MIM Notes No. 197	 December 1, 1999

Under Lock & Key

Arm Your Weapon

Comrades on this side of the fence today I received two copies of MIM 
Notes. Both papers were extremely informative. However, when I read the 
Under Lock & Key section I was deeply saddened by what I read. Everyone 
knows that the conditions in the nation's prisons are inhumane, 
uncomfortable, and in some instances undesirable. Unfortunately, very 
few people in society that are concerned about the conditions of 
prisons, know what to do to effect change. Some of my comrades on this 
side of the fence labor and struggle under the false perception that our 
problems will come from those in society. Let me be the first to inform 
you that I have come to the conclusion after having served well over 20 
years that the answers to our problems must come from us. Our comrades 
on the outside are willing to struggle with us to change the conditions 
and liberate us from the grip of oppression. However, the guidance and 
tactics employed by our comrades must come from within.

We need a National Coalition of concerned prisoners fighting for 
prisoner rights. A coalition comprised of the best and brightest from 
each State and Federal institution. I know that in some states prisoner 
to prisoner correspondence is not allowed. For those comrades we must 
develop innovative ways of getting our correspondence through to each 
other.

We also need a National Prison agenda established by us, for us. Because 
those in society no matter how informed they are, do not know intimately 
what our needs are. In short, we have some problems that are universal, 
such as phone calls, visits, and prison rules. We can unite behind those 
issues and effectively change our own conditions. We can start writing 
campaigns to State and Federal legislators. We can start voter drives 
and so forth. There are other tactics that we can employ that I will not 
write about. In short, together we can make a difference for ourselves. 
We can organize a committee to deal with sincere, dedicated comrades 
when they are released, for those that are short[-timers].

Comrades it is also imperative that you understand that whining and 
complaining about prison conditions is counter-revolutionary. A true 
revolutionary thinks about the people first before he thinks about 
himself. He also holds his life cheap in defense of the political, 
social and economic needs of the people. Some of our comrades are caught 
up on the "I" syndrome and have lost sight of the (WE) plight of the 
people. We need to be engaged in fashioning solutions to the myriad of 
problems that the people face.

We have moved to an era in the struggle where prison has become part of 
the culture for some ethnic groups. That needs to be addressed by us. We 
need to fashion solutions that help single mothers raise their children. 
As you may or may not know, the move by the powers that be to reform 
welfare is nothing more than a ploy to lock up the women and children 
that are left to struggle alone in society. Let's not lose focus. The 
struggle is about liberating the people. Anything short of that is not 
revolutionary.

I hope that my comrades take that in the spirit that it comes in, in the 
spirit of revolution. I know how hard it is for the comrades on this 
side of the fence. I know that the conditions are deplorable. I know 
that many of the comrades feel that they have been abandoned by those in 
society. I know first hand what you are going through. Because I have 
been there, and I've served considerably more time than most will ever 
serve. Also understand that once you rally behind the people, know that 
the people will rally behind you. It does not work the other way around. 
When you look at Geronimo Pratt and other political prisoners that 
fought their way out of captivity, what you see is that they all had one 
thing in common, an agenda for the people. The people in turn rallied 
behind them until they were free.

--A Michigan prisoner.

MIM responds: This comrade raises the important issues of education, 
leadership and direction in struggle. In all of these areas, we must 
take a dialectical approach -- learning from the experiences of the 
people while exerting vanguard proletarian leadership. United Struggle 
from Within (USW), the anti-imperialist prisoner organization within the 
MIM-led United Front, is a manifestation of this practice. MIM helped 
prisoners formed the USW after seeing just what this prisoner is 
alluding to -- that comrades behind the walls have the most motivation 
and the greatest collective will to organize against their own 
oppression at the hands of imperialism. Specific campaign ideas for USW 
work come from comrades in prison. Prisoners also exert leadership by 
pushing the day-to-day work forward. Following MIM leadership means that 
the USW works through individual campaigns and projects toward the 
ultimate goal of liberation of all people from imperialism.

Right now, MIM has engaged in more concerted efforts against censorship 
of prisoners' mail and reading materials. So we have asked comrades to 
develop the Serve the People Prisoners' Legal Clinic and to focus on a 
few aspects of the censorship problem in their articles. Censorship is a 
very important struggle in the midst of overall revolutionary goals 
because without communication our work is much harder.

One last note on the length of sentence this prisoner is serving. With 
the u.$. prison population shooting past 1.8 million, many of those 
swelling the ranks are serving longer sentences because of the 
reactionary mandatory minimum sentencing laws, or doing more time as a 
result of parole violations. The same way that imperialism has made 
prison an expected part of life for many in the oppressed nations, the 
criminal injustice system is working to have prisons soak up more of the 
lifetimes of its captives.

U$ is a control-the-people unit

Our story, his-story, history speaks for itself. Control the mind, 
control the journey. The United States has always been a control-the-
people unit. If not under their deceitful control, it is out of control, 
and will be corrected by any means necessary. Every level of life is 
under "their" resourceful level of control. The CDC levels of control 
have always been meant not only to hamper, but to destroy our ability to 
think and do for ourselves, which affects not only the inside prisoner, 
but the outside prisoner as well. We know it is true, but are full of 
fear, weakness and ignorance. We see but refuse to identify.

How can you sit there and watch your sons and daughters being digested 
beyond the belly and into the bowels of the beast, and do nothing? Your 
lack of concern and support will surely cause the same effect as flowers 
being deprived of water; they will wither and die.

