Under Lock & Key

Recientes demostraciones en ciudades de Estados Unidos han clamado representar al “99%” que están contra el 1% que son ricos. MIM(prisión) soporta una distribución mas justa de los recursos del mundo. Lo que la mayoría de americanos no comprenden es que la distribución correcta de las riquezas, significa menos para ellos puesto que son parte del 13% de ricos.

En 1970 un acción similar en forma de Ocupar Wall Street (OWS) occurió en contestación al asesinato de estudiantes en la universidad de Kent State. En respuesta un sindicato local irrumpió por las calles atacando a estudiantes, golpeandolos y atacaron oficinas del estado. Refleccionando sobre este evento, un locutor de radio implicó que OWS erá evidencia de progreso, medido por el respaldo sindical que recibió.

Las condiciones materiales de la invasión de Vietnam de U.$. forzó a jóvenes Amerikanos, en ese tiempo, a tomar una posición mas progresiva que la de hoy, colocándolos en oposición a los sindicatos nacionalistas de la raza blanca. Las acciones de OWS están más dentro del mundo del nacionalismo blanco que de la “Batalla de Seattle” en 1999 donde los anarquistas y otras organizaciones, se juntaron con sindicatos en contra la Organización Mundial de Comercio (OWS). No mas los de MIM y J. Sakai reconocieron la reacción del nacionalismo blanco contra OWS estaban directamente dentro el contexto Amerikano. Pero aunqueses los narcisistas tenían una docé saludable de internacionalismo motivandolos para atrás.

El grito principal de la OWS es “defender la clase medida Amerikana.” Aunque los anarqistas son atraidos por ese formato, concejos hablados y de consenso abiertos “al público,” el contenido es desesperanzadoramente nacionalista blanco. Es el tipo exacto de retórica que escupieron los demócratas de la Europa post-depresión, y que llevó al surgimiento del fascismo en muchos paises.(1) Cuando las naciones privilegiadas del mundo, sintieron sus privilegios amenazasdo, se politicalizaron agúdamente en sus demandas por más. Atacaron a los super-ricos con el fin de crear la ilusión de que eran pobres comparados con ellos. Pero los hechos son obstinados, y los intereses de los Amerikanos los lleváron a gritarle a los super-ricos para que defendieran los empleos Amerikanos y respaldaran las líneas de crédito que habian tomado. Ambas demandas son incompatibles con la lucha por los derechos de los migrantes, que habían estado de moda entre la izquierda blanca nacionalista en años recientes.

MIM siempre ha afirmado que si los países imperialistas fuesen golpeados por verdaderos tiempos duros en la economía, observaríamos un incremento en el fascismo en vez de un interés en el Maoísmo. No decimos esto con el fin de atemorizar y emotivizar, pero con el fin de promover una evaluación realista de las condiciones. Fue la juventud Amerikana quienes pusieron sus cuerpos en la línea, primero en Seattle y ahora en Nueva York y otros lugares. Puesto que tienen décadas de vida por delante, los jóvenes tienen más interés que sus padres en transformar este mundo en uno más justo. Pero para que ellos lo logren, primero deben ver las cosas tal como son y alinearse con las verdaderas fuerzas de cambio progresivo.

Nos aproximamos al quinto aniversario como organización al reunir nuestro Tercer Congreso. Aunque miembros de MIM(Prisiones) - y por supuesto aquellos de USW - han estado en el movimiento de prisiones por mucho mas tiempo, encontramos que esta es una oportunidad apropiada para reflexionar acerca de donde se encuentra el movimiento de prisiones y como se ha desarrollado.

Una serie de huelgas de hambre en California, durante el año 2011, tuvo un gran impacto a lo largo de la nación. Muchos activistas, desde aquellos encubiertos, hasta anarquistas y reformistas, se unieron alrededor de este movimiento y como resultado continuaron enfocándose en el trabajo de prisiones. Mientras nuestros predecesores en MIM habían visto la importancia del movimiento de prisiones desde décadas atrás, su visión ha sido afirmada mucho mas el día de hoy cuando comenzamos a alcanzar una masa crítica de actividad. Es ahora un tópico caliente en el nacionalismo blanco de izquierda, lo cual es significativo puesto que los blancos no son afectados por el sistema de prisiones de una manera tan extensa como para considerarlo un interés legítimo y prioritario.

