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.
In Missouri, our complaints are easily silenced; the caseworker simply
throws the grievance form in the trash. A prisoner has no way to prove
the form was ever even submitted. This tactic is especially prevalent in
segregation units.
I wonder what state has the best grievance system. I certainly hope it
isn’t Missouri, because ours is too easily sabotaged. I do not have any
experience with other states’ procedures, but I did see a grievance form
for Arizona’s procedure belonging to a prisoner in Missouri on
interstate compact. It looked better than Missouri’s, mainly because the
prisoner keeps a copy.
Will comparing states grievance procedures in a court case be effective
in bringing about change? I am willing to entertain the possibility, but
how will we know what state has the best procedure? The Prisoners’ Legal
Clinic will need to form a team of comrades from the various states to
discuss the differences and their experiences.
MIM(Prisons) Legal Coordinator adds: We don’t rely on the
Amerikkkan court system for our ultimate liberation, but while we’re
stuck here in the belly of the beast we try to use the courts to our
advantage in our revolutionary organizing. A long-term project of United
Struggle from Within and the Prisoners’ Legal Clinic (PLC) is the
campaign to ensure our grievances are addressed. Our subscribers have
been submitting petitions to prison administrators, prisoner advocacy
groups, and the Federal government in several states, some for years.
These petitions notify the prisoncrats of all the corrupt ways
grievances are being mishandled and misused on the ground.
In some states, we’ve had success with our grievance petitions. Other
states have come down with more creativity with their repression. In
those states that don’t respond to the petitions, a lawsuit will likely
be necessary to push this struggle further.
This author discusses the tactic of comparing grievance procedures to
see which states have more reliable remedies for administrative relief,
and using this information in a lawsuit to push your own state to adopt
these tactics.
It is vital to keep a copy of the grievance in any case and in any
system. If the system does not allow the you to keep a receipt or copy
of the grievance, then it is much more difficult to track a grievance
and prove that it was submitted. This of course makes it much easier for
the grievance to end up in the trash.
As we’re looking forward to the development of the campaign to have our
grievances addressed in several states, we can start discussing legal
tactics to use in a lawsuit. Besides ensuring that a prisoner is able to
keep proof that a grievance was submitted, what other procedural reforms
would improve the grievance process?
Of course procedural safeguards won’t always prevent the grievance from
being “lost,” or keep it from being used as an excuse to harrass the
persyn filing the complaint. But the more protections we can build into
the grievance processes, the better we can protect ourselves from abuses
– abuses of the grievance process, and in prison generally.
Most prisoners don’t know that the only reason some injustices happen to
them is because the person before them it was done to did nothing about
it. So it continues into custom, then into practice, then into policy.
Once in policy, Court Order Injunction is the only means to prove
unconstitutionality of such acts and force them to be changed. Therefore
we need to fight injustice while it is still just a custom!
In ULK 33“Solidarity:
Dead in the Feds”, a Federal prisoner reported on a spontaneous
action that took place to protest poor meals in the Security Housing
Unit at the United $tates Penitentiary in Pollock, Louisiana. 53
prisoners participated in a collective action but most quickly
retreated. Clothing was taken away and everyone was placed on meager
“disciplinary meals.”
Besides the spontaneous direct action approach which quickly fizzled
out, another tactic those comrades could take is to get those 53
prisoners to pick up a pen and a grievance and file the case law
outlined on Donegan v. Fair, 859 F2d 1059.1063 (1st Cir 1988)
(Statute: Prisoners have liberty interest in receiving nutritionally
adequate food and meals).
I would also recommend to read the unit’s use of force policy to see
what they can and cannot do to you, being that this correspondent in
Pollock was gassed five times. Getting gassed when done without reason
is unconstitutional. See Stringer v. Rowe, 616 F2d 993 at 998 (7th
Cir 1980).
The taking of clothes is arbitrary and capricious and done to punish
without penological purpose. The case Reeves v. Pettcox, 19 F3d 1060
(5th Cir 1994) combats this type of act.
