California Prisons

I am a prisoner at Pelican Bay State Prison in the ASU stand alone. As such, we are allowed no TVs and no radios as there are no electrical outlets. I am participating in the hunger strike. I had started July 1st, 2011 but took a step back and allowed the prison and the whole of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation a chance to conform to the demands/requests made. As you know, none of the core demands were addressed. Just more of the same old same old, hurry up and wait. Because of that, the hunger strike has started again, but I have no way to know the latest as I have no TV and no radio. Then like a godsend I receive your latest newsletter letting me know if I need updates, hey just write my friends at MIM(Prisons) and they will make me feel not at all alone!

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.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

8.5x11” flier

half sheet fliers - now has 2 sides (updated 10/4/2011)

In regards to the hunger strike that resumed on September 26th, well it did in fact resume here in this part of the SHU which is C facility nine and eight blocks. There are around seventy people participating who are going to continue up to the thirtieth of September. As you know, the main setback is the lack of communication, as not everyone is on the same page this time. Some learned of this through their own points of contact but not everyone is fortunate enough to have such means. Also it must be understood that we are dealing with many different oppressed nations so unless one hears about it from their own progressive representatives then they will not simply act upon the word of another prisoner.

That’s the world that we live in today and that’s why the original hunger strike had such historic undertones because nothing like that had ever been done before in California. And that is why the oppressors fear such unity as well as conscious awakening of the masses. But then again you yourself know this and that’s what I like about MIM(Prisons).

MIM(Prisons) adds: In spite of the difficulties in communication and organizing around the hunger strike it has still been a remarkable success in getting so many prisoners across California to come together. This is an important step in the right direction, and underscores the need for the United Front for Peace that will bring together lumpen organizations against the common enemy of imperialism.

I have enclosed the latest attempt by Scott Kernan to run the same ol’ mumbo jumbo about the gang policies and procedures/validation process, being reviewed. The trivial concessions are just things that we should already have. The food remains disproportionate, cold, and of poor quality. All the items one can purchase well that’s all good for those with money. People like me who are indigent won’t be affected at all. Our concern is that of the re-validation based on b.s. evidence, which for years under the Castillo settlement had been banned. Those same policies continue to remain the same. I’m on the third day of strike and everyone in my area will hold out until we get some concrete clarity from those who are informed directly. Meanwhile thanks for sharing all and anything on your end!

This place has again changed procedures, despite verbally declaring I’m on “hunger strike” and not accepting a food tray on September 26th, they are not recognizing my declaration after 3 days, to monitor my health! Procedures state 3 meals. They continue to make up procedures as they go.

MIM(Prisons) adds: This is one of a number of comrades we have been in touch with that are not being counted by the CDCR as being on hunger strike, indicating their counts don’t reflect the real level of participation.

I’m writing to inform you about the food strike here in Pelican Bay. Everyone around ASU (administrative segregation) has been passing your articles around and I’d like to thank you and all of the protesters for showing us love and supporting us prisoners in PBSP. The strike has started and there’s been a lot of traffic in ASU lately. We received a memo from undersecretary Scott (the liar) Kernan on September 27 stating:

“information has been received that a number of inmates have engaged in behavior consisting with initiating a demonstration/hunger strike event. The department will not condone organized inmate disturbances. Participation in mass disturbances, such as hunger strikes or work stoppage will result in the department taking the following action:… [See a complete copy of this memo in another article here.]”

Tomorrow, Friday [September 30], ASU stand alones start a stand and people here will be striking.

I’ve been put in ASU because when I was in the CTC a nurse disrespected me and I took a stand and received a false 115 for indecent exposure which never happened. I am currently in the 602 process of filing sexual harassment against resident nurse Joe Carr.

Let me take you on a step-by-step retelling of that fucked up day. After lunch time in the CTC infirmary I was being housed for a fractured jaw but after lunch I observed nurse Joe Carr making rounds so I called him over and asked nicely did he watch the game (football) on Sunday. I’m a big Raiders fan so I wanted to ask him the score. Carr got hostile and told me “none of my fuckin business, I went home on Sunday, that’s what I did jack ass.” Now I lost my cool and cussed him out so Carr tells me “You better get off your door or I’m gonna put you on strip cell suicide watch.” I rebelled more and Carr said “get off your door or I’ll write up some paperwork saying I seen you with your penis out masturbating.” I told him he’s a fuckin’ liar and he says “my word against yours” and laughs.

