Under Lock & Key



August ULK2000: Fight Amerikan Censorship



This issue of Under Lock and Key focuses on Amerikan censorship 
within prisons. Prison administrators across Amerika commonly 
prevent prisoners from receiving MIM Notes, correspondence or 
books from the Serve the People Free Books for Prisoners Program. 
Prison officials also prevent prisoners from organizing study as 
well as revolutionary agitation. Whether it is obvious censorship 
or censorship under the guise of security policies or transfers, 
Amerika denies prisoners the freedom to read and say what they 
want.

Many mailroom pigs have determined that letters, information on 
legal work, and mass organizations are the working of so-called 
Security Threat Groups a.k.a. "gangs." Anything STG-related, 
written by gangs, or bearing alleged gang symbols can be censored. 
Many prison pigs consider the Puerto Rican flag to be a gang 
symbol. This (temporarily) justifies censorship of MIM Notes 
issues with that flag.

Another common reason to censor MIM Notes is because the last page 
is in Spanish. As we reported in MIM Legal Notes, prison officials 
are not allowed to deny material on the basis that it is not in 
English. Instead, the material is to be reviewed by a guard who 
can read the language. Hundreds of newspapers and books sent by 
MIM have been censored on the basis that no one is available to 
read the Spanish to determine its content -- that is a lie.

The number one justification given to censor newspapers, 
dictionaries, and the like is because they are alleged "threats to 
the facility." The letters, books, and newspapers MIM sends to 
prisoners are not related to criminal activity. They do not 
violate or advocate the violation of prison policies, state, or 
federal laws. When challenged, no prison official has been able to 
argue ITAL why and how END MIM Notes (or dictionaries) cause a 
threat to their facilities. In fact, prisoners articulate to MIM 
that learning political philosophy and organization has helped 
them to stop antagonisms between prisoners -- and organize against 
oppression instead.

Because these excuses for censoring MIM Notes and other materials 
such as letters and dictionaries are so paper-thin, it is clear 
that this is political censorship. MIM Notes exposes both the 
particular crimes of prison guards and administrators and the 
general way in which Amerikan prisons are a tool of oppression. 
MIM Notes carries out revolutionary agitation against the 
imperialist system of which Amerikan prisons are a part. We must 
be doing something right, because the prisoncrats have responded 
by trying to shut us up.

Some people who hear about this censorship do not care, because 
they do not agree with the politics in MIM Notes. This is a 
dangerous position that exposes the myth of free speech in 
Amerika. But even these people should be aware that dictionaries, 
Spanish textbooks, and books on political science, history, even 
English literature are returned without reason or just thrown out.

MIM has increased efforts to build public opposition to censorship 
in the context of anti-imperialism by pounding the pavement, 
holding revolutionary education events, and organizing benefit 
concerts. In several states, MIM works with prisoners and allies 
to fight winnable legal battles to end censorship. We need 
continued and increased support to end this repression. Censorship 
is our target during the month of August for the "Under Lock and 
Key 2000" campaign. Join us in this and related campaigns to build 
opposition to the Amerikan prison system and national oppression.



Censorship and Rejection in Michigan



The officials at Alger Max Prison have many books listed on their 
restrictive list which are not allowed at this institution by 
policy directive 05.03.118 (formerly numbered as PD-BCF-63.03 [the 
"Prisoner Mail Policy"]). These books are said to advocate the 
violent overthrow of this existing government; incite hatred 
towards persons because of race, creed, or national origin; or 
appeal predominantly to prurient, shameful or morbid interest. 
Catalogs are not allowed unless authorized by an approved vendor 
or publisher. [Under these circumstances] seeing a book listed in 
a catalog that had been allowed in the prison, most prisoners 
might assume that the book is approved. Unless the officials have 
read the book before, there is no way to tell from the title what 
the contents might be. I hope this explains why they do not allow 
certain books/catalogs.

