military to sneak back
in to the Philippines. For example, before she stepped down
in 1992, Philippine president Corazon Aquino guaranteed u.$.
forces continued access to Subic Bay.
The regime of General Fidel V. Ramos (which followed
Aquino's and lasted until this year) secretly drafted a new
agreement with the u.$. government which would provide the
u.$. with further military access to the Philippines. This
agreement, called the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing
Agreement (ACSA), provided for joint military training on
Philippine soil, intelligence sharing, landing and porting
rights for u.$. forces, and the deployment of u.$. personnel
in the Philippines as part of "logistical planning units."
ACSA would also explicitly give the u.$. military access to
22 ports throughout the Philippines, effectively turning the
whole country into a u.$. military base.
Again, the outrage of the masses against the ACSA forced the
reactionaries to table the agreement. And again ‹ true to
their motto of "make trouble, fail, make trouble again" ‹
the reactionaries tried to resurrect the old base agreements
in 1997 through the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The
SOFA contained many of the ACSA's provisions and included
guarantees of immunity for u.$. military personnel for any
crimes they committed while in the Philippines.
Now after some more tinkering the SOFA has been renamed the
VFA, and the reactionaries are once more going all out to
get paper approval for u.$. intervention in the Philippines.
But at the same time, the people of the Philippines are
going all out to ensure that the unites $tates cannot regain
former levels of military dominance in the Philippines. In
particular, the national democratic movement in the
Philippines ‹ which encompasses the underground Communist
Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic front,
as well as legal mass organizations like BAYAN (New
Patriotic Alliance) ‹ is exposing and opposing the VFA.
The national democratic forces point out that the VFA is
simply a result of u.$. imperialism's need to protect its
economic interests and protect its political dominance of
the Philippines. They also point out that the VFA would
again make the Philippines a staging point for u.$.
aggression in Asia.
The united $tates has only been interested in the
Philippines as a colony or neo-colony, a source of cheap
profits and cheap raw materials. U.$. intervention in the
Philippines began with a brutal decade-long war at the turn
of the century, in which the u.$. military killed 600,000
Filipinos. U.$. economic and political hegemony in the
Philippines today is marked by extreme poverty, with 70% of
the population suffering from malnourishment. The struggle
against the VFA is part of the larger struggle against u.$.
imperialism in the Philippines and for true self-
determination for the Filipino people.
You can contribute to the struggle against the VFA by
raising your voices against the agreement! There are
educational events and public rallies scheduled on or around
16 September across the u.$. Contact your local RAIL
representative to be part of the RAIL contingent at these
rallies. You can also contribute to the larger anti-
imperialist struggle in the Philippines by plugging into
RAIL's other work, from raising money to directly aid legal
struggles to raising public anger against u.$. crimes in the
Philippines and elsewhere.
Ultimately, the best aid anti-imperialists in the u.$. can
give anti-imperialists in the Philippines is to build a
strong anti-imperialist movement here in u.$. borders.
*For information on anti-VFA events in Los Angeles, e-mail
larail@mim.org, or write to the Los Angeles PO Box on p. 2.
For more information about events in the San Francisco Bay
area, contact rail5@mim.org.*
Notes: For more information on the struggle in the
Philippines, read "Support the National Democratic Front of
the Philippines," a RAIL pamphlet. $1 each.
* * *
MIM LEGAL NOTES CORRECTION
The August 1 (no. 167) issue of MIM Notes carried the
inaugural issue of MIM Legal Notes, what we hope will be a
regular feature of MIM Notes as part of our struggle to
spread agitation and practical legal information in favor of
prisoners' struggles against oppression. MIM's introduction
to MIM Legal Notes failed to mention that this column was
initiated by the prisoner who wrote the first column.
We applaud this prisoner's efforts and initiative in
starting this column, and encourage other prisoners to
follow his example if you have ideas about what MIM Notes
should be publishing. We especially call on prisoners and
people on the outside with legal training to follow up on
the work of the author of the first MIM Legal Notes. There
is a constant and overwhelming need for legal aid for
prisoners. Contact MIM if you have any level of legal
training and want to contribute your efforts.
The comment by MIM at the end of the MIM Legal Notes in MIM
Notes 167 also incorrectly stated that "MIM and RAIL are
leading a mass organization of prisoners." MIM is initiating
and leading a mass organization of prisoners, which will
follow MIM's leadership just as RAIL does. While the
prisoner mass organization will work cooperatively with RAIL
it will be led by MIM.
* * *
LETTERS
MIM NOTES GAINS SUPPORTER IN MIDWEST
Dear MIM,
I recently came across your paper, and it is excellent. I
was very glad to find a Marxist paper which actually lives
up to its revolutionary claims. I go to X college in the
Midwest, which is a fairly typical liberal-reformist place,
and the only socialist groups on campus are the ISO and
Labor Militant.
I've been interested in Marxism for a while, but the
supposed "revolutionary" tactics of those two organizations
really put me off... so I was very glad to find a newspaper
which tells it like it is. As a white member of the middle
class, I am filled with disgust over the shit this nation
has done to provide "comfort" for the chosen few while it
literally screws the rest of the world. I agree with you
that a revolution is the only way to change things and
applaud your paper for making that clear and for also making
it clear who the enemies are.
My knowledge about Maoism is fairly limited, however. Here
at X college, I took two courses on Maoist China and I have
a few questions to ask ‹ Why did Mao break with the Red
Guards during the Cultural Revolution? It seemed to me that
the Red Guards were a very progressive organization trying
to combat opportunism, and I don't see why Mao withdrew his
support. Another question I have is why did Mao meet with
that butcher Richard Nixon? Considering that Nixon committed
genocide against the people of southern Asia, I have no idea
why Mao would hold any type of meeting with him.
A final question I have is about what a socialist society
would be like, would it abolish money? Or is that a utopian
idea? Is money a necessary evil? I would like to know your
opinion.
Anyway, I am enclosing a SASE and requesting a copy of your
10 point program. If you could, please take a moment to
answer my questions. I would greatly appreciate it. I am
also enclosing $10 for a trial subscription.
I am looking forward to learning more about your
organization.
‹a student in the Midwest
A RAIL comrade responds: It really is not a surprise at all
that your campus is a liberal-reformist place. That really
is not all bad. Liberalism is about the best that most
imperialist minded people will get.
On the other hand when liberalism and reformism are
disguised as Marxism it is just opportunistic. People who
are liberals and call themselves liberals can occasionally
be allies, even if only temporarily or only on one issue.
But when people call themselves revolutionaries and
socialists and then support the parasitic demands of the
Teamsters and the UAW as if the AFL-CIO represents the
international proletariat, they are allying with the white
nation against the people of the world. The ISO and Labor
Militant pretend that these views are Marxism and this is
misleading the people in a very dangerous way.
Fortunately neither the white labor aristocracy that the ISO
and Labor Militant tails or the real international
proletariat are fooled by Trotskyist opportunism. The white
nation knows that it has a lot to lose by supporting
revolution, so they are not working under any illusions that
their economic strikes are anything like the recent general
strike in Puerto Rico. The international proletariat that is
constantly assaulted by imperialism knows that imperialism
is the highest stage of capitalism and that revolutionary
national liberation struggles will help them destroy the
oppression they face daily.
Organizations that believe there was only one socialist
revolution in history (the Soviet Union in 1917) are not
socialist. And Trotskyist organizations like to spend a lot
of their time slandering real revolutionary heroes like J.V.
Stalin and Mao Zedong.
They also like to spend a lot of time ignoring history.
Trotskyite parties have never led a successful revolution
anywhere on the planet. On the other hand they have
succeeded in splitting and wrecking a few revolutions.
Meanwhile Stalinist and Maoist ideas are being used
throughout the world to make gains for the people.
It is good to hear from someone that is not lost in identity
politics and it is very important that you understand the
true nature of the settler white nation. Many people get
confused by MIM's line on the white working class and think
that MIM means white people can not be revolutionaries. This
is just not a scientific approach to politics. Groups and
individuals are two different subjects and someone like you
can be a revolutionary almost as easily as a Black man can
become a pig cop. What is being said and done is more
important than who is saying it or doing it.
The Red Guards
You are correct in saying that the Red Guards were
progressive and combated opportunism because that was their
purpose when the Cultural Revolution began. But the Red
Guards were not a homogenous organization. Quickly, rival
Red Guard units were created by the children of rightist
capitalist-roaders to ITAL protect END the status quo. In
order to divert attention from themselves, the reactionaries
in power then created ultra-left Red Guard organizations. A
large portion of student activists fell under the leadership
of the ultra-left line.
Ultra-leftism is an overly optimistic assessment of the
balance of forces that results in fighting losing battles.
