I am currently being housed in a maximum facility in the Arizona DOC
where I’ve been confined to a one-man prison cell for over seven years
in 23 hour a day solitary confinement. I was sentenced to precisely 156
years for taking up arms against a corrupt judicial system. One of my
ultimate goals is to help shed some light on the inhumane environment
that those of us in prison are subject to live in “generation after
generation.” Those of us who speak out against capitalist, imperialistic
injustice are kept silent and retaliated against in prisons all across
the world. We’re kept isolated in boxes about the size of dog kennels
for years. Rehabilitation only comes in the form of one’s personal
dedication of adopting a military mindset and achieving what is
essential to keeping oneself afloat and not consumed by the burden of
being taken for granted as human beings.
It’s very common to become invisible in any society designed to
desensitize and demoralize the average person, designed to corrupt and
eat away at some of the greatest minds. Inevitably, the mental disease
surrounding this establishment consumes the vulnerable-minded completely
and has its effects on those stronger and competent minds. No amount of
love or money can ever replace one’s lost time or sanity. Oddly, some of
these same people return back into society with no real plan on how to
cope or withstand even the smallest pressures. Sadly, I witness people
deteriorate on a daily basis while imprisoned, what could have been a
short-term prison sentence often ends up a lifetime scar.
I’ve always resented the idea of one resorting to drugs as a means to
emancipate oneself from the difficulties, but as you can see when
dealing with the shamefulness of the imperialist system, I really do
understand why my equals would rather be intoxicated than face a reality
in which we’re born into a cycle of destruction. However, one fact that
will never change is that drug abuse only hinders and destroys one’s
personal experience to grow in strength and wisdom. Our ancestors
weren’t quitters nor cowards. We’re skilled, imaginative, intelligent
engineers and ultimately we adjust to our problems to overthrow our
challenges. Yet we remain students to our own neglect; show us a
meaningful purpose to our civilization and we will keenly follow.
In July 2003, I returned to the Arizona Department of Corrections to
spend approximately 156 years behind bars for taking up arms against a
corrupt Tuscon Police Department in self-defense. I was immediately
placed in Arizona’s super-maximum facility (SMU-I,(VCU)). SMU-I is a
facility that publicly houses “the worst of the worst” special
management prisoners. Prisoners are able to obtain some personal items
but conditions in SMU-I are very restrictive and inhumane. I was housed
in VCU, which is considered isolation within solitary confinement.
Ordinarily, prisoners who are held in VCU are labeled disruptive while
housed in SMU-I or have accumulated serious disciplinary violations
while in prison. Most prisoners in VCU are labeled disruptive for
choosing not to conform to the collective ways of the prisoncrats and in
return are retaliated against.
One of the many tactics used by our oppressor is to place us in the
tortuous shadows of the severely mentally ill to help break a person’s
spirit. I was placed in this unit upon my initial intake into the
penitentiary, never once expecting for my oppressors to provide me due
process before being admitted into this unusual world. During this
particular part of my life a lot of soul-searching was done and
ultimately strength was gained. These teachings have allowed me to fully
comprehend my ancestry’s mantra of “what doesn’t kill us only makes us
stronger.” For long periods of time I debated with the idea of suicide.
It was at my lowest point in total darkness and hopelessness that my
eyes were truly illuminated to the ways of this injustice system. At
this point I chose to continue my life, to have life. The nightmares
that keep me from advancing forward, I’ve confronted and compromised
with. But as you can imagine, I found myself in a tight spot, being the
VCU unit.
I was placed on a gurney while four correctional officers escorted me to
my new cell. I was strip searched, placed in extra-tight handcuffs with
an additional dog chain that offered my captors an object to
manipulate.The officers who were escorting me decided it was essential
to assert themselves aggressively. I was pushed face down on the gurney
and was advised if I looked sideways or moved even just slightly I’d be
pepper-sprayed, tazed and neutralized by the police K9. I knew in the
back of my mind this was a familiar tactic embraced internationally by
my oppressors so I closed my eyes and kept my mouth shut. It is these
types of incidents that inspire me to vigorously overcome fierce
adversity. In prison, life goes on but one never gets comfortable with
the demeaning environment, the torture, the food poisoning, the
searches, the depression, the yells, and the screams. It is what
brainwashes us into what we are.
