Under Lock & Key

They thought that this would break me
They tried to tear me down
Confinement made my mind get stronger
You should hear me now
I wasn’t hip to all their tricks
They had me stuck before
I had to grow but now I know just what it’s hitting for
Their mission is divide and conquer
Their goal is menticide
We must protect our minds from them
Don’t let them get inside
Cus if they do
then they’ll use you to do the dirty work
Unconsciously they’ll make you be the bringer of the hurt
Unity’s ingredients are power, strength and love
And if we come together we will surely rise above
Divided, we are midgets with no hope to ever rise
But together we’re a giant who can choke them till they die.

I’m writing in regards to a letter I had read asking for us prisoners to provide art in order to convey the message of injustice in prison. As you know in prison there are many unjust actions that occur on a daily basis so there is a lot to draw on. However, one of the many recent hardships brought upon us Mexicans (specifically northerners) is a mass validation sweep in High Desert State Prison on 8/4/09. 58 northern hispanics were taken off the mainline without due process and stuck in Ad-Seg (Z unit). Now we are all diligently striving to appeal these false fabricated lies on our people but administration has found a new way to hinder our progress by preventing us ample time to go to the law library, making it difficult to get Title 15s, make copies, etc.

I am a prisoner at Northeast Correctional Center. For 17 months I have been on max (solitary confinement) for assault on a prisoner with major injuries. It was a gang fight, and a bunch of us ended up on max. With an assault charge they are supposed to hold us for six months to a year. But here in the rebel state of Tennessee they got what they call election day, the day they sign a new government into the state office. That takes up to a yeer, the year when the government changes, the wardens around the state of Prisons of Tennessee change also, which also takes up to a year. Being that election day is around the corner, the warden here where I am housed has decided to hold us prisoners until the government has changed and the wardens have changed. We will be housed here until 2012 with a whole bunch of time here on max and a bunch of problems, from racial slurs to profanity, these COs try to keep us prisoners out the box, and you have some prisoners who can’t control their tempers and quickly lash out, which leads to more write ups and more time in max. I feel that this is wrong.

The Texas prison system is fucked up. We were the last state to get telephones in the units. Our governor called phone privileges pacifiers. We inmates have so few privileges it is sad. I believe we are the only state that doesn’t pay the inmates to work. we get “good time credits” but the good time credits don’t count if you are an aggravated offender or if your custody level is high.

Texas definitely endorses slavery. If you refuse to work they take away what few privileges we do have. I have now been in this cell for three weeks without drinking water. If I want any water I have to get it out of the toilet like I am a dog. Grievances don’t work here because when we get them back they all have the same answer on them “officer denies allegation no further action will be taken at this time.”

Censorship is crazy here. They ban books by Mao, Lenin and Stalin. But we can get books on genocide, ethnic cleansing, Adolph Hitler, and the K. I have actually seen a book called The Hitler We Loved and Why by Christof Friedrich and Eric Thompson. Friedrich is a Nazi sympathizer and should have been imprisoned for his active role in genocide. I am including an article from the Austin American Statesman on the redundancy of the censorship. The article is titled Variety of Books Banned in Prison.

Medical conditions here are no better. Back in January I was being treated for H. Pylori virus. It is a virus that lives in well water. The system has prevented us from filing a class action lawsuit on it. They claim that we could have got it in the free world. While I was being treated for H. Pylori half the unit along with myself came down with the Novo Virus. The officials said that we got it from the food. What I can’t understand is why only half the unit came down with it and the other half didn’t.

Now I want to take a little time talking about racism. It is not just corporate white colonizers that are the bigots. But it goes on in every nationality. We need to set aside skin color and look at the bigger pictures. Communist leadership and rule was formed to go against imperialism and capitalist bullshit. It is not a movement against whites. From what I understand, Marx, Lenin and Stalin were all white. There are too many people of the Latino and Black race who are caught up in the imperialist and capitalist movement for it to be only the whites to be put down like they are in some of the articles. When it comes to the U$ imperialists the only color that I can see is green. So stop hating on skin color. The only way we can make a change is to put race aside. Remember, we are all red inside.