MIM(Prisons) adds: We appreciate this Prisoners’ Legal Clinic
contributor for sending in legal tips for others to use in their
struggles against the criminal injustice system. Spontaneous collective
action provides a good assessment of our overall level of solidarity.
That 53 people participated in this spontaneous action in the first
place is quite impressive. But building a protracted struggle to bring
down the root causes of our vast criminal injustice system – capitalism,
imperialism, and national oppression – is another thing altogether.
Unless there is a very broad and deep level of unity among the
imprisoned population, direct actions will face defeat because the
guards can easily intimidate people out of participating. This is
essentially what happened in the original article from ULK 33.
We hope the correspondent in Pollock will continue to organize others
against injustices in their unit, rather than accept defeat because of
one failed action. There are many tactics we can employ to build unity
and strengthen our movement.
When choosing what campaigns to organize around, we can see there is a
difference between just fighting for reforms while leaving the overall
oppressive system intact, and fighting for reforms that make space for
more political organizing. Our comrades behind bars should organize with
others in their unit against prison abuses, to build networks and
elevate the collective consciousness of their fellow captives. This
would include fighting against excessive use of force, or for nutritious
meals. And we can fight for reforms that directly impact our ability or
organize, such as anti-censorship campaigns, or the struggle to abolish
solitary confinement. We can organize over these campaigns, and even
have some wins under imperialism. The biggest win will be developing our
collective consciousness and unity.
To the comrade who wrote the article titled
“South
Carolina Stops Grievance Challenge Process” in ULK 33, I
would like to commend you and provide ammo. You say the pigs move you
around to different segregated dorms when they find out you are
assisting other prisoners with their legal work. The clearly established
right to assist others with legal work has been in place for over three
decades in Corpus v. Estelle 551 F2d 68 (5th Cir 1977). Even
though South Carolina is in the 4th Circuit, case law from the 5th
Circuit can still be cited as a persuasive authority.
As for the problem of unprocessing your grievances, take a look at your
prison’s policies and see if they make reference to an offender
grievance manual. They might have criteria for making a grievance
unprocessed. Check and see if there is information on access to courts
and if the manual has criteria with words such as what that
administration “must,” “will,” or “shall” do before unprocessing the
grievance. This is how you determine a “liberty interest,” if the policy
mandates any constitutional process due under the 4th or 14th
Amendments.
Also look at these cases: Tool Sparashad v. Bureau of Prisons, 268
F3d 576, 585 (DC 2002) and Herron v. Harrison, 203 F3d 410-416
(6th Cir 2006) on matters concerning grievance and retaliation.
Teach as much as you know to others wanting and willing to learn, and
keep on pushing comrade! Keep promoting use of the pen in legal warfare!
Remember, winners never quit and quitters never win.
I would like to encourage any prisoner who is abused in any way that is
clearly counter to the regulations and department operational manual
(DOM) to consider that upon exhausting the administrative process or
even when it’s obstructed there is another lawful way to force the CDCR
prisoncrats to act on your complaint.
It’s not as simple as the administrative 602 process and if you lack
serious determination to force the issue don’t waste your time. But it’s
called “administrative mandate” petitions you can file in the court. Now
you can obtain basic instructions by writing the Prison Law Office and
asking for “information on filing an administrative mandate” and/or buy
the California state prisoners handbook which will explain to you how to
force prisoncrats to follow their own rules and regulations.(1)
There is always the law library, which is the most powerful resource in
the system for a prisoner who does not allow themselves to be mentally
worn down. The adversarial system is just that, and prisoncrats and the
CCPOA don’t care about you but as a means to a pay check. This is not to
belittle but encourage you to pursue lawful action if you have exhausted
administrative remedies. You can sue easily in small claims where you do
not have to have much legal knowledge (think of Judge Judy/Joe
Brown/Matis, etc.). That’s the simplest way to sue. But make sure you
line your ducks up!
