LAWYER PREDICTS FAVORABLE COURT RULING
Dear Comrade,
Please renew my subscription to MIM Notes. The last issue I received was 118. Though issue 117 and 118 were selectively denied. They only let certain issues reach my cell. The good news is that the Federal courts rule around October on the constitutionality of this censorship. My attorney stated it's an open and closed case, being that the prisoncrats have no penological reason to deny the publications. Thus I should get all past denied issues of MIM Notes if the court rules fairly.
There's been a lot of restrictive changes within the last month. Once the prisoncrats finish doing their modifications I will send a chronological calendar of events, for MIM Notes....
In Struggle. -- An Iowa Prisoner, Aug. 28, 1996
HARASSMENT IS THE NORM IN WISCONSIN FEDERAL PRISON
Dear MIM,
Here in the Federal Gulag of Oxford, Wisconsin, things remain the same: staff harassment, discrimination, and violation of privacy (yeah, the little we do have guaranteed by University-student contract.) Lest I forget the prevention of rehabilitation which ensues because of Bureau of Prison staff actions. While my MIM Notes are not censored, and I do wish to continue receiving them, this tolerance of publications does not hide the clearly biased behavior of the Department of Justice staff here at FCI-Oxford.
Should you at MIM be interested in the details of my case...don't hesitate to contact me. Keep up the great work.
Sincere in the struggle, --A Wisconsin Prisoner, Oct. 3, 1996.
PRISONERS MUST WAIT HOURS FOR THE BATHROOM, WHILE PIGS GO IN THE FOOD
...I would like to thank you for your support. I already received two newspapers of yours. I am very happy to receive your paper from Notas Rojas. I want to say a few things that happen here.
In the prison that I'm in, some pigs got caught pissing in the people's food while inmates were in the hole. These pigs are still working in this facility. At this moment two got fired and one is still working....
At the moment I'm doing top lock for some major tickets. There are some racist officers up there in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Most of these officers are KKK members that are constantly harassing Blacks and Latinos. These officers write tickets on us just for looking at them the wrong way. They will take a piss in people's food, take your mail and give it to an inmate whenever that feel like it.
Thank Allah-Solah God, that I got all your papers, late but I got them. We are having a problem here. The deputy warden passed a new policy saying that inmates in top lock for major misconduct will remain in our cells and wait for 2 to 3 hours, until they make rounds, so that we can go to the bathroom. Sometimes I wait two hours or more just to go to the bathroom, because if I get out of my cell to tell them that I need to use the rest room, they will give us a ticket for that....
--A Michigan Prisoner, Aug. 26, 1996
POLICE BRUTALITY IN TEXAS
I am in Bell County Jail. I was talking to one of my cell-mates when he showed me your newspaper. He gave me some to read. I read some of the stories and was glad that someone was trying to help and look after people and prisoners. That made me mad knowing what some prisons get away with, as was glad to see prisoners fighting back.
Like one time I got arrested in ... Texas just because they didn't like my last name. But anyway, they threw me on the hood of the police car. I was talking to one of the officers asking what was I being arrested for. One of the officers behind me sprayed pepper spray in my eyes. At the time I didn't know what to do, so I was trying to rub my eyes because they were burning. As I was trying to rub my eyes, the officers jumped on me.
One choking me and two other ones trying to throw me to the ground. I was charged with resisting arrest. I tried to fight it in court, but the officers said, "We didn't use pepper spray." So I got six months probation for resisting arrest....Now every time I go to town a cop stops me or my family.
I wrote you to see if I can get some of MIM Notes, because they tell the truth and they fight back.
Thanks, --A Texas Prisoner, Aug. 22, 1996
UNSANITARY LIVING CONDITIONS IN ILLINOIS
...The topic that I'm about to speak about is the unsanitary living conditions which are purposely imposed and ignored by the Menard Administration. The cell house in the North segregation unit is infested by numerous different types of vermin: rodents, birds, bats, insects and roaches. This creates an unhealthy living environment. We have not seen any effort to exterminate or prevent further infestation of our living environment. The response to our numerous grievance issues about the birds, mice, roaches and insects have been basically disregarded or completely ignored.
