Federal Prisons

We take action regardless of whether we will ultimately win or lose. We take action simply because it is in our nature to resist injustice and oppression. It is who we are. And we recognize that not everyone has that same nature. We should not criticize or look down on those who don’t have enough strength for this fight against the odds. After all, oppression of the weak and unfortunate is the very thing we are struggling against. So we hold no animosity towards the naysayers as long as they do not directly interfere with our cause, and we are happy when our actions benefit them even though they refused to participate. People cannot help being the way they are. For those of us with the revolutionary spirit the struggle comes as naturally as apathy and passivity comes to those who refuse to participate.

But the truth is that we most definitely can make a difference. The government and the TDCJ administration would like us to believe they are all-powerful and can do whatever they want without concern for any consequences, but that is just propaganda intended to make us give up before we even start. We know this from experience because we have won victories already. We have seen even just a handful of prisoners come together many times and force the administration to improve conditions or follow its own rules.

We know that just because our actions are ignored at first or because we got a rubber stamp response on a grievance doesn’t mean it didn’t have an effect. Everything has an effect and it all adds up. We recognize that change in any area of life generally requires sustained action over a long period of time. The pigs’ first line of defense is to keep us ignorant and keep us discouraged, but we must know better than to fall into those traps.

What we often see is prisoners coming together in a spontaneous uprising when abuses reach a crisis point. The administration will quickly back down and meet their demands. But then when this temporary mobilization of the mass of prisoners falls apart, the administration incrementally begins the same abuses all over again. If they overstep and the prisoners mobilize themselves once more, then the administration just repeats the process of backing down and incrementally reimposing the same abuses. In this way they gradually accustom the prisoners to accept the abuse of their rights and human dignity.

So another reason why we take action is simply to stay mobilized and able to resist the incremental erosion of our rights. We don’t fool ourselves about the possibility of keeping the whole mass of prisoners fully mobilized. The majority will always care more about watching TV and playing fantasy football. But there are also at least a few prisoners who see revolutionary work as a way to pass the time that is just as enjoyable and interesting, with the added benefit that it actually gives them some real power over their circumstances. If we can keep this core of dedicated revolutionaries organized and active at all times, then we can put up constant resistance to the erosion of our rights. And we will have an organizational framework and leadership already in place that allows us to quickly mobilize the masses for some larger project whenever it becomes necessary.

We know all this is an uphill battle, but we can take heart when we study the past. In the broad sweep of history the course of events has overwhelmingly been in our favor. The oppressors of the world have been fighting a desperate retreat for the last thousand years, losing battle after battle in the struggle for human rights. It is clear which way the wind is blowing. And the struggle for prisoners’ rights fits squarely within that larger struggle.

There will be a day in the not-so-distant future when people look back with horror and shame at our current culture of mass incarceration and the conditions in these prisons. And those who struggled for prisoners’ rights and reform of the criminal justice system will be grouped among the heroes who fought to overcome absolutist monarchies, colonialism, slavery, worker exploitation, racism, sexism, and every other form of oppression. We can take action with absolute confidence that we are on the right side of history. In the long run, we are assured of victory.

MIM(Prisons) responds: So much of what this author writes here speaks directly to the value of perseverance in our work. The project of building revolution (or making any great impact on the world) is made up of many, many, many days of mundane tasks. Some days of excitement. And many more days of mundane commitment.

In a debate on whether people are born as, or developed into, revolutionaries, it seems like this author would argue the former. But surely everyone who’s turned on to politics can also remember a time in their life when they were apathetic and passive. Whether from an incorrect understanding of how the world works, or a lack of faith in our own ability to change and make change. At some time, probably over a long time, we decided to stand up.

Well, how do people turn from only participating when there’s an acute problem, to making that long-term commitment to building a revolution? (Hint: it’s not a persynality trait we’re born with.)

