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.
by a Pennsylvania prisoner September 2015 permalink
It seems that the pigs who run this gulag are getting more and more
clever every day. We need to stay on point to their tactics and be awake
to the corruption that surrounds us. We all know that the administration
will do whatever it takes to shut down any organizational movement of
prisoners that threatens them. It has come to my attention that all
around us are eyes and ears, even when we think we are speaking in
confidence to a supposed comrade. The pigs have resorted to using the
most oppressed of all of us as puppets for them. The administration has
begun using an “informant for hire” network to bring down any type of
unity between prisoners. A large percent of us already completely rely
on support from the administration to feed us, and provide other
necessities. The pigs withhold vital services from prisoners, forcing
them to obey their “masters.” In exchange for constitutional rights, and
necessities that they can get nowhere else, prisoners infiltrate cell
groups and other organizational efforts between comrades, then report
their findings back to the Corrections Officers. This has become a
common scene in Pennsylvania prisons.
This is another reason why we all need to unite and take care of our
brothers and sisters in need, so they are not forced to rely on the pigs
for their livelihood and daily bread. We are all in this together,
despite our individual crimes, backgrounds, or status. We all should
have one common goal, to break these chains that bind us. I believe this
is what self-sufficiency truly means – not having to rely on our
oppressors to meet our basic needs. And since we all share this common
goal shouldn’t we view all other prisoners as the same as self? After
all, we are meant to be one united force, but all that abounds is
discord, disunity, and views towards other prisoners.
This is a call to all fellow prisoners to unite as one force, lend a
helping hand to prisoners who are down and out. When we don’t do this,
we are violating the very basis of communism by placing ourselves above
other groups of humyns – the poor and needy! We must do whatever it
takes to crush the fascists and pigs that oppress us! So we must reach
out and help those who are unable to help themselves, and stop feeding
them to the mongrels.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Many people write to us complaining about
snitches and the hopelessness of organizing. This comrade does a great
job explaining how we can have an impact on these individuals and what
people can do to change their circumstances, rather than just
complaining. This sort of rational and creative thinking is what
communists need to bring to every situation. Look at a problem from all
sides and come up with ways to attack it. We call this materialist
thinking, and it’s not easy, especially when we’re bombarded with
anti-science ideas, and feeling crushed by day-to-day oppression. We
hope this comrade serves as an inspiration to others who are facing
serious snitching problems to think about how you can help these
snitches to join the cause of the revolution.
MIM theory has made me a scientist previously I wanted to Attack
Now! but I’m no longer anxious in order to make a move the
times must be right, but the times won’t be unless we
study analyze - stop the bickering and unite so lace your boots
and recruit turn your cell into a scientific study group
booth our clip is fully loaded our day will come but right now
it’s time to get ready for it
We’ve been working hard to express the need to end all hostilities
amongst all ethnicities. Us New Afrikans here in the belly of the beast
known as the Corcoran SHU have just completed a beautiful BAM (Black
August Resistance/Memorial) and we came together to struggle today
[September 9th] for the purpose of unity. We exercised in a group that
consisted of ourselves, a couple southern Hispanics, and a northern
Hispanic. Our study habits still consist of revolutionary literature,
economics, politics and some history where our cultural and social
interactions are similar without division.
We don’t have a short corridor anymore here in this concrete tomb, so
with people arriving from the mainline just to do a SHU term we can
educate them on the importance of the agreement to end all racial
hostilities, and stay on guard because the fascist oppressors will
always try to sabotage our collective struggle. A lot of these
youngsters who come in here don’t have a clue about the
Attica
uprising or Black August Memorial, and how could they when all the
teachers of New Afrikans struggles are still anguishing behind enemy
lines. The importance of us getting out of the SHU is to educate our
youth about their history.
Today we had a group study session on the importance of revolutionary
internationalism, which is the ideological expression of global
revolutionary scientific socialism in service to the oppressed
underclass of the world. We feel that revolutionary internationalism is
the ideological vanguard of global liberation and source of theoretical
development in coordinating disparate national revolutions. Also,
keeping the permanent struggle of ideological mental warfare going in
order to eradicate backwards and unprincipled thinking, or incompatible
ideas or activities, and proving the correctness of the revolutionary
party’s views.