The only response that was given, was that they denied that these conditions exist....We have nothing to keep them out of our cells. They eat through the cardboard boxes in which we place our clothes, commissary and hygiene items. The birds fly through the cell house, leaving their feces on the gallery floor, cell bars, our food cart, etc. The mice make their nests in everything or where ever they can. The roaches infested here so bad, that they are immune to the roach spray. They live in almost every crack, corner, crevice they can. The insects are unbearable to experience. In the shower stalls we must constantly endure unsanitary and inhumane conditions. They purposely deny us proper cleaning materials for our cells. We are issued two SOS brillo pads.
We have for years been forced during these deadlock periods to live yet under more inhumane and unsanitary conditions. The galleries are extremely filthy and are never swept or mopped. There is dirt caked on the floors....The drainage systems are constantly clogged which make the water we use to shower, overflow. We are forced to stand in this foul smelling water while showering and take our chances on catching some type of disease or ailment....
Some of the toilets are dysfunctional, some constantly flush and some don't flush at all. Some of the sink water fixtures don't work at all, some when they do, never stop flowing.... All inmates who reside in the Menard segregation unit, request that the health department be notified. [We want] all our accusations to be investigated by a unbiased individual who will expose these conditions to the outside world. Without you we have nobody to hear our voices or anyone who could care enough to speak out against this administration.
--An Illinois Prisoner, Sept. 20, 1996
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF INJUSTICE CENSORS MIM NOTES
To Whom it May Concern
You are hereby advised that a publication entitled, "MIM Notes" June 1, 1996, No. 115, and "Notas Rojas", Enero-Marzo de 1996, No. 8 has been found unacceptable, under Federal Prison System Program Statement 5266.6, Incoming Publications, for delivery to inmates of this institution for the following reason: it is determined detrimental to the security, good order, or discipline of the institution....
Sincerely, --George E. Killinger, Warden, Jul. 30, 1996
Letters of protest can be sent to Warden George E Killinger, US Department of Injustice, Federal Prison System, Federal Correction Institution, 3150 Horton Rd, Fort Worth, TX 76119.
Regional Director, South Central Regional Office, Federal Prison System, 4211 Cedar Springs Rd., Suite 300, Dallas, TX 75119.
KANSAS CENSORS MIM NOTES
Comrades, I received the first paper that you sent. It was refreshing! Unfortunately the second wasn't allowed in. They'll refuse each and every one. The reason, part of it was written in a language other than English. While I know this wasn't the real reason the military penal system is far worse than the normal [prison] and has unlimited resources.
Continue to carry forth the word to the masses and I wish you the best in your endeavors.
--A Kansas Prisoner, Aug. 9, 1996.
Letters of protest can be sent to: Department of the Army, 310 McPherson Ave, Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-1363.
PRISONER INDICTED WITHOUT EVIDENCE OR WITNESSES
I'm writing this [about] the situation I'm in, in the hope of getting legal help, or just to let the world know how the system messes over inmates (mostly of Color or without money). My problem is this:
I'm an inmate at Tennessee Colony, Texas Penitentiary, in ad-seg [administrative segregation] for aggravated assault on an officer. (Which happened in....[another prison]) A free world charge that I got a disciplinary report on. I was found guilty for striking an officer with a lock, with no officer or lock at the hearing.
Then I got an indictment for that charge, but they didn't lie about a lock being involved. As that indictment said, it was just my fist, but I got all these legal papers in which "lock" was the main word...Is putting a jacket on my back and getting me beat up on every unit.
To top it off, a female officer was hit, but not by me. In the course of beating me, one law man hit this female officer and blamed me. I was beat by three officers on racial grounds. (Just having color in my skin) and not listening to an order after I was talked to like a slave.
