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Under Lock & Key

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[COVID-19] [Abuse] [Deaths in Custody] [Medical Care] [Street Gangs/Lumpen Orgs] [Telfair State Prison] [Georgia] [ULK Issue 79]
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Intentional Death Chambers in Georgia Slave Plantations

Revolutionary greetings, my fellow comrades!

As a first time writer for MIM(Prisons) I must confess that, it’s absolutely a blessing to have found such a space/medium to expose what’s currently taking place within the Georgia Department of Corrections (G.D.C), hereinafter “Georgia industrial slave complex”. Because honestly, with every issue of Under Lock & Key, I thirst to develop a political cadre, in order to establish a vanguard party among the (lumpen) prisoner class.

Here at Telfair State plantation, there’s no real sense of political consciousness among the masses nor is there any form of unity among the street tribes, whom all proclaim to have been birthed out of Black struggle to combat against oppression from a political perspective to protect their community. To which I ask, isn’t the slave plantation environment currently their community? Then why is it that their claims, tends to seem as though nothing more than “persuasive rhetoric” produced from the tenets of a force with every form of materialistic/imperialist reason to divide the common? and yet, it gets worse.

There’s a massive staff shortage at the root of many Georgia industrial slave sanitation failures and the problems don’t stop there. It’s beyond the crisis point and something needs to change. Because there’s a real humanitarian crisis. In which homicide and suicide rates has already reached “unprecedented levels.” At Least 25 slave prisoners deaths on plantation compounds in 2020 were suspected homicides, 7 at Macon State plantation, according to “G.D.C.” and 19 slave prisoners supposedly killed themselves in 2020, twice the national average.

The “G.D.C.” annual report for fiscal year 2019 (there was a lack of access for 2020 FY report) reveals constant churn. According to the OF, 78% of the department’s new hires are (overseers) “Corrections Officers,” and 71% quit before the year ended. Gov. Brian Kemp, just proposed a 9.1% pay increase for plantation(overseers) guards that would raise their entry level salary from $27,936 to $30,730. The experienced staff are leaving as fast as they can to get out of here. What we’re left with is kids trying to supervise slave prisoners they’re afraid of and that has a domino effect. Without adequate staffing, the maintenance begins to suffer, food service suffers. Because they don’t feel safe, it’s created a circular problem.

Access to healthcare is more limited than ever and mental health counselors are afraid to come in the dorms. Under-staffing has led to more slave prisoners being stationed in temporary holding cages, going extended periods without food, water or even bathroom visits. Often we’re left in those cages to urinate and defecate on ourselves. If the situation persists, lives will continue to be at stake. It’s just a matter of time before we see causalities among the staff and slave prisoners.

Urban street tribes have filled the power vacuum. The G.D.C. estimated it housed 15,000 tribe members; nearly a third of it’s total population. In the five previous years, authorities said tribe members were responsible for 1,700 assaults in Georgia industrial slave plantations. The pandemic has only made the situation worse, as COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the slave plantations. Recently 24 slave prisoners tested positive for the virus; 3,100 have been infected so far, 88 have died. Another 1,482 staff members have test positive and two died from the virus, according the the G.D.C Those figures are likely 10 times below the actual number of infections, according to a recent study by the Center of Disease Control & Prevention.

I believe (the G.D.C.) is tolerating levels of chaos we have not seen in the last 20 years. The scale of the problem is so great that federal interventions is necessary and warranted. (Side note, the Department of Justice continues investigation into Georgia prisons.)

Please family, friends and those on the inside report on what is happening inside the walls of Georgia Department of Corrections prisons. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in September a state-wide civil investigation into conditions at facilities across the state. The DOJ investigation is focused on determining whether state prisoners are reasonably safe from physical harm at the hands of other prisoners. DOJ is also investigating whether the state offers reasonable protections for LGBTQIA prisoners from sexual abuse by corrections officers and other prisoners. If you or someone you know has information that could raise awareness to this cause, submit tips to:

DOJ email community.georgiaDOC@usdoj.gov.
Dept. of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20530

MIM(Prisons) adds: This comrade’s report echoes what is being reported from Alabama from prisoners organizing there. Georgia is one of the five states with a higher incarceration rate than Alabama, and of course both are in the Black Belt south. Prison systems across the country are crumbling and failing. It is our purpose to support those who are trying to organize for change amongst this chaos. These contradictions create opportunity for change.