The living conditions in ASU are those of a caveman: 3 showers a week, no phone calls, yard in a human dog cage, and no TVs because there are no plugs.

Quick note P.S.: Today, September 30th, while at yard in our cages, the police came and retaliated at the south siders in the strike. They denied yard and came in their cells and took magazines, books, toothpaste, deodorant, and shampoo. The police are inhumane and this proves it.

As you are probably aware, Pelican Bay State Prison(PBSP) prisoners [and thousands of others across the state – editor] have resumed its Hunger Strike, due to the California Department of Corrections’ (CDC) stopping negotiations around its validation process and long-term isolation. My actions, and participation in these actions are of great importance to me, not only because it’s a just cause but because it exposes the CDC’s long standing practices which strip us prisoners of constitutional rights. I am also fighting this in the Northern District Court.

I participated in the July 1st hunger strike, and was one of the 17 prisoners who were tortured via a 13 or 15 hour bus drive to Corcoran. Upon arrival I was given the Corcoran introduction also called the Corcoran welcome during which I was assaulted by 3 prison officers, then paraded around in disregard of my condition (weak from the hunger strike and leg injuries from the assault, which made it difficult for me to walk) until I blacked out. I woke up in the Intensive Care Unit on the 20th day. During my time at Corcoran I was denied all type of CDC forms and my assault injuries were ignored as soon as I mentioned staff assault as the cause. Upon arrival at PBSP I filed two CDC 602s alleging torture and assault, which are still pending.

In my current lawsuit I allege racial discrimination since the gang management targets Hispanic prisoners and validates and segregates them at disproportionate rates in comparison to any other race. I took this angle because most validation appeals are defeated by the courts application of the standard which only requires the “same evidence” to maintain a prisoner on indefinite segregation. In my angle of racial discrimination, a different standard of law will be applied of which will require more scrutiny of the CDC’s actions. In order to prevail I need to show the disproportionate segregation of Hispanic prisoners, and as you know we cannot rely on the CDC’s numbers. So I’m wondering if you can help in providing me with an actual number of prisoners in the CDC and their race, and then the actual number of prisoners in segregation and their race etc.? So that we can break down the numbers and show it to the courts.

MIM(Prisons) responds: We commend this prisoner for taking multiple approaches to the fight against the injustice system. Legal and organizational battles are both important. While we are not familiar with his lawsuit or the legal requirements around claims of racial segregation, this fits right in with our work to gather accurate statistics on control units in prisons across the country. We will supply the information we have to this prisoner, and we ask others to help with this project by requesting a survey to fill out about their prison and any others they know well.

Today (September 26) about fifteen comrades, so far, in the California Institution for Men in Chino, CA began an indefinite hunger strike and we will not stop until the Pelican Bay SHU demands are met for our comrades!

Push, pull, strive, struggle! Give Ruchell Magee, Hugo Yogi Pinell, and the SHU comrades my love! And long live the Guerrilla!

MIM(Prisons) adds: Other than Pelican Bay and Chino, the Hunger Strike Coalition has reported that prisoners in Calipatria, many of whom are in isolation awaiting space to open up in SHU, will also restart their hunger strike today. People on the outside need to step up the pressure again to support these comrades who are putting their lives on the line for basic rights for all California prisoners.

The downloadable grievance petition for California has been updated to correct some errors in the citations. Please download it here. Click the link below for more information on this campaign.

[Excerpts from a Statement of support for the August 23rd Statewide Mobilization to Sacramento]

“The humaneness of a society can be judged by its prisons.” - James Doare

On August 23rd, San Francisco Rep Tom Amiano and the Public Safety Committee in the state assembly held an informational hearing on conditions and policies at Pelican Bay - SHU (and we assume the SHUs here at Corcoran and Tehachapi as well). The NCTT Corcoran-SHU wishes to express our support for the people and organizations who have mobilized to lend their voices to this vital human rights initiative which began with our July 1st hunger strike and will not end until the 5 core demands have been appropriately addressed, the fundamental human rights initiative which is acknowledged, and the basic inhumanity of the prison industrial complex’s use of sensory deprivation torture units is exposed and abolished.

But why should you care? Why should you care - men are being systematically subjected to psychologically torturous conditions in your name and with your tax dollars? The answer to that question requires you to have certain facts and accept some inconvenient truths. Prison is a socially hostile microcosm of society itself; a concentrated reflection of the contradictions of it’s myriad socio-economic and political relationships, composed primarily of the surplus labor segment of the U.S. population. The SHU is a prison within prison, and the ultra-high security isolation units like Pelican Bay SHU’s D-short corridor and Corcoran-SHU’s 4B1L-C section are CIA style, experimental, psychological torture units.

