Under Lock & Key

I’m not presently a member of MIM’s USW movement but as a younger Black male growing up in the system with a 23 year prison sentence I’ve come to feel that prisoners and society as a whole have somehow managed to find tranquility in triviality and ignorance. So the USW is something I’m promoting throughout NC prisons using my gang affiliation as a Hoover Crip to represent the need for reform and unity among the rival street gangs. Hopefully I’m successful in building an understanding with the United Blood Nation and Gangster Disciples who are far more numerous in NC State prisons.

Those of you who are still affiliated with your LOs need to step up and speak to help build others’ understanding. Speak by directing your comments to us independently of everything else. You have many of us who are in the closet about our growing desire to represent our LOs while also truly standing up for revolution, anti-capitalism, anti-racism and anti-sexism, but without the encouragement to do so. It’s not out of fear but let’s be honest with ourselves, many of us aspire for growth but have found it hard in the beginning, and even now harder to maintain the goals we’re striving for.

I’d like to know from ULK readers who are active LO how they define revolution and what makes them revolutionaries, what are the actions they’ve taken to enlighten other LOs that could possibly be continued in other prisons throughout the u.s.

Let me start by thanking you for the wonderful work you are doing. A friend of mine gave me your May 2009 Under Lock & Key paper. I’m a slave at a Federal Institution in Butner North Carolina. I’m writing you to give you more insight on what’s going on in these federal plantations. I was at FCI Victorville #1 in California for 6 years until I was once again accused of a false investigation in the prison. I was found in no violation of BOP policy, yet they sent me clear across the country away from my family. As you can see, this is another form of breaking up families.

Anyway, while at Victorville, I observed that Unicor has a real slave plantation going on, and they are brain washing guys with the crumbs (money) they are being paid. Unicor work consists of putting HUMVs together for the military and building military forklifts from the ground up, these are not your ordinary forklifts, they are huge and I hear they’re worth around $100k from some of the guys who work in Unicor. The prisoners are paid anywhere from $130 a month at grade 2 or 3. Grade 1 gets paid around $180 to $240 a month. If they do over time, working 2 or 3 days a week around 12 hours, they will make from $400 to $500 a month. I know that sounds like a lot for someone who is incarcerated, and that’s the hook, that’s how the guys get brainwashed. These guys go to the commissary and give it right back, it’s a vicious cycle and the guys don’t see it. So the government is getting theirs back through the commissary, phone, and now they have computers so we can buy time and email.

The phone system works like this: you can pay for your call or you can call collect. If you pay for your calls it will come out to roughly around $72 dollars for your 300 minutes. We get 300 minutes a month. A phone call for 5 minutes is $1.20. And we all have restitution so 50% of our pay is taken for that.

There was an incident at Victorville where we were having a few riots and we were getting locked down a lot and everything was shut down, Unicor included. We heard that Victorville was going to lose their contract with the military and they were going to send their work to another institution because we were getting locked down a lot. They have a timeline to finish all these HumVs and forklifts. While we were on lockdown on one occasion they let the Unicor guys out while we were still locked down in our cells, so I wrote to the Western Regional Office they forwarded it to the warden.

These federal plantations are built to serve the military and public. I’m now at Butner FCI #2. Here they have a Unicor but they produce shirts for the Navy, they have a sweat shop going on. I found out these slaves here only get $30 a month at grade 4. Grade 1 gets around $120 a month.

I also learned they they have a call center which calls the public. First they train the prisoners how to type, then they work as part of the Information Center for North Carolina. When you call and you need a listing of someone or customer service for cell phones, you will be connected to one of 20 prisoners who work in the call center. The pay for this work is monthly: $172 for grade 1, $138 for grade 2, $103 for grade 3, $69 for grade 4 and $34.50 for grade 5.

As you can see the government has reinvented slavery with a twist and Blacks, Latinos and poor whites are the targets. They are giving out Buck Roger release dates so they think they can have you for life. Brothas and Sistas please unite and become one to rid this country of modern day slavery.

The sanitary conditions in the dining halls, bakery, freezer, dish room, stock room, serving line and other areas within Polk Correctional’s kitchen are appalling. Prisoners voice their concerns to an unresponsive administration and continue to suffer from their lack of concern for the health of the inmate population.

