Prisoners, anti-prison activists, advocates of prisoners' struggles, progressives and revolutionaries are preparing for RAIL's teach-in from across the United Snakes of Amerikkka. The teach-in will provide informational tools necessary to build support for prisoners' struggles. The information, discussion and debate are part of the foundations necessary for participants to return to their communities and intensify the struggle against the oppressive Amerikkkan prison system.
An incarcerated comrade writes: "To understand prisons in Amerikkkan society, it is not only necessary to make distinctions between right and wrong, good and evil, lawful and unlawful; We must also look at poverty and fear, politics and economy, and race and racism. It is clear that the roots of crime lie deep in the social structure and kulture of this kkkountry. The current attitude is like a cancer in the blood, and like polluted water, is deadly to us all."
He continues: "Prisons have become a big enterprise who largest commodity is the poor and people of color. Prisons have become so profitable and demanding until most of the large corporations are beginning to invest such as Goldman Sachs & Co., Prudential Insurance Co. of Amerikkka, Smith Barney Shearson Inc., and Merrill Lynch & Co., underwriting prison construction The fact is that the prisons fit in with a master plan that is based on the elimination and complete genocide of the poor and people of color. The purpose of prisons nowadays is to isolate, exploit, and eliminate etc.
"We must continue to struggle together, because if there is NO struggle, there is NO progress, if there is NO resistance to oppression, there will be NO progress towards Revolution to overthrow this IMPERIALISM."
Arm yourself with the science of struggle
The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League along with teach-in participants from throughout Amerikkka's gulag system, from the Nation of Islam, from the American Friends Service Committee, from the Crossroad Support Network-South, former prisoners incarcerated for their political activism, as well as other organizations and individual progressives and revolutionaries will detail and discuss:
* Amerikkka's steadily increasing oppression of youth and oppressed nationals through Anti-Gang units. These units are hyped as necessary to thwart violence, but the units disproportionately hold members of oppressed groups. These gang units have been used to confine members of revolutionary organizations in isolation.
* Mandatory minimum sentencing across the kkkountry is being used to incarcerate the oppressed for longer periods of time. Instead of putting money into education, drug rehabilitation, or other necessary social needs, Amerikkkan capitalism would rather lock 'em up and throw away the key for longer periods of time.
* Censorship is on the rise in Amerikkkan prisons. Prisoners' mail and information about struggles on the outside is regularly being censored in this kkkountry which worships freedom of speech - for the oppressor.
* Prison labor is being used around the country to offset the cost of incarcerating over 1.7 million people. Slavery was never abolished and prisoners are serving as Amerikkka's slaves within the United Snakes.
* Former Prisoners will speak about their experiences and the need to destroy the oppressive criminal injustice system.
* From Massachusetts to Michigan to Missouri to California and back, prisoners are being transferred out of states in the capitalists' attempts to build support for constructing more and more prisons. Prisoners transferred far from families, legal aid to aid in the settler nation's war against the oppressed through increased prisons.
Many other topics will be covered during the teach-in. From the privatization of prisons, to the rape, torture and murder of prisoners, to the Puerto Rican liberation struggle on this 100 year anniversary of u.s. imperialist invasion and the use of the prison system to attack the leaders of this struggle, to unfair trials, incarceration of political leaders to discussions of methods of organization. RAIL emphasizes the need to expose this crazed madness, oppose political imprisonment in its entirety and through mass work and struggle, and work to End the Amerikkkan Lockdown.
Masses silenced by oppressors will speak at teach-in
One revolutionary prisoner writes: "The oppressed holocaust has been a continued process by the system of elite criminals, through their legislative system, prison system, etc., What is the purpose of a prison? To punish and to confine. A prison is punitive, and it operates to break the human spirit, as the zoo is to break an animal's spirit. This system has used the most bloodiest means to secure their empire and justify their actions with the most crude nationalist theories, and hatred, with dirty tricks and lies."
An incarcerated officer of the former Black Panther Party writes: "Political prisoners, prisoners of war of the colonies and the Euro-American supporters, in federal and state prisons, have the common political objective articulated and redefined under the 10th point of the Panther Party Platform: 'We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace. And as our major political objectives, a United Nations-supervised plebiscite to be held in which only colonial subjects will be allowed to participate, for the purpose of determining the will of colonial subjects as to our national destiny.'"
