Federal Prisons

I appreciate all the comrades who assisted us with our struggle for change here at Eastern Correctional Institution (E.C.I.) We have begun to gain traction. Delegate Charles Otto has responded with a response from Maryland Department of Public Safety. Once I make copies I will send them to you all so that you can see the crap they’re saying. None the less the prison is beginning to change. Our visiting time has increased and so has our outside rec. They are even talking about allowing us to take pictures. We are not stupid though we understand that this is all to pacify us. But there has been something major that we have recognized. The system has now exposed their hand and now they are open for the guerrillas to attack – in one of the buildings here they are renovating due to the pressure from the people and as such they have to move people out of the building. So they must find space for these men. They are scrambling for spaces to put them. Now understanding this I have come up with an idea which is now under way. The plan goes as follows:

Mission #1 Fire Starter

Primary Objective: Exposure. We must expose the prison’s conditions to the outside world. We must present these conditions to our local politicians. We must network through our channels and use our families and friends to agitate those in position.

Weapon of Choice: Media

Mission #2 Fire Spreader

Primary Objective: Spread what you have done in your prison to the other prisons in your state. This must be done simultaneously.

Weapon of Choice: Letters, Phones, Social Media

After these missions are complete it will unleash a fire storm that will burn these prison systems from the inside out. Once comrades are released they are then to assist the cells from the outside.

It must be understood that every prison in Amerikkka has its issues and for them to be exposed in the manner we are seeking will force the people in position to react. They will then have to renovate these prisons and to do so they will have to decarcerate, releasing our brothers and sisters on to the streets because they will have no where to put them once they are forced to clean up the prisons. This is the beginning of a prison abolition movement I believe that will deliver a major blow to the system. The comrades here at E.C.I. have completed Mission #1 Fire Starter and we are now underway with Mission #2. It must be understood that it may not work every where but I do encourage all to try it.

It is time for the dragon to be released. Long live George Jackson.

To Whom It May Concern,

Pursuant to the South Carolina Constitution, Article I, Paragraph 2, Religious Freedom, Freedom of Speech, Right of Assembling and Petition, “The General Assembly shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government or any department thereof for a redress of grievances . . .”

Pursuant to South Carolina Department of Correction (SCDC) policy PS-10.08 Inmate Correspondence Privileges, September 6, 2022, “6.1.9 Inmates in RHU and SSR will not be allowed to receive newspaper/magazine clippings/crossword puzzle pages/photocopies of books, or information printed from the internet mailed in while they are housed in RHU/SSR”. Per SCDC policy OP-22.38 RHU.paragraph 8.1 “Mail will be delivered on a daily basis excluding weekends, holidays; and emergencies . . .”

The South Carolina Dept. of Corrections Current Mission Statement quoted as follows: “Protect The Public, Protect The Employees, Protect The Inmates”

Current SCDC policies, procedures, and practices serve to create an environment in direct conflict and opposition with their Mission Statement. Furthermore, SCDC’s Mission Statement should be expanded to include educational and rehabilitative goals. The entire system needs to be restructured to meet all the needs and goals effectively and efficiently. “Protection” is just one of many needs.

Mail Censorship and Mail delivered to Restricted Housing Unit inmates daily

The mail system currently in use at the Broad River Facility and throughout SCDC is a disgrace to The United States Postal Service. The persons employed in the mail room are not properly trained. Violating Federal Law with regard to delay, tampering, theft, and destruction have become commonplace. The people employed in the mail room have been charged with the task of screening the mail for contraband material. This function is clearly necessary and must continue. However, the staff in the mail room make a habit of exceeding their authority and the inmates have little recourse.

While institutional policies imply that all inmates will have ample access to send and receive mail, inmates housed in RHU (segregation) are limited to what we can receive in the mail. Inmates’ mail is constantly being violated by the officials in RHU. Officers can be found reading inmates’ mail, pass out mail late, and only once a week. As of September 6, 2022, RHU inmates no longer can receive “newspaper/magazine clippings, information printed off the internet, etc”. The updated policy does not give RHU inmates an explanation as to why we no longer receive certain mail.

On July 1, 2009, SCDC removed The United States Postal Service receptacle for outgoing mail from the yard, thus interfering with inmates ability to communicate with family, but also interfering with access to the courts, and communication with attorneys. On this date, inmates were instructed to give their outgoing mail to their dorm Lieutenant, (“The dorm Lieutenant is not authorized to handle mail”) most inmates fear giving their mail to unauthorized persons.

SCDC on September 6, 2022 changed section 6.1.9 to the Inmate Correspondence Privileges Policy. Inmates before this date were allowed to receive “5 newspaper/magazine clippings per envelope, information printed off the internet and photocopies of books.”

The policy change to section 6.1.9 do not explain why RHU inmates no longer can receive such items in the mail.

