MIM Notes 211                   June 1, 2000

Under Lock and Key


Prisoners, supporters, distribute this paper! 

"I'd like to thank you for the knowledge most needed. I've been 
attempting to educate my family as to the true nature of these 
united snakes and several of your articles have helped me open 
their eyes. Two of my relatives (& ideological comrades) have 
promised to subscribe to MIM Notes. I understand that we educate 
to liberate, which is why I possess the utmost respect for the 
task you've undertaken." -- a Federal prisoner in Colorado, 16 
March, 2000. 

All prisoners who have contact with those on the outside can help 
with distribution of MIM Notes. If one of every four prisoners MIM 
works with recruited a supporter to distribute 25 copies of each 
issue of MIM Notes, we would expand our distribution by 45%. Write 
to us if you want more details on how you can get friends and 
family involved. ******** 

Michigan uses prisoner population to expand rural budgets 

MIM, do you want to hear something vastly comical? The Department 
of KKKorruption had inmates fill out Census forms! Yet, I cannot 
vote and/or affect and policies geopolitically. I can't even 
become a lawyer or psychologist, but yet they have me filling out 
this wretched form, and not all of it, only part of it. ... If you 
don't fill it out, you'll receive a major misconduct. ... I 
believe that's coercion. I assume they are trying to get money for 
[the rural county this prison is in]. -- a Michigan prisoner, 17 
April, 2000. 

As we all know the Governor of Michigan has signed a bill that 
makes prisoners of the State of Michigan non-persons, right? Well 
the Census 2000 forms are for the public, right? Well at this 
prison, they are passing out Census 2000 forms to fill out and if 
we don't, they said they will fill them out for us. From the 
reading of their memo, I believe each prison will be doing so. 
Correct me if I'm wrong, is that not mail fraud? -- a Michigan 
prisoner, 16 April, 2000. 

MIM responds: As in many states, the majority oppressed national 
prisoner population in Michigan is housed in rural facilities far 
removed from the urban areas around Detroit where most prisoners 
lived before prison. Because the Census count of the u.$. 
population is used to allocate funds according to population, 
counting prisoners as residents of the rural counties where they 
are held is a direct means of taking money that would otherwise go 
to areas with higher oppressed national populations and giving it 
to the mostly white rural areas. MIM does not argue spend time 
campaigning for fair disbursement of u.$. government monies 
because this would be a neo-colonial dispute. But these comrades 
are correct to point out the state's hypocrisy in using the 
prisoner population to shift government spending from one locale 
to another. 

Bogus disciplinary charges lead to harsh oppression in Texas 

I am writing this letter for inform you of thefascist conditions 
of this slave camp here in the desert ofTexas. I am an avid reader 
and contributor to MIM and have read of the many forms of 
oppression and repression that the state uses against its neo-
slaves. Here in Texas the Pigs have realized that inmates equal 
job security. The acts of physical beatings are frequent, but they 
have found what amounts, for them, to a better, more effective way 
to "beat" us. Now, they use the pen. They write bogus disciplinary 
cases on people for things such as disobeying an order, failure to 
turn out for work, causing a disruption, masturbation, contraband 
(such as an extra pair of socks, even in the winter), failure to 
complete an adequate amount of work, etc. etc. They have a 
"disciplinary captain" who takes pride in seeing how severe a 
punishment he can give out. And the grievance coordinator is the 
captain's wife! So when you file a complaint it goes to her. The 
warden likes to use the trustees as his own personal gardening 
crew. He sends them into the town to do work which he gets paid 
for. The list goes on and on. I have seen with my own eyes 
numerous assaults on inmates. I have seen a black man with a 
ruptured spleen be denied medical care until he could not walk, 
then had to be carried out of his cell, and the pigs did so by 
hog-tying him and carrying him out by his arms and legs. He was 
sent to another unit and died within three days. I have seen an 
older inmate have a heart attack and be told by medical to go to 
his cell (with a 24 hour cell pass) and get some rest. He too 
died. This is not to mention the $3.00 fee that is charged to us 
every time we go to the infirmary ... I myself am an asthmatic, 
yet I am assigned to a garment factory to work. With all of the 
lint and dust in the air I am forced to use my inhaler 8 or 9 
times daily. Yet, although I have seen a doctor four times, 
written letters to the unit health administrator, and seen the 
head nurse numerous times they refuse to give me another job. The 
mail is another issue they are exerting their oppressive power 
over. Anything even slightly revolutionary gets held for review, 
without the receiver's notification that anything ever arrived for 
them. Anything that is oppressed-nation oriented is denied, but 
KKK papers, Aryan Circle newsletters and other such literature is 
allowed to come in uncensored. I have read some of this 
literature! By far the most severe thing is the disciplinary 
issue. When they write "cases" they see to it they go through. 
Even if you have other officers testify on your behalf they find 
you guilty, and the reason given is "serious nature of offense." I 
have a stack I can send to you if you would like proof. Then, they 
take your "good" time and set your parole date back months or even 
years. I recently saw an inmate get his projected release date 
back two years because an officer said that the inmate threatened 
him! They put you on contact visit restriction, take away your 
personal property (books and all), take away the meager commissary 
"privileges", put you on cell restriction and countless other 
things. I have seen with my own eyes copies of letters that I have 
sent out, in my file. No doubt these were shown to the parole 
board and helped to determine the fact that I got a three year 
"set off", which means my next chance at parole is in 2002. But 
never will I cease. Never will I stop to resist and educate. If 
they tear out my tongue I will use sign language. Nothing they can 
do will stop me. That is of course unless I become among the 
revolutionary martyrs. But they will have a hard time doing this 
because I die harder than Bruce Willis! Please print this letter 
in Under Lock & Key so that people will know, and understand that 
the time for revolution is now. Plantations are being built and 
modernized to decrease person to person contact and to minimize 
prison staff, something has got to give. Something must be done, 
and it won't do it by itself. From the gulags of Texas, never 
giving up and in the struggle till death! Power to the People! -- 
a Texas prisoner, December 1999. 