Author and bourgeois psychologist Angela Duckworth says developing interest and passion for your work (the type of passion that sticks it out through the hard times) is made of “a little bit of discovery, followed by a lot of development, and then a lifetime of deepening.”(1) In the quote below Duckworth talks about “having fun” as part of developing interest. While prisons certainly aren’t fun, we can apply this concept to prisoners facing repression, where the “trigger” for interest is repeated exposure to examples and experiences of resistance.

“Before hard work comes play. Before those who’ve yet to fix on a passion are ready to spend hours a day diligently honing skills, they must goof around, triggering and retriggering interest. Of course, developing an interest requires time and energy, and yes, some discipline and sacrifice. But at this earliest stage, novices aren’t obsessed with getting better. They’re not thinking years and years into the future. They don’t know what their top-level, life-orienting goal will be. More than anything else, they’re having fun.”

“… [I]nterests are not discovered through introspection. Instead, interests are triggered by interactions with the outside world. The process of interest discovery can be messy, serendipitous, and inefficient. This is because you can’t really predict with certainty what will capture your attention and what won’t. You can’t simply will yourself to like things, either. …”

“… [W]hat follows the initial discovery of an interest is a much lengthier and increasingly proactive period of interest development. Crucially, the initial triggering of a new interest must be followed by subsequent encounters that retrigger your attention – again and again and again.”

Just because someone is initially uninterested in the politics behind the mass action, through repeated exposure and “retriggering interest,” we can encourage them to go deeper. And after the initial interest is sparked, Duckworth says deliberate practice, a sense of purpose, and a hopeful attitude, are what enable us to commit and excel. These approaches are what cause us to overcome the adversity that the author describes in the article above, of administrative failures, discouragement from staff, and even our own mistakes.

And Duckworh argues, based on eir decades of study, that these qualities can be nurtured and developed – by individuals themselves, and by people outside of those individuals. As organizers, we need to work to develop interest, practice, purpose, and hope in others. In eir book Grit, Duckworth lays out many methods to do this, some of which we’ve touched on in other articles throughout this issue of ULK. With this response, we primarily want to highlight that a revolutionary fighting spirit is something that we can cultivate; just because someone doesn’t have it now doesn’t mean they won’t ever have it. And it’s the organizer’s job to make that process as successful as possible.

Just arrived at the Ad-Seg unit @ Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP) on a charge for conspiracy to assault C.O.s on a particular facility, drag for “Administration wants you out of here.” I get to the cell and the first voice I hear coming through the adjacent HVAC duct is the voice of a Southern California Chican@, who is my neighbor asking, “Ey homes, are you active?” inquiring as to whether I am housed with California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) as a General Population prisoner or a Sensitive Needs Yard (SNY) prisoner. Because I do not engage in the police agenda of separating and segregating California prisons based on racial disparities, I replied, “I’m a konvict!”

To say the least this lost child of Aztlán continued to press down on myself the hellish investigative tactics so often applied under the prison politic culture. As a New Afrikan leader under the strict guidance of the L1 cell of USW, I know the difference between Politics and Politrix. And the California prison system is saturated in Politrix, most practiced by the prisoners themselves. I relieved the lost child of their fears and went to the bunk area and began opening my Prisoners Legal Clinic Accounting System. I was called by another set of prisoners who were housed on an SNY facility and were members of a lumpen group. These individuals sent me their lock-up orders and asked to review mine in order that we could engage in a confidential dialogue in relation to current feuds between Chican@ lumpen factions and a new born faction of Blacks. This brings me to the titling of this report, “Checking Paperwork v Checking Ourselves.”

