Federal Prisons

Over a year ago I was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, a chronic liver disease. At one time I started treatment for Hepatitis B, something I didn’t have. I told them I never requested this. Medical responded that it was for my protection. Medical care here is horrible. I keep complaining about my treatment, but the medical staff says there are people sicker than me. They have a new treatment but it costs a lot. However I am looking for some legal assistance in this matter. I have found out the pill they bring me is for asthma, an allergic disease. I don’t have asthma, or no allergies and I know it has caused some liver damage. I started having some bad abdominal pains. I stopped taking the pill. And did my own research and found out this pill was not for my treatment. Can you assist me in finding a lawyer in this matter?

The biggest issue I see and hear about here is the constant racism by the white officers who are the only Monday thru Friday regulars. We have only 1 black officer who works on Saturday only. The rest of the week it is white pigs who work.

For clarification, I am a white man! I am gay! I am Jewish! an I am a self-educated, revolutionary, prisoner advocate! These facts, and the fact that I fight and advocate equality for all, makes me a target by the white racists and the one black officer.

But I refuse to be subdued.

Clothing, linen, grievances, and forms and supplies are some other issues. Clothing takes months to receive (I’ve been waiting 2.5 months with only 2 boxers and 2 pairs of socks in my cell). Linen gets exchanged once every 2 months (if we’re lucky). Grievances unanswered or denied unjustly. And all CDCR Forms (602s, 22s, etc) and supplies (ajax, toothbrush, combs, paper, pens, etc.) are rarely, if ever, supplied and the pigs say they “don’t have any” or they’re out.

I’ve been trying to get a California Code of Regulations, Title 15 without success since 09-23-2015.

Next I would like to inform you on the business I’ve been conducting. I have been studying with 2 other inmates on the tier and putting together a resource directly that I wish to distribute to all inmates free of charge (though I do ask for donations if possible).

I am denied access to proper health treatment and was forced to endure a yeast infection in my ears and on my rectum for almost seven years. When I complained the nurses would take my blood pressure and pretend they could not comprehend my complaint. I was finally able to get neomyc and polymycin, B. Sulfates and hydrocortison solution for my ears and yeast infection cream for my rectum. After several years of them neglecting my complaints as if I was delusional and suffered from a phantom itch.

They totally neglected my medical rights by framing me as mentally ill. I had a stroke that made the whole left side of my body go numb. That went untreated and undiagnosed because I went unseen by the doctors and could not get past the firewall of nurses who would not tell the doctors my complaints.

I want to join the fight for change because of these capitalist pigs that are only fair to people they consider worthy. They do not offer equal treatment to the people. The low people ruled by the big pig of the government. That have sinister desires towards the people they have authority over.

I filed a Step 1 grievance about the illegality of the restrictions on indigent correspondence. I cited Guajardo v. Estelle in my grievance. Below is the response I received from the Assistant Warden.

“The Unit Law Library operates in accordance with applicable policy. No action is warranted.” - J. Alvarez, Asst. Warden

We, captives in the dungeon of the United Snakes of Amerikkka, have to realize that imperialism and religion were some of the main reasons many oppressed nations stay oppressed. I say this because religion instills false hope and cannot be trusted to bring an individual truth. Truth is within us. It’s not some dogma that’s external. A lot of us look for happiness in goods, money, fame, etc. But those things are illusions. What’s real is our consciousness and attaining a higher realm of consciousness.

Imperialists use religions as a way to divide and conquer. Religion is also used to create racism and slavery. I am talking about mental enslavement. Militaries are built to protect the imperialist religions so that they can keep you in a daze and exploit you and control you. When the Europeans sailed to Africa they used religion as a tool to pacify. And in turn the Africans were turned into consumer goods used to work the lands taken from the First Nations. So we can see how religion is good and bad. But man must know thyself. And all superstitions should be thrown away.

Revolution will defeat imperialism before religion does. And not because of turning the other cheek. But realizing that this school of thought does nothing but enslave minds to support a corrupt system to oppress nations all over the world. So I conclude to say revolution will bring heaven here on this earth. But religion will bring hell and divide us all. Unite and fight imperialism.

