Texas Prisons

In previous writings we’ve utilized the principle of self-criticism to critique the communications operations that We, Team One, previously had. Therefore, we’re enthused to announce not only new tactical methods of communication, but a new address as well.

Also, in conjunction with the JFI campaign and in partnership with outside supporters, We’re presently soliciting contributors for a book project. This project will be a collection of personal experiences of prisoners who are working or have previously worked an industrial job in Texas prisons (TDCJ).

This work contributes to the portion of the Juneteenth Freedom Initiative that deals with prisoner workers’ lack of payment and the practice of state coercion. Any and all prisoners who would like to contribute their personal experience via written word should write tot he above address. Those considered for publication will receive a reply.

Those committees and individuals who’ve written us in the past, but did not receive a reply, should write to our new address with your contact info.

Do you have any case decisions of the stimulus checks. I just received a check for the first two payments plus interest. It totaled $1,900.76. Of this amount TDCJ deducted $1,786.11 leaving me with $114.65.

This is the first money I’ve had where I could go to “store” since I got here in 2015. The deductions were for medical co-pay, indigent correspondence and postage, and federal court fees. Another prisoner told me that there was a federal court decision in Arkansas against the prison system forcing them to return money deducted from prisoners’ accounts. I’m rough drafting a Step 1 grievance right now to start the exhaustion process, then I’ll add it to the suit I’ve already started. I intend to do the same on this censorship of ULK 79 as well. Any information will help.

North TX AIPS responds: From ‘New Class Action for Prisoners Who Did Not Receive Stimulus Money and Filed Taxes’ published in Under lock & Key Issue 76:

Clay v. Director of IRS Mnuchin No4:21-CV-08132-PJH

Sub Class Representative Thomas H. Clay advises all prisoners who filed for EIP from Oct. 2020 – August of 2021 and did Not receive any check in mail or Direct Deposit. After filing Form 1040/1040SR or letter with SSI# and copy of such to show proof of filing; then write To: United States District Court Northern District of California Oakland Division Attn: Hon. Clerk/Presiding Judge 1301 Clay Street Ste 400 S Oakland California 94612-5212

If you are filing the following criteria below:

1.Non-disabled or physically or mentally impaired prisoner in State or Federal Prison Institution in the United States

2.Correctly filing legal letters to IRS or 1040/1040SR Form 2019/2020 from October 15,2020 thru tax season of January – August 17, 2021

3.Utilizing only Institutional Regular Legal/or Indigent Legal Mail System in State of Federal Prisons.

4. Who did not receive any payment from IRS of EIP #1 #2 #3

5.In the form of “Check in Mail” or “Direct Deposit to Account”.

6.Who can “Prove upon Request” proof of the correct timely filing by: copies of letters to the IRS office in your State area, Prison Mail Room Record of Legal Mail logged letters showing IRS address. Indigent mailing file showing letter sent to IRS or 1040/1040SR copies or responses from IRS during that period from any of its offices.

7.And you were not issued any checks for EIP #1 $600.00 EIP #2 $1200.00 or CVRP/EIP #3 $1400.00 totaling $3,200.00

The court is reviewing Contempt of Court Order and Sub Class Action from prior suit *Scholl v. Mnuchin that does not protect the rights to amount of payment withheld from prisoners in a discriminatory manner by IRS.

From Stimulus Checks Are Being Stolen by TDCJ-CID from Under Lock & Key Issue 73:

Section 272(d)(2) of the Consolidated Appropriations Act provides that the second round of stimulus checks ‘shall not be transferable or assignable, at law or in equity, and no applicable payment shall be subject to execution, levy, attachment, garnishment, or other legal process, or the operation of any bankruptcy or insolvency law.’ This means that this round of stimulus checks may not be garnished to cover overdue debts by federal or state prisons.

Scholl v. Mnuchin, et al. No.4:20-cv-05309-PJH ND Cal.; Appeal Docket No. 20-16915 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of prisoners getting stimulus checks while incarcerated. The checks in question should not be confused with the most recent $1400 checks under current President Joseph Biden. It was the $1200 and $600 checks under President Donald Trump that were ruled on.