MIM(Prisons) responds: While we share this reader’s call for unity among all people fighting for communism, we do not agree that whites should be equated with other nationalities within U$ borders. The reality of Amerika is national oppression, and whites enjoy the role of oppressor. Historically, being Amerikan has been defined by pseudo-scientific ideas of race. As other groups become more integrated into the amerikan nation, the idea of race could become less significant, but Amerika would still be the oppressor nation.

We don’t believe in race, so we would never say that whites can’t join the revolutionary struggle, but when we talk about whites as a group we have to recognize their role as an oppressor nation. Whites do have to work against their national interests to join the revolutionary struggle. Similarly, all free U$ citizens have class/economic interests that they must work against to join the revolutionary struggle.

Los Estados Unidos es el crisol de culturas del mundo. Un poco de todo y de todos habita esta tierra. Mejor dicho, es la tierra de la oportunidad ¿pues qué más se puede esperar, no? De norte a sur, de este a oeste, gente está haciendo hasta lo imposible para llegar hasta esta tierra de lamento. Por supuesto que es la tierra de las oportunidades, claro, de la oportunidad de ser golpeado, derrotado, pisoteado y escupido por todos lados.

Mientras la gente del Tercer Mundo o de los países empobrecidos están bajo la falsa percepción de que este es el lugar idóneo para estar y progresar, haciendo cualquier intento necesario para llegar hasta aquí; la agencia militar del ICE se sienta desde arriba de la cerca de púas y espera el momento oportuno para brincar sobre sus espaldas y, o bien, permitir la explotación de su trabajo o enviarlos de regreso a su desastroso ambiente del cuál están huyendo.

Siendo un individuo nacido aquí en estos Estados (Des)unidos, viviendo entre los mismos imperialistas, mi opinión sobre el tema de la situación fronteriza o del encarcelamiento de otros camaradas de otros países—que desean mejorar su situación por tomar un poco de lo que estas serpientes imperialistas han tomado de ellos—puede ser tomada como la de una persona que está mirando desde afuera.

Pero confíe y créame, que soy un hermano mirando desde adentro. No soy ciudadano U$, tampoco soy amerikkkano. Mi padre es descendiente Samoano y mi madre es descendiente de África, punto. Soy inmigrante junto con todos los individuos en este país desunido que no es indígena. Colón y su escuadrón llegaron de Europa huyendo de malas condiciones y buscando una oportunidad para mejorar sus condiciones y escaparse del hambre capitalista de la reina. ¿Dónde estaba el ICE en ese entonces? En el mismo barco del Mayflower que trajo el primer cargamento de esclavos africanos, probablemente él era el hijo de puta que manejaba la nave. Cuando uno piensa sobre la fundación de los E.U. como un país desunido se debe pensar en los inmigrantes y salta-fronteras de esta tierra. Todo desde los ingleses, los alemanes, los franceses, hasta los holandeses y irlandeses fueron los que llegaron a esta tierra infringiendo a los nativos.

La única diferencia entre ellos y muchos inmigrantes del tercer mundo es que éstos no pueden permanecer mucho tiempo bajo el sol sin quemarse, ni tienen ojos rasgados ni pelo crespo ni saben lo mínimo acerca del comunismo. Ellos son blancos. Ellos nada más buscan el crecimiento y desarrollo imperialista de su raza blanca, y la destrucción de la gente del tercer mundo y el espíritu comunista. Ahora, no estoy jugando la carta racista aquí, así que no lo tomen como si, pero para poder tratar efectivamente este problema necesitamos dirigir el hecho subrayado de la ideología imperialista blanca y el concepto de supremacía blanca. Desde el principio de la expansión colonial, el hombre blanco a estado delegando una campaña en la cual él es el hombre superior del planeta tierra y todos deben arrodillarse frente a él y su semilla, alabándolos siempre. En su campaña le ha declarado guerra a todas las naciones que niegan reconocer esta supuesta superioridad y intentan no sólo suprimir estas naciones sino suspenderlos de su existencia (i.e. las primeras naciones de Norte América). Cuando los esclavos africanos empezaron a escaparse del rebaño de sus dueños y comenzaron a causarle tremendo dolor a la señorita libertada, los europeos pronto respondieron con la KKK, que al cambio intentaron de desanimar a los africanos a que huyeran por medio de ataques terroristas. No es muy diferente hoy en día excepto que dejan sus batas blancas y suásticas en casa. Cuando piensas en la agencia de ICE y a lo que se dedican, lo único que les falta son las batas blancas.