MIM(Prisons) responds: We have a lot of unity with this comrade’s comments on religion as a tool of national oppression. However, we do not agree that “What’s real is our consciousness and attaining a higher realm of consciousness.” Lenin wrote the book Materialism and Empirio-Criticism to refute the ideology of subjective idealism which remains popular to this day among those who want people to focus on raising their own consciousness while ignoring the external material world, as if self-improvement is a revolutionary act in and of itself. As Lenin explained, “the fundamental premise of materialism is the recognition of the external world, of the existence of things outside and independent of our mind…” Ey makes it clear that we must look at matter and not just consciousness as a part of the materialist method: “Matter is primary, and thought, consciousness, sensation are products of a very high development. Such is the materialist theory of knowledge, to which natural science instinctively subscribes.” This is important because if we focus only on our own consciousness we will never be compelled to act to create material change in the world. This is essentially what religions tells people, but religion focuses the consciousness-raising on knowing a god or higher power. Both approaches will leave the suffering in the real world untouched.

I have been unable to respond promptly due to various things happening here in the SHU. For example, based on the settlement agreement a lot of people are going up for committee and getting kicked back out to the mainline.

Well it seems these pigs aren’t liking the settlement and have instituted a mass search from block to block. Mines was hit a few weeks back and to appease their anger/or retribution almost all radios and CD players were confiscated with the excuse of gluing shut the battery console or the security tape/seal is in the wrong place or tampered with therefore rules violation reports (RVRs) were issued out! The same with certain TVs!

Yeah things took a turn where petty nit-picking was given a new meaning. My circumstances were just as bad. After my whole pod was pulled out and placed in visiting rooms to await our pod search for nearly 5 hours. We were escorted back only for some to find total disarray in our cells, confiscated radios for similar reasons as explained above and I noticed my TV was damaged I brought to the supervising sgt attention who was willing to have my TV repaired until I mention the pig who searched my cell must of did something foul for which he immediately flipped the script and attempted to accuse me of damaging my own TV to gain something from CDCR. This blatant denial of the obvious was in attempts to have me react negatively to get sprayed out. For which I didn’t, due to my placement that same day for transfer it didn’t seem like a wise decision.

This just goes to show how CDCR behaves when pressure is put on them to change their policies of unconstitutional practices. Recently I have mentioned that while people have been getting kicked out the SHU their cells have been left vacant. This still holds true as of me writing this. The pigs are beginning to fill up empty cells on the lower tier with prisoners from upper tier whether it’s same pod or not, my pod is currently full because of people form other pods moving in. We inquired as to when more people will drive up and we were told until whole tiers are left vacant. An ambiguous response as there’s at least 3 pods with up to 5 or less people. 2 pods have no one on upper tier. So I’m not sure in what direction the SHU is heading or what purpose it will serve in the near future? While the big search on our block the sergeant actually told a whole pod that this will become common practice due to training COs and maintaining their employment for our releases will make their jobs obsolete in the SHU. The veracity of this pig’s tirade is plausible yet we’ve heard other rumors for our blocks search/raid the underlying issue is the pigs are seeking retribution and looking for anything to write us up for.

I didn’t get hit with a RVR as the pigs raiding my cell damaged my TV (intentionally or accidentally) is questionable, although I had to file a 602 and the outcome is yet to come at my new facility.

I’ve been really busy with that lawsuit on the conditions here, and other complaints and organizing activities related to that. The good news is that the judge reviewed the law on the case, and ruled that if the allegations are true the prison officials are violating the law, and so they must respond. He ordered them to be served with the suit and gave them 40 days to respond.

The bad news is that they have gone back to canceling recreation all the time, for any pretext they can think of. But you know, that’s how it goes.

