Federal Prisons

Indians were here first in this illegitimate country occupied by all of us that aren’t Indians. I am an Afrikkan man in this land of thieves. The article that was given to me by a comrade was ULK number 11. The article Thangs Taken got my attention the most because these caucasians have taken everything since the Afrikkans were taken from the mother land, Africa.

First off, let me set the record straight for all who are the “otherwise, and not the wise.” Nah, Old KKKolombus isn’t the founder of anything except how to deceive, divide, and conquer. The long white con used tricknology to trick and treat the Black man, the red man, and the brown man. This is the true meaning behind halloween and thanksgiving. To those of you who are pre-conditioned with the “otherwise-syndrome,” I pose the question to you: “how is it possible to say you’re the first to discover anything, if someone else is already there, or have ownership of whatever it may be?” Now, let me answer the question for those of you who don’t quite get my drift. The only way possible is by using deception, division, and conquering the minds of those who were trick and treated with gifts and trade of commerce.

I take some time to address the issue of Leonard Peltier, whose been in prison since 1977. For those of you who aren’t familiar with who Mr. Leonard Peltier is, and what his family needs us to do, let me do my best to enlighten you. Leonard Peltier, denied parole again, must wait until 2024 for his next hearing. “Despite the years of protest against Leonard Peltier’s wrongful imprisonment, despite government officials admissions over the years that they have no idea who killed FBI agents [Ronald A.] Williams and [Jack R.] Coler; despite the overwhelming evidence of egregious FBI malfeasance including civil and human rights violations; and despite the literally millions of signatures calling for the release of Peltier, he remains in prison to this day.”

On August 21, 2009 the U.S. Parole Commission for the second time denied parole to Leonard Peltier, who had appeared on July 28, 2009 before the parole board at Lewisburg Penitentiary, in Pennsylvania. This was his second full parole hearing since his incarceration in 1977, the first was in 1993. U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley made the announcement that Mr. Peltier’s release on parole “would depreciate the seriousness of his offenses” and “would promote disrespect for the law.” And that the next scheduled hearing would be in 2024, when Mr. Peltier would be 79 years old. The popular First Nation advocate for human rights was sentenced in a Fargo, North Dakota court to two life sentences for the killing of two FBI agents during a standoff on the South Dakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Mr. Peltier has always declared his innocence, saying the FBI framed him. Mr. Peltier’s Honolulu-based attorney, Eric Seitz placed his reaction to the parole decision on his Facebook page: “This is an extreme action by the same law enforcement community that brought us the deliberate imprisonment of suspected teenage terrorists, tortures, and killings in CIA prisons around the world; and promoted widespread disrespect for the democratic concepts of justice upon which this nation supposedly was founded on.”

Attorney Seitz is known for calling for trying former president George W. Bush, his Vice President, Dick Cheney and the First Secretary of Defense in his administration, Donald Rumsfeld for war crimes for launching the war in Iraq: “We will continue to seek parole and clemency for Mr. Peltier, and to eventually bring this prolonged injustice to a prompt and fair resolution,” he said.

The organizations fighting for Mr. Peltier’s release say they will now push for executive clemency, which means the commuting of his sentence - not a pardon, according to the Leonard Peltier Defense/Offense Committee(LPDOC) and the Friends of Leonard Peltier. “The President can decrease the amount of time served or grant an immediate release for time served,” states the LPDOC on its website. The friends of LP said they would urge congress to hold full and open hearings on the long term effect of COINTELPRO on the American Indian Movement and other activist organizations. The organization also wants congress to investigate who they call “the Reign of Terror” against the Pine Ridge Reservation from 1973 to 1976.

The FBI has been exerting massive pressure to continue Mr. Peltier’s incarceration, claim his supporters. The No Parole Peltier Association, which is run by a former FBI agents has posted on their web site that they “are strongly opposed to parole,” and on March 19 the organization, in a letter to President Barack Obama, urged him not to “give consideration to his [Peltier’s] Petition for executive clemency.”

Organizations that support Mr. Peltier’s release such as Amnesty International(AI) said they “regret” the parole commission’s decision.” “The interest of justice would be best served by granting Leonard Peltier Parole” Angela Wright, a U.S. researcher for AI said in a press release. “We urge the U.S. parole commission to reconsider its decision.” For those of you that want to help support Mr. Peltier his family and friends ask you to write to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20530 and ask him to conduct an executive review in the case of Leonard Peltier.

