MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
Comrades, I’m white and I hate white people not because they are
white but because they love themselves too much more than
anyone else more than anything else more than all else I love
all else my mom’s white my brother’s white father and sisters
white and I hate white people not because they are white but
because they are killing my people and my planet all for green
paper and towering white steeples I’m a traitor who grew up in
a trailer I branded cows in my youth ninety miles to the
south the nearest traffic light we pissed off the porch poached
deer - ate rattlesnake comrades, I’m white But don’t hold that
against me because I hate this motherfucking country to
death my pen’s my weapon my blood - my breath my planet - my
species above all else
Often we hear or read quick quotes which are taken to mean something, or
infer something different from the intended meaning. Marx’s quote on
religion is just such an example.
We have all heard or read Marx’s “statement” that “religion is the
opiate of the masses.” This is not an accurate quote of what Marx wrote
in his “Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right.”
This quote has given rise to the belief that Marx did not take the issue
of religion seriously and dismissed it as folly. This is not true.(1)
Let’s review in context what Marx did write about religion:
“Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress
and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the
oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the
spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people.”
The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is
required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusions
about conditions is the demand to give up a condition that needs
illusions. The criticism of religion is therefore in embryo the
criticism of the vale of woe, the halo of which is religion. Criticism
has plucked the imaginary flowers from the chain, not so that man will
wear the chain without any fantasy or consolation, but so that he will
shake off the chain and cull the living flower.
Clearly Marx is not discussing the seriousness of religion, or the role
it plays in the lives of oppressed peoples. Marx realizes the power of
delusion that religion holds over people. I disagree with MIM(Prisons)
that religion “is simply a belief in authority.”(2) Perhaps that is true
for some people. But I believe it is a panacea for woe and oppression –
a search and hope for a better life than the one believers currently
lead. It is the oppressed’s answer to the question of existentialism.
Due to the anxieties of existence – anxieties people experience as the
result of natural causes like floods, famine and earthquakes, or
man-made causes such as enslavement, exploitation or oppression – that
make people feel powerless, they often resort to magical thinking, or
beliefs in supernatural agents as a plea for the anxiety to end. Thus
was born religion, its roots in anxiety.
Religion is a potent tool of capitalism and imperialism. To eliminate
one, all must be eliminated if the people are to experience true freedom
and liberation.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Overall, we have great unity with what
this comrade writes about religion and Marx’s view of it. But eir
disagreement with something we wrote is a bit of a strawpersyn argument.
First, it is ironic to use Christopher Hitchens to criticize us as too
dismissive of religion. Hitchens was popular for his atheist ideas among
the Amerikan petty bourgeoisie. His attack on so-called “Islamo-fascism”
was better received than his allies on the left (led by Bob Avakian) and
right (epitomized in David Horowitz). All three represent the spectrum
of white nationalist thinking that uses religion as an excuse to attack
the oppressed nations, primarily in the Islamic world today.
In this attempt to critique, we think this comrade takes the quote
from the
Fundamental
Political Line of the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons
out of context. The article presents the religious view in a discussion
on science, correctly stating that it is simply a belief in authority,
rather than a belief in one’s own ability to study reality and find
truth.
The MIM article also discusses pre-scientific thinking, addressing
religion’s role as a “panacea for woe and oppression.” In pre-capitalist
times, such thinking was the norm and religion was more than just an
attempt to deal with the bad times, it was an attempt to explain all
aspects of reality. Once scientific thought was developed and
popularized, it has been the class interests of the oppressors that have
kept religious ideology alive to serve their interests, as this comrade
alludes. But that doesn’t mean everyone who is religious is a dupe.
Muslims are currently striking some of the greatest blows against U.$.
imperialism, so they must have a pretty good grasp on how to actualize
their own interests in a world that throws many horrors in their
direction.
