Federal Prisons

Estoy escribiendo este articulo para corroborar y animar a mis compañeros presos que apelen la negación de la publicación de la revista Under Lock & Key. No se rindan en la lucha por nuestros derechos. Al no apelar la negación les está despojando la oportunidad a otros presos de recibir la revista ya dicha que muchos disfrutan leer.

Estoy recluido en la sección de “máxima custodia” de una granja penal de alta seguridad en Tejas. Siempre nos están quitando nuestros derechos aquí en “la custodia máxima”. No sé decir sobre la populación en general, pues nunca he legado esta ahí, debido al acoso constante de los cerdos a cargo aquí. Sin embargo, estoy seguro que es como cualquier otra prisión, ¿ las cosas no han cambiado tanto, verdad?

Estoy restringido a una celda de dos hombres, 24 horas al día sin ningún movimiento. Todo me traen a mí. ¿ Qué privilegio, no ? No me siento muy privilegiado. Se nos permite recreo sólo cuando el personal desea regresar a sus puestos para trabajar. Si no estas bajo restricción de recreo, puedes salir una vez a la semana. Pero si estas bajo restricción, y la mayoría aquí en “custodia máxima” lo estamos, sólo puedes ver “la yarda” una vez cada dos mes. Recibimos las mismas excusas que estoy seguro todos los presos han escuchado: que estamos escasos de personal, que nos falta la mano de obra. Aunque aquí, ultimadamente se ha debido “a la neblina” que según ellos dicen es un riesgo de seguridad. La yarda de recreo para los presos en “custodia máxima” está dividida en seis jaulas bajo un techo de concreto. ¿ Cómo es que la neblina posa un riesgo en esta situación ? Para mí, es puro verbo para quitarnos nuestros derechos y esconderlos bajo la excusa de un “riesgo a la seguridad”. Lo que me trae a mi punto central: tenemos que seguir luchando por nuestros derechos.

El 24 de Febrero 2011, me notificó la oficina de correo que mi ejemplar de ULK fue negado y que no lo iba a recibir. La razón que me dieron fue que “la página 10 del ejemplar contenía material de naturaleza racial”. ¿ Ahora a quien le están violando los derechos ? ¿ Qué pasó con “la libertad de expresión” en los Estados Unidos ? También había una casilla marcada que decía: “El ejemplar contiene material que una persona razonable podría interpretar que fue escrito con el propósito de comunicar información que podría romper con el sistema de prisiones a través de huelgas, motines y actividades en grupo que posan un riesgo”. ¿Suena como otro pretexto barrido bajo de la alfombra de “riesgos a la seguridad”, no?

A pesar de estar encerados, todavía tenemos derechos, pero solamente aquellos por los que luchamos. Cuando te pregunten, ¿ quieres apelar esta negación ?, siempre hazlo, si no por ti, hazlo por los demás. No se puede ganar nada si no se lucha.

I’m writing to enlighten you of the new millennium oppression going on in Pelican Bay short-corridor. Since 2006 over 210 prisoners are being housed here unjustly by IGI (the gang task force) AKA “Green Wall” which is known to utilize prisoners who will debrief against other prisoners. Their inhuman treatment towards prisoners who will not lie and become false informers for IGI “Green Wall” helps keep the short-corridor program of oppression functioning.

We have been placed in short-corridor Group D, falsely labeled as gang members and housed here isolated for non-disciplinary actions. We are not allowed Group D privileges; the short-corridor has its own set of rules structured by IGI. They have no oversight and are allowed to be inhuman towards prisoners who don’t believe in their devilish propaganda! We understand we are in prison, we are serving our time disciplinary-free, all we are asking for is fairness. Below are just a few of many reasons why on July 1 2011 the short-corridor and SHU will go on a food strike to protest our inhuman isolation.

1. If we must be placed in this short-corridor let it be for disciplinary actions we have done.

2. IGI must stop the abuse of their power to manipulate/intimidate prisoners to falsely accuse other prisoners of being so-called gang members to justify their inhuman objective.

3. We must be allowed to receive all of Group D privileges, especially us in the short-corridor who have not done anything to warrant inhuman isolation.

4. We must be allowed to at least send our family members a picture. It’s been over 18 years since I have sent my family a picture, and other prisoners go even longer!

