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.
Addiction does not develop overnight, nor does recovery. Addiction
can be devastating to not only the user who is addicted but eir friends
and family. In fact, addiction is a cultural phenomenon because it is
not specific to any particular race, gender, age, or class. It is
developed in the home through parents or family members who are addicts,
through friends, TV, music, and other observable things in our
environment. It is in every community, in every country, and on every
continent. The irony is that as much support as there is for an addict’s
recovery, that recovery does not come overnight. In fact, reportedly
those who do enter recovery programs have a 60 to 80% chance of relapse
before achieving permanent recovery! This is something I have
experienced first hand, and I am here to talk to those comrades who put
addicts like myself down. To them I offer the following challenge:
instead of doing nothing but complaining about addicts, start a recovery
group. This would be something more truly revolutionary! Because
bitching about it does nothing to help an addict nor have you said
anything to persuade me to want to change.
To them I say, “Yeah I’m an addict,” my addiction began in my home.
My father smoked cigarettes and kept a supply of liquor under the
counter in our kitchen. Drinking was a casual event with family and
friends, usually on holidays. I also observed these similar behaviors
through TV shows, movies, and commercials. As I grew into a teenager, I
heard numerous music lyrics referencing drinking and using various kinds
of drugs ranging from marijuana to heroin to cocaine to prescription
drugs. Though I was told by my parents, family, and drug programs such
as D.A.R.E. to stay away from these things, TV and my experience taught
me something different. It looked like everyone on TV was feeling good
and having fun and from my experience, it was and did most of the time
make me feel good. In fact, it made me feel so much better when I was
experiencing loneliness, stress, and conflict at home and within the
family, boredom, anger, unrealized feelings of being trapped,
depression, and more.
I’ve listed below what are commonly known as “triggers”. There are 10
major triggers I will identify here that can be associated and
experienced by most humyn beings through some stage of eir life and not
just addicts. For me the following 10 major triggers have not only been
a part of my first experiences with drugs and alcohol but especially my
relapse and effects of being imprisoned for over 25 years.
The Ten Major Triggers
Loneliness (even in the physical presence of family and
friends)
Stress and conflict at home and within the family
Boredom or, in other words, lack of meaningful activities or
challenging work
Anger and the feelings of being trapped (i.e. accumulated
resentments, etc.)
Depression (worse with women than men)
Spirituality, or feeling like life is meaningless without a
higher power
Secret disappointment with the straight life
Euphoric recall of being high
Secret thoughts of drugging or experimenting with a new and
different chemical or drug
Reactive denial to using or thoughts of it
I was never taught any fundamental coping skills to combat these
triggers throughout my life growing up at home or school. Even the
coping skills I did learn in recovery groups didn’t seem to work. These
feelings and thoughts seemed to always effect me no matter what. I also
found out addiction is also something that can be hereditary and
generational. What does this mean for my persynal recovery? I do not
know, but my current struggle is real and I can not experience recovery
by myself. So if you are an addict and not just an addict who is
addicted to drugs and alcoholic but are under the definition of the
United Struggle from Within Revolutionary
12 Step Program, then I want you comrades to listen. Not only you
comrades but especially the comrades who do nothing but bitch about us
addicts who use K2, suboxone, and whatever else as defined by the
comrades who came together to create the Revolutionary 12 Step Program.
I want you all to join me in my recovery, in our recovery, together.
P.S. This kept me from using so far today.
MIM(Prisons) responds: The Revolutionary 12 Step
Program pamphlet has been one of our most frequently distributed
publications in recent years. Unfortunately the main author and comrade
who was training others to lead the program has not continued this work.
For now we hope to continue the conversation, development and promotion
of revolutionary recovery here in the pages of ULK. As comrade
Menlo
suggests, we want to create a community here through our readers’ own
stories of recovery. And we thank comrade Orko and comrade Menlo for
kicking this off.
Another publication we want to recommend to those working around
recovery (whether you yourself are addicted or those around you) is Under Lock &
Key No. 59. You can just ask us for the “drug issue” of
ULK. It gives some deeper historical and sociological
background on the fighting of addiction in the revolutionary
movement.
For more, read our “drug issue”
As Orko explains above, addiction is a product of our environment.
That is why when communists seized power in China they were able to
eliminate almost all addiction in short time. And it is why people who
had been life long addicts suddenly quit to join revolutionary
organizations in the United $tates during the Black Power movement. The
hope, meaning and empowerment that comes with revolutionary organizing
is key to the success of our own revolutionary recovery programs.
In anticipation of some responses we might get to this article, we’d
like to ask Orko and other readers for ideas on how to reach those stuck
on drugs. We hear from a lot of readers who say they are surrounded by
zombies, and feel like there is no way to reach such people because they
are always high. What can be done to shift this reality and reach those
in need?
Addiction is a disease/syndrome that is not dependent upon any given
drug. As an addict and alcoholic, what this means to me is that I am a
meth addict even though I have never tried meth. I am addicted to K2
even though I have never tried K2. My drug of choice is alcohol, but my
struggle is with addiction. My method of combating my addiction in
prison is:
Not using any substances
Refusing to be ashamed of myself
Sharing my experience, strength and hope with the addict who is
still suffering.
While addiction cuts across class, nationality, ideology, and gender,
it concentrates in prison as many of us committed crimes in order to
fuel our addiction. Addiction thrives in an atmosphere of shame, of
hiding, and of loneliness. All of that and more is the atmosphere of
prison. It is incredibly difficult to stay sober by myself. I need
community in order to maintain my sobriety.
One incredibly important aspect of recovery that is missing from the
revolutionary
12 step program is the personal stories of recovery that form the
back of each 12 step book. These stories are essential as they serve as
that community of recovery and way for us to relate and be inspired. I
would be more than happy to contribute to the revolutionary 12 step
program.
I’m writing to express my gratitude to the publishers of Under
Lock & Key. I was in receipt of your newspaper (the Fall 2024
issue, No. 87) and I appreciate it. The content was very informative. I
was recently introduced to the prison movement by my comrade. So I am
fairly new to the movement, but I’m not new to the struggle or to the
oppressive ways of this noxious system.