Following the temporary halt to our peaceful protest on July 20 to give CDCR time to make some meaningful changes in line with our 5 core demands, Scott Kernan’s first act was to publish a statement in the Sacramento Bee characterizing us as “violent gang leaders who’ve committed horrible crimes against the people of California”, as though we are not a part of the people. I think it is of vital importance that this, as well as the actual motive force underlying such thinking be addressed.

Over the last 20 years there has been a successful campaign to demonize those convicted of a crime in the U.S., and a degree of social indifference in how they are treated. Through the successful efforts of such lobbies as the California Correctional Penal Officers Association (prison guards union) and it’s front groups such as ‘Crime Victim United,’ and with the assistance of mainstream media programs covering everything from America’s Most Wanted to Cops; from Dateline to your local news. The public has been systematically indoctrinated to not merely fear “prisoners,” but to effectively dehumanize us as some subspecies of not quite humanity.

Your entertainment programming is 75% crime and punishment content, from the Law & Order franchise to CSI, from Justified to Hawaii 5-O, which not only brings in millions of viewers and sells billions of dollars in products annually via advertising, but divorces the so-called “criminal” from the human condition and casts him/her in the role of perpetual villain in the subconscious mind, deserving neither rights, compassion, or basic humanity. This was not some unconscious effort on the part of your elected officials, public servants, and corporate entities, no, this was a conscious program to dehumanize a specific segment of the U.S. population in order to ensure the speculative profits of the burgeoning - and now well established - prison industrial complex would go unchallenged and unprotected.

The fact is the origin of crime is relatively simplistic: the origin of all crime can be inexorably traced to the disproportionate distribution of wealth, privilege, and opportunity in a society. So what we find here is not a matter of public safety proponents versus criminal fiends or “gang leaders”, but more accurately an internal contradiction of the state itself which pits public safety versus social control and profit.

Contrary to the propaganda of politricsters such as Mr. Kernan, California SHU’s are not inhabited by the “worst of the worst,” and especially not in these ultra-high security isolation torture units like Pelican Bay SHU’s D-Corridor or Corcoran SHU’s 4B1L-C section. In fact a significant segment of this population has been consigned to these dungeons decades on end solely based on their political ideology and world views. Left-wing political ideologies and revolutionary scientific socialists are labeled “gang members” and tossed in the SHU with no thought to the contradiction this presents to the constitutional basis of freedom of speech, thought, and expression.

The truth of the matter is most here in Pelican Bay SHU D-Corridor and Corcoran SHU 4B1L C Section haven’t had a rules violation, let alone broke a law, in decades. Institutional gang investigators claim to seek to mitigate the violence and socio-economic damage allegedly caused by “gangs” - yet the NCTT in Pelican Bay and Corcoran SHU over the course of the past 2 decades alone has developed and attempted to initiate numerous programs that would effectively do just that, and even more.

This hearing was a prime opportunity to declare, if the state will truly make rehabilitation their primary objective they may:

1. Meet in full the 5 core demands of the SHU human rights initiative,
   acknowledging the dismal failure of their “lock em up - lock em up” philosophy and its fundamental social and economic unsustainability
   
2. Restructure the entire correctional system and approach to imprisonment.
   
3. Mandate safe, clean and healthy rehabilitative environments where higher education and viable wage job skills are offered to all prisoners ensuring they can compete in today’s technology society, ensure parole suitability, and make meaningful contributions to the community, institute community based parole boards, where the communities prisoners hail from decide when they can return to them.
   
4. Re-institute media access and transparency
   
5. Re-institute community ties programs such as social and family visiting for all prisoners, especially those in SHU-indeterminate units
   
6. Develop community reintroduction programs where prisoners have a community based support network that helps them re-acclimate to society and be re-integrated successfully.
   
7. Disband the CCPOA’s stranglehold on elected officials which range from DAs and judges to the governor himself.
   

MIM(Prisons) responds: This NCTT statement does a good job exposing the criminal injustice system as a tool of social control with no real interest in actually addressing crime or rehabilitation. We do disagree with one point here: while the vast array of people working in and around prisons certainly are motivated to protect their high wages and benefits, prisons themselves do not make a profit and so can not be working to protect their “speculative profits.” As this article notes, those working on the side of the prison system do have a strong motivation to sustain and even grow them, but this is for social control fundamentally.