Este desarrollo gradual ha sido el resultado de dos factores: Una conmoción por fuera de las prisiones debido a los hechos alrededor del sistema de injusticia de los Estados Unidos, y a prisioneros organizándose en el interior de las cárceles; factores en los cuales MIM y USW han estado trabajando diligentemente por décadas. En el año y medio que ha pasado, la organización de los prisioneros alcanzó un momento importante con la huelga de Georgia y las huelgas de hambre de California, las cuales fueron coordinadas a un nivel estatal. Estos eventos fueron particularmente significativos entre los prisioneros, pero al mismo tiempo capturaron la atención de los medios y de la comunidad internacional. Más aun, porque hay una serie de acciones similares que continúan desarrollándose a lo largo del país. (Recientemente en Virginia, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, la prisión federal súper máxima ADX, Limon en Colorado y una huelga de hambre adicional en Georgia.)

Entre tanto, el aspecto de conmoción llego a un punto importante con la publicación del libro “The New Jim Crow” (El nuevo Jim Crow), el año pasado. Este libro ha logrado conseguir bastante atención en sectores diferentes del espectro político. Aunque mucha de la promoción le presta atención indebida a las conclusiones tibias del libro, el hecho de que los datos se hayan organizado en un libro hablan por si mismos. Se requiere unas nociones preconcebidas muy arraigadas para leer este libro y atreverse a negar la opresión del sistema de injusticia americano contra las seudo colonias internas. Por lo tanto, pensamos que el efecto general del libro será progresivo y significativo a pesar de sus limitaciones.

Es por estas razones que vemos la necesidad de apoderarnos del momento. Cuando comenzamos hace cinco años tuvimos la gran fortuna de construir sobre el legado de los programas de soporte a los prisioneros, establecidos por MIM. La fundación ideológica de MIM nos permitió enfocar nuestras energías en asuntos mas prácticos, tal como el lanzar una publicación nueva para las prisiones, construir programas de ayuda a camaradas que son liberados, desarrollar cursos por correspondencia de estudios políticos, y lanzar un nuevo sitio de Internet que exhiba información amplia sobre censura, reglas de correo y abusos en las prisiones del país.

Con nuestra infraestructura ya terminada y trabajando correctamente, necesitamos ahora buscar maneras de tomar ventaja inmediata de la conciencia relativamente positiva de los prisioneros y de la atención relativa que la población americana le ha dado al sistema de prisiones. Siempre hemos mantenido que sin prisioneros organizados no hay movimiento de prisiones, es así que tenemos ese objetivo como nuestra prioridad inicial. Estamos tomando pasos para mejorar la estructura de United Struggle from Within (USW), la organización de masas de prisioneros que fue fundada por MIM ye es ahora liderada por MIM(Prisiones). Construyendo sobre las sugerencias de algunos líderes en USW, hemos habilitado un plan para formar asambleas en estados donde hay múltiples células activas de USW. Más adelante explicarémos una organización estructural para nuestro movimiento de manera que los camaradas puedan saber donde pertenecen y como se deben relacionar con otros.

Tal como vimos durante las huelgas en California, cuando la organización se expande, se incrementa la censura al igual que otras medidas represivas. A medida que aumentamos nuestros esfuerzos, debemos esperar que el estado incremente los suyos. Necesitarémos más ayuda que nunca de parte de los voluntarios en el exterior para efectuar trabajo legal y de agitación para mantener al estado leal a sus propias leyes y regulaciones.

Tan grandes como estos retos aparentan ser, sabemos que habrá retos mayores a nivel interno, así como obstáculos que deberémos librar en los próximos años. Las grandes movilizaciones recientes han comenzado a revelar lo que estos retos serán. Hay mucho trabajo por hacer en el identificar, analizar y resolverlas contradicciones dentro de la población de prisiones, que permiten que en las condiciones actuales, el estado dicte como debe una vasta población de personas oprimidas interactuar el uno con el otro, y como deben vivir sus vidas.

