Federal Prisons

I’ve been really busy with that lawsuit on the conditions here, and other complaints and organizing activities related to that. The good news is that the judge reviewed the law on the case, and ruled that if the allegations are true the prison officials are violating the law, and so they must respond. He ordered them to be served with the suit and gave them 40 days to respond.

The bad news is that they have gone back to canceling recreation all the time, for any pretext they can think of. But you know, that’s how it goes.

Resolutions on Gender Pronouns and Secure Communications

A couple resolutions passed at our 2015 Congress in July. One was focused on clarifying our policy on securing our communications outside of prisons. The full policy remains internal, but it reads in part, “Our policy is that we do not have cell relations over the internet if the other cell will not use PGP or equivalent encryption.” This clarifies our existing practice.

The second resolution was proposed to change our use of pronouns to reflect the non-binary reality of biological sex categories. This proposal was taken as a task for further research as comrades were not well enough informed on the topic to put it to a vote at that time. Below is our final resolution on this question, as a result of further research and discussion.

Distinguishing Biology from Gender

As revolutionaries committed to fighting gender oppression, we distinguish between the biology/physiology of sex (male/female), and the socially constructed categories of gender (men/wimmin).

Our definition of gender places it firmly within leisure-time:

“Historically reproductive status was very important to gender, but today the dynamics of leisure-time and humyn biological development are the material basis of gender. For example, children are the oppressed gender regardless of genitalia, as they face the bulk of sexual oppression independent of class and national oppression.

“People of biologically superior health-status are better workers, and that’s a class thing, but if they have leisure-time, they are also better sexually privileged. We might think of models or prostitutes, but professional athletes of any kind also walk this fine line. Athletes, models and well-paid prostitutes are not oppressed as ‘objects,’ but in fact they hold sexual privilege. Older and disabled people as well as the very sick are at a disadvantage, not just at work but in leisure-time. For that matter there are some people with health statuses perfectly suited for work but not for leisure-time.”(1)

Our definition of gender has not changed. But with our growing understanding of the artificially binary definition of biological sex, MIM(Prisons) is changing our use of language to better reflect the reality of biology.

A Bit of History on Biology

In the past MIM line has treated the biology of sex as basically binary: males and females. But humyn biology has never been entirely binary with relation to sex characteristics. There are a range of interactions between chromosomes, hormone expressions and sexual organ development. The resulting variation in anatomical and reproductive characteristics include a lot of people who do not fit the standard binary expectation. Studies suggest that as many as 1 in 100 births deviate from the standard physical expectations of sex biology.(2) To this day anything deviating from the “normal” binary of distinct male or female is seen by mainstream society as a disorder to be corrected or covered up. Genital surgeries are conducted on newborn babies causing lifelong pain and suffering just to “correct” a body part that is seen as too large or small, or even just because a baby identified by doctors to be a boy might grow up unable to pee standing up.(3)

People who are born with variations in sex and reproductive organs that don’t fit the typical binary are termed intersex. This term encompasses a wide range of biological expressions, including people entirely indistinguishable from society’s definition of males and females without a chromosomal test or other invasive physical examination. There are even instances where someone would be identified female by a certain set of criteria (such as an external physical examination) but male by another set (such as a chromosome test).

The Value of Removing Biologically-determined Pronouns

From studying the history of humyn biology we learn that it’s not possible to easily identify the biological sex of an individual. In fact, there’s nothing wrong with having a spectrum of biological characteristics that we don’t have to fit into two neat categories. Further, we do not generally see value in identifying biological sex unless it is the specific topic of discussion. We are committed to fighting gender oppression. And part of this fight involves teaching people not to be concerned with the biology of others, and instead to judge them for their work and the correctness of their political ideas.

Many languages are relatively gender neutral compared to english. Chinese is just one example. These languages do not suffer from confusion about the identity of people, and they are arguably much easier to learn and use in this regard. In Spanish, the transition to a gender neutral language has already begun with the use of @ in place of o/a in gendered words. While English does not offer us a similar gender-neutral option, we have a history of modifying the language to suit our revolutionary purposes. We have changed America to Amerikkka to identify the domination of national oppression in this country. And we have changed woman to womyn to remove the implication that a “woman” is just an appendage to a “man.”

