Federal Prisons

In April, there was a group of us that were asking for grievances. There was this one prisoner, he asked for a grievance, I turned around to see who he was so that I could see who was on our side. So when I turned to look at the prisoner and the Correctional Officer: the CO was sitting behind the desk and the prisoner was on the opposite side of the desk.

The C.O.’s name is C.O. Conner. He yelled out: “What did you say?” to the prisoner and ran around the desk to grab the prisoner from the back. The prisoner still didn’t move. The C.O. grabbed the prisoner’s arm and began twisting the prisoner’s arm so bad causing the prisoner pain.

The prisoner screamed out “What did I do wrong? I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t do anything to you.” The C.O. then grabbed the prisoner’s body and picked him up and slammed the prisoner face first on the hard solid ground. The C.O. then started beating the prisoner with his elbow on the back of his head. This is the third time this C.O. is involved in something like this. I asked for help from other staff members but they all have different stories on what had happened and they all cover up the whole story blaming the prisoner claiming that it was his fault. It is on camera but when you file a grievance the staff that is responsible for the grievance always has some kind of excuse and make it seem like we have no case. Almost every staff member is crooked and they enforce this behavior.

I believe that the C.O.’s Sgt, Lt, etc… have it as an initiation to beat us and send us to the hole. Most of the staff members come from the military and police force and have a “I will fuck you up” attitude. We are in the R.T.U. and mostly every staff member that works here is not certified to work here and treat us like shit.

MIM(Prisons) adds: Many years ago MIM published a similar report of abuse from here from a C.O. they called grainy. Turned out to be Sgt. Grainer, who later became infamous for his torture photos with Afghan prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison. The C.O.-military connection seems to live on in Pennsylvania.

As prisoners across Texas prepare to have their voices heard this Juneteenth, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice(TDCJ) has launched an onerous censorship campaign against some prisoners, including many held in the Allred Restricted Housing Unit(RHU). The RHU is a torture unit where people are held in isolation for years, even decades, at a time.

Recently a comrade in Allred reported not receiving the book Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán. Ey filed a grievance and the grievance just disappeared as if no book was ever sent or censored. MIM Distributors did not receive notification of this censorship either.

In an effort to establish what was going on, MIM Distributors sent a list of mail sent to this comrade on 10 February 2022. It took a month for the letter to arrive. The comrade mailed eir response on 9 March 2022. The letter was received in late May, stamped 23 May 2022! It took TDCJ 2.5 months to mail this comrade’s letter to us. And all it contained was a short note about what mail ey had received.

This is the type of behavior we are calling out in our campaign to stop censorship in Allred. In addition to the Chican@ Power book, we’ve posted reports on censorship of our Revolutionary 12 Steps pamphlet, and the TDCJ’s very own Grievance Operations Manual. We ask people on the outside to write or call to protest, you can use these examples to explain what is going on. If you really want to get involved, download our anti-censorship postcards and start collecting signatures in your area to protest this violation of basic rights.

I just received ULK Spring 2022, No. 77 and how ironic is the material discussed. A source I regularly use is called Community Legal Information Center and they are stationed in Chico, CA. I have recently requested the TDCJ Grievance Operation Manual and it was denied by the mail room. I put in a well-worded I-60 today asking the mailroom to explain themselves. The PLRA makes our grievances legal proceedings (Access to Courts) and Texas Law and TDCJ Policy both state that TDCJ officials cannot impede or intervene in an inmates legal proceedings. And of course this manual is a public record and government entities cannot operate in secrecy. All government is required to operate with full transparency because We the people create and elect government. Texas Government Code 552.001

MIM(Prisons) adds: This is a followup to our report that the oppressor censored the TDCJ’s Grievance Operations Manual in January at McConnell Unit. We pointed out the long history of suppression of that document in Texas in that article. Now, this report from Gib Lewis demonstrates that this continues to be department-wide practice and unofficial policy. Just as they don’t want prisoners to figure out how to stop using addictive substances, they don’t want prisoners to know how to file effective grievances against their abuse.

