Federal Prisons

Summertime mid-July 2017 – Oklahoma’s worst prison in the country Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing, Oklahoma. I got the chance to be moved off a security threat group unit (STG) where four gang members was killed in one single day all stabbed to death on one unit in one single incident in 2015. I got to move to the honor dorm where you are required to have a job either on the unit or on the yard, somewhere like the kitchen, laundry, or the library. All of the jobs was said to be full, but this facility had just lost its contract for its maximum security units. Most of the max inmates was moved to other max facilities and some put back in population on this facility, and after the max was empty it needed painting. I was chosen to help, I had experience in painting.

To move unit to unit you are subject to be pat-searched or strip-searched. These searches are routine by any officer, and are documented supposedly. On arriving to the entrance of the units that was to be painted my group of about 8 prisoners was stopped and told to line up for a strip-search. We formed a line and went one by one in a tiny bathroom where one officer had I thought one of the worst jobs that day seeing other men’s nuts and butts, but I guess I was wrong.

When it was my turn I was already reluctant because a few of the guys came out the bathroom complaining about how weird it was. I get in the bathroom everybody knows the routine, take off all your clothes hand them to the officer he hand searches them and puts them to the side or holds them in his hands. You are to lift your nuts, turn around bend over squat and cough at the same time. I did all of those things but the officer had this lustful look on his face. He told me to let him see my dick again he then bends at the waist where he is very close to my piece and told me to pull back on it. I was beyond horrified.

You know how your back goes straight when you’re either scared or mad? I asked him what type of shit he was on and told him I don’t get down with that shit give me my fuckin clothes back. He smiled and handed me back my clothes. I dressed so fast I forgot to put on a sock.

The following day I thought surely the same officer would not be doing searches. WRONG. He was waiting on us by the bathroom with one hand on the wall the other hand on his hip tappin his foot. Once again when it was my turn I was somewhat scared and regretful for going back. Scared because I can act out of control sometimes, but I was somewhat confused and caught off guard. When I entered the bathroom I told the officer I’m not strippin out he could send me back if I have to. He said OK put your hands on the wall and starts a pat-down search he gets to my dick and grabs it and holds it and ask what it was. I yank away and tell him my dick weirdo let me out of here and push past him.

I was embarrassed and afraid to tell anyone at the time but when I did, what I thought was going to happen did. He denied it, the facility heads believed him and not me the prisoner and to this day I’m being retaliated against, threatened and punished by this facility’s staff.

MIM(Prisons) responds: As this writer knows, it can be embarrassing, upsetting, and terrifying to come forward and talk about sexual harassment and assault. And it’s an added challenge when it’s not the gender norm that we’re comfortable with, like when male guards molest male prisoners. This comrade is exposing something that goes on regularly behind bars. And the idea that reporting to the prison this, or any other type of abuse, will help the individual’s situation is largely a myth. Congress even passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act to supposedly address this problem. But even that is just resulting in retaliation for many. Gender oppression and sexual assault of male prisoners is a big problem that is all too often ignored. It doesn’t matter if the harasser is male or female, it’s an abuse of power.

I am incarcerated in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutional Division (TDCJ) at the John M. Wynne Unit. I damaged my left lung because I contracted tuberculosis here at this faculty. I had complained for over a year because I was seriously ill. It is apparent that I contracted the active disease here. Before Feb 26, 2016, all test results were 0.0, until Feb 28, 2016 it was 0.3 and then in March 3, 2017 it read 0.8.

I remain in day to day contact with people with the active disease cough infecting anyone who breathe the germs into their lungs. There are at least three other people in the last twelve months, that I have seen the TB germs multiply and cause illness here at this unit. Each of these individual had been tested, as I prior too and had not tested positive for TB. I was given test upon test and complained many times that I felt I had been exposed to TB and was not properly diagnosed until I went on bench warrant that it was confirmed, certainly.