I go to court in October. I don't know much about law and I have an "Inmate Service Lawyer" who was trying to get me to plea guilty. Now how can I let my life be in his hands?...
--A Texas Prisoner, Aug. 14, 1996
A 10TH GRADE AZANIAN YOUTH FACES THE DEATH PENALTY IN MISSISSIPPI
A Madison County, Mississippi District Attorney named John Kitchens wants to play God by seeking the lynching of ..[X]..., a17 year old South African, in his self-serving promotion to advance a political career in this well publicized case. The Johannesburg native who has become D.A. Kitchens victim was born and raised in the former Apartheid black township of Soweto, where [X] lived through the turbulent years of racial tensions. Two years ago, he moved with his parents to Jackson, Mississippi, after his mother had won a scholarship to Jackson State University...
All through [X]'s stay in America, he has done exceptionally well in his classes while attending ...high school, with no difficulty adjusting academically even though like many children in Soweto, had missed numerous days of formal instruction on account of school boycotts in protest of Apartheid. In 1995, wanting to be accepted by his peers, who basically rejected him due to his foreign accent and mannerisms, he chose to befriend a group of older youth who spent little time in class but were very street-wise.
Eventually [X]'s parents became concerned because of the new crowd he was hanging out with. So in desperation they decided to scrape together the funds to send him to .... a well respected boarding school for black youth outside of Jackson. [X] was set begin this new school when tragedy struck. According to police reports, he was riding in a car...with a man [Z]..with a past criminal background in January 1995.
While cruising around..[Z], ...followed a woman [Y] until she pulled into her apartment building's parking lot. [Z] got out of his car with a gun and forced [Y] to move to the passenger side of her car and ordered [X] into the backseat....[Z] then drove to the woods,... instructed [Y] to come with him and [X] to stay in the car. ....[Z] shot and killed [Y].....
...Prosecutors are vigorously seeking the Death penalty in a county notorious for its biased juries. Most of the area is populated with white middle-class families who find ninety percent of minorities guilty within its criminal courts, and serve out harsher penalties against these groups then their own white counterparts.
In fact Mississippi Supreme Court documented in 1971, clear instances in which Madison County officials had systematically excluded Blacks from jury rolls especially during capital trials, which this practice is still being routinely carried out to this very day. Not surprising is [X]'s right to receive a fair trial in this racially biased community is unlikely.
Even worse, the prosecutor John Kitchens bragged to a local paper how he was a force behind getting [X]'s trial moved to Madison County from a predominately black ... county to increase the chances of getting a death penalty sentence. He stated, "The death penalty is the only deterrent we have in this country to stop these senseless murders going on, and I'll defend it to my death."
How ironic being that Kitchens dropped the capital murder charges against [Z] without a second thought. This shows Kitchen's intentions and how justice has gone terrible wrong for [X].If he does receive the death penalty and the sentence is carried out, he will become one of the many children in the United States put to death every year. Since 1990, only five nations in the world are known to have executed persons for crimes they supposedly committed while under 18 years of age. These countries are: Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the United States..
Of these 5 the U.S. has executed the most, with 66 percent of those persons sentenced to die, people of color. Even more perturbed is this nation continues to violate widely accepted international human rights standards which expressly forbids imposing the death penalty on people for crimes committed as children. Steven Hawkins, Executive Director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty in Washington said, "It is terribly iron that a child like [X] could survive some of the most turbulent years of apartheid, only then face the death penalty in Mississippi." That we should be critically drawn into his situation because it simply not right to be sentencing children to death.
The capitalist system with its corruption and incompetence, discrimination and poverty is about to commit a horrendous crime with complete premeditated vengeance against a human being. "All in the name of Justice", and all [X]'s family can do is watch the state of Mississippi slowly kill their son, mentally then eventually physically.
Currently [X] is being housed in ....jail, and denied bail.....