Pursuant to Hustler Magazine, Inc. V. Falwell, 495 US 45,46,108 sct 876, 832, “The government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable . . .”

Pursuant to Jones V. North Carolina Prisoners Labour Union, 433 US 119, 97 sct 2532 (1977), “Fact of confinement and needs of the penal institution impose rational limitations on prisoner free speech rights . . .”

My hope is that you have received this report with an open and inquisitive mind.

BRSF 4460 Broad River Rd. Columbia, SC 29210

Building Peace, Unity, and Solidarity Behind Enemy Lines

Introduction

“I’m going to join the fight wherever Negroes ask for my help…” - Malcolm X

Amani (PEACE) to all Lumpen Organizations (“L.O.’s”) held captive in Amerikkka’s prisons. As we fight against dehumanizing and tortuous conditions that’s done by prisonkrats, we must get united and stay united!

Eye stand with each and every last one of you. Eye take a solidarity stand to see to it that all our needs are met. Of course Eye am one man, however, though these few pages with revolutionary strength we can all liberate ourselves behind enemy lines.

Eye will be building on some topics that need to be addressed. We are the change. Therefore, we must organize, agitate, and educate. Stay on course comrades as we seize the time!!

Security Threat Group Wrongful Validation

“A healer need to see beyond the present and tomorrow. He needs to see years and decades ahead. Because healers work for results so firm that may not be wholly visible till centuries have flowed into millennia. Those willing to do this necessary work, they are the healers of our people…” - Ayi Kwei Armah

Eye am a general of the Damu Nation. Eye am wrongfully validated as “Security Threat Group” (STG) in the state of South Carolina. An STG is a classification that prisonkrats classify Lumpen Organizational members who they fear pose a threat.

The so-called threat can be educating, organizing, agitating, litigating, money getter, and/or violent. In my as well as many it’s all of the above, however all these pigs have on STG’s are Confidential Inmates (C.I.’s). When pigs validate you they place – rather kidnap – you and hold you hostage in segregation.

The only way off of a STG validation is by “snitching”, make parole, max-out, win through lawsuits, or you die. All sorts of foolishness can get you validated such as wearing flags, tattoos, literature, violence, snitches, and just being in a leadership position. Be mindful who you associate with, watch what you do and say etc.

Amerikkka’s prison colonies have contracts with other prisons throughout Amerikkka. When pigs consider you a threat they will send you out-of-state to other prisons within Amerikkka. Comrades STG is not a game this label is on you for life so be very careful…PEACE.

Case Law

“The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed…” - Steve Biko

• Frasie v. Terhune, 283 F.3d 506 (2002)
• Taylor v. Rodriguez, 238 F3d 188 (2nd Cir.2001)
• Sostre v. McGinnis, 442 F.2d 179 (1971)
• Incumaa v. Stirling, 2015 U.S. App. Lexis 11321 (2015)
• Koch v. Lewis, 96 F. Supp. 2d 949 (2000)
• Harrison v. Institutional Gang of Investigations, 2010 U.S. Dist. Lexis 14944
• Rivera v. Long (2011)

Oppressed, Oppressing The Oppressed

“Our objective is the destruction of the evil system of global white supremacy and the re-assertion of our right to self-determination and the resurrection of divine humanity that we brought to the world in the beginning…” - Heru Akki Seb

As EYE build with each of you today know and overstand this – if you fail to overstand how white supremacy works, everything that you think you know will only confuse you!! EYE speak these words too because look at how “we” are carrying on? Every organization is at war with each other.

How are we supposed to fight against oppression but yet we are doing the oppressing? We sell the enemy drugs to one another. We use derogatory language towards one another. We do everything we can to destroy one another.

These prisonkrats no longer have to get “down and dirty” to infiltrate the people anymore, you know why? You have as EYE write this C.I’s (Confidential Inmates) within every lumpen organization. And these cowards are feeding all sorts of information to pigs.

Comrades today think that it is cool to be sitting in the office with female pigs running their mouth. Overstand this – pigs use the women to seek information, in return they pass the information on to the higher up pigs.

Overstand without the drug trade in prison majority of those pigs will not work back here. We have to end this oppression, all forms of it, because as of now all EYE see is agent provocateurs working against our liberation…PEACE.

What It Means To Be A Leader

“The leader who is not loyal to his trust, and to his associates, those above him and those below him, cannot long maintain his leadership. Disloyalty marks one as being less than the dust of the earth, and brings down on one’s head the contempt he deserves. Lack of loyalty is one of the major causes of failure in every walk of life…” - Napoleon Hill

EYE am sure that every lumpen organizational leader has his/her own definition for “what a leader is?” However, a leader is one who leads self first, then he/she leads others. A leader is one who judges according to his/her own actions and ways. A leader leads from the front never from the back in retreat.

