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.
Enclosed is a clipping from the Austin American-Statesman (2018
May 3) I thought pertinent and might be of interest.
Not having first-hand knowledge of the University of Texas (UT) course
“MasculinUT,” I found it interesting that the reactionary philistines
again attacked academia for addressing patriarchal oppression. As far as
I’m concerned, conventional notions of masculinity are a societal
conditioning of the psyche, ergo, much like a Black persyn ensnared in a
eurocentric society, a mind fuck. So, yeah, maybe the yahoos are correct
that traditional concepts of what masculinity entails (e.g., violence
against wimmin) is a mental health issue, and as such, men need to be
subjected to re-conditioning via communist transition. Maybe, like the
bourgeoisie under socialism, men will be repressed. Maybe, hell!
MIM(Prisons) responds: The article enclosed, from the
Statesman, talks about the UT masculinity education program,
which is an awareness campaign formerly run by the University’s
Counseling and Mental Health Center. Conservatives attacked the program,
claiming it treats masculinity as a mental health problem.
In response, the MasculinUT program was moved to Dean of Students, and,
in a statement from its website, “the program’s original steering
committee was reconvened and expanded to provide recommendations and
feedback to ensure that the program’s mission is clearly defined and
fully aligned with its original intent of reducing sexual assault and
interpersonal violence.”
We’re with this comrade in thinking it might not be so bad to think
about masculinity as a mental health issue. As long as we’re clear that
this and many other mental health issues are a product of the capitalist
patriarchy. People aren’t born being sexist idiots. They are trained to
believe that wimmin don’t know what they want, to see wimmin as objects,
and to view maleness as a sign of superiority. People will need a lot of
retraining to overcome a lifetime of patriarchal education.
We don’t know what’s involved in the UT program so we can’t comment on
it. But we can say that after the imperialist patriarchy is overthrown
we’ll have a long period of cultural revolution where we need to
re-invent humyn culture and re-educate everyone to see all people as
equal. This is about the patriarchy, but also about the oppression of
all groups of people over other groups, across the strands of oppression
of nation, class and gender. This involve forcibly repressing
patriarchal culture and institutions. We hope that forcible repression
of half the population (men) will not be necessary, but there will need
to be active promotion of feminists into positions of power, and a
careful re-consideration of the appropriate interactions between all
humyns.
We received a lot of thoughtful responses to Under Lock & Key
61 debating sex offenders. This is a tough topic. It’s easy to
recognize that our culture encourages abuse of wimmin. And there are
many problems with how the criminal injustice system defines sex crimes
and selectively prosecutes this crime. But people don’t want to condone
rape, and many of us have a persynal reaction of horror to sexual
predators that makes it hard to think about this objectively.
Regardless of the societal influences, and the unfair definitions and
prosecutions, there are a lot of people who have committed sex crimes,
and these should not just be ignored or forgiven. This topic got a lot
of people thinking about whether or not sex offenders (SOs) can be part
of the movement, and if they committed sex crimes, if they can be
reformed.
Defining sex crimes
We have all been raised in a culture that promotes sexism and condones
gender oppression. We call this system the patriarchy. It’s a system
where sexy young teen models sell clothes, and TV and movies glorify
powerful men and violence against wimmin. This culture colors every
relationship we have. We’re taught that being a good man means acting
manly and strong and never letting a womyn tell you what to do. And
we’re taught that being a good womyn means submitting to the needs and
desires of your man. With this training, we can’t expect equality in
relationships. And without equality, we can’t expect free consent. Not
everyone has a gun to their heads when they are asked to consent to sex,
but there are a lot of different forms of power and persuasion.
So we’re starting out with a messed up system of gender oppression, and
then we’re trying to define which acts of sexual violation count as
coerced (rape) and which are just “normal.” One California prisoner
wrote:
“I want to comment on the sex offender topic. Yeah it’s rough because
like the Nevada 17 1/2 yr old dude it’s just that easy to get caught up.
As adults we’re able to date 18-19 year olds as a 40-50 year old.
“I mean if people are going to argue 15 year old and an 18 is different,
the question is why/how? If their answer isn’t ‘I just want my baby girl
to be my baby girl a few more years’ then their answer is B.S., because
that’s what it really boils down to.
“Moving on, the sex offender umbrella is too big. Like it was mentioned,
a person taking a leak in public is considered a sex offender? We
haven’t always had toilets, let’s get real and go after the real sex
offenders – fully adult male/female taking advantage of a child. That’s
a sex offender! 20, 30, 40 year old trying to sleep with a 13 year old –
sex offender! Possession of child pornography – sex offender!”
This writer raises the question of age to define sex crimes. We ask, why
is a 20 year old sleeping with a 13 year old rape, but a 20 year old
with a 15 year old isn’t? Probably because this writer believes a 15
year old is capable of consent but a 13 year old isn’t. That’s the key
question: who has the ability to give consent?
Truly free consent isn’t possible from within a system that promotes
gender oppression from birth. But that’s not a useful answer when trying
to define crimes from the revolutionary perspective. And if we’re going
to attempting to rehab/punish people who have committed sex crimes, we
have to decide what is a reasonable level of consent.
For now, we maintain that we should judge people for their actions, not
the label they’re given by the criminal injustice system. As this
comrade from Maryland explains, society creates sexual predators who act
in many different ways, but their actions all show us they are
counter-revolutionary.
“I was reading one article on sex offenders in ULK 61, and it was
talking about how to determine whether they did the crime or not. The
thought came to me of judge of character, their interactions with males
& females, whether prisoners or C.O.s, and the traces of
conversations when they feel comfortable. Even those who don’t have
sexual offense charges sometimes make you wonder by the way they
jerk-off to female C.O.s & female nurses or what they say to them
that have you think if they are undercover sex offenders.
“One prisoner went as far as getting the female nurse information off
the internet and called them on the jail phone and got (admin)
(Administration Segregation). This is the same person that comes back
and forth for jerking off to multiple disciplinary segregation terms,
but is locked up for a totally different charge. He’s a future sex
offender, that can’t be trusted for help in the revolution not due to a
label, but due to his character and interactions when he sees females.