Another incarcerated revolutionary writes: "It is incumbent on righteous and political thinking peoples to recognize and take action to help in reversing the numerous violations that have and will continue to take place."
Another revolutionary incarcerated writes: "Those of us who have waged an unrelented struggle for New Afrikan Liberation since the 1960s and have long since been arrested on fabricated (manufactured) criminal charges (orchestrated by u.s. government sponsored COINTELPRO) and thrown into prison (many of us without the possibility of ever being released, due to our excessive sentences), solely because of our love for our New Afrikan Nation and our selfless endeavors to achieve true freedom and self-determination for our beloved people. And, we certainly are not the "criminals" and/or "terrorists" that the racist u.s. government and it's "controlled mainstream media" would paint us to be and have you - the masses - believe!
"The u.s. judicial system has the privileged role of "criminalizing" those of us who have dared to openly challenge and have used "reciprocal" measures in defending our people against the u.s. government sponsored acts of genocide towards our New Afrikan nation."
One revolutionary incarcerated writes: "We, at the forefront of the STRUGGLE must unequivocally find ways to let the people who grow rich off our collective misery know that we no longer are going to silently sit, submitting to our oppression."
In his Prison Letters, George Jackson wrote: "There are still some blacks here who consider themselves criminals - but not many Believe me, my friend, study and think, you will find no class or category more aware, more embittered, desperate or dedicated to the ultimate remedy - REVOLUTION."
Note: All quotes taken from statements from prisoners to be shared at the teach-in (except George Jackson's).
Amerikan prisons are used to incarcerate political activists, revolutionaries, oppressed nationals and poor people. Those who speak out, organize, and take action to end oppression are special targets of criminal injustice. These include Mumia Abu Jamal, Leonard Peletier, Linda Evans and Puerto Rican political activists among many others. But still the Amerikan government claims that there are no political prisoners in u.s. jails.
March 27th, Washington D.C.: Join the RAIL contingent at the Jericho 98 march to end political imprisonment
The u.s. imprisons a greater percentage of Blacks than Apartheid South Africa. The majority imprisoned in Amerika's gulags are convicted without adequate legal representation and are convicted in the white nation's courts without juries of their peers. They call this justice -- we call it the Amerikan INJUSTICE system. The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) is organizing across Amerika to expose the atrocities committed by the pigs in the streets, courthouses and prisons. We are organizing a contingent to Jericho '98, a protest for the release of prisoners incarcerated for their political beliefs.
March 28th, Washington D.C.: RAIL Criminal Injustice System Teach-in
And RAIL is organizing a teach-in the day after the march in DC to educate people about the criminal injustice system and the ways we can fight against it. If you don't have a place you can stay overnight in DC we can help. If you have space you can offer to others, let us know.
by RC 4T4
Recent research on the United Snakes policy on mandatory minimum sentencing has shown that it promotes national oppression. This is nothing new for those of us who are familiar with the Amerikan legal system, but it is a good sign that this kind of unjust policy is being revealed as such to the general public. Harvard medical school researcher William N. Brownsberger is extremely critical of the mandatory minimum sentence policy. He points out that those who can afford the best lawyers don't go to prison. RAIL knows that this phenomenon is not only a characteristic in mandatory minimum sentencing, but the exposure of the bias in our legal system is a move in the right direction.
Mandatory minimum sentencing is a policy which requires a set length of sentence for certain crimes. This means that no matter what the circumstances, even first time offenders will be given the mandatory minimum sentence on conviction. In many states a third conviction for a minor offense can put a person away for life because of this relatively new policy. This policy which requires longer prison terms is a result of the tough on crime hype that has surfaced more and more since the Reagan administration in the 1980s. The associated press quotes the Harvard researcher saying: "mandatory sentencing laws are wasting prison resources on non-violent, low-level offenders and reducing resources available to lock up violent offenders."
RAIL believes that locking anyone up in the Amerikan gulags is a waste of resources because of the horrible conditions and treatment within the prisons and the unjust practices of the legal system. The structure of Amerikan society as a whole perpetuates and creates crime through its oppressive conditions. Add this to a criminal injustice system devoted to social control and it is not hard to understand why the United Snakes has more people in prison per capita than any other country in the world.