Here it is. I, a leader of the New Afrikan revolutionary nationalist identity is sitting in Ad-Seg unit after being kidnapped from a previous prison to fill “Black bed space” at Kern Valley State Prison; space created by racial altercations orchestrated by the C.O.s. I’ve been shot in the arm and gassed by the pigs with no reports or medical attention administered. I’ve had a Sergeant threaten to fuck (rape) me because of my involvement in a case witnessing pigs apply unnecessary force, while the anti-intelligence agents (ISU/IGI) do everything they can to keep my voice as an activist for the “Prison Rape Elimination Act” silent. I’ve been used to carry out acts of violence on other prisoners, in a mafia-like way by CDCR and KVSP officers. Officers who then doctor their reports to justify removing the targeted prisoner. All this done against my will and yet when I pull up, the lost children of Aztlán ask me am I active.

We need to re-evaluate what it means to be active. In these last hours it means less what the person’s p.work says and more to what one’s actions say. As a member of the USW-L1 cell I stand on the principle of unity as described by the United Front for Peace in Prisons. For New Afrika, UMOJA brings about UHURU as a five letter word equal to the five point star, and/or square that is Planet Earth. Whether we are visitors or make prison our deathbed, prisoners must begin addressing our problems amongst one another using investigation methods based in true information. Not hearsay or gossip shared with us by the pigs. We must not determine who is active or who isn’t solely on a housing status, because when the tables are turned you might be the one de-activated.

In struggle and solidarity.

MIM(Prisons) adds: It is easy for the state to create paperwork, and phoney documents have been a known tactic in CDCR for a long time. This is similar to our discussion around sex offenders, who are regularly ostracized and even attacked based on cases that the imperialist state has put on them. We know there are many who snitch in prison, just as there are many who committed sexual crimes against the people to get there. But we will echo the comrade above, that we must base our judgments on peoples’ actions.

14 JUNE 2018 – Uhuru! As of today’s mathematics, 14 June 2018, prisoners are being violently pent against one another in a last attempt to interfere with current demands by both the people of California and the federal government to release its ridiculously large prison population.

CDCR, at prisons like the Substance Abuse Tratment Facility (SATF) and Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP), has begun engaging in policy changes that manufacture hostilities between the prison populations. One particular change involves rehousing what is called “mainline” prisoners on yards that are considered Protective Custody (P.C.) yards by force. Now these are not P.C. yards by the standards of the law, Protective Custody. Instead they are Sensitive Needs Yards (SNY). These yards house a combination of offenders/prisoners, including prison gang organization defectors called “drop outs”, prisoners with sexual offenses, prison sex victims, victims of exploitation by other prisoners and a wide range of other types.

There are offenders who were/are members of street gangs/organizations whose particular gang has been targeted by the larger gang alliances like the Mexican Mafia. Then there are those individuals who are members of left wing political organizations who struggle against corruption and blow the whistle against crooked cops and politicians in office. Though it has been promoted that all who are housed at SNY facilities are child molesters, police informants, gang traders, etc., this is a lie spread by the police pigs in order to establish the chaos that is being born across California in prisons, CDCR.

Prisons have begun rehousing small numbers of mainline prisoners who are considered the “actives” on facilities that have been established as SNY facilities amongst those who are often mis-construed as “non-active.” Because these facilities are not what CDCR claim them to be; an environment with no gang activity and very little criminal violence, these facilities are a melting pot for chaos. There are possibly more STGs on the SNY than on the mainline, as the 2012 Pelican Bay SHU Agreement to End Hostilities was designed to cease gang hostilities and stem criminal behavior for all mainliners. (Mainliners are prisoners who were until recently housed at General Population (G.P.) facilities, but now SNY facilities are considered mainline, as there are more SNY facilities than G.P.)

Let the authorities that be take notice: There are those of us who will not participate in wars against ourselves but instead will bare arms against the agents of oppression, where ever they be. And we know all of you. You who see what is happening but do nothing to protect those of us unable to protect ourselves. Trust that justice will be done on the yard as so in the streets. Your time is no more!

[NOTE: The author is among a group of New Afrikan and Chican@ leaders of the United Struggle from Within (USW). Ey was among 40 prisoners transferred to Kern Valley State Prison D-facility after a riot between SNY gangs united against New Afrikans and Chican@s refusing to endorse gang culture and hostilities amongst prisoners, working the police agenda. The author was transferred from a lower level institution less hostile to growth amongst prisoners, and placed into an environment that would definitely invite conflict between them and corrections officers.]

