California Prisons

For the past eighteen years a clear pattern of racial discrimination and political persecution has reared its ugly head, its presence is vivid clear and profound, a procedural manifestation within the protocols of official -sanctioned practice here at Pelican Bay. Which simply means the inherent propensity to discriminate against New Afrikan (Black) prisoners, an antiquated evil which is still prevalent in today’s society and is magnified ten-fold within the concrete confines of the U.S. penal system and its deplorable code of conduct.

Though we can concede to the observations that socio-demographics contributed and facilitates the proliferation and perpetuation of racial discrimination, being that the majority of U.S. prisons are located in white rural areas where New Afrikan people are only an image on the 5 o’clock news. It is only inevitable that racism flourishes in these areas. Many of the local rural citizens are hired to work in these new prisons, and they don’t leave their racist beliefs/attitudes at home. In fact these folks bring/import their racist attitudes with them, and these attitudes manifest themselves within the core penological psyche of the Prison Industrial Slave-Complex thus influencing every aspect of the Prison Industrial Slave-Complex and this is applicable to the entire U.S. penal system.

In Pelican Bay State Prison the inherent racism has manifested in a very blatant but unique way. The Institutional Gang Investigation Unit (IGI), Investigative Service Unit (ISU) and the Office of Correctional Safety (OCS) out of Sacramento have reduced New Afrikan (Black) history and culture to prison gang politics. By doing so they have limited New Afrikan politically conscious prisoners ability to learn and teach our history and created a method to circumvent our first amendment rights, for example: New Afrikan revolutionary prisoners presently being housed in the security housing unit (SHU - Solitary Confinement). We are forbidden to possess any book, literature/material or pictures/drawings by or about George Jackson, we can’t even write about George Jackson. This is considered contraband and gang activity. They have reduced George Jackson to a prison gang symbol. This is a method they have employed to conceal their racial and political persecution. But it don’t stop there, we are also forbidden to possess any literature or publication about/or that mentions Black August. Though New Afrikan people in every major state including the New Afrikan Independence Movement/New Afrikan Liberation Movement commemorate Black August. It is considered gang activity for us to write about it or commemorate it.

They have also criminalized the New Afrikan Independence Movement by reducing its primary ideology (i.e. New Afrikan Revolutionary nationalism) to prison gang politics. They have confiscated any/and all relevant literature. They have reduced our political activities to gang activities. For example, about 8 years ago I wrote a pamphlet titled “The Bell Curve Conspiracy - A Recipe for Black Genocide.” Two of the New Afrikan prisoners who contributed to this booklet were also alleged members of the Black Guerrilla Family (like myself). For this reason alone this pamphlet was confiscated, claiming we were involved in gang activity. Anytime we come together to participate in a clear political act it is reduced to gang activity and every literature that is associated with that project is confiscated.

Another example: I had Professor Dorothy B. Fardan (Sojourner Truth Forum School, Center for Human Growth) send me a printed copy of a proposal I had written back in 1996 and revised in 2002. this proposal is designed to eradicate hunger/starvation among all children, Black children in particular, because they content I had intended to distribute copies to other alleged Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) members it was confiscated and I was accused of participating in gang activity.

People, what I have described to you above is only a brief glimpse of what we as New Afrikan prisoners are going through. We are also being penalized for our political activities, when they reduce our political activities to gang activities. They are then able to write negative reports which can and have affected our release to the general population, many of us have been in solitary/isolation over 20 years, for me it has been 25 years in the hole. At least 12 of us have lawsuits pending in the Federal Court, and many more are in the process. Before I end this, I would like to provide you with one more example. On January 30, 200, special gang units from Sacramento along with IGI that ISU raided our cells, the following is a listing of what all they had confiscated stating it was gang related, list one consists of my personal writings and list two consists of Black historical, cultural and political literature and artwork and religious material:

