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.
I fully support the United Front and the five principles, because these
five principles should be lived out within lumpen organizations. What
the United Front means to me is this is one form that we can use to
better ourselves as a whole, as well as liberate our minds to become
better people so that we can help better others. I also feel that the
principles are important because within U.S. prisons the
prisoner-on-prisoner oppression is at an all-time high and I feel that I
must do all I can to help put a stop to this madness.
“It is up to us to organize the people. As for the reactionaries in
China, it is up to us to organize the people to overthrow them.
Everything reactionary is the same; if you don’t hit it, it won’t fall.
It is like sweeping the floor; where the broom does not reach, the dust
will not vanish of itself.”(1)
In taking on the charge of fighting a national revolutionary struggle
and building an anti-imperialist movement, those leading that movement -
a vanguard party made up of internationalist proletarian leadership -
have the principal task of educating the backwards masses so that they
may come to understand the nature of their suffering and oppression.
The Black Order Revolutionary Organization (BORO) has taken
responsibility of being part and parcel of the education and
organization of the lumpen and prisoners in the United $nakes, alongside
and in fraternity with MIM(Prisons) and the United Struggle from Within
(USW), and those lumpen and organizations that work with them.
In our brief history of revolutionary organiz- ing, BORO’s tactical
experiences have taught us is that we must struggle vigorously to teach
prisoners in a practical way, understanding that a great percentage of
U.$. prisoners are victims of mis-education by the colonial school
system and practically none have any history of political
struggle/activism.
In fact, because of their ignorance of the true laws of hystorical and
social development, most prisoners disdain politics and political
struggle, and instead have been heavily influenced by idealism, namely
religion and metaphysics. There could also be a myriad of other reasons
to explain this particular phenomenon, but that is not the purpose of
this essay.
The purpose of this essay is to discuss how do we transform the lumpen
colonial-criminal mentality into a revolutionary proletarian
consciousness. As revolutionaries and aspiring Maoists, we do this by
employing the science of revolution – Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, a
dialectical and hystorical materialist education.
The first thing we try to teach prisoners is that even though we are in
prisyn, we are still defined by our relationship to the means of
production, not by our religion or what state or neighborhood we come
from. As a comrade demonstrated in
ULK 17,
“in Marx’s theory of ‘social relations of production’ lies the question
of ownership, that is what ‘class’ owns the tools and what ‘class’ uses
the tools. In this imperialist society the lumpen neither own nor use
the tools. We are excluded from production and live under the heel of
capitalist relations of production.”(2)
The above point is critical to transforming the colonial-criminal
mentality into a revolutionary proletarian mentality and is a part of
the critical examination of our lives in relation to society in general,
and the revolutionary transformation of it, in particular. It’s also one
of the most difficult steps to take for many prisoners, because it
requires that one be critically honest and unreserved in the examination
of their lives and critique of one’s philosophical understanding of the
real world and how it really works. Many of us are afraid to admit our
parasitic roles in society. But even these should be critically examined
within the context of the society that helped produce us as a class, and
not as individuals.
It is idealists who “focus exclusively on conflicts within the
individual, which are held to be constant across time and space.
However, by not even noticing the presence of class struggle, which is
the principal driving force in human action, they are unsuccessful in
even explaining, much less changing, human behavior. Contradictions
within the individual are reflections of contradictions in society, not
autonomous from those contradictions. We define a person’s character not
in terms of the aspects of the individual as related to each other, but
rather in terms of the individual as related to society through the
individual’s participation in it. An individual’s struggle to resolve
internal contradictions is dialectically related to other individuals
and the struggle of human society as a whole to resolve conflicts in
society.”(3)
We must continue to provide prisoners with revolutionary educational
materials that challenge them to critically study and understand their
position in society and how to change it. No effective revolutionary
organization can be built in the United $nakes without a powerful base
inside of the penal colonies, undocumented workers and ex-prisyners. No
effective revolutionary movement in the prisyns can be built without
strong ties to a revolutionary movement on the streets. This is the
dialectical relationship that exists between those on the inside and
those on the outside of U.$. prisons.
