MIM Notes # 222       Nov 15, 2000

Under Lock and Key

Experimentation in Oppression

Here are some answers to the questions concerning the 
institution I am at. Yes there are control units (RHU) The 
Hole. A 55 year old prisoner could not urinate in a 2 hour 
period, he served 60 days in RHU. This is a non-smoking jail, 
only in the state system. You go to the Hole for possession of 
1 match or 1 rolling paper or any tobacco (contraband). This 
is a test prison. 30% of the population had no choice to come 
here, no warning. They just said pack up, you're transferring 
tomorrow. Upon arrival, you had all tobacco items confiscated, 
quit smoking cold turkey, no type of assistance. This is an 
intense drug/substance abuse program orientated prison. Those 
that refuse to participate in programs are transferred to 
supermax type prisons and their custody level is raised. Very 
few people have jobs here, those that do start at $0.19 per 
hour. After 5 months I am now at $0.26 per hour, 120 hours a 
month. You work 8 hours but only get paid for 6. --a 
Pennsylvania Prisoner.

MIM adds: Throughout Amerika prisoncrats are experimenting 
with methods to most effectively oppress and dominate 
prisoners. On one level, the above account demonstrates how 
the Amerikan prison system further punishes prisoners beyond 
what the kangaroo courts called for. It demonstrates that 
prisoners are subjected to harsher conditions for things such 
as possessing one match. We say that's ridiculous! 
Furthermore, as most prisoners can testify to, more dangerous 
contraband items, such as drugs or weapons, can be bought from 
the local dealer -- the prison guards themselves. Guards often 
pad their pockets by dealing so-called "contraband". Whether 
it is drug or tobacco addiction, the Amerikan prison system 
has no interest in actually ending the addiction. It's only 
concern is social control and oppression. Additionally, given 
the situation, MIM encourages prisoners to do their best to 
quit smoking. Smoking causes cancer, lung disease, 
cardiovascular disease and generally lessens quality of life. 
Even in prison, comrades can benefit from keeping their bodies 
and minds healthy. And you can use the individual benefit to 
add more assistance to the struggle for revolution. We 
encourage prisoners thrown into a forced non-smoking situation 
to utilize the situation to overcome the physical addiction to 
nicotine. We'll gladly send you information on the ways in 
which Maoist-led China eradicated drug addiction through a 
variety of proletarian means. The main difference between 
China's program and Amerika's so-called war on drugs is that 
China's was geared toward helping the oppressed to increase 
their social participation and increase their contributions to 
society.

South Carolina's plantation work camps

Northside Correctional Center is a minimum security kamp that 
houses about 400-500. Seventy-five percent of these prisoners 
are working on outside details known as "road crews." The two 
counties that benefit directly from this labor are Spartanburg 
and Cherokee. So now you have 200-300 prisoners working 8 or 
more hours a day, 5 days a week. Every morning buses, vans, 
trucks and cars (all county-owned) pick all the prisoners up 
to take them to their jobs. All prisoners work for county and 
city entities (parks and recreation, sanitation, sheriff's 
department, road maintenance, courthouse, etc.). The duties 
performed begin as general laborer. The supervisor, who once 
did what the prisoner is now doing, is reduced to simply a 
driver and overseer. Depending on your acumen for the job you 
soon develop specialized skills so that after a period of time 
you need little to no supervision. Now you're actually 
performing tasks that require some sort of formal training 
(mechanic, electrician, etc.). Let's use for example a garbage 
truck. Two men collecting trash and one driver. This trio now 
consists, thanks to the South Carolina Department of 
Corrections, of two prisoners collecting and a civilian 
driver/overseer. Not only does this eliminate much-needed jobs 
for the working class, it's making millions of dollars from 
the exploitative labor of prisoners. To add injury to insult, 
these pigs constantly tell you that you're lucky to be there. 
Ha! Picture that. I'm lucky to do all that work for free. 
While the prisoncrats get rich from my blood, sweat and tears. 
Let me also make it clear that there are several other kamps 
of this nature statewide that follow the same ethic. And I'm 
not even going to get into "Prison Industries," which is being 
privatized one kamp at a time, and also makes seven-digit 
profits annually. What's even more absurd is that upon 
release, if you return to these same agencies to apply for 
that same job, you'll be turned down because federal, state, 
county and local agencies have a policy not to hire convicted 
felons (Catch 22). "You can work for me for free, but when it 
comes time to work me for pay, you use the circumstances of 
your working for me for free against me." Then the skills that 
you learned are useless, since you can't list the reference on 
a job application. If you do, more than likely you'll be 
turned down for having a felony conviction. This is a very 
well organized and legalized form of slavery. It's designed to 
keep us subjected in the blatant oppression of the 
proletariat.

