MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
www.prisoncensorship.info is a media institution run by the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons. Here we collect and publicize reports of conditions behind the bars in U.$. prisons. Information about these incidents rarely makes it out of the prison, and when it does it is extremely rare that the reports are taken seriously and published. This historical record is important for documenting patterns of abuse, and also for informing people on the streets about what goes on behind the bars.
As day 30 of our hunger strike comes to an end with nothing being
resolved it was good to hear that our plight is being heard and shared
out there. Also it strengthens us to hear all the b.s. that our captors
are doing just to discourage us. Yet, many of us have learned from prior
experience that they would stop at nothing to quiet down our movement.
Despite it all we continue with it all.
The recent update is that close to 50 remain and almost all of us,
except a small number, have gone “man down” and taken to be placed on IV
support in the infirmary here. Only to be brought back a few hours
later, feeling a little better and continuing on (in agony) on hunger
strike. Though we’ve received promises of change, we have yet to see
anything on paper. Until then we shall continue, I just hope no more
have to perish because these captors refuse to be human.
On 7/30/13 (day 23 of the hunger strike) at approximately 1pm, prisoners
on my tier began alerting adjustment center custody staff that one of
the hunger strike participants was unresponsive. Prisoners kept yelling
“man down, man down!” and banging on their doors until a goon squad was
formed. One member of that goon squad was Officer Persaud, who
sarcastically ordered the semi-conscious man down to come to the door
and cuff up. During this potentially life threatening delay, the man
down actually found strength to get his hands behind his back and
through the solid door’s food port. The prisoner reports he was then
held by his wrists and then by the cuff chain as a mechanical issue
getting the cell door to open ensued. Ultimately Persaud let go of the
cuff chain and the prisoner then explains he fell face first into the
concrete floor. The door was finally opened and the goon squad stormed
in as if pouncing, ordering the prisoner to stand up.
The same day a second man down situation followed, with a similar
response. Custody staff are expressing blatant resentment and disrespect
toward participants in the hunger strike. It is my suggestion to those
pigs that if their current job is not to their liking they should go
back to “Bob’s Burgers” or convince their torture unit overlords to
grant the
reasonable
requests for basic human needs set for in the open letter, instead
of throwing vigilante green wall style shit fits.
The bourgeoisie seems to be losing the battle for free enterprise
against the repressive U.$. government. There can no longer be any
commercial email service that does not provide direct access to all its
users’ information to the U.$. intelligence agencies. We discovered this
today when our email server, lavabit.com, was no longer accessible and
the owner posted a message stating,
I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in
crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of
hard work by shutting down Lavabit. After significant soul searching, I
have decided to suspend operations.
The clear implication is that the feds approached him to demand access
to the communications on his server. Existing communications were
advertised as not accessible to anyone but the user who owns the
account. In order to not release any future user info to the feds he
shut down the server; a decision surely not taken lightly when people
depend on their email for so much of their lives.
Just earlier this week it was revealed that a popular hosting service
for Tor hidden services was comprimised and sites on that server were
infected with malicious javascript to reveal users’ IP addresses
(usually hidden by the Tor network) to a server located in Virginia. The
obvious implication there was that this operation was related to U.$.
intelligence agencies which dominate the region. One of the more popular
sites affected by this attack was Tormail, another self-proclaimed
secure email service.
All of this comes on the heels of the release of information on the U.$.
National Security Agency’s (NSA) system of monitoring all electronic
communications in the world. Information released makes it clear that
all major commercial software companies have provided backdoors to their
software and online services to the U.$. government. With the
destruction of Lavabit and TorMail, it seems clear that the United
$tates has no intention of letting any exceptions to that rule continue.
Whistleblower Edward Snowden was known to use lavabit.com for his email,
leading many to conclude that Lavabit was a victim of the U.$. hunt for
Snowden himself. Others have speculated that the attack on Tor was an
attempt to scare people out of the so-called darknet and back into the
friendly arms of Google, Microsoft, et al.
While using allegedly secure online services can provide an extra layer
of protection, you cannot rely on an unknown party for your security
anyway. That is why services with built in PGP encryption, like
hushmail.com, are a joke from the get go. Hushmail.com openly works with
the Amerikan government already even though they are not a U.$. company.
Certainly other nations will attempt to seize the competitive advantage
they now have over a business that has long been dominated by U.$.
companies. And as we recently said, the positive of all this is a
surge
in demand and innovation in the realm of computer security.
For now, you cannot email MIM(Prisons); instead, see our
contact page. We
will be investigating alternative solutions and post them on our
announcements and contact page once they are available. If you’re still
using unencrypted email for political work, get with the times and start
studying our
security links
on our contact page. The last revolutionary generation underestimated
the role of COINTELPRO until it was too late. It would be a crime
against the people for us to make the same mistake with everything we
know today.