Building on MIM’s Legacy

For most of MIM’s history, it used gender-neutral pronouns of “h” instead of his, her, him, hers; and “s/he” instead of she or he. Ten years ago at MIM’s 2005 Congress, a resolution was passed on gender-neutral pronouns, which read:

“MIM hereby extends its policy on anti-patriarchal language (including such spellings as ‘womyn,’ ‘wimmin,’ ‘persyn,’ and ‘humyn’) to cover the use of gender-neutral third-person singular pronouns. Henceforth feminine pronouns will be used for persyns of unknown sex who are friends of the international proletariat and masculine pronouns will be used for enemies of unknown sex.

“Examples:
‘From each according to her abilities, to each according to her needs.’
‘A true comrade devotes her life to serving the people.’
‘The enemy will not perish of himself.’
‘A labor aristocrat derives much of his income from superprofits.’

“This rule applies only to the otherwise ambiguous cases when sex is not stated. Accordingly, George Bu$h is still ‘he’ and Madeleine Albright is ‘she,’ although both are enemies. All MCs, HCs, and others close to MIM are ‘she’ at this time, since their real sex cannot be revealed, for security reasons.

“Traditional patriarchal grammar maintains that ‘he’ is the only correct ‘gender-neutral’ pronoun in all of the examples above. MIM’s realignment of the pronouns along the lines of ‘Who are our friends? Who are our enemies?’ is more egalitarian and corresponds fairly well to the facts at this point in history.”

While we see great value in the above resolution, in applying it to our practical work we ran into many problems. Regular readers of ULK may recognize that MIM(Prisons) has defaulted to the old MIM practice of using “h” and “s/he” pronouns.

The vast majority of MIM(Prisons)‘s subscribers are cis-males, meaning they were classified as male at birth and they self-identify as male today. (Note that these criteria are not material tests of one’s sex.) Much of our subscribers’ reasons for being imprisoned in the first place is related to this male classification. And they are held in facilities that are “male only.” Prison is an environment which heightens all of society’s contradictions, and this environment tends to be even more violent in reinforcing social codes of conduct (including “male” and “female” social markers) than the outside world.

In our practice of running a prisoner support organization with our organizing resting heavily on the written word, we have seen it as too confusing to use “she” pronouns for our cis-male comrades. Further, the 2005 resolution is not clear on whether prisoners as a whole, who are of the lumpen class, should be referred to as “she” or “he.” Historically the lumpen is a vacillating class, which is in a tug-of-war between bourgeois and proletarian influence. Determining if the lumpen are “friends of the international proletariat” is sometimes unclear. Thus the use of “h” and “s/he” was much more useful in our specific work.

We believe this new writing policy will have a positive impact for our transgender, transexual, and genderqueer subscribers and contributors as well. The preferred pronouns of these groups are often individually self-selected, as is how they present their gender identification. (Note that preferred pronouns and gender identification are not material definitions of one’s sex or gender.) Defaulting everyone’s pronouns to a singular set of gender-neutral pronouns reduces the subjectivism inherent in this type of identity politics. We hope our new writing policy will draw this movement into a more materialist and internationalist direction.

New Writing Policy

When referring to an individual in the third persyn, we will use either their name or the neutral pronouns of ey, em, and eir to replace s/he and h. Ey, em, and eir are singularized versions of they, them, and their and we believe these more accurately reflect the biological sex of humyns, in that they downplay the inaccurate binary which has developed over thousands of years of patriarchal history. We also think ey/em/eir will have the greatest ease of use, from the wide selection of gender neutral pronoun sets which have been proposed in the past.(5)

We define men and wimmin as those who are oppressors in leisure time and those who are oppressed in leisure time, respectively, and regardless of biological genitalia or reproductive capacity.(4) This is the strand of oppression called gender. When referring to people or individuals when gender is relevant, we will refer to them as men or wimmin and use he or she pronouns. (Similarly, we don’t always reference other defining characteristics of our correspondents, but we do refer to someone as “New Afrikan” or “clean-shaven” when relevant.)