This weapon in which we speak is part of the dialectical processes that
are ongoing and endless, until the principle contradictions of the
oppressed and the oppressor are eliminated. Once this takes place you
will see the transformation of the cultural values, practices and
relationships of the people prepare and condition themselves for a
revolution against the oppressor state. The outcome is uprooting and
destroying the old oppressive rationale and mindset of colonial society
and bringing into being new values which move the people outside of the
colonial mindset and into that of the emerging revolutionary society. We
can accomplish this through the agreement to end all hostilities. So we
strive to do so. It’s a long out-dated situation that produced no
winners, and only losers, and that has also further pushed us into
oppression. We realize that now, and since it’s not too late to correct
it, we struggle collectively to do so.
by a North Carolina prisoner September 2015 permalink
I wanna believe that education is more valuable than incarceration, but
it’s hard when prison yard outnumber campus quads in every state across
the nation. I wanna believe…. I wanna believe that black lives
matter to all and not just the blacks who live it, but I can’t erase the
vision of black men murdered by white police with no punishment because
their families’ pain is so vivid. I wanna believe… I wanna believe
that confederate flags don’t represent real oppression and race hatred,
that we as a people can rise above the stereotypes that we perpetuate to
keep us from becoming wasted. I wanna believe… I wanna believe
that we can open our eyes and recognize the Kings and Queens that Africa
birthed, surviving this genocide with pride and living out the prize of
realized and mastered worth. I wanna believe… I wanna believe that
my people didn’t hang from trees and get sold on blocks, that our
babies’ heads weren’t stomped while slave masters prayed to God not to
let their savage souls rot. I wanna believe… I wanna believe that
we only do drugs to escape a reality too hard to accept, and that it’s
deeper than just a high when you’ve lived your whole life with neglect
and a heart full of regret. I wanna believe… I wanna believe that
times have changed and life isn’t only getting worse, but a white man
just took a .45 and murdered nine people praying inside a historically
black church. I wanna believe… I wanna believe that kids can live
free without the fear of being shot while coming home from school, that
we can teach our babies something more useful than “hands up, don’t
shoot” rule. I wanna believe… I wanna believe that being in a
gang means more than flagging a color and throwing signs, that we know
the foundation was to oppression and stand for our communities not to
show that we’re blind. I wanna believe… I wanna believe that the
brothers behind the wall are doing more than getting high, playing ball
and lifting weights, and that they spend more time studying the law
trying to see how many loopholes exist in their case. I wanna
believe… I wanna believe that losing another brother only helped to
make me stronger, that every struggle I’ve faced and conquered has left
me with lessons that I can embrace a little longer. I wanna
believe… I wanna believe that when I’m done my words will forever
rest in your hearts, and that if you hear my pain and sincerity I’ve
done my part. I wanna believe… I wanna believe, I really do, but
I’ve never had a reason to, so to me believing is deceiving and
if I believe I’m afraid I’ll begin to grieve anew, belief is faith
and faith is hope while hope is something I’ve never really had,
so if I hope and believe in faith how do I know I’ll never again
be sad? I wanna believe… I wanna believe… I wanna believe that
love is something we can all achieve, and I really want love but even
more than that I just wanna believe!!
As a leader of United Struggle from Within (USW) and the Prisoners’
Legal Clinic (PLC) I have a lot of problems organizing with the lumpen
proletariat because they don’t want any trouble with the pigs and I have
been transferred 10 times in this 8.5 years of my imprisonment, but the
struggle still goes on! The Security Threat Group (STG) status is moving
to every state complex in the empire.
I was reading Under Lock & Key No. 41 and it was saying in
many articles by comrades that they are being put on STG status for no
reason and they can not put up a defense and they aren’t getting any
yard time. This is both constitutional violations and human rights
violations. The 8th amendment violation of cruel and unusual punishment;
and the 14th amendment violations without due process of law; nor deny
to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 states:
Article 3. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of
person Article 5: No one shall be subject to torture, or cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Article 6: Everyone
has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7: All are equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal
protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration
and against any incitement to such discrimination. Article 8:
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national
tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the
constitution or by law.
Standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners approved by the UN
Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held
at Geneva in 1955 and approved by the Economic and Social Council by
resolutions 663 (XXIV) of 31 July 1957 and 2076 (LXII) of 13 May 1977:
Exercise and Sport 21. (1) Every prisoner who is not employed in
outdoor work shall have at least one hour of suitable exercise in the
open air daily if the weather permits. … Information to and
complaints by prisoners 35. (1) Every prisoner on admission shall be
provided with written information about the regulations governing the
treatment of prisoners of his category, the disciplinary requirements of
the institution, the authorized methods of seeking information and
making complaints, and all such other matters as are necessary to enable
him to understand both his rights and his obligations and to adapt
himself to the life of the institution.
If a prisoner is illiterate, the aforesaid information shall be
conveyed to him orally.
Every prisoner shall have the opportunity each week day of making
requests or complaints to the director of the institution or the officer
authorized to represent him.
It shall be possible to make requests or complaints to the inspector
of prisons during his inspection. The prisoner shall have the
opportunity to talk to the inspector or to any other inspecting officer
without the director or other members of the staff being present.
Every prisoner shall be allowed to make a request or complaint,
without censorship as to substance but in proper form, to the central
prison administration, the judicial authority or other proper
authorities through approved channels.
Unless it is evidently frivolous or groundless, every request or
complaint shall be promptly dealt with and replied to without undue
delay.
A lot of prisoners don’t understand that they have a lot of
political power if they know how to use it, like getting our families,
friends and associates connected to the prisoner advocate organizations
in their states because political power to change conditions of prisons
has to start with us first because we are the ones doing time. Our
people and citizens have power in their voting blocks with issues that
can demand change in prisons’ operations. Prisoners have to put their
interests first.
People vote their Senators and Representatives into office at election
time and they can vote them out of office as well. These are the people
who are supposed to represent the interests of the people in the state
legislature and the federal Congress. But if people don’t bring their
issues to them how can they properly represent them? We prisoners must
become politically conscious of the system of local, state and federal
government.
A lot of prisoners don’t know that this is the time for change in the
prison system, the prisoner advocates movement is very strong right now,
and states’ governments are seeking ways to save money because it cost
states a lot more money to run maximum prisons then lower security
prisons. Prisoners are truly going to have to learn their Constitutional
rights, because in order for a person to have any kind of rights they
are going to have to learn them first. Then you can protect them.
It’s a damn shame that the Afrikan nation’s ancestors fought and died
for their rights and in the 21st century the Afrikan nation has become
ignorant of their rights and struggles that we have been going through
for the last 400 years of oppression and exploitation. This subject
matter of STG can be put in the form of a petition and then filed as a
class action lawsuit against these corrupt DOCs for not having a system
of redress for being placed on STG status, etc. Prisoners are going to
have to stand up for their rights and fight this evil and corrupt system
of the prison DOCs across the country, because this same STG system is
put in place everywhere.
MIM(Prisons) responds: The 8th and 14th Amendment claims this
comrade refers to were the heart of the
recent
lawsuit in California that ended in a weak settlement. So on the one
hand this is right on track, but on the other the PLC must study and
learn from what happened in California to do better in other states.
By knowing our legal rights and understanding the law, we can challenge
abuse and corruption, both through grievances and then in the courts
when the grievance system fails. This particular campaign against STG is
important to the ability of the oppressed to organize and escape extreme
torture, and is therefore an important one to continue. The legal battle
is only a small part of our current strategy because the legal system is
a part of the criminal injustice system overall and so it will never
provide justice for the oppressed. Any legal victories we do have will
likely require mass organizing before hand, and will definitely require
mass organizing to enforce afterwards.
Ultimately, we won’t change the system through the courts. Similarly we
don’t focus on elections because we know that the imperialists won’t
allow people in positions of power who really work in the interests of
the oppressed. And the majority of Amerikans do have a vested interest
in the existing system of oppression: they support “tough on crime”
measures and don’t want to see prisoners’ conditions improved. So even
if relatives of prisoners all try to vote for change, they are unlikely
to even find good options on the ballot.
