MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
I write this to inform you that the COINTELPRO is still alive and active
today under another name, and is used to continue their tactics of
divide and conquer. If you are a Black Panther or have a tattoo of a
panther, or if you are interested in the history of our beloved fallen
comrades, you are now considered a security threat group (STG) [in
Texas]. So now they are targeting the majority of Black prisoners as
“gang members.” After 14 years on the same unit under many different
officers, now all of a sudden I’m labeled as an STG. This is based on
books one reads and notation that one might write for a broader
understanding. In other words our freedom of expression of political
beliefs is now viewed as inflammatory and a security threat.
We rely on information directly from prisoners and returned mail to
track our censorship. For the 2011 reporting year, only 72% of all mail
was not reported as censored or received. This is a big improvement from
last year’s 83% unreported mail status. We see two causes for this
change. One is that we stopped giving everyone who wrote to us automatic
6 month subscriptions, and instead required confirmation of receipt (or
censorship) of a sample issue of Under Lock & Key first.
This not only reduced the amount of mail we sent in by 30% from last
year, but pushed those who wanted Under Lock & Key to
confirm receipt of the sample issue, doubling the amount of people
reporting receiving ULK.
Another contributing factor to the high reporting rate is the
institution of Unconfirmed Mail Forms, which is a short form we send out
to encourage individuals to report the mail they’ve received. We
primarily send these forms to people we suspect are experiencing
censorship of our materials. Even if you don’t receive one of these
forms, you should still tell us everything you have gotten from us since
the last time you wrote. Since we ask about the entire history of mail
we’ve sent in, not just in this reporting year, the institution of the
Unconfirmed Mail Forms (UMFs) has improved our stats on past years as
well. In the last year we’ve improved the amount of mail unreported for
the July 2010 Report from 83% to 78%. We plan to continue using UMFs to
better assist in tracking our censorship.
Like we reported in
MIM(Prisons)
2011 Congress Summary and Resolutions, in the past six months we
have been focusing our resources on building cases and recruiting
lawyers rather than writing letters to administrators. Most of the
victories in the fight against censorship come from prisoners filing
appeals and defending Under Lock & Key in hearings.
MIM(Prisons) plays a supporting role in ensuring that the administrators
know that someone on the outside is paying attention and publicizing
their illegal actions. So while it is not of vital importance that we
write these letters, it has still helped overturn censorship in enough
cases that we find it worthwhile to pick up this task again.
Victories
A major victory was won against Dona Ana County Detention Center in Las
Cruces, New Mexico this year. A prisoner won a partial settlement for
censorship issues. The settlement names MIM Distributors and Under
Lock & Key and is in favor of prisoners’ rights to receive
“copied” material. If you are experiencing censorship for copies, write
in for this information.
Red Onion State Prison in Virginia has been notorious for censoring
Under Lock & Key to the point where we haven’t heard of our
newsletter getting in since issue 5 (November 2008). The Final
Call and Prison Legal News both won settlements in favor
of getting their newsletters into Red Onion in recent months. Since the
treatment of The Final Call and PLN was similar to the
treatment of ULK, we are hoping that those settlements will
impact how ULK is received at Red Onion. This is yet to be
determined.
Changes
A reasonable expectation for our anti-censorship work is that when we
win a victory in a state, we should either continue to have victories
there or no longer experience censorship. Of course this expectation
wouldn’t apply if the conditions within the state change and become more
repressive. In the cases of New York, Illinois and Colorado there have
been victories in the past but only censorship without victories in this
reporting year. In Illinois and Colorado, some victories have been
connected to outside pressure put on by MIM(Prisons). This leads to the
logical conclusion that victories would be more likely if we continued
to apply this pressure.
In New York there doesn’t seem to have been a connection between outside
pressure and victories. Those reversals in censorship came strictly from
the hard work of New York prisoners fighting for their own rights. We
are unsure if the current lack of victories is due to a change in
conditions in the NYDOCS or a lack of prisoners fighting censorship.
There is a
hunger
strike happening in Pelican Bay State Prison in California that is
well under way. In June 2011 we heard word that our mail
had
recently started getting in just prior to the start of the strike
after experiencing major censorship there for years. In the last year
44% of the mail we’ve sent into Pelican Bay has been confirmed as
received (13% confirmed as censored), compared to the previous reporting
year’s 25% received (57% censored). Hopefully the hunger strike will be
successful in granting people held in PBSP their five core demands,
including an end to mail tampering.