We are given shoes - and the cement to walk on
jacket and pants - and the gum to chew on
unwrap the plastic - open the box
Let’s see just how much money we can blow on socks
symbols stitched outward - seams pink and frilly
made in amerikkan sweatshops - made in Vichy Chile
Teresa Marie is nine and has worked here years
fifty cents a day for her blood sweat and tears
she lives in a mud hut with her family’s chickens
and old rusty barrel - a couple flat rocks
home sweet home - here’s Teresa’s kitchen
her father shot by a U.$.-backed dictator
her mother raped by a drunken U.$. soldier
the baby’s half white and starving to death
fifty pennies a day - eight mouths - no milk left
you walk into the store - air conditioned - complaining
she walks in the mud shoeless - sharp rocks - daily
you are proud as apple pie to be an amerikkkan
she has nightmares: “U.$. soldiers are coming to get me”
bigger fatter stitched corporate brand name socks
skinnier jumpier malnourished children walking on rocks
you’re depressed - on medication
but at least you don’t stink
powdered. deoderized - pampered. christianized
you want Jesus to save you - LOL - ya right
behind her hut in an old tree knot
a penny a week out of the several she’s got
a smile lights her face as she turns to cook dinner
her brother needs ammo - revolutionary clandestine U.$. pig killer

Please remember that I am visually impaired, currently being treated for glaucoma, photo sensitivity, etc. Also, it has been commented on more than once that for a visually impaired persyn I seem to have no difficulty drafting correspondence. My patent response is I have, over the course of my life, drafted thousands upon thousands of holographic documents and correspondence. I can literally do so with my eyes closed. I am also a touch typist.

Since the 14th of this month I have been confined to an isolation cell devoid any light whatsoever except the modicum of light entering the cell from the hallway - by which I am writing this letter.

First, no sooner did I set the date per this letterhead than I was approached by a mailroom official informing me the book Settlers: Mythology of the White Proletariat had been denied. It seems Settlers is on a permanent denial list and is unappealable. This will be the first literature denial I have ever not challenged, or failed to prevail over, but I have stretched myself so thin I need to regroup. By my estimate, the propensity of prevailing per a challenge to this denial is less than good.

The reason for this denial is racial content and depictions of rape. Some years ago I received through the mail Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Go figure. I could not bring myself to allow this important tome to be destroyed. Recognizing the scarcity of resources, Settlers will be returned to MIM Distributors.

I did receive the Ricketts’ Prisoners of Liberation. I am anxious to delve into Prisoners, especially being absolutely isolated. All I can say is thank you so much for sending Settlers and Prisoners. I’m just so sorry I was unable to receive Settlers. Look for it to be returned in the next couple of months.

On November 13 the majority of my property was stored, including my legal materials, correspondence supplies, study items, etc., and I was transported from here, the Estelle Unit, to the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) John Sealy Hospital, Galveston, per ophthalmology consultation for prospective eye surgery. I brought stamped envelopes, 1 writing tablet, 1 ink pen, the book On Trotskyism, MIM Theory magazines 6 and 10, and minimal hygiene items. I also included MIM(Prisons)’s most recent communication to me. My intent for including correspondence materials and MIM(Prisons)’s items is apparent.

The evening of Nov 13 at approximately 6 p.m., the transport bus bringing me back to Estelle was rear-ended at a high speed by a UTMB John Sealy doctor in an SUV on a cell phone. The transport bus was at a dead standstill. The doctor did not apply an ounce of pressure to eir brakes. The SUV’s engine was pushed back 3 feet or more. Fortunately the doctor walked away. Seated at the back of the bus I sustained neck and back injuries.

At approximately 7 p.m. I was returned to the John Sealy Hospital, admitted, subjected to spinal cervical imaging, held overnight, and discharged the next morning with an ordered treatment regiment and a prescription for pain medication. Neither of which has been implemented as of this writing.

Late morning, November 14, I was wheel-chaired to a transport bus awaiting to return me to Estelle. UTMB medical personnel placed a bright yellow band on my right wrist designating me, in bold lettering, a fall risk. As such, it was ordered I be handcuffed singularly.

Arriving at the Estelle Unit at approximately 3 p.m., awaiting my return was a medical staffer with a wheelchair so that I would not be at risk of falling as ordered by UTMB doctors. Once taking a seat in said wheelchair, a prison guard ordered me out of the chair. In response I informed the Sergeant that I had sustained neck and back injuries via an auto accident, UTMB doctors had deemed me a fall risk, indicating the bright yellow wrist band, UTMB doctors had ordered I be ambulated via wheelchair, and the Sergeant was devoid the authority to supersede a medical directive. The Sergeant then again ordered me to remove myself from the wheelchair threatening me with physical assault and disciplinary action should I fail to comply.