“Then you have the ones that have been locked-up in their teenage years
and they’re currently in their 30s, and like to chase boys who are easy
to manipulate or who want sexual activity. One is big on being a
victimizer, but knows and talks a lot of Revolutionary preferences. He
has a lot of knowledge but can’t be trusted to prevail due to lack of
discipline and wanting to continue in his prison rapes & prison sex
crimes that he rejoiced in. But he is another one that is not locked up
for any sex offenses. Both were juveniles when incarcerated and have
been psychologically damaged and lack change & further
rehabilitation. Everyone still embraces them in general population and
looks past their sexual activities.
“How can people that exploit sexual habits right in clear view of the
prisoners be embraced and not looked upon as potential threats to
society, families, and fellow prisoners, when you have someone labeled
as a sex offender through childhood friendships and has to be sectioned
off & outcasted by other prisoners due to the label of sex offender
and not background information, the character of the man, their
interactions with same sex and opposite sex, and the signs & symbols
through their conversation?”
This writer’s view is echoed by a comrade in Texas who has come to
realize we need to judge people for their actions:
“UFPP is a must! Regardless of what you did to get in prison (rape, rob,
murder), I (also a prisoner) only judge you or anyone on how they go
forward from this day in prison. I used to work in food service and I
would break a serving into fifths for women in prison for killing or
abusing children. Then I grew up and got over myself. How do I know they
were rightfully convicted and how do I know how they got in this prison
life? I don’t. We’re all in the same spot starting out. What you do from
this time forward is your description for me. And people can change. I
have.”
When we look objectively at how many people, both in prison and in
society in general, commit sex crimes, it’s pretty depressing. The
recent #MeToo movement helped expose just how many sexual predators are
in the entertainment industry in particular. And writers like the one
above expose individual cases of predators behind bars. This is so
common because of a culture that promotes gender inequality. As long as
we see wimmin/girls as objects for sexual pleasure we will have a
problem with sex crimes. Another prisoner described this pervasive
problem in California:
“This letter is in regards to the sex offenders articles in ULK
61. We cannot”always” trust a state to tell us what crimes someone
has committed - but most of the time we can. It might not always be so
clear, but the majority of the time the person convicted of a sex crime
did indeed do it.
“Of the thousands of people I’ve come across in the SNY prisons I’ve
been in, absolutely nobody has claimed his pc 290 case is for urinating
in public. The most common is sex with a minor as there is absolutely no
thing in the state of California as consensual sex with anyone under age
18. I know this all too well because sex with a teen put me where I’m
at.
“There are probably as many different variables that create sex
offenders as there are types of sex offenders themselves. The
overwhelming factor with the sex offenders I’ve met in prison (and
there’s a lot of sex offenders in prison) is drug abuse, especially
methamphetamine. It’s safe to say that most sex offenders (at least
60-70%) were driven by the effects of meth. There are many in prison who
will admit to sex with underage females. Growing up in the housing
project of San Francisco’s Mission District I knew a lot of adults
(mostly men) that had sexual relationships (and even marriages) with
teens. It was very common also that the girls my age as a teen carried
on with grown men.
“Go to a Latina’s traditional 15th birthday celebration and count the
amount of males over 20 yrs old. Yes, that is what many are there for:
the girls. Do younger girls’ parents know about this? Yes, most do.
Cinco de Mayo has become another reason for America to party. Latin
foods, beers, music, piñatas, etc. We’ve welcomed with open arms. Are we
going to pretend that these ‘other’ traditions from Latin America don’t
exist and just continue to tag and store sex offenders or will something
be done to address this issue?
This writer makes a good point: lots of sex crime charges are real. Many
men have committed these crimes. But there’s no need to rely on what the
state tells us. In fact this writer demonstrates that people are being
honest with em about eir past crimes. We don’t gain anything by trusting
the criminal injustice system, and we don’t need to.
This comrade helps demonstrate our point that sex with teens is condoned
by capitalist culture. These cultural influences encourage men to see
their behavior taking advantage of wimmin, and pursuing teens, as normal
and acceptable. We won’t stop this completely until we get rid of the
patriarchy and have the power to create a proletarian culture.
Can criminals be reformed?
An important organizing question of today regarding sex offenders is
whether or not they can be part of the revolutionary movement. This
inspires a lot of debate behind bars. A comrade from Maryland provides
some good examples of people becoming revolutionaries in spite of
history of anti-people crimes. We agree with eir analysis that everyone
who has committed crimes against the people (sex offenders, drug
dealers, murderers, etc.) has the potential to reform and be a part of
the revolutionary movement. Whether or not we have the resources to help
make this happen is discussed in
“On
Punishment vs Rehabilitation.”
“Eldridge Cleaver was incarcerated for rape upon little white girls and
was not on Protective Custody, nor was he a victim, but the victimizer.
[Cleaver was actually incarcerated for assault, but was open that he had
raped wimmin and even attempted to justify it politically. - ULK Editor]
Though upon his parole release he worked for a newspaper company until
his run-in with Huey Newton at this newspaper company and joined the
Black Panther Party to become later down the line a leader within the
BPP political organization. James Carr was another that participated in
prison rapes even though he grew to become a instrument for the BPP, a
body-guard for Huey Newton upon his release, and a prison vanguard
alongside George L. Jackson. Basically, saying that in their era they
were not faulted by the political group for their past, but were looked
upon what they could do in the present and future.
“With what the United States set as standards are only accountable for
those who are out of their class and who they don’t care about, while
their class gets away with such crimes or slapped on the wrist with the
least time as possible. They have messed us up psychologically mass
media. So even if the people don’t know if the crime is true, what the
state places upon us as fraud charges, our mindset is automatically it’s
true cause America says it’s true. Just like when we see people on the
news wanted for questioning about a crime, we automatically say he did
it without knowing.
“Did the Revolutionaries of the 60s, 70s, and 80s not participate in the
Anti-People Crimes as modern day even though they were Vanguards for the
people and just as conscious as we are. Did they not sell illegal drugs
to raise money for court fees & bail fees? Did they not drink
alcohol and smoke weed & cigarettes? Did they not graduate to hard
drugs? Did they not shoot or stab people in their lifetime? Did they not
commit sexual assaults? That’s why we are able to learn from their
mistake, while also cherishing their great stands of Revolution. So
within criticism, criticize all through all eras and let those who want
to prove their self do it. If sex offenders, whether guilty or not,
started their own organization that was aligned with the same goals,
principles, and practices as MIM(Prisons), would you support them or
acknowledge their efforts? Do you feel that if a sex offender, guilty or
not, got conscious and changed for the better is capable of being a
positive tribute to a Revolution?”