Future Struggles
While we try to win as many victories as possible through writing
letters, if a facility or state won’t follow the law, then it eventually
becomes necessary to take them to court. Due to our limited resources
and time, we encourage the prisoners affected by the censorship to fight
the issue as far as they can. In Arizona we came to one of these brick
walls related to the censorship of a study group assignment for
“promot[ing] racism and/or religious oppression” without containing any
words that refer to race or religion. We reported on this issue in
Under
Lock & Key 18 and are still struggling to find a lawyer that
will take on this important case.
And yes, mailroom staff in California are still clinging to the 2006
memo banning MIM Distributors, which was nullified in a settlement
between Prison Legal News and CDCR way back in 2008. Can you
believe it? The California institutions that are still favoring this
method of censorship are Deuel Vocational Institution and Pelican Bay
State Prison.
In Salinas Valley State Prison in California, rather than citing the
overturned memo, the Warden creatively assures us that the staff was new
at the time and have now been retrained, or claim to simply not see mail
from MIM Distributors arriving there. This is completely bogus
considering we consistently send in ULKs every time there is a
new issue, in addition to persynalized letters and other literature.
When we called the Warden out on the fact that there was no change after
the “new staff” was “retrained,” he simply baselessly told us there is
no censorship and “no evidence the mailroom staff are negligent in their
duties or MIM Distributors mail was illegally tampered with as you
claim.” No shit, there’s no evidence if you just throw the mail in the
trash! While some mail gets into SVSP sometimes, they are still
highlighted on our list of brick walls we are determined to break.
In Nebraska the ACLU has picked up on censorship of our materials and
has been doing research, writing letters, and may eventually file a suit
on behalf of MIM Distributors and the prisoners facing censorship. They
have reviewed most if not all issues of Under Lock & Key
and have determined that “the prison is violating both [MIM(Prisons)’s]
First Amendment rights and the rights of the prisoners.” We are excited
to be working with the ACLU to hopefully set a precedent in Nebraska
that protects people held there against censorship. We encourage any
lawyers on the outside to follow their example and get with MIM(Prisons)
to fight censorship in prisons!
[Editor’s note: We want to remind our readers that USW is open to
anti-imperialist prisoners of all nationalities, just as the strike is
being led by prisoners of all nationalities. MIM(Prisons) agrees with
the line put forth here, because it is by building movements for
national liberation from imperialism that we can best conquer the
oppressive system we currently live in. And any genuine national
liberation movement supports the liberation of all people. We want to be
clear about this because there have been reports of the CDCR attempting
to fuel divisions among the prisoners on strike along long-standing
organizational and national divisions as they always do.]
A people’s salute goes out to all who find themselves under lock and key
in Amerika! I wanted to write and send a brief update on the conditions
here in Pelican Bay coming from one of the participants of the hunger
strike (HS) that began two weeks ago, on July 1 of 2011. I figured the
historic precedent that the HS has accomplished thus far is worth noting
as the cause of the non-violent protest is one in which many people find
themselves in across Amerika. The material conditions that have forced
prisoners to deny themselves nutrients and sustenance are not
exclusively bound to Pelican Bay, California. Whenever imperialist
lackeys run a country they will also be expected to round up the most
rebellious and potentially revolutionary populations and bury these
people alive as these are the ones who pose the highest threat to the
ruling class.
The fact that the protest is in regard to torture chambers known as the
Security Housing Unit (SHU) in California, a state that has more prisons
than any other state in a country that has more prisoners than any other
country, should be examined more closely for what it means to oppressed
nation prisoners in general but to people of Aztlán in particular. The
fact that the state of California, which is geographically in Aztlán,
has initiated what amounts to a war on the people of Aztlán by setting
up more koncentration kamps (prisons) in Aztlán than anywhere else in
Amerika, along with incarcerating more Latinos in California than any
other oppressed nations, and the fact that Latinos are now the largest
population of captives held in Federal prisons, and the fact that most
of the prisoners held in California SHUs are Latinos, all show that
oppressed nation are under attack via the injustice system, and that
prisoners from the Aztlán Nation are particularly targeted in Aztlán.
California is also the state with the largest Latino population in
Amerika.(1) Thus the scope of what is taking place should be seen for
what it is - the assault on Aztlán is real and should be met as such.