Prisoncrats seek to split prisoners from MIM 

For two years, this comrade in Illinois sent us letters, while the 
mailroom staff at the facility where he is housed threw away our 
responses without notifying MIM or the prisoner as required by 
regulations. The prisoner was frustrated, and sent MIM 
increasingly angry letters on the assumption that we were ignoring 
him. Finally, by mailing a letter nearly devoid of contact we 
managed to reach him. We listed the packages we had sent over the 
past years and explained that "something" must have happened to 
them. In subsequent letters we have been able to reopen discussion 
of this comrade organizing with USW, and sent literature as well. 
We received two responses: 

"I want to inform you that I just received your letter and that I 
also received all of the other materials sent after I had to go 
through a thing with these korrupt officials. But it's business as 
usual with the keepers. Listen I would like to apologize for my 
behavior but I allowed a system I've been against to cause anger 
against those who are opposed to a system such as this. 

"I want to thank you for the much needed support and courage to 
deal with angry prisoners like myself, and you haven't turned a 
deaf ear to our cries but instead encourage change and continue to 
support. It takes much to have that sense of patience, thank you 
my brothers and sisters." 

In fact, MIM believes that it takes courage to understand the 
conditions in Amerika's prisons do nothing about them. We 
encourage all prisoners who experience problems with censorship to 
do two things: 

(1) at the end of each month if you have not received MIM Notes, 
ask the mailroom where your papers are from the previous month, 
and (2) when possible try to find out if you are the only one 
having this communication problem. You can be assured that we do 
not selectively ignore individual prisoners, just doesn't happen. 
We do not expect that comrades will continue to write to us 
consistently if they are simply unable to receive our mail, that 
would be asking for excessive (and somewhat pointless) work. We do 
ask that you dig back in your mind for what you know of MIM Notes, 
and what you know of the prison officials and think seriously 
about what is going on if you are getting silence from us. These 
tactics are not new nor are they surprising. They are designed to 
split and wreck, but they can be defeated by correct organizing. 

Florida bans Black nation literature 

In Florida just last year per order of the secretary of the DOC, 
All Black experience novels; Black history books relating to 
movements like The Black Panthers, and any movement that advocated 
self-defense, or that could be construed as racially, or violently 
inflammatory was taken out of the libraries and prohibited from 
coming into the system here anymore! Magazines such as Vibe and 
Source (and several others) are scrutinized in the mailroom, upon 
arrival, and if anyone within the magazine is flashing a peace 
sign with their fingers, or any kind of sign that could remotely 
be considered as a gang sign: the magazine is confiscated, labeled 
contraband, and the inmate whom it was coming to, is given thirty 
days to send it home (at his expense), or it is thrown away, and 
there's no other alternative. --aprisoner in Florida, 20 March 
2000. 

"Q"-Wing (Florida State Prison) 

For The alleged Criminally insane Obsessed, possessed And 
repressed So-called Most "incorrigible" Inmates Protective custody 
Security risks Where death awaits All Those who warrants Have been 
signed If not stayed Where Ole Sparky (the electric chair) resides 
where men resist are brutalized refuse to be dehumanized or give 
up control of their minds where their dignity and perspective in 
some cases is relegated or impaired to an extreme appreciation or 
acceptance of the unjust where some men are broken commit suicide 
take overdoses hang themselves. --a prisoner in Florida, 25 June 
1981 (submitted April 2000). 

Prisoner comments on the riots at Pelican Bay 

On the riot that transpired here at Pelican Bay on Feb. 23rd: this 
riot involved 200 prisoners from the Black and Hispanic ethnic 
groups. 16 people were shot, most of them hit by a .223-caliber 
mini 14. One person died within this corrupt facility. 23 people 
were stabbed by manufactured weapons and 80+ weapons recovered. 
The prisoners here had previously come off lockdown behind an 
incident of a similar nature. At this present time, we continue to 
exist on lockdown since the day of the incident. Even though this 
incident occurred in the regular population, we prisoners within 
the SHU are still on lockdown. Recently the SHU went through a 
major shakedown. It was in retaliation for the riot in the general 
population. They searched the entire SHU and confiscated a variety 
of reading material. It is not a mystery why the search transpired 
but we will continue to over come all obstacles and elevate the 
mind to the highest! Victory is ours! -- a California Prisoner, 16 
March 2000. 

