Federal Prisons

The dehumanization and the ongoing degradation of those who are confined within this prison slave plantation, is why so many wonderful men and women are psychologically broken. We must mot ignore the constant sexual abuse that is done to us human beings who are forced to be in prison.

In order for a prisoner to exit their cage to attend a doctor’s appointment, mental health therapy, religious services, yard, to get a hair cut, etc. we must get naked… we are forced to show multiple police our testicles, penis, bend over and part our butt cracks. This is blatant sexual assault. When we do not want to show our bodies, we are given a 115 Rules violation report for disobeying a direct order.

When we don’t want to comply with these humiliating tactics we become trapped in isolation, in solitary confinement for 24 hours each day. And let’s not forget if we don’t get naked we will never be able to leave our cages.

These forced strip searches aren’t done to retrieve contraband because they use metal detectors and pat downs once we step out of our cages. There is never any contraband found. Never!

These are just minor things we prisoners are forced to deal with. The rehabilitation must be stripped from CDC(r) because this is not something they believe in. Their job is solely to keep us broken, battered, and bruised. I have been trapped 15 years for a wrongful conviction and being forced to get naked in order to leave a box, how could i ever repair psychologically from such sexual abuse? We must stand strong no matter what, and even though the amerikan dream does not apply to me i still will self-educate me in order to expose the oppression and on going abuse.

In my research of Chican@ novelists and storytellers I stumbled upon this book by California Chican@ author Art Rodriguez.

What grabbed my attention initially was that the Author was also an ex-prisoner, as a youth he spent time in Juvenile Hall and the California Youth Authority (CYA) and specifically in Preston School of Industry where I also did a stint in as a rebellious youth.

The cover art was interesting, it was done in the genre of “Aztlán-realism” which is a style developed and coined by California prisoners which focuses on the social reality of the Chican@ nation rather than bourgeois vomit art. Aztlán realism displays our reality while raising consciousness. Rordiquez really delivers in his cover art by showing a one time landmark of San Jose, Califas which is the Jose Theater. The Jose Theater was a theater in downtown San Jose frequented by Chican@ lumpen youth. In the 1960’s the author states movie tickets were 50 cents and that up until the 1990’s tickets stood at a buck or two. Poor barrio youth had an alternative to the streets at an affordable price.

The author also shows an incarcerated Chican@ on the book cover, again, a true depiction of Aztlán: colonized and imprisoned. Although the story “East Side Dreams” is a childhood story of the authors’ life in San Jose, Califaztlan and Rodriquez could have chosen to depict bikini-ied wimmin on a local sports team to warm up to the local Chican@ petty-bourgeoisie who would rather pretend that captivity is not part of Aztlan’s social reality. Rodriquez brings Chican@ mass incarceration front and center which is refreshing.

Reading East Side Dreams brought back so much memories of my own childhood. Cruising around and hanging out with the homies, picking up and just being a Chican@ youth is all there. It’s very clear that Rodriquez didn’t concoct his stories from being raised in some ivy league prep school. He could have been one of my childhood homies, especially when he writes:

“Driving during 1966, sometimes the guys borrowed a car from someone or would take a car without permission. That’s what I would do occasionally.”

The lumpen continue in this tradition of “taking” without permission on a small scale. The lumpen may “take” from other lumpen, especially here in the $nakes where lumpen are not the lumpen of the third world and thus have more material items at hand. But this sentence reveals some truth – the lumpen will not ask permission. It is a “ballsy” lot who are most likely not to ask for permission, we will witness this during a future civil war I’m sure.

The author reveals he is the product of a Mexican migrant father and a white mother who met at a dance hall in the Barrio in East San Jose. As a result he hints at the national oppression that came with this union. For example, his mother’s white father (who was ironically raised himself by his white mother’s Mexican migrant boyfriend) who would tell Rodriguez’ white mother Mildred not to go to the dances because he didn’t want her to interact with the “bad people” (these were Chican@-Mex dances). Sadly though, Rodriguez does not analyze this and unpack why this national chauvinism (“racism”) exists or how it affected him and his homies growing up amidst it. This reveals that Rodriguez’s choice of either not wanting to “take his book there” (political courage), or not having the political consciousness to crack that open for us all to see.