MIM(Prisons) responds:
The case of Leonard Peltier starkly illustrates the history of the COINTELPRO war against oppressed nation activists in the 1960s and 1970s and the consequential dramatic rise in the prison population in Amerika. Peltier is just one of many such people, locked up for fabricated crimes because they were part of a movement opposing Amerikan imperialism. This imprisonment expanded to oppressed nation youth who might join such anti-imperialist and revolutionary movements, and led Amerika to have the highest per capita imprisonment rate in the world.

The release of Leonard Peltier would be objective progress because as a vocal activist this would put Peltier in a better position to educate the youth of today about the history and current news in the criminal injustice system. However, he is just one of many men and women who should not be in Amerikkkan prisons. And rather than focus on individual cases, even very public and sensational cases like Peltier’s, MIM(Prisons) puts our efforts towards building a movement against the criminal injustice system as a whole, as a part of the fight against imperialism. Along the way we certainly ally with those focusing on individual cases like Peltier’s.

Being a revolutionary means having a political commitment and taking responsibility for that commitment. It means that we should be always working to realize our political aims, goals and objectives.

Even when a revolutionary comrade has not developed a high degree/level of revolutionary knowledge/science, his/her actions should reflect someone who is striving to implement a policy of self-respect, self-determination and self-defense. Your knowledge will grow and develop as you put theory into action. What is correct and incorrect will be revealed - through study and practice.

Here some things we should bear in mind:

1. Nobody was born a revolutionary. Revolutionaries are made.
   
2. Correct ideas grow and develop in unity and struggle with incorrect ones.
   
3. A revolutionary should be taken seriously by those they come in contact with.
   
4. A revolutionary should be patient and understanding with those who are new to revolutionary ideas, literature, struggle, etc.
   
5. A revolutionary should study revolutionary materials on a daily basis.
   
6. A revolutionary should do revolutionary work first and play games later.
   
7. A revolutionary puts the revolutionary movement as her/his priority over other things.
   
8. A revolutionary should do whatever they can to prolong their life of revolutionary struggle.
   
9. A revolutionary engages in principled debate on any issue, using science over idealism and emotions.
   
10. A revolutionary is not one who floods cells, burns mattresses or talks shit to pigs, these are reactionary actions.

    Revolutionary activity is potential “illegal” activity. Let’s get serious about building a movement to seize state power… or find something else to do…

In this response to a grievance petition from California sent to the Department of Justice (DOJ), they minimize the widespread scale of corruption of the grievance system in the California state prison system. Instead they are asking for facts and dates related to single incidents or perpetrators.

In “Bad Apples” in the Pig Pen we explained why a focus on targeting individual pigs is incorrect in most cases in our struggle because the problems we address are societal. Although societal problems manifest in individual pigs, focusing all of our energy trying to get one or two pigs fired from our facility doesn’t significantly impact society as a whole.

One may argue that the DOJ just needs a place to begin their investigation. However, the petition makes it clear that this problem is widespread throughout the system. Realistically they could interview prisoners at random for details and receive enough information to begin an investigation. Their narrow and sterile approach to “justice” is just a cover for their interests in maintaining the status quo.

Recently the Governor of California lowered the excessive and unnecessary amount of money that federal capitalist workers received. I don’t know the intimate details, I just know that instead of being payed $20 and $35 an hour, they were paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Outrage and hiss fits all around. You can’t do that Governador, how will we overeat, overspend and hoard. Now there’s a problem.

I remember a few years back an uneducated, because I’m a guard and you’re a prisoner, bourgeois pig was debating me over how he should treat prisoners. His main argument is what they all believe, “you did what you did to get yourself in prison.” I wouldn’t be in prison if I and people similarly situated like me had opportunities to strive to be my best, instead of being oppressed and repressed and suppressed at every turn and door I (we) enter. The so-called crime or activity which got me in prison, would not be a crime in a socialist society because I would not have to seek other alternatives of financial gain to survive. That would be my counterargument.

Then this defender of capitalist mentality, “dog eat dog,” comes with “you should get a job, even if it’s at a fast food restaurant.” They only pay minimum wage. That’s not enough to survive on, to educate myself, to save for my future children’s survival. I’m only working to get up to work all over, with nothing to show for what I’ve done. It’s like an artist selling his paintings, her art, her time, skill and energy, his life sweat and blood, just to be able to pay for the supplies that was used to produce the painting, the art. “Working for minimum wage is better than nothing” was his curtain call.

