Under Lock & Key

I’m writing from Arizona solitary confinement, aka SMU2, to let others know what is going on with the corrupt medical grievance process. Recently a memo was passed out that all medical grievances are now to be treated differently and go through Corizon staff, which is the contracted company that provides health treatment to Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC). This process consists of only 2 steps, which are an “informal resolution complaint” and then the “grievance.” Both are to go through the Facility Health Administrator (FHA), which allows for no transparency nor checks and balances. Since this change in the grievance procedure, not one “informal resolution complaint” form has been replied to in accordance to ADC’s Department Order #802 “Inmate Grievance System”, that is set up to oversee this process.

So after the FHA does not respond, one has to move on to the grievance per this policy. The grievances are not delivered back for 1 to 2 months, and this only due to me writing to a CCO3 (counselor) to inquire about replies. The replies are pretty generic and consist of responses like “your complaint has been forwarded to…” “your complaint is substantiated…” etc. and that the grievance is resolved. Yet nothing is done and there is no type of appeal to this, so no other remedy can be sought as the process is exhausted here.

Before, the process wasn’t much better but it would go through 4 steps as a way to oversee this process. I have sought remedy through this process on many occasions, so many as a matter of fact that I have actually had 2 meetings with the FHA. At the latest one, she personally resolved a grievance by renewing one of my prescriptions. Yet these prescriptions were not renewed and instead were allowed to expire without any type of tapering or alternative treatment in place. So I am at a loss as to what my next step is, as even when a grievance is granted it is not followed through on.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and a couple of other law firms actually have a lawsuit on behalf of ADC prisoners named Parsons v. Ryan which is not even being adhered to, as the ACLU recently filed a motion showing that ADC was not in compliance with this lawsuit. Being that the suit is not for monetary compensation to the actual plaintiffs, being us, the ACLU gets their so-called expenses paid as well as the fine, which in this last case was a cool $2 million.

ADC would rather pay the fine than provide adequate health care as it is much cheaper to do so, and they will continue to do so because it will save them a ton of money! I have written the ACLU in Washington and the Arizona ACLU, as well as the Prison Law Office out of San Quentin who are the attorneys in charge of the lawsuit and all that they do is forward my informal grievances and HNRs to each other as well as shoot me one another’s addresses for me to contact them. The replies are to grieve it, which I have, and the grievances were substantiated and granted yet I am here in my little cell without treatment as I write these very words.

Any ideas of what to do next would be greatly appreciated! I let the FHA know that this type of deliberate indifference and derelict of duty would not be allowed in any other type of medical treatment setting. Therefore why is it allowed here in SMU2? If anyone has suggestions on how to proceed please contact MIM(Prisons) for me, thank you.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer provides yet another good example of the failure of prison grievance systems as well as the courts. In this case Arizona has set up a system that just wastes prisoners’ time while offering no accountability, even when grievances and Court Orders are granted.

It is for situations like this that the campaign to demand our grievances be addressed was initiated. We have a petition pertaining to Arizona State Prison that could be modified for this battle in solitary confinement. While these petitions don’t often win the battles for us immediately, they help us build support by spreading the campaign to others and giving them specific actions they can take. At the same time we’re all too well aware that prisons don’t have an interest in addressing grievances. Anything that costs more money or requires more services, or that forces COs to treat prisoners with respect and dignity, is going to be a hard battle. The criminal injustice system is set up to do the opposite, and so we will have to fight for each right. Write to us to get a copy of the Arizona petition to modify for this battle.

While grievances and courts fail, we learn the same lesson over and over again – that legal battles will not get us where we need to be, to a world without oppression. Court cases and grievance campaigns sometimes win some victories, that is true. But for long-lasting change we really need to organize with each other, build unity, educate and struggle together to force change. We hope this correspondent will take this failure of the courts as inspiration to try a different method of resolution.

The Nevada Council for the United Struggle from Within (USW) is putting the call out for prisoners at High Desert State Prison (HDSP) to end all the hostilities, and to join together in the ongoing grievance campaign and ultimately the mass 1983 civil complaint campaign, that is now underway at HDSP.

The conditions of confinement at HDSP must be challenged. Over the years, our constant infighting has distracted us while our conditions of confinement have gotten progressively worse. We are now faced with a situation where we remain confined to our cells up to 22-24 hours a day, are not given proper cleaning supplies, are denied the use of our toilets, are housed with those who should be being treated for their mental illnesses rather than being overly medicated, etc.

This campaign has already begun, with many individuals having filed grievances, while the final stage of filing a civil complaint is already under way. Our main focus is and must be the lack of programs, education, and work abilities which deny prisoners housed at HDSP the credits which shorten their sentences.

We are in the position that we are in because our national groups have failed to be properly mobilized around an internationalist class consciousness. We have focused on individualistic issues. We as prisoners have allowed this to happen to ourselves. With each new restriction imposed, no action or protest was organized. We are as much to blame as anyone else. Without organized opposition, the administrators have reached new heights of repression and disregard of our needs.