It was nice to read about his mom opposing her father and siding with Rodriguez’s migrant father, eventually marrying him, having children, and even learning Spanish to communicate and to nurture Spanish in her children. As appealing as this biography was to me in depicting barrio life, I must say the parts describing being in the concentration kamp was more interesting to me.

Rodriguez describes a scene where he’s being taken out of Juvenile Hall by a “Chican@ guard” who reveals information to him whereas the white guards were menacing to him. It was interesting that Rodriguez objectively identifies the pig as a Chican@. Most would not, our mistreatment and oppression likely would have many identify the pig as many things but not Chican@. It is true that people identify as they please; a person can assimilate but without knowing what they identify as we can also identify what we perceive them to be (i.e. a blond hair, blue eyes white man or a New Afrikan womyn, etc.). We may not be right, but it’s our initial perception. A pig can be a Chican@ or a Chican@ traitor; but a Chican@ nonetheless.

It would have been nice to read a more political take on this book, but it was enjoyable to read a Chican@ novelist who does not bend to subjectivity in his novel and I look forward to review his other books available.

This zine offered a breath of fresh air in terms of political line coming out of the concentration kamps. Imprisoned New Afrika (like Aztlán and other oppressed nations) has plenty of rebels, those rising up or conscious that we stand on the side of the people against the pig. The anger and defiance is strong, but ideology that is strong and stuffed with Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is what is often lacking from the prison writings of today. Power to New Afrika is another gem that contributes to filling this void.

Looking at this zine through a Chican@ lenses, I agreed with the assessment that it was after the assassination of Martin Luther King that the Black vanguard attempted to steer the Black movement onto the next stage of resistance. We of the Republic of Aztlán have also made a similar assessment recently from the data/chatter that tells us the state is planning to assassinate a key figure of the Chicano movement, and our assessment was the same where we feel that the Chican@ vanguard should use this to take Aztlán to the next level of resistance.

On page 10 in the zine, the writer discusses the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika (PG-RNA) and how since 1968 at their birth they have been attempting to obtain land “legally,” but a report is cited from a memorandum sent to the FBI director at the time in 1970 J. Edgar Hoover from Special Agent in Charge in Jackson, Mississippi which is titled “Counter Intelligence Operations Being Effected, tangible results (Republic of New Afrika)”:

“Since March 1968… the RNA has been trying to buy and lease land in Mississippi… Counter intelligence measures have been able to abort all RNA efforts to obtain land in Mississippi.”

COINTELPRO is real. When I read this I thought of every doofus who has ever asked me the absurd question: “do you REALLY think COINTELPRO is fucking with us?” I’ve found that the more liberal on the spectrum the less they believe in a COINTELPRO, the more radical you are the more you know how real it is. The fact that the Feds in their own words admit to sabotaging RNA efforts like legally purchasing land tells us that even “legal” efforts are not safe if the state feels that you are a threat.

On page 11 the author correctly identifies the principal contradiction within the New Afrikan nation being between the political-economic force of independence versus political-economic forces of integration. This is also true for the Chican@ nation. Internally, we struggle with getting free and the Ti@ Tomas’ struggles to keep serving massa on the plantation. We see these TI@ Tacos trying to run for a colonizer position in Washington DC or as state governor, while claiming to be revolutionary. The Tom compradors have suckers believing in their foolishness, but the truth is simple – one cannot be considered a revolutionary while aspiring to be, or supporting a U.$. President or governor. U.$. imperialism is the enemy of the world’s majority and in this case, the Trojan Horse tactic will not work.

This zine addresses the battle of ideas that I feel apply to the Chican@ Nation as well. In this writing, the author writes of the “war for the New Afrikan mind” which goes on to describe “independence vs integration” really being a historically dialectical materialist process versus the post-modernist philosophical analysis. This truth needs to also be embraced and thought by all Chican@ cadre today as well. This political line really amounts to life or death to Aztlán. One nourishes and builds the nation, the other poisons and destroys it. One political line wants to burn the plantation down and the other wants to defend it.

It is a misnomer to entertain the notion of Brown, Black, Red, or Yellow “Amerikans,” for the word Amerika is but the name of the white-nation. This zine really unpacks this for the reader particularly, for the Black Nation; but it is mostly applicable to the Chican@ Nation as well.

