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Top One Hundred Years of Resistance
...I would like to comment on a couple of articles printed in MIM Notes (February 1, 1998 issue): "Amerikan COINTELPRO Continues, Puerto Rican Independence Movement Under Attack" and "Freedom and Amnesty for Puerto Rican Independence Leaders". Thank you for shedding light on these topics. Those were great articles, which will hopefully open some eyes on this ongoing struggle.
...The administration where I am incarcerated at seems to be very biased toward not only the Puerto Rican Independence Movement but to Puerto Rico as a whole. I have been mailed letter, pictures and literature pertaining to Puerto Rico and it never reaches my cell. In the past I have had literature as well as flags confiscated from my cell numerous times.
I am a proud Puerto Rican brother with strong beliefs. I have always been for Independence of our Island. ...I carry my flag up high proudly as do many other Boricuas. We were all United Snakes born but this did not deter us from searching for our roots studying up on our history and its struggles (both Spanish and Amerikan) to overcome oppression and seek liberation of its inhabitants from Colonial rule. But for every one Boricua who has studied their history there are five who haven't. You ask the majority of United Snakes born Puerto Ricans who Emertrio Betances, Don Pedro Albizu Campos, Blanca Canoles, or Lolita Lebron are and they will not have a clue. But ask them if they ever heard of George Washington, John Wayne or David Duke and they will reply "correctly" within the blink of an eye.
It is sad how many are lost mentally. Especially when there are so many Latino Organizations with powerful as well as positive names such as The Family (La Familia) and the Latin King Queen Nation. Yet there is still so much violence against (amongst) our own. This lack of interest is why we continue to kill one another. Depleting our own numbers.
If individuals were aware of their history and the past struggles, sacrifices and true revolutionary figures, maybe there would be a lot more respect and less violence. It's bad enough we have to watch our backs against the machine. Why do we have to continue to watch our backs from our own brothers and sisters in the struggle as well? I sincerely hope that individuals awaken from this madness before it's too late.
Right now as it stands, there are fifteen Puerto Rican Prisoners of War (mothers and fathers) incarcerated under hellish conditions in Amerikan Gulags because of their political beliefs; and love of their people and Island. Fighting this Hundred Year War of Liberation against these Devil Imperialists.
One hundred years later these people [Amerikkka] are not satisfied with their exploitation of our Island. They are still in the mix of things trying to make Puerto Rico a state. Unfortunately with all the people who have been brainwashed and/or made dependent on the United Snakes, it may happen. If it does happen all will be lost.
Rise up brothers and sisters. Unite for the rights of your people before our Island becomes another permanent fixture of Amerikan Imperialism.
Personal respects to: Oscar Lopez Rivera, Alejandrina Torres, Antonio "Camacho" Negron, Edwin Cortez, Elizam Escobar, Alicia Rodriguez, Juan Segarra Palmer, Carlos Torres, Carmen Valentin, Ida Luz Rodriguez, Adolfo Matos, and all other Puerto Rican Prisoners of War. We pray for your liberation. Also to those who have passed away fighting for the cause, you may be gone but not forgotten.
-- A Puerto Rican Prisoner, 15 March 1998
Top Imperialist Criminals Warehouse the Masses
MIM,
I am a prisoner of war being housed at Maryland's "Super Maximum' facility. I have been here since December 1996 -- obviously warehoused with 228 other so-called felons.
...This is the only country in the world where one is imprisoned not so much for what he does, but rather for what he represents. It is true tat we of the working class are subject to the political apparatus. Those who privately profit from this warped economic system, are the same ones who flood the poverty stricken communities with narcotics and guns. The same politicians and capitalistic elite talk of tougher prison sanctions and crime prevention when they are responsible for the crime itself.
I no long accept being the victim and would very much like to opportunity to align myself with others who know the enemy and commit to the struggle. ...In closing I say if you possess allies, unit with them. I you find yourself in enemy territory, do not linger. If you find yourself imprisoned, you must hold your body still and concentrate with your mind until a way out presents itself to you.
Power to the People! -- A Maryland Prisoner, 2 May 1998
Top Transferred to Suppress Political Views
I write to inform you that I was transferred back to this Maximum Control Facility in March. I am under the belief that the officials at the last facility conspired to send me back here to persecute me for my progressive political activities.