In our current situation it is important to exhaust our appeals and legal routes to justice as the comrade above is doing. Yet this whole situation demonstrates that the imperialist legal system is not meant to work for the oppressed. So we cannot rely on the courts to solve our problems.

As soon as the first printing of our new Revolutionary 12 Step Program pamphlet landed in prisons across the United $tates, it has been targeted for censorship in both Florida and Texas.

The Florida mailroom staff who seized the pamphlet checked two reasons for impounding it:

“(15)(i)is dangerously inflammatory in that it advocates or encourages riot, insurrection, rebellion, organized prison protest, disruption of the institution, or the violation of the federal law, state law or Department Rules”

and

“(15)(p)otherwise presents a threat to the security, order, or rehabilitative objectives of the correctional system or the safety of any person.”

Since the pamphlet is actively preventing harm to the safety of any person and actively training people to stop breaking the law or engaging in destructive behavior, we must wonder what are the “rehabilitative objectives” of the Florida Department of Corrections.

MIM(Prisons) appealed this.

Texas on the other hand did not give MIM(Prisons) the opportunity to appeal, as required by Federal law, and only notified us of the censorship after the review committee’s final decision, which, like Florida, cited the “Entire publication contain security concerns.”

The reason they cited:

“Publication contains material that a reasonable person would construe as written solely for the purpose of communicating information designed to achieve a breakdown of prisons through offender disruption such as strikes, riots or security threat group activity.”

Literally no reasonable person would think this.

But as we’ve been reporting on, the TDCJ is openly trafficking drugs to sell to the people they imprison. So it is not surprising that they find our efforts to combat addiction to be a disruption to their operations.

It’s also no secret that the oppressor prefers us to be drunk and high, rather than thinking clearly and doing good for ourselves and our people.

Prisoners can help by getting our Censorship Guide and appealing any censorship as the comrade in Texas did. People on the outside can help by volunteering to help us appeal and hold these state agencies accountable. Legal expertise with these issues is also something you can contribute.

BP-03.91 is being misused by unit officials.

ATC-020(Rev.4) Dated: May 26 2022

“To be scheduled or request material for/from law library access/in-direct access, each inmate will be required to provide their name, TDCJ number, housing assignment,”work assignment and work hours.” (highlighted in yellow marker) An inmate is prohibited from requesting law library access/in-direct access or law library materials for another inmate.”

So, whoever prepared this notice is forgetting that I am in Ad-Seg/RHU. Or they are just flatly depriving me access to law, legal case citings or material. Please se:: Tex Gov’t Code ANN, Section 552.001-552.029. (Information available under the TPIA)

As of right now here at Federal Correctional Institution Waseca, we are flooded with Suboxone, so those articles in ULK 77 really hit home. It is the K2 more that keeps this compound going. We do have 1% of our population on the “MAT” program, where a few of the females here go and get their monthly fix of Suboxone and continue their stint, nodding off at random places.

Another major issue here is that our grievance process here is a joke. Everything gets denied and in D-Unit, the programming unit, the ladies have constantly got cursed at when requesting the first step or any of our administrative remedies.

I have spent over 10 years in Texas prisons (TDCJ). The way the BOP is falling apart, except that Texas doesn’t pay their prisoners, it would probably be better down there than here. We have no mental health services, women report suicide ideations and nothing gets done, stating a shortage of staff. The Unicor sweatshop is mandating overtime for 7AM-8PM and most Saturdays.

Hello, there is a notification for the Prison Rape Elimination Act(P.R.E.A.) auditor which states that we may mail them P.R.E.A.-related letters free of charge and to request our Jail Administration for a private conversation. This caught my attention because there’s been incidents that are relevant that I’ve been trying to talk about with someone for 3 years now. It’s such a hard thing to do when attempts to do so are so frequently thwarted.