The slave system is addressed in this zine as well and rightfully so. One cannot give an analysis of colonialism in the U.$. without understanding how the slave system and subsequent “paper” abolishment of slavery play into the role of semi-colonialism today.

What we should understand is that by using the so-called abolition of slavery as a bargaining chip, Amerika was able to at once overthrow the Confederacy while continuing white supremacy by other means. Today we see the same internal struggle within the white nation being carried out by other means via Republican vs Democrat squabbles using the oppressed nations’ wants and aspirations and rights as bargaining chips while at the same time keeping white supremacy intact.

It was refreshing to read how the author describes how a revolutionary nationalist must be a socialist. For the Chican@ Nation this is also true. A revolutionary nationalist is a socialist or a communist in many cases. We overstand that capitalism and imperialism specifically is the source of our despair.

Another great point raised in this zine was on page 37-38 where the author discusses the contradictions among the people, and specifically discusses the most influential orgs for New Afrika of the time (1907-1925) being the NAACP, Garvey’s UNIA, and the African Blood Brotherhood (ABB). According to the author, the ABB was founded by “proletarians,” and thus had the leading line being led by Black Marxists. Ey goes onto say:

“ABB and the UNIA were both highly successful in organizing the broadest masses of our nation as well as linking our struggle concretely with the international anti-imperialist struggle. For this reason we say that they advanced our people further than the NAACP, but they didn’t enjoy the same fame or support on the popular front. This of course is due to their class make up and the fact that the integrationist aspect as always, is aligned with the empire’s agenda. Thus, the colonizer controlled popular front has and will always lend credence to those people and groups, and ideas that in the final analysis, run counter to the interest of our nation.”

This is deep. Big lessons to be gleamed here. For one, the NAACP was and continues to be a group of Black compradors who have worked on reforms, although good deeds do help people on a small scale, the work of liberal orgs like the NAACP also corral people into having faith in Amerikkka and promoting the idea of working within a capitalist system will free people from oppression. This accounts to creating more supporters of empire. For this reason orgs like NAACP for Black folks, or National Council for la Raza (NCLR) and their kind for Brown folks, are simply the labor bureaucracy for bourgeois politics and thus are promoted widely by the U.$. government and its propaganda media arm. Meanwhile, real revolutionary orgs like the Republic of New Afrika, the Republic of Aztlán, the Communist Party of Aztlán (Maoist) or MIM(Prisons) will not be given Hollywood style commercials nor be invited to the White people House in Washington, D.C. anytime soon to sing x-mas carols around the tree (not that anyone wants to). The point is that Tomism is rewarded and the Uncle Tom orgs of all stripes are given resources to become popular and the real ones are smothered like a baby in the crib to use Lenin’s quote.

The mostly unconscious masses (and oftentimes self-proclaimed “communists”) often erroneously connect popular with correctness, or numbers in an org as correct political line. This is very wrong. The colonizers work hard to make this so. When we hear on the news about Amerikkka pouring billions into its war machine, understand that a part of this is promoting these Chican@ or New Afrikan Uncle Tom orgs that tell its members to vote for an enemy political candidate.

This zine is now required reading for members of our organization. Free New Afrika! Free Aztlán! Free the land!

I remember a comrade that wrote an article a few years back, about the way some prisoners were doing the pigs’ job and that he won’t be surprised if in the near future the prisoner will be doing count. If the comrade who wrote that argument was still receiving ULK, I want to tell em that eir comrads back then were not wrong, because in my institution of the Columbia Correctional Institution the “inmates” (I will not call them prisoners) that work the outside hallways of the butterfly dorm are doing the pigs’ job, even the “master count”. These four inmates represent and run under a nation (gang). Because they stay in the pigs’ face at all times kissing their asses, they receive special privileges. They pass supplies, they call out the prisoners that come from other dorms to violate for any given reason, they prey and benefit from the contraband that the pigs take from the cell searches. The pigs at that dorm have no reason to come out from the control bubble because these inmates do the jobs all for them in exchange for just staying outside.

When I wrote that article that was printed in ULK #79 Winter 2022 page 13 “The Common Colonial History that Led Us Here” – I finished off in the last paragraph saying: “in prison there is only 2 uniforms – the prisoners and the guards – remember always which one you wear”.