I myself fully understand as well as live the principles the brother
from Jersey as well as New York are speaking of in the Under Lock &
Key article
Time
for Peaceful Revolution. Both brothers bring up valid points. There
are 3 stages to that life within that LO and both of these brothers seem
to be third stage brothers.
Now the origin and founder of this lumpen organization differs by who
you speak to. But I believe the focus needed is to get the brothers from
primitive stages to third stage. All these issues are intertwined but as
leaders one can’t speak for the whole (LO), no man can do that, that is
why there is a chain of command in all LOs. The body moves everything at
the end of the day. So it is one thing to tell these brothers to strap
up or go on a hunger strike. They very may well follow orders. But once
you’re separated the fire will dwindle till it no longer exists!
Now if we take those brothers in the true cause of all LOs, which for
the most part all have revolutionary roots, from such parties as the
Young Lords, Black Panthers, etc. If we educate the body of the LO as a
whole, then they will know what they are fighting for. That will be the
difference between a few minor victories and the whole war. People need
to know what they’re fighting for. Then it will be a lot easier to get
leaders of LOs to sit down and work towards our common goals while
maintaining orders on our terms in these day kennels.
I respect 100% my brothers from Jersey as well as NY. We need to educate
ourselves, so a rebirth of the mind is needed. But in a split second we
need to be ready to turn it up if we have to.
In May the Department of Corrections in Radgowski Correctional
Institution tried to shorten our visits and decrease the number of
visitors allowed in the visiting room. So I organized a good amount of
brothers to put pen to paper and the response was immediate. Some of us
were shipped out of the jail and some to other parts of the jail. I
myself was moved from the privileged part of the jail to the assessment
drums.
A move is only done when you catch a ticket which I had not. I refused
housing and went to the box. Since then drugs have been planted on
prisoners as well as false positive urines. Now I am a level 2 prisoner
but I am being housed in level 4 (max). I have basically just got the
run around about my transfer. I am writing to the commissioner now with
no hopes of a positive or righteous response, more so just to exhaust
the administrative remedies.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Grievances are not only ignored by prisons
but filing them often results in punishment, like what is described by
this comrade as happening in Connecticut. Yet each state bureaucracy
will go to lengths to explain the “systems” they have in place for
prisoners to address any abuse they face on their watch. A campaign to
demand
grievances be addressed was initiated in California and has spread
to Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas. It
is needed in every state because there are prisons in every state. We
need volunteers who can modify the petition to work in their state.
Write to us for a copy of the petition.
I was born of a womb of a mother who smokes grew of age in a
concrete tomb choking on I-15’s exhaust smoke my veins I must
stretch to feel at ease This is what my life is like from
conception to the grave unable to breathe quit what it is you
hate while you still hate it three quarters done with my
sentence hoping someone’s still there to say “You’ve made
it” Considered depressed and despondent since the age of
five that’s when I learned to pledge allegiance age five they
taught us loyalty to one’s country as I smuggled cans of copenhagen
and snickers to my daddy in prison age five I was born of a
country Built on and maintaining DOC brutality Pledged allegiance
to a flag that destroyed my family So, you see this is what my
life is like from conception to the grave Still unable to
breathe
On May 20 prisoners at the privately run Adams County Correctional
Center in Natchez, Mississippi, rose up in protest of the violence,
abuse and neglect at this prison for non-citizens incarcerated for
re-entering the United $tates after deportation and for other charges.
Prisoners took control of the facility for over eight hours before SWAT
teams took back the prison using pepper spray grenades and tear gas
bombs among other weapons.
The prison administration is claiming the violence was a result of
prisoner-on-prisoner conflicts but one prisoner involved in the struggle
called a Jackson TV station and clearly articulated that the riot was
due to mistreatment of prisoners: “They always beat us and hit us. We
just pay them back… We’re trying to get better food, medical, programs,
clothes, and we’re trying to get some respect from the officers and
lieutenants.” The prisoner confirmed his identity by sending photos from
inside the prison.(1)
In recent years the U.$. has hit 400,000 deportations a year, the
majority Latino nationals. Pre-deportation Detention Centers are the
site
of widespread abuse as the prison guards are accountable to no one
and the prisoners are among the least valued people in Amerika by those
in charge.
