MIM Notes 192 August 15 1999
Stressed and Oppressed in Texas 

Gas was sprayed on prisoners in a situation that could've been 
settled by other means. The act of spraying the gas was so pitiful 
that C.O.'s were dispersing along with inmates to escape the gas. 
One pig hold'n the camera dropped it and resumed a place on the 
ground displaying infantile behavior. Everyone was ordered on the 
ground to lie in all types of mucus and food. Furthermore, we were 
handcuffed with plastic restraints to which my whole thumb and 
socket area is still numb and it is now four days later. We laid 
in pain, handcuffed for about an hour and a half. I submitted a 
sick call for a strenuous cold, sneezing, coughing, congestion, 
and continuously running and blocked nasal passage. Now check this 
out, only to receive it back two days later saying, "resubmit 
after lockdown or talk to the nurse," who does not check on the 
wing hourly as their job description describes. It's clear as day 
that my comrades and I are oppressed and stressed for no reason at 
all. 

-- Oppressed prisoner in Texas. 

Oppression of Time

-- by the same prisoner as above 

You break your laws to satisfy
Your wicked nature. You create
False flaws about me and don't
Think I should hate cha. 

You'll spray the gas cause your
Puffed up by a minute piece
Of authority. You sprayed the
Gas, and a few laughs, and in
The slightest do you feel sorry? 
So inhumane. A cry'n shame.

Now you attempt to breakdown
Soldiers with your simplest of
Mind. 

Comrades and I though born
To die, insist to grow mentally
While doing this oppression of time. 
Womyn in Texas prison attacked by guards 

...I am taking notes of situations here. Officers busted an 
inmate's head during a fight. All they did was pull her away. She 
was already lying down. Her head hit a cell door, and started 
bleeding. They told her the girl fighting her did it. Both of them 
were on the floor fighting. One inmate broke her ankle. They are 
trying to force her to work on it. She is already disabled and 
considered legally blind. This is to spark attitude, to incite and 
to provoke. IN ORDER TO PUNISH BY DISCIPLINARY ACTION, NO PAROLE, 
LOSS OF GOOD TIME. This is mainly the sequence. Where with the 
Huey Newton story the body and mind is being ATTACKED. 

- A Texas prisoner. 

Paraplegic Texas prisoner abused 

My name is X and I'm a paraplegic who is being illegally 
housed here and I'm being forced to live in general population 
with out a wheelchair. This nightmare has been going on for 
approximately 6 years now. In March, an officer told me that I had 
a medical appointment with a doctor. If I wanted to go I'd have to 
drag myself off three row and up front to the sergeant office 
where there is a wheelchair waiting for me to take me to the 
doctor. 

I dragged myself got into the wheelchair and an enemy officer 
wheeled me to the doctor. The doctor was waiting for me. He told 
me he had scheduled an appointment to go to Galveston Hospital to 
see the neurologist again for some tests. 

Then, the doctor stood up and kicked me two times in my foot 
and he asked me "Do you feel that?" and started laughing. Then he 
reached down and tried to grab me by my leg saying, "All I want to 
do is feel your legs." At this time I told him that I don't need 
him trying to intimidate me and trying to provoke me to react with 
violence. 

The doctor started laughing, saying "Fuck you nigger, I run 
this hospital and I will do whatever I want to you nigger!" At 
this time he told the officer to "get this nigger out of my 
office." The guard wheeled me back and dumped me out of the 
wheelchair and told me to drag my ass back to my cell. 

The X Unit administrators have failed to take corrective 
action in response to assaults and to patterns of assaults by 
several field force officers. They have used physical force that 
exceeded the amount of force reasonably necessary under the 
circumstances to maintain control. The use of physical force was 
done with malicious intent to retaliate toward a paraplegic 
prisoner for exercising prior official internal grievance 
procedures against these officers. 

My entire unit had been placed under institutional lock down. 
During the lock down, officers were in charge at my building to 
conduct a major cell shake down. On officer approached my cell 
housing and directed that I exit the cell so that he can conduct a 
search. I had him acknowledge that I needed a moment to put a pair 
of pants on so I won't drag on the dirty run. Another officer 
entered my cell and asked what was the hold up. One officer 
replied, "It's this cripple bastard who is taking his time putting 
his f**kin pants on." 

One officer grabbed my right leg while the other grabbed my 
left leg. I was then dragged by my legs out of my cell by both 
field force officers. During the dragging one officer stated, 
"Just imagine yourself tied to a bumper." After the dragging, I 
was left by 3 row staircase. Both officers entered my cell and 
conducted a 10 minute search, but found nothing. I was then 
ordered to re-enter my cell while both officers stood by laughing. 

Upon entering I noticed that my mattress and personal property 
were laid on the top bunk and all my legal documents were 
scattered on my top bunk. I had both officers acknowledge that I 
will file a complaint against them if they did not bring down my 
mattress and legal documents. They replied: "You do that and we 
both promise to beat the living shit out of you, just the way we 
did with that punk at the chow hall." 

Will someone please help me?

- A Texas prisoner.