Permiten que la gente de países pobres entren al país saltando fronteras, les permiten que trabajen en los campos de algodón, o bodegas, y después en cuanto de pronto ya no necesitan de la mano de obra barata los mandan a un nuevo “campo de control social” o los mandan fuera de los Estados Unidos y de regreso a su país asolado por la guerra imperialista.

O se ama o se odia, o se acepta o se niega. La única manera de eliminar el problema fronterizo es acabar con el imperialismo y su ideología que lo mantiene vivo.

MIM(prisiones) responde: Mientras sobre todo correcto, este camarada falla en distinguir entre la ciudadanía de un país y la nacionalidad. Estamos de acuerdo que, en este país, para estar al lado del opresor uno debe renunciar cualquier la pertenencia a la nación yanqui. También estamos de acuerdo que hay varias nacionales en Norte américa y muchos de ellos sufren de la opresión de las nacionales amerikanas y kanadiences. Esto es señalado en el rechazo de derechos propietarios, aprisionamiento masivo, guerra química por medio de narcóticos, el alto paso de muertos por enfermedades prevenibles y terrorismo policiaco de la policía estatal.

No obstante, siendo un miembro de una nación opresiva en Norte américa no significa que no seas ciudadano. La diferencia siendo en que, como ciudadano puedes trabajar legalmente y ganar mala paga, a pesar que ya es bastante más difícil conseguir el puesto para uno que para los blancos. Aunque migrantes a veces pueden ganar mucho más que otros en el tercer mundo, ellos enfrentan explotación aquí en los e$tado$ unido$, y otras formas de opresión que muchos ciudadanos legales no necesitan temer.

Estamos de acuerdo con la idea de que este compañero no es un ciudadanos de E.E.U.U. debido a la posición de prisionero del Estado.
Miramos hacia prisioneros y migrantes adentro del país como fuerzas revolucionarias potentes porque no disfrutan de plenos derechos de la ciudadanía. Aparte del hecho de que más y más presos son inmigrantes, esta es la conexión que hace que el tema de los migrantes sea muy importante para los presos de este país. La lucha de liberación nacional será dirigida por los que entre los oprimidos que tienen un gran interés frente al imperialismo.

La analogía entre I.C.E. y la KKK está sumamente a la medida, aunque diríamos que “los Minute Men” son el comparativo más directo. Pero ICE se diferencia en que sus agentes son muy bien pagados por lo que hacen, no solamente voluntarios de su nación. Los dos juegan una parte en el manejo de las naciones de esta gente explotada para el beneficio de su nación.

Una nota final sobre las definiciones, una pregunta que ha surgido en la discusión de este tema es cómo se utilizan los términos “migrante”, “inmigrante” y “no ciudadano”. Como se mencionó anteriormente, los no ciudadanos son personas sin derechos de ciudadanía legal, y en los prisioneros de E.E.U.U, mientras que por lo general legalmente a los ciudadanos, se le podría incluir en este grupo o al menos considerados ciudadanos parciales. Los inmigrantes y los migrantes no son ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos. Sin embargo, un inmigrante es alguien que se muda a otro lugar para vivir. Los migrantes son personas que viajan de un lugar a otro con el fin de encontrar trabajo. Puede que no tengan un hogar, pero a menudo no tienen una familia que envían dinero y prefiere estar con ella.