--A South Carolina Prisoner, May 2000

MIM responds: Unions have often complained of these practices, 
and agree with this prisoner's comment that this practice 
"eliminate[s] much-needed jobs for the working class." But MIM 
disagrees. This practice is not taking jobs from "the working 
class," but it is changing who "the working class" is! The 
people doing the work are the real working class, while the 
newfound overseers that you describe are the labor 
aristocracy. The "working class" didn't lose their jobs -- 
they got promoted. So you make a perfect case for MIM's 
argument on the labor aristocracy, and that's what you 
conclude, when you refer to the "organized and legalized form 
of slavery ... designed to keep us subjected in the blatant 
oppression of the proletariat." We agree with that conclusion. 
To substantiate the argument that South Carolina engages in 
slavery, the prisoner also included the text of South Carolina 
Code, Title 17, Chapter 25, Article 1, Section 70, which 
reads: "17-25-70. Authority of local officials to require 
able-bodied convicted persons to perform labor in public 
interest. Notwithstanding another provision of law, a local 
governing body may authorize the sheriff or other official in 
charge of a local correctional facility to require any able-
bodied convicted person committed to the facility to perform 
labor in the public interest. This labor may involve public 
service work or related activities which conform to the 
provisions of Section 24-13-660. The public service work may 
include, but is not limited to, maintenance or repair of the 
drainage systems, highways, streets, bridges, grounds, and 
buildings and litter control and emergency relief efforts. A 
convicted person physically capable of performing the labor 
who refuses to obey a direct order to perform the labor is not 
entitled to good behavior credits pursuant to Section 24-13-
210 or productive duty credits pursuant to Section 24-13-230. 
An inmate participating in a local work punishment or other 
public service sentence program must not be removed 
arbitrarily from the program and required to perform work on 
the public works or ways. A local governing body may enter 
into a contractual agreement with another governmental entity 
for use of inmate labor in the performance of work for a 
public purpose." The annotated version of the South Carolina 
Code includes citation to a 1972 case which is summarized: 
"Punishment by imprisonment at hard labor is not of itself 
cruel and unusual within the meaning of the constitutional ban 
on such punishments"; "A work camp per se does not constitute 
such inhuman, barbarous or torturous punishment as to violate 
the Eighth Amendment"; and, "It is not cruel and unusual 
punishment to compel a prisoner to work on the public highways 
or streets" [McLamore v. State (S.C. 1972) 257 S.C. 413, 186 
S.E.2d 250, certiorari denied 93 S.Ct. 240, 409 U.S. 934, 34 
L.Ed.2d 189]. MIM agrees that this legalized use of forced 
labor constitutes slavery by another name.

Psychology is a means of repression

On February 3, 2000, I sent the prison Superintendent a letter 
complaining about various human rights abuses at ISP. The next 
day, February 4, 2000 the Psychology Department at Indiana 
State Prison sent me a pass. I did not request to see a Psych 
doctor, nor am I insane or have a history of ever seeing such 
"doctors." This only shows that the Superintendent and his 
subordinates are conspiring to silence me.

--an Indiana prisoner, 14 February 2000

Ohio State Penitentiary: Supermax Prisoner Plea for help

There was an incident here 30 June, 2000. I was brought to 
clean the showers in this Supermax prison in Youngstown, OH, 
and I slipped in some hot water and hurt my back. I hollered 
for the officers to call the nurse for me to get some help, 
this one "pig" lied and stated he didn't see me fall. So 
therefore because he didn't see me fall, I was faking the 
fall. I repeatedly told them I hurt my lower back and I 
couldn't move. I was experiencing temporary incapacitation -- 
I laid on that cold floor from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. because 
the pigs were afraid to come in the cell block because I 
wasn't handcuffed. So for two hours it was a stand-off while 
my case manager and other Lts., officers and mental health 
people were trying to coach me off the floor. The nurse was 
never called until this Black woman Lt. came in and stated "he 
is hurt" and they sent the team in on me still with an 
electronic shock shield. I was taken out on a stretcher with a 
neck and back brace on. I was handcuffed and shackled and had 
to spend 14 hours in a cold room and sleep with these leg 
irons and hand cuffs on until the III shift Black Lt. came 
down in the infirmary. That's when the shackles and cuffs were 
removed. I had x-rays done and there was swelling in my lower 
back... I have repeatedly been issued tickets for everything. 
If you save a piece of bread off your tray you will be placed 
on loaf meat for three days, and you can't buy food at this 
very poor commissary. I was charged $3 for seeing the doctor 
who gave me eight pain pills. They hand-made up new rules and 
made a new inmate handbook six months ago, and the crazy part 
about it is the inmates were not given a copy of the inmate 
handbook. The rules, which we have no idea what they are, are 
being used against us.