El movimiento de prisiones que se estableció previamente a la explosión carcelería de los 1980s fue un producto de las luchas por liberación nacional que ocurrieron en su momento. Hoy, la población de las prisiones es diez veces más grande mientras que el liderazgo político en el exterior es escaso. Las masas encarceladas deben cuidarse del número grande de líderes falsos que desde afuera, como oportunistas, toman a las prisiones como el tópico del día para promover sus agendas políticas, las cuales no le sirven para nada a la gente opresa del mundo. En esta ocasión, los prisioneros necesitan prepararse a jugar un papel importante, lo cual requiere una profunda mirada interior. Debemos no solo aprender del pasado pero construir programas independientes de educación que desarrollen las habilidades de las camaradas de hoy para conducir un análisis propio de las condiciones que enfrentan. Encima de esto debemos promover y desarrollar una visión internacionalista para encontrar respuestas y alianzas en las naciones oprimidas alrededor del mundo, así se pueden remover las vendas de los ojos que nos mantienen enfocados exclusivamente en América. No se puede encontrar liberación en el americanismo. El hecho que los americanos han creado un sistema de prisiones que empequeñece todos los demás en la historia humana, es un ejemplo del porque no hay liberación en el americanismo.

Es con un optimismo cauto que aprobamos la siguiente resolución en nuestro último congreso. Pensamos que este plan responde a las propuestas enviadas por algunos líderes de USW. Esperamos que todos ustedes trabajen con nosotros para hacer de el una estructura efectiva.

Resolución del congreso sobre la estructura de USW.

MIM(Prisiones) esta iniciando la creación de asambleas estatales dentro de USW, la organización antiimperialista de los prisioneros. Una asamblea será aprobada cuando existen dos o mas células dentro del estado, las cuales son reconocidas como activas y trabajando bajo el estándar de USW. MIM(Prisiones) servirá como ente de apoyo a estas asambleas con un foque orientado a la organización alrededor de las necesidades de la comunidad prisionera en ese estado. Puesto que el sistema de prisiones de los Estados Unidos esta organizado primordialmente por estado, las asambleas trabajarán de acuerdo a las necesidades especificas y condiciones encontradas en el estado en particular.

En el caso donde las células poseen otras identidades diferentes a USW no se les requerirá que usen ese nombre. Por ejemplo, La Organización Revolucionaria del Orden Negro (Black Order Revolutionary Organization), que se identifica a si misma como un ‘Nuevo movimiento africano revolucionario’ podrá ser invitada a participar en una asamblea estatal de USW. Aunque USW no favorece las luchas de una nación opresa sobre otras igualmente oprimidas, como movimiento reconocemos la utilidad e importancia de una organización especifica a la nación. En el ambiente de prisiones hay muchas líneas que no se pueden cruzar bajo las condiciones actuales, esto limita la afiliación en un grupo. Mientras estas células exhiban un internacionalismo y antiimperialismo auténtico, ellas pueden poseer afiliación doble en USW por medio de su unión a la asamblea estatal.

Con esta propuesta estamos expandiendo la estructura de nuestro movimiento. Reconocemos los dos pilares principales de el liderazgo ideológico del movimiento actual: el primero siendo la célula de MIM(Prisiones) y el segundo siendo el grupo de escritores de Under Lock & Key (Bajo Llave), el cual también está compuesto por miembros de USW y dirigido y apoyado por MIM(Prisones).

Las asambleas estatales deberán buscar en estos dos grupos la orientación ideológica necesaria para organizar su trabajo. Esto se encontrará principalmente en las páginas de Under Lock & Key. En contraste, la función principal de las asambleas será el trabajo práctico y directo que sirva a los intereses de la clase encarcelada. Las asambleas servirán para coordinar el trabajo de organización de las células dispersas para que trabajen de una manera más unificada.

MIM(Prisiones) establecerá inmediatamente la asamblea de California, a la que seguirán otras a medida que las condiciones lo permitan.

For the morning meal the mess hall was virtually empty. For the noon meal there were approximately 120 prisoners in attendance. Usually, when they serve baked chicken and rice there are some 360 prisoners in attendance. A lot more prisoners turned out for the evening meal. Overall there was a low attendance for meals.

Next year things will be different and better organized. I’m in the process of obtaining two articles dealing with the Attica rebellion. I’ll have copies of the articles run off and give one of each to the entire prison population. This can be accomplished within a year’s time.

Being that today is September 9th and a day of solidarity and peace, all sorts of nations (organizations) got together here in the rec yard and had a jailhouse BBQ and lived in peace just for the day here at Cross City, Florida.

I always enjoy the Under Lock and Key. Hopefully one day some of my articles will be published in them. Allow me to extend in your direction a revolutionary embrace and a warrior’s salute. I hope for Florida one day to move forward in our prison system. Little by little with the help of the folks at MIM(Prisons).

MIM(Prisons) adds:There seems to be much support for unity between organizations in Florida. See the previous report of lumpen organizations coming together in Everglades Correctional Institution.