5. We must be able to talk to family on the phone. It is important that we have family support and help on personal rehabilitation.
   

I would like to ask if you can help us spread the word and on July 1 2011 have a candlelight vigil in support of us and to show solidarity in our struggle, or any other such act that may be able to help bring attention to our conditions.

I was recently moved to the gulag of the state and it’s real tuff here. They’re shorting people on shower soap like it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Food portions done drop majorly, but not too many people write anything up or do anything about it. If you not standing on door for shower you will not shower, which is not worth going to anyway because you only get 30 seconds. When laundry comes on Mondays, if you’re not up 4-5 a.m., you will not get to change clothes. To top things off, you can’t flush your own toilet, so sometimes you sit in that stink for hours. Just to wake people they flush them in the middle of the night. This shit crazy, but people lay down to it.

MIM(Prisons) responds: In California we’re seeing years of work grieving to the administration, while writing to outside media like Under Lock & Key, leading to a growing unity among comrades in some of the roughest prison conditions. We encourage our comrades in Florida, and elsewhere, to launch a coordinated grievance campaign to unite their individual voices and become stronger.

I’m currently residing at Florida State Prison (FSP). FSP is a Close Management institution for prisoners with alleged disciplinary issues. The truth is that FLDOC intends to keep the entire population on maximum lock down! I say this because there are many changes that have taken place since 2007, when I first came to DOC. Most camps now don’t allow all prisoners to rec at the same time. Each dorm has specific days to go out. The same rule applies for canteen.

Youthful Offenders camp in Brevard is only allowed to purchase $10 a week on canteen. Supposedly this is to keep down extortion amongst the inmates, but if so then why do they continue to raise canteen prices? Ten dollars a week is not even enough to buy what you need in today’s society. This is just DOC’s way of showing who’s in control.

Here at FSP we can only have 2 pairs of blue-and-whites. We trade them once a week for supposedly clean ones. Just last Monday I received a T-shirt that was damn near brown! They gave me half a towel and half a blanket! We get toilet paper every 10 days and a little motel-size bar of soap once a week. My ceiling leaks water from all the rain, and every time someone takes a shower! I’ve filed grievances but have yet to receive a response.

I’ve just finished reading ULK 19 and the formal announcement of the United Front for Peace in Prisons initiative, of which my organization is a supporter of and contributor to. And what makes this initiative fundamentally different from others which preceded this is that it was planned, struggled over and totally put together by the different lumpen organizations and individuals without the interference and influence of the bourgeois media and leaders. So it is ours to push and develop.

Why do we want and need peace? Because we are the ones doing the dying, suffering and long term prisyn sentences. Because we will never be able to determine our own destines until we can truly know and understand who are our real friends and real enemies.

Being serious about ending oppression means being serious about studying the world around us and learning from history.(1) When we examine the past peace efforts, we find that the lumpen leaders involved in them, for the most part, while demonstrating the right words, still had not effectively destroyed their colonial criminal mentality. And thus, were easily manipulated and co-opted by our bourgeois capitalist enemies.

Using Wallace “Gator” Bradley as an example, he went from high-ranking Disciple, to playing politician with the reformist Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition, to having dinner in the White House with President Bill Clinton.

If we truly believe in what we say, then we all have to be accountable for the success and the failure of these efforts. We must be highly disciplined and forever vigilant and conscious of the fact that certain elements in our society or social environment do not want to see us succeed.

Understand this comrades: The war against us is real. And the only doubt about that is within your mind, and in the routine and nonchalant way you go about responding to the war effort.

If you have a critique of our efforts, want to help move them forward or feel your groove is not represented, then step up. Don’t talk shit!

The persyn who stands upon the corner of the path and points the way and does not go is just a pointer. And a block of word can do the same.

Notes: See ULK3, Fearlessness, Scientific Strategy and Security

I want to make a comment about the united front. I’ve been trapped inside this system for 15 years. And I’ve always been for my people and against our oppressors - the united snakes of lies. As you might know, us indigenous people have been subject to deception, murder, and assimilation. It’s been a problem for my people - Dakota-Santec Sioux - since our first encounter with these snakes. And to this day it’s still a problem for all indigenous people across this land we call turtle island. So until all the atrocities against my people have been righted, we will always be that thorn in the side of them snakes. Because we don’t forgive or forget, we’ll always remember the ones who have given up their lives for our struggle. For us, our wars have never ended, because as long as there’s a breath in a few we’ll always stand and fight for what is right.

