Federal Prisons

On Sunday April 7th, 2019, the prison administration blessed me with an infraction for trying to assemble a group study regarding the materials you forwarded to me; plus, for having all of the state prisoners names I submitted to receive Under Lock & Key. And unfortunately I cannot file a grievance to challenge. The [material] alleged to have been found on my bunk at 6:30AM–in the dark. (Hum). I will keep you appraised of the grievances procedure scheduled for April 17, 2019. I am totally pissed off.

In the February 2019 issue of the SF BayView there was a headline that read, “California Prisoners endangered by forced merger of Snitch Yards.” And it dawns on the world, how can a prisoner in the prison state capitol affect change on a national, and international level, if they can not find unity as a population suffering under the exact same conditions of: Police Brutality, Don’t ask Don’t Tell, Code of Silence Policies, Corrupt Administrative Justices, and Counterfeit Social Justice/Prison Reform Advocates. Prisoners in California suffer, as a whole, under these conditions, yet the leaderships of the most politically advanced wrestle over popularity contests between who is “active” and who is non-active, who is with the business and who is not. Just what business is it that defines whether a person in prison is active or not? Is it not the Freedom of All Persons in Prison we struggle for, or is it but a select few?

Aren’t we all political prisoners, under these current conditions? Of course, there are those amongst the population of prisoners who are deserving of a bit more popularity than others. Those who carry the publicity of high profile cases as social justice activist, militants and radicals. All in all however, do we not share the similar suffering under this condition called imprisonment?

In California, leaders must really mature themselves and their followers to the level of love and reconciliation, this be prisoners and former prisoners. The time is: N.O.W.

Headlines like this one in the SF BayView, designating all Sensitive Needs Yard (SNY) facilities as “snitch yards,” are not only mis-leading the public support of the California abolitionist population, but also an abuse of power that promotes dis-unity amongst the prison populations. Prisoner leaderships must be wise in the manner with which we allow for our movement to be represented by members of the public. The most important aspect should be the information that leaders allow to be published on the state of population affairs. It must be accurate information, based on facts, that the leaders use when representing the movement, or its population.

It is a fact, not all prisoners housed at SNY Facilities are snitches. So for the headline, “…Forced Merger of Snitch Yards” to be presented by the SF BayView does a (dis)service, to not only one of the strongest vehicles and stages for the prison abolitionist movement, but it hurts the movement as a whole. What, social justice and prison reform for all but SNY prisoners?

Prisons across North America are faced with a similar issue to the SNY facilities. Those who benefit the most from the all-too-common misnomer that all SNY are snitches, child molesters, sexual deviants, are the law enforcement agencies. This too includes mainstream corporate news reporting agencies. #Fakenews. There are individuals who testified in the event of their commitment offense all over prison, not just SNY. And what is to be said about leaderships within prisons affiliated with drug operations, serving poison to the community, gun violence involving non-combative casualties of peoples, kids, grandparents, relatives? And what about the big homies on the line affiliated with pimping, pandering and prostitution. How many underage homegirls have we condoned being out in the trap after curfew?

Prisoners across the United $tates in the states of TX, OH, LA, AL, NY, PA, FL, VA, NC, and SC have begun concerted efforts to consolidate the various factions of their prison populations, scattered across the board, for the sake of unity. This effort is known as the National Freedom and Justice Movement. If the leaderships, and their followings within California prisons do not cease in their petty quarrels and name-calling skirmishes on both sides, SNY and GP, those who have often been at the center of the global discussions for prison reform and abolitionism might find themselves on the wrong side of history. This is a most sincere call for prisoners in California, whether it be former prisoners, juvenile lifer prisoners, non-violent offender prisoners, level 4, 180 & 270 prisoners.

See, the one thing you all have in common? You’re prisoners. There may be some who hold strictly to the Agreement to End Hostilities while others will develop under the United Front for Peace in Prison. Wherever it be, get in where you fit in and carry love first of all. The movement is larger than all of us, none is without error, thus there must always be room for reconciliation.

