MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
www.prisoncensorship.info is a media institution run by the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons. Here we collect and publicize reports of conditions behind the bars in U.$. prisons. Information about these incidents rarely makes it out of the prison, and when it does it is extremely rare that the reports are taken seriously and published. This historical record is important for documenting patterns of abuse, and also for informing people on the streets about what goes on behind the bars.
The state is tightening its control on free communication and
association in prisons across the country by imposing digital monitoring
systems, and in some
cases banning hard copies of mail.
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety has begun using a
company called TextBehind to handle their mail and push people towards
their digital communications platform. This allows the company to extort
people to pay whatever prices they want just to send their loved ones a
message, while the state gets to monitor every word.
MIM Distributors began sending mail to TextBehind last month only to
have it returned unopened. It turns out TextBehind does not process
letters from organizations, only from individuals. As an organization we
would be required to set up a corporate account with non-public pricing
schemes. In other words, as a member of MIM(Prisons) I cannot just put a
stamp on an envelope and drop it in the mail for a comrade in NCDPS
custody anymore. This is a blatant violation of our First Amendment
rights to speech and association. At this time it appears that
newsletters and books are still allowed through the prisons, but we will
not be able to correspond with you directly, send you study guides or
other information persynalized to you if you are being held by
NCPDS.
UPDATE: We just had a package of ULKs
returned to us from Roanoke River Correctional Institution saying, “This
facility DOES NOT accept friend and family mail directly” and that we
must send mail to TextBehind. But TextBehind does not accept
publications, only letters that can be scanned. So it seems mail to
NCDPS is being blocked on all fronts.
Pigs Bring in
Drugs, While Prisoners Mail Suffers
related news from a Wisconsin
prisoner:
First thing first, I am still in Wisconsin. They are making all of us
have our families and comrades send personal letters and photos to the
Phoenix, Maryland PO Box (189) to inspect them for drugs such as K2,
even though drugs, cell phones and other contraband items come from the
fascist pigs that work in these imperialist gulags. Newspapers, books,
publications are still to be sent here.
by a North Carolina prisoner September 2021 permalink
On 15 September 2021 twenty four prisoners declared hunger strike at
Foothills Correctional Institution in North Carolina. By 2PM the
administration locked up 3 comrades. Me and another comrade stayed
fasting.
They only give us phone once a week; no yard in a month; and less
than 2 hours of recreation per day. Basically we’re in segregation for
no reason. I reflect on these b.s. measures, then I asked myself why and
how does this opre$$ion end?!
“Why are the battles endless?! Why the Us vs. them?! Why is the Earth
CRYING ?!”
There’s been a substantial amount of reports on increases in
depression and mental health disorders in the United $tates due to the
shelter-in-place orders. In September, Time Magazine cited a
study that showed severe depression being reported by 5.1% of people, up
from 0.7% before the pandemic. The common explanation for this increase
is social isolation combined with uncertainty and fear. Yet we have a
prison system that regularly uses more extreme forms of social isolation
(for example no internet, and being locked down in a literal cage),
uncertainty and fear and people often look at the people in these
prisons as being mentally ill. In reality, we are seeing a massive
experiment on the larger society that shows this is how most people
react in the conditions we face in prison. So what does it mean to be
mentally ill, if this is socially induced?
It means this place will drive you crazy. If not by having hardly any
contact with the opposite sex, then by isolation in a small cell
(including being allowed 3 showers a week and an hour of recreation
outside your cell 5 days a week). This is not normal and causes abnormal
effects.
As you sit in your dwelling long enough you become a different
person. You may find yourself venting or doing things you normally
wouldn’t do, like burning down your cell or town.
A person may go a period of time without speaking. An elderly
self-disciplined person may stay quiet, longing, but when one does break
their silence they will talk for an hour or two until they burn
themselves out. This will usually occur once a day in conditions where
there’s only one person to talk to, as it is an HCON (high) Control
Purpose.
