Indiana Prisons

My fellow comrades,

I appreciate you sending me a copy of ULK newsletter, it has helped me spread the word and has gained the interest of my fellow inmates. I am writing this letter to thank you and to give you a brief summary over the conditions at Westville Correctional Facility for your records.

The first thing I should mention is that the facility was constructed over 100 years ago as a state hospital/insane asylum. Rumor has it that the state experimented on, sterilized, and tortured mentally ill people here back in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. I have been told that this facility is not up to code, has been condemned since the 1980s, and the state pays millions of dollars to keep inmates here under these deplorable conditions. The buildings are due to be demolished in the next couple years as soon as the new bigger and badder prison is finished being constructed. The prison industry in Indiana is booming and the pigs arrest people for petty crimes and hand out lengthy sentences to fuel the prison industrial complex. I have been down for 2 years and all I did was verbally threaten somebody when I was intoxicated. Luckily I will be released soon, but this experience has opened my eyes to the horrors of the criminal injustice system, capitalism/imperialism, and the growing prison industry.

Getting back to the living conditions here at Westville, the water is never clear. It is usually piss-yellow, sometimes orange, and occasionally brown. The entire prison is flooded with drugs (as well as every other prison in Indiana). K2, Suboxone, and methamphetamines are the main 3 drugs you will find, and it’s not hard, trust me. We receive 10-20 signals every day over the radio over people “pranking out” – the result of high doses of K2. Some puke, some pass out, and some experience psychotic episodes. Every dorm is thick with smoke and the staff do nothing to stop it. Also there are mice running around everywhere. That is all I have to report about this hell-hole. While I’m here I will continue to share your newspaper and encourage others to educate themselves. You can mail ULK #89, but after that, I will be out of prison. Thank you, power to the people!!!

This comrade has been struggling against censorship in the Indiana Department of Corrections for years. Last year ey was locked in a shower by staff, then given a disciplinary charge for panicking because ey has asthma. Ey has been locked in solitary for 6 months as a result and will not get to hug eir mother before she dies. This is an example of what is withheld from oppressed people in this country on a daily basis, a necessary result of the national oppression we seek to end.

Recently, in my heathen circle, we experienced some religious backlash. An offender was caught/told on for passing a kite/note. The note had nothing in it damaging, but it’s classified as trafficking here. Noted. But the heathen caught was punished with threats to demote his legal proceeding; a sentence modification, and threatened. Denounce your faith, cut your hair, and join a more “realistic” faith, or face serious punishment including solitary confinement for “investigation”. Personally I was outraged. We should be “free” from religious prosecution, even in prison. Just punish the man normally, leave his faith off the table, and allow the punishment to fit the crime. Heathenism carries with it heavy undertones in prison, and we do not preach hate or separatism. We follow and pray to Gods and give thanks, nothing more. Brothers, keep your head up and avoid feeding into the hype. Hailsa! And thank the ULK for giving us a voice!

Indiana State Prison’s (I.S.P.) Administration are deliberately indifferent towards B-Cellhouse. B-Cellhouse is the closest (in comparison) to being honor dorm in I.S.P. Very rarely goes on lock down. Most inmates are enrolled in classes of some kind. But yet the administration is set on showing severe deliberate indifference on various levels toward occupants of B-Cellhouse.

In this prison there are 6 cellhouses and 3 dorms. C and A Cellhouses are the cellhouses with the continuous recurring lockdowns, I-Cellhouse is the honor cellhouse, D-Cellhouse is RHU, P-Cellhouse is protective custody, E-Dorm is older adults, F-Dorm is the overflow for NSB-RWI program. Dorms are free flowing at all times except count times and after 6PM. C-Cellhouse and A-Cellhouse are allowed out of cell all day except for count times. B-Cellhouse (the cellhouse that has little to no conflict) we are locked in our cells 24/7 unless we have any class, pass, rec, chow outside of cellhouse. Any time we return to cellhouse we are forced to be locked in cells, which in turn deprives us of use of showers, phones, kiosk, counseling.