California prisons criminalize revolutionary struggle 

Just writing to inform you that I did receive 2 news notes and I 
wanted also to find out more about the "United Struggle From 
Within" anti-imperialist organization. I'm not sure what to write 
about but I would like to give you an outlook on California's 
validating process. Prison officials validate inmates if they are 
suspected of being "gang members" or "gang associates" even if 
your group is a revolutionary struggle based on beliefs of 
equality, education, etc. You are still defined by the 
administration as gang related. To validate you they can use 
anything from tattoos to pictures of your revolutionary brothers, 
even associating yourself with a suspected gang member or anyone 
the institution deems to have influence amongst other inmates. 
Once validated you will never set foot in another general 
population, not even if you do years with no infractions. Once 
validated you are slammed forever in every prison you go to. The 
only way the administration allows someone off validation is to 
"debrief". Debriefing is just a euphemism for snitching. First you 
have to pass a lie detector test admitting to both crimes you have 
and have not got caught for. If you pass you are deemed a reliable 
informational source. Then they have you reveal everything you 
know about your organization , from active members, to ranks and 
status and so forth. Those true believers who do not debrief and 
are validated will never see a mainline, will never have a contact 
visit, will never make a phone call, will never have a family 
visit for their stay in the system. So you are considered lucky to 
have a release date. Now I've seen some papers that came off the 
internet saying this was illegal but this practice still remains. 
We have inmates who have been slammed in the holes since the 1970s 
and have not seen a mainline since or made a phone call since. I 
would appreciate some feedback on seeing how I may help rectify 
this situation. And to all my norteno soldado and other Latino 
revolutionary factions I will sign off forever forward, forever 
strong, Con mucho respecto, -- a California prisoner, 22 January 
2000. 

Prison struggle must be connected to broader mass movement 

Comrades, this is to inform you that MIM Notes have been reaching 
me. Over the years, such literature has tapered off tremendously 
and we prisoners are finding it much more difficult these days to 
acquire the right material needed to help reeducate our brothers 
of oppression. In the past it was no problem getting revolutionary 
or political literature sent in, but with the changes taking place 
in regards to the movement/struggle, or the lack or demise of, 
this speaks volumes of why things are as they are. Outside of MIM 
Notes there are no other newsletters or papers of the like kind 
seeping into this Kamp. As the prison movement has dissolved in 
general, and the overall struggle collapsed in particular, it's no 
wonder that we are catching so much more hell in here. Without 
that mass support from outside it will only follow that the prison 
officials are going to turn up the heat on us so as to prevent a 
resurgence of the 60s and 70s during which prisoners rose to the 
revolutionary theme of struggle. Their response to this is obvious 
-- more Marions (Control Unit Prisons), extreme censorship, 
sensory deprivation, three strikes laws, death penalty, etc. 
Through the sacrifices made and the small or major concessions 
gained as a consequence thereof, we have witnessed over the years 
the rollbacks of these gains or concessions. Actually, things are 
worse now than they were then inside these kamps. The goal of the 
prison officials is to keep their captives divided and 
debilitated. This is so they can maintain complete and oppressive 
control over us. The state of our present condition is indeed 
worsening, instead of getting better. Our keepers have over the 
years found it less problematic to oppress us. This is because 
they have been met with little or no resistance from either within 
or without. And as such they have stepped up their attacks on us. 
We seem to have lost the spirit to resist. Today it is more 
talking, theorizing and intellectualizing and less walking, 
practicing and meeting of the minds. Things have not always been 
like this. Once we had strong, intelligent, skillful, principled, 
dedicated fearless and committed brothers/comrades/soldiers among 
us. They were real men and women who showed no fear in the face of 
naked aggression and injustice. They proudly went to the "front 
line" as precursors without having to be asked or persuaded. Once 
there they led the struggle and fought gallantly against the 
forces of repression. To sacrifice was an honor. The struggle 
against the evils of injustice and oppression was a duty. These 
were traits displayed by people -- both men and women, Black and 
White, Brown, Red and Yellow -- that inspired others to join our 
ranks in the national and international struggle. This is the type 
of energy or force that motivated hundreds of thousands, and 
perhaps even millions of people to get involved. A lesson to be 
learned from all this so that we may once again arouse the 
interest and draw the masses into the struggle. Rhetoric, 
speeches, long drawn-out symposiums, and the mere passing out of 
leaflets, pamphlets or what have you, will not suffice. It should 
be no mystery by now what is needed to be done to end the dominion 
of bourgeois, reactionary, Amerikan prestige. If there is no 
serious threat leveled against the mantle of oppressive authority, 
then what will probably happen is that we'll be laughed at, 
portrayed in the media as caricatures with outlandish agendas, or 
simply buffoons just being a nuisance. For too long our silence, 
apathy, and inactivity has only encouraged the opposition to 
further oppress, enslave, exploit and murder us. ... 

--a Delaware Prisoner, December 1999.