But the United Struggle from Within Nevada Council has taken steps to organize this grievance campaign. We are calling on all nations within the walls of HDSP; PC, GP or otherwise, put aside your differences and conflicts. We are not enemies. We are allies, and share a common interest in fighting back against what we are faced with every day.

So, we are putting out the call. Let’s stop all hostilities and join together in raising our voices as one and demanding that we be treated as humans.

Comrades within the USW in Nevada have already united with a few nations in this struggle. There are already over 30 grievances filed! Change will occur, but only if each of us do our part to fight back.

To aid you in this struggle, we have compiled examples of the grievances that have been filed. The examples cover all three grievance levels. We are also writing up an example civil complaint, which can be utilized to challenge the NDOC in court.

If you want change, fight for it. Join our campaign. Stop all hostilities, and pick up the pen!

MIM(Prisons) adds: Nevada was where the first September 9 Day of Peace and Solidarity originated in 2012. It’s good to see comrades in Nevada keeping it moving. Any prisoners of the state of Nevada can write us for a copy of the example grievances.

I was transferred to California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison (CSATF). Me and a companion from the former prison we arrived from knew that we had arrived at a concentration camp that was as shitty of a place as we could have ended up in. One can always tell the make-up of a prison by the writings on the walls of its R&R. If its toilets look like something that one could catch a disease from just staring at, and the pigs search out the property seizing every single object that the average person would assume allowable; face it, you’re in hell.

Time has found me here, but since the 30th of March, and there have already been several incidents forced before me, one of which surprised the living world out of me. And this isn’t something I say lightly. I am a person with pretty thick skin who would like to believe can handle just about anything. But on 6 May 2017, I was revealed a sign that showed me maybe I am not quite ready to handle it all.

1. I was solicited for murder of an inmate by a California correctional officer.

2. On the date of 6 May 2017, at CSATF, approx. 12:05 p.m. after returning from rec. yard to the assigned living quarters D2-211 to be informed by the cell-mate occupying the quarters with me that the facility unit officer Pano had conducted a punitive cell search of the quarters in response to the cell-mate’s failure to return to the living quarters in a timely matter, having my cooling fan confiscated.

3. The cell-mate mentioned is an XXX YYY ZZZZ, 28-years-old.

4. I reported to the officer in question C/O Pano, who was covered by colleague C/O Barajas – female floor officer – and C/O Martines – male tower officer – where I opened a dialogue with Pano in regards to an explanation for the confiscation/seizure of my cooling fan; at a time when the temperatures of the living quarters are rising to high levels.

5. C/O Pano replied that the objective of the search was to “give him the attention that he was looking for” referring to XXX YYY ZZZZ.

6. I notified C/O Pano that I had nothing to do with him and XXX YYY ZZZZ problem, and it was unfair that I’d had my personal property confiscated as a result of another person’s actions. I informed this officer that I would not be held accountable for another prisoner’s actions unless he was somehow asking me to rectify the problem between him and XXX YYY ZZZZ by “handling it.”

7. By “handling it”, I for all intents and purposes meant to do bodily harm to XXX YYY ZZZZ, as physical force is the only power I have over another, to harm an inmate – being an inmate myself – I went so far as to describe “bashing his head into the wall”, as to getting a clear understanding to the degree of violence that officer Pano smiled at me and said, “You know how it goes, it’s just business.”

9. But I didn’t “know how it go.” I am not accustomed to officers soliciting my service to do harm to another inmate. Though I have experienced in the past, officers of CDCR attempting to incite violence between myself and a cell-mate out of retaliation for a cell-mate’s misbehavior. [Officers conducted a punitive cell search of my assigned living quarters, destroyed only my property and then informed me that it was because of my cell-mate that the nature of the cell search transpired as it did, hoping I’d take my anger out on him, See, KVSP-APPEAL-602-0-10-00887]

10. I am a political prisoner freedom fighter with many years of experience in dealing with crooked officers who abuse their power, invested into both badge and seal by the republic of California to cross up prisoners and have them framed for rule violations and criminal charges in the local courts. My particular history can be reviewed in the Superior Court of CA County of Kern, “People of California v. David Cauthen DF010469A.”

11. Officers at Kern Valley State Prison made me the target of a physical beat down, while in handcuffs, for my leadership role in a ten man protest on the rec yard. KVSP officials came together in an effort to frame me in disorder to cover up their attack on me. False statements were made in reports used to have me prosecuted by Kern Valley District Attorney Lisa Green, Officer of the Court, in a criminal complaint based on charges of ATTEMPTED MURDER OF A POLICE OFFICER. I spent nearly two years in California’s Security Housing Unit defending myself in court on bogus charges.

12. When it comes to the struggle being waged between California and its most advanced political prisoners, I may be considered an expert. Identifying the sneaky tactics of officers/pigs instigating problems amongst the prison population to justify their failure to correct & rehabilitate. I have made it a point to single-handedly lead the charge of political prisoners uniting and holding the state accountable for their actions.

