Under Lock & Key

I’m answering the article in ULK 26, “Debating the Need for New Organizations: Cell Structure and United Fronts.”

The author wrote: “So often there’s ‘new’ groups popping up, and I only laugh.” I ask myself, why put it like that? Okay we do live in an era where there’s many beliefs and points of view on different politics or outlooks. I think there was too much written for just too little. Start uniting, stop dividing. Come together as one people in one struggle doing one work to overcome those who oppress us.

Paraphrased, MIM(Prisons)’s response was that it’s true on one hand; you agree with this comrade on the importance of not forming new groups just for the sake of recognition or self-aggrandizement. The writer fails to address the need to lead by example, as well as showing others by organization for our struggle within, and leading by positive actions.

If you arrive in an environment that lacks structure or recognition and there’s so many bright strong minds, but they fail to see how they should be fighting for a united front, you are not just going to stand around and let it be. You should strive to maintain positive communications not by bringing negative attention but by doing it correctly. At this current stage of struggle within imperialist Amerika, there is a practical need for organizing and structure in a cell where regional independence provides security. Demonstrate your work with even the best in your organizations claiming to uphold Maoism. We hold everyone to a high standard of work and don’t just look at the names and labels they choose.

Another thing, a person can’t force people to comprehend. We are here to show by example, learn, and study the value of communism. I’m with whoever is building peace in prisons. As I do time in this state, it’s really not as unorganized as it’s said to be. As time passes, progress builds. I’m not even from this state but since I’m doing my time here that makes it my home. I myself am learning and truly interested in our movement and will always strive to stay positive, uniting for what’s right. Comrades, keep on pushing, stay strong mentally, and lead by example.

On July 7, 2012 a kite was passed to me, and it read as follows:

“I might be in some trouble. You don’t know me and this is going to blow your mind. If I die in the next day Sr. Menendez in Unit 11 is responsible and probably the warden too. They are going to use inmates to do it. I threatened the warden with letters to the health department about blatant violations in the culinary and the way they do laundry and other things they are getting away with in here. If you hear of an inmate dying in the next couple of days don’t let my death go in vain.”

Without addressing the veracity of this communication, it is disturbing for a number of reasons (aside from the obvious). First and foremost is the specter of the state’s use of inmates (and I use “inmates” here in the most specifically derogatory and anti-revolutionary sense of the term) to do their bidding. That a prisoner who sought to expose an evil visited upon us all would then have to fear reprisal from fellow targets of the evil, at the direction of the oppressor, is treachery of a singularly despicable character. (This is nothing new, but its nature has become more dominant, as is discussed below.) This is aside from the actual violation of our most fundamental constitutional and human rights, the subsequent retaliation for exposing this malfeasance of prison officials and the complete and utter disregard and contempt for human dignity.

This “tool” culture is becoming increasingly prevalent. Today, not only do we revolutionary and activist prisoners have to combat the oppressors themselves, but we must overcome their minions within the ranks of the oppressed as well – we must be ever vigilant against their agents among us. Not in the ordinary sense of infiltrators and narcs, but a whole culture of puppets, sympathizers and panderers intoxicated by imperialist fictions. What is truly frightening about this new breed of traitor is this fact: they want no recompense for their treachery. They believe in the rightness of the betrayal. They believe in the rightness of their loyalty to the oppressor, the enemy. These “people” are not seeking gain. They are an enemy cadre, steeped in enemy thought and ideology. They are (in the truest sense) patriotic Amerikkkans.

Doubtless, the state creates deprivations and uses these deprivations as bargaining chips to enlist the aid of petty snitches and unsavories of all types. That is never going to change in or out of prison. That is not the same animal. What is named here is a devoted enemy, an unrecognized and unofficial extension of the state in both thought and deed.