As a visually impaired prisoner I have been issued, among other adaptive aid devices, a visual disability orientation cane. Pursuant to being ordered from the wheelchair, rather than using my cane to orientate myself with my surroundings, I used the cane for physical support while attempting to walk to the prison edifice proper, causing me to fall several times. Said Sergeant disallowed any persyn, neither security staff or prisoner, to assist me. Once inside the prison proper, and beyond the scrutiny of the belligerent Sergeant, a non-ranking guard did allow me to ambulate via wheelchair to my assigned housing unit.

When returned to Estelle from Galveston, I was issued no bedding (i.e. 2 sheets, 1 blanket, as required). Arriving at my assigned cell, the bunk I was assigned had no mattress. I advised all guards working my assigned prison wing, as well as all ranking officers on duty, as to the situation, notifying them all that less than 24 hours prior I had suffered neck and back injuries incurred in an auto accident. All my attempts to obtain a mattress and bedding were met with indifference by prison staff.

At approximately 11 p.m., one Sergeant Mims, a 3rd shift supervisor, entered my assigned prison wing. I approached Mims informing em as to my predicament, and was again met with indifference. I reluctantly informed Mims that I would bring the property in my possession to the wing dayroom and remain there until I was provided a mattress and bedding, suggesting to Mims that, since I had been injured, perhaps they could place me in the infirmary until I could be provided adequate bedding, or appropriate housing could be located. Though the dayroom was open for prisoner access, Mims stated if I entered the dayroom they would place me in lockup. I then invited Mims to place me in lockup so the entire travesty would be formally documented, ergo substantiating my prospective filing of an administrative grievance, and forthcoming litigious action. Mims then ordered me to place my hands behind my back so that I could be restrained thusly. I advised Mims it was required my hands be manacled in front as I am visually impaired, necessitating the use of a visual disability orientation cane so as to effectively maneuver throughout the prison. Mims repeated the order to place my hands behind my back. In compliance, I dropped my cane, placing my hands behind my back. Mims did restrain me and led me to the prison infirmary for a pre-hearing detention physical.

I’ve not seen my orientation cane since. Keep in mind, Estelle not only encompasses the High Security Unit, it is also the regional medical facility for the southern region of TDCJ.

I was placed in PHD (i.e. isolation) devoid any of the required criteria authorizing such. I was placed in isolation with nothing but the clothes on my back. Again, there was no mattress or bedding. Just a bare, steel bunk. No toilet paper. No water (The water faucet didn’t work. I was denied water for 4 days as I was on a hunger strike [11 days] and told if I ate I would be provided water.). After 4 days I placed my mouth directly on the faucet and sucked in an effort to obtain water. I must have removed some sort of plumbing obstruction by this means (yuk!) as I did create a trickle of water that I captured in a Styrofoam cup finally provided me. The isolation wing windows and outside vents were open, bringing the temperature in isolation cells down into the 40s. I had nothing but the clothes on my back, and the shoes on my feet.

The night of the 14th, morning of the 15th, I spent sitting upon a stainless steel commode. I had been without sleep for approximately 80 hours due to being transported to Galveston, the auto accident, being poked and prodded all night at the hospital, being transported back to Estelle, and not being afforded appropriate housing. Sitting on that steel commode, in frigid temperatures, I began to hallucinate. I had the most marvelous conversation with my significant other of 15 years. That has been my best experience since being incarcerated. I must’ve been talking out loud. A guard came to check on me and seeing the condition I was in, after 15 hours (I have a talking wrist watch) in isolation, I was brought a mattress from an unoccupied isolation cell. It had been there the entire time. Some time after this a prisoner in isolation that had 2 blankets sent me one. They, I believe a Black persyn, stated when sending the blanket: “Black, white, brown, red, yellow, we all gotta stick together,” which was encouraging - especially for Texas.

The first meal provided me was breakfast, the morning of the 15th. The guard serving trays spit in it. Thinking I was visually disabled rather than impaired, they spit in my food right in front of me. The breakfast tray was white paper that I could discern. The offending guard was in the hallway light directly in front of my cell. Rather than seen, I heard the guard spit into my food. Much like the pig that kicked Mumia into the Black Panther Party, this incident prompted me to commence a hunger strike.

Initially, my hunger strike demand was for adequate bedding, but as the days wore on, expanded to include being reunited with my extensive legal books, documents and papers; my correspondence materials (14 writing tablets, 14 stamped envelopes, 15 ink pens); hygiene items; and my political literature. After a week I was allowed my shower shoes, toothbrush, and toothpaste. I was informed this was all that was allowed a PHD confinee. As the statue designation would indicate, PHD is implemented prior to disciplinary hearing. There are no prison rules or regulations depriving a PHD prisoner possession of their property. I have been in PHD several time before and always have had possession of all my property until after a disciplinary hearing when disciplinary sanctions may restrict access to certain property items.