13. I believe it is in a database held by the state that I am who I say I am and C.O.s may and often do access this data for their own personal information. Officer Pano had to have accessed this information to make himself familiar with me as a prisoner with capabilities of committing violence against another prisoner.

14. After standing in the center of the dayroom of the unit, pleading with Officer Pano that as it had begun to get extremely hot in the cells [The staff at CSATF TURNS THE HEAT ON IN THE SUMMER TIME] his decision to enter my living quarters and confiscate the cooling fan used to keep me cool, would be construed as inhumane & cruel treatment. He just smiled and walked away to retrieve the fan.

15. Pano returned the fan, but not without making a smug statement about how I needed to “get at my celly” and how he’d return to confiscate the fan if the particulars of a situation did not check out.

16. I returned to my assigned living quarters without any further dialogue with Pano. Upon my return I opened a dialogue with my cell-mate XXX YYY ZZZZ in relation to his actions having an effect upon my program, bringing about unnecessary altercation with the Babylon, and what could be done to rectify the situation.

17. I informed XXX YYY ZZZZ that the Babylonian officer had acted in a manner that would cause the two of us to be placed in a cross. It was intended for me to act rash in response to the level of disrespect suffered at the hands of both “Ant” and the Babylons, but as a righteous member of the Black Riders Liberation Party and leader of the United Struggle from Within Chapel Group Ra’star Far I, Prison Ministries I would not be puppeted by the pigs.

18. I informed “Ant” that there were two options. 1) The two of us could file a complaint and get paid from the Babylons’ willingness to break the law, or 2) we could fight, like the pigs wanted, for the disrespect suffered to my character and make our people look like fools. I explained to him how I aspired to be a member of the African People’s Socialist Party and could not in good conscience support the second option and preferred the first alternative. He too agreed and settled for the first option.

19. I immediately got to work drawing up the statement of facts for the entire incident. Once I had concluded my works I took my outcome to the young ndugu “Ant” to read over. To my surprise he lit up and seemed on fire to bring justice to the situation. We agreed that the facts I outlined were best and should be moved forward on.

20. But on the following day, 8 May 2017, things took a turn for the worst. I reported from my work assignment as a Main Kitchen Baker, making about $0.15 an hour :( Upon arrival to the living quarters I discovered that my cell-mate had rolled up, voluntarily removed himself from the yard and was in the process of being transferred to a more safe/comfortable living environment.

21. This young African stole close to $400 worth of property from me and the Babylons helped him pack it up and travel to the program office. The pigs actually inventoried my belongings as being inside of his property and tried to tell me that it was nothing they could do about it when I brought it to their attention. This alone confirmed to me that the Babylon had planted this lost ndugu amongst my ranks to distract my mission and disorder my campaign to unite the prisoner masses.

22. This ndugu was allowed to roll up with a variety of valuables, but what was of a tell-tale sign that the individual was a plant is that he: 1) Took the complaint that I had put together, 2) He stole letters from the latest supporters of my United Front for Peace in Prisons project “FREE KING DAVID” as a means to interfere with communications, and 3) He stole the goods of commerce to support the economical needs of an initiative to finance the subscriptions to: “The Burning Spear,” “The 5% Power Paper,” “The Final Call,” “The Bayview Newspaper,” and “Under Lock & Key.”

23. After establishing a partnership with the leader of “Peace Behind Bars” to develop a system of exchange inside prisons using photos of women, to remind men what they struggle to be released to, for postage I convinced this brother to begin printing photos for my project so that I can begin accumulating postage stamps, and in turn offer them to the comrades employed by the above publications in order to have the publications mailed in to the yard with hopes of raising the awareness level. I had a total of 50 wonderful photos prices at the least 8 postage stamps alone. Taking care of the bill of one subscription, dues to he who made it possible and postage for a new 50 photos to be mailed. But all was delayed by Babylon.

24. I have submitted the report as a complaint of C.O.s soliciting murder from me as of 22 May 2017. So I trust Babylon will bring its fire. All of this comes right after the announcement published in “Turning The Tide” of my works to move along the United Front for Peace in Prison and a complaint filed at the previous prison against “UNSAFE WORKING CONDITIONS” in support of the 2016 nationwide prison work stoppage. [See, CSATF Appeal-STAFF COMPLAINT-D-17-02787- ]

I write this statement to describe to brothers & sisters behind the wire inside Babylon of what staying strong under pressure looks like. When you sign up to join forces with groups like the Ida B. Wells Coalition Against Police Brutality, Anti-Racist Action/People Against Racist Terror, Black Riders Liberation Party, Uhuru Movement and the United Struggle from Within, Babylon is going to bring its death game. We must remain strong under fire and lean even greater on the teachings of the groups mentioned above, and those not, placing the people’s principles into practice.