 (submission edited for security and length by MIM)

A Cry To The Convicts:

Let's Unite The Struggle From Within 

Last fall, arrests of two TDCJ-ID officers in charge of the 
Inmate Trust Fund (ITF) accounts in Huntsville was announced. They 
were arrested for allegedly embezzling money from inmate accounts. 
This underscores the fact that we must unite against oppression. 
Until WE -- not only as prisoners but more importantly as PEOPLE -
- stop talking about what we ought to do and start taking a pro-
active stand for reform, the repression we suffer WILL continue to 
get progressively worse. 

Whether you're a self-proclaimed political prisoner or not, we 
must understand that we will not gain any civil and human rights 
back or ever witness an end to the oppression until we correct 
three main problems. These problems continue to suppress our pro-
active spirit, making our genuine progress insignificant. The 
simple fact is that unless we help ourselves, no outside agency 
organization or even our families can, or will be able to, 
effectively aid us. 

I'm challenging all of us who advocate ending the injustices 
we suffer to rise and recognize the three largest obstacles to our 
success. 

(1) We as Texas convicts have never been known for our 
solidarity or willingness to unite for a common cause like the 
other cons across America. 

While its no secret that in respect to the system in general 
an 'us against them mentality' prevails, the attitude is 
reciprocated amongst the prison's economic classes. The Haves 
versus the Have-Nots. We rob each other under the pre-defined ruse 
of surviving. It's nothing more than a somewhat restrained 
extension of the streets 

The single biggest cause of our in-fighting is the prevailing 
sentiment (i.e., misplaced hatred) of everyone -- statewide -- 
towards other races or nationalities, which most certainly will 
preclude any of us from mounting a truly effective pro-active 
stance. 

Minorities seem to feel that they can constitute some form of 
payback to the white race by beating, raping and robbing them for 
centuries of the white-ruled oppression of their ancestors. Though 
I am black and Native American, can't my brothers see, as I do, 
that none of the whites living today are responsible for the 
exploitation of our people that began over 400 years ago? 

My brothers, in their racially-fueled irrationality, overlook 
the fact that though you have bigots (the KKK skinheads/Nazis and 
in prison the Aryan Brotherhood among others) in this country and 
in our society -- EVERY white man or woman they see are NOT racist 
bigots bent on the annihilation of our races, of our 
nationalities. 

I have no problem with focusing our attention in this regard 
to those who DO plainly and openly advocate such objectives as 
well as their sympathizers, because they -- like this so-called 
Justice System -- are nothing more than a destructive force. 

The brother's relationship with the 2nd largest prison 
population in this country -- the Hispanics -- is pragmatic at 
best on issues of mutual importance. But this is simply not strong 
enough at this point to even foster promising dialogue between us, 
much less solid commitments rooted in TRUST; were still having 
race-riots over here! 

The simmering mixture of wariness and rage present now has 
clearly eroded the morale of those of us who desperately want 
cohesiveness amongst the population -- the ONLY way we will win. 

Further division is evidenced by the surging gang population. 
There is a significant element of romanticism for youngstas coming 
down to the penitentiary in what they view as routine life: 
belonging to a family; hustling and all of the elements that it 
entails; finally the violence, which for them epitomizes prison 
life. A great number of Texas violent attacks between inmates 
occur only because the young Latino and Blacks think that's how 
they're SUPPOSED to act. Subsequently, the more violence that's 
perpetuated between rival gangs, the more difficult it becomes to 
pardon past transgressions to achieve what should be every 
convict's top priority: liberation. As it is now, state officials 
and unit administrators have been emboldened to continue the 
tightening of the systematic vice. But instead of getting stronger 
as a WHOLE -- mounting successful rebuttals of their infringements 
-- we continue to get weaker under the pressure, oblivious to the 
significance of the Injustice Systems manipulations. 

(2) Complicity via Passivity 

In more ways than one we've given the Texas prison system the 
ropes to hang ourselves with and the noose is tightening. It can 
be said that a fair number of us have not demonstrated 
comprehension of the scope of the problems we face and the abuses 
were suffering daily. Of course, it helps to know that first there 
IS a problem, but ultimately, it cannot be remedied unless the 
entire problem is understood. For example, we can all reasonably 
conclude that the revelation of the two TDCJ-ID officers arrests 
makes the fact indisputable that our money is being siphoned into 
the pockets of criminals no better -- and arguably worse -- than 
the people (us) the system purports to protect society from! 

Further evidence lies in the fact that although no convict 
worker in the Texas system earns state pay for slave labor, we are 
now forced to pay for some forms of the so-called medical 
attention were given. Shouldn't this remain a service provided 
universally and unequivocally? 

Want more proof? Look no further than the egregious price 
raised of commonly used commissary products like toothpaste, and 
even notebook paper. There are almost no cost-efficient non-edible 
products remaining. This forces us to pay more for an item and 
size doesn't increase. Aside from items considered necessities we 
even have to pay for indigent supplies! Indigent supplies are 
given to inmates upon their request, who have less than $5.00 on 
their account. Apparently the definition of INDIGENT has been 
ignored. Yet many of us still haven't awakened to the problem 
because inmates look at these events as SINGULARLY insignificant 
while failing to connect the dots to form the whole picture. 

