Under Lock & Key

Les estoy escribiendo para informarles que recibí sus periodicos pasados de MIM que me enviaron. Los papeles fueron informativos respecto a asuntos que afectan a algunos de los Souljahs de las plantaciones de esclavos. Algunas de las historias me motivaron a intentar crear un grupo de estudio. Debemos ver cuanto dura eso. Digo eso porque soy el unico individuo con literatura, y esas personas en el sistema de esclavos de Missouri, a ellos solamente les interesa las cosas materiales que ellos tienen. No piensen que estoy equivocado, aún hay algunos souljahs que aún se mantienen bien espiritualmente, pero los números están siendo cada vez menos.

Me ingenue para organizar algunas demostraciones aqui en ASU (Unidad de Segregación Administrativa) del centro de “correcciones” de nombre Southeast Correctional Center, que causa que las hienas cambien muchas cosas. Y como resultado, me han golpeado los oficiales de “goon squads”, me llaman “agitador” y mi correspondencia “sospechosamente” se está desapareciendo. Pero aún asi sigo fuerte, enojado pero aún asi sigo adelante!

Estas hienas nos quitaron nuestras llamadas telefonicas aqui en ASU también nos quitaron los rastrillos y el contacto de nuestras familias. Y tampoco nos permiten acceso para mantener nuestra higiene. Ya ni nos imaginamos lo que se les va a ocurrir a ellos. Posiblemente nos quiten las tres horas de recreación semanual que nos permiten adentro de unas jaulas de hierro (que parecen jaulas para perros).

Hago oración para que pronto los souljahs y hermanas souljahs de aqui de Missouri, para que pronto capten lo que está pasando para que hagan algo al respecto.

Estoy a punto de hacer una demanda en la Corte de Distrito en protesta a la “prohibición de cobija” y por evitar que presos de Missouri reciban libros grátis. Cualquier información al respecto será agradecida. Ellos (los oficiales) nos dan libros/novelas de romance y nos roban mucha substancia con dicha “prohibición de cobijas” intentando que nos hagamos los sordos y que actuemos como tontos ye ciegos.

Escuchen hermanos ye hermanas souljahs, por favor sigan peleando y luchando! Ahora es cuando debemos hacerlo unidos. Si nosotros no peleamos por nosotros entonces quien lo hara? Como ya lo dije seguire formando este grupo de estudio y hare todas las demostraciones que me sea posible.

Texas institutions are playgrounds for the imperialist and their drones. The sexual abuse scandal of the Texas Youth Commission exposes how immoral just one of its branches is. Here on the Eastham Unit we are subjected to daily forms of psychological abuse, stress torture, atrocious harassment, and threats, deprivation of basic necessities and violence. I am on an ad-seg line. The pigs constantly turn off our water, without telling us, warning us to get water before it’s off. It’s always the same excuses, i.e. the pump, a pipe, or they’re fixing something. The pigs only cut off ad-seg water supply while general population remains on. Under the no-water ruse, ad-seg can not shower or go to rec. The pigs don’t do anything but sit on their ass. They bitch about having to serve us our trays at chow time. The no-water ruse isn’t a once in a while occurrence. No, at least every other month we go a week or more without water. Some days the temperature is 95 degrees outside but 112 degrees inside.

The discrimination doesn’t end with water. While general population gets full portions of food at meal time. Ad-seg inmates are severely rationed. The pigs instruct and direct inmate kitchen workers to shake-the-spoon (half spoon serving), cut smaller portions, leave off food segments or side items, and substitute ad-seg meat entree with processed pork substances. While general population has beef ribs, we get pork sausage link. GP gets ice cold juice, we get watered down diluted piss water, usually at room temperature or hotter.