List one: 1. New Afrikan Criminology 101 textbook. 2. Other literature pertaining to New Afrikan Criminology 101. 3. Bell Curve conspiracy (pamphlet). 4. The U.S. fradulent annual crime report (pamphlet) 5. All material pertaining to the George Jackson University and Marcus Garvey Study Group. 6. Pan-Afrikan Community Dept. of Agriculture proposal. 7. Support the Pelican Bay State Prison peace summit (proposal). Note: unbeknownst to many, California prison system averages 300-500 race-based riots/melees a year and this does not include the individual race-motivated stabbings. This has been going on for the past 20 years and now it has spilled over into the streets of Los Angeles. 8. Save the Black Farm (proposal) 9. How to stop the spread of the Control Unit Prison (proposed strategy) 10. All my writings concerning George Jackson and Black August. 11. All my notes and rough drafts to at least 15 proposals. 12. Over 40 poems.

List two: 1. Blood in my Eye, by George Jackson. 2. Malcolm X Last Speech. 3. Revolutionary Handbook, by Kwame Nkrumah. 4. A pamphlet on the Black Liberation Army. 5. A pamphlet commemorating those members of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army that was murdered during the 1960s, 70s and early 80s. 6. All literature pertaining to George Jackson. 7. A picture and art work of George Jackson. 8. A painting of dead Black Panther members. 9. Revolutionary artwork. 10. All literature pertaining to Black August. 11. A CD cover: one song titled Long Liver the Guerrilla, one song dedicated to George Jackson. 12. Approximately seven newsletters from the New Afrikan Black Panther Party. 13. Pictures. 14. A number of handwritten material. 15. Chairman Mao interpretation of Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism. 16. Swahili dictionary. 17. Seven Christian pamphlets by the army of god. 18. Black history book catalog. 19. A class action petition (note: they claim this legal petition is a cover designed to disguise a roster of alleged BGF members).

All the property listed in both list one and two were all confiscated under the fabricated contention it was all prison-gang related. In addition to the censorship, political persecution, we are being intentionally further isolated, New Afrikan prisoners are often assigned to one cell in a pod, while our racist oppositions can occupy up to five/six cells in a eight cell pod, leaving us with no one to communicate with or share our political views. This is a deliberate act by IGI, OCS and the administration.

People, we are presently developing a campaign, if you are interested in helping us put an end to official censorship and political persecution contact MIM(Prisons).

Petition Against Censorship and Political Persecution

1. We demand the immediate end to the IGI/ISU censorship program targeting New Afrikan politically conscious prisoners being held in the security housing unit 1, 2, 3 and 4.
   2) We demand the immediate end to the ban on all material concerning George Jackson
   3) We demand the immediate end to the ban on all material concerning Black August
   4) We demand the immediate end to the political persecution of those New Afrikan revolutionary prisoners who are presently being held in Pelican Bay security housing unit 1, 2, 3 and 4.
   5) We demand the immediate end to the racial isolation of those New Afrikan revolutionary prisoners being held in the Security Housing Unit 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Revolutionary greetings to all. I’m back one again to report the activities here at Killa Kern for the week. To start it off, we’re still dealing with the same problems of the prices on canteen items risen. And the Arsenic poison being fed throughout our prison’s plumbing system.

Now on the count of California’s Governor failing to come up with a way to break bread and relieve its paper pushers of this cash crisis. I gotta give it (the rise of canteen prices) to the Dept of Corrections. They’re doing their thang, and not getting any criticism about it. The people ain’t trippin, cause the soldiers ain’t trippin. So what the hell! Let ’em do them which is a feeling that can be understood by a person who understands).

But when the war becomes physical, and the effect goes from psychological and financial, to actually harming ones internal organs, somebody has to stand up and shut it down. These folks here at Killa Kern (named that by me for the way they’re killing their prison population mentally, spiritually, financially, and physically) have already released data that shows a long consumption of this tainted water over a period of time could cause respiratory problems that could lead to cancer. But they say “it’s no emergency, it’s no biggy, we’ll have the problem fixed within 13 months. There’s no need to bring in an outside source of water. Just keep drinking the arsenic water. We’ll get around to it.”

