North Carolina Prisons

Here in Tabor Correctional Institution in North Carolina, the officers/facility heads use a method that can be compared to the methods of Mr. Willie Lynch, who was a business man who had an affinity with “breaking slaves” in the Jim Crow south. Patsy Chavis is the facility superintendent/master here, and if we analyze the actions that she and the officers display, you’ll see some characteristics of hers that are similar to that of Willie Lynch.

Education

In the early days of slavery, it was forbidden to educate a slave. If a slave was caught reading, writing, spelling, etc, s/he was severely punished, sold, or killed/lynched, because the overseers/masters felt that if you give a slave an inch, he’ll take a mile, and a slave should know nothing but how to obey his/her master. They felt that educating a slave would make h unfit as a slave and s/he would become unmanageable.

Here at Tabor CI, Patsy Chavis censored some of the best political, law, historical, and educational books one could buy. She wants prisoners to stay uneducated, miseducated, undereducated and simply illiterate, so that we will remain in Tabor City razor wire plantation as a prisoner. Brothers who are fighting their cases who are ordering criminal law books are getting their books rejected. Those who are into politics, they are getting their magazines, books, and newsletters censored. Those of us who are Afrikan/Black and are ordering books or materials about our history, culture, way of life, etc, are being banned because they feel that it will cause “organized activity.” Instead, we are forced to read books on Hitler, how to enslave Blacks, the American revolution, etc. These books promote “organized activity” among the Euro-whites, who are a part of white supremacy organizations.

The above examples are not the only books they have in our library. They have fantasy, urban, western, etc., which are books that keep you diverted from the truth, promote genocide of Blacks (i.e. urban novels), and annihilation of the Indians by the cowboys. So if you’re trying to become intellectually inclined in a certain field that is beneficial to self it would be difficult, and the publications you order will be censored or banned.

Degradation/Belittlement

Another tactic of Mr. Willie Lynch was to make a slave feel like they are lower than the belly of an ant. Debasing was commonly used against slaves to let the slave know that s/he had no value and was just merely existing. This was done to make the slave more submissive to the will of h master, so they would feel that being a slave was the best thing that happened to them.

At Tabor City corrections, the facility heads/officers treat the prisoners exactly like the master/overseers treated their slaves. On the med control unit racial epithets, derogatory words, threats, etc. are continuously said by these racist euro-white officers. They cheerfully and gladly state that “Blacks need to be locked down/enslaved” and they are trying to bring the klan back. When we complain to the master, Patsy Chavis, she disregards our complaints as lies and sympathizes with her offices.

Food/Clothing

In the early slave days the overseers used to provide slaves with a certain amount of food, and an outfit that was supposed to last them a whole year. Well we don’t wear the same clothes for a year, but Patsy Chavis has cut our shower time down from 5 days a week to 2 days a week, which leaves us with the same clothing on a majority of the week. When we get new clothing, they come shredded, stained with blood and other substances, and we are forced to wear them or we’ll get written up and charged $10 and put in a dry cell naked for 72 hours.

The food they give us is not the portions that are recommended by the Department of Public Safety. We don’t receive the proper calories, nor are we given healthy food. They starve us and proclaim that we’re given the right amount, but when we lose an excessive amount of weight they say we’ve not been eating or starving ourselves.

These are just some examples of conditions of this prison. Patsy Chavis has mastered the art of Willie Lynchism and broken the majority of the prisoners at Tabor CI. You’ll hardly see a rebellious prisoner because they keep the hot heads or rebellious individuals like myself alone. These pigs pick and choose their prey, just like the slave holders used to do at slave auctions. They instill fear in many to create a divided population among prisoners, to keep prisoner from rebelling. North Carolina is the new Jim Crow south and Patsy Chavis is Willie Lynch, the slave/prisoner breaker.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This is a good analogy between the prison superintendent in North Carolina and Willie Lynch, showing how they shared similar tactics to control people. However, we would clarify the analogy by saying prisoners in the United $tates are not slaves in the economic sense. The labor of prisoners in Amerika is not a source of profit for the prisons or government. In fact prisons are a money-losing enterprise for the state. Slavery is a system characterized by the capture or purchase of humyns for the purpose of exploiting their labor. Amerikan prisons are used for social control, not labor exploitation.

In early June of this year, MIM Distributors received a letter from Assistant Director Cynthia Bostic of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NCDPS) upholding the censorship of Under Lock & Key No. 37 (March/April 2014). Bostic censored ULK 37 because it mentions the options legally available to prisoners, to not buy from commissary, not order packages through the prison’s vendor, and to file civil action suits. None of these activities are illegal, or even against NCDPS’s own policies. Since the newsletter talks about activities which prisoners are legally allowed to engage in, but which give the prisoners a tiny notion of agency and self-determination, it is not permitted in the state.

As a North Carolina comrade wrote almost two years ago, censorship of ULK under the guise of illegal activities was triggered by a surge in subscribers in that state and the development of a campaign by USW comrades in North Carolina to petition the state’s ineffective grievance system.

MIM Distributors has written multiple letters to NCDPS administrators in an effort to defend the rights of prisoners to read our newsletter, and to exercise our right to free speech. One of these letters helped convince Bostic to approve the delivery of Under Lock & Key No. 36 (January/February 2014). According to Section D.0105(d) of NCDPS’s Policies and Procedures, upon approval, the Publication Review Committee and Wardens are supposed to work together to deliver the previously censored issues of Under Lock & Key to their intended recipients. In Bostic’s letter, she “permits” MIM Distributors to resend ULK 36 at our own expense. We recently checked in with our subscribers in North Carolina to see if this issue was delivered to them via the channels outlined in NCDPS Policies and Procedures. If you were a subscriber in January 2014, you should have received issue 36 from your Warden. Let us know if you haven’t!

[The following is text from a grievance submitted 18 September 2013 to the North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services that was accepted and then rejected without explanation. NCPLS is under contract with the NC Department of Public Safety to meet the legal requirement of access to legal resources for prisoners. As a result NC prisoners are not provided with law libraries. Meanwhile NCPLS repeatedly denies help to our comrades who have been writing them for years about the abuses like those described below. Combined with the obstructionism of the department staff handling grievances, North Carolina prisoners have become frustrated with the injustice and responded with hunger strikes and a campaign to demand that grievances are addressed in the state prison system. We have edited the text from the original grievance for clarity. - MIM(Prisons)]

Dear Prisoner Legal Services,

I have been housed in High Security Maximum Control(HCON) North Carolina State Prison. HCON is long-term isolation with single cells including blocks A,B,C and D, housing 96 prisoners total.

I been here over over 9 months in 23/24 hours locked down and face years here. What follows is a brief summary of the problems prisoners (WE) have here. Us prisoners always try to address our problems with the officers. They ignore inmates on our daily needs when we have a concern to be addressed for whatever matter.

We have to beat on our cell doors and windows to get officers attention because the call button of all cells was removed from the rooms. Then some officers most of the time take up to 45 or so minutes to appear in our window. An extremely loud noise beating on cells windows for a day long and night on the daily basis does disturb the peace of other prisoners as well as staff members also.

The high official Mr. Muns, Polk Correctional Institution Superintendent, and Mr. Ryan Irvin Assistant Superintendent of HCON fail to address officers behavior to have them do what their job requires them to do.

Prisoners throw human waste (shit mixed with piss) at staff members or prisoners set cells on fire to get things done by staff, which results in the prisoner being indicted on street charges.

It’s not right all this happens on the daily basis and the matters are still not handled. All that happening in special house building is out of order. It makes an unsafe housing situation for prisoners and state staff.

The prisoners’ behavior causes lack of medical attention we’re suffering in special housing. Medical staff denied us medical emergency when declared most of the times. For example, nurse Mr. Berry, on September 15, 2013 denied me medical emergency I declared for high blood pressure and chest pain.

When we do get a nurse to respond to a medical emergency they are all being performed inside the prisoners’ cells, which is also incorrect because cells are unhygienic and contaminated. It’s unconstitutional.