That part right there I wrote it because of actions these inmates performed. The night of the Super Bowl, after these inmates made the count in the dorm, the Sgt. in charge authorized me to go to another wing to watch the same; Sgt. opened the door and on the hallway I was stopped by these inmates because they told me that I couldn’t go to another wing because the count wasn’t clear. I told them that wasn’t their problem, besides if they could see Sgt. opened the door for me (I don’t have keys). I keep telling them that that wasn’t their problem, then I told them that I had two life sentences and if the front gate happened to be open that they would expect me to not walk out because if I escape I could mess up the count.

Long story short when I turned around and kept walking one of them swung a punch to my face from the back and all of them started to reach to their waists making it seem like they were armed. Sgt. saw everything and came out running and took me back to my wing – Sgt. didn’t say or do anything to them. That is how much pull these inmates pig fuckers have with security.

I didn’t say nothing to nobody in my wing, didn’t tell nothing, I just packed all my property and stayed up the whole night. Breakfast was called at 5:20 AM and I went out to the chow hall for a hunt. Out of the four that were the previous night 3 of them were at the chow hall sitting together at a table. Long story short on the way back to the dorm all three of em were stabbed and the one that throw the punch at me was air lifted in a helicopter to the hospital. I came out that morning ready for war and when I pulled out all ey had on em was the apples for the tray. Nobody will never threaten my life, my circle or my inner peace, on top of that put their hands on me and think the next day that everything is over.

When I got to the confinement unit all prisoners from every nation, of every skin color were standing at their door clapping, “Oye we salute what you did”. Because of this incident I was given 90 days in SHU plus I’m under review for Control Management Level 1. Most definitely it will get approved which means I will stay in SHU–CMI for at least 2 years and if I keep myself out of trouble then I can start to work my way down so I can finally be back on general population. I’ve been in prison for 26 years, everything has a limit and these inmates were far beyond that line, and because they have a group of lapdogs behind them they think that they can do anything. If I have problems listening to the pigs orders, definitely an inmate ain’t going to dictate how I am going to do my life sentences. I ain’t no snitch – I don’t work with the pigs or for the pigs.

I don’t know if in other state prisons the comrades tolerate that kind of behavior but ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! You must definitely print my name on it!! Is about time we take the bad apples from the bucket because they are fucking up the whole basket. You have now all these young comrades that come in the system for the first time and see this shit from gang members and think that is cool. IT IS NOT!

History is not a prophet who looks back: because of what was, and against what was, it announces what will be. I don’t just make war, this comrade makes history.

MIM(Prisons) responds: One of the five principles of the United Front for Peace in Prisons is Independence. This issue of Under Lock & Key has a number stories highlighting how the agents of the state sew death and destruction among the prison population. Without independence from that system, we cannot build a peace between prisoners that serves prisoners. The story above is an extreme example of how working with the state creates violence between prisoners.

Lumpen organizations (L.O.s) are a wavering class in the war of the oppressor nation against the oppressed nations. Prisoners playing the boss role for the pigs is nothing new, but back in the day it was only white prisoners who played boss over oppressed nation prisoners. Today the neo-colonial state knows that it’s better to use the respected organizations of the oppressed to oppress the oppressed nations. From what we hear across the country, we are in a period when the above is often tolerated and the L.O.s in prisons are not maintaining their independence. This relates to the plague of drug deaths in prisons as well.

The SHU/RHU/Control Units are tools of social control, and they are used to target the politically conscious. They use these torture units because they work to achieve the goals of the oppressor. We encourage comrades to do their best to avoid getting sent there. We know this comrade sacrificed a small study cell ey had by being sent to the SHU. We must apply standards and we must make sacrifices. But we must also always focus on what is most effective to serve the people.

The author above asked that we print eir name because of the influence ey has. But we don’t print names for security and political reasons. We hope our readers can see the truths in the above without being told that this or that big homie/shot caller says so. That type of thinking is what has so-called gangsters playing as junior pigs. We all need to learn to think objectively and strategically to have any hope of success in this struggle.

This letter is to inform you of the denial of publication of your Under Lock & Key here at Hughes Unit. I am sending you my copy of the denial from 8 November 2022. There was one other denial but I do not have the denial form available, as this document was thrown out during our recent shakedown on 1 January 2023. The denial forms and other colored documents were taken without confiscation papers as the shakedown team ran through our pod. We have had so many deaths on our unit within the last year and more than ever just in 2023. The deaths are caused and created by the laws bringing in K2 laced with fentanyl for sale to the prisoners.