-- an Ohio prisoner, 27 July 2000. Pennsylvania "test" prison

Arm yourselves with the facts: taking care of your medical 
care

The medical care given to an inmate is this nation's attempt 
to eliminate those they see as expendable: the poor, black, 
brown, and undesirable. We've been subjected to less than 
acceptable treatment for medical problems, by the unqualified 
doctors who can't get a job or hold on to patients in the free 
world. We've been given a death sentence through the neglect 
of our keepers, not in a court of law. Inmates are treated for 
medical conditions only if it is time and cost efficient, and 
only if it won't cause a lot of work for the staff. Statutory 
and/or administrative rules say prisoners are to be given 
medical and dental care by professional staff, comparable to 
the standards people on the streets are entitled to. Another 
set of standards is set forth by medical accrediting agencies, 
such as the American Correctional Association (a pro-prison 
group), and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health 
Care. 

Each prison system also has its own rules that state we are 
entitled to proper and meaningful medical services. Seldom are 
any of these standards or rules upheld by those that provide 
the medical care or that supervise the care providers. Medical 
professionals are also governed by a higher standard than that 
set forth by the prisons. Each professional -- doctors, 
nurses, and dental staff -- must be licensed by the state they 
are working in. State boards are there to ensure that the 
professionals maintain a certain level of care to all patients 
they treat, and to investigate complaints. 

If you are being refused treatment or given ineffective 
treatment, it may be time to find out more about who's 
treating you. Licenses for medical staff are available to the 
general public for the asking. You can write to the licensing 
board for your state and ask for the information on current 
licenses, and any disciplinary actions or complaints filed 
against the medical staff. More complete information is 
available on the Internet. At the American Board of Medical 
Specialties Public Education Program 
<http://www.certifieddoctor.org/> you can search for a doctor 
by name. Check the Physician Report Cards 
<http://www.healthgrades.com/> to find out if a doctor has had 
his or her license suspended because of poor performance or 
billing fraud. This will also tell you if a doctor has been 
censured in another state. Doctor's Who's Who 
<http://doctorswhoswho.com/medical_network> provides links to 
35 state licensing boards which have information online. The 
American Medical Association's website <http://www.ama-
assn.org/aps/physcred.html> will tell you if the doctor is 
board certified, and give information about her or his 
training. Armed with the qualifications of your doctor, you 
can now begin to file complaints about the lack of care. 

The first and most important step, even though it is the most 
meaningless, is that you must follow your prison grievance 
procedures. Once you have received your reply to the 
grievance, make sure you appeal it to the next higher level. 
Send a copy of your complaint to the medical department 
administrator, this puts them on notice that you are not being 
given the treatment you need, and allows them to become a part 
of your future suits. 

Once you've gotten a response to your appeal, it is time to go 
outside of the system and file a complaint with the state 
medical board. They will notify the prison that a complaint 
has been filed and is being reviewed. This alone may be enough 
to get you the proper care, no doctor wants to be sanctioned 
by the state medical board and have that become a part of his 
licensing file. The medical department will have to inform the 
medical investigators of the actions they've taken to ensure 
you are being given the standard of care you deserve. 
Different authorities issue licenses and investigate doctor 
and nurse malpractice complaints in different states. Check 
with your law library to find out if they have a listing of 
state agencies, or write the Governor's office in your state 
capitol and ask them who regulates the activities of doctors. 
Some states have a single agency, such as Illinois, while 
others, like Ohio, have a different agency for doctors, 
nurses, and dentists. Make sure you check on the proper agency 
to handle your complaint. 

This is a slow process, be patient. You have not given up your 
rights to good health when you were sentenced to prison. You 
must speak up, and have your family and friends do so too. 
Write letters, call the administration, call the regional and 
central office, be heard. Too often poor treatments by medical 
staff result in permanent or long-term disabilities, and even 
death. Medical treatment for the prisoner is not a privilege, 
it is a right. We must not let the prisons kill us off because 
of unqualified or unmotivated medical staff, nor because it's 
cost-effective for them. Death by neglect was not what we were 
sentenced to.

