Under Lock & Key

I’m writing from SCI Mahanoy in Frackville, PA about the department of corrections new policy of saving money off the backs of prisoners. They are getting contracts for shipping PA prisoners to Michigan and to Virginia, shipping them out by force and making them buy new products if they are not clear/see-through: radios, TVs, footlockers, you must trash or send them home. If you don’t want to be transferred they use force.

Second issue is the law library isn’t always open, it is supposed to open 7 days a week for people to have access to the courts.

Number three is the medical department staff don’t check older prisoners for cancer, or any other medical problem in a timely fashion. Mental health doctors and medical staff won’t give people that are arrested prescription medical for medical and mental health issues.

The prison staff tell you that if you try to put any paperwork of any kind it will go in your personal file and it will look bad for you when you try to get pre-release or parole.

I’m a prisoner here in Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (RJD) in San Diego. I can relate to the story of the brother on your article in ULK 13 (Inspired by Mao, fighting legal battles). Like that brother, I’ve been sitting in the hole since November 2009.

I came to RJD on the CCCMS program [for prisoners who have been diagnosed as mentally ill]. I got on that program to get away from Calipatria prison. I was at the prison for 10 years and had enough of their corruptions. Little did I know that RJD is a lot more corrupt than Calipatria prison. Since arriving here last November I’ve filed numerous grievances to try to get sent to the Sensitive Needs Yard, but the 602s [grievance appeals] don’t go no where. They mysteriously get disappeared. They said they would look into it and call me back to classification the following week. That was in January 2010. I’ve yet to go! I feel like I’m lost in this cell!

My mail comes late. I’ve yet to receive any of several magazine subscriptions I have. The guards don’t pass books like they are supposed to. The few books I have I’m being forced to reread repeatedly to stay sane! Some of the prisoners don’t have anything to read. It’s no wonder why so many prisoners lose their sanity or attempt to commit suicide.

I look all around me and I say to myself, “This is not the big house. This is the crazy house!” For obvious reasons I’ve chosen to refuse cellies! In March, Captain Koen illegally tried to force prisoners in my cell. On both occasions I’ve fought them and get soaked in pepper spray; which was not legal. In the hole you have to consent to a celly before one is put there with you. On these two occasions I didn’t consent. I don’t know what to do. I’ve written the proper procedures to commence a lawsuit which begins by submitting a 602. I know the first ones got torn and thrown away. I’ve filed a third one, to the Director of Appeals, signed as confidential mail by a guard. I prey that made it out of the prison. Also I sent a letter to the Prison Law Office in the hopes they could assist me.

That day, there were several other incidents as well. You’re right, oppression is getting worse and worse as time goes on. There’s no unity whatsoever. It’s so terrible here in Ad-Seg that the guards trade our showers for extra trays or lunch. We usually don’t shower because we’re all damned near starved. The food is just enough to keep you alive.

And for the last two or three weeks they’ve claimed they lost a gun so the entire prison has been on lockdown. It’s all a farce as to what the real reason why we are on lockdown. It’s plain to see - overtime. The CDCR is out of control and so are their guards. They believe that because we’re in prison we’re lesser humans than them.

MIM(Prisons) adds: Comrades in California have taken up a campaign to fight the useless system for processing 602s that leads to harassment and retaliation instead of resolution of the problems. According to the Department Operations Manual (DOM), Subsection 54100.2, the purpose of the Inmate/Parolee Appeals Procedure is to:

Provide a vehicle for review of department policies, procedures, practices, conditions, incidents and actions which may adversely affect an inmate’s welfare, status and program,” and to “provide for resolution for grievances at the lowest possible level with timely responses to the appellant.

Write MIM(Prisons) to get a copy of the petition and other campaign info to join this campaign being led by United Struggle from Within (USW) in California.

The Texas prison system is fucked up. We were the last state to get telephones in the units. Our governor called phone privileges pacifiers. We inmates have so few privileges it is sad. I believe we are the only state that doesn’t pay the inmates to work. we get “good time credits” but the good time credits don’t count if you are an aggravated offender or if your custody level is high.

Texas definitely endorses slavery. If you refuse to work they take away what few privileges we do have. I have now been in this cell for three weeks without drinking water. If I want any water I have to get it out of the toilet like I am a dog. Grievances don’t work here because when we get them back they all have the same answer on them “officer denies allegation no further action will be taken at this time.”