Today is September 9th, 2012. My comrade (my celly) and I are participating in the mass stoppage of work and fast for our comrades who fell in Attica. Although we are in Ad-Seg we have chosen to sacrifice. No food, no petty stuff, no arguing out the door, only working out four times for 1 hour each time, reading, studying and talking politics. For me fasting is something I do once a month, but today is the first time I’ve worked out during my fast. My comrade is pushing me and I’m not stopping. From midnight to midnight is how we’re moving.

I’m writing this to not only inform you of this movement, but how things are going in these human warehouses here in Missouri. It’s still hard to find unity here. No one wants to miss a meal or two to make a stand, but they’ll continue to talk about how bad things are. It’s not strange.

I want to raise an issue concerning your paper. My comrade who is Black just had your July/August issue of ULK censored. The reason for this censorship was the article about the mass work stoppage on September 9th. I am Caucasian and fully dedicated to the struggle. I have received your July/August issue of ULK. This discrimination towards my comrade is not strange.

My comrade has filed his grievance on this censorship. This state doesn’t even want us to learn and that is just one thing wrong with this state. They would rather close down schools and build new prisons.

[The following article begins with excerpts from an article by a California prisoner, which gives a detailed historical account of relevant case law, and was originally published by San Francisco BayView. Also available on our website is the full court opinion for In Re Crawford.]

Greetings. The struggle is long and arduous, and sometimes we do etch out significant victories, as in the case of our brotha in In re Crawford, 206 Cal.App.4th 1259 (2012).

It’s important to emphasize that this victory is a significant step in reaffirming that prisoners are entitled to a measure of First Amendment protection that cannot be ignored simply because the state dislikes the spiel. New Afrikan prisoners have a right to identify with their birthright if they so choose, as does anyone else for that matter – Black, White or Brown. …

[California prison officials] have gone so far as to boldly proclaim that the term New Afrikan was created by the Black Guerilla Family (BGF) and that those who identify as or use the term are declaring their allegiance to the BGF, which has been declared a prison gang. They have sought to suppress its usage by validating (i.e. designating as a gang member or associate) anyone who uses the term or who dares mention the name George Jackson. …

Our brotha’s case In Re Crawford was filed June 4, 2012, and certified for publication June 13. In a brilliant piece of judicial reasoning, a panel of justices in a 3-0 decision finally reaffirmed a prisoner’s First Amendment right to free speech and expression, stating:

Freedom of speech is first among the rights which form the foundation of our free society. “The First Amendment embodies our choice as a nation that, when it comes to such speech, the guiding principle is freedom – the unfettered interchange of ideas – not whatever the State may view as fair.” (Arizona Free Enterprise Club v. Bennett (2011) 131 S.Ct. 2806). “The protection given speech and press was fashioned to assure unfettered interchange of ideas for the bringing about of political and social changes desired by the people … All ideas having even the slightest redeeming social importance – unorthodox ideas, controversial ideas, even ideas hateful to the prevailing climate of opinion – have the full protection of the guaranties, unless excludable because they encroach upon the limited area of more important interests.” (Roth v. United States (1957) 354 U.S. 476, 484.”

The programs embodied in the New Afrikan Collective Think Tank, New Afrikan Institute of Criminology 101, the George Jackson University and the New Afrikan ideology itself are inclusive programs emphasizing a solution-based approach to carnage in the poverty stricken slums from where many of us come. The CDCR Prison Intelligence Units (PIU) have sought to suppress these initiatives simply because they do not like the message. They have marched into court after court with one standard line: New Afrikan means BGF and these initiatives are promoting the BGF. In re Crawford continues,

As recently noted by Chief Justice Roberts, “[t]he First Amendment reflects ‘a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open.’ [Citation.] That is because ‘speech concerning public affairs is more than self-expression; it is the essence of self-government.’ [Citation.] … Speech on public issues occupies the highest rung of the hierarchy of First Amendment values, and is entitled to special protection.” (Snyder v. Phelps (2011) 562 U.S. , [131 S.Ct. 1207, 1215].

In re Crawford is a very important ruling because the justices said these protections apply to prisoners as well. …

George Jackson cannot be removed from the fabric of the people’s struggles in this society any more than Malcolm X can or Medger Evers or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or Harriett Tubman or Sojourner Truth or Ida B. Wells, Rosa Parks or Frederick Douglass, or the countless others who’ve fought and struggled for a brighter future for generations to come.