MIM(Prisons) comments: The BayView article in question was written by someone, who, despite our disagreements on questions of Marxism, has done a lot to advocate for people in the California Security Housing Unit (SHU) system. The anti-SNY attitude is still the status quo among the lumpen organizations (L.O.s) that were once the main targets of the SHU. And some supporters of those who spent years and decades in those torture cells parrot the disparaging attitudes towards SNY, which peaked at almost one third of the California prison population before the forced integration began.

We stand with the families who are concerned about the safety of their loved ones, and who are exposing the state for using the NDPFs as coercive tools of violence against those who don’t just go along with the state’s program. Our approach remains one of advocating for and supporting comrades in these NDPFs who are advocating for the principles of the United Front for Peace in Prisons(UFPP). While the forced integration currently serves the state, this is only true as long as prisoners stay divided. By building the UFPP in the interests of all imprisoned people, we can turn this tool of oppression into an opportunity to transform decades-long divisions in the California prison system. We have a long way to go, but some day these divisions must fall.

The latest reports from withing the NDPFs are included below.

A California prisoner reports on integration at California Correctional Institution: In CCI-Tehachapi level III, the prisoners who challenge the status quo are quickly transferred out to the so-called Non-Designated Programming Facilities (NDPF). There they will become targets due to our SNY status. This is how CDCR has been rehabilitating California’s enslaved population. If we don’t jump when they tell us to jump, or crawl on our knees and hands, we are considered program failures.

The same type of racist rehabilitation that George Jackson found in the 1960s, I found it myself in 2018 at CCI-Tehachapi. CDCR is creating monsters, on purpose. This is why many of us come out hating society and would rather die off than return to prison.

A prisoner in California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility reports on 1 May 2019: Here at SATF-D facility these guys’ eyes are wired shut. We have been receiving a flux of prisoners from Soledad and New Folsom EOP facility. These individuals are New Afrikan and Chican@, they come from what are known as mainline soft yards, or 50/50 yards. These are facilities where there is very little to zero accountability to the post-George Jackson structure of prison politicking. Where most mainline facilities there will be paperwork checking (investigations into a prisoner’s commitment offense by other prisoners to determine the internal social status of prisoners on new arrival), or orchestrating the ostracizing of a persyn who co-operated with the police in their commitment offense. Although 50/50 facilities are considered mainline facilities, they don’t engage in much of this sort of behavior. Now they are being introduced to SATF-D facility, which is supposed to be a Sensitive Needs Yard (SNY).

There have been a few fist fights, but overall the masses don’t even care where these new arrivals are coming from. The leaderships within the facility are already on the look out for particular type of behavior. We ain’t tripping on an individual’s paperwork, one’s sexual gender, or activity. Even if one transfers in and is a member of an STG, we are not ostracizing people here. Give it enough time, most guys are rolling it up and having admin rehouse them, rather than come with the police tactics. One of the strongest instruments being used is the United Front for Peace in Prisons statement, the Unity Principle.

I have persynally used the works of Larry Hoover and the “Blueprint from Gangsters Disciple to Growth and Development” by Ron Erwin to spread the truth to all G.D.s, and all who have been affiliated, influenced or associated with and by our movement. From Crips of various subsets like the Five Deuce, One-O-Seven and Seven Four Hoovers. To the Bloods of various subsets like the Black P. Stones, Four Deuce Brims, Anthens, these prison politiks, that are spread by gladiator wars, all have a root. At this local level we are spreading awareness of the liberation struggle of freedom fighters like: Leonard Peltier, Mutulu Shakur and Red Fox Falcon, drawing connections between them and the fathers (and mothers) of our movements.

I am writing just to touch base with you. I am staying busy: have three 2254s before the courts, two civil rights suit, one recently filed, the second in its third year of litigation and is now before the 5th Cir. I am researching to build another 11.07 Habeas Corpus and memorandum of law. I am pondering on litigating against the grievance system here they “lose”, “didn’t receive” …. don’t conduct an actual investigation, as in a C.O. took legal material out of my subsequent storage box (“legal box”) but not a single listed witness was interviewed!

Thank you for sending me your publication, keep it up, it’s a welcome source of good information.