Censorship is crazy here. They ban books by Mao, Lenin and Stalin. But we can get books on genocide, ethnic cleansing, Adolph Hitler, and the K. I have actually seen a book called The Hitler We Loved and Why by Christof Friedrich and Eric Thompson. Friedrich is a Nazi sympathizer and should have been imprisoned for his active role in genocide. I am including an article from the Austin American Statesman on the redundancy of the censorship. The article is titled Variety of Books Banned in Prison.

Medical conditions here are no better. Back in January I was being treated for H. Pylori virus. It is a virus that lives in well water. The system has prevented us from filing a class action lawsuit on it. They claim that we could have got it in the free world. While I was being treated for H. Pylori half the unit along with myself came down with the Novo Virus. The officials said that we got it from the food. What I can’t understand is why only half the unit came down with it and the other half didn’t.

Now I want to take a little time talking about racism. It is not just corporate white colonizers that are the bigots. But it goes on in every nationality. We need to set aside skin color and look at the bigger pictures. Communist leadership and rule was formed to go against imperialism and capitalist bullshit. It is not a movement against whites. From what I understand, Marx, Lenin and Stalin were all white. There are too many people of the Latino and Black race who are caught up in the imperialist and capitalist movement for it to be only the whites to be put down like they are in some of the articles. When it comes to the U$ imperialists the only color that I can see is green. So stop hating on skin color. The only way we can make a change is to put race aside. Remember, we are all red inside.

MIM(Prisons) responds: While we share this reader’s call for unity among all people fighting for communism, we do not agree that whites should be equated with other nationalities within U$ borders. The reality of Amerika is national oppression, and whites enjoy the role of oppressor. Historically, being Amerikan has been defined by pseudo-scientific ideas of race. As other groups become more integrated into the amerikan nation, the idea of race could become less significant, but Amerika would still be the oppressor nation.

We don’t believe in race, so we would never say that whites can’t join the revolutionary struggle, but when we talk about whites as a group we have to recognize their role as an oppressor nation. Whites do have to work against their national interests to join the revolutionary struggle. Similarly, all free U$ citizens have class/economic interests that they must work against to join the revolutionary struggle.

We talk a lot about what’s going on in the prison system but what about what’s going on in the county jails? The Los Angeles County Jail (MCJ) where the infamous headquarters is located is like CDCR’s notorious “green wall”. Operation Safe Jail (OSJ) is no more than a prison gang, more so than those who are validated and serving time in CDCR’s SHU facilities. Just like the green wall, they bet on human cock fights and beat you down to the point where you can’t even walk anymore. In prison I dropped out of a prison gang and have been doing my time in SNY facilities also know as PC (Protected Custody).

In August 2009, as I was getting booked through the LA County Jail processes and being interviewed by officers. I informed them that I was put on the hit list by a [lumpen organization] member and was put in PC in State Prison and that I should be put into PC in the county jail as well since I still do fear for my life and safety. They housed me in high power fish roll 4500 for 3 weeks with no contact with anybody, no visit, no phone calls, nothing. After that I was interviewed by OSJ and I explained to them my situation and they promised to put me in PC. But to my surprise they lied to me because I was declassed to General Population. I did start to refuse but officers grabbed me, by twisting my arms they forced me to walk to another floor where I was to be housed in GP. I refused and pulled away from their torturing grasp. They took me down and beat me with unnecessary force. They tasered me while I was on the ground for a long, long time. After I passed out. I awoke to them still beating on me hand cuffed. They were even tasering my hand cuffs.

When it was all over they promised to put me in PC if I did not say anything to the lieutenant or anybody while they put me on camera where I was to be asked some questions that I was to answer “I don’t want to talk about it” to every question, or I would be put back into GP. So I did what I was told for fear of my safety. To my surprise I was medically cleared and they put me in a cell in Green Light Fish Roll for PC process. They also told me that if I had any complaints they would put me in GP.