Resolutions on Gender Pronouns and Secure Communications

A couple resolutions passed at our 2015 Congress in July. One was focused on clarifying our policy on securing our communications outside of prisons. The full policy remains internal, but it reads in part, “Our policy is that we do not have cell relations over the internet if the other cell will not use PGP or equivalent encryption.” This clarifies our existing practice.

The second resolution was proposed to change our use of pronouns to reflect the non-binary reality of biological sex categories. This proposal was taken as a task for further research as comrades were not well enough informed on the topic to put it to a vote at that time. Below is our final resolution on this question, as a result of further research and discussion.

Distinguishing Biology from Gender

As revolutionaries committed to fighting gender oppression, we distinguish between the biology/physiology of sex (male/female), and the socially constructed categories of gender (men/wimmin).

Our definition of gender places it firmly within leisure-time:

“Historically reproductive status was very important to gender, but today the dynamics of leisure-time and humyn biological development are the material basis of gender. For example, children are the oppressed gender regardless of genitalia, as they face the bulk of sexual oppression independent of class and national oppression.

“People of biologically superior health-status are better workers, and that’s a class thing, but if they have leisure-time, they are also better sexually privileged. We might think of models or prostitutes, but professional athletes of any kind also walk this fine line. Athletes, models and well-paid prostitutes are not oppressed as ‘objects,’ but in fact they hold sexual privilege. Older and disabled people as well as the very sick are at a disadvantage, not just at work but in leisure-time. For that matter there are some people with health statuses perfectly suited for work but not for leisure-time.”(1)

Our definition of gender has not changed. But with our growing understanding of the artificially binary definition of biological sex, MIM(Prisons) is changing our use of language to better reflect the reality of biology.

A Bit of History on Biology

In the past MIM line has treated the biology of sex as basically binary: males and females. But humyn biology has never been entirely binary with relation to sex characteristics. There are a range of interactions between chromosomes, hormone expressions and sexual organ development. The resulting variation in anatomical and reproductive characteristics include a lot of people who do not fit the standard binary expectation. Studies suggest that as many as 1 in 100 births deviate from the standard physical expectations of sex biology.(2) To this day anything deviating from the “normal” binary of distinct male or female is seen by mainstream society as a disorder to be corrected or covered up. Genital surgeries are conducted on newborn babies causing lifelong pain and suffering just to “correct” a body part that is seen as too large or small, or even just because a baby identified by doctors to be a boy might grow up unable to pee standing up.(3)

People who are born with variations in sex and reproductive organs that don’t fit the typical binary are termed intersex. This term encompasses a wide range of biological expressions, including people entirely indistinguishable from society’s definition of males and females without a chromosomal test or other invasive physical examination. There are even instances where someone would be identified female by a certain set of criteria (such as an external physical examination) but male by another set (such as a chromosome test).

The Value of Removing Biologically-determined Pronouns

From studying the history of humyn biology we learn that it’s not possible to easily identify the biological sex of an individual. In fact, there’s nothing wrong with having a spectrum of biological characteristics that we don’t have to fit into two neat categories. Further, we do not generally see value in identifying biological sex unless it is the specific topic of discussion. We are committed to fighting gender oppression. And part of this fight involves teaching people not to be concerned with the biology of others, and instead to judge them for their work and the correctness of their political ideas.

Many languages are relatively gender neutral compared to english. Chinese is just one example. These languages do not suffer from confusion about the identity of people, and they are arguably much easier to learn and use in this regard. In Spanish, the transition to a gender neutral language has already begun with the use of @ in place of o/a in gendered words. While English does not offer us a similar gender-neutral option, we have a history of modifying the language to suit our revolutionary purposes. We have changed America to Amerikkka to identify the domination of national oppression in this country. And we have changed woman to womyn to remove the implication that a “woman” is just an appendage to a “man.”