What is occurring here at Pelican Bay is an attempt to break the will
and desire to resist state repression plain and simple. The SHU was
opened in 1989 and this facility was designed to isolate and deprive
people of the most basic “human rights.” Things like human contact, a
cell mate, the ability to eat salt in one’s food, the ability to
correspond with friends and family via the mail, the ability to have
natural sunlight or even to be able to read political literature have
all been stripped from prisoners in the SHU. Brutality here has been
documented for decades. Beatings and physical torture have even been
brought to the courts to no avail. Recently the U.$. Supreme Court has
ruled that California prisons constitute “cruel and unusual punishment.”
They are telling the state of California to clean up its act.
Medical services are even used as barter. One prisoner was told if he
wanted medical treatment then he should “debrief” (snitch on another
prisoner). This is the depraved culture that has thrived here in SHU.
This is a world where prisoners who are most often poor Brown and Black
people are subject to a whole plethora of experimental depravity which
in some cases would probably have Mengele raise an eyebrow.
It is well known that solitary confinement causes very real
psychological damage even if used for a few weeks, yet here in SHU
prisoners have endured solitary for years and even decades in some
cases. Human rights groups have condemned solitary confinement, yet the
SHU continues this brutal practice. Once here in SHU the only way back
to general population is to snitch on others (even if it is false
accusations), die, or parole. Keep in mind the vast majority sent to SHU
have not committed any crime or physical acts but are labeled a “gang
member or associate” and thus locked in this control unit for one’s
supposed gang affiliation, i.e. one’s beliefs. They are locking one in a
solitary confinement cell, sometimes for life, for what amounts to
thought crimes!
Placement in the “hole” or SHU is frequently due to political
affiliation of prisoners who are members or may associate with
revolutionary groups or lumpen organizations that the state labels as
“gangs.” In their play on words, any attempt at oppressed nations to
organize in a way that is not state sanctioned, is a gang. Similarly,
they call uprisings “riots” in a derogatory way, to hide the real causes
behind them. But many times people aren’t even members of any
organization and are falsely accused by others who are trying to get
themselves out of SHU. In either case, prisoners held in SHU conditions
overwhelmingly qualify as political prisoners.
The world would gasp should they find out the thought police are
goosestepping in lock step here in Pelican Bay, jack boots and all. The
Gestapo in Nazi Germany rounded up communists and others and placed them
in kamps and jails under “preventative custody.” And now the
imperialists’ first line of defense keeps oppressed nations in neo-kamps
(SHUs) under “validation custody.” This is what the lumpen face in the
United $tates; this is our apple pie in the home of the incarcerated,
land of the oppressed.
Yet, prisoners have always defied the lash, because as
Mao
said, where you find much repression you’ll find much resistance.
This is the dialectical materialism that manifests itself and blossoms,
even within cinderblock gardens, in the form of our united resistance.
The first of the five demands issued for the hunger strike here at
Pelican Bay is to end group punishment. This happens frequently where
one prisoner breaks a rule and that whole group or ethnicity will be
locked down or penalized in some way. We are talking about one person
doing something against prison rules and two or three hundred people are
then locked down for months over it. This is common practice and is
meant to pit prisoners against prisoners.
The second demand is to abolish debriefing and modify active/inactive
gang status criteria. Debriefing is used to force people held in SHU to
give up names and activities of others in order to leave SHU - even if
the information provided is false. The accused cannot even present a
good defense as the informants are not identified and often times the
accusations themselves are considered “confidential.” Active/inactive
status is when after six years if one has no new activity one may be
given “inactive” gang status and released to the general population. But
this is rare since anything qualifies as “activity.” For example,
participating in this hunger strike will be considered new gang
activity.
The third demand is that the CDCR complies with recommendations from a
2006 U.S. Commission which called for an end to isolation. The fourth
demand is to provide adequate food. The food here would make a racoon’s
stomach turn. Often we don’t know what it is we are eating and we get no
salt, so all food is bland. For punishment often times we get boiled
beans with no salt, and this has gone on for years. The fifth demand is
to expand and provide constructive programs and privileges for
indefinite SHU prisoners. This means those of us who must stay in SHU
will be able to have educational courses, art supplies, and the ability
to make a phone call, which some have not done for 30 or more years.
These points are basic things that should be given, especially to people
who have not broken any rules to be placed in SHU in the first place!
