Under Lock & Key

A lot of people are always talking about what’s going on and what needs to be done but who’s trying to change anything? More action and less talking! You can’t just stand around and watch or talk about things no more cause they (prison officials and government) only respect “action.”

If you want to change the conditions in which you are confined, or how the government is running things “act on it.” A closed mouth don’t get fed. Real talk!

Start a group and write every week to publicize what is happening. We can’t just talk anymore. Did Dr. King, Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X, etc just sit back and talk? No! If you believe in something you’ve got to fight for it, like those before us did, nothing comes easy.

Each day I wake up don’t shit change
Everything’s still the same oppression & injustice
We all see it, talk about it, read about it
But who’s gon’ be the one 2
stand up fight & die about it
change by any means necessary
Maoist put the fire in me
Communism burn deep within me
& change & anti-imperialism is our goal
so stand up, fight, till the soul

In August of this year (2010), a prisoner and myself got into a confrontation about some stamps (verbal confrontation). We were on SEG (segregation) so we couldn’t get to each other, so instead of waiting till we come down he decided to set me up via mail containing STG(Security Threat Group) material. He used these gulags weakness and ignorance to set me up; them being ignorant of proper rules and regulations which orders them to mark all outgoing mail with the correct prisoner’s cell number. Knowing they don’t follow this rule which is set for obvious reason, he slid the mail out and the next morning the STG Sergeant White was at my door with my “rights” in hand.

Dumbfounded and confused (for I did not know what was going on as of yet) I asked what have I been written up for. He informed me that I had been written up for an A-14 which is the possession of anything related - by their opinion - to a PCO or STG. He told me it was for some mail I sent out which left me even more confused (for I still didn’t know I had been set up as of yet). He asked would I like to write a statement and I did so saying “I haven’t sent any mail out in two weeks, something is not right, this is obviously a set up! Rewind the camera, cameras do not lie!” I requested physical evidence at my hearing by checking the correct box on the statement form, and asked for camera review. Sgt. White informed me that they would review the camera which would show clearly if I had sent any mail out for the camera was somewhat directly in front of my door.

In the days leading up to my hearing my suspicion as to who set me up was confirmed after asking “tell the truth, did you do it?” a couple of times. The prisoner apologized and confessed to me that he set me up and after we solved the difficulties between us he manned up and actually wrote a confession, admitting it was he who sent the mail (in his exact words) “in retaliation.” Along with his confession, I managed to collect five other statements verifying that they heard the confession, making it six statements in all.

On the day of my hearing, I walk into the DHO’s office (Disciplinary Hearing Officer) with all the confidence in the world that I was about to beat this charge. When I sat down he said to me “well we can’t review the camera but this should be all the evidence we need” he said referring to my handwriting on the statement form. His idea was to compare my handwriting which I thought would also help me out.

I questioned him as to why he was not going to review the camera when I requested physical evidence to be at my hearing. He said comparison of the handwriting was all he deeded (which is circumstantial not physical). I did not understand how evidence that could prove my innocence could be denied. I then tried to give him the confession and the other five statements which he also denied! Saying “I don’t need that.”

You don’t need that? What? Evidence proving my innocence, both camera and statements, were denied. I was later told that “this is not a regular court of law.” Seriously! even if it’s not a “Regular court of law” all evidence must be reviewed in order to determine if I’m guilty or innocent. The end result was me being found guilty and now I’m sitting on segregation for an additional six months for something I had evidence that proves I’m innocent and they were aware of the evidence but denied reviewing it at my hearing.

Recently I ran across the Jailhouse Lawyer’s Handbook and I’m in the process of learning how to properly file a lawsuit. Further information is always helpful to aid in my battle against this corrupted facility. Violence is not intended by me… I will walk this out as legally as possible. I would like to hear some input on what you think about this case.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This is yet another example of false validation of prisoners who are being locked in control units. See the link below for more on our campaign against control units.

I recently received the book I requested from you, Agents of Repression by Ward Churchill. Man, that was one of the most enlightening books on the problems inherent in political work that I have read up to this point. Yea, it doesn’t matter if they “officially” disbanded COINTELPRO operations or not. It still continues, especially in the ever increasing decadence of the U.$.