Ultra-leftists often fail to understand the need for
revolutionary progress being made in stages. Because of
this, ultra-leftists also often tend to make enemies out of
allies instead of uniting all who can be united against
imperialism. For the most part the influence of ultra-
leftists on a revolutionary movement will do more harm than
good. For example, in China during the Cultural Revolution,
many times the people would struggle against and even
overthrow some leaders. But some ultra-leftists wanted to
overthrow all. That gave the right opportunists some of
their best chances to divert revolutionary forces that
otherwise would have been used to expose and combat their
right opportunism.
Rightism in appearance looks like the opposite of ultra-
leftism. Rightists downplay the power of the people, either
intentionally or by mistaken thinking and will refuse to
struggle when the people could make real revolutionary
gains. Whether this is done by people with mistaken ideas or
self-serving agendas, the end result is the same. Though
ultra-leftism sounds and looks to be the opposite of
rightism, when ultra-leftism leads to revolutionary setbacks
and splits the proletarian revolutionary forces, the result
is a strengthening of the right.
The Cultural Revolution was supposed to be nonviolent. But
ultra-left Red Guard units stole and manufactured arms to
use against rightists, proletarian Party leaders and even
other ultra-left units. This situation could not continue,
so the Red Guards were eventually disbanded and the Cultural
Revolution put back on course. The Red Guards played a key
role in the early part of the Cultural Revolution, but as
students and young people, were unable to complete the
Cultural Revolution.
Mao and Nixon
Mao met with Nixon because world leaders have to meet at
times. It does not mean that Mao supported Nixon's murderous
policies or amerikan imperialism or that Nixon supported
world revolution.
Stalin met with Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Truman.
But under Stalin the Red Army destroyed Hitler and the
international fascist movement. The political duties of the
leaders of nations requires that they sometimes must meet
with the leaders of the enemy camps. Mao was opposed to
Nixon and imperialism. Nixon was opposed to Mao and human
liberation. The fact that the two met does not change that.
And remember, all-out war with Amerika was not in China's
interests in the early 1970s. It would have been
ultraleftism to pretend it was otherwise.
The role of money
It is not likely that socialist society will do away with
money. During the socialist period there will still be
classes because socialism is only a transitional phase of
human development on the road to communism. During the
socialist period money will most likely still be a necessary
medium of exchange.
But production will be entirely different because everything
will be done to make sense instead of dollars. Capitalist
overproduction and parasitic consumerism will be dead, so
money would play an entirely different role as a means of
exchange in socialist society.
The question is different in regards to communism though.
Communism is a classless society. Groups will no longer have
power over other groups. At that point in time it may be
possible to do away with money. We'll probably have to wait
until we get there to find out.
We look forward to you finding out more about our
organizations and also to you working with MIM and RAIL in
building revolution against imperialism and capitalism.
* * *
STRIKE OVER, STRUGGLE CONTINUES IN PUERTO RICO
The government of Puerto Rico, doing the bidding of U.$.
imperialism, finalized the sale of the Puerto Rico Telephone
Company to the consortium formed by GTE and Banco Popular in
July after a general strike shut down the country to protest
this privatization. The government moved quickly to accept
the GTE offer in spite of another offer by Telofónica
Internacional SA which was $190 million higher. In part the
rush was to finance government projects through the sale.(1)
The strike lasted 37 days. The strike-ending agreement
included allowing the telephone company to issue a warning
memo on workers' records, maintain the charges for
violations of the law, and retain police both inside and
outside the work sites. Many of the workers and other
activists were disappointed with the agreement and with the
lack of participation in the decision making process of the
unions.
MIM agrees with the workers and activists who are calling
for a continued protest against the privatization of Puerto
Rico. And because of the economic conditions of Puerto Rico,
a colony with such close ties to it's imperialist master, we
understand that even if the strike settlement represented an
economic victory for the workers of Puerto Rico this would
be a tenuous advance for the movement, at best.
In Puerto Rico, there is a split in the working class.
Although the dollar is the currency and Puerto Rico benefits
from access to superexploited Third World labor that way,
unions are only just starting to achieve legal status and
wages are far lower than those received by their Amerikan
counterparts. Hence, a good third or half of the population
lives U$ middle class living standards whereas another chunk
of the working class is still exploited and 13 percent or
more is unemployed.
We can expect that many trade union bureaucrats will in
effect clamor for the chance to be part of "Made in the
USA." Such trade unionists and people in favor of joining
the U$A as a state want a piece of the imperialist pie.
Since Marxism is not just syndicalism or pursuit of economic
demands (economism), we have the duty to explain why pursuit
of economic betterment by joining up with imperialism is not
in the self-interests of workers. The real importance of
this struggle is as an anti-colonial fight for national
liberation.
In mid-August A MIM Notes reporter had the opportunity to
hear a representatives from Frente Socialista speak about
the strike and activism in Puerto Rico.(2) Although
maintaining the title of socialism, MIM has not found this
organization to incorporate Marxist analysis into their
theory or agitation. Instead, they focus on labor and anti-
imperialist activism with the strategy of introducing the
idea of socialism to the masses through their organizations'
participation in the people's struggles, an approach
partially patterned after the ideology of Che Guevera.
While their involvement in the people's struggles is
correct, the importance of theoretical clarity on the part
of the vanguard can not be dismissed lightly. The term
socialist comes with many potential interpretations and
historical implications. The people deserve to have
organizations be honest with them about where they are
coming from ideologically and why they think they have the
best path forward. In spite of these differences with Frente
Socialista, MIM gained some useful news about the struggle
in Puerto Rico from these activists.
A student activist from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR)
spoke about the struggle on the campuses over the past year.
With the government making moves towards privatizing
education, the selling off of other industries is closely
tied with the student struggle. During one protest in
solidarity with the phone workers strike the police entered
the university campus. This was an unprecedented act in
recent years: the students had fought very hard for their
autonomy and this armed invasion demonstrated the fear of
government when faced with a unified struggle of the people
in Puerto Rico.
The activist spoke about the need to turn the student and
workers struggle into one and the importance of organizing
all sectors to move beyond the syndicalist struggle and into
a struggle of the people. MIM agrees with this and to us
this is one major reason for the importance of Maoist
leadership. We have the history of successes and failures to
learn from and build on as we fight for a society in which
all nations have the right to self-determination.
In addition to directly attacking the students with the
police, the government disinformation campaign tried to turn
the workers against the students by claiming that the strike
was a product of dangerous socialist faculty leading
students leading the workers. These attempts to isolate the
students and divide the movement were important to the
government because historically the students have fought the
police and this militant influence in the workers movement
was seen as very dangerous to the stability of the colonial
government.
Recently, in attempts to pacify the demands of the people
for better education, the government of Puerto Rico approved
a law of educational opportunity which created a special
fund for fellowships for education. While this appeared to
be progressive, the student activist pointed out that the
end result of the law would be giving a few students the
chance to attend the best education institutions while not
improving education for the majority of the people. Most
people in Puerto Rico go to public schools and yet no money
is being put into improving these. And at the same time the
government is cutting classes and professors from the
universities, principally from the political sectors of the
schools.
In a demonstration of student power, the student activists
called for a 24 hour strike as a part of the general strike
in early July. In response the university administration
closed the schools for 5 days after this 24 hour strike,
supposedly to ensure the safety of the students. But once
the strike was over students announced that they were going
to attend school and attend classes anyway. The
administration was forced to open the doors at the most
activist schools like the Rio Piedras and Mayaguez campuses
of UPR but they remained closed in other areas.
Another activist from Frente Socialista spoke about the
activism within the unions in Puerto Rico. He stated that
there are two tendencies within the unions; the militants
who want syndicalist democracy and the bureaucrat tendency
of the leadership. While this is true to a degree, MIM
cautions activists in Puerto Rico from misusing this
analysis to the extent of ignoring the split in the working
class which encompasses more than just the union leaders on
the side of imperialism.
This activist also described the police massacre at Metro
Office Park during the strike where police took off their ID
and badges and then attacked the protesters. Bur rather than
put down the movement, this helped them to gain general
support as the people's outrage at the police grew.
While the issue of privatizing the phone companies may no
longer take the forefront of the struggle, the general
strike served to raise the issues of independence and the
colonization of Puerto Rico by U.$. imperialism among the
people. MIM is working to take these struggles further by
pointing out the connections between a colonialist
government selling off national industries to its
imperialist master with the struggle for independence from
imperialism.
Notes:
1. http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/9169/, This
page has been created to make public information and images
related to the PEOPLES STRIKE AGAINST PRIVATIZATION.
2. Talk hosted by Latinos and Latinas for Social Change in
Boston, MA, August 12, 1998.
