Federal Prisons

It has come to my attention that inmates with serious mental illnesses (SMI) are being abused on a daily basis here at this institution.

The problem lies in what are termed Psychiatric Observation Cell (POC) Overflow here in Restricted Housing Unit (RHU – Solitary Confinement). The POC is basically suicide watch. Per policy, these POC are to be located inside the medical unit, therefore be monitored closely by medical staff and properly trained officers; a hospital-like environment. However, more often than not, the POC in medical is full or has unserviceable cells for whatever reason. Then the first seven cells on FC block are used to house prisoners in need of POC.

The staff are persistent in claiming that the POC overflow cells are the same as POC in medical. Nothing could be further from the truth. These prisoners are treated no differently than prisoners in solitary confinement are treated. Meals are often denied these humyns, and showers are non-existent. Additionally, these prisoners are often the target of prisoners in the other regular cells that house solitary confinement/disciplinary custody, and are verbally abused. If they were housed in POC at medical, they would receive their showers and steps would be taken to ensure they get all their meals and then some.

These inmates are often psychotic and/or suffering from intellectual disabilities. There is a tendency to wreck havoc on prisoners on FC for disciplinary custody (non-POC) being disruptive and a major cause of sleep deprivation. I am firm in my belief that this is done intentionally by the fascists as a means of control. Who can resist when sleep is non-existent? I know that something needs to be done! I thank MIM(Prisons) for giving me an outlet for my frustration at things going on around me. Together we will make change happen!

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was created to help prevent sexual assault and sexual harassment inside U.$. prisons and to hold fully accountable those found guilty of sexual misconduct. But is this really the case? I beg to differ with those who fully support PREA.

As a transgender woman, I am victimized daily in one way or another at the hands of my fellow prisoners and staff. I should feel free to report sexual assault/sexual harassment, but the fact is, I’m afraid to or at least reluctant to do so. The pigs in authority here in this particular gulag have decided to create a stipulation that prevents me from coming out of my cell without being video/audio recorded via hand-held camcorder. I am being told that it is for my safety and that of others. I say bullshit. This is retaliation at its finest, subtle and cloaked.

I am at the fascists’ mercy for shower, yard, law library and anything else out of my cell. If my captors decide they don’t feel like going through the motions with the camera (which is often) they simply have to claim that the camcorder is unavailable and/or out of service for the time being. Thus my right to shower, yard, law library, etc., is more often than not violated. I’ve pointed out numerous times that there are video cameras in every area of the prison, and there isn’t a spot in this place that I can go that is beyond the view of a camera, but the pigs say that audio is needed for my claims of sexual harassment. When I point out that a majority of my sexual harassment allegations occurred when I was inside my cell, they have nothing more to say, as I’ve tripped them up in their own game.

It’s simple. Things like this are done to discourage anyone from reporting any type of PREA violation whether it happened or not. Fear of retaliation alone is a violation of PREA standards. I wonder just how many others are experiencing this type of issue and what as a whole, we can do about it. Any suggestions, comrades?

MIM(Prisons) responds: Gender oppression is one of many forms of abuse faced by prisoners in the Amerikan criminal injustice system. While the PREA laws appear on the surface to take this problem seriously, we have seen that in practice PREA is more about image than action. And this is not the first report we have received about manipulation of the PREA laws to actually harm those who are experiencing the sexual harassment. We have written previously about PREA and the problems of sexual assault in prisons. Our overall conclusion is that we can not rely on the oppressors to enact policies that will stop oppression. Instead we look to the example of groups like Men Against Sexism, an organization in Washington prisons in the 1970s, to defend against sexual assault and change the culture of what was acceptable among prisoners. Organized action by the oppressed at a group level is necessary to overthrow patriarchy.

The details of all the events that led up to my incarceration as a political prisoner are too numerous to list in this letter, but I assure you, they are atrocious. The basic gist of it is that after repeated attempts to corrupt me and indoctrinate me as an oppressor, and my subsequent refusal and threats to report my knowledge of corruption within my department to federal law enforcement authorities, officials from my department erroneously charged me with setting fire to multiple abandoned and condemned houses that were being used as dens for drugs and prostitution. This is all a vicious lie concocted by the government.

Having faith in the old saying “the truth shall set you free” and the belief that we are innocent until proven guilty in this country and will receive a fair and honest trial, I chose to fight my case in our so-called criminal justice system or, as I quickly discovered, the criminal Injustice system.