A leader teaches his/her subjects the necessary knowledge and skills on how to live a productive life as men and women. A leader listens to the people effectively and intently to overstand the needs of the people.

A leader never moves off feelings or emotions nor do he/she feel fear. A leader has hands-on experience with the people and his community. A leader never plays the role of a politician, he/she is out in the field with the people he/she governs.

To be an effective leader one must know him/herself first, his/her culture, history then one recognizes his/her enemy. You must listen to the people and respond to them without lies and false hope. A leader must investigate everyone who declares themselves a member of his/her community. A leader must always educate, organize, and agitate…PEACE.

Peace Behind Enemy Lines

“Revolution is not a speed race, it is a race for he who runs to the end of his life, it is not a race for racehorses, it is a race for warhorses…” - Kwame Ture

There should not be any wars with lumpen organizations! Comrades EYE need you to overstand how oppression works – it works by turning us against us. EYE overstand that people will have differences however, our differences must stop leading to riots, stabbings, degrading one another and murder.

We must end the beef amongst the oppressed if we want to be liberated. If the various leaders within the L.O.s are not leading right he/she must be removed. The only people that can liberate us-is-us!

P.E.A.C.E means Proper Education Activates Constant Elevation, therefore we greet each other with PEACE. From me to you we all we got so we must act like it…P.E.A.C.E

SEIZE THE TIME

Today, July 30, 2022, a Saturday at 7:30 AM, a helicopter flew close to this prison’s yard. We had just been let out into the yard as cattle are moved through the fencing and gates. Two minutes later they shut down the yard and herded us all back into the building. The staff said they had to “search the yard”: never mind that the helicopter did not fly over the yard for more than a second; never mind that the amount of drugs on this compound are at an all-time high, and flowing in freely as the Virginia Department of Corrections (VA DOC) attempts to stop it all fail short. There is a reason for this, but, let me back up a bit.

Years ago, before my wrongful conviction and unlawful captivity, the VA DOC decided that, in order to prevent the flow of contraband, all mail should be photocopied. Certainly, if the VA DOC prisoners were no longer receiving actual mail they could not be receiving the contraband sent in “by family and friends”. Even though, statistically, this is a non-sequitur flying in the face of known logic and the real cause of the problem, the VA DOC went ahead with the foolish plan and the contraband still flowed.

At some point it was decided that all incoming property, books for example, while coming directly from companies such as Amazon, would be subjected to a hold and search. This search would include x-ray and dogs. Logic would dictate that with all mail (except legal mail) being photocopied with the originals shredded and all property subjected to extensive and excessive searches, the VA DOC would nip that contraband problem in the bud. Unfortunately for the VA DOC, and, as per usual, that did not work out as planned.

The VA DOC decided that stripping prisoners before and after every in-person visit was logical as their other foolish attempts. It was invasive, excessive, and it solved nothing. At one point the VA DOC put a policy in place mandating that visitors who were menstruating remove their tampons before being allowed to have their visitation with their loved ones. This was in 2018 and the VA DOC was even able to come up with a spokeswoman, Lisa Kinney, to actually defend this insane action. The VA DOC was eventually forced to drop this depraved barbarism, but attempt speaks clearly enough. Also, the problem of contraband persisted.

Then COVID hit. Pocahontas State Correctional Center, like most prisons, took the low road and instead of reducing prison populations by 60-70% as recommended by every major health group (The Center for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, the World Health Organization), PSCC went on to a full 24/7 lockdown. What better way to ensure the spread of a deadly disease is there? No visits of any kind; an even longer hold on mail; food delivered to the cells; top tier and bottom tier separated and for periods of time only one cell out for 10 minutes at a time, twice a day - these were the implementations put onto us. PSCC, and all prisons, had now become maximum-security prisons “as ordered by the CDC” (contrary to, actually). Somehow, despite all this, that contraband just kept coming through the gates. Figure that one out.

Just recently, the VA DOC, in their increasingly impressive – and wholly questionable – exercise of critical thinking, finally figured out the cause: It must be the legal mail. Local courts and lawyers: the Virginia Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Virginia. The Fourth Circuit and the U.$. Supreme Court. These must be the culprits…you cannot make this stuff up. Now, along with the dizzying array of failed policies that have produced exactly zero results, the VA DOC implemented a policy that illegally routed all legal mail to a “centralized processing unit” to be put through some search or another. It is all clearly nefarious, but, more importantly, it is a grotesque violation of constitutional rights – specifically, the Sixth and Fourteenth amendments (attorney/client privilege, access to the courts and due process). This epic display of intelligence went into effect July 1, 2022. Shortly after we spent 10 days on a lockdown without reason. Finally, the contraband problem was dealt with. This time for sure, right? Wrong!