This type of control seriously affects our freedom, our social and 
economic destiny, and the destiny of our children's children, which is 
vital to all and is more profound than any ideological difference that 
we may have.

Throughout the years, too many times the CDC methods of control have not 
only broken backs, families, marriages and spirits -- and too many times 
there have been those who breakdown completely, accepting a crippled 
existence of the near man. It's time for this to stop. Yes I care how 
long I live but it's something I accept having no control over. So I 
don't worry about the length of my life, but I do worry about the kind 
of life I live.

We cannot change ourselves unless we are allowed to change our way of 
thinking. CDC's way is only making our minds worse. It is the thought 
process that will change us, but what the CDC keeps us thinking about 
will surely not bring about positive change.

...Fear is the worst enemy of man; where you find a man that doesn't 
fear, you've found a winner. Please join us and unite to reconstruct our 
human lives.

Not to struggle would be uncivilized!

 -- a California prisoner.

MIM adds:  We agree that the CDC and the entire Amerikan injustice 
system is a system of social control and oppression. This is a tool to 
perpetuate Amerikan imperialism and national oppression. Therefore, MIM 
seeks support to build proletarian revolution to fundamentally change 
this system into one dictated by the interests of the oppressed. In the 
path toward liberation and socialism, it is necessary that we continue 
developing proletarian, anti-imperialist organization. While the CDC 
seeks to keep people uninformed, we seek to educate and organize. We 
urge readers on the inside to form study groups and to organize with MIM 
to educate one another about the reasons for and methods to build 
change. We urge readers on the outside to help organize and fund the 
Serve the People Books for Prisoners Program that seeks to break the 
chains of disinformation and social control.

Filing grievances leads to punishment

I am a POW in the Florida Department of Corrections(FDOC). I've been 
here for many years, and so I've witness a vast amount of corruption, 
treachery, subtle deception, murder, theft, falsehood, intoxicants, and 
all evils. I started out filing grievances, this was a fundamental 
channel, implemented by the FDOCs, as a way to challenge their 
misconducts and acts of cruelty towards prisoners. But, it too, like the 
rest of their criminal injustice system, is futile! Thus, I painfully 
realized that more had to be done if I wish to change anything.

With the above conclusion: in 1997, I embarked on a mission to establish 
a forum which would serve as a committee where prisoners could exchange 
ideas of how to tactically create prison reforms. I made the call and 
very few prisoners answered! Those who turned up at the fore were all 
young and inexperienced. Yet they wanted to increase the numbers so we 
could make a change. The older guys told us to "lay down and wear it." 
Still we pushed that disease to the side and took up our arms, "Pen and 
Paper", then set out to do battle with the enemy force in the valley of 
the prison grave yard who had formed a large clan of vampire.

They had been attacking daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly for the blood 
of the underprivileged. We counter attack, taking their misconducts to 
their superiors. But what did they do? They condoned their foot soldiers 
misdeeds. Why? Because they all live off our blood.

Since we attacked, they didn't like that, moreover, being as our 
inexperienced infantry was very small, we were easily suppressed. With 
some of our soldiers being immediately transferred to other prisons. 
During this time I had filed a three page letter to the Regional 
Directory, Mr James V. Crosby, outlining certain officials' misconducts, 
as pointed out herein. I also forwarded a copy of said letter to the 
Secretary for Security and Institutional Management. 

This letter was written on December 28, 1997. On December 29th, 1997, I 
was placed in confinement for "disobeying an order" written by one of 
the clan members who got shot during the brief war. Close management is 
an isolation unit where prisoners are condemned when he opposes his 
master in any kind of way. Even when he complains about ill-treatment, 
in the way the master said he should, namely, the so-called grievance 
process, as in my case. Prisoners are often framed and taken out of the 
open population, from amongst fellow prisoners. Especially when they are 
engaged in attacking the inhumane conditions we are being forced to live 
under. In this status, prisoners are deprived of mostly every thing and 
are required to do anywhere from 13 months to 6 years, in some cases, 
indefinitely. On January 28, 1998 I was recommended for Close Management 
[in spite of having received no new infractions]... This is where I've 
been since December 1997 till now. I fought this grave injustice, but to 
no avail. But a soldier will be a soldier -- no matter what! 

-- a prisoner in Florida.

MIM responds:  We receive many reports of retaliation against prisoners 
who dare to organize against abuses. While there are few legal 
protections for prisoners to develop organizations or conduct peaceful 
protests like activists on the outside tend to have, prisoners are 
allowed (technically) to write letters to the outside and to receive 
reading material.

Within the framework of what prisoners are allowed to do, there is anti-
imperialist work that prisoners can do. You can help develop the 
Prisoners' Legal Clinic (PLC) and submit articles for MIM Legal Notes. 
You can ask for literature to educate yourself about laws, history and 
politics. MIM's political material is heavily censored, but even for 
prisoners who cannot receive our literature, we have educational books 
available that will be less likely to be censored.

Even engaging in these minimal activities, prisoners face repression. 
MIM does not pretend to have the ability to fundamentally change the 
conditions within prisons or to stop retaliation. However, we are 
continually organizing to end prison oppression. Prisoners can get their 
families and supporters on the outside interested in working with MIM to 
build opposition to prisons on the outside. Continued proletarian 
organization is key to addressing some of the instances where the pigs 
break their own rules at the same time we build support for revolution.

For prisoners who face retaliation, we suggest that you keep detailed 
accounts of what has gone on. You can summarize this for publication in 
MIM Notes to help organize against prisons. And you can ask PLC comrades 
if they have ideas for what direction you can take in stopping the 
abuses.