The downloadable grievance petition for Arizona has been updated to include some more relevant addressees that were submitted by a comrade. Please download it here. Click the link below for more information on this campaign.

I am being held at GA State Prison in G bld Tier 2 hell. They are only washing clothes once a week, our meals in Styrofoam trays prepared in another prison across the street, the trays are cold and maybe 1/2 the quantity we should receive. I haven’t been able to use the phone in over a month or the kiosk computer. They do not shave or give haircuts in the 4 months I have been back here, they run the yard-outside cage -1-2 times per week if we are lucky.

They are doing our seg cell charts as ‘gang signatures’ where they collect-up all the charts + bring them to the control booth + use a cheat sheet + sign all charts to ‘show’ that they did their 30 min. walk through. Especially night shift. I have seizures and laid on floor for 3 hrs before c/o Prestonback came through, and he didn’t look in on me. I wasn’t able to talk to anyone until 6:00 AM shift-change and they thought I was lying about the seizure . I take medication for it.

I purchased a computer tablet from Jpay, the tracking says it was delivered Feb. 18, but I’ve not received it! And they denied my grievance! It cost $106.00 Ms. Black and or the mail lady have signed for it. They did the same thing with a food package I was supposed to get 2 months ago for $130.00. It took 3 months to get the money back on my folks’ credit card and I never received it. They have some sort of scam going on with things that are sent to the prison especially tennis shoes.

Oh yes and finally, here is a copy of my oms schedule… As you can see it states that I am on “inside orderly” activity location “dorm.” Also from 9-11 the O.U.T./Self Discovery program on Thursday. Well I am in a 2 man cell 24/7 with barely 1-2 hrs out of it a week, I am not an inside orderly and I’ve been on Tier 2 over 4 months and have not had 1 class/program. I’ve written the program office ‘Mr. Flowers’ he does not respond and I have only seen him in here 1 time in 4 months. I wrote Washington about this. I am sure we are supposed to be having classes and be let out of these boxes, its mental torture in here 24/7. I’m 51 on Chronic care for seizures and have been beaten by several cellmates. I just went for a skull MRI for it!

Earlier this month, the city of New York and the world watched detainees at MDC Brooklyn freeze in their cells during the most recent polar vortex. People were in awe that this high-tec, modern-day dungeon – with both the Statue of Liberty and Wall Street in view as testaments to hypocri$y – would be so crass, so brutal, so inhumane.

No heat, no food or water as detainees were locked in their cells as a result of a power outage stemming from a fire. Crowds of people gathered outside witnessing people – not inmates, people – bang on windows, shouting and crying in horror, fearing for their lives, locked away and forgotten in the 9-story Sunset Park detention facility. There were reports from the inside of pigs shaking down (i.e., ransacking) cells, looking for contraband cell-phones – the only means of communications by which prisoners, locked in their cells, could communicate their predicament to outside friends, family, and supporters.

Shouting and banging on cell doors was met with fire hoses. Terrified family members of those inside with no recourse but to rush the building and plead with the officers were pepper-sprayed.

As someone who did almost 4 years there, who left behind many loved ones over there, it made my blood boil, and yet I was not surprised at all. Warden Quay, who didn’t even have the minimal amount of human compassion to provide extra blankets is the same Warden Quay who shut down the mental health unit in February 2016 – transferring vulnerable people (I say again, PEOPLE – not inmates) afflicted with Schizophrenia, Autism, PTSD, and cerebral palsy to the overcrowded general population.

Yes, I remember in the winter time they wouldn’t turn the heat on even when the electricity was working. I remember how we’d complain and they’d send a cop in to wave some fake thermometer around that always stayed at 60-70 degrees. Yup, vermin and scabie-infested MDC. I remember you. I remember the beat-up squad. I remember the retaliation against anyone who raise their voice in dissent, including myself who, upon sending out an e-mail about “gang-members” on the Bronx 120 indictment being arbitrarily rounded up and sent to the SHU, had my cell ransacked by the facility’s red squad.

Better not get sick at MDC, cause medical might kill you. Everyone knows that…. Yup, MDC Brooklyn Goddamn.