The contraband keeps coming through the gates. It always will because the VA DOC is not looking at the root of the problem. To be more precise, the VA DOC is deliberately and willfully ignorning the root of the problem. It knows what the problem is, and it has known it all along. Acknowledging the problem opens a can of worms in Virginia’s already long history of destruction. The VA DOC contraband problem is a staff problem. The VA DOC doesn’t want citizens to know that it is no more than a colossal failure, and its staff are mostly criminals. Along with all the other, endless, false data the VA DOC feeds the public (low recidivism, nutrition standards, medical care, educational opportunities, everything), Virginia wants to hide the truth about its staff smuggling contraband.

For those familiar with PSCC this should come as no surprise. A large portion of PSCC staff are facing some level of in-house complaints, or worse. As of this writing, the Assistant Warden is allegedly facing multiple sexual harassment suits at more than one prison, including PSCC. The current Major, head of “security”, was chased off of at least one other compound for his gross abuses. One of the guards here is facing a lawsuit for physically assaulting a Black prisoner while the prisoner was handcuffed. The alleged incident was racially motivated – the guard has a long history of such behavior – and the incident is also currently the focus of a growing anti-Semitism case. The point is that the VA DOC, and Virginia as a whole, would much rather sweep problems out of the public eye, and let them fester. If it won’t investigate the more serious issues surrounding obviously sociopathic activities by its staff, why bother with a majority of its staff being involved in a smuggling ring? The VA DOC costs the taxpayers $1.1 billion, 25% of Virginia’s entire budget. Citizen’s hard-earned money.

Citizens, you are being lied to, openly, and you are being robbed. This is called a “complicated confidence scheme,” and you are all falling for it.

There’s an ongoing debate as to why prisoners must have rights to the First Amendment, the right to free speech. Prisons often suffocate prisoners from speaking about what happens in prisons, as if it is a “security” risk. While there are elements that can pose a prison interest, most times this is not true, but prisons use flimsy excuses to prevent prisoners from telling the world what goes on. Prisons, like USP Tucson, use the Las Vegas mantra, “what happens in prison, stays in prison” (even if it’s illegal).

Let me share with you an example of prisons illegally suffocating a prisoner’s right to tell the public what is going on:

A magazine called Labyrinth published a story about two Black prisoners at a federal facility, Terre Haute, who died of asthma. Apparently, in January of 1975, a prisoner died, then in August at the same prison, another Black prisoner died of asthma.

During that time, the prison (Terre Haute) had only one respirator, which was known to have been inoperative in January when the first prisoner died. It wasn’t working when the second prisoner died either.

That is negligence. The prison’s incompetence cost two Black prisoners their lives.

However, when Labyrinth tried to send their magazines to Marion Federal Penitentiary, the prison blocked it, claiming that the article could be “detrimental to the good order and discipline” of the institution. The courts disagreed, stating that the incidents in Terre Haute, a federal facility, are newsworthy and of “great importance” (Pell v. Procuiner, 417 US. 817, 830, n.7. 94 S. Ct 2800, 2808 n.7, 41 L.Ed 2d 495 (1975)).

In that incident, the necessity to report prison negligence outweighs the prison’s vague idea that anything that happens in prison are not for the public’s ears. The public has a tremendous right to know that prisoners are dying in American prisons, and more so, if those working in prisons are indirectly, or directly, responsible for it.

Prisoners must be allowed to tell society if human beings in American prisons are treated with humane dignity, or like slaves at a plantation, or Jewish prisoners at a Concentration (and Extermination) camp. Left unchecked, this is exactly where prisons will gravitate to.

A few years ago, I personally wrote an essay about a prisoner here at USP Tucson, who was murdered while in the SHU (Special Housing Unit). I wrote that the staff knew that if they put the prisoner in a cell with a certain prisoner, that he would be killed. And so it was.

After getting the essay out, I got a letter from a law firm representing the victim’s wife. They wanted to talk to me, to get information about the staff working at the time of the murder, because USP Tucson refused to release such information. Even though staff was directly responsible for a man’s death, they refused to give the attorney the information, protecting the officers that facilitated the murder.

Sadly, I did not have such intel, because while the prison population all knew what happened, and how, most didn’t know who worked that day. A prisoner who was in the SHU that period of time, however, would have known. This is not about “safety and security” …it’s about murder.

Prisoners must be able to inform the public of what goes on in prisons, because if not, then there is no counter to prison staff brutality. Prisons like USP Tucson can toss every law over their back, and treat prisoners like dogs. They can beat a prisoner, steal their property, rape them, and no one on the outside would ever know. And, if it did get out, the prison would suppress all information and “defend the shield.” The First Amendment allows prisoners the equalizer, to hold prisons responsible for how they treat those under their custody.

Let’s be clear; the prison staff do not have the right to torment or torture prisoners, they prevent society from knowing about it; but unless prisoners get the word out, prisons will almost always violate humane treatment.