If you did not receive a copy of the JFI petition to the Department of Justice that we mailed out with Under Lock & Key 78, write us to get copies and use them to organize a collective voice in your prison. It is only by independent, collective organizing that we can stop these unnecessary deaths and abuses.

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[Grievance Process] [Censorship] [Abuse] [Private Prisons] [Bent County Correctional Facility] [Colorado] [ULK Issue 79]
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CoreCivic Abuse Coverups

We have a lot of issues at this facility, especially with mail delivery delays (policy states the facility has 48 hours from arrival to deliver mail and 72 hours for packages; both can take over a week) and with unnecessary censorship. The Colorado Department of Corrections’ administrative regulations are clearly laid out regarding mail, but this facility often misinterprets or outright ignores those policies.

BCCF is a private-owned (CoreCivic) prison, and despite having a Private Prison Monitoring Unit (PPMU) assigned to monitor the facilities compliance, they more regularly choose to cover for the administration, for whatever reason, instead of holding them accountable in any way. In fact, the former head of PPMU at this facility recently “retired” from DOC and was hired by CoreCivic to a lucrative, high-ranking position (Chief of Unit Management) at this very facility. No potential for conflict of interest there, right?

The grievance procedure is a complete joke around here. Each step of a grievance can take up to 2 months to receive a response, although denying that any issues exist is hardly any sort of helpful response. By the time a DOC employee becomes involved, several months have passed and either they are lied to by facility staff, or they lie to the prisoner. Either way, nothing is done about any real problems.

In my 8+ years at this prison, I have experienced a variety of changes, including now having the third warden in that time frame. In the past year – about the time the current Chief of Security and Warden, and shortly thereafter, the PPMU/Chief of Unit Mgmt., arrived – the level of violence here has skyrocketed. During most of my time here this place had remained largely peaceful, if mismanaged to some degree, however, now that new “security protocols” have been implemented (such as creating two “compounds” from the one, making one dangerously understaffed compound the “High-security” compound), drugs have flooded this facility, despite all incoming mail being photocopied. We can’t even get photos from family anymore. The rest of Colorado DOC facilities are going through “normalization.” This private prison is only normalizing drugs, anger, and violence. With no programs and very limited rec, things will only get worse here.

I constantly encourage everyone around me who will listen to file grievances and write letters to public officials. Even if they do not solve issues in and of themselves, they create and build a record of the abuses at a particular prison, or in a state’s system. “Keep your copies!” Tell family and friends about all of the problems, change public opinion of “us” by being responsible, educated citizens who expect accountability from our government just like everyone else. When something is broken, government just pours more of its stolen money into the problem, never fixing anything (but getting more powerful in the process). We need to expose to the public what a waste the prison system is – in financial and human capital – and discourage anyone from supporting the expansion of such a broken system.


MIM(Prisons) responds: We agree with this comrade’s strategy. We should not have false illusions about reforming the system through grievances or exposure, but we also must come together and practice diligence and build our skills in fighting abuses. By doing so we can build towards real solutions.

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[Environmentalism] [Abuse] [Campaigns] [Nottoway Correctional Center] [Buckingham Correctional Center] [Augusta Correctional Center] [Virginia] [ULK Issue 79]
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Shut Down Prisons with No Air Conditioning During Dangerous Heat Wave as Global Warming Advances

Have you ever opened the door to a hot oven and felt dizzy and overwhelmed from the intensity of the heat hitting you in the face? That is how it feels for people incarcerated at Augusta, Nottoway, and Buckingham Correctional Centers every summer, but especially during the current heat wave sweeping the country.