We talk a lot about what’s going on in the prison system but what about what’s going on in the county jails? The Los Angeles County Jail (MCJ) where the infamous headquarters is located is like CDCR’s notorious “green wall”. Operation Safe Jail (OSJ) is no more than a prison gang, more so than those who are validated and serving time in CDCR’s SHU facilities. Just like the green wall, they bet on human cock fights and beat you down to the point where you can’t even walk anymore. In prison I dropped out of a prison gang and have been doing my time in SNY facilities also know as PC (Protected Custody).

In August 2009, as I was getting booked through the LA County Jail processes and being interviewed by officers. I informed them that I was put on the hit list by a [lumpen organization] member and was put in PC in State Prison and that I should be put into PC in the county jail as well since I still do fear for my life and safety. They housed me in high power fish roll 4500 for 3 weeks with no contact with anybody, no visit, no phone calls, nothing. After that I was interviewed by OSJ and I explained to them my situation and they promised to put me in PC. But to my surprise they lied to me because I was declassed to General Population. I did start to refuse but officers grabbed me, by twisting my arms they forced me to walk to another floor where I was to be housed in GP. I refused and pulled away from their torturing grasp. They took me down and beat me with unnecessary force. They tasered me while I was on the ground for a long, long time. After I passed out. I awoke to them still beating on me hand cuffed. They were even tasering my hand cuffs.

When it was all over they promised to put me in PC if I did not say anything to the lieutenant or anybody while they put me on camera where I was to be asked some questions that I was to answer “I don’t want to talk about it” to every question, or I would be put back into GP. So I did what I was told for fear of my safety. To my surprise I was medically cleared and they put me in a cell in Green Light Fish Roll for PC process. They also told me that if I had any complaints they would put me in GP.

I really needed to see a doctor again. But I couldn’t ask for fear that I would be put in GP so I did what they told me. Well, everybody else on Fish Roll heard my cries of pain and suffering and they called “man down” for me which I begged them not to for fear that they would think I’m still complaining. They finally came (officers and nurses) and took me to the MCJ’s clinic where they transported me to LCMC where they discovered that I have a collapsed lung. It it wasn’t for everybody calling man down for me I would have died that night.

Of course they lied on the report and submitted it to the DA for prosecution. They gave me 2 years with 1/2 for resisting. I am now in prison because LA County failed to serve and protect, as their motto says.

At 19, I’ve become equally conscious of the circumstances we must face as well as the necessary struggle we must wage in order to remedy these maladies which has infected us as a people mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally and financially. Not to say that I have mastered Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, but I have grasped firmly the concept of socialist-communist revolution to an acceptable degree.

To summarize, the question at hand is basically, “What strategy and tactics can ULK employ to become a better tool at correctly propagandizing the masses, particularly the prison population, organizing us into a revolutionary impetus which can successfully seize its liberation, justice and equality?” Before I voice my opinions let me state, matter of factly, that all recipients of ULK are equally responsible for the progress as well as its shortcomings. For no force is greater than that of the people. Therefore we, the people, are more than obligated to ensure that ULK plays a productive role in our revolution. If we fail to contribute, we are as counter-revolutionary as the reactionary monsters who daily oppress us all.

I think in order to educate and be educated by each other, we must combine theory with practice as well as embrace “criticism and self-criticism.” We must refrain from using speech which can be taken offensively for this may cause dissension, and out of emotion some may shun the message we intend to give. This is counter-productive. Instead of just denouncing our “criminal” actions, let us acknowledge the fact that in some form or degree, even if subconsciously, we have resisted this nefarious system and its institutions. Let us acknowledge that, unfortunately, through experience, we’ve now gained first-hand knowledge of the repressive conditions we live under. We are the lumpen, we are the most exploited. [MIM(Prisons) Editor: The lumpen, by definition, are not an exploited class, though some prisoners and black market laborers face economic exploitation. The lumpen are the excess people, thrown off by capitalism. In the united $tates the lumpen are one of the most oppressed groups.] Now, through political education, we must learn to combine our individual struggles into one struggle of the people and for the people.