Left unchecked, prisons will always gravitate to persecution, torment, or torture. There must be a level of accountability by prisons, otherwise there would be no fear in allowing prisoners to speak.

So, let me share another recent example of why it is critical for prisoners or captives to speak. It is all too easy to prove that if prisons prohibit prisoners from writing, it gives the prison staff a green light to neglect their responsibilities.

On Friday, 18 November 2022, USP Tucson put the entire prison population on an institutional lockdown for an unknown incident. The week prior, on November 13th there was a “code red” because a prisoner at a different facility acquired a gun and would have shot an officer except the gun didn’t fire because the bullets didn’t match the gun.

Now let that marinate for a bit: how the heck did a prisoner at a federal facility acquire a gun, and what pushed such a person to that extreme? Shouldn’t that be an issue that the prison needs to look at, as far as how staff treat prisoners? It is not always just a prisoner’s fault: it takes two to tango. What did the officer do to provoke a man to such an extremity of hate that he had to get a gun? But prisons won’t look at that. There are other essays that could be written on that, but that’s for another time.

After that incident, on Sunday November 18th, another incident involving staff resulted in an immediate and excessive 30-day lockdown. All prisoners were restricted to their cells (the word “all” really needs to be defined as certain situations clearly show that the prison did not go by their own rules) with no outside movement except to the showers every 2-3 days. But, in this, there were numerous violations by the staff at USP Tucson, most with what may be legally called “deliberate intent.”

Earlier, I was attempting to make a compelling argument about the reasons why it is critical for society to hear from prisoners. Most times people think that once a person goes into a prison they lose all of their rights, this is often told to society by people working in prisons.

This is a lie.

Prisoners walk into Amerikan prisons with most of their rights, including the First Amendment, which is the freedom of speech. This is critical in the prison environment because left unchecked it will always result in prison abuse by staff. I might sound extremist when I say all, but history has clearly shown that if prisons are left to do what they want without any check on humane treatment, it always gravitates to neglect and abuse of the prisoners.

So the First Amendment allows prisoners to voice their grievances whether the prison likes it or not, to the people on the outside who have an interest in what goes on in prisons. We did not lose the right to say what is going on in prisons, in fact, who has a greater experience than us. Often times, courts use a “hands off” approach on these issues, usually deferring to the “expertise” of prison officials. I get that, but expertise does not mean these prison officials use humanitarian elements in their decision making.

So, I gave you a real example of a situation that happened here at USP Tucson; we were put on lockdown on Friday November 18th for what was identified as a “staff assault” in a separate dorm. The prison identified the perpetrator, moved him out of general population then it turned to the rest of the prison and punished them severely as if we all had a hand in it. This is called mass punishment and it is frowned on by many countries, yet the United $tates continues to use it.

I mentioned in the first part the numerous violations that USP Tucson may have committed in what is termed “deliberate intent.” This means there was no mistaking the actions the prison took, it was intended to cause harm. Here are some of the violations:

1. The warden never issued a memo for the official reason the prisoners were on a 30-day lockdown. If a person or people are to be punished, he or they must know why they are being punished so they can challenge it. This may very well be a violation of their due process – another constitutional right.

2. USP Tucson prevented prisoners from filing a grievance or a “BP.” When prisoners asked for them, the counselor flatly refused. This alone, is illegal.

3. Unit Team (Unit manager, case manger, counselor) avoided all prisoner questions, except legal calls or when passing out disciplinary charges. Unit team was working the entire time we were on the lockdown, but deliberately refused to do their job, avoiding all prisoners asking for help or assistance.

4. Unit Team refused to pass out paper, envelopes or writing instruments, prohibiting prisoners from writing. Here is the deathblow to the First Amendment. If a prisoner is refused these elements, there is no way he can communicate to the outside world.

5. USP Tucson violated their own policy, forcing kitchen workers to work 10-12 hours a day – every day – to prepare and clean the cafeteria. Prisoner medical orderlies, laundry workers, and selected prisoners were forced to work, but the prison refused to allow the dorm orderlies to clean the showers. This implies that the staff deemed certain prisoners “less of a security risk” than others, even though 99% of the prison population had nothing to do with the incident.
   
   And let’s touch on the “incident” of the “staff assault.” Here is what happened, in a nut shell. USP Tucson brought a prisoner that is on a high care level, with clear and documented psychological issues, from a high-level prison. Hh has only been on the prison grounds less than a week, and the prison decided to take away his medication. Why? That makes no sense! He obviously needed it for a reason.
   
   So, when the prisoner was refused his medication, he got angry, and assaulted an officer. This had nothing to do with the rest of the prison population.

6. USP Tucson never allowed prisoners a clean shower. At the point of this essay, each unit had eight shower runs the last 4 weeks. Each of the ten shower cells were used, on average 80 times and not once did staff allow the dorm orderlies to clean it, and the showers were toxic each time prisoners had to step in there.