--An Iowa Prisoner, Oct. 1, 1996
PRISONER UNITY IN MICHIGAN QUESTIONED
Greetings Comrades! ...I received info about your Maoist International Movement through another prisoner. I read a letter that you had communicated to him that caught my interest enough for me to inquire and consider. You presented some real questions in your letter to this prisoner. I have no idea if he answered your questions or not, and answered them honestly. Therefor I would like to take this opportunity to answer a few of your questions.
You asked are the other prisoner with whom he can start up a study group to discuss MIM Notes and other revolutionary literature. The honest answer to this question is: There are no prisoners with any Maximum Michigan Facility that are serious enough and committed enough to come together in a Unified manner to discuss or do anything else in a sophisticated political revolutionary beneficial constructive aspect for self and others alike self.
There is no such thing as a Unified Political organized revolutionary struggle in the Michigan Maximum Prison system. In an attempt to eliminate the corruption deeply embedded into the criminal justice system and the Michigan Prison system. If there is such a struggle, the struggle is only demonstrated on a solo-individual basis....And if there is such a ...word as unity, it is the unity of ignorance, stupidity and foolishness......demonstrated against each other in the most destructive and demanding of ways.
And if a prisoner jumps up to make a stand in an attempt to bring all the other prisoners out of the stages of their ignorance, stupidity and folly against each other, in an attempt to unify everyone in making a meaningful stand against the corruption and atrocities of the system; these prisoner will actually turn on and turn against (you) in their attempt to destroy you.
The very person whose trying to bring them together to fight against their real enemies who seeks to keep them incarcerated, oppressed and deprived by any means necessary....I have been threatened, slandered.. and plotted against by other prisoners, simply because of the radical revolutionary stand I made against the system. The sad thing is that I didn't just make a stand for myself, I made it for all oppressed prisoners, and they turned against me to side with the system in deviating, blocking and frustrating my efforts. The very system that doesn't care a damn about any of them. I haven't met a prisoner, not one single prisoner who stood with me seriously committed in making a stand against the system. But I can name more than two hand fulls who stood against me.
So I have become solo in my struggle. Because no- one's really sincerely seriously committed to the struggle. This doesn't mean that I stopped caring about the oppressed ones who are daily oppressed, afflicted, denigrated, assaulted and even sometimes murdered. I still care. But I realized that there is nothing I can do for the cause and upliftment of others if they don't want to demonstrate the cause to uplift themselves. Therefore my struggle is in vain and is defeated as long as I'm stuck in here behind these walls oppressed with the oppressed.
I'm interested in a people and a movement that is serious about making some changes. But I have been subjected to so many phony people and informants and smoke screen organizations that were only in disguise to undermine my efforts and anyone else's efforts who stood against the system. So how am I to know if your movement is real or if its just another smoke screen organization that seeks to keep me oppressed and in prison?
I say this because I have an experience of injustice I would like to share with you and that you can make my experience made known to the public about the evil and wickedness of this system called the Department of Corrections. The wickedness and evil that I personally had to endure.
Am I alone in my struggle, or are there really any real organized movement groups out there seriously committed to the same cause?
PS. Please let me know if you received this response. Because of the contents they may intercept it.
In the struggle, -- A Michigan Prisoner, Aug. 27, 1996
MIM responds:
You are not alone comrade. Our legitimacy as the vanguard of the oppressed should be clear from our practice. While your direct observation of our practice is limited by the terms of your confinement, much can be gathered from the text of this newspaper and the fact that month after month, we write the stories and raise the funds to send it to you.
The letters pages of MIM Notes and MIM Theory also make it clear that we are not dogmatists who fear criticism. Rather, we thrive in it as without the criticism and participation of the masses, we will not be able to advance.
It is unfortunate that you have not found other revolutionary
prisoners to work with and feel that there in no political unity
in Michigan Maximum prisons. Readers, what do you think? MIM hears
from lots of politically motivated individuals. There are some
fairly organized and unified revolutionaries in prisons all over
the United Snakes. Please respond to this letter and tell of
your experiences with political unity.