Now a few years later when the shoe is on the other foot, now minimum wage is not better than nothing. Now it’s a slap in their face. It’s alright for the lower working class, it’s enough for the proletariat to be paid and have to survive off of minimum wage, but not the middle class. It’s too small, not enough for the bourgeois. That’s one of the many faces of capitalism. Rise, rebel, revolt, revolution. All power to the people.

MIM(Prisons) responds:
This article correctly points out the dual standards of the petty-bourgeoisie but we do not agree with the author that workers earning minimum wage in Amerika are part of the proletariat. Even minimum wage is more than the value of the labor Amerikan workers expend. We will not deny that jobs like those in fast food restaurants are alienating and they do not provide opportunities to advance. And in a consumerist economy where what you own is who you are, they also make it very hard for Amerikans to compete with the wealthier petty bourgeoisie.

The proposal by Schwarzenegger (which surprise, surprise, never happened) would have taken the average California state worker from the top 0.88% richest people in the world to the top 12.23% richest (ignoring that they would actually be reimbursed the difference later under the proposal). As MIM demonstrated with extensive research and publications like MIM Theory 1 and 10, Amerikan citizens are part of the global petty bourgeoisie and so do not have an economic interest in ending imperialism. Even those working minimum wage jobs might protest and demand more money, but that’s because they see that they can expect more because most of their peers in Amerika are getting it.

In [uel=https://www.prisoncensorship.info/ulk/15]ULK 15 is an article on Black August, it was suggested that we eat only one meal a day throughout the month of August and fast completely August 7 in honor of Jonathan Jackson, on August 21 in honor of George Jackson, and on August 31 in honor of Hasan Shakur.

I was in AdSeg and I was doing 5 days for creating a disturbance rule 19.1. I decided to fast on August 21 and I decided to refuse my tray in honor of Black August. Well I was written up, and given a year more to do in AdSeg. The violation report read like this: “[X] refused his tray and declared a hunger strike along with 16 other offenders.” And so from my understanding we all were given a conduct violation and now we fight the IRR system we were denied. I explained that I was practicing my faith and now it’s in the hands of the corrupt grievance procedure. We were all written up for “organized disobedience.”

I long ago came to the realization that oppression exists everywhere, regardless of our current position or circumstance. Within concentration camps such as this “La Lucha Continua” - The Struggle Continues! When we submit and allow our oppressors to dictate our actions and decisions then we lose major points within our struggle. Our oppressors know that we’re more of a threat alive than dead and so that’s why our oppressors strive to push us into that fatal state of defeatism. And so, for those comrades who’ve walked a suicidal line, for those who’re contemplating suicide, I say “Live! Our youth need you! The community needs you! And brothers within this crooked system such as myself need you!”

Every time I receive a newsletter from MIM(Prisons) I read about comrades in Wisconsin, California, Texas, Arizona, and Illinois! And so, I want to give our readers a peep behind these steel doors and concrete walls in the state of Tennessee. In a failed attempt to mentally and physically break me into submission because of my rebellious nature against oppressive authority, the warden at West Tenn State Prison (WTSP) had me transferred here to DeBerry Special Needs (DSNF) and placed in Unit 7 which is supposed to be a mental health program, but to all TDOC employees and correctional officers here, Unit 7 is knows as the “Gladiator’s Academy!”

Everyday, prisoners who are mentally stable or unstable are verbally, physically and sexually assaulted, abused, mistreated and tortured. In Unit 7, L, D and F pods, TDOC correctional officers will give a prisoner a razor blade or 2 sheets and tell him to make the world a better place! From 2003 to 2010 several prisoners died suicidal and violent deaths at the hands of these TDOC employees who’ve sworn to uphold the law (their law)! Certain prisoners won’t get fed for days and the results of this type of torture is fatal for the prisoners.

If a prisoner files a grievance in regards to this matter then he’s immediately placed on rec, shower, mail and food restriction. And it’s not uncommon to witness a gang of TDOC employees beating a prisoner or hitting him with the taser gun or electric shield because he refused his prescribed psychotic medicine. The warden here, Jennie L. Jobe, and the deputy warden Debra Johnson are fully aware of what’s going on in Unit 7 here, yet they’ve made no move to put an end to this madness.

Here at DSNF in the state of Tennessee and everywhere else in the world, oppressors/downpressors are at their best because they’re united! If only all of us would do the same…unite!! I don’t consume any type of psychotic (or non) medicine yet I’m still here. I’ve requested to be discharged several times but all of my requests have been ignored. And if I become too rebellious then in the name of mental health my oppressors will inject me with their poison medicine. I know that one small dose could alter or completely destroy my mind.