7. USP Tucson prohibited the sale of stamps, nor would distribute stamps, nor would take letters without stamps. This, for 25 days, prevented prisoners from any contact with the outside world. Another deathblow to the First Amendment, and obviously, quite illegal.

This act, the one just mentioned, may be the most malicious because unless you had stamps before November 18th, you had no way to communicate with loved ones, an attorney, a church, the media, or anyone. USP Tucson violated prisoner’s First Amendment for almost a month, and ignored every request and offer to rectify the situation.

Prisoners with no stamps had no way to let loved ones know that they were okay, or alive, or if USP Tucson was beating prisoners, stealing property or doing all sorts of things to them. When families and loved ones called the prison, many were told that we were on a “COVID-19 lockdown”. That was a lie. With no accountability, staff were free to be inhumane, for almost a month. This includes a “shakedown” where the prison took easily tens of thousands of dollars worth of personal and legal property from prisoners and threw them away or took them to their families for Christmas.

When the prisoners lose their First Amendment, when prisons like USP Tucson rob people of this protected right, it immediately opens the door to mistreatment. It always happens. Without fail. It is said in a case law, Thomburg v. Abbot, that

“A prison ban on prisons sending letters that complain of internal conditions in the institution restricted the First Amendment in two ways: one, the prisoner’s right to free speech is curtailed and two, the public’s right to know what is happening within the prison system, a right that can only be fulfilled through an informed press, is restricted.”

For four weeks, I didn’t have the chance to tell people what USP Tucson was doing to us. For 25 days, I could not let my mother know that I was still alive. For 25 days I could not tell society that these federal prison staff officers had denied us humane showers, stole property, and practiced slave labor.

For 25 days we were tortured and nobody knew until now.

This is why prisoners MUST write. And just wait until you read what I share after the four weeks ended, and we were finally able to find out everything that happened around the prison.

To whom it may concern,

Pursuant to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 5, no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment.

Pursuant to the United States Constitutional Amendments, Amendment VIII, excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Pursuant to South Carolina Department of Corrections Police ADN - 16.05 Food Service Operations, sections 2.4.2, ensuring that master menus conform to the Recommended Dietary Allowances, & 7.1.1, menus posted in all living areas, & 7.1.6, food will be prepared progressively and served at proper temperature, 7.6.3, food service specialists ensuring food quality, quality are in compliance.

The South Caroline Dept. of Corrections current Mission Statement quoted as follows:

“Protect the Public, Protect the Employees, Protect the Inmates…”

Current SCDC policies, procedures, and practices serve to create an environment in direct conflict and opposition with their “Mission Statement”. Furthermore, SCDC’s “Mission Statement” should be expanded to include educational and rehabilitative goals. The entire system needs to be restructured to meet all the needs and goals effectively and efficiently. “Protection” is just one of the many needs.

The food served at the Broad River Secured Facility and throughout SCDC has always been a topic with wide spread opinions depending on which side of the fence you are on. SCDC brags that they have the lowest cost per inmate in the country. Eat one of the meals and you’ll see why. SCDC inmates housed at BRSF are suppose to receive fruit every lunch meal like general population but we don’t.

A large portion of the meals are cheap starches. Milk, when it is available, can only be obtained at breakfast, and on the numerous occasions it is either not av liable or it runs out before all inmates ain RHU (Restricted Housing Unit) have been fed. White rice or pasta served every lunch and dinner. The portions, which are supposed to be regulated, are left to the discretion of the inmates working on the serving line and “told” to give RHU inmates half a portions. On the weekends RHU inmates along with general population are fed only two meals every Saturday and Sunday.

One of mans most basic instincts is self-preservation. A large portion of the problems that arise at BRSF are due to search for edible food (edible being defined not only as able to be eaten as far as taste, but also as far as safety, and, most importantly, quantity). While there are laws, as well as policies which prohibit certain forms of punishment, the denial of food for being in the “Restricted Housing Unit” (segregation) have become common.

Inadequate Food Served in BRSF

Pursuant to SCDC policy ADM-16.05, Food Service Operations & 2.4.2 and & 7.6.3, “Ensuring Inmate Master Menus conform to the”recommended dietary allowance… Food Service Specialists ensuring food quality, quality are in compliance…"

On April 10, 2023, I myself as well as eighteen other prisoners declared a “Hunger Strike” challenging our poor conditions of confinement at Broad River Secured Facility, and inadequate food portions was one of our reasons. We are being fed like children in a elementary school. Every meal we are not receiving the recommended portions that was recommend by the “National Academy of Sciences and National Research Council.”