Another study by the RAND corporation shows that the mandatory minimum sentencing policy has not been proven to reduce crime in any way. Research shows that people convicted under the old-order sentencing of shorter term lengths are two to three times less likely to re- offend after release. In fact, research results from the RAND corporation show that rehabilitation centers are seven times more effective in convictions where substance abuse is a factor. An independent British researcher released information which shows that rehabilitation programs within prisons are much less effective than those in the community. Research also shows the federal sentencing laws blatant discrimination through its differential sentencing for equal amounts of crack and powder cocaine. This discrimination shows the disproportionate targeting of oppressed nations as opposed to the white nation. The biases is based on facts that white's use powder cocaine more often then Blacks because of it's price, but perpetuates a myth that Blacks use crack more often then whites. In reality crack use is pretty much equal across nations.
This research also shows that there is no evidence that substance abuse is encountered more frequently among lower- income groups. This means that the disproportionate amount of low- income, oppressed nationals in prison for drug offenses is a direct result of discrimination by the Amerikan legal system.
by Ann Arbor RAIL
ITAL Though this article refers directly to Michigan, transfers, torture and prison building are not JUST a Michigan phenomenon. We call out to all activists and supporters to inform others about the Amerikan lockdown in their area by writing articles and/or directly to RAIL END
Michigan Governor John Engler has asked his State Legislature for $250 million to build five additional prisons in Michigan. This request tops off twenty years of prisons growth which saw the number of Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) facilities in Michigan grow from 25 in 1979 to 51 in 1993, with several new prisons added and in the planning stages since then. But more than doubling the number of prisons in 20 years is not enough for Engler, he still wants to build more--sustaining prisons as one of the fastest growing industries in the state.(1)
While Engler lobbies the legislature for the cash to build prisons the MDOC has begun transferring Michigan prisoners out of state, beginning with 38 prisoners from the Jackson area who were shipped to a Federal prison in Morgantown, West Virginia. The current plan is to transfer a total of 500 prisoners out of Michigan to other locations in W. Va., Kentucky, Minnesota and Kansas. These transfers are supposedly necessary because the Michigan prisons are so overcrowded that there is not room for these 500 people in the MDOC until the new prisons are built.(2)
RAIL has heard conflicting reports and it is difficult to sort out how genuine the overcrowding problem is across the board. But the question at hand is: does this state need more prisons or is there another alternative? The current prisoner transfers are nothing more than a public relations stunt Governor Engler is using to support his request to build more prisons. RAIL opposes the transfers just as we oppose all measures to build more prisons or otherwise build up the Amerikan lockdown. In general, RAIL supports education and activism over imprisonment. In particular, RAIL supports MIM's Free Books for Prisoners program as an important place for activists to put their energies while they oppose building more prisons.
Transfers = promoting prisons growth
The most recent MDOC statistics RAIL has underscore the state government's initiative for a greater lockdown and heightened repression. MDOC spending increased by a dramatic 414% between 1979 and 1990. The prisoner population increased by 112% in this time period. While this increase in the prisoner population is ghastly, it is minimal compared to the DOC's budget gains. The bigger DOC budget allowed Michigan to increase the number of corrections employees from 4,921 to 14,056 in these same 12 years. These numbers clearly demonstrate the state government's history of unwillingness to improve prisoner education, employment and opportunities for parole. The state is spending its money building up a larger DOC--beefing up the bureaucracy and numbers of staff for the prisons system. This is why RAIL says prisons are not about crime, they are about building an industry for the state, and repression for the oppressed.(3)
RAIL in Massachusetts has been petitioning and rallying against prisons growth since the end of 1995. In November of 1995, then-Massachusetts Governor Weld promoted a policy of overclassifying prisoners to make the prisons look more crowded. The Massachusetts DOC would put prisoners in higher security prisons than they needed to be, overcrowding the high security prisons, and then transferred 299 prisoners to Texas to dramatize the manufactured overcrowding. All of this was part of Weld's effort to build more prisons in Massachusetts.(4)
If Michigan prisons really do have an overcrowding problem, John Engler is doing everything he can to sustain the problem rather than solve it. John Freeman, the head of the State House of Representatives Corrections Committee opposes the transfer and the building of more prisons. He pointed out that those convicted of non-violent offenses can be released on tethers or other non-prison alternatives. But Engler wants to build up his own tough-on-crime image. An Engler spokesperson said "We are absolutely not going to let inmates out early to relieve the overcrowding problem."(5)
So who are these dangerous criminals being chained in Michigan's gulags? A Michigan prisoner reports that "the public would be amazed if they knew why Michigan's prisons are overcrowded. Besides me being sentenced six years and eight months to 15 years for [writing] bad checks, there is a fellow sentenced to 25-40 years for possession of stolen auto parts! And a fellow sentence 25-50 years for stealing a car! The public is unaware that tax dollars are being spent to house non-violent offenders for absurd lengths of time."(6)
RAIL is not out to get a lot of people placed on electronic tethers in the state of Michigan, we are simply pointing out that the state already has the means to solve prison overcrowding and just is not willing to use them. The transfers which have already taken place show clearly that the primary objective for the state government is to help the DOC keep as many people locked up as possible.