More complex methods of suing are available also if you are willing to
do the work required seriously, as in “limited jurisdiction” and
“unlimited jurisdiction” in the state courts; in addition to your
ability to file in the federal jurisdiction. This is not easy, it is
time consuming and it can be costly to you.
I would also consider writing complaints to the U.S. Department of
Justice Civil Rights Division special litigation section if you are
serious. The opposition makes use of all of its resources, I suggest you
too use all of the resources you have. I am not anybody’s attorney and
this is not legal advice, I am simply stating the obvious so people do
not lose heart. In most cases the picklesuits and prisoncrats allow the
abuse of those they don’t expect to offer a real challenge.
I’ve been slapped in the face with a crazy example of how this country
uses its criminal system as social control.
In 1997 I was locked up for 1st degree murder for a robbery that
happened when I was a kid just 17 years old. I didn’t get to try the 1st
Degree Murder Charge in court, only the robbery. This is due to the
“Felony Murder Rule” (Cal P.C. 190.5) which says basically: all deaths
that occur during the preparation, the act itself, or in fleeing of any
serious felony are 1st Degree Murder. I didn’t kill anyone or want
anyone to die, but, because I wouldn’t testify against anyone I became
an adult murderer, even though I was neither.
The felony Murder Rule theory says since all adults should anticipate
all potential outcomes of every act, they’re responsible for anything
that happens should they not alter their behavior based on the potential
worst case scenario. So one becomes morally culpable for the acts of
everyone involved. Disregarding the supposed pillars of our “justice”
system: act and intent.
In 2012, Miller v. Alabama (S.67 U.S_,,) applied the
primary theory in Graham v. Florida ((2010) 560 U.S. 48) to
murder cases, which says “juveniles who don’t kill or intend to kill
have a twice diminished moral culpability when compared to adult
murderers.” This obviously eliminates the only “evidence” used to
convict me of 1st Degree Murder. I was automatically an “adult” because
of the serious felony charge. I was automatically a “murderer” because I
caught the robbery. But the principal that invalidates my conviction
can’t be automatically applied. Nope. The Antiterrorism and Effective
Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) laws that restrict collateral reviews through
my only recourse - Habeas Corpus petitions - are so complicated
judges write books on their unconstitutionality. I had a 1% chance of
being heard by the court.
Even the blood thirsty citizenry of this country balked at the insane
application of this felony-murder rule on Dr. Phil when discussing the
Elkhart 4 in Indiana, where 5 kids burglarized a house thinking no one
was home. The owner shot and killed one and injured another. The 4
living kids got 50 years to life! Guilty of burglary, automatically
adult murderers.
In California they tried to mitigate the effects by enacting P.C. 3051
which makes it easier for juveniles to parole after 25 years. So, I was
found guilty of murder I didn’t do, couldn’t try in court, that your own
law says I’m no longer guilty of but, I’ll only have to do 25 years?
Wow.
Could you imagine if the CEO of GM was charged with murder for approving
the continued use of the faulty ignitions that led to the 13 deaths from
their use? If the general who ran the VA was charged with murder for the
40 deaths they found so far that resulted from the faulty list waiting
times? If wardens were charged with murder for every death by prisoner
suicides? All these people committed crimes that led to peoples’ deaths.
But these businesses are protected from culpability using U.S. v
U.S. Gypsum Co. citing Morissette v. U.S. where the
Supreme Court expressly articulated the importance of “mens rea”
(act/intent) to “our” system of criminal law.
That’s their system of criminal law. Poor minorities get Rockefeller, 3
strikes, felony-murder and AEDPA laws. A ton of other laws I’m sure.
I was a kid, unarmed, who wanted money. I got life in prison for a
murder I didn’t do, without a trial. There are thousands of us in U.S.
prisons.