No matter who you are, radiate the teachings and uphold good conduct. Feed other prisoners who wander the path of the freedom fighters and trust in the teachings, not the student. The Babylon will scratch and claw at what it fears threatens its existence as a system of power oppressing the people. All of the above mentioned groups are feared because they bring light to the minds of prisoners, who are essentially the most capable mass of people in the United $tates to free themselves from the strongholds of imperialism.

Educate yourself on the methods of government interference with United Front culture campaigns, that you will be prepared. Both state and federal government agencies will go out of their way (the District of Columbia) in order to intimidate the members. In the newsletter publication of Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons, ULK No.56, there is a story published titled, “No TX pack tactics have worked,” by a Texas prisoner. This story really touched me because I know the struggle. It feels like it’s all a waste of time, but it’s not! I’ve learned that we won’t see the works of our labor filing charges against the Department, but it will be NOTICE.

At the moment the Campaign Demanding that our Grievances be addressed is in a phase where supporters of the campaign in states across the U.$. are familiarizing themselves with the art of serving NOTICE to the office that corruption is taking place. Once prisoners master the art of serving NOTICE, then they will learn to FILE CHARGES against the office with the right people/agency, forcing the Department to make a public statement officially ANSWERING to our charge :)

The comrades being released will then begin holding court with the agents/representatives in the streets. Until then, just keep documenting the corruption until you have a book to release. And you will see the movement that has been here all along. Keep it sharp, keep it tight.

MIM(Prisons) adds: Since receiving this report, the comrade has asked for supporters to call CSATF on eir behalf at (559) 992-7100. Ey is going to initiate a civil complaint. The appeals coordinators are not even processing the appeals, they’re just rubber stamping them. Callers should inquire:

1. Why wasn’t a report filed? A crime occurred.
2. Why was a complaint against a C.O. processed as a first level appeal when it was accepted on its charges of “An Officer Soliciting Murder”?
3. Why was appeal log #SATF-D-17-03418 against SATF Appeals Coordinators for failure to process appeals canceled by a Lt. N. SCAIFE – an officer who wrote themselves into the coordinators office?

As this example paints quite clearly, the campaign to have grievances heard in California prisons, which began over 7 years ago, is a campaign to get the CDCR to put a stop to life-threatening behavior by their staff. The lives of the oppressed nation lumpen are given little regard in this injustice system. Those in power manipulating their wards to fight and kill each other has long been a practice in California prisons to control those who the state sees as a threat. The notorious “gladiator fights” staged by staff in the Corcoran Security Housing Unit is just one blatant example of this. So while the right to have grievances heard may seem like a nicety of civil society, it is more than that. It is about the oppressed having recourse when their lives are threatened by their captors.

Our comrade has already been retaliated against with a transfer for filing a complaint on the above incident, filed by a grievance when the Appeals Coordinator refused to NOTICE the complaint. We expose this case to rally support on the inside and the outside for the campaign for a meaningful grievance process in California prisons, and in all the states across the country waging this same battle.

Over the past few months the United Struggle from Within - Nevada, has been hard at work, alongside groups such as the Reetboys and PLF/MISM, in a show of prisoner unity, building up a grievance campaign. Together, these groups, with their different ideologies, continue to lead a struggle for unity and peace within the NDOC.

We have had great success, and we now see open dialogue between and among groups which had previously been at odds with one another. This unity is coming in despite of our language, national, religious, philosophical, and/or ideological differences.

The USW-Nevada, alongside the PLF/MISM, Reetboys, and others, are now calling on prisoners at High Desert State Prison (HDSP), be you in general population or protective segregation, to stop the hatred and join in our current and ongoing struggle against the level system as it is employed at HDSP. Especially as it relates to the lack of programs, the inability to earn good time/work time credits, get parole, or be released. Prisoners housed at HDSP are being denied the very same opportunities given to every other prisoner at every other prison within the NDOC.

The grievance campaign has been ongoing, and over the past 2 months we have seen some 100+ prisoners file grievances on this issue. The response we have received has shown the attitude of the HDSP authorities. Namely that education, programs, and work are a privilege, not a right. This is being said despite the mission statement of director James Dzurenda, which states the following:

“The Nevada Department of Corrections will improve public safety by ensuring a safe and humane environment that incorporates proven rehabilitation initiatives that prepare individuals for successful reintegration into our communities.

“Vision – reduce victimization and recidivism by providing offenders with incentive for self-improvement and the tools to effect change.

“Philosophy – we will pursue our mission with integrity, act in a professional and ethical manner, be responsible for our actions, and raise the department to the highest standards.

“Goals – operate the department according to the best practices. Ensure the best use of department resources, educate stakeholders and customers, improve communication.”

The actions being taken at HDSP, where the overwhelming majority of prisoners are denied work credits, programs, and any advancement within the level system itself, are contrary to this mission statement, the best interest of society overall, and the welfare of the inmates housed here.