I have been incarcerated now for 14 years. I understand that there
are plenty of significant issues going on world-wide in and outside of
this wicked prison system, but I would like to shine light on the fact
that two thirds of the prisoner population here in North Carolina is
strung out on drugs. These so called “correctional facilities” are
actually drug-infested mental health institutions. I have watched the
expansion of the drug K2 (a chemical based toxin) transform the entire
prison system as a whole. This drug is commonly referred to as “prison
crack” due to the addictiveness of this poison.
When I first entered the prison system, brothers used to share
knowledge, work out together, play cards or chess, etc. The prison
guards (C.O.’s) used to have a certain respect/fear of us due to the
unity we displayed. However, K2 has single-handedly dismantled and
diminished every aspect of that culture. The C.O.’s no longer respect us
as a whole because now when they enter a block 80% of the inhabitants
are incoherent; unable to talk, walk or even simply pick their heads up
to acknowledge the fact that the so-called authorities/overseers have
entered the block.
A majority of the people in prison wake up and before they even brush
their teeth they inhale the chemicals of this despicable substance –
subduing faithfully to this drug all day. This routine is repeated
daily. Not all but most of the K2 users wake up just to chase after the
intense, short-lived high all throughout the day. These days turn to
weeks, weeks to months, and months to years. This is a dangerous cycle
that has plagued the N.C. prison system.
K2 has caused guys to neglect their morals and principles. No longer
caring how others perceive them. Most K2 smokers carry themselves like
fiends selling anything and everything they can get their hands on:
shoes, food, hygiene items, literally everything they own. I have
witnessed people sell their free, state provided food trays, starving
themselves and surviving off only one meal a day just to get high.
Ruining relationships with family and friends due to them constantly
calling trying to manipulate them out of money on a relentless search of
monetary donations to purchase more K2. They show no regard for the
actual well-being of the members of their support system.
In summary, this drug is causing people to exit prison worse than
they were when they came in, if indeed they make it home at all. The K2
toxin has been known to cause death on many occasions. All of this has
increased the need for those of us who are conscious to make it a
priority to help push the agenda of MIM’s “Revolutionary 12 Step
Program” designed to expose and combat addiction. Again, I would like to
say thank you to the publishers of ULK for providing a platform
for us prisoners to express ourselves freely. I will continue to
advocate for the MIM movement. Thank you for your time and
attention.
I used to read your papers and think of how crazy some of the stories
from other prisons were. Now I have witnessed firsthand how the K2 has
changed prison.
Not long ago, I was relocated to a unit full of gang members. I don’t
have a ton of money but I have more than the everyday prisoner. Shortly
after getting unpacked and walking the unit to look for familiar faces,
I was approached and asked was I in a gang and my answer was “no”. They
watched me for a few days, then one morning around 8:30 AM, I was in my
cell cleaning like I do every morning and someone came into my room and
asked a few random questions. The next thing I know five or so others
stormed in and began assaulting me and demanding money. They took my
music equipment, commissary, and other belongings and left. They said
that if I sent them money I could have all my stuff back. I sent one
thousand dollars and they demanded more money so I just said to hell
with the property. I purchased a prison made knife that same day.
The very next day I was in my cell cleaning with the cell door locked
this time and suddenly the door opened. I went to the door with the
knife ready and good thing I did, because it was more gang members. They
had the officer open the door. I tried to walk out of the cell and they
were trying to push me back into the cell. I pulled the knife and they
ran away from the door. I told them if we’re fighting let’s do it out in
the open as I walked out into the day room. They wanted no parts of me
as long as I had that knife in my hand. The officer walked right past as
all of this was going on and said nothing. I decided not to use the
knife so I threw it down and asked the officer to let me out of the
unit.
I went to prison operations and asked to be moved and they said “no”.
I asked again and told them if I don’t get moved someone will end up
hurt. They asked why and I told them. At first they didn’t believe me
until they watched the cameras. Then they moved me to P.C. and allowed
the same gang members to pack my property and they took everything.
When I got what was left I complained about my missing property and
they said “file a grievance”. I filed the grievance and the grievance
chairperson refused to file it and sent it back. So I had my family call
the warden. All he said was to file it again, which I did. It has now
been almost a month and no one has said anything.
I’ve had my family calling the prison and now they won’t answer the
phone anymore. So I had my family call the prison headquarters and they
said they are launching an investigation but still I have heard nothing.
The truth of the matter is they don’t care at all. I’ve been
incarcerated 14 years and this has never happened before. These prisons
are dangerous and nothing is being done about it. It’s like they want us
to harm and/or kill each other in here. Now I’m trying to plan my next
move because this is all new for me. Any advice would be greatly
appreciated. I have 48 months left on a 21 year sentence so violence
isn’t the answer. The prison needs to be held accountable for letting
this happen. If you are reading this please be aware and thanks for
reading. Thanks MIM for giving me a voice to get my story out.
MIM(Prisons) adds: More and more people are realizing
this system doesn’t serve them. We’ve had it relatively easy in this
country, even some of us in prison have seen the benefits of living in
the heart of empire. But the empire is changing. And we need to change
with it, or get chewed up by it.
by MIM(Prisons) October 2024 permalink
150 Illinois Correctional Officers and their families lined the street
outside the Illinois River Correctional Center in Canton to demand
digitizing prisoner mail
On 5 October 2024, about 150 people organized by the American
Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3585
picketed to call for an end to paper mail in the Illinois Department of
Corrections (IDOC). Another protest is planned for October 17th.
The plague of drugs in U.$. prisons is real, and it has continued in states
where digital mail has been implemented. The claim of this “labor”
union that staff are being poisoned is not real. In neighboring Indiana,
a number of prisoners were threatened with isolation in torture cells
for mail
that we sent them that was accused of being drug-laced. Further
testing proved they were not. Meanwhile, there have now been a number of
cases of prison staff across the country claiming extreme medical crises
from contacting prisoner mail, following similar claims by street cops,
that have never been substantiated by medical professionals. It’s
interesting that this “labor” union is willing to stand out on the
street and picket for a policy that would give Correctional Officers a
monopoly on bringing paper into IDOC facilities.
Even much of the pro-labor union movement in the United $tates will
agree that cops aren’t workers, or the oppressed, but rather are the
oppressors, regardless of the question of surplus value. And Marxism has
always excluded the employees of the state from the proletariat in any
country. So it is of little surprise that the AFSCME would be pushing
this reactionary policy to eliminate education, resources and community
connection in prisons, even if it risks the very safety of their own
members.
