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 cry and the teardrop is full of metal
bars
The bars being another representative for these hidden scars
No one can feel my pain because it’s locked away
How can you sit in a cell and stare at the four walls all day?
Looking this way and that way, right and left, which ever way the tears
flow
Pain and the trauma is the very essence that cause the tears to
grow
I lost my liberty and the only thing I can do is freely cry
Plastick of MIM(Prisons) adds: I’m sure many of our
readers can relate to the pain this poem expresses. The retribution and
the brutality the pigs lay out on the masses and revolutionaries strikes
us at our hearts. Mao Zedong taught us that all men die, but death
varies in significance: death lighter than a feather and death heavier
than Mount Tai. Malcolm X in regards to his life as a lumpen gangster
said that it is of no shame to have once been a criminal, but the shame
comes from staying in that criminal road unwilling to change.
The author of this poem has done more than just cry in prison. Ey has
supported MIM(Prisons) financially, reported on local conditions and
studied revolutionary theory. Of course these things can all be
controlled by the state or the whims of the prison guard, so perhaps
they cannot always be done freely, or without retribution. We print this
poem as a genuine expression of a USW comrade, but include this addendum
since we do not agree with the conclusion as the pages of Under Lock
& Key should make clear.
If you are reading this comrade, know that the world is with you!
That goes for our readers as well! There’s much more we can do – more
that we must do – against the imperialists and the reactionaries. The
world is yours!
These last couple of months, all that was on the news was the U.$
evacuation of Afghanistan and the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
U.$. citizens, military personnel (i.e. veterans, active duty) and
politicians have been showing their distaste for how Joe Biden pulled
the U.$. troops out of Afghanistan; where scenes of Afghanis who aided
the U.$. in their failed attempt to incorporate a U.$ controlled
government in their homeland, frantically rushing to the Kabul airport
to catch a ride with the U.$. citizens and troops. During the frantic
and chaotic evacuation, ISIS-Kabul (ISIS-K) committed a suicide-bomb
attack, which killed 13 U.$. troops, leading Joe Biden in a press
conference to state, “.. We won’t forget and we won’t forgive. We’ll
hunt you (ISIS-K) down till the end of the earth…”. I had to laugh at
the screen once I heard the words leave Joe Biden’s mouth, because of
the contradictions that this U.$. government hands out to the world and
her own citizens continuously.
The U.$. preaches of peace and unity to the world over, but
terrorizes or keeps a sniper scope on territories of the world, where it
wants control over in the disguise of “the spreading of democracy.” But
the only democracy that needs to be spreading faster than the COVID-19
virus and all its variants, is the New Democracy controlled by the Joint
Dictatorship of the Proletariat of the Oppressed Nations(JPDON). Under
the JDPON all oppressed nations may dictate their own destiny and as a
collective of oppressed nations keep imperialism in the cage where it
rightfully deserves to be in.
The democracy that the imperialists want to implement and maintain
will only bring death and destruction. Our FWL men, women, and children
are being deemed as terrorists then are murdered and imprisoned by the
U.$. piggy force. Just how our TW brothers and sisters, nieces and
nephews are being murdered and imprisoned by these imperialist armies
and drones. Just how the comrade
O.G. Hawk poem in issue #74 stated: “… FBI, CIA, and all of
America’s comrades have hurt more people than anybody on earth crying
that democracy is what it’s worth!”
We can go back into history and see the shaded hand of the U.$.
stirring the pot of confusion and destruction, while the other hand
points an entirely different picture of the truth. From the “War on
Drugs” to the recently ended “War in the Middle East”, both were
supplied with the money, drugs and weapons by the U.$ government and
counterparts. The U.$. piggy force are trained to be in a war zone when
they hit the local streets; for to them our neighborhood blocks are
their Iraq and Afghanistan. How many of We have been terrorized by the
U.$. government? As this article was being written, Haitian migrants
were being whipped by U.$. border control officers on horse back at the
Southern border of this country; an Afghani man and a couple of Afghani
children were bombed in a drone attack when mistaken as a convoy of
ISIS-K members. The latter is one of many over this ended 20 year war,
that the U.$. government won’t admit. Prisoners from the East coast to
the West coast are still being tortured with inhumane treatment, as We
the FW lumpen are being singled out and put under manipulation
techniques to enchant the spell of defeatism; deferring both the leaders
and comrades from continuing on with the fight to liberate oneself from
a capitalist/imperialist power.