But get this: prison staff at these facilities do not experience excessive heat conditions because the areas in which they work and frequent — the control booths, school areas, medical department, education department, administration offices, etc. – are all equipped with air conditioning (AC).

While the U.$. and other parts of the world, like Western Europe, are experiencing unprecedented deadly heat waves, people trapped in prisons, jails, and detention centers not equipped with AC in the areas where they housed are suffering exponentially from these sweltering conditions.

For instance, if it is 100 degrees for those of you on the outside, the temperature is always several degrees higher for those of us confined in prisons not equipped with AC. With the lack of AC, poor ventilation, substandard medical care, unsafe drinking water, big slabs of concrete that trap heat, antiquated sewage systems that regularly back up and spew raw sewage into the cells and housing units, and the persistence of COVID-19 which is still spreading and infecting people at these facilities, all of these conditions on top of record high temperatures create unbearable conditions that are tantamount to the kind of cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the eighth amendment to the U.$. constitution. Sick and elderly people confined under these conditions suffer the most.

So, is there a need for an intersecting movement for prison abolition? The short answer is “Yes,” because when environmentalists talk about how climate change is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, and how the impact of this is felt most by people in Third World countries least responsible for climate pollution, the ways in which climate change impacts people in confinement are often left out of conversations about climate justice. This is a blind spot that will cause incarcerated and detained people to suffer and die in silence and invisibility during future heat waves.

Of course, I believe prisons in general should be abolished and demolished, but right now, due to the immediacy of the current situation, we need prison abolitionists and climate justice activists to unite, and once united, collectively raise your voices to bring awareness to this issue and demand change to prevent the needless suffering and death of incarcerated human beings amid record high temperatures due to global warming.

One way you can do this is by signing and sharing this online petition to close Nottoway, Buckingham, and Augusta Correctional Centers.

This petition can be used to raise awareness about this public health crisis and as the foundation for a state-wide campaign to shut these prisons down.

This article referenced in:
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[Religious Repression] [Abuse] [Censorship] [Allred Unit] [Texas] [ULK Issue 78]
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Targetted Censorship & Abuse with Impunity

Hey fellas,

I got a correspondence letter from y’all a couple of weeks ago that was denied for “contents which would incite a disturbance”. First, I asked if the letter was “Media Correspondence” and the chick said “yeah”. So I’m like “Who denied it and why was it opened without my presence?” Of course, she didn’t want to give no name – neither hers or of whoever denied it. So I refused to sign. I did try to appeal, but after refusing to sign I’m sure they just threw it away. So I don’t know if you’re acknowledged as a media correspondent or not, or if they got you some kind of watch list. I know what policy says and if they do it again I’ll grieve that ass hard. I’m sure you been banned ever since you got those Texas Pack’s out. They won’t let that in, or any regular mail you send. But it’s too late.

I did all I could and spread the word in the Allred law library – shit was a hit. They (TDCJ) call it inciting a disturbance, but we all know that it’s all the information we should be entitled to have to fight the negligence, abuse, and misinterpretation of state and federal laws. This unit has a loooong history of violating its own policy and civil rights with impunity. The grievance department, to medical and everything in between, is set up this way. People like me who are in the know and work to expose the corruption are either shipped elsewhere, or if they don’t have outside help, are “rolled” off the unit with an ass whoopin and/or false charges. They do this to protect the “overall safety and security of the institution” that they have going.

I’ve only been here since February 2022 and have been either a witness or victim of every violation but murder. My biggest gripes were that the P4s (safe keeping G4) are religiously discriminated on and refused worship services unless they are of the mainstream faith. The trans-women have no privacy screens to cover their breast in the shower areas. Exposing them to voyeurism when there is no “exigent circumstance”. P4s are stuck in the cell during the peak heat of the day, even the hottest of days, everyday. Respite, and respite showers do not exist during such times. Cold water is only offered if they are lucky enough to have a janitor there to pass it out. The cops sure as hell ain’t doing it. It’s fucked up. I just got off that custody but I still feel for ’em and want to help cause I’ve never seen such animosity and neglect towards a population. There are only a little over 30 P4s on the unit, almost 1/2 are trans women. They should be protected, but instead are targeted. That’s bout all I got for now.