While the number of prisons and other DOC facilities in Michigan has doubled, and the prison population has more than doubled, the state population has grown by less than one-eighteenth. RAIL draws attention to the grossly disproportionate expansion in the Michigan prisoner population as one of the manifestations of Amerikan imperialism. This trend of locking up more people rather than improving education and employment for these people is simply another way of increasing repression rather than improving living conditions for people.
RAIL aspires to eventually participate in building a more just and humane society in which all the people's basic needs are met, and crime among the people is dealt with by examining criminals in the context of the larger society--not by stigmatizing them. Part of our work towards a more just society is our contribution to MIM's Free Books for Prisoners program. We agree with MIM that just because the Department of Corruptions won't provide the books prisoners want, this does not mean we cannot step in and help to fill that gap. We call on all people who think that prisons should be more rehabilitative than torturous to contribute to Free Books for Prisoners with your time, money or books.
Transfers = denial of prisoner rights
In addition to all of the reasons not to build more prisons generally, transfers place an unjust burden on prisoners and their families, who must travel longer distances to see loved ones in prison when they are shipped out of state. Transfers also place extra legal restraints on prisoners who are forced to become familiar with laws and regulations in a new prison system, and are farther away from their attorneys just as they are from their families.
In response to this analysis of prisoners' rights, RAIL often hears the criticism that prisoners are criminals who do not have rights which activists are bound to respect or struggle for. We remind these critics of several things. First, the state institution we are talking about is called the Department of Corrections, whose stated purpose is to make prisoners better fit to live in society at large when they get out. Certainly depriving prisoners of their basic rights does not achieve this.
Second, we draw these critics' attention to individuals like Malcolm X and George Jackson, and to Gary Fareed who recently spoke on the University of Michigan campus at RAIL's invitation. All of these people became political activists while they were in prison. In spite of barriers placed in front of them by the INjustice system, they used their time in prison to gain knowledge and understanding of their own acts against society and of the importance of working to build a better society without oppression. The majority of prisoners in Amerika's gulags are Blacks, Latinos and First Nations. The majority who do commit crimes are in bad situations to start out with and do not commit crimes simply for the joy of it but either for survival or because they cannot imagine making better and more productive use of their lives.
It is not for activists to turn on these people once they are in prison and say "sure you're oppressed but so what, now you have to do your time." Activists have the responsibility of pointing the finger at the real criminals--those in power under the system of imperialism--and saying that these criminals should not be allowed to continue building their structures of oppression while the poor and oppressed are imprisoned in ever greater numbers.
The state does enough damage locking people up, and the state has shown its unwillingness to make real positive reforms for prisons. Because we in RAIL take oppression seriously, we take our own responsibility in building a productive end to oppression seriously. Free Books for Prisoners is one way to build toward that end.
Transfers: even the DOC admits they're punitive
Through our work with prisoners, RAIL has received information about the MDOC's policies and perspective on prisoner transfers, and it is clear from internal memos that everyone in the prisons system recognizes that shipping prisoners far from home is at best a punitive measure. The MDOC Director of Classifications acknowledged in a June, 1993 memo that some prisoners in U.P. prisons "earn" their transfers down state. He further stated that the circumstances in which a prisoner who had already served time in the U.P. could be transferred back to the U.P. were those in which "disciplinary action was taken in down state facilities." Even according to this DOC official, those prisoners who complain and are believed to have been "unjustly transferred to the U.P." should be returned down state "as quickly as possible."(7)
In 1990, the Executive Assistant to the Director of the MDOC wrote that "the majority of [prisoners who are imprisoned in the upper peninsula] are sentenced from major metropolitan areas located in the Southern portion of the state."(8) The significance of Upper Peninsula imprisonment is that in Michigan as in many other states, prisons are built to bring economic growth to rural areas. Since most of these rural areas are almost exclusively white, this means locking up the majority-Black Michigan prisoner population in low-population white areas which are far away from their homes and families.