They get ’em young. But we’re gonna put up our anti-felony-murder rule
use on juveniles legal argument in light of Miller v. Alabama
on the internet for those who choose to push that pen. One of us will
get them.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This is a very good example of the Amerikan
Criminal Injustice System. And the parallels this comrade draws to the
CEO of GM and other corporate executives are right on target. When
people criticize socialist China under Mao for “persecuting” landlords,
imperialist spies, and capitalists they purposely ignore the murders,
rape and brutality that these people enabled, in many cases directly
perpetrating. A landlord who demands from a peasant payment of his
entire crop in a drought year means inevitable starvation for that
peasant’s family. This leads to deaths easily foreseen by the landlord.
And so under socialism landlords are convicted of these crimes. The same
people who decry these socialist actions as “unjust” stand by while
people like this writer are locked up for deaths they did not cause and
could not have anticipated. This is the double standard of the
capitalists.
It made me smile to see that Under Lock & Key No. 38 had an
article
on my civil case. The name of the case is
Stanley
Earl Corbett, Jr., et al v. G.J. Branker et al., case #
5:13-ct-03201-BO. I filed this case pro se back in 2010.
For two years I fought the case by myself, and it took me two years to
get the judge to appoint me a civil attorney (NCPLS). Upon them being
appointed to my case they asked me to let them use my case to add 7
other prisoners who’d been beaten in similar situations to what happened
to me. I told them to add them without any hesitation, then I signed a
consent form.
My point in speaking about this is because I could of said “f*** these
prisoners,” and went to trial, or settled out of court, but I didn’t.
Why? Because I represent the struggle, and I’m all for a major change in
a positive way. So to all these selfish “inmates” (not prisoners) that
are only concerned with themselves – We aren’t nothing alike! I do this
for real, and I’m still taking bumps and bruises because I’ve been
receiving numerous forms of retaliation from these pigs for pursuing my
rights. But I’ma ride or die for the cause/struggle. I truly appreciate
ya’ll exposing this injustice.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Another comrade involved in this case has
been keeping us abreast of the consistent progress of this lawsuit. And
while the outcome is a limited reform, this letter reinforces the
greater significance of this work. By working in the context of class
struggle we continue to build something bigger than ourselves as
individuals. We’re glad this comrade found ULK and has pledged
to become a contributor to our work. We’re also glad to hear that he
received Under Lock & Key No. 38, since every issue for
over three years has been put on the statewide ban list in North
Carolina. Perhaps comrades’ efforts on that front are paying off as
well. Despite the repression, comrades in North Carolina are working
together to stop abuse.
I’m writing in regards to an article that appeared in issue 37 of
ULK titled
[url=https://www.prisoncensorship.info/article/fighting-for-useful-legal-counsel-in-arizona/“Fighting
for Useful Legal Counsel in Arizona.” The author of this article
outlined their legal strategy to help prisoners receive legal counsel in
the very early stages of their cases. The writer stated that he had
filed a Writ of Certiorari asking the court to resolve the
issue of the constitutional question left open in Martinez V. Ryan,
623 F.3d 731, 132S.CT1309(1023) of
“whether a defendant in a state criminal case has a Federal
Constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel at initial
review collateral proceedings specifically with respect to his
ineffective assistance of trial counsel claim.”
The case that the writer cited in his article was from the district
court, but this particular case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court
(Martinez v. Ryan 132 S. Ct 1309), and was decided favorably.
There are two other cases that I know of that deal with this same issue
after Martinez, both of which were decided favorably. One was
decided by the U.S. Supreme Court and the other by the 8th Circuit. Both
cases expand upon the ruling in Martinez and may be useful to
the Arizona comrade or anyone going through the motions of trying to get
their case back in court on an ineffective assistance claim. The cases
are Trevino v. Thaler 133 S.Ct.1911 and Sasser v. Hobbs
Nos. 02-3103, 11-3346.