From Preliminary Injunction Bars Arkansas from Confiscating Prisoners’ COVID Stimulus Money from Prison Legal News:

The Court ordered ADC to place any federal relief and stimulus funds in a sequestered account if it continues to confiscate those funds. It must maintain records of how much money it confiscates from each prisoner and what amount is paid for court fines, fees, costs, and restitution. While ADC may return the confiscated excess funds to prisoners, it may not otherwise disburse those funds until the end of the lawsuit. See: Lamar v. Hutchinson, USDC, ED AR, Case No. 4-21-cv-00529 (2021).

The Court then turned to decide whether confiscation of the money was a violation of procedural due process. It found no violation when it came to confiscation for the purpose of paying off court fines, fees, costs, or restitution.

It did, however, find a violation when it comes to diverting the excess funds to the inmate welfare fund and the Inmate Care and Custody Account. The Court noted there were no post deprivation remedies available, for the ADC’s grievance procedure provides a challenge to “issues controlled by State or Federal law or regulation” a “non-grievable issue.” The Court concluded the confiscation of the monies did not violate substantive due process or the Takings Clause.

We hope this information is helpful. While we still stand by the conclusion that these stimulus checks are an attempt to buy off the U$ population at the expense of the third world, we won’t hold unrealistic notions about how this money can be used for our goals of Anti-Imperialism and building up USW. We also have a censorship pack available as well, having relevant caselaw and regulations for fighting censorship on the legal front.

^{Notes: Prison Legal News, Nov 1 2021, Preliminary Injunction Bars Arkansas from Confiscating Prisoners’ COVID Stimulus Money}

“No man can tell the intense agony which is felt by the slave, when wavering on the point of making his escape. All that he has is at stake… The life which he has may be lost, and the liberty which he seeks may not be gained.” -Frederick Douglass, 1845

We are made to persist. That’s how we find out who we are.

The Khufu Foundation thanks you for being part of the solution! The following is an update on the lawsuit, Hicks v. Guiterrez, et al, 6: 22-cv-134. It contains both good and bad news. The bad news is that the District Court has dismissed the case with prejudice, which was not unexpected. The good news is the cases he used are not on point, plus he failed to thoroughly address an issue of First Impression “The Cumulative Effect.”

For those of you who have tablets, go to law library and read exactly what the District Judge has to say for yourself. We have given notice of appeal, and await a word from the 5th Circuit giving us a number to seek COA. Before we give our argument in brief, let us give you a word directed to the right that can save you a few dollars as well as allow you to move much faster through the Courts than the §1983. We have learned that these same issues can be attacked with an application for Writ of Habeas Corpus – see the tablet has a wealth of information, particularly the Law Library; there are literally thousands of cases at your fingertips. Yet, the tablet can turn you into a zombie, who feeds on nothing but music and movies.

Now, here is what we will take to the 5th Circuit:

1. Whether the Cumulative Effect of the Texas Constitution, Texas State Law Statutes, the Administrative Procedures Act, and the Rules and Regulations of the board combine to give a Reasonable Expectation that the parole procedure will be conducted with a modicum of just and fair treatment – see Wilkonson v Austin, 125 S.Ct. 2384

2. Whether Applicant was denied Equal Protection of the Law as compared to other prisoners who can review their parole-file/transcript, because they can afford an attorney, see Griffin v Illinois, 76 S Ct. 585 and Register v Thaler, 681 F. 3d 623

3. Whether Applicant has been denied a fair and just parole hearing where the defendants fail to follow the APA and their own rules without meeting the Constitutional minimum regarding parole review – see Parrat v Taylor, 101 S. Ct. 1909 and Leggett v Williams, 277 F. App’x 498, 500 (5th Cir. 2008)

4. Whether Applicant was denied a meaningful participation in his parole hearings when he was not allowed to review his parole file to challenge all false and/or derogatory information contained therein, when Board Members have admitted that there is often false and/or inaccurate information in parole-files. – see Johnson v TDCJ, 910 F.Supp. 1208

This information is supplied in the hope that each of you will do your research and continue to fight.

North TX AIPS adds: This is a follow up to Texas Prisoners Launch Attack on Parole System printed in Under Lock & Key 78. This lawsuit is an attempt for parole reform in Texa$ and was launched May of last year (2022). It is in response to continuous denial of parole for many prisoners based on commitment of the crime, rather than behavior while incarcerated, and to argue that the Board Members are not protected against suit according to the Ex Parte Young Doctrine:

“In determining whether the doctrine of Ex Parte Young avoids an 11th Amendment bar to suit, a federal court need only conduct a straightforward inquiry into whether the complaint alleges an ongoing violation of federal law and seeks relief properly characterized as prospective.” Const. Amend.11 - See Verizon MD. Inc v. Public Service Commission of Maryland, 535 U.S. 635, 122 S.Ct. 1753 and McCarthy ex rel Travis V. Hawkins, 385 F.3d 407, 412 (5th Cir. 2000)

While some of the demands as previously stated are in line with the Juneteenth Freedom Initiative, as revolutionaries our focus is on the building on independent institutions of the masses, rather than working for parole reform. We are building on our Re-Lease on Life program and encourage anyone whose interested to write us and start to work on study and strategy for revolution.