What CDCR and its PIU are trying to do is make a run around the First Amendment by shielding its suppression activity under the guise of preventing gang activity, just as it’s done historically, which gave rise to Procunier v. Martinez (1974) 416 U.S. 396, 413.

In In re Crawford, CDCR argued for an exception to the Martinez test for validated gang members. The court declined to make such an exception, holding: “Gang related correspondence is not within the exception to the First Amendment test for censorship of outgoing inmate mail.”

The fact that they even argued for such an exception shows their mindset. Their intentions are to suppress that which they believe to be repugnant, offensive and that which they believe a prisoner ought not be thinking! In their minds we have no right to think or possess ideas, concepts or vision beyond that which they believe we should possess.

Until In Re Crawford, these highly educated judges were sanctioning this nonsense with twisted, perverted rulings permitting a newspaper article or magazine layout or book to be used against a prisoner for validation purposes [to put them in torture cells - editor]. They issued twisted rulings like those in Ellis v. Cambra or Hawkins v. Russell and In Re Furnace, where the petitioner was told he has no right to his thoughts and the First Amendment only protects a prisoner’s right to file a 602 [grievance form].

These kinds of fallacious rulings ought to be publicized so as to show the skillful manipulation of the law by those sworn to uphold it. In Re Crawford reestablishes that First Amendment protections apply to prisoners and that we too enjoy a measure of free speech and expression. We ought not be punished with fabricated notions of gang activity for merely a thought!

However, if we are to continue to meet with success, we need our professors, historians and intellectuals to step up and provide declarations that we can use in our litigation, defending our right to read, write and study all aspects of a people’s history, like Professor James T. Campbell did in In Re Crawford. This is the only way a prisoner can challenge the opinion of a prison official. …

Much work remains to be done, like stopping the bogus validations based on legitimate First Amendment material. We know that many individuals are falsely validated simply for reading George’s books or a newspaper article, for observing Black August or for simply trying to get in touch with one’s cultural identity.

These legitimate expressions should carry no penalty at all. You’re not doing anything wrong, and a lot of brothas who’ve been validated simply shouldn’t be. Nor should folks be frightened away from reading or studying any aspect of history simply because the state doesn’t like its content. Judges who issue fallacious opinions permitting prisoners to be punished for reading a George Jackson book or researching your history should be exposed.

Literary content and cultural and historical materials are not the activities of a gang; they are political and social activities that we have a right to express, according to the unanimous decision in In re Crawford.

The First Amendment campaign continues to forge ahead, although we still don’t have a lawyer. The campaign still exists, and we anticipate even greater successes in the future. … We’ve cracked one layer of a thick wall. Now all prisoners should take advantage of this brilliant ruling and reassert your rights to study your heritage, Black, White or Brown.

MIM(Prisons) adds: The issue in this case was one that we have experienced first-hand as well. For example, in 2008 a letter from a comrade in California was censored before it could reach us because it discussed the New Afrikan Collective, which allegedly was a code word for the Black Guerrilla Family.(1) But in reality, the New Afrikan Collective was a new political organization in New York focused on bettering the conditions of New Afrikans as a nation, with no connections to any sort of criminal activity.

The first thing that strikes us about this case is a quote from the proceedings cited by the author above, “Gang related correspondence is not within the exception to the First Amendment test for censorship of outgoing inmate mail.” Unfortunately this is not part of the final opinion explaining the decision of the court, and it is specific to outgoing mail from the prison. Nonetheless, it would logically follow from this statement that anything that can be connected to a gang is not automatically dangerous or illegal.

“Gang members” have long been the boogeyman of post-integration white Amerika. The pigs use “gang member” as a codeword to excuse the abuse and denial of constitutional rights to oppressed nation youth, particularly New Afrikan men. And this has been institutionalized in more recent years with “gang enhancements,” “gang injunctions” and “security threat group” labels that punish people for belonging to lumpen organizations. Often our mail is censored because it mentions the name of a lumpen organization in the context of a peace initiative or organizing for prisoners’ humyn rights. While criminal activity is deemed deserving more punishment with the gang label, non-criminal activity is deemed criminal as well.

As the author discusses, it becomes a question of controlling ideas to the extreme, where certain words are not permitted to be spoken or written and certain symbols and colors cannot be displayed. So the quote from the court above is just a baby step in the direction of applying the First Amendment rights of association and expression to oppressed nation youth. Those who are legally inclined should consider how this issue can be pushed further in future battles. Not only is such work important in restoring rights to people, but we can create space for these organizations to build in more positive directions.

