MIM Notes #225     January 1, 2001

MIM Legal Notes

ITAL In previous issues of MIM Notes, we printed prisoners' 
accounts of increased repression in Illinois. One of the methods 
of repression against prisoners is the classification as security 
threat group members. Political activity, religious affiliation 
and even tattoos have been reasons to classify a prisoner as a 
"STG" member, which results in lost privileges, placement in 
special management units, segregation etc. In Illinois, prisoners 
are now being coerced into signing statements regarding STG 
membership. An Illinois prisoner has submitted the following 
outline for prisoners facing this repression tactic by the IDOC. 
END

IL prisoners' rights under the STG Debriefing/renunciation policy

1. Prisoners have a right to be given a copy of any 
debriefing/renunciation policy in writing, so that they can read 
it carefully before deciding to renounce/debrief. This is a 
principle of basic contract law and of fundamental fairness. The 
decision to debrief/renounce is one that could put your life in 
danger or cause criminal charges to be brought against you, so it 
needs to be one that you understand fully.

2. Prisoners have a right to a copy of any written agreement they 
are asked to sign BEFORE they sign it. If you sign any agreement 
you have a right to a copy of the document that bears your 
signature. I strongly recommend that you do not sign any document 
acknowledging anything except that you have received written 
material unless you are first given a chance to review the 
document yourself, outside the presence of DOC officials, and also 
to send the document to your lawyer or other knowledgeable 
advisors for review. This especially applies to the 
"Debriefing/Renunciation Statement."

3. In the debriefing/renunciation process, a prisoner is/should be 
protected from being forced to make "any disclosures which [s/he] 
the witness reasonably believes could be used in a civil/criminal 
prosecution or could lead to other evidence that might be 
used."(_United States v. Bodwell_, 66 F.3d 1000, 1001 (9th Cir. 
1995), quoted in _Pifer v. Marshall_, 139 F.3d 907 (9th Cir. 
1998), 1998 W181335, *2 (unpublished opinion).) This protection is 
afforded by the Fifth Amendment's protections against self-
incrimination. Especially because of the state and federal 
conspiracy rules, you need to remember that you could be 
criminally liable for someone else's acts, depending on your 
knowledge of and participation in these acts or your efforts to 
help.

Fellow comrade, ask yourself whether the Department of Corrections 
does in fact use information from informants in civil and criminal 
proceedings? If the Department of Corrections offers you 
protection against civil/criminal prosecution, unless the 
agreement/promise is in writing it is not legally binding!

4. You can not be asked to debrief/renounce unless you've had a 
hearing where you were told that you were a "validated affiliate 
of a Security Threat Group" (STG). This is because when a prisoner 
is to be generally placed on segregation for administrative 
reasons and a liberty interest of real substance is implicated, 
due process requires that the prison hold an informal non-
adversary hearing within a reasonable time after the prisoner is 
segregated, inform him/her of the charges against him/her or the 
reasons administrative placement is being considered, and allow 
the prisoner to present his/her views.(_Toussaint v. McCarthy_, 
801 F. 2d 1080, 1100 (9th Cir. 1986), quoted in _Renteria v. 
Gomez_, 1999 WL 1051948, *2 (N.D. Cal).)

If you were sent to an administrative detention unit/center 
because of STG membership, the hearing should have occurred when 
you were transferred. If you were validated later, the hearing 
should have occurred within ten days of validation. At your 
hearing, you should be told specifically that you were validated 
as an STG affiliate. But you need not be told who had made the 
charges or learn what evidence the DOC has against you.

--an Illinois prisoner, 18 June, 2000

MIM comments:

As we wrote in MIM Notes 174, Security Threat Group policies are 
an attack on communication and organization among the internal 
semi-colonials who are the majority of Amerika's prisoners. "The 
[Michigan Department of Corrections'] STG policies vaguely 
describe aspects of Black and Latino nations' body and spoken 
language, and describe these basic building blocks of national 
identity as proof of gang membership." It is common for the 
prisons to classify politically active prisoners as STG members. 
Political and religious organizations have also been classified as 
gangs in some prisons.

In January, 2000 the Michigan DOC branded the Melanic Islamic 
Palace of the Rising Sun an STG. A Michigan prisoner wrote in 
MN204: "It is my opinion that the MIPRS has contributed much to 
the raising of culture and political consciousness inside these 
dungeons and pits. The reward for effectiveness within the belly 
of the beast is censure and banishment. They came at us for 
various reasons. I believe the main reason is the sophisticated 
level of organization. Any level of organization inside these 
dismal crypts is viewed as a threat by those charged with keeping 
us disorganized. Any group that is politically conscious, and 
actively working to spread that political consciousness is a 
threat to the new centurions and their masters."

MIM calls all prisoners in this country political prisoners 
because the prisons in this country have demonstrated their 
purpose as warehousing the oppressed nations as a means of 
preventing their political activity. