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.
In the article
“Pennsylvania
Digitizing Prisoner Mail” in ULK 65(1) Soso points out that
PA’s new policy will restrict prisoners to purchasing books directly
(after the publication is first approved by the DOC). By enforcing this
policy the PA DOC is implementing a state-run monopoly on reading
material within its prisons. The obvious reason for this imperialist act
is to further censor prisoners’ reading material.
Illinois comrades have heard our brothers’ cries for help. This policy
can be fought, but it will take time and dedication to prevail.
Crofton v. Roe, 170 F. 3d 957, 961 (9th Cir. 1999) is a case
finding that a regulation that only allowed a prisoner to receive
publications he ordered and paid for directly bore no relationship to
the interest of screening for contraband. You’ll need to Shepardize this
case to find cases from your Circuit that support this judgment.
What does this mean? It means that you can combat the current policy
denying third parties to order you books. That might seem like a small
victory compared to the digitization of your mail and pictures, but any
victory against the state is a victory for the people. Unfortunately,
due to the security concerns regarding drugs being smuggled into the
prisons through the mail, it is unlikely that this policy will be
overturned by any court. The only method left for this issue is direct
action in protest of the policy which garnishes public attention and
support (i.e. the mass hunger strikes in California in protest of the
SHU which resulted in the abolishment of indefinite placement in the
SHU). In Solidarity!
MIM(Prisons) responds: We hope that this PA mail policy will be
challenged in the courts. Although MIM(Prisons) does not have the
resources (or lawyers) to do this from the streets, we print this letter
to support our jailhouse lawyers who are working on this battle. At the
same time, this writer makes a good point that we are unlikely to win
these legal battles entirely. We can sometimes gain some small
victories, that allow us things like greater access to educational
materials in prison. But we need to keep in mind that political power
only comes to those who take it. The imperialists and their courts will
not give up this power without a fight.
I am in SCI Forest, and have been fighting to get our mail back and this
is the outcome of it so far. I am fighting for regular mail to come to
us to and I hope soon we start getting the original mail too. So I am
sending this to you so you can put it in your ULK.
To: All Inmates From: Tabb Bickell, Executive Deputy Secretary,
Institutional Operations Date: March 21, 2019 Re: Changes to PA
DOC Privileged Correspondence
This notice is to advise you that
the Department is implementing a revised Attorney Control Number process
for privileged correspondence. With this new process, the way you
receive your privileged correspondence is changing. Effective April 6,
2019, you will begin receiving original privileged correspondence.
Similar to the current process, you will be present when the privileged
correspondence is opened, the privileged correspondence will undergo a
security screening and then you shall sign for the privileged
correspondence received. Privileged correspondence shall only contain
essential, confidential, attorney-client communication.
Failure
to comply with the below requirements may result in the rejection of the
correspondence:
Envelopes do not contain the appropriate identifying
information.
The correspondence contains non-privileged correspondence.
The privileged correspondence contains documents that did not
originate from the sending attorney(s). Third party original
documentation is prohibited.
If an attorney inquires to you
about this new process, please refer them to the Departments public
website for all the necessary information (www.cor.pa.gov).
On Sunday, 3 March, 2019, a fellow prisoner passed away in afternoon
yard. One minute he was talking with his buddies, going around the
track, the next he was on the ground not breathing. Not surprisingly,
the COs took their good old time responding to the scene, even though
the man dropped not even 100 yards from where they were stationed. It
took medical staff 15 minutes to respond after the call went in on the
walkie. Since then, I found out several things.
DOC staff are not put through CPR training at their academy. Only
medical staff are mandated to take this training.
Prisoners are not permitted to do CPR on any persyn, even if trained
on the streets, or even if they could potentially save a life. Serious
consequences can and will result, if a prisoner performs CPR on anyone.
Medical staff admit that the man might have lived if the response
time was seen the slightest bit faster.
DOC staff couldn’t give a shit about any persyn other than one of
their own.
I, along with many other prisoners, are outraged at this situation. How
many more prisoners must suffer and die at the hands of DOC officials
and their nonsense rules? I refuse to sit back and do nothing. Awareness
is key here. I plan on making other organizations, including several
news companies and prisoner organizations, aware of the problem and the
tragedy that occurred yesterday. I want the appropriate officials held
fully accountable. I want to make it clear that ALL Lives Matter and no
oppression will be tolerated. Thanks for giving one a voice. Thanks for
giving victims a voice. Together we will fight oppression. We are the
true United We Stand!
by a Pennsylvania prisoner February 2019 permalink
Following a fifteen-day lockdown of all Pennsylvania state prisons, new
policies were erected for receiving mail. Publications were halted, and
hundreds of book packages from free prison book programs were returned
to sender. This occurred because several staff members at various
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PA DOC) prisons claimed to
become deathly ill after handling prisoner mail.
DOC officials assumed it was synthetic marijuana, or K-2, being sent in
through the mail. However Dr. Lewis Nelson, Chair of Emergency Medicine
at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and other prominent medical staff
called the DOC on their lies and excuses about the lockdown and new
policies and procedures dealing with prisoner mail. Dr. Nelson blew the
whistle, so to speak, when he pointed out that one must ingest or inhale
synthetic marijuana to have any type of effect on individuals.(1) One
cannot be affected by merely touching it, or paper soaked in K-2.
Furthermore, he stated that synthetic marijuana simply does not have the
type of effects that the individuals were having.
So, one might ask, what the real agenda the DOC had in the change in
procedure. The DOC has wanted to control what prisoners read and what
type of mail they received for quite some time. It goes to show just how
much prisons seek to control others. Needless to say, the DOC is
currently under investigation due to its frivolous claims. Mail must be
sent to a company in Florida, where it is scanned. It is then forwarded
to each respective prisoner at whatever prison he/she is confined.
Pennsylvania prisoners receive copies of photos, letters and greeting
cards, and the originals are eventually destroyed. Even our legal mail
is opened in the presence of each prisoner, handled in a biohazard
container, then photocopied. The copies are given to the prisoner, and
the originals placed in an “evidence” bag, and eventually destroyed, or
so the DOC claims.
We are permitted to receive books, magazines and other publications
now, as of very recently. They still must be sent to a secure processing
center, where they are searched and then forwarded to each respective
prisoner.
This is a reminder that we are all being controlled. Unless we get
together and do something about it. How long will we allow prison
officials to violate our rights and take away freedoms that are promised
to us in the U.$. constitution and its amendments? This is a call to
arms, and the need to fight the system instead of tearing down one
another. I refuse to allow the U.$. prison system to continue violating
my rights, and what few freedoms are afforded to me. I will continue to
struggle against the wretched machine that seeks to break me. This is a
call for comrades to do the same.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We wrote about this Pennsylvania mail
policy in ULK 65 and since that time, a new policy to send books
and magazines to yet another separate address was implemented.(2) In
response to outcry by prisoners and family, the PA DOC did back down on
their policy that books could only be ordered through the PA DOC, from
their approved vendors. That is no small victory.
We have instances of letters sent to the Florida processing center being
returned to us just stamped “return to sender” after being opened and
then taped shut. No reason is given. We think it’s safe to assume it’s
the contents of the letter that inspires this censorship, because not
all our mail is being returned, and it is being opened at the processing
center. In at least one case, our Guide to Fighting Censorship was the
item returned to us.
This is an important censorship battle and we join this comrade’s call
for everyone in Pennsylvania to take up the fight. This is an easy
excuse to selectively censor revolutionary material, or selectively
censor prisoners who are politically active. We anticipate an increase
in denials of our mail. When you are notified of censorship, appeal it,
and also let us know what was censored. If you haven’t received mail
from us in a while, check in and let us know. We always keep up
subscriptions for 6 months after your last letter to us. Also follow
this comrade’s example and keep us informed about changes to the rules
and updates on the fight against them. For our part, we will also be
appealing when we have evidence of censorship and working with you to
fight from the outside.
I am a inmate in the state of Pennsylvania. I am in a state prison in
Marionville, PA called Forest. I’ve been reading Under Lock and Key for
some time now.
I would like to know how honest are they really being to you. When you
see the state jails reduce their population. Then the county increased
the population. How many of them prisoners are waiting to be sentenced
for state prison, or even waiting to go to one? Within the past few
years, I’ve seen the state of Pennsylvania close down 3 to 4 jails yet
open up two big jails. How is that saving any money? When it will cost
more to run them than it did for the 3 to 4 they closed down. I am very
confused.
Now they got all our mail going to the state of Florida, blaming it all
on drugs, yet you got several guards coming down with food poisoning.
That is the same food us prisoners eat. So tell me how many prisoners
have food poison, but yet not saying nothing about it?
So let’s really be honest with one another. I am just getting sick of
reading all of the stories about state prisoners, but yet never really
seeing anything really happen. This is all one big money scam. You know
it as well as I do so who are we trying to B.S. Like I said, let’s be
honest with each other. All of us prisoners are in jail for breaking the
law at some point.
Yet they do it each and every day, and get away with it.
Yet everyone is always talking about the population of prisoners. Give
them something to work for. It will stop a lot of violence in the jails.
I do realize I am making a lot of sense. Yet they do not want to do so.
Only because that will be taken money from them.
Yet it’s okay for them to start an prisoner late in a program. When
their time is up, parole will give them a hit only because they are not
done with their program. Yet most of the programs can be done on the
outside.
The abuse of the mentally ill in Pennsylvania has surely reached
epidemic standards. Today (12-31-18) I witnessed brutality by pigs
against a severely mentally ill prisoner and I cannot keep quiet about
it. A pig on my housing unit here at SC2 Rockview slammed a man up
against the wall, tackled him, and smashed his head against the floor
for no reason other that the prisoner disagreed with him. Then he lied
about it to his superiors saying the prisoner attempted to assault him.
I and several other concerned prisoners witnessed the entire incident,
and we all agreed to report it to DOC headquarters, Pennsylvania Prison
society and several other prisoner organizations. We are demanding the
release of audio and video footage that recorded the incident to the
proper authorities and to PA Prison Society and eventually to the
public. We demand that the pigs involved lose their jobs and that
criminal charges be filed. It’s a shame that someone has to get
seriously hurt for any type of unity to be accomplished. It’s about time
someone stands up for what’s truly right and just. I expect retaliation
but I can’t sit back and let this go. My conscious refuses to allow it.
Feedback and critique is welcome.
Today at SCI Rockview, a state prison in Pennsylvania, the pigs claim
that there is a power outage that will last for days. Meanwhile, we have
no water running in our sinks or toilets because the water in the cells
runs on electricity. The housing unit I am in is a mental health block,
and most of the prisoners in this unit are on psychiatric medications
that for the most part demand a lot of water drinking to keep them
hydrated. The electricity went out early this morning and has been out
all day. Despite many prisoners pleading for water, other than at
medication pass this morning, none has been offered or given.
Meanwhile, the phones are ringing and desk computers are working, which
must mean the electricity is working. One poor prisoner was caught
drinking from the toilet and, as a consequence, was ridiculed and mocked
by several prisoners and our captors. This is slow and systematic
torture at its finest. And it’s sad that the fascists that are
responsible for this cruel and unusual punishment will most likely get
away with it because no one wants to take a stand and protest. Does
anyone have any idea how I can take action? I can’t sit here and do
nothing. I welcome feedback from fellow comrades.
Pennsylvania DOC has a new mail policy requiring all prisoner mail be
sent to Florida, care of Smart Communications (SmartCom).(1) This
company scans in all mail and forwards it to PADOC to be printed and
delivered on site. No original mail will actually reach prisoners.
Prisoners receiving greeting cards or photos are being given shrunk,
black and white copies.
Some prisoners in Pennsylvania are circulating a request for legal help
to fight this new practice. They list multiple concerns. These changes
will dramatically impact the mail PA prisoners can receive including
almost certainly denying them access to political books and magazines.
SmartCom will keep scanned mail in a searchable database. This will
likely be used to profile people who send mail to PA prisoners. Under
the pretense of security concerns, this new policy is also about
political control.
Prisons are allowed to restrict prisoners’ First Amendment rights to
free speech, but it is “only valid if it is reasonably related to
ligitimate penological interests.” (Turner v. Safely, 482 U.S.
78, 89 (1987)) In this situation, PADOC is citing incidents of “multiple
staff members being sickened by unknown substances over the past few
weeks.” In September 2018, it says there were eight staff emergency room
trips for drug exposure.(2) It is focusing on mail restrictions because
“[i]t’s speculated that the majority of contraband enters the facilities
through the mail.”
PADOC is building a lot of hype on its website about how drugs come in
thru the mail and with visitors. Yet in its photographic report,
“Examples
of Drug Introduction into Facilities,” not one example is given of
staff bringing drugs in.(3) Anyone familiar with prison culture knows
that prison staff are a likely source for smuggling. It’s lucrative and
relatively easy. PADOC’s presentation of the situation is skewed. And
according to its FAQ on the new procedures for how it’s going to handle
this alleged poisoning problem, no additional screening or testing for
staff seems to be on the radar.
The new mail procedures imply that subscriptions for magazines and
periodicals will continue direct to the prison: “For now, you will
continue to receive issues of current subscriptions. If any issue is
compromised, it will be confiscated and destroyed. No future
subscription orders may be purchased except through the kiosk.” The memo
given to prisoners made it clear that all future subscriptions must be
purchased through PADOC. PADOC will purchase subscriptions in bulk and
have magazines shipped in bulk to the facility to deliver to prisoners.
The DOC will set the cost and select the vendors.
As a part of this change, PA is banning anyone from sending any books in
to prisoners.(4) “Inmates can make a request to purchase any book. The
DOC will provide the inmate with the cost of the book. Once the inmate
submits a cash slip for the book, the DOC will order the book and have
it shipped to the inmate.” No independent orders are allowed: “All
publications must be purchased through DOC.” Books sent any other way
will be returned to sender. While outside folks can deposit money in
prisoners’ accounts so that they can purchase approved books from
approved vendors, they will now have to pay 20% more than the cost of
the book because that is deducted from incoming money to many prisoners’
accounts as costs or restitution.
This is a ridiculous policy change, under the pretense of security.
While an argument is being made that preventing all physical mail from
entering facilities will cut down contraband, it is an unnecessary
obstruction to First Amendment rights of prisoners. The impact on
prisoners, whose contact with the outside world is mainly through the
mail, will be dramatic. Mail delays will likely increase, but more
importantly, many will no longer have access to education. Cutting off
books and magazines, limiting people to only content that is
pre-approved by the prison, means that organizations like MIM(Prisons)
will no longer be able to send literature to prisoners in PA.
This new policy is only serving to impose greater control and isolation
on prisoners in PA. The results of cutting prisoners off from outside
contact, and denying them educational materials, will just increase the
already high recidivism and likely fuel more conflict behind the bars.
This is what the prison wants: keeping prisoners fighting one another
rather than educating themselves, building ties to the community, and
building opposition to the criminal injustice system.
by a Pennsylvania prisoner September 2018 permalink
I am writing this letter to obtain legal advice or help with current
matters which are currently taking place in the state of Pennsylvania
Prison System. Beginning on August 29, 2018, Pennsylvania declared a
statewide state prison lockdown, in which we were not allowed to send or
receive mail of any kind. We were just allowed, as of September 6, 2018,
to send mail out but will no longer receive mail and the mail they do
have will now be sent to some third party in the state of Florida.
On the day of the lockdown, the guards wore gloves and face masks for
their protection when passing food to the prisoners. No protection
whatsoever was provided for us, the inmates, even though the
correctional officers are the only people who reportedly fell ill from
alleged contact with drugs. I have been watching “WJAC 6 News” in
Clearfield County to stay updated with the current progress of events.
Around September 1st, 2018, the D.O.C. let us out to take one shower and
when everyone showered, let us out to use the phone. From my knowledge
of watching the local news, no prisoners have fell ill from alleged
drugs, only D.O.C. staff, which could possibly be a ploy of some kind on
individuals behalf. Around September 3rd or 4th, 2018, the D.O.C.
started letting us out one tier at a time for blockout, which is an hour
each tier, which holds about 60 inmates on each tier. We, as prisoners,
have been mostly kept in the dark about what and why or when. I’m
writing asking can you please assist in these matters, but if you write
back the jail will not give me any mail.
Recently I was transferred here to SCI Chester and was shocked at the
difference in the prisoners here compared to my comrades at SCI Greene,
SCI Pittsburgh, and SCI Somerset. This facility is very different. A
program was incorporated here called welfare to work which allowed many
welfare recipients from the surrounding area to be hired at this prison.
Now I’m all for giving the underprivileged opportunities but this prison
is so “Ratchet” now it’s ridiculous. Staff does not do their jobs here.
Grievances are ignored, campaigns challenged, and anyone who speaks out
is locked down for “inciting a riot” and promptly transferred. With
mostly short-term prisoners at this “program prison” prisoners are
afraid to fight for their rights out of fear for negative marks on their
record for parole.
I’ve been putting in non-stop paperwork since arriving and all I’ve
accomplished is gaining the ire of my unit manager and other staff. I
have even been threatened. I have succeeded in starting an
anti-imperialist study group but am persecuted for it. My unit manager
lies and makes up reasons to put me on “cell restrictions” so I can’t
hold group. But I keep pushing and have gotten some other prisoners to
start standing up for themselves. But none of our paperwork is being
addressed. 90% of the time we receive no response whatsoever.
I have no idea how they get away with it. You would think these staff
members who were underprivileged and grew up in the streets like we did
would be more sympathetic to our plights but instead they go on power
trips and neglect most of their duties. These types of people are why we
can’t make classless society work. It seems all our efforts here are in
vain. We are sending out a call for help; any assistance or advice will
be greatly appreciated. Spirits seem broken here at SCI Chester and
comrades are dropping out of the struggle and though it is dissuading I
will not quit. I will remain constantly a soldier on the front lines of
this war. But I’m calling for backup.
MIM(Prisons) responds: While this writer sees the Welfare to Work
program at SCI Chester as the cause of repression, many prisons without
this program have similar conditions. We can’t speak to the effects of
this program specifically, but more generally we know that many prisons
are built in communities where job opportunities are limited. And that
people generally don’t take jobs as prison guards out of a desire to
help people; just as with most capitalist jobs, people are working for
the money.
More generally this writer’s letter raises the question of why so
many people working in prison perpetuate oppression rather than being
kind and helpful to prisoners. There is evidence that oppressing people
is not an inherent characteristic of humyns. Instead, this is a result
of the economics of capitalism and our capitalist culture. First there
is the economic side of things: the vast majority of people in this
imperialist country are getting paid more than the value of their labor.
They are basically being bought as supporters of imperialism. So when
they get paid well to work in an institution that is based in social
control and torture of other humyns, they’re ok doing it because that’s
part of supporting capitalism.
Second we have capitalist culture which trains people to be ok with
harming others and exerting power over others. There have been studies
that show that even random people put in a situation where someone in
charge tells them to hurt another persyn, most will do it because
they’re told to. Most famously in the United $tates there was the
Stanford Prison Experiment back in 1971.
But there also has been huge social experiments such as the Cultural
Revolution in China in the 1960s and 70s which showed that even people
who formerly were oppressors with great power can be re-educated and
become peaceful productive members of society. It’s not easy, and we
won’t win on the re-education front on a mass scale until we have the
power to implement a cultural revolution to eradicate a system that
values and glorifies power and oppression.
Rather than despair and say that these guards are why we can’t make
classless society work, we say these guards are exactly why we need
socialism and a dictatorship of the proletariat. Clearly we have a lot
of work to do to re-train and re-educate people so that they respect all
humyns and act kindly towards others. We need a system that is set up to
serve the oppressed and forcibly stop those who want power for
themselves for persynal gain. The system of socialism will require a
long period of cultural revolution, where we transform our culture into
one that values humyn life and teaches people to treat others equally
rather than valuing power and wealth at any cost to others. It will be a
long struggle to reach a society where there is no class, nation or
gender oppression. But it is the only path to survival for humynity.