If at rec time we don’t go out to gym to play basketball, shoot pool, lift weights, then we are not allowed rec time to be used inside cellhouse to take care of our other much needed, required things such as speaking to the team counselors for any needs such as legal, programs, filing paperwork, etc. We are not allowed to use phones to contact our families, we are not allowed to use showers, we aren’t allowed to just use the time outside to walk, talk, socialize with others. We are basically forced to choose to either go to chow or use the time that chow is being ran to use phone or shower. Anytime we attempt to go to chow or return to cellhouse to use phone, shower, or speak with unit team counselors we are forced to return to our cells to be locked in.

So in reality B-Cellhouse is on administrative segregation for incarcerated individuals that have no disciplinary code violations and are enrolled in constructive personal development programs. Our rights to shower, make phone calls, speak with unit team, any movement that does not involve going to chow or strictly outside rec only, or to classes, we are being forced to be solitary confinement in 1 man cells.

There is this little 22-year-old 105 lb girl that is the officer in charge, Atwood, that enforces this no touch torture, mental anguish, deliberate indifference, violation of our civil rights by way of approval from administration. This cellhouse consists of elderly, educated, religious, goal-oriented, positive, rehabilitative seeking incarcerated individuals striving to make better choices in life, that also avoid conflict and altercations. There are only 22 cells on each range, 10 ranges with a maximum capacity of 222 individual cells. Of the 222 individuals in cellhouse, the only ones allowed to use showers, phones, unit team counselors, are the cellhouse workers that consist of approximately 30 people in total. The only designated times out of cells are chow time, rec (only outside), passes (medical, library, legal mail, DHB, visit), classes, chapel. Yet the cellhouses with problematic occurrences daily – rapes, killings, robberies, etc., are allowed to spend the entire day out of cells with exception of 5:30AM - 6AM, 10AM - 11AM, and 2PM - 3PM.

The administration are taking advantage of the less rowdy, less violent, goal oriented, positive individuals to enforce violation of policy, civil rights, state and federal laws by refusing bare necessities of shower, communication, with family, use of unit team to assist in resources for legal or any other assistance needed by counselors of unit. The cellhouses that are not restricted have approximately 400 inmates in them. Their constitutional rights are being respected. They are allowed full use of shower, phone, unit team access, inside of cellhouses rec with a minimum of approximately 10 disciplinary lock downs a year for anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months lock down each occurrence.

The administration of I.S.P. is enforcing the violation of rights of incarcerated individuals housed in B-Cellhouse only. We have no way of filing grievances due to restriction of contact with unit team to obtain grievance forms, request slips, law library forms, etc. Also denial of use of phone to communicate the deliberate indifferences, discrimination, non-touch torture, etc. Access to outside sources, family, attorneys, etc. is also being prevented. We really need your assistance in sorting this out. To every forum available to expose the illegal abuse of power, and denial of rights aforementioned, violation not only of state and federal laws but also policy and administrative procedures. It’s sending the message as if incarcerated individuals housed in B-Cellhouse don’t go against the rules and continue to strive to better themselves in a rehabilitative manner. Then B-Cellhouse will be will be treated unjustly and unfairly, being denied rights and discriminated against, tortured, confined, etc. Only violence, chaos, uncontrolled, unethical behavior will be rewarded with adherence to rights and policy and administrative procedures. Here at Indiana State Prison, the warden will not allow anyone who tries to make a positive change to eat, shower, use phone, or talk to unit teams.

As we approach the end of Prison Banned Book Week we are pausing our campaign, which has been going on over the last couple months, to support prisoners in Pendleton Correctional Facility, Indiana. Supporters should stop gathering signatures and mail out any remaining postcards soon.

It was reported to MIM(Prisons) that 6 prisoners were threatened with drug charges, and torture in long-term isolation, for mail received from MIM Distributors. The mailroom claimed smudges of ink (that were obviously from the printer) were indications that the mail was laced with drugs. Of course, subsequent testing of the mail proved there were no drugs on them. This type of treatment has earned Indiana state a grade of D for their mail censorship, not an F because most letters do get through as does some literature.