One Michigan prisoner wrote in January of this year: "This [U.P. facility] is probably the most openly racist prison in Michigan. My people came up to visit last year and they don't even want to come back because these honkies are racist and they let your people know it. But my family tries to come up once a year just to let these honkies know that they ain't gonna make me disappear and nobody care. [Prison guards] would have been done set me up long ago if it wasn't for my people staying in touch with me and putting their two cents in about this B.S. going on up here."(9)
The MDOC's annual reports further illustrate the state government's policies of repression. In 1979, with a prisoner population of only 14,944, the MDOC transferred no less than 22,408 prisoners from one Michigan prison to another so on average, each prisoner was transferred 1.5 times. As late as 1993, with a state prison population of 35,751, 39,032 prisoner transfers were recorded, meaning each prisoner was transferred more than once. The state's willingness to arbitrarily force migration of prisoners even within Michigan shows that this state has minimal concern for the hassles caused to prisoners shipped across state lines.(1,3)
RAIL draws attention to the policy issues surrounding U.P. imprisonment because they are similar to the issues around transfers. Clearly the state recognizes that even some transfers within the state are punitive, so transferring prisoners out of state is yet another punitive measure against Michigan's prisoners. We also want to let the DOC know that prisoners have more people out here to call on than their personal friends and family, and that additional repression of prisoners will not go unnoticed. RAIL calls on all anti-imperialist activists and those with sympathy towards prisoners to oppose the transfers and expansion of Michigan prisons. RAIL is circulating petitions to this effect in Ann Arbor, and we welcome support and assistance from all quarters. If you can't find us locally, you can send a letter of support for our goals to our P.O. box and we'll send your letter in along with our petitions. You can also get in touch with us to support Free Books for Prisoners.
Notes: 1. MDOC Statistical Reports for 1979 and 1993. 2. MIM Notes 155 1 February, 1998, p. 4. 3. MDOC Statistical Reports 1979, 81, 82, 85, 86, 87, 89, 90. 4. MIM Notes 153 15 January, 1998, p. 9. 5. Ann Arbor News 13 December, 1997. 6. A Michigan prisoner 7 January, 1998. 7. Memo from Dennis Dyke, Classification Director for the MDOC, to Wardens Caruso and LeCruex, 9 June, 1993. 8. Letter from Richard McKeon, Executive Assistant to the MDOC Director, to Lois Calcott, Chief Investigator for the Office of the Legislative Corrections Ombudsman 6 June, 1990. 9. Another Michigan prisoner 26 January, 1998
This article was written by the RAIL collective in a "rehabilitation"
facility. Because of harsh repression of inmates for the activism and
ideas described below, we can not identify the facility.
As both MIM Notes and MIM Theory #11 have shown, the incarceration rates in the imperialist U$ have been steadily increasing. This is part of Amerikkka's growing attack on oppressed nations within its borders. One of the main weapons in this offensive is the alleged "War on Drugs". The U$ has been using this "War" as a cover for increased repression in both tactics (pigs with M-16's) and harsher sentences. As more and more white nation youth get caught in the "crossfire", so to speak, the same white society that begged for harsher measures in the 80's (when they thought drugs were only a problem for the oppressed nations), has been crying out now in the 90's for the need for "rehabilitation". Now that white Amerikkka's material interests are affected, the U$ government has felt the need to show a change of heart.