Please hit me back when you can.

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[Hunger Strike] [Abuse] [Campaigns] [Granville Correctional Institution] [North Carolina] [ULK Issue 78]
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George Floyd Day - Juneteenth Strike 2022

I began a Juneteenth protest in April on the 23rd. I went on hunger strike on the 28th, but broke it 2 days later to get my strength up after being threatened by Sergeant Couper.

19 May 2022 – I began a second hunger-strike for 8 days. On the 3rd day of the strike, I was taken to a dirty holding cell in receiving – with ants, no bunk, and poop caked up inside a broken toilet. I was only allowed a bible, one sheet, and one blanket. They placed the old raggy mattress on the floor where I was to sleep for the next 5 days.

No incoming or outgoing mail; no human contact; no offer of food; and no vital-signs, weight, or sugar was checked (nurses documented false reports). May 23rd, in medical, when the nurse asked why I wasn’t eating, I told them, “because it’s ‘George Floyd Day’, Get Your Knees Off Our Necks.”

26 May 2022 – I went on S.I.B. [self injury behavior watch] and was given an even worse mattress that smelled of feces. No one checked on me.

27 May 2022 – I was shipped to the Emergency Room at Central Prison. A level-one bone-marrow cancer had intensified the damage to my body. Some negotiations were made and I broke the fast. However, while I was on the IV a nurse came in at shift change and snatched the IV out of my arm and told me and my officers to get out.

One Month Earlier

April 23rd, I was attacked by Sgt Couper because I had asked for a roll of tissue (I had been asking for 24 hours). Sergeant Couper said he needed to search my room for tissues then pulled out his mace and tried to find an excuse to mace me. When I cuffed up he resorted to violence by snatching my arms all the way out the trap, then opened the door and threw me head-first into the back wall, then applied torture techniques, such as bending my fingers & choke holds, while tightening the restraints.

I was eventually taken to receiving and left on the floor with the restraints for 4 hours. I had lost feeling in my arms, wrists, and shoulders.

Sergeant Couper continues to harass and retaliate against us; intercepting grievance appeals and managing investigations for disciplinary reports that he has officers fabricate against us. But “We Reap What We Sow”. On 9 June 2022, he got served!

“Power to the People”

By the United Front “T.R.U.C.E.” of the People’s Army

T.R.U.C.E. (Teams of Revolutionaries Uniting to Combat the Enemy)


MIM(Prisons) adds: On 30 June 2022 there was a phone/email zap to Granville Correctional Institution to support the strikers and to call for an end to the physical abuse by Sergeant Couper. Staff responded by saying that Warden Roach was not in that day to take calls and that there was no physical abuse going on there. Emails to the Warden and Director of Operations were not responded to.

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[Civil Liberties] [Abuse] [Legal] [Texas] [ULK Issue 78]
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Successful Method in Overcoming Malfeasant Adminstrators

I write this in an effort to educate and bring into understanding one successful method of overcoming malfeasant administrators at their own game when they write a fraudulent disciplinary case on you – even though your actions fail to fulfill the elements of the charged offense while the Agency staff lie in support. Utilizing the Time Lapsed Video (TLV) camera footage evidence when cameras are installed on your unit.

In brief: After gaining authorization from the Floor-Boss I zipped upstairs to another cell, delivering a legal document (E.D.-02.01 TDCJ Ethics Policy) to an inmate. Within six second, I was back on the One Row Run. The units O-3 (warden) confronted me upon my coming down ordering me to return to my cell (we were being let out to go to showers).

In the course of returning to my cell of assignment, I encountered the Floor Boss going the other way. I asked him to inform 0-3 that he had given me permission to deliver the document to another cell as we passed each other. Three seconds later, this 0-3 came up from behind me grabbing my wrist and puts handcuffs on me while proclaiming “I’m tired of you ‘Mother Fuckers’”. While walking me the rest of the way to my assigned cell: the 0-3 yanked the cuffs backwards, forward and side-to-side in efforts to get me to go off – too smart for the 0-3: I didn’t go off.