As we come closer and closer to September 9th, Day of Peace & Solidarity, covered in the shadows of Black August, Bloody July, and Blue June, the members of United Struggle from Within(USW) under guidance of the Comrade Loco1 have begun to suffer attacks by the state at the local prison level of Kern Valley State Prisons(KVSP). As we of the common collective refer to it, “Killer Kern”, it has been a long time coming this day that members of the MIM(Prisons) guided mass organization came under direct line of fire, but the time has come.

As of late June of 2018, members and supporters of the USW have been on the ground establishing the five principles of the United Front for Peace in Prisons(UFPP) where there has been hostilities between racial factions of the Chican@ nation groups and a particular New Afrikan social group. The hostilities have resulted in riots between both nations that have caught in the line of fire: elderly, crippled, and mentally ill. Members of USW took the lead and waged a strong campaign for the establishment of a Peace Protocol that introduced both Chican@ and New Afrikan prisoners to the UFPP.

USW Loco1, and a key supporter of the UFPP, Silent Israel of The Mafia Alliance(TMA) begun organizing peace talks with various Chican@ nation group leaders on the behalf of the New Afrikans at this local level. Where the pigs had established a culture of turning a blind eye, and even instigating violence against New Afrikans, who are out numbered by the Chican@ factions by far. USW immediately went into overdrive on the consciousness of the masses, which included particularly a call for all convicts to cease in what appears to be radical hostilities driven by police provocations and programming to keep the masses at war and distracted of the rising sun of September 9th. These local leaders put themselves on the chopping block by holding open dialogues with the masses addressing issues like “Racial Segregation” used by the pigs to divide the lumpen, stripping prisoners of the power of uniting. Keeping prisoners in a state of powerlessness.

Loco1 began to spread information about the September 9th commemoration of Attica State Prison, the year 1971, as a means of demonstrating the sort of power prisoners possess if only they’d cease in the war games between themselves and concentrate on the true sell outs, baby killers, sexual predators and traders of national loyalties. The police that is. This instantly made USW and its leader at this local level a target. When prisoner leaderships agreed to cease its hostilities and instead develop a communications system between the two nations, the pigs took it as a personal attack against their false economic interest by Loco1 and immediately orchestrated a plot to have the USW leadership removed and placed into solitary confinement.

As Loco1 and the rising USW supporting committee began gearing up to face off with the pig administration as to its position on a local boycott of KVSP systems and fraud services, in solidarity with the National Prisoners Boycott led by members of the Freedom and Justice Movement, the pigs launched a full frontal agitation campaign to instigate hostilities between themselves and all New Afrikans. What with the New Afrikans leading the way on issues at the local level with: pigs applying excessive force, failing to protect, ignoring prisoner safety concerns, orchestrating a gladiator program, pitting prisoners against one another, etc. Who better to concentrate on? And when New Afrikans failed to bite on their agitation, pigs finally revealed that Loco1 is hatching a conspiracy that involves prisoners repeating history, September 9th, 1971. So to all members of the United Front for Peace in Prisons, USW needs you to pick up the slack and act on your five principles, that these USW comrades do not stand alone in isolation.

[In ULK 63 Master K.G. Supreme reported on CDCR instigating violence as part of the integration of “mainline” and SNY prisoners.]

A USW comrade adds: I am one of the 40 prisoners who along with Supreme was part of a CDCR plan staged by SATF Corcoran and Kern Valley to remove from the lower level 270 design to a hostile 180 design in order to build numbers for Africans so that the race wars amongst Hispanics and Africans that was instigated by correction corrupt officers and its administration as a last call to prolong releases of nonviolent offenders. It was expected we would come and continue the race conflict. However, I and Supreme came and established a peace between the both sides and now that CDCR see that, CDCR has found other ways to continue to frustrate the peace process such as placing informant Africans in the D yard block 5 & 6 to collect intel or perhaps cause chaos such as a buffoon who they sent in the block yelling racial slurs to the Mexicans while at the same time claiming he’s Black Mafia.