A rat infestation is only the first and most prevalent of a long list of problems stemming from an environment where amateurism and incompetence prevail. This can be seen when a prisoner finds a rodent, or evidence of one, in the food and his overseer - in one particular case a Mr. Covington - told him “what the hell do you want me to do about it?” We merely wish for you, or apparently someone else with high qualification for the position, to do their job. Prisoners will no longer tolerate an administration which, in a bout of penny-pinching due to a cash-starved Department of Corrections, sweeps their problems under a rug. We will no longer accept this as a fact of prison life.

Gone are the days when a prisoner grievance form was the only effective means to make the necessary changes occur. (Which was more often than not a hit or miss process for justice in these matters, and that was if the paperwork did not eventually become “misplaced” or “fall through the cracks” as one Sargent commented on an unrelated matter involving paperwork.)

We have by passed the ineffective administration on the Polk compound and wish to raise awareness, not only to the Division of Prisons, but the Prison Ministries of the Rural People’s Party and Maoist Internationalist Movement respectively and the daily newspaper, The News & Observer, that the health/sanitary conditions are only dealt with when the top officials of the state prison system converge on Polk (as was done several weeks ago) or when State Health Inspectors notify prison authorities of an upcoming visit (as was seen on May 28th when guards could be seen running scared with mops and buckets of paint).

We do not wish for cleanliness only on state visits, but as a permanent fact. Officers Covington, Miller, Evans, Gardner, Frazier and Hawkins (to name a few) have been fully aware of this inconvenient reality for quite some time (several have been employed for a decade or more) and have perfected the art of polishing off an apple which is rotten from within.

Polk Correctional, and doubtless the majority of the 73 correctional institutions in the state, need an administrative overhaul to replace officials who are all too familiar on how to cut corners and achieve only the minimum. United Lumpenproletarians from Within (ULW) demands a long-overdue shake-up of the top prison administration at Polk Correctional and other facilities in order to replace incompetent officials with competent and qualified ones. We do not want their overseers to just slap them on the hand which triggers a 2 week “cleanliness is godliness” program and the dismissal of several “trouble-making elements” within the prison kitchen service in retaliation for their higher-ups actually making state employees do their jobs.

As I have stated earlier, the rodent, insect (cockroaches, ants) and severe mold and mildew (asbestos) issues are just one of many problems that prisoners must deal with. As you read other prisoner’s testimonies, several have revealed their concern not only of the multiple infestations, unjustified disrespectful conduct by our handlers, but also of a severe shortage in shoes and clothing.

Prisoners are facing sanitary concerns on two fronts. I will elaborate further upon request, but at this time I will post this out in the hopes that the most prevalent of our concerns (physical evidence enclosed) will be brought to light and properly addressed.

This letter came with 10 testimonials from other prisoners at Polk. Below are 3 of those statements

I work at a State Correctional Facility and have seen rats in the storage room, have seen fruit flies on old bananas. I’ve seen floors mopped with cold water only to keep from stripping the wax. I’ve seen spills left for days in segregation units. Ants are slowly taking over some of the building. Prisoners ask if they can clean their rooms and the Sargents or unit managers say no. The stairwells are filthy, and there are so many dust bunnies, you could make blankets out of them. Management wonders why some of the staff doesn’t want to work.

I am writing this complaint because of the lack of the kitchen’s effort to keep the kitchen a clean and sanitary place to prepare and serve food fro the prisoners at Polk Correctional Institution. On a number of occasions I have seen mice running free about the kitchen. I have seen them in the area where the food is stored, prepared, cooked and on the line where the prisoners were served. In one occasion I even saw mice droppings in the breakfast meat that was being stored in the cooler at the time. I have seen holes that have been bitten into loafs of bread. I hope that whoever receives this statement will take action as soon as possible. This type of neglect is unacceptable.

I’ve been working in the kitchen for a month and a half. The kitchen is very nasty. There are always flies everywhere in the kitchen. I’ve also seen bread that has been eaten by rats, it is very disturbing. There is another problem, there are rat feces in the food and the freezers. They also expect us to wear the same clothes we use for work in the kitchen even though our clothes are always filthy after work. If someone could please help us with these problems we would all be thankful for your help.