On this same topic a Wisconsin prisoner disagrees and sees the
example of Eldridge Cleaver as a detriment to the movement overall.
“I personally do not believe there is a place in the movement for sex
offenders, and when I say sex offenders I’m referring to those who are
in prison for committing sex crimes, not statutory rape, where he’s 17
and she’s 16 or even if he’s 20 and she’s 16. I’m, talking about
un-consentual, outright rape of women, men and children. I don’t have
any affinity for those who rape prisoners or prison female officers and
staff.
“A lot of people bring up Eldridge Cleaver to support the argument of
reform for rapists, where to me Eldridge was not a true revolutionary,
he helped bring down the BPP and his mistreatment of Kathleen Cleaver,
Elaine Brown and others was egregious at best and outright barbaric at
worst. I don’t knock those who have compassion and believe in reform for
sex offenders, I’m just not one of them.”
While we disagree with this writer’s statement that SOs can’t be
reformed, we agree that embracing those who promote gender oppression
because of their correct line on national oppression can be very
dangerous for a revolutionary movement. The Black Panther Party
struggled with gender oppression, but in many ways was ahead of other
movements and organizations of their day. This doesn’t mean they got it
all right, but we have to judge people and movements in the context of
their struggle.
Finally, Legion writes compellingly about the potential for
rehabilitation of SOs and also offers a framework for undertaking this
work.
“So I’m sitting here eating a bowl of cereal and digesting ULK 61
and comrade
El
Independista made some valid points and MIM(Prisons) dissented. See
when we sparked this debate we were struggling with starting a NLO
consisting of comrades who have fucked up jackets who are willing to put
pride, ego, individualistic patriarchal thoughts and practices to the
wayside forming a column of revolutionaries who are given a chance to
show and prove that the state was wrong and that U-C-U works for all
instead of some. Answering El Independista’s questions of possible
solutions isolation, ostracization, extermination may I build?
“First and foremost as a revolutionary raised in the game I’d rather
deal with a SO than a snitch or a jailhouse thief. Why? Because in most
cases the SO can be re-educated if given the ability to perform. If a
potential comrade has been framed by the state who will hear him out.
He’s isolated like the sex offender island in Washington State off of
puget sound. Ostracization is another word for shun if the SO shuns
his/her anti-people conviction and uses unity-criticism-unity to combat
the patriarchy and upholds the merits of a drafted constitution along
with personal U-C-U known as self-criticism you can begin to mold
revolutionaries who ostracize themselves. Then there is extermination,
another word for ending re-education self-critique and revolutionary
bent will cause an ill (as in sick) blow to the injustice system. It’s
all or none. And no, I’m not harboring cho-mos and rapos, just willing
to do the work to see us free all of us. For example, if a column of
reformed SOs took up a revolutionary mindset and put said mindset into
practice one would exterminate a whole under represented class of
people.
“In California the Penal Code 226(a) is any sex crime. 266(h-j) have to
do with pimping and pandering, 288 is a molester, 290 is the required
registration code. Most kidnappers have to register for life. If you’re
a John you have to register and if you’re a prostitute you have to
register. If you opt into a shoot out and a child was involved you have
to register, and child endangerment is a sex crime. As well as rape,
peeing on the side walk, flashing. In prison all these cases get ‘P’
coded which prohibits the captive from ever being level 1 where there is
minimal politics, and forces one to live in enclosed structures with
secure doors AKA cell living. This leaves level”P” coded prisoners in 3
and 4 yards. These yards are political, whether GP or SNY there are
politics. And on these yards you have folks with a knack for praying on
the weak, creating a pattern of sexual abuse. Just look at any day room
wall you’ll see the # for the PREA hot-line and a slogan that says ‘no
means no and yes is not allowed.’
“People, we have to prepare for the white wolf invasion. You can’t bully
the SO problem away. You have to be a social scientist and commentator
and build institutions that collapse the structure. And to answer
MIM(prison), most SOs are on SNY yards and you have these snitch gangs
who look to isolate, ostracize and eliminate”threats.” Most SOs aren’t
rats, hell most aren’t even criminals, no rap sheet only accusations.
But these “gangsters” need a common enemy, and an easy target is the SO.
As a ‘do what’s best-ist’ I would, if given the platform to do so,
launch the wolf collective and invite all who read ULK to join,
not as a member but as a witness to the scientific display of
revolutionary conduct. I do this to sacrifice self for the masses.
“Start with self-critique and a solid understanding of your
errors. Make serious revolutionary action your priority Honor
and respect all human beings’ dignity Never go backwards in thought
walk and push Stand all the way up for what is righteous and do
what’s leftover You will be judged by your political work and
political line.
“You might think I’m crazy or nuts but I have 36 nuts and bolts that say
otherwise. The mathematics makes sense to turn nuts to plugs you plug in
nuts meaning you become the change you want to see, and if I have to
build the collective brick by brick stone by stone I will. I’m a convict
first for all the would-be haters, but I think the time has come to form
an infection on the skin of the beast.”
Until, and perhaps after, we achieve a society where the culture of
capitalist individualism has been destroyed, revolutionary organizations
will have to deal with crimes against the people. We need to protect our
movement from harm, and we must balance how to protect it from all
sides. In some cases, punishment will be appropriate. But our primary
focus will always be rehabilitation. Here we will discuss how we think
about punishment and rehabilitation in the different stages of
revolutionary struggle.(see definitions in Notes below)
Simply punishing someone for a behavior is a generally accepted, but
widely ineffective, method of changing that persyn’s behavior. There is
first the consideration of whether the persyn is compelled by the
punishment to change their behavior. (What does the punishment mean to
the one being punished? Does the punishment match the crime?) Second is
the consideration of whether the persyn being punished understands their
crime and how the punishment relates to the crime. So simply punishing
someone without providing any accompanying rehabilitation may serve the
purposes of satisfying the victims, or detering others from doing the
same behavior, but it does little to change that persyn’s behavior or
change eir mind about eir behavior.