As we reported in a 2009 article
“National
Oppression as Migrant Detention”, migrants are the fastest growing
prison population and they face significant abuse behind bars: “The
American Civil Liberties Union says that the conditions in which these
civil detainees are held are often as bad as or worse than those faced
by people imprisoned with criminal convictions. These detention centers
are described as ‘woefully unregulated.’ The ‘requirements’ that they do
have about how to treat people have no legal obligation, reducing them
essentially to suggestions.” So it should be no surprise that these
prisoners in Mississippi are fighting back.
The economic motivations of the private company that runs Adams County
CC, Correctional Corporation of America, is directly counter to the
humyn rights of prisoners. Again from the 2009 MIM(Prisons) article:
“The Correctional Corporation of America, a private prison management
company who controls half of the detention facilities run by private
companies, spent $3 million lobbying politicians in 2004. They want
stricter immigration laws so they can have access to more prisoners,
which will bring them more money. In turn, ICE is able to pay 26% less
per day to house prisoners in a private versus state-run facility. This
is possible because of the lack of public as well as governmental
oversight at private facilities, where they reduce costs by getting rid
of everything that would help prisoners, including necessary-to-life
medical care. One reason state governments shied away from private
prisons for their own citizens was the scandals that they quickly became
associated with. In the year 1998-99, Wackenhut’s private prisons in New
Mexico had a death rate 55 times that of the national average for
prisons. The migrant population’s lack of voice allows these
corporations to get away with their cost-cutting abusive conditions when
contracted by ICE. This is another good example of how capitalism values
profit over humyn life.”
The distinction between legal and illegal residents of the United $tates
is a clear example of the enforcement of imperialist wealth and poverty
using borders. Those who happen to be born on the north side of the
artificial border to Mexico have access to many resources and
opportunities, and most of those born on the south side live in poverty
with very limited opportunities. The United $tates can’t let migrants
through the border because that would open up jobs to all who want to
compete, rather than keeping them for the well off labor aristocracy.
Instead the imperialists set up corporations to suck the wealth out of
Latin American countries, devastate their economies with loan programs
and puppet governments, and benefit from the cheap labor that results.
Prisons are just one aspect of the imperialist oppression of
undocumented migrants. We support the prisoners in Mississippi and
across the country who are fighting back against inhumane conditions. We
need more reporting directly from the prisoners involved in these
protests. Help us spread the word by sending your stories to Under
Lock & Key and request MIM lit in Spanish to spread our
message.
I have been incarcerated in the Missouri Department of Corruption since
1997. Over these many years I have been confined to seven different
“camps” within the state of “Missery.”
I have seen prisoners maced and beat severely at Potosi Correctional
Center in the late 90s. Officers there would routinely chain prisoners
up “hog tied” like and leave them lying in their cells. Rather than move
prisoners that didn’t get along or otherwise weren’t compatible they
would make them fight and in two instances I know of, prisoners were
murdered by their cellmates.
All over the state it is common practice to place completely
incompatible people in a cell together. Guys with life without parole
being celled with prisoners with only a matter of months left in their
sentence.
At Crossroads Correctional Center I saw a sergeant kick a “chuck-hole”
closed on one prisoner’s arm. Another sergeant grabbed a prisoner in a
reverse headlock and dropped said prisoner on his face using all his own
body weight. Prisoners with asthma or other health problems are sprayed
with pepper spray.
All over the state it is common for prisoners to be “free-cased” for
violations or crimes they had nothing to do with because a scape-goat
was needed in a hurry to save face or out of animosity issues between
staff and prisoners.
At South Central Correctional Center prisoners were “free-cased” for
another prisoner’s murder because the institution needed scape-goats to
cover up their own incompetency in running a safe and secure ‘camp’ and
insufficient security equipment.