We must be aware of this counter-revolutionary element and be prepared to deal with them as they arise. There is increased urgency for A) the unification of all revolutionaries and activists regardless of race, religion, gender, custody, set or hood; B) critical analyses of the battle field without set mentalities; and C) application of the principles and theory which arise out of critical analyses. We must rethink our strategies and possibly our associations and act based upon what we have been taught by our conditions, not by what we feel or desire. The local conditions as applied to the global struggle should advise us – not predilection.

The only reason why we have remained oppressed is the enemy’s effective and continuous infiltration and dis-empowerment. It is the enemy’s ability to disunite and exploit this disunity, which provides them with a critical advantage. These are textbook guerrilla tactics which continue to work and reinforce the need for a steel-willed revolutionary vanguard. As such, we must immediately re-evaluate our objectives and tactical assessments, and evolve to meet the pale of the enemy. This requires that we take a long hard look at our environment and account for this emerging class of “enemy combatants.”

A friend of the enemy is still an enemy.

MIM(Prisons) responds: We recently announced a day of solidarity for the United Front for Peace in Prisons, which in part is about promoting the five principles to discourage the kind of petty back-biting where prisoners will sell out for small favors from the pigs. But this comrade brings up a good point, that not all prisoners can be won over. The divisions created by the oppressors are not just individuals bought off to carry out individual reactionary acts in exchange for favors, but also individuals who buy in to the Amerikan political ideology and truly support imperialism as a system. Both groups are dangerous to the movement. We must protect ourselves from these people, both by trying to turn them to the side of the oppressed while exposing them and avoiding their traps and aggression.

I’m writing to contribute to the continuing exposure of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)’s corrupt capitalist-imperialist system locking up human beings in long-term solitary confinement for decades.

As we know, the anniversary of the 1st hunger strike just passed 1 July 2012. We must remember the three soldados who lost their lives in this battle for our basic human rights and to end all indefinite isolation units (SHUs and Ad-Segs).

And to all who participated and those who gave and continue to give us moral support over our torturous and inhumane conditions of being segregated and placed in solitary confinement, known as CDCR’s SHUs and Ad-Segs “Crypts”, indefinitely with no rights or due process.

It’s also very important we don’t forget about the women and girls locked up in women prisons, Central California Women’s Facility Chowchilla, Valley State Prison for Women, California Institution for Women, White Oaks, CRC, etc. I can’t imagine the hardships and torturous conditions these women/girls have to endure. I would bet my life on it that thousands of these women/girls are also locked away in isolation confinement crypts. So let’s walk side by side with our equal counterparts women and girls who are being isolated to indefinite SHUs, where concerns around living conditions of mental/physical torturous behavior fall on deaf ears.

I know this first hand because I’ve been in solitary confinement indefinitely since 1993 and counting. All we’re asking for is to be treated as humans. Our 5 core demands are very reasonable.

But as the world now knows, California CDCR continues to deny that we are human by placing us in their “crypts” based on lies and making it a priority that we don’t get basic necessities: medical, mental health treatment, human contact with our family, and sunlight.

I ask everyone who is a part of this struggle to join the fight to eliminate unjust solitary confinement.

The prisoncrats will never admit they are terrorist dictators who are allowed to run California’s prisons with no honest oversight or accountability for their terrorist ideology, behavior and actions. They falsely use so-called “prison security concerns” to label thousands of human beings as prison gang members or associates to justify decades of isolation practices.

Attorney Peter Schey, from the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, has filed a petition to the United Nations concerning our solitary confinement. There is also a separate federal civil rights action in motion. This will take time, as we know how the court system operates.

Don’t give up hope, this is gonna be a long battle and journey. A lot of us are stuck in these “crypts” until real change comes. It’s up to us to protect the new generation - so they don’t have to go through torturous inhumane isolation.

Myself and the Revolutionary Order I am co-organizing would like to formally join the United Front/USW. We recognize the 5 principles as essential and they are also woven into and throughout our structure.