I write that to let you know where we stand in the struggle. We will always be at war with the government of the united snakes.

Although we believe in the struggle, we also believe that the only ones who can fight our fight, is US (indigenous people), for history has shown that we can’t rely on anybody but our own. For we are the ones who can truly relate to how much it means to us. And how we are effected by all the wrongs that have been done to us. Because I believe our struggle is different - we struggle for survival! We fight not only for sovereignty, but for preservation of our ways of life (language, spirituality, and our culture).

MIM(Prisons) responds: We agree with this writer that the struggles of different oppressed nations are not all the same. The First Nations are in a struggle for survival as a small minority within a land dominated by an oppressor nation, while the struggle of oppressed nations in the Third World are battles of the majority against the minority. There are many differences, and these must be respected.

The goal of a United Front (for instance, the United Front for Peace in Prisons) is to bring together different groups against a common enemy without forcing those groups to subsume their struggles and beliefs into a larger organization. A United Front recognizes the importance of independence to its member organizations. Those groups need only unite around a common cause and principles but can take what actions they deem appropriate, and can continue to pursue their own organizing and other struggles.

We see the importance of separate nation vanguard organizations within the U.$., and so we agree with this comrade on the importance of indigenous people fighting their own fight. But we see the United Front as a crucial element of support for these organizations, bringing them together to fight their common enemy of imperialism.

As a member and a strong representative of the ALKQN, I would like to thank ECC.1:1 for understanding/recognizing that the Time for Peaceful Revolution article printed in ULK 17 left more questions than answers.

This particular attempt for a peaceful revolution reminds me of a specific religion claiming to be the most righteous group, but then turn around and bash another religion, spending all their time and energy preaching hatred.

As the Nation Man that I am, I’m obligated to correct and respond to the Komrade’s article, in an attempt to enlighten and educate those that do not have a proper understanding of the ALKQN. Because a real righteous person will not only strive for perfection, but will also take time to help, hope or pray that the next person will get on the right path.

I am very well aware of, and advocate, revolutionary criticism. I encourage all types of criticism from all walks of life. However, in order to give a positive or negative criticism, it is important that one has the correct knowledge of the subject they are criticizing, and from reading the komrade from New York’s article, it’s obvious that not only does he not know the true purpose of Kingism, but he also failed to build on a peaceful revolution.

The ALKQN was founded in 1940, not by Lord Gino Gustavo, but by (RIP) King Gentle. The five principles/points of the Holy Crown are Love, Honor, Obedience, Sacrifice and Righteousness. The purpose of the ALKQN is to promote prosperity and freedom through love and understanding to all oppressed people of the world; to train our people to become aware of our social and political problems and of the conditions that we are subjected to live under as a third world people; to provide the aid and way in our search for peace and unity; and to promote and encourage educational and vocational learning in order to train our people in the art of survival.

In the early stages of Kingism, the title was just Almighty Latin Kings Nation. It wasn’t until the sixth decade of the twentieth century that the title ALKN changed to Almighty Latin Kings and Queens Nation. The ALKQN is a global organization with chapters all around the world, and to say that New York was the first state to recognize and acknowledge our beautiful sisters as Queens is just false. Diana Rodriguez, who was born and raised in Chicago, played a major role in the 60s for the sisters in the struggle and the Nation.

Although this Komrade expressed personal feelings, which created more confusion then solutions, I do believe some good came out of this publication, because it definitely caught the attention of many Komrades in New Jersey’s Department of Corrections. It is definitely time for peaceful revolution, because through violence alone we as lumpen organizations will only achieve but so much and get but so far in our quest for liberation, peace and justice.

Today’s struggle and oppression is not so much as it was in the 50s, 60s and 70s. In that time we faced a more physical oppression, with police brutality and so forth. Not to say that police brutality does not exist today, because it certainly does. However, in today’s materialistic society, we face a more psychological aspect of oppression. And after being pushed and beaten so many times, one just pushes back with the use of violent defense. But when faced with psychological oppression, how can we expect one to fight back when one isn’t mentally strong enough to resist such an oppressive tactic? And for this very reason, we must create a peaceful revolution, and education is the key that will liberate us from our mental shackles.

