MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
by a North Carolina prisoner January 2014 permalink
I would like to update
my
article in ULK 33. Our lawsuit against guard assaults on prisoners
has gained attention and helped us win some protections. The pigs in
Raleigh were ordered to install eleven new cameras and extra equipment
to double storage capacity, set up a new policy to investigate assaults,
and the court hired an expert to go into the prison to inspect it to see
if blind spots are covered and other areas have been corrected. They
have also replaced the entire unit staff.
We are now in discovery since the judge refused to throw out the
prisoner beatings lawsuit. This case is getting some press, and the
Herald Sun reported: “The judge made a not so veiled reference
to the practice of punishing inmates by locking them up in dim solitary
units.” The judge said “your case is about sunlight where you claim
there were systematic violations” to the lawyers for the prisoners.
“What we need to do with this lawsuit is not bury it in a deep, dark
hole and proceed with discovery.”(1)
So one damn thing for sure we got a judge on our side. The same way they
have taken from us (a little at a time) we all can do the same to them.
It’s just a matter of team work.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This is a good example of a winnable court
battle that will result in some improvements in safety for prisoners.
But it will not stop the inhumane abuse that continues throughout
prisons in North Carolina. This is an ongoing contradiction of our fight
against the criminal injustice system at this stage: we take on
reformist battles to try to improve the conditions under which our
comrades suffer, but we know that these reforms offer no more than minor
adjustments to a system that is based on the oppression and suffering of
those locked within.
It is ironic that the prisoners in North Carolina have to go to court to
fight for their own safety within prison, while the state’s
justification for every repressive act is “safety” (including North
Carolina’s excuse for censoring Under Lock & Key for over
three years straight). This exposes the reality of the criminal
injustice system: a brutal tool of social control that endangers the
safety of all who are captured in its broad nets. We need to take
advantage of reform battles like this one, both to gain some breathing
room for our comrades and to educate others and build unity. We can’t
end the abuse until we eliminate the criminal injustice system, but
these reformist battles are important steps along the way in our
ultimate fight against imperialism as a whole.
I could not help but to be moved by the article
Ride
or Die in the Nov/Dec 2013 ULK. That’s where it is at.
Organized groups recognizing their potential to solve the problems
within our communities. This is something them folks (pigs) can’t or
won’t do. Gangs are not the problem by itself. It is the ignorance of
some of their members, mainly because a lack of education of their
origin as an organization before the feds infiltrated and caused
problems from within. As long as they oppose each other the
establishment does not have to worry. Inside the Florida Department of
Corrections (FL DOC) there are many examples of the oppression and
violation of basic rights that lack of unity causes.
The state of Florida issues a pair of Croks (plastic sandals) for state
issued shoes, despite 30 and 40 degree weather. FL DOC does not care if
your feet are froze numb while they force you on the rec yard in the
morning. Likewise with your hands, no gloves are issued or sold and some
institutions do not allow prisoners to have their hands in their pockets
to keep them warm. You are told to take your hands out your pockets by
someone who is wearing a wool coated jacket, with woolen gloves, and a
100 dollar pair of boots.
Cheap artificial meat is being served to prisoners. This meat causes
constipation and other health problems. Prisoners who choose not to eat
it will have to eat beans on the regular as the alternative. The monthly
menu FL DOC posted on the internet is a front for deceit. The chicken,
turkey baloney, sausage, and hot dogs are the only meals that are partly
real meat. I mean the chicken is real but everything else is processed
and artificial. The meals served consist of the same thing they just
have different names. The food is poorly cooked on a lot of occasions.
The artificial meat TVP (texture vegetable protein) that was served some
years back was stopped after prisoners in Florida worked with prisoners
in other states to fight back. They knew TVP was was not sufficient to
meet the dietary requirement, but the prisons will do anything they are
allowed until someone stops them.
Prisoners receive a roll of toilet paper every 10 days, which is not
enough for an adult. And upon expiration of the toilet paper you are
told you will be supplied as needed. But how can you be supplied when
there is none to supply.