Amerika uses prisons as a tool of social control, and the lumpen who are
targeted for this repression are a minority among the mostly privileged
classes within U.$. borders. For this reason we will never fundamentally
change the system by working within their elections and their courts. We
can take up tactically winnable battles, like these that are connected
to the basic rights promised in the U.$. Constitution. But we should not
mislead people into thinking that anything short of a revolution is
required for liberation of the oppressed.
I come to you with information concerning the Texas Department of
Criminal In-Justice’s new tactic recently being used on this particular
plantation in the mailroom. We are now dealing with due process denial
without the use of notification of current issues of Under Lock &
Key, specifically No. 45 July/August 2015, being “on hold” pending
further review. This to me is new. And others here in segregation/SHU
have not noticed this before either.
Today, 9 September 2015, I finally got an answer to a request to
mailroom supervisor who generally allows me and others issues
regardless. But I had wrote asking if there had been a problem with
issues 45 and 46 because I have yet to receive either. On this day of
prisoner unity she advised me that Huntsville (headquarters) placed a
hold on issue 45. Not a denial but a hold. No longer are individual
mailrooms denying subs of any type. It would seem they’ve began to
target us for as far as she knows, MIM(prisons) is the only one whose
publications are subjected to this on her printouts.
I’ve got a small assortment of random issues of ULK from 2011-15.
And most are consistent to national and world current events. What
troubles the pigs right now is the current awareness on social media of
police brutality and the black lives matter campaign. I do not see
liberal or conservative opinions in newspapers being scrutinized and “on
hold” or denied, no other news or world report publication is being
denied. It is the anti-imperialist Maoist publications being targeted. I
am rather new to the cause and collective struggle, not the knowledge
though. Am I just now experiencing something “old” but new to me here in
TDCJ?
by a Pennsylvania prisoner September 2015 permalink
Why can’t we all get along? What is the problem? In my experience, all I
see around me is prisoner against prisoner. There is no real unity.
Fellow comrades, this is a major problem! I don’t know about other state
systems, but here in Pennsylvania it is a constant issue. Prisoners are
tearing each other down instead of building each other up. Bickering,
fighting, back stabbing, degradation and even genocide is a common theme
among prisoners at all the prisons I have been held captive in.
The pigs stick together, so why can’t we? These fascists get off over
our disunity. It makes their day when they have the excuse to further
degrade us by placing us in segregation and control units, where we are
stripped of more of the precious little freedom we have left. These pigs
oppress all of us; we are all in the same sinking ship. Don’t you think
it is time to put aside our petty differences and unite as one force?
How can we focus on defeating this oppression we suffer and endure on a
daily basis, when we are so focused on adding to our own and each
others’ oppression by oppressing each other?
Come on, family, the time is now. We must unite to really make a
difference. Unofficially, jailhouse statistics show that out of all
prisoners imprisoned in the United $tates, 89% of us seek only to see
each other fail, and be defeated in every way possible, and are for
themselves, and only themselves. 10% of us don’t give a shit either way.
Only 1% of us truly care about and are committed to win the battle over
oppression. This is sad! We can change those statistics! MIM(Prisons)
and United Struggle from Within are the key to this change and our
victory. My motto is and always will be: resist! resist! resist! I will
not rest until that mantra rings out in one united voice. Then our
oppressors will realize the meaning of their own motto: We can be the
real and true United We Stand!
MIM(Prisons) adds: We commend this comrade for the call of unity
in the face of struggle. But calls alone will not solve the problems we
face, it will also take real action and examples set by leaders. This
was the purpose of the
September
9 day of peace and unity. As is seen in reports back from comrades
who participated this year, it is through both education and practice
that we can build greater unity among a population that has been trained
to fight one another. We must look at what battles we can fight in our
own prisons and neighborhoods, and bring people together for these
common goals. Through these struggles we can demonstrate the nature of
the imperialist system behind all of the oppression, and focused on
keeping the oppressed powerless. Through practice we will build unity
and educate the oppressed, training new leaders and developing a
movement that can take on the imperialists as a part of the liberation
struggles of oppressed nation peoples worldwide.