For 2 years now they have been short of staff or so they claim. For 18 months they operated at 20% staff and for the last 6 months they claim to be at 30% staff yet I’m certain an audit of certified payroll would differ, especially salary or ranking positions.

Absolutely zero SOP (standard operating procedures) are adhered to. Each rotation and every shift on every line is a freestyle depending on how that officer chooses to conduct his/her daily routine. Count is the only exception as all are constantly counting, especially when this interferes/conflicts with prisoner movement and/or distributing meals that regularly sit out for a long time (on occasion 4+ hours till next shift has to deal with it) resulting in all meals served cold .

I spent the last 6 days under a blanket blowing my breath into the space to try and keep warm. When I say cold I mean ice with the so called temperature controlled (without any thermostat) Air conditioner blowing.

Mental Health requests, telepsyche, 2nd day mental health related issues take 9 months minimum if you ever see the telepsyche or for psych meds while the self mutilation, smoke inhalation, and suicides are at an all time high. The number of Ad-Seg prisoners going or gone crazy is astounding. No, sad actually. Disturbing when witnessed first hand but that is a problem. We are isolated from any and all civilization.

The weekly library actually drops off/ picks up books once every 6-8 weeks while we receive late notice disciplinaries for late books we cannot return if they don’t pick up.

They do not run recreation or allow us our 1 hour out of cell ever. On occasion, they will fill the 6 rec cages maybe once every 6 weeks but there are over 60 prisoners for 6 cages and when they only run 1 shut, they document they ran rec and we get fucked.

50% of all meals are Jonny Sacks. Always an excuse but never do we get the diet as budgeted or as advertised. They steal all desserts so we never get our once a week dessert. Jonny Sacks are a spoon of peanut butter in a corner of two pieces of bread and 2 boiled eggs. We do not get the drink called vitamin c drink (juice) but half the time and we never get coffee + milk with breakfast like General Population.

When it comes time to review for getting out of Ad-Seg or program eligible they write us bogus disciplinary charges and run fictitious hearings resulting in automatic guilty verdict and restrictions ineligible to get out of Ad-Seg or go to programs.

No phone calls no video visits, no tablets as advertised by TDCJ- no effort or progress related to the tablets that are stored on site . Nor do we get official word. No media access. No radio as they have faulty wiring. No local papers. No echo TDCJ papers. No clue what’s happening outside these walls just as they have no clue what’s happening inside. They report they installed televisions. They mounted two TV’s where they cannot be seen and the faulty cable wires mean no reception.

In protest fires burn daily on each of the Ad-Seg lines. Prisoners burn any and all items that will burn. So many so often they don’t even react or bother to put them out, consequently we have no mattresses. Waiting list over 18 months to get a mattress. We sleep on steel and concrete. There are no radios for sale on commissary. They send us books then collect them as contraband. No cell cleaning disinfectant or bleach.

We starve and eat crap. Spoiled rotten crap. Many actually eat their own bodily waste and drink urine. Both hungry and mentally ill. Constant screams. No crisis, suicide prevention, Chaplain, medical response etc. For those in pain there is no medical relief. Suicides happen as threats, and early warning signs are ignored. One must cut themselves badly to be removed from cell. And we all do.

No windows, fresh air or sunshine, makes for a gaseous vapor in the air that means pain. Scream all you want its music to their ears. Ad-Seg B housing for confirmed family members labeled STG (security threat group). I estimate nearly a quarter of the prisoners in Ad-Seg now have empty cells with no personal property as it is constantly taken without any due process at all. Often for standing up for one’s self or trying to protect one’s rights or get what ones entitled to result in loss of property with no formal procedure or due process. Regardless of religion or affiliation they force christian music and preaching for 10 minutes every Saturday. No other religious material is available for any religion.