"A kinder, gentler exploitation"
In response to these calls for "rehabilitation" of drug offenders, the U$ injustice system has increasingly been working with programs that claim to offer this. Various programs called "boot camps", "therapeutic communities", and "work-therapy" programs have been proliferating nicely off this. While they may all differ slightly on minor points, they all serve the same function, and operate similarly. Within these programs, "patients" often work 11-15 hour days performing harsh physical labor. In return they receive no payment, and are told their work is in return for room and board (as if the state and federal grants; mandatory welfare and foodstamps for "patients"; and other sources of income are not enough!). This room and board usually consists of drafty buildings (which are often rodent infested) and high fat, high calorie food filled with salt. This way "patients" gain weight and "look" healthy. Medical and other services are often minimal, maximizing profit. Instead of going to the people performing the labor, the profits they make for the institution go into the exploiter's pockets, providing them with an easy source of free labor for their business-in-the-guise-of-a-program. In addition, these programs use bourgeois psychology to attempt to convince the masses imprisoned within them that struggle is useless and that society will never change. They push the concept of "acceptance" on their victims, telling them that "accepting" the injustice and oppression of capitalist society as essential to their "recovery". These programs also routinely restrict political and religious mail of anyone adhering to a non-state-approved ideology and place similar restrictions on visitation, all in the name of "therapy".
"Exploitation & the Courts: Perfect Together"
Representing the latest development in imperialist tactics, these programs offer free labor and pro-system propaganda all in one package. There is much good publicity to be gained from this for the courts, as well, since they can now say "See, we let them go to a program" and such. Relations between the directors of these programs and gov't officials are normally very cozy. The director of one such program in New Jersey is known to be extremely close to both the mayor and police chief (the police force in this town is renowned for its brutality and corruption, as well as its harassment of activists) of the town the program is based in. The profit-based motive behind these programs is made clear when it is also understood that certain county courts have actual contracts to supply a certain amount of individuals; the formation of drug courts (DCI) in the state of New Jersey that habitually sentence people to lengthy program stays; and most programs' participation in the MAP program providing for the early release of prisoners to programs (not to mention $30,000 a head for the "non-profit" program!).
While pointing out the position these programs serve in imperialist society repression, it must be stated that there is often a much-reduced chance of physical harm, and the length of stay is still less than that of the average prison sentence. Therefore, individuals facing prison time MAY wish to look into the prospect of getting stipulated to a program. As well, I feel the need to point out that the issue of drug abuse is a serious one for the revolutionary movement to tackle (MT#9 was a good start). In the way of self-criticism, I formerly abused narcotics, but now feel that most drug use is simply escapist and serious comrades would do better to spend the time and money doing Party work. 'Tis better to work to destroy imperialism, then use drugs to hide from the horrors of it. Work with MIM and RAIL to expose the system of national oppression known as the criminal injustice system!
CRITICISM & SELF-CRITICISM
The [facility] RAIL collective recognizes the unparalleled value of criticism and self-criticism to the revolutionary. Only through criticism and self-criticism can correct revolutionary line be achieved, and (in our current circumstances, somewhat more importantly) can we recognize, compensate for, and correct our errors on a personal level. We realize that beyond organizing & educating others, and studying on a theoretical level, that building for revolution also entails changes in our personal attitudes and behaviors as we break free of imperialist society conditioning. We should welcome opportunities for criticism and self-criticism as important struggles to become better, more effective revolutionaries. In keeping with this belief, the collective issues the following self-criticisms.
1) Objectively serving imperialism through past dealings with drugs. Through our escapist use of drugs we sought to hide from the horrors of imperialist oppression, rather that organize for a revolution to stop it. Through our purchase of drugs we served imperialism both by providing an excuse for increased pig presence in our communities, and money for CIA operations in Third World nations struggling for liberation. Finally, through our sale of drugs, we led others down the escapist path.
2) Failure to struggle to advance the line set forth in this resolution. In the past year we have seen many good comrades who have had quite advanced theory and practice leave the program (often to face long prison terms), without taking into account the consequences of their actions. Criticism and self-criticism could have helped avert these occurrences. As revolutionaries, our primary goals should always be to prepare ourselves for struggle, and to free ourselves (and others) from imperialist restrictions as soon as possible. Thus, if one is stipulated to 18 months here or face a 7 flat, the comrade should be encouraged to stay in the program and reminded of our duty to the People. Finally, by carrying out intensive criticism and self-criticism publicly, we will show the People our dedication and determination, winning their respect.
In Struggle,
S&N RAIL coll
December 1997
December 16, 1997
Senator Joseph Youny Jr. State Senator State Capitol Lansing, MI 48913
Dear Senator Youny:
I am forwarding this letter in part as a response to a letter sent to you on November 26, 1997 from Jeanine Ross, of the Michigan Department of Corrections, Policy Analyst, Legislative Affairs in regarding my question of the MDOC policy directive 05.03.130, 11Prisoner Telephone Use in Correctional Facilities Administration Facilities.1.