We are asking people to write to the NC DOC to protest these conditions
NC DOC Division of Prisons
831 W. Morgan St
Raleigh, NC 27603-1659

Two prisoners wrote to MIM(Prisons) with concern about the conditions of Polk Correctional Institution’s kitchen. This disregard for the health and safety of prisoners is typical of Amerikan prisons.

The first prisoner writes:

I am a prisoner working in the kitchen at Polk Correctional Institution and I’m a little worried about the rat infestation, ants and mildew problem. The rat infestation is so bad that they food they pass out sometimes has rats or mice in the food. And the ants are all over the place, unless staff hears of an inspection and then they have the prisoners clean the coolers out where most of the mice and rats get food. The mildew is so bad that it has upset my asthma.

The second prisoner goes into more detail:

This letter is to inform you of the conditions of Polk’s kitchen. I am a first shift kitchen worker. I have worked in numerous kitchens in North Carolina such as Bob Evans, Red Lobster and others. So I accepted the job here at Polk figuring everything should be rudimentary. What I learned on the job about the preparation of the food has led me to barely eat due to sanitation issues.

As soon as you enter the kitchen you smell an odor of mildew and once you reach the pots and pans and segregation line stations the smell is so unbearable that you get cold chills, goosebumps, etc. They tell us to use dish soap on it or scrub it, but the problem never gets solved.

I remember a time when the potatoes were dropped on the floor and we were told to pick it up and put the lids back on and proceed to delivering them to prisoners. The most dangerous thing in the kitchen besides the mold is the mice. There is a serious infestation in the kitchen that needs to be taken care of.

I’m writing this letter as a growing New Afrikan prisoner and gang leader and founder of the NC State East Coast Consolidated Crip Organization (ECCO) prison group. What prompted me to write this particular letter was the March 2008 #7 Under Lock & Key interview with Comrade Mfalme Sikivu. Even without having an affiliation with the Ujamaa Field Dynasty, I can agree to their message and that of their doctrine from what was given in the interview.

I believe there comes a time in our lives for those of us who live our life illegal, or gang members, prisoners, etc., that we realize what oppression is and how we take active roles in repressing ourselves and our communities. Not for all, but for most of us, I’d say it’s natural to want to contribute to productive change and liberation from what ignorance has bound us to. I encourage all my comrades in Lumpen groups to contact the UFD to have a better understanding of the UFD and their goals as to realize their struggle is our struggle, their liberation is our liberation. It takes all of us as responsible adults to fight for what we know is right and to learn from each other.

We can be gang members and still identify with the set and hoods we’re from while deprogramming ourselves and killing our own for rank and a name in some cases. There’s no sense to it. Anybody with common sense should realize violence for any number of reasons normally is responded to with equal or greater violence. As a Hoover Crip I’ve killed or harmed more Crips from rival chapters than the United Blood Nation. I’m not justifying or advocating my actions, I’m making a point from what I know. We each have the potential to do right, if we make a dedicated attempt. While I do agree with the statement Mfalme made that lumpen will not fundamentally change, I do so because I don’t feel we have enough educated leaders and programs in and out of prison to help us come to a new understanding.

The Crips and the Bloods have decades of bad relations and bloodshed between us that has spread all across the United States, Africa and South America. A 6 month to a year program, half run by capitalist and police who don’t know or care about us, who in most cases entice us to kill each other, can’t be expected to change the damage.

Remember, it’s on us to defeat our criminal mentalities and create a future for our families. No one can break our bad habits for us and for us as gang members, pimps, drug dealers, etc., to continue down the same path is self-destruction for us and those who care for us, or depend on us. Each one, teach one and we will obtain the light we seek. And support the UFD goals, if not the UFD, learn from them and apply what’s taught to your own groups to help our communities grow and prosper.

I am writing to let it be known that I had no problem receiving the January 2009 issue of ULK. It is such an honor and a privilege to be a recipient of such a fine publication.

While reading the latest issue of ULK I noticed something that made me stop and think really hard. That something was that throughout the entire newsletter there was some type of mentioning of women in nearly every issue. I point that out because I have a story to tell about how women are making life harder for prisoners.