Crimes against the people
Crimes against the people are actions that harm the oppressed,
either directly or by harming the revolutionary movement of the
oppressed. In our current context, they include things like snitching to
pigs, facilitating drug addiction, stealing from the masses, and a long
list of other counter-revolutionary actions. The list of crimes that
must be dealt with today, directly (versus crimes that can’t be dealt
with until during the wartime period, or post-revolution) will change as
we move through stages of struggle. Additionally, what is possible for
us to deal with will also change over time, as we grow in strength and
acquire more resources.
Even though we see many crimes against the people committed around us
daily, we only have so much capacity to try to rehabilitate people, and
an even more limited ability for punishment. But while lacking the time
and resources to rehabilitate everyone, we also must keep in mind the
consequences to the movement of punishing counter-revolutionary actors.
Doling out punishment can have potentially dangerous consequences, yet
it might be the only option available to us in certain circumstances. So
whether to punish vs. rehabilitate is not simply a question of what we
are able to do, but also what will be best for the revolutionary
movement.
Overall, focus on rehabilitation
There are no cut and dry guidelines on this question of relabilitaion
vs. punishment. Our actions will depend on many factors, and we can only
figure this out in practice. Focusing too much on hypotheticals only
clouds our judgement when we are faced with an actual crime that we need
to deal with.
Yet on the overall question of whether to focus on rehabilitation or
punishment, we look to Mao’s injunction that we focus on rehabilitation
of those who make mistakes but are open to correcting their errors and
rehabilitating their political line and practice:
“A person with appendicitis is saved when the surgeon removes his
appendix. So long as a person who has made mistakes does not hide his
sickness for fear of treatment or persist in his mistakes until he is
beyond cure, so long as he honestly and sincerely wishes to be cured and
to mend his ways, we should welcome him and cure his sickness so that he
can become a good comrade. We can never succeed if we just let ourselves
go, and lash out at him. In treating an ideological or a political
malady, one must never be rough and rash but must adopt the approach of
‘curing the sickness to save the patient’, which is the only correct and
effective method.” (Mao Zedong, “Rectify the Party’s Style of Work” (1
February 1942, Selected Works, Vol. III)
Before the proletariat seizes state power
We are in the pre-revolutionary period right now. Pre-revolution
includes the current period of “relatively peaceful” organizing, and the
period of outright war when the oppressed fight to take control of the
state. The oppressed-nation lumpen in the United $tates face
life-or-death circumstances every day, including consequences of
imprisonment, economic disparity, inter-lumpen violence, police
violence, and attacks from various white nationalists at all levels of
society. While we face daily violence, our organizing at this time
primarily focuses on self-defense and building independent institutions
of the oppressed. That’s why we call this a “relatively peaceful”
organizing period, where we focus on preparation.(1)
Pre-revolution Organizing
In our day-to-day struggle, many counter-revolutionary actions will not
be a question of life and death as they are in wartime. But they are
still serious and potentially dangerous to the movement. This is the
period when we have the least power to carry out punishment and to
rehabilitate effectively. We should strive for rehabilitation when
possible, but with limited power and resources we will need to evaluate
each case to determine what we can accomplish.
While we don’t have state power, when rehabilitation is not an option,
we still have enough power in some situations to punish crimes against
the people. This punishment most often involves exclusion from the
movement, but can include public criticism and more physical actions.
Our actions in this regard will need to be carefully considered in each
case.
The case of snitches comes up a lot in prison organizing, where many
attempt to curry favor with the guards in this way. Snitches are
counter-revolutionary actors who must be cut out from the movement,
though we may lack the power to appropriately punish snitches (beyond
exclusion) at this time. But we also believe that snitches, and everyone
else who commits crimes against the people, have the potential for
rehabilitation through education and struggle if we have the opportunity
to engage with them deeply. However, that’s not always a good use of our
time right now. Those who see the error of their ways and come to us
with self-criticism for their past actions are clearly an easier target
for rehabilitation and revolutionary education. Each case will require
individual consideration. Those involved in the struggle and impacted by
the crimes will have to assess the appropriate response and mix of
re-education and punishment.
At Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio in 1993,
prisoners were throwing their trash on the tier in a protest. In the
book Condemned by Bomani Shakur (Keith LaMar) we learn the
details. This protest was going on for several days and the guards
brought in a trustee to clean the tier. The prisoners tried to talk with
this trustee over multiple days, to get em to refuse the job, yet the
trustee kept cleaning the tier. The protesting prisoners punished the
trustee violently. In this case we see the correct method of
first attempting to struggle with someone who is acting against
the movement, and later taking more direct action to shut em down to
protect the movement. We can’t judge this specific incident from afar,
and it is something revolutionaries will have to figure out in
day-to-day struggle.
Pre-revolution active wartime
Times of war are, of course, characterized by the use of violence and
killing of the enemy as the default means of achieving goals. In
wartime, the primary focus is on destroying the enemy, and this includes
killing counter-revolutionaries. Anyone who acts to support the
imperialists is swiftly punished. Some of these crimes merit death, as
actions that result in the deaths of many revolutionaries cannot be
tolerated.
“Mao Z reminds us in one of his military essays, of the insight from von
Clausewitz, that war is different from all other human
activity.
”When you check out the record, you can get the
feeling that young Mao Z barely bothered to conceal how much he wanted
to rip the Li Li-san faction right out of the ‘red’ military and rural
party, by any means necessary. No matter how flimsy the excuse or
reason, he really didn’t care. To him, the revolution had to
disentangele itself, to meet a life-or-death challenge, as quickly as
possible.
“…Mao Z and Chu Teh weren’t in suburban California,
judging or dismissing cases of individuals in a civilian situation. That
would be one set of circumstances. They were in a remote war zone, deep
in the countryside, preparing feverishly for the largest and possibly
most decisive battle any of them had ever gone through, raw soldiers and
officers alike. Any disadvantage could cost them everything, while any
advantage might be life-saving. That was a different set of
circumstances.”(2)
During the revolutionary wars of the USSR and China, they did not always
have the time or resources to attempt to convince traitors to rejoin the
revolution, and in many cases they could not even set up prisons to
contain these enemies for future rehabilitation. Mao’s guerillas had to
turn around and execute lumpen forces that had previously fought
side-by-side with them against the Kuomintang. At other times, the
People’s Liberation Army was able to successfully recruit whole sections
of the Kuomintang army into their ranks. Again, an in-the-moment
assessment of our threats and capabilities, with a preference for
rehabilitation whenever possible, will be necessary even during wartime.