What is happening here in Pelican Bay SHU amounts to crimes against
humanity. To have people in solitary confinement in some cases for
decades is incredible, and it’s incredible that this has gone on so long
and that for the most part the public has been silent over this. Well,
today the light is shining on these torture chambers and Pelican Bay
prisoners will no longer be silent while taking the lash.
I was recently given the privilege of reading your newsletter
Under Lock and Key
number 20. I was very impressed with the variety of topics and
issues discussed at length in your newsletter. Some of the issues
addressed hit home with me, particularly because I have and am
experiencing the exact same, or incidences that juxtapose with the
issues in your newsletter. Specifically, the articles
False
Validation Campaign in California, and
Forced
into SNY for Political Organization.
My current status and situation, and what led to my current housing
status and prior events, correlates to both articles. I arrived at
Pleasant Valley State Prison (level III) in December 2009 from High
Desert State Prison (level IV), on a bi-annual favorable transfer. In
January 2010 I attended my initial classification committee (ICC) and
received my CDCR 128-G chrono. It indicated I am a member of the “Ansar
El Muhammad” (AEM) disruptive group.
When I arrived in December 2009, while being processed through
receiving/release (RR) I was called an extremist-terrorist by CDCR
(California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) staff and my
religious properties were confiscated. At the time I didn’t give this
event any value, except that I filed a CDCR 602 (complaint). But since
then multiple incidence of retaliation, harassment, false claims and the
confiscation and destruction of my religious property has occurred.
Furthermore housing assignment staff and building floor staff have been
putting active gang members in my cell, and as result I’ve been
assaulted, received multiple threats of violence from prisoners and
staff, labeled a snitch, received a rule violation report (CDCR 115) for
refusing to cell up with any more gang members, and currently I’m in
Administrative Segregation (pending SNY) transfer.
CDCR staff have falsified chronos in my central file (C-file) dating
back to 2006, and I didn’t discover this until 2010. It is my strong
belief that prison officials have manipulated and orchestrated prisoners
since 2006 to cause me physical harm, as I was stabbed and assaulted in
2006.
In 2009 I settled out of court for a §1983 civil complaint I filed in
2007 for the stabbing of 2006. But I strongly believe that somewhere in
my central file prison officials have kept a record that I received an
out-of-court settlement against prison officials (CDCR), which is what
is and has motivated prison officials (Green Wall) to use these tactics
of falsifying records and manipulating prisoners to continue to cause me
physical harm.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This false jacketing of prisoners and
setting up divisions and fights as retaliation against those who
exercise their legal rights to protest abuses in prison is a common
practice. This is a strong reason for our campaign to
build a
United Front for Peace in prisons. A key principle of this United
Front is unity among those facing the same struggle.
This letter is to inform you that the United Zulu Independence Movement
(UZI) was destroyed and disbanded due to the draconian COINTELPRO-type
efforts of the prison administration here in Missouri. For the past 6
months, which we are calling “6 Months of Terror!” the Missouri DOC have
been sending the gang task force into general populations statewide to
seize, harass, arrest, set up, transfer and jump on UZI members. Members
are being pointed out by prison snitches and placed on gang file. They
have also confiscated all of our literature, but cannot charge us with
organized disobedience because, as you know, we have not promoted any.
The administration’s view of UZI is so dark due to two major words
within our radical title (United & Independence). They fear the
unity of the lumpen, and
they see the independent
thinker as a serious threat.
I will keep in contact with the United Front for Peace in Prisons to let
you know of our progress to rebuild.
It Don’t Stop! Zulu
MIM(Prisons) responds: UZI had been an active participant in
pushing for a United Front for Peace in Prisons, working with
MIM(Prisons) for just over a year before their demise at the hands of
the state. We hear they were doing prom- ising truce work between
lumpen organizations in their region. As they allude to, they were very
careful about the language used in their literature so that it could not
be misconstrued to be something of a “crim- inal” nature or promoting
forbidden behavior within the Missouri DOC. Despite all this, the DOC
still saw it appropriate to brutally crush this peace movement,
demonizing any attempt by oppressed nations to organize. We expect that
more New Afrikan blood will be shed in Missouri as a direct result of
this ob- struction of peace, and this blood will be on the hands of the
COINTELPRO-type forces.
[MIM(Prisons) has long defended a line that combats the divisions that
the California Department of “Corrections” has tried to institutionalize
by separating large numbers of people from the General Population (GP)
into Sensitive Needs Yards (SNY). In a
previous
letter this comrade joined us in calling for SNY and GP alike to
contribute to the struggle, while not hiding h lack of regard for SNY
prisoners. Today h story serves to demonstrate why allowing the pigs to
tell us who is our friend and who is our enemy is a backwards way of
discovering the truth.]