I possibly exposed many for undoubtedly mine was indeed active. It is not being addressed and my most sincere concern is that this is allowed by the prison failing to properly respond to tuberculosis exposure. Outbreak of the disease is not being prevented. The latest incident was on March 9, 2018 in which a prisoner became so ill from TB he passed out and was brought to medical then taken to the hospital. I told a LWN nurse Latasha D. Franklin that he had TB and he caught it from me a year ago. The next day she thanked me for the info because they didn’t know what was wrong with him.

I would like to keep getting the Under Lock & Key issues so I could keep up with all the prison problems with drugs, gangs, and medical issues, and assault on offenders from TDCJ employees.

I know about the assaults on offenders by TDCJ employees because on 1-19-18 I was assaulted by physical force by a TDCJ employee from the C.T. Terrell Unit in Brazoria County, Rosharon, TX. I’ve done letters, grievances, I-60s, and even a 1983 and I get the case of a assault on an officer!

The Captain on the C.T. Terrell Unit said “My Officers do not lie.” The case was fabricated to make it look like I was the assaulter, but I was without a case for over 12 years.

I wanna talk about an upcoming topic of “sex offenders” and their role in the struggle. A primary question is, I think, do they have a role in the struggle? It boils down to our moral outlook on sex offenders who were convicted by the imperialist justice system. How many wrongfully-convicted comrades are there in prison? I mean those who are not sex offenders. Are we wrong when we say that the U.$. imperialist justice system is broken and biased and oppressive and due to its historical implementation is invalid? No. I think most agree that this is the case.

And if that is the case, we cannot make exceptions to certain crimes and convictions. Or can we?

That leaves us to draw on what we ourselves as communists consider unlawful under socialism. Sex crimes, like all other physical assault, are unlawful. But how do we filter the sex offenders convicted by imperialists into the category with the rest of the convicted so-called “criminals” who fight within our ranks?

We know on the prison yards that we rely on what we call “paperwork” which is any police report or transcripts from the preliminary hearing or trial transcripts or even just mention or allegation that indicates someone’s involvement of the crime or “snitching” for a dude to be blacklisted as “no good” on the yard. But that goes back to relying on an imperialist’s rule of thumb when determining guilt.

Under our own law we would need to measure someone’s guilt by our own standards and come up with ways of determining how to do so.

But what about the sex offenders who actually are guilty of sex crimes? Are they banned for life? Is there no “get-back” for them ever? Becuz of their crime can they provide no contribution to revolution or to society under a socialist state?

I think they can make a contribution to revolution. And under a socialist state, after being appropriately punished (not oppressed) and taught the lesson to be learned against crimes of humanity rehabilitation can be achieved.

Note that I’m not an advocate for sex offenders, so if I must set aside emotion and personal disgust for correct political analysis and conclusion to further the movement on this question, then we all must.

MIM(Prisons) responds: We want to use this contributor’s perspective as an opportunity to go deeper into looking at the current balance of forces and our weakness relative to the imperialists. Our difficulties in measuring guilt, and helping rehabilitate people who want to recover from their patriarchal conditioning, are extremely cumbersome.(1)

The imperialists are currently the principal aspect in the contradiction between capitalism and communism. The imperialists have plenty of resources to set social standards (i.e. laws), conduct and fabricate “investigations,” hold trial to “determine guilt,” mete out punishment to those convicted, and even often find those who attempt to evade the process.

We hope by now our readers have accepted this contributor’s perspective that we can’t let the state tell us who has committed sex-crimes by our standards. The next step would be for us to figure out how to deal with people who are accused of anti-people sex-crimes in the interim, while we are working to gain state power. We can set our own social standards, attempt to conduct investigations to a degree, establish tribunals to determine guilt, and in our socialist morality, either mete punishment, or, even more importantly assist rehabilitation when we have power and resources to do so.

How much of this we can do in our present conditions is open for debate. How much someone can actually be rehabilitated by our limited resources while living under patriarchal capitalism is debatable. How relevant it is to put resources into this type of activity depends on how important it is to the people involved in the organization or movement.(1) How much resources we put into any one of these “investigations” depends on conducting a serious cost-benefit analysis.