Post-revolution
When we have state power, we will be in a better position to
rehabilitate people. But in the short term the masses will demand
punishment for those who owe blood debts. In China shortly after the
anti-Japanese war was won and the Communist Party took power, Mao
addressed this topic:
“The number of counter-revolutionaries to be killed must be kept within
certain proportions. The principle to follow here is that those who owe
blood debts or are guilty of other extremely serious crimes and have to
be executed to assuage the people’s anger and those who have caused
extremely serious harm to the national interest must be unhesitatingly
sentenced to death and executed without delay. As for those whose crimes
deserve capital punishment but who owe no blood debts and are not
bitterly hated by the people or who have done serious but not extremely
serious harm to the national interest, the policy to follow is to hand
down the death sentence, grant a two-year reprieve and subject them to
forced labour to see how they behave. In addition, it must be explicitly
stipulated that in cases where it is marginal whether to make an arrest,
under no circumstances should there be an arrest and that to act
otherwise would be a mistake, and that in cases where it is marginal
whether to execute, under no circumstances should there be an execution
and that to act otherwise would be a mistake.”(3)
In this situation, the Communist Party was acknowledging that it could
not get too far ahead of the masses. Punishing those who had committed
extremely serious crimes was part of demonstrating to the masses that
the Party was acting in their interests. But the goal was not punishment
and execution. The goal was to move as many people towards
rehabilitation as possible. And we can’t know who has the potential for
rehabilitation until we try. Overall, communists should assume that all
people can be educated/re-educated because humyns have great capacity to
learn and grow, especially when removed from harmful/reactionary
circumstances.
Of course forced labor in China was a punishment for these
counter-revolutionaries. But it was also an opportunity for reform and
rehabilitation. As we learn in the book Prisoners of Liberation
by Adele and Allyn Rickett, even people who had served as spies for
imperialists during the war were given a chance at rehabilitation. The
Ricketts, in China for academic study on a Fullbright Scholarship, were
passing information to the Amerikkkan and Briti$h governments. This was
while the Chinese were fighting for control of Beijing and then into the
imperialist war on Korea, in which the Chinese were fighting against
Amerikan troops.
The Ricketts were spies in wartime. Yet the Chinese Communists did not
execute them. Instead they were imprisoned in a facility where the
emphasis was on re-education and self-criticism. It took both Allyn and
Adele years to come to an understanding of why their actions were wrong.
But during that time they were never physically abused. Their forced
confinement was certainly a punishment, but in the end they came to see
this time in a Chinese prison as justified and a valuable educational
experience that made them both better people. They were transformed.
Balance of forces for punishment and rehabilitation
In all cases, we must balance several considerations:
The weight of the crimes of a persyn
The sentiment of the masses towards that persyn and their crimes
The power we have to implement rehabilitation programs effectively
The ability to perform punishment if deemed appropriate
Our assessment of the above considerations will change based on our
stage of struggle and our ever-evolving strength and abilities. In all
cases revolutionaries should strive to reform and rehabilitate as many
people as possible. But the limits of our resources pre-revolution, the
need for expedience on life-and-death situations in wartime, and the
need to fulfill the masses’ demand for justice post-war must also be
taken into account.
I was placed in administration segregation and stripped of my privileges
(contact visits, phone calls, canteen, personal property, etc.) for the
reason of investigation. A violation of my “due process” rights, as I am
punished before being found guilty of anything. Other prisoners under
investigation are stripped of their privileges as well. Investigation
can last up to 6 months or longer. The investigator most usually takes
as long as they want to speak to us. I was placed in housing unit 2 and
the conditions are extremely hostile and cruel.
There is a rodent infestation due to trash not being cleaned and food,
juice, coffee and milk cover the floor most of the day or longer. The
mice live in the hall and the utility closest between cells. (This
rodent infestation is rampant in all housing units and the chow hall).
We are forced to live in cells with individuals who many times do not
get along with each other, mostly on purpose. As of 8-17-18, many
convicts request protective custody (PC) to get out of these hostile
cell arrangements, but due to the overcrowdedness of the administration
segregational housing units, these is no where else the inmate can be
placed. If an inmate refuses the same cell he came out of, he is
punished with a conduct violation and disciplined.
Convicts, including myself, are forced to sit on an iron bench with our
hands handcuffed behind our backs, attached to the bench, as well as our
legs shackled to the bench with no alternative. The handcuffs and
shackles are so tight that our hands and ankles result in bloody
incisions and bruises. Mostly, medical refuse to check on the prisoner’s
health and well-being. By policy, medical is supposed to check prisoners
in handcuffs and shackles to make sure they’re not in pain. They refuse
to comply or look past the fact our wrists are bleeding. We are refused
all meals and water as well while on the bench, and are limited bathroom
breaks, sometimes resulting with inmates urinating or defecating on
themselves.
Once inmates per unit request PC, the correctional officers refuse to
pull other inmates, in possible danger, out or they maliciously pepper
spray them. This is a denial of our rights to PC and 8th Amendment,
which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. These units hold 72
inmates each and there are 3 of them in 2 houses.
Convicts in need of PC were determined not to live in cells 24 hours a
day with people who may cause them problems or harm. Prisoners “rode”
the bench for over 144 hours (handcuffed and shackled). August 23, 2018
seemed to break convict’s spirits.
On 8-23-18, around 3:00 p.m., up to about 6:00 p.m., the Correctional
Emergency Response Team (CERT) came and proceeded to brutally assault
inmates. All this is on cameras in housing unit 2 A, B and C wing at
above time. Benches, holding cages and some showers were full of
convicts awaiting compatible cells.