This dope is stopping hearts on the first drag of smoke, others are choking on their own spit. This drug is so addictive that cellies are fighting for the last stick of K2. One fight on 8 Building led to one cellmate beating his cellie to death for dope. WTF!!

All these deaths have warranted the top ranking TDCJ representatives to show up all at once. We had Huntsville, Texas laws 50 deep walking in locking this unit down, along with all regional representatives, warden and majors from other units, and top dogs like Brian Collier and other Officials of the State of Texas.

Why are we being punished for what the laws are bringing in? Shouldn’t they be shaking the laws down, instead of us?

So anyways, I really appreciate all the newsletters and information you have sent but I believe we are at a standstill until I begin receiving articles from you again.

22 March 2023 a comrade at Stiles Unit reports similar conditions: The regional people have been here constantly for about 2 months now trying to change the protocol here, they’ve even brought their own guards from other units. But these guards say that they do not like it here cause there is no structure, and no protocols in place for a change here. A lot of them say they want to be on the first bus out of here.

They have been meetings about all the suicides that they have been having here, the hangings, drug abuse, etc. Well that in itself starts with the corrupt guards that they’re hiring here cause they feel like they are not making enough money, so extra money sounds good to them.

14 February 2023 a comrade in Bridgeport Correctional Center: I was placed here due to the Heat Lawsuit as I am under the Heat Restriction. I have noticed that 70% of the people here are under 35 years of age, and have no medical issues that would qualify for any of the Medical Restriction that TDCJ uses to be placed on Heat Restriction. I would say that most are here for protection cuz they would not make it on an ID unit. But we have people in TDCJ with health conditions, like myself, that need to be here.

We have a blatant problem with K2 and most if not all have been caught with the K2 but nothing seems to happen to them. Either these people don’t want TDCJ to know or they just don’t care.

MIM(Prisons) adds: Last year we released our Revolutionary 12 Step Program written by a USW comrade. Since then we’ve been distributing many copies every month to prisoners across the country. We’ve also been working to train those interested in running their own programs where they are. We encourage comrades in Texas to get a copy of the pamphlet and begin looking for ways to implement a program where they are to combat this plague of deaths.

It is truer than ever that fighting drug abuse in prisons is an integral part of fighting the abuse and oppression of the U.$. prison system.

For years we have offered the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s (TDCJ’s) Offender Grievance Operations Manual (OGOM) for sale to Texas prisoners. As we’ve reported previously, the manual has been removed from all Texas law libraries. The OGOM is a crucial reference for prisoners to understand and utilize the grievance process to address staff abuse and misconduct. Yet the TDCJ has deemed it illegal for us to mail it to fellow prisoners at their own cost.

Of the many copies we’ve sent to Texas prisoners in the last two years only one was confirmed received. A third were confirmed to have been censored by the TDCJ. The rest are of unknown fate because almost everyone we sent the OGOM to never wrote to us again.

Since we have been told by the TDCJ countless times that they will not allow us to mail their own manual to prisoners (and since this has not proven an effective organizing tool – almost everyone we send it to never contacts us again) we are not going to mail this publication again until someone can successfully challenge the decision by the TDCJ.

We did have one comrade who requested the OGOM on the premise that they will file a lawsuit once it is censored. The OGOM we sent was censored in November, appealed, and denied by the Director’s Review Committee on 6 February 2023 with the justification of “in contradiction with BP-03.91”. The comrade should be prepared to go to court now that the appeals process has been exhausted per the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). We will report any updates on this battle in ULK.

UPDATE: As we go to press in April 2023, the last OGOM we mailed out was received by the prisoner who ordered it. We are glad to hear it. But for now we are sticking with our decision above.

If you follow the news, you are well aware of a Virginian named Officer Edwards, who recently used police training to attempt to groom a teenage girl for eir pedophilic needs. When it didn’t pay off ey drove to California, murdered eir family, burned down eir house, and kidnapped the girl. Ey eventually died in a fire fight with California police. Around the same time, back at a Virginia Prison, a Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) guard named Owens at Keen Mountain Correctional Center shot a prison nurse to death. Ey was pregnant with the guard’s child and was threatening to tell Owens’ wife about eir affair. These are Virginians, and ey are the type of people who flock to jobs in corrections and law-enforcement in Virginia. Virginia officials will tell you they don’t know how people who are so dangerous slipped through the background checks. Virginia officials are lying to you because these are the people they look to recruit.