* * *
PRISONERS DENIED LEGAL AID, EVEN FROM THEIR COMRADES UNDER
LOCK & KEY
*In Under Lock & Key, MIM Notes has published articles from
prisoners in Arizona about new regulations that bar
jailhouse lawyers from helping their comrades in prison with
legal problems. State prison systems around Amerika are
doing the same thing in various degrees, attempting to stop
prisoners from helping each other with legal and other
claims. Here, MIM reports on instances of this restriction
in two states. We call on comrades who have more systematic
knowledge of this problem to contribute reports of the
situation in their areas.*
In July, MIM received two letters from our comrades in
prison ‹ one in Michigan and another in Colorado ‹ stating
that legal writers and Jailhouse lawyers are being barred
from giving service to their fellow inmates. In Michigan,
the information is specific: a prison's high command took
issue with a legal writer's attempt to help a fellow
prisoner with a problem that is supposedly out of his
charge. In Colorado, comrade reports that the Department of
Corrections has instituted "a policy curtailing all
Jailhouse lawyers."
To MIM, these individual attacks and sweeping policy
implementations are extensions of the injustice throughout
the criminal system. Oppressed nationals ‹ Blacks, Latinos
and First Nation internal colonies specifically ‹ are
disproportionately imprisoned in Amerika. National
oppression in so-called criminal justice mean that the
majority of prisoners were arrested by the white nation's
police force, tried and convicted by juries of their
colonizers, represented by lawyers from the same system that
prosecuted them, and are now imprisoned by more military
representatives of the same oppressive regime.
In point eight of its 10-Point Platform and Program the
Black Panther Party (BPP) called out for "freedom for all
black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons
and jails," because "they have not received a fair and
impartial trial."
Point nine continued:
"The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives a man a
right to be tried by his peer group. A peer is a person from
a similar economic, social, religious, geographical,
environmental, historical and racial background. To do this
the court will be forced to select a jury from the black
community from which the black defendant came. We have been,
and are being tried by all-white juries that have no
understanding of the 'average reasoning man' of the black
community."
Part of the work of the community of the oppressed among
prisoners is that those who have legal knowledge or training
can give assistance to those who do not have this
information. To MIM, this is the type of rehabilitation that
the so-called Departments of Corrections should be
fostering. Through helping their comrades with their legal
problems, those prisoners who do have legal expertise
advance their own understanding of the law and the society
in which they are forced to live. Through getting assistance
from other prisoners, those prisoners who need help also
become more familiar with the laws affecting them as they
discuss their problems with someone who cares and can relate
to what is happening to them. This is a high form of social
behavior ‹ those who can help do, and those who need help
get it. But the state only sees fit to criminalize this
behavior.
A Colorado prisoner writes:
"With the advent of Sandin v. O'Conner, and Lewis v. Casey
the Legal library has all but disintegrated. People are not
allowed to help other individuals, unless you both have
access to the library at the same time. Also, you cannot
have a draft or other research material with another
inmate's name on it, otherwise, it's considered contraband
or they consider it bartering or some sort. Routine searches
are conducted not so much to look for contraband, but to
read and discover what should otherwise be confidential
material, that should be privileged information.
"Several individuals have been prosecuted under the guise of
Security; this is only a smoke screen to otherwise
discourage individuals from pursuing their right to access
to the Courts. We are in dire need of help and/or assistance
in this area, and as of this writing this person will no
doubt be in segregation, and this may be his last hope of
informing those persons who may be of some help in the
future. There are several law suits that have been filed,
and are currently being litigated seeking an injunction
stopping this administration from conducting these Gestapo
like tactics, and denying these individuals their
inalienable rights under the United States Constitution."
The suits this prisoner describes point up the brutal fact
that under imperialism, like Mao said "there are no rights,
only power struggles." In a class society the oppressed have
no rights that the oppressors are bound to respect, and any
rights that the oppressed hope to gain from the oppressor
will have to be won through seizure of pieces of power. To
the extent that prisoners can win themselves limited rights
by forcing the United Snakes to live up to some of the
principles it espouses, we support their efforts with all
our might. We publish articles like this one to bring
further public attention to how far the state will go in
violating its own rules, it is our aim that more of our
readers become outraged enough at this gross hypocrisy to
make themselves heard through genuine anti-imperialist
activism.
In the long term, MIM's solution to the total lack of rights
for the oppressed under capitalism and imperialism is
revolution. We believe that all peoples should be able to
determine their own destinies from a position of true power.
Point eight of MIM's own program states:
"We want New Democracy for the oppressed nations. We want
power for the oppressed nations to determine their
destinies.
"We believe that oppressed people will not be free until
they are able to determine their destinies. We look forward
to the day when oppressed people will live without
imperialist police terror and will learn to speak their mind
without fear of the consequences from the oppressor. When
this day comes, meaningful plebiscites can be held in which
the peoples will decide for themselves if they want their
own separate nation-states or some other arrangement."
A Michigan prisoner writes to MIM Notes of the harsh
limitations even on that prisoner-to-prisoner legal support
that the state does allow:
"I want you to let the public or our brothers and sisters
know how this unjust administration is telling me that I can
not help my fellow prisoners out when it comes to
complaining about their unjust treatment. I have been told I
better not be helping prisoners learn how to file legitimate
civil law suits against MDOC and its employees.
"I come to you because I need support and a strong voice to
speak up for me, when this corrupted staff tries to set me
up and put me in the box on some made-up charges.
"I have been fighting for prisoners rights since 1994. In
1997 I was hired to work as a Legal Writer by a court order
against the MDOC. The struggles I've experienced within MDOC
are nothing light to speak on; they're as serious as life
and death. So your support is greatly needed."
Apparently, prisoner Legal Writers are not permitted to
advocate for other prisoners in matters relating to "a
prisoner's sentence or constitutional issues of
confinement," which are typically the most desperate, the
most important, the most central legal issues that any
prisoner faces. A prisoner with a basic grievance, something
that is admissible through the MDOC's approved grievance-
procedure paper-train, is on his or her own in dealing with
it, says the MDOC. Yet MIM has seen numerous copies of
prisoner grievances that were rejected or denied because the
prisoner failed to follow the proper procedure. The
prisoncrats' position on this amounts to saying that those
prisoners who can wend their way through the state's
deliberately confusing legalese are in luck, they can file a
grievance. For those who cannot do this for whatever reason:
oh well, tough luck, catch you next time.
If you agree with MIM that these policies prohibiting
prisoners from helping each other with legal claims is
nothing but prohibiting those unfortunate prisoners who do
not know the law from utilizing the courts for justice, you
should get in touch. By involving more people in the
struggle for prisoners' rights and by combining more
individuals' efforts, we can make our own progress in making
legal assistance available to a broader array of prisoners.
Contact us to find out how you can help.
Notes:
1. Information on denial of legal aid to prisoners taken
from prisoner letters and DOC memos.
2. Black Panther Party and MIM Programs can be found on the
MIM website at http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/ follow the
"About MIM" link, and the "Black Panther Newspaper
Collection" link.
3. See MIM Notes no. 167, August 1, 1998 for article on New
York State Governor Pataki cutting Prisoners' Legal Service.
4. For information on how you can support prisoners like
these comrades in giving each other legal assistance,
contact MIM at any of the addresses on page two.
* * *
ANNOUNCING SERVE THE PEOPLE PRISONERS' LEGAL CLINIC: CALL
FOR PARTICIPATION
At the urging of prisoners and RAIL comrades who do work
with MIM, we are launching a Serve the People Prisoners'
Legal Clinic as part of the new MIM-led anti-imperialist
prisoner organization. The Prisoners' Legal Clinic (PLC) is
organized around prisoners combining their own legal
knowledge and skills to meet their own needs. Prisoners who
work as part of the legal clinic will write articles for
publication explaining the major legal issues facing
prisoners today, and back those articles up with legal
briefs that will be available to all prisoners who need
additional legal firepower to wage their battles against the
prisons cyst'm.
The first work of the PLC was correctly done by a Michigan
prisoner who initiated and wrote the first MIM Legal News
Column in MIM Notes no. 167. MIM Legal News will be a
continuing feature in MIM Notes and will hopefully have an
ever-expanding group of writers contributing. The purpose of
the column is to provide prisoners with basic legal
information that relates to their everyday political
struggles. In many cases, this will mean that the points of
law discussed in the column are central to prisoners' fight
for their right to organize.
The goal of this program is to be part of a movement against
imperialism and against oppression in prisons.
There are two principal missions of this legal clinic: (1)
Organize prisoners with legal skills into producing both a
legal arsenal for politically active prisoners to use in
defending their "rights" to organize politically, and (2)
educate prisoners and people on the outside that in the
criminal injustice system there are no rights, only power
struggles. This program should both build up MIM's file of
legal assistance we can offer prisoners and advance the
level of reporting on prisons in MIM and RAIL publications.
What does it mean that this program is MIM-led? It means
principally that the program is centered around political
goals, specifically using the law to facilitate political
work of politically conscious prisoners in Amerika and
educating about prisons through coverage of prisoners' legal
concerns. This means that the types of legal questions
prisoners tackle in this program will be those most directly
related to organizing: censorship, property, library access,
STG policies. This also means that MIM is responsible for
synthesizing the work of the prisoners into cohesive lessons
about what the principal legal struggles are for prisoners
today. This includes the possibility that MIM could reform
and advance its ideas of what the most pressing legal issues
are for prisoners.