Meanwhile, prisoners who submitted sick calls forms are facing months delays to be screened or be seen by doctor Lightsey Joseph. It take up 2 or 3 months without any concerns been fixed still. Most of the time prisoners sick calls are addressed outside the prisoner patient presence by doctor Lightsey Joseph. Mr. Mitchell Lawson nurse supervisor fails to properly train nurses personnel and he is liable.

On occasions staff members abuse their authority in many ways by messing up prisoners’ meals or playing our emotional sense. Our food trays serve poor amounts of food. We starve. Mr. Carl Miller food service manager is in charge.

All prisoners clothes we use are damaged clothing. So bad they cause itching, are uncomfortable and unhygienic clothes and we are being force to use them.

For special house prisoners all outgoing or incoming mail are being obstructed by Ms. Jacqueline Maxey S.T.G. Sergeant, including reading all family or friends mail. Prisoners sometimes can’t reach the North Carolina Department of Public Safety main office in the outside world to put our concerns in head official hands. So they’re dirty ways can always be hidden, to save their hides. We can’t reach our loved one.

Special housing staff intentionally misdeliver prisoner mail to different prisoners for that very purpose to cause harm to the prisoner himself or family members or friends. Or prisoner grieve whatever matter is… our grievances are not addressed or give a joke answer at step one. Grievances soon get dismissal always. Mr. Orlando Brown is also liable for prisoners’ mail clothes issues.

Prison official also punish inmates in the prison by feeding us Nutraloaf for a 7 day period. Nutraloaf is a mix of beans, oatmeal, grits, collard greens etc… Which is cruel punishment along with taking all inmate property mattress, clothes, blanket, sheets. Except the clothing we wear for up to a 7 day period.

Us prisoners should not suffer these punishment when charges are filed and served more prison time and visa versa. It is double jeopardy.

All these should not be outside issues. They are institutional matters because Polk Correctional Institution higher official Mr. Muns and Mr. Ryan fail to fixes the special housing problems by first addressing their lower officers’ behavior. Instead of giving more hard work to the Court of Justice as also affecting groups of prisoners sentences and making an unsafe and unhygienic housing for both prisoners as well for staff members also.

Just get lower officers lack of doing what they were hired for to do their work.

Finally, Mr. Muns also Mr. Ryan fail to understand, balanced, and excellent neglected to mention the typical hours for lower officer workers is 12 hours a day, 2 to 3 days a week. Staff are overly tired, burned out officers workers will make errors causing harm to prisoners in many ways to neighbors, and to themselves the prison staff is under staffed.

This is how special house crazy is.

North Carolina prisoner legal services could this office put hands on this matters to challenge in court?

I wait for you to hear a trustful and positive respond. Thanks you very much.

Relief sought, to hire the amount staff workers correct by state statute indicate. Fix special housing problems that affects a group of prisoners or close high security maximum control N.C. building. We demand our grievances are addressed. Address all points above in this sorta grievance. Remove Mr. Ryan from office.

It made me smile to see that Under Lock & Key No. 38 had an article on my civil case. The name of the case is Stanley Earl Corbett, Jr., et al v. G.J. Branker et al., case # 5:13-ct-03201-BO. I filed this case pro se back in 2010. For two years I fought the case by myself, and it took me two years to get the judge to appoint me a civil attorney (NCPLS). Upon them being appointed to my case they asked me to let them use my case to add 7 other prisoners who’d been beaten in similar situations to what happened to me. I told them to add them without any hesitation, then I signed a consent form.

My point in speaking about this is because I could of said “f*** these prisoners,” and went to trial, or settled out of court, but I didn’t. Why? Because I represent the struggle, and I’m all for a major change in a positive way. So to all these selfish “inmates” (not prisoners) that are only concerned with themselves – We aren’t nothing alike! I do this for real, and I’m still taking bumps and bruises because I’ve been receiving numerous forms of retaliation from these pigs for pursuing my rights. But I’ma ride or die for the cause/struggle. I truly appreciate ya’ll exposing this injustice.