Others began to talk to spirits and demons. In some cases, this is
stimulated by them making up stuff in their mind, but there are also
diagnosed paranoid prisoners who scream every time the light cuts on and
they open their eyes. They also fight demons.
Solitary confinement can also lead to suicide, as an escape. There
have been people committing reactionary suicide, like Biscuit from the
movie Life, when he ran across the gun line because he
“couldn’t go on living.” Psychologists don’t even bother to get to know
who you are or talk you through your problems. They either give you some
drugs to experiment with or decline to help you altogether. They are
unconcerned that abused children are liable to grow up with an
attachment disorder which doesn’t necessarily require medication but
does require TLC, which a half-dozen psychiatrists can’t provide for the
1200 prisoners here.
On Segregation we receive even less communication with our families
who can provide that loving sanctuary and keep us sane, because we have
no phone and only one non-contact visit a month (we should be able to
receive more TV visits).
Our families mail is sometimes held for a month after it arrives at
the prison. This creates depression by worrying about our families and
why they haven’t written over the holidays, to later find out
devastating news from our loved ones. Talk about fear and
uncertainty.
Some people become anti-social in solitary confinement for different
reasons. One reason may be that after so much chaos and falling out with
people around them in distress, they began to fall back from
everyone.
Others find themselves through self-discipline and block out all
other worldly distractions to work on their goals.
Some stressed adolescents in solitary confinement turn towards music
as escape and begin to sing lyrics at the top of their lungs, others
find refuge and entertainment in woofing. With all this racket going on
in Restrictive Housing, it will drive a perfectly sane person insane and
into an insomniac.
At Polk Correctional Institution in North Carolina on supermax (or
HCON, High Risk Security) we don’t go outside because the officials will
trash your cell, steal your property, fully restrain you with your hands
behind your back connected to chains around your waist, and leave you in
a recreation cage with giant brown recluse spiders, all to deter you
from going outside again. Similar tactics are practices here at Central
Prison.
The air in the building is insufficient for a human being to breathe
at times and I’ve experienced shortness of breath. Compare that to
wearing a mask that you can easily remove if you choose.
Comrades at that camp have developed bone marrow cancer, and there is
probably cause to expect that this cancer may have been caused by the
contaminated water they were working in. There was also strong gasoline
type chemicals in the food that was being served at the time.
Right now at Central Prison our lunch consists of one bologna and
cheese sandwich, 2 crackers and a 2oz (1/4 cup) of fruit with a juice
packet every day. Dinner’s no better, and staff will fight and curse you
if you speak out, because they have PTSD and other disorders themselves
from war, childhood and other experiences. In this way, mental health
patients (the staff) are responsibly for the well-being of other mental
health patients.
There’s a mental health program called T.D.U. for patients on RHCP
(Restrictive Housing Control Purposes) that they can send you to where
you can slowly earn privileges like television, canteen, phone, being
allowed to come out of your cell, but they never send any New Afrikans
to the programs.
By contrast, RHCP pods have 16 cells each, and I have never seen more
than 5 non-color people at a time in any pod. At HCON there are four
blocks each with two tiers that hold 12 cells each. I have never
witnessed more than 2 non-color people on any tier at a time during the
2 years I spent there.
If a non-colored comrade gets in a scuffle on the yard at Central
Prison, they may receive a week or two in segregation, but a negro will
receive 12-18 months on RHCP. Right now, we are receiving more time at
Central Prison on RHCP than prisoners at Polk CI on HCON who spend only
10 months on HCON, but after they do their HCON at Polk CI, Polk may
hold them for 6-12 months on RHCP.
Some people haven’t been guilty of any charges to be placed on RHCP
or HCON, so Classification will lie and forge paperwork (no due
process). They are con artists who don’t follow their own laws.
The ill-treatment we receive from the institution only creates more
PTSD and brings unnecessary bad energy towards people. Workers should be
focused on taking care of their families and not risking their lives to
oppress others for no gain, but of their master’s amusement.