No barber in Ad-Seg no haircut for over 18 months now. We either shave our heads with razors or grow long hair and beards. They put us on bogus restrictions and limit how often we can buy stamps papers pen envelopes etc to write out. Much of our outgoing and incoming mail mysteriously does not reach its intended destination. Can’t prove who is at fault.

They took away and banned any pics of women that may cause arousal. Religious medals and items have been out of stock in commissary for the last 2 years. Chaplain offers no addresses or info for any but christian. The law library here offers no help, only issues exactly what document you request if you know exactly what to request. Grievances 100% denied with responses completely bogus and irrelevant to the issue attached. Completely useless when the board works for TDCJ and they review and devise on complaints against them.

We are not receiving the items budget for and paid for with tax dollars. We do not get the beef we raise on the fields. We do not get the pork we raise. We do not get the chickens we raise. We do not get fresh vegetables from field squad. We do get eggs, where does the rest go? I’ll tell you. They sell the choice cuts of meat for money and the lesser gristle and refuse in return.

The conditions within these walls are far worse than I witnessed in military POW camps. they call for nothing less than military action to get inside and expose what is occurring and begin a healing process. Its fucked.

There hasn’t been any light bulbs for 18 months. I only recently received one light bulb. Sit in a dark cell with no light.

Roaches and mice are an infestation. ORK Pest control in Amarillo Springs regularly comes but none die. I owned a pest management company and can tell you its not copacetic.

What I’m running into is a denial of all grievances, refusing all due process rights, and one-sided administration that makes rules they hold us accountable for and completely ignore those punishing them. Lawsuits are difficult with no assistance and I’m running into a cost issue of not being able to produce documents necessary for TDCJ to prove pro se or indigent.

Shake downs every 90 days and regular cell search result in losing much of what they sell us as they just take it period and destroy our cells in disarray tearing books etc.

Of the 20 to 30% staff, many are foreign working on indentured servitude program receiving less or no wages. Purchased into slavery from an African country and housed on site and bused around. Nigerian/African prisoners, debts owed, criminals, and outcasts purchased under flag of indentured servitude.

Majority have sold out and crossed over to become a part of the problem as they were too weak or chose not to fight a battle they couldn’t win alone and divided we are. The few of us who resist are overwhelmingly outnumbered and now fight the administration less as we first have to fight the layer of those who were once us and crossed over. Fighting amongst ourselves and trying to interpret rules all by design a smokescreen to hide the underlying more predominant fights. The criminals who take us prisoner, abused and torture and neglect us, and steal all the funding allocated for the “solution to the problem” the failure of democracy, justice and Law in this entity.

I stand up for what I believe and will resist or fight ’til my last dying breath; I call for help and assistance. I Need the methods I use to help change things from what they currently are to closer to the original intent which is reform and discipline and department of “corrections” is necessary.

North Texas AIPS Adds: We assume many similar reports have been censored by the state of Texa$ through direct or indirect methods as this writer describes above in regards to materials being taken away through cell searches and terrorism from the staff. The few that do come through highlight the extensive problems regarding any accountability the guards have to the Texa$ prisoner population and continuing neglect and abuse. While reform can be a useful tool to facilitate organizing and education, the original intent versus practice for prisons in amerikkka has always been to further suppress organizing among the oppressed masses. Fighting the conditions of Ad-Seg in this state must be for the purpose of revolutionary organizing and education if your goal is to end this long list of abuses.

[UPDATE: In late December we got confirmation that the fees for the suit were paid by a comrade in Anti-Imperialist Prisoner Support. We no longer need people to contact the judge, but are still collecting postcard signatures and can use your help.]

[NOTE: At the end of this article the author asks you, the reader, to contact the Judge about the TDCJ blocking court fees for a prisoner’s lawsuit to fight censorship. This is part of an ongoing campaign. We are also asking people to print and gather signatures on postcards that you can download from the campaign page along with fliers to use in outreach around this campaign to oppose political censorship in Texas.]

When i initiated the Juneteenth Freedom Initiative (JFI), and the fliers for that action began to find their way into every prison in Texas, Allred Unit’s Warden Jimmy Smith commanded the unit mailroom supervisor to place me on a ‘watchlist’ – purportedly to provide a greater level of scrutiny to my outgoing mail.

This measure first began to disrupt communication between cadres and myself throughout the state. The state has policies and courts have upheld bans on such communications under the cloak of a fear of gang organizing.