MIM(Prisons) responds: Another comrade involved in this case has been keeping us abreast of the consistent progress of this lawsuit. And while the outcome is a limited reform, this letter reinforces the greater significance of this work. By working in the context of class struggle we continue to build something bigger than ourselves as individuals. We’re glad this comrade found ULK and has pledged to become a contributor to our work. We’re also glad to hear that he received Under Lock & Key No. 38, since every issue for over three years has been put on the statewide ban list in North Carolina. Perhaps comrades’ efforts on that front are paying off as well. Despite the repression, comrades in North Carolina are working together to stop abuse.

On Monday, 19 May 2014, 7 prisoners at Polk Correctional on the H-Con Unit began a hunger strike due to inhumane conditions, and finally some getting fed up with the mistreatment. It is day 4 and 8 comrades refused their breakfast this morning. Some of the demands are:

1. need brooms to sweep cells
   
2. need nail clippers to exercise proper hygiene
   
3. need outside recreation
   
4. need new trays, ones now are cracked, split, peeling causing us to find plastic in our food
   
5. staff need to wear hair nets/change gloves for food preparation and serving
   
6. need headphones sold separately in canteen so we don’t have to buy a whole new radio
   
7. stop taking mattress and religious property as punishment for up to 3 days
   
8. special housing cells need to be cleaned daily - currently have blood, bodily fluids in them and comrades are placed in them naked on suicide watch, only given 4 sheets of toilet paper, no hygiene, forced to eat with dirty hands
   
9. need a law library
   
10. stop use of nutraloaf as punishment
    
11. stop keeping us on H-Con 18-24 months before letting us off even without getting write ups
    
12. stop using restraints as punishment
    

These are just some of the most important of 33 demands. I am asking other comrades to join in support and fast or to write to:

Frank L. Perry, Secretary
Division of Prisons
4201 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4201

and,

U.S. Dept. of Justice, Civil Rights Division
Special Litigation Section
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20530

or other forms of protest that do not cause you to receive an infraction. Also, pump them fists as we got a victory in the Central Prison Unit 1 case. They have to use a hand-held camera during all use of force, specifically after the use of force or during/until you are put back in your cell and no longer in contact with corrections staff. So hear it, can I get a hell yeah from all my comrades!

In Tabor City Corrections, another “razor wire plantation” of North Carolina, the prisoners are treated unjustly and unfair. They are subjected to illegal treatment, such as racism, inadequate medical treatment, injustices, cruel and unusual punishments, etc. We write grievances, but sometimes they mysteriously disappear, or the grievances are answered by lies and fabrication from the facility personnel (staff). Those who are in Raleigh (capital of NC) who are in “high positions,” overlook our letters and grievances or condone those egregious activities.

Only a few of us who are in the Red/Grey, “SHU” blocks stand against these acts, but the majority are scared. These pigs imposed so much fear that a prisoner is even scared to voice his opinions. What’s so “ass-backwards” is that these prisoners rather oppress the same men who’s struggling with them and degrade and belittle them instead of degrading or belittling these pigs. Unity is a word that is non-existent and everyone is mostly for self. This shows that the system of imperialism is effective in Tabor City and the disease that these pigs transmit (i.e. racism, injustice, etc) to these prisoners are effective as well, because the prisoner’s body easily contracted these diseases and it’s destroying them quick.

No matter what, the New Afrikan Brotherhood Organization (NABO) is continuing to struggle forward and fight for the brothers on lock, no matter what the consequences are. We’re tired of being treated like slaves and we will see that change occurs. Their system will slowly but surely be eradicated because brothers of the NABO have filed a 1983 class action civil lawsuit against these pigs and the Department of Corrections for violating our rights. The struggle continues and justice will be served.

MIM(Prisons) responds: The New Afrikan Brotherhood Organization in North Carolina is not alone. There are many small groups and individuals who are struggling against the blatant political repression there. In a state where every issue of Under Lock & Key has been put on the statewide ban list for over 3 years, it is not surprising for comrades to feel lonely. And given all the repression some are feeling desparate. One comrade in North Carolina reported on the new step program that the superintendent says is to “protect inmates and staff and maintain a peaceful living environment.” The comrade replies: “However, assaults have doubled and the men are becoming more and more bitter. Many of us, myself included, want to resolve the matter peacefully.”