Rather remarkably, on November 25, I was allowed to order and receive commissary purchases: correspondence supplies (including a greeting card), soap/shampoo, fingernail clippers, and coffee, all items denied me from my confiscated and/or stored personal property. When the property officer delivered my shower shoes, etc., I inquired why I was not allowed correspondence materials so that I might contact my significant other. Their answer: “I don’t know. I don’t want to get involved.”

Interestingly, my commissary receipt shows I am in transit status rather than PHD. The property officer claimed I am in administrative segregation level III, just shy of high security. This, absent a disciplinary hearing.

On November 23 I was approached in my isolation cell by an administrator informing me I was charged with several disciplinary infractions. This persyn did not introduce themselves as my counsel substitute (C/S, advocate) per the disciplinary at issue. It seems Mims’s claims I threatened to inflict bodily harm on them by stating: “if I go in that dayroom, there’s going to be problems for y’all tonight - I promise you that.” Had I said what Mims claims, which I didn’t, it’s not much of a threat. Pretty lame. Mims also claims I failed to comply with a direct order by not putting my hands behind my back to be restrained. Again false. Finally, Mims stated I was a threat to institutional security cause they had to summon backup staff and a video camera per a “potential use of force.” Gotcha! There was no backup, and there is no video.

Uh-oh.

Stupid motherfucker.

Mims writeups are nothing more than attempts at creative writing, resulting in poor fiction.

The C/S delivered me with disciplinary notice 10 days into my PHD confinement. Understand, all, each and every time constraint in which to process and adjudicate a disciplinary action, had elapsed. On November 24 I was ushered before a disciplinary captain (DHO, Disciplinary Hearing Officer), at which time I categorically contested the entire disciplinary process from the beginning. I was summarily ejected from the hearing.

The next morning I was again brought before the DHO. When I again protested the disciplinary procedure, the DHO and C/S attempted to repress my dissent. In retort, I proclaimed the disciplinary hearing to be my hearing. The DHO then stated they could conduct the hearing without my presence. I countered: “This is my opportunity to be heard, is it not Captain Martinez?” Martinez then leaped from his seat and charged me as if to attack. Standing over me in a menacing manner, Martinez ordered my escorts to, “Get him outta here before I put him outta here!”

Rest assured, comrades, I was nonplussed. I can only assume the hearing at issue was held in absentia, though I’ve yet to be notified as to any outcome.

In regards to the hunger strike: though I still have not received my legal/political papers, including addressed, after receiving a mattress, blanket, and correspondence materials via commissary purchase, I broke my strike on November 26, a total of 11 days after embarking on such.

In MIM(Prisons)’s response to “How to Unite with White Lumpen” in ULK 46, it is pointed out that white supremacists in prison generally do not make for allies in the anti-imperialist struggle.

It is necessary to distinguish between white supremacist and so-called white people. A white supremacist whole-heartedly believes the purported “white race” is superior to all other skin colors. Because of this supposed superiority, they believe it is moral and destined that they should rule, dominate, and oppress/extort/enslave people of other skin tones/colors. Naturally, these views are not scientific nor are they compatible with Marx-Lenin-Maoist ideology.

In prison I’ve encountered varying groups of white supremacists: Aryan Brotherhood, Odinists, Wotan, Christian identity, to name a few. Each group has two prominent things in common: 1. Non-white races are not equal and it isn’t wrong to treat them as inferior subhuman species; and 2. These groups idolize Hitler and the politics of National Socialism (Nazism). Ironically, Hitler would have enslaved and/or exterminated most of these white supremacists just as he did “white” poles, Czechs, Russians, etc.

In the prison context my experience has been that the white prisoners who are not affiliated with any lumpen organizations are more open to anti-imperialist truth. Those who have been rejected, impoverished, put in institutions at an early age, and generally shit upon by Amerikkkan society have no allegiance to it. Don’t be blinded by the white, but wisdom says don’t look for gold in a sack of pennies.

MIM(Prisons) responds: We agree with this writer’s assessment of the greater potential to appeal to unaffiliated white prisoners than those who are a part of explicitly supremacist groups. Different units and facilities have their own unique cultures (as in the article under discussion, the facility was reported to be controlled by the Black Muslim population, a unique condition indeed). It’s certainly possible that Amerikkkans in Virginia prisons are friendly to socialist ideas at a higher-than-average rate. Whether they’re devoting their lives to fighting against imperialism and oppression is another question altogether, and is not something MIM(Prisons) has noticed in our work.