Every day that we allow this to continue is another day that we will be forced to stay in prison. HDSP is denying us work time credits, which costs us 5 days a month, as well as education, which costs us 120 days for a GED, and 120 days for a high school diploma. While every other prisoner in any other prison within the NDOC earns these days, we at HDSP must do more of our sentences. For example, if you have a 12-48 month sentence, you will get out in approximately 912 days by working and getting both your GED and high school diploma. However, at HDSP, even if you do not receive a single notice of charges, the same prisoner would be forced to do every single day of that 4 years. Meaning the same inmate is required to do 548 more days on his sentence for simply being housed at HDSP. This number increases when you consider the days that can be earned by completing programs not available to prisoners at HDSP. Think about this number!

The United Front for Peace in Prisons (UFPP), a movement underway in Nevada, alongside the United Struggle from Within, the PLF/MISM, Reetboys, and many national groups have joined together in a single voice to call for unity, and an end to prisoner-on-prisoner violence, and to join together in a struggle for change. Join this struggle for change.

The grievance campaign will continue into a civil complaint. We will attempt to get it certified as a class action filed on behalf of all inmates, but in order to do this we need every inmate to file the grievances, and then file the individual 1983 Civil Complaint. Towards this goal, we are including examples for each level of the grievance process, and will make available to all who have completed the grievance process an example 1983 Civil Complaint.

We have not only completed the grievances, but letters have been sent to the director and the warden of HDSP. We have also been able to, via a whistle blower, get our hands on OP516, which describes the level system, but is marked “no inmate access.” We will make this available as well.

We will end this here, but before we do we would like to say that in order for change to occur we must stand up and fight together for that change. The reason that things have gotten as bad as they have is due to cowardice. We have become so individualized that we covet what little we have, and fear retaliation. When is enough enough? Let us build up a voice and fight, as a single, unified body, for what is just!

Contact USW-Nevada through MIM(Prisons), for more information about prisoner issues and the continued struggle: MIM(Prisons), PO Box 40799, San Francisco, CA 94140.

AR740 and the Grievance Process

Nevada has implemented an unconstitutional grievance process. This grievance process is outlined in AR740. It states that an inmate may file no more than a single grievance in a single week, and that no more than a single grievance issue may be raised in a single grievance. This, of course, is unconstitutional, and should be challenged. But we are still required by law to adhere to the grievance process, no matter how unconstitutional it is, if we want to get to court.

We know that many prisoners have trouble with the grievance process. We will go over the basic process here so that you will know exactly what to do.

Step one – Start to write kites to your caseworker, unit SCO, and every job position, requesting placement in work, or to join programs. Save these responses, and a copy of the original request to show proof.

Step two – Get an informal grievance from your floor officer, be he/she a porter or a bubble office. Also get at least a grievance continuation form. Fill out the grievance using the example given herein.

Step three – Fill out your name, cell number, institution, etc. and then sign and date the grievance. This should be done first so you don’t forget. The same needs to be done for the grievance continuation form. Leave the grievance number area blank.

Step four – Using your own words, write your grievance.

Step five – Tear off and keep the last page of the grievance and grievance continuation forms.

Step six – Put the remaining pages, folded together, in the grievance box.

Keep track of your days. They have 45 days to answer your informal grievance. If you have not received a response on day 45, proceed to your first level grievance.

When filing your first and second level grievances, follow the same instructions as above, but attach the copies of the grievance, and any responses you have, with the grievances.

It is important to proceed through all 3 grievance levels. You have 45 days for the informal, 45 days for the first level, and 60 days for the second level. Make sure you keep a copy of every kite, grievance, etc., you have. You want to build up as much evidence as possible, so always have your unit officer sign your kites, and keep a copy. Every week you should send out as many kites as possible requesting job placement or program participation.

Grievance Example

I am grieving the application of the level system as it is employed at HDSP as it relates to programs, work, and educational opportunities. This grievance is based on my due process and equal protection rights based on the future of HDSP to offer me any ability to earn good time/work time credits which is available to all prisoners within the NDOC but those housed at HDSP.

Why is HDSP denying me any ability to program when Director Dzurenda has specified in his mission statement that: “The Nevada Department of Corrections will improve public safety by ensuring a safe and humane environment that incorporates proven rehabilitation initiatives that prepare individuals for successful reintegration into our communities.” The mission statement then goes on to say the vision is to “reduce victimization and recidivism by providing offenders with incentive for self-improvement and the tools to effect change.”

None of this mission statement is being applied at HDSP. In fact the level system denies prisoners any ability to program, educate ourselves, work, or any other means by which we may better ourselves, which, as stated by Director Dzurenda, is the goal of NDOC. Furthermore, not only are you endangering society by failing to offer rehabilitative programs to the 3,500 prisoners at HDSP, you are denying me due process and equal protection.