As we’ve been saying for years, the state’s attempts at peace and security are complete failures, and MIM(Prisons) has an alternative approach that is promoted in every issue of Under Lock & Key but censored by North Carolina for “promoting violence” and “illegal activities” (which activities they do not specify).

NABO has the correct attitude and approach. This is a protracted struggle and we must be strategic as conditions evolve. The ban on ULK in North Carolina came after a surge in subscribers and activity in that state. And while we have a hard time getting material to these comrades, their numbers and activity have remained high throughout the years. Comrades are working on building a lawsuit to fight the illegal censorship in North Carolina and others have already achieved reform victories in their struggle against guard brutality in the courts. We are confident that comrades in North Carolina prisons will continue to contribute to victories in the years to come.

On 27 March 2014, a Federal judge in the United States District Court issued an order requiring prison staff to record any use of force, should force be required on a prisoner.

Some other prisoners and I filed a lawsuit because the pigs at Central Prison in Raleigh used blind spots in the current video system to hide from surveillance so they could beat prisoners. We also informed the courts of the “lack of policy for proper method of investigation in any use-of-force incidents.”

As a result, Judge Terrance Boyle appointed an expert (former corrections administrator Eldon Vail) to review the prison’s surveillance system. Based on several problems he found, he made five recommendations.

North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NCDPS) prisons adopted four of the recommendations but said using a hand-held video camera is not feasible and placed “undue burden upon Central Prison.” However, on Thursday, 27 March 2014 Judge Boyle ordered the fifth recommendation be adopted. His order stated “…defendants are placed on notice that if there is not voluntary compliance and implementation of the recommendation, a preliminary injunction will ensue.”

The pigs deny any abuse, saying they used minimal amounts of force required to deal with prisoners characterized as the “worst of the worst” among the prison system’s population.

Still the state agreed last year to install more security cameras to cover previously unmonitored areas. But Vail’s report said the new cameras still don’t monitor all the blind spots where prisoners say the abuse occurs. Vail also reported finding lenses so out-of-focus and smudged with grime that it was difficult to make out what the camera was recording.

The recommendations made by Vail that must be followed are:

1. Adjust each camera that demonstrates a pattern of “freezing” to improve motion detection sensitivity.
   
2. Establish a written preventive maintenance schedule for lens cleaning, camera refocusing and replacement of faulty cameras.
   
3. Install additional cameras to view the sally ports of each cell block in Unit 1.
   
4. Modify the video surveillance retention policy and procedure to clarify the responsibility to provide notice to the video retention officer to preserve a video by the unit supervisor from the investigator’s responsibility to request a copy of the video for the investigation.
   
5. Change the use of force policy, SOP 4.100, to require that a handheld video camera operator respond to the scene of spontaneous use-of-force incidents and that a camera remain on until the event is over and [prisoner] has been safely placed in a cell.

This fifth recommendation means that during an anticipated use-of-force (any use-of-force) a hand-held camera will be used until a prisoner is no longer in contact with the pigs.

We are now getting ready for a pretrial conference. But we are one step closer to getting justice. We have at least made the prison safer. Now the pigs will not have anywhere to hide.

MIM(Prisons) adds: This update to the ongoing legal battle in North Carolina is good news for this carefully planned and hard fought legal battle. We know that often we cannot win when fighting abuse by employees of the criminal injustice system in their own courts. But sometimes the courts have to pretend objectivity and, when presented with facts that show the NCDPS is violating their own laws and policies, we can win some improvements to conditions. While the courts won’t be where we make revolutionary change, for now we can use them as one tool to struggle against abuse. We must always accompany these court battles with publicity and education about the case, using them to expose both the brutality we are fighting and the injustice when the courts rule against us.

Lanesboro Correctional Institution, in Anson County, North Carolina, has just enacted a gang program, which is nothing shy of draconian. Even for a state that is draconian to begin with.

It started when these pigs separated all of the inmates who were not listed as “STG” from the inmates who were considered part of the “Security Threat Group.” Federal law allows violation of prisoners’ Constitutional rights during times of emergency, when there is a “threat to the security of the institution.” By naming inmates a “security threat,” they are basically saying that these inmates have no Constitutional rights. They are being forced to shower in chains, handcuffs and shackles, and are pretty much being denied any and all rights.