With this sort of response by this prison and its agents, one should be able to see the reason for my naming it Killa Kern. I mean truthfully, how long is too long of a consumption? Three years, four years, or five? Shit, maybe it’s a decade.

I have been at this death chamber for over half a year, and I’ve been heavily drinking the water since my arrival. I work out a lot so I have to stay hydrated. But look what I have to stay hydrated to: Arsenic Lead. This is some shit I wouldn’t even let my hogs drink. And they’re said to be the nastiest animal of them all. This lead that they have us drinking is a weapon of modern day human destruction, and it’s killing us slowly.

I haven’t yet been able to obtain the scientific data needed to enlighten the convict body here, or those who read MIM(Prisons), if anyone reading can add facts of researched data on the damages and long term effects that Arsenic lead can cause to the body, please contact me with the info.

We need them to correct Kern Valley’s water problem now. If this can’t be done, they need to bring in a secondary outside water source for us to drink.

August is one of the hottest months in many ways. Many of the great New Afrikan slave rebellions, including Gabriel Prosser’s and Nat Turner’s were planned for August. It is the month of the birth of the great Pan-Africanist and Black Nationalist leader, Marcus Garvey, and also of our New African freedom fighter Dr. Mutulu Shakur. New Afrikans took to the street in rebellions in Watts CA in August 1965. On August 18, 1971 in Jackson Mississippi, the official residence of the Republic of New Afrika was raided by Mississippi police and FBI agents.

August 1989 marked the 10th anniversary of Black August commemorations. The promotion of a conscious, non-sectarian mass based New Afrikan resistance culture, both inside and outside the prison walls all across the U.S. Empire. Black August originally started among the brothers in the California Penal System to honor three fallen comrades and to promote a Black culture of resistance and revolutionary development.

The first brother, Jonathan Jackson, a 17 year old man child was gunned down August 17, 1970 outside a Marin County California courthouse in an armed attempt to liberate three imprisoned Black Liberation Fighters (James McClain, William Christmans and Ruchell Magee). Ruchell Magee is the sole survivor. George Jackson, Jonathan’s older brother and comrade, a great Black revolutionary theoretician and leader was assassinated August 21, 1971 by guards during a Black prison rebellion at San Quentin. In an unsuccessful effort to cover up the state’s pre-planned assassination of comrade George. The third brother, Khatari Gaulden, was victimized by the blatant assassination of capitalist corporate medical politics in prison August 1, 1978.

MIM(Prisons) adds: The original Black August Organizing Committee still commemorates this holiday each year. The group works to maintain the original focus of the commemoration on the ongoing war on oppressed nations in the united $tates. Over 40 people came together to form the BAOC in 1979 after a united front of New Afrikan prisoners formed in 1978 following Khatari’s murder. This year’s commemoration featured New Afrikan, Native and Asian cultural acts intermixed with the political presentations with a focus on promoting community.

MIM(Prisons) brought to the attention of the audience that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) considers the celebration a “gang activity.” That was how the Institutional Gang Investigation unit justified withholding mail from a comrade to a prisoner that mentioned Black August. They don’t try hard to hide he fact that their repression and their so-called war on “gangs” is really about keeping the oppressed in their place. Members of Black August face persecution by the CDCR on the streets as well as in prison.

Meanwhile, a local weekly in Oakland ran a smear piece on Black August following the CDCR line. The article bad mouths Black Panthers George Jackson (falsely accusing him of being a convicted murderer) and Basheer Hameed (who just died this past week).

As always I extend my revolutionary love and respect to the comrades of your staff. As things here at KVSP have changed once again like the seasons, I write in to briefly report my captors’ activity.

After taking advantage of the economic crises here in the states and boosting all of its institution commissary store product prices sky high, the administrators are taking another path of destruction.