I was informed very arrogantly by the investigators (Birmingham police officials) that they had “hand picked” the judge who was over my case and if I didn’t accept a plea deal then this particular judge was going to “crush” me. The judge himself even told me that if I accepted the plea deal he would show me mercy, but if I rejected the plea deal and took my case to trial then “there would be no mercy.”

Refusing to be bullied and intimidated into confessing to crimes that I did not commit and begging for mercy when I had done nothing that required it, I proceeded to trial. After an unfair and totally biased and one-sided monkey trial in a Kangaroo court (it took me a while to realize I wasn’t at the zoo), I am now firmly of the opinion that D.A. stands for “Disinformation Agent” and that our judges have even less honor than a thief in the night. I was not allowed to present video evidence that proved my innocence and showed intimidation and coercion by police officials. Unfortunately, I was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to 100 years in prison.

I am not submitting my story as an invitation to any pity party, but merely to attest to the corrupt and broken system that I’m ashamed to say I once worked for. A system that sends a man to prison for 100 years for non-violent property crimes where no death or injury occurred; crimes that he didn’t even commit.

Now that I am condemned to rot in prison for the rest of my life while my two young sons remain orphaned since I was their only parent, I guess that I’m just supposed to accept my fate. Well, my eyes are wide open now which is why I believe in and uphold the 6 points of MIM(Prisons) and the 5 principles of the United Front for Peace in Prisons.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer gives us a good example of why we say that we must judge people by their actions and not just their history. People are capable of learning and changing. Someone who was formerly working for the oppressors can realize their mistake and join the cause of the oppressed. Most often this happens when someone loses their position of privilege, but sometimes it can happen just through education.

During the Chinese Cultural Revolution some people were imprisoned for anti-people activities and provided with education about why it is wrong to oppress other people. And we have examples of people who came out of these prisons devoted to serving the people, thoroughly ashamed of their former harmful actions and committed to change. This education is easier when we have state power and the government is working in the interests of the oppressed, but even now we can score victories, especially behind bars, with those who came to prison with erroneous ideas and participated in actions that harmed the people. For this reason we must judge people not by what they say, or by labels they have been given, but by their actions. Those who demonstrate to be consistently working on the side of the oppressed have a place in the revolutionary united front.

I am writing with grave concern to the health, safety, treatment and welfare of prisoners at Cobb County Adult Detention Center (CCADC). We have asked for assistance, placed internal grievances and other inquiry to this supplication to no avail. I hope you or someone you know can help us.

• We are given soiled and stained clothes and linen.
• We are often without hot water.
• Only certain inmates get juice at lunch (which is a lack of equal treatment).
• The air quality/ventilation is poor, causing us to cough and sneeze, and we’re not sure what’s in the air.
• There is black mold in the showers (which is potentially cancerous). In addition to the black mold there is fungus, mildew and bacteria in the shower.
• Our drinking fountain is shut off, and we are forced to get drinking water from the bathroom sink where the toilets are, where people brush their teeth, blow their nose, wash their clothes and bodies. This is disgusting.
• Black particles are in the water which leaves a residue in your cup.
• During transport, we are shackled at the ankles, waist and handcuffed with no seat belts, with some prisoners extradited in kennel trucks for hundreds of miles.
• Life is jeopardized by placing prisoners in wrong population.
• Life is also jeopardized with the judge stating your charges at your first appearance, in front of other prisoners, even after you state you knew your charges to keep them from being stated openly.
• There are no cameras by/in the dorm to record/capture abuse by deputies and/or other inmates.
• It takes 15 to 30 minutes, or more, for medical or other emergency response.
• Wrong medicine is dispensed to prisoners. One had to be recessed and hospitalized.
• We are not given bleach or other germ-killing and/or cleaning supplies to properly disinfect toilets, showers, etc.

There is an appearance of misappropriation of government funds. CCADC vehemently renders a regime of depraved propaganda for a disparaged profligate profit. The leadership’s resistance to improve the dismal inflictive behavior by the deputies and at least render humane treatment is utterly despicable. The abuse is ubiquitous and they treat us as if we are detritus. We are innocent till proven guilty, yet our religious rights, due process, equal treatment, and civil rights are oppressed and violated daily. We seek an inquest and thorough probe by an outside source/entity. We seek justice. We want our civil liberties to be adhered to; we want to be treated like are are human. The harassment, the unhealthy, unsanitary, unsafe conditions and abuse must cease and desist.