This room becomes our life. At Polk CI on HCON our cells have showers
with food being delivered to their doors, and some guys never want to
leave. Some people aren’t going home and to some poor men on the street,
incarceration provides 3 meals a day. In the County jail I’ve seen
people live in the hole and refuse to leave on numerous occasions.
Solitary confinement is the only place I’ve seen a man smear shit
everywhere including his face, and eat shit sandwiches. Tell me this is
normal and something you see people do. Thankfully they finally sent
this particular prisoner to the mental hospital where he may get some
help (and not get thrown in a cage for sleeping in some bushes on public
property because he’s a poor New Afrikan man who was stripped of his
assets).
Comrades, we are not ourselves behind the door, so I’ll leave you
with the words a knowledgeable man left with me:
by a North Carolina prisoner September 2020 permalink
Comrade Tag: I fasted from 7PM on 8 September 2020
until 5PM on 9 September 2020. I did drink water though. It was intense,
it was the first time I’ve ever intentionally fasted. In the streets I
wouldn’t eat for a day or 2, but I had alcohol, weed, etc. to sustain
me.
It was eye-opening for me. Like, “Damn, people go through this for
the cause all the time!” I need to tighten up. Self discipline for me
and food is poor. I write, stand up against oppression, and help educate
people, but food is so essential to survival. Not eating for me is like
not living. That’s why I decided to fast.
My stomach complained a lot at first, but after awhile it stopped. I
had a goal in mind, so it followed my lead. My thoughts tried to
scatter, but I focused on explaining to guys why I fasted. Also, more
causes were brung to my attention.
All in all the day was a success! The feast with Comrade L was
supportive. Ey is new to being aware and learning about the struggle. I
explained my appreciation for eir support. Thank you for sending ULK
No. 57, it was a great read and perfect timing. Thanks again for
your time and support.
In Struggle!
Comrade L: Hello, my name is [Comrade L] and I
participated in the September 9th Day of Peace and Solidarity. This is
the first time I’ve fasted in relation to prisoner awareness. I did this
to show my support and to have something to do.
I’ve done a few things this year to further our causes here at
Avery/Mitchell Correctional Institution. This 11 hours (6AM - 5PM)
helped me to think about what I do. I feel a little more aware of what
others have had to go through so prison could be better.
It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Also, I feel good when I
broke the fast with Tag NC. Ey said I should write my feelings so ey
could send it with this letter today. I hope you are happy with my
support.
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety (DPS) Division of
Adult Correction is hard at work exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to
further oppress disadvantaged people. Its first big moves were
elimination of visitation and Christian religious services. Then,
concerned about overcrowding (which DPS has previously denied) and lack
of social distancing, a judge requested DPS to tell the court how its
acting to keep prisoners in different pods, dorms and units apart. Then
things really got crazy.
After weeks of foolish experiments in the overcrowded dining hall,
Greene Correctional Institution stopped letting us eat there at all. All
meals are now served on styrofoam takeout trays. The pigs have less
“work” to do. The partial lockdown didn’t stop there, though.
The yards are now closed about 19 hours/day. Yard time is the only
opportunity we have for distanced socializing. Now its limited to less
than 1.5 hours/day for each dorm, two or three dorms at a time. The rest
of the day we’re locked up in concrete tombs, suffering from vitamin D
deficiencies. Lack of fresh air and vitamin D is compromising our immune
systems, increasing our risk of dying of COVID-19.
Disingenuous DPS paperwork has placated courts, which have never been
known for integrity or common sense. Any reported isolation is a crude
ruse effective only when someone chooses to believe it and ignore the
evidence. Despite published rules, prisoners float from dorm to dorm,
tattooing each other, buying, selling and taking drugs, bartering and
trading medical supplies and contraband, gambling, and extorting weaker,
elderly, infirm and handicapped prisoners. Guards pretend not to notice
the crowds in the dayrooms, bathrooms and showers.
DPS has now “resumed” (it never really stopped) shipping victims
between prisons. New arrivals come straight to regular population. They
are not quarantined.