This is another repressive measure being used by my keepers to suppress my progressive revolutionary voice among my brothers who are being held by force, not by choice in these genocidal tombs as I am.
I am currently under punitive measures. Nothing has changed for the better. It is more or less being used as a warehouse for the human commodity that dwells here.
I've begun to realize that many of my brothers presently housed here are very ignorant to what's happening to them here. Thus the neo-colonialist agents who run this genocidal tomb have capitalized off the ignorance of these brothers and continue to get away with crimes of genocide....
Struggling, -- An Indiana Prisoner, 30 March, 1998
Top Breaking the Silence
The state of TX has more prisoners held captive inside the womb of her plantations than any other. It is my position as a Black man in the struggle and should be the position of every conscious mind that's here in the u.s. to up rise its nation. The Black, Latino and Mexican communities are the most shot and killed by the police, the most arrested by the police, and the most unfairly tried and condemned by this racist judicial system. Over and again the overt racist acts that are committed against us are so egregious that even the major media, and middle-class white Amerikans cry out in protest.
But way too often my own people are silent. And for those of us who are less blessed are often forgotten too. I glance at the TV, newspaper or whatever it may be. Our so-called Black professionals are quick to point out the problems with the Black communities, but when it is time to bring the solution into action all that have been said have been forgotten. There's no secret why Texas prisons are full of young Black males, cause if our own people forsake us how can we expect anyone else to accept us?
Within confinement I have gained much and lost dearly. I have gained knowledge of self, which brings pride and discipline. I have lost my mother through death, and many close and dear friends through gang violence. I have been confined since I was seventeen and now am twenty-two. ...There are many talented young brothers in here as well as intelligence, but there is no such thing as hope for these African man trapped inside.
Please don't misunderstand me there are some men here who deserve to be here, and there are some who don't deserve to take another breath. But there are some of us who have done nothing horribly wrong as what the Menedez brothers did, or Susan Smith the woman who drowned her two children and then said a Black man kidnapped them. There are many brothers here who cannot write nor read and half barely average a fifth to sixth grade average. Few of you don't know what the treatment is like, cause what prisons administrators tell you is not anything near the truth. So when I ask for your help I don't mean monetary help. I am speaking of genuine interest in what is happening to our people. We are still your people, we just happen to be in prison.
Investigate and you will find in here those of us that are often imprisoned confront sadness, loneliness, feeling of betrayal and real pain that often turns to rock hard anger after so long behind bars, then when we are released as older men with nothing awaiting us except a greyhound bus to a street with a hotel where the bathroom is down the hall.
-- A Texas Prisoner, (undated)
MIM Adds:
Some prisoners may have done criminal acts, but the United Snakes Injustice System is not fit to judge criminal behavior since it advocates the criminal acts of imperialist oppressors. The criminals are the ones running the system and creating the jails.
Top Inmates Battle Injustice and Corruption
It's a lot of corruption and injustice that goes on in this unit which was supposed to be set-up for the worse of the worst convicts. I have seen a lot of innocent convicts. Me and my ex-cellmate were departed from each other due to our gay beliefs.
We were placed on lockdown (U.C.U.) on 72 hours stripped out no blankets no hygiene. Pigs spit in our food tamper with our mail, not just gay convicts but all. I was slammed on the ground face first for turning my head...
...This pig still doing the same like the others I named. There's no justice in this place SMU2 [Security Management Unit 2]. The Disciplinary Hearing Officer (DHO) takes the pigs' side every time. For the past month I haven't gotten my periodicals such as the Newsletters Coalition for Prisoners' Rights, and the Prisoners' Rights Union.
I was giving MIM's address to expose the truth from a convict that wished not to expose his name. So this unjust and corrupt system can be exposed to the people on how the pigs treat us. Every damn thing is almost denied for us. Some convicts gave up hope...the convict that didn't want his name exposed he gave up.
Convicts that are battling injustice and corruption told me to expose it all based on how corrupt it is. I had to beg the convict for this address so these pigs dirty work can be exposed. We must fight against injustice and corruption of these pigs. We must get our rights. So don't be scared to pick up a pen and get some paper to expose the corruption of these pigs.