MIM Distributors submitted the protest email below to Illinois DOC
Director Latoya Hughes. We encourage others to send emails or make phone
calls or send letters (especially if you are in Illinois). There are
more suggested scripts available from campaign initiators working with
Midwest Books to Prisoners.(2)
You can contact Director Latoya Hughes at:
latoya.hughes@illinois.gov
312-814-2121
Illinois Department of Corrections
1301 Concordia Court
P.O. Box 19277
Springfield, IL 62794-9277
Dear Director Hughes,
I have recently been made aware that several Illinois legislators are
calling for an immediate cessation of non-legal paper mail being
delivered to people incarcerated in the IDOC. Our organization sends
paper mail to thousands of prisoners across the country and we object to
this effort to abridge our First Amendment rights to speech and
association, as well as those of the people in your prisons. We will be
sharing this letter with our members and supporters, especially in the
state of Illinois.
Books, newspapers, and other printed materials are a crucial source
of information, education and growth for people locked in prison.
Letters can be a rare thing to look forward to. Our organization runs
study programs, conducts surveys and regularly sends forms to prisoners
to get updates on their status. All of these programs rely on prisoners
receiving pieces of paper that we send them so they can fill out the
forms and return them. The impact of blocking such mail would be
massive.
We have been watching the spread of alarmism around drug-laced mail,
and have even had such baseless accusations made against our mail! Of
course testing proved the accusation false, just as it did in the recent
incident at Shawnee, where the testing by Marion Fire Rescue came back
false. We’ve also seen multiple cases where staff have claimed to have
gotten sick from handling mail, which have been proven to be impossible
claims multiple times now. The benefits of education and community
connection are proven to help ensure staff safety far more than these
imagined risks of being poisoned. Policy should be fact-based and should
not succumb to rumors and fear-mongering.
Again, I am writing this email to clearly state my complete
opposition to any and all proposals to halt mail delivered to
incarcerated people, and urge you not to move forward with this
proposal.
I recently received my first Under Lock and
Key (Winter 2023, No. 80) newsletter. I really wish I’d been
receiving it years ago, cuz it’s a good read, and very informative.
Just read page 7. Drug addiction remains a primary barrier to unity,
and I would like more info on United Struggle from Within’s
Revolutionary 12 Step training program. And if, and how, I can
get involved, cause here in the Illinois prison system, drugs have
become a major issue, especially since Covid hit. Prisoners are having
their people dip/spray letters, cards, books, magazines, and even
obituaries with drugs and other chemicals in order to eat or smoke the
paper to get some type of high. Whatever these guys are smoking is
causing them to have episodes such as freaking out, seizures, and even
O.D.ing. It’s so bad at times you can see a smoke cloud in the air, and
C.O.’s, Sgt’s, Lt’s, and even Major’s have been on a wing during this
and have done nothing but tell the wing to put that shit out and spray
something in order to cover up the odor, and they’ve even said, smoke it
at your own risk and don’t call for help if you O.D. There ain’t a unit,
wing, or housing that don’t have an issue with this stuff. Seg and even
the infirmary are smoking it up. To a point the staff have given up
trying to get this under control and these substances have caused
multiple issues for all of us in here.
They’ve gotten real strict on the mail and what we receive and how we
receive mail such as letters, cards, photos, and books/magazines.
They’ve told us that our letters can’t be more than 3 pages, we can’t
receive 2-ply cards, and they can’t have any glitter on them. All photos
have to go through a company such as Freeprints or Pelipost, can’t come
from our family, friends, Walmart, or Walgreens any more. All books and
magazines must come from a vendor or company, and even then, a lot is
not allowed, no hard cover books, and can’t be over a certain size.
Also, it plays on us prisoners that have health issues and altered
immune systems such as myself. I have breathing issues and I’ve even had
a sinus surgery in order to open my nose so I could breathe better. And
I use a rescue inhaler and have been put in by my surgeon to have a
sleep study done due to my breathing and my surgeon has even said that I
need a CPAP machine which is what the sleep study is for.
I’ve even gotten into arguments/fights with cellies that I’ve had
over them wanting to smoke this stuff.
I have wrote the warden and the placement officer multiple times, the
warden has never responded. And it took me three times writing the
placement officer before I got a response. I had asked, “which wings
exactly are the non-smoking wings?” “This is a smoke-free institution.”,
word-for-word the response I was given.
Staff C.O.’s and nurses crack jokes and talk about how bad the
smoking is on a unit or on a wing, and I’ve heard/been told by a few
C.O.’s and nurses that some staff have lawsuits in due to them coming in
contact with said substance and/or smoke.
There is nowhere in this prison that is smoke free, and with them not
having a place for those of us that don’t want to be around this stuff,
they are putting us in harm’s way and putting our health at risk.
A couple questions: is this a violation of my rights? What should/can
I do about it?
Please help me if you can, thank you!
Please send me the Grievance Campaign – petition for Illinois.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This is the same story we’ve
been hearing across the country, and one of the reasons we launched our
Revolutionary 12 Step program when we did. It’s almost as if
this drug plague prisoners are facing was intentional. You should have
received a copy of our 12 Step program by now. Unfortunately we do not
have an active training program. But we are looking for experienced
comrades to restart our training program, and for comrades on the ground
to implement the program and send in reports on its successes and
failures and how to improve it. This is an important challenge that the
anti-imperialist prison movement must overcome to be successful.
Is the smoke a violation of the law? Yes, as the staff told you it is
a non-smoking facility and you have a legal right to not be exposed to
second hand smoke there. The Smoke-Free Illinois Act (SFIA) of 2008
forbids smoking in all buildings (with exceptions like homes and
designated hotel rooms), where smoking is defined as:
“Smoke” or “smoking” means the carrying, smoking, burning, inhaling,
or exhaling of any kind of lighted pipe, cigar, cigarette, hookah, weed,
herbs, or any other lighted smoking equipment. “Smoke” or “smoking”
includes the use of an electronic cigarette.