Guards and another non-resident personnel come and go. They are not
tested. By now, its a near certainty that some of them carry SARS-CoV-2,
the virus that causes COVID-19.
Just recently, the national grievance petition that I drafted got
published in several newspapers. Then our cell block got raided multiple
times, and cellphones were confiscated. Well the C.O.’s put the searches
off on my organizing and blaming me for the raids. As a result, a XXXX
gang member stabbed me 5 times in the back with an ice pick. I am
recovering fine but it just goes to show how far these fascists will go
to shut me up.
Next, I would like to update you on these petitions. So on 8 May 2020
citizens in Raleigh, N.C. did a vehicle protest blaring horns, marching
with signs in front of Central Prison in Raleigh & prisoners on the
inside went on a 3 day hunger strike and refused to lock down at the
facility.
On 9 May 2020 many protests broke out at the Neuse Prison inside and
outside demanding N.C. prisoners’ human rights.
On 10 May 2020 women prisoners at NCCIW also protested on the inside
while dozens of cars blared their horns outside of the prison in
solidarity and marched in front of the prison until local police from
two agencies were dispersed to break the crowd up.
Prisoners are tired of being restricted from writing to other
prisoners of the opposite sex. Tired of paying $10.00 for prison rule
violations, restrictions on who can send us money, life sentences and
all the b.s. time we are being sentenced.
I hope these words surmount the many communicational barriers that have
been put in place to suppress my voice. I’m currently being held at
North Carolina’s supermax facility. I came across issue 66 of ULK
and I read where the
prisoners
of Pender razor-wire plantation are being exploited and seeking
guidance and assistance in redressing this issue.(1)
North Carolina is home to 32 Correctional Enterprise plantations that
exploit prisoners for their labor in the name of rehabilitation. As the
komrade mentioned, these plantations are profitable enterprises that
range from producing janitorial products to a metal plant in Polkton,
North Carolina that makes industrial sinks for schools and contraband
lockers for the police. Each of these 32 plantations produces goods to
be sold to tax-supported entities such as municipal and county
governments. So yes it’s a fact that prisoners are being exploited and
you seek guidance on how you and others can organize to redress this
issue.
First and foremost, you must purge the fear you admitted to having,
komrade. As the beloved komrade George Jackson stated, “Don’t fear the
specter of repression, for we are already repressed.” The fear of
reprisals is what keeps us in bondage. Yes we’re held captive by
concrete and razor-wire barriers, but it isn’t the physical chains that
keep us oppressed and exploited. It is the mental chains of ignorance
and fear that impede us from liberating ourselves from under the rule of
the enemy. Fear is our greatest hindrance. We have been conditioned to
believe that the enemy’s retaliation will be so brutal that any thoughts
of standing up are neutralized by this fear. Nelson Mandela said it
best: “In prison, no improvement happens without a reason.”
However, you are correct that you must have assistance. You cannot fight
this Hydra alone. North Carolina isn’t known for its progressive
political activity within these razor-wire plantations, nor are there
any notable revolutionaries or political prisoners. Being the deputy
minister of defense for the White Panther organization, which is an arm
of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party - Prison Chapter, under the
umbrella of the United Panther Movement, we have been on the front lines
and working diligently to transform these slave pens of oppression into
schools of liberation.
There are outside supporters here that are very loyal to the prisoners
of North Carolina. They provide us with a local newsletter,
FloodGates, to serve as a platform for us to network with others
and express ourselves. They also organize outside protests and mass
call-ins. As of now, we are focused on redressing the new JPay
restrictions. You can receive the FloodGates newsletter by
writing:
FloodGates Publishing PO Box 15401 Durham, NC 27704
MIM(Prisons) responds: In ULK 66 we asked for input from
other folks in response to the writer from North Carolina who asked what
they can do to fight back against the extortion of money, both through
their labor and petty fees. This writer offers some good thoughts about
building a network both behind bars and on the streets. We work for
Under Lock & Key to also serve as a resource to help with
this organizing.
