Under Lock & Key

The one most important problem we have here at Kern Valley State Prison is being allowed access to the law library.

We have a law library with a fire hazard safety code of 25 people max at a time. So there is never more than 20 people allowed in the library. There are only 4 law books total, and 4 CD Rom computers which 20 inmates have to share in a time frame of 3 hour sessions.

You have to take into account that there are 8 buildings on each facility with 160 prisoners in each building, and due to prison over crowding we now have 80 level III gym sleepers illegally sharing a lever IV yard. They can not come out with us due to the fact that they will be sued if one is attacked. But they share our library and visiting room.

So you have 1200 plus prisoners, some of whom are true litigators, sharing a law library that only 20 people can get into at a time. As you can imagine, the waiting list is 2 to 3 months every time. I turned in a request to do some legal research on September 22nd. Here it is 62 days later and I’m still waiting. There are several grievances being circulated on this issue. Administration has proposed to adopt a paging system where we can fill out forms for supplies and have them brought to our cells, but that dose not solve the problem for people who need physical access to seek what they are looking for.

Si, esa clase de país
La Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos aprueba tortura

El problema no es solo Bush. La Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos acaba de aprovar la tortura secreta de un ciudadano Alemán por la Agencia Central de Inteligencia. Los abogados de la administración Bush argumentaron que la tortura fue un “secreto de estado,” y la Corte Suprema no voltio las decisiones de las cortes mas bajas favoreciendo el gobierno sobre la victima torturada.(1) Eso comprueba que no solo es la Corte Suprema desde que las cortes mas bajas estaban envueltas. El problema es Amerikkka, punto.

En Europa, el publco ya sabe sobre el caso de Khaled el-Masri. La linea plateada en esta Corte Suprema sin-decisión es que esto incrementaria tensioón con Alemania. La pequeña burguesía Alemana esta basicamente unida con la pequeña burguesía de los Estados Unidos por una guerra de represión indeceable en contra del Tercer Mundo, pero ahí esta la más débil de las contradicciones o fuerzas que nosotros podemos tomar ventaja aquí, porque los Alemanes y Estadounidences pequeña burguesía no están unidos bajo un estado. Entonces los secretos de un estado arrivan al gasto del otro. El “conflicto de civilazaciones” es propaganda designada para sobrevenir esta clase de problemas.

Una regla basica de los civicos burguesía salió por la ventana, “inocente hasta que se compruebe culpable.” El gobierno militar llega a Afghanistan, dispara a todo lo que se mueve incluyendo el jugador de balon-pie Pat Tillman y el resto de la gente que sobrevive en la escena por cualquer razón es arrastrada hacia Gitmo. La gente quien no soporta los civicos burguesía aprendemos en esculeas por medio de años de entrenumiento asumemos que la Agencia Central de Inteligencia esta todo el tiempo bien y Bush esta todo el tiempo bien, o no hubieron ellos detenido a alguien para empezar, entonces no se necesita allí un proceso. Esto se le llama “Ganga linchadora de Justicia” estando con los Estados Unidos hace largo tiempo.

El antes presidente Jimmy Carter a ahora admitido que los Estados Unidos tortura prisioneros, pero el dice que está es la primera vez en su vida. (2)

El presidente Carter es demasiado clase alta apra saber como es la vida en las prisiones Estadounidences, y que Charles Graner estaba trabajando en la prision de Pennsylvania antes de Abu Ghraib. (3) Si el hubiese estado leyendo MIM Notes, Carter hubiese actuado con Charles Graner antes de a ver llegado a Abu Ghraib.

Si Bush y Cheney no hubiesen tomado control de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia, tortura y observasion domestica ellos mismos, Carter y clases similares podrían ignorar la stituación de vida día tras día para los rangos menores de los oficiales de gobierno tortuando gente de clase baja.

