Green Bay Correctional Institution - Federal

In late May, prisoners in several Wisconsin prisons renewed the hunger strike against torture in that state’s prisons. In addition to arbitrarily long terms in solitary confinement, the prisons are not following their own rules about things like required time out of cell.(1) We are awaiting more news of the action from our comrades in Wisconsin.

In 2016 Wisconsin prisoners staged a hunger strike protesting long-term solitary confinement practices in that state. This strike started June 10 and went for several months and involved force feeding of some participants. You can read the history here and here. The administration punished the protesters but did nothing to modify their solitary confinement policies which included arbitrarily and poorly defined offenses leading to long sentences in isolation.

The 2016 petition from striking prisoners at Waupun is printed below:

Dying to Live

Human rights fight at Waupun Correctional Institution starting June 10, 2016. Prisoners in Waupun’s solitary confinement will start No Food & Water humanitarian demand from Wisconsin Department of Corrections officials.

The why: In the state of Wisconsin hundreds of prisoners are in the long term solitary confinement units a.k.a. Administrative Confinement (AC). Some been in this status from 18 to 20 years.

The Problem: The United Nations, several states, and even President Obama have come out against this kind of confinement citing the torturous effect it has on prisoners.

The Objective: Stop the torturous use long-term solitary confinement (AC) by:

1. Placing a legislative cap on the use of long term solitary confinement (AC)
2. DOC and Wisconsin legislators adoption/compliance of the UN Mandela rules on the use of solitary confinement(5)
3. Oversight board/committee independent of DOC to stop abuse and overclassification of prisoners to “short” and “long” term solitary confinement.
4. Immediate transition and release to a less restrictive housing of prisoners who been on the long term solitary confinement units for more than a year in the Wisconsin DOC
5. Proper mental health facilities and treatment of “short” and “long” term solitary confinement prisoners
6. An immediate FBI investigation to the secret Asklepieion* program the DOC is currently operating at Columbia Correctional Institution (CCI) to break any prisoner who the DOC considers a threat to their regimen

How you can help

1. Call Governor Scott Walker’s office and tell him to reform the long-term solitary confinement units in the Wisconsin DOC and to stop the secret Asklepieion program at once. The number to call is 608-266-1212.
2. Call the DOC central office and demand that all 6 humanitarian demands for this hunger strike be met and demand an explanation as to why they are operating a torture program. The number to call is 608-240-5000.
3. Call the media and demand that they do an independent investigation on the secret Asklepieion program operating at Columbia Correctional Institution, and cover this hunger strike.
4. Call the FBI building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and demand that they investigate the secret Asklepieion torture program being run at CCI. The phone number to call is 414-276-4684.
5. Call Columbia Correctional Institution and tell them you are aware of their secret torture program. Harass them! 608-742-9100.
6. Join in on the hunger strike and post it on the net. Convince others to join as well.

   
   

As you can see I’m back at Green Bay Correctional Institution (GBCI), still in seg. On Wednesday morning I was told to pack up. Later that day I received a copy of the committee’s recommendation and decision from the warden. The PRC recommended a program that would remove me from A.C. [Administrative Confinement] and the warden recommended the same. Yet he decided to keep me on A.C. until a program is created. I was told that GBCI is on board with it, so I wrote the day I arrived to Deputy Warden Sarah Cooper, a Black woman who once worked at Wisconsin Resource Center (WRC), and asked when will this program be implemented. I have not heard anything from the warden’s office as of yet.

I have reasons to believe that these people have no plans of removing me off A.C. WRC, the most liberal of them all, kept me on A.C. They said all these good things about me only to further the oppression and persecution of me. They said a program needs to be created, but didn’t specify what the program is or how it would be implemented. They have me in the worst conditions in the Wisconsin DOC. This is the worst segregation. Boscobel, even in its most oppressive days, has nothing on this seg. This seg makes the old greenhouse at Waupun look like a camp. It is fly infested. I have black worms coming out of the sink. We can’t have publications.

I have been in seg for over 13 years. and I haven’t given these people any trouble in a long time, and what I’m in seg for is solely political. I am being punished for organizing for Black Unity and against institutional racism. I simply created organizations that advocated the advancement of Black people and that fought against Black on Black crime, poverty, ignorance, etc. It wasn’t created to terrorize white people, as the totalitarian state would have you believe.

As a result of being in seg I have developed a long range of psychological issues, issues that have left me scarred permanently. These issues have caused some professionals to label me psychotic and delusional among other things. I was diagnosed with Delusional Disorder and am being treated for it. I am supposed to be at Waupun or Columbia Correctional Institution, places that house prisoners being treated for serious mental health diagnoses.

MIM(Prisons) adds: This comrade provides one more example of the torture that is part of the daily conditions in the solitary confinement units in Amerikan prisons often called control units. These units were primarily developed to isolate comrades like this to prevent them from organizing the oppressed for national self-determination. We are documenting both the terrible conditions prisoners face in these cells as well as the number of such units that exist across the country. To date we have counted over 100,000 and we invite prisoners to contact us to fill out a survey about your prison’s control units.

I am currently fighting censorship by the Wisconsin Department of Corruption. I have many outside contacts who are willing to do legal internet searches, type up legal briefs and make copies of legal documents for comrades here in prison. Due to this, the WDOC has found themselves trying to restrict the flow of free legal help coming in to the prison. This help jeopardizes their industrial prison complex and jeopardizes the identity of their snitches. The WDOC is now using a “security concern” excuse to deny me any correspondence that “pertains to the personal legal information of another inmate.” This violates the law and their own established policies and procedures. The WDOC believes they are above the law. The WDOC is more concerned about keeping the identity of their snitches private, although they will never admit this. I will continue to fight against this and all censorship in this injustice system.

MIM(Prisons) adds: Illegal denials of mail are just one of the tactics used by the criminal injustice system to make our struggle more difficult. Persistence from comrades like this one is key to the few victories we do win. And this persistence will be necessary over the long haul as we build a movement to take on the larger imperialist enemy to put an end to the oppression and exploitation of capitalism once and for all.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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