I am sending my revolutionary greetings to you in Black & Gold. I am
an enforcer of the Latin Kings and I am extending an invitation to all
Latino inmates to join forces with us to protect one another against all
forms of aggression and discrimination. We should build solidarity and
unity in a united struggle against this system of oppression. We must
fight for our civil and human rights. I am encouraging you to unite with
the ALKQN in our United Front against the capitali$t Imperiali$t United
Slaves of Amerika. We should join MIM(Prisons)’s United Struggle from
Within and start study groups.
MIM(Prisons) adds: We welcome this comrade’s support for United
Front work against imperialism. This statement echoes the call to
Build a
United Front for Peace in Prisons, which was first initiated in
2011. A number of organizations and individuals have signed on to the
United Front, and we encourage the ALKQN organization as a whole to take
the leadership to a bigger stage and formally become a signatory to the
UFPP. We believe that the politically conscious leaders of the ALKQN,
including this writer, agree with the five principles of the UFPP:
Peace, Unity, Growth, Internationalism, and Independence. And for the
leadership of large organizations such as the ALKQN to come together and
declare to the membership that these are core principles of their LO
will send a powerful message to individuals and other LOs across the
country.
For those interested in joining the United Front for Peace in Prisons,
send your organization’s name and a statement of unity to MIM(Prisons).
Your statement can explain what the united front principles mean to your
organization, how they relate to your work, why they are important, etc.
16 July 2013 - I would like the brothers in the struggle to be aware
that their movement is being felt all the way on the east coast. As you
are aware I was last at Auburn Korrectional Facility. I was put in the
box and given a 180 day sentence for rallying 22 other komrades on this
end to go on a food strike in support of our brothers out west. It got
so bad that 8 of us were held in the kamp’s hospital and a court order
was given to force feed us. I just got out of the hospital yesterday and
I have restarted my strike along with the other 7 brothers I spoke of.
The pigs have violated our property and they have destroyed our books,
including my Afrikana, Assata, and my Black’s laws dictionary that my
dad bought for me before he died. To make things even worse they
destroyed my pictures, including a lot of my parents who are both in the
essence now. I don’t have any family outside these walls, so my komrads
(and a deep seeded hatred of how these pink pigs treat us) are all I
have.
I wanted you to print this in your next issue because I know how them
brothers are struggling and they may think that they are in it by
themselves. But I want them to know that they have some real militant
brothers who have lost a lot now to join them in their struggle. There
are only 7 others with me out of the 22 of us who put this thing into
effect over here. The rest of my komrades have been scattered in other
koncentration kamps. New York State has about 65 prisons from maximum
security, which we are in, to minimums. What I do know is that we are on
watch and soon will be whisked away where these pigs will fill us up
intravenously so they can say they care. But we will continue our
movement on y’all behalf until we hear or read that y’all have received
the basic necessities in which you are fighting for.
MIM(Prisons) adds: While they are no doubt facing significant
repression and conditions that merit struggle in New York, these
comrades have stepped up to fight on behalf of the hunger striking
prisoners in California. This prisoner and his comrades demonstrate the
important principals of unity and self-sacrifice that are so critical to
building the communist movement. While we frequently appeal to
prisoners’ self-interest in calling them to action, when this
self-interest in aligned with the interests of the anti-imperialist
movement, ultimately communists will act without regard for
self-interest, in the service of the oppressed.
Why does a political newsletter such as Under Lock & Key
get denied on a regular basis, but so called urban novels and other
related material is allowed in to flood the cell blocks? The answer is
simple, political material is dangerous to the established system of
injustice. By censoring or abolishing political material the door is
open for a replacement and how convenient that the replacement consists
of literature conveying tales of drug peddling, murder, deception,
racism and other criminal activity. The system uses this replacement as
a means to keep ignorant prisoners in a criminal mindset and out of a
revolutionary one, because if the lumpen spent the time wasted reading
replacement novels with revolutionary research and education, we as a
whole would be one stepping stone closer to complete abolishment of the
injustice system. Sadly the ignorant prisoner cannot in his mind put
down such material because the tales described leap out to him in an
enticing manner. This is why the system wins and continues to operate in
a full capacity.
The censorship doesn’t stop at just political material, education period
is under attack. The mail room drones will use any excuse to deny
material which they feel would encourage an individual to think for
himself and question the tactics of oppression deployed by the injustice
system.
I chose this topic because I feel the individuals who fill their minds
with system approved propaganda are the ones who suffer most in the long
term and need to be reached out to and have the system’s hold on their
minds broken. I truly hope the many comrades who read this understand my
point and will reach out to the ignorant and build them into solid
comrades instead of pawns played by the injustice system.
I close this with the following: education is what will deliver the
captives from the chains that hold them, but knowledge is not limited to
just politics. One must be educated all around in order to attack this
oppressive system from all sides and angles, because without education
we are everything they want us to be: dumb, ignorant, and harmless. In
all reality censorship does encourage recidivism, and as long as the
oppressed remain ignorant to the tactics the system has nothing to fear.
I encourage all who read this to put down system approved urban novels
and pick up an education based book or newsletter, sign up for all
political newsletters and educate those around you. Form a study group
and become a part of the United Struggle from Within. With unity and
solidarity we can abolish the injustice system and we will break these
chains of oppression.