Before I go any further with this please let me say to my fellow comrades that I love women to the utmost. The way they smell, the sound of their voice, the way they look, the way they walk, everything; I’m the furthest thing from a sexist anyone can imagine. Let’s face the facts though, women are some very emotional beings. Emotions that when not contained or kept in check could prove to be very detrimental to a person such as myself.

When dealing with women working in a men’s prison, one has to be very careful about what they do, and what they say. Because you never know when you’ll become a victim of one of her emotional outbursts.

Case in point: One morning on return from gym call, as I headed to my cell for an institutional count I had asked the female officer in the booth over the intercom was she going around for count to which she replied, “no”. I was going to my cell to wash myself since I was all sweaty from playing basketball in the gym, and I could not take a shower before lunch call because the showers don’t cut on until 5 o’clock. I had asked that female officer, was she coming through for count, out of respect because I knew that there was a slight possibility that she would, being that we can’t cover our cell door windows, and I knew that I would be washing myself. Out of respect for women I did this. So when she told me no, that she wasn’t coming around for count, I went to my cell, got completely naked, and proceeded to wash myself.

You can imagine what happened next. Unknown to me, the very same female officer walks right past my door to count me while I’m standing there completely naked washing my body. It wasn’t a problem to me but I didn’t want this lady thinking that I had disrespected her. So after count was cleared I went looking for her to apologize. I couldn’t find her for the rest of that day. I thought that maybe she was called to another unit to work.

The following day however, I was called to the sergeants office, and was told that I had a write up for being naked in my cell, stroking my penis in an up and down motion during count time when this particular female officer came past my cell door to count me. What? I was outraged. I tried calmly to explain the situation to the sergeant, but if you’re a prisoner you already know that a prisoner’s word versus an officer’s word is no good, and whatever that officer says is what it is. I felt completely defenseless. I was, because I knew that no matter what I said or did this facility’s disciplinary board was going to find me guilty. I tried though. I tried to get them to understand the situation, but these people are truly stuck in their ways even when the truth, and facts are right before their eyes.

In the disciplinary hearing the hearing officer stated in their summary that they find that this act was not intentional, but still found me guilty. Resulting in the punishment of $10 taken out of my account (money that my people send me, I only get $20 every other month), 45 days segregation time, loss of telephone privilege for 30 days, 10 days credit time less, 40 hours extra duty time, and one month limited draw (meaning that I can only spend $10 a week instead of 40). On top of all that I’ve been red-flagged to be placed on I-CON (intensive control) which is being placed in segregation for at least 6 months, because this is my second high level offense within the last 6 months. The first one was refusing to produce a urine sample for a drug test. I got that because I couldn’t piss on demand.

I’ve shared this story with you comrades so that you can see for yourself just how easy it is for a female working in a prison to cause so much hardship for a prisoner. On the outside looking in you just see that I’ll be doing a lot of months in segregation. You don’t recognize what effect that has on me and my family. Because now that I’m in segregation visits are now behind the glass, meaning that I can’t hug my sons, mother, and sisters if they choose to come see me shackled, handcuffed, and chained up behind a glass window. Now my people think that it’s a waste of money to have to pay for write ups, using money that could’ve been well spent somewhere else; resulting in them not really wanting to send me money anymore. I also have another charge added onto my DOC record which will be looked at by a judge being that I’m trying to get back into court. Now the judge is going to see that I can’t behave myself in prison, why should he really grant me a motion for appropriate relief if I’m unable to control myself in prison? That’s what he’s going to be thinking. Now my chances of getting a motion granted are even smaller.

These are just a few ways that my life and the lives of my family and loved ones are affected by a female coming to work emotionally distressed. Nothing I can do about it either. That’s the sad part. All I can do is live my life one day at a time with hopes that I’ll be released from captivity earlier than the 2020 release date set for me.

Throughout my entire life women played a significant role in how things went for me, some good, some bad. It just goes to show that that saying is true, “women, can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em.”