The corrupt officers sent him there to attempt to cause a new storm that had been calmed. When neither the Blacks or Browns fell for it! They yet did it again, this time with a Brown who was mentally ill who began yelling nigger at Blacks until finally a Mexican removed him. So here we see two attempts that failed. Now CDCR sent an informant name XXXX with the promise of a job to give intel on us to remove comrades to Ad-Seg units. This so that there would be no peace keepers. Well they removed Supreme to Ad-Seg due to the snitch’s alleged claim that Supreme was staging assaults on staff. Myself now being left to keep the peace alone has now become the target of jealous Israelite Africans seeking position rather than appreciating the Moses of their time. We all know the story of Moses who came to his people’s aid and then was told by one slave: Who made you ruler over us? You gonna do to me what you did to the Egyptian who mistreated the other one of us yesterday. (Exodus 2: 11-14).

Today Kern Valley is refusing yard to prisoners and showers. The prison administration is keeping the prisoners locked down in violation of federal and state laws. Officers are doing all sorts of trickery under administration in order to create conflict with prisoners. The inhuman treatment is beyond being fixed by its own. CDCR can’t police itself and this is demonstrated. I spoke with several righteous officers who don’t agree with what is going on and they are feeling that they too are being pent against prisoners in order to feed their family. I come from an alliance of all races, we come and try to bring peace and harmony wherever chaos exist and put it to death. We as USW must begin to understand the facts! This is the facts! Either jump aboard or jump off board. Everybody got choices. To my cousin Master K.G. Supreme, you are not alone, I feel your spirit brotha. “One Love”

Please send me the Texas pack. I shared mine with someone who did not return the entire contents. I have found the information to be most helpful. Just this week I won a Step 1 Grievance using the Texas pack.

The unit grievance officer had erroneously coded a Step 1 Grievance. The previously filed Step 1 had been concerning sleep deprivation only because I am wheelchair mobile, a “wheeler.” Thus, the sleep deprivation is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (28 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). However, the grievance was coded as “denial of access to health care.” There is a very big difference.

While at the TDCJ Hospital Galveston (HG) Unit the staff denied me access to a bed for all but three hours during a four day period. Instead, I was forced to remain seated in my wheelchair in a holding tank. Just so their records would show that I had been assigned to a bed each night I was taken to a bed late at night and awakened a short time later to go back to the holding tank. Basically, I only obtained three hours of sleep during an approximate ninety-six hour period.

In further error, the unit grievance officer had misrouted my Step 1 to the senior practice manage. Presumably because it had been incorrectly coded. The senior practice manager knew he had no authority over the grieved issue. Yet he responded anyway, saying as much, and thus denying an opportunity for relief at the Step 1. I filed a Step 2 grievance asserting that no relief was available at the Step 1 for the reasons explained herein above.

In the TDCJ, denial of access to the grievance system is a grievable issue. Thus, I submitted a Step 1 Grievance asserting that (1) the unit grievance officer erroneously coded my ADA Step 1; and (2) the senior practice manager should have rerouted my Step 1 back to the unit grievance officer for appropriate handling.

It was only the availability of the TDCJ grievance codes in the Texas pack which allowed me to cite the appropriate code for my ADA complaint and to identify the erroneous code used by the unit grievance officer. As you know, the TDCJ Offender Grievance Operations Manual has been removed form the unit law libraries. I would not have been able to formulate my argument had the Texas pack not been available to me. But once again I am at a disadvantage with an incomplete Texas pack. Thank you for making this valuable resource available.