As we’ve discussed in our recent updated
“Survey of U.S Prisoners on Prison Labor” in ULK 62,
prisoners are mostly working for the state.(2) The examples given by
this writer confirm that this is the case in North Carolina as well.
This labor is subsidizing the state budget, but it falls far short of
covering the cost of imprisonment. So we don’t describe prison labor
with the term “exploitation” which, in Marxism, means transforming labor
power into goods to be sold for a profit. The goods being produced are
for state institutions, and just offset the costs to run these
institutions. There’s no profit involved.
Instead, we say the prisons are extorting this labor. Basically the
prisons are stealing it from prisoners, not giving them a choice about
work, and paying only a pittance. Still, there’s no profit.
Prisons are about social control and national oppression, not profits.
The prison movement needs to focus on the anti-colonial battle, and the
struggle against prison labor can be a part of this. We support the
struggles many of our comrades are fighting against prison labor,
because we are against extortion and imprisonment of the lumpen class
and oppressed-nation peoples. This is one of many ways to weaken the
criminal injustice system.
by a North Carolina prisoner September 2019 permalink
It’s August 2019 and people say that the Criminal Justice System doesn’t
work. I beg to differ. I’ve come to believe that it works just fine,
just like slavery did as a matter of economic and political policy. How
is it that a 16 year old in North Carolina who can’t get a job can
suddenly generate $54,750 (which equates to $150 a day for prison
upkeep) when trapped and inducted into the Criminal Injustice System
where architects, food and medical providers, masons, carpenters,
electricians, painters, correctional officers, administrators and a
myriad other skilled trade workers get paid with guaranteed job
security?
Just like the era of chattel slavery, there is a class of people
dependent on the poor and on the bodies of all of us who are behind
bars. All throughout the Criminal Injustice System, the policies of the
police, the courts, and our prisons are a manifestation of classism,
racism and dishonesty which governs the lives of all of us. Then you
have prosecutors. They are like nasty little rats with quivering noses
that have invaded our court systems with full impunity across the
country feeding thousands of human bodies into the bowels of the
razor-wire plantations without the slightest remorse for the hell they
are sending us to, where slavery is mandated.
No matter how you look at it, involuntary labor is slavery. You see, the
United $tates didn’t abolish slavery, they just transferred it into
their prisons. So last year on 20 August 2018 with the help of outside
human rights activists, prison abolitionists, anarchists, and other
public supporters who did a peaceful demonstration in our prison parking
lot, I, [Prisoner A], alongside [Prisoners B, C and D] all organized
together with hundreds of other prisoners across North Carolina and
questioned these policies by assembling peacefully and petitioning our
government for a redress of our grievances.
As a result, we were all labeled as rioters and Security Threat Group
individuals and sent off to super max prisons and thrown into solitary
confinement where we were subjected to all sorts of mistreatment: glass
was found in [Prisoner D’s] food, I was poisoned and never receiving any
treatment, [Prisoner B] was sent to the Rehabilitative Diversion Unit
(RDU) program where he is currently being brainwashed. [Prisoner C] got
out of prison. I finally got out of solitary hell after spending 8 long
months of sensory deprivation and losing 53 pounds only to face more
repression and mail censorship that resulted in me receiving another 6
months for simply writing and organizing the 21 May 2019 National
Grievance Day complaining about the new discriminatory JPay policy that
limits who can send a prisoner money.
And what have I learned in all of this? I’ve learned that any time you
restrain a person from going where they want to go, its an act of
violence. Anytime you bully and mistreat someone by placing them in a
cell 23 hours a day, it’s an act of violence! I’ve also learned that
it’s not the inhumanity of the cruelties prisoners face in prisons on a
daily basis or inhumane conditions: the cold, filth, callous medical
care, tasers, unnecessary chains, pepper spray, beatings, excessive
censorship, dehumanizing strip searches, extended and excessive
isolation in solitary confinement for simple things like writing, or the
robbing of our trust funds of $10 each time a prison guard accuses us of
a rule violation that are criminalized; it’s the complaining about our
conditions of confinement that’s made criminal. Right now there are tens
of thousands of humans living in enforced solitary confinement cells in
U.$. prisons.