Is the smoke a violation of your rights? Well, we’d say there are no
rights, only power struggles. So you can use the SFIA to grieve this
issue, but if they don’t listen you’ll have to get organized, find
allies inside or outside and apply pressure. We’ve sent you the
grievance petition, this is one tool you can use to try to organize
people around this issue.
The oppression which prisoners face in this country is one result of
the global system of imperialism whose primary victims are the oppressed
nations globally, meaning that this system is our primary enemy. We must
spread the word that prisoners in this country are suffering because the
Amerikan empire’s wealth is based on class and national barriers; the
Amerikan nation does not want to share its privileged position with
Black and Brown people, so they restrict them from employment, from
education, from housing, and force them into a life in the
“underground.” The solution for the oppressed is not to fight to get
into the club, but to unite with the oppressed in the Third World to
destroy the club system as a whole and build a socialist world. A world
where peoples’ needs are put first, not the current world where people
are constantly struggling for petty basic rights like not to have your
life threatened by toxic smoke.
by a Tennessee prisoner September 2024 permalink
Tennessee is introducing JPay tablets to prisoners
I am lucky this far to have received my mail [including many
newspapers, study packs and books from MIM Distributors], but the
tablets are soon to arrive. As far as books go, I am unable to order any
as there seems to be some type of mystery in that realm. No books until
further notice, and nobody appears to be able to guide you in the proper
direction.
Their goal seems to be to stop the flow of contraband into the
prison. Yet, there seems to be more of it than food on your tray. People
are falling out and sent right back to the place they came out of to be
back in the same shape they left in: on drugs. They appear to do nothing
about the problem. A person on drugs can walk right past an officer and
he acts as if he doesn’t see him. The smell of something on fire stays
in the air. You are forced to sleep in a room with unbearable smoke
fumes in the air. All they want is for the alarm to not go off. Smoke
bailing out of some buildings; isn’t that something?
Yes, we’re going to have to accept the tablets because they can solve
the problem of unbearable conditions - or so they say!
MIM(Prisons) adds: Despite word from prisoners in
Tennessee that there are new restrictions on books coming in, we have
not been able to confirm the new rules. We have heard from other Books
for Prisoners programs that they have stopped sending books to
Tennessee. The Tennessee Department of Corrections’ website hosts the
Inmate Mail policy dated 8 December 2023, which states:
“Printed materials may be received by inmates in an unlimited amount,
provided they are mailed directly from the publisher(s) or recognized
commercial distributor.”
Despite some censorship, and
mail gone missing, MIM Distributors has been able to deliver books
to TN prisoners prior to December 2023. And lately our biggest problem
has been with Tennessee rejecting manila envelopes because they think
they might harbor drugs!
As we’ve reported in Texas
and elsewhere, drugs in prisons have risen to all-time highs,
despite Covid-19 restrictions on visitations and new digital mail
policies. And science has proven that drug addiction is a product of bad
living conditions. So not only are prison staff bringing in drugs, they
are driving prisoners to use them through their repressive and
alienating conditions.
UPDATE 28 September from a TN prisoner: I’m
currently being held at Morgan County Correctional Complex and I need
your help/advice. Excluding religious books, I’m only allowed to receive
5 books, from only 3 vendors that prison officials have chosen! How can
I further my education if I’m only allowed to receive 5 books? I’m
working on my pending criminal and civil cases, and of course I’ll need
more than 5 law books, but with this restriction, that’s not possible!
This restriction is under the guidance of Warden Shawn Phillips who can
be reached at (423) 346-1300.
The comrade included documentation showing the only approved vendors
to be: Abebook.com [sic], bookshop.org and 21st century Christian
bookstore. And apparently prisoners can give books to mailroom to be
thrown away in order to receive additional books!
i wanted to take this opportunity to lend my voice to this ongoing
discussion around so-called “snitching”, as this is a serious topic
of principle and ideology which affects Our ability to succeed in Our
tactical and strategic approaches.
As MIM(Prisons) pointed out, this question was originally raised due
to captives organizing around police terrorism inside prisons and other
captives refusal to participate in the paper trail aspect of the
resistance. However, the issue raised in ULK 83’s article
putting forth the slogan “Stop Collaborating” and the response in
ULK 86, “Stop
Snitching on Pigs”, need to be discussed as they all derive from the
same source and it needs to be spelled out.
The California Prisoner in ULK 86 opens by saying “Let’s
look at this from a practical perspective and not from an ideological
one.” Then says “Snitching is telling on people. It’s giving information
on someone else to a higher authority to act on it. We can all agree on
that definition.”
i begin by stating: NO! We cannot all agree on that. It is a fallacy
that telling on someone and snitching is always the same. See, snitching
necessitates that We’ve had some sort of prior bond, or understanding.
If your co-defendant “snitches on you” it is different from the old
church lady down the street “telling on you.” It may produce the same
result, but these are two different things. And it is indeed an
ideological question, We can’t get around that. The co-defendant has an
understanding with you, usually an unspoken one that each of you are
equally committed to the morals and principles of the criminal
subculture, which means no cooperation with law enforcement even if it
means saving your own skin. When the co-defendant goes against that they
have snitched on you, not only because they told but because they
violated your trust by going against a principle each of you swore to
uphold. The presence of the betrayal factor and the deceit, the
inability to honor a commitment, these are the key factors that
represent the phenomenon We call snitching. These are indeed
universal principles that virtually no one likes when people go against.
Regardless of walk of life, We as humyns want to have assurance that
commitments will be honored, that sacrifices will be made, and that
trustworthiness will be present in those We associate with. It is for
this reason real snitching is universally frowned upon.
However, when We bring the old church lady into the equation, she,
while frowning upon the Judas in her bible and those who exhibit those
same traits in her world, will tell on you for whatever perceived slight
or transgression you’ve committed against her. She hasn’t swore to any
principles of the criminal subculture, she has no bond with you other
than being a community member, and that bond was broken by you in your
antisocial act against her. So she cannot possibly “snitch” on you, even
while proceeding to tell on you. There is a significant difference, and
We cannot hold people to standards that they have never
acknowledged.
As MIM(Prisons) said, abuses must be exposed by so-called authorities
and this goes towards undermining the legitimacy of their authority.