They do not give prisoners here in segregation the rejections 
list. The officials do not let prisoners submit a request for a 
book or books to the director in [the state capital] Lansing for 
approval. A Chinese dictionary was forbidden with the explanation 
"it must be written in English." 

Someone might ask: "what about the prison library?" For 530 men, I 
think the library is one big joke. Limited reading materials are 
available at this library. However, the officials do permit men to 
obtain their own reading materials from approved outside sources. 
A prisoner in another Michigan institution said there was no 
formal library [at her/his facility] at all. My sister asked could 
she send me a writers' handbook? When I asked the officials, I was 
told it must be sent directly from an approved vendor or 
publisher. ITAL Blood in My Eye END, by George L. Jackson was 
repeatedly cited as typical of books not allowed in prison 
libraries. Many have remarked that a book with a title that 
includes a word like "blood", "killer", "overthrow" "dangerous" 
"justice" is just asking to be banned. According to the officials 
Prison Letters, [by George] Jackson; Savage Mind; Jung's "Man and 
his Symbols; The Rape of India, Lewis; and The Empty Fortress are 
examples of books forbidden in the MDOC.

One prisoner told a Detroit News reporter that "the library was a 
privilege, granted, or denied, according to how the officials 
felt." Another said that Michigan State Prison libraries are Louis 
L'Amour and science fiction. In city prisons, according the 
Lansing officials, inmates may send for and receive any book, 
Newspaper, or Magazine provided there is no "Clear and Present" 
danger to the security of the institution and provided that the 
material does not violate postal regulations. In my opinion, the 
rejection of books and magazines at this prison is a great 
difficulty. I know that I read everything and anything of 
interest. Assisting prisoners to develop writing skills should be 
a part of every rehabilitation program. "The beginning of 
rehabilitation is to allow prisoners to retain our dignity in 
prison." 

The state seems to forget that 95 percent of the people in prison 
go back to the community eventually.

In conclusion, they teach prisoners basket weaving. There are no 
jobs for basket weavers in society. Let me explain also that men 
averaging 30 years of age, whose average educational achievement 
is 6th grade, are in need of basic education. There are no college 
programs available in Maximum Security Prisons for prisoners like 
myself who already have an Associate's degree. Prisoners have 
creative writing and creative work. When I tried to start an 
anthology of prison writings for prisoners, the warden simply 
blocked it by saying: "this is not a writer review but a prison." 
We are not concerned with any rehabilitation. Nice prison 
officials, aren't they? This article is based on 23 years of 
personal prison educational experiences.

One hundred guns salute,

 -- a Michigan prisoner.



Censorship in New York



The pigs banned MIM Notes 3/1/2000 and 3/15/2000, issue 205 pages 
1,2,6,10,11 and 206 pages 1,2,6,7,8,9,10,11 claiming that it 
incites disobedience towards prison personnel, which is all 
bullshit. I am challenging that once again.

Also the book you sent me "Palante: The story of the Young Lords 
Party" was also banned because they claim it's contraband. I'm 
waiting for a response on that from the pigs. I am challenging 
everything, believe me, but it's difficult.

I need any information on these issues and any helpful cases to 
use so that when I go to court I can use them. Also, the source 
issue April, 2000 hip-hop magazine was also banned.

These pigs are going crazy or rather out of control, things are 
getting worse in prison. Note, I am not a lawyer or a jail house 
lawyer, but I'm doing what I can. This process drags on for 
months, sometimes years. So send me anything I can use on this 
matter. The law library is not good because the inmates that work 
there work against us here in SHU ("box"), and work with the pigs, 
believe me. Plus we must now pay the filing fee to the court. If 
we cannot afford the full fee we must pay a reduced fee between 
$15 and $50.

-- a New York Prisoner.



MIM adds: The pages listed as censored by the pigs were mostly 
pages that contained articles about prisons, including an article 
about the u$ imprisonment rate reaching 2 million people, and many 
articles on the ULK 2000 topic for March: Apartheid in u$ prisons. 
Page 2 is often sited by prisoncrats because in the "What is MIM?" 
box it says that we must "seize power through armed struggle" to 
end oppression. The only other pages cited by the pigs without 
prison related articles on them were two pages containing a book 
review entitled, "Studying the KGB and strategic confidence."