Comrade, either you’re misinformed or an ex-member of these renegade
groups you speak of. First, you said ULK should make the
newsletter more informative to political theory of education and
building community. Comrade ULK created their newsletter as a
platform for its readers to supply and share information. The newsletter
is very informative and it lets all kkkaptured brothers know what’s
popping prison to prison, and that you’re not alone in the struggle. If
you feel something’s missing from the newsletter that’s your opportunity
to supply it. Share the knowledge and lessons from your political
education classes with ULK so they can share it with everyone
in the trenches.
The reason ULK should continue to teach organization, is because there’s
brothers in the dark who think that what they’re doing is right because
it’s all they know. In California African gangs have no organization.
You mention the BGF putting a worldwide ban on gang banging. In
California BGF is considered a prison gang by the pigs. Gangbanging
doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. I’ve been in prison 11 years and
things are very racial here in California. So what might solve a
separate problem in New York might not work in California or Florida.
There’ll never be one fix for all. There has been too much blood shed
between different organizations. There can be no peace without war. The
fear of war motivates people to keep the peace.
You’re aware things may never be resolved, but are you aware that the
tone of your words says “why try to resolve?” and “don’t even try to
resolve because it’s a losing battle.” Which is your feelings about
fighting censorship of ULK.
Your beef really seems to be with gangs and not how ULK does
their thing. If you’re not the leader of 3 Blood Kingdom you don’t know
if he opposes peace. Your actions are of choice. They don’t define your
belief. When supporting something you’re still living in the now and
have to deal with your current situation.
This brother is part of an organization that makes him a target. He’ll
need to protect himself the best way he knows how. Even if he denounces
his membership he’ll be a target for having been affiliated. Those who
are never affiliated are targeted by those who are. You’re a target
either way and will have to protect yourself or get run over.
In the movie “Selma” they did peaceful protest and were still attacked.
The lesson here? Do what you must to survive. Nobody’s born a gang
member. You choose to be one due to your circumstances. Comrade, talking
down on gang members is a form of oppression. Let’s build these brothas.
Each one teach one.
Comrade you speak about rule 33_501.401 fac(3)(g) being used to censor
your ULK. ULK doesn’t support rioting, insurrection, and
disruption of an institution. They support things like the September 9
Peace Day. What ULK does is print the going ons in prisons
state to state. The news shows violence daily. Does that mean they
support it?
You choose to not grieve the censorship under assumption you won’t
prevail. The pigs are betting on your pessimism and they’re winning.
Freedom of speech is a right. ULK exercises that. If you aren’t
going to fight for what you believe in why expect ULK to?
You say the pigs are the puppeteer, well off the head and the body will
follow. It’s time to stop venting and start inventing.
Vent: to relieve oneself by vigorous expression Invent: To
create or produce for the first time
Where there’s a will there’s a way. If you’re willing to look you’ll
find a way. If there’s no road to success create your own.
I didn’t say all of this to attack you, but with hopes of inspiring you
to go get what you want. Peace and Solidarity.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We agree with this comrade’s assessment of
the importance of understanding the roots of violence and the inability
of pacifism to stop violence. We also call on all lumpen groups and
their leaders to join the United Front for Peace and work to advance not
only their own organizations but others as well. At the same time, this
writer is correct that we must work from where we are and not from
idealism. As every issue of ULK demonstrates, we are about
promoting organizing for expanding the peace, including the September 9
Day of Peace and Unity.
In war a campaign is a series of actions which lead to an ultimate aim.
Campaigns can be thought of as an organized strategy in which certain
steps or operations lead to the end goal of victory. Often when people
are taking on an adversary, victory will not be accomplished in one
shot. When the odds are stacked against you it is necessary to create a
plan which, through a series of small steps, one arrives close to the
intended goal. This piecemeal advancement is a campaign.
Currently ISIS has a campaign where it is taking ground in the area of
what is known as Iraq and Syria. In their campaign they are taking over
key areas like airports, oil refineries, major roads or sea ports. By
doing so they have obviously decided that each of these areas will lead
to lightening their opposition’s hold on power and of eventually seizing
power in that region of the world. Rather than focusing on overthrowing
the Iraqi government outright or flooding Baghdad with troops and
attacking the “Green Zone” (the U.S. base) outright, they have developed
a campaign to take smaller steps which may lead up to seizing that area.