There is a policy to do nothing for ad-seg inmates. We have to protest, argue and complain (PAC) to every shift supervisor to get clean laundry. We have to PAC to get porters to clean our showers, sweep and mop the line and have them keep their hands off our food trays. We PAC with maintenance to get running water, light and power or for them to fix the toilet that’s been flushing for over two months. We PAC about the spiders and roaches and mice, about the bird crap that’s caked up on the rec yard. We have to PAC for our mail, shower, rec, meals and medical. The only time the pigs do any of this on their own is when the American Correctional Association is inspecting.

Revolutionary greetings to your staff. I just received your letter with the information on prison censorship. I’m fully schooled with the state’s so-called laws. In the past I have not had any problems receiving MIM Notes or the study books. I fully understand that problems do come up behind the hands of the oppressor. This is why freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Let’s test the water for now and please start sending me educational material. The struggle can not be stopped, I refuse to let them take control of my mind. I’m 50 years old, been in prison on and off for 30 years, and now three strikes have me. I refuse to lay down on myself or other oppressed people. The most dangerous weapon in this world is a fully focused mind.

MIM adds: MIM was banned in California prisons by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in December of 2006. We are working with our comrades behind bars to fight this ban. We need support from prisoners to join this struggle, and support from people on the outside to demand an end to this ban. Write protest letters to: James Tilton, Secretary, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 1515 S. Street, Sacramento, CA 95184

I am writing to let MIM comrades be informed on ever more injustice in our so-called system. As of today I have been awaiting trial almost four and a half years, since I was sixteen years old. At sixteen I was placed in a juvenile facility, then the day after my eighteenth birthday was placed in West Valley Detention Center for women in California.

There is not one program at this facility for those awaiting trial - we barely have a library that contains mostly old romance novels. I am not even convicted and have no access to any legal or educational materials. The facility will only provide “Christian” religious materials so any other religions basically do without unless materials can be provided by the outside. We even have some of our religious materials sent back saying they are “gang-related materials” because they are not common beliefs.

How am I to defend myself if I can not get any law books, or educate myself with no real library or any programs? I am 20 years old and have been facing 25 to life since age 16. I now sit idle with my life in the hands of California’s injustice system.

Those who have no financial support must also do without personal hygiene and writing materials as these things are not provided free to indigent inmates. Our canteen prices are so high you’d think they could pay to provide us with something! At least get rid of all the gnats, roaches and rats in our facility! Some prisoners here are even kept in ad-seg for their whole waiting process with no real infractions.

I am only one young female inmate and I need the help from my comrades to fight this ridiculous system. I hope to be able to help in this fight, but I can’t do it alone.

Me dirijo respetuonamente a ustedes. Para dejarle saber lo que me esta pasando, y para que me ayuden. Tengo diez meses en SHU en Clinton CF. Tan pronto llegue comence a sufrir acosos sexuales y abusos por parte de los sargentos, oficiales, psiquiatra, consejero y el director medico y el superintendente, le escribí al Commisssioner Brian Fischer, Inspector General Anthony Annucci, Lucien J. Leclalle Jr. y a varias organizaciones y no hicieron nada por my. Y puse un grievance pero aqui no procesan los grievances.

El 7/7/07 el oficial J. Cross me acoso sexualmente mientras me bañaba en mi celda. Pero como no deje que me falte el respeto y lo denuncie tomo represalia conmigo. Primero me dejo cinco dias sin comida, y me boto todas las medicinas. Y el 7/8/07 le puso veneno o un liquido deconocido a los tres jugos que me das el medico. Me tome la mita de un jugo y pase el día vomitando y desde entoces tengo fuertes dolores de estómago.

El 7/9/07 me puse para el sick call, y le enseñe los jugos a la enfermera y a un sargento, y le escribí al departamento en Albany, y a V. Johason, Medical Director en Clinton Corr Fac.

El 8/1/07 una persona me vio respecto a los incidentes, y le dije que necesitaba un interprete, porque no habio ni entiendo el ingles correctamente, pero la persona me dijo que estaba bien y se fue de una vez.