I’ve since passed the book on. I will try to get it into the hands (and heads) of as many dissidents as possible, whatever their nationality or political persuasion. A lot of people are disgruntled with the actions and policies of the U.$. government, people that you may even have opposing interest with, yet the biggest hindrance to the realization of any of these various groups’ political objectives is the ever-powerful merchant class of the U.$.

I find a lot of dissidents are completely ignorant to the fact that once they begin organizing, recruiting, agitating, or educating people to a non-status-quo way of thinking, they become a target. Whether they like it or not, know it or not. To fail to prepare against dirty ol’ uncle sam’s counter measures is disastrous.

I was released in 2006 and jumped straight into political activities. Some government interference was expected and even noticed, like surveillance, harassment and the like. A lot of the tactics in the book I had strongly suspected but had little or no proof, or was not sure enough about to take irreversible action.

In any case, to sum it all up, one of our members was manipulated into a position that resulted in the deaths of two members. Then a high level plant set him up to be arrested but resulted in the deaths of two more detectives who tried to apprehend him. The member died in a hail of police bullets, 62 I believe.

I realize all this is extremely counterproductive and only served as justification to expand their expense/infiltration budget on us. I’ve seen the best of these FBI plants/informants. I know one who instigates, solicits, and sometimes, even orders crimes as his dual role as a ranking organizational dissident, then sends in dirty ol’ uncle sam to arrest the criminals, that are only criminals by virtue of the fact that they followed his direction! Yea, I’ve had this same plant try to kill my pregnant fiance, and only succeed in causing the death of the child. I can show you statements where this same FBI plant is being snitched on by another snitch that doesn’t know he was set up by the FBI plant or even that he is an FBI plant. Yet he explains in detail how the FBI guy is beating pregnant women with bats, etc.

I know no charges will ever be filed against their own, and personally, if I could regain my freedom I would rather charges were never pressed; I certainly wouldn’t testify. I see it as a great contradiction to turn to the same system you hate to seek aid in the dissolution of, to turn around and seek their help in the pursuit of justice. I’ll get my own justice, if I can ever regain my temporary freedom.

MIM(Prisons) replies: There have been a number of stories in the last couple weeks of young men being arrested on terrorism charges after being set up by Federal agents to commit violent acts. Knowing the art of war and understanding the stage of struggle we are in are easy ways to avoid many attacks used by COINTELPRO. Real comrades prove themselves through consistent hard work and dedication, not through acts of bravado.

On the issue of the Grievance Campaign (page 8, ULK16), first off, we are Alaska DOC prisoners at a Cornell Company corrections facility, which GEO Group (formerly Wakenhut Corrections) just bought into. The grievance system at this private for profit facility is a total farce. The grievance coordinator, as with most other employees at this corrupt facility, is totally untrained. His name is Rob Marseden, and he has no clue of the Alaska DOC policies and procedures, ACA standards, etc.

If the grievance is replied to at all, it is not in the specified time frame and is always devoid of merit and factually incredible. All grievances are frivolous, according to the corrupt facility heads, Rick Veach Superintendent, and his two cronies Williams and Vineyard. So yes, we have an extreme problem with the grievance system at this totally corrupt and illegally operated facility.

I am in the SHU MOD due to a confrontation with a Cornell employee in May. I am denied the grievance system by the corrupt superintendent, who claims I filed too many grievances over staff misconduct, the garbage served as food, which is in non-compliance, and medical.

MIM(Prisons) responds:
This is just one of many letters we get from prisoners across the country who can not use the administrative system of grievances to address wrongdoings by the criminal injustice system. Without being able to show a process of internal grieving, prisoners in the U.$. are not allowed access to the external courts to plead their case either. This pattern underlines the need for independent institutions of the oppressed to fight for basic humyn rights.

We are campaigning to get grievances effectively addressed, and to expose the corruption and oppression going on behind bars. Contact us for more information and to get a copy of the petition to join an existing campaign or to start organizing in your state.

I am currently in an Administrative Segregation Unit (ASU) for nothing. I guess you can call it mistaken identity or racial profiling. A group of about eight prisoners (Blacks) got into a fist fight. The pigs rounded up 21 of us and placed us in ASU for participation in a riot. The people who were actually involved fessed up to it like men in order to get the rest of us cut loose who had nothing to do with the incident. But the pigs didn’t want to hear the truth. They placed us in ASU and two days later sent three pigs to interview us one at a time and again the parties involved tried to accept the blame and the pigs told them they were lying. Since no one wanted to tell them what the issue was that started the fight, they decided to issue us all a CDC-115 Rule Violation Report, which is punishable by a 90 day time add and up to six months in the SHU.