We won’t turn the other cheek, extend the hand of friendship and sing
“kumbaya” or whatever make-me-feel-warm-&-fuzzy-inside bullshit that
the imperialists use as a ploy to keep We in a docile state. Holding on
to the hope for that perfect union that Martin Luther King Jr., his
descendants and followers of the non-violent movement have yet to
experience. Just as Biden said about ISIS-K, the FW lumpen and TW
proletariat won’t forget nor forgive the capitalist/imperialist
governments for the genocide of all indigenous peoples and folks around
the world, for colonialism and neocolonialism, the destruction of the
planet Earth for profitable gain for the few; while everyone else is
fighting each other for the top or a closer to the top spots of this
fucked up capitalist pyramid scheme.
As We liberate our minds and each other from the
imperialist/capitalist doctrines, culture and power, We’ll come to see
justice being served to the worlds most wanted terrorist group, and a
new age will emerge. An age of Freedom, Justice, and Equality for the
majority of the world.
This letter is being sent to you on behalf of Texas TEAM ONE, a
prisoner-led organization committed to organizing us captives of Texas
as a class, and collectively struggling for human rights. While We do
not believe that the fight behind enemy lines is Our end all and be all,
We do believe and hope that by inspiring the masses of TX captives to
collectively organize, learn and demand their rights, along with
establishing independent institutions for Ourselves, that We can slowly
but surely develop Texas Department of Criminal Justice(TDCJ) into a
quasi-university, turning masses of socially alienated delinquents into
empowered activists for change, productivity, and revolution.
To begin this process of ‘transforming the criminal mentality into a
revolutionary mentality,’ We need YOU to join your
fellow prisoners in mobilizing the masses for collective direct
action.
As you may know, Juneteenth has now been made a federal holiday in
amerika. On this day many will sing the praises of Our oppressors or
otherwise negate the reality of the lumpen (economically alienated
class), that according to amerika’s 13th amendment We are STILL
SLAVES. While We do not wish to nullify the intensity of the
exploitation and oppression that New Afrikan people held in chattel
slavery faced, We must pinpoint to the general public, those upcoming
generations of youngsters looking to follow Our footsteps, that to be
held in captivity by the state or feds is not only to be frowned upon
but is part and parcel with the intentions of this amerikan government,
and its capitalist-imperialist rulers. We say NO CELEBRATING
JUNETEENTH until the relation of people holding others in captivity is
fully abolished!!
Furthermore, as you may also know there has been in recent years a
national push to end all forms of extended isolation/solitary
confinement. As usual Texas remains stubborn, still holding thousands of
us in cages in an inhumane and illegal manner. We, TX TEAM ONE, seek to
work with all Our fellow captives to finally bring the torture that is
long-term isolation to an end.
Strategically, if We are to ever be able to utilize these prison
colonies as cadre-development schools/universities, it is of paramount
importance that We remove this tool of repression out of the state’s
toolkit. For decades this environment now called Restrictive Housing
Unit(RHU) has been used to strategically alienate the best of the best
of Our lumpen class. Those who will not capitulate to the
destructive and oppressive roll of the state. Political
prisoners, writ writers and socially influential captives find
themselves in long-term isolation as a form of retaliation, and to
maintain the ignorance perpetuated within the daily prison environment.
It is past time now that We all, no matter our affiliation or way of
life, We must NOW begin to work together to the detriment of Our
keepers.
If you like what you’ve read thus far, We ask you to join us in
mobilizing the captives on your unit, We are looking forward to
Juneteenth 2022. On that day We wanna statewide general strike.
Depending on ones level of custody We will organize different plans of
action.
If you’re interested in this campaign and wish to take a stand, We
need you! Female, Male, LGBTQ, Black, Chican@, Mexican@, White,
multi-ethnic! We need all of you!
As We scribe this message We are and have been on hunger strike for
two weeks in protest against those above mentioned injustices, along
with others. Those of Us Souljahs on the Allred RHU have been battling
this system and building our level of experience and organization. We
summed up the many lessons learned, and the main one is that We must
GET ORGANIZED on a statewide level, pop city to the
isolation tombs, as one strong and organized body We can effect change
and build Ourselves and those of Our peer group into NEW
PEOPLE. If you wish to organize with or under the banner of TX
TEAM ONE We encourage you to connect with us directly at the following
address: TX TeamOne, 113 Stockholm #1A, Brooklyn, NY 11221.