I was wrongfully convicted by a judicial system that clearly favors the
police, the state’s prosecutor, and biased, corrupt judges. My best
friend, my little brother and myself are all sentenced to die in an
institution that shows no compassion. This is the same institution that
as a child you become so dreadful of as you watch your father travel
through the same system. Just when I thought my childhood couldn’t
become any more tragic, reality set in. The temperatures in solitary
confinement have a strong tendency of remaining freezing cold; my
captors figure if we stay under our blankets all day, wishing upon
falling stars, the odds of becoming productive prisoners will diminish.
I say productive in the sense that we as prisoners should take up the
obligation of combating what is inhumane within the injustice system.
This becomes a lifetime struggle while imprisoned. What actually appears
to be meaningless, in the long haul is actually morally fulfilling. Yet
challenging! What we consider to be productive, our captors refer to as
“disruptive.” In the end all we want is equal opportunity.
Many tactics and well practiced strategies are put up like road blocks.
This has given our captors an everlasting advantage. One important
method of abuse is the placement system. Our captors have the authority
to move prisoners at will. The sycophants usually end up in “Disneyland”
while the “disruptive” end up in “Alaska”. With this tactic our captors
maintain control. The majority of prisoners housed in VCU are seriously
mentally ill. Banging on cell doors creates insomnia, the lights stay on
all the time, and some prisoners become extremely delusional and
schizophrenic. Mental illness has a strong desire to befriend the next
prisoner’s addiction, as if the air was contaminated with dementia. All
different types of crazed thoughts are fabricated in these prisoners’
minds, where everyone around you acts suspiciously like an assassin.
These types of delusions commonly progress and eventually their
pressures become too overbearing to hold inside, forcing these prisoners
to act out. Prisoners lose their minds and begin mutilating themselves
to ease their mental pain. Suicide is still viewed as cowardly, but some
are too overwhelmed to escape its treacherous snares.
The main instigators are often the ones who are employed to implement
corrections. They introduce this type of behavior to intensify the
mental strain, giving the vulnerable a reason to simply attend to their
anger, frustration and pain. Sometimes they even use seduction as a
defense mechanism or to infiltrate the lumpen organizations to create
conflict. This misconduct usually creates disagreements, cell
extractions and the like. I myself have continuously remained in
long-term isolation. No effective adjustment programs have ever been
offered to us in this Arizona maximum facility, so obviously this type
of behavior continues to worsen. The truth is solitary confinement is
creating its own demise. Since I have been in isolation, the VCU ward I
spoke of has been deemed unconstitutional by the higher courts and has
publicly been shut down.
I am grieving the techniques implemented by the Arizona Department of
Corrections in regards to long-term isolation without adequate recourse
for mental health treatment. It is detrimental to one’s comprehensive
health and in due time deteriorates one’s ability to function as a
human. ADOC utilizes a detrimental structure which it abuses in its
discretion to maintain order, rather than to address
rehabilitation/recidivism concerns. Long-term isolation without adequate
and the effective recourse increases the risk for prisoners to develop
extensive mental health disorders and physical health problems as well.
This also recruits and increases additional mental health cases for
those prisoners isolated amongst the severely mentally ill population
for long periods of time. ADOC has neglected to provide adequate mental
health services in their maximum custody facilities. What this atrocity
does to the environment is create a breeding ground for psychosis. ADOC
has strongly neglected to conform its system to reduce recidivism and in
fact has demonstrated through their actions, a crime against humanity by
converting prisoners into mental health patients, consciously
capitalizing on prison enterprise by neglecting to provide adequate
recourse for their maximum facilities. This makes prisoners worse off
than when we initially arrived, creating a more fortified cycle of
sociopaths. This is a logical fact and is very inhumane. Without the
adequate learning tools this process is going to keep creating insanity.
Also see
An
Alternative to the SHU
and
U.S.
Prisons Prove Maddening