We must discuss piece-meal the written works of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Tse-Tung, Frantz Fanon and others. We must learn the history of other peoples and study all rebellions, revolts and revolutions in detail, from feudalist society to our present society. This will impress upon us our historical role of resistance, raising our consciousness as we embody the spirit of true revolutionaries. This will also show how we’ve undergone the transformation from the family-oriented, ethical man to the selfish, barbaric, sub-human savages we’ve become; competing against, or at extremes, injuring, raping, and murdering our kith and kin for riches and social status which can never satisfy our vegetating, ever ungovernable greed.

We must teach how racism, sexism and religion have each played their part in forming the basis of these exploiting class systems, keeping the masses divided. Also how the media and schools have kept us ignorant, replacing our need for knowledge and truth with fabricated tales of European heroes and Amerikkkan humanitarianism.

Fidel Castro said that the duty of the revolutionary is to make the revolution. We cannot ignore the fact that the only way to overthrow the capitalist-imperialist elite and their government is through armed struggle. Therefore we should still encourage our education in warfares, even though MIM opposes the use of armed struggle at this time. In Mao’s Little Red Book (quotations), he states:

“War, this monster of mutual slaughter among men, will be finally eliminated by the progress of human society, and in the not too distant future too. But there is only one way to eliminate it and that is to oppose war with war, to oppose counter-revolutionary war with revolutionary war, to oppose national counter-revolutionary war with national revolutionary war, and to oppose counter-revolutionary class war with revolutionary class war. . . When society advances to the point where classes and states are eliminated, there will be no more wars, counter-revolutionary or revolutionary, unjust or just; that will be the era of perpetual peace for mankind. Our study of the laws of revolutionary war springs from the desire to eliminate all wars; herein lies the distinction between us communists and all the exploiting classes.”

We do not want war, we want peace. But to eliminate war we must wage war. “Political power grows out from the barrel of the gun.” This is a truth we must accept.

We must encourage a vigorous struggle for prison reform. We must expose the injustices, the curtailed food rations, and all the other foul living conditions of these DOC concentration camps. We must recognize the word “individual” as a metonym for “divided”, understanding that never is one person ever alone in any particular struggle. Therefore all grievable issues should be grieved en masse showing that the power of the people is an unyielding power, perceptual no matter how much it is caged and bound. We must advise all prisoners of their constitutional rights, what they mean, and how to fight for them if violated. We must encourage prisoners to form unions or law study groups within their facilities so that we become literate of legal terms and parlance, etc. We must encourage the fight against legal misrepresentation, illegal sentencing, and prejudicial convictions. We are the bearers of our own freedom.

We must encourage all prisoners to reach out and educate their peers, family, and friends, etc. It is imperative that our support system comes from the outside as well as the inside. Also that those who may be “freed” in the near future continue our struggle. This last issue is very important: prisoners without financial means should not have to be exempt from the Maoist study cell just because they’re unable to pay the $5 membership fee. So I ask all brothers and sisters to come together and donate money so that all our comrades can participate. It is their revolution just as much as it is ours!

Power to the people who don’t fear freedom!

Free all political prisoners!

As I write this communique I am in an empty cell void of all creature comforts. I am on 72 hour linen and clothing restriction because an officer lied and wants to make me commit suicide. I sit in this “think tank” of steel and concrete and I contemplate life in its totality. I wonder will I live to see better times? Will I ever get out of the belly of this beast or will I die and my memories be forgotten like so many before me. Even though I have a release date nothing is promised to anyone. There is no guarantee that I won’t be murdered by these officers just like Ra’d (RIP).

As I contemplate my current state of existence I wonder do I have the fortitude and resilience to endure the bad just like I enjoyed the good? Surely it doesn’t take no hell of a lot of wisdom to realize with good days there will be bad days. Some bad days will include having officers tamper with your food, mail, lie on you. Get your property taken away. Get bogus write-ups and anything else they can think of to grind your soul down to a fine powder and blow you to the wind. I have had the good days where no officer is harassing me. All my mail is coming on time. I eat all the canteen I can buy. Even had the people in the courts grant some appeals.