As a Black nationalist and a member of the Nation of Gods and Earths (NGE), I identify politically as Socialist. See my nationalism is on the lines of Pan-Afrikanism in alignment with the RBG and Global Panther movements. I push the Panthers 10 point program, though I be considered a Political Prisoner under the 8th demand of the 10 point program. I am a force of change even in here, by having intellectual exchanges regularly with members from all ethnic background and mindsets, sharing books full of facts about revolutionary struggles, facilitating a weekly NGE meeting where 23 prisoners discuss positive change ideals for the family units and communities.

We discuss a new underground railroad; as a network of Blacks, Asians, whites, and islanders inviting Latin@ immigrants into our homes for hiding purposes if and when the mass deportation starts taking place. We recognize we the oppressed nations in the United Snakes aren’t several groups divided by race and ethnicity, but one group oppressed by capitalism in an effort to create a new economic slave class of citizens who barely survive while corporation owners benefit from the labor of these masses and live lives of lavish ecstasy. We have to unite as one with the Third World nations under the umbrella of Socialism. We are going to change law through proposing new legislation, creating a more equal legal system for our advancements as a single people, with one universal goal and intention “Self Rule & Self Govern”.

This is Revolutionary and will take the effort of the people to become self-educated in these crucial areas. Taking our united fight to the floor of the United Nations and to every block in every country known to man.

Know you not that Governments are insurgent forces feeding off of the progress of the masses. There is no freedom under capitalistic rule, because everything has a price in a capitalistic society and so freedom is way too expensive for the common man.

We strive for the power to go from thought to product with outside help, from concept to conception without enlisting our oppressors. After 500 years we haven’t created one gun, produced one car, owned one textile company, sent one astronaut to the moon by our self; we’ve done absolutely nothing to advance our independence from our oppressors. Not because we love them so much we don’t wanna leave them but because the global system built around us has grown so much over the years that no matter where you are in this world, the effects of this government are felt and the ways of oppression continue to change due to its appetite and need.

Black Nationalism is not a hate group, based on racism. No we want all people to take care of their own, mate within their own and know about there own greatness. We also want this for ourselves.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This study group is serving as a think tank, coming up with original ideas that clearly demonstrate their internationalist framework. Engaging the masses in developing these ideas is an important task for developing the leaders of tomorrow’s revolution. MIM(Prisons) works to leverage our own resources by providing material and ideological support to projects like this. If you’re in prison, work with us to build a local study group. If you’re on the outside you can help us promote independent institutions of the oppressed like this one by donating books, money for postage and printing, typing services, helping to fight censorship battles and by getting involved in our prisoner correspondence work.

Fear here is so thick it can be cut with a knife. Many prisoners at California Correctional Institution (CCI) are afraid of the correctional staff members and other levels of prison personnel. This is largely due to no cameras anywhere on Charley Yard, not outside nor inside. There are many members of the so called “Green Wall”, who are notoriously known for brutality against prisoners especially those of the oppressed nations. Making Charley Yard a blackhole of sorts, I am a fairly new arrival with about 120 days.

So many prisoners have told me stories of horrific treatment waged against prisoners, most of them have been stuck here for multiple years and are eye witnesses to violent oppression and the continuation of dehumanizing activities. Some of them as victims themselves, being beaten with metal clubs that resemble the weapon used by Daredevil, one of the heroes in the Marvel Universe, and sprayed with mace until soaked by the emptying of multiple cans. Then handcuffed and dragged off to cages the size of phone booths, where every available correction officer corroborate and coerce a single false narrative which in many cases end up in false charges of anything from staff assault to weapon stock.

The victimized prisoner is sent to Ad-Seg while the false charges are then investigated by none other than the abusers’ co-workers who find that the charges are substantiated, in which case the prisoner sits back there in Ad-Seg unit until they heal at which time they are placed back on the same yard with their abusers. Though many times these false accusations go to the prosecutors office and are more times than not dismissed due to the accusers history being so scared with contempt, brutality, domestic violence, road rage and false reports in the past.

Sadly all these acts happen with zero technical evidence due to the lack of cameras, which would hold the wrong-doers responsible for their actions. Whether they are Corrections Officers, free staff member personnel or prisoners, there will be physical evidence against the law breakers creating a much more productive environment, one of mutual respect.