I’m in the hole (Administrative Segregation Unit) once again, the
material you sent found me when I needed it the most. This time around
I’m found under an ISU/IGI investigation which will most likely result
in me being sent to the other side (SNY). Surprising? Not really, I saw
it coming since the day I committed myself to the United Struggle from
Within (USW), in the form of either validation as a guerrilla
revolutionary or the assassination of my character behind these walls
through the SNY program that leaves a lot of brothers and sisters
credibility out and in the cold away from the warmth of prisoner
society’s acceptance.
It’s crazy how it happened all so fast. I blinked and at the drop of a
dime my whole life turned upside down. It started October 16, officially
with an unjustified unclothed cavity/cell search that I refused to
submit to because the officer first claimed that they were hitting my
cell randomly, then later said because me and my cellmate were
exhibiting suspicious behavior when I was on the toilet taking a shit
and my cellmate was on the assigned bunk asleep. I understood the nature
of the situation that the corruption officers were creating. Someone
dropped a dime on me, so I looked to get a paper trail.
By searching my cell they were committing a constitutional violation
against search-and-seizure safeguards granted to prisoners such as
notification of cell searching party (corruption officers involved),
confiscation of personal property, and the right to appeal without
retaliatory actions being taken against one. I made the choice to get
the incident documented to bring to the attention of the administration
here at Killer Kern, and I paid for it in the worst way possible. But
still I stand revolutionary minded putting USW theory into practice
outside of the study group’s environment. Refusing to let the dragon
win, I fight them with my pen and continue to force them to show their
brutality on paper and physically.
After refusing to submit to their commands I was placed in wrist
restraints and escorted to the facility program office cage where I
spent the next few hours resisting the Sergeant and Lieutenant’s request
for me to submit to an unclothed body search. At this time the
corruptions officers searching party (the Kern Valley A yard jump out
boys) were back at the cell, searching, confiscating, and disposing of
my property and attempting to pay me back for my resistance. They came
across a kite [prison letter] that I had hidden inside a medicine bottle
waiting to be delivered to it’s destination. I will say that I slipped
up! Cause I did.
The kite was in regards to a business arrangement that I had going on
and gave details about involved individuals who were to participate. The
kite was supposed to be delivered that same morning, but due to the
unexpected visitors it wasn’t and I thus forgot about it in the
commotion of three COs at my door with their cans out ready to spray me
while on the toilet for nothing.
I knew what was up, but didn’t act quick enough and therefore allowed
intel into the hands of law enforcement. And they had a ball with it
immediately reading the kite loud enough for my neighbors, who were
members of my LO, hoping to create the confusion that they did.
I spent three days in a small holding cell, cold, cuffed and shackled,
taped in a dirty jumpsuit, with no linen, and a mattress that I was
allowed only to lay on from 10 p.m. - 6 a.m. with no covering on it.
Sleep-deprived with lights on all night attempting to sleep with
restraints, I was deprived medical care, and denied high blood pressure
medication. I was smelling like shit without a shower, and forced to eat
cold meals without any eating utensils or a cup to drink from. I felt
the firsthand experience of torture at the hands of the department of
correction (corruption) until I had three bowel movements to prove that
I didn’t have anything concealed in my ass.
Once my bowel movements showed negative results for contraband (not an
explosive device or a gun, or a knife, but simple contraband) they
released me back to the yard, and to the cell I went.
Not even three hours after my arrival I received a kite about the matter
of the disclosure of intel in the confiscated kite. It wasn’t “Cuz how
you holding up? Can we assist you any way?” or none of that. But with
everything falling the way it did, I understand. Because a week prior to
the incident, individuals of various groups were getting popped with
phones. And all were cats who were making the dead presidents, but
removed from the front lines. There was a leak and Investigative
Services Unit (ISU) was getting more fat than a fat guy in an all you
could eat buffet.
I was brought up on charges of being that leak. And if the shoe was on
another person’s foot, I would’ve really pushed for an old school
lynching. Treason is a no no, but here it is in the accused, getting
kites now from OGs on the bricks, and weeks later I find myself up
against the wall with those who I’ve actually shed blood for, explaining
that I ain’t no fucking rat and did not intentionally drop intel into
the hands of law enforcement. Time drew on with me and those that be,
doing just as the pigs planned us to, as we were on lockdown due to a
war with the Blacks and the “southern Mexicans,” over a drug debt, a
phone, and miscommunication that caused an eight-on-twelve melee between
Blacks and Browns, and one Black to be stabbed eleven times.
