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Top A Call for Help: Missouri Prisoner Needs Medical Care
...I am having serious problems getting adequate medical attention from the medical staff here at the Cross Roads Correctional Center. I am having problems swallowing. My throat stays sore all the time and this infection is causing my tongue to have sores on it. I have serious nose bleeding due to the fact that whatever is stuck in my throat is also effect my nasal passages.
I have put in several medical requests concerning this problem. I have even gone to the extent of filing a grievance about my medical problem, but nothing is being don for me in the medical department. Every time I go to the doctor's office for an examination the doctor just looks into my moth and nose with a flashlight. And then tells me that nothing is wrong with me. This routine is frustrating and depressing to me because I am in constant pain. I am suffering and can not get any medical attention from the medical staff here.
I know for a fact that I am being discriminated against because of my race and the fact that I am a revolutionary. They know I am a revolutionary from my politics and my reading material. I am very aware of what I am dealing with in this concentration camp. I know the history of how these prisons use their medical staff to murder certain political prisoners who have power and influence among the masses of people.
I am being held in maximum security lockdown. I am isolated from the general population. So whatever happens to me back here in isolation is hidden from the eyesight of the rest of the prisoners in general population. For all of you comrades who are locked up in Administrative Segregation at any prison, I am sure that you can identify with my plight.
All of this is political, my comrades. The prisoncrats are keeping the money, which the taxpayers are giving them for our medical care. The prisoncrats receive $50,000 a year for each inmate they hold in the system. [We could not verify this -- MIM] No wonder why the prisoncrats, the modern day slave holders, are crying for more prisons to be built in the United Snakes. The Imperialists and Capitalists are getting fat off our captivity and enslavement, while we are suffering and dying in these prisons by the thousands.
This is just a business for the white power structure. We can't look for any mercy or expect any sympathy from the ruling class in these prison systems. They are like hungry lions feeding off the blood and guts of the lambs and sheep. We are nothing to them except a meal ticket. They don't care about our medical care. They don't' care a thing about our pain and suffering. They only care about their own greedy capitalist interest.
We must build a strong united front to work for our own common interest. We must fight against Imperialism and all forms of oppression. We prisoners have to come together all over the world and design a think tank to combat all the injustices toward us.
I am need in support... I need comrades to put pressure on the prisoncrats to give me the medical attention that I need. My throat is hurting me to the point where I am having severe headaches. It's difficult for me to sleep at night because the pain is almost unbearable. My complaint is not a joke or a prank. I am in need of some serious medial attention.
Please address your letters and phone calls to the people below.
Governor, Mel Cornahan, State Capital Building, Jefferson City, MO 65102, (314) 751-3222
Prison Director, Dora Schrino, 2729 Plaza Drive, PO Box 236, Jefferson City, MO (314) 751-2398
Medical Director, Dr. Rhonda Almanza, Missouri Department of Corrections, Cross Roads Correctional Center, Cameron, MO 64429
-- A Missouri Prisoner, 26 December 1997
Top Severe Beating Requires Life Flight
I must bring to your attention that today, one of our comrades was assaulted, and beaten unconscious and was near death whenever these pigs sent him to the Hospital on "Life Flight," via Emergency Air Ambulance.
Our comrade was beaten merely because he requested knowledge as to why his MIM Notes were taken from his cell.
Other comrades came to the warden for an answer as to the reason why comrade "X" was assaulted, because he merely asked a sadistic pig guard why his MIM Notes were taken.
-- A Texas Prisoner, 5 January 1998
Top Plea Bargain Under Protest
Greetings from the Gulag. In way of an introduction I am a man twenty- four, (24) years imprisoned as a result of a plea bargain made UNDER PROTEST, (in open court) after spending nearly four months in 4-point restraints, and medicated with huge doses of psychotropic medications. I am now in federal court litigating that conviction, but am up against tremendous odds....
I am a man of simple but compelling truths, (from essay) who wants to join the struggle.
P.S. "If a law or policy is wrong, we are bound to oppose it with the same will it acts to thwart. If any plot exist which might deprive us of our humanity, then the plotters shall feel the full weight of our solidarity..."
-- A California Prisoner, 30 December 1997
Top Prisoners Run Independent Library
...I have a personal library which is used by a large majority of the prisoner population here. I keep track of the conditions of the books, who has them, and when they are returned, which is 9 to 14 days from the day checked out and can be re-checked out after inspection of the un-kept condition of the materials.
