MIM Notes No. 198, November 15, 1999

Stop censoring MIM Notes!

Hundreds of copies of MIM Notes get returned. One reason that 
prison bureaucrats give is that MIM Notes advocates armed struggle 
and the violation of prison policies.

MIM Notes page 2 (cited on countless rejection notices) states: 
"MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups over other 
groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM knows this is only possible 
by building public opinion to seize power through armed struggle."

In the current strategic stage of struggle MIM advocates only 
protracted legal struggle in the imperialist countries and 
internal semi-colonies. The exception to this is of First Nations 
bordering imperialist countries which can form their own police 
and army.

Amerika has criminalized the act of 'building public opinion' 
within many prisons. This justification for censorship is bogus.

****

St. Clair prison outlaws study of law

St. Clair prison memorandum reads:

***

TO:  INMATE POPULATION
FROM: OFFICER BAILEY, COI
	LIBRARY SUPERVISOR
PER: CAPTAIN SIMMONS
REF: LAW CLASSES

AS OF SEPTEMBER 22, 1999 THERE WILL BE NO LAW CLASSES TAUGHT AT 
ANY TIME. ANYONE CAUGHT DOING SO WILL BE SUBJECT TO DISCIPLINARY 
ACTION FOR DISOBEYING A DIRECT ORDER.

Prisons are today's plantations.

During chattel slavery, slave owners forbade the slaves to try to 
learn to read and write. Any slave caught trying to learn to read 
and write was severely punished. Today, at the St. Clair 
Prison/Plantation, prisoners are forbidden to study the law and 
assist other prisoners with the law. Prisoners caught studying the 
law and assisting others with the law will be severely punished.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has a suit pending in the Federal 
Court in regards to the prisons' policy of depriving prisoners the 
right to receive reading material.

What happened to "Reading is Fundamental"? Why are the prison 
managers so adverse to prisoners studying the law and receiving 
reading material from the outside?

Recently, there was a lot of ballyhoo about Honor Dorms in prison; 
but the Honor Dorms are not to help prisoners. The Honor Dorms are 
the cheese in the trap to destroy all of the prisoners' dignity 
and self-esteem. If the prison managers sincerely want to help 
prisoners, why forbid them to study law and receive reading 
material of their choice?

The truth of the matter is that the rabid racism of right-wing so-
called Christians has invaded the prisons. These rabid racists 
have infiltrated the prisons under the guise of religion and many 
have successfully become DOC employees and moved up to the higher 
echelon of the DOC administrators. As a result, the DOC policies 
and programs have become much more racist.

Several months ago, one of the guards hung a noose inside the 
window of the guard's station (cubicle). A couple of weeks ago, 
one of the guards call Afrikan (Black) prisoners a bunch of dumb 
niggers. This racist behavior is common here at St. Clair.

If the prisons were still predominantly white, the conditions 
would be better. However, the "ethnic cleansing" taking place 
within the Afrikan community has changed the complexion of the 
prisoners. America has never cared about how its slaves were/are 
treated.

St. Clair is a prison and not a plantation and we are prisoners, 
not slaves. We, the prisoners of St. Clair prison, appeal to the 
public and the governmental officials for help in stopping the 
racist abuse of prisoners here at St. Clair and to help assure 
that the Constitutional Rights of prisoners at St. Clair are 
respected.

-- St. Clair prisoners, 27 September 1999.

MIM responds:  Thank you for informing us of yet another example 
of censorship and repression within the Amerikan injustice system. 
Please send us updates.

As MN readers know, MIM has been intensifying our campaign against 
prison censorship. Prisons across Amerikkka censor legal 
information, correspondence, dictionaries, political information 
(MIM Notes is the most censored publication in the U$), history 
books, and even donated university textbooks.

Censorship is a means to stop prisoners from educating themselves. 
As the above letter suggests, this contradicts Amerikka's rhetoric 
about the importance of education, but it serves Amerika's 
material interests well.

Denied access to adequate education in schools where students are 
oppressed nationals and the denial of education in prisons serve 
the same purpose. The white settler nation uses the legal, 
political, cultural and education spheres, as well as military 
force, to prop up the imperialist economic system of exploitation.

Censorship is a means to thwart prisoners' opposition to the 
inhumane conditions and to the imperialist system entire. The 
example of punitive action at St. Clair prison clearly 
demonstrates that the pigs will go to any length to stop 
prisoners' struggles for justice.

MIM commends prisoners educating one another about the law. We 
encourage prisoners to work with MIM on the Serve the People 
Prisoners' Legal Clinic (PLC). The PLC builds opposition to 
imperialism at the same time that it facilitates prisoners 
assisting one another in legal battles.

It is only through struggle that basic so-called rights can be 
obtained. We recognize that the imperialist government, its 
officials, and the majority in Amerika have no interest in 
changing prison conditions fundamentally. For this reason, the PLC 
emphasizes self-reliance and advances legal assistance within the 
struggle against imperialism.

Guards and police are armed agents propping up the larger social 
system of national oppression, it is not merely a problem of 
individuals' racist attitudes. It is possible to replace 
individuals; it is even possible to achieve legal victories. But 
neither of these gains changes the fact that Amerikan prisons are 
about social control of oppressed nations. The oppressed will 
genuinely control the creation of laws and prison regulations only 
through national liberation and proletarian dictatorship.