PLEASE LISTEN

A women was sexually assaulted and harassed by her  boss...not such "new" news in today's society...but  to be punished for reporting it is - a punishment  resulting in prolonged imprisonment...sad but  true...it happened to me!

The incident that occurred could have happened to  anyone, in prison or out. Obviously, though, I am a  much more "captive audience" if you will. Had I  been an employee in the average corporation, I  would have been considered a hero for blowing the  whistle. An inmate, however, is still portrayed as  the villain, not the hero. I want to "tell all"  simply because I don't ever want another female or  male to go through the degradation I have been  subjected to by the Texas Department of Criminal  Justice. This is what I have to say.

I am an inmate in the Texas Department of Criminal  Justice in Gatesville, Texas. I have a twenty year  sentence for drugs and I have been locked up since  February 1992. With my good behavior and status, I  had a pre-approved parole date for February 1994.  (Contrary to the article published in the  Gatesville newspaper). Until, that is, I started  working for a certain ranking captain - Captain  Franco. Subsequently, my life got thrown into a  series of injustices.

My dark past and my struggle to find myself are the  very reasons I landed in prison. As devastating as  prison can be, I honestly thought this was to be my  new start. I could put the past behind me and begin  with a clean slate, something I was looking forward  to very much. Since I have been in prison, I have  been subjected to worse things, done to me  illegally, by figures of authority than what I did  to get sent here in the first place!

I believe I can show the public a whole new light  on what prison is all about. After all, I was the  average citizen for several more years than I was a  convicted felon. I too used to think prison was  where people went to get their lives straightened  out...not ruined! Sure - prison should not be fun,  but the people running these places are more  corrupt than most inmates. Honestly, its a free- for-all: sex, drugs, abuse, even stealing. They are  protected in doing these things because the system  does not want the public to know what really  happens behind these walls.

In August 1993, just months away from my freedom  and paying the final debt to society for my  mistakes, I was sexually assaulted by my  supervisor, who was a Ranking Captain with 10 years  in the Criminal Justice System. I was a Trusty,  which is a difficult status to obtain in the Texas  prison system. Upon reporting the incident, I was  subjected to some very harsh and cruel treatment  and transferred to a different facility where no  help was available.

Instead of the captain being punished, it seems as  though I have been given a whole new sentence for a  crime I didn't commit. I begged for some relief due  to troubled sleeping patterns and severe nightmares  of the assault. I also began acquiring several  disciplinary cases which in turn caused me to lose  my date to go home. All of this was a direct result  of asking for help with a situation I wasn't sure  how to handle. My reputation as a model inmate with  Trusty status was flawed forever, never to be  obtained again.

I was told I would get a polygraph but had to force  the issue until finally six months later I was  granted one in which I passed and Captain Franco  failed. It was then another six months until  Captain Franco was fired. However, I was not  restored to my original status...just harassed and  retaliated upon even more than before.

At this point I filed a civil lawsuit. I was at my  wit's end as to how to stop all the harassment by  Captain Franco's peers. The punishments grew more  frequent and more severe following the lawsuit. All  I wanted was justice and to be allowed to go home  to my three children.

Now that things are down to the wire on the civil  suit, I've been locked down and stripped of all  personal property, including family photos and any  means of outside news. I am having to sneak this  letter out and hope that it will be mailed. They  have attempted to strip me of my dignity and self  respect. I've been ostracized and belittled among  other inmates. It has been hard to keep focused on  my goals and to keep a positive picture of freedom  one day.

My hope for justice has been my strength; this  letter as my appeal for public knowledge and  support. Officers constantly say nasty comments  about me to other inmates in hopes that they will  hurt me mentally or physically. I am a nervous  wreck just trying to keep this from affecting me  any further. It is a daily struggle.

I truly believe this could be a good story. Several  people can testify to hair raising incidents! Men  and women alike! I am honestly voicing my opinion  when I say that the Texas Prison System is run by  the "real criminals". I'm sure with all the proof  and documentation I have, this story could open an  ugly curtain on Texas prisons. It would also set  the record straight about the incident that has had  a domino effect on my life.