We Look Forward to Hearing From, and Working With,
YOU
Dare 2 StruggleDare 2 Win
Tx TeamOne Allred Committee
Texas T.E.A.M. O.N.E. 12
Point Program
An end to racist practices and policies that allow prisoners to be
held indefinitely in conditions of solitary; Restrictive Housing
Unit.
We want ALL STG confirmed prisoners to be allowed the opportunity to
return to general population if and when they have maintained a
satisfactory disciplinary hystory.
We want a mandated LIMIT on the amount of time one can remain in
RHU-solitary confinement; We want this mandate in line with the
international standard put forth by the U.N.’s ‘Mandela Rules’, which
limits said confinement to fourteen days.
We want those who are in RHU to be allowed the opportunity to
stimulate their intellect through literacy programs, education programs,
life skills, job training, parenting classes, drug & alcohol
treatment, arts/crafts programs, support groups, and the building of
unions and political formations, all in accordance with Texas state law
(Tx.Gov.Code§ 501.009 - Volunteer Organizations), captives should be
free to exercise these rights without state interference or
obstruction.
We want ALL discrimination against prisoners to CEASE; this is in
accordance with Texas state law (Tx.Gov.Code§ 501.001).
We want an independent agency established that will fully
investigate grievances and citizen complaints against the governmental
institution of TDCJ and its agents.
We want an end to unpaid labor in TDCJ.
We want parole requirements capped off at 35%.
We want captives to be afforded meaningful goodtime/worktime.
We want an end to death by incarceration (death penalty, life
without parole, virtual life sentences).
We want life terms capped off at 25 years.
We ultimately want an end to the social and economic relations and
political policies that create the conditions of mass class control and
national oppression (mass incarceration).
We are asking that any TX prisoners who wish to commit themselves to
Our program, to use the above 12 points to inspire activism, and to
develop peers in a revolutionary manner via trial and error, to contact
us:
TX TeamOne/ 113 Stockholm, #1A/ Brooklyn, NY 11221
On 12 August 2021, staff member Karber at Ionia Correctional Facility
in Michigan censored Under Lock & Key 74 for the reason:
“Pages 8 & 9 calling for Prisoners to organize for uprising for an
up coming date.” These pages featured our center spread on Black August
and the September 9th Day of Peace and Solidarity. It is interesting
that the oppressor sees prisoners coming together for peace and unity as
an “uprising” and something that is deemed a threat to security (which
would be necessary to lawfully censor any reading material in the United
$tates).
On 7 September 2021, the staff in the mailroom at SCI Frackville in
Pennsylvania disliked the same pages and censored ULK 74 for
“Information on Page 8 Calls for Action (September 9).” In Amerikan
prisons people do not enjoy the civil rights many Amerikans hold so
dear. Their right to grieve or in this case to take an “action” is
deemed illegal and punished. Banning peaceful protest and other such
actions in prisons leads to violence.
Meanwhile a USW comrade in California reported,
“C.O. Solerio [a white female] emailed a Mental Health/Death Doctor a
referral against me for displaying erratic behavior. I was exercising
and calling cadence out loud ?? As is my custom, I commemorate Black
August by demonstrating physical fitness and oratory skills, loud and
proud, wherever I be. This year’s action continues to be opposed by
C.O.s obsessed with social control.”
This comrade was in quarantine isolation, where ey could not organize
eir normal group activities for Black August.
While the President offers up Juneteenth and Indigenous People’s Day
as sanctioned celebrations, the imperialists simultaneously repress
those trying to commemorate holidays that represent resistance to
oppression. In case anyone was fooled into thinking that we’re all equal
now.
14 October 2021 – Fifty five people were arrested for occupying the
Bureau of Indian Affairs(BIA) with demands that the Bureau be abolished,
that blood quantum be abolished and that the United $tates stop
extracting fossil fuels from native land. Siqiñiq Maupin explained the
purpose of the action on Democracy Now:
“The BIA was created to erase Indigenous people. It has always been
against us. And today, or yesterday, and every day, we demand that it be
abolished. We do not need a blood quantum to say how Indigenous we are
or to qualify that. We know our Indigenous ways to protect this land,
this Earth, this water. And we understand that the Earth is unbalanced.
And we do not have time for negotiations, for compromises. We need to
take this serious and take action now.”(1)
Indian Country Today reported:
Tobacco ties hung on locked doors. No one could get inside or
outside. Everyone outside of the building looked through the windows of
the doors to see what was happening inside and could hear demonstrators
yelling.