In response to these threats, comrades in Anti-Imperialist Prisoner Support (AIPS) and other supporters hit the streets with a postcard campaign. We told people about what was going on, and asked them to sign a postcard and mail it to the administration. The postcards called out the political repression and demanded that it be stopped. Dozens of postcards were mailed to the Pendleton Administration, from near and far away, over the last couple months.

In the midst of the postcard campaign we received news that the threats had seemingly been dropped. But censorship has continued and a lawsuit is still being pursued. One of the comrades targeted at Pendleton says:

“I have not received Under Lock & Key 86 mailed out [1 month ago]. I’ve written the mailroom 2 times now and as of today have not received it.”

Ey did receive our article on the postcard campaign, which has been copied and distributed around the prison. Ey says:

“Thank you all for bringing this injustice to light!”

Thanks to the comrades on the outside who supported this campaign. We are declaring this phase over, but will continue to report on the happenings in Indiana prisons.

Outreach Report

In one locale, over 35 petitions were collected alongside distributing ULK 86 directly to passerbys. There was substantial immediate enthusiasm for discovering a publication written by prisoners, especially regarding solidarity with Palestine. Each persyn AIPS met was interested both in receiving a newsletter as well as signing a petition to mail.

AIPS also maintained a presence at Socialism Conference 2024 which took place in Chicago during the end of August. Here, over 100 copies of ULK were handed out and dozens of postcard petitions were signed by those interested in the struggle of prisoners. It was also encouraging to see those on the outside were interested in learning about the abuses and injustices prisoners face, either through attending panels hosted at the conference or by talking directly with passer-bys.

While there was no negative reception, no recipients in either location were familiar with ULK or MIM(Prisons). Only very few recognized the MIM name from prior exposure. It is indicative of a low tide in the movement here that most are completely unfamiliar with anti-imperialist prisoners. This represents an opportunity and responsibility to publicize our work and recruit more volunteers.

Among this small sample of the public, found tabling in busy urban areas, at local leftist events, or at the aforementioned conference, there were multiple people who were very enthusiastic about the newspaper and our work in spite of lacking all prior familiarity. This welcome enthusiasm also resulted in some “pig questions”: those which, if AIPS answered publicly, would inevitably feed valuable information to the pigs (in other words, agents of the state). The size of a political group, their location, and their leadership structure are examples of questions unnecessary to answer in order to work with others. That information only helps enemies who wish to study, surveil or even infiltrate anti-imperialist organizations. And we don’t say this to pretend that we are a big organization but rather to encourage people to do the work that they see as the most correct.

AIPS comrades encountered some popular confusion about MIM(Prisons)’s line on (non)exploitation of prisoners. Some people thought MIM(Prisons) was fighting against the for-profit prison system. Most prisons are not private. And even companies like JPay, Securus, and GTL that are profiteering off prisoners are making very small amounts of money compared to the cost of running the criminal injustice system, which the Prison Policy Institute put at about $182 billion. MIM(Prisons)’s actual line is that prisons are an immense cost to Amerika: a cost sustained for the purpose of social control, especially for the national oppression of First Nation, New Afrikan and Chican@ liberation movements. In the end, this cost is worthwhile if Amerika is able to prevent the masses of oppressed nations from fighting for autonomy in land and resources. But still, the benefits yielded are not profits in terms of capital but the containment and suppression of the internal semi-colonies within the United $tates. Imprisonment is a form of absolute immiseration that we think of in the realm of genocide rather than exploitation. The suppression of rebellious groups helps the settler Amerikan nation maintain its position on top. AIPS incorporates this understanding in our prisoner correspondence and campaign work.

Over the last month I have made several requests to the mailroom staff McCann and Internal Investigator Mason Kierznowski about ULK 86. After over a month of waiting McCann said that Investigations and Intelligence (I.I.) was reviewing it.

Well, tonight I finally received it. They were holding onto ULK and Prison Legal News from last month. I know if I wasn’t on top of it they would have discarded it. I told Mason K. that he was clearly in violation of the correspondence policy. You cannot hold onto one’s mail for weeks without giving a confiscation slip.

Prior to all this, something bad happened indicating that they are out to harm me.