My civil suit is still pending. Captain Franco has  been a hard man to locate. An attempt has been made  to serve him papers regarding the civil suit. His  last known whereabouts were at a U-Haul in Killeen.  That, however, has proven to be a dead end. His  comrade Lt. Rhea, the main investigator who was the  acting Internal Affairs man, tried to cover  everything up and sweep it under the rug. Much to  my dismay, he was running for the sheriff of  Gatesville when the authorities tried to serve him  papers. Everything came back to me saying they  could not locate these men. The last knowledge I  have of Mr. Franco's whereabouts was that he fled  to Tennessee and has not been heard from.

As you know, he is basically protected by immunity  of Code of Color of State. However, I still expect  him to be at the trial to answer for his behavior  as well as my prolonged stay in a corrupt prison.  But it seems I am fighting a losing battle against  deception and cover-ups, while I continue to fade  into non-existence in the Texas prison system. I am  forced to represent myself in litigation since I  have twice been denied council by the local Federal  Courts. I am a Pro Se litigant with very little  knowledge of the law.

In 1994 there was a Federal case [Women Prisoners  Vs. District of Colombia] in which they ruled that  regulations were to be in order in the hiring of  correctional officers. These regulations were to  weed out all sexual deviants and to identify  without a doubt those individuals capable of  holding a position in a correctional institution.  As I look around at the employees of this  institution, I realize that the State of Texas is  more concerned with building prisons than they are  screening their applicants. With the nation's  largest prison expansion program, less focus has  gone into the hiring of capable individuals.  Instead they allow inexperienced, sheltered country  folk, (whose county has won the bidding for new  prisons, therefore new job opportunities) to be put  in positions of power with authoritarian status.  Generations of correctional officers fill the  system. They protect their own at all costs. It is  somewhat a code of honor it would seem. They have  run things in this manner for years...the last  thing they need is a convicted female felon who  believes in justice and insists on being heard.

I am deeply concerned that you may never get this  letter. Whether you are interested or not in  investigating my story, please at least acknowledge  receipt of my letter. Otherwise I will be left to  assume my mail has been tampered with as usual.

Anxiously Awaiting a Reply --A Texas Prisoner, 12 October 1996

 ARIZONA: CHAIN GANGS, SLAVE LABOR AND STARVATION

 Dear Comrades:

I really enjoyed M.I.M! Your articles were right on  target, this administration needs to be put between  the cross-hairs!! The September issue on KKKlinton  was a bulls-eye! I want you to know that I will put  your newsletter into circulation here in the  Arizona State Prison, ... Here in Arizona, prison chain gangs and slave labor  are the common practice. I've been incarcerated  just over 10 years and in the last few years  Arizona prisons have done everything in their power  to provoke riots and unnecessary discontent. Who  are the real crooks? As of November 1, 1996, a  $2.00 a month appliance charge will be deducted  from inmates' money account, money that is usually  sent in by our family members for personal hygiene  items, etc. I hope they choke on that $24.00 a year  debit. I believe they are trying to put money back  in accounts they have previously stolen from. There  is an unsubstantiated rumor that there are a lot of  Federal indictments ready to be handed down against  the corrupt Arizona Government starting at the top  with Governor Fife Symington, and everyone under  his umbrella. Let's hope so.

Also, the administration has been cutting back on  the required portions of food and diets will be cut  back from 2250 calories to 1800. They are starving  us. No-one has had any new clothing since over a  year ago, they say they can't afford to even  provide us with socks, yet they won't let our  families send us clothes. In the meantime, they are  financing and building tents to house more  prisoners, and an internal departmental report  claims the inmate population is subsiding.  Something is contradictory here.

Arizona is notorious for slush funds, their "black  hole" money pits where a lot keeps going in and  "disappears" before it gets a chance to be used to  finance something. Somebody is making out good in  this state, but that is another story in itself. Well, when times get hard its easy to oppress the  oppressed, and that's how the ball and chain gets  its evil rest.