The pigs at CCI Tehachapi SHU are monitoring revolutionary correspondence and materials coming through the mail; not censoring but delaying them by as much as three to four weeks. This specific instance was a personal experience, but it can be concluded that if one individual’s revolutionary activity is being monitored, then all revolutionaries may be monitored.

Due to a medical condition, I must be taken out of my cell and to medical for a weekly injection which I use as an opportunity to butter up loose-mouth pigs and gather intelligence, catching a general idea of the internal condition of the pigs’ camp. Never at any time have I mentioned or alluded to my revolutionary standpoint or activities in any way.

While going to medical this past week a pig made a very revealing statement inadvertently, immediately tipping me off that my mail was being monitored, specifically what I’d mailed to MIM(Prisons) the previous week. The pig’s statement could not have been reaching because it contained the word “revolution” and related content of a letter to MIM(Prisons).

Let this be a warning to revolutionary activists and comrades across the U.$. injustice system, and California concentration camps in particular, that even if there is no censorship at your facility, if you participate in any serious revolutionary activities, then it’s sure to be monitored.

Practical steps may be taken to combat this issue, such as working with and notifying MIM(Prisons) of censorship issues while going through the grievance and court system, if able to do so. Keeping eyes and ears open to detect if you are being monitored is not difficult to do.

If it feels like you are being watched, then you are. Remember, paranoia can be the better part of prudence in the control unit.

I am a prisoner at Scotland Correctional Institution in Laurinburg, North Carolina. I am writing to you because of the fact that the legal mail that you sent out to several prisoners here [containing a letter MIM(Prisons) sent to the Director of Prisons regarding ongoing censorship at Scotland CI] was opened by the mailroom staff and treated as regular mail.

Even though the mail had “Legal Mail” stamped on it, the mailroom staff still opened it. By DOC policy I have to witness them opening my legal mail, and I have to sign for legal mail. By them opening this legal mail, they violated DOC policy and broke Federal law.

This requires some sort of action. I am filing a grievance on this matter and when I receive a response I will send it to you.

MIM(Prisons) adds: This letter is just one example of the long history of mailroom staff at Scotland CI unjustly censoring, banning, and trashing mail from MIM(Prisons), with the collusion of Assistant Superintendent Karen Stanback. While this comrade is filing grievances and organizing other prisoners around the issue, another comrade in North Carolina is working on bringing a case against the NC DOC to hopefully reformat the whole censorship and grievance system. If you want to get involved, or support this case, get in touch. Both methods are correct and necessary if we want to combat censorship.

Last month in October a brother was written a misconduct report for having Soledad Brother and From Niggas to Gods. They reasoned that George Jackson is a “known Panther” as if that is a valid reason to write him up. They said From Niggas to Gods was banned in Green Bay Correctional Institution. I guess ’cause they don’t want us to go from calling ourselves niggas, behaving like niggas, to calling ourselves children of God or behaving as such. They want us to still be their niggas and we best not be caught trying to learn or read any books of substance. But we can read an “urban” novel that promotes all type of Black-on-Black murder and violence. He was given 210 days in the hole.

On November 2 2010 my comrade’s bunk was searched and the racist pig Van Laden took several books from him, i.e. Soledad Brother, Noam Chomsky, Niami Akbar, Cornel West’s Reader and a couple more. They also took some 4struggle newspapers because they mentioned the Black Panther Party. For several days they didn’t give him the conduct report. They usually come within 2 days. He was called out to talk to the pig Van Laden and Van Laden told him that he will see him in court, meaning at the conduct report hearing.

On November 8 2010 he was given the conduct report. It is a witch hunt. The pig Van Laden says Soledad Brother mentions the Black Panthers, that 4struggle mentions the Panthers’ 10 point platform, and phrases like “clenched fist,” “power to the people,” “red black and green.” This pig said the material and books are “black supremacy” literature! I’m still trying to understand what is Black supremacy and what does that mean. The use of the word supremacy means one group is saying that they are superior to another. Nothing in any of the material points to that because if it did he would have written “page so-and-so of this book says they are superior and whites are inferior.” But he can’t because that is not what any of the material advocates. He claims to be a Security Threat Expert and states in the report that the Panthers are on the list as a security threat group. Thus any material that mentions it is banned and anyone caught with it is in violation for having this reading material. Same as slavery.