We salute this comrade's efforts to fight censorship of MIM Notes 
despite his lack of legal training. MIM Serve the People 
Prisoner's Legal Clinic helps with these struggles. MIM leads the 
ideological and political development of the PLC, but the PLC 
needs prisoner and outside allies to support it and add to our 
list of successful battles. One of the ways that MIM assists with 
similar situations documented in this letter is to send out anti-
censorship packets and lessons obtained through other successful 
censorship battles. Contact us if you need or can contribute to 
these materials.



Michigan transfers prisoners to prevent study



I was the victim of another hostile transfer. An officer 
approached me at 6:30 a.m. with a duffel bag and told me to start 
packing, that I was being transferred and had 30 minutes to get my 
possessions together. The standard procedure is to inform 
prisoners of their transfers the night in advance and, transfers 
are almost never done on a Friday.

In any event, X prison is a labor/work camp (as was told to me 
numerous times by the deputy warden), there is no health care nor 
any educational quarters. Those of us who are conscious know that 
prisons/concentration camps are used as a form of social control, 
the warehousing of domestic colonial captives, and to exploit the 
cheap labor force that they provide. X prison has what are 
referred to as work crews, that is, several groups of prisoners 
who are taken off of prison grounds to any number of places to 
perform public works, under the supervision of a crew boss.

While out on a crew, prisoners perform many different tasks such 
as: cleaning up parks and beaches, maintenance work at airports 
and colleges, digging trenches for pipes or wires for either the 
water or electric company, digging graves, and chopping down 
trees.

Outside of the contract work, the crew supervisors establish 
informal contracts with private companies and businesses (all of 
which are illegal). An example of this is chopping down trees for 
personal profit, whether done for a friend of the crew supervisor 
or a local establishment that's not willing to pay the service 
charges when they're able to get the work done for half the price 
(or less).

The crews that chop down trees are supposed to cut the trees into 
18 inch logs which are left by the side of the road for the 
community to use for firewood. However, almost never are the trees 
cut down to 18 inch firewood; the trees are cut to 94 inches (8ft) 
left by the side of the road, only long enough for one of the 
local lumber mill owners to come by and label the logs with his 
identification mark so that no one else will tamper with it. The 
lumber mill owner will then come at a later date, load the wood 
onto his trucks, take them to his mill and cut them into 2x4s for 
sale. Usually the lumber mill owner will pay the crew boss, who 
will in return treat his crew to some burgers or pizza.

In the event that a prisoner is labeled as a troublemaker, 
agitator, etc., the prisoner will be transferred out of the 
facility, generally. It is for this reason that i was transferred, 
that of being a troublemaker and an agitator.

While at X prison, i organized a study group. Some neo-nazi/white 
supremacists, who were probably afraid to have a study class in 
the unit in fear that some Brothas would launch an assault upon 
them, decided to have a unit representative from another unit 
inform the deputy warden during a warden's forum meeting that i 
was instructing a political/revolutionary/communist study class.

i was later informed that the deputy warden had sent instructions 
for me to shut the study class down.

Needless to say, with the threat of repression, nearly the entire 
study class ceased to come to class. i then recruited some more 
Brothas and continued to raise consciousness. There was another 
occasion where a verbal confrontation between the deputy warden 
and i ensued. A confrontation such as this one, i generally avoid. 
However, it afforded me an opportunity to expose the deputy warden 
along with racist and imperialist oppression at the same time.

i don't mind the transfer, i'm not looking for comfort. i expect 
them to make this as bad as possible -- there is no time for 
getting caught up in the illusionary misconceptions that are often 
provided in the camp environment.