The prison library here is greatly insufficient and will not stock revolutionary, nationalist books, literature, or materials. So I have started through donated materials a library of my own which is run by myself and several other revolutionary warriors of our cause rather efficiently.
But I am an orphan and also what is considered a "Lifer" in prisons. This is my life now, but many of the men here are going to be back in the free world and so I imbibe the cause not only into their ideals but also into daily lives and living values.
I am vastly in need of all types of materials such as MIM Notes, MIM Theory, Notas Rojas and other revolutionary literature. We have very limited to no real access to educational activities and resources. It is primarily up to us prisoners to educate ourselves as the supposed justice system just locks us away and then forgets about us. They don't have any money to spare on us, but they expect a change in us. Although they don't even try to supply us with the abilities and courses or programs to make a change.
Here in this letter [from MIM], it was stated that "some prisoners in Texas start out making 24 cents an hour..." Well in all T.D.C.J. -I.D. prisons, there are no wages paid for any type of labor done, no matter how simple or how great that labor may be.
The T.D.C.J.-I.D. systems have revoked the college course programs and there is only limited access to GED classes and the prisoner must pay for half of the costs required.
The Legal Law Library has recently made a new policy that states, "Prisoners who are in need of legal materials must give an active case 'cause number and must submit a copy of the order from the court stating that such is required. There will be no books checked out to prisoners in any other matters (i.e., just to educate yourself to the law...)."
We are allowed both hardbound books, paperbacks, (plastic) spiral bound, copies of literature, photocopied literature, pamphlets and literature on loose paper, newspapers. All materials must be sent from a bookstore, an organization, or an address, which is typed under a heading of such a place.
I am in the process of getting statements, testimonials, and explanations of what is going on, on the inside and being hidden or covered up and not made known to the public.
At this time, this unit has been on a total lockdown and there is no movement by prisoners. We are fed 3 meals a day which consist of at breakfast, 1 boiled grade A egg, 1 small biscuit made of flour with a teaspoon of diluted peanut butter, 1 small box of cereal. No beverages are served.
Then at lunch we are served one sandwich which consists of 2 slices of white bread and 1 slice of cheese, or 1 teaspoon of peanut butter and 1 sandwich which is either 2 slices of bread with 1 slice of bologna or 1 slice of salami, or 1 sandwich which consists of 1 hotdog bun and 1 uncooked hotdog. The same lunch is served at last chow meals. No beverages are served. We must drink water from the tap.
These harsh meals have been going on for 17 days now and we are informed that this is going to be this way for 90 days total because of lack of funds. And because some of the prisoners on this unit have been writing grievances on the unit administration offices and those offices' employees. This is also going on because the unit is under investigation by the Texas Prison Board.
We must, in order to be fed, get off of our bunks and kneel with our backs to the door, ankles crossed and hands on top of our heads. The meals have no assigned times to be served an hour or two apart or all at once; it's up to the whim of the officer. It is his or her decision as to how they want to do it personally.
...We need the help of our brothers and sisters in the free world.... We need a lot of books in all the aforementioned topics and subjects as our library now consists of 56 books and is greatly inadequate to our group which has 387 members at this month's count and is still growing....
Always in Struggle, A Clenched Fist Salute to All Comrades and Revolutionaries!
-- A Texas Prisoner, 30 December 1997
Top Exposing the Hype
Peace and Revolutionary Greetings MIM,
...This shit-uation that's been going on here in Trenton has been that of harassment and repression. The New Jersey Department of KKKorrections has considered, categorized and labeled Five Percenters as a "Gang" (Security Threat Group [STG]). As it stands now, they have compiled a so-called "STG" list of anyone who associates with Five Percenters or has any of their literature in their possession. They have been placed on this STG list and shipped to Northern State which has a control unit specifically for so-called "gang members". They claim that prisons throughout New Jersey are infested with gangs and violence.
Nevertheless, this move is an attempt to isolate political and conscious prisoners by lumping them together under the banner of security measures. Prisoners in New Jersey are beginning to re-awaken and are re-organizing. The Department of KKKorrections is fully aware and they are frightened because the oppressed are seeing the contradictions between the oppressors and the oppressed. Once we prisoners organize and build public opinion against Amerikkka's KKKriminal injustice system and replace it with proletarian justice, the bourgeois injustice system will collapse.