I have had my P.R.E.A.-related mail returned to me and was denied (at first) an audience with the P.R.E.A. facility auditor when she visits in June. I honestly figured this would happen to me (again), so I kept very accurate records of everything. Even one of my P.R.E.A.-related grievances was denied. So much for Zero Tolerance, right?

This is the beginning of my writings. I also want to reach out to the A.C.L.U. I’m waiting for my lawyer to come on Thursday as well as the facility auditor in June.

With just a month remaining before the first series of actions around the Juneteenth Freedom Initiative, we have received reports of repression of activists by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice(TDCJ).

One of the hearts of this campaign comes out of the brutal Allred Restrictive Housing Unit(RHU) where people have spent decades in isolation. We’ve recently learned that one organizer at Allred hasn’t received half a dozen letters we’ve sent em over the last few months. Eir outgoing mail is also delayed or gone missing. This mail tampering is illegal. We wrote the warden of Allred to stop this censorship.. If he doesn’t stop it, we know this political repression is intentional from the top of the TDCJ to suppress our boycotting of Juneteenth.

We are asking others to join our letter writing and postcard campaign in support of the rights of MIM Distributors and these activists in Allred to freely communicate. The pdf below can be downloaded, printed on card stock and cut into four postcards. Then you can ask people to sign them, put a postcard stamp ($0.40) on them, and drop them in a mail box. Over the next couple months we want to show TDCJ that people outside are paying attention and supporting the Juneteenth Freedom Initiative. This is one way to do that. You can also call Warden Jimmy Smith @ (940) 855-7477 (**069).

Stevenson Unit in Texas has also stepped up censorship related to materials about the Juneteenth boycott. The TX Team One Primer was censored for the reason:

“Page(s) 4 contains information advocating prison disruption.”

Prisoners are very limited in what they can do when their grievances are ignored. Most actions will lead to repression. A boycott is the most passive action. There are no calls to violence nor do the plans threaten security in any way. Just a peaceful demonstration of solidarity, demanding some basic humyn rights be applied in Texas prisons. Yet this is being outlawed by the state.

Even worse, in eir most recent update, one comrade in Stevenson reported that:

“last night I was placed in handcuffs and marched off to solitary confinement, the place from where I currently write. I woke this morning to find I’m being charged with 2 new rules violations: 1) Attempt/threat to assault a correctional officer and 2) Assault of a correctional officer.”

There was no assault. In fact this comrade is not even supposed to be housed on the second floor because of eir health conditions. Ey believes this is retaliation for the appeals ey filed against the censorship of literature sent by MIM Distributors. Meanwhile, MIM Distributors was not given the opportunity to appeal, and only received the final decision from TDCJ.

As our comrade in Stevenson Unit so eloquently concluded,

“They will never succeed in snuffing out my flame and their attempts to silence the truth only causes it to roar even louder! They cloak themselves in legitimacy and the trappings of power because deep down they know they are weak and the system is crumbling – to be swept aside along with all the silly liberal reformers and we build a better world over their ruins, a new society based on equality and respect and compassion and truth and justice and”love” – a human society fit for fully involved and determined human beings at peace with themselves, each other, and the world around us.”

Organizing is spreading around the Dillard v. Davis, et al. Civil Action No. 7:19-cv-0081-M-BP lawsuit against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s use of long-term solitary confinement. Prisoners held in Allred Unit, ground zero for the Restrictive Housing Unit, and Michael Unit have filed motions to join the class action suit.

A comrade in Stevenson Unit wrote to say that there are only 12 restrictive housing cells there and they are only used very short-term. But ey is sharing the motion and other campaign materials with contacts inside and outside to support those in RHU fighting for their humyn rights.

Shutting down long-term solitary confinement is one of the key campaign demands of the Juneteenth Freedom Initiative, calling for a boycott of Juneteenth until real freedom is attained in this country. The lawsuit points to the irreparable harm on mental health caused by long-term solitary.

Anyone who is in a Restricted Housing Unit in Texas can use the linked example motion to join this lawsuit. The motion should be sent to all three addresses listed at the end of the attached PDF. Please download and distribute to those you know in Texas torture chambers!