I immediately filed a grievance against this 0-3 for Non-Provoked Aggravated Excessive Use of Force, implementing penal codes, PD-22 Rules, and E.D.-02.01 “TDCJ Ethics Policy” standards in slamming this malfeasant warden.

Nine days later: following the 06-01 “Grievance Investigation Sheet” was presented to this 0-3 the warden initiated disciplinary charges against me claiming that I was Out-of-Place and Created a Disturbance. Yeah, done in retaliation. Success demands that I be found guilty; and my Grievance was shot-down by the unit’s 0-2 warden.

Thirty four days after the occurrence (the time limit is 30 days) the administration illicitly ran this disciplinary case – taking four & 1/2 hours – where the C.O. I called as a witness in my defense was blatantly compromised (suborned) by the 0-3, the charging officer. on camera in front of me and several others.

After a 30 minute conference with the Hearing Officer: The C.O. came and got me to return to the hearing officer’s office. Where the C.O., of course, lied while supporting the lies of the 0-3’s that ensued.

At the hearing as well as in my grievance I repeatedly gave notice that the TLV, when viewed, will show absolute support to all my standings while revealing the malfeasance of this 0-3. At no time did the disciplinary hearing officer view this TLV footage evidence. The video was acknowledged, yet, misrepresented by my counsel.

Of course I was found guilty, maxed-out on the punishments, G-5ed, and then I was shipped to another unit. Being the hardheaded individual that I am, while knowing I am not guilty of the lies I was charged with, I filed in the local Judicial District Court for an injunctive order and successfully gained an order from the court directing the TDCJ’s Executive Director to ensure that the TLV footage evidence of the occurrence; with the suborning of the C.O. video, be preserved and not done away with. The Court bench warranted me for this action.

By the time I finished processing back into the TDCJ the disciplinary hearing’s guilty finding was – miraculously – overturned. Who’d of thunk!?! Presently, in that same District Court, I have filed a Cause of Action against the TDCJ Agency for retaliation. Naming each person involved in this fraudulently run railroading of that case premised solely on lies and retaliation. Naming each individual as “Persons of Incident.”

You see, all too often, the TDCJ Agency will: in the course of “Taking Case of Our Own,” intentionally ignore the TLV footage evidence. Herewith, I have figured out how to force them to acknowledge the video footage evidence as well as achieving accountability for their illegal conducting: getting liability to duly attach on their heads.

The TLV cameras are there to record the truth. I here have opened the door so many have overlooked. Use the cameras to reveal their malfeasance in office. For a small donation I am certain that MIM will be glad to forward a printing of the TDCJ E.D.-02.01. The Ethics Policy is an extremely powerful Executive Directive when quoted in your grievance. It scares them so much that they removed it from the Law Libraries Holding’s list back in 2015.(1)

notes: 1. for a list of documents not being provided on the law libraries holdings list, see Censorship of TBCJ, TDCJ Policies, Procedures and Rules

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[COVID-19] [Political Repression] [Abuse] [Control Units] [ULK Issue 77]
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Despots, Terrorists, and Oppressors in SECC

The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From The Tree

‘Department of Corrections’. A place in which nothing is correct. Nor does it correct, but corrupts absolutely. Missouri DOC and its Corruption Officers (C.O.’s) hold in clear disdain the lives of the human beings in its corrupting facilities. An example of this: the ‘South-Eastern Correctional Center’ (herein after referred to as the “South-Eastern Plantation” or “SECC”) located in Charleston, MO.