Every other prisoner, on every other yard, irregardless of level, is given the opportunity, even encouraged, to participate in programs. Meaning a prisoner serving a 12-48 month sentence on any yard other than HDSP, who works and programs, which is available to every prisoner, will do approximately 912 days of the 1460 days sentenced. The very same prisoner, housed at HDSP, receiving no writeups his entire sentence, will be forced to do the entire 1460 days. Meaning, HDSP is making prisoners do 548 more days on a 12-48 month sentence for no other reason than he is at HDSP. This is an unconstitutional violation of my right to due process and equal protection because any other prisoner, with my exact sentence, will be released earlier than I will, for no other reason that I, being housed at HDSP, am being denied the same access to programs available to prisoners on every other yard within the NDOC.

How can the NDOC justify telling prisoners who are begging for rehabilitative treatment that they do not deserve treatment, that this is a privilege, not a right? The warden and caseworkers at HDSP are refusing to help prisoners better themselves and are thus directly responsible for the recidivism rate, violence and crime that occurs at HDSP.

Why does HDSP see fit to deny drug addicts or sex offenders treatment? How will the community react when they find out HDSP is refusing to treat its prisoners, who are begging for treatment, and then releasing these people back into their community?

The fact is that HDSP houses approximately 3600 prisoners but work, education and rehabilitative programs, are available to only approximately 470 prisoners. That leaves 3130 inmates without any access to work, education, or rehabilitative programs. Which in turn means that I, and these 3130 prisoners, are being denied access to the very programs offered to every other prisoner within the NDOC.

Remedy Sought

1. I want HDSP to offer rehabilitation programs to all 3600 inmates at HDSP.
   
2. I want HDSP to review the mission statement of Director Dzurenda, and act accordingly.
   
3. I want HDSP to stop punishing me and other prisoners for simply being at HDSP, and recalculate my days to include the 5 days a month due to the lack of work/programs at HDSP.
   
4. I want HDSP to employ active, proven rehabilitation programs as a means/requirement for advancement within the level system, and not as a privilege.
   

For the remaining answers, on levels I and II of the grievance process, utilize this example, but formulate your response based on their responses to your grievances. Do not become disheartened by the denials. They will fight us on this.

Some further ideas for grievances

1. The lack of proper hygiene supplies. 1 roll of toilet paper and 2 bars of soap a week is not sufficient. Furthermore, every other prison makes soap readily available, with 2 rolls of toilet paper.
2. No cleaning supplies, and lack of time to clean cells.
3. Toilet timers. No other prison requires inmates so long between flushes, especially when locked down in a cell, with another inmate, 22 hours a day.
4. The grievance process. The new requirement of 1 grievance a week is unconstitutional and forces us to choose what issues to address. It thus directly effects our ability to access to the court.
5. Supervisor Graham, and the law library. Supervisor Graham routinely denies access to the courts by refusing to make legal copies, confiscating legal work, and has written at least one false notice of charges.

If you know of, or can think of more issues, please feel free to contact the USW and let us know.

Mail the petition to your loved ones and comrades inside who are experiencing issues with the grievance procedure. Send them extra copies to share! For more info on this campaign, click here.

Prisoners should send a copy of the signed petition to each of the addresses below. Supporters should send letters on behalf of prisoners.

John Baldwin, Acting Director, 1301 Concordia Court, PO Box 19277, Springfield, IL 62794-9277

US Dept of Justice, Civil Rights Div, 950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, PHB, Washington, DC 20530

And send MIM(Prisons) copies of any responses you receive!

MIM(Prisons), USW
PO Box 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140

Another pretrial detainee and I were rolled up and put into punitive segregation for the grievances, appeals and letters that we wrote to the Alaska DOC commissioner and our state’s Lieutenant Governor, in standing up for our rights here at Anchorage correctional Complex (ACC). Detainees here are afraid of the retaliation brought upon those that stand up for their rights.

Superintendent Jesse Self, Assistant Superintendent Sondra Thomas, Lieutenant Jason Hamilton, Segregation Sergeant Tania Enyard, and Standards Sergeant G. Helms have all participated in violating pretrial detainees’ rights at ACC. Grievances take four-plus months to be processed, if they even get processed. Many request for interview (RFI) forms never see an answer either. Requests through proper channels like RFIs, grievances and appeals go to the ears and eyes of the deaf and blind officials that condone these atrocities of injustice to happen. If one makes too many, or too loud, complaints against the officials in charge about the conditions here at ACC, they are relieved of all legal and personal property and put into punitive segregation for up to three months, without due process.

I have been in punitive segregation for only three days and I had to practically beg to get law library access once, for an hour. Under Alaska law we are to be allowed law library access at least seven hours a week. I may end up writing more grievances and appeals from punitive segregation than I have written total in the last two years. Of course, that depends on how long they keep me here in punitive segregation.

On your grievance campaign, I rewrote the copy that you sent me and I will try to get a version of it sent your way. I have not heard back from any of the officials that I sent it to. I sent, on my behalf, copies to Alaska DOC Commissioner Dean Williams, Alaska Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallott, and the Department of Justice in Washington DC.