El 8/9/07 recibí una carta del Commissioner Brian Fischer dejandome saber que el Superintendent Dale A. Artus, hizo una investigación de los incidentes, que a mi me hicieron una entrevista, y que mis alegeaciones son mentiras.

Aqui en SHU hay una camara en cada celda y graba lo que uno habla. Yo le estoy pidiendole al Commissioner y al Superintendent que cheque el video del 4/22/07 que me asaltaron en la yarda y el 8/4/07 que la enfermera me trae la medicina incompleta desde que llegue a Clinton CF, y el 6/22/07 que el oficial R. Perry me acoso sexualmente en el baño, y el 7/7/07 y el 7/8/07 que el Oficial J. Cross me acoso sexualmente y quiso envenenarme.

Pero esto cerdos criminales y corruptos no me dicen nada respecto a los videos porque saben que es verdad. Ademas yo tengo todos reportes de los incidentes y no se puede mentir con las camaras.

Tambien no me estan dando la recreación que es una hora diaria mandatoriamente ni el baño tres veces a la semana. Aqui en SHU no cogen lista para el baño pero cogen lista para la yarda. Pero sacan aquienes los cerdos quieren. Yo le digo al Commissioner que cheque el video, para ver si abren la puerta de mi celda cuando hacen el baño y la yarda pero no hace nada por mi.

Los Sargentos W. Bisso y N. Giambruno son los cerdos que permiten que los oficiales hagan lo que quieran. Un día no me dieron el baño ni la recreación porque la psiquiatra M. Smith le dijo al Sargento N. Giambruno.

Aqui en SHU no dan limpieza de celda ni revistas ni ponen deportes en la TV ni en la radio ni ponen programa ni musica en la TV ni en la radio. Ahoramismo no le estan dando comida ni baño ni recreación a algunos presos.

Los cerdos llevan a los presos a la clinica y le dan golpes en un cuardo sin camara y lo ponen desnude en un cuarto sin nada. Y en invierno abren la ventana del cuadro con la temperatura bajo cero. Y a algunos presos le inyectan droga en contra de su voluntad. Y lo bañan con aqua fria en invierno. Y le envian un libro de ley con páginas rotas y lo acusan que lo rompio para que la pague y no permitirle usar la biblioteca de ley más, y para que lo no luche contra todas clases de abusos inhumanos de parte de estos cerdos criminales.

Aqui, no procesan los grievances y el Superintendente Dale A. Artus es el primer cerdo corrupto y el Commissioner Brian Fischer no quiere hacer nada por mi ni quieren chequiar los videos. Que puedo hacer yo para que vean los videos, y me envien para otra prision, antes que me envenenen o me maten estos cerdos criminales.

Yo tengo una demanda en proceso por estos incidentes, pero como puede ver necesito que me ayuden, porque el Commissioner y el Superintendente no quieren ayudarme, y los grievances no lo procesan.

It is with pleasure, plus an urgency now that I have had time to read and sift through the MIM Notes you have sent me. As I began to go over the MIM Notes I noticed a lot of times we are of similar minds in the same thinking mode.

I am in a position to sue this particular institution/prison for what one can call straight out medical negligence. I have already begun with the grievance part being submitted.

I came to this institution in April of 2005. I was diagnosed with cancer in April of 2007. In May or June I had a seizure that busted my lower lip. At that point I began to submit paperwork as well as complain about pain, also bleeding that never was able to be stopped or controlled in any way.

It was as though my complaints of pain, as well as visual bleeding, sometimes even cracked lips, were of no concern, or even taken seriously. It was in early 2007 that a psychiatrist took it upon herself to get involved. I had been telling her about how much pain that I was in constantly, and this institution’s yard doctor at that time would not send me out to an outside doctor or hospital for a real consultation. Instead for some reason they kept trying to keep it all in house. I kept telling her that they were trying to hide something, sweep something under the rug, even trying to slip something past me knowing my mental health was not up to par at times.