Tenemos un punto de desacuerdo con el expresidente Carter cuando dice que los candidatos Republicanos a la presidencia: “Estan compitiendo el uno con el otro por atraer la extrema derecha, elemento exitadores de guerra en nuestra país, la cual pienso es la minoría de nuestra total población. (2)

Si Carter estuviese bien en su brilloso punto de vista de la mayoría Amerikkkana, sería duro explicar como Bush obtuvo 60 millones de votos en el 2004, un record. La diferencia entre un nacionalista blanco como Carter y MIM es que Carter tiene optimismo sobre la mayoría Amerikana. No lo occurió a él que en cuanto si estuviese bien, el activo 30% tolerado por el inactivo 60% indicaría un enorme configuración opresión racial y nacional. En esta situación, el 30% tomará las decisiones la mayoría de veces. Hasta hoy dia, Bush tiene 30% de soporte sin importar lo que el publico sabe. Esto no es un Watergate trespaso más una guerra de Vietnam. El publico sabe sobre Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, tortura de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia, la matansa de Blackwater etc. aun el aprovamiento de Bush es 30%. La razón es porque ese 30% aprueba la represión monarquistica consistentemente. En algunos condados y estados, esa populación monarquistica es la mayoría.

Democratas redujeron la popularidad de los Republicanos, pero por los gustos de dinero en la guerra y las muertes. Sin los insurrectos de Iraq, los Democrates no podía hacer esto. Los cuestiones quedaría homosexuales, la bandera y Mexicanos.

Los Estados Unidos no es un país libre. Este tortura gente y da razones para mantener secretos de estado tan igual a todos los dictadores de la burguesía del mundo.

What is the effect of a new section, 3005, 3269.1, 3315 and 3341.5 of Article 1.6 of Subchapter 4, Chapter 1 of the Title 15, Division 3 of the CCR (California Code of Regulations) that will be felt by California’s prison population?

This question, which may confuse your average low down convict held captive by this imperialist state, will be answered by one who is incarcerated and both interested and caring about the well being of this prison society, like myself. Sec 3005, 32691, 3315 and 3341.5 are all sections of the California Department of Corrections (CDC) Title 15 Rules and Regulations that have recently been changed, to implement the department’s new behavior control tactic of integrated housing. This is a plan that the secretary of CDC, Mr James E. Tilton published to the public on the date of June 18, 2007 and will attempt to prescribe into prison law in the following manner:

• The insurance that race will not be used as the primary determining factor in housing the department’s inmate population. All inmate housing assignments shall be made on the basis of available information, individual case factors, and objective criteria, to implement an integrated housing plan. It is the intent of the CDC to ensure that housing practices are made consistent with the safety, security, treatment, and rehabilitative needs of the inmate, as well as the safety and security of the public, staff, and institutions.

• The housing plan involves an interview with the inmate, a review of the inmate’s central file, and a review of all available and relevant information. The housing plan will use all available information to determine an inmate’s eligibility for integration and will assign inmates to available and appropriate bed based on their integrated eligibility.

• Implementation of the integrated housing plan will occur over several phases. The first phase will occur in 2007 and will consist of the development of an integrated coding system that will be used to identify each inmates eligibility to integrate. The actual implementation of integrated housing will commence in 2005 at designated facilities such as reception center, and then be phased in statewide commencing in 2009, over a period of several years.

Now I understand that our people of society may take this plan and the implementation of this plan as something greatly needed in California prisons. That is the reason for the CDC claiming that this plan was designed because integration in other states has assisted in the management of gangs and disruptive groups and reduced racial tension. Integration of housing in other states has also assisted with breaking down prejudicial barriers, perceptions and attitudes, promoting increased tolerance of others reflecting community norms.

Wow! With that type of talk you would think that the department is actually making an attempt at changing California’s wicked prison system. Yea right! Take it from a California prisoner, looks can be deceiving. In digging deeper into the core of this matter, one may retrieve some very disturbing news for California’s prisoners. The integrated housing plan is a trap and nothing but it. Although the CDC states that the plan is designed with an overarching strategy for safe implementation and not forced integration, they also state the options for inmates who fail to comply, such as rule violation reports and alternative housing placement.

Non-compliance will be rewarded with a RUR-115 or a stay in either ASU or the SHU until they agree to integrate. Refer to new Title 15 subsection 3269.1 or 3005(c) - It’s not a forced integration, but if you refuse you will be labeled as a non-compliant inmate and dealt with accordingly. Wouldn’t you say that’s real contradictory? I know I would. But then again I’d say everything that the CDC does and says is contradictory! CDC claims this effort and plan is intended to control gang and race wars, but California is one of the most gang infested states there is. About 90% of California prisoners are gang affiliated. [MIM notes: we can not verify this statistic, but we do know that the prison classifies many prisoners as gang affiliated upon entry into the prison simply based on their nationality and birthplace. The prisons then promote tension and conflict between these groups, making it dangerous for them to live in the same areas.]