For example, if someone contributes a lot to our work, and is accused of a behavior that is very offensive and irreconcilable to others who work with em, then that makes developing this process sooner than later a higher priority. At this stage in our struggle, low-level offenses should only be addressed by our movement to the degree that they build an internal culture that combats chauvinism and prevents other higher-level offenses from arising. Of course there is a ton of middle ground between these two examples. But what we might be able to address when we have state power (or even dual power) at this time may just need to be dealt with using expulsions and distance.

There are very few labels more stigmatizing than “sex offender” in prison. While sex crime encompasses a wide variety of “criminal” behavior ranging from urinating in public to actual sexual depredation, once labeled a sex offender (SO) any individual is automatically persona non grata; black-listed.

Many, myself included, view SOs as the scourge of society, far below cowards, and even below informants (snitches). As such prisoners generally do not debate SOs other than in a negative light. For the prisoner-activist/revolutionary, who is politically aware and class conscious, the SO debate takes on an interesting color. In particular, when we contemplate how a movement can best confront the problem of real sexual depredations. What possible solutions can be put into practice? Isolation? Ostracization? Extermination? Or is there some way in which the democratic method – unity/criticism/unity – can make a difference?

Excluding all non-sexual depredations (public urination and such), SOs constitute a dangerous element; more so than murderers because SOs often have more victims, and many of those victims later become sexual predators, creating one long line of victimization. What is a revolutionary movement to do to stop this terrible cycle? In prisons, at present, the only resolutions being practiced are ostracization and further exploitation. SOs are deliberately excluded from most, if not all, social interactions outside of being extorted, coerced, threatened and or beaten. While prisoners may find approval for these actions of victimization, these actions do nothing at all to solve the problem.

In a discussion with participants in an extension study group (debating topics from MIM(Prisons) study group) it was advanced that all SOs should be put on an island away from society or summarily executed. First, such drastic measures ignore the problem just as current solutions do. In the former (an SO’s island) case it creates a subsociety, a subculture, dominated by sexual depredation and its approval. As a member of our group quickly concluded “this would definitely be a bad thing.” In the latter case all you do is commit senseless murders.

Any possible solution with the real probability of success must be found in the democratic method. In order to eradicate the senseless cycle of sexual victimization revolutionaries must engage in a re-education campaign. Beginning in unity of purpose: a society based on equality without exploitation, class struggle and antagonism. To achieve this all elements in society must work in concert and be healthy. Following this is the critique phase, where the process of re-education becomes important. Interacting with SOs, demonstrating why, how and where they went wrong. From there one would begin inculcating an SO with proper respect for their fellow humyn and all the rights of individuals, along with a new comprehension of acceptable behavior. For the imprisoned revolutionary the most important aspect is their role in engaging the SO and initiating the re-education. This in itself is a revolutionary step requiring fortitude and stoicism considering current prison norms and expectations.

At any rate, assuming an SO can be brought to understand the incorrectness of their thought and action, they will cease to be a detriment to society. As revolutionaries, of course, this opportunity would extend to a political education as well. In the end one can reasonably hope to not only have reformed an SO, but to have built a new, dedicated revolutionary. The hardest step toward any goal is always the first one, but it must always be made.

MIM(Prisons) responds: Certainly it is correct to oppose sexually violent behavior. But we’re still not entirely sure why “sex offenders” are more pariahs than murderers in the prison environment. We lay out a theory for why prisoners are so obsessed with vilifying “sex offenders” in our article Sex Offenders vs. Anti-People Sex Crimes, and we welcome others introspection on the topic.

This author presents an interesting argument, although we’re not sure the logic is sound. When someone is murdered in lumpen-criminal violence, often there is retaliatory murder, and subsequent prison time. Lumpen-criminal violence (created and encouraged by selective intervention and neglect by the state) is one of the reasons why 1 in 3 New Afrikan men will go to prison at some point in their lifetime. That represents a long line of victimization.

Rates of sexual assault and intimate partner violence are also staggering. We are not trying to weigh sexual violence against murder and try to determine which is worse. Instead we highlight these arguments made by our contributors to question why they hold the perspectives that they hold, to encourage more scientific thinking.