Recently there’s been talks of California’s budget crises and its effect on its massive prison population. But now ’ol Arnold is letting actions speak louder than words. With a so-called job cut for prisons Correction Officers, prisoners are seeing our little bit of program go down the drain with Amerikkka’s stranglehold of the world’s bottom class. They have come up with what they call “down days,” in regards to a total of four days out of the week where there will be no program at all, due to the so-called lack of staff. This means no yard for most, along with any other program or activity that has to do with one being outside his cell and not working for the prison.

Now I know that by U.$. law these folks are required to give us a certain amount of hours a week for recreational purposes, but with this new budget crisis (or whatever you want to call it) the judge is going to say their arguments of shortness of staff are valid. And to sum it up, they did that just like they took the weights and the family visits for lifers. Hell, they did that just like this prison is feeding its population “arsenic lead” through its plumbing system. They’ve had a memo on the issue floating around for almost eight months now, but its like the taste only gets stronger. They’ve admitted that it’s there (I guess as a warning) but have done nothing to change it, and we have no choice but to drink it. How about those apples?

Inraged by the blaze that’s been set by the states.
I have ingraved a personal aid in the fight against the snakes.
Yes against the Fakes and all its stragglers of the game.
I pledge the help of all myself from feet to full round brain.
Although Id like to skip the range and go straight to the field,
To skip the class would be my ass and that’s just keeping it real.
How can one dismantle the tank when one can’t assemble a gun?
I must learn true strategy, before attending true made fun.
A rise and true made revolution is destined in this land
As the turning of a power where the peasants take command
The winds blow a sharpness clearing smoke from Peoples War
with the sun high and smiling full of knowledge of what’s in store.
Nations come together baring arms to feed the starved
While also giving up the shots to cure all AIDS scared
No more injustice killings, or the kiling of true troops
No more miseducating or the raping of our youth
For I have inlisted

It is the exposure of the capitalistic heart, and the imperialistic mind,
that has me fine with the destruction of its total system.
Fill up the clip for my gun and place its barrel in its rectum.
The revolutionary trigger is pulled, and at best there’s a mess,
For its original insides will no longer exist
No longer resist,
The strong temptation to fin a deep dug black hole like a rabbit confined.
Hide in it like a snake on decline
From the troops on their fast paced way to demolish your lines
Class struggle with submission to time.
Off the break when admitting the crime?
Hell no!
I’ve committed the mind, and have purchased a nine for your conviction.
No Petition.
You are found guilty and will visit a mortician.
Get out the kitchen.
The people have spoke and for this is their mission.
Death to the oppressor and all its ways of oppression.

I am writing because I parole soon for the first time since I was 21 and have no employable skills, and was hoping I could get some trade, vocational, engineering, or even how-to cooking or baking books I could study to develop some. Where I parole there are a lot of restaurants.

MIM(Prisons) adds: This is the sad state of supposed “rehabilitation” in Amerika’s prisons, where people spend their young adulthood locked up, only to be released to the streets with no way to support themselves. This is just one of many reasons why prisons are very clearly nothing more than a tool for social control for this imperialist government.

I’m still hoping that Imperialism and Class Structure in 1997 shows up. These people here have gotten so audacious that they don’t even bother to follow their own regulations. One, there’s absolutely nothing whatsoever that “threatens the safety or security of the institution” regarding this piece of economics. Two, they’re illegally blanketing censorship of all materials from you without even looking at them. And three, they have a procedure that they’re supposed to follow, i.e. send the prisoner a rejection of mail form, stating why it’s being rejected, and give the prisoner an opportunity to send it back, destroy it, or challenge it via a 602 form.