Building on MIM’s Legacy

For most of MIM’s history, it used gender-neutral pronouns of “h” instead of his, her, him, hers; and “s/he” instead of she or he. Ten years ago at MIM’s 2005 Congress, a resolution was passed on gender-neutral pronouns, which read:

“MIM hereby extends its policy on anti-patriarchal language (including such spellings as ‘womyn,’ ‘wimmin,’ ‘persyn,’ and ‘humyn’) to cover the use of gender-neutral third-person singular pronouns. Henceforth feminine pronouns will be used for persyns of unknown sex who are friends of the international proletariat and masculine pronouns will be used for enemies of unknown sex.

“Examples:
‘From each according to her abilities, to each according to her needs.’
‘A true comrade devotes her life to serving the people.’
‘The enemy will not perish of himself.’
‘A labor aristocrat derives much of his income from superprofits.’

“This rule applies only to the otherwise ambiguous cases when sex is not stated. Accordingly, George Bu$h is still ‘he’ and Madeleine Albright is ‘she,’ although both are enemies. All MCs, HCs, and others close to MIM are ‘she’ at this time, since their real sex cannot be revealed, for security reasons.

“Traditional patriarchal grammar maintains that ‘he’ is the only correct ‘gender-neutral’ pronoun in all of the examples above. MIM’s realignment of the pronouns along the lines of ‘Who are our friends? Who are our enemies?’ is more egalitarian and corresponds fairly well to the facts at this point in history.”

While we see great value in the above resolution, in applying it to our practical work we ran into many problems. Regular readers of ULK may recognize that MIM(Prisons) has defaulted to the old MIM practice of using “h” and “s/he” pronouns.

The vast majority of MIM(Prisons)‘s subscribers are cis-males, meaning they were classified as male at birth and they self-identify as male today. (Note that these criteria are not material tests of one’s sex.) Much of our subscribers’ reasons for being imprisoned in the first place is related to this male classification. And they are held in facilities that are “male only.” Prison is an environment which heightens all of society’s contradictions, and this environment tends to be even more violent in reinforcing social codes of conduct (including “male” and “female” social markers) than the outside world.

In our practice of running a prisoner support organization with our organizing resting heavily on the written word, we have seen it as too confusing to use “she” pronouns for our cis-male comrades. Further, the 2005 resolution is not clear on whether prisoners as a whole, who are of the lumpen class, should be referred to as “she” or “he.” Historically the lumpen is a vacillating class, which is in a tug-of-war between bourgeois and proletarian influence. Determining if the lumpen are “friends of the international proletariat” is sometimes unclear. Thus the use of “h” and “s/he” was much more useful in our specific work.

We believe this new writing policy will have a positive impact for our transgender, transexual, and genderqueer subscribers and contributors as well. The preferred pronouns of these groups are often individually self-selected, as is how they present their gender identification. (Note that preferred pronouns and gender identification are not material definitions of one’s sex or gender.) Defaulting everyone’s pronouns to a singular set of gender-neutral pronouns reduces the subjectivism inherent in this type of identity politics. We hope our new writing policy will draw this movement into a more materialist and internationalist direction.

New Writing Policy

When referring to an individual in the third persyn, we will use either their name or the neutral pronouns of ey, em, and eir to replace s/he and h. Ey, em, and eir are singularized versions of they, them, and their and we believe these more accurately reflect the biological sex of humyns, in that they downplay the inaccurate binary which has developed over thousands of years of patriarchal history. We also think ey/em/eir will have the greatest ease of use, from the wide selection of gender neutral pronoun sets which have been proposed in the past.(5)

We define men and wimmin as those who are oppressors in leisure time and those who are oppressed in leisure time, respectively, and regardless of biological genitalia or reproductive capacity.(4) This is the strand of oppression called gender. When referring to people or individuals when gender is relevant, we will refer to them as men or wimmin and use he or she pronouns. (Similarly, we don’t always reference other defining characteristics of our correspondents, but we do refer to someone as “New Afrikan” or “clean-shaven” when relevant.)