-- A Prisoner, 9 April 1998
Top Re-educating Prisoners
...I received my MIM Notes recently and as usual I shared a few issues with some of the surrounding inmates. Just prior to circulating the paper [this was the conversation].
"Don't pass that shit over here or I'll rip that shit up..." one of the inmates [Prisoner Y] shouted.
"Fuck you I'm with it..." another hollered.
"That nigga don't know what an imperialist is!" still another.
"Yeah, I do, nigga. I live in the land of milk and honey don't I?" he [Prisoner Y] said.
"Brothers," I yell, "who's benefiting here in the 'land of milk and honey'? Are you enjoying your three hots and your cot? Your .24 cent an hour job? The constant revolving door of prison and having to beg repeatedly for your freedom from those who confine you, who in essence had no right to do so?"
I continue, "Aren't you tired of standing for count and being fed both an unhealthy physical and mental diet? Being stripped at random?"
"You don't know what you are talking about man! It ain't like that. I'm in jail because I did something wrong. I'm here for a reason..." He [Prisoner Y] came back with.
Now I'm angry at the system, which has indoctrinated this 32 year-old man so damn well, so I try another approach.
"Fool-ass nigger! Do you know what Billy (Bill Clinton) went to Afrika for?!" I scream, "He's on a hunting expedition for other blacks to replace us when we are gone. Yes, gone, out-of here, done away with. Have you realized what happens to people such as us, the prisoners, when the third world erupts? We are executed in accordance with the imperialist "divine" constitution. They don't give a damn about a proletariat the rejected proletariat better known as the criminals like me and like you! ..."
By now I have the entire floor. Except now I've got to cool it down because I have the attention of the inmate cops, guards, informers, etc. Shit hot and at times I know not my own tongue. Hell, I am already in the hole and have been since June 1997 for my political views and my aptness to stand firm that Rome as we know it must fall....
Sincerely we Struggle, -- A Wisconsin Prisoner, 8 May 1998
MIM Responds:
We commend you comrade, for your efforts in educating fellow prisoners about their daily oppression by Amerikkka's imperialists. We agree that your anger should lie with the system of oppression and not your fellow prisoner. The U$ media has done a good job of criminalizing the masses. This person may have committed a crime but the imperialists are the real criminals.
We should point out that we disagree with a few details of your arguments. For example Bill Clinton is on expedition in Africa, for resources to feed the imperialist machine. In addition, it is MIM line that World War III is on right now. It is the war between the Imperialists and the oppressed. We must continue to expose the atrocities of imperialist oppression. Keep up the struggle to help educate the masses.
Top Suspending College Classes
...MIM wanted to know why Michigan decided to suspend college classes [in prison]. The state decided that is was too expensive to keep all the programs in existence. As we know the state has no interest in rehabilitating prisoners. You know the saddest thing about this is the courts refuse to let them take exercise weights out of the institutions, but allowed oppressors to discontinue college classes.
States have a goal to reserve funds, so they can hire more staff (officers) to run the multiple prisons they are building, or preparing to build. They still have pretend GED school, which, in most of the prisons, is a joke. Our education has been reduced by the so-called mighty swing of the oppressor's wrath. Which comes with consistent blows.
Yes, the DOC [Department of Incorrections] recognizes that any education can be dangerous! Five years ago a teacher told me that the State no longer has the funds to operate college classes. It is my opinion, that the funds are being shifted to hire more oppressors. My opinions come from what I see! ...
-- A Michigan Prisoner, 1 March 1998
The following letter was sent to MIM in April 1998. It was written to the Governor of Kansas.
Top Deprived of Proper Medical Care
Bill Grave, Kansas Governor State Capital, 2nd Floor Topeka, Kansas 66612-1590
Dear Governor Graves:
State Correctional Officials are deliberately allowing a pattern of indifference regarding inmates medical needs to occur. This is resulting in the increase of untimely and unnecessary deaths of inmates from medical conditions that usually are effectively managed, arrested and even cured by adequate and proper medical care.
Inmates are being deprived of proper and adequate medical treatment. These facility medical departments and doctors are deliberately failing to acknowledge and diagnose medical conditions in inmates. In an effort to save the money that would be required for the medications, treatments and other interventions for a given medical condition. Even when an inmate is diagnosed with a particular medical condition and/or disease, only the bare minimum and often time obsolete treatments are being used. There is no attempt to actually correct or cure the condition or disease; just protractedly manage it.