Over a decade ago when news broke about what was going on in Abu Ghraib,
President Bush stated “what took place in that prison doesn’t represent
the America I know.” Unfortunately, for the more than 2.5 million
prisoners and undocumented immigrants and the rest of us living in U.$.
prisons, this is the Amerikkka we know, our family members know, and the
anarchists and prison abolitionists know. Furthermore, prisoners have
got to wake up and realize that the entire executive branch of the U.$.
government seems to sanction torture in our prisons and all of the
repression and disrespect that we endure on a daily basis from prison
guards is unacceptable. It is imperative that prisoners continue to
organize and to write about their experiences and complain to folks on
the outside so that the public can realize what’s happening to people in
U.$. prisons. There are watchdog organizations that expose, ridicule and
punish Internet and school bullies and there are laws against bullying.
The prison guards are also supposed to observe these laws.
The conditions and practices that men, women, and children can attest to
here in North Carolina are in violation of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, the United Nations Convention Against Torture, and the
United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination. In addition, most U.$. prisons practices also violate
dozens of other international treaties and clearly fit the United
Nations’ definition of genocide. Aren’t you tired of being told where to
sit? What to eat? Who you can socialize with inside and outside of
prison? What you can watch on TV? What you may read or what you can
write about or to whom? Of being denied basic dignity based on race or
class? Aren’t you tired of your bodies being examined, exploited and
used through dehumanizing and invasive strip-searches on the whim of a
prison guard or a jailer?
Prisoners have got to continue to organize and alter the very core of
every system that slavery, racism and poverty has given birth to, and
particularly the Criminal Injustice System. The entire prison system
must stop violating the rights of men, women, and children in North
Carolina! We must effectively eliminate solitary confinement, the
restriction of our civil rights, their devices of torture, family-run
prisons, and all forms of sentences of “death by incarceration” or
sentences that are overly burdensome, oppressive and too lengthy that
financially benefit the government instead of victims of crime!
It’s plain to see that many victims could be better served by working
out an honest agreement with those disingenuous persons who have wronged
them, and that prosecutors have a lot of undue power to decide whom to
criminalize as well as what cases are or aren’t priority. Of course
these mutual agreements will not be ideal in every case, but failure to
account for social context is such a crucial aspect of what’s wrong with
our current system. We need to put context first and resolve each
dispute in its own way rather than just applying a rigid legal formula.
I think the call for universal basic decency and respect towards all
living creatures as well as towards prisoners is a powerful message
that’s made more powerful when people share their stories of
mistreatment. Each of our personal and individual struggles are one of
many, but when we as prisoners stop focusing on the color of one’s skin,
or what he or she is in prison for, and all join hands, that’s when we
can get our freedoms back and that’s when we can all win.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer is right on when ey says that
prisons do work. It’s all about understanding the real purpose of
prisons. Amerikkkan prisons are not meant for rehabilitation, they are
meant for social control. The author speaks of the child prisoner who is
“generating” $54,750 per year. This is another purpose of prisons:
distribution of profits stolen from the Third World to First World
workers. All those workers in the criminal injustice system are
parasites, earning good wages to further this system of social control.
Those wages come mostly from state budgets. And those state budgets are
just a redistribution of wealth. Imperialist wealth. Which is taken from
the Third World through exploitation of workers and theft of natural
resources.