The South-Eastern Plantation has taken two new modes of torture within its Ad-Seg units. On top of being overly eager to unleash chemical weapons known as MK-9 or “pepper spray” on offenders even in non-violent, non-hostile, non-threatening or unsafe instances; the South-Eastern Plantation has taken to starvation tactics and food-poisoning. By providing inmates with week-old food or in cases of those on “Certified Religious Diets”, stale and black-molded crackers, peanut butters, etc. It is bad enough that COII Pig Sites puts it, “This is our house boy, we own you.” COII Pig Sites and COI Pig Dobbs alike make it their business to “break offenders in” by beating them in handcuffs upon arrival to their single-cell confinement building 1 house. They say such beatings bring “safety and security” to the facility, and that “If you don’t like it, then don’t make mistakes and obey our commands”.

In January of this year 2022, prisoners held in the two-man cell Ad-Seg unit (herein after referred to as Z House) all began to check out of their cells and refuse to enter into cells for being deprived of hair-cuts, proper food rations, clothing and unsatisfactory living conditions. Instead of accommodating offenders to what is theirs by ‘right’, the institution instead attempted to pull the bus up to transfer these individuals. As FUM (Facility Unit Manager) Cosby put it, “We don’t want people like you all here, we need good boys that do what they’re told and accept what we give them. The likes of you will only mess up what we’ve got going on.” As to what they have going on we may never know…$$$.

SECC’s nurses formerly employed by ‘CORIZON’ are helping the corrupt facility by submitting fake test results for COVID-19. They just recently filled up a wing in General Population twice under the pretense of “testing positive” for COVID-19. 64 individuals, only 24 of which had actually been tested and 12 of them actually positive. The only option being, go to quarantine or go to the hole. These offenders with full privileges now only allowed one 45 minute cell rotation. This was used as a way to scheme money as well as punish/target individuals whom they had a certain disliking for. The games never stop.

The comrades here at SECC fight for a world free of oppression, and to bring awareness to Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. Even in the midst of ongoing battles we will continue to shed light to the MIM and its readers. We wish you all the best of luck as well, because our fight is one. For a quick overview of what else has been going on here see ULK NO.76 Winter 2022.

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[COVID-19] [Grievance Process] [Abuse] [ULK Issue 77]
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Super Bowl Sunday: A New Holiday on San Quentin’s Death Row

On February 13th, 2022 it was announced via PA in East Block that there would be no yard due to holiday feeding. There was no state or federal holiday. It was just another Super Bowl Sunday. We’re being fed bullshit!

The deal is for second watch disrespectful sows to get an A.M. 7/11 lucky break before coming back to pass out lunch and dinner. Doing that might take an hour and the taxpayers eat the rest (comes with free-loading). Some of the second watch disrespectful sows will then join third watch and the game kicks off into overtime. The TV is set up in violation of 15CCR3394 distractions and the potluck tailgate assists close proximity in defeating the chance of a stable cohort – a violation of 15 CCR 3271, but no penalty?

As satirical as it may sound, this writing is an excerpt of events which did occur on San Quentin’s death row in East Block. Similar events as described above occurred in 2021 on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day 2022. Deliberate indifference to your right to yard, your health, or anyone’s safety in general means NOTHING to these disrespectful sows and the court has acted more like a referee paid off by the opposing team.

Want your rights back?

A suggestion to those warehoused on San Quentin’s death row:

  • Refuse housing cage staging and/or indoor congregate waiting rooms.
  • Preemptively and immediately submit a 602-1 staff misconduct grievance against AW specialized housing for denying you safe access to appointments, visits, etc. simply because you refuse to ignore HC guidelines to practice social distancing – NOT possible in a holding cage/congregate waiting room AND an ultimatum in violations of 15 CCR 3271 if a valid concern exists.
  • If response implies no indoor close proximity concern is valid, then demand normal outdoor daily yards program be reinstated in a 602-2 follow up grievance.
  • Advise your PCP/MH clinician in writing on CDCR 7362 of your decision to follow HC guidelines to social distance and that custody refuses to comply resulting in you being denied safe access to HC/MH services and programs. Keep the yellow copy of that 7362 form for an official record.