We can deduce from the Texas Department of Criminal Injustice 
systems ruthless maneuvering that their fear of our COLLECTIVE 
power to demand and receive an end to their systematic social, 
civil and human rights violations is waning as they continue to 
press. 

Brother and Sisters of ALL races continue to be segregated, 
beaten, gassed, raped and murdered along with other atrocious acts 
of humiliation committed against the prison masses. The system 
expects us to ALLOW their enforcers (i.e., correction officers and 
their supervisors) to torture and abuse us with no regard for our 
lives. As long as we continue to talk the talk without walking the 
walk we will continue to be beaten, gassed, raped and murdered. 

"I just want to go home" is the main reason that there has 
been no action. A great many inmates seem to feel that to care so 
passionately about what goes on inside these walls is a symptom of 
becoming institutionalized. Everyone should be trying to focus on 
returning to the world, they say. 

These are my responses to the passivists rationale: 

A) How many Brothers and Sisters WON'T be returning to the 
world at all unless we fight for our right to LIVE? Being 
incarcerated doesn't afford COs, ranking supervisors and 
administrative officials the right to kill because they don't like 
us 

B) An inordinate number of convicts who employ this rationale 
have life sentences or terms exceeding 60 years who will not even 
be eligible for release until will into the next century; this is 
amazing. The fact is, for its prison population, Texas has the 
lowest parole rate in America and indeed a significant number of 
inmates whom have demonstrated exemplary behavior while inside are 
STILL being given numerous set-offs and serve-alls from the so-
called parole board. The bottom line: no matter how good you act, 
there are NO guarantees of freedom. 

C) Finally, what the hell is wrong with trying to return home 
WITH BOTH EYES -- undamaged from the unlawful and repeated attacks 
involving pepper gas or mace; with ALL OF MY TEETH -- not a false 
set, provided only after the originals were kicked out by a gang 
of response team officers; with my skeletal system INTACT -- not 
disfigured from roughly healed broken bones, suffered at the hands 
and clubs of late-night goon squad beatings and the barbarously 
patched up by back-alley med-school dropouts;  and ALIVE -- not in 
a state-made pine box? 

 (3) The Loser Mentality 

The saying goes, if you don't stand for something, you'll fall 
for anything. Nowhere is that more applicable than right here -- 
in a Texas maximum-security gulag. That's exactly what's 
occurring. Brothers say we can't win -- well never win. They 
believe the administration -- the system -- has simply become too 
formidable and subsequently cannot be reformed on any level or by 
ANY means spearheaded by CONVICTS. This David vs. Goliath complex 
is exactly the psychological shackle that years of INACTION have 
enabled the oppressors to administer on us. 

The loser mentality has crippled the overall effectiveness of 
court litigation as well as that of outside awareness 
organizations. Despite all of the evidence and incentives, there 
remains a refusal by our various prisoner factions to see that 
there is strength in numbers. We can no longer assemble large 
masses of prisoners whose only goal is to fight another large mass 
of prisoners. We're fighting the wrong people and were fighting 
for the wrong reasons. Without UNITY we will, as a whole, continue 
to be unheard. One man cannot change everything, cannot right 
every wrong; the Gandhis become martyrs and are now extinct. 

If we RISE and REALIZE that the time to stand up must be NOW, 
that our efforts -- if properly coordinated and precisely executed 
-- will not be futile, then changes will become a reality. WE WILL 
WIN. 

Only by overcoming the three barriers -- that lie within 
ourselves -- can we revolutionize the Injustice system. We have 
the RIGHT to live, but sadly, we have to fight for it. I maintain 
hope that we as a people can come together and remember the 
greatest single exhibition of prison solidarity in this country -- 
Attica, 1971. In retrospective analysis it remains the epitome of 
what a United Struggle from Within should be and can achieve. 
Let's go. 

- A Texas prisoner. 

MIM adds:  First, throughout this issue of MIM Notes and in 
the last several months of correspondence, the work of USW has 
continued to become more clearly defined. At this time, MIM and 
many USW leaders have agreed that intense study by prisoners is an 
essential aspect to building a successful anti-imperialist 
organization and to determine what direction for organization will 
be successful. 

While the comrade is correct about Attica exhibiting prison 
solidarity, it is necessary to carefully plan the direction of 
anti-imperialist agitation. MIM does not advocate the violation of 
prison policies at this time. To do so would be to advocate the 
slaughter of unprepared comrades. There are many aspects of 
struggle for USW prisoners to take on -- education, study, legal 
work, advance in health advocacy etc. 

Second, the writer said that white people alive now are not 
responsible for the genocide centuries ago. While MIM welcomes 
whites willing to oppose domination by the white settler nation, 
whites in Amerika are not on the same said as oppressed nations. 
The white settler nation benefits from centuries of slavery and is 
wealthy because of continued neo-slavery and imperialist 
exploitation of oppressed nations. 

In the course of bringing whites over to the side of 
revolution, don't play down the role of the white settler nation. 
Be honest that the nation's interest is in maintaining imperialism 
and that we seek whites to join the struggle who will oppose their 
own nation's interests.