This redistribution of super profits is a side “benefit” of the criminal
injustice system. The focus is social control, particularly of oppressed
nations. That social control wouldn’t be complete if prisoners were
allowed to study, communicate and organize freely. In fact, there is a
contradiction inherent in the United $tates prison system. Locking up
people as a means of social control puts these people in close contact,
with lots of time on their hands, which facilitates organizing and
studying together. So the prisons turn to greater repression behind bars
to try to stop these activities. That’s exactly what this writer is
fighting against. We must demand an end to solitary confinement, an end
to censorship of prisoners’ mail, and access to a real and effective
grievance system. These are small goals in the context of the larger
fight against imperialism. But they are goals that will bring real
progress for our comrades behind bars. Progress that will allow the
prisoners to organize and educate and build.
by a North Carolina prisoner August 2019 permalink
I remember the first grievance I ever wrote. The blanket I was given
barely covered me. Really it was only half a blanket, having been
shredded by other prisoners for whatever reason. I was new in prison and
wasn’t really pressed for conversation with officers, so I wrote a
grievance.
A few days later I was brought a complete blanket! I felt successful
having petitioned for something and seeing results. The system had
worked right? Not so much. Along with my fresh blanket came the return
of my grievance–unprocessed.
Granted I was new to prison and Administrative Remedy Procedure, I
thought these actions were common. My issue had been resolved so no need
to process my complaint, right? I don’t think so! I let this one go and
started educating myself on the ins and outs of this procedure.
Over the years I heard several opinions of the Administrative Remedy
Procedure by other prisoners. Some saw it as “snitching” or “dry
snitching”. Nearly everyone felt it was just an opportunity for
officials to retaliate against us. I witness incidents daily
that are grievance-worthy, but prisoners refuse to file them for fear
they will be harassed or transferred; and, well, the things do happen!
I was never scared or discouraged in filing a grievance myself, but I
certainly understand why a prisoner would be. Many times officers are
unified, so if you grieve the conduct of officer A, he will send officer
B to aggressively search your locker or cell. Other reprisals I’ve
witnessed include: transfer to a new cell, section of the prison and
even a new prison altogether; verbal harassment by the officer(s)
grievances were filed on, and by other staff in the facility; malicious
infractions against the prisoner who filed a grievance and punishments
that are far too severe as a result of that infraction.
My grievance activity really began in 2015. On April 27th I was
assaulted by an officer after picking up a piece of candy, which he (the
officer) assumed was contraband. As the officer placed his hands around
my neck I swallowed the candy, which led to me being “dry celled”.
I was required to defecate in a bag three times for inspection by the
officers, but on the third occasion the officers forced me to make the
inspection; without protective equipment, hygiene or cleaning supplies.
To my benefit, everything was on camera!
I spent three days in segregation and when released was charged with
“interfering with staff duty”. The officer who assaulted me said I “led
him away from his search” when I placed a piece of candy in my mouth.
Also, upon returning to population, I bought a Policy and Procedures
Manual from a prisoner in my dorm.
I familiarized myself with policy related to use of force, close
observation (dry cell), and Administrative Remedy Procedure. I followed
every rule, such as–grievances can only be written about one incident
and one grievance must complete step two before another can be filed.
Most of my grievances were accepted and processed with no problem, but
staff violated their own procedures with nearly every one.
My first grievance was on the assault/use of force. It was assigned the
routing number 4630-15-0065. When I started receiving responses by
prison administration, not only were they delayed, but the routing
number had been changed to 4630-15-0066! Of course the obstruction was
worthy of a grievance itself, so I filed one about that too.
Just six days after my obstruction grievance was accepted, I was
transferred to the most dangerous prison in North Carolina. Lucky for me
I had alleged threats of transfer on grievances I’d written and I
requested no retaliation such as institutional transfer as one of the
remedies for my grievances. All of this aided and supported another
grievance on a retaliatory transfer.
A separate grievance was written concerning the dry cell incident as
well. Response to this grievance alone admitted fault for the officers’
conduct. All others were covered up, denied or ignored altogether.
As you can see, one grievance led to events that required others.
Grievance Procedure in North Carolina requires grievances be written
within ninety days of an incident so in my case that wasn’t easy;
especially when staff delayed responses past the time limit.
Grievance responses come in three steps and each step has a timeline
which must be met, unless extensions are filed. The entire grievance
process, acceptance through step three, is supposed to take ninety days,
but rarely does this happen. Some of my grievances took over two hundred
days to complete and even then the responses would claim that incidents
never occurred.