We are given shoes - and the cement to walk on
jacket and pants - and the gum to chew on
unwrap the plastic - open the box
Let’s see just how much money we can blow on socks
symbols stitched outward - seams pink and frilly
made in amerikkan sweatshops - made in Vichy Chile
Teresa Marie is nine and has worked here years
fifty cents a day for her blood sweat and tears
she lives in a mud hut with her family’s chickens
and old rusty barrel - a couple flat rocks
home sweet home - here’s Teresa’s kitchen
her father shot by a U.$.-backed dictator
her mother raped by a drunken U.$. soldier
the baby’s half white and starving to death
fifty pennies a day - eight mouths - no milk left
you walk into the store - air conditioned - complaining
she walks in the mud shoeless - sharp rocks - daily
you are proud as apple pie to be an amerikkkan
she has nightmares: “U.$. soldiers are coming to get me”
bigger fatter stitched corporate brand name socks
skinnier jumpier malnourished children walking on rocks
you’re depressed - on medication
but at least you don’t stink
powdered. deoderized - pampered. christianized
you want Jesus to save you - LOL - ya right
behind her hut in an old tree knot
a penny a week out of the several she’s got
a smile lights her face as she turns to cook dinner
her brother needs ammo - revolutionary clandestine U.$. pig killer

Please remember that I am visually impaired, currently being treated for glaucoma, photo sensitivity, etc. Also, it has been commented on more than once that for a visually impaired persyn I seem to have no difficulty drafting correspondence. My patent response is I have, over the course of my life, drafted thousands upon thousands of holographic documents and correspondence. I can literally do so with my eyes closed. I am also a touch typist.

Since the 14th of this month I have been confined to an isolation cell devoid any light whatsoever except the modicum of light entering the cell from the hallway - by which I am writing this letter.

First, no sooner did I set the date per this letterhead than I was approached by a mailroom official informing me the book Settlers: Mythology of the White Proletariat had been denied. It seems Settlers is on a permanent denial list and is unappealable. This will be the first literature denial I have ever not challenged, or failed to prevail over, but I have stretched myself so thin I need to regroup. By my estimate, the propensity of prevailing per a challenge to this denial is less than good.

The reason for this denial is racial content and depictions of rape. Some years ago I received through the mail Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Go figure. I could not bring myself to allow this important tome to be destroyed. Recognizing the scarcity of resources, Settlers will be returned to MIM Distributors.

I did receive the Ricketts’ Prisoners of Liberation. I am anxious to delve into Prisoners, especially being absolutely isolated. All I can say is thank you so much for sending Settlers and Prisoners. I’m just so sorry I was unable to receive Settlers. Look for it to be returned in the next couple of months.

On November 13 the majority of my property was stored, including my legal materials, correspondence supplies, study items, etc., and I was transported from here, the Estelle Unit, to the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) John Sealy Hospital, Galveston, per ophthalmology consultation for prospective eye surgery. I brought stamped envelopes, 1 writing tablet, 1 ink pen, the book On Trotskyism, MIM Theory magazines 6 and 10, and minimal hygiene items. I also included MIM(Prisons)’s most recent communication to me. My intent for including correspondence materials and MIM(Prisons)’s items is apparent.

The evening of Nov 13 at approximately 6 p.m., the transport bus bringing me back to Estelle was rear-ended at a high speed by a UTMB John Sealy doctor in an SUV on a cell phone. The transport bus was at a dead standstill. The doctor did not apply an ounce of pressure to eir brakes. The SUV’s engine was pushed back 3 feet or more. Fortunately the doctor walked away. Seated at the back of the bus I sustained neck and back injuries.

At approximately 7 p.m. I was returned to the John Sealy Hospital, admitted, subjected to spinal cervical imaging, held overnight, and discharged the next morning with an ordered treatment regiment and a prescription for pain medication. Neither of which has been implemented as of this writing.

Late morning, November 14, I was wheel-chaired to a transport bus awaiting to return me to Estelle. UTMB medical personnel placed a bright yellow band on my right wrist designating me, in bold lettering, a fall risk. As such, it was ordered I be handcuffed singularly.