I really needed to see a doctor again. But I couldn’t ask for fear that I would be put in GP so I did what they told me. Well, everybody else on Fish Roll heard my cries of pain and suffering and they called “man down” for me which I begged them not to for fear that they would think I’m still complaining. They finally came (officers and nurses) and took me to the MCJ’s clinic where they transported me to LCMC where they discovered that I have a collapsed lung. It it wasn’t for everybody calling man down for me I would have died that night.

Of course they lied on the report and submitted it to the DA for prosecution. They gave me 2 years with 1/2 for resisting. I am now in prison because LA County failed to serve and protect, as their motto says.

I was reading ULK 13 about the Illinois prisoner driven to suicide and I understand why he seeks death. They say I’m very suicidal, but that was before I was enlightened by your publication. We have nothing to live for, but I say, but for the revolution. These imperialist and capitalist countries have been destroying the proletariat long enough. My fellow comrade has put in several cases against this prison to fix their new control unit they just modified. The windows are about 4 feet high and 4 to 6 inches wide, and they still placed bars across them. This is one of the new modifications to the Long Term Segregation (LTS) unit. They barricaded the door, so they said, because they were afraid it’d get kicked off the hinges. What a crock of shit. And this is going to be done to this small mental health prison of 400 crazy people including some minimum security on the hill. There is a suicide attempt daily here and all they do is lock us in a room, naked, for several hours before we get a security blanket. Then we have to wait and beg for a gown or other things like toilet paper. I had a long talk with the psych doctor explaining our torture but I got a deaf ear now that I stopped being stupid and going on crisis. They threaten to place me on LTS. They hear me speak to people in population, so I had only 20 days out before I was placed back in seg. I am currently on strike from taking medication I don’t need, so I only take what they can force me to take, 1 pill out of 10 of my anti-psychotics. Brothers we can only dedicate this life to the revolution. The KKK have evolved from white hoods to SORT gear and chemical agents. We must unite and fight.

We live here at pig central, Richard J. Donovon Correctional Bitch Facility. If you ever want your 14th or 8th Amendment rights violated or be treated like an animal come visit for a while. Prisoner or citizen they don’t discriminate.

I want to share a little story with you. On November 12, 2009 I was in my cell and I broke my window out in protest to some rights of mine that were being violated with the food. Once my window was shattered c/o Rucker and c/o Davis came up to my cell claiming they were moving me to another cell, so I cuffed up without argument or a fight, when my door opened c/o Rucker grabbed me by my throat and slammed me into the top locker head first. I slumped to the floor, Rucker and Davis then picked me up and slammed me into the top bunk striking my chest area with my wind knocked out of me again. I sank to the floor where again they picked me up and slammed me onto the bottom bunk, Rucker forced my arms up as far as humanly possible without decapitating. He placed his knee with all his force into my back so I couldn’t move, while Davis struck me several times in the right ribs and lower back, they both then picked me up and drug me through the broken glass down the tier to the stairs. I got to my feet before they could toss me down the stairs. Once I was downstairs they slammed me into a cage, then pushed me into the cage forcing me to strike my left knee on the steel seat. They then went to their area and concocted a lie that I had assaulted them both, they came back to the cage 5 or 10 minutes later and activated the alarm system.

When the nurse came, well actually before she came, Rucker told me I better pretend nothing happened or another beating would follow. So I lied to the nurse, saying my hands were swollen and my wrist possibly broke because I had been punching the wall. I then claimed I was suicidal so that I could go to TTA for protection (the hospital here), where I then became an “enhanced outpatient inmate” and I was moved to another building specifically designed for mentally ill patients, I”m far from being a basket case but I have my problems.

I waited until their time constraints ran out to write me up for staff assault, which I did not do. Then I filed my appeal on what happened and the misconduct I’m currently in Sacramento at the directors level awaiting his response, so I can take it to the courts on a USC 1983 civil suit. X has been putting me up on legal knowledge and showing how to pursue it, he has been a great help to me on the legal know how. I will fight tooth and nail for justice. This story is actually a lot more complicated, but I do have copies of documents they later falsified and tried to back date. These pigs are stupid.

Thanks to those who continue to pass us information on what happened to Amare “Ra’d” Selton, as well as the many words of condolence. Though it is hard for us to say anything conclusive on what took place last September when he died in Attica, it has become more evident that the DOCS was ultimately behind what happened. As our comrade explains below, there is a constant struggle for many between staying alive to struggle and staying sane under extreme repression. For more on this topic read Prisoner driven to suicide.