Some security personnel were injured and one officer was taken to a
hospital, according to an Interior spokesperson.(2)
In Washington D.C. the week of Indigenous People’s Day has been
marked by indigenous-led civil disobedience actions, calling on
President Biden to declare a climate emergency and stop approving fossil
fuel projects. It began on Monday with the slogan “expect us” being
written on the statue of Andrew Jackson in the U.$. capital. Over 530
climate activists have been arrested so far.(1)
This is occurring after President Biden issued the first presidential
proclamation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day on October 8th, along with an
announcement to preserve lands important to native people.
In 2017, President Trump re-opened up a number of recently created
national monuments for resource extraction, cutting the size of the
Bears Ears National Monument by 85%. Biden reversed Trump’s move,
reestablishing the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments in
southern Utah, more than 3.2 million acres – an area nearly the size of
Connecticut.(3)
While President Trump declared genocidal Andrew Jackson to be his
favorite president, President Biden was the first president to recognize
Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This symbolizes the conflict within the
Amerikan ruling class, and the white nation as well, in how to deal with
the oppressed internal semi-colonies today. Biden’s multi-culturalism is
friendlier, and even makes real concessions like preserving land
important to native people. But as Biden himself said, it was the
easiest thing he’s done as president. And it was just as easy for Trump
to undo those designations during his tenure, leaving native people at
the whims of the white man again.
As communists we strive for the resolution of this national
contradiction via the project of liberation for all oppressed nations
and their land once and for all, not waiting and hoping for one slightly
friendlier sector of the oppressor to win out. The ongoing struggle for
First Nation land liberation is tied to the struggle of all oppressed
people for liberation. It is not surprising that the nation that
ultimately waged a settler war for hundreds of years to seize this land
is now the primary force keeping oppressed people down around the world.
We have seen the limits of euro-Amerikan peace offerings.
On 1 August 2021, supporters on the outside began a phone zap to the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice to protest a new policy that
restricted many forms of imagery in the media prisoners received through
the mail (Board Policy - 3.91). MIM(Prisons) also began distributing
fliers to Texas prisoners, who were writing us from all over the state
about this new policy. By 23 August 2021 we received the following
update from a comrade in Texas TEAM ONE, a leading organization in this
campaign:
“We’re hearing that BP-3.91 has been halted. Supposedly they’re to
revise it again to make it more sensical, but it’s not in effect as of
this date. However, mail room staff here have been holdin on to all
materials, which fall under that policy. They are giving no record of
receiving the mail, just holdin it until the policy is amended. So
that’s an issue.”
In other facilities they seem to not be acting on the new policy at
all.
a comrade in Telford Unit reported: …the policy
never took place. The complete ban of publications is outright
unconstitutional. I have written several grievances concerning
publications. TDCJ-CID will never ban harmless publications (U.S.
Weekly, Muscle Fitness, OK, National Geo, etc.). They have no right to
and it will only cause problems for the TDCJ-CID. Being that the policy
did not take effect 1 August 2021 I ask prisoners to give it no
attention. Instead be happy about the victory of being able to receive
post cards and not arbitrarily have your peers/loved ones self addressed
stamps ripped off your letters that way you may know who is
corresponding with you.
a comrade at Michael Unit wrote on 4 October 2021: I
need a quick reply to Texas’s BP 3.91(Rev 5) step 2 grievance. My step 1
said:
“An investigation into your allegations has been conducted. It was
found that Board Policy 03.91 revised the definition of”sexually
explicit” photos. The revision was approved by the Texas Board of
Criminal Justice. Inmates are given the opportunity to appeal the denial
of all sexually explicit images denied through the Director’s Review
Committee. No further action warranted.”