So many Alaskan pretrial detainees and prisoners do not know that their rights are being violated under both the U.S. Constitution and the Alaska Constitution. The guards run over them and their rights, stomping them into the ground. I am not legal knowledgeable, although I’m learning more all the time. I am trying to put together a lawsuit on my own behalf against officials of Alaska DOC. I have read enough to know that administrative remedies must be exhausted, and the lawsuit must be written correctly to be kept from being screened out of court. I have the grievance and appeal process down fairly good, it’s the court filing that I was working on before being put into punitive segregation. I’m not beat, they have only slowed me down.

I share your publications with anyone and everyone that I can. I can’t keep much in my possession anyway, so I write down what I’m interested in and pass on your publications. Thank you for the informative publication.

[Comrades in Georgia have been suffering from and fighting against the Tier II program since its inception. Tier II is a long-term isolation program with indefinite terms and severe restrictions on communication and other “privileges.” Of course the program is officially not for disciplinary purposes. And of course the program has set terms on paper. Below is a portion of a petition some of our subscribers have signed on to and mailed out to various administrators. It illuminates in detail many of the problems that prisoners in Georgia are facing. In December 2014 another comrade from Smith State Prison mailed us a similar petition with over 30 signatures, which we publicized on our website. ]

In the name of liberty, life, and human rights the Administrative Segregation population at Georgia State Prison (GSP) is reaching out to you with hopes that you will advocate and intervene on our behalf to put an end to the horrific and inhumane conditions of confinement being forced upon us, through the implementation of the Administrative Segregation Tier II Program, because the grievance system here is a mockery and has rendered us no relief from the oppressive, repressive, and dehumanizing tactics of the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC).

Georgia State Prison, which for decades has held a large lockdown population with some inmates being on lockdown for 20 or more years, began what is called the “Administrative Segregation Tier II Program” on July 16, 2014. On this date, GDC’s tactical squad, along with GSP’s correctional officers confiscated all of our personal clothing, hygiene products, health care products, books, photo albums, lawbooks, magazines, newspapers, CD players, radios, drinking cups, bowls, etc., with us only being allowed to keep 20 personal letters, a portion of legal mail, and a Qur’an or a bible (one or the other). Our personal hygiene products were replaced with only state-issue soap, toothpaste, and roll-on deodorant which are of very poor quality.

The guidelines for the Tier II Program (which lasts for a minimum of 9 months) places a ban on all books, newspapers, magazine (novels, textbooks, dictionaries, etc.) and many materials to self-educate ourselves. All books, magazines, newspapers, etc. which are mailed to us are returned to sender without giving us notification or a chance to appeal the prison’s decision.

We are not being allowed to continue educational correspondence courses to earn degrees or diplomas so that we can have a better chance of getting legitimate jobs upon release.

Inmates are allowed very restricted contact/access to the “free world” which is perpetuated in part by the ban on books and periodicals and the confiscation of all TVs and radios which effectively blocks us from being kept abreast of current events and aware of the world’s happenings beyond the prison’s gates. Phone calls and visits are limited to only 3 fifteen-minute collect calls and 3 two-hour non-contact visits for the first 6 months of the program.

We are not being given proper access to the law/courts. Tier II inmates are routinely denied “law-library” by officers. The law library for Ad-Seg inmates only has seven small holding pens and one computer to service the needs of the entire lockdown population, which is approximately 600-700 prisoners.

We are not being given the proper nutrition or portions of food and are not being allowed to purchase commissary as a means to supplement the malnutrition being forced upon us. This is evident in the fact that the number of prisoners being placed on medical diets to increase weight and calorie intake has made a steep incline. Bugs (both live and dead) are often found in the food and the officers still force the trays on the prisoners.

We are inadequately clothed. The prison won’t provide us with the proper clothing and won’t allow us to purchase the clothing we need.

We are not being given the means to sanitize the cells that we are housed in. The cells are filthy. Most have food, blood, and feces on the walls and there is a serious rodent and insect infestation. We cannot even flush our own toilets; we rely on officers to flush the toilets for us so we may have feces and urine in the toilets for hours at a time.

We are not being allowed to have the hygiene products that we need and are not allowed to purchase any so most inmates have a foul odor because the deodorant the state issues us doesn’t work for most of us.

We are routinely denied the right of religious freedom and expression. We are not allowed to practice beliefs that forbid cutting the hair, keeping kosher or other restrictions from eating certain foods.

Prisoners are subjected to brutality, humiliation, and harassment by correctional officers and staff at any given time. Prisoners are often assaulted while in handcuffs/restraints for no reason at all, but most frequently for practicing “freedom of speech.” If a prisoner addresses the warden or other administrative staff about anything they don’t like, or mistreatment, you are liable to be sprayed with mace, OC spray, any of the other toxic gases, stripped naked and humiliated and be placed on “stripped cell” with no bedding, clothing, or anything else (regardless of the temperature) for 8 or more hours just for exercising your 1st Amendment rights.

Mental health prisoners are often times punished for mental infirmities and deficiencies which are beyond their control and made worse by the conditions of confinement forced upon them. Mental health patients here are suffering because of a lack of treatment and staff. Many are wrongly diagnosed and are either over- or under-medicated.