A crooked cop is not an ally to a revolutionary prisoner simply
because they are crooked or they bring something in. This question has
to really be worked out on a case-by-case basis, but i’ll just say that
in most cases the crooked cop isn’t an ally and the situation is just
transactional, there’s no understanding either way of the intentions
behind either the taking or bringing of illicit things: it’s only a
transactional relationship like most in a capitalist society. So, to say
the pig (the profit-driven crooked cop) is my ally because they bring me
phones and dope is to say that i am allowing myself to be bought off by
these items. As a NARN i stand on the principles put forth in the
FROLINAN Handbook for REVNAT Cadres: Standards 5: “Potential members
must have outgrown the lust for coveting things or material goods.” And
from the Codes of Conduct 4: “No member of the revolutionary cadre
organization will place any material commodity above or before the
organization, the people, or the NAIM.” 6: “No member of the
revolutionary cadre organization is permitted to use, produce,
distribute, process, fund, or take part in the sale of heroin, cocaine
(in any form), LSD, PCP, or any hard drug, nor will they take any pill
for the purpose of getting high and no member will distribute such pills
or take part in the sale of such pills or other illegal drugs.”
i share to illustrate the standards and codes of conduct We should be
upholding, even when no one else is, or even when it benefits Us to do
otherwise. So if We follow this as spelled out it would limit Our
dealings with that crooked pig anyway. We have a mandate to liberate
political prisoners and if they believe in the principles of the
revolutionary movement, then maybe that rare individual is an ally. But
We all know there aren’t many who are willing to put their life and
freedom on the line to liberate Us, even if they’re willing to help Us
saturate the pen with distractions. So this says “i am willing, as a
crooked pig who is profit driven, to help you distract yourself and
others while in prison, but i am not willing to help you get out of
prison.” i don’t think that’s a real ally and it’s because of the profit
motive itself.
This brings me to my next point. The California Prisoner uses the
terminology that We all use. “Our struggle.” But i think We need to
define exactly what “Our struggle” means to us, because it doesn’t mean
the same thing to everyone at all times. Some think the struggle is for
power and influence within the prison, some think it’s to tear down all
prisons right now, some think it’s to reform the criminal mentality in
order to produce good law abiding citizens of the corporate states of
amerika and all these and other trends coexist to make up what Our
struggle objectively is, but what is Our struggle subjectively, to Us?
The Dragon pointed this out the best when it was said, that the whole
point of the prison movement, the underlying motive for all the actions
is to develop the capacity to field a People’s Army. i am paraphrasing.
So in my experience, and something i lament to cats around although i
can’t speak for cats here or elsewhere, but those who have “plugs” are
not using them for any sort of dissent activities. Those who have plugs
and dope are usually those policing the cats doing the dissident
actions, whether those actions are paper trial related or organizing
direct action.
Rarely is it the cats who have plugs and dope doing anything for the
movement, and even when these are comrades with knowledge and experience
and proven track records of struggle, while they have access to those
plugs and dope their activism and commitment to it either ceases or
severely lessens. Why? Because these are not only distractions but are
corrupting influences. It is no coincidence that usually the prisons
with the least amount of “motion” are those with the highest level of
rebel activity and ideological training going on. So although plugs
could theoretically be used for a lot of good they are by and large not
being used in that way. [MIM(Prisons) adds: This is our experience as
well.]
So, while I would agree with the Cali Prisoner about not throwing the
baby out with the bath water, i do so largely because We cannot do so
anyway. The prison system creates its black market economy through its
laws of prohibition. Therefore there will always be some pig somewhere
itching to take advantage of the unique economic opportunity to provide
distractions and corrupting influences to those that want them and want
to provide them. i am not advocating telling on crooked cops, but let me
be clear they’re not allies to revolutionary prisoners, unless they
themselves support the revolutionary principles We uphold. Let me also
be clear that those who decide to tell on these crooked cops, here
meaning specifically those who are driven by profit, those acts are not
snitching, even though they are telling as explained at the top of this
writing.
The two main things that hold the revolutionary prison movement back
are gangs/gang mentalities and the drug trade. Therefore, anyone who
perpetuates the latter is holding back the movement. On the gang
question, there are those who are solid revs and come from this cloth, i
am one of them. However, this doesn’t change the fact that the
introduction of and expansion of gangs, particularly street gangs inside
prison, at least in the case of Texas, coincides with the downward slope
of revolutionary consciousness and commitment within the walls.
Gone are the days where L.O.’s are built upon revolutionary and
progressive principles. Gone are the days of traditional groups
spreading knowledge and going at the system. They’re only spreading
dope, gangsterism, and discord amongst each other. The exceptions to
this rule become obsolete within their groups, and the revolutionary
prisoners who really stand on revolutionary bizzness are not the cool
cats with all the luxuries, they’re usually the ones outcast, not liked,
shunned, isolated, because everyone wants to be crime bosses in here. In
order to bring the proper orientation and programs back to the prisons,
revolutionary and progressive prisoners have to make allies and build up
institutions to help those who need and want it. It won’t be too many
who want it, and that’s just the sad and true reality we’re in these
days. Capitalism + dope = genocide.
These MF’ers are preventing us from building the People’s Army and We
are talking about protecting them and their interests and that they are
allies? Come on homie, what wrong with that picture!?
In the history of the prison movement the most effective tactic of
changing conditions has been inmate litigation. In order to litigate you
must create a paper trail. How can we do that if we are not filing any
complaints? i encourage comrades, those who live by revolutionary codes
of conduct to be mindful of exactly how you implore the enemy
institutions. Not because it is or isn’t snitching, but because, again,
Our point is to build a People’s Army and We still have to do that even
though We complain about the reactionary notions a lot of Our peers
have, these are still the peers We have to organize with and among, and
therefore like any shrewd politician We must be mindful of the landscape
and the dominant ideologies and ideals, even those we disagree with, and
navigate the terrain in a way that doesn’t neutralize Our effectiveness
at organizing people under Our umbrella. We won’t be able to build the
army if they all distrust Us because they think we are snitches. We
won’t even have the time or space to argue otherwise because credibility
has been lost.
For this reason, it is not politically correct to tell internal
affairs on the crooked pig about profit driven acts, whereas documenting
acts of pig brutality where people can see and understand the negative
intentions behind the pig’s actions and therefore are less likely to
side with the pig against you either directly or ideologically, that is
an action that is politically correct. Be mindful comrades, and stay
focused on the ultimate objective. Don’t snitch, and i mean really
snitch (betray you honor and commitments) and don’t collaborate with the
state.