MIM(Prisons) adds: The state sets the rules and then doesn’t
allow those accused of breaking the rules to effectively defend
themselves within the injustice system. This is all part of the system
of national oppression in this country; it’s no coincidence that
effective legal counsel is denied to those accused of breaking
Amerikkka’s laws.
We appreciate this comrade sharing h legal knowledge with others via the
pages of ULK, and a lot of times this is the only way prisoners
expand their legal arsenal. The author of the original article in
ULK 37 said it took h eleven years to exhaust the
remedies within Arizona state courts. Undoubtedly much of this time was
spent translating legalese, and trying to figure out which motions to
file when and where, with much trial and error along the way. With the
assistance of a competent lawyer these speedbumps would be easily
leveled.
While we know eventually we need to take up arms to liberate ourselves
from national oppression in this country, at this stage in our struggle
we are only advocating legally permitted campaigns. Like this comrade is
attempting to do, setting valuable legal precedent that makes space for
revolutionary organizing and defense of the humynity of the most
oppressed Amerikan prisoners would be one step in the direction to
overthrow the imperialist state. We can facilitate this work by sharing
information the most effective approaches with each other.
Comrades who want to contribute to our collective legal knowledge should
work with the MIM(Prisons)-led Prisoners’ Legal Clinic (PLC). One of the
primary tasks of the PLC is to compile legal knowledge into help guides
which MIM(Prisons) then distributes to prison-based activists and
jailhouse lawyers. The PLC only focuses on battles that will push our
revolutionary struggle forward. Whether it be our efforts to put a
complete end to solitary confinement, or simply to have our grievances
not thrown in the trash upon receipt, the PLC is for jailhouse lawyers
with a strong left lean! Write to MIM(Prisons) for more information.
Although the law says we can aid others (illiterate or unskilled) on
appeals and legal work, we can no longer legally pass papers “cell to
cell,” so now we can only help others verbally. (Thanks to Assistant
Warden Robertson).
In addition, the 2011 CDCR rules limit all grievance appeals to one
single issue appeal per 14 days. If we “Abuse” this abuse of our 1st
amendment right to file grievances on the government, it is cut to one
per 30 days. When I got here (in 1983) it was 2 appeals per week
(104/year). Then cut to 1 per week (52/year), then 1/2 per week and 1/30
days if you exercise your 1st amendment rights. I’m on my second year of
the limit to 1 per 30 days because of my work exercising my legal
rights.
I’m fighting this under 42 USC 1983. “Judge” Rogers keeps stalling but I
got her sleazy and false dismissal reversed.
UPDATE February 2016: This case has entered court as Clark v.
Jeffrey Beard CV-11-03520. The comrade fighting this has reported that
Judge Rogers has thrown out all testimony from M.L. Davis (Appeal boss
of San Quentin) on 4 perjuries and 1 faked document, Davis has since
retired to keep his pension rather than be fired.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This limit on grievance appeals is a blatant
example of the Amerikan criminal injustice system restricting prisoner’s
legal rights. Grievances are one of the only opportunities for prisoners
to fight abuse and illegal policies and restrictions. Often these
grievances are ignored or “lost”. Because of these practices, and
restrictions like the ones described here, United Struggle from Within
initiated the grievance campaign,
first in
California and now in ten states across the country, with petitions
for these states that prisoner’s can use to demand our grievances be
addressed. Write to us for a copy of the petition for your state, or to
help create one if you do not live in a state where this has already
been done.
On 27 March 2014, a Federal judge in the United States District Court
issued an order requiring prison staff to record any use of force,
should force be required on a prisoner.
Some other prisoners and I filed a lawsuit because the pigs at Central
Prison in Raleigh used blind spots in the current video system to hide
from surveillance so they could beat prisoners. We also informed the
courts of the “lack of policy for proper method of investigation in any
use-of-force incidents.”
As a result, Judge Terrance Boyle appointed an expert (former
corrections administrator Eldon Vail) to review the prison’s
surveillance system. Based on several problems he found, he made five
recommendations.