MIM calls on all interested people to volunteer their time
for the PLC. Prisoners with legal training and skills should
get in touch with us about submitting briefs for the
program. We need people on the outside to help with typing
up articles for comrades under lock & key who do not have
typewriters. We need your help editing legal articles into
plain English that we can print to educate people on the
connections between political imprisonment and the law. You
do not have to be a lawyer or know anything about the law to
volunteer for this work. Many comrades in prisons have
taught themselves law and are now ready to do work with
others who do not have the background they do. All you need
are fingers ready to type and a single hour of free time and
you can be a help to this program. If you are a legal expert
and are not in prison, you can read and contribute to briefs
written by prisoners, and help in all the ways listed above
as well.
If you want to contribute your time or money to the
Prisoners' Legal Clinic, please get in touch with us at the
addresses on page two.
Note: MIM believes that all prisoners in the u.$. criminal
INjustice system are political prisoners because the system
of imprisonment is political. This is evidenced in the
disproportionate weight of prison terms on the oppressed
nations, in laws that hold theft of a rich person's property
to be a more heinous crime than theft of a poor nation's
land, and in the overwhelming presence of physical and
mental abuse coupled with the absence of physical or mental
enhancement in the so-called Corrections systems.
* * *
PRISONER BARRED FROM CONTRIBUTING TO MIM NOTES
A Colorado prisoner was foiled in his attempt to send MIM a
book of 32-cent stamps with his July letter to MIM Notes.
The prisoncrats who control his outgoing mail held up his
letter for several days and then returned it to him ‹
apparently the rules prohibit such seditious contraband as
stamps from leaving the prison.
MIM regularly receives huge donations from prisoners ‹
stamped envelopes, books of stamps, and money from their
prison accounts in exchange for reading material. We say
these donations are huge because we measure them in relation
to the money prisoners have. Among those comrades in prison
who do have jobs, some are not paid, some are paid the
whopping sums of anything from 5 cents to 65 cents per hour.
So a prisoner who sends us a single stamped envelope is
sending us more than half an hour's pay, and possibly a full
day's worth or more. Imagine the sacrifice for a full book
of stamps.
How many people on the outside can say that they donate
between one-half hour's pay and 6 hours' pay every time they
read an issue of MIM Notes? We call on our supporters on the
outside to think of our prisoner comrades as an example when
you are contemplating a donation to MIM Notes. If prisoners
can give many hours' worth of their money, surely you can
too.
* * *
PRISONERS START HUNGER STRIKE IN S.C. GULAGS
July 5, 1998, prisoners in Bishopville, south kkkarolina
started a hunger strike to protest conditions and demand
resolution to the oppressor's tactics to control and
dehumanize the men.
The prisoners want some very basic problems addressed. They
want an end to "rotten food, non-available hygiene products,
excessive use of force, racial discrimination and non-
available medical treatment" among other things.
Around July 21, the prisoners on strike were administered IV
fluids against their will. Shortly after, the strike was
investigated by the higher level pigs. The higher level pig
supposedly came to inquire what the strike was about, "the
cause of the strike they are very familiar with, despite
their assertion of not knowing what's wrong," said one
prison comrade. The prison pigs made promises to put an end
to the inhumane treatment, but "of course they alleged it
would take time."
Within a couple days of the prison pig's visit, a medical
evaluation began. The prisoner noted that this was not
treatment, just an evaluation. The strike ended on July 24,
"to give this oppressing agency a chance to clean its ass up
(which we know it will not) and ourselves a change to
recoup," said a prisoner.
At the end of the month, several of the prisoners involved
were transferred. One prisoner wrote that the situation
remains the same and that the remaining prisoners anticipate
retaliation and also anticipate another hunger strike in the
near future.
As a result of the hunger strike, the conditions at the
facility were exposed and an investigation has been called
for by the Department of Health and Environment Control,
Human Affairs and the State Senate Committee on Corrections.
Amerikkkans on the outside have an incredibly luxurious and
parasitic standard of living because of imperialist plunder
and slavery throughout the world. But prisoners in
Amerikkka's gulags are denied basic needs like adequate
food, medical care and living conditions. In addition,
prisoners have no so-called civil rights. They are subjected
to Amerikkkan citizenship without the privilege to vote (in
47 states) and are considered fair game in terms of slave
labor ‹ literally. And prisoners are subjected to many
tactics of cruelty and control which includes massive
censorship, random searches, beatings and even death at the
hands of prison pigs.
Our brothers and sisters under lock and key are organizing.
They report of inhumane conditions and are ready to struggle
against current manifestations of oppression, and many are
willing to struggle against imperialism entirely. Our
comrades under lock and key need your support. They will
continue to organize with or without mass support from the
outside, but you should work with MIM and RAIL to help
hasten the death of this systematic oppression. Prisoners
need more legal assistance from the outside and they need
more organizers pounding the pavement to publicize their
struggles. Prisoners also need more money and legwork to
increase the Serve the People Books for Prisoners Program
which fuels prisoners with historical and political
information they use to organize further.
MIM urges people on the outside to work with us to build
support for prisoners' struggle against oppression. And we
urge prisoners to build the prisoner anti-imperialist mass
organization to study, to organize and to strengthen the
struggle for prisoners in the context of anti-imperialist
mobilization.
* * *
THE ISSUE OF DRUGS AND REVOLUTION
by a Michigan prisoner
Many revolutionaries, and those who believe they are
fighting the existing system [think] that is not a harmful
thing if one engages in the use of drugs, as long as they
continue to fight and struggle against the U.$. and other
governmental oppressions. This is not true. The fact is,
drug or alcohol use hurts the struggle and places other
comrades and cadre in jeopardy when you used drugs or
alcohol or some other mind altering substance.
As we all know (who are in the struggle) when you are in an
altered state of mind you are possibly compromising the
security of others who are in the trenches. Not only that,
you are possibly placing yourself in danger because your
judgment will not be sharp, nor will you be able to make
clear and concise decisions at critical or non-critical
times that may have a direct impact on various
implementations.
To fight for liberation, comrades must be conscious and
disciplined and fully aware. This is a MUST. Does this mean
that we will not deal with a comrade who is or has taken
drugs or alcohol or some other mind altering substance? No.
But what it does mean is that we (those who are serious
about this struggle) attend to this fallen comrade and
support them. Not by supplying their habit, not by ignoring
the fact that they use, and surely not by kicking them away
from us. We help them by and through proven purging methods
and allowing them to do self criticism, as well as feel the
revolutionaries' criticisms for their actions. Further, they
are to be re-educated and placed on some form of regimen
that will keep them focused with a designated comrade to be
close by them until there is an assurance that the comrade
does not return to the drug/alcohol, mind altering
substance.
In examining the seriousness of the problem and from
personal knowledge, it is my feelings that we need (all
revolutionary groups, movements and organizations) support
groups for such comrades who may be using or or have used
and have what is called an "addictive personality." We
should not allow our comrades to be seeking such support
from non revolutionary/political entities such as NA or AA,
because of the nature in which they come from. They come
from a concept based more on Christian principles and not
that of revolutionary principles. Comrades in revolutionary
struggle and with a particular movement and/or organization
should have (if they don't already) some form of support
group that deals specifically with drug, alcohol, or other
substance dependency so that we can get our brothas and
sistahs back on track.
Now there are some comrades who would love to point fingers
and make the chemically dependent comrade feel less than
they already feel, but this should not be the line in which
we go. Our aim is not to alienate a fallen comrade and yes,
any comrade that has gotten caught up on some chemical
substance to function has "fallen" and it is up to us to
help pick them up, if we are true about being brothas and
sistahs to one another, or for the people.
The issue of drug, alcohol or other chemical or mind
altering substances should be apart of all our zines. We
should have regular classes for those who don't use as well,
so that we can be on the guard for the pitfalls that causes
a comrade to succumb to using in the first place. Often
times, it is our best comrades and cadre who fall victim.
So, I would urge that we look at this in the proper light
and begin the educating process. IF we can educate and
politically re-educate on various political/ideological
concepts and positions then surely we have the time to do
the same about drugs and alcohol use. That is the only way
we can ensure that we have a strong movement and that all
our comrades are safe.
And, i also want to stress that we (revolutionaries) need to
do more in the area of teaching our children and young
people about drugs when we speak to them. i believe that we
should even include a few minutes on this subject whenever
we have any rally or debate session, or teach-ins, or such
function where we are working to build and develop public
opinion about the use of drugs and alcohol. We ought to give
much study to this and make the people aware that the drugs
they use are being allowed in by this government for a
reason. That they manufacture alcohol for a reason and those
reasons are not for the good of the people, but to dull the
people's senses to what is happening around them, whereby
making them indifferent to many laws and politics aimed
against them.