We disagree this contributor where ey says that revolutionaries in prison should make it a priority to try to rehabilitate people who have committed sex-crimes. As we’ve explained elsewhere in this issue, we have a limited ability to do that, and this challenge is exacerbated by the fact that we still live in a capitalist patriarchal society. It would make more sense to focus this rehabilitation effort on people who are otherwise contributing to building toward socialist revolution and an end to capitalism. But reforming people who have committed sex-crimes for its own sake is putting the carriage before the horse. At this time, our first priority is to kill capitalism and the patriarchy.

I am writing you this letter to let you know what happen to me and maybe you can help keep other prisoners from making the same mistakes I made.

I was serving 12 years for a drug charge. Late 2005 I received mandatory parole. At the Walls in Huntsville, while going through the discharge process they made me sign a lot of papers. I was just learning to read back then, but I noticed something that did not make sense to me so I asked what that was all about. They said it was just a speculation of my parole. I told them I was not going to sign that part because I had never been charge or convicted of a sex offense. They said it was just a technicality, that once I reported to the parole people in Austin, Texas I could get it all straightened out. I said no that I was not signing those papers. They told me that they could not let me go if I did not sign, so I signed.

When I reported to the austin parole board they said I had to go the Travis County Sheriffs office & Register as a sex offender or go back to T.D.C.J so I went to the Sheriff’s office to register. At the Sheriff’s office they ran my social security number and driver license number and told me I did not qualify as a sex offender. The officer told me to go back to the parole people and tell them I do not qualify as a sex offender. When I told the parole people what had happened, one of them called the sheriffs office and told them it was just a speculation of my parole only while on parole I had to sign, so I was allowed to sign up. That was the first and last time I signed those papers.

They made me take classes and charged me a lot of money for each class. I could not pay for the classses so the bill kept adding up. I could not get a job anywhere because I was considered a sex offender. They even made me take a lie detector test. They said I had to take one every 90 days, but when I proved I was not a sex offendor they stopped making me take them.

Because I would not sign up to each year as a sex offender they violated my parole. In 2007 I went back to T.D.C..J. for that violation and did 2 1/2 years before I made parole again in 2010. I had a good parole officer, after six month he told me there was some kind of mistake in my records because they wanted me to sign up as a sex offender for a drug charge. He said I did not qualify as a sex offender. He said he would help me get it all straightened out. I had less than two years on the 12, so I said I would go back to the T.D.C.J. and serve all my time before I sign up again. In Sept. 7, 2013 I was arrested again on a 30 year old charge CR 87-0140 of kidnapping. This was the fourth time I was detained for that same charge but this time they had a new D.A. that somehow lost all physical evidence that had proved in the past it was not me they were looking for.

I did not know anything about the Law so before the trial started I ask the judge if I could fire my attorney because he was not ready for trial. The judge said “No” that I had ample time to prepare my defense. The judge ask my attorney about that and my attorney said “I made some calls to no avail, could not contact anybody.” I asked the judge how hard is it to contact the Austin police department or the parole board? The judge said there is going to be a trial and even if you lose you can always file an appeal.

The first day of trial things looked good for me because they had no physical evidence. That night the jury went home and looked me up in their computers and newspapers that said I was one of the top 10 most wanted sex offenders. I could see it on their faces when they came in. My attorney worked with the D.A., not for me, so I was railroaded. I still cannot believe what they did to me. I have lost everything and everybody I love thinks of me as a bad person.

Please let my brother inmates know, don’t sign anything you don’t fully understand.

[This writer enclosed a People Magazine article: Sexually Harassed by Prison Inmates, January 1, 2018. About two female COs who work at Florida’s Coleman prison. They won a class action lawsuit regarding sexual harassment on the job, against the Department of Justice last February, with a $20 million settlement.]

I have an article that I got from somebody that I would like to share about a six-year battle against sexually-harassed women staff at FCC Coleman outside Orlando, Florida. For me, women that work in correctional centers should know what they’re getting themselves into working in all-male facilities.

I know that some guys can’t control themselves when they see women COs. Some do perverted shit that I can’t even approve of because that’s not who I am as a brother who is trying to end my criminal way of thinking. But I can say that women who sign up for the job know that they did not apply at Disney World or Six Flags, so they should be prepared for the torment that they know this job is capable of doing.