These are just a few examples other than the regular harassment and
abuse of authority. Anything that prisoners do other than kiss and lick
boots is a disturbance to them. When writing up these issues the
authorities answer the grievance with a statement about what the rule
states, but it will not get enforced. I am speaking for those who can’t
afford toilet paper. So they are forced to hustle.
This violation of our basic rights, and of many rules of the prison
itself, is exactly what happens when there is no unity. In Florida it is
time somebody stands up inside prison and outside against their courts.
I am trying to inform people of the
United
Front. Ride or Die. We need another “Attica” to happen here in
Florida.
MIM(Prisons) adds: As with the original Ride or Die article, this
prisoner provides compelling examples for why the United Front for Peace
work is important. Lumpen Organizations in prisons can come together and
provide the leadership for broad unity against the criminal injustice
system. This unity will lay the basis for a strong anti-imperialist
movement.
by a North Carolina prisoner January 2014 permalink
Two recent stories in Durham, North Carolina show a clear pattern of law
enforcement and the judicial system overstepping its boundaries. On 15
December 2013, officer Markeith Council, a Wake County Jailer, was found
guilty of “involuntary manslaughter,” after he slammed a prisoner on his
head, not once, but twice.(1) The evidence showed that the prisoner, who
was unarmed, and weighed less than half that of the 290 lb Council, was
unconscious after initially hitting the concrete floor. The autopsy
showed a severe laceration to the prisoner’s skull, and several crushed
vertebrae in his neck. This prisoner was incarcerated for an open
container, drug paraphernalia, and a failure to appear, crimes that
apparently now carry a death sentence.
The officer was only sentenced to a term of 90 days, and will spend all
of his time in protective custody, no doubt receiving special privileges
from former co-workers.
In the second story, a Durham teen, Jesus “Chuy” Huerta, was shot to
death while his hands were cuffed behind his back in the back of a
police car, in police custody. The teen was shot in the head, after
being searched by the officers, and not found to be carrying a weapon.
Here’s the kicker: the police investigation determined that the teen
shot himself in the side of the head while handcuffed in the back of the
car. The reports were only released after protests.
During a candlelight vigil for Huerta, police in riot gear fired
canisters of tear gas at mourners, and forced them to disperse.
In “Common Sense,” Thomas Pain wrote: “Common sense should tell us that
the powers which have endeavored to subdue us, are of all others, the
most improper to defend us.” The bourgeoisie cannot be reformed. Voting
in new oppressors won’t change things. The system is broken, it cannot
be fixed. The oppressors, through reform, will only withdraw, make empty
promises, and come back harder to crush the oppressed. Those afraid to
endanger themselves don’t realize that they are already in danger. We
are in danger from a group that will stop at nothing to maintain a
stranglehold on us.
Lanesboro Correctional Institution, in Anson County, North Carolina, has
been locked down since a single prisoner, acting alone, cut an officer
on 15 November 2013. The prisoner, to my understanding, isn’t even at
this camp anymore. For weeks prisoners were forced to shower in full
restraints (handcuffs, shackles, black box, waist chains, locks), and
the lock-down is still 24 hours a day. Prisoners are only allowed to
leave their cells to shower, or to go to work. There is no recreation,
and food trays are served in the cells. All other activities have been
halted until further notice. There is no foreseeable end to this
“institutional lockdown,” and staff are still claiming “security
reasons,” even though there hasn’t been another incident since 19
November 2013. Until prisoners learn to stand together, this is the way
things will remain.
[UPDATE: A prisoner corrected the above report, changing November 19 to
November 15. S/he reports they went to shower in handcuffs and the water
was unusually cold, but they were not under full restraints, lock box,
chains etc. As of 19 February 2014 they are still on modified lockdown,
where they are allowed out of their cell 2 hours a day, 24 people at a
time.]