MIM is working in this direction. To educate and give
political support to the fallen comrade who may have or is
using drugs and/or alcohol. MIM is taking a stand in this
vital area and working to build a true vanguard Party. But
MIM needs your help. MIM needs the help of the people by
their donations which is used to help further some of these
things. Also, MIM needs people willing to get truthfully
involved in the area of exposing the bourgeoisie. Therefore,
i urge and encourage you to come to MIM. Join them and help
in this momentous struggle. For this struggle truly is for
the benefit of us all.
MIM responds: This comrade is correct in that MIM works with
individuals who are physically addicted to alcohol and/or
drugs. The reason that we help to provide options for
productive, sober and revolutionary lives is both so that we
build a stronger movement and so that we do not loose
individuals who are willing to organize against imperialism.
MIM cannot work with individual comrades like a therapist
does. In other words, we will not sit down and talk with
comrades for hours about what there personal relationships
are like. MIM also does not work like AA or NA where we have
endless meetings where people do nothing that is related to
the masses, but sit and talk about the things in life that
bother them. And we don't tell people that they have a
higher power that they are supposed to give up control to.
We work with revolutionaries with substance dependence
problems much like the Chinese did, on a smaller scale. We
help comrades take responsibility for their situation, when
appropriate and possible, we help comrades change the
material conditions in their lives, and we provide
meaningful ways for the comrades to spend their time. We do
these things because we are developing revolutionaries, not
because we are a bunch of altruistic liberals. We want men
and wimmin to put their lives to use in the best, most
revolutionary way as possible. We struggle with comrades to
engage in responsible and genuine self-criticism and move
forward in developing a practice which serves the people.
We organize revolutionaries to build and support the Party
and the Party-led United Front against imperialism. It is
when this mobilization topples imperialism that the people
will once again be able to address and eradicate addictions
(among many other evil products of oppression). The example
of the Chinese people led by Mao and the Communist Party
must be studied in this stage of struggle. Individual
revolutionaries and small groups of revolutionaries who are
addicts can change the current conditions enough to lift the
obstacles enough to build revolution.
MIM does not believe that there is an "addictive
personality" as AA and shrinks like to push. Personalities
are socialized and that is not what they mean by this term.
We also disagree that support groups per se are what
comrades working with MIM need. They need revolutionary
groups, study groups and organizing groups. These groups
address out of necessity problems of comrades, but they are
not directed to only be talking at a very individualistic
level about the horror stories in the individuals' lives.
They are directed at organizing against imperialism. Like
stated, this can include addressing the problems of
individuals. But MIM is not going to start 'support groups'
because we have no interest in helping people adjust to
oppression and this gross parasitic society. We work to
abolish oppression.
This is why we print the letter in MIM Notes. There are
comrades who have worked with MIM, some successfully, others
not successfully, to stop using drugs or alcohol. These
comrades wanted to stop because MIM helped them to realize
that the use only inhibited revolutionary organizing. And
MIM decides to work with individuals on problems like this
when the individual is willing to genuinely address the
problem in a revolutionary way. Now, we are welcoming any
comrades who have also been battling drug and alcohol
addiction in the same manner, to write. We welcome you to
work with other comrades to engage in criticism and self-
criticism and to study and practice the universal lessons
from Marx, Lenin and Mao which will help to end drug/alcohol
dependence. There are specific readings which MIM recommends
on the topic and specific assignments which comrades willing
to genuinely engage in this struggle will get. We would like
comrades who want to work on this to help contribute to a
section in MIM Theory 16 on drug and alcohol dependence.
This will be for the purpose of leading others in the future
to stop using and start organizing. Involved in the process
is some research, writing and self-critical analysis.
* * *
CALIFORNIA "THREE-STRIKES" DEFENDANT ELECTROCUTED FOR
SPEAKING OUT OF TURN
Long Beach Municipal Judge Joan Comparet-Cassini recently
administered a 50,000-volt shock to defendant Ronnie Hawkins
for speaking out of turn. Hawkins was wearing a stun belt
allegedly reserved for use in case of violent attacks or
escape attempts. When Hawkins, who was representing himself,
did not comply with Comparet-Cassini's request to be quiet,
the judge ordered that he be shocked.
Many observers expressed outrage at the Judge's decision to
use the belt on Hawkins, who was "not using profanities or
acting aggressively." "'It was horrible, horrible,' said
Deputy Public Defender Matthew Huey... 'It would be the
equivalent of saying he's talking too much and walking up
and hitting him with a baton.'" MIM reminds this public
defender and our liberal friends in the legal profession
that this is exactly how the injustice system treats many
suspects, defendants and prisoners.
The striking thing about this case is not that pigs will
readily use corporal punishment on criminal defendants, but
that they will use it to silence a defense lawyer. The use
of physical force to silence a criminal defense proves that
the so-called right to legal representation is empty.
The stun belt delivers the 50,000-volt shock just above the
left kidney. British doctors determined that the stun belt
presents a health risk to people with heart ailments. The
bourgeois human rights group Amnesty International has waged
a two-year campaign against the belt.
The dispute between Comparet-Cassini and Hawkins began when
the judge told Hawkins that he could not appeal to the
jurors sympathy by telling them he was HIV positive or
facing his "third strike." Hawkins was on trial for petty
theft ($265 worth of aspirin), but because of California's
"three strikes" law, he could be sentenced 25 years to life.
California law dictates that juries not be told that
defendants are facing their third strike. This makes the
courts' own principle of "trial by a jury of one's peers"
meaningless. If one's peers (assuming the jury really
represents one's peers, which is often not the case) do not
feel that petty theft is worth a sentence of 25 years to
life, they are not allowed to say so under the current
system.
The use of a stun belt against a defendant to keep him from
talking "out of turn" is a graphic example of how the
Amerikan injustice system silences defendants and prisoners.
Amerika's practice of silencing the supposedly innocent
[till proven guilty] is not new. In revolutionary history
this century, Black Panther Party leader Bobby Seale was
bound and gagged for the crime against imperialism of trying
to speak in his own behalf during a trumped up conspiracy
trial. Silencing criminal defendants in court lends proof to
MIM's argument that the criminal injustice system is a
political system in which state institutions are used to
oppressed the colonized groups within u.$. borders.
Notes: The LA Times, 9 July 98, 15 July 98.
* * *
FOOTBALL PLAYERS PAID IN PARASITISM
The baseball players' strike revealed the disgraceful state
of "Marxism" today when almost all organizations calling
themselves "Marxist" sided with the baseball players against
the owners as if baseball players were "better-paid
proletarians" instead of the bourgeoisie. 1997 salaries
released for football players confirm again that
professional entertainers are often bourgeoisie.
The average salary on the most poorly paid team-Miami-was
$521,846 in 1997. 19% of all football players make over $1
million a year.
100 years after Karl Marx wrote on the labor theory of
value, the victory of LaSalle is almost complete amongst
those claiming to be "Marxist." Marx's critics ‹ such as
LaSalle ‹ claimed that political economy was a matter of
simply making profit and fairness. In contrast, Marx focused
attention on the flow of labor.
When anyone receives half a million dollars a year, s/he may
be receiving the wages form, but the net flow of labor is
not proletarian. Such a persyn is quite clearly receiving
the means of production in their pay.
Apologists for the economic struggle of this bourgeoisie
against the Third World proletariat argue that such athletes
only make such money a few years. Yet, this is also the case
with any bourgeoisie, that it generally faces ruin at any
time. There is nothing new about that to the bourgeoisie
under capitalism.
Moreover, professional athletes make enough money in their
productive years to retire. In two years, the Miami players
make more money than proletarians ever make in a lifetime.
Even the relatively poorly paid Miami players can retire
comfortably. Of course many athletes go into other
businesses upon retirement as capitalists. They accumulated
the means of production and then converted them into other
areas of business where they became the owners, thus clearly
revealing their class status except to the bought off petty-
bourgeoisie seeking to represent them under the guise of
"Marxism."
Note: USA Today 24 June 1998, p. 9c.
* * *
PAN-EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM MOVES FORWARD
After much suspense, German imperialists allowed 10
countries into the monetary conversion to the "euro."
Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg,
Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain will all
use the same currency as the transition unfolds in the next
four years.
The Europeans also agreed that a French citizen would be the
central banker after a four year-term by the Germans.
Nonetheless, the U.$. bourgeoisie speculated on "'a
considerable amount of tension'" in the words of one
economist.
The underlying question is whether these European
imperialists can put aside their rivalries in order to
position themselves better again U.$. and Japanese
imperialism.
Note: USA Today 4 May 98, p. B1.
* * *
BLACK NATION PARASITISM CONSOLIDATING
By 1999, Black buying power within the U$A is expected to
have increased 73 percent since 1990. Take-home pay will
total $532.7 billion, which is more than all but a few
imperialist economies and China.
The Black nation increase outpaces the rest of the U$A,
which on the whole is averaging a 57 percent increase in the
same time period.
As MIM pointed out in its 1998 Congress resolution on the
subject, the Black nation on the whole benefits from a
parasitic flow of labor from the Third World. It's
distinction with imperialist nations is the stunted nature
of its bourgeoisie. Genocide and slavery prevented a Black
bourgeoisie from building itself up to the scale of
imperialist ruling classes.