Several Mississippi Prisoners utilized the new Federal DOJ Petition that I drafted and you typed for us. Section Chief Steven Rosenbaum (US Dept. Of Justice, Civil Rights Div., Special Litigation Sec.) did reply. He stated that the Petitions were being “analyzed and reviewed” and our complaints would be investigated.

I will keep you up to date as we receive any further responses.

Around June a Mexican prisoner jammed his door and got out his call and stabbed an officer back here on high security maximum control when the officers came to feed him. The prisoner ran to the end of the hallway with a shank in his hand and he grabbed a nearby broom stick. The prisoner ut his back against the wall. The officers came to enforce order and beat the Mexican prisoner unconscious. The officers to retaliate kept beating the prisoner saying stop resisting after the inmate was already unconscious.

You can look it up on the news report of June in North Carolina prison of Polk Correctional Institution. Not long after that an inmate back here on high security maximum control started a fire because the prison staff denied him and other prisoners their food. The other prisoners joined in on the fire. The officer took the other prisoners out their rooms but the person that started the fire was left inside his cell. The officer told the prisoner in his cell that he was going to get him out after he passed out. The prisoner suffocated with the smoke and died.

The prisoners who were his neighbors were questioned by the SBI to know the situation. The officer was supposed to be put in investigation but came to work the following day like nothing happened. A prisoner died because the prison staff didn’t get him out until he passed out suffocating by the smoke. When it’s the prison staff duty to serve and protect the lives of the prisoners housed in these prison facilities. How many more lives and families have to suffer because of the corruption of the government system?

I have been subjected to delays, unanswered grievances, and harassment. After reading over your United Struggle from Within section I realized that this petition may very well be exactly what these people need. Here in Texas the grievance process is horrible. I’m currently incarcerated at the French Robertson unit, and on this unit all Step 1 grievances come back with the exact same response regardless of what the actual grievance was about. Which clearly shows a violation of the due process rights afforded to us due to the fact that no inquiry or investigation of any sort is being done to validate the response always given. I would like to join the campaign. I am in need of the petition.

I have recently experienced these very tactics with a grievance that I filed on a disciplinary appeal. I had made parole and was supposed to be released but was given a bogus case for fighting an inmate which resulted in injuries beyond first aid even though I wasn’t involved in the fight in any way, shape, form, or fashion! To make a long story short for the sake of time: two people that I knew had already fought once in the dayroom and were still heated. I was in the cell. I came out to shower and one of the guys comes and tells me about the situation. I tell him that a fight wouldn’t change any one of their minds about the situation (they were fighting about a Euro-Step!) so they should just agree to disagree. They end up fighting anyway. They aren’t caught fighting but camera review gets us all locked up. According to them I was seen conversing with the two prior to the incident so I must have been involved. The case says that I engaged in the fight by being a “lookout.” Which is total BS due to the fact that I didn’t engage in anything nor is being a “lookout” a case anywhere in the TDCJ Handbook.

Of course the case sticks anyway, even though both of the guys admitted and wrote statement professing that they did fight each other and that I had nothing to do with the actual fighting, in fact I was the one who tired to defuse the situation. I still get slammed on the case and lose my parole as well. I file the Step1 grievance and it is returned a month or so later without incident with the pre-meditated response as usual. I file the Step 2 and it disappears. 45 days later it reappears without a response of any kind due to the fact that it hasn’t been processed. I resubmit with all the inquiries from me to them questioning the whereabouts of the grievance. The Step 2 is returned to me in 2 weeks stating that the grievable time has expired!

I said all that to say this, comrades I feel your pain and struggle. I’ve lost my chance at freedom (semi-freedom) over a lying vindictive Lieutenant and a faulty grievance system, well not actually faulty cause faulty would indicate a mistake. This is done with blatant ill intent! I’m not discouraged though, just inspired to speak out on the injustice.