All over the state there are prisoners on a status termed “long term
mandated
single-cell
confinement.” This security status has no set end, no guidelines and
no governing policies or any unit set aside for such a special security
status. There are men on this status who have been confined solidarity
for over ten years.
At South East Correctional Center things are to a point where at the
time of this writing there are prisoners eating foreign objects such as
ink pens, screws, and any item obtainable (in one case the ear stem of a
pair of eye glasses) to express the need to be transferred away from the
tyrannical oppression found in this backward run facility.
All over the state prisoners are housed in single-man cell units with
prisoners with severe mental illness so they are subjected to round the
clock beating on walls and sinks, yelling and screaming, smearing and
throwing feces, urine, etc. Lights are left on or shut off per the whim
of the officers.
I am writing as a representative of the Five Percent Nation of Gods and
Earths(5PNGE). Although I cannot speak in authority on behalf of all
Five Percenters, I aim to show how our nation’s fundamental principles
are in line with those of the
United Front
for Peace in Prison.
The
first
principle of PEACE is in line with the third principle of “What we
will Achieve.” Peace being the absence of confusion and chaos within
ourselves, our communities, our nation, and the world. The attainment of
PEACE in any fashion stems first from education and the subsequent
enlightenment of the individual. Once the oppressed are emancipated from
the mental slavery that results from the thorough indoctrination of
self-destructive concepts presented by the imperialist elite, then we
can truly stand together and defend ourselves from the now known enemy.
The imperialist machine has done a great job of placing false labels
upon us to keep us separated rendering us unable to attain any true
Umoja amongst ourselves.
The first principle of “What we will achieve” (National Consciousness)
is in line with the principles of Unity, Growth, and Internationalism in
that national consciousness is the awareness that “we are all one
people, regardless of geographical origins and that we must work and
struggle as one if we are to liberate ourselves from the domination of
outside forces” and destroy white supremacy, white privilege and
imperialism once and for all. The labels Latino, African Amerikan,
Asian, and Native American only help to separate us and keep us from
realizing that we are only truly one people who share a common history.
Somos originales. As the descendants of the fathers and mothers of
civilization we have an obligation to humanity to restore the true
culture of communal living and peace.
Now although the 5PNGE seeks to unite people of color and firmly resist
white supremacy/privilege in all its forms, we do not exclude whites
from our ranks. This transition is difficult for many whites because
they are forced to realize that the overwhelming cultural history of
Europeans consists of colonialism, murder, enslavement, and general
exploitation of the world’s inhabitants. After coming under study and
rejecting this devilish, destructive legacy they have the opportunity to
join the struggle of the Original People and overthrow the Devils
Un-civilization (the imperialist machine).
The 5PNGE finds independence through the second principle of “what we
will achieve”: community control. This consists of regaining control of
the educational, economic, political, media, and health institutions
within our communities for ourselves. We must have control on the
collective level so that we can maintain and advance the civilization.
The current political/socio-economic system does not serve us as a
people because it was not established for us. The United $nakes of
Amerikkka (as well as all other imperialist countries that make up
un-civilization) was born on the backs of the exploited class. It is
futile to rely on the slave masters for substance when we have in us the
tools to sustain ourselves in a more productive manner than any program
the current system may provide.
Now although ULK serves as a forum for political and
revolutionary discourse, it is the responsibility of all within the
5PNGE as well as all other LOs as part of the United Front for Peace in
Prison to educate those individuals still blinded by the propaganda of
the mainstream. Revolutionary education will build revolutionary minds
equipped with the tools to make revolutionary actions. Remember
P.E.A.C.E. Positive Education Always Corrects Errors.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Overall we have a lot of unity with this
comrade, which demonstrates the ability of organizations with different
ideologies to unite on common principles. We agree it is the goal of the
United Front for Peace in Prisons to unite lumpen organizations in the
struggle while pushing them to a higher level of political action and
understanding. We hope that others with 5PNGE will take up this
comrade’s call for unity of the oppressed and all who oppose
imperialism. 5PNGE takes a religious focused approach to the struggle,
while Maoists use the scientific method based in dialectical
materialism, but when we both arrive at the same anti-imperialist
conclusions then we we have fundamental unity at this stage in the
struggle.