The watchlist measure intensified and all reading materials were made to go through a months long process of scrutiny. Texas has a part of its Mailroom Operations policy that they need not announce to a prisoner when a publication has arrived at the unit, even when it is subject to further review. This results in reading material being sent and one not knowing of its existence until it is officially denied. At the point of denial, We’re supposed to be allowed to appeal through the grievance procedure. What i’ve experienced , however, is that the unit grievance investigators don’t allow me to grieve a Director’s Review Committee decision. My battle with the UGI subsequently slows up the exhaustion of administrative remedies.

Eventually, the watchlist measure intensified to the point that ANY material from MIM(Prisons) was purportedly denied at the command of the DRC in Huntsville. This political police tactic is what led to the state-wide censorship of the Revolutionary 12 Step Program. The 12 steps is an anti-drug abuse and anti-reactionary program that is definitely needed in the Texas prison system. The state has upheld this censorship with the vague statement, ‘may incite inmate disruption’.

In recent times Texas has made national headlines due to the governor’s reactionary policies that repress social and political narratives that counter dominant narratives and positions. This trend, which tarnishes the First Amendment so-called rights, has made its way into the Texas prison system.

To understand how this has occurred one must have knowledge of connection, the family tree of repression if you will, that connects Jimmy Smith(Allred Warden), Brenda Kelley(Allred mailroom supervisor), Tammy Shelby(Mailroom system coordinator’s panel-chair), and the DRC, to Texas’ highest levels of government.

When a governor is elected in Texas they appoint people to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice. The TBCJ is charged with making Board policies, revising them, and thus make the overreaching rules and regulation that determine the day-to-day lives of over a hundred thousand captives.

The Governor also appoints the Director’s Review Committee (DRC), which is charged with, among other things, determining the content that can/cannot enter or leave prisons. The DRC is the ultimate authority on matters regarding denials of mail, publication, visitation.

We should be asking the questions: where is the transparency, and democratic decision making in the selection of TBCJ and DRC officials? These positions are handed down to careerist politicians who’ve made their living on the backs and misery of the prisoner class and Our families. In the future comrades must organize an outside force to force Texas to remove the veil between these backdoor chambers of power and the common public. We need readily accessible information on these so called public officials and representatives of the people.

So We have a clearly reactionary governor who’s appointed a clearly reactionary Board and review committee. In Texas the only way to overturn a DRC decision is through litigation, and therefore most censorship bans last indefinitely.

While Jimmy Smith and the other prison careerists play prison politics, in an effort to quell dissenters and self-determination of the prisoners, there is a fatal drug wave crushing Allred Unit. As i write this in late October 2022, 7 prisoners have died this month due to overdose.

The Revolutionary 12 Step Program is currently at the point of training cadres to be able to facilitate the program at their locale. The censorship of this program, in conjunction with the indefinite solitary confinement of many cadres, act to circumvent what could otherwise be a highly effective and influential peoples’ initiative. And therein lays the problem, at least from the administrator’s perspective, they seek to circumvent the rise of any influence among the prison population. Instead of differentiating between types of influence, their practices put a blanket on ALL influence and influential people or initiatives among the prisoners, and seeks to disrupt them.

Of course this can’t be done totally, and what results (as what resulted in previous generations of the Prison Movement) is that the mass influence of the prisons and prisoners falls in the hands of the most reactionary prisoner forces. The admin elects to deal with the lesser of two ‘evils’. It has seen that the reactionary forces are easier to contain, to appease, to divide and conquer, in contrast to an awakened, drug free, unified and determined population.

Active political prisoners and prisoners of war are the exemplary prisoners among the masses. They are leaders. Texas’ desire to conserve ideological, and social hegemony over the population has and will continue to cost people their lives.

In the civil case, Owolabi V. TDCJ Allred Unit, et al., 7;22-cv-00094-0, one such political prisoner has challenged political censorship of the Revolutionary 12 Step Program, and other communist, revolutionary nationalist, anarchist, and abolitionist materials.

The sitting Judge, a George W. Bush appointee, for the US District Court of the Northern District of Texas is Reed O’Conner, who has a reputation as a highly conservative Republican reactionary. O’Conner has moved to dismiss the case, not on the basis of the case alone, but due to prison officials withholding and delaying the processing of the check for court fees. Unit prison officials have ignored the plaintiff’s request to have the check processed. The Plaintiff has informed Judge O’Conner of this problem, and filed a motion for extension. The court has yet to respond to the plaintiff’s motion.