The department claims that its response to the non-compliant inmates will be the placement of these prisoners into control units known as ASU and SHU housing. But one may fail to realize that the Department of CDCR is limited on its ASU and SHU housing bed and space, therefore they have nowhere to place the masses of those who refuse to integrate. Or at least that’s what they tell us.

California state Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger just recently asked the U.$ Supreme Court for permission and funds to add a couple thousand beds and add on to some of the institutions already built. The CDC knows that with all the prison politics and prison gang warfare, there’s no way in hell that prisoners will accept an integrated housing plan. At least not on the level fours (Maximum Security yards). Therefore they look good to the public when they come saying they need funds to build more control units for the non-compliant inmates who are too violent for general population. When in all actuality what they’re really saying is, give us some money and we’ll use the integrated housing plan as our front and reason to remove all the real brothers who are willing to go toe to toe with them for the cause, from the general population. See they want lay down yessa masters like Jessie Jackson on the yards, so they don’t have to do their jobs and still get paid. So they can shit all over the prison population and not be held accountable for it. If they lock up all the non-compliant inmates then they don’t have to worry about brothers being on their heads for them to do the things in which they are paid to do. They don’t have to worry about so called gangsters and thugs uniting together as a convict structure like in the 60s and 70s with our comrades the Soledad Brothers.

The effect that the integrated housing plan will have on the California prisoners, is the destruction and I mean the total destruction of prison civilization. We think we got it bad now. Let them come with this plan of integration in 2009 and truly lock all those who refuse in the SHU indeterminately. We are going to see how bad prison can really get.

I will soon encounter a new roadblock [in researching censorship lawsuits to help fight the censorship of MIM]. Our law library will be shutting down soon. The library clerks told us that after the 29th of November the law library will only be running for a day or two out of the week. The reason for this, or excuse rather, is that since our gym is due to be emptied out within the next couple of weeks, the population on the yard will be substantially smaller, there is no need for law library to be open every day. Of course this is just an excuse for them not to run the library for us. So most likely the only people allowed inside will be those with “PLU” status, no chance for the rest of us to do any research. However, people are already preparing to draw up 602s and those that are more experienced with the law have promised to pursue the matter. As long as the library remains open, I will hopefully be ready to file the complaint with the district court.

I also want to mention, I just acquired a Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook a few weeks ago. It only instructs prisoners on how to file 1983s. I’ve checked out a couple other similar manuals and this is most certainly the simplest and straight to the point manual I’ve come across, very easy to understand. You can have people download it for free on the internet, or you can write to the National Lawyer’s Guild via a letter and request it for free. For a copy, write to: The Prison Law Project, National Lawyers Guild, National Office, 132 Nassau St, Rm 922, New York, NY 10038. Download it at http://jailhouselaw.org.

We are pretty much on lockdown 24-7 here at Calipatria State Prison. When we get full program we only go out to yard 4 hours per week, and that’s if we are lucky because a lot of the time they come out with all kinds of excuses, and we only end up getting two hours weekly.

There are prisoners who have been here 4 years without getting any assignments (a job or school). I had a job before I arrived here at this “institution” (like they wanted this to be called, instead of what it is - a prison cages for animals, not fit for human beings.) Anyway, I had a job with a paid number which was about $20 a month, and that’s if I work a full month. Most of the time I don’t work the full month. Anyway, I asked my counselor what’s going on with a job. I said I’ve been here 3 months already and he says, why are you asking that, there are a lot of people here who have been here five years without any assignment. That surprised me because I’ve been in prison for over 12 years and I have seen other prisoners waiting for assignments 3 years at the most, never 5 years.

The situation here is really sad. A lot of us have to wait over a month to get called to see the doctor, and that’s in an emergency. So imagine those that are not emergencies. They only have one doctor for everything and one dentist and we are over 1000 prisoners. The showers look like 1940s showers, they have rat holes in them. My cellie almost broke his foot on one of them last time.