On 22 July 2024, while under a lockdown I was taken to an upper level secluded shower area to shower. I was left in this small stainless steel shower with no ventilation. I could not breath. After yelling, screaming, and kicking to be let out of the torture coffin, I was finally let out. I almost died.

Then the officer cuffed me up and gave me the order of “let’s go.” I went down the flight of steps and into my cell so I could get to my inhaler and fan.

The officer filed a class B offense of “fleeing & resisting” when he claimed he gave me a command to stop and I never heard him tell me this. [MIM(Prisons): This comrade also sent us copies of written statements from others affirming that the C.O. did not order em to stop.]

On 9 September 2024, the same person that dismissed the frivolous conduct report on your letter for allegedly being laced with drugs, found me guilty. This is a serious offense. She took my commissary and phone for 30 days. I lost my job and my place in line for the honor dorm. I will be forced to stay where I am, which is a 6’ by 9’ cell that is close to isolation conditions.

It’s a sad situation comrades. I cannot give up. They are beating me down. I have to keep pushing on.

Everyone is counting on me. The reports on Pendleton in ULK 86 were awesome! I have supporters in you all.

All of our readers who operate within the hideous belly of the beast that is the United $nakes prison system know about this system’s cruel and unrelenting oppression in every facet of daily life. This article serves to highlight and expose the asinine nature of one particular aspect of this oppression that is particularly relevant to our work: censorship. Every time we send out a document, book, or newspaper, there is always the risk that whatever pig is working in the mail room on the day it arrives will arbitrarily opt to censor it for any number of made-up reasons. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, this behavior has the backing of the U.$. court system which has granted the prison bureaucrats almost total control over deciding what comes into prisons. Like every other instrument of control wielded by the state, the pigs use this power to repress the masses of the oppressed groups, especially if this repression targets political content that challenges the status quo.

However, there are still victories to be won in appealing these cases of censorship, which comrades in Anti-Imperialist Prisoner Support (AIPS) are striving to do for every incident that comes to our attention. With this in mind, we hope to start publishing these censorship reports as a way to communicate to you, our readers, our efforts in combating censorship as well as to showcase particularly pathetic attempts by the pigs to censor our mail.

North Carolina’s Brazen Hypocrisy

In ULK 84, we included a piece of art sent in by a subscriber of ours which depicted a pig officer beating a prisoner with a baton. This was apparently too far for the North Carolina Division of Prisons (NCDOP) who said that they don’t allow “depictions of violence” and that this image “may encourage a group disruption.” We simply had to scoff when we read this in light of the fact that the NCDOP specifically lays out guidelines on when it is “appropriate” to beat prisoners with “impact weapons” like the baton depicted in the art. To the pigs, it’s fine to physically abuse and maim prisoners. But showing them a cartoon of such acts? That’s where they draw the line.

MIM(Prisons): Political Organization or Tattoo Artists?

MIM Distributors recently sent a copy of the Fundamental Political Line of the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons (FPL) (which we recommend to all our readers who wish to get a deeper understanding of our organization’s politics) to a comrade serving time in the heinous Florida Department of Corrections. Usually the FPL gets through to prisoners fine, so we were a bit surprised to receive a censorship notice in this case. This unfortunately means that FPL is now on the Florida ban list, preventing any Florida prisoners from doing our intro study course (they were already prevented from doing our 12 Step Program). And the official reason listed for this censorship? That the FPL contained an image “large and distinctive enough to be used as a tattoo pattern.” This was truly a new one for this author (though our records show it’s been done before). Apparently, sending any sort of art can justify censorship if some pig decides the art might make a good tattoo! The silver lining to this abuse of power is that it provides the perfect example of how the pigs will use any justification to achieve their goals of repressing the masses.