Colorado’s grievance procedure is designed to intentionally mislead the prisoners who have to follow it into believing that they have to comply with certain provisions, such as the relief requested, or face being barred from suit due to “failure to exhaust” administrative remedies which is required before any civil action addressing prison conditions can proceed in court, by the Prison Litigation Reform Act 42 U.S.C. 1997e(a).

Colorado’s Grievance Procedure AR 850-04IV-E-3-C-2 states: “The grievance officer may deny the grievance on procedural grounds, without addressing the substantive issue, if the grievance is incomplete, inconsistent with a former step, incomprehensible, illegible, requests relief that is not available, fails to request relief, or in any other way fails to comply with the provisions of this regulation, when the grievance is denied for a procedural error, the grievance officer shall certify in the response that the offender has not exhausted the grievance process.”

First, there are many conjectures that I could make as to whether this Administrative Regulation oversteps its bounds by diminishing First Amendment rights, however I won’t do that at this time. What I will do is simply prove the claim stated in the opening of this paper by presenting a brief history of jurisprudence of 42 U.S.C. 1997e(a).

42 U.S.C. 1997e(a) of the Prison Litigation Reform Act reads: “No action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under 42 U.S.C. 1983 … or any other federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted.”

Once again: “(T)he modifier ‘available’ requires the possibility of some relief.” When the facts demonstrate that no such potential exists, the inmate has no obligation to exhaust the remedy.”

“Next, an administrative scheme might be so opaque that it becomes, practically speaking, incapable of use. In this situation, some mechanism exists to provide relief, but no ordinary prisoner can discern or navigate them. As the solicitor general put the point: when rules are”so confusing that no reasonable prisoner can use them ‘then’ they’re no longer available” Tr. Of Oral Arg 23

“And finally the same is true when prison administrators thwart inmates from taking advantage of a grievance procedure through machination, misrepresentation, or intimidation. In Woodford v. Ngo, we recognized that officials might devise procedural systems (including the blind alleys and quagmires just discussed) in order to”trip up all but the most skillful prisoners. As [appellet] courts have recognized, such interference with an inmates pursuit of relief renders the administrative process unavailable. And then, once again 1997(a)(e) poses NO bar.” Ross v. Blake, - u.s. - , 136 S.ct. 1850, 1959-60 (2016)

Essentially, if for any of these reasons the grievance procedure is made unavailable, the prisoner need only to exhaust the process, i.e. file all steps, remain consistent with your relief, and comply with time lines. In actuality this was decided in 2001, before Woodford or Ross in Booth v Churner, 532 U.S. 731; 121 S.ct 819(2001). In Booth it was decided that an inmate seeking a remedy outside the scope allowable in the procedure in Booth that was monetary damages, he must still go through the process and complete all steps. Once he has completed all steps of appeal, he has exhausted all “available” remedies, and when officials misrepresent that fact, we have 3 supreme court cases to show otherwise.

Furthermore, all this has already been established, not only in the supreme court, but the 10th circuit and Colorado district courts. In Gandy v Raemisch, 2014 u.s. Dist. Lexis 43668, and affirmed by Gandy v. Barber, 2016 U.S. App. Lexis 3285 (10th Cir. Colo., Feb 23, 2016). Here Anthony A. Decesaro, Colorado’s administrative head over the grievance procedure and, step 3 grievance officer, concluded that because Mr. Gandy had requested “written acknowledgement of retaliation and compensation,” which are prohibited as allowable remedies by AR 850-04, that “[He] have not exhausted [his] administrative remedies in this matter based on your failure to satisfactorily request relief allowable.” The case goes on to say “The defendants (CDOC employees) cite no authority for the proposition that an inmate’s request for relief that exceeds that available under the grievance procedure results in a failure to exhaust, and indeed, Supreme Court precedent establishes just the opposite. In Booth v. Churner…” “To the contrary, the record reflects that Mr. Handy timely filed [his grievance] as a challenge to his allegedly retaliatory transfer out of AVCF, properly pursued that grievance through steps 2 and 3, and thus fully exhausted it.”