*Doing this in conjunction with grievances citing other ways your card is being arbitrarily taken is a from of non-violent protest. SQ/CDCR’s response (or lack of one) creates an official record for future use.

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[Police Brutality] [Drugs] [Abuse] [Digital Mail] [Pasquotank Correctional Institution] [Granville Correctional Institution] [North Carolina] [ULK Issue 77]
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Will prisoners' iPads feature apps that record police brutality?

Today at Polk Correction Institution the prep-team beat a young man in full restraints named Mr. Fox as he screamed for help during a shake-down: video surveillance was not provided.

15 March 2021, a few weeks before the killing of Andrew Brown by Pasquotank Sheriff’s Department, I was maced, tased, beat, and nearly killed by almost 20 Pasquotank C.O.s. The beating occurred in 6 different locations in the building including 3 elevators. I received several life lasting injuries to the head, face, and mouth from being punched and kicked over a hundred times while laying flat on the ground on my stomach and/or side. A chunk of meat was ripped out of my shoulder from being dragged over 50 ft. I was choked while beaten til they thought and asked one another if I was dead.

Another official cut my thumb with a switch blade and I received several other injuries that medical refused to treat or document. The officers said, “they’ll be back to beat me every chance they get and that I better not eat.”

I was emergency shipped, and 3 hours later pictures were taken of my injuries when I arrived at Polk Correctional Institution (High-Risk-Security).

Pasquotank Prison Officials deny to have ever touched me and claim their innocence while not even bothering to explain how my injuries were sustained. The disciplinary officer found that the video footage of the incident had been tampered with and cut-short.

18 October 2021, all mail for North Carolina prisoners will be received at TextBehind in Phoenix, MD with long time promises of iPads in the future. Should department of public safety provide proper video surveillance for safety before iPads for profit and entertainment? Surveillance is critical to maintain and monitor unwanted violence.

Relief in the claim I’ve filed against Pasquotank Correctional Institution include that the courts enforce a policy with an injunction ordering hand-held cameras be used when escorting offenders or using force in blind spots.

Unfortunately, body-cams in prison make it harder for guards to smuggle contraband or have relations which would decrease the rate of violence from drug related issues allowing more prisoners to focus on rehabilitation and money management.

With this we would ask for higher pay rates to support our families and conjugal visits for married couples.

Prayers out for the family of Andrew Brown and the victims of police brutality.

For a full report of Pasquotank Prison Incident, see: “Two Letters From North Carolina Prisons Make the Same Demands 45 Years Apart.


MIM(Prisons) adds: In the last issue of Under Lock & Key one of our comrades addressed the use of tablets to pacify and surveil the oppressed in A Strategic Objective to Disrupt and Surveil the Communication Between Prisoners and Our Loved Ones. The article above connects this to the many campaigns prisoners have waged to get cameras in prisons so that there is documentation of the regular abuse and illegal happenings that go on inside.

In 2014, comrades in North Carolina won a lawsuit to [require staff of NCPDS to record with video cameras any use of force incidents]((https://www.prisoncensorship.info/article/north-carolina-prisoners-preliminary-victory-on-use-of-force-lawsuit/). This suit however, left it up to the pigs to determine when cameras need to be used. As AK47 asks, if the state is to invest more money in technology, shouldn’t it be on this important task of preventing physical abuse and drug trafficking, both of which leads to the loss of humyn lives?

We can also take lessons from the implementation of universal cameras, including audio recording, in California which brought up concerns of excessive monitoring of prisoners, including in counseling and rehabilitation programs. Just last year, another lawsuit in California brought a federal court order requiring body cameras in Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in California, resulting in passive protests from staff in the form of not running programs for prisoners.

Modern surveillance and communication technology can be used for good and for bad, for the interests of the oppressed or the interests of the oppressor. The interests of the oppressed lie in holding the state accountable for the rampant abuse and drug dealing its employees commit every day, while being able to maintain connections to society, engaging in rehabilitation programs where they can speak freely and openly. The interests of the state lie in pacifying the population with pop culture media and surveilling the communication of those who cannot be pacified.

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