I was standing in a holding cage, 2C, face and chest exposed (due to the
designs and patterns on cage) under PC awaiting a compatible cell. SCCC
Correctional Officer (CO) Benevitez and Jefferson City Correctional
Center (JCCC) CO Ousley told me that the JCCC officers “had something
for me”. (I had been convicted of 1st degree assault on correctional
officer in JCCC; received 20 years; currently appealing) JCCC Officer
Talest (referred to as Bull) then came to my cage and maliciously
emptied about 3 small cans and 2 big cans of pepper spray directly into
my face. JCCC, SCCC, Ozark Correctional Center, as well as other
correctional officers take me to the ground, handcuffed me and proceeded
to brutally assault me. About 10 officers or more, all of them 180 to
250 pounds, struck me with closed fists in the facial and body area,
stomped and kicked me, elbowed me, twisted my toes and ankles, twisted
my fingers back tearing ligaments, choked me and drove their knees into
my back. CO Davis ran from nowhere to join the assault.
Inmates claim the officers were screaming, “This is what you get when
you fuck with JCCC”. Officers then “hog tied” me, picked me up by my
throat and ankles and carried me to Housing Unit 2A (H.U. 2A was flooded
with sewage water due to broken toilets and sprinklers). Officers then
threw me on the ground by cell 106, pulled the inmates out of 106 and
picked me up and threw me to the concrete floor in 106. They then
proceeded to beat me and shove my face and nose in water where I could
not breathe. They punched, kicked, and stomped all parts of my body,
especially my facial area. They twisted my finger and emptied a can of
mace into my buttocks area. One officer urinated on me, they took my
restraints off and left, whooping and hollering, “That was for Officer
Post” and “don’t fuck with JCCC”. They then left me in a pool of bloody
sewage water. I was denied any medical assessment. Nurse Courtney, who
was working, told me, “Fuck your medical assessment, I hope you die”. I
did not receive a conduct violation to support their use of force
assault.
Officers then came and put my enemy (who I had requested PC from) into
the cell with me. I then declared PC and they refused to pull me out. My
enemy then held the food port, stuck his head out with my PC note at med
pass to get me pulled out. I then went to “ride” the bench. During a
restraint check, nurse Christine G. refused to check my restraints,
denied me medical attention, and quoted from the “Bible” Romans 13:4 “It
is the servant of God to inflict wrath on the evil doer”. When nurse
Barker came in, I declared a medical emergency for broken nose and
broken fingers. She claimed, “Broken bones is not a medical emergency”.
My face was drenched in blood. Later, I declared a medical emergency for
chest pains. I can’t remember what nurse seen me, but she checked my
vitals and said I was “OK”. I told her about my injuries and she said,
“So what”. I was finally placed in cell 113 with a guy named Ben.
My injuries include possible broken nose, torn ligaments in my hands and
finger, and I’m extremely traumatized. Prisoner [X] was standing in a
holding cage in 2C (his whole body and face exposed due to design and
pattern of cage) maliciously maced intravenously, pulled out the cage
and beat ruthlessly by about 10 officers. His injury included a broken
toe.
Prisoner [Y] was in 2C-240 and was maliciously pepper sprayed, pulled
out the cell and his legal materials twisted.
Prisoner [Z] was in 2A-202 maliciously pepper sprayed and ruthlessly
beat by about 10 officers. The main instigator was CO Applegate of SCCC.
Not sure of his injuries, but when I seen him he looked like the
“Walking Dead”. Face, arm, and elbows black and purple.
These attacks were organized by Warden Jeff Norman, Michelle Buckner and
Conrad Sutton. Other prisoners were attacked as well.
After these brutal assaults, some inmates were bullied into living with
incompatible prisoners. The pigs have 3 TV’s in the wings and are turned
on if we are “good”. The same movie is played over and over all day
long. The movies usually portray the imperialists oppressing and
slaughtering the proletariat. It was used as a brainwash mechanism to
control the feeble.
On a bathroom break, I was slammed to the ground on my jaw by CO
Callhoun. I was then written up for a 19.1 (Creating a Disturbance).
Everyone under PC felt there was nothing they could do and went back to
their cells. I stayed on the bench. On 9-1-18, I was taken to Housing
Unit 1B-122 for 2 2’s (guard assaults). The violations claim I slipped a
handcuff and assaulted 2 officers by striking them numerous times in
face and body with closed fists and knees. When in actual reality COI
Riggs, COI Karr and Serge Herndon assaulted me. COI Riggs striking me in
face with closed fist. I went one week in nothing but boxers and socks.
No mattress. By the grace of Yaweh one convict got a sheet to me. Mail
room staff Keli Ann Burton has been confiscating all his outgoing and
incoming mail. I’m under “Security Orders” and denied medicals sick cell
essentials, cleaning supplies, and told at all meals to lay face down on
my bunk with arms behind my back and legs crossed to receive a “Suicide
Bag” of food, while I’m not suicidal.
Us convicts ask for the administration to resolve certain issues as
follows:
Relief of overcrowding in administration segregation (Ad-Seg) units
by: –limiting investigation to 45 days. –letting individuals out
of Ad-Seg after their disciplinary segregation terms are –Ending
long erm Ad-Seg (which is used in Missouri as punitive in addition to
disciplinary segregation).
Access to incentives found in other Missouri Prisons for those
assigned to long-term indeterminate Ad-Seg confinement and those placed
under investigation. –Possession of personal property (appliances,
books, clothes, etc.). –Ability to buy food items from canteen and
all hygiene products.
Access to privileges to those placed under investigation –Ability to
use the phone at least 3 times a week. –Allowed contact visits at
least twice a month.
If you would please support us convicts by expressing these claims to
the Missouri Department of Corrections, we would greatly appreciate it.
Also, expose our sufferings and 8-23-18 to the media, Fox 2 News,
Channel 5 News, WNBC, CNN, ABC, NBC and mainstream newspapers. Myself,
as well as others, will keep pushing. Some of us are litigating 1983’s.
by a South Carolina prisoner September 2018 permalink
After being transferred a couple of times, I lost your information.
However, I got your contact (address) info from someone else and am
eager to start back receiving mail from your organization. I’m sincerely
in dire need of more of your literature to keep me focused as I once
was, cause over the past couple of years S.C.D.C. has gotten drastically
worse in terms of prisoner’s rights and I’d like to rejuvenate myself on
how to combat these injustices. With cellphones being our only source of
an outlet, they had us on a statewide lockdown from April 15, 2018
until, well, we still locked in our cells here.