The gang program is locked down 23 hours a day, and requires going 6 months infraction free to step down a single step. There are 3 steps in all, and a class of “STG associate” after that. This could force prisoners to go infraction free for 2 full years to get out of the program. Along with this program came a whole new set of rules which makes it nearly impossible to go infraction free without favoritism from the police. Of course, the only way you get that is by snitching, which in such an environment would get a prisoner killed. Being listed as an associate could be justified by something as small as an officer’s claim that you said something gang-related, or even my writing this article.

In response to this new policy, prisoners on 3 of the 8 STG blocks have declared a hunger strike. More prisoners on the STG unit are doing the same, in an attempt to break down this program in its infancy. The pigs are responding by cutting off their communication so they cannot be heard. I only learned of this by accident when a “Non-STG” prisoner was moved into my block to make room for more STG blocks.

This policy is being carried out in many states as we speak. Gang members are still human beings, and therefore entitled to the same protections as everyone else. Prisoners need to stand together everywhere and shut this down before it goes into full effect.

On 14 February 2014, I won a very small victory in my struggle against the oppression of political beliefs in the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections.

On 10 February 2014, I received two notices from the mail room, indicating that both the November/December (#35) and the January/February (#36) issues of Under Lock & Key were being rejected. The reasons given were that these publications supported “disobedience and insurrection.”

Due to the fact that ULK #35 was already on the banned publication list, I was not permitted to appeal this rejection, however, I was permitted to appeal the ULK #36 because it had not yet made the master list held by NCDAC.

I brought up a constitutional argument about how prisons cannot maintain a list of banned materials, my right to my political beliefs, and the fact that a prison can not ban a publication just because it does not approve of the organization it comes from. This was decided in a court case called Williams v. Brimeyer, 116 F. 3d 351, 354 (8th circuit 1997). I also argued that ULK does not promote insurrection and disorder, yet uses prison issues to promote peaceful change to both prisons and the outside world through education and the study of politics.

Surprisingly, when mail came today, issue 36 of ULK had been returned to me. Sometimes you just have to stand up for what you believe in and not give up. For anybody who faces the rejection of the ULK newsletter, I would like to make known, that ULK does not contain a significant security risk to prisons, and therefore is constitutionally protected. If your newsletter has been rejected, I strongly recommend that you fight for it on this basis. Do not allow anyone to silence the struggle.

We are now in discovery since the judge refused to throw out the prisoner beatings lawsuit. This case is getting some press, and the Herald Sun reported: “The judge made a not so veiled reference to the practice of punishing inmates by locking them up in dim solitary units.” The judge said “your case is about sunlight where you claim there were systematic violations” to the lawyers for the prisoners. “What we need to do with this lawsuit is not bury it in a deep, dark hole and proceed with discovery.”(1)

So one damn thing for sure we got a judge on our side. The same way they have taken from us (a little at a time) we all can do the same to them. It’s just a matter of team work.

MIM(Prisons) adds: This is a good example of a winnable court battle that will result in some improvements in safety for prisoners. But it will not stop the inhumane abuse that continues throughout prisons in North Carolina. This is an ongoing contradiction of our fight against the criminal injustice system at this stage: we take on reformist battles to try to improve the conditions under which our comrades suffer, but we know that these reforms offer no more than minor adjustments to a system that is based on the oppression and suffering of those locked within.

It is ironic that the prisoners in North Carolina have to go to court to fight for their own safety within prison, while the state’s justification for every repressive act is “safety” (including North Carolina’s excuse for censoring Under Lock & Key for over three years straight). This exposes the reality of the criminal injustice system: a brutal tool of social control that endangers the safety of all who are captured in its broad nets. We need to take advantage of reform battles like this one, both to gain some breathing room for our comrades and to educate others and build unity. We can’t end the abuse until we eliminate the criminal injustice system, but these reformist battles are important steps along the way in our ultimate fight against imperialism as a whole.