28 May 2022 UPDATE from Tx TEAM ONE member - Telford Unit: I have submitted my interest in becoming a co-plaintiff to all inhumane conditions in all Ad-Seg/RHU buildings, especially on this unit, and the inhumane/treatment and living conditions endured by all alleged STG prisoners. Because for almost forty (40) years, those of Us that are considered STG’s have been in these living conditions.

I have already written to the Eastern and Northern Districts, United States District Courts. And I have also written to the United States Department of Justice.

Hello, I’m a little behind in writing to you all, but I’ve been very busy here lately. This CoreCivic facility is a complete joke, and I’ve been helping several other prisoners file grievances to expose the many First Amendment violations occurring here. Both mail rights and religious rights – amongst a plethora of others – have been under attack by the administration, creating a wide range of negative effects, including anxiety and animosity between both prisoners and staff, fueling addictive habits and behaviors, and out-right violence.

In the month of April, both Muslim prisoners celebrating Ramadan and Jewish prisoners celebrating Passover were openly discriminated against by staff, some nights not being fed until the middle of the night, if at all. Non-Muslim/Jewish prisoners were fed at a normal time, and Easter was not interfered with at all. The entire facility (well, one “compound” at an all-level 3 facility) was locked down for the entire period, and when prisoners asked to speak with a shift commander or other ranking officers, they were told by low-level (and low-class, low-intellect, low-moral, etc…) C.O.’s that no one was available and that they were instructed to ignore Jews & Muslims. Some C.O.’s even yelled derogatory things at prisoners locked in their cells, further exacerbating an already chaotic situation. Many grievances were filed in order to document these abuses.

The broader First Amendment issue here involves mail. All mail here has been photocopied (poorly) for nearly 6 months, despite the regulation clearly stating the policy as only allowing photocopying all mail for 3 months. The Security Chief here – a ___ if I’ve ever seen one – insists he can do anything he wants. I can assure you, security is being undermined by this policy.

First of all, the levels of violation here has skyrocketed in the past 6 months, far beyond anything I’ve seen in my 8 years at this facility. Although this is technically a Level 3 (medium) prison, most of the population actually have Level 1 or 2 points, and are overridden to a Level 3 due to length of sentence or other factors. However, “security” has been tightened to a degree that is so restrictive many prisoners are simply “snapping”.

No one can get a photo or card, much less a handwritten letter, from family or friends. No meaningful programs are available. Units are difficult to schedule. Rec is apparently optional and random. And now these clowns are separating the facility into a “high” and a “low” side, but the short-staffing here, not to mention incompetence, is making everyone act out. Not good for “security”.

Oftentimes mail, when it is actually allowed (even the copies) is misdelivered to the wrong cells, or even the wrong units/pods. This creates an entirely different security problem, exposing the names and addresses of prisoners’ families to other prisoners, who aren’t always decent people. Not to mention the obvious exposure of sensitive information in letters or other mail (I’m sure some snitch would love to get a hold of my ULK!) All of these “security measures” are ostensibly intended as a response to the “spice epidemic” in prisons, however, nothing is being done about the minuscule percentage of prisoners receiving contraband. The mail room is more busy photocopying and searching for what might be the shadow of a nipple in a magazine or photo than they are looking for drugs. Isn’t the purpose of a mailroom to look for actual dangerous contraband? So why do they get a pass on not finding the actual dangerous contraband supposedly coming in?! BTW, nothing at all is being done about the cops who actually bring drugs in; don’t worry, they’re blocking all the mail…

These are just a couple of examples of the many issues here at BCCF. CoreCivic is a cancer that needs to be cut out of the tumor that is the mass incarceration system. Eben though Colorado DOC has a “Private Prison Monitoring Unit” (PPMU), the head of that unit at this facility recently got bought off (officially – he’s been carrying water for CoreCivic for years) and is now the Chief of Unit Management here at BCCF. No conflict of interest there, right?