I was finally diagnosed with a type of cancer that attacked my lower lip mostly on the right side. I have had surgery on the bottom lip, as well as my throat cut. All this in a 9.5 hour surgery. I am doing radiation now 5 days a week, and I will probably have another surgery once radiation is finished.

I have taken it upon myself to get all my medical records Xeroxed in case this ever gets into a he says - she says predicament. Now my problem is I need a lawyer, I want to sue as well as expose the medical mistreatment in this system. It took close to two years to get the actual medical help that I needed and deserved to have. I have all the names of the players as well as their positions, plus their positions when it comes to me and this matter.

MIM adds: We hope that by publishing stories like this one we will both inform our readers about the injustice and outright negligence in the Amerikan prison system, and also inspire our readers to get involved in the fight against the criminal injustice system. It’s not just individual cases that need to be tackled, but the entire system that is causing unnecessary deaths and suffering. The health care in California prisons is so bad that U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson placed the prison health care system in receivership in 2005 after finding it responsible for as many as 34 prisoner deaths and far more cases of negligence.

First and foremost I want to start this missive by extending my respect and thanking my people at MIM for showing so much love to us convicts. I recently received your newsletters and I am strongly motivated to become a part of the struggle. I like the way my people at MIM view things and I believe if we stay loyal to each other we can make a change.

I think the only way us convicts can get rehabilitated is if we rehabilitate ourselves. I say this because the authorities get paid regardless of whether we get better or not, so they can care less about our rehabilitation. So if us convicts don’t utilize the knowledge from places like MIM or whatever we can get our hands on, then rehabilitation is only a word. We are stuck in a situation where us convicts and our comrades on the outside must stick together and be strong to overcome the obstacles we both face. Each one teach one. We all need each other. Because this system is made for failure.

That’s why they don’t like to give us helpful information about the world outside, for example: last year I was next door to a youngster who was only 23 and had been locked up since he was 13. He came from CYA to prison and didn’t know anything about the real world. He told me he was afraid to parole because he didn’t have no place to go. So I helped him as much as I could, and I even asked my mom to let him parole to her home.

Well my mom agreed, and when he paroled he lived with my mom and her brother for six months until my mom helped him find a job, get his identification card, and paid for a little studio apartment for him. She even took him to the DMV, got him to take the drivers test, and gave him her 1997 Toyota. But the cold thing is that when he was in prison he was sending request forms to the law library to find resource addresses that would help him once released. But they always told the young brotha that they didn’t have those resources. They didn’t want to see that young brotha make it. They wanted him to re-offend so he can come back to the jungle of corruption (CDC).

That’s why we need to help each other, because the pigs don’t give a mad fuck about nobody that’s anti-CDC. The biggest reason us konvicts re-offend is because when we are released into the free world we don’t know how to function because the California Department of Korruption doesn’t give convicts a helping hand on how to get back into the community properly. So some of us have to depend on the parole officer for a stepping stone, and most parole officers don’t like convicts so they don’t really extend help like they could. Furthermore since most convicts don’t know about helpful organizations that can help them re-organize in the community they start robbing for survival. A one way ticket back to the land of corruption.

I am interested in getting petitions for the Three Strikes law. I would very much like to contribute my time in collecting as many signatures as possible. I could easily be a victim of this so called Justice System, I have 2 strikes on my record as a first timer.

I really do have to fight for justice, because after being in the system just a few years I have heard all the stories of inmates who are serving a 25 to life sentences for such petty crimes as petty theft, drug paraphernalia, little petty stuff that I can’t believe these sentences handed down. And the number of years these fellow inmates have served are unjustifiable. I’ve been to San Quentin, and to Old Folsom, in my 3 years I’ve met over 100 inmates who in total years probably served over 1000 years for such minor offenses as shoplifting at Safeway a $10 bottle of liquor (25 years). All too many to name, but as I go through the system I’m seeing more 3 strikers.