The camp that i am now held captive in is a school camp; 90% of 
the population is in the g.e.d. program. During the day between 
the hours of 7am and 3pm, the unit dayrooms are shut down and 
turned into classrooms. Prisoners that aren't in the g.e.d. 
classes must either stay in their cells or go to the yard (a yard 
doesn't exist as a result of the construction of new buildings).

As of this moment, the facility is adding on about 3 or 4 more 
housing units and is expected to transform this camp into a secure 
level 1 prison. The majority of the population here is young and 
the treatment that is administered is that designed to get a 
reaction. Many tickets are issued, out dates/release dates are 
pushed back, paroles are taken, and security levels are raised 
(many refer to it as a ticket trap).

-- a Michigan prisoner.



MIM responds: Comrade, in persisting with study and self-education 
regardless of conditions you set an example for many to follow. 
For the reasons you state MIM has said that happiness under 
imperialism is illusory, unless you don't care about oppression. 
We encourage all comrades in prison to do similar systematic 
examination of the facilities that you are in, and to add your 
knowledge to the arsenal with which we can educate our readers 
about this so-called justice system.



STG policies: designed to attack knowledge of self



First I would like to express my deepest sorrow for not touching 
down with you all much sooner.

In the movement we do not believe in "evolution" (that things 
eventually change). Mao Zedong has exposed in raw fashion that 
revolution must be the way of our lives, because only through the 
power of the people will things ever change. 

This Security Threat Group (STG) shit is drama! It is designed to 
eliminate any and every act of an individual questioning their 
state of oppression. This has been a trick up the United Snakes' 
sleeve for ages, where knowledge of self represents a threat to 
their security. Not only to their department of corrections, it's 
much bigger than that! STG is designed to attack our knowledge of 
self, because our knowledge of self alone represents a threat to 
the security around their ability to institute imperialism. 

Revolutionary theory exposes this to the fullest. In our call for 
socialism, as opposed to capitalism, it's like midnight, and 
morning, where there can only be one at a time. And one coming 
symbolizes the other one leaving. 

They are placing convicts on Ad-Seg without any legitimate claims 
and absolutely no hearings, where many convicts have been on lock-
down for years. First they upheld the very same false campaign 
that they opened up all the other super concentration camps with, 
where a convict would only do one year and then be returned back 
into general population. But to no surprise they flipped the 
script and now the deal is that in order for one to be released, 
he has to sign and surrender himself to some kind of renunciation 
policy, which means whatever struggle you represent, you have to 
stop representing it. It has also been said that this renunciation 
policy has a lot to do with video tapes and recorded conversations 
about other individuals as well as other activities. So to make a 
long story short, they want you to become a stool pigeon! 

The state continuously brags that many convicts have already 
complied with their little trick policy, but as far as we know 
here, nobody has been released in Illinois. We must continue to 
fight against these contradictions! A man's bread and meat are 
only guaranteed to him when he works for it. Therefore, I highly 
recommend that all of those who are tired of suffering arm 
themselves with the true revolutionary theory, and get to work! 
"Without a struggle, there will be no progress."

-- an Illinois Prisoner, 25 March, 2000



MIM responds: this comrade is exactly correct that the security 
threat group (STG) policies are designed to attack any group 
consciousness prisoners exhibit. This is true just as prisons 
themselves attack the group consciousness of the internal semi-
colonies. This is evident in the policies' targetting "a group of 
prisoners possessing common characteristics which serve to 
distinguish them from other prisoners or groups of prisoners and 
which as a discrete entity poses a threat to staff or other 
prisoners or to the custody and security of the facility."(from 
the Michigan DOC STG policy, 1997.) We also agree that we must 
work for justice, not just expect it to come. This means a long 
historical period of fighting back resurgent capitalism, even 
after socialist revolution. The only place where we disagree with 
this comrade is that capitalism and socialism cannot both exist 
together. In fact there are elements of capitalism that will be 
permitted to survive in the early stages of socialism (such as 
small private enterprise), and there will also be those in the 
Communist Party who pursue the capitalist road as Mao pointed out.