I’m reporting from Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP). I’ve been engaged in
the last 16 months educating our comrades to the increasingly aggressive
tactics California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)
has taken in the course of systematically depriving us of every human
and civil right a prisoner is supposed to retain. I’ve also been
attempting to strengthen communication and, aside from a select few,
have been met with complacency and apathy.
We few have organized effective communication with one another and have
used creative strategies to combat certain conditions we’ve been
experiencing. At first, utilizing the 602 grievance process was only met
with rejections, so we took our well written 602s (grievances) that used
Department Operations Manual (DOM), California Code of Regulations (CCR)
Title 15, California penal code, and U.S. law, and bypassed the lower
level institutional coordinators and submitted copies to:
Governor Brown, State Capitol, Ste. 1173 Sacramento, CA 95814
CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate, 1515 S. St., Ste. 330, Sacramento, CA
95811
CA Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, Capitol Bldg, Rm 4005, Sacramento, CA
95814
Inmate Appeals Branch, Chief CDCR, PO Box 942883, Sacramento, CA
94283-0001
And other relevant heads of department and politicians. The outcome
has led to a spotlight shining down on KVSP administrative staff with
official reprimands and supplemental memorandums and addendum. Warden
M.D. Biter has been reprimanded to the effect of: stop superseding the
DOM, CCR, and other applicable state and federal law, and to honor the
CDCR 22 written request process that was formulated after the 2011
hunger strikes, and 602 grievance process. I’ve only been told this and
cannot provide documentation, but it comes from reliable sources within
administrative staff who are against the institution head’s policies.
Ever since these reprimands have supposedly taken place, there has been
a notable change in everything. Our 602s are being accepted for review,
22 forms are being answered within time limits, program has resumed on
modified procedure, and our food is adequately proportioned. We’ve had
no cases of staff misconduct, threats of any kind, or adverse
retaliatory actions from administration, from January through today’s
date of 5 June 2012.
I’ve created a private law library of essential regulatory content and
political value which has been utilized and facilitated by interested
prisoners and we are accumulating knowledge.
These are still initial stages and our struggle needs lots of work, but
even minor accomplishments are boosting morale. I encourage everyone to
take the steps we’ve taken and stay strong and diligent. Keep records,
daily logs, and file immediate complaints of misconduct.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This prisoner is setting a good example of how
to push forward the legal struggle for basic rights. And this article
provides some good advice for California prisoners working on the
grievance
campaign demanding that grievances be addressed. Improving
conditions within which prisoners live and organize is an important step
in the struggle against the criminal injustice system. We know these
reforms will only bring short-term relief, as the system itself serves
the interests of the ruling imperialists and so substantive change will
not come until we overthrow imperialism. But these battles are important
for both education and the successes they bring.
Illinois has followed in the steps of
California
and Virginia. On June 3, 2012 twenty-three political prisoners went on
hunger strike together in protest of various administrative issues at
Pontiac Correctional Center. On the same day I.A. interrogated all of
the strikers in an attempt to frame the strike as “gang activity.”
Pontiac Correctional Center exists in Illinois for the sole purpose of
isolating prisoners from each other and the world. The vast majority of
prisoners here are in segregation. As part of the administration’s
oppression against us we are beaten, unfed, given inadequate law
libraries, isolated, and much more. All of this is being protested by
the strikers. From Palestine to California and Virginia to Illinois the
revolution against tyranny and despair, extortion and exploitation,
oppression and capitalism is growing stronger.
In the name of revolution, solidarity, and struggle.