Indiana Finds “Drugs” in Our Letters

The third and final case of censorship we’ll discuss is more aptly described as a crusade against one of our comrades in Indiana. Nearly every issue of ULK or any other mail we send to this comrade is censored for some inane reason usually relating to our alleged promotion of “Security Threat Groups.” We think it’s more likely that the state has it out for our comrade though, seeing as ey are currently filing a lawsuit against one of the pigs at the Indiana Department of Corrections. Recently though, the mail room at the facility this comrade is imprisoned in decided that MIM(Prisons) had laced one of their letters with drugs. Not only this, they threatened the comrade with a year in lock up and to take away all of eir legal work. After sending our letter off to the lab it turns out that the “drugs” were simply some ink that got smeared. When the oppressed simply try to survive, the pigs will resort to beatings, administrative punishments, and acts of sabotage. But when the pigs are caught actively lying to facilitate such cruel acts, the oppressed get nothing, not even an apology.

In spite of this brutal repression, our comrade in Indiana is continuing on with eir lawsuit in an attempt to expose and hold accountable the pigs who think they can just violate the rights of prisoners without a second thought. If you’d like to read more about our campaign to support this prisoner as well as ways you can help, look to our campaign linked below (or p. 16 of ULK).

MIM Distributors has been targetted in Pendleton Correctional Facility in Indiana for promoting “Security Threat Group” information, usually with no justification. Sometimes they will also add “New Afrika”, as if the whole nation of New Afrika is a Security Threat Group. This has been used to censor our newsletter and communications with prisoners at Pendleton. More recently, staff have accused MIM Distributors of lacing mail with drugs and threatened to throw the intended recipients of that mail in long-term isolation torture cells as a result! The charge against at least one prisoner has been dropped, but the political repression continues.

Comrades in Anti-Imperialist Prisoner Support have taken up a campaign to get Pendleton staff to follow their own rules and stop this baseless persecution. You can see in our Amerikan Censorship Documentation Project that we have been appealing the censorship for the last couple years with little progress. Therefore we are expanding this campaign to build public opinion in support. You can help by using these postcards to talk to people about what is going on in Pendleton and getting them to send a postcard of protest to let the Indiana Department of Corrections know that people are not okay with their political persecution tactics.

• download PDF above
• print 2-sided on cardstock
• cut into 4
• add $0.56 stamp (or more)
• go to event or public space and ask people to sign their name, city and state
• hand them a flyer or Under Lock & Key
• ask for a donation to pay for postage & printing
• drop postcards in mail box (don’t mail them all at once we want a consistent stream of cards coming in)

In ULK 84, we announced the addition of Indiana to our list of states with a campaign and petition to get prisoner grievances heard and addressed. The comrade who wrote the petition immediately put it to work, sending copies of the petition to all the official addresses listed on the bottom.

This comrade had mail confiscated in June 2023 that ey has been trying to get ever since.

“The indorm counselor asked me to sign the paper which said I had to either send it home or have it destroyed and they violated/broke my due process rights as well as my 1st Amendment rights. I told her I ain’t signing shit.”

“Then a day later I.A. here at Putnamville Correctional Facility called me over to give my publication to me after they had them for well over 6 months, which is a victory, and we will see more I believe.”

The comrade sent us a copy of the letter from the Deputy Chief of Investigations granting that the publications sent in early June were permissible – 7 months later!

While we agree there will be more victories, we’ve also seen setbacks following censorship battles in Indiana over the last couple years. MIM(Prisons) believes there are no rights, only power struggles. The grievance campaign being waged in over a dozen states across the country is geared towards getting prisoners organized to advocate for themselves because the system is always there to maintain the status quo.

Today the Deputy Chief of Investigations helped a comrade out, tomorrow ey might not be so generous. Recently the FBI arrested rapists running FCI-Dublin, yet at other times they’ve imprisoned and assassinated those who fight for the liberation of the oppressed. The agents of the state act in the interest of the state. So we cannot rest on our laurels after a couple censorship victories.

A comrade in Indiana has drafted the attached petition to address relevant state officials listed at the end regarding failures in the grievance system in the Indiana Department of Corrections. Outside supporters are encouraged to share the petition with contacts inside and to write the contacts in support of the issues faced by their friends, comrades and family. Prisoners in Indiana can write us to get copies of this petition as well as our Federal appeal petition in the case that the state petition is not effective.

[UPDATED August 2024 to include contacts at Wabash Valley CF]

We Demand Our Grievances Are Addressed!