MIM(Prisons) adds: This author is right that the incidents of
violence on the streets and in the prisons are all related, and all part
of a larger system of oppression that perpetuates the system of
imperialism. This is a system that relies on the subjugation of some
nations by others, both globally and within U.$. borders. The white
nation has the power, and the oppressed nations in the United $tates are
disproportionately locked behind bars, and victims of police brutality
and murder. Even with a Black figurehead (Obama), the white nation still
has the power and control. Statistics tell the story of the very few New
Afrikans and Latin@s in positions of power (lackeys and figureheads)
while these nations suffer the highest percentage of incidents of police
brutality and imprisonment, far higher than their representation in this
country overall.
And so we agree with this comrade that reforms will not fundamentally
change the system of imperialist oppression. But still we must fight for
those rights that will better enable us to educate and organize, while
building towards the long term goal of revolution to overthrow the
imperialist system.
[CORRECTION: The comrade making the original inquiry
updated us to say that the problems of having to pay for visits and the
DOC taking 10% of our accounts did not happen at Moore Haven
Correctional Institution, but rather at South Florida Reception Center
(SFRC), Desoto Correctional Institution and Dade Correctional
Institution. They were charging prisoners $1.00 for every disciplinary
report and $5.00 for every prisoner that was put in confinement or
segregation.]
[In November a USW comrade in Moore Haven Correctional Institution in
Florida reported that the prison was taking 10% out of prisoners
commissary or trust fund accounts each week and that they were being
charged for family visits. The article below is a response to that
report.]
This is the second time that the Florida Department of Corrections
(FDOC) has tried to impose these despotic demands that I know of. The
last time they tried to steal prisoners’ money three ways: 1) charging
prisoners $1 for every disciplinary report (D.R.) we get, 2) charging
prisoners’ families to come visit us, and 3) taking 10% out of
prisoners’ commissary or trust fund account. This was attempted at
Okeechobee Correctional Institution.
In response to prisoners’ complaints the captain went around to all the
dorms and lieutenants at count time and claimed they did not know where
the proposed memorandum came from but FDOC headquarters in Tallahassee
told them they know nothing about that memorandum, they did not
circulate it, and it’s bogus and will not stand.
Rest assured that Tallahasse does know about the memorandum at Moore
Haven CI. They tried it at one prison and it did not work so they are
trying it at Moore Haven because (a) it a private institution run by
Corrections Corporation of America, and (b) are short-timers. They are
trying Moore Haven because they feel they have more to lose and don’t
know this trick has been tried at Okeechobee CI before.
Here is how we defeated Tallahassee and the institution. At least 98% of
the prisoners filed grievances saying that their family was being
subjected to robbery and racketeering. This is organized crime against
prisoners and their families under the RICO Act, committed by the
government against its own citizens. Then prisoners had their families
on the phone to the secretary of FDOC, Governor and state
representatives raising pure hell about the way they were being unjustly
treated via extortion and harassment by FDOC. The last powerful thing we
did was had a sit down strike like good old Martin Luther King Jr. Thus
everybody would not leave the dorm. That worked so good because 1) it’s
non-violent, 2) it stopped all work production, 3) there are not enough
confinement cells to lock everybody up in, and 4) it’s hard to justify
locking a bunch of people up because they and their families refuse to
be abused by the government. The sit-down strike got FDOC minds right
real fast.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade asked about the progress on
the grievance campaign in Florida as well. Yet h story above seems like
the greatest example of a grievance victory we’ve heard from that state.
Turning grievances into campaigns is about mobilizing the imprisoned
lumpen as a group. That is the only way justice can be enforced. It is
part of building unity of all oppressed people to end the injustice that
is inherent to the imperialist system, and creating a better world for
everyone.
Prisoners here are forced to expose their genitals and buttocks for
staff pleasure, for periods of time of not less than 72 hours. If the
prisoner refuses he may be shot with some unspecified projectile,
sprayed with a respiratory irritant (chemical weapon) after the
ventilation system is turned off, beaten by 6, 8, 10 or 12 staff in full
riot gear, or have a destructive device (that’s right, a grenade)
detonated on the prisoner in a 12x10 concrete cell that is locked. All
of this for petty offenses like refusing an order or having a
clothesline in the cell. One prisoner had his foot shot off on the
compound this summer.