-- a Federal prisoner in Illinois, 25 June, 2000

MIM responds: MIM argues that there is a parallel between the 
way physicians in Amerika value prisoners' health and the way 
they value the health of poor people. There are a gazillion 
specialties in modern medicine, and the most prestigious and 
financially enriching medical jobs are to be had treating a 
very small segment of the population. This is the same 
academic thinking that makes intellectuals produce books on 
the arcane topic of how George Washington wore his hair. In 
medicine, this obsession with the rare disorders and most 
complicated body systems means that doctors are spending more 
time getting training that takes them away from primary care. 
They would rather do hot shot surgeries on a select few than 
ensure better health for the many. This is the product of a 
society that values experts and abstract intellectual endeavor 
more than it does humyn life.

Sentenced to death in Colorado

The execution of prisoners is a regular event for Colorado 
Access, the medical care provider for the Colorado Department 
of Corrections (C-DOC), yet nothing is being done about it. 
State officials do not want the public to know that two or 
more prisoners are executed by means of medical neglect each 
year. This knowledge would hurt the "Lock Them Up" campaign 
that brings political contributions from prison 
industrialists. Also many votes are produced by the 
distribution of wealth created by prison booms. Courts that 
hand out long prison sentences know that prisoners are not 
held in safety. "Jeopardy of life and limb" also known as the 
"jeopardy clause" is an inherent factor of prison life. 
Recently at Limon Correctional Facility (LCF) C-DOC, Patrick 
Running Bear was executed by medical neglect. It was a day in 
May, 2000. Patrick knew he needed medical care. He went to the 
medical office and requested treatment -- he was refused. 
Later that night Patrick's appendix burst and his sentence was 
completed. The state, by and through Colorado Access, executes 
many prisoners by means of medical neglect. There is not a 
good record of these executions because they are not recorded 
by agent or agency other than the state. Of course the state 
is not completely honest about such matters. Prisoners must be 
the ones to make records and write statements. Prisoners' 
Rights and Advocacy organizations should develop a source of 
information to use as proof to compel an end to execution by 
means of medical neglect. Any organization wishing to help in 
making records should publish their intent and ask prisoners 
to send reports.

-- a Colorado prisoner, 30 May 2000.

MIM responds: MIM publishes this newspaper and other tools to 
educate readers about conditions under imperialism and to 
build public opinion in favor of Maoist revolution. We welcome 
additional submissions to underscore Amerika's murders of 
prisoners via medical neglect, among other methods. Prisoners 
interested in compiling and publishing lists of Amerika's 
crimes, like death by medical neglect as suggested by the 
Colorado prisoner, should do so within the context of building 
support for revolution. We should use such compilations to 
illustrate Amerika's crimes to build opposition to imperialism 
entire. While exposure of these crimes may force imperialists 
to lessen brutality, it is not possible to reform the 
imperialist system into a just one. As we expose Amerika's 
brutality and gain a few reforms, we must use that information 
to strengthen the struggle against the entire system. 
Prisoners interested in doing so are encouraged to join MIM or 
United Struggle from Within, a MIM-led mass organization of 
anti-imperialist prisoners, to more effectively organize 
against imperialism.

MIM on

Prisons & Prisoners

MIM seeks to build public opinion against Amerika's criminal 
injustice system, and to eventually replace the bourgeois 
injustice system with proletarian justice. The bourgeois 
injustice system imprisons and executes a disproportionately 
large and growing number of oppressed people while letting the 
biggest mass murderers -- the imperialists and their lackeys -
- roam free. Imperialism is not opposed to murder or theft, it 
only insists that these crimes be committed in the interests 
of the bourgeoisie.

MIM does not advocate that all prisoners go free today; we 
have a more effective program for fighting crime as was 
demonstrated in China prior to the restoration of capitalism 
there in 1976. We say that all prisoners are political 
prisoners because under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, 
all imprisonment is substantively political. It is our 
responsibility to exert revolutionary leadership and conduct 
political agitation and organization among prisoners -- whose 
material conditions make them an overwhelmingly revolutionary 
group. Some prisoners should and will work on self-criticism 
under a future dictatorship of the proletariat in those cases 
in which prisoners really did do something wrong by 
proletarian standards.

Attention Prisoners

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