North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NCDPS) prisons adopted four
of the recommendations but said using a hand-held video camera is not
feasible and placed “undue burden upon Central Prison.” However, on
Thursday, 27 March 2014 Judge Boyle ordered the fifth recommendation be
adopted. His order stated “…defendants are placed on notice that if
there is not voluntary compliance and implementation of the
recommendation, a preliminary injunction will ensue.”
The pigs deny any abuse, saying they used minimal amounts of force
required to deal with prisoners characterized as the “worst of the
worst” among the prison system’s population.
Still the state agreed last year to install more security cameras to
cover previously unmonitored areas. But Vail’s report said the new
cameras still don’t monitor all the blind spots where prisoners say the
abuse occurs. Vail also reported finding lenses so out-of-focus and
smudged with grime that it was difficult to make out what the camera was
recording.
The recommendations made by Vail that must be followed are:
Adjust each camera that demonstrates a pattern of “freezing” to improve
motion detection sensitivity.
Establish a written preventive maintenance schedule for lens cleaning,
camera refocusing and replacement of faulty cameras.
Install additional cameras to view the sally ports of each cell block in
Unit 1.
Modify the video surveillance retention policy and procedure to clarify
the responsibility to provide notice to the video retention officer to
preserve a video by the unit supervisor from the investigator’s
responsibility to request a copy of the video for the investigation.
Change the use of force policy, SOP 4.100, to require that a handheld
video camera operator respond to the scene of spontaneous use-of-force
incidents and that a camera remain on until the event is over and
[prisoner] has been safely placed in a cell.
This fifth recommendation means that during an anticipated use-of-force
(any use-of-force) a hand-held camera will be used until a prisoner is
no longer in contact with the pigs.
We are now getting ready for a pretrial conference. But we are one step
closer to getting justice. We have at least made the prison safer. Now
the pigs will not have anywhere to hide.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This update to the
ongoing
legal battle in North Carolina is good news for this carefully
planned and hard fought legal battle. We know that often we cannot win
when fighting abuse by employees of the criminal injustice system in
their own courts. But sometimes the courts have to pretend objectivity
and, when presented with facts that show the NCDPS is violating their
own laws and policies, we can win some improvements to conditions. While
the courts won’t be where we make revolutionary change, for now we can
use them as one tool to struggle against abuse. We must always accompany
these court battles with publicity and education about the case, using
them to expose both the brutality we are fighting and the injustice when
the courts rule against us.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) picked up my pending case
challenging inadequate medical services and unconstitutional conditions
of confinement in 2011. We’re expecting a trial date in 2015. We are
attempting to force Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) to change
its policy and practice of housing the mentally ill in isolation for
extended periods of time. State prison is extremely poor, prisons are
understaffed and riddled with security flaws. I am an adamant critic and
am vocal about its policies and practices, therefore the administration
has made my life here in prison severely difficult.
I am also working on my criminal convictions. I’ve navigated myself
through multiple tiers of appeals. I really had a hard time exhausting
all my state remedies in the Arizona State Courts. It took me almost
eleven years to figure out, but most recently I filed my first federal
habeas corpus petition in Arizona Federal District Court. I am
requesting that the federal court appoint me a lawyer to investigate the
possibility of state judicial corruption against the Tucson Police
Department and the Pima County Attorneys Office. Last week I filed a
Writ of Certiorari. This is a petition to the United States’s
highest court; they only address issues involving “Constitutional
magnitude.” I’m asking them to resolve the Constitutional question that
was left open in Martinez V. Ryan, 623 F.3d 731,
132S.CT1309(1023) of:
“Whether a defendant in a state criminal case has a federal
Constitutional Right to effective Assistance of Counsel at
initial-review-collateral-proceedings specifically with respect to his
ineffective-assistance-of-trial-counsel-claim.”