Ya’ll know I keep it 100%, so I have to say since I’ve been here I haven’t witnessed any brutality done by guard nor inmate. What I have witnessed is Correctional Officers ordering a Black prisoner to strip naked outside on the yard in the dirt. The irony is that the guard who gave the dehumanizing order was also Black, though surround by his non-Black colleagues. Another thing I’ve noticed is the level of communication is negatively charged at prisoners with verbal threats and disrespect being the norm. I believe surveillance camera would put an end to Jim Crow Corruption on Charley Yard and this would be great for both sides of the equation.

Fear so thick it can be cut with a knife.....

I received September/October issue of Under Lock & Key. I have a couple of comments to share, regarding what I read. One person, page 9, thought the AEH in California meant he had to love someone who killed someone over his “views and beliefs.” That’s not what you’re being asked. It would seem to me that if we look around there are serious issues that could be dealt with more effectively if we were to combine our resources. I’ve been in here going on 50 years, and trust me, I don’t like everyone I work with. Doesn’t matter – if we’re fighting the same enemy.

Secondly, regarding the Texas gulag system hiding the prisoners’ grievance manual, doesn’t the state have an Open Records Act, or FOIA law? Even a backwater like Texas should have at least one of them.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This brief letter is very relevant to the question of the United Front and who we can unite with. We agree with this writer that we can be more effective united, and it is definitely true that we don’t have to like everyone we work with. The views and behaviors we have learned over a lifetime of living under capitalist patriarchy are going to be filled with stuff that other people don’t like. And perhaps more importantly, those people who aren’t even interested in trying to fight their patriarchal views or other anti-people beliefs might still be potential allies. We don’t have to like them, but if they are down for fighting on the side of the oppressed against the criminal injustice system we can ally with them in the United Front for Peace in Prisons. Over time we can also hope to educate them further in the various forms of oppression and perhaps awaken a broader desire for justice and equality. But we do not need all of our allies to also be close comrades. To require this would mean sacrificing our goals for unattainable ideals.

Mail the petition to your loved ones and comrades inside who are experiencing issues with the grievance procedure. Send them extra copies to share! For more info on this campaign, click here.

Prisoners should send a copy of the signed petition to each of the addresses below. Supporters should send letters on behalf of prisoners.

Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC)
2590 Venture Oaks Way Suite 200
Sacramento, CA 95833

Prison Law Office
General Delivery
San Quentin, CA 94964

Internal Affairs CDCR
10111 Old Placerville Rd, Ste 200
Sacramento, CA 95872

CDCR Office of Ombudsman
1515 S Street, Room 311 S
Sacramento, CA 95811

U.S. Department of Justice - Civil Rights Division
Special Litigation Section
950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, PHB
Washington DC 20530

Office of Inspector General
HOTLINE
PO Box 9778
Arlington, VA 22219

And send MIM(Prisons) copies of any responses you receive!

MIM(Prisons), USW
PO Box 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140

Petition updated September 2011, July 2012, and October 2013, February 2016, November 2016

After spending the last seven years on level four yards, which should have never occurred being that I came to prison with 45 points in the first place, which is level three in custody points for the readers that have no knowledge of California’s penal point system or its levels of custody.

At last I find myself on a level three yard here at Tehachapi, which instead of having more programs, more jobs, more vocational training, more freedoms, more technology, more respect, more education, more opportunity, more yard activities, more PIA [work opportunities], and more counseling. This Charley Yard at Tehachapi A.K.A. California Correctional Institution has less programs than even the level four, One Eighty yard at Kern Valley State Prison. This yard of close to one thousand prisoners isn’t equipped with enough of any of the above mentioned to ensure service to not even half this prison yard population. Programs like SRT, Hands of Peace, KAIRD’s, Bakerfield Community College simply aren’t here and the correctional staff body suggest a culture of laziness when it comes to being progressive about creating the opportunities that would make this yard a true level three or at least resemble such conditions.

Even the cells were much larger at KVSP’s D-yard which is a 180 level 4, have twice the room as this supposed level 3 cell which after being small for two prisoners, it is also ill equipped having only one cable and two electrical outlets. One has to buy additional items just to be able to share the single cable outlet plus extension cords to use the electricity source on more than one device at a time. For example we use a splitter so we can both watch our own TV’s, which by the way is the only way a prisoner can get reception because in this prison there is no air signals even in this digital age. With that being true we only get 13 channels and they go out all of the time or the quality is very poor, meaning white noise, unstable picture, and even half screen shots with no vocals not to mention no world news or educational channels such as KPBS, KCEPT or even BBC. The movie channel and college course channels have more snow and white noise to overcome than the student can tolerate, but is expected to succeed with at least a C average.