I’m sure the Komrade from New York is trying to point out the fact of the ever growing problem of police collaboration, which is a major problem in our quest for progress in any lumpen organization. However, I would like to add that one must not live life with resentment, as it is a proven fact that it can eventually take a toll on one’s life.

In conclusion, I accept all feedback for a peaceful revolution. I believe all lumpen organizations should come together in unity and stand firm in our quest for peace, justice, freedom, progress and prosperity.

ECC.1:1 of ALKQN/PLF responds: To the representative of the ALKQN-NJDOC sub-region and furthermore to all members of the lumpen organization (LO) in question, the following “feedback” is for all of us, as natural allies, together, to chew on and digest:

First and foremost I want to stipulate that it is the essence of the following statement around which future dialogue should be provoked throughout this nucleus of ours. In the above response the representative states that “it is important that one has the correct knowledge of the subject they are criticizing, and from reading the comrade from New York’s article [see ULK 17 for said article, titled Time for a Peaceful Revolution, which was written by a third party and criticized by both the above representative and myself], it is obvious that… he [does] not know the true purpose of Kingism…” The representative goes on to address certain characteristics of our organization such as the stated purposes of our organization as listed in our organization’s Chapter Constitution; the principles listed therein, as well; and a bit of history concerning the constantly debatable year of our founding and just exactly who or whom founded the same. This statement should be used as the stepping stone for our developing discussion due to the perpetually subconscious question mark so many of us “representatives” have in relation to such things as our “true” history (accounts vary depending upon where and by whom you were coronated). Similarly, and more importantly, we lack a clear and concise political line drawn from the KM/C(King Manifesto and Constitution) and upheld by some form of a centralized body made accessible to the entire organization itself, as opposed to the conceptual authority on a national level that today, for all intents and purposes, seems to be more illusory than real.

In the above response the representative (and I use this title respectfully) brings up the more violent, defensive tactics of the (North Amerikan?) struggle of the 50s, 60s and 70s, in the face of their (perceptually) physical oppression of “that” time. Without getting into the stark and violent physical oppression being inflicted upon the people of the Middle East (Third Worlders who constitute “our people” as dictated by the KM/C and therefore constitute the very real, physical oppression we are experiencing, as a whole, right now, today…) I will attempt, for the most part, to construct my address around the (assumably) ideological justifications of the above author’s advocacy for a “peaceful revolution” as a representative of the LO in question, and do so from the starting point of a very interesting section of the KM/C itself which, I might add, by the way, was written to serve as nothing more consequential than a “guide.”

For (s)he who knows and knows that (s)he knows… the section of the KM/C titled “Fearlessness” is almost a verbatim, word-for-word quote of Mohandas Gandhi (see Gandhi, Selected Writings) who was the progenitor of “Satyagraha,” or non-violence – the “peaceful revolution,” if you will. But does this mean that we, as members of the LO from which the KM/C was written, should all of a sudden and wholeheartedly adopt the methods of Satyagraha? No! And the reasons are multifaceted. True, an in-depth research of the KM/C will discover a plethora of influences, all related to “revolution” in one form or another. Remember, the KM/C is but a “guide,” a field-manual, if you will, of sorts. And for those of us passing before the Turning Wheel of Change who think we know what Gandhi’s message fully entailed, but don’t (and who would assume a certain indication as a result of the above revelation), here’s another quote of his, and one to dissipate any illusions, for these are his words as well:

He who cannot protect himself or his nearest and dearest or their honour by non-violently facing death, may and ought to do so by violently dealing with the oppressor. (ibid)

Ahora, let’s take another revolutionary/historical influence. While Gandhi was indeed a pacifist by all means, Ernesto “Che” Guevara was an advocate of armed struggle, bar none. And where exactly does any portion of his particular philosophy fit into the teachings of the KM/C? How about within and throughout the very core of the KM/C itself? In reading Guevara’s Socialism and Man in Cuba one will not only find the New Man - New King reproduction but the actual blueprint (pre-, pending-, post-revolutionary war consciousness of the individual) for the class-based three stages of “Reyismo”: primitive, to conservative, to either an accomplice to the anti-King system or a New King (or Queen), which in even more political terms is read as lumpen-proletariat, to proletariat, to either labor aristocrat/national bourgeoisie or Third World internationalist/revolutionary. But does this mean that we should all of a sudden and wholeheartedly (blindly) adopt the methods of, say, “focoism,” Che’s theory that the masses will be inspired to overthrow the oppressor’s regime at the guerilla’s declaration and launch war against the same? No!