It is a crime in itself to take a man away from his family for so long, for so petty shit as taking a pack of batteries, or a pair of levis from the gap. No matter how much this merchandise may add up to, it can never add up to life. And I’m hearing a lot of horror stories like this about condemned men now facing 25 years to life. This is a crying shame, I do hope that the MIM continues to distribute its literature through these prisons so that more people can rally up and speak out on, for I could easily be the next victim of this so called justice system. I’d just like to say to keep up the good work and keep the MIM Notes coming!

MIM adds: A copy of our Three Strikes Petition can be found on our web site at http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/agitation/prisons under the California campaigns section.

“Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people, by its example. Crime is contagious. If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law: it invites every man to become a law unto himself.”Olmstead v. U. S., 277 U. S. 439, 485 (1927)

In April 2007, Richard Rowlette became the new Assistant Warden at Red Onion State Prison (ROSP). Rowlette had previously worked at ROSP in the position of Security Chief from the time that the prison opened in 1998 until December 1999. During that time he was a principal administrative player and ringleader in the racist abuses that won ROSP its reputation for prisoner mistreatment. He was instrumental in helping ROSP gain national notoriety as one of the country’s most abusive prisons.

Since his promotion to Assistant Warden, I have filed an official complaint with Rowlette concerning ROSP officials refusing me telephone contact with two attorneys who had offered me their professional assistance. I presented a request to Rowlette to allow me to call these two lawyers.

Months before, both of these lawyers had verified their credentials and their intent and efforts to advise and assist me in litigation against various ROSP staff, including my assigned counselor John Sykes and the chief warden Tracy Ray. One of these lawyers is Mr. Malik Shabazz. Upon being informed of my ongoing experiences of abuse at ROSP (abuse which is a response to my political activism and continuing exposure of abuses at the prison), Mr. Shabazz decided to support me. Mr. Shabazz happens to be the Chairman of the New Black Panther Party (NBPP), an organization with which I have no affiliation.

Rowlette’s response was that if he had anything to do with it I’d never talk to a lawyer. When I pointed out that this was a basic constitutional right, he responded, “Your people have no rights.” I am New Afrikan (Black) so his meaning was obvious. I filed a complaint. I also filed a complaint about being denied contact with my lawyers for months, despite their repeated attempts to arrange legal calls with me. Rowlette responded to my complaint with a memo stating that my request to have confidential legal calls to these lawyers was “DENIED.” In this memo he rationalizes denying me legal calls by claiming that no attorney-client relationship exists between me and these lawyers.

The memo states that unless I prove that they are actively representing me in litigation pending in a court of record in Virginia, I will be denied legal calls. It specifically states that a letter from a lawyer stating the she is representing me “will not suffice.” The memo also states, “Your request is further DENIED in regards to Mr. Malik Shabazz due to his involvement with the New Black Panther Party. To allow unrecorded phone calls between you and the President/Founder of the New Black Panther Party would present an unacceptable risk to the Security of this Facility.”

For the benefit of any doubters, I’ve attached a copy of Rowlette’s initialed memo.

Rowlette’s memo breaks a barrel full of criminal laws. In Virginia it is a crime for any person to interfere with the relationship of confidence and trust that must exist between a lawyer and her/his client. It is also a crime for any one not licensed to practice law to present himself as qualified to give legal opinions. Both of these acts constitute the crime of “unauthorized practice of law.”’

Rowlette has no legal training or authority to define the attorney-client relationship. He certainly cannot use any such unauthorized definition to block confidential communications between a lawyer and client. Indeed, the Virginia Supreme Court itself has defined what constitutes an attorney/client relationship. The court’s definition is quite different from Rowlette’s. In the U.S., it is the function of the courts to define and interpret the laws and the functions of executives (including prison officials), to enforce and apply those laws.