But dig this, comrade has receipts for every book they say is a threat to their security. They let them in, then say you can’t have them. They have a list of banned books and none of his books are on the banned book list. Not even Soledad Brother, because nothing in it is a security threat. George ain’t advocating nothing of so-called violence or Black supremacy. Like I said before this is just a witch hunt to break us up. The two brothers I mentioned are in the dorm with me, we are in a social environment, not fighting each other, and teaching these younger brothers. That is the security threat to them. They don’t want us to learn about our history and gain a sense of self. They want us ignorant running around here being good n’s. Reading is forbidden unless it’s fiction. He was charged with Group Resistance and Petition and awaits to go on his hearing.

On November 5 2010 I was called up to the CO desk and asked how another prisoner got my book. She said if I didn’t give it to him she would write him up for theft. I said the regular CO Zellner that works here said he can read it as long as I get it back by the end of the night. She said “well I’m giving you a ticket for unauthorized transfer of property.” She called another brother to the desk and gave him his book back without writing a ticket for him. The title of my book was Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party. That is why she wrote me up but gave the other brother his book back.

I got the conduct report on November 8 2010 and Group Resistance and Petition was on it too. This charge is one that they use to lay someone down in the hole or send to Wisconsin’s supermax in Boscobel where I have been for over 4 years already. The report says I gave my book to someone else to read which is a violation 9.e. unauthorized transfer of property. Even if a CO gave you permission it is still unauthorized transfer of property under their 1984 newspeak semantics. It also says that the Black Panthers are an “unsanctioned” group, and the book is confiscated. But I worked in the library here before and I’ve seen this same book come in on inter-library loan on several occasions; Soledad Brother and From Niggas to Gods too.

The fix is in. My comrade and I still await our hearings. We talked to white shirt and the security director about this fix. This way they have knowledge of it and can be added to the lawsuit. Because none of this is a threat. I had this book for almost six and a half years! We’re trying to get the word out about this. They have a list of banned books but none of these books we are written up for are banned.

Also I wrote a book about change and let a young brother read it. His bunk was searched and a new pig brought it up to the Sergeant and he called me up to the desk and asked if it was my book. I said yes. He asked, “who gave you permission to write this?” I said, “my mind! What you mean who gave me permission?” He said he was calling up to security to see if I could do that. About an hour went by and he called me to the desk and gave me the book back. But the thing is “who gave you permission?” As if I need someone’s permission to write down my own thoughts. This same pig has a confederate flag tattoo on his left arm.

Saying we can’t read or gain a sense of self by learning our history or that we need “their” permission slip to write our thoughts is the same as the slavery that our ancestors went through. But most can’t see it. They just see these racist pigs as having a job. This is not a job, this is a form of oppression. Capitalism is a form of oppression. We are a means for them to be employed through our oppression. And I try to get these young and older brothers to see this. Slavery was capitalism. Prisons are capitalism. Whites were the ones that ran the plantations. Whites are the ones that run the prisons. It’s all the same just a new way.

I have recently received your MIM Theory 13 magazine and your letter and the ULK newsletter. I am a Tamms C-Max incarcerated individual who has been living and experiencing the Tamms life of daily struggles and misfortunes for the past year of what seems like an estimated five to ten years before review and actual consideration for an eligible transfer. Although fixed annual and quarterly reviews are held for us here, nobody goes anywhere, especially for what most of us are down here for which is allegedly being gang leaders and influencers over a Security Threat Group(STG). Really we’re just conspired against by those in general population who can’t stand to live among a different mindset which is hated on by those who can’t figure one out.

So the birds chirped and the masses spoke to get rid of yet another innocent man just trying to get back in count and enjoy a few contact visits. I was brought here in January and have kept to myself since then. I’m antisocial and goal oriented, silent to the land but outspoken and observant for the blind. So with that said, I’ve been silent to the land concept and scheme which revolves around my 90 thousand dollar a year head and stay here in the worst of the worst prisons. I’ve observed enough and must now speak out for those who are blind and out of sync with what’s really transpiring behind the walls of Tamms.

On my first day here from being transferred I wasn’t fed on the ride here so I spoke up and was told my next meal was going to be a 3-11 shift, but then I stood light headed till four that afternoon hungry from breakfast which was my last meal before waking up at 7 to be told to pack up what property never got sent here to my possessions. I got discriminated and retaliated against for something I wasn’t even a part of. I only retrieved my personal electronics, clothing and food but all my legal mail and personal mail never showed up… “mistake”, i think not.