As a result, the Black nation is parasitic, but it holds
only 20 cents on the dollar in household wealth when
compared with the Euro-Amerikan household in the U$A. As
trends continue, these asset differences may disappear or
Black imperialists may arise that at least rival those of
the 19th century Euro-Amerikans.
Note: USA Today 30 July 1998, p. B1.
* * *
MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE VOTES TO REVOKE PRISONER VOTE
On July 29 the Massachusetts state legislature passed an
amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution to take away
prisoners' right to vote. Both the state House and Senate
overwhelmingly approved the measure, a big step towards
taking away prisoners' right to cast absentee ballots from
behind bars. To finalize the decision the Legislature has to
vote in favor of the amendment again next year and then it
would be put on the ballot.
Right now Massachusetts is among only 4 states which allow
prisoners to vote. The other three are Utah, Maine and
Vermont.
This election year, prisoners' right to vote is a big issue
in the rush to repeal any basic rights that prisoners might
enjoy. But this is more than just a tough-on-crime stance in
an election year, this is also an attempt to repress
political organizing within the Massachusetts prisons. Last
year the government discovered that Norfolk County prisoners
had formed a political action committee to organize inmates
to vote and to lobby against the transfer of prisoners from
Massachusetts to Texas and for other reforms in the prison
system.
This PAC, the first in the country within a prison, was seen
as a huge threat and the Governor of Massachusetts quickly
issued an executive order banning inmate fund-raising and
vowed to take away prisoners' voting rights.
With the prison population skyrocketing across the country,
allowing prisoners to vote is seen as a danger similar to
giving Blacks the vote after the Civil War. Should prisoners
exercise their voting rights as a block, the 24,000 inmates
in Massachusetts state and county facilities could wield
significant influence.
Prisoners, who face brutal repression at the hands of a
government supposedly working in the interests of the
people, quickly come to see the reality of U.$. "democracy"
for the farce that it is. And political organizing by those
who the criminal injustice system was designed to control is
the last thing the government wants.
This move by the Massachusetts government helps demonstrate
why MIM says that voting will not change the imperialist
system. The group with the most potentially radical agenda,
those most severely repressed by the system, have their vote
taken away as soon as they show signs of using it. In fact,
in 13 states prisoners never regain their right to vote,
even after being released.
Prisons in the united snakes are a tool of social control,
filled with youth and oppressed nationalities who are
victims of the war on crime which is perpetuated by a
government that murders, rapes and steals in its colonies
throughout the world as well as within its own illegitimate
borders. Considering that the number of people imprisoned in
the united snakes has soared to over 1.7 million, and that
this population is so disproportionately Black and Latino,
this amounts to denying a significant segment of society the
right to vote. This is a crime the united snakes would decry
as undemocratic in any other country.
Many in Massachusetts and around the country take this
injustice as a call to organize the oppressed to vote in
greater numbers or to fight for the right of prisoners to
vote. But the reality of this two party system is that only
the imperialists have the resources and power to run for
office and win. In the belly of the beast within U.$.
borders, state and federal election campaigns can not be
effectively participated in by anti-imperialists.
Instead we have to content ourselves with using the
undemocratic machinations of the government to expose its
hypocrisy.
MIM does not organize prisoners or outside supporters to
organize for the right for prisoners in the united snakes
to vote as we see this as not a winnable battle at this
time. In addition to voting being a sham in Amerikkka,
support to repeal such existing legislation is sparse. But
we do expose the denial to vote in the context of exposing
the undemocratic nature of Amerikkka. Stopping the
legislation to revoke the right to vote in Mass is a
possibly winnable battle. And the reason that it would be
good for prisoners to fight such a battle is to retain some
pittance of say in legislation which will further the
repression of prisoners in that state.
And we call on all who are outraged by this imperialist
system to join in the fight to overthrow it in the way
demonstrated most effective throughout modern history:
revolutionary struggle led by a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist
party.
Notes: Boston Globe, July 30, 1998, p. B1.
* * *
BULWORTH UPHOLD LIBERALS' AMERIKKKAN FAIRYTALE
Although the money could have better been spent on toilet
paper or q-tips, MIM is glad to have only paid $1.50 to see
this 'whiteboy-saves-the-day-and-then-gets-martyred' flick.
The story starts with a fictitious Senator Bulworth only a
few days before the California primary. Bulworth has a
nervous breakdown brought on by the repetitious watching of
his own red-white-blue commercials. Bulworth decides to hire
an assassin to kill ‹ himself. Bulworth then makes a side
deal with an insurance company to benefit his family after
his death.
Sen. Bulworth then proceeds with his last few campaign stops
before the primary. But Bulworth knows his days are numbered
and he has a new agenda, one that does not involve covering
up for the system. He stops for a speech in an all Black
church in Los Angeles. When faced with a sharp question, he
answers honestly that the California politicians did nothing
to help develop the local economy after the Los Angeles
rebellion because it a matter of money and not in the
interests of the politicians or anyone outside of the area
of the rebellion.
As his staff freaks about the honesty, Bulworth continues to
campaign talking about the rich getting richer off of the
current system. Bulworth then goes to Beverly Hills for a
party with rich donors. He offends them all with anti-
Semetic remarks. Bulworth then propositions some young Black
wimmin ‹ one of which, Nina, is part of the assassination
plot.
He miraculously fits in well in a Black club that he attends
with the wimmin. At the club, he tried to impress Nina and
he's exposed as a gross old man as well as a bad dancer. The
two eventually become close. And two inches from one
another's face, Nina starts to schpeal a Black nationalist
line about the reality of Blacks in Amerikkka. She states
that she was fed by the Black Panther's Breakfast for
Children's Program and that her mother was a Panther. That
scene mixes sex and politics in a very disgusting way and
shows that Bulworth saw Nina as a Black sex object and not
as a political person.
Bulworth runs into some Black youth in South Central who
sell drugs. He's told what a white pimp he really his and
told that drug dealing is the best way to utilize the youth
in the ghetto since there is nothing else available.
On the political trail, the viewer is supposed to believe
that Bulworth's new political stance is making him even more
popular. He wears stereotypical clothes of Black youth to a
nationally televised interview. Bulworth then starts a
hideous white man rap about the ills of Amerikkkan society.
He repeats what he learned from the Black youth and makes
the point that there are no options open to Blacks in
Amerikkka.
He then says something that all Liberals say that exposes
their real interests. He says that the white people in
Amerikkka, the average Joe are getting kicked around by the
corporate capitalists as well. He repeats the false
statistic that the majority of wealth in Amerikkka is in the
hands of only a few. But of course this guy does not develop
an analysis or understanding of the material conditions of
exploited Third World workers and peasants compared to the
very non-exploited labor aristocrats in the First World.
Liberals often give token acknowledgment to the oppression
of the oppressed nationals, but if you uncover their
dressing, they are primarily talking about getting more pie
for the majority of Amerikkkans‹who are white nation
members.
Bulworth also gives lip service to socialism in the movie.
But you gotta look at what he is doing. He is on a one man
binge of telling the truth that white Amerikkka already
knows ‹ why? because he knows that he is going to die.
At least the Bulworth character is good on the question of
elections ‹ he states that there is no difference between
Democrats and Republicans and there is no way that anyone
else could be elected. Unfortunately, typical fairy tale
Liberalism plays out in the film when Bulworth actually wins
the primary.
After falling for Nina and generally seeing that things are
improving (for himself), Bulworth attempts to call off the
assassination of himself. The drama is supposed to get tense
when the news is not able to be communicated to the
assassin, Nina. But Bulworth still does not know that it is
Nina. People like him can choose life or death and that's
what is so gross about him only giving lip service to the
fact that young oppressed nationals are being killed and
murdered in Amerikkka's genocidal war.
Eventually all is well. Californians have shown that they
give a shit about Blacks in Amerikkka and have voted for the
seemingly bold Bulworth. The Black youth on the streets are
inspired to start non-drug enterprises. Nina reveals that
she is the assassin and will not carry it out. Bulworth and
Nina kiss. The world is good.
Then the insurance industry representative shoots and
apparently kills Bulworth.
Black Nation continues the struggle.
The question to ask is whether or not this movie helps to
politicize or organize people. Does it help to advance the
struggle against oppression further? MIM answers no. MIM,
RAIL and Amerikkka's prisoners in the movement against
imperialism do much more with far less money than this movie
did. In fact, the movie effectively helps white Amerikkka to
stay put and shows oppressed nationals that the end to
oppression necessitates whitey on a horse.
The movie shows that you have to be crazy, suicidal and be
in the process of a nervous breakdown to start agitating
against the system. The movie tokenly reveals some ills of
Amerikkka, but also shows that the oppressed can do nothing
about it. The movie also relegates radical Black wimmin to
serve the individual needs of whitey. And worst, the movie
takes all the information of reality and waters down the
fight against national oppression by telling white people
that they are oppressed as well.