What then, exactly, does all this mean? Gandhi or Che? Armed struggle or Satyagraha? Violence or non??? Neither. What it means – and this is the culmination of my address to, and call for, further dialogue amongst the Subjects of Decision to whom this appeals – is that 1) yes, “the time for revolution is at hand… a revolution of the mind, the revolution of knowledge, a revolution that will bring freedom to the enslaved;” but that 2) this “revolution of the mind,” this “revolution of knowledge,” is neither simply just a polar shift from one extreme to another (i.e. violence to non-violence) nor evident in the rising of ones GPA, per se, but an actual, dynamic, radical and revolutionary change in our world outlook to the “Almighty Eye” that now sees through the lens of dialectical and historical materialism; and 3) that this, that or any other form of “revolution” to be applied at any given time or place (all things considered and compared) should and must be determined not by any one particular representative, capítulo and/or region of the Federation alone, submerged within the context of their own reality, but by an organized body of professional revolutionaries, a vanguard party of the intelligentsia, the political cadre studied in the science of Marxism and found throughout the entire Nation/LO in question, as a whole.

Revolution is both ever-pliable and omnipresent, so such questions as “violence or non-violence” should not be asked in search of a cure-all method or application of resistance but, at the very least, should be considered based upon the objective and subjective conditions of any given situation, place and/or time of the entire movement, as a whole, in flux. Yet, before we can even begin to ask “when and where,” we must first ask “by whom and how” should such decisions be both determined and detailed for either the execution and or debate of all those considered, and in accord? The principal question then boils down to this: a Leninist vanguard-style political party within the LO in question (and this could mean any LO in question) or a continuation of confusion, uncertainty, mis (and a lack of) communication and both the overwhelming atmosphere of counter-revolutionary conduct and the ever discouraging counter-revolutionary calls from those “above.”

The debate has already begun within our particular LO alone (as well as within others) and is active in a number of states. To those of the ALK(Q)N who are familiar with Leninist party-building and his work titled What is to be Done? the call for your sanctioning power, the weapons and shields that are your words and ideas - the power to create - is being sounded. I look forward to pushing this conversation forward with more of you within the pages of Under Lock & Key (ULK).

And so I close, with a bon-apetite, and both a special appreciation for the response made by the representative above and a complimentary mint to top things off, served up by Chairman Mao himself, so as to give those first-time ULK readers something further to consume:

We are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war, but war can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun.

The show centers on a seemingly friendly encounter with space aliens who visit planet Earth. The space aliens first arrive bearing gifts of advanced medicine, superior technology and their trademark logo of “we come in peace.” The show also focuses on a small, infant underground movement of humyns committed to unmasking the seemingly friendly space aliens for what they really are: hostile space invaders or intergalactic imperialists who have in all reality begun an undercover invasion of planet Earth, which most humyns either don’t realize is taking place or are too busy being bought off to admit.

The united front portrayed in this show was started by an FBI agent assigned to the anti-terrorist unit; a liaison to the space alien delegation; a rogue priest; a space alien who’s committed species suicide by coming over to the side of the humyns; and a so called “terrorist” who’s wanted by the “international community” for supplying Third World liberation movements with weapons and guerrilla warfare training.

As a matter of fact, FBI agent Erica Evans was first tasked with capturing the wanted “terrorist.” However, once she finds out what the space aliens are really up to by spying on underground anti-space-alien organizations with methods straight out of COINTELPRO, combined with her own near-death experience with the intergalactic imperialists, she decides that it’s time to form an opposition to the invaders. So along with the alien species traitor Ryan Nichols and the rogue priest, they begin to seek out and court the wanted “terrorist.” Despite the FBI agent’s hate for this “terrorist” she knows that if this anti-space-imperialist movement is gonna be for real, then the humyn species is gonna need all the tactical assistance it can get, even if that means hooking up with her enemies.

This rag-tag band of individuals eventually unites to re-establish the then-defunct Fifth Column, an anti-space-imperialist movement originally founded by empathetic space aliens who committed species suicide in order to protect the prior oppressed species whom the parasitic space imperialists enslaved and wiped out.