We’re asking all those among the public who have an interest in stopping political censorship in Texas, to contact the Court, inform Judge O’Conner and the Clerk of the Court that the Allred Unit is refusing to process the check for court fees.

Contact info for the court is here: https://www.txnd.uscourts.gov/judge/district-judge-reed-oconnor

MIM Distributors has confirmed at least 135 pieces of our mail that have been censored by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice(TDCJ) in 2022. However, the vast majority of our mail goes unaccounted for, so we know that the actual number is in the many hundreds.

Censorship in Texas is not new. The TDCJ banned our book Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán for many years. More recently it was brought to our attention that that decision had been reversed and a number of comrades were able to receive the book. However, Allred Unit has censored the book 4 times in 2022. The bourgeois state has always repressed political speech that is opposed to its oppression.

Most of the censorship in 2022 has been triggered by and targeted at organizing efforts around the Juneteenth Freedom Initiative. In particular letters with updates on the campaign and plans to boycott the holiday. The most censored letter actually was mostly reports on censorship by the TDCJ itself.

Many comrades reported that the censorship of the infamous June 8th JFI Campaign Update letter was appealed automatically by the TDCJ. We received dozens of letters stating the censorship was upheld by the Director’s Review Committee(DRC) on appeal because the letter was “inciting a disturbance.” Yet all the letter called for was to boycott the holiday and instead spend it advocating for a list of demands including an end to long-term solitary confinement, censorship and unpaid labor. In other words, peacefully advocating for your rights has been made illegal for Texas prisoners. That is why we say prisoners in this country do not enjoy full citizenship rights.

Meanwhile, of the dozens of notifications that we received, none of them specified what the item was that was being censored, or what about the item was objectionable. When we wrote the DRC to point this out we received no response. Similarly, our letter to Allred Unit warden Jimmy Smith regarding blanket censorship went unanswered. This is a violation of caselaw, such as Crofton v. Roe (9th Cir. 1999) 170 F.3d 957, which concluded:

“Unsupported security claims couldn’t justify infringement on First Amendment rights.”

One comrade in Stevenson Unit who had achieved a reversal after appealing a recent censorship reports:

“I received the enclosed notice that the Director’s Review Committee reversed the unit denial of 5 pages that could incite a disturbance mailed to me from MIM. I am now in possession of your MIM Censorship pack, and I can’t seem to find any mention of riotous propaganda, or anything other than helpful caselaw in the struggle to uphold 1st Amendment rights. Systematic denial by the piggy is surely taking place because they don’t like the expression of political and social views that are protected by the 1st Amendment right against arbitrary government invasion. Oh well, life’s hard. Harder if you’re stupid.”

Another comrade who won an appeal was convinced that our letter contained more contents because all ey got was an Unconfirmed Mail Form listing what we had sent em recently. Nope, that’s all that was in the letter that was originally censored for “containing information to incite a disturbance.” The only appeals that have achieved reversals so far have been for Unconfirmed Mail Forms(UMFs), our censorship pack, and a copy of the Bill of Rights. However, these reversals were not applied consistently, in other instances UMFs and our censorship pack was censored after appeal to the DRC.

While most of our censored mail was destroyed, one comrade in Allred had there’s sent back to us. In the letter “An Address to Tx USW, All TeamOne Committees, and Tx inmates”, the TDCJ seems to have highlighted where the letter mentions the “Juneteenth Freedom Initiative.” Specifically it is the sentence that calls for filing complaints and petitions to the DOJ. We mailed out copies of such a petition with ULK 78. This is the type of activity the TDCJ is calling “inciting a disturbance” in order to censor our communications.

While Under Lock & Key 78 seems to have reached many in Texas, we are still seeing an almost complete censorship of mail from MIM Distributors in prisons like Allred Unit and Hughes Unit. We’ve been told there is a whole shelf for mail from MIM Distributors in the Allred mailroom now.

Earlier this year, we reported on egregious censorship of a 12 step rehabilitation program and the TDCJ’s own Grievance Operations Manual.(1)

MIM Distributors and our subscribers within the TDCJ have exhausted all administrative remedies with our appeals, letters and grievances. The TDCJ is not interested in following the law on it’s own accord. Therefore we have begun to step up outside pressure on two fronts.