These pigs had all 21 of us sitting on the hard asphalt handcuffed for nine hours. After which they put us in ASU and didn’t give us a blanket to sleep under. We were handcuffed for so long without being allowed to drink water, one guy actually passed out and hit his head on the concrete. The pigs and the medical staff did nothing. Two of the brothers went on a hunger strike in protest. One guy lasted eight days. The other guy went for 19 days before they came and took him to the medical facility.

Incidents like this are prerequisites to gang validation. By participating in group disturbances you are being labeled by the administration as an “associate” of a particular group/gang. Three CDC-115 Rule Violation Reports for participation in a riot is grounds for an indeterminate SHU placement. This alone makes you a potential candidate for gang validation. Another way they get you is by the group you congregate with. In this territorial, tribal environment of the prison yard a person has no choice but to hang around the people they know and are comfortable around. You don’t have to be a gang member but the pigs are going to label you an “associate” and as such if those people from that group get into something and get locked down, the “associate” gets lockdown too. The same goes for your cellmate.

Here in CDCR you can’t choose your cell mate. You have to go where they put you or get a 115 and go to ASU. Now if they house you with a gang member then you get the label of being an “associate” of that gang. Then you have to go through a whole gauntlet of stuff to get that label removed. After they tie you in with a certain amount of “misconduct” with a group they label you as being a “member” of then you’ll end up spending the duration of your prison sentence in the SHU unless you “Debrief.” And once you debrief you’re headed to an SNY. A lot of guys get labeled just based on where you live.

To avoid this process a lot of guys are opting to go to a SNY straight off the fish bus, only to find the same stuff going on on the SNY. Once you go SNY, for whatever reason, you can never go back to GP. All the stuff going on at High Desert is nothing but a divide and conquer strategy. Some of those guys are going to break rank and tell pigs whatever they want to hear, even if it’s a lie, to get out of that situation. You see these pigs are playing chess and they’re aggressively attacking the pawns in order to get the king. And if they have to lock us all up until all they have is whole prisons full of snitches, then that’s what they’re going to do.

We as prisoners in this imperialist u.s. prison system need to stop pointing fingers. There’s nothing wrong with constructive criticism. If the criticism is not aimed at uplifting the person or people being criticized then it does no good. Stop calling out names and singling out groups. Instead reach one teach one. Don’t be a commentator, be an inspirator and a motivator. The revolution will not happen overnight. We’re up against a powerful enemy. It took Blacks four hundred years to break the chains of slavery only to become slaves to capitalism. Now we have to figure out a way to break these chains. It’s going to take a group effort. You push me, I’ll pull you. Push, Pull, Strive! And together we’ll rise!

This concrete hell is a way to attack our foundations as righteous men. In Texas we have to stay clean shaven, shirts tucked in, everyone wears white, we have to keep our hair cuts low, these are all ways to strip us of our identity. It’s a form of psychological warfare, just like the idea of commissary, TV, radios, minimum custody, medium custody, trusties, all that ain’t nothing but a carrot dangling on a stick… these are tactics and tools they use to add on to their strategy of total control.

You have brothers who will let a pig slap them, before they try to do anything they rather tell on the pig. They make us dependent on the pigs for everything we need to sustain us in here, this place is a constant reminder that war is already being waged on us and it’s time to resist. A lot of brothers will kill each other but refuse to kill a pig when the pigs oppress them every day. Texas is one of the places where prisoners take the side of the pigs, if you hurt a pig, a prisoner will want to hurt you before they do.

These peers get mad because they can’t do certain things because some comrades are on demonstration with the pigs, the pigs will make everyone’s time “harder” by not letting them pass stuff, these dudes will actually cheep for the pigs when you fight them.

The psychological warfare over here at the Gib Lewis Unit is out of control. The pigs beat people at least 3 times a week. They starve us, they taunt us, they refuse us recreation and yet these cats still refuse to see them as enemies. I try to educate them along with another comrade who is in touch with y’all also. We get on the tier and we preach this revolutionary life. This is what we are supposed to do, hopefully more brothers will open their eyes.