If we want to brush away the dust that is capitalist-imperialism, then
we must continue to push forward the development of a united front
against imperialism. He who does not fear the death of a thousand cuts
will dare unseat the emperor!
Just as it is in all of the places that are discussed in Under Lock
& Key, the system here in Maryland is a joke. Prisoners in this
system who wish to air their grievances have no outlet because the same
pigs who were writing them up are the same pigs that handle the
administrative remedy process.
In 2008, a memo was put out to prisoners, written by the Prisoners’
Rights Information System of Maryland (PRISM). It indicated that a
Federal lawsuit had been filed by a prisoner represented by PRISM and
that that lawsuit resulted in the division of corrections, revising
directives governing the administrative remedy process. One of the
changes included the adoption of a two-piece carbon copy complaint form
so prisoners can retain a copy of the ARP, thus reducing risk of loss
and destruction and providing proof of exhaustion of remedies.
For a while this two-piece carbon copy complaint form was beneficial to
prisoners, however, like everything else that has been put into effect
to ensure that “justice” for prison inmates is upheld, officers have
found a way to undermine the system. At first many officers began to
refuse to sign the ARPs, but after prisoners began to complain about
this injustice the cowards gave in because they did not want to be
written up. Then they created a new system stating that no officers
could sign an inmate’s ARP, only a Lieutenant (Lt) or a “designated
officer” could do so. These Lts and designated officers pick and choose
which ARPs they want to sign and which ARPs they want to scrap. We have
to give our ARPs to a tier officer to take to the Lt because a Lt will
never come get it himself. If the Lt is okay with what you’ve written it
will be signed and the carbon copy will be returned to you. If not,
you’ll never see it again.
The whole point of the carbon copy is to prevent loss or destruction. It
is supposed to be signed and dated in front of you so that the carbon
copy can be handed back to you right then and there so that you will
have proof that you wrote the ARP if something happens to it.
In the segregation unit of Eastern Correctional Institution, Lt
Galligher is one of the leaders of the good ol’ boy network. It is he
and he alone who is in charge of signing ARPs and he must have worked as
a magician before working for the division of corruption because he sure
does know how to make a grievance disappear. Not many people write this
up because this Lt and the other pigs who put this system into place
will not hesitate to retaliate on anyone that attempts to expose them.
I, however, am not afraid and plan to attack this joke that they call a
grievance procedure from every angle possible.
I agree with the brother from Washington who stated that in
ULK 19, “[t]he
only way that we as prisoners will be treated fairly and with justice is
if a neutral outside company or corporation dealing solely with
grievances and our claims is constructed.” Otherwise we’re just
complaining to the same people who are administering the many forms of
injustice that we are fighting against. It’s a new era, it’s time for
change, it’s time for solidarity. I’m especially speaking to those of
you who are in an organization, this is what our energy should be
focused on, instead of trying to destroy the many forms of injustice
that we are shadowed with on an everyday basis. It’s time for change.
The time is now. Power to the people!
MIM(Prisons) adds: In response to this sort of injustice around
prisoner’s grievances, some United Struggle from Within (USW) comrades
initiated a grievance campaign. Write us to get a copy of the
grievance
petition for your state if you reside in California, Missouri,
Oklahoma or Texas, or a generic petition that you can customize for your
state if you are anywhere else.
I am currently serving a state sentence at Florida State Prison on Close
Management (24 hour lock-down). The prisoners are treated like hogs in a
barn, not human beings. The clothes here are filthy and stained with
blood, urine, feces, oil, and semen. They are passed out on a weekly
basis. We can catch a disease this way.
And the meals are always underdone. Prisoners have gotten sick from
this, a stomach virus. If you file a grievance on it, the correctional
officers won’t feed you the next day.
The pigs will write prisoners bogus disciplinary reports sometimes, and
if you try to file an appeal after they found you guilty of the
infraction your appeal comes up missing. How can a prisoner win like
that? The system is designed for us to lose even if we’re right in our
argument.
The correctional officers like to jump on prisoners in
handcuffs/shackles in the assigned cells, on the rec yard, anywhere
where there’s not a camera to catch the injustice. How can anyone defend
themselves when they’re helpless?