New correctional officers received over $4K in bonuses, but yet we don’t
get vocational training to stay busy, we aren’t paid (at least $2/day)
for our various labor duties to prevent robberies of those with family
support or to prevent the success and attempts to smuggle contraband
into facilities. We’re charged for very inadequate medical services,
we’re also fed scraps (leftovers) from previous meals, which all too
often are no good, amongst a slew of other savage conducts the director
(Brian Sterlin) enforces.
It’s fall, winter is coming up, and Brian Sterlin has officially
outlawed the possession of toboggans by prisoners and sent his officers
to take up all state issued jackets. With us being located on the coast,
we know how brutal cold moist air can be. Is this a form of genocide or
is he just trying to make the already inadequate medical services his
personal “cash cow”? Either way, I scream that this gets put on world
news to expose these maggots. To reform is to fix, this system isn’t
broken, it’s just plain wrong!!!
I would like to address the illegal acts by the grievance investigator
Ms. Andersen at Dalhart Unit. I have written a grievance on a staff
member here for discrimination and then I added three witnesses that saw
and heard the incident to my grievance. I never mentioned to any of my
witnesses that I put them down as witnesses. The reason behind this was
so that it was clear it was not a plan nor did I coach them or inform
them to say untrue things. So none of my witnesses knew that they were
going to be called a witness.
When the grievance investigator, Ms. Andersen, called them in one by
one, she never mentioned anything to any one of the witnesses about when
the incident took place. Who put them down as witnesses, what they were
witness too. All they knew is they were witness to an incident and could
they think of anything. Only one of my witnesses had a clue, but was not
100% sure it was me. The other two had no clue on what incident the
investigator was talking about because she said nothing more than “can
you think of an incident”. Because the investigator, Ms. Andersen, did
not disclose to my witnesses anything only that they were put down as
witnesses to an incident and could they think of an incident.
She interfered with the investigation to help her coworker out. I was
made aware of this by my witnesses when I ask them have they been called
as witnesses yet? But all of them stated what I stated above and the two
that didn’t give both stated “That was you that added me as a witness?
Had I known I would have given a statement of what I saw and heard.”
This is why most offender’s grievances get shot down even when you have
proof of discrimination or any other violation by a staff member.
Because the person doing the investigation is most likely going to be
biased or unfair in their finding or investigation when it comes to
“coworkers” and “friends” they work with. This is nothing compared to
what I saw and heard when it comes to the investigator who investigate
the grievances written by offenders. I can only pray that God will bring
things like this to the light to stop this unfair grievance procedure. I
think this could be why I’ve been set off on parole four times already.
All because I choose to fight them over the past 7 1/2 years.
We had a movement going strong here in the Alabama Prison System called
“FREE ALABAMA MOVEMENT”. We had formed a strike inside all the prisons
here. Not to work in the kitchen, laundry, for anything that prisoners
were allowed to do. To keep the prison running, we completely shut down.
Well, you know what happened. They locked down all the Brothers who were
the face of our movement. That, alone, killed the fire we had going.
Nobody else wanted to be at the front of the lines. Some of the brothers
that were locked up in seg. are just now getting out after doing 3 years
almost in seg.
So now I’m trying to rekindle that same fire to start the movement
again. Because we are still being treated like second-hand human beings
in the Alabama Prison System.
Estoy tratando de atraer la atención sobre el sistema penitenciario
estatal de Colorado política “extraoficialmente” para mantener a los
presos chicanos en guerra / opresión fraccionarias. Colorado ha estado
plagado de la misma violencia e ideología de “moreno contra moreno” como
los sistemas de California de los últimos 30 años. Sólo recientemente,
hubo un despertar que transformó la mentalidad “pandillera” de las masas
en un estado mental revolucionario en la liberación y lucha por Aztlán.
Esto se ha enfrentado con todos los niveles de represión, como
transferencias fuera del estado a lugares secretos, MCC (El nuevo nombre
políticamente correcto de Colorado para el encierro de SHU / Ad-Seg STG
donde los reclusos sólo pueden salir de la celda cada 72 horas para
ducharse, etc.)
El 14 de junio, el Poder Chican@ y la Lucha por Aztlán fueron negados
por el comité de publicación por el siguiente motivo: “El material
plantea una amenaza potencial a la seguridad de la población de
delincuentes o empleados de DOC, trabajadores contratados y voluntarios
al abogar por disturbios en la instalación o el incumplimiento con las
normas o reglamentos de la prisión”. La verdad del asunto es que fue
negada porque vino a mí en un período de tiempo específico cuando las
masas chicanas en Colorado habían decidido dejar de ser los títeres de
la opresión racista capitalista de un sistema que activamente ha ayudado
y facilitado la destrucción de nuestra gente, poniendo nuestras vidas en
peligro de muchas maneras. Lo siguiente son pequeños ejemplos de estas
condiciones.
Poner a los miembros rivales en grupos, donde seguramente serán atacados
tan gravemente que la muerte o el intento de asesinato son escenarios
probables. Abrir las celdas de los rivales STG mientras que los presos
son esposados y encadenados a mesas, para que puedan ser atacados, etc.
Ésta ha sido la norma por años. Ahora que hemos superado la mentalidad
tribal en un esfuerzo para educar y crear conciencia sobre el genocidio
racista de nuestra gente, el cual el sistema nos manipuló para hacer con
nuestras propias manos, nos azotan en las celdas, nos censuran y oprimen
aún más. Me sorprenderé si alguna vez recibes esta carta.
Actualmente, estoy en proceso de quejas sobre libros. Cualquier material
que pueda ayudar o contactos para avanzar en nuestra lucha será muy
apreciada. Una vez que termine el proceso de queja, enviaré copias de
todo el material sobre el tema. Gracias por tu tiempo. En solidaridad
con la lucha para terminar con la opresión y liberar a Aztlán.
Greetings from the A-yard of Valley State Prison. In honor of the
anniversary of the Attica uprising, and as an act of solidarity, the
members of our study group abstained form eating for 24 hours. For one
day we did not eat, starting with the Sunday G-slam, lunches (cold) and
the evening meal. Ten copies of the solidarity study pack were passed
out to members of our sg and a few other prisoners who were interested.
A comrade was kind enough to photocopy my solidarity study pack which
MIM(Prisons) provided. Most of the prisoners who attend our group were
not even aware of the events at Attica on 9 September 1971, or the calls
for prison reform which the Attica uprising prompted. A special emphasis
was put on finding ways to promote peace and to educate all prisoners
across the country on principles of the UFPP.