I received the Prisoners’ Legal Clinic letter dated 4 October 2010. I am very glad to see that we’re making excellent progress in bringing our ideas together to develop an energetic foundation. MIM(Prisons) has been faithful in their constant commitment to battling oppression. Therefore, I’d like to continue to contribute to this movement and participate in its progressive legal work.

I am obligated to challenge the inhumane conditions of confinement. I wouldn’t go so far as indicating that I enjoy doing the litigation part, because it is very confusing. But I have a strong desire to change things for all of us who are oppressed.

I have been in solitary confinement for eight years, and because of the economic crisis around the world, Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) has been susceptible to providing sub-standard conditions. Thus I am currently litigating three §1983 federal civil rights complaints. I am hoping to bring my complaints to the courts in an effort to change policy and procedure, but I’m afraid that significant change comes from the legislators, who of course engineers these illegal laws that keep us further oppressed. I understand the real solution is socialism, and the only way to obtain it is in pieces.

I am currently setting the paper trail (framework) to the censorship repression I am experiencing at this time. The policy seems to be used as a safeguard to hinder the process of my studies. Furthermore, it’s denying me my Constitutional right to freedom of speech (First Amendment). So I am hoping to be part of these grievance petitions and censorship campaigns.

I am in the process of distributing the grievance petitions to the proper officials out here in Arizona. I have the copies ready to be sent out, but like a comrade in the Prisoners’ Legal Clinic said,

“I cannot see how the DOJ would be willing to assist us when it’s likely their office is instructing, or giving guidance to, the institutions’ appeals coordinators to screen out legitimate grievances at all cost, in an effort to frustrate our access to the courts.”

I agree with this comrade. I basically think our grievance petitions go unheard anywhere we address them. But I think if we are going to get any consideration outside the court, it’ll be through Senators or legislators. If you can suggest some things that would be a blessing to me, I have no experience or knowledge. But I’m extremely motivated and I must try. Because once I can’t try any more, at least I can say “I tried.” So sign me up.

MIM(Prisons) responds: Many people are afraid to start making change because they don’t know where to start, or they are intimidated because they have no experience. This comrade’s attitude toward learning something new is one that we would all do well to adopt.

We agree with h assessment that there are levels to change, with overthrowing capitalism being the only way to eliminate the source of these abuses. Even if new laws are put in place that make it harder for prison administrators and employees to obstruct the grievance process, their effect will be limited without independent power from organizing the oppressed. One reason we support reform of the grievance process is because it makes more space for this valuable organizing work.

If you would like to get involved in the campaign for the proper handling of grievances, write to MIM(Prisons) or follow the campaign page link below.

Your article on gang validation in ULK 17 was on point. I’m in a California state prison and every word that he spoke on was true, you have to watch what you say, who you with, what you read and receive and basically what you have in your cell.

Pictures, articles or drawings of George, Jonathan, a guerilla, gang banging and even some Muslim literature is not allowed. It’s a shame that there is a long list of books that you cannot have because they say that it promotes unwanted activity, when in reality they just want to limit your understanding of the injustices that have been going on for decades in the system.

They have taken everything from us and are still taking everything from us; things that the ones before us shed blood, lost their lives, and are still locked up in the SHU fighting for. Every day it’s something and by design you can’t win fighting by their rules.

I just wanted to give big respect to y’all for this newsletter telling the real.

MIM(Prisons) responds: While the rules are set up to keep people in their place, we have strategic confidence in our ability to win. This is based in the fact that most people in the world suffer under the oppression of imperialism and have an interest in overthrowing it. By connecting the struggles of prisoners in the U.$. with the Third World workers, peasants and lumpen we will be on the right side of history.

My heart cries the tears of blood
As it feels for my ancestors’ pain and anguish
Our culture and territory was compromised
By plague-infested, greed-inspired pigs
Oppressed by racism and a foreign religion
Our ancestors watched as our culture was burned
But the culture could never be burned from our blood
So while my heart cries tears of blood
It beats pride and honor inherited from my ancestors

I find it necessary to breath,
or collapse, as my strength fades away.
I find it necessary to read,
or collapse, as my intelligence fades away.
By hiding the books the master controls the ignorant men,
How can we be “equal” or “greater”? If we don’t even
know what those words mean
Who makes the money?
Those who know how to count.
Who makes the music?
Those who know how to play.
A map is worthless, unless you know the way…