Not only were response delays an issue, but Grievance Policy itself was
violated when officials I made allegations against gave the response to
grievances; grievances were left void of date, signature and indications
of acceptance or rejection. All of these violations warranted more
grievances and sometimes “corrective action” was said to be taken.
However, the violations continued.
In April 2018, I filed a §1983 suit about each of these incidents; from
the use of force to the final grievance response. Several of my claims
survived the Judge’s review and are still being litigated, but
none of the grievance violations merited a Constitutional
Violation. In other words, the prison system can continue violating
their own procedures and won’t be held accountable.
Grievances are considered “protected speech”, so my retaliatory transfer
claim is active. While the delays and obstruction to my grievances and
responses did “hinder” my litigation, they didn’t prevent it, so any
claims of access to courts were dismissed. I am still seeking justice
and accountability for these grievance issues. I do plan to appeal on
some grounds, but I’m still exploring that as well. It’s clear that
grievance procedure is protected, but Administrative Remedy Procedure is
not a process that is? I haven’t figured it out yet, but I will.
What I have learned is that our right to petition the government for
redress of grievances is one of our most important retained rights as
prisoners. It should be exercised often, and without fear of
consequences or retaliation. I encourage everyone to study your state’s
policy and procedure and apply it to your grievances. Also study your
state’s Administrative Remedy Procedure, so you file and appeal your
grievances appropriately. Most importantly, stay strong and stand up for
your rights.
by a North Carolina prisoner August 2019 permalink
July 30th. I went on a hunger Strike to not only motivate but avoid a
group demonstration charge. The next day eight more people in our pod
went on hunger strike and two in another pod, followed by four other
people who went on S.I.B. (self-injury behavior) and some floods
occurred in opposite pods.
Outside supporters called down here at Scotland NC Correctional
Institution all day until around 9:00 at night tying up the phone lines.
Captain Henderson’s name was heard all day over the intercom. She had me
and three other guys strip searched and placed in a holding cell to have
a meeting where we asked for recreation five times a week, the 90 day
phone call policy to be activated, food requirements to be met and
access to more than one library book a month.
The next day the whole pod was searched and torn apart. They threw away
our pictures of our family members–some of whom may have passed away–and
took books, contact information and destroyed whatever they chose. One
European guy who didn’t participate in the strike was forced out of the
pod and taken to medical. On the way there he was punched in the face.
In receiving he was jumped by Sgt. Sims, Off. Veto and a few other staff
members.
When the victim they attacked returned to the pod, they escorted him in
a wheelchair. He was tied down and had red gashes and bruises on his
face and body and they left him in his cell with nothing to wear but a
pair of boxers, socks and sandals. He had been beaten with a nightstick
and they refused to give him medical treatment or take pictures of any
of his injuries.
DPS doesn’t consider it a hunger strike until you refuse to eat nine
meals. Then they will start checking your vital organs and observe you.
In February, I went on an eleven day hunger strike, only surviving from
sugar pills the effects of which I had not been conscious of at the
time. It’s only afterwards that I realized I was bleeding internally but
still they have refused to give me medical treatment til this day as I
complained on my recent sick call. They have blood samples and all.
The people on S.I.B. a.k.a. suicide watch are left in their cell with
nothing but a spock a.k.a. turtle-suit with no blanket or mattress. I
was in receptive on the same treatment and I have dates and times.
Overall our recreation request has been met. Everything else was
probably a pseudo. We failed to address the main issue during the
meetings, which is police brutality. Prisoners were being beaten there
at least four times a day when I first arrived. I believe officials are
a little more restrained now due to the outside support.
Due to the harassment of the prisoners in my pod from an official who
called us snitches and b*tches for writing articles and filing lawsuits,
I decide to sacrifice my freedom by accepting his challenge on behalf of
my komrades. This was resolved in a George Jackson fashion style water
gun that they sent me back to supermax for, with a felony charge facing
68 months to continue my webstar’s studies.