To learn from Ra’d’s sacrifice is to study strategy, and how to be effective in organizing for justice. As materialists, we also recognize that winnable battles are not always in the cards. Sometimes there is no question of whether we can win, only a question of whether we struggle or not before we lose. In such cases, our strategy must center on making these losses serve as examples to inspire and to expose. Ra’d continues to inspire those who knew him.

A New York prisoner writes:

I am writing to inform you and my comrades of the death of my mentor Amare “Ra’d” Selton. May Allah bless his soul. … Ra’d was my boy, he’s who a person with nothing would always look up to. Ra’d would embrace anybody who was struggling. Ra’d would pick anybody up who was down. If Ra’d saw another prisoner being assaulted by a police officer he’d help out any way he could. Ra’d was a good brother, may Allah be with him.

Rest in Peacefulness, hold your head Ra’d!

A second New York prisoner writes:

I was in SHU with Amare back in 2003. He is a true rebel with a cause! May he rest in power! He was never the suicidal type, he was a warrior, a freedom fighter and he had 25 to Life, so he sought freedom by all means, even death.

I had hours to build with him and he always expressed his Muslim theory and stance against imperialism and white supremacy, which coincides with his murder, which I know was done by the pigs! He was a threat, that’s why they isolated him in SHU for long, extended periods of time.

I met him and automatically connected with him because he has a passion to resist oppression and police brutality. So to know he got murdered by these pigs really was heart-wrenching. The pigs get away with it like they do when the pigs in the street shoot an unarmed Black or Brown brother/sister; it becomes justifiable homicide! This cannot continue to happen without some type of organized resistance. One cannot talk non-violent or peaceful resolutions with those sadistic pigs because they don’t respect it. To be honest, I don’t want to die in prison, I’m more worthwhile on the streets organizing, but there’s only so much I can endure in this hell hole. I’m not reactionary, but we must demand our respect by any means!

On March 6, James McKinney died at Potosi Correctional Center. In the Washington County paper it said natural causes (heart attack). Now for the real story. James McKinney was in solitary confinement with me. So I’m giving you a first person account of the events that I believe led to this man’s death. In early or mid-February McKinney was assigned to cell 2C-20 for a minor infraction. His first couple of days there he ran afoul of COI Shannon Clubbs (as many prisoners do). COI Clubbs harassed and verbally abused McKinney daily. In protest of this ill treatment James McKinney declared a hunger strike. He also sent a letter of protest to Senator Robin Wright-Jones.

When you have missed a certain amount of meals, you are automatically referred to medical personnel for a physical. Two times when he was approaching this certain amount of missed meals COI Clubbs opened McKinney’s food port and threw a noon-time meal in his cell. He then logged as if McKinney accepted a meal, effectively rescinding the food strike. The second time Clubbs did this McKinney screamed on the walk that Clubbs was setting him up, Clubbs was laughing and taunting him the whole time. To add insult to injury, he also gave McKinney a conduct violation for accepting a food tray and then not returning it when the meal was over. This is a common and favorite tactic of confinement COIs. We (all the prisoners) did kick and holler for assistance from other COIs to no avail, so when McKinney finally saw medical, he was in worse shape than they thought, because he had missed triple the meals as the files indicated because of Clubbs manipulating the files, but no one would listen to him or us. He wrote a letter to Senator Robin Wright-Jones explaining the harassment by PCC staff in general and COI Clubbs in particular. I’m not sure how long it was, but it was well past 2 weeks, maybe 3 before he was convinced to eat, the first couple of days in March early in the morning he was complaining about chest and he went to medical as a self-declared patient - 3 or 4 days later he was dead.

I’m not a doctor and I don’t know anything about his health or lack of health, but he wasn’t overweight, looked to be in good shape, a quiet respectful brother. I asked him a couple of times if he was cool and he said he had things under control. I tried to rally everyone to form a peaceful protest, but these passive-assed conformed-as-slaves won’t put up any type of resistance. My focus is COI Clubbs. Me and a couple of comrades wrote letters to Senator Robin Wright-Jones, State Rep Linda Fischer, Lisa Jones of constituent services. I have several copies of complaints on COI Clubbs in the last 6 or 7 months, about his abuse, harassment.