I ask all who may read this to stand in solidarity with us at USP
Hazelton, and use whatever resources are at your disposal to help us
tell this story to the world in an effort to stamp out this repression.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Federal prisoners are often even more
isolated than those in State prisons, further from family and less
connected to community and resources. These abuses, which happen in
prisons across the United $tates, are important to expose. Under
Lock & Key demonstrates a pattern of this inhumane treatment.
But we don’t expect this alone to change things. We know that the
criminal injustice system is a critical tool of Amerikan imperialism,
and we can’t hope to reform these problems away. We might help improve
conditions for a few people by replacing the bad staff, or changing a
few rules, and we do fight these battles, but only within the context of
the larger anti-imperialist fight, because it is only with the overthrow
of imperialism that we will be able to eliminate the injustice system
and replace it with a system of justice for the oppressed.
We are currently [5 November 2013] on lockdown since 29 October 2013 and
each housing facility on D facility is being thoroughly searched due to
an isolated “threat to staff” and weapon being found here on the SNY
yard.
On 26 June 2013, while being interviewed by Lieutenant C. Waddle
concerning the improper cross-gender and group strip searches of
transgender inmates, Lt. Waddle fabricated a spurious disciplinary
charge of “illegal sex acts” with my cellmate, which Sergeant M. Jones
wrote in a falsified report. Two days later I was placed in ASU
[isolation] and given an additional RVR for simply notifying Lt. Waddle
of specific transgender housing and safety concerns by her intentionally
rehousing me with a homophobic inmate!
Black & Pink has led an advocacy campaign, with letters of protest
to Warden M.D. Biter and CDCR Secretary Jeffery Beard, concerning the
sexual harassment and retaliation I have experienced at Kern Valley
State Prison.
When I filed a property appeal for items lost during the above
incidents, I was subjected to more retaliation, a punitive cell search
and RVR disciplinary action for “Falsifying records and documents,” by
Sergeant D. Williams and Correctional Officer Walinga. This also was
witnessed by my cellmate.
I believe that things may improve in the immediate future as a result of
my appeals, but I have suffered irreparable harm in my struggle for
equality and liberation. 602 appeals are currently pending in
Sacramento.
MIM(Prisons) adds: While all prisoners (both male and female) are
in a position of subjugation that leads to gender oppression while they
are locked up, gay, lesbian and transgender prisoners face additional
harassment, abuse, and oppression. As we discussed in our review of
The
Anti-Exploits of Men Against Sexism, fighting gender oppression in
prison is part of the battle against imperialism in general. We have
seen some
recent
examples of growing awareness and unity around this struggle, and we
will continue to publicize these battles and educate prisoners on gender
oppression in general. For more reading on gender, write to us to
request a copy of MIM Theory 2/3.
I haven’t written to you in a while due to the fact that all my property
was taken in September and destroyed. This was punishment for me helping
a fellow comrade who had his food and shower denied. In fact, both of
our property was destroyed by these racist pigs. All my mail, photos,
legal transcripts, addresses, hygiene, radio, books, etc. So I’ve been
in an upheaval writing paperwork up, filing this litigation.
Since that incident I’ve been put back into long term SHU, probably
until I go home. So in the mean time I’m trying to put together a
political study group - United Political Prisoners Syndicate - to try to
organize against this imperialist system. Also they denied me from
receiving your ULK
34, talking about how it’s detrimental to security, these pigs
always talking about some B.S. I’m going to appeal the decision.
Click to download a PDF of the North Carolina grievance petition
Mail the petition to your loved ones and comrades inside who are
experiencing issues with the grievance procedure. Send them extra copies
to share! For more info on this campaign, click
here.
