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Top Struggling to Survive in Texas
... On level 3 (the lowest level), we are not allowed to have the basic necessities of life such as toothpaste, deodorant, skin cream, hair grease, hair brush, shampoo or shaving products. We are not allowed to have our own personal drinking cups nor are we allowed to have reading materials other than a Bible or Koran, pornographic magazines, propaganda magazines and newspapers. We are not allowed to have regular reading novels (soft or hardback), educational books or dictionaries.
Can you imagine the torture of being confined in a 5'x8' cell 23 hours per day with no food to feed the mind or the soul with? Being issued a ____ powder equivalent to AJAX to brush your teeth with? Which leaves the gums raw and bleeding? Unable to conduct regular hygiene and grooming habits? We are to live under those barbaric conditions even though a vast majority of us have not committed the types of offenses that constitute a level demotion to level 3 (i.e., assaultive behavior, escape risk or chronic rule violations).
Many of us are currently on level 3 by way of so-called being "checked." I wish to make this known so as to get some outside support. You have several prisoners on level 3 for such simple things as cursing, making excessive noise (yelling or banging to get an officer's attention) and many other "minor" infractions. In other words, if you are not a programmed nigger Charlie and speak out against this capitalist, oppressive administration, then you will more than likely be a level 3. So, should I mention that out of 400 some add seg. prisoners only about 10 Caucasian are level 2 or level 3.
... Here in Tekkkas we are not paid "slave wages," we are paid in good time credits. Days credited each month for those who display "good behavior" (i.e., be a nigger Charlie or snitch). Being that we do not receive wages, we cannot purchase toiletries or pay the recently (Jan. 1, 1998) imposed medical expenses. This unit alone grosses an average of $5 million per year. Prisoners don't see a single red cent.
... Another issue that I wish to address prior to closing out this notation is the excessive amount of brutality. These pigs have an obsession with "bashing heads." These pigs assault us while we have on handcuffs with our hands cuffed behind our backs or sending a 5-man "gang" in full body armor into your cell after they have sprayed you with a chemical agent to hinder your breathing, and irritate your eyes. I have organized a few brothers here at this slave plantation in Tekkkas to write families and organizations to bring some heat down at this site. But we need outside help/support in order to abolish this brutality that we are subjected to.
They always use the excuse that, "the prisoner made a threatening move towards me," "the inmate attempted to kick me," or "the prisoner tried to jerk away from me." Nevertheless, if a prisoner is simply "placed" on the floor, how can they explain the black eyes, busted heads, busted noses, busted lips, broken arms, dislocated hips, fractured jaws, etc...???
Struggling to Survive, -- A Texas Prisoner, 23 January 1998
Top Texas Lock Down
Greetings Comrades,
I salute all of you in the name of THE BLACK STRUGGLE. First of all, I received a letter from MIM concerning questions about the brothers and sisters imprisoned in the Texas prison. Sir I will try to reveal to you all facts that are going on in this Kamp that I'm confined to. They call [The prison]it _______, but in reality it should have been named AllWhite because it is 95% White owned and White operated, with approximately 8% Black and 2% Hispanic. This Kamp is nothing but a lockdown unit, there is no factory, only a kitchen job, laundry job, SSI, and a few maintenance jobs given to privileged prisoners.
Since I have been in Texas Kamp, they have never paid a Texas inmate to do slave labor, or of yet I don't know, nor have I seen or heard anyone say that they have started paying inmates to work. Close custody inmates don't get to go to school, or go to the law library. We stay in the building all day and all night. We don't get to leave the building unless we have to go to the main clinic to get dental work or an X-ray.
Everything from food to shoes they keep us locked in our cells, and bring everything to us. There is no dayroom, no TV, only 2 hours of recreation daily and that's it. I'm receiving MIM Notes without any problems and hope it stays that way. I have to share my MIM Notes with others here, some act like, "so what is MIM gonna do for me or all our problems we have in all these U$A prison Kamps." A lot of brothers act like they have given up, and have joined gangs to rebel not against the prison authority, but against one another. It's the same old story, why young blacks have fallen off into this trend against one another is truly beyond me. I'm going to do my homework, and do a little research on my own, and in my next letter to MIM I will be able to give you all more information that might be worthwhile. Until next time. More power to the Struggle.