I just don’t know what to do next. I am not afraid of them so educate me and tool me up and I’ll stay on their asses here. Several convicts have won suits against them over the years. They pay but never change their repressive policies.

MIM(Prisons) responds: We print this article to continue our discussion about which strategies and tactics are available and useful to us in our struggles to end oppression worldwide. We need to analyze our options with a realistic and material perspective, and with that we need to measure their limitations. One lesson we can learn from this prisoner’s tragic death is that hunger strikes by individuals are vulnerable to manipulation by COs and administration. As we explained to another comrade in ULK 13, a protest needs to be well-planned and considered from all angles. The more we can learn about the limitations of our tactics, the better equipped we will be to use them effectively.

Another error we would point out is the assertion that COI Clubbs is a problem separate from the repression of the imperialist system. We think it is important to bring attention to this abuse, and to name names for accountability’s sake. But focusing all energy on getting COI Clubbs fired doesn’t impact imperialism in general. In fact, it does the opposite by reinforcing the idea that the system is good; that the problem is just a few “bad apples” who can be dealt with on an individual level. In our agitational work, it is important to be clear about what the true problem is and the correct strategy to address that problem.

The fact that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of prison staff with similar accusations against them demonstrate that firing one guard does not usually improve the conditions of prisoners at a particular facility. In other words, getting Clubbs fired doesn’t ensure that the next guy that goes on hunger strike won’t face the same fate. However, developing strategy among prisoners who are facing these conditions and building outside support will help avoid such tragedies and make comrades’ lives last longer and be more effective in their resistance.

On December 22, 2009 a guard was assaulted, and I am accused. I was attacked by a hoard of guards. If you have ever seen a bunch of wild animals during a feeding frenzy that is exactly how they acted. I was taken to the floor, there were 13 to 17 guards on top of me. This one supervisor named Germond sprayed me directly at point blank range with a long blast of chemical agent (pepper spray - mace) the powerful chemical effectively took all of my air and went up my nasal passage, of my frontal lobe, he then shook the can and saturated my face with another longer blast, all over my face. The chemical becomes very hot once it touched your skin, burning ever hotter, the more air it is exposed to.

A Guantanamo type mask was placed over my entire head, effectively cutting off my ability to breath even further, coupled with the fact that I had over 1200 pounds on top of me. I could not expand my diaphragm and I was on the verge of blacking out. Actually suffocation via asphyxiation. I was fortunate that I had my arms to the front, and with every ounce of my strength I was able to turn enough to get some air. This one guard was violently punching me in the jaw, another one was drop kneeing me (standing up and dropping down on me with his knee). There was someone trying to hurt, if not break my legs, while yet another one was trying to break my fingers, I had to make a fist to prevent this.

They finally put leg irons and handcuffs on me, the leg irons were so tight I was unable to walk. I was suppose to be put under cold water to decontaminate me. Instead they put me under hot water, which caused excruciating pain as the chemicals got into my pores. And this was done on purpose just to cause me pain. Due to the leg irons being so tight I was unable to walk, so they dragged me down this quarter mile long hallway. I was put in this dirty filthy cell, in all the years of doing time I have never been in a cell that was a foul as this one was, it smelled like the den of a wild beast, there was dried blood, urine and spit on the floor and walls. The toilet had crud on the outside, and about an inch on the inside. I was chained to a bed, 4 pointed. They have managed to transform the use of this therapeutic, mental health procedure, to a form of punishment and torture, and it was amplified in my case by chaining one of my arms up and down which is reported to cause pain, and did cause me pain. And such practice is in violation of the DOC’s own policy.

As they were putting the chains on me, these two sad excuses for human beings, named Sisk and Thomas were putting their feet on the edge of the bed to gain leverage, so they could pull the chains as tight as physically possible, to assure I would be in maximum pain. They applied so much pressure, they hyper-extended my collar bone, which remains painful and swollen. I was 4 pointed over night, and it was probably the longest night of my life. Every second in pain and being burned by the chemicals on your face. I was denied water by Lt. Germond, as though this was not enough, my cloths were ripped and cut off of me until I was totally naked, the cell was colder than a refrigerator. A useless cotton porous blanket was put over top of me, but my feet were only inches away from the back wall, which was like a block of ice, you could feel the cold radiating from the wall as much as a foot away. I was truly afraid that my feet would become frostbitten. I was unable to sleep the entire 12 hours I was chained.