Esta institución aqui es una de las más sobre-controladas en la que anteriormente estado. Uno no puede recibir, libros, revistas, cartas-postales, el periódico, recortes de periódico ni de revista, nisiquiera tienen materiales educativos. Tampoco no puede recibir el correo que venga con xeroxes, ni cualquier otra clase de correo que sea copiada con tinta jet, no copias o fotocopias de la internet, tampoco que le sobre traiga un poco de perfume, lapiz labal o que lleve las palabras de “espero me escribas pronto”, ni las inisiales XOXO (que son beso) o las iniciales SWAK (por sus siglas en ingles) sellada con un beso.

Aquí no hemos ningún aceso a la librería legal o a ningún material legal. Yo he recibido correo legal que anteriormente fuese abierto fuera de mi presencia, además me lo han negado mi correo legal porque la información contenida que era de como poder peliarle al systema, que es una ley de un caso que te enseña de los derechos constitucionales para los prisioneros, que es del centro de derechos constitucionales - una companía de abogados de la ley en Nueva York. En el tambiín contenía el libro llamado “The Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook” (un manual que le enseña como a un abogado aunque este encarcelado) cuando los contenidos de este libro fueron vistos, el sobre en el que venía fue sellado de nuevo y regresado.

Todo esto lo estado documentando y agurdando, también escribí una queja de derechos civiles contra el reclusorio Aramak (a un miembro de la Prison Industrial Complex) y tres otros oficiales, pero no he podido meteria, porque me niegan sacarle las copias requiridas por la ley. También me niegan obtener la copia del movimiento monitario de mi cuenta de prisionero que es reqirida por la ley para poder meter mi queja o demanda en “forma pauperis.”

Ademas les estaba ayudando y aconsejando a otros diferentes reclusos, a como poder meter una demanda. Yo los tenía metiendo las quejas para cumplir con lo requirido por la “prison litigation reform act.” Que es usar todos los remedios administrativos antes de llevar estas quejas a corte, pero la administratción se ha enterado de lo que estoy asiendo y se niegan a responder las quejas, las cuales son las mismas tres que coinciden a las cuales quiero llevar a corte. Se niegan a respondelas porque saben que sin la preveva de que uno cumplio con el poseso de usar todos sus remedios administrativos, uno no puede llevar estos problemas a la corte.

I am writing from Kern Valley State Prison in Delano, California. I am writing to seek outside assistance and support on a few issues of importance and necessity for the entire population’s well being. I have personally addressed these issues to Wardens, Captains. Lieutenants, Sergeants and C/Os. The two most common excuses I get are, there is not enough money in the budget or this is a new prison that is not fully up and running. How could this be?

I arrived here in February 2006, and have seen little if any improvements. I opened the 4th building on this yard out of 8 buildings. Unit recently I have been an active participant on the I.A.C. (Inmate Advisory Counsel). Working on that committee afforded me numerous opportunities to address this administration to no avail. All the necessary steps were taken to exhaust appeal procedures, the 602 process here is flawed on all levels. They have the same excuses as everyone else or constantly screen out appeals requesting unnecessary paperwork and then when provided still deny the appeal.

I am currently starting from scratch to create my own paper trail in regards to disinfectant. They simply do not distribute it to the cells. They use every possible excuse when in all reality they do not support their claims. By law and Title 15 Article 5 personal cleanliness Section 3060 means state institutions will provide the means for all prisoners to keep themselves and their living quarters clean and to practice good health habits. The Departmental Operational Manual has numerous paragraphs which concur and support this. Yet it is still not issued.

We also have no self-help groups. IAC did submit paperwork to have one approved and we never heard back. We had our dayroom taken well over a year ago with the promise that it would be returned. We did not abuse that privilege to have it taken in the first place. There is a very limited number of jobs, no NA or AA groups, no hobby craft or in cell hobby which could be consistent with a maximum security prison. A lot of prisoner parole guidelines or lifers board guidelines require them to attend such groups. Well those guidelines cannot be met when this institution does not provide the means to do so.

This is just a short list of problems here at KVSP. I am putting this out there to shine some light on the injustices of prison life. We need outside pressure put on this institution.