- A Texas Prisoner, 29 January 1998
Top Exposing Texas Slave Labor
... As far as that 24 cents an hour, they don't do that no more. We don't receive no wages. All we get is good time, which we have to give back when we get out. They don't pay us but they charge $3.00 every time we go to medical. - A Texas Prisoner, 17 January 1998
... I don't know who told that lie, but no one in Texas state prison gets paid one red cent for their work -- if they work in an industry or in the hoe squad. And if you don't go to work you will lose class and good time, which will stop you from going home. We work 6 days a week for about 10 hours a day.
-- A Texas Prisoner, 12 January 1998
... Labor is hard as hell --T.D.C. officers drive you to the point that is inhuman-- [they] call us names, talk about our families and we aren't allowed to talk back.
... No wages for work here- only $50 when we get out and another $50 when we see our parole officer. Prisoners work 8 hours or more, usually more, 5 days a week.
... I'd like to know why so much happens in prison that the world is unaware of? Men and women dying or should I say being killed like the ____ shot for backing off the horse- in the field and thrown in the trunk or van like a dog!?
... How does this happen? Why doesn't anyone ever see or know? If enough get together, hell they can't all be killed. Are our brothers and sisters that selfish?
-- A Texas Prisoner, 17 January 1998
Top Who's the Real Crook?
I am writing to inform MIM of the conditions and the overly long duration of stay here at X complex Arizona state prison that are being enforced upon not only myself, but all other prisoners that get placed here, for good reason or not. That includes smoking in a building, the reason I am here, which goes to show the ridiculous application or usage of their re-classification system.
... They try to modify our behavior with placement in this facility. I'm of the opinion that being single celled without physical association with other humans tends to add to, or bring out pent up animosity. Whether directed at DOC employees or other prisoners. (From my understanding the average stay is 10 months and up.)
... The warden took hot lunches and replaced them with cold sack lunches 5 days a week; our food portions have seemed to become strictly rationed at breakfast and dinner. We no longer get hot cereal in the morning, nor cake with our dinner. He took away soda purchase from the store. He took razors from the store, which makes it extremely hard to comply with DOC policy of being clean- every day.
The warden has brought out the ire of his inmate population towards his staff with the institution of these policies. I understand that if I mess up in prison I am subject to the punishment of isolation in a super maximum facility for a term of 180 days. My objection is the unnecessarily cruel punishment for trivial SHIT!!!
-- An Arizona Prisoner, 3 February 1998
Top MIM Notes Censored but Books Allowed
Comrades,
I am writing to inform MIM that one of the Pilgrims in the Mailroom has stopped my MIM Notes. However, I received a political book about one and a half months ago to write a review. I wrote the review and returned it to MIM and requested a few more books. I can still receive the books so I am requesting that MIM forward me some books for review. The Pilgrims will not derail my motivation for my Sisters and Brothers.
Bulletproof Love, -- An Ohio Prisoner, 4 February 1998
JERICHO LETTERS
Top Knowledge is the square root of power
To my Brothers and Sisters:
On a never-ending struggle we must stay strong (firm) and we will overcome through AmeriKKKa's mistakes. All people of color and poor people have the very same oppressors, no matter what their race is, creed, or belief. We got to keep coming together "by any means necessary" to overpower all transgressions/capitalism/sectarism/oppressions/etc.
These incidents join a long list of others which demonstrate that the legal system in AmeriKKKa is not made up of "natural law." Some of the human beings who are sometimes more human than humane are the authors of this Hodgepodge of codes and regulations, this system regulates every aspect of human behavior in ways that are arbitrary and capricious at best, and counterintuitive at the worst. The people who enforce it--police officers and judges--do often go beyond these laws, further compounding the situation. There is no shortage of individual cases lacking logic by judges, or lacking heart by cops. The criticisms deserve to go beyond and be directed not just at the individual perpetrators, but also at the legal institutions themselves. We must strive forward against being falsely accused of crimes/to have our culture/families/religion insulted, and forced to sit and watch our families tortured/to undergo several hardships, while we sit frozen in isolation and prisons.