U.S. imperialism has been waging a campaign for total global influence
in which they can act with impunity. They do this by setting up 1000+
bases around the world. And they coerce countries with economic
embargoes, assassinations, coups and the installation of puppet
governments. Blackmail is used from information that was illegally
stolen off the internet or through U.$. spy agencies. Every bit of
information they obtain buys them more influence, a step forward in
their campaign of destruction.
USW Campaigns
Prisoners and former prisoners within the United Struggle from Within
mass organization have also initiated a variety of campaigns which
address our daily struggles. Every struggling people anywhere in the
world needs campaigns to address their particular needs, and prisoners
are no different. For us struggling prisoners there are certain forms of
oppression which prevent us from developing politically or are outright
neutralizing us so we must find ways to resist and overcome them, and
campaigns ensure this.
Prisoners in California have the Agreement to End Hostilities which is
one of our main campaigns at this time. The End to Hostilities is an
essential step that needs to continue so that our goal of mobilizing the
entire prison system becomes easier. We cannot mobilize people against a
common enemy if they are wrapped up in fighting each other. Stopping the
violence between prisoners allows us to begin to move forward for our
real interests and combat our real threats. This campaign should also
spread to other states, and it will. The Agreement to End Hostilities
will spread state to state just like lumpen organizations themselves
have spread.
A California campaign that is also country-wide is the
struggle to
abolish control units. Solitary confinement is another small step in
a larger process. Control units are designed to destroy our most
advanced cadre; it cannot be explained in any other way. So in my
opinion the control units are ground zero for the struggles of the
prison movement within U.$. borders today. If we cannot save our cadre
in U.S. prisons it is a huge defeat. In order to mobilize the prison
system for humyn rights struggles it would be a lot easier if most of
the politically advanced prisoners were not sealed off in control units.
The
grievance
campaign is another way that we enable imprisoned people to work
toward humyn rights so that they can continue to struggle on that
revolutionary path. Things like the struggle for indigent envelopes
which the comrades in Texas are raising is a part of our USW campaigns
because if we are able to write letters we can struggle and join
correspondence study groups and contribute to ULK so we cannot be
limited by the state. Just because we may not be in Texas we still
support those comrades because it is a USW campaign.
Our campaign
in solidarity with Palestine was an exercise in USW flexing its
internationalism. When a people are suffering from crimes against
humynity, even the most brutal dungeon will not prevent acts of
humynity. I think our solidarity with Palestine was also a sign of our
anti-imperialism. We have our own struggles in each prison against
brutality, solitary, medical care, etc. We have our distinct struggles
for national liberation of our respective nations. At the same time we
are anti-imperialists and we know that all of our oppression can be tied
to U.S. imperialism. Imperialism extends oppression around the world and
creates the circumstances where Third World people cannot survive in
their home countries. These people often migrate to the metropole in
search of sustenance, when not contained within militariazed walls.
Do Campaigns Teach the People?
Campaigns are absolutely educational. We learn from practice. When we
partake in a campaign we not only realize what we can accomplish, but we
also realize how to better coordinate our efforts.
The campaign does a couple of things, it allows us to battle our
oppression while it teaches us different forms of struggle. We often
learn new methods to struggle because of this. For example in a previous
ULK I read about some comrades who, after struggling on
different grievances, decided to create their own legal self-help
organization.
From our campaign to raise awareness on the inside and outside the
dungeons sprang the Strugglen Artists Association (SAA). The SAA is for
artists to create revolutionary cultural works and for
Propaganda
Workers to bring these cultural contributions to the masses.
From our campaign to close the SHU sprang the
statewide
California hunger strikes. These actions helped to catch the eye of
many within the white left who previously did not support the prison
movement like some are starting to do now. From this publicity came
various prisoner support groups and media struggles to assist our
actions.
From these examples that I have listed came independent institutions.
Our campaigns created these institutions of the people. They were
created without the assistance of our oppressor enemy. It is hard to see
these things develop without our campaigns, so as you can see the
campaign creates even more opportunity to struggle and gives us momentum
to continue on our road forward.
Take away the campaigns and we are left with nothing but isolated
impulsive acts which get us nowhere but unorganized disarray. Campaigns
direct our actions toward our greatest potential.