We are WOMMB (Warrior’s Order Mobilized for Maximum Building) and we’re focused on personal/social liberation and personal/social re-building, beginning with ourselves and fellow prisoners. Our methods and curriculum will center on rites of passage and initiatory values and structures. We aim to awaken the population, instill discipline, build character and destroy the bourgeois/slave identity. There are codes of conduct to voluntarily follow and a host of topics to be studied and mastered.

I will enclose our communique and 5 point plan/mission statement so that you will have a complete understanding of our position and goals.

We are seeking a relationship/partnership of solidarity, mutual assistance and collective planning and organizing. We would like to know more about MIM(Prisons) and how we can be of service.

We here at Wayne in Goldsboro, NC just received the invite to join the solidarity demonstration, and certain individuals will partake. Not all persons are willingly sacrificial, through lack of guidance and direction. For this reason I am asking for educational material to study and distribute through these dismal crypts.

We as politically conscious soldiers in this great struggle have a large task of making aware the fuckery that the great imperialists are doing through disenfranchisement and psychological warfare known as censorship.

Long live MLM in the United $nakes of Amerikkka!

MIM(Prisons) adds: For more information about the solidarity demonstration read the call from SAMAEL for September 9th.

I don’t want to sound rude or suspicious about MIM but I have to be straight up with you about how I feel pertaining to your activism. I am concerned you have been already infiltrated or you’re a CIA front organization claiming revolutionary organizing. I hope I’m just assuming things, because I have been corresponding and studying with you for several years. A lot of strange suspicious things happened to me like the prison guards and other staff trying to cross me out or set me up, or maybe the COINTELPRO is trying to discourage me. How come every time somebody gets involved with MIM it seems like that person gets either killed or in big trouble? Seems to me someone infiltrated your movement.

MIM(Prisons) responds: It’s important that everyone approach security and organizing as carefully as this comrade does. We know that revolutionary movements are infiltrated all the time, from Lenin’s COMINTERN to the Black Panther Party to MIM and beyond. The best we can do is force our comrades to demonstrate their correct line in practice, and never take people’s word for their revolutionary commitment. If someone claims to be a comrade but puts forth a dangerous line (i.e. pushing people into armed struggle that will get them killed and set back the movement), or talks a lot but never does any work, we should view them with suspicion.

Similarly, it’s good to question why repression comes down on you after association with an individual or organization. In prison, unfortunately this could just mean you are working with a genuinely progressive outside group, as the authorities can read all your mail and will punish you for working with such groups. We have countless examples of progressive organizations being labeled “security threat groups.”

One of the reasons we encourage organizing in a cell structure is to limit comrades’ exposure to others. You can do good work with people at arm’s length, forming cells with those you know and trust. But in most cases, we recommend comrades in prison stay in touch with MIM(Prisons) (and others), despite the risks, because of the need to access both theoretical and practical information to help you organize.

The danger of infiltration wherever we are is why we disagree with many who say we should only work with prisoners in general population and we should isolate SNY prisoners. In our article on “Security in the Prison Movement” we argued, “We see this as a line struggle. Anyone can pretend to be USW inside, just like anyone can pretend to represent MIM(Prisons) or Maoism. If they uphold the line set forth by the vanguard organization and/or movement, then they’re out there working to advance the struggle.”

Everyone should approach working with groups claiming revolutionary politics with caution. It is possible the CIA is producing Under Lock & Key or other publications like it, just to identify the “trouble maker” prisoners. But if you read the pages of ULK you should be able to determine if the line and actions of our members and supporters are correct. In the end, if the CIA really was behind this good publication and its good work, we might be getting more out of that infiltration than they are.

I write in solidarity with those involved with the censorship campaign. Power to those who down to struggle, and up to win. Today while on the kennel cage rec yard I was approached by a California State Prison Corcoran (CSPC) employee representing a flawed mail room, carrying an envelope addressed to the young cadre sent from MIM Distributors containing MIM Theory 7 in one hand and a CDCR 602 appeal in the other.