MIM(Prisons): It is not clear to us if a new policy
has been approved as implied by this response from a TDCJ official. What
is clear at this time is that the masses mobilized quickly around this
issue and the state is responding to that mobilization. Below are
reports from some others organizing on this campaign, closing with
excerpts from a longer statement by a new comrade explaining the
hypocrisy of the new policy and encouraging everyone to stand up for
what is right.
a comrade in Stevenson Unit: In regards to the new
censorship policy, comrades I shared the sample grievance from Under
Lock & Key 74 and directed others to file a grievance with DRC
@ PO Box 99 Huntsville, TX 77342-0099. One comrade was given his car
mags back after being confiscated by the mailroom. This was after filing
the sample grievance you provided me! :)
a Texas comrade: We have already grieved BP-3.91 and
we stand with those in Allred sacrificing to end solitary confinement
even though there is no solitary here on this medium security unit.
a comrade in Jester Unit: I wanted to let you know
everyone is grateful about the “Grievance Against Criminal Board” on the
(pictures, magazines, and kill-shots) filed by your organization. I will
send you my grievance next week, but not before I get some more
signatures and people involved. Please find postage within this letter
in support.
a comrade at Hughes Unit reported on 28 September
2021: I have 62 grievances filed on the 3.91 BP that is. I’m
working on more. And I’m aware that I’m getting help from some female
staff as well and they are putting together a form of unity to get rid
of this bullshit B.P.-3.91 for their safety is a risk. They shaking us
down as I speak for magazines. Women can’t show cleavage or nothing. And
it’s sad.
a comrade in Hutchins Unit: Impede the correction,
rehabilitation, and treatment of a prisoner, how? Relating to incoming
pictures of “sexually explicit women” this is only understandable if
enforced upon a sex offender therapy program… As a general population
prisoner, rehabilitation and treatment is almost non-existent. TDCJ can
only claim correction if it considers this is obtained through prolonged
idleness. Prisoners are housed in their dorm where in most cases they
only leave for meals and sometimes rec. There is little to no
programming or opportunity to rehabilitate through education or vocation
but TDCJ is worried about the content of our publications. Sounds like
deliberate indifference to their priorities.
Therefore, impeding correction, rehabilitation, and treatment is only
terminology intended for manipulation by and for officials
convenience.
Sexually explicit pictures only result in masturbation, which is a
healthy alternative to sexual fulfillment and expression. Some men spend
decades up to life in prison and to deprive them of such fulfillment
could consequently result in homosexual tendencies and/or the rape
and/or sexual harassment of prisoners and officers. Such dehumanizing
intentions will result in the safety of prisoners and officers being
jeopardized.
[MIM(Prisons): A number of writers mention female
staff being concerned about the new policy. Of course, we object to this
writer’s inclusion of homosexuality as a “dehumanizing” outcome of this
policy. Rape is bad, sexual harassment is bad, they are oppressive. Even
if homosexual rape and harassment is more the norm in prisons than in
society, we should not confuse that with homosexual behaviors themselves
being bad.]
This is not a unique problem. Prison officials are quick to slap on
the windows newly enacted and revised policies that are overly
restrictive, knowing the average prisoner is illiterate, uneducated, and
at the least inexperienced in lawfully challenging/litigating.
We are not in the barbaric ages and as a maturing society we develop
and become more morally and ethically inclined, including the treatment
of prisoners; who we understand engaged in wrongful acts to a greater
degree than that of the average person but is nonetheless human and
capable of change.
This means as prisoners’ rights come to light and advancement, We are
to a lesser degree inhibited by biased civil court systems who in the
past ruled all officials actions to be reasonable and acceptable in the
name of justice, punishment, and deterrence.
Therefore do not be deterred when intending to challenge the
conditions of your confinement thinking that it will be in vain. There
is more hope than there ever has been in the past. Instead be
optimistic, adopting the perspective that there is nothing to lose and
everything to gain.
Presumably all major prison reformers that paved the way had doubts
about a favorable outcome, however, their action in spite of that doubt
has resulted in all fundamental change. The conditions we live in
reflect such, while they’re not what they need to be they’re not what
they use to be.
Stand with me in progression towards the common goal of more humane
conditions and treatment. Do not refrain or procrastinate from
submitting a complaint and possibly litigating for change; Just as
officials do not refrain from arresting, sentencing, imprisoning, and
punishing us in all aspects every day. We are held accountable so why
should we allow them to manipulate policy and official position to their
convenience?
Despite the feeling of helplessness officials intend to instill in
us, we are far from that. Statements such as, but not limited to, “these
people don’t care what we got to say”, “the system’s too big to fight”,
“It’s only possible if you got money”, “This is just part of the game”
etc are all excuses adopted by submissive prisoners who are too cowardly
to fight. You would fight your fellow prisoner for less degrading
treatment, right? I would hope.
Do you dare to challenge our oppressors? Do you dare to organize for
progression with your fellow prisoners just as they do against us?