The COs try to discourage prisoners on a daily basis out of their
institutional call-out, meaning they will bribe them with contraband
like cigarettes, chewing dip, coffee, knives, etc. A lot of them will
fall for it all the time because they are trying to support their bad
habits. It’s sad on both parties’ behalf.
Florida prisoners have no unity whatsoever and they never will as long
as they continue to be brainwashed by the COs and continue accepting
contraband that is being brought in by DOC workers to prisoners. As long
as this keeps going on there will always be fights between one another.
MIM(Prisons) adds: The oppressive conditions in Florida are
similar to those throughout the criminal injustice system, and this
comrade’s call for prisoners to unite underscores the motivation behind
the
United
Front for Peace in Prisons. One of the 5 principles of the United
Front is Independence. The oppressed need to develop
institutions that meet their needs. There are plenty of examples of
prisoners pooling their resources to take care of each other, rather
than relying on the COs who only hope to poison the prison population
with drugs, weapons, rumors and jealousy.
As I envision the oppressor The one we’ve come to blame The
one who has united us by numbers And no longer respects our given
names. Who’s willing to stand for our cause? We’re trapped in this
thing together And sho’ nuf, united we will fall. That’s why we
lift each other up No matter the nationality or rotten
speech Together we should stand in this struggle No matter the
differences, we’re all unique. Defend what you want to
accomplish yet alone, it should be peace. Something has got to
change my people, the oppressor has made us weak.
Pull the fucking pistol out of your mouth and pick up a
book turn off that damn bourgeois television and take a
look shit’s getting hectic, brother, sure But a bullet in the
brain, amigo, isn’t the cure It’s too late for you, man, but what
about your son What about his generation who’s been taught to
run to stomp and tantrum and tattle-tale suck the plastic flea
market and dodge bourgeois “hell” imperialist sons medicated for
depression A hybrid oppressor slash enemy nation I’ll sell you
this for a gallon of that Then starve the world and die of heart
attack fat It isn’t the way it was meant All these senseless
suicides ain’t some static event the reasons exists - the “whys”
right here Your casket costs thousands - payment plan three
years sucking the fucking juice out of life - capitalism then
profiting off of your death - straight sadism Rent the church to
grieve you in Buy the hole they bury you in Pay the petty priest
to say some words Then scribble on some gray marble how much it
hurts Picking the pocket of the family that weeps Dying’s
expensive while living is cheap Business in death and death in
business What’s the price, father, the price to miss us
I sit doing ten years for a gram of dope Witnessing Johannes
Mehserle get probation for murder I sit watching men starve to
death Witnessing guards who can’t even alight a flight of
stairs Because they’re too fucking fat I sit in a country that
told me to stay in school and educate yourself In a cell where
they won’t give me a book I was told in my youth to just say no to
drugs And now that I refuse their psychotropics they refuse me
parole They told me to love thy neighbor like you love
yourself and now I watch my country men shoot Mexicans swimming
the border I sit in the land of the free rattling my
chains waiting I see the hypocrisy and the bitter twisted
lies Do you? I sit alone 7.4 million strong knowing nothing
more than to carry on nothing more than my country’s wrong knowing
nothing - nothing’s at all wrong Do you?
This game is thick, politics and pale faces and these dark skin
negros, itchin to change places wantin’ to reign supreme, niggas
catchin cases where brothers turn fiend, cause they can’t face
this the game ain’t told - it’s sold for brother souls my people
live in poverty - Mr. Charlie sat on swoll they wonder why the thugs
cry and their hearts turn cold they got us twisted and deny our votes
at the white man’s poll they brought us on boats to add labor to this
nation infest our hoods with dope - now servin’s the
occupation blind us to life by material infatuation enslaved to
this living, screaming emancipation proclamation I scream “set me
free from this land” through my third eye and see monkey Tom singing
“my country tis of thee” we steady searching for the land of
liberty the sweet land of jewels that was promised to me It was a
hoax the 40 acres and the mule with the flow my people gettin played
as fools time to wisen up, get a grip and use our tools I know you
tired of poverty, being mistreated and abused we got the knowledge -
slave labor built the land they keep us out of college, so ignorance
is their plan clearly I see mental freedom wasn’t meant for the black
man trapped in society with statues and laws only they can
overstand dark skin is a sin in this white man’s world my brothers
drown their emotions by getting drunk til they hurt who cares about
the early morning fiend twitchin for a fix the united snakes of
american politics
Criticism in the positive usage is the examination, analysis, and
evaluation of the comparative worth of one’s acts, practices, policies
and/or ideas by others. Self-criticism is, of course, the same
principles applied to oneself, but also refers to the organizational
practice of critically examining and re-examining its own policies
and/or the policies and practices of its members. Criticism and
self-criticism are wholly necessary to human progress.