MIM(Prisons) adds: As we have
documented
extensively, prisons across the country regularly censor Under
Lock & Key and other political literature and even letters that
we send to prisoners. This comrade is right that this is politically
motivated. Denying prisoners political education while providing them
with trash to read is one way the prisoncrats try to prevent political
organizing. We need the help of lawyers on the streets to work with the
Prisoner Legal Clinic on the day-to-day battles against censorship.
29 July 2013 - On July 8th the hunger strike went as planned and
continued until Friday. On Saturday 7/13 prisoners ate and also on
Sunday. However, again on 7/15/13 some resumed the hunger strike [at
California Correctional Instiution].
Medical personnel are coming by to check on us here hunger striking. We
are not getting our weight taken nor blood pressure. Medical staff are
just asking us if we’re ok. A memo was given out before the strike
saying we are able to get 2 appliances, a typewriter and other various
items: shorts, bowl, tumbler, unlimited soups in canteen. But this stuff
cannot be realized or verified as I haven’t seen anybody get a lot of
soups, radio/typewriter or cup and bowl.
No prison official has come by to ask of what’s going on or what,
although a C/O came by and asked if we are hunger striking and if so
what for. I haven’t heard of anyone going to medical so far. Mail is
going slow and only about a couple pieces a section are getting passed
out.
29 July 2013 - The hunger strike seems to be struggling along. Corcoran
Security Housing Unit stopped running yard for about a week. CDCR seems
to be about to implement the “step down program” here at California
State Prison - Corcoran SHU. And its so-called “conditional inactive
release, monitored status” for guys who are being reviewed for inactive
status by CDC DRB (review board). From what I’ve heard, guys aren’t
biting on the “banana-in-the-tailpipe” bullshit.
Day 15 of the
Death
Row SHU (adjustment center) hunger strike. Almost 50 participating
and the administration is scratching its ass in frustration, using every
dirty track in the book (operational procedure [OP608]).
After 3 days we’re official hunger strikers. Within only 2 days we were
getting set up to be declared “leaders” by a sergeant or lieutenant
under the guise of negotiations. By day 5 the facility captain started
sweating us. At this point our peaceful action shows potential to expose
human rights violations due to imminent media attention, so prison
officials hoping to cover things up deem this a disruption to facility
operations while part of their clique forms an Institutional
Classification Committee (ICC) which then threatens us with a Rules
Violation Report based on their wild stretch interpretation of 15 CCR
3315 (a)(2)(L). This makes each of us a documented/validated participant
in a Security Threat Group (STG) action (OP608, sec419 B.m.n.). If that
fails to halt the advance of our struggle for basic human needs, CDCR’s
playbook then calls for an intensified sensory deprivation program to be
implemented (OP608, Sec. 419 C/Sec. 815). All this clearly demonstrates
CDCR’s premeditated response to our peaceful action is the continuation
of violent torture methods with malice under the guise of “security.”
Course of action: everyone simply states they have nothing to say. Thus,
nobody provides evidence of being “leader” or “an organizer” through
individual testimony. The open letter with its
list
of demands speaks for itself in behalf of us all, participating or
not, while our non-violent participation in the struggle is an action
which speaks louder than mere words. We’re simply allowing CDCR’s
twisted response to unravel, thus exposing their premeditated malice
which they have reworded in the OP608.
Original art by Billy Sell of the torture cell he died in at Corcoran
State Prison.
On Monday, 22 July 2013, 32-year-old Billy “Guero” Sell died in his cell
in the Security Housing Unit at Corcoran State Prison. Prisoners near
him reported that he had been requesting medical attention while on
hunger strike, but his requests were ignored.(1)
MIM(Prisons) has joined the many organizations and individuals who are
demanding that the California Department of Correction and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) address the medical needs of prisoners throughout
the hunger strike. These people are hired as public servants, and yet
they allow people to suffer and die by denying basic medical care. We
don’t know what the cause of Billy Sell’s death was, but we know a
number of comrades who have known conditions that are not being
addressed during the hunger strike. While
those
on strike are not getting the state-mandated medical checks.
In our years of experience advocating for U.$. prisoners, it has not
been uncommon for Amerikans to say “let them rot” or even become
belligerent towards us for something as benign as handing out a flier.
It is no surprise then, that our
comrades
are reporting similar attitudes from the staff who are overseeing
their well-being in California prisons.
This kind of oppression is exactly what the current prison movement
needs to combat. There is a social force opposing the lumpen of the
oppressed nations. And the only way to stop this abuse is for the lumpen
of the oppressed nations to organize as a counter force, which means
organizing in a different way than they have been in recent decades.
Ensuring prisoner health requires survival programs organized by the
oppressed populations themselves. These are rights that prisoners
supposedly have in this country. But as we know, no rights are
guaranteed unless you fight for them.
As the strike in California passes the 20-day mark, the tens of
thousands of people who have completed their solidarity strikes need to
be building more long-term institutions - study groups, health
campaigns, legal assistance clinics, etc. These are the first steps
towards building independent institutions of the oppressed, which are
necessary because the existing institutions of the state will kill us.