If so, please keep in mind that weapons of distraction are
strategically implemented to keep us from achieving such a goal. If we
are lost in our own world we won’t have time to envision and investigate
their world, their motives, their actions, and how they negatively
affect us.
We are distracted from spending time productively. Time is our most
valuable asset as it is limited and required to organize and plan
action.
Stop preoccupation; stop smoking, stop watching TV, stop gambling,
stop gluttony, stop fighting your equals instead of the oppressor, stop
idleness, stop procrastination, stop being submissive, stop feeling
defeated, and most importantly, STOP investing time into unproductive
endeavors and commit to progression and the achievement of an overall
goal.
The poor and oppressed make up the majority of the world. We are only
separated by knowledge that is accumulated through resources. If we can
obtain the proper knowledge and organize with an intended goal we will
overpower our oppressors.
…Break the ice and take action. Take it from a 22-year-old 8th grade
dropout with seven plus years in the system. I only obtained knowledge
through educational literature. I am self-educated and overcame the
hindering circumstance of lack of resources and organized learning
opportunities. I am only two years into a progressive perspective and
actions and exceeded my expectations. Two years ago, education and
progression were no where on my agenda. If I can achieve such, so can
you. All there is to ask yourself if it appeals to you and if so make it
a priority.
On 6 September 2021, 6 Palestinian prisoners of war have escaped an
I$raeli maximum security prison known as Gilboa by digging a tunnel with
plates and panhandles.(1) The tunnel was 72 meters long, and the I$raeli
Security Agency has suspected that the excavation had started around
November of 2020.(2) This incident is being talked of as the most
significant prison break in the history of Palestine.
The 6 Palestinian prisoners were members of Palestinian nationalist
organizations (The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the al-Quds Brigades)
which have resisted the I$raeli occupation.(3) Out of the 6, four of the
escaped freedom fighters were serving life sentences.(4)
In response to the prison break, the I$raeli Prison Service (IPS),
launched a lockdown on Palestinian prisoners: break time has been cut to
one hour a day; prison canteen has been closed; and the number of
captives able to walk in the yard has been decreased. 400 prisoners, who
have been deemed “Jihadist” and a threat to the security of the prisons,
have been separated from one another as well. On top of this, family
visits have been completely taken away by the pigs.(5) For our readers
on the inside, these tactics by the I$raeli prison pigs to punish all
for the actions of some sound similar as the United $tates and I$rael
are very similar in character. Both are settler-colonial states, and
both trade and exchange tactics/information used to better repress their
respective oppressed nations.
The Day of Rage
In response to this crackdown, I$raeli prisons faced strikes and
riots. In Katziot prison, seven cells were set on fire by Palestinian
prisoners and hunger strikes have been set to begin in Gilboa on Friday,
17 Septemebr 2021.(6) The Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Commission has
declared that 1,380 prisoners have joined the hunger strikes.(7)
Outside of the prison walls, the nationalist organization Hamas has
declared a “Day of Rage” on the Friday of September 10th.(8) At the
al-Aqsa mosque, supporters of the escaped freedom fighters have
organized a sit in protest after the end of prayer. The I$raeli forces
stormed the mosque in response to the protest and killed one man and
arrested another. The man killed was a Palestinian doctor named Hazem
al-Jolani.(9)
About a week after the escape, the 6 prisoners were recaptured into
imprisonment. One of the freedom fighters, Yaqoub Mahmoud Qadri, was put
in solitary confinement with nothing but a blanket and was subjected to
physical and psychological torture.(10) All other prisoners involved in
the escape were sent to separate high security prisons as well.(11)
Internationalism in the
Prison Movement
While studying Engels’ writings on the bourgeois state, Lenin said
the following:
“Engels elucidates the concept of the ‘power’ which is called the
state, a power which arose from society but places itself above it and
alienates itself more and more from it. What does this power mainly
consist of? It consists of special bodies of armed men having prisons,
etc., at their command.”(12)
As Lenin explains, prisons serve a class purpose in maintaining power
in class society. In the world we live in today, the bourgeois class
utilizes prisons to control their “unruly” populations under their
command. Under socialism and proletarian dictatorship, prisons will
exist as well (albeit under principles of rectification and
rehabilitation learned from the past socialist experiences rather than
punishment for punishment’s sake). For the case of not only the 6
prisoners of war who escaped Gilboa, but also for all prisoners in
Palestine and all prisoners in the United $tates, their facilities are a
material form of capitalist-imperialist power locking them up in their
every move. Here in the United $tates, we have had historic moments of
prisoners fighting against the repression and seeking for redemption and
liberation through class struggle. The Attica uprising of 9 September
1971 is a prime example of that class struggle. With Attica as the
battle cry of the revolutionary prison movement in the United $tates, we
hope to reach that cry across the oceans and to Palestine itself.