This topic keeps coming up again and again and now I see it listed in
the USW campaign list. Let’s look at this from a practical perspective
and not from an ideological one.
Snitching is telling on people. It’s giving information on someone
else to a higher authority to act on it. We can all agree on that
definition. The more important question is to what INTENTION is someone
snitching, and this is what we should analyze as it pertains to our
struggle.
I’ve been reading in ULK about these “comrades” who snitch
on other prisoners because they claim it’s for the good of our struggle.
I call Bullshit. If you really care so much about the health of the
population, become a drug counselor or start a campaign to fight drug
addiction. But you’re not doing any of those things, which actually
involve WORK. Instead you sit in your cell and file these papers to
internal affairs or whoever using the same system you claim to be
opposing, and then you beg them to protect you. Disgusting.
The cops you are snitching on are not part of some larger conspiracy
to keep inmates addicted to drugs or control the population. That’s
absurd. These cops are actually our allies, and though they may be
motivated by profit, they are still facing the same risk and fate we now
find ourselves in. If it weren’t for these allies, we would never have
phones in prison which allow us to contribute to the struggle in ways we
otherwise could never do, not to mention the obvious connections with
our loved ones without police invasion of our privacy.
I understand you who snitch probably can’t afford a phone, and this
makes you angry and spiteful so you wish to do your “public service,”
right? Or maybe you are simply envious of the power and influence of
those who have the plugs. Sorry for that; prison is rough. But don’t sit
here and claim you do it because you just care about us all so much.
That being said, are drugs beneficial to the population? No, but
unfortunately sometimes that comes with it and we should spend our
efforts to make sure the right things are coming in and not the wrong
things. We don’t need to throw out the whole baby with the bathwater. In
fact, a lot of marijuana comes in too and personally this helps a lot
with my service-related PTSD. Shame on you or anyone trying to shut down
these precious lifelines using the guise of our struggle. Getting more
people locked in prison because of your personal misery does not help
the movement. You are not fooling me or any of the real ones out
there.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade is largely
responding to an article in ULK 84, CA
Silences Reports of Drug Trade in Prisons. We can acknowledge the
added nuance in this situation. However, most of the articles we’ve
printed on this topic are comrades trying to get people to file
grievances against political repression or physical abuse by staff,
and other prisoners refusing because they “don’t snitch.” Such cases are
cut and dry. While we can’t rely on the imperialist state to police
itself, grievances and lawsuits are tactics that contribute to building
power. We must expose abuses of the state to combat them. So to say
“Stop snitching on pigs” as this comrade does is truly a reactionary
statement equivalent to saying “don’t resist oppression”.
What the comrade above says about running programs to fight drug
addiction is right on. Just reporting things to the imperialists is
never gonna change things on its own. We must build our own power and
our own independent institutions of the oppressed. That is when the
imperialists will really start to make moves to out compete us by
reforming their own institutions. As far as the state conspiring to
spread drugs, we need to understand the levels at which such things
happen. Just because every C.O. didn’t come together and discuss these
plans doesn’t mean it’s not intentional. To put
it another way, if the state wanted to stop drug use in prisons they
could. It wouldn’t even be that hard. Whether prescription meds or
illicit ones, we know this is a common tool of pacification in prisons,
as is digital media as the comrade
from Pennsylvania discusses.
We discussed with this comrade the loosening of old hierarchies,
staff shortages, and the opening of opportunities in prisons today. Some
of the old ways are going away. Mostly this has led to negative things
like more drugs and neglect so far. But it does create new
possibilities. And that is why we are printing this response. We do want
comrades to be trying to understand the changes where they are
imprisoned and thinking about how our goals can expand and work within
the existing motions of change. United fronts and temporary alliances
are necessary strategic tools.
In ULK 84 we reported on a sharp
drop in donations from prisoners in 2023, and a gradual decline in
subscribers in recent years. We asked our readers to answer some survey
questions to help explore the reasons for these declines and to begin a
more active campaign to expand ULK in 2024. Below is some
discussion with comrades who have responded to the survey so far about
drugs, gangs, COVID-19, generational differences and more. If you want
to participate in this conversation, please respond to the questions at
the end.
Problems We’ve Always Had
A North Carolina prisoner on censorship: i pass my
copies around when i’m able, what i always hear is “Bro i wrote to them
but never received the paper.” Then there is a couple guys who were on
the mailing list who say they’re not receiving the paper no more.
MIM(Prisons) responds: The obvious answer to this is
the newsletter is being censored. Any prisoner of the United $tates who
writes us for ULK will be sent at least 2 issues, and if you
write every 6 months we will keep sending it. Censorship has always been
a primary barrier to reaching people inside, but we have no reason to
believe that has increased in the last couple years. Relaunching regular
censorship reports could help us assess that more clearly in the future.
A Pennsylvania prisoner on the younger generation: I
think it is these younger generation people who are coming into the
prison system or people who have been pretty much raised by the judicial
system, and the guards become mommy and daddy to them… They do not want
to or are possibly afraid to change the only life they have ever known.
I know some of these younger guys here who have gotten too comfortable
and think: “Oh, I am doing so good, I have a certain level of say-so
here, the guards are my buddies, they get me, et cetera.” When on the
outside they did not have that.
Also, on my block, many people are illiterate and cannot read. I know
this because I am the Peer Literacy Tutor.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Most of this doesn’t sound new.
Older prisoners have been talking about the lacking of the younger
forever. Illiteracy is also not new in prisons. There is some indication
that the COVID pandemic has impacted literacy in children, but that
would not be affecting our readership (yet).
A California prisoner: I think a lot of prisoners do
not want to hear negativity or incendiary language, we get enough of
that in here and I notice a lot of unity around positivity in here. I
suggest less dividing language and more unifying language. In
particular, the “who are our friends and who are our enemies” line could
certainly drop the “who are our enemies” part. Prisoners don’t want
someone telling them who to be enemies with, prisoners want to be told
who to be friends with.
I have trouble passing on ULK, natural leaders won’t even
accept it (I try to revolutionize the strong). As soon as I say “it’s a
communist paper”, the typical response is “I’m not a commie.” Any
suggestions??