We still think it is worth noting that we are talking about national oppression, not racism, and even the whites who have led very difficult lives have been raised on an unconscious diet of national superiority. It’s not that everyone is consciously racist, but the white nation as a whole enjoys privileges that individuals don’t even notice in day-to-day life.

White people don’t notice that the cops aren’t stopping them just for “looking suspicious”, whereas cops regularly stop Black and Chican@ people for this reason, or none at all. White people don’t notice that they’re receiving better treatment in so many situations, just as a privilege of the nation to which they were born. At the same time, whites are taught that they deserve better (as they are taught that New Afrikans are more likely to commit crimes, Muslims are all terrorists, Chican@s are lazy, etc.) and those who want to fight on the side of the world’s oppressed must consciously fight against this mis-education. That is what the article “How to Unite with White Lumpen” is about – unaffiliated whites, who supposedly are not conscious white supremacists, are very likely to get defensive in protecting their superiority on questions of imperialism and liberation of oppressed nations (i.e. on questions of reducing their national superiority). We’re speaking in terms of generalizations and national tendencies discovered through studying history and practice, not painting every single Amerikkkan as an inherent, conscious and unchangeable white supremacist.

We say Amerikkkans working against the interests of the predominantly white Amerikkkan nation are “committing national suicide.” We encourage them to do so, while not holding our breath waiting on them to take the plunge. We call on all people to join the anti-imperialist struggle and consciously work to end whatever national or class oppression they may benefit from, for the benefit of humynity and the world as a whole.

I just filed another lawsuit in the federal courts - Western District of Missouri - with this one being based on cruel and unusual punishment, due process violation, and a first amendment right to receive outside mail. It all stemmed from me being charged with a “threat on staff” and being placed on Special Security Orders, which allows them to take all of your property, strip you down to boxers, t-shirt and socks and force you into the cell to “earn” your property back. I slept on the floor by the door to stay warm as this took place in March 2015. I was given no soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, nor anything to clean the nasty cell with. I slept on the floor for four days before they decided to give me a mattress, pillow and two sheets. No shower for six days, and without the rest of my property for a total of eleven days. This caused the joints in my jaw to pop excessively, sometimes forcing me to forego eating for three to four days.

The due process claim comes in when the Disciplinary Hearing Officer refused to review the video tape of the incident to see that I never made the threat and instead found me guilty of the bogus violation. The First Amendment issue comes in when they continuously denied me my mail while on Special Security Orders.

This happens to at least four people a week or so. Therefore, it’s up to someone to bring this illegal practice to the forefront and address it judiciously. That someone just happens to be me. I welcome any help with this litigation.

The conditions continue to be much better here at Connally Unit in Kenedy, Texas since I filed that lawsuit on the recreation/lockdowns/food. But of course that could be reversed at any moment so I continue to push it and continue to use it as a tool to organize/mobilize the prisoners to take group action.

We are working on a mass grievance campaign at the moment, to follow up on some of the issues that are in the lawsuit but the administration hasn’t adequately addressed. It’s really pretty minor stuff, as the main thing was them cancelling rec every day, and they have stopped doing that. But I feel like you’re either moving forward or you’re going to move backwards, you know? And the real value in a group action like a mass grievance campaign is what it does to raise the consciousness of the group.

There is definitely a lot more interest since people here have seen that we CAN fight back. But the general consciousness level was so low here and the prisoners were so beat down and demoralized that it will take a LOT of work to develop any widespread activist mentality.

I’m going to enclose a copy of a form letter I typed up and sent out to about ten civil rights organizations already. It’s pretty self-explanatory. Just trying to get some more support on this lawsuit. And I know your funding is very limited plus you aren’t lawyers there, so you’re not going to be able to help directly. But I’m sending it on the off chance that someone there might know a lawyer with sympathies towards the cause who might be willing to do something.

Like I explain in the letter, we don’t necessarily need actual representation. This is a pretty straightforward case and they are going to want to settle at some point. Obviously they are – that’s why they immediately started running rec again once I filed it. They know the records are going to show they were just flat out lying about these so-called staff shortages. But with a lawyer putting additional pressure I think we will get better terms on any settlement and a settlement will happen quicker.