I am, I remain, In struggle,
-- A New Jersey Prisoner, 4 January 1998
Top Still Struggling in South KKKarolina
I've received your publication about a week ago. It arrived almost a month late. Hmm, i wonder was holding my mail.
...i am flat broke! And the Devils are stopping pay come Jan. 1, 1998. As you know all hell is going to break loose down here in Klanolina!
I'm still on a Security Detention Unit (A new term for lock-up) since April 28th 1995. For being a security threat, a 5%er or member of the Nation of Gods and Earth.
The sad part is that legally The System is winning. Right now our lawyer... is appealing to the Supreme Courts, which will take another year (?) to get a damn answer! And Black so-called helpful organizations don't struggle with us! We are DEAD down here! At least MIM speaks with us from time to time. What about the organizations we represent?
This jive is enough to make me give up! I can see why many revolutionaries quit struggling. How can you fight a monster when everyone is against you or running in fear?! Yet I will continue to fight regardless of no support.
The 5% is in the Struggle, -- A South Carolina Prisoner, 30 December 1997
MIM Responds,
Keep on struggling and don't give up. Look around the pages of Under Lock and Key. Your comrades are fighting with you against brutal tactics of prisoncrats. You are definitely not alone.
On the outside, we try to use Under Lock and Key and MIM Notes to build support for prisoners. In March 1998, the JERICHO 98 March will demonstrate the masses support for prisoners and their outrage at the oppressive conditions in prison.
Top Unity Gets Results
Greetings,
I am a young Asiatic Black youth who is in search of a lot of things. I am incarcerated at Odom Correctional Facility, which is located in Jackson, North Carolina.
At the present moment, I am separated from general population for a variety of infractions. These came about because a sergeant was trying to take a ring that I constructed at the wood shop. They asked me for it stating it was contraband. I refused. The pigs also asked for my tam [Rasta Cap]. This time I replied, "No Devil." The remark got the sergeant radiated and I was maced and jumped on by three pigs.
Well I want to start a movement within the system to put an end to how they treat us. Before I was separated, I was working or getting brothers to stop doing slave work in the fields, kitchens and various places.
...I am twenty-two years of age, and I know that all it takes is unity and results can happen. I will get long term but that's no problem as long as I study and read things that may benefit the brothers here or within North Carolina that are downpressed daily.... I'll be trying to teach prisoners what's going on....
Peace and Love, -- A North Carolina Prisoner, 25 December 1997
Top Families Protest Florida's Department of Corruptions
"FDOC Policy = Get Tough on Families" "Cut out the middleman, Allow Prisoners to Keep Their Property and We'll send our money directly to Lawton Chiles" "Stop the FDOC Monopoly" "FDOC Profit Statement: Inmate Canteens, Inmate Telephones More Inmates!"
These were just a few of the slogans that appeared on poster signs in a citizen demonstration in front of the capitol building in Tallahassee on October 15, 1997. Several family members and friends of Florida prisoners travel to Tallahassee to participate in the rally that included carrying signs, talking with and distributing flyers and information to pedestrians and motorist about the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC's) price gouging and monopolistic practices toward prisoners' families and associates.
The demonstrators, consisting of men, women, and children, were surprisingly well received and encouraged by numerous supportive comments from the public and capital employees. This was the first of what is hoped to be a series of demonstrations that are intended to challenge the FDOC's policies and practices. These policies are artificially creating the appearance of "getting tough on prisoners" but in reality only financially punish and double-tax prisoners' families and friends.
This demonstration was initially proposed by staff from Florida Prison Legal Perspective (FPLP) at a recent Florida Prison Action Network meeting, which consists of Florida based groups that include: FPLP, Families with Loved ones in Prison (FLIP), Florida Institutional Legal Services, and the Parole Elimination Network (PEN).
The intention was to raise awareness of the growing financial burdens being imposed against Prisoners' families, friends and all state taxpayers by the FDOC. Our approach was to organize and hold a demonstration in the state's capital to raise the awareness of the public, our state legislators, and other elected officials.
The first issue expressed in this demonstration was the FDOC's plan to take all Florida Prisoners' personal property on January 1, 1998. But allow their families to send them money to replace the property with identical or similar property to be purchased from the prison canteen at recently inflated prices. The second topic was the monopoly and gouging that is occurring against prisoners' families and friends with the exorbitant collect telephone scheme being operated by the FDOC.