And this was happening well before De Blasio and other politicians expressed their faux outrage. Well before our oppression was trending on social media. (Disclaimer: by saying that, I do not intend to belittle the support of ordinary people who, from no fault of their own, had just found out about MDC through recent events).

But if you ask the average incarcerated person, they’ll say “Yeah, you know … jail is jail.” And that’s what it is. This is happening all over the system in places that you’ve never heard of before nor dreamed of going to. MDC Brooklyn is just in your face about it – smack dab in the middle of the liberal metropolis of downtown Brooklyn – just a few blocks away from the Barclay center (I was able to see it from my cell).

The support is appreciated and much needed to make sure you ask yourself the question, and this is most sincerely directed towards specifically the white liberals who were in awe of what they saw in their progressive city: Does it bother you because we’re “innocent until proven guilty,” or does it bother you simply because we’re human?

One thing’s for sure, two thing’s for certain: You don’t reform oppression, you abolish it.

So, which side are you on?

I received your response to my article on the wonderful achievements of the Black Panther Party.(1) In this article, I articulated how fascism has taken possession of this country, and what should be seen as its most advanced form. This is the form that comrade George L. Jackson spoke of in Blood in My Eye, “the third face” in power and secure. I also share this opinion, and it is rooted in my philosophy about the obvious place to start and end the colonial war, which will result in the independence of not only our brothers and sisters in the third world, but also the sleeping giant right here in Amerika.

The fact that Amerika has never entered a revolutionary situation is amazing to say the least. However, it does not mitigate the arrival of fascism. This country is indeed a police state wherein the political ascendancy is tied into and protects the interest of the upper class. It is very much characterized by militarism, imperialism, and racism. By those very definitions it would be silly for intellectuals to continue to ponder on the presence of fascism and its shock troops.

Our new “pigs are beautiful” President Donald Trump is trying to reverse the constitution in order to make Amerikkka an all-white nation as the “Founding Fathers” intended for it to be. But in determining this birthright claim, does this not automatically push out the European colonial master? This would seem to be a true statement, but if we look at fascist predatory culture, it shows that anything of any great value that ever traded hands between the Europeans was taken by a force of arms. History in itself is indeed economically-motivated class struggle. We also have the situation of Mexico being seen as a villain of white Amerikkka to glean from. This is the same stance that the earlier Europeans used to justify the extermination of the Indians and the racist attacks against black brothers and sisters who had already suffered the worst form of slavery in history.

There is much truth in your analysis. However, some truths have been mitigated or omitted to fit your contention. The earlier vanguard party’s insistence to only beg for tokens, or to beg for an expansion of the system to include all of us, even after numerous failed attempts, clearly shows their ignorance of the capitalist masters. In a capitalistic society, there must always be an upper, middle, and especially lower class. Asking the government to make certain areas better is the equivalent of making other segments of society a ghetto (poor whites, Asians Amerikans, etc.). This environment is all about winners and losers, which furthers the individualism that destroys trust.

The fact that the vanguard parties rallied around such issues as women’s rights, prisoners’ rights, etc. should not be ignored. However, those rights are still virtually ignored. Women still do not enjoy the same rights as men (i.e. #MeToo), and the prison industrial complex is still part of the imperialist plan to use our bodies as sources of cheap raw materials to build and expand capital. The 13th Amendment even legalizes slavery in the event that one commits a crime. So yes, Amerika is a fascist country. They use the argument of being “humane imperialists, enlightened fascists.” The vanguard parties, instead of pushing for judicial redress which once again failed, should have ushered the populace to go to war against the capitalist masters. Anything less than that is reform.

MIM(Prisons) responds: It’s unclear if this author is arguing that the United $tates has been fascist from the start. Or if there is a change we are seeing recently that marks a new fascist government. The former is an interesting argument. This comrade agrees that imperialism and militarism are part of fascism. And from that basis, one could argue that the genocidal foundations of Amerika look at lot like “the open terroristic dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic, and most imperialist elements of finance capital” as Dutt defined fascism. [See intro article]

But we make a distinction between the repression of imperialism against oppressed nations, a feature of the brutality of imperialism, and the terroristic dictatorship of fascist imperialism. This is important because of the strategic implications. If the United $tates has been fascist from foundation, during World War II we would have to argue that the United $tates was not a potential ally in the fight against Hitler’s Germany. History does not support this interpretation.