After months of going back and forth between the Appeal Coordinator and the mail room, utilizing a combination of the institutional informal correspondence system and the appeals procedures, CSPC finally figured out that I was building a paper trail capable of exposing their mail censorship practices against those they deem paper-terrorists.

The staff gave me the MT 7 journal, after previously saying that the journal was a violation against California Correctional Regulations for supposedly inciting riots and so on. They instructed me to either withdraw the complaint or settle it if I wanted the MT 7. Of course I settled it to preserve the right of the appeal for the breach of settlement agreement. Because of their COINTEL B.$. they’ve delayed my study group participation, and I’ve got a lot to do to catch up. But with hard work comes hard results.

Comrades should note that this incident of CSPC issuing me MIM Theory 7: Revolutionary Nationalism is proof that not only are they profiling MIM Distributors with bogus censorships claiming safety and security, but also their claims hold no weight in the people’s court.

Upon deep review/research, I’ve been completely unable to find any Oregon Law (ORS) to justify and allow the prisons in this state to charge prisoners fines. There is no law allowing it. But there is a law saying only a judge can change/impose fines of any kind. “The Oregon Property Protection Act of 2000” prohibits the forfeitures of property and funds, without a criminal conviction involving that property: article 15 section 10(2)(b), section(3), section 10(7)(b) of the Oregon constitution. Also, “the property of a person should not be forfeited in a forfeiture proceeding by the government unless and until that person is convicted of a crime involving that property.”(10)(3) The Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) is a political subdivision of the state.

Well, ODOC has taken it upon themselves to impose fines of hundreds of dollars and automatically withdraw the money from an inmates account. Normally, to withdraw money from our account we need to sign/and authorize them to do it by signing a CD28 giving permission. So what they are doing amounts to theft! And is part of their money making racketeering illegal bullshit. Yet they’ll never get charged with racketeering because it’s okay when pigs break the laws.

Also, there is a new tool the imperial swine have up here for ensuring their prison population grows. It’s called Measure 57. In the past 10 years the female prison population has grown by 86% because of the lengthening of prison sentences for drug offenses and property crimes. And this measure will more than likely affect females more than men. (Source: Justice Matters Spring 2012 issue)

The grievance process is a joke here. I’ve filled my allotted six a month every month on every single rule violation that happens and none of them have gotten anything other than “we find no evidence in your claim.”

MIM(Prisons) responds: We commend this comrade for researching how the Oregon prisons are violating the State’s own laws. It’s important that we fight these battles because there are so many laws allowing oppression, those few that we can use to defend the rights of the oppressed must be publicized. It is very common for the pigs to ignore the law, and it’s true that they are rarely punished for this.

But we can use these laws to our advantage. The grievance process is just a start. The campaign to demand our grievances be addressed is another tactic in this fight. We have petitions for many states that can be used to fight against the systematic denial of grievances by building support among the prisoner masses. Write to MIM(Prisons) for a copy of the one for your state, or if we don’t have one help us customize the petition to your state. Legal research and writing like this comrade is doing is essential to our struggle against the imperialist system as a whole.

I received the questions on reformatting the petitions. In my opinion, yes, this should be applied to MIM (Prisons)’s already-written grievance petition. I say this because in my response to the grievance petition I submitted to the NC Director of Division of Prisons, it was mentioned that I had no specific complaint on why I filed the petition - in which I resubmitted the petition and attached my complaint. This helped change the grievance system at Foothills, where I was previously housed at.

Also I noted a problem that would be difficult to resolve. In the response to my petition, which I have sent to MIM(Prisons), they listed all the grievances I had filed while on that unit at Foothills. The grievances which were thrown away or didn’t get turned in to unit managers weren’t listed. So it was difficult to prove I ever turned it in without reviewing the cameras. It was still difficult to prove that the papers I turned in were truly grievances.

This problem we had at Foothills changed how grievances were processed. Now it has to be signed by the receiving officer in front of you and your copy is returned right there. Also this “new” petition only regards appeals and not actual grievance forms - which is the main problem. We wouldn’t have to appeal if the regular grievance process was fixed.