Part of this criminalization of a specific sector of society is the use of self-created and perpetuated so-called experts on gang intelligence. Most of our readers are all too familiar with this farce of a profession that is acutely exposed by the court’s opinion in this case. The final court opinion calls out CO J. Silveira for claiming that the plaintiff’s letter contained an intricate code when he could provide no evidence that this was true. They also call him out for using his “training and experience” as the basis for all his arguments.

The warden’s argument is flawed for two reasons. First, the argument is based solely on the unsupported assertions and speculative conclusions in Silveira’s declaration. The declaration is incompetent as evidence because it contains no factual allegations supporting those assertions and conclusions. Second, even if the declaration could properly be considered, it does not establish that the letter posed a threat to prison security.

As great as this is, as the author of the article above points out, they usually get away with such baseless claims. More well thought out lawsuits like this are needed, because more favorable case law is needed. But neither alone represents any real victory in a system that exists to maintain the existing social hierarchy. These are just pieces of a long, patient struggle that has been ongoing for generations. The people must exercise the rights won here to make them real. We must popularize and contextualize the nature of this struggle.

I’ve decided to place my pen to paper and let you know about some reprehensible bullshit the imperial pigs who run this whole prison complex racket are up to and are hoodwinking the public about.

I was reading the June 2012 issue of Prison Legal News, Vol 23, No 6 and I was utterly floored when I read the cover article titled “God’s Own Warden.” [This article was reprinted from Mother Jones magazine.(1)]

There is a Warden of Angola prison in Louisiana by the name of Burl Cain. This man has a full blown racket going on down there, where he not only exploits inmates with blatant slave labor, but then hides it behind religion, and openly broadcasts his money making exploits.

This imperial pig “pays” inmates 2-20 cents to move the wheels of his little prison industry down there. He’s got a “museum,” farming fields, a gift shop, and a rodeo arena which seats 10,000 people and draws 70,000 people each spring and fall for “prison rodeos.”

At these “rodeos” they have “convict poker,” where they put 4 prisoners around a table and tell them to remain seated while a 2000 pound pissed off bull charges at them. In another event they call “guts and glory,” they tie a poker chip to the horn of an angry bull. While it hangs from the horn “inmates vie to snatch the poker chip off the horn” while the prisoners run after and are chased by said enraged animal. These events are done for the laughs of the people who’ve bought themselves tickets to this idiocy.

In 1998 Daniel Bergner wrote a book titled “God of the Rodeo” where he himself researched this rodeo and wrote a book about it, saying that he “observed the reaction of the crowd which was electrified, exhilarated, by the thrill of watching men in terror, all made forgivable because the men were murderers.” He then goes on to say “I’m sure some of it was racist (see that nigger move) and some disappointed (that there was no goring) and some uneasy (with that very disappointment).” Then he goes on to say “many people were not laughing, were too bewildered or stunned by what they’d just seen.”

And of course this industrial pig has prisoners outside the arena selling arts and crafts, crawfish étouffée and Frito pies. In his “gift shop,” he sells miniature handcuffs, prisoner-made jelly, and mugs that read “Angola: a gated community.” Then people move on to a display of “Gruesome Gertie” which is dubbed as “the only electric chair in which a prisoner was executed twice.” (The first time didn’t take because the executioners were “visibly drunk.”)(2)

So not only does this imperial pig make money off live inmates, he cashed in on their cruel and unusual deaths as well. But that’s still not enough for the deep pockets of this racketeering Warden. He contracts his prison out to Hollywood and “allows” prisoners to be extras, all for a nice fee of course!

Cain gets away with it because he hides it all behind religion and converting prisoners to Christianity. So with his money he tosses up a few plywood walls and roof, calls it a church, and says he’s “saving souls.”

This is the prison where a trio of prisoners had been locked down in solitary confinement longer than anyone in U.S. history, because they were Black Panther Party members (Albert Woodfox, Herman Wallace and the now released Robert King). They were put in solitary confinement, and have spent nearly 4 decades there, simply for their political beliefs.