1. the legal front by filing a lawsuit
2. the public opinion front via our postcard campaign

Anti-Imperialist Prisoner Support(AIPS) has been reaching out on the streets of Texas and elsewhere to bring this story to the masses and gather signatures on postcards we are sending to the TDCJs DRC to voice opposition to this illegal practice of handling our mail and communications.

One comrade observed:

“Going to the masses with these postcards was very eye opening. Conceptually I knew many of the theories of how different classes of the oppressed nations react to building revolution differently, but to see how that plays out with my own eyes was something else. For example, many of the petty-bourgeois student types were more likely to scoff at or dismiss prisoner organizing out of defeatist attitudes at best (such as how censorship/repression is so big in prisons therefore we shouldn’t try at all) or take up bourgeois ethics and “justice” at worst (believing many prisoners “deserve” to be there). Many of the common labor aristocrat types tended to be more supportive, but also was discouraged in not being able to see the movement in Texas prisons right in front of them – expressed in attitudes of “what do they have to do with us here?” The oppressed nation lumpen (homeless, lumpen organization members, etc.) on the other hand were much more eager to sign the postcards in support of the comrades in Texas despite them being in another state. They knew how repressive the inju$tice system was in either out of personal experience or through their close friends’ personal experiences; and many expressed how even if all of our comrades in Texas was 100% guilty of the most heinous of crimes that the imperialists had no right to judge them expressed through sayings of “cops are the real criminals.”

“Going through these personal experiences with the different types of masses can become pragmatism itself on this comrade’s part, which can become dangerous, so we should remind ourselves of the whole picture of what Chairman Mao said in eir essays”On Practice” and “On Contradiction.”

Yes, mass work like this is how we learn how the masses will respond and engage in different campaigns, but we shouldn’t be too quick to draw broad conclusions based on a little persynal experience. Another comrade reported:

“There’s so many people from all nations who are personally oppressed by the Texa$ Criminal Injustice system, who with the right political education will be prepared to join the movement. There’s no doubt in my mind as a supporter from the outside myself that there will be many more ready to put in the work, in the near, near future. The reception to the Allred censorship campaign has been nearly all positive so far, and many people of the oppressed nations here have told me persynally that they’ve been looking for something just like Under Lock & Key to educate and organize the people.

“Keep on the pressure from the inside, you have millions more to come and push from the outside, we just have to keep our heads on tight, stay determined, and struggle on.

“ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!”

For the voices of the oppressed inside to be heard, we must increase the voices of support on the outside. We call on our readers outside to print out some postcards and fliers, and copies of this article and hit the streets today.

You can view the growing list of confirmed censorship in Texas on our website.

<sup>Notes:
1. MIM(Prisons), April 2022, TDCJ Upholds Censorship of their own Grievance Manual, Under Lock & Key 77</sup>

Stiles went down on its annual oppressive lockdown on the 9th of September. Still no mail pick up (it’s Sat the 17th!) and only one official shower given on the 14th. Most of the guards (99.9%) are A) Nigerian citizens on work visas, or B) African-American females with little education, marketable job skills, or energy. Either way, the levels of adherence to the rules of confinement per TDJC Guidelines in Huntsville is laughable, and most paper work is pencil-whipped.

I yelled out to D-2 Asst. Warden Fisher on Tues the 13th that “4 building D-wing” has not received a shower yet, and she yelled back “That’s not what the paperwork says!”

Policy posted on the dayroom window on Day 1, Week 1 of this lockdown says showers will be allowed 3 times per week on M-W-F, with a 10 degree hygiene spend in the 2nd week. Good Luck

No mail pick up, no law library, no showers, and most meals consist of a “Johnny sack”– a paper sack with a PB+Syrup sandwich on cheap donated white bread, and a teaspoon of spicy hamburger meat an another 2 slices of bread. No access to cold water. I’m up on 3 row where the heat collects and my Vaseline turns liquid by 10 A.M.

Sir/madam Editor

I’m writing this to express my concern about the treatment of inmates with heat related disabilities, and their treatment, and lack of propper medical care. Since I have been on this farm there has been five deaths that I know of. One before i got here when an inmate burned to death in his cell while staff stood by and did nothing, the second was found hanging in a cell, that had been there so long, rigor mortus had set in. The third, was made to look like a suicide but turned out to be a murder, fourth a man just had health issues and died in his cell, and the fifth was on the way back from the hospital in Galveston, now that’s just prisoners. We’ve had one T.D.C.J. Captain blew his brains out while at work, for what reason is still unknown as well as the other five deaths.