There are more subtle forms of this sociopathic behavior, and the guards and other staff at the notorious Pocahontas State Corruption Center exercise these forms of open torture daily. One of the most common is the deliberate tampering with mail. Two of the most often seen names are Hagerty and McCall. Aside from delaying outgoing mail, sometimes for weeks if ey send it out at all, incoming mail is often denied outright for any number of nonsensical and often false reasons. An example of this is the denial of a book review/catalog. The reason cited was “no nude or semi-nude images”. Upon investigation it was determined that “nude/semi-nude” was a tank top shirt. Absolutely nothing “nude or semi-nude” by any known standards of decency. Of course the target of this mail denial was a known political writer and the review catalog was from a publisher – Fifth Estate – that focuses on political themes (many of them anti-prison). What these two VA DOC employees did – mail tampering – is a federal crime.

This is just one example of a massive assault on the guarantees of the First Amendment. It is a common event that is meant to not only prevent communications from exposing the other criminal acts by PSCC staff, but it’s also a means of isolating the captives. It’s a vicious form of psychological torture and harm. Ey want the captives to believe that ey are alone – that ey are forgotten by eir friends and family. This is solely to make the captives not only more susceptible to further and more cruel abuses, but also to a force a level of acceptance of the abuse.

To further this endeavor it is important to prevent grievances and complaints from being seen by those at regional or Central (Richmond) administration. Though in all reality, since the Virginia DOC only recruits and promote from within its own insular institutions, the administrators at every meaningful level were hand-picked for eir silence and loyalty to the VA DOC. Without eir allowance of endless cruelty and torture, it could be stopped. Still, “grievance coordinators” such as C. Smalling at PSCC, whose unwritten job description is “grievance disappear-er” answers the grievances erself instead of routing them to the proper areas for re-dress. Ey makes sure they are not properly logged so that they disappear as needed. This is especially important in preventing lawsuits from being filed, something PSCC is prone to do due to its nationalist majority staff and their daily human rights abuses. Without an exhausted grievance process any lawsuit brought by a prisoner is immediately dismissed by the courts. In Virginia, even the federal court judges are Virginians.

Other more harmful – yet just as subtle – forms of torture and harm are the 24 hour lights, a gift from 15 years of Assistant Wardens who should be in prison themselves. Currently the PSCC Assistant Warden, Mr. Collins, is facing at least six sexual harassment suits at three different prisons including PSCC. They just move the guy from one prison to the next and fire the people who lodged the complaints.

Yet another way the staff abuse the captives is through an especially vicious misuse of the PA system. There are several ways to do this, but the two most common are as follows:

Three very dangerous guards, Barry, Sargent, and Shelton are particularly fond of turning the PA system up to full volume and screaming into the microphone. Since they work on the night shift you might imagine the problems this might cause for the captives. 9PM, 10PM, 12AM, 3AM, 5AM anytime they feel like scaring the living hell out of the 250 people and also disturbing their sleep. This sort of abuse is completely illegal yet all complaints are ignored or disappeared. These acts are a sign of sociopathic behavior and given that 40% of Virginia’s captives are warehoused mental health cases, it is so very devastating. The flip side to this is turning the PA system volume down so low that no one can hear announcements. This causes not only missed classes, programs, or medical appointments, but it also allows guards to justify all manner of false charges against captives – most often “disobey a direct order” or “unauthorized area”. Both are low level charges, but they cause sanctions and fines. They also make your record appear as if you are a problem all of the time, and if you get too many you will be transferred to a higher security prison.