The best thing within the flick was the music by various
anti-Amerikkkan rap artists like Public Enemy. The only real
good thing about the movie is that it is yet another example
to revolutionaries of the decadent, apathetic and parasitic
culture which we live in. This disgusting anti-people
society is a daily reminder to revolutionaries to take
seriously the battle to end oppression. We must boldly
agitate and organize toward an anti-imperialist revolution
using the universal examples of Marx, Lenin and Mao. Only
when the people otherthrow this oppressive system can we
truly control the production of art which works to make
society better.
* * *
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
Almost all of the bourgeois spin put on Steven Spielberg's
latest movie ‹ which is set in WWII ‹ has been to the effect
that "Saving Private Ryan" is the most realistic, least
sentimental Amerikan movie about WWII yet. While that may
arguably be true (we'll leave it to bourgeois military
historians to quibble about WWII-era small arms tactics) in
today's context, where the Amerikan military has launched a
succession of wars of aggression and is gearing up for more,
"Saving Private Ryan" objectively contributes to an
atmosphere of reactionary militarism.
Spielberg's reactionary film concentrates on a small group
of Amerikan soldiers, with special emphasis on one Captain.
As a result, there is a strong tendency towards petty-
bourgeois pacifism in the film, that is, pacifism of the
"War is hell, everybody loses, there are no winners"
variety. Indeed, war is a losing proposition from the
perspective of an individual infantryman ‹ but that is not
the correct perspective to analyze war from. War is the
highest form of class struggle, and as such, is about the
interests of massive groups of people - e.g. classes and
nations. So the question we should ask when considering
whether it is correct for Private Jones to fight or not
fight in a given war is not, "What will Private Jones get
out of fighting?" or even "What will privates Dick and Harry
get if Private Jones fights?" but "Which class will Private
Jones aid if he fights or does not fight?"
Spielberg never really asks the latter question ‹ and to the
extent that he does, he gets off easy, because the Amerikans
were actually on the right side in WWII (however self-
serving their motives). "Saving Private Ryan" does not ask
the harder, deeper questions about the class nature of war,
and basically repeats romantic, cookie-cutter ideas about
Amerika's involvement in the war against fascism. Because of
this ‹ whether Spielberg intended to de-glamorize WWII or
not ‹ "Saving Private Ryan" still glamorizes and white-
washes the reactionary Amerikan military.
War is an evil that all communists strive to eliminate.
However, in order to eliminate it we must understand it, and
that means recognizing that as long as imperialism exists,
war is inevitable. The imperialists will not throw away
their atom bombs and Abrams tanks and Apache helicopters
just because war makes life hell. In the long run, anti-
imperialists will have to wrest the imperialists' weapons
from them through armed struggle. As Mao wrote, "We are
advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but
war can only be abolished through war, and in order to get
rid of the gun we must pick up the gun."
Note: Mao Zedong, "Problems of War and Strategy," Selected
Works, vol. II.
* * *
UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS
Pigs Provoke Prisoner Suicide
Š Inside the paper [MIM Notes] you ask for prisoners to
write articles telling about experiences inside the belly of
the beast. I'm not very good at expressing my thoughts but i
witnessed something last night that i feel the whole world
should know about because it was indeed a tragedy at best.
While in the (RHU) Restricted Housing Unit in Smithfield,
the pigs relentlessly provoked a fellow inmate to slit his
wrists in the attempt to escape the pain and misery forced
on him by Uncle Sam's devilish pigs! They fabricated
misconduct reports and he had a year in the hole. It's bad
enough to have a life sentence, but it's hard to maintain
when you see no end to the hole either.
The man was stressed and the pigs sensed this vulnerability.
Instead of trying to prevent a tragedy, they caused one.
They knew this man had a history of psychological problems,
had previously tried to take his life in the same RHU, and
that he was not stable to deal with this hell. They should
have put him where he could have gotten some help. The
brother repeatedly told the devils that he could not take it
any more, but his pleas went unanswered.
The night he slit his wrists, he wrote on the cell walls in
blood and feces, "If I die tonight it's because theyŠ" (and
he put each officer's name who participated) "Škeep fucking
with me!" I don't know if the brother pulled through. He
deserves to anywayŠ.
To all Comrades,
‹ A Pennsylvania Prisoner, May 1998
Murder in a Supermax
Warm Greetings Comrades,
ŠEven though the incident I write about is months old I will
not stop my pursuit to seek justice for the untimely death
and murder of Lawrence Williams.
Mr. Williams was murdered at the hand of Captain Mangiafico
due to racial motivations. Mr. Williams was summarily
executed because he had the gall to disrespect a white
racist nurse named Debbie Kindness. (Her name belies her
mentality.)
I have run into a brick wall in my attempt to have Mr.
Williams' death investigated. The DOC has stonewalled from
the beginning, claiming to be investigating while only
hoping that the passage of time will soon smooth things
over. I write this in hopes of opening the door to have
someone who knows Mr. Williams' family to get in contact
with me, via MIM.
The state is attempting to whitewash this young man's death
by trying to make it appear that he died of natural causes.
But that is a Lie. While Mr. Williams was having a severe
asthma attack, Captain Mangiafico forced him to be cuffed
behind his back and walk to the medical screening room. This
was done in total disregard to the weeping cries and pleas
of this young man that he could not breathe or walk. Mr.
Williams collapsed and died on the spot.
Mr. Williams was having an escalating difficult time
breathing due to the short cuts taken by the state when they
built Northern. They have no filters in the ventilation
system and dust is overwhelming in our cells. The DOC
immediately started the cover-up of Mr. Williams' death only
moments after he died, by sending Officer Prey and Officer
Dipace to his cell. They removed the records of the lawsuit
Williams was filing about the inadequate medical treatment
he was receiving.
Help stop the cover up! Mr. Williams' family should be made
aware of the real circumstances surrounding his death. In
closing, remember that the people united will never be
defeated.
‹ A Connecticut Prisoner, 27 June 1998
Guards Wage Psychological Warfare
Last night, sadly, another disenfranchised, geographically
isolated (by design), Michigan Prisoner (POW) became
reactionary in the worst possible way. Unfortunately, he
allowed the cyst'm's [system's] psychological war mechanism
to break his will to live and fight. Like so many others, he
allowed the nation-state to crush all of his dreams,
aspirations and hopes for a life of freedom and self-
determination. Under a constant barrage of pig tauntings,
fraudulently written misconduct reports, loss of privileges,
and daily verbal abuse he gave up and attempted suicide by
hanging himself.
Earlier today, another of Marquette Branch Prison's (MBP)
dehumanized POW's went to great pains to cut and mutilate
his body. He stood in front of his cage bars screaming
incoherently at our captors. Of course, the black and gray
uniformed gestapo pigs tormented and laughed at the obvious
mental anguish this human being was suffering. Totally
oblivious to any measure of compassion towards the mentally
ill, with racist attitudes, the pigs and medical personnel
were ever condescending in masochist eroticism from the
onset, at the prospect of yet another successful execution
of a man of color.
And why not? Where else can you subtly murder human beings
in droves with complete legal immunity? Earn $45,000 a year,
not including other benefits, and have USDA (United States
Death Agency) approval while pretending to be a civilized,
decent, patriotic citizen under Ole' Glory?
...Where does this leave POW's and the mentally ill among
us? In a situation where we either wake up, become
politicized and active. Or we can sit back glued to the
stupid box (television), chase another ball (basketball,
baseball, etc), close our eyes, ears to the injustice to the
slow murder of a class, our people ‹ ourselves! and waste
away in bondage...
"Take courage in hand. Get up off you knees and join the
Revolutionary struggle. Find your humanity in the
Revolutionary struggle..." ‹Comrade George Jackson
Yours in struggle,
‹ A Michigan Prisoner, 15 May 1998
P.S. Write to MIM Notes whenever someone near your cage
attempts suicide or engages in self-mutilation. Provide the
record, so that they can share it with the people.
Daily Beatings in Texas
Dear Comrades,
I was just brutally beaten by KKK Pigs on Michael Unit. Such
Beatings go on everyday.
I'll tell everybody about what's going on. Thanks for the
MIM Notes. It keeps me in touch with what's happening.
Here it just keeps getting worse and worse.
In the Struggle,
‹ A Texas Prisoner
Prisoner Fights Chemical Agents
Dear MIM Notes,
I just wanted to say thanks for the article about the
Chemical Agents. I too am a prisoner in Texas who has been
subjected to this chemical and I am here to tell you that
it's a Bad Mother fuck. I have lawsuit in District Court for
excessive use of this Chemical, and that article really
helped me out. Just one more punch to use against this
chemical.
Also I wanted to say, I thought you had stopped printing
[MIM Notes], because it has been about six -seven months
since I received my paper. But yesterday I got an issue that
was postmarked December 5, 1997. Here it is six months later
and I am just now getting it. I guess it has been sitting on
the Warden's desk so he can get his eye-full of the
oppressed nations fighting back. Thanks for everything.