Thanks for having open ears. Keep up the good work.

--An Arizona Prisoner, 23 October 1996

 NEW YORK CENSORS MIM NOTES

 Dear MIM,

This is to acknowledge that MIM Notes September 1 &  15 and August 1 & 15 of 1996 arrived here addressed  to me. However, the facility media review committee  has censored and denied me the receipt of the  September 1 and 15th issues. Presently I am  appealing the decision to central office and I am  also contemplating a federal court challenge to the  practice, since I have been consistently  experiencing the same with other publications.

As you suggested, in the coming days I will be  posting you articles about the conditions in the  prison here. Thanks for your attention and  courtesy.

Yours in Struggle  --A New York Prisoner, 2 November 1996

Letters of Protest can be sent to: Central Office ,  Attica Correctional Facility, PO Box 149, Attica,  NY 14011.

 MORE ARTICLES ABOUT DEATH ROW NEEDED

 Dear MIM,  I would very much like to continue receiving your  great paper. I appreciate you letting me have  access to such a great Mat. filled with so much  info.

I would live to see more articles dealing with  Death Row issues. I have been on Florida's Death  Row for 8 1/2 years with a full evidentiary hearing  coming up in January. I hope to prove what I have  stoodfast over 9 years that I'm totally innocent.  Evidence was withheld, witnesses were forced to lie  and it's all coming back to bite the state's ass  now. Keep up the great work!

Florida just executed a good friend of mine on 21  October 1996 at 7:09 pm. John Earl Bush.

--A Florida Prisoner, 25 October 1996.

MIM RESPONDS:

The death penalty in Amerika is an extremely  important issue. Especially since most of the  people killed are from the oppressed nations, even  though they represent a small percent of the  population within Amerikkkan borders. The death  penalty is another tool the oppressive imperialist  state uses to control and legally kill people.  Under Lock and Key prints the letters of prisoners  and their concerns. So please write and send UL&K  articles about death row, the conditions, current  prison events and struggles. Some of the most  accurate and telling information comes from within  the walls. If you want to read about it, write  about it.

--RCG1 23 November 1996

 PRISONERS CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE IN FLORIDA

 Comrades,

Our struggle here in Florida continues, but each  day the Brothers in Arms are becoming more and more  discouraged. The fight moves us ahead one step and  the system knocks us back another two. In Palm  Beach County, Florida, things are really out of  hand. Our captors have cut back on the quantity of  food we get, and they are now illegally charging us  to stay in jail so we can not afford to buy snacks  or even hygienic supplies. As of now I owe the jail  over $100.00 and it grows daily. The courts won't  hear my civil action to fight the charges, because  the Sheriff won't serve the papers on themselves  and their fellow corruption squad who runs the  jail. Even the white, redneck politicians aren't  safe here either. Just this week, the court ordered  a candidate for state senate jailed for thirty days  for saying a judge was corrupt. How can the poor or  minority people be treated fairly if a white, rich  politician's right to free speech is taken away?

At least I'm getting my copies of MIM Notes again.  Our racist state controlled media won't share a  portion of the truths we can find in your paper.

Though our hope is diminished, it is not gone. We  must stand and fight the racist, corrupted  government, courts, and oppressors of all people.

Continuing in Struggle!  --A Florida Prisoner, 5 November 1996

 NEW JERSEY PRISONERS PRACTICE TEACHINGS OF MAO AND  MALCOLM X

 "If you ever think about me and if you ain't gonna  do no revolutionary act, forget about me. I don't  want myself on your mind. Let me say peace to you  if you're willing to fight for it." Fred Hampton  Chairperson, Illinois BPP.

Revolutionary Greetings & Clenched Fist Salute....

As a politikal konscious New Afrikan here immured  in one of NJ's kkkorruptional slave plantation,  infamous known as trenton state prison. First, let  me say that, i've received your Aug. lst & 15th and  Sept. lst & 15th issues. 4 in all to be exact and  along wit' a letter from one of your RAIL komrads'  a week thereafter. The prisonkrats (pigs) no doubt,  thoroughly molested (screened) them on de way  through "enemy checkpoint" (mailroom) because, it  was given to me 5 days from the initial date it was  received, so, no doubt it was thoroughly  molested(screened).