In support of my allegation, I submit the following individual cases and situations from some of the correctional facilities in the state of Kansas:
In May of 1992, Mr. X, complained to Dr. H at the Lansing Correctional Facility for months about blood in his stool, weight loss and extreme frequent pain in his lower stomach. Nothing was ever done about his condition. Three months later Mr. X had to be taken to the hospital for emergency surgery. He lost his entire colon. He now lives with a colonostomy.
In December of 1994, Nathaniel Smith complained to Dr. H at the Lansing Correctional Facility that he was having chest pains. Dr. H examined him, told him it was gas, and sent him back to the cell house. Early that evening Nathaniel Smith died of a heart attack.
In February of 1996, Mr. Y complained to El Dorado Correctional Facility Dr. P about severe pain in the upper left side of his stomach. Dr. P told Mr. Y that he was suffering from stomach acid and told him to take some Tums. The pain Mr. Y was having persisted for months, and he complained to Dr. P for months. In April 1996 Mr. Y had to be rushed (because of imminent death) to the Hospital for emergency surgery. His pancreas had completely stopped working.
Mr. Y is a diabetic, and his condition was caused by facility medical staff not giving him insulin injections according to the recommended guidelines for certain blood sugar levels. The facility medical department and doctor allowed Mr. Y to go for two and three years with blood sugar levels of 200 and 300 without giving him injections of insulin.
Additionally, there are about thirty-six inmates in Administrative Segregation with diabetes. At least fifteen of these guys' blood sugar levels have been over 200 and 300 numerous times through the months for years and none of these guys have been given insulin. As a matter of not, out of the thirty-six diabetics in Administrative Segregation, only one is getting insulin injections according to the recommended guidelines.
In May of 1997, Arthur Chandler died because he did not receive adequate medical treatment from the El Dorado Correctional Facility medical department for his kidney problem. He was transferred to the Lansing Correctional Facility where he died two months later.
In February of 1997, Kenneth McArthur died from and undiagnosed cerebral hemorrhage.
I have three reasons why I'm writing you this letter:
I have my own medical condition, a liver and colon infection. I cannot seem to get properly examined and treated for this. It is my hope that you ...encourage the facility medical department to conduct an examination or probe of my liver. And ascertain the cause of blood in my stool, the pain in my liver and lower back, and the extent of my problem. I would like an intervention to attempt to arrest my problem before it becomes worse.
I have a legal obligation to make you aware of this situation.
And finally, I am tired of seeing inmates die unnecessarily and I am hoping you will do something about this situation. I have been in Administrative Segregation here at the El Dorado Correctional Facility for four years. During that time seven inmates have unnecessarily died in here. That's roughly two inmates a year.
This should be unacceptable, if not intolerable.
I thank you for your time, and hopefully concern regarding this situation.
-- A Kansas Prisoner 27 August, 1997
Top Guards Force Naked Transport in Winter Cold
Well I have another tale of blatant abuse by these officers here. On March 3, 1998, I was transported to the county hospital Emergency Room for treatment of a suspected drug overdose. I hadn't eaten or responded to anyone in more than two days. Early on the third day I was rushed to the infirmary here on the unit.
They tried everything to get me to respond -- to acknowledge where I was and what was happening, including several "painful stimuli" techniques. None were successful, so they called an ambulance. I just lay there staring at the ceiling. After being examined by the ER [Emergency Room] docs -- which included blood tests, urine tests, EKG/EEG tests and x- rays, they determined that it was psychological and referred me to the Acute Care psychiatric Facility 3 hours away.
These officers transported me naked in freezing weather (32 degrees F), forcing me to curl up in the backseat shivering. By the time I got there, I'm sure the staff thought I was convulsing. A Lieutenant here ordered the transporting officers not to clothe me, I found out, just to harass and humiliate me. That I caught a cold is beside the point. This was a clear violation of my constitutional rights -- my human rights -- and a perfect example of inhumane treatment, cruel and unusual punishment in one of its worst forms. Of course I'm taking action against all involved.
They also stole six educational books claiming that they had "no labels" on them. A label on a book? If he meant covers, they all had front and back covers, so its obvious what time it was (and is). The oppression continues... -- Texas prisoner 6 April 1998