The failure to correct this misleading policy with so much solid evidence against it, in eluding first hand knowledge by the 2 most capable people in CDOC, Rick Raemich and Anothny A. Decesaro, more than 2 years later can only be seen as intentional. For prison officials to intentionally mislead prisoners in an effort to manufacture a way to defeat their claims in court is a violation of the 1st amendment rights to petition the government for the redress of grievances; access to the court. This is especially true because congress has made administrative procedures a mandatory prerequisite to suit.

What body of the United States government would violate such a fundamental right of modern and civilized society? Could they have some vested interest in preventing claims from reaching full litigation? Could it be to prevent the public from becoming aware of even worse infringements on society and humanity? One only needs to see what really goes on inside of an “MCU” or “SHU”, then examine the fact that the prison litigation reform act bars damages for “mental pain and anguish,” and that the u.s. military’s most recent change in tactics is towards what’s called “effects based warfare” aimed at taking actions to influence the way the enemy thinks and makes decisions. If it were illegal to practice psychological torture techniques on its slave citizens, where else would they be able to develop these tactics?

Addition to Grievance Campaign

Colorado’s grievance procedure, AR 850-04 violates 1st Amendment rights by knowingly and intentionally misleading prisoners. Among other things, requesting a remedy that exceeds that available under the AR does not result in failure to exhaust as stated in AR 850-04. This has been clearly established in the District of Colorado 10th Cir Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court; please see: Gandy v. Raemisch, 2014 U.S. Dist Lex is 43668 (Dist Colo. March 31, 2014) affirmed by 10th Cir, Booth V. Churner, 532 U.S. 731, 121 S. Ct. 1819(2001); and Ross v. Blake, - u.s. - , 136 S. ct. 1850 (2016).

This violates our right to access the courts under the 1st amendment. Please fix this policy immediately to consider grievances exhausted in accordance with these decisions.

On 14 May 2018, after seven days of being on lockdown and receiving one shower, 6 prisoners at the Colorado State Penitentiary (CSP) in the Management Control Unit covered their windows in protest and demanded they be given showers. The administration argued that they had been taken off lockdown on May 12, and therefore were not due showers.

On May 12, the facility had been taken off lockdown for 10 minutes and as soon as the doors opened multiple prisoners began fighting and the facility immediately went back on lockdown not ten minutes later leaving prisoners without a chance to take showers since May 10th. Colorado’s policy is that prisoners get a chance to shower every 72 hours.

At CSP each tier has 8 cells housing one prisoner each, 2 tiers per pod and 8 pods per unit. Six out of 8 prisoners all agreed to protest by covering their windows. Rather than allow the prisoners the human dignity of a shower, the cell extraction team was deployed, and a chemical weapon known as FOXISPRA Jet Oleoresin Capiscum (O/C) spray was applied. This caused several of the prisoners, including the author who has respiratory issues and is “O/C restricted” yet was still sprayed, to pass out. Apparently to Colorado DOC, being unconscious is considered resting. As usual staff tailored the reports to fit their needs, each prisoner was given disciplinary charges and monetary fines of $117, most of which was for one time use items that should have been split six different ways.

Sadly, the goal was not accomplished, however the 6 were allowed to shower to remove the O/C spray. The bright side is that solidarity such as this is on the rise in higher security prisons in Colorado, and this story has been circulating around the facility with high regard.

MIM(Prisons) responds: Building unity around common oppression is an important part of organizing behind bars. When people start to come together to demand their basic rights, they also start to see the power of this unity. Revolutionaries can build on this unity by helping folks to see how these individual situations of oppression are tied to the broader criminal injustice system. And making these connections we can start talking about what we need to do to fight back on a broader scale. Lots of people report their political awakening going back to persynal experiences of oppression, coupled with revolutionaries helping them see the ties to the broader system of oppression. United Struggle from Within comrades can play this leadership role by starting from where people are at and building with them.