Another regular problem comes from guards such as Craig, Bogle, Kimble and others like them – most of the guards. They are openly racist and anti-semitic, go out of their way to verbally (and sometimes physically) abuse anyone they are able to. On the boulevard, in the education and library buildings, in the chow hall, any place they are able to, and they get away with it repeatedly. This has gone on for years and years without any change or even the least reprimand. To give you a better idea of just how far it can go on PSCC’s compound, here is a scenario that happened recently:

A guard named Horton and his wife, also a guard, both work on the compound. This is a violation of policy for a lot of good sense reasons, but PSCC itself is a major violations of DOC policy and too many to count. Mrs. Horton, while married to one guard, is sleeping with several others on the compound during working hours. It is common knowledge to everyone. As you might expect, Mr. Horton gets fed up with his wife’s extramarital affairs and decides to solve the problem. This guy brings a loaded weapon THROUGH the gates – apparently staff were not checking guards as they came in – with the intend of making some examples. Those examples were going to be PRISONERS! Not the other guards who were involved with the wife, but PRISONERS! Fortunately a few guards stepped in and put a stop to this before anyone got hurt, but still, Mr. Horton is only fired and walked off the compound. Not a single criminal charge was brought even though he broke half a dozen laws. His wife was recently promoted to “counselor,” and he was just rehired to work at the same prison on the same shift as his wife.

Virginians and the VA DOC PSCC staff fed captives food that says “not for human consumption” on the box. Its medical staff is entirely unqualified in every way. Its psychologists do not have the experience to handle severe mental health issues and are even falsifying records to avoid even dealing with mental health because the facility (and the VA DOC) are simply not capable or designated to handle such issues. Add to this all the well-known and common place issues with corrupt prison staff – and put the prison in a well hidden county at the end of some “wrong turn” road in a state that seems to be growing its right wing neo-nazi extremist population. You have a real time disaster unfolding daily: the other 40 prisons in Virginia – a long time slave economy – are no better. On top of all that, add a 20% rate of innocence/wrongful conviction (approximately 5,000 people as of this writing). Harsh action must be taken to stop this madness.

MIM(Prisons) responds: MIM(Prisons) has been questioned online for our support of the campaign to fight the a recent rewrite of BP-03.91 in Texas, mostly to increase restrictions on sexually suggestive, non-nude photos. The example given by the comrade above is one of many that explain why we support that campaign despite stating clearly that we oppose pornography. Any increase in the restrictions on mail are going to be applied to stuff the pigs disagree with politically, because there is no free speech in this bourgeois dictatorship, only power struggles.

Of course, most pornography represents patriarchal and bourgeois morals. Morals that numerous gender-related acts of violence described by this author. We welcome reports like this, and print many on our website. But as the author states action must be taken, we really want your articles on campaigns and struggles against these types of abuses and organized repression.

In response to the Texas Update article and the conditions some are facing at Clements Unit I wanted to update you on the Bridgeport Correctional Center. I was placed here due to the Heat Lawsuit as I am under the Heat Restriction. Since I have been here I have come to learn that TDCJ has been using this facility for 30 years. I have noticed that 70% of the people here are under 35 years of age, and have no medical issues that would qualify for any of the Medical Restriction that TDCJ uses to be placed on Heat Restriction. I would say that most are here for protection cuz they would not make it on an ID unit. But we have people in TDCJ with health conditions, like myself, that need to be here.

We have a blatant problem with K2 and most if not all have been caught with the K2 but nothing seems to happen to them. Either these people don’t want TDCJ to know or they just don’t care.

In another quest to deny me my mail and books I guess you guys sent some material they say had too much tape. They wouldn’t tell me other than that they send it back, so could you please take the tape off and send it back to me?

And also, I have another bone to pick with these motherfuckers deny me all my Black Author Books (Donald Goines, Sister Soulja, Iceberg Slim) because they say it contains too many cuss words. Whereas we can have all the James Patterson, John Grishams, and the white authors where they talk about killing and raping women, but that’s fine. We can get that sent in no problem, but a Black author saying “shit”, “motherfucker,” or talking about drugs we get those books rejected simply by them looking at the cover of the book. The white authors talk about raping and killing 100 women; the officers have no problem with that. I even asked the mail guy to give me a list of authors we can and can’t get. He says no there’s too many authors. That’s bullshit. They’re violating my First Amendment rights. If I was some kind of way I could sue the shit out of their ass, I would.

MIM(Prisons) adds: We often put sticker tabs on Under Lock & Key to keep it folded for mailing. This is what the Colorado DOC is objecting to. We have mail rejected by different prisons for staples, for labels, for manila envelopes, we even had a letter rejected for stickers once because it had a postage stamp on it! It’s all political as this comrade points out with the books that are rejected and not.