I want to get these improvements locked in with a legally binding written agreement asap so that I can move on to other projects. So if you do happen to know a lawyer or have any other ideas for what you might do with this letter, please keep our struggle here in mind, okay? Thanks.

MIM(Prisons) adds: The pdf linked to this article is a copy of the author’s letter ey sent to ten civil rights organizations. The letter outlines the conditions in Connally Unit regarding an egregious lack of recreation time and lack of adequate food. The author is asking for a lawyer to intervene in order to push the lawsuit to a quick settlement. If you are able to assist this struggle, please write to MIM(Prisons) and we will put you in touch with the leader of the suit.

written with Ndugu Nyota of RSF

Let’s talk about religion. Specifically, let’s address the question of whether religion is or is not useful in the struggle against prisons and against imperialism.

Many of today’s prison groups and lumpen organizations (LOs) are well rooted in religious ideas, theories and practices. For example, the Nation of Gods and Earths and the Rastafarians are both very influential among New Afrikan LOs. The LOs in prison have had experience in the areas of adopting certain religious values for the sake of defending themselves against total annihilation. Whether using religion, spirituality or faith as a conventional method to serve this goal for prisoners will bring about liberation faster than any other method will be determined by prisoners and prisoner-led efforts. [History has already proven dialectical materialism as an ideology to be far more effective at bringing about liberation than religion and faith, but we agree with testing it as a tactic in certain conditions as discussed below. - ULK Editor]

Prisons are a political effect of the bourgeois imperialist oppressive structure, which is determined to take more of the world’s wealth and riches than it gives. Therefore prisons are political and produce political prisoners, as MIM(Prisons) holds: “…all prisoners are political prisoners because under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, all imprisonment is substantively political.”

Prisoners begin to develop a consciousness of their environment by evaluating the material conditions they are in. Through a process of unity-criticism-unity they often transform themselves into the change they wish to see. This transformation often begins to manifest in individual decision-making skills. One begins to evaluate the pros and cons of indirect and direct action, to spread solutions to fellow prisoners’ conflicts, and eventually one becomes sought out by the masses as a leader.

While the reality is that all prisoners are political, as we begin to develop our political consciousness we find that we are prohibited from being directly involved in the politics that we are subject to. When U.$. prisoners take that conscious state of mind to the level of organizing, campaigning and agitating, they become victims of laws criminalizing politicking in prisons. Many prisoners and LOs are well aware of this weapon of the snakes. Prisoners have little to no legal standing in the U.$. bourgeois injustice system to defend against the assaults on their humyn right to politically advocate and demonstrate their class interest as lumpen in the United $tates.

By law, according to the U.$. Constitutional standard, prisoners have a right to grieve conditions relative to the prison environment. They have the right to correspond with members of society, including the press. But when those of the prison population begin organizing the locals into group actions, they are labeled as security threat group leaders. Prisoners are incapable of putting forth a defense to these charges because by state standards their groups are un-sanctioned. Without a license we are prohibited from driving forward the people to a state of consciousness from where they may liberate themselves.

LOs don’t register their groups with the state, they don’t report their activities to the state, and the majority of LOs don’t pay taxes on any income of the organization; all behaviors criminalized by the state. Essentially, prisoners being involved in a public manner in/with prison politics are whooped from the jump start.

It is therefore no coincidence that religious/spirituality groups that focus on the lumpen have become quite popular within U.$. prisons. They provide a more free outlet for expression and camaraderie. Of course, this has been a role played by religious organizations since the days of the Roman empire, when the church recruited the labor of those who had no legal warrant to sell their labor. This can lead to these religious bodies being a voice in service of the oppressed or to the religious body suppressing the desires of the oppressed to the benefit of the oppressor.

At different times religion has played different roles ideologically and politically. Many New Afrikan lumpen read in Dr. Suzar’s Blacked Out Through Whitewash that:

“‘Jesus, was the Panther? An original name for Jesus was… son of the Panther!’ (Blavatsky: The Secret Doctrine).

“Even the Bible refers to him as ‘the Lion of the tribe Juda.’ (Rv. 5:5) ‘Jesus in fact, was a Black nationalist freedom fighter… whose goals were to free the Black people of that day from the oppressive… White Roman power structure… and to build a Black nation.’ (I Barashango)

“Schoenfield reports in The Passover Plot p 194: ‘Galilee, were[sic] Jesus had lived… which was home of the Jewish resistance movement, suffered particularly. The Romans never ceased night and day to devastate… pillage [and kill].’