Beginning of January 2023, SCDC changed its food menu and started serving inmates “fruit on lunch meals, chicken patties, fish, and chop chicken.” However, we in BRSF-RHU are not receiving these item with the exception of fish.

Our meals have one scoop of grits during breakfast and when we have rice or pasta we only receive one scoop. At one point of time we were receiving “paper trays” that couldn’t hold food so this shorten our meals. These paper trays always had our food mushed together and fallen out the bottom. On the weekends we are fed two meals a day and neither meal we don’t receive adequate portions.

Pursuant to Knop v. Johnson, 667 F. Supp. 467 (W.D. Mich. 1987), “food is one of the basic necessities of life protected by the Eighth Amendment…”

Also see Ramos v Lamm, 659 F. 2nd 559, 570 (10th Ci. 1980_. Robles v Coughlin (?), 725, F.2d 12 (2d cir, 1983).

My hope is that you have received this report with an open and inquisitive mind. While I hope this information helpful, the higher hope is you will investigate this matter for yourself. It is fair to say that no matter who is asked, politician, citizen, or inmate, the answer is still the same: The Broad River Secured Facility needs a complete overhaul along with SCDC!

4P’s Vanguard

Panther Progress

On 15 April 2023, a clash between two military forces broke out in the capital city of Khartoum in Sudan.(1) Two military generals, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head each of the sides involved. Out of the two military factions, the more “regular” armed troops of Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) are led by Burhan, with the militia oriented Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Dagalo.(2)

The Political-Economic Prelude to the 2023 Conflict

On 30 June 1989, Omar al-Bashir came to power in Sudan in a coup d’etat. For three decades Bashir ruled Sudan under a military dictatorship where Dagalo gained prominence as a General of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Under Bashir, the Rapid Support Forces grew out of the Janjaweed militias mostly compromising of the southern Sudanese peasantry. In the early 2000s, the RSF helped the SAF crush the rebellion in the western region of Darfur.(3)

Under the military dictatorship of Bashir, Dagalo received gold mines for his actions in the RSF. Burhan also had close ties politically with Bashir.(4) However, with the turbulent political climate that the military dictatorship of Bashir created among the civilian population, the SAF and the RSF have ousted Bashir and the military dictatorship alongside civilian protests. This coup-de-etat, birthed a short-lived civilian government that went by the name of the Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok with elections to have originally taken place in 2023. Despite Hamdok’s appeals to the people’s movement at the time, he has also had backing from the U.$. imperialists aimed to make sure the new governing force in Sudan remained friendly to the United $tates. Previously, al-Bashir had defied the Clinton regime in the U.$. by harboring Al-Qaeda’s Osama Bin-Laden during the military dictator’s reign.

In October 2021, al-Burhan along with Dagalo led a coup d’etat against Hamdok which ended the two year long civilian rule born out of the people-power revolution.

Current Situation

Most of the current fighting is being done in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. On the second day of the conflict, the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors have reported that 56 people were killed and nearly 600 were injured. The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement on 16 April 2023:

“There are also reports of shortages of specialized medical personnel, including anesthesiologists. Water and power cuts are affecting the functionality of health facilities, and shortages of fuel for hospital generators are also being reported.”(5)

The Russian imperialists have taken a stake in this conflict with the Wagner Group’s support for Dagalo’s RSF giving the militia surface-to-air missiles and military training to the RSF.(6) On the eve of Russia’s war with Ukraine, the Sudanese military’s lapdogs of Russian imperialism granted Russia access to Sudan’s gold in exchange for military and political support.(7)

The Chinese and the U.$. imperialists (alongside many other countries such as Egypt) have taken a more reserved stance on this conflict with more focus towards evacuating their countries’ personnel. Hundreds of Amerikan and other western imperialist countries have taken part in evacuation plans.(8)

On 27 April 2023, the civilian death toll has surpassed 500 with more than 5,000 injured and still counting according to The New York Times.(9) The bourgeoisie portray Africa as a chaos-torn continent with myriads of countries filled with constant violence, but we must remember that political-economic forces and class struggle drive the violence. The beef between Dagalo and al-Burhan is between a disagreement in assimilating Dagalo’s RSF to al-Burhan’s Sudanese military proper. While bourgeois rhetoric portrays this as humanity’s woes of famine, plague, and war that are embedded within our nature, the more scientific way to look at this picture is that the comprador-bourgeoisie (both Dagalo and al-Burhan) always struggle among themselves to be the principal lapdog for foreign imperialist forces (in this case primarily Russian). This is typical of neo-colonialism where multiple imperialist forces oftentimes have stake in a single semi-feudal neo-colony. Mao understood this for his country during semi-feudal China when the Japanese invaded, the western powers won’t let go of China without a fight. This led to the birth of a strategy by the people of having two or more imperialist forces fight amongst each other while the people maintain independence. While the current fighting is between anti-people forces, the workers and peasants of Sudan and Africa overall have the historical duty of ending these wars of the imperialists and compradors with revolutionary war of the proletariat.