You know what’s the worse part of it? When we complain to these Correction Officers, they just say to put in a 602, which is a citizen complaint form, supposedly to fix problems in here on behalf of prisoners. The prisoners hardly win 602s. They either end up losing your 502 or rejecting your 602 because you didn’t follow a proper rule. They will do this or that and at the end nothing gets done.

In this law library you are not even allowed to make copies of legal documents. I recently went to the law library because innocence project is getting my case to see if I can prove innocence in court. They sent me these questionnaires in which they needed copies of my opening brief and reply brief. So I went to the law library to get copies. They stopped me on the spot, telling me I cannot get copies. I asked her how we can prove our innocence when we are getting doors slammed in our faces. She just said “that’s the policy.”

Comrades of MIM, allow me to speak from the eyes and ears on the inside speaking out. In the last 10 years I read a lot of MIM publications and I know and talk to a lot of prisoners/captives who read MIM publications and other anti-U.S. prison and anti-U.S. plutocratic publications.

We all see the “why” and the “who” and the “cause” but no one is doing anything! The whole world has been taken hostage on the capitalistic plutocratic slave ship. The proletariat cows and sheep and some of the bourgeois mule class suffer and complain but they do nothing to fight or undermine this unfettered capitalistic plutocratic slave ship that has shanghaied this planet.

In the background I hear the outcry of the Blacks and Hispanics and the indigenous peoples voicing their complaints of the exploitation and oppression of the U.S. prison machines on their peoples.

Take a video camcorder to the front of a u.s. prison at shift change and see how many Blacks, Latinos and Indigenous people are wearing badges and Nazi uniforms. They far out number the whites in California. Everyday I witness a Black man handcuff and lock a Black man in a cage. Everyday I see a Latino pepper spray poison onto a Latino man. Why?! For that stinking U.$. dollar! For the great crumbs that fall from the capitalist imperialist plutocrats table.

We need to fight fire with fire: A U.$ prisoners union? This union could take dues and invest them to generate revenue to fight the system. It could call for a two year strike - a two year moratorium on all prison commissary, all prison special purchases, all phone calls. A prison union could give a voice and presentation in the state capitals. It could gain prisoners the right to vote and form a voting block against all these u.s. corrupt judges, lawyers and politicians.

The one thing there is an abundance of in the U.$. prison systems is “division.” Division created by the capitalistic plutocratic controlled media machine. Division created by the mind poisoning Kool-Aid of the CDCR and CCPOA union mafia. The CCPOA has over 35,000 union dues payers. A California prisoners union could have 200,000 union dues payers.

It’s time to punch holes into the hull and sink this U.$. capitalistic, plutocratic, imperialist slave ship.

MIM(Prisons) replies: Prisoners interested in organizing should check out United Struggle from Within - the MIM(Prisons)-led group fighting the criminal injustice system from behind the bars.

On October 25th I was led into a room they call a Management Cell. It has a sleeping area where you sleep naked with a thing they call a hard blanket, and you sleep on the floor, no mattress. The pigs brought me from another block and they put me in central ad seg (administrative segregation). Then they put me in the Management Cell. While they were in the cell they cut my clothes off me, then they put me in leg shackles and put the cuffs (hand and ankle) on so tight that I started to bleed. This is what it’s like here, the pigs are doing bad things that hurt prisoners.

On March 27, 2006 the MV staff gassed me (pepper spray) to take from me my sealed, outgoing legal mail. That gassing nearly killed me. And it was obviously a violation of the law - as well as TDCJ’s use of force plan. That’s when MV started blocking all of my outgoing mail and most of my incoming mail. And the TDCJ mucky-mucks I could reach through the very flawed grievance process did nothing to stop it.

MV is way out of control - with many folks having their mail blocked; and many folks (like myself) having our visits blocked because staff like Warden Black herself were lying to our visitors that they couldn’t come see us. Even lawyers were leaving their visits blocked - but, you can’t count on lawyers to do a damn thing! And you can’t count on cops anywhere to do a damn thing right - just to be misogynist, racist thugs.