I'm not surprised that MIM NOTES wasn't  konfiscated, disapproved, and/or returned,  something that happens often when it komes to any  such "revolutionary ideas", etc. However, i'm  already on de prison- kkkrats "STG" files along  wit' a number of other komrads' who subscribe to  revolutionary ideas/practices/ideology. As a  result, we're konstantly being singled out &  harassed & being yanked wit' our mail.

All we've done was to set up study groups, P E  klasses, kultural klasses (history) etc.. As Mao  Tse-Tung said;" To overthrow a political party, it  is necessary, first of all, to create public  opinion, to do work in the ideological sphere."  Thus, that is exactly what we tend to strive  towards, by disseminating revolutionary ideology  partikularly to lumpen klass here.

As Bro. Malcolm said; "I, for one, believe that if  you give people a thorough understanding of what it  is that confronts them, and the basic causes that  produce it, they'll create their own program; and  when the people create a program, you get action."  We started by exposing the oppression and inhumane  konditions as well as, like i said, set up a study  group of cadres and the prisonkrats have/are  stepping up the repression.

As komrad George once said; " Power responds to all  threats. The response is repression". But ,as i  say, "the more the repression, the more the  resistance".!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep the papers koming.  I'll kontinue to stand firm, faithful and no doubt,  full of fight.

In struggle, In resistance, --a New Jersey Prisoner, 28 October 1996

 HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN TRIGGERS TRANSFER TO FEDERAL  PENITENTIARY

 Dear MIM Distributors,

While incarcerated at Waupun State Prison in  Wisconsin, I submitted to you a manifesto for  publication wherein said manifesto calls for a  boycott of Wisconsin for Human Rights. Though I am serving no Federal time, Wisconsin  banished me to ADX Florence, United States  Penitentiary.

I would greatly appreciate it if you would place my  name on your mailing list.  Thank you very much.

Struggle.  --A Wisconsin Prisoner in Colorado, 24 October,  1996

 PIG CENSORSHIP OF MIM THEORY 4

 Dear Comrades

I've recently received a contraband slip from this  pig infested administration telling me that I can  no longer receive the literature that is sent to me  by you. The pigs even had the audacity to tell me  in bold letters to "remedy this situation to avoid  further problems."

I am enclosing a copy for your review. What these  pigs fail to realize is that I do not allow them to  dictate what I can and can't receive so as they  choose! I fully intend on bringing this matter to  the attention of the head swine: Ronald  Duval,(porky himself) whom is referred to as  Superintendent at this racist/repressive  institution. In the interest of preserving the  latitude of receiving your literature on a regular  basis as I have. I think it would be in the  interest of the struggle to have you also put the  pigs on notice that their reasoning is off center?

I know for a fact that once the pigs read the  personal letter you enclosed with the literature,  it became the determining factor in their  repressive decisioning. (smiling) Keep the free  flow of the revolution on a move!!!

In strength and struggle, --A Massachusetts Prisoner, 2 November, 1996

Letters of Protest can be sent to: Ronald Duval,  Superintendent, PO Box 100, South Walpole, MA  02071.

 YOUNG MEN INTERESTED IN THE STRUGGLE

 If there is no struggle, there can never be any  progress. I have no mercy nor compassion for a  society that will crush people and then penalize  them for not being able to carry the weight.

Dear Comrades,

Power to the people. As I walk around inside the  belly of the pale- man's beast, I have begun to see  the oppression placed on us by the united snakes of  Babylon.

I am now in a desperate struggle to educate myself  and others about what is going on in Amerikkka. I  just received my first copy of MIM Notes and I must  say that I never knew that so many different people  were involved in the struggle.

I am only 25 years old, but I am very eager to  learn because I found that there are those younger  than me who are deeply involved in the struggle.  Plus I hate and I'm against oppression no matter  what form it appears in.