Always real,
‹ A Texas Prisoner, 29 May 1998
Assaulted for Speaking Spanish
I am a North Carolina Prisoner. And as a member of the Latin
Kings, I would like to say thanks a lot for keeping in touch
with usŠ. I am writing to let you know a little bit about
what's going down here in Raleigh Central Prison.
Well, this is not the first time I've been assaulted by the
pigs. Now I know this is happening due to my nationality.
Just the other day, we were hanging around the basketball
court. The pigs told us not to speak Spanish or they were
going to write us up for speaking a language they couldn't
understand.
So I just said to them that I speak my language and will
always speak it to prove to American people that we haven't
forgotten where we came from. Also to prove that we were not
immigrants of the continent because we didn't come to
America, America came to us!
So check this out! Then these pigs assaulted me for no
apparent reason. No they put us in separate units and want
us to deny one another. These pigs are trying to break the
bond of brotherhood ‹ which will not work. The reality is,
putting us all together will only make us strongerŠ.
Sincerely,
‹ A North Carolina Prisoner, 8 July 1998
Denied Parole for Winning Lawsuit
ŠIn retaliation for a lawsuit, I was denied parole. A light
fell on me and fucked me up. I sued the pigs and won. I have
served 13 years of my 20-year sentence. I've been down since
the age of 15 and they want more.
I was about to leave when the pigs put a knife in my cell.
The fuckers set me up, but my cell partner took the beef.
But when we went for a hearing they didn't listen. The
hearing was rigged. They wanted me, even after my cell
partner took the beef. I don't understand that.
So the pigs fucked up by giving me some papers which will
show their guilt. They tried to make a deal to get the
papers back. Fuck them. I tried to get help but they pointed
me to their people. I ain't having no shit like that.Š
‹- A Maryland Prisoner, 10 May 1998
Sensory Deprivation in California
ŠHere at X Prison security housing unit, the technological
advancements celebrated by this oppressive nation (amerika)
can best be seen as sophisticated instruments used to
mentally and psychologically torture these imprisoned
citizens of humanity. Where the institutional apparatus was
once utilized to contain and subdue oppressed nations by
physical force, technological advancements have now allowed
for more subtle forms of abuse that achieve lethal
consequences, affecting a slow death. It is called sensory
deprivation.
ŠThe courts have recently addressed the health care at X
prison, and though minor changes have taken place, it is
still inadequate. For example, AIDS/HIV, hepatitis, and
other communicable diseases are not effectively screened and
prisoners are housed in exposed settings untreated. If you
have an addiction to drugs, there is no medical treatment
available, unless you show signs of illness.
ŠThere are no institutional programs for educating
prisoners. The prison law library is a joke, with access
limited to once a month, for two hours (physical) and
material that is outdated. Further restrictions are
occurring.
In Struggle,
‹ A California Prisoner, 2 June 98
Update on California Conditions
Greetings,
I'm writing in response to your May 16th letter in which you
requested ideas and insight on conditions here in prison so
that a petition drive of some sort could be launched. Sounds
good to me.
So, with this in mind I went ahead and out-lined (17) issues
of our conditions here in prison which have an adverse
effect on our lives but also can easily be met if the system
chooses and of course they haven't. Most of these issues I
have tried to address via inmate appeal with no results but
I have my arguments and their responses if you feel they
will be helpful.
I haven't received your publication in some time, even
though I doubt they will let it in but if you can still keep
me on your mailing list. I've some more stuff on this, which
I'll forward next time, so this will be all for now. Did you
ever receive the legal work I sent on censorship? The suit I
filed. Let me know when you can.
In Struggle,
‹ A California Prisoner, 25 May 98
Demands on the California Criminal Injustice System
1. Education Services: There are no educational services
available to prisoners. If prisoners are one day to return
to society or even to the general population of a prison,
then it would stand to reason that an education will greatly
enhance his success. A prisoner's successful return to
society or back into the general population of a prison
should be an objective of c.d.c. but at present this is not
the case. Insofar as educational or vocational training is
concernedŠ
2. Yearly Exams: Yearly exams in the form of full physicals
must be given to every prisoner who has been here for over
three consecutive years. The basis for this is that the
isolated and sterile environment endured by prisoners in
here has yet to be fully studied, as to its impact.
Therefore, a constant monitoring of prisoners' health is a
necessityŠ
3. Confidential Exams: At present medical examinations are
given in full view of others which discourages prisoners
from seeking the medical attention they may need. A cloth
partition can easily be installed to at least give the
semblance of privacy.
4. End Medical and Dental Co-Payments: Adequate health care
is a right and not a privilege. Health care is also not only
for those who can afford it. The current system of co-
payment discourages prisoners from seeking the health care
they may need now, which in turn may prevent more serious
and costly health problems down the road. Also, prisoners
here are not allowed to work, therefore, do not receive a
Prisoner's Pay Number and so one must rely on family and
friends for anything more than state issue which does not
include shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, etc.
5. Good Behavior Credit: Currently those prisoners in here
who are serving indeterminate terms are penalized for their
disruptive behavior but are not given credit for their good
behavior and clean time. Good behavior and clean time should
count as a mitigating factor when determining their
classification and privilege status as their disruptive
behavior is used as an aggravating factor.
6. Monthly Phone Calls: Prisoners here are not allowed any
personal phone calls. The prison is located at the northern
point of California, making visiting difficult and costly,
especially for children and the elderly. Family and
community ties are essential to a prisoner's success while
incarcerated and vital to a prisoner's eventual release back
into society.
7. Yearly Photos: Prisoners here are not allowed to take or
have taken any pictures of themselves which they can send to
family and friends. Again, due to the location of the
prison, most prisoners do not receive visits and some go
years without their family or friends ever seeing what they
look like, or ever hearing their voices, let alone being
face to face on a rare visit.
8. Appliances: At present, prisoners here most purchase
their appliances solely from one outside source which
eliminates all competition and leaves prisoners at the mercy
of their pricing. Furthermore, prisoners here cannot leave
their appliances upon parole or transfer to a person of his
choice, as allowed other prisoners throughout the system.
Thereby forcing each new prisoner in here to purchase a new
appliance from the only outside source and at their pricesŠ
9. Yard Equipment: Prisoners are kept in their cells 22.5
hours a day with only 1.5 hours of "outdoor" exercise. This
so-called "outdoor" exercise involves going out alone or
with your cellie to a bare concrete enclosure which consists
of four 30-feet walls, a patch of sky and a storm drain.
There is no equipment of any sort (none/zero) available to
prisoners to exercise with in order to maintain proper
health which is vital in combating the rigors and proven
psychological effects of the prisonŠ
10. Greater Variety For Annual Packages: At present,
prisoners are only allowed one package per year from home.
This package is limited to 30 lbs. and items approved are
severely limited. Moreover, prisoners are restricted from
any attempt to supplement their health or dietary needs
while in prison. Because they are not allowed to receive any
vitamins or health food products in their annual packageŠ
11. Greater and Healthier Variety At The Prison Canteen:
Items available at the prison canteen for prisoners are
severely limited. There are no healthy food products
available. Thereby restricting prisoners from supplementing
their health or dietary needs.
12. Increase Spending At Canteen: Prisoners are currently
allowed to spend $35 per month at the prison canteen. The
$35 spending limit has been in effect for over ten years.
Even though prices at the canteen have risen yearlyŠ
13. Voice in Inmate Welfare Fund: Even though prisoners must
pay into the inmate welfare fund, when using the prison
canteen and when ordering their appliances, but they have no
say in how the fund is spent. Prisoners do not receive their
fair share of the spending on programs here primarily
because there are no recreational or educational programs.
14. Toothbrushes: Prisoners are not allowed to purchase
their own toothbrushes at the prison canteen nor are they
allowed to receive one in their annual packages. Therefore,
prisoners must rely solely on those toothbrushes issued by
the prison which are inferior and wear out under normal use
before the monthly exchange. Worn or frayed bristles are
proven to be a cause for various gum disease.
15. Warm Clothes: Even though prisoners in here are allowed
to buy thermals via special purchase not everyone can afford
them and the state issued paper thin jumpsuits are
inadequate for the concrete and cold of the prison.
Therefore, state issued watch caps and sweatshirts are a
necessity and those who can afford these items could
purchase them via special purchase or at the canteen.
16. Improve Inmate Appeal: Currently the appeal system fails
to adequately address and investigate our grievances.
Rubber-stamped denials and uninvestigated claims are the
routine which make any appeal meaninglessŠ
17. Legal Assistance: Prisoners are limited in seeking legal
assistance to their own unit. They are also only allowed
this assistance if they can find it. They are also limited
to a (10) day period and during this period are allowed to
pass a total of (12) handwritten pages (6 per week) and are
not allowed to pass transcripts or court documentsŠ
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