In its definitive document “Practice of Law in the commonwealth of Virginia” (PLCV), the Virginia Supreme Court defines the attorney-client relationship as follows:

“Generally, the relation of attorney and client exists and one is deemed to be practicing law whenever he furnishes to another advice or services under circumstances which imply his possession and use of legal knowledge or skill.

“Specifically, the relation of attorney and client exists, and one is deemed to be practicing law whenever (I.) One undertakes… to advise another… in any matter involving the application of legal principles to facts or purposes or desires. (2) One … undertakes, with or without compensation, to prepare for another legal
instruments of any character…(3) One undertakes, with or without compensation, to represent the interest of another before any tribunal judicial, administrative, or
executive…”

Rowlette’s memo presumes to overrule the high court’s definition of the attorney-client relationship. Using his unlawful definition, he has barred me from confidential contact with these lawyers. The bigger absurdity is the obvious Catch-22 in Rowlette’s position. A lawyer must be able to consult with a client in order to gather the information necessary to file a lawsuit for him/her. If I am blocked from confidential communications with lawyers, then they will never be able to bring litigation on my behalf. This is the real intent behind Rowlette’s game.

As for Mr. Shabazz’s NBPP membership, Rowlette presents no evidence that this affiliation threatens prison security. As a federal lawyer, Mr. Shabazz is foremost an officer of the courts. If his private organizational affiliations conflicted with his professional status, Mr. Shabazz would not be permitted to maintain his legal license.

Furthermore Rowlette has directed ROSP mailroom clerks to intercept, open, read, and refuse to send out mail that is clearly identified as “legal mail” intended for lawyers. These mailroom officials, based upon Rowlettes’ position, refuse to treat or process mail to and from lawyers as confidential legal mail in blatant violation of VDOC mail policy. This is a federal crime, obstructing U.S. mails,² and violates my constitutional rights to free speech and to privacy in my legal mail.

History of Abuse at Red Onion State Prison

When ROSP first began operating in 1998, it developed almost instantly a nationwide reputation for racism and abuses of its predominantly nonwhite prisoner population by its near exclusively white staff.

In response to receiving a flood of letters from ROSP prisoners complaining of unjustified transfers to ROSP and of frequent and widespread racism, brutality and general abuse, Human Rights Watch (HRW) attorney Jamie Fellner conducted an independent investigation into conditions at the remote Virginia prison. Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC) officials refused to cooperate with the investigation.

Ms. Fellner’s findings were set out in an April 1999 HRW report entitled Red Onion State Prison:Super-Maximum Security Confinement in Virginia.³

This report touched on the various abusive conditions and treatments suffered by ROSP prisoners and found that many of those assigned to the prison did not meet the criteria for “supermax” confinement. Actually almost none did. Seven pages of the report focused on incidents and practices in the “Use of Force” at the prison. One incident described in that section stands out and is particularly relevant here:

“One inmate told HRW that immediately upon arrival at Red Onion in September 1998, he and other inmates were told to strip and permit a visual body search, including by spreading their buttocks. Female staff were present—indeed one was taking a video of the proceedings—and the inmate was reluctant to do as ordered in front of them. A captain shot him with the taser in the presence of the warden, associate warden and a major. After the inmate had been tasered, the major screamed in his ear, “Boy, you’re at Red Onion now” and then told the other officers to “get that nigger out of here.” The inmate filed a grievance because he felt—correctly—that he should not have had to submit to a visual body search strip in front of female staff.

“The inmate’s grievance was denied. The warden acknowledged that a taser had been used because the inmate hesitated to strip and thus ‘was failing to obey instructions.’ The denial was upheld by the regional director without comment ‘based on the information provided.’ There was no effort to suggest that application of physical force was warranted by any possibility of danger or that nonphysical effort to persuade the inmate had been attempted and failed. The use of the taser appears more likely to have been a deliberate and malicious excessive use of force calculated to intimidate new arrivals to the facility.