There are a few of here who are trying to prepare  ourselves both mentally and physically for the  struggle as well as for the revolution, but we are  young so therefor we lack knowledge of the struggle  which is why we've turned to you for guidance.

We know very little about the struggle or about  revolutions. We only know what we have been  fortunate enough to hear or sometimes read. We need  your help in setting up a study group, we have the  people but we lack the materials and the literature  to educate ourselves.

I noticed in the letter sent with my MIM Notes,  where you stated that you could provide study  materials, literature and books to prisoners who  were willing to learn. We would very much  appreciate a chance to take advantage of your  offer, but due to our incarceration we are unable  to pay for what you send.

We realize that there are a lot of prisoners who  you donate books, literature and other study  materials to, but if there is any way that you  could fit us in we would truly appreciate it, as  well as study it to the best of our ability. And we  promise to teach others with the hope that we may  make a difference in the struggle for Liberation. I  have been chosen as group leader, so all study  materials can be sent to me to keep down cost.  We've learned to share so we can work with whatever  you send. We just need your support and donations.

Please keep in mind that none of us are over the  age of 25 years old, so this is all somewhat new to  us. We don't know any names of famous people who've  been involved in the struggle nor do we know the  names of any of their books. Don't get me wrong, we  are familiar with the Black Struggle, but we've  learned that it's a peoples struggle and this is  what we want to familiarize ourselves with. We want  to start at the beginning and go from there. We  will keep you updated on you progress as we grow  with monthly or by-monthly letters....

In Struggle Stiff Resistance!  --A Texas Prisoner, 7 October 1996

MIM RESPONDS: This letter speaks to the tremendous need for more  resources for MIM's Books for Prisoners program. We  will send what literature we can to this comrade  but we operate at a loss and need donations of  money and revolutionary books. These comrades in  Texas, and many others like them, need the  materials to educate themselves so they can help to  build the revolutionary movement. Those fortunate  enough to be on the outside should contribute  generously.

 CALIFORNIA CENSORS MIM NOTES

 Dear Representative;

I write to you concerning the banning of your fine  publication at the institution which I am  confined...

In their disapproval, the authorities cite sections  of the Director's Rules found in California Code of  Regulations, Title 15, which have been recently  changed to allow wider discretion to ban  publications which they view as '"disruptive" from  their point of view.

I am currently pursuing the Inmate 602 Appeals  process, and intend to pursue this issue into court  as a violation of free speech and religion, if  necessary. I wish to send someone in your  organization Xerox copies of my work, to keep you  posted on the circumstances. Do you have any  litigation personnel within your company whom I  might be put in contact with? I believe also, as  publishers of a news periodical, the company and  inmates such as myself should consider joining in  civil litigation to end this intrusive ban ability  which the Department of Corrections has chosen to  implement. There are many cases where the press  have been erroneously denied their reporting  function, so this just isn't an issue of "prisoner  rights" as to what they can receive while  incarcerated.

Obviously, I believe, and have so alleged, that the  banning is political in nature because of the  content and political and religious views portrayed  within your publication. As you can see from the  institutions responses, the ban is based upon such  content they view as being "anti-government" and  "anti-law enforcement". This is wrong, and must be  stopped.

...The official institution address is: California  Correctional Center, P.O. Box 790, Susanville, CA  96130-0790, telephone (916) 257-2181

Inquiries should be directed to the Warden's office  for response. The personnel who do the actual  "reviewing" and "disapproval" are the Mailroom  Staff.

Solidarity, --A California Prisoner, October 15, 1996

MIM RESPONDS: We are glad to hear you are fighting this  censorship and we agree with you that this is a  winnable battle. We receive many letters like this  from comrades behind bars who are having their MIM  Notes and other MIM literature censored and we are  currently putting together a short guide to help  prisoners taking on these legal battles. It will  include information on where to look for similar  cases, legal resources, and suggested strategies.  If anyone has information that would be useful to  include in this anti-censorship resource guide for  prisoners, please send it to us.