Even though I don’t agree with some prisoners who pull out on the women COs, I just feel bad for what this system of injustice has done to my fellow brother’s mental state. Because there are some brothers who are never going home at all and some who got a significant sentence, and they feel like they’re a long way from home. So this situation is a double-edge sword because you have to look at some of these guys’ mental state and situation, because some are not going home at all, which can influence other brothers’ behaviors.

And I cannot put all the blame on my fellow prisoners, because I have seen for myself women COs let prisoners whip out on them and they wait or show some skin till that brother has finished. And there has been COs, men and women, turning tricks with prisoners. So I’ve seen both parties at fault in these circumstances.

That is why I said this is a double-edge sword situation, but the sword is sharper on our side because of lawsuits like this, which open the doors for more corporal punishment and stricter rules in a place where we barely have any say so. This case has showed me the oppressor is coming up with new ways to keep my fellow prisoners in solitary confinement, and to take advantage of some brothers’ fragile mind state. Because to me these women knew when they applied for this kind of job, being so-called law enforcers of the worst humans in confinement, that we are labeled as what should they expect. So that is how I feel about this article.

MIM(Prisons) responds: We share this writer’s view that prisoners are put in shitty situations that can lead them to mental health problems and behavior that they would not have considered on the streets. It’s also unacceptable that people working in prisons toy with prisoners, using their position for their own sexual pleasure.

We have little sympathy for people who choose to take jobs in prisons, as these institutions are just tools of oppression. We do recognize that many prisons are deliberately located in destitute rural white areas, and so many times job options are slim. But we do still have free will, and a lack of available does not excuse people from taking jobs that pay them to carry out oppression and abuse daily.

That said, we don’t think there is any situation in which anyone should just expect to be sexually harassed. Even in prisons or the military, institutions that are fundamentally corrupt and serving imperialism, there is no need for wimmin to suffer sexual harassment. This is the same argument made of actresses in Harvey Weinstein movies, beauty pageant contestants, and people wearing short skirts: “you know the consequences and you’re choosing to get sexually harassed.” No, these people are choosing what clothes to wear and what careers to pursue, and those choices shouldn’t include sexual harassment.

The degradation of wimmin is a part of the system of patriarchal oppression that is intimately tied up with capitalism. As is the degradation of prisoners who are acting out against these COs due to their damaged mental state. These are things we won’t be able to eliminate while capitalism exists, but that doesn’t mean we should pretend people just need to accept it. We are building towards a society where all people are equal and no group of people has power over another group. This includes eliminating all forms of harassment and oppression.

The U$A uses the sex offender label to put folks in certain stages, legally. So the KKK uses that against you to not give you a job. So your life will be messed up. Being a captive we get hit with it every day. If you look at the United $tates of Amerika, some of everybody is a sex offender. Our own president is 1 of the biggest sex offenders of all. Once that label be upon you everything is hard. You can’t be around your kids or some jobs. They use this control to keep the oppressed in line. You can get locked up, catch a charge. Then the next thing you know you are a sex offender. I hate to see somebody else’s life messed up.

MIM(Prisons) responds: The ability to buy and sell people and sex, inherent in a capitalist economic system, leads many to behave in ways that are extremely anti-social. Those who have been subjected to the worst of the gender conditioning our society has to offer are much more likely to commit sex-crimes which perpetuate the harm caused by male chauvinism and capitalism.

It really says something that the best response the state has for dealing with the people who have submitted to its patriarchal conditioning is to slap a label on them and just ruin their lives. It’s the same with the “felon” label, and even more extreme.

We need to address the root causes of anti-social behavior (which stem from society itself), as well as rehabilitate those who have committed anti-people crimes. Without state power, both of these tasks are extremely difficult if not impossible. For our perspective on how to address this problem in the immediate term, see our article [LEAD ARTICLE FOR 61].