If the author is arguing that there has been some change in the United $tates since World War II, and it is only more recently fascist, then we want to respond to the definitions ey offers more directly. Defining fascism as “militarism, imperialism, and racism” raises the question of how to distinguish that from good ’ole bourgeois democratic imperialism? Imperialism is characterized by militarism and national oppression (and by association, racism). And imperialism is all about protecting the interests of the ruling class. As we discussed in “Fascism, Imperialism, and Amerika in 2019”, white nation supremacy is an inherent part of Amerikan imperialism. So that too is not, in and of itself, a good way for us to distinguish fascist imperialism from bourgeois democratic imperialism. In fact, the author is correct that the “founding fathers” of this country intended for it to be a white nation. Unless we want to argue that the United $tates was fascist from the start, throwbacks to previous policies are not inherently signs of a new fascist government.

The campaign to get the U.$. military operations of AFRICOM out of Africa has been popularized in recent months. The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) initiated a petition drive, which they extended to 4 April 2019, the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Comrades in United Struggle from Within stepped up and made a substantial contribution to this drive from within the U.$. koncentration kamps.

To add to the list(1) of California, Texas, Louisiana and Georgia, USW comrades came through with petitions from Oregon, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. California and Texas also produced quite a few more signatures. And some individuals from Maryland and West Virginia sent their signatures in as well. A large number of our subscribers are in long-term isolation and therefore collecting others’ signatures is very difficult.

BAP submitted about 3500 signatures to the Congressional Black Congress chairperson and co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.(2) With the additional 193 signatures we received since our last report we have submitted 423 signatures to the campaign. That is more than 10% of the total signatures collected! United Struggle from Within made a significant contribution to this campaign.

Of course, that is a small victory in the large task of ending U.$. imperialism in Africa. An anti-imperialist message was brought to sections of Congress, and the streets of Washington D.C., by BAP last week. In solidarity, USW popularized the message behind the bars of U.$. koncentration kamps. When doing campaigns like petition drives, the interactions we have with the masses when collecting the signatures is even more important than the interactions BAP leaders have with Congress. Congress will not and can not end U.$. imperialism, only the oppressed people of the world have the power to do that. And that is why building unity among the oppressed around these issues is of utmost importance to our mission.

The torture and abuse enacted on the oppressed nations within U.$. borders is a product of the same system that is dropping bombs and unleashing brutal violence in African countries from Somalia, to Libya, to Nigeria. That is why MIM(Prisons) and United Struggle from Within are dedicated to the anti-imperialist prison movement in the United $tates. Without anti-imperialism, the prison movement is limited to treating the symptoms and not the disease.

The struggle to get AFRICOM out of Africa continues. If you did not get a campaign pack with info on AFRICOM, write us to get a copy. Discuss what is going on in the Third World with those around you. Relate it to the oppression felt here. Write articles for ULK. Our 423 signatures did not shut down AFRICOM, but the oppressed will shut down AFRICOM some day.

Recently, two friends of mine were locked-up behind a faulty locking mechanism. For 3 months these guys made reports to maintenance about the cell door constantly reading “un-locked” when in fact it was locked. On one night, after rack-up, their door was opened by the duty officer. She claims there was paper stuffed in the door. She wrote up a case and these guys were found guilty. And now that they are gone, that cell door still has problems. There never was any paper and the right to due process was violated due to the fact that none of the defendants’ evidence was allowed in court. These guys had one Sgt. and two C.O.s who were willing to testify on their behalf. None of it was allowed.

I haven’t wrote in a few. I wanted you to know I’m still here. So much has went on at this unit. We’re strugglin with no one sticking together. I am part of a agribusiness work crew. I have never been so abused in all my life as at Ferguson Unit. Fed so small amounts of food, us that are indigent are doing really bad.