Criticism in its positive usage corrects mistakes in practices and of
thought, and resolves differences among individuals and makes for
smooth-running, well-functioning organizations. We should put forth the
slogan “Unity-Criticism-Unity” to show how individuals come together and
unite under principles, but in the actual working out of these
principles differences arise for various reasons, which work against the
accomplishments of the declared ends, and against cohesion of the
organization. When these differences arise there must be criticism in
which those with differences interpenetrate, modify one another, and
form a new more perfect unity on the basis of having worked out
contradictions that were inherent in the old unity.
Cause of Error
The differences which arise that disrupt unity can generally be found to
have their basis in these categories of human error:
Opportunism; opportunism is defined as that tendency for an
individual or individuals to make a decision or commit an act that is
favorable to his/her own self-aggrandizement and at the expense of the
collective or the movement as a whole. Opportunism stems from
selfishness. When opportunism arises, either in an individual or in an
organization it is to be severely criticized, and if necessary, the
individual or individuals should be expelled from the organization or
ostracized from the movement.
Subjectivism: the second type of error that disrupts unity and
impairs revolutionary progress may be found in the general category
called “subjectivism.” Progress is always our purpose, but subjectivism
can be distinguished from opportunism often only by the merest of
hairlines. It generally has to do with personality flaws; One makes a
decision or commits an act that is based on one’s personal feelings,
desires, resentments, jealousies, prejudices, etc. Such subjectivism may
possibly stem from any number of sources: child trauma, subliminal
conditioning, religious superstitions, etc. When such subjectivism pops
up to impede the functioning of the individual or the progress of the
organization, it is imperative that it be dealt with. The consciousness
of many must necessarily be stripped of the old pernicious ideas and
values imposed by the bourgeois culture. However, those traits and
personal idiosyncrasies which are not particularly harmful to the
individual or the cause, but are largely a matter of style, should not
needlessly be criticized.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We refer comrades to Mao’s essays
On
Contradiction and
Combat
Liberalism for more on the importance of fighting opportunism and
building unity through the resolution of contradictions.
As mentioned in prior writings by comrades, the struggle, especially for
those incarcerated, must encompass not merely a study of history but an
application of those strategies that in some way benefit the cause as a
whole. One aspect of such application are the legal remedies which can
set precedence for many who may need such standards in proving the
wrongs done by prison officials. However the opacity and cover-up
culture of prison industry in some instances allows for these same
freedom fighters to unknowingly sacrifice their very lives for the sake
of the many. Here at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution in a rural
part of Nebraska this fact remains ever alive.
We are still mourning the death of a prisoner who has on several
occasions successfully challenged institutional policy, winning both
injunctive and compensatory judgments. In the process he made enemies,
invoking the wrath of those running this warehouse. And although this
comrade was in phenomenal physical condition he somehow experienced an
aneurysm and mysteriously died. Some have postulated his diet of tuna
was the cause, other more conspiratorial minds say he was murdered
because of his success in exposing questionable actions by those
officials. I myself have chosen to accept the latter.
I mention this with regards to a legal battle I will enter very soon
pertaining to a number of constitutional rights that have been violated.
This struggle is real in every sense of the word and unfortunately
requires its martyrs, without which one would not perceive the
seriousness of our collective struggle.
The constant study, comprehension and application of the tenets of
independent thinking, which will always remain applicable to our
situation, must continue for substantial change to occur.