Currently I am A1A unassigned, arriving 18 August 2016 to Tehachapi and being classified 21 August 2016 by then acting CC2 Hernandez who denied having knowledge of my GED and failure to look into this matter before representing me to classification which has marginalized me this entire time from gaining employment, enrollment into education program such as Coastline College and much more. Just to find out my records were received here at Tehachapi’s Charley Yard on 16 August 2016, making it even more obvious the culture of the staff and there intentions towards me, a general prisoner, and their job as a whole. They aren’t the involved Correctional staff I’ve been around on those level 4’s, that work with prisoners who show they want to program, want to change, want to rehabilitate. No the staff members here only want to pass the buck, sit around in offices for eight hours and clock out unless they get involved in some sort of brutality, mental intimidation or power high at the expense of a prisoner.

This is no level three prison environment for the reasons aforementioned. Prisoners are of the nonviolent sort, with no stabbings, no gang activities, no racial politics and no real provocateurs. What they truly need is level 3 opportunities. This has to become the focus of change, saying all I can with no cameras on this Charley Yard. Knowing who’s word carries more weight, though we know well my word is my bond.

Every popular movement is confronted with a common obstacle: change. As life progresses, it evolves in a never-ending forward trajectory. Because of this fact, the current questions, problems and circumstances facing the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist movement will never be the exact same problems in the future as they are today. This is an undeniable fact. As comrade Mao faced different variations of imperialist opposition than those faced by Comrades Stalin, Lenin and Marx, so too does the current struggle and fight for communism face distinctly different obstacles.

Tactics and strategy are the only effective measures against an ever-evolving foe. Every popular movement has set down tactics and strategies for overcoming determined opposition and many have adhered to them uncompromisingly, to the fatal detriment of their movement. Inflexibility, lack of progressive and innovative thinking, an unbending determination to follow a set course and finally stagnation. All cancerous to a movement.

History gives us examples of movements that have failed for lack of adaption and others that have survived by adapting. The Cuban wars for Independence are examples of the latter. Beginning in 1868, the Ten Years War began in earnest, led by Carlos Manuel de Cespedes. As their reality changed so too did their tactics and strategies. There were three major stages to the struggle that lasted over 30 years. La Guerra Chiquita in 1879 (the Small War) was the second, followed by the Spanish -Cuban-American War (1895) which ended in 1889. In each stage there were new leaders; Antonio Maceo, José Martí, Calixto García, Máximo Gomez and others. These revolutionaries never stopped evolving and adapting to the reality of their circumstances.

This Cuban example is one that should be followed as it leads to success. Overwhelming opposition, oppression, and outright violence assailed these revolutionaries. Yet, they prevailed, overthrowing the imperial yoke that burdened them for so long. Those struggling for communism must do the same: adapt and be both reactive and proactive. Tactics and movement strategy are not principles, they can be and should be changed according to the present reality. Only fundamental principles are set in stone and uncompromising. Tactics are meant to confront specific circumstances. Yesterday’s tactics will not solve tomorrow’s problems. Evaluating circumstances, employing tactics and strategy, re-evaluating and employing new tactics and strategies must be a part of any anti-imperialist/capitalist movement. Without adaptability failure is inevitable.

MIM(Prisons) responds: We agree with this comrade’s main point that the revolutionary movement must be adaptable to current conditions and obstacles. We have overarching political line that is the theory behind our work, but then we develop strategies from this line which match current conditions in the world. And from those strategies we implement tactics suited to our day-to-day work.

The history of the Cuban revolutionary movement does provide some good examples of adapting to conditions, such as the period highlighted by this writer. Cuba in more recent years also provides us with some examples of strategic mistakes and failure to correctly account for conditions. The Cuban revolutionary strategy led by Castro missed out on some important global conditions that should have impacted their strategy, and thus ultimately failed to learn from history. The end result was a dependence on the social-imperialist Soviet Union that held back the development of Cuba and forced them into some counter-revolutionary actions and policies. Maoism was alive and well in the world at the time of the Cuban revolution but they did not learn from the successes and failures of China’s experience. The Soviet Union had already given up on socialism and was building a state capitalist system when Cuba became dependent on trade in a way that mirrored imperialist countries’ relationships with their satellite colonies, keeping Cuba from diversifying crops and forcing Cuban troops to fight Moscow’s battles in Third World countries.