The option came around to me after the verdict came in that I was guilty
of loose lips. I could either clean up some green (guards), get cleaned
up, or handle the individual who would clean me up. For those who can’t
read between the lines clean up in this situation means to stab
something up good enough that the message (whatever it may be) be sent
clearly.
Now it may seem like nothing, but I’m not new to this shit, I’m true to
it. I ain’t no crash dummy, I’ve got a close release date, and a lot of
life to live. I ain’t stabbin’ no pig without no chance of getting away,
and I damn sho’ ain’t about to be a pin cushion. So I got the hell out
of dodge, and didn’t blink doing it. I’m an SNY, I recognize that some
will understand, but most won’t and I am no longer who they seen me as.
But my time was limited as any real active revolutionary is on the line
abroad the people who are and love the same exact thing that they claim
to hate. Straight up!
Politicizing amongst the LOs is a difficult task when the same ones you
advocate for are advocating against your existence for individualist
purposes. I bump heads with the big dawgz about policy even when certain
radz advised against it because of my youth and their popularity, and I
got exactly what they said it would get me. An early death in the prison
game.
I sit in ASU now on my third month for investigation into my security
concerns that I raised truthfully on a 602 appeal form. The ISU/IGI
agents attempt to sell protection like they are some type of “Green
Wall” protection agency. I’m told the more you cooperate and inform us
into the details of drugs, cellphones, crooked cops, and criminal
activity, the more we can help you. Since when does the lion help the
lamb?
I attempted radio silence with MIM(Prisons) until I could get my §1983
lawsuit put in, because my mail is being highly monitored, censored,
withheld and returned.
But it seems that faith will have us together married until death do us
part. So I’m back like Jesus from the dead, not really back at all,
reborn into the characteristic of a USW on the other side of the fence.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This letter is one more example of our
point that not everyone on
SNY
yards is a snitch or rat as the pigs would like us to think. A
bourgeois approach to security allows the bourgeoisie to win out. By
bourgeois, we mean an individualist, rather than a group approach. We
oppose studying “persynalities” instead of politics. And we oppose
thinking that violence against individuals builds a strong movement.
There are plenty of enemies on mainline and there are friends to be
found in SNY. How we associate and how we build allows us to determine
which are which, not rumors or labels given out by the enemy.
Today the Federal Bureau of Prisons Director, Harley Lappin, did a phony
inspection of the Special Management Unit (SMU). He walked into the
unit, posed for photographs for the upcoming propaganda campaign, then
made a beeline for C-range (disciplinary glassed housing). Mr. Lappin
stopped at my cell door, looked at the door tag bearing my name and
stated, “you started it, but I’m going to finish it!” Several
individuals, including Warden Rathman, accompanied Mr. Lappin and
witnessed his threat.
I accept Mr. Lappin’s threat as retaliation for filing a civil action
(D.D.C. 10-1292) due to the continued torture of prisoners in these SMUs
(psychological warfare via prolonged isolation) which was declared
illegal back in 1970, Ex Parte Medley, 134 US 168. I will defend myself
at all cost!
The SMU has a history of viciously attacking prisoners with use of force
teams to torture them into compliance with their psychological torture
regiment. Attempting to cope, some are forced to take psychotropics. It
is evident Mr. Lappin views himself as above the statutory law, but he
is not above the people’s law!
As suspected, our appeal to the corrupted grievance system was denied.
It has been decided that we continue our punishment here in
Administrative Segregation (Ad-Seg), all because we 16 Brothers were
observing
Black August.
These pigs can stop a revolutionary but they will never stop a
revolution, by the words of Brother Fred Hampton. Black August is a
peoples’ holiday, so why should I be punished for it? It’s a proven fact
that this administration used my observation to place and keep me in
Ad-Seg.
Mail the petition to your loved ones and comrades inside who are
experiencing issues with the grievance procedure or censorship of music
and literature. Send them extra copies to share! For more info on this
campaign, click
here.
Prisoners should send a copy of the signed petition to each of the
addresses below. Supporters should send letters on behalf of prisoners.