Because state law does not mandate Effective Assistance of Counsel
during a convicted criminal’s Initial-Review Collateral Proceedings
(Ariz. R. Crim. P. Rule 32), I’m able to believe that prisoners
in Arizona are being discriminated against because they’re indigent and
cannot afford effective counsel during their Initial-Review Collateral
Proceedings. The United States Supreme Court only takes 3% of the cases
filed each term, so the odds of them taking my case is nil, but imagine
if they did. WOW, this would mean that a pro se litigant would
have molded the law to conform to the needs of the oppressed here at the
very bottom of society’s heap. A person is only as big as his dreams.
Fortunately, it does not end there. A Section 1983 Civil Rights Action
prohibits a state from discriminating pursuant to the Fourteenth
Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provides that:
“No state shall… deprive any person of life, liberty, or property
without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the Law.”
The clause is “a direction that all persons similarly situated should be
treated alike.”(City of Cleburne V. Cleburne Living ctr, 4730 U.S.
432,439 (1985))
I am determined to build a strong campaign to gain Injunctive Relief in
a class action seeking to remedy the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment
violations caused by Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 32’s past
and continuing operations. Our actions, even if successful, will not
demonstrate the invalidity of our conviction or sentence, therefore
Section 1983 Class Action is the proper vehicle.(Wilkinson v.
Dotson, 544 U.S. 74,82 (2005).)
If you feel you were denied Effective Assistance of trial council, and a
Fourteenth Amendment right to effective assistance of Appeals Counsel
for your Initial-Review Collateral Proceedings because either you did
not have an attorney during your first Rule 32, or your Arizona R. Crim.
P Rule 32 Lawyer was ineffective for failing to investigate Trial
Counsel claims and/or other substantial right claims during trial, it
would be important to draft out a notarized affidavit outlining the
facts in your specific case and send them to the addresses below. If
we’re able to gain enough affidavits, then we could proceed to present
these facts to a federal district court asking them to appoint class
counsel and certify our case as a class action. All we can do is try! In
Strength and Solidarity, Revolution!
Send your notarized affidavits to:
Arizona Prison Watch P.O. Box 20494 PHX, AZ 85036
Middle Ground Prison Reform 139 E Encanto Drive Tempe, AZ 85281
Arizona Justice Project P.O. Box 875920 Tempe, AZ 85287-5930
MIM(Prisons) adds: Please note to not send your affidavits to
MIM(Prisons). We do not have the resources to copy and mail your
affidavits to the addresses listed above.
We commend this comrade on discovering loopholes in the legal system and
attempting to remedy them to the advantage of the most oppressed in this
country. We encourage comrades in Arizona to participate in this effort
to provide more legal support to prisoners in the state (at least on
paper).
And we must remember that our struggle cannot stop there. While a
successful habeas corpus case may help a prisoner to be
released, a release is only as valuable as what you do with your time
when you’ve made it outside. A recently released comrade
wrote
of the challenges s/he will face after h parole, and the difficultes
s/he will have in carrying out political work, even though s/he is
supposedly now “free.” The trend toward individualism of general legal
counsel is one reason why the MIM(Prisons)-led Prisoners’ Legal Clinic
only works on issues directly related to expanding our ability to
organize, educate, and build toward an end to illegitimate imprisonment
altogether (i.e. communist society). We believe people should fight for
their release, but that they also should struggle for the release of the
world’s majority from the chains of imperialism.
Related to the topic of carefully selecting our battles, we have written
extensively on the limitations of focusing on fighting housing mentally
ill prisoners in long-term isolation.(1) Some shortcomings of this
strategy are legitimization of long-term isolation for
not-yet-mentally-ill prisoners, and the fact that long-term isolation
leads to mental illness in prisoners even if they entered isolation with
sound mind and body. Of course we agree with the principle that mentally
ill prisoners should not be housed in long-term isolation. But we take
it further to say that no prisoners should be housed in
long-term isolation, and we see no value in selling out some comrades on
this issue in order to save others; eventually everyone held in
long-term isolation will suffer mental illness. Abolish the SHU!