“In denying the inmate’s grievance, Warden George Deeds stated that post orders at Red Onion permit females to work at any post in this case, assignment to the video camera. It is widely recognized, however that cross-gender strip searches violate inmates’ ‘Individual dignity and right to privacy’. The warden’s policy at Red Onion ignores basic correctional principles and international standards prohibiting cross-gender strip searches unless in an emergency.” (pp. 21-22)

The prisoner who was the victim of this abusive strip search and unwarranted attack was XXXX XXXX. Indeed, most every prisoner assigned to ROSP during that time, including myself, were subjected to this cross-gender strip search process, during which it was often demanded that we repeatedly manipulate our genitals and spread our buttocks.

These searches were conducted under threat of being immediately tasered. A taser was trained on us throughout the strip search process. We were bodily subdued and searched by force by a mob of guards who were always present and dressed out in full riot armor. We were then escorted to our new cell assignment. Most were literally dragged stark naked through the prison while being observed nude by multitudes of guards, both male and female, as well as by other prisoners.

The entire process was calculated to humiliate and terrorize new arrivals and convey the message that at ROSP we would comply without hesitation with any staff demands, no matter how abusive or arbitrary. If we failed to promptly comply or questioned the demands, we would be met with immediate overwhelming force and further humiliation.

To convey this message these officials deliberately created a situation (for example the cross gender strip searches) calculated to provoke our resistance or hesitation and thereby justify the
premeditated intent to use overwhelming force.⁴

Before Abu Ghraib there was Red Onion.⁵

Richard Rowlette: Crime Time at ROSP

The Major who was personally present and supervised most of these intake strip searches, the very same major that screamed in XXXX’s ear and told guards to “’get that nigger out of here,” was Richard Rowlette.

XXXX subsequently filed and won a lawsuit concerning the incident. The court found that the officials had violated his constitutional rights, which is a federal crime.⁶ XXXX was then transferred away from ROSP and hasn’t since returned. However, the multitudes of other prisoners who were subjected to the same treatments and worse, including myself, were granted no relief

In the wake of extensive bad media, the HRW report, and a U. S. Department of Justice investigation, Rowlette was assigned to another VDOC prison in Powhatan County, but not before he acted to settle a long standing vendetta he had against me.

On December 6, 1999, the day before he left ROSP, and in a departing last show of power, Rowlette attempted to force me to talk to him at my cell door. I ignored him. I generally refuse to engage him in conversation. This enrages him, as he believes he can intimidate prisoners to do whatever he demands under threat of having them attacked by guards.

Because I wouldn’t talk to him, Rowlette had two extraction teams of some 10 guards assembled at my cell in full riot armor, with two 50,000 volt electric shields and a 36 ounce canister of gas. Under his direct supervision and direction I was gassed for an entire hour while the entire canister was emptied into the cell. This level of gas was far in excess of the 6 grams that federal courts have found to be an “estimated lethal dose” when sprayed into a small closed-in cell.⁷ He then had me sprayed with more gas from a smaller canister that guards generally carry on their sides. This was a clear attempt to torture and murder me by asphyxiation.

I was then met with violent attack by the two teams of armored guards. After being restrained and strapped down to the bunk in 5-point restraints⁸ for 48 hours (in the still contaminated cell), I was electrocuted repeatedly. For the entire two days in restraints I was denied water, meals, medication, and restroom breaks. This is all documented and on record in the U.S. District Court in Roanoke.⁹

Rowlette had remarked that he had hoped I’d refuse to talk to him and that the attack he’d orchestrated was his “going away present” to me. His spell away from ROSP was merely a “cooling off period” and a token move by VDOC officials to create a public appearance of responding to abusive conditions at ROSP. Indeed, there was little effect on abuse levels after he left.