MIM(Prisons) responds: First we want to dispel some mistaken ideas about what sexism is. This prisoner suggests that because he loves women he is not sexist. But sexism has nothing to do with what one likes or loves. Sexism is the systematic view that women are in some way inferior to men. And in the case of this prisoner, his characterization of women as “very emotional beings” is actually a good example of sexist views. We’re not trying to say this prisoner is unusual in his sexism. In fact, right now we all live under a patriarchal system that teaches us sexist views from birth, and that’s not something we can just wish away. It’s more important that we work on fighting systematic oppression than attempting to change an individual’s well ingrained attitudes and views. But we mention this here because it is important for everyone to see how their views run counter to the goals of our overall struggle against all forms of oppression.

We do not doubt the truth of this story about the female officer mistreating the writer. But there is nothing in the incident that suggests that female officers are more dangerous or emotional than male officers. The pages of Under Lock and Key are filled with accounts of male officers taking advantage of prisoners’ (both male and female) position of powerlessness to abuse them, file false accusations, and even take sexual favors. Male officers can be just as emotional and illogical as female officers - in both cases this is more about abusing power than some inherent irrational nature. Giving people positions of power in the Amerikan criminal injustice system encourages this sort of behavior.

What is interesting about this prisoner’s story is the demonstration of a womyn exercising gender power over a man. This is not because this womyn was irrational and emotional, but instead because of the systematic position of powerlessness faced by (mostly male) prisoners in Amerika, and the relative power enjoyed by the guards (both male and female). Behind the bars men as a group end up gender oppressed, but on the streets they enjoy gender power over wimmin. The common theme of gender in the issue of Under Lock and Key that this prisoner read was meant to demonstrate this and put gender oppression in the context of the Amerikan criminal injustice system.

I’m currently an acting lieutenant of the Hoover Crips in NC state prisons. I’ve been working towards building better relationships with rival Crip sets in prisons in hopes of bringing solidarity within my nation. I’m working towards a new concept within the Crips and I have gained a following. I’d like to overcome the stereotypes and propaganda so we as an organization with publicity utilize our image to show that liberation is gained from education. The search for truth is often unsettling and if acquiring knowledge was easy we would all have it. I’d like to see my organization help with overthrowing racism, classism, sexism, and oppression. Instead of us damaging our standing as a minority-based group we need to vow to never again serve a system content to exploit us as commodities. I’d like to see us in the struggle for civil rights and humanitarianism. It’s no easy task to bring stability from chaos but I’ve gained a following with a lot of inspiration from the Maoist Internationalist Movement to overstand the struggle is bigger than my personal issues - bigger than one particular race, creed or gender.

MIM(Prisons) adds: We applaud this comrade’s work to bring rival groups together and encourage him and others to work towards unity across any and all organizations willing to work for real peace for the people. This means not only rival Crip groups, but also other oppressed nation organizations. Any oppressed people fighting other oppressed people is a waste of energy and essentially work for the imperialists. As this comrade points out, the struggle is bigger than persynal issues.

Check this out, there are a lot of issues of excessive force jumping off here at this spot with this renegade white Sgt named Deno. He has been dumping whole cans of pepper spray on prisoners when pulling them out of their cells. He then takes them to the mop closet and beats them up.

Guys are writing Prisoner Legal Services about these incidents but no internal investigations are being done by these people. They only send longass questionnaires and after all is said and done their response is always the same “we find no cause to investigate your complaint any further.” Nobody comes to see these guys physically all busted up and stitched up.

This Sgt Deno messed up this one guy’s eyes so bad with dumping too much pepper spray this guy’s vision is permanently altered. He is presently seeing an eye doctor. He has been prescribed medication for his eyes but it’s been 3 weeks and counting and this nursing staff still haven’t given it to him.

Sacred memories painted black on
brokeness of hard times canvases.
Mirrored images of many men confined
who remind me of me in memory.
Souls tear stained with blood of
our ancestors past.
Injustices pain like rain falls forming
puddles around ankles like shackles.
Unwritten script fist clenched against
bad experiences within the penal system.
Too many talented dreamers behind
prison fences.
Prison Central is confinement of the mind
Black life in eyes still shinning but dimming
He went from living to merely existing.

Mental purgatory trapped inside the
matrix
hells aging heaving grabbing at me.
Suicidal mind battles fictional characters
trying to hold on.
I believe I can fly touching the
sky inside my mind zone.
I rather die before I submit to
genocide systemized legalized lynching.
Judicial homicides of the black
strong and gifted.
Invisible teardrops manifested
Obama can’t change this.