Miércoles 9 de mayo del 2012, Youngstown, OH. El pasado lunes 7 de mayo, después de largas negociaciones con el administrador carcelero David Bobby, llegó a su fin la huelga de hambre de los prisioneros recluidos en la Penitenciaría Estatal de Ohio. Dos de los hombres se mantuvieron en huelga hasta el día Martes debido a su insatisfacción con los términos del acuerdo. Luego de una reunión adicional con el director carcelero, los dos últimos huelguistas acordaron también terminar la protesta. El director Bobby reportó que “para la hora del almuerzo del día de hoy, todos estaban comiendo.” Esto fue confirmado por dos fuentes independientes de prisioneros.

En este momento los detalles del acuerdo son poco claros, pero algunas fuentes dicen que los huelguistas están satisfechos y creen haber alcanzado resultados positivos. Una fuente describió las demandas y la respuesta del director como “razonables.” Sin entrar en detalles, las peticiones principales hacían referencia al costo de productos en la tienda del penal, al monto de remuneración laboral a los presos, a los costos de telefonía, al tiempo de estadía y a las duras penalidades por violaciones insignificantes a las reglas. El director afirmó que había discutido “muchos asuntos” en la reunión del día lunes con representantes de los huelguistas, “muchas cosas más allá de las demandas principales,” pero que no revelaría ningún detalle.

Los huelguistas están descansando y recuperándose, pero han enviado por correo información detallada a quienes desde afuera les han apoyado, como es el caso de Redbird Prison Abolition (Abolición de la Prisión el Pájaro Rojo) - información que será revelada al público tan pronto como sea posible. El director admitió que uno de los huelguistas fue transferido a segregación administrativa por violaciones a las reglas institucionales no relacionadas con la huelga, pero agregó que no habrá retalación o castigo alguno a quienes participaron en la huelga de hambre. Una de las fuentes de prisioneros está de acuerdo con esa declaración.

La huelga de hambre comenzó el 30 de abril y fue programada para coincidir con protestas del Día de Mayo en las afueras de la prisión.

MIM(Prisiones) añade: Esta huelga de hambre demandó numerosas reformas a las condiciones de vida en la prisión. Al igual que otras huelgas de hambre en otros estados como California, la administración de la prisión hizo promesas para conseguir que los detenidos terminasen la huelga. Por lo menos un prisionero continuó la huelga de hambre el 4 de junio luego de que el director carcelero fallase en implementar sus promesas.(1)

Las huelgas de hambre se están convirtiendo en una táctica popular cada vez más frecuente en la lucha contra el sistema de injusticia criminal. Los detenidos son forzados a asumir una posición donde hay muy poco que ellos puedan hacer para luchar por sus derechos. El sistema legal se rehusa a responder, los formularios de quejas son ignorados o destruidos, y en las calles hay más apoyo por la política de “dureza contra el crimen,” que por los derechos de los prisioneros. Es así como los prisioneros sienten que su única elección es el colocar sus vidas en riesgo al rehusarse a comer.

MIM(Prisiones) apoya los comienzos de la organización y lucha contra el sistema de injusticia criminal. Urgimos a los prisioneros activistas a tomar con seriedad la necesidad de estudio y organización antes de tomar acción. No todos serán comunistas, pero todos podemos avanzar nuestra teoría y práctica a través del estudio y la discusión. Necesitamos teoría organizacional para hacer mejor uso de la unidad y de la acción. Aquellos que están listos para unirse contra el sistema de injusticia deben estudiar la Declaración de principios del frente unido de paz. Discutan con nosotros si usted está en desacuerdo con alguno de los principios, pero si está de acuerdo, únanse a los prisioneros a lo largo del país para construir nuestra unidad y nuestra lucha.

Notes: (1) Redbird Prison Abolition; http://www.redbirdprisonabolition.org/2012/06/statement-from-osp-hunger-striker.html