MIM(Prisons) responds: Not sure if you’re leading with
the fact that it’s a communist newspaper. But when doing outreach, the
fact that we’re a communist organization will not come up until we’ve
gotten into an in-depth conversation with someone. We want to reach
people with agitational campaign slogans, hopefully ones that will
resonate with them. What in this issue of ULK do you think the
persyn might be interested in? Lead with that.
As far as who are our friends and who are our enemies goes – this is
actually a key point we must understand before we begin building a
united front (see MIM Theory 14: United Front where a prisoner
asks this same question back in 2001). We must unite all who can be
united around anti-imperialist campaigns. Our goal is not to have the
most popular newsletter in U.$. prisons; that might be the goal of a
profit-driven newsletter. Our goal is to support anti-imperialist
organizing within prisons. As we’ve been stressing in recent months,
prisons are war, and they are part of a larger war on the oppressed. If
we do not recognize who is behind that war, and who supports that war
and who opposes it, we cannot stop that war. If you see a group of
people that wants to carpet bomb another group of people as a friend,
then you are probably not part of the anti-imperialist camp yourself.
Prisoners who are mostly focused on self-improvement, parole, or just
getting home to their families may be willing to be friends with anyone
who might help them do so. But we must also recognize the duality
of the imprisoned oppressed people as explained by comrade Joku Jeupe
Mkali.
Problems That May Be Getting
worse
A Washington prisoner on the drug trade: Drugs and
gangs are the biggest threat to radical inclination in the system. Drugs
keep the addicted dazed and unable to focus on insurgency. Whereas the
self-proclaimed activist gang member who actually has the mental fitness
to actually avoid such nonsense has become so entrenched in a culture
aimed at feeding on the profit he gains in the process has forgotten his
true goal and would rather stand in the way of change to maintain
profit.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This is perhaps the biggest
shift we’ve seen in reports on conditions on the inside in recent years.
Of course, these are not new issues. But there are new drugs that seem
to be more easily brought in by guards and have more detrimental effects
on peoples’ minds. Meanwhile, the economics of these drugs may have
shifted alliances between the state-employed gangs and the lumpen gangs
that work together to profit off these drugs.
When we launched the United
Front for Peace in Prisons over a decade ago, it was in response to
comrades reporting that the principal contradiction was lack of unity
due to lumpen organizations fighting each other. In recent years, most
of what we hear about is lumpen organizations working for the pigs to
suppress activism and traffic restricted items. While Texas is the
biggest prison state and much of those reports come from Texas, this
seems to be a common complaint in much of the country as regular readers
will know.
Related to drugs is the new policy spreading like wildfire, that
hiring private companies to digitize prisoners’ mail will reduce drugs
coming into prisons and jails. Above we mentioned no known increase in
censorship, but what has increased is these digital mail processing
centers; and with them more mail returned and delayed. In Texas, we’ve
been dealing with mail delayed by as much as 3 months for years now. As
more and more prisons and jails go digital, communications become more
and more limited. Privatized communications make it harder to hold
government accountable to mail policies or First Amendment claims. There
is no doubt this is a contributor to a decrease in subscribers.
A Pennsylvania Prisoner reports a change in the prison system
due to COVID-19: The four-zoned-movement system has been
implemented here at SCI-Greene because of COVID. Before COVID,
everything was totally opened up. Now everyone is divided from one
another and it makes it that much harder for someone like me who is
constantly surrounded by an entire block full of people with extreme
mental health or age-related issues.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This is an interesting
explanation that we had not yet thought of. While we don’t have a lot of
reports of this type of dividing of the population in prisons into pods
since COVID, we know that many prisons have continued to be on lockdown
since then. An updated survey of prisoners on how many people are in
long-term isolation may be warranted. But even with the limited
information we have, we think this is likely impacting our slow decline
in subscribers.
This does not explain why donations went up from 2020 to 2022, but
then dropped sharply in 2023. However, we think this could have been a
boom from stimulus check money, similar to what the overall economy saw.
In prisons this was more pronounced, where many people received a couple
thousand dollars, who are used to earning a couple hundred dollars a
year. While we would have expected a more gradual drop off in donations,
this is likely related. In 2023, prisoners were paying for a greater
percentage of ULK costs than ever before. We had also greatly
reduced our costs in various ways in recent years though, so this is not
just a sign of more donations from prisoners but also a reflection of
decreased costs. We’d like to hear from others: how did stimulus checks
affect the prisoner population?
Like many things, our subscribership and donations were likely
impacted greatly by the COVID-19 pandemic and the state’s response to
it. Another interesting connection that warrants more investigation is
how the stimulus money may have contributed to the boon in drug
trafficking by state and non-state gangs in prisons. And what does it
mean that the stimulus money has dried up? So far there is no indication
of a decline in the drug market.
A California prisoner on “rehabilitation” and parole:
The new rehabilitation programs in CDCR are designed to assign personal
blame (accept responsibility). A lot of prisoners are on that trip.
“It’s not the state’s fault, it’s my fault cause I’m fucked up.” That’s
the message CDCR wants prisoners to recognize and once again parole is
the incentive, “take the classes, get brainwashed, and we might release
you.” I call it flogging oneself. But a lot of prisoners are in these
“rehabilitation” classes. It’s the future. MIM needs to start thinking
how to properly combat that.
MIM(Prisons) responds: The Step Down program in
California in response to the mass
movement to shut down the SHU was the beginning of this concerted
effort to pacify and bribe prisoners to go along with the state’s
plan.(1) As we discussed at the time, this is part of a
counterinsurgency program to isolate revolutionary leaders from the
rebellious masses in prison.
Our Revolutionary 12 Step Program is one answer to the
state’s “rehabilitation.” Our program also includes accepting
responsibility, but doing so in the context of an understanding of the
system that creates these problems and behaviors in the first place. Yes
we can change individuals, but the system must change to stop the cycle.
The Revolutionary 12 Steps is one of our most widely
distributed publications these days, but we need more feedback from
comrades putting it into practice to expand that program. And while it
is written primarily for substance abuse, it can be applied by anyone
who wants to reform themselves from bourgeois ways to revolutionary
proletarian ways.
