31 May 2002
The biggest advances in the Prisons Ministry this year came in the realms of distribution and professionalism. PIRAO's overhauls not only saved the Party money, but also forced comrades to improve the quality of their records. Before the overhauls, as many as 43% of the addresses in the prisoner database were not up to USPS standards. In May 2002, the error rate was down to 3%.
These advances did not come without political struggle, as detailed in PIRAO's reports. Indeed, the former Prisons Minister resigned over their difficulties with the new way of doing things, and many comrades were slow to implement the first round of changes. However, the latest round went smoothly and quickly, indicating that the new leadership and the prisons-ministry rank and file understand the need for attention to detail in bureaucratic work. There is no substitute for knowing what is going on in each prison--since each may have several addresses. There are no cookie-cutter shortcuts.
The Prisons Ministry implemented last year's resolutions regarding keeping track of censorship and published two reports in MIM Notes last year. All branches contributed to the reports, and most carried on independent, local agitation against censorship. Prisoners have been most effective at winning particular censorship battles. MIM still has a lot to learn tactically. We need to learn how to follow up effectively and how best to mobilize those outside prisons around this issue.
At least one branch carried out agitation around prisons issues other than censorship.
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