In real life, the historical Fifth Column were Nazi infiltrators in several European states such as Poland, France and even the USSR, leading up to and during WWII. Their main objective was to sabotage and wreck government and military institutions for the purpose of softening the ground in preparation for Nazi attacks. The real Fifth Column was most notably brought to light by the Soviet Union’s purge trials of 1937-38 which Stalin ordered to smash the fascist traitors. The Fifth Column depicted in the TV series is an anti-space-imperialists movement instead of pro-Nazi.

In the most recent episode the insurgent rogue priest known as Father Jack has become conflicted by the humyn death and collateral damage, so much so that he begins to endanger the movement by refusing to adhere to the Fifth Column’s version of democratic centralism when it comes to the group’s mission. Instead of kicking him out of the movement, they subject him to a sorry excuse of party criticism and then keep him around based on his laurels.

In countless other episodes the importance of the individual and the individual’s needs are stressed to the point that it leaves the impression that if any one of the Fifth Column leaders doesn’t get his or her way then the movement will suffer irreparable damage to the point that its very existence will be put in peril. While leaders are certainly important to any movement this show takes the meaning and importance of a leader to a whole different level.

In recent episodes they’ve also shown how the Fifth Column’s small-scale focoist adventures have now inspired many other humyns across the globe to band together and form a larger mass organization of the same name to launch spectacular focoist attacks on the space-imperialists. Little by little however the Fifth Column has begun to land serious blows to the space invaders proving that a united front, though an uneasy and still developing one, does work. While we don’t encourage the focoist approach of armed struggle without consideration of the imperialists’ strength, the humyns on the show are at a tipping point where the space imperialists’ sinister plans would have severe dire consequences if not immediately stopped.

In the original “V” series of the 80s, “V” stood for victory and the mass of humynity eventually came together to launch a protracted guerrilla struggle against the oppressor space imperialists. When that series ended the viewer was left doubting whether the humyns prevailed.

Who knows how this updated version of the series will turn out. In a realistic approach the humyns need to first get their shit right, and instead of launching their spectacular focoist attacks, they need to begin the long arduous task of building public opinion against the invaders to bring the bulk of humynity together for when the real battles begin.

I am interested in filing suit against California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation(CDCR) as well as those in contract with them. I am aiming at their pockets because money seems to be all they understand. I am currently one victim of close to a hundred classified “hispanics” who were targeted by an OCS (Office of Correctional Safety) operation that was launched here in North Folk Oklahoma.

In all, around 80 classified “hispanics” were validated and approximately 150 to 200 Latino prisoners were affected. Our legal property was seized (as well as bibles, etc.) while we were being interviewed handcuffed, in our underwear, totally oblivious to them seizing our legal and religious property.

Those who exercised their constitutional protections against self-incrimination, considering all the elements surrounding this suspect “interview,” were retaliated against by receiving a prison gang validation point for refusing to “interview.”

All prisoners validated had their 1st amendment rights violated, for not one of us were given a meaningful opportunity to be heard at a “required” interview that we must be afforded before IGI can even send our validation pack to OCS for determination. Further, IGI committed fraud by writing/documenting that we did. In addition, the vast majority of our source item(s) used in our prison gang validation do not even meet departmental standards.

Nevertheless, these facts are not enough to overturn our validations through our appeals. Not to mention 95% of us were denied legal library access and legal materials to adequately defend ourselves, nor can this institution facilitate our legal library rights for it is constructed in a way that is physically impossible with regards to the security measures required with the number of ad-segs that resulted from the rogue operation.

I can seriously go on, and on but I think you get a relatively good idea of what we’re up against. So any assistance you may be able to provide in light of my/our situation would be highly appreciated as well.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This is yet another example of the illegal validation practices used to lock prisoners in higher security units based on supposed gang affiliation. Our ongoing fight against Control Units brings out many similar stories. Many of our Latino comrades behind bars are being targeted with mass validations, using evidence as flimsy as receipt of a birthday card, or being seen talking to someone in the yard. This validation leads to lockup in segregation (also known as control units). Filing lawsuits to fight these practices is one part of the struggle, although MIM(Prisons) does not have the legal resources to pursue these lawsuits ourselves.