In 2008 Warden Cain had a disposition taken in which Cain says of Woodfox, “He wants to demonstrate. He wants to organize. He wants to be defiant… He is still trying to practice Black Pantherism, and I still would not want him walking around my prison because he would organize young prisoners, I would have me all kinds of problems, more than I could stand, and I would have the blacks chasing after them.”(3)

Never mind the fact that these two heroic comrades are in their 60s and have a near perfect record for more than 20 years. Warden Cain says “it’s not a matter of write-ups. It’s a matter of attitude and what ya are… Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace is [sic] locked in time with that Black Panther revolutionary actions they were doing way back when… and from that there’s been no rehabilitation.”(3) Warden Cain then “suggested that Wallace and Woodfox could be released into general population if they renounced their political beliefs/views and embraced Jesus.”(3)

Cain’s policy is if inmates don’t attend church services they don’t get the good jobs (that pay 2-20 cents), or other goodies, such as a day or two off from plowing and farming his fields, a good meal, special banquets, ice cream, etc.

There should be a public outcry of complete outrage over this shit. This is the very sickening degeneracy which we as communists strive to stomp out. These atrocities going on down in Angola under the skirts of religion piss me off, and only strengthen my resolve to standup and fight these imperial piggies every step of the way. With every breath I take it fills my eyes with only the color of red. In solidarity we stand.

MIM(Prisons) adds: As we’ve explained in articles on the U.S. prison economy, the exploitation of prison labor by private entities is very limited in scope, with most prison labor contributing to prison maintenance and expenses. In the case of Angola, the farm laborers, making a maximum wage of 20 cents per hour, are actually engaged in productive labor and are likely providing a net surplus value to the prison after factoring in the room and board they are provided. But even in this large, well-organized operation, the income is only an offset to the total costs of keeping these men imprisoned, in particular paying the salaries of guards and administrators.

Those prisoners making jam, and other trinkets for sale outside the rodeo are raising money for Christian organizations.(1) In this case private interests are benefitting financially from coerced labor, but even then there are no capitalist profit interests behind these projects as implied by the myth of the “prison industrial complex.” Petty economic interests aside, the bigger story here is the national oppression faced by the 75% Black prisoner population at Angola coerced into supporting Christian organizations and pushed into the rodeo. This is a reprehensible example of treating men like animals and turning social control into a sport for the entertainment of reactionary spectators.

On 31 July 2012, there was a small scale race riot on the Estelle Unit in Huntsville, Texas. One person was killed as a result of the prisoner-on-prisoner violence. We were placed on lockdown for 10 days and were fed the most anorexic brown bag meals I have ever seen. The meals were pathetic and it became clear the administration was implementing a draconian behavior modification tactic on the lumpen underclass who are housed in this slave pen of oppression.

Today, 31 August 2012, I was informed that prison officials have initiated a new regulation having to do with day room time for General Population minimum custody offenders on Estelle Unit. From now on, the day room will be closed from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.! Prisoners who are not working will be “racked up” in their cells during these times. I cannot even begin to describe how oppressive, degrading, and inhumane this new control tactic is.

These prisoncrats in Texas force the prisoners to work for free 8-12 hours a day with no pay or benefits. There is no air conditioning in these small cells in population (my cell in super-seg is quite large though in comparison). Furthermore, anyone who has done time knows one of the keys to getting along with your cellmate is to “miss him” as much as possible. However, this concept is lost on the prisoncrat whose only purpose seems to be to oppress and antagonize the prisoners until they are broken or explode in frustration and anger on each other.

It is my strong belief the lumpen must grieve this policy of oppression and subjugation. Moreover, it is time for some revolutionary activism! No day room = no work. Solidarity amongst the lumpen underclass is a must. Conditions will only improve in Texas when the lumpen see clearly that the “real” enemy wears civilian clothes and confederate army gray uniforms!

MIM(Prisons) adds: This is a follow up to the events reported in Texas Guards Encourage Oppressed Nation Fights, where a comrade explains the role of the pigs in promoting fighting between oppressed nations in prison in incidents like this one. That article also discussed the quick response to the food grievances once prisoners came together with one voice. This restriction on day room access seems to be in response to this activism.

We have since received a correction to that previous article: the prisoner killed was Mexican and not New Afrikan as we reported in Under Lock & Key 28.

On 3 October 2011 I was notified by prison authorities that I had received the September/October 2011 No. 22 issue of Under Lock & Key (ULK) in the mail. I was further notified that I could not have ULK because it is banned throughout the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). I grieved this unconstitutional banning of ULK since IDOC cannot validate its claim that ULK is a threat to security. On 27 July 2012 I filed a Section 1983 Civil Suit against the director of IDOC, S.A. Godinez.

