MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
In an attempt to quell resistance, the above list of petty actions
have been approved according to a memo from the CDCR.
As thousands of prisoners wrap up day five of round two of the
California Food Strike, the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) has stepped up its repression and propaganda in
response to prisoners’ demands for basic humyn rights. They have even
declared it a punishable offense to peacefully campaign the state for
these rights by refusing state-issued food.
The bourgeois press has been repeating the CDCR’s ridiculous claim that
if prisoners went on strike again it might delay reforms in the SHU
system. Their audacity is laughable. We all know the strike is nothing
but a scapegoat, and not the cause of their “delay.”
Meanwhile, they have indicated that they will make conditions worse on
three main points of the original
Five
Core Demands. All three points address the systematic repressiveness
of the whole California prison system.
MORE GROUP PUNISHMENT - Not only has the CDCR threatened that reforms
will be slowed down by another round of hunger striking, but they have
implied that non-striking prisoners will also lose their programming as
a result.(1) This is in direct contradiction to the first demand.
MORE SECURITY THREAT GROUPS - While the prisoners have demanded an end
to the arbitrary and secretive system of giving people endless sentences
in the Security Housing Units (SHU, long-term isolation) for “gang
affiliation,” the CDCR has publicly discussed broadening the “Security
Threat Group” category to include street organizations. This will mean
more people in SHU for indeterminate sentences.
MORE LONG-TERM ISOLATION - The third demand calls for an end to the
torturous practice of long-term isolation. While the state has continued
to assert that these practices are constitutional based on court
rulings, they have promised to send more prisoners to Administrative
Segregation and SHU just for participating in the hunger strike!
As laid out in the Five Core Demands, these are parts of a system of
oppression that affects all prisoners. While comrades in SHU have the
drive to put it down hardest because of their living conditions, the
CDCR is making it clear that the implications will affect the whole
system.
Even the reforms offered in the Gang Management Policy Proposal of 25
August 2011 allow the continued practice of keeping the most progressive
and politically active prisoners in isolation indefinitely.(2) While
this would put California more in line with what is done in most other
parts of the country, it is hardly progress. This proposal highlights
the political nature of the injustice system.
Even the Eight Short-term Action Items affecting prisoners in Security
Housing Units listed in a 27 September 2011 CDCR memo(3) may not be
granted to prisoners refusing to eat state-issued meals. They hope that
by granting the more petty demands that they can break up the unity of
California prisoners, convincing some to give up while they are ahead.
The unreasonable actions of the CDCR during this whole conflict should
convince any prisoner that such a move would be a mistake. There is no
indication that California will be reducing its repression, and every
indication that it hopes to heighten Amerika’s war on oppressed nations.