Promoting Official Criminals as the Norm

Rewarding criminally inclined prison officials in Virginia is the norm. For example, one guard, David Allen Taylor (a prior captain at ROSP), has been found guilty in several prisoner lawsuits of involvement in beatings and abuses of Black prisoners. in one such case, a prisoner YYYY YYYY, won a monetary judgment against Taylor. The state not only paid the judgment for Taylor (your tax dollars at work), but he was promoted in the meantime from lieutenant to captain. Just this year, he was promoted again, to major, at one of the VDOC’s new prisons.

Another guard, William Wright, is widely known for assaulting Black prisoners at ROSP while they are fully restrained. His attacks have resulted in broken bones, dislocations, lacerations, and other serious injuries. Wright was recently promoted from corporal to sergeant.

Indeed an unmistakable pattern and long-standing trend in the VDOC is to promote guards who are being sued by prisoners for abuses while they have litigation pending against them. This is a ploy to bolster the professional image of abusive guards in order to create bias in their favor. Furthermore, the state defends abusive guards against prisoner litigation no matter how obvious their guilt and no matter what their offense. And as occurred with David Taylor, the state pays any monetary judgments awarded, no wonder there is no fear of consequences for abuses.

Most of the abuses at ROSP are captured on videotape, but those records are routinely erased, which is a crime in Virginia. ¹⁰ So where do the illegalities end and “justice” come into play? Rowlette won’t be prosecuted for his crimes. This contributes to the cavalier attitude of officials towards the very laws they are sworn to uphold. Indeed what is a man like Rowlette doing running a prison? Ain’t prisons in Amerika supposed to exist to punish and deter criminals? Where are all the tough on crime politicians when you need them?

Power to the People!

Notes;
¹ In Part 6 Section II of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia, “Introduction,” the Supreme Court states: “any person practicing law without being duly authorized or licensed is guilty of a misdemeanor.” The statue under which this crime is enforced is Code of Virginia section 54.1-3904. The Supreme Court has promulgated a set of Unauthorized Practice Rules (UPR) which outline some specific acts which constitute a criminal unauthorized practice of law. Rowlette’s actions violate the following UPR’s:

“UPR 3-101. Attorney Client Relationship”: (A) An agency shall not disrupt the relationship of confidence and trust which must exist between a lawyer and his client.
“UPR 9-101. Holding Out as an Expert”: (A) A non-lawyer shall not hold himself out as authorized to furnish another advice or service under circumstances which imply his possession of legal knowledge.”

I see that the United Front has broken down on the issue of migrants, or what some term illegal immigrants. All I can say is those who call themselves Marxist-Leninist or Maoist should read their works on this issue. What is going on now is nothing new that the imperialists are doing, Lenin, Mao and Stalin all dealt with this. Besides, if you really claim to know the history of Amerika you’ll know that this nation was started by who? White Settlers! Or illegal immigrants, because I’ve never seen the documents granting them tribal citizenship by the five nations, or what was once northern Mexico. So get past your chauvinisms so-called anti-imperialist revolutionaries.

As for myself, I still sit languishing in the Texas state prisons’ version of control units. We call them “High Security Buildings.” And this is all because I won’t and refuse to become part of their program GRAD: Gang Related Activity Desensitizing. You know the game that the federales play, if you wanna get out you renounce your affiliation to whatever family you are a part of and you become an informant for the administration. No thank you, I’ll pass.

So I’ll sit in this cold ass building and study, plan and grow mentally, physically and spiritually. If these prisoners before me that were kept isolated for their beliefs could hold up with no let up ten and twenty years strong. I would be doing my ancestors in the struggle a grave disservice by becoming weak for an opportunity to get an extra tray at chow or watch a football game out in the dayroom among others. How could I be amongst them and call myself a man knowing I’m snitching for the man. They can keep those bullshit illusory privileges. Remember if we keep pulling, snapping and twisting, we’ll eventually break this damn chain of imperialism. We have nothing else to lose.