Tom Clements, Director of Adult Institutions P.O. Box
236 Jefferson City, MO 65101
Chris Pickering, Inspector General (MO DOC) P.O. Box 236
Jefferson City, MO 65101
U.S. Department of Justice PhB 950 Pennsylvania Ave,
N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530
Marianne Atwell, Director of Offender Rehabilitative Services
(Missouri) P.O. Box 236 Jerrerson City, MO 65101
And send MIM(Prisons) copies of any responses you receive!
MIM(Prisons), USW PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140
For our own sanity, and for freedom, we must recognize that there are no
rights, only power struggles. As the articles in this issue of ULK
demonstrate, so-called “rights” on a piece of paper are only a point of
reference for debate. Their enforcement will depend on the actions of
the different forces, groups, classes involved.
We hope that after reading this issue you are inspired to know that we
are all struggling against the same oppressor in very similar ways. Some
may use these stories to justify not rocking the boat, but they would be
wrong. These are stories of people who are merely trying to educate
themselves, or obtain basic respect, and they are attacked. These
stories were hand-picked to demonstrate the political motivations of
state employees, and to disprove the theory that repression is only used
when necessary to prevent crime and control “trouble makers.”
While we haven’t received any reports directly from the comrades
involved, a couple of organized collective struggles have created
headlines over the last month in U.$. prisons. The Georgia strike was an
historical event that involved thousands of prisoners from four
different facilities who were responding to the lack of pay for labor,
visiting rights and other abuses. One participant reported:
“On December 9, Georgia state prisoners stuck together and learned what
their togetherness could do. They learned that they could get more
accomplished being unified than they ever could being separated. For
this day, Black, White, Brown, Red and Yellow came together. This day
saw the coming together of Muslim and Christian, Protestant and
Catholic, Crip and Blood, Gangster Disciple and Vice Lord, Nationalist
and Socialist. All came together. All were together. The only
antagonistic forces were the Oppressors and the Oppressed.”(1)
These peaceful protesters faced lockdown, followed by brutal
beatings for many, and dozens remain disappeared to unknown
locations.(2) It is struggles like this during the 1960s that led to the
rise of the
Black
Panther Party within the Black nation, and other revolutionary
organizations. Prisoners are well organized internally, and working with
many on the outside, so they are clear that this battle is not over.
Meanwhile, in the Ohio State Penitentiary Supermax, four comrades
protested years of torture by engaging in a hunger strike. These
comrades continue to be persecuted for their participation in the famous
Lucasville uprising in 1993. As we go to print, we’ve heard reports that
after a two week strike, their demands for semi-contact visits, real
rec, access to legal materials, and commissary were granted. In a
statement from one of the participants, the message of this issue of
Under Lock & Key is echoed:
“If justice as a concept is real, then I could with some justification
say, ‘Justice delayed is justice denied.’ But this has never been about
justice, and I finally, finally, finally understand that. For the past
16 years, I (we) have been nothing more than a scapegoat for the state,
and convenient excuse that they can point to whenever they need to raise
the specter of fear among the public or justify the expenditure of
inordinate amounts of money for more locks and chains.
“And not only that, but the main reason behind the double penalty that
we have been undergoing is so that we can serve as an example of what
happens to those who challenge the power and authority of the state. And
like good little pawns, we’re supposed to sit here and wait until they
take us to their death chamber, strap us down to a gurney, and pump
poison through our veins. Fuck that! I refuse to go out like that:
used as a tool by the state to put fear into the hearts of others while
legitimizing a system that is bogus and sold to those with money. That’s
not my destiny.”(3)
Finally, over 150 prisoners , imprisoned for alleged involvement in
the Maoist movement, from a number of prisons in India went on hunger
strike this week in response to the killing of unarmed villagers.(4)
While the imperialists want to demonize the alleged violence of those
struggling for basic rights in U.$. prisons, they engage in mass murder
across the Third World to ensure the flow of profits to this country.
Today, many oppressed nation men in the United $tates find themselves in
situations where even possessing books or affiliating with each other is
against the law. This isn’t just in prisons, but in oppressed nation
communities on the outside as our comrade in Texas
describes
(see page XXX). As another example, within the struggle for justice for
Oscar Grant, gang injunctions were used against young Blacks to declare
it illegal to affiliate in any way with the Black Riders Liberation
Party. Faced with such obstacles, we continue to learn what struggle is,
and what is really necessary to obtain the conditions that all humyn
beings deserve.