Knowledge is the square root of power, though the noises have changed with the passage of time, the same penchant for 'local justice' (law meshed with outdated prejudices/racism) hangs thick in the air. It is incumbent on righteous and politically thinking peoples to recognize and take action to help in reversing the numerous violations that have and will continue to take place, whether against the laws or against common-sense decency.
Ona Move!
-- Ibrahim Abdus Salaam(Mr. Terry G. Yant), A New York Prisoner, Feb. 06, 1998
Top Oppose Imperialist Institutions
Comrades:
In response to your letter of January 24, 1998 providing me with an opportunity to make a statement regarding the circumstances of political prisoners and prisoners of war in the U.S.A., I submit the following.
I was an officer of the former Black Panther Party prior to and during the earlier part of my imprisonment. I have never abandoned the political objectives of the Party although I do advocate a change in tactics. These same principals were the impetus supporting my political actions leading to my present incarceration, assisting a leftist underground organization, the George Jackson Brigade in freeing one of its members from police custody in March of 1976.
My political activism began earnestly in 1968 when I became a member of the Panther Party. I believe the principals of the Party platform are germane to the ongoing leftist movement in the U.S.A., although there needs to be progressive redefinition of each of the ten objectives to fit the current conditions.
A division of the people of the U.S.A. ignited a great civil war concerning the status of slavery culminating in the defeat of those supporting the civil institution of slavery but retaining the criminal institution of slavery. The racist basis for these institutions continues to flourish and grow both overtly and covertly in the U.S.A. requiring the ongoing working class struggle of African-Americans. In the 1940's the U.S.A. became involved in a World War which again raised the issue of the legitimacy of the civil and criminal institutions of slavery under the flag of Nazism. The allies of the U.S.A. defeated the axis in supporting these institutions. Again, the racist basis for these institutions continues to flourish and grow both overtly and covertly requiring the ongoing working class struggle of African-Americans.
Activism to defeat the growth of these racist institutions by African-Americans and our supporters is not criminal and the political prisoners and prisoners of war opposing this cancerous growth must in good conscience be freed.
In 1965, the Panther Party proclaimed our political objectives as: "1. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black Community. 2. We want full employment for our people. 3. We want an end to the robbery by the CAPITALISTS of our Black Community."
-- Mark Cook, A Washington Prisoner, 9 February 1998
(MIM Adds: the primary ally responsible for the total defeat of the fascist swine was Joseph Stalin and the USSR)
Top Thrown in Supermax for Serving the People
Revolutionary Greetings,
...I've been a hostage of the state of Ohio's prison system for eleven years now, and during this whole time I have been constantly harassed by prison officials because of my revolutionary beliefs and activism, which according to the United State's constitution, is supposed to be my right. I am now in administrative control waiting to be transferred to Ohio's new super maximum political prison in Youngstown as soon as they can get it open.
Because of my belief in Afrocentricity and my willingness to serve the people, I was helping other prisoners to get their names legally changed and for this the prison administration accused me of "giving instructions," "trying to portray myself as a leader," and "trying to form an unauthorized group" which to them makes me one of the worst of the worst. They say it will take five years of good behavior to get out of the supermax and placed back into a lower security prison, and I go back to the parole board this year, but you cannot be paroled from the supermax, which of course is their true reason for sending me there.
Uhuru I Amandla to all political prisoners and prisoners of war!
-- Kunta Kenyatta, An Ohio Prisoner, 2 February 1998
"Know yourself, know your enemy. A hundred battles, a hundred victories" -Chairperson Mao Zedong
Top Fervent Revolutionary Greetings from the Bowels of Amerikkka!
Fascism in its most advanced form: is alive and well here in Amerikkka. With these unadulterated words I greet each and everyone of y'all with, and the most reverent words that I can muster.
Before I begin on this journey, I like to pay tribute to all the comrades that finds themselves fighting this war against "imperialist" oppressors.
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 root 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.
Prisons have become a big enterprise whose largest commodity is the poor and people of color. Prisons have become so profitable and demanding that 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. Inc. underwrite prison construction bonds, while Westinghouse Electric Corp., Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. and Alliant Techsystems Inc. adapt and sell their technology to fight crime.