I am listed as a sex offender,
a few friends and I caught a charge in ninety six.
We did time and got released,
but can a sex offender be fixed?
Currently I’m doing life for a 2006 armed robbery
I have never violated any disciplinary measure for masturbation
on female prison staff or any sexually related issues
but I’m still listed as a sex offender
Can a sex offender become a revolutionary?
Can a sex offender become a genuine feminist?
Or an anti-patriarch misogynist?
Can a sex offender have been a victim of misogyny?
Or sexism like his victim?
For a sex offender, where does the healing and fixing begin?
Can a sex offender be considered or seen as equal?
Can he ever be considered or seen as a member of the people?
Does a sex offender still have human rights?
Is he even still human?
Can he ever be forgiven or forgotten for his crime against the people?
Aren’t almost all crimes against the people?
Can a sex offender be genuinely healed or rehabilitated?
Do we throw away the key and keep all sex offenders gated?
Yes? No?
Is the justice system just or genuine?
We all agree that poverty is the mother of crime,
So then affluence must be its father by grand design.
Can a sex offender be a victim of sexual double standard
or contradiction?
Can a rich sex offender be subject to the same prosecution,
incarceration, condemnation or even oppression as a
poor sex offender in this nation?
Do poor sex offenders receive systematic indulgence?
How long has the #MeToo movement been in existence?
Suddenly, the #MeToo movement has after so long, gained overdue prominence.
Will the real sex offender please stand up?
Let your money do your talking, prove the law is corrupt.
Rich sex offenders versus poor sex offenders?
White sex offenders versus Black, Brown, Yellow
and Red sex offenders?
Ghetto, hood sex offenders versus hillbilly sex offenders.
President sex offenders, PIG (pro imperial goon) sex offenders,
evangelical sex offenders, papacy sex offenders?
Thomas Jefferson was a sex offender? Still your hero and founding father?
Because his victim was a wombman of color?
Sally Hemmings, daughter of momma Afrika
Columbus was a sex offender,
still got his own day, for us to remember
“Grab them by their pussy” that’s what Trump say.
I don’t see anybody throwing their keys away.
A poor sex offender can’t point the finger, can’t scream “foul play?”
rich sex offenders could be healed, poor ones can’t?
Can’t compare apples with grapes? Naw.
Aren’t they all fruits? Yes, but naw.
Ain’t we all been living the misogynist culture?
Won’t we still keep doing it till so-called society
fixes its mental stature and structure?
Separate the sex poorfenders from the sex richfenders
Can a sex offender practice genuine self criticism?
Can a sex offender be a guerilla for egalitarianism?

I would like to address the Delaware comrade who wrote “Maintain the Trust in the United Front” article in ULK issue #55. I’m currently housed at High Desert State Prison in Nevada. I’m in my 20s and I’m in a level 1 PC unit. I’m not a snitch, a drop out or a sex offender. I was arrested and convicted of pandering, 2nd degree kidnapping, and felony possession of marijuana. I was basically forced to “PC up” because one of the original charges included sex trafficking.

I agree that snitches can’t necessarily be trusted on a scale where you’d conduct normal operations with them, but I believe those who snitch are uneducated and most of the time made the choice because they were young and afraid. If you’re too closed-minded to educate these young comrades and reform the way they conduct themselves when dealing with the bourgeoisie then how can you consider yourself a revolutionary? You should judge a person by their behavior and not their past. If “dry snitching” or hanging around the swine is a habit of theirs then most likely they can’t be trusted. Just remember not all of us were raised in an environment where “the code” was instilled in us at a young age.

As for sex offenders, why would you judge a man by a label given to them by the bourgeoisie? Often I find that these men labeled “SO” are well-educated, intellectual and humble characters who could be considered dangerous to the government! If these comrades can be educated in revolutionary theory they can be helping hands in the progression of the united front’s movement. We will find our strength in numbers, intellect and unity under a mutual interest. Don’t allow the oppressors to further divide our class and turn us against each other. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

I also agree that the bourgeoisie perceives our class as ignorant and frowns upon any comrade labeled “criminal”, but in their eyes it doesn’t matter if it’s a sex offense or a theft-related charge. The only thing we can do is prove them wrong by striving for perfection, self-discipline, cleanliness, and physically and mentally training on a daily basis.