From Attica 2 Gilboa!
Down with the I$raeli Prison Service! Down with the Department of
Corrections!
Bibliography1. Toi Staff, September 14,
2021, “Jailbreak probe said to find 11 Gilboa prisoners started tunnel
dig in November.” Times of Israel2.
Ibid.3. The Palestine Chronicle, September 6, 2021,
“Six Palestinian Prisoners Break out of Gilboa Prison after Digging
Tunnel”4. Ibid.5. Middle East
Eye, September 10, 2021, “Palestinian killed during ‘day of rage’
solidarity protests for prison escapees”6. Khaled
Abu Tomaeh, September 14, 2021, “Palestinian prisoners to begin hunger
strike Friday,” The Jerusalem Post.7.
Ibid.8. Ibid.9.
Ibid.10.Yeni Safak, September 16, 2021,
“Palestinian prison escapee to keep fighting for freedom.”11. Middle East Eye, October 1, 2021, “Israel: Recaptured
Palestinian jailbreakers transferred to solitary confinement”12. Vladimir Lenin, August 1917, “State and
Revolution.”
A splash of light comes in, unexpectedly. My “wings” rise in the
morning curtains. Shadows creep under the corners and then fly. Black
birds drop off by the sun nearby.
Shadows creep under the corners and then fly. Windows open to my
inside, I can feel the wind as it blows by. Sunlight warm up old hinges.
A new landscape stirs by inches.
I gently touch the future unfaded hills. A new landscape stirs by
inches. Wild strawberries taste sweet again. My air has been washed in
the rain.
These verses break my chains. You too can listen, as I live and cry.
A splash of light comes in, unexpectedly. My “wings” rise in the morning
curtains.
The gates will open, and once more I’ll be free. But there’s a fact
that makes me wonder, What will become of me?
Do I have a “future” awaiting me such as the past I’ve known? Will
there be opportunity of “employment” for men such as myself? Or will I
have to sell drugs, steal and rob again, in order just to get by?
What about my “family” who love me very much? The ones I haven’t seen
in years. Can they accept me now without any doubts or fears?
What about the “people” I once knew, but haven’t seen in a while,
Will they accept my “friendship” or will I be forced to walk alone?
Yes. The “gates” will open and once more I’ll be free. But there’s a
fact to make me wonder, What will become of me?
I been wanting to write this letter for about a year now. Society
needs to be aware of what’s really going on behind the walls of prison.
On March of 2020 I wrote an article that was printed on the pages of
your newsletter. It was called ‘TDCJ:
Your staff are bringing in the drugs, and it must stop’(see ULK
73). Since the print of the article, I’ve become a target of
harassment and retaliation. Administration and C/O’s here at Coffield
Unit are a part of a Good Ol’ boy system that use these types of
methods, to make the prisoner pay when the truth is being exposed.
A shakedown team was put together by Warden Garcia. When the team
comes across a prisoner, who refuses to be extorted for information
(something that can place the prisoner’s life in danger), they will
harass/retaliate, even falsify government records, in order to place the
prisoner in the worst part of the prison as a form of punishment for not
cooperating. It happened to me, and I will go into detail later in the
letter.
There wouldn’t be drugs or cellphones in prison, if corrupt C/O’s
didn’t bring them. Can prisoners just walk out of prison, score drugs,
take a detour by Wal-Mart, pick up a couple of cellphones, then return
to prison? How is it that this type of contraband finds itself inside
prisons? Governor Greg Abbott needs to answer these questions. Since the
last article, nothing has changed. A constant flow of K2 (a drug laced
with roach spray), Meth, Cocaine, Heroin, pills and cellphones, flow
through the prison. In 29 years of my confinement, I’ve seen my share of
things but nothing like whats going on today, in the prison system.
Eighty percent (80%) of young people in prison are terribly addicted
to drugs, that C/O’s bring in. The only difference between correctional
officers and prisoners is the uniform. They themselves are criminals.
This type of thing needs to be brought up next time some politician out
there screams “We need more prisons”. ‘Go to Texas prison with a bad
drug habit, leave worse when you get out’. That should be the
politicians slogan.