The fact is prisons fit in with a master plan that is based on the limitation and complete genocide of the poor and people of color. The purpose of prisons nowadays is to isolate, exploit, and eliminate etc. Those who are here today, I am asking for each of y'all to help and support the fight in the kkkolonial arena that's founded on racist politics/white supremacy. If we are going to be successful in overcoming the many obstacles which we are constantly confronted with, we are going to have to start forming a united front and establish bases of support through which we can collectively support each other and combat enemy aggression.
In closing, I would like to leave y'all with this thought: "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 revolutionary to overthrow this "IMPERIALISM." I request y'all here today become involved either in, or with the prison struggle. I commend all of y'all who came out today to support the POWs and PPs and to make Jericho 98 a reality and success, We thank each and every one of y'all.
Stiff resistance! All power to the people!
CENSORSHIP IN MICHIGAN
Top MIM Notes allowed after Hearing
"After careful review of rejected item #2566, it does not meet the criteria for rejection as outlined in PD 05.03.118. Hearing done in accordance with applicable policy, procedure and administrative rules."
--Hearing Officer Gorton
MIM,
...The MDOC [Michigan Department of Corrections] rejection of MIM Notes was overturned. MIM Notes was allowed in after almost a full-month review to deny it by MDOC prison officials.
When I ran into this problem in the past, and it seems like an every month thing now to get MIM publications. Eventually they'll get tired of doing hearings, grievances, and costing them money to do all these hours of paperwork....
A little news from MDOC system, the MDOC plans on taking all our personal clothes by 5/13/98 in all levels from 3-6. As well as taking a lot of other personal property items like hobby, craft, etc. Of course this is an easy action for the MDOC to accomplish when we have our own sell-out brothers working for massa charlie in the prison system. They are sewing all our new clothes cause they want to get paid, and do their time, and all that soft stuff.
-- A Michigan Prisoner, 11 January, 1998
Top State-wide Censorship in Michigan
Dear Comrade,
I am writing to let you know that myself and ALL prisoner subscribers in Michigan received a rejection notice for MIM Note issues 1/1/98 and 1/15/98. MDOC officials in Lansing, Michigan have only placed these two issues on the restricted list. MIM Notes can be received by us captives in Michigan, except the individual papers the MDOC restrict
-- A Michigan Prisoner, 12 February, 1998
Dear RAIL: As you may or may not know MIM Notes has been put on the MDOC's restricted list. On 3/2/98 my new issues were rejected and all past issues were taken from me in a search of my cell along with a letter I was at the time writing to MIM Notes.
...I don't know how legal the taking of this letter was since it wasn't in an envelope yet ... from what little I have heard, unless the letter violated a breach of security -- a planned act of violence or other criminal acts which it didn't -- then it shouldn't have been taken. If you know of any laws that explain this please let me know because as it stands now they're saying we can't even write to people unless the MDOC says it's okay which puts my reach to the outside world at 0.
--A Michigan prisoner, 10 March, 1998
MIM Responds: We had heard that MDOC Deputy Director Dan Bolden placed MIM Notes issues 149 and 150 on the statewide "Restricted Publications List." We think it's despicable that a single pig in a central office can decide that no prisoner should be able to read two issues of our newspaper.
While this is disgusting, it's not surprising given that issue 149 includes a letter from a Michigan prisoner whose MIM Notes was snatched in the yard one day, and issue 150 includes a letter from a prisoner who won a censorship grievance regarding MIM Notes, but is still struggling for justice after being raped by a MI Koruptions officer.
As this prisoner points out, part of confiscating your MIM Notes was clearly an attempt at keeping you from corresponding with MIM since at the same time the guards snatched our address from you so you could not let us know what was going on.
MIM calls out to other prisoners who are receiving MIM Notes to make even better use of your newspapers than you have been: pass them around to other comrades in the struggle against imperialism. Exercise your rights to write to us and send us information about what's going on behind the walls. Help us to publicize the Department of Kkkorruptions' tactics of national and political repression ever more broadly.
To people on the outside reading this, we say let this be your call to get involved in distributing MIM Notes to more and more people. Help the prisoner and us by showing the Michigan DOC that one censored MIM Notes or even a whole state prison system's worth of uncensored MIM Notes will only toughen our will to fight the system which attempts to deny prisoners their right to political struggle.