Our Goals in Campaigning
Our goal as anti-imperialists is a socialist revolution. But the more
immediate goal of USW within U.$. prisons is to revolutionize the
dungeons. This will take a series of actions, or to be specific it will
take campaigns.
Prisons are merely one component of the state. But they are one of the
most important components because it is within prisons where the most
vital social forces are found. Prisons will produce the fiercest
fighters in the future revolution.
The campaign is a military concept. In many ways it is a revolutionary
war which awaits us because the oppressor will never hand over its
power. According to Mao: “The revolutionary war is a war of the masses;
it can be waged only by mobilizing the masses and relying on them.”(1)
Oppressed people will be victorious, and prisoners, once revolutionized,
will ignite and charge the people. We have seen in hystory the power and
raw force that ex-prisoners have infused into social justice movements
within U.$. borders. The most advanced parties’ political organizations
and movements of the internal semi-colonies were filled with
ex-prisoners and lumpen, so it is this element which must be mobilized.
The people must “go deeper,” as Lenin taught, to obtain the most
revolutionary element which is less influenced by imperialism. Campaigns
up! Conflicts down!
Folks are dropping dead like flies here in Clements Unit. Due to a
faulty grievance system and benign inspector general investigations, the
whole entire unit staff are literally getting away with murder. It seems
like when one pig gets in trouble he/she gets promoted. Take officer
(now Sergeant) Garret E. Rockholt for instance. In 2013 he cold cocked a
prisoner in the medium custody unit of this prison. Not only was he
caught red-handed, this incident gained him praise and eventually got
him promoted to a Sergeant in the Ad-Seg building where he walks around
with his chest out boasting about his charades as a former Officer.
Next we have Officer (now Sergeant) Desmond Finney. As an officer he had
a reputation for beating and slamming handcuffed prisoners. Notably, one
ended up with black eyes and another had a tooth knocked out. Not only
was he beating our peers but he also denied several the chance to eat
whenever he worked the pod. Now this clown has been promoted to Sergeant
and the deck for corruption is constantly getting stacked.
These are just a few examples of the rewards for bad behavior that need
to stop. But comrades it’s going to take more than just words and hope.
Unity is key and unity is mandatory with any effort towards changing
prison conditions and prison behavior. We can’t afford to let
differences between one another dictate how pervasive things get and we
need to focus on how to liberate one another. As comrade Mao said, “to
gain public opinion and seize power.”
Since 2013 we’ve had one peer murdered, one left to die, one found in
his cell where he’d already been dead for several hours, one left with a
broken arm and another a broken finger. None of these instances were
peer-on-peer attacks; they were all due to the intentions and neglect by
the very pigs that are supposed to prevent these things from happening.
It’s obvious that we can’t count on them to protect us, so the only
obvious alternative is to protect each other collectively and with
honor.
Getting involved in study groups and reading, learning, and teaching the
works of Marx, Lenin, and Mao is sure to create an understanding of how
to lead. So if you haven’t begun to study and don’t know where to start,
if you’ve read this you just began.
MIM(Prisons) adds: Study groups are an excellent way to build
unity and political leadership. Getting people to agree that unity is
good is pretty straightforward, but building a long-lasting movement
that’s strong enough to stand up against all obstacles put in our way
requires deep political study. We run correspondence study groups and
also support prisoner-led study groups behind bars. Write in to get
materials for either of these methods of study.
For prisoners of the Texas Department of Criminal inJustice (TDCJ) there
is also an activist pack which has info on the various campaigns United
Struggle from Within has running in TDCJ. This activist pack doesn’t
just contain information to help fight for your rights; it is a great
organizing tool to share with others in your facility to get people
working together and building tangible unity.
We hope to develop activist packs for other states where comrades are
fighting similar struggles. In Texas the campaigns center around the
inability to have grievances properly addressed, a $100 medical copay
for healthcare, and a limit on indigent envelopes to 5 per month. If you
have an idea for a campaign and resource that can be developed in your
state, write in to get involved. If you’re in Texas, you need to get
this Texas activist pack! It’s costly to print and mail so if you are
able to send us a donation, that would be greatly appreciated.