Once they removed me from the stationary chaining, I was 3 pointed, placed in handcuffs, leg irons and a tether chain which connected the hands to the feet. And the tether chain was short chained, another illegal procedure applied to keep you bent over, unable to stand erect, and causes pain in your lower back. I was left like this for 4 days. The floor was dirty and made of concrete, and I had no socks or shoes. The toilet could only be flushed from the outside, and in 9 days it was only flushed 4 times. The first couple of days I was not fed at all, it was not until an internal affairs officer came did they start feeding me. (This guard named St. John led the charge not to feed me.) Soon after they started feeding me, the guards started urinating and spitting in my food, so I did not eat anything but drink the milk and juice for the next nine days.

Immediately after the incident every Tom, Dick and Harry was writing false disciplinary reports on me. The purpose was to keep me without my radio. That is how their sick twisted minds work as they try to break me. I am also without my property, and they are keeping me isolated. But you may rest assured, I actually see it as a badge of honor. I was moved after 9 days to what amounted to the Ku Klux Klan’s den, run by the Grand Dragon, Captain Chaill. As the head goes, so goes the body. They have been, and continue to subject me to all kinds of unsavory and discriminatory treatment, not giving me my out of cell exercise, forcing me to go out in inclement weather without being adequately dressed, coming up with all kinds of arbitrary and capricious rules that only apply to me. Once in that unit they started urinating in my coffee. I prepared some samples of the coffee and sent them to the state police, governor, commissioner, warden and the Grand Dragon, to be tested for DNA. The Grand Dragon came to my cell with a larger contingent of guards and put me back into the same filthy type cell in isolation. The charge was using the mail to send my sample. He lied and said that I purported it to be a sample of my urine sent in retaliation. These cells are supposed to be used to control someone being violent. He used it solely as punishment and retaliation. (I was kept in chains again for 3 days, the same filthy, dirty, cold cells. In order to sustain his lie, the Grand Dragon discarded my written description of what I was sending, he further ripped the top off the document in order to hide what had been written, and then as a final move threw away the actual evidence and took instead a very bad black and white photo. And even after i presented all of that to the D.R. board they still found me guilty, in triple fashion of a kangaroo court.)

They have destroyed all of my legal cases by mixing all of my documents together. It would take a team of forensic scientists or a team of archaeologists to get them back in order again, I’m not even going to try. I am just going to allow the cases to expire and file a lawsuit. In closing my motto is: that which does not kill me only tends to make me stronger.

Please write to:

Governor Jode Rell
State Capitol Building
Hartford, CT 06106

Commissioner of Corrections
24 Wolcott Hill Rd
Wethersfield, CT 06109

Revolutionary Greetings to all those who struggle to remove the infestation of capitalism-imperialism from it existence on our mother Earth. From one humyn to all humyns, power to humynity…

Kern Valley State Prison has been forcing prisoners in ASUII (and who knows where else) to consume spoiled milk, rotten meat, rotten fruit, moldy bread and small rations. I’ve filed multiple 602 appeals (class action), but have only had them screed out by the Appeals Coordinator.

The staff say the conditions are due to [Governor] Arnold’s budget crisis. But I ask, what is the price that you put on humyn life? Because after this is all said and done my family might need one.

I have begun on the day of 2/27/2010 (Saturday) not accepting any of the food that they claim to offer - breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I don’t eat or drink anything!!! Because the food they are serving is bad.

I will continue this until we receive humyn justice and are fed like humyn beings.

MIM(Prisons) adds: As Under Lock & Key 13 goes to print we have not heard from this comrade since they began their hunger strike. We hope they are well, and hope to hear from them, or anyone else at Killer Kern soon with an update. As we expected, among the privileged citizens of the united $tates, it is the oppressed nations and the lumpen who increasingly feel the crunch of economic crisis in terms of real life necessities.

Hunger strikes are a tactical approach to protest that can get attention with only a few participants, but it relies on the party being protested actually being concerned about your life. They don’t need to subjectively care about you, but they must feel some pressure to prevent you from dying for their own interest.