I accepted those good days with the vibrant anticipation of one day being free, and so now I must feel the pure reality of my life and the low state in which I have allowed myself to fall. I must open my eyes wide to the moment that speaks of bondage, oppression, suffering, and despair. I must pay close attention to the lesson being taught, lest I prove to be an unworthy student in this school of hard knocks. I must not let cold steel and concrete crush my will to be a strong man. I will not let the sadistic intent of those who are mere minions for the imperialists have victory over my existence.

It is my solemn vow to the memories and hard fought efforts of my ancestors to be stronger than anything these people can inflict upon me. I get weary and depressed. I get discouraged and confused, but those are the pains that come before the gain.

I implore of you comrades everywhere to not give up. Thoughts of suicide are wasted thoughts that could be better spent. When things are at their worst, think of all the other hard times you’ve made it through. No matter what, don’t let the beast crush your will to survive. Don’t let the beast crush your soul. Staying strong is our obligation.

MIM(prisons) adds: When faced with sterile, tortuous conditions, people with something to hold onto to keep them going can usually make it through. Some find that in family, or religion, or fighting for justice. However, self-preservation in and of itself is not a righteous goal, by proletarian moral standards. As Mao said, a reactionary’s life is as light as a feather.

We do promote revolutionary organizing as a better solution to depression and other difficult mental states. It is better, because it is by struggling against the conditions and systems that created your mental state that you can both overcome the problems you face as an individual and prevent others from having to go through the same difficulties.

Whether its thoughts of one’s ancestors who stood strong or of those you know who submitted to depression and drug abuse. Wherever we find our inspiration, all people who are part of an injust system (as we all are) are obligated to change that system. That is the moral code of those who have nothing to lose but their chains.

I am writing to you to seek advice, assistance or referral on how to get word out about biased racial profiling, mass validation, and their failure to follow their own policies and laws. Now let me just give a quick run down on what is going on here at High Desert State Prison (HDSP). In August 2009, the California Department of Corrections’ goon squad, Institutional Gang Investigators, took all personal property from all “northern Hispanic” inmates on C-facility and at this time removed between 40 to 50 “northern Hispanics” from the mainline and validated us as prison gang members. Several inmates were placed on potty watch. (This is where inmates are placed in a diaper taped up and handcuffed 24 hours a day and forced to use a plastic bag to relieve themselves.) The inmates were eventually validated as gang members and are retained in ASU and we are not being transferred to appropriate prisons. Most of the points used against us were either made up or do not meet guidelines of the law to validate us. There are a lot of violations of federal and state laws going on here but I’m going to keep this brief.

MIM(Prisons) adds: The U.$. imperialists have divided the Chicano Nation (and Latinos in general) in California by drawing a line across the middle of the state and labeling those who grew up north of that line “northern Hispanics.” They call the “northerners” and “southerners” gangs worthy of repression, yet countless comrades have been forced into these groups by the CDCR themselves. Early in the process, they assigned certain prisons and units to “northerners” and others to “southerners.” Then when they want to lock up all the Latinos they can do so and say they are dealing with a “gang.”

It is an absolute joke that this thinly veiled form of national oppression passes as legal in a bourgeois democracy. Of course, there are neo-colonial agents that have played into these divisions from the beginning. Just as the Amerikans divided Korea and Vietnam between north and south by setting up puppet leaderships, they have done the same in U.$.-occupied Aztlán. This is why the demand for the unification of oppressed nations and their territories is an inherently anti-imperialist demand.

The medical and mental health services in here is bad news. Either by sham or lack of care, or none at all. I have bad allergies and a doctor here at CSP-SAC [California State Prison - Sacramento] took me off my allergy medication to treat it. And even worse, a guy who had cancer was taken off his meds that treats his cancer.

For a time, between 1997 and 2001, I was constantly cell extracted and beaten by prison officials just for filing grievances/litigation and standing up for yard, showers, store, mail, medical, law library access, etc.

At this current time I am back in the hole. I’ve been here a little over a year for not accepting a celly. As I stand up to oppression I stand high to death or victory.