What I consider to be the most important topic since my last report is death. There have been 6 deaths that I’ve seen in the last 60 days here at the Bill Clements Unit. Keep in mind, I never leave my cell so for me to see them means it took place within the 40 or so cells I can see. There were a couple more we didn’t get confirmation on whether they died or not, but I find it strange that no check of vitals or attempt at resuscitation were made.

Of the suicides/dead bodies I’ve seen “carted off” so to speak two in particular bother me. One, because I spoke to this person every day and watched as they took all his property and left him in an empty cell and actually laughed at requests for crisis or suicide prevention. He was taken out of cell with dried blood across the waist line and burnt to a crisp from the fire inside his cell. They interviewed me as part of investigation, and I tried to explain the conditions. It doesn’t give me the warm fuzzy feeling that they will improve. I’d hate to think he died for nothing. He was a good man, a father, and my friend. Now he’s dead. Would he be alive if he were not locked in isolation in Ad-Seg? Yes. Period.

The second one that bothers me is the guy behind me and over one cell who tried to cut his hand off they say. When he was cut and howled for help, they went thru a lengthy process of running a team spraying 5 cans of gas in increments and running in and whopping his ass until he bled out. I didn’t time it, but 18 minutes is what word is on the pod.

A third they say cut his own head off. I don’t know what to say about that other than they took the body out.

In addition to the suicides there are an alarming number of us cutting and self-mutilating and hurting ourselves. Some do it to purge. Some do it to get out of cell as it’s their only option to exit the cell alive, and some don’t know why.

We are/were husbands, sons, brothers, fathers, etc. who committed a crime and were sent to prison. Neglect, abuse, and further were not part of the sentence yet that is where we are. We’re fucked up back here! That’s what I’m trying to tell you. We need exposure and HELP!

The very instant you take me out of this cell and I breathe the air in the hallway or at medical, normal feelings and behavior returns. But on the wing in the cell is pain and suffering.

Note we have not had our hour out of cell or time in outside rec yards not once this year and only once in last 120 days did some of us get rec.

Food is still in my mind one of the most important issues. While over 50% of our meals are Jonny Sacks, consisting of one peanut butter and jelly accompanied by a 2" x 2" piece of food loaf. The occasions when we do get trays of cold food I still measure it and it only fills a coffee cup partly. The measuring spoons they use apparently aren’t slotted spoons so we get spoon fulls of water. Today I measured with my tablespoon: 3 tablespoons of main course gravy and what looked like cat food, 2 tablespoons of black eyed peas, 2 tablespoons of green beans and a small piece of cornbread. That’s it! Filled my coffee cup half way and didn’t begin to fill my tummy. Other than holiday trays we haven’t seen a dessert on a tray in over 8 months. This is not the diet they request funding for, nor the diet they report to our people that they clam to be feeding us yet it is what we get.

MIM(Prisons) adds: In a recent book on the history of Texas prisons, Robert T. Chase reports in the 1940s that the:

“…near ubiquity of self mutilation had”spread" across the prison system. “Many men had cut off their fingers, mutilated their feet and cut the tendons of their legs in hopes of getting shipped from this institution” [Darrington]… The prisoners claimed that they could not “stand the beatings of the guards and took this way out to keep from being killed in the fields by the guards.”"

As described this was largely in response to the brutality prisoners faced when working in the fields at that time, a practice that is no longer the norm. Today the most brutal conditions prisoners face are usually in solitary confinement. The torture has shifted from primarily physical to primarily psychological. Yet this response of self-mutilation as a way to escape continues.

Solitary confinement is a form of torture used for political repression and social control. This comrade’s report highlights the inhumanity that it brings. The deaths from suicide and beatings is only secondary to the deaths from K2 and fentanyl. We have continued to work to bring exposure to these issues while supporting those organizing against them. The campaign to shutdown the Restrictive Housing Units and all forms of long-term solitary in Texas is an ongoing and high-priority campaign. Texas holds the largest number of people in solitary of any state, and a higher percentage of its prisoners are in solitary than most.

^{NOTES: Robert T. Chase, 2020, We Are Not Slaves: State Violence, Coerced Labor, and Prisoners’ Rights in Postwar America, University of North Carolina Press, p.79-80.}