Arriving at the Estelle Unit at approximately 3 p.m., awaiting my return was a medical staffer with a wheelchair so that I would not be at risk of falling as ordered by UTMB doctors. Once taking a seat in said wheelchair, a prison guard ordered me out of the chair. In response I informed the Sergeant that I had sustained neck and back injuries via an auto accident, UTMB doctors had deemed me a fall risk, indicating the bright yellow wrist band, UTMB doctors had ordered I be ambulated via wheelchair, and the Sergeant was devoid the authority to supersede a medical directive. The Sergeant then again ordered me to remove myself from the wheelchair threatening me with physical assault and disciplinary action should I fail to comply.

As a visually impaired prisoner I have been issued, among other adaptive aid devices, a visual disability orientation cane. Pursuant to being ordered from the wheelchair, rather than using my cane to orientate myself with my surroundings, I used the cane for physical support while attempting to walk to the prison edifice proper, causing me to fall several times. Said Sergeant disallowed any persyn, neither security staff or prisoner, to assist me. Once inside the prison proper, and beyond the scrutiny of the belligerent Sergeant, a non-ranking guard did allow me to ambulate via wheelchair to my assigned housing unit.

When returned to Estelle from Galveston, I was issued no bedding (i.e. 2 sheets, 1 blanket, as required). Arriving at my assigned cell, the bunk I was assigned had no mattress. I advised all guards working my assigned prison wing, as well as all ranking officers on duty, as to the situation, notifying them all that less than 24 hours prior I had suffered neck and back injuries incurred in an auto accident. All my attempts to obtain a mattress and bedding were met with indifference by prison staff.

At approximately 11 p.m., one Sergeant Mims, a 3rd shift supervisor, entered my assigned prison wing. I approached Mims informing em as to my predicament, and was again met with indifference. I reluctantly informed Mims that I would bring the property in my possession to the wing dayroom and remain there until I was provided a mattress and bedding, suggesting to Mims that, since I had been injured, perhaps they could place me in the infirmary until I could be provided adequate bedding, or appropriate housing could be located. Though the dayroom was open for prisoner access, Mims stated if I entered the dayroom they would place me in lockup. I then invited Mims to place me in lockup so the entire travesty would be formally documented, ergo substantiating my prospective filing of an administrative grievance, and forthcoming litigious action. Mims then ordered me to place my hands behind my back so that I could be restrained thusly. I advised Mims it was required my hands be manacled in front as I am visually impaired, necessitating the use of a visual disability orientation cane so as to effectively maneuver throughout the prison. Mims repeated the order to place my hands behind my back. In compliance, I dropped my cane, placing my hands behind my back. Mims did restrain me and led me to the prison infirmary for a pre-hearing detention physical.

I’ve not seen my orientation cane since. Keep in mind, Estelle not only encompasses the High Security Unit, it is also the regional medical facility for the southern region of TDCJ.

I was placed in PHD (i.e. isolation) devoid any of the required criteria authorizing such. I was placed in isolation with nothing but the clothes on my back. Again, there was no mattress or bedding. Just a bare, steel bunk. No toilet paper. No water (The water faucet didn’t work. I was denied water for 4 days as I was on a hunger strike [11 days] and told if I ate I would be provided water.). After 4 days I placed my mouth directly on the faucet and sucked in an effort to obtain water. I must have removed some sort of plumbing obstruction by this means (yuk!) as I did create a trickle of water that I captured in a Styrofoam cup finally provided me. The isolation wing windows and outside vents were open, bringing the temperature in isolation cells down into the 40s. I had nothing but the clothes on my back, and the shoes on my feet.

The night of the 14th, morning of the 15th, I spent sitting upon a stainless steel commode. I had been without sleep for approximately 80 hours due to being transported to Galveston, the auto accident, being poked and prodded all night at the hospital, being transported back to Estelle, and not being afforded appropriate housing. Sitting on that steel commode, in frigid temperatures, I began to hallucinate. I had the most marvelous conversation with my significant other of 15 years. That has been my best experience since being incarcerated. I must’ve been talking out loud. A guard came to check on me and seeing the condition I was in, after 15 hours (I have a talking wrist watch) in isolation, I was brought a mattress from an unoccupied isolation cell. It had been there the entire time. Some time after this a prisoner in isolation that had 2 blankets sent me one. They, I believe a Black persyn, stated when sending the blanket: “Black, white, brown, red, yellow, we all gotta stick together,” which was encouraging - especially for Texas.