In closing, I want you to know that I may be new to this but I am tryign
hard to learn and organize here at VSP and so are others. We, as always
appreciate very much the material support and organizational guidance of
MIM(Prisons). Thank you.
MIM(Prisons) has set the ambitious goal of making Under Lock &
Key a monthly publication by 2022. ULK fills a need in
prison, providing revolutionary anti-imperialist reporting on and about
the lumpen behind bars. This is a relatively small revolutionary project
focused on the criminal injustice system. But prisons are just one part
of the larger imperialist machine. And it will take a revolutionary
movement much broader than just prisons to bring down capitalism. We are
a part of that movement, and it is our job to do what we can to push
forward its development.
At this stage in the struggle there are revolutionary cells organizing
in various segments within the belly of the beast. We’re building a
United Front for Peace in Prisons to bring together the movement behind
bars. And beyond that we want a united front against imperialism that
includes both prison and non-prison organizations. This broader movement
needs a unifying publication, a newspaper that can be used to both
disseminate information and organize people.
Lenin wrote What is to be Done? about the importance of a
regular newspaper publication for organizing the revolution in Russia.
And in the early stages of organizing, before the movement gained
popularity and broader membership, the Bolshevik leader argued that
revolutionaries needed to dream of wide distribution of a regular
publication. He wrote that, with enough local groups and study circles
taking up active work:
“[W]e could, in the not distant future, establish a weekly newspaper for
regular distribution in tens of thousands of copies throughout Russia.
This newspaper would become part of an enormous pair of smith’s bellows
that would fan every spark of the class struggle and of popular
indignation into a general conflagration. Around what is in itself still
a very innocuous and very small, but regular and common, effort, in the
full sense of the word, a regular army of tried fighters would
systematically gather and receive their training. On the ladders and
scaffolding of this general organisational structure […]
[revolutionaries would] rouse the whole people to settle accounts with
the shame and the curse of Russia. That is what we should dream of!”
Why print a newspaper when we have the Internet?
Lenin was writing at a time where there was no other way to communicate
between localities. We now have the Internet, and some will argue that
online agitation is all we need. We can communicate with people around
the globe in a few seconds on the Internet. And this is indeed a
powerful organizing tool. So why put out a newspaper beyond prisons, one
of the few places in First World countries without access to the
Internet? The answer to this question is access and organizing.
Most people don’t accidentally come across Maoist websites while
browsing online, and with the imminent end of net neutrality this will
likely become even more true. We’re not going to get publicity in
mainstream media. And we don’t want to encourage bad security by asking
people to post on facebook or twitter and expose themselves to the cops.
Newspapers can be left for pickup in coffee shops, libraries, book
stores, homeless shelters, community centers, laundromats and other
places where folks can happen across a perspective they won’t see
elsewhere. This expands access to revolutionary news and education.
We can use the Internet to quickly share information about campaigns,
and rally people from many locations for quick actions. And we can
publish the content of a newspaper online, greatly expanding its reach
beyond print media. But while the Internet is a powerful tool, it
doesn’t get us out on the streets organizing people, talking to them,
and building study groups and organizing committees.
With a print publication, organizers can walk up and engage people in a
way we can not do online. Newspapers give organizers a tool to use in
face-to-face organizing. Talking to people about their conditions, and
making the connections to the imperialist system. Asking someone to read
an article and talk to them about it. Responding to a speech at a rally
with a newspaper article on that topic as a starting point for
conversation with folks already sympathetic to the cause.
Political goals of the expanded newspaper
Get organizing updates to comrades in prison with greater
frequency
Build unity among the Maoist movement within U.$. borders
Broader distribution of anti-imperialist information
Closer coordination of work between various organizations within the
united front against imperialism
Organizing tool for folks on the streets and behind bars
What is needed to expand ULK
Distributors: We can only achieve our goal if we can quickly
expand our network of distributors. This is where you, our readers and
supporters come in. We will send you a small stack of ULKs every issue
for a year for $50. For our Re-Lease on Life Program comrades we will
send them for free until you can afford to pay. Selling them for $1 a
piece is one way to get the funds to pay for your subscription. Or if
you have the money you can take the easier route of dropping off a few
copies at local shops and public spaces that have a spot for people to
pick up free publications. For our imprisoned readers, reach out to any
individuals or institutions on the outside that you think might be able
to take on a regular shipment of ULKs.
Money: It will cost more money to print more newspapers, and also
more postage to send it out to distributors. We’re asking our
distributors to cover the mailing costs of what we send them. We also
need people to step up and help fund the printing and the costs of
mailing in to prisoners.
Content: Our immediate goal is to increase the frequency of
ULK, so that comrades inside are getting more regular organizing
updates. As this will also expand the content, we hope to increase the
breadth of topics that ULK currently tackles, exposing different
sectors of the movement to each others’ work. We are working on
partnerships with fraternal organizations to help create content for
this newsletter. We also call on individuals to increase their efforts
to produce quality content that addresses the needs of the oppressed
from a proletarian perspective.
Who should be part of this expansion?
Revolutionary anti-imperialist organizations that see Maoism as the
furthest advance towards communism to date. This is an explicitly
revolutionary project. We will not be toning down the Maoism that is our
guiding political line. But we will continue to publish articles from
individuals who share our anti-imperialist agenda though perhaps are not
Maoists.
We need to expand our outside distributors beyond former prisoners.
Expanding the content in our newspaper will help attract more
supporters. But we also need more supporters to expand. So our number
one challenge to comrades on the streets right now is to step up and
become a regular distributor of ULK. Without a broader
distribution network, we will not reach our goal of doubling the
frequency.
Task list to prepare for January 2022
Start by distributing ULK locally. Sign up with us today by
sending $50 to our PO Box with an address to send ULKs to, and begin
exploring ways to distribute the publication regularly. (No checks made
out to MIM(Prisons), let us know if you want to send a check)
Commit to a financial contribution for this expansion. Ideally a
monthly amount we can count on. You can start donating now to help us
build up the cash needed for this project.
Volunteer to start writing articles. Ask for a copy of our recently
updated writing guide.
Revolutionary organizations interested in getting involved in this
project, get in touch to start talking about how we can work together.