In other states, like Georgia and Alabama,
parole is almost unheard of. The counterinsurgency programs there
are less advanced, creating more revolutionary situations than exist in
California prisons today. In the years leading up to the massive hunger
strikes in CDCR, MIM mail was completely (illegally) banned from
California prisons. Today, it is rare for California prisoners to have
trouble receiving our mail, yet subscribership is down.
Solutions
A California prisoner: Personally I would like to see
play-by-play instructions for unity. I saw something like that in the
last Abolitionist paper from Critical Resistance. A lot of us
want unity but don’t know how to form groups or get it done. I know
MIM’s line on psychology, however it has its uses. The government
consults psychologists when they want to know how to control people or
encourage unity among their employees. I suggest MIM consult a psych for
a plan on how to unify people, then print the play-by-play instructions
in ULK. It’s a positive message prisoners want to hear.
MIM(Prisons) responds: As mentioned above, building the
United Front for Peace in Prisons was a top topic in ULK for a
long time, so you might want to reference back issues of ULK on
that topic and MIM Theory 14. Psychology is a pseudo-science
because it attempts to predict individuals and diagnose them with
made-up disorders that have no scientific criteria. Social engineering,
however, is a scientific approach based in practice. By interacting with
people you can share experiences and draw conclusions that increase your
chances of success in inter-persynal interactions. This is applying
concepts to culture at the group level, not to biology of the
individual.
Again, the key point here is practice. To be honest, the engagement
with the United Front for Peace in Prisons has decreased over the years,
so we have had less reports. Coming back to the question of how to
approach people in a way that they don’t get turned off by “commie”
stuff, a solution to this should come from USW leaders attempting
different approaches, sharing that info with each other, and summing up
what agitational tactics seemed to work best. Comrades on the outside
could participate as well, but tactics in prison may differ from tactics
that work on college campuses vs. anti-war rallies vs. transit
centers.
A North Carolina prisoner: i look forward to receiving
the paper and i love to contribute to the paper. ULK is not
just a newspaper in the traditional sense of the word it’s more than
that. It’s something to be studied and grasped, and saved for future
educational purposes. In my opinion its the only publication that hasn’t
been compromised.
i think ya’ll should publish more content on New Afrikan
Revolutionary Nationalism (NARN) then ya’ll do. To be honest, the
ULK is probably the only publication that provides content that
elucidates NARN. Nonetheless, ya’ll keep doing what ya’ll doing.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We’ll never turn away a
well-done NARN article, so keep them coming. This is a newsletter by and
for prisoners of the United $nakes.
A Pennsylvania prisoner: As with everything,
“education” is a key factor. A lot of people really have a lack of
comprehension of the Maoist, Socialism, Communism agenda or actual
belief system is about. I have a general idea, but not the whole
picture. Many people are ignorant to what it is all about. … I was a bit
of a skeptic when I first began writing MIM(Prisons), but I no longer am
3 years later.
As I have continued to write and read all your ULKs I have
begun to realize what you stand for, and that is the common people who
are struggling to survive in a world full of powerful people, who do not
play by the rules. … Those powerful and wealthy who have forgotten what
it is like to be human. … When I get released from prison later this
year and get back on my feet I do plan to donate to MIM(Prisons) because
I strongly support what you stand for.
…It was word of mouth that got me interested in ULK, and
that is what we should use to spread the word. Sooner or later someone,
somewhere is gonna get interested.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We appreciate this comrade’s
continued engagement and struggling with the ideas in ULK. Eir
description of what we do is accurate. Though, the same could be said
for many prisoner newsletters. We recommend comrades check out “What is
MIM(Prisons)?” on page 2 to get an idea of what differentiates us from
the others; and to ask questions and study more than ULK to
better understand those differences.
A Washington prisoner: I believe there has not been
enough exposure of ULK in the prison system. I only happened on
it by chance. I sought out communist education on my own after not being
able to shake an urge that there was something incredibly wrong with the
political and economic structures in my surroundings. I believe we
should launch a campaign of exposure and agitation. Create and pass out
pamphlets and newsletters geared to helping people see the relevance of
communism and their current situation. For a start, I would like to
receive copies of the Revolutionary 12 Step Program pamphlets
to strategically place in my facility so prisoners can have access to
them.
MIM(Prisons) concludes: Expanding ULK just for
the sake of it would be what we call a sectarian error. Sectarianism is
putting one’s organization (one’s own “sect”) above the movement to end
oppression. The reason we are promoting the campaign to expand
ULK is that we see it as a surrogate for measuring the interest
in and influence of anti-imperialist organizing in U.$. prisons. As
comrades above have touched on, there is always a limitation in access
and numbers do matter. Most prisoners have never heard of ULK.
The more we can change that, the more popular we can expect
anti-imperialism to be within U.$. prisons and the more organized we’d
expect people to get there.
We are working on expanding our work with and organizing of prisoner
art. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words. More art that
captures the ideas of our movement can help us reach more people more
quickly. So send in your art that reflects the concepts discussed in
ULK. We also offer outside support for making fliers and small
pamphlets. What types of fliers and small pamphlets, besides the
Revolutionary 12 Steps, would be helpful for reaching more
prisoners with our ideas and perhaps getting them to subscribe to
ULK?
Another way to reach people in prison is through radio and podcasts.
We are looking for information on what types of platforms and podcasts
prisoners have access to that we might tap into.
We only received 4 responses to our survey in ULK 84 in time
to print in this issue. This is another data point that indicates the
low level of engagement with ULK compared to the past. Another
possible explanation for lack of responses is that this survey was more
difficult to answer than previous surveys we’ve done because it is
asking for explanations more than hard facts. Either way, in our attempt
to always improve our understanding of the conditions we are working in,
we are printing the survey questions one more time (also see questions
above). Even if your answer to all the questions below are “no”, we’d
appreciate your response in your next letter to us.
Have you noticed changes in the prison system that have made it
harder for people to subscribe to ULK or less interested in
subscribing?
Have you noticed changes in the prisoner population that have
made people less interested in subscribing?
Have you noticed/heard of people losing interest in ULK because
of the content, or because of the practices of MIM(Prisons)?
What methods have you seen be successful in getting people
interested in or to subscribe to ULK?
Do you have ideas for how we can increase interest in ULK in
prisons?