Let me begin this summary stating that this institution is and has been overcrowded. The actual count it is supposed to hold escapes me, but I am very sure it has been exceeded by 2000. The overpopulation is very apparent since we now are stacked on triple bunk beds which were once doubles. The gymnasiums have been converted into housing units which hold up to 200+ people in an area designed for full court basketball. The inmate to correctional guard ratio is around 50 to 1. As a result of the overpopulation, there have been many infections caused by poor sanitation and the close quartering. Infections range from Staph to ringworm and even tetanus. Not to mention the fact that the facility was built in an area that has a high rate of valley fever.

The food is meager, but I really shouldn’t complain since there are far worse prisons in other countries. Protein makes few appearances in this diet. Medical has been slightly revived in the last few months since the federal government’s threats to come in and clean the place up. A lot of people look forward to them coming in, but we will have to wait and see if they really change anything. Luckily, mail here isn’t heavily censored, but things often change quickly around here.

One of the things I have noticed is the fact that this prison houses a lot of lifers. Now, you would wonder why does this prison accept so many lifers, but it is easily observed when you see the work rosters for PIA (Prison Industry Authority). They employ a large number of lifers to work in their factories for small wages. In facility II, where I currently reside, we have the furniture factory where the inmates make furniture for resale to the state. Where these profits go, no one knows. Information is kept and rarely shared with the prison population, causing a lot of frustration and uncertainty.

This is just a brief summary to outline some of the conditions that we live in. A lot of the prison population states that these conditions have been getting worse. We remain vigilant for any improvements.

I must say that I am indeed a prisoner who is against the hegemonic domination of Amerika over nations and I believe imperialism is the primary struggle to fight again. I believe that the Amerikkkan injustices system is the most fascistic aspect in amerikkkan society and is a tool perpetuating national oppression and social control. I indeed want to see stronger organization and unity against Amerikkkan domination. The USW seems to be a major need and must to the brothas and sistas locked behind these bars nationwide. Because I indeed understand that knowledge is power, and without it you are weak. And right now the prisoners of California are real weak (but only to the oppression of this enslavement). We need real live educational resources that’ll teach the forwardance of this struggle against the “free and almighty land of Amerikkka,” and you can beta believe they aren’t going to give it to us. That’s why we have to take it and pass it on, and enforce this revolutionary lit at all times, while at the same, realizing the following.

It’s known to the mass populations of California Department of Corrections that IGI (Institution Gang Investigator) and ISU (Institution Security Unit) are not trying to let prisoners become educated on a real level, because it’ll have us all united, and we know here in California that’s against everything they stand for (which is the oppression of us and all our families.) California has a Gang Validation law that gives these two prison agencies the authority to hand out indeterminate SHU terms to prisoners who they believe to be involved in a prison gang (such as the Black Guerrilla Family, Nazi Low Riders, Mexican Mafia, etc.)

Take notice that I said “believe”, versus “are”, in a prison gang. Now these are indeed actual prison gangs that are still in existence to this day, but they are also labels placed on inmates who are politically active in trying to educate the general population. With one of the set labels, they are justified (on paper) when they throw you under the prison (indeterminately) and forget about you. If resources provide it, look up the case of Steve M. Castillo vs. Edward S. Alameida Jr in the US District Court of the Northern District of California, case number C-94-2847-MJJ-JCS. It will show you in black and white how they do it.

At the moment I’m in the SHU and I’m in a cell by myself. I try to use this time of solitude to really, really focus on educating my mind about this struggle we all face. Although a lot of brothers on the main lines (general population) are afraid of that validation lawn, and therefore lay down to the oppression when they fail in their duty to preach the real to those who are blind and are dying for their help. I’d rather go out on my feed than on my knees any day. Although I’m young in age, teach me and I’ll indeed teach them.

If we properly prepare for the battle, then we know who we’re up against and can be ready. Don’t be quick to shout out who you’re with and what you’re about, because as I said “divide and conquer” is one of their tactics and it has worked well. That’s the reason for the Inmate Task Force (ITF), rats and infiltrators who play the ears to and for the CIA/FPI/ATF wannabes and prevent the educating of the blind behind bars.

They understand that education is knowledge and knowledge is power. That’s why [our literature] is censored and rejected when being sent through mail. They say it is a threat towards the safety and security of the institution. Wow! And that’s on paper? What happened to the land of the free? As human beings, weather we’re incarcerated or not, in this country we are appointed civil rights. We gotta start standing up together and demand those rights. I believe through United Struggle from Within (USW) we can get that done.