This lawsuit is based on the grounds that IDOC cannot substantiate the banning of ULK and that the banning of ULK violates my Constitutional Rights to:
1) Receive and own reading material;
2) Have freedom of speech; and
3) Have freedom of political expression.

In my Statement of Claim I gave a brief definition of what MIM(Prisons) and ULK are. However, I was wondering if you would like to prepare a statement about what exactly MIM(Prisons) and ULK are and the purpose of their existence.

In further news, on 16 August 2012 another prisoner and I received a notice saying that we had received the July/August 2012 No. 27 issue of ULK in the mail and that we couldn’t have it because ULK is banned. We are both currently in the second of three stages of the grievance procedure and will be filing a Class Action lawsuit within the next six months challenging the banning of ULK. This suit will merge with my already existing one.

Any information that you can send me on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

MIM(Prisons) responds: The comrade above has not received an issue of Under Lock & Key since November 2011. Appealing the censorship and going through the grievance procedure will often successfully get you the mail that the authorities are attempting to deny. If that doesn’t work, we need to be prepared to take the censors to court when possible.

Unfortunately, due to our very limited resources, it is very difficult for us to offer legal assistance directly on your case. Instead we run the Prisoners’ Legal Clinic in an attempt to empower and encourage our subscribers to do their best putting together and filing their case on their own. Recently another comrade offered h legal services to help fight censorship in Illinois, which is not just an ongoing problem for the author of this Civil Suit. We are attempting to facilitate this anti-censorship battle and push it to a head. Remember to send in your censorship documentation and status updates on your anti-censorship grievances and cases so we can publicize them on our website. If you are a lawyer on the outside and want to work on this issue, please get in touch.

This missive is directed to those who have taken up the responsibility in leading the masses up the road to absolute spiritual consciousness.

How can any individual choose work in guiding the misguided or unconscious to the discovery of the eternal truth, but at the same time instruct people to turn away from the world and only focus on themselves? If we are one in spirit, then wouldn’t helping the world be a righteous practice of helping oneself? I have learned that the only way I can really help myself is by rejecting the interests of the individual desires and submitting my will to the interests of the world.

The value systems which dominate the world in this current era of imperialism are philosophies propping up the values of the powers of the world. The perpetuation of ideas like economic “survival of the fittest,” and economic competition in a “free market” are but subtle justifications for the exploitation and oppression of others. These philosophies come from individualism (selfishness) which, if analyzed deeply enough, will turn out to be an illusion for the fact that every person’s given situation is the result of what the world has put into motion.

Matter is the physical manifestation of the spirit, so how do we ignore the lessons of history which provide us the ability to precisely analyze the spirit through the material which it produces? A spiritualist can only conclude that the current force which dominates the world is the negative, so the ideas which are applied to overcome the negative force must be put into practice in material reality to give the future a clear understanding of what has proven to be effective and what has not. Our practice is our dialogue with the future.

We can effortlessly project the message to the misguided and unconscious that selfishness, lust, and hate are the epitome of evil, but what good does this do when we ignore the current physical manifestations of these evil forces in material reality? For the oppressed nations who suffer under the full pressure of the physical world, it must be understood that the struggle to end oppression is not an illusion but the natural continuance of the spirit. Spiritualists who reject this eternal fact may have good intentions but inevitably create the duality which divides and isolates the spirit from matter to create the illusion of “mental oneness” with the spirit while ignoring the spirit in matter.

MIM(Prisons) responds: We appreciate the direction this comrade is going here in trying to convince spiritualists that they need to join the fight against oppression. This is a good example of uniting all who can be united in the anti-imperialist struggle. There is much in the theory and writings of popular religions that is amenable to the struggle for justice and equality, so there is room for unity between materialists and idealists there.

But as materialists, we do not agree with the idealists that “matter is the physical manifestation of the spirit.” Materialists recognize thoughts and ideas (such as religions) as products of the physical world we live in and interact with, as this comrade hints at above. And as monists, we do not believe in a spirit or essence that stands apart from a thing itself, including humyn beings. These basic pieces of our philosophy will determine what conclusions we make and what actions we take.

Materialism has already proven to be more correct than any brand of religion in the results it produces in the real world. And once the masses of the oppressed have grasped materialism in practice by taking their own destinies in their hands and throwing off the yoke of oppression, they will have no use for religious thinking and we will set about educating everyone in materialism. As scientific thinking advances and becomes the norm, the class interests of the oppressors that keep religion alive to serve their interests will be eliminated and we expect belief in religions will slowly fade away in the transition to communism.