Now all of this has taken place over a span of around 5 months. And this is just on this farm, I wonder what happens at other farms. The question is has Texas prisons turned into internment/death camps. To me it seems like T.D.C.J. is doing its best to take all the things away from prisoners that they were awarded in the Ruiz V. Estelle, and Ruiz V. Johnson. Now if we do not educate ourselves against this type of oppression and push for more people to ease some of the over-crowding. What part of justice is served when a man or womyn serves 30 years flat. That’s a lifetime, that time stood still for them, if they were 30 years old now they are a 60-year-old crippled old man or woman, let them go spend what time they have left with any family they might have. To keep them locked up any longer is just cruel.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Mark W. Stiles Unit has been operating for most of 2022 so short of staff that it is placing the public’s safety at risk. For instance buildings 3, 4 and 7 house up to 432 each and on most days operate with one officer at the building control desk, 3 officers assigned to the 3 control pickets and one rover per building. That is 5 officers per 432 prisoners. The 3 buildings mentioned above not to mention buildings 11,12,18 and 19 (of which I have no personal knowledge of the number of prisoners housed in those buildings) that is a total of 15 officers for 1,296 prisoners. The officers are over-worked and have short tempers. They are tired and the rovers are only giving the prisoners an ingress/egress to and from the cells every 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours causing tension levels to be extremely high.

LAW AND FACTS

Mission statement: The Mission of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is to provide Public safety, promote positive change in offender behavior, reintegrate offenders into society and assist victims of crime.

TDCJ Administrative Directive (A.D.)-s.40 clearly states: Offenders will be afforded at least hourly ingress tom and egress from their cells during dayroom hours. Post Order 7.023 (1) The cell block officer shall call for an ingress/egress on the hour, from the dayroom to cells and from cells to dayroom, (2) The cellblock officer shall give offenders returning to cellblock from assigned jobs, school, commissary, or other unit activities opportunity to return directly to their cells.

TDCJ’s failure to follow its own procedural rules and regulations is an independent violation of due process. This holds true even if the rules and regulations provide protections beyond those which are constitutionally required. The existence of rules creates the expectancy that they will be followed… except to create an illusionary semblance of compliance… The legislatures failure to appropriate funds sufficient to increase significantly the security staff does not absolve the TDCJ of liability for any unconstitutional shortcomings in the area of security (see Ruiz V. Seator, 359 U.S. 535 (1959)).

2021 Texas legislative House Bill 3157 by Ron Reynolds. This New Law increases the penalty for violating a person in custody’s civil rights from a class A misdemeanor to a third-degree felony.

To whom it May Concern:

I am a dialysis patient at the Estelle High Security Unit. Our Warden and Major are Having a Very Hard time getting us just across the street to get our dialysis. One day they used a tractor and trailer to get us there. All of us in High Security are Heat Restricted and a lot of us are in wheelchairs. They have put us in a transport Van Ford F-350 and put us 8 in the back and 3 in the middle with wheelchairs in or on top of them. There is a small cage in the van. This is a copy of a grievance I just sent them:

ON 8-15-22 at 5:45pm-7:10pm 11 Dialysis patients were put in a van with NO Rear A/C. We got to the rear gate of high security at 6:10pm our officer driving the van told Lt. Phillips:

“Hey there’s Dialysis in the van and it’s hot for them,”

Lt. Phillips said ,

“I don’t give a fuck I’m crossing my kitchen crew to the main building. They can fucken wait,”

It was about 90 outside. Our officer driving the van told her again,

“They just got off dialysis,”

Lt Phillips said,

“They’ll be fine.”

Lt. Phillips, Sgt. Stovall, Sgt. Sabasi, Sgt. Perillo were all out there. Not one came to check on us at all for the hour we were in the van. They were in a hurry to go home. We were at risk of Heat Stroke or worse. When we did pull in to High Security parking one of our dialysis patients fell out from his blood pressure being low from the heat from behind the van. Sgt. Stovall and Sgt. Sabasi were there to see it. Are we not Heat Restricted? Why are we put in a Hot Van? TDCJ says the vans are in working order. Blowing hot air does not mean its working.

Now I Sent it out on 8-15-22 I’m waiting for it to come back. When I got it back I will tell you the response.

I am still getting your paper at Estelle

Sincerely,

A fighter