The first meal provided me was breakfast, the morning of the 15th. The guard serving trays spit in it. Thinking I was visually disabled rather than impaired, they spit in my food right in front of me. The breakfast tray was white paper that I could discern. The offending guard was in the hallway light directly in front of my cell. Rather than seen, I heard the guard spit into my food. Much like the pig that kicked Mumia into the Black Panther Party, this incident prompted me to commence a hunger strike.

Initially, my hunger strike demand was for adequate bedding, but as the days wore on, expanded to include being reunited with my extensive legal books, documents and papers; my correspondence materials (14 writing tablets, 14 stamped envelopes, 15 ink pens); hygiene items; and my political literature. After a week I was allowed my shower shoes, toothbrush, and toothpaste. I was informed this was all that was allowed a PHD confinee. As the statue designation would indicate, PHD is implemented prior to disciplinary hearing. There are no prison rules or regulations depriving a PHD prisoner possession of their property. I have been in PHD several time before and always have had possession of all my property until after a disciplinary hearing when disciplinary sanctions may restrict access to certain property items.

Rather remarkably, on November 25, I was allowed to order and receive commissary purchases: correspondence supplies (including a greeting card), soap/shampoo, fingernail clippers, and coffee, all items denied me from my confiscated and/or stored personal property. When the property officer delivered my shower shoes, etc., I inquired why I was not allowed correspondence materials so that I might contact my significant other. Their answer: “I don’t know. I don’t want to get involved.”

Interestingly, my commissary receipt shows I am in transit status rather than PHD. The property officer claimed I am in administrative segregation level III, just shy of high security. This, absent a disciplinary hearing.

On November 23 I was approached in my isolation cell by an administrator informing me I was charged with several disciplinary infractions. This persyn did not introduce themselves as my counsel substitute (C/S, advocate) per the disciplinary at issue. It seems Mims’s claims I threatened to inflict bodily harm on them by stating: “if I go in that dayroom, there’s going to be problems for y’all tonight - I promise you that.” Had I said what Mims claims, which I didn’t, it’s not much of a threat. Pretty lame. Mims also claims I failed to comply with a direct order by not putting my hands behind my back to be restrained. Again false. Finally, Mims stated I was a threat to institutional security cause they had to summon backup staff and a video camera per a “potential use of force.” Gotcha! There was no backup, and there is no video.

Uh-oh.

Stupid motherfucker.

Mims writeups are nothing more than attempts at creative writing, resulting in poor fiction.

The C/S delivered me with disciplinary notice 10 days into my PHD confinement. Understand, all, each and every time constraint in which to process and adjudicate a disciplinary action, had elapsed. On November 24 I was ushered before a disciplinary captain (DHO, Disciplinary Hearing Officer), at which time I categorically contested the entire disciplinary process from the beginning. I was summarily ejected from the hearing.

The next morning I was again brought before the DHO. When I again protested the disciplinary procedure, the DHO and C/S attempted to repress my dissent. In retort, I proclaimed the disciplinary hearing to be my hearing. The DHO then stated they could conduct the hearing without my presence. I countered: “This is my opportunity to be heard, is it not Captain Martinez?” Martinez then leaped from his seat and charged me as if to attack. Standing over me in a menacing manner, Martinez ordered my escorts to, “Get him outta here before I put him outta here!”

Rest assured, comrades, I was nonplussed. I can only assume the hearing at issue was held in absentia, though I’ve yet to be notified as to any outcome.

In regards to the hunger strike: though I still have not received my legal/political papers, including addressed, after receiving a mattress, blanket, and correspondence materials via commissary purchase, I broke my strike on November 26, a total of 11 days after embarking on such.