TDCJ proudly states “We are an agency of rehabilitation and positive
change”, the best lie being sold to the public. The only thing TDCJ
higher-ups care about, is that government funding. At the moment
Coffield has a sky high suicide rate due to all the drugs. This place is
completely out of compliance and under-staffed. Prisoners are left in
dayrooms (that have no toilets) for hours and have to use the restroom
on shifts because there’s no one to let them in the cell to use the
restroom.
Hours pass with no security checks, a clear breach of security. A few
days ago there was an audit on the unit, C/Os from other units were
called in, so they could pass the inspection. As soon as the inspectors
left, the C/Os from other units left behind them. There’s no outside
recreation, the water is getting prisoners sick, but plenty of K2 to
keep the prisoners “Dumbed down”, so there won’t be complaints.
Society needs to realize that prisoners will return to neighborhoods
out there. How can prisoners, whom are sent to prison to rehabilitate
themselves, accomplish that goal, when the good law-abiding correctional
officers, bring poison, to make them worse? These same prisoners will be
released, will reoffend, commit worse crimes, due to a drug problem that
got worse in prison. How many crooked C/Os have been indicted, for the
victims of suicide and drug overdoses, that have died in Coffield, due
to the drugs these C/Os bring in? This system and its C/Os are the
problem, something people in high places, refuse to admit to the
public.
For years our families got blamed for the drug flow coming into
prison. When COVID-19 arrived, visitations got shut down and the truth
was exposed, as to who really brought the dope in. Over a year,
no visitations yet the dope was delivered on time. The truth is K2 is
sprayed on just about anything, or brought in liquid forms. Meth,
heroin, cocaine and pills can easily be hidden on C/Os that bring it for
a nice hefty price. A $20 cellphone now goes for $2000 OR $2500
each.
So let’s put this together: the proposed solution is a pig team that
goes after prisoners who PURCHASE contraband from C/Os. This helps the
Warden shift the blame and cover who the real crooks are, and
everything’s blamed on the prisoners. This way the truth is not exposed
and questions never need to be answered.
For my writing about this type of corruption, I am now under fire by
the warden and administration. Enclosed are copies of complaints filed
with the Ombudsman’s office due to harassment/retaliation against me.
The Ombudsman’s office claims to be an independent entity, that
investigates family complaints against TDCJ officials - (NOT TRUE). In
reality, they work hand-in-hand with TDCJ officials.
“Due to a lack of evidence, your allegations could not be
substantiated.” (Lack of evidence? There are cameras all over the unit,
that record video) If Ms. Melodee Blalock would have performed a proper
investigation of the date and time the incidents occurred, she could
have retrieved video that would have placed C/O Brewer at my
cubicle/cell destroying my property. She just wouldn’t go against the
Good Ol’ boy system.
Violations of misconduct by staff, when confirmed (Notice the words
“When confirmed”) are addressed in accordance with established
administrative procedures. Such decisions are considered confidential
(Notice the word ‘Confidential’) and not released to the general public.
TDCJ and Ombudsman both work as the outside cops. When a C/O has
violated policy or harassed a prisoner, a wall of silence instantly goes
up and things are quietly swept under the rug.
The reply my sister received means: Even if C/O Brewer is guilty, it
will be covered up by the good ol’ boy system that’s designed to never
admit wrong. I was housed at the dorm area from 2017 till 2021 with no
altercations of this sort. After I wrote the first article, full
retaliation was enforced. When it got really bad, my sister filed the
complaint. 46 days after filing, the same C/O Brewer, who the complaint
was filed against, showed up at my cubicle with his supervisor SGT Hom,
to place me in handcuffs.
I was escorted to a segregation cage, which had no restroom or
running water. I was stripped searched and left in those conditions,
under extreme heat without relief (water, fan, restroom break), on a hot
July day. I was there from 9 am till 4:30 pm. I was denied water and was
forced to urinate in bottles that an SSI had to sneak to me.
Just one example of the injustice prisoners have to endure at the
hands of the oppressors. Which politician, with a nice desk, watches
over the oppressors, who enjoy violating prisoners rights and get off on
abusing their power? I will continue to expose a corrupt system that’s
in real need of prison reform. And to accomplish that goal, the prison
reform needs to start with its own C/Os.
I see parole March of 2022, after 2 three year set-offs. If something
happens to me, comrades the answer as to why, is in your hands. Thanks
to each of you. May God walk with each of you.