In a previous letter I sent you on November 6, 1997, I inquired about this policy not allowing me and other similarly situated prisoners the ability to make phone calls over seas, i.e, England, Spain etc.
According to the response you received November 26, 1997 from Jeanine Ross, the reason the Department of Corrections recognizes these locations (Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam) is because Sprint, the long distance supplier for all Michigan prisons, has contracts with the local carriers as well as the capability to route the calls appropriately. And that "in order for a prisoner to make a collect call to England, Sprint must have a billing agreement with British Telecom, which it currently does not have, and further, it would have to recode all the call control boxes at all prisons."'
I understand the explanation the MDOC is offering and the situation that exist in the matter of meeting certain technical issues. However, it would seem that this matter is one that should be managed in a way that will offer prisoners (who have family and friends outside of the allowed designations offered per policy) so that they can have some form of contact with their loved ones like the general population. We cannot allow some to have this phone privilege and deny others the same ability and/or right. This is (no matter how one looks at it) discriminatory and unfair.
It is my hopes (though this is an issue that has to be met on various levels) that something will be done about this matter. I have gathered much interest among the prisoner class and their family members over this issue and it appears that many agree with me. That they want something done on this matter so that incarcerated prisoners can call relatives, and for prisoners who have no relatives in the U.S. or the designated available places one can call, can make calls as well.
I thank you, in advance, in regard to this matter and look forward to something being done.
Sincerely, --a Michigan prisoner
RAIL response: This is yet another example of how prisons serve the interests of the imperialist companies rather then the masses. Unlike incarceration itself, contact with family has been the only factor that seems to contribute to prisoner reform. RAIL unites with all prisoners fighting such battles, and hopes that more people on the outside rise up to contribute their legal expertise and time to help end such acts.
All over the u$, prisoners are used as slaves to produce profits for the state and private businesses such as Chevron, Macy's, Dell, IBM, and Texas Instruments.(1) Wages tend to be far below minimum wage and prisoners are usually forced to pay more expenses when they are working. Slave labor in prisons is legal according to the 13th Amendment of the Constitution. And when one looks at the proportion of oppressed nations incarcerated in u$ prisons, it bares great similarity to the enslavement of Blacks less than two centuries ago.
Last year starting wages for New Jersey prisoners went from 35-40 cents per hour down to 28-30 cents per hour. New York state has a web page for its Corcraft program, on which it has a full color catalog of the fine office furniture produced by prison labor. In Wisconsin prisoners are "paid" minimum wage, but after room & board and medical costs are taken out the prisoners get less than a dollar an hour. Yet these prisoners still must pay the same fees when they see the nurse. And these expenses are all accounted for with tax dollars in the first place. In Michigan prisoners receive only $3.00- $5.00 per day for 8-10 hours of work. And as a result they must also pay for medication and toiletries which were previously given to them for free. In California 80% of the prisoner's wage goes directly to the state.(1) And the list of profit-stealing continues as a general trend which is realizing more and more profits for those in power who are benefiting from this slavery. To learn more about this exploitation join RAIL on March 28th in Washington D.C. for a teach-in on prison issues.
(1) http://persephone.hampshire.edu/wmpig/V1N3/raceinjust.html
R.A.I.L.,
I appreciate the acknowledgment over E-mail. Within the parameters of my schedule, and possibly going outside of it also, I am very willing to assist in the struggle. I am fluent in Spanish and my reading is a little rusty, but with practice it will undeniably flow through.
If you would like you could reach me at my home number, but if E-mail is more practical then so be it. I read this message towards the latter part of the week, so possibly we could talk this weekend to arrange something for the next week.
I am also interested in aiding the Hispanic prisoners , whether it be translations or letter-writing, anything to let the brothers know that hope still exists.
Hopefully I'll be hearing from you in the coming days.
"Power To The People" --a friend in the Midwest
RAIL responds:
If you are fluent in any other languages, contact us. Many people around the country and the world don't have access to our material because of Amerikan English chauvinism and little education. Letters need to be responded to, theory translated, and articles written. Oppressed masses need more people to step up like this comrade!