...Thank you, to those who showed up and participated [in the demonstration]. Your participation was important and greatly appreciated. I think we all had a good time and learned a lot. ... Widespread notice will be given on the future demonstrations that are to occur so that everyone will have the opportunity to participate.
In other news, another Florida Prison Action Network meeting was held on November 2, 1997. It went very well. These important meetings, to which everyone is invited, are being well attended and strengthening the voice of Florida prisoners, their families, friends and associates. Attend these meetings to learn about what efforts are being taken to change and improve our criminal justice and correctional system in Florida....
-- A Florida Prisoner, 30 December 1997
Top The Struggle Intensifies
The struggle goes on! At this time I'm still on segregation. I've passed our publication [MIM Notes] around to a few like-minded comrades on lock-down. The publication has been received with a warm welcome and dialogue has been transformed. We speak of the oppression our people are under, in particular the education institution.
... At this particular time the DOC [Department of Corruptions] has intensified their oppression of their captives. The adjustment procedures have drastically been changed. Comrades are being held on segregation for weeks without an adjustment hearing. And visits are being terminated indefinitely in an attempt to cut off all outside and family support. The climate is being set for revolutionary reaction.
The struggle intensifies! Psychological liberation is desperately needed.
Your Comrade, -- A Maryland Prisoner, 3 January 1998
Top Pigs Harass Revolutionary Prisoner
Yesterday, I was under the impression that my captors were keeping my subscription of MIM Notes from me, and filed a grievance against my oppressors, and as I just mentioned comrades, today I was given my Nov 1, 1997 and Nov. 15, 1997 issues of MIM Notes.
But my oppressors, as a result of me filing a grievance against them, have taken my radio, typewriter, coffeepot, etc. as a form of harassment.
One pig guard even went on to say that it was behind me receiving revolutionary literature. I told the pig guard that by them harassing me and confiscating my property, that it only enforced what I already know. That is, that a pig will always do whatever he can to down a revolutionary comrade in the struggle.
I also informed this same pig guard that my comrade brothers and sisters of the Maoist Internationalist Movement firmly support their comrades in the unjust prison system in Amerika, and are in solidarity with me in fighting against the brutalities and inhumane conditions in the prisons. ... And in the end...justice will win!
I know that this pig guard did not really understand what I was pointing out to him, because justice is something he don't understand....
From Your Comrade in Struggle, -- A Texas Prisoner, 2 January 1998
Top Pigs Throwing Spitballs at Battleships
MIM, Comrades Hotep,
Here at Smithfield Prison Camp in Pennsylvania, the Klan is no longer hiding. There has always been common knowledge that the KKK and the more elite Aryan Brotherhood has filtered into the PA prison system, and other prisons across the country disguised as Correctional Officers, Counselors, and into the Medial Department.
Because in the Prison Camps they don't have to plan their clandestine move against Blacks and other oppressed POW's, --They can be their good old boy self and practice their kicks, swing and biological warfare and lying skills without consequence.
Smithfield is so vicious and brutal that anyone who has stoop up for his basic prison right, has been beat down and locked down in solitary for 60 to 120 days. Until the Klan Staff feel you have learned your lesson which is to keep your head down, And go along with their program -- NKYP (Nigger Know Your Place).
This is the only state institution in Pennsylvania to make up their own SHU (Special Housing Unit). Where they continue their harassment of all willful POW's who stand on their principles. As the warrior knows principles are what we live by and sometimes die for.
Anyone can look around any of the three holes at Smithfield. You will see they are only trying to break the Black and Brown prisoners.
We want our Comrades and Supporters to know that our enemies who control Smithfield are throwing spitballs at battleships trying to break out spirits. We still recognize that we need the people out there to combat this ongoing racial treatment by Smithfield pigs.
We are in a corner, and we who are in the intestine of this beast at Smithfield ain't going down without a fight. The battlefield is any place you say enough is enough. And we had enough. Here our cry.
-- A Pennsylvania 1 December 1997
P.S. ...We both know what Mao meant when he said: As the wind blow change We must learn to build a windmill And direct it.
I'm in the hole... and I thank you for reaching out to all the dragons who are left behind these walls, bars, and breathing fresh air underneath our wings....