Prisoners validated by the GDC as being part of Goodfellas, Young Mafia Family or plain and simply as “Mob” are being subjected to group punishment and all prisoners with this validation are kept on Tier II, and most have been on lockdown since November 2011 or even longer. The Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the Tier II program states that prisoners can only be held on the program for 2 years, but those validated as “Mob” are being transferred from prison to prison at the completion of one prison’s Tier program requirements and forced to begin the program again at the entry level at the new facility.

We know that prison isn’t supposed to be comfortable, but what we are experiencing at the hands of the administrators and staff here is torture and extreme abuse of authority. Regardless of our debts to society, we are no less human than anyone else. Many of us are mentally unstable, indigent, or have no family or friends who are willing to help us fight for our rights to be treated like human beings and not be subjected to such demoralizing and dehumanizing treatment.

Basillo Ramos created the “Plan de San Diego” in 1915 in the State of Texas. This was a call to arms and involved a coalition of Mexicans, Blacks, First Nations and Asians to take up arms against white supremacy. These are some of our freedom fighters who came before us. They fought, sadly, the same struggle we are faced with today.

The Aztlán that so many fought and died for, and many of us have been imprisoned for, continues to glimmer on the horizon. It is the People’s will to regain a foothold in our Sacred Land and break the chains that colonize our minds. It is time to rebuild the Revolutionary institutions. Raza Stand Up! Ya Basta! For we are on the quest of Aztlán!!!

Yes, let us not forget freedom fighters like Joaquin Murrieta, who sought supreme justice in California during the Gold Rush and fought the abuse of La Raza. Or David Sanchez and Carlos Montez who founded the Brown Berets in 1967. Or Corky Gonzalez and The Crusade for Justice.

It is right to study and learn from the lessons of the past, and use these lessons to continue to work united towards a common goal. In fact, we always made sure that a portion of time was set aside during all AV Brown Beret meetings for just this: to educate our membership. This was such an important factor that we had as #4 in our 10 Point Program, EDUCATION.

We must rebuild the Movimiento! And it’s just as important to build unity across revolutionary organizations.

Viva La Causa

MIM(Prisons) adds: In August and September of 1915, the military operations carried out in southern Texas by units of 25 to 100 men reached their high point. Comrades in United Struggle from Within have been holding discussion over recent months to build its first commemoration of the spirit of the Plan for August 2017.

Comrades on the outside are encouraged to organize book events around Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán for August, and/or study groups to read the book leading up to August. Prisoners can write in to get copies of the Plan de San Diego flier to distribute locally, which includes a list of proposed actions from United Struggle from Within organizers.

Mail the petition to your loved ones and comrades inside who are experiencing issues with the grievance procedure. Send them extra copies to share! For more info on this campaign, click here.

Prisoners should send a copy of the signed petition to each of the addresses below. Supporters should send letters on behalf of prisoners.

Commissioner, NJ Dept of Corrections, Whittlesey Road, PO Box 863, Trenton, NJ 08625-0863

Chief Ombudsman/woman, NJDOC, PO Box 855, Trenton, NJ 08625-0855

US Dept of Justice, Civil Rights Div, 950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, PHB, Washington, DC 20530

And send MIM(Prisons) copies of any responses you receive!

MIM(Prisons), USW
PO Box 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140

I am writing to update you on comrades’ struggles against the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) grievance process. I have been fighting against the inmate grievance process as employed by the NDOC for over a year now. Last week, the caseworker came to my door and informed me that all of my grievances had been rejected as improper grievances due to a new Administrative Regulation (AR740) regarding grievances, which among other things states that:

1. Inmates cannot state more than one claim per grievance,
2. Inmates may file no more than a single grievance in any 7 day period,
3. Those who violate these rules will face disciplinary action.

On this date, the case worker had over 300 grievances which were denied as improper. The NDOC has implemented this revised AR740 to circumvent inmate grievances so that they do not have to address our concerns.

I, and others, will of course, continue our struggle against the NDOC grievance process. If you or anyone else has any ideas on a path we should take to get this issue to court, I would appreciate it.

MIM(Prisons) responds: We do have a Nevada grievance petition for use by prisoners to fight the violation of First Amendment rights based on the AR740 rules. We will need someone from Nevada to volunteer to re-write this petition to cite the updated rules. But the bigger problem is that these rules were changed to essentially limit the ability of prisoners to file grievances, which of course is required if we’re going to demand these grievances be addressed. This sounds like a case that needs to be taken to court, and perhaps would interest one of the legal advocacy organizations in Nevada. Short of that we are stuck fighting within their (arbitrary) rules.

This regulation change underscores our message that we’re not going to beat the criminal injustice system at their own game. We can sometimes use their own rules and laws to gain small victories, but in the end the courts and prisons are set up to perpetuate the injustice system. We can only win by organizing independent institutions and dismantling this system.

Write to us for a copy of the old Nevada grievance petition if you can help update it based on these new regulations.