^{Notes 1. The New York Times, “Chaos in Sudan: Who Is Battling for Power, and Why It Hasn’t Stopped” April 27, 2023.}

^{2. Ibid.}

^{3. Elian Peltier and Abdi Latif Dahir, “Who are the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitaries fighting Sudan’s Army?” New York Times April 17, 2023}

^{4. Ibid.}

^{5. CNN, “Fighting between Sudan military rivals enters a second day, with dozens dead” April 17, 2023.}

^{6. Ibid. (The Wagner Group is a Russian paramilitary organization that first appeared in Ukraine as part of Russia’s seizure of territory there.)}

^{7. CNN, “Russia is plundering gold in Sudan to boost Putin’s war effort in Ukraine” July 29, 2022}

^{8. Jennifer Hansler, “US has evacuated American diplomatic personnel from Sudan” CNN April 24, 2023}

^{9. Ibid.}

Last year prisoners in Texas took the opportunity of the declaration of a federal holiday on Juneteenth to launch the Juneteenth Freedom Initiative (JFI), triggering a repressive response from the state prisoncrats at the TDCJ. The JFI campaign said:

“As you may know, Juneteenth has now been made a federal holiday in amerika. On this day many will sing the praises of Our oppressors or otherwise negate the reality of the lumpen (economically alienated class), that according to amerika’s 13th amendment We are STILL SLAVES. While We do not wish to nullify the intensity of the exploitation and oppression that New Afrikan people held in chattel slavery faced, We must pinpoint to the general public, those upcoming generations of youngsters looking to follow Our footsteps, that to be held in captivity by the state or feds is not only to be frowned upon but is part and parcel with the intentions of this amerikan government, and its capitalist-imperialist rulers. We say NO CELEBRATING JUNETEENTH until the relation of people holding others in captivity is fully abolished!!”

The Juneteenth Freedom Initiative put forth demands and calls for action including:

End Solitary Confinement! End Restrictive Housing Units(RHU)!

End Mass Incarceration!

Transform the prisons to cadre schools! Transform ourselves into NEW PEOPLE!

The history of utilizing Juneteenth to fight the torturous long-term isolation cells in U.$. prisons didn’t start last year with the campaign to shut down the RHU. At the 2011 Juneteenth celebration in Berkeley, CA, MIM(Prisons) did an extensive outreach campaign in support of the first round of historic hunger strikes to protest the SHU in California. These we see as proper ways of honoring the spirit of Juneteenth, which is a holiday that was kept alive for over a century by the New Afrikan nation before the United $tates took it as its own.

In his 2022 book on the history of Texas, historian Gerald Horne points out some holes in the story of Juneteenth being paraded by the bourgeois Liberals of the Biden regime. He points out how the Emancipation Proclamation did not really extend to the territory of Texas that remained beyond the jurisdiction of the Lincoln government. Texas was an independent state of Euro-settlers claiming territory from Mexico in 1836. Texas remained its own country until 1845 when it joined the United $tates. By 1865, Texans were strongly considering rejoining Mexico, which was temporarily under the rule of the French puppet Maximillian in order to maintain the system of slavery. While this did not happen, slavery continued in many parts of Texas for many years after the historic date known as Juneteenth. According to one source, “two-thirds of the freedmen in the section of country which I travelled over have never received one cent of wages since they were declared free…” Horne cites another source saying “the freedmen are in a worse condition than they ever were as slaves.”(Horne, p.457) Texans were determined to hold on to their slaves until the U.$. government came in to compensate them for their “property.”

Some fifty years after so-called emancipation, the war continued to wage between the newly coalesced white oppressor nation and the oppressed nations in the region of Texas.

“However, given the dialectic of repression generating resistance – and vice versa – it was also during this same period that Jack Johnson, the heavyweight champion from Galveston, was forced into exile in order to elude spurious charges and wound up in Mexico City during the revolutionary decade. There he sought to establish a beachhead against Jim Crow. It was also then that the monumental “Plan of San Diego” was crafted, which was said to involve retaking the land seized improperly by the U.S. during the war of aggression of the 1840s and establishing in its stead independent Black and Indigenous polities."(Horne, p.565)

In 2017, USW comrades launched a campaign to commemorate the Plan de San Diego each August, as the military operations carried out in southern Texas by units of 25 to 100 men against the Euro-settlers reached their high point in August and September of 1915. If you want to commemorate this revolutionary history this August, write in and ask for copies of the Plan de San Diego flier to use for outreach and get more ideas for how to honor that history.

^{NOTES: Gerald Horne, 2022, The Counter-Revolution of 1836: Texas Slavery & Jim Crow and the Roots of U.S. Fascism, International Publishers, New York.}