Prisoners should send a copy of the signed petition to each of the
addresses below. Supporters should send letters on behalf of prisoners.
Secretary, Division of Prisons 4201 Mail Service Center Raleigh,
NC 27699-4201
Director of Prisons 831 West Morgan Street Raleigh, NC 27626
ACLU of NC PO Box 28004 Raleigh, NC 27611
U.S. Department of Justice - Civil Rights Division Special Litigation
Section 950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, PHB Washington DC 20530
Office of Inspector General HOTLINE PO Box 9778 Arlington, VA
22219
Jennie Lancaster, Deputy Secretary of DOC 4201 Mail Service
Center Raleigh, NC 27699-4201
And send MIM(Prisons) copies of any responses you receive!
MIM(Prisons), USW PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140
PDF updated May 2012, July 2012, January 2013, and October 2013
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.
On 9 September an organized collective of over 30 prisoners representing
the North Branch Correctional Institution (NBCI) movement for humyn
rights submitted demands to the imperialist overlords in regards to the
inhumane, unjust and degrading conditions here.
The vanguard of this “demonstration” was determined by pigs to come from
the SMU, D tier. Their notice of infraction reports read, “A mass of
officers was assembled and a cell to cell inspection of the entire tier
was conducted.”
Inside the prison, the grunts feel the movement has been suppressed, but
the truth is even their tactics of not reporting strikers in need of
medical attention, destroying personal effects, and elevated level of
all previous oppression had no bearing on the suspension of the protest.
The suspension is based on the collective recognition by the Governor,
Secretary of Public Safety and DOC Director that change is needed and
imminent. A total review has been issued and guarantees of policy change
are at hand, as ambiguous as they were.
Since June 2013, NBCI has been on lock-down status. The “new policy”
currently being implemented places the entire prison on a “level”
system. Their answer to a “return to normalcy” is to allow one hot meal
a day in addition to the two bags, one hour of outside recreation
a week and one shower a week. Those in
general population get one 15 minute telephone call a week as well. In
addition, butter has been re-issued to bring the diet calorie count back
to pre-lockdown levels. The pigs attempted total control through all
means including the withholding of adequate required calorie count. It
doesn’t seem like much, but 300 calories of butter removed from a 2200
calorie diet does have an effect. Especially when bags are often shorted
or withheld. The ever popular “air bag.”
Many lawsuits and grievances have been labeled moot in the wake of the
drafting of the new STG/step down program as it will supposedly address
many of the main demands, like ending indefinite Administrative
Segregation. However, nothing currently has been published and I for one
hold reservations. When final products have been issued and all fall out
dealt with, if copies suffice, I will send them for review.
There are a few soldiers so sick of the outlandish psychological
torments that they utterly refuse to eat until they are removed or die.
We have tried to reach and support these brothers as we know news
reporting ceased a while back and we don’t want good soldiers losing
themselves to a battle when the war isn’t over.
I persynally hope to unify more brothers for a future response for what
will most likely be a failed reform, but time is needed to allow the
overseers to implement their newest tactic in humyn warehousing and
degradation. Then our time shall again be at hand to show the flaws of
imperialist bourgeois ideology of suppression and exploitation.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade was organizing around the
September
9 day of peace and unity campaign to promote the United Front for
Peace in Prisons. It is true that our organizing will go in cycles, with
some set backs, and then some forward progress. We are never optimistic
that promised policy changes from the DOC or government will result in
any positive changes for prisoners. But we can use these set backs to
educate others about the failure overall of the criminal injustice
system and point to these examples for why we need to organize outside
of the system for lasting and fundamental change. These are all good
examples of the importance of building an anti-imperialist movement,
rather than just fighting small reformist battles. We look to the
examples of socialist China to see what is possible in terms of
revolutionizing prisons, and society in general. That transformation
required the seizure of power from the capitalists and the reorganizing
of the economic structure of the whole country. But just as that
transformation began in remote villages of China, we can start it today
in those who are hidden away in the prisons and control units of the
United $tates.