I was once a subscriber to your monthly newsletter. My last 2
newsletters: Sept-Oct and Nov-Dec 2012 were rejected. The reason given
for the rejection:
“It is dangerously inflammatory in that it advocates or encourages riot,
insurrection, disruption of the institution, violation of department or
institution rules (per Florida DOC rule book Section 33-504.401 F.A.C).”
Sorry for not writing sooner, but I’ve been very busy. Informing you of
why I no longer receive newsletters is not the only reason why I am
writing.
Our living conditions are disgusting. The cleaning chemicals are watered
down to the point where they are not worth using. No bleach is giving to
kill tough germs. In order to get good chemicals we have to pay one of
the prisoners. Here at the annex we have air conditioning. In some of
the dorms the air conditioning is broken. All windows are sealed closed
so there’s no fresh air. The ventilation system is very poor. The state
wants the air conditioning set to 77 degrees, which is hot and does not
keep germs down. Each bunk is about 2.5 feet apart and the head of each
single bunk in the dorm that I am in touches each other, so it’s easy to
get sick from the guy in the other bunk if he’s sick.
Every six months existing prisoners, and every new prisoner, is supposed
to receive new white under clothes and one new blue uniform (new
prisoners). Instead we are issued used clothing upon arrival (boxers
with piss stains or crust marks and boxers made from bed sheets, and
white shirts with holes or bad underarm stains). Prisoners go through
hell and back trying to get new whites every six months. Some of the
clothes look as though they have crawled from under a rock or been in a
knife fight.
Each prisoner is given a fishnet laundry bag to place whites and
personal laundry in. When these clothes are washed the laundry bags are
jammed packed into the laundry to the point where the clothes don’t even
move inside the machine because it’s overloaded. When the clothes do
come back they are no longer white, but look as though they were washed
in rusty water. Towels are cut in half and issued half to each inmate.
No wash rags are given and every 7 days 1 bar of hotel soap is issued
that is good for 1 or 2 showers.
The chow hall is more than just disgusting. It should be closed down.
You either don’t eat and starve yourself to death or eat and take a big
chance on getting bad health problems. Besides the fact that the Florida
Department of Corrections has been serving the cheapest meat and other
food products on the market since 2009, the portion of food that is
served is not the correct portion for a full grown man. Even a child
would ask for more.
The bad thing about it is most of the time the staff members make them
serve with a smaller serving scoops or they water down the food and say
it’s the correct serving. Just one or two hours after each meal you’re
hungry again. Some meals are so small it’s as though you didn’t eat at
all. And if a server doesn’t want to shake the spoon or water down the
food they will be sent to the box for refusing to work for 60 days, and
with 60 days gain time lost. If you don’t have family or friends sending
you money you’re out of luck, which causes people to rob or steal from
the ones who have money.
A lot of times the cups, sporks, and trays do not get washed with
chemicals, only hot water. Sporks are issued out greasy, cups are issued
with dirt around the rim and muck on the inside. Sometimes there are
drops of juice left in cups from the last person and trays are served
with residue from the last man. Sometimes the food is served spoiled and
if you complain they tell you to eat or get out.
The worst thing is that the kitchen is infested with roaches. Most of
the time they come out while the food is served and at night it looks
like a million of them all over the cups, sporks, trays, and cooking
ware. A prisoner got transferred today because he killed about 100
roaches and sent them to the state capital, the health department, and a
news station in a letter marked legal mail. The state called the prison
and ordered that they get the prisoner off the compound.
The correctional officers (C/Os) take shanks, tobacco, cell phones, or
drugs from out of their pockets and place it on the prisoners or in
their lockers or under the bed to get prisoners sent to confinement or
close management for up to a year. When they put prisoners in cuffs and
walk them to confinement the C/Os start yelling “stop resisting” when
the prisoner is not doing anything at all. They shake the prisoner to
make him look like he is resisting so they can slam him on the ground
and kick him, place their knee in the prisoner’s back or have the other
C/Os jump on the prisoner. They take their authority and abuse it. They
take non-violent offenders and turn them into violent offenders. We call
this the Department of Corruption.
I can go on about the poor treatment of medical: getting charged $5 to
get cursed out or get a handful of ibuprofen and told to take lots of
water for almost any medical problem. Or the poor teaching skills in
education by the teachers who say their job is not to teach. Or the
canteen prices that are so high it makes $100 look like $30 and the sale
of items that say “not for individual sale” still being sold
individually.
Prisoners can’t even write a petition without getting charged for trying
to start a riot. We don’t get any help by writing grievance most of the
time. They either go unanswered or some form of retaliation is afflicted
on the prisoner who writes them.
We seek help, answers and true care, custody, and control. Not corrupt,
custody, and control.
MIM(Prisons) responds: These reports of inhumyn conditions, abuse
at the hands of the guards, and
illegal
censorship of anti-imperialist literature are far too common in the
Amerikan Criminal Injustice System. This prisoner writes that he seeks
help and answers. Unfortunately, the answer is that prisons are not
about rehabilitation, or even just custody, they are about social
control. And so this sort of treatment is actually serving the intended
purpose. We won’t be able to change it without a fight, and
fundamentally it won’t change until the system changes. We might win
some small battles for reform though, while building to change the whole
system. And for that we need to pick our fights carefully and build
support as broadly as possible. There is no simple form of help that we
can offer to end this brutality. But we can work with our comrades
behind bars to build a base of support from within, and take on
strategic battles that may win some reforms. We provide educational and
organizing material, and we will support your battles from the outside.
This must all be done in the context of building an anti-imperialist
movement that will fight to eliminate the capitalist system that
requires a criminal injustice system as a tool of social control. Only
when we put in place a government that serves the needs of the vast
majority of the world’s people, rather than one that serves only a small
minority of the wealthy, will we make significant steps towards ending
oppression.