“In the Black Messiah p91, Rev. A.B. Cleage Jr. writes that Jesus was a revolutionary ‘who was leading a [Black] nation into conflict against a [white] oppressor… It was necessary that he be crucified because he taught revolution.’ Jesus stated, ‘I have not come to send peace, but a sword.’ (The Holy Bible - Mathew 101.34 - King James Version)”(1)

Depending on the leadership of the religious institutions and the cleverness of the lumpen, religion and politics can go hand-in-hand with one another. Devout members of the left will disagree and dogmatic rightists will call for a lynch mob. But at the end of the discussion the outcome is to be decided by those directly related to and at the source of the phenomenon.

It is the position held by MIM(Prisons) that i admire most:

“In some ways communism is the best way for religious people to uphold their beliefs and put an end to the evils of murder, rape, hunger and other miseries of humyns. Some argue that Jesus Christ must have been a communist because he gave to the poor.”(2)

Many prisoners utilize liberation theology as a means to merge their political strengths with the legal warrant of the First Amendment right to freedom of religious exercise as the defense against political attacks from the police state.

The lumpen’s religion is the exception to the world’s norm of religion as representing the status quo. There are many prisoners who fall into the wash of all faiths, but there is a powerful source of prisoner liberation theologists at the forefront of the anti-imperialist prison movement too. It is possible that this very source is the face of the prison struggle for the age we are entering. Working smarter is working harder within the belly of the beast.

Prisoners should struggle to have their political interest respected by the state, but they should not concentrate more on convincing the police state that prisons are inappropriate, and the greatest crimes are being committed by themselves. They know this good and well already. LOs must concentrate on tactics that will forge united fronts capable of pushing the forces of history forward faster.

We conclude with a quote from Russian leader V.I. Lenin:

“We must not only admit workers who preserve their belief in God into the Social-Democratic Party, but must deliberately set out to recruit them; we are absolutely opposed to giving the slightest offense to their religious convictions, but we recruit in order to educate them in the spirit of our programme, and not in order to permit an active struggle against it.”(3)

I’m writing to you about what I just read in Under Lock & Key 46 in the article Death Due to Medical Negligence. I’m a Federal prisoner and in the last year about 10 prisoners have had deaths due to medical negligence. One of them died on February 24, 2015. I wrote to the National Disability Rights network they sent me to Equip for Equality and they sent me a list of legal attorneys to write. I also wrote Human Rights office, the Attorney General of the State of Illinois and the U.S. Attorney General.

I’ve expressed my grievance to multiple members of the medical staff at FCI Pekin including Rn. Schimdt, Dr. Moats and the AHSA Johnson all to no avail. And not once did any of them review my medical file to verify that my feet and toes are deformed under the program statement 6031.04-C Medical Footwear. I have both hammer toes and diabetic feed, and have chronic pain so I need medical footwear for diabetic with hammer toes, custom shoes. I should have them by now to stop the pain. I’ve seen a foot doctor specialist who recommended I wear my gym shoes all the time and the arch supports are needed to prevent pain and swelling of my feet and toes. The head doctor ordered them but the FBOP stopped the order to save money and wrote that it’s ok for me to wear boots. The podiatrist has been asked to be seen to put a stop to the pain and suffering. I’ve talked to the Warden directly and all the staff at medical about this. I’ve been forced to bring my grievance to the regional office in hopes of putting a stop to this cruel and unusual punishment I’m experiencing due to Dr. Moats and all the medical staff under him here at FCI Pekin. But at the regional office I’ve seen that it too is inadequate because they only look for ways to stop your grievance from going forward. I’ve been put in the SHU to stop my filing. Every time I go to sick call about this I’m told by the nurse that nothing can be done. I was told to wear extra socks for padding, consider purchasing gel insoles from commissary, and perform exercises to reduce discomfort.

Two men on my unit have died due to the medical negligence. One was being given the wrong meds! So there is malpractice in many forms.

I was recently brutally attacked causing me to lose my left eye. Medical left me sitting in the medical holding cell for almost five hours with my eye out of the eye socket for much of the time. I can’t get any information from these people here and I’m unable to gather the needed info to file a proper suit. I’ve been harassed so much. Even on this unit I went eight days without my medication causing me to lost 90% of any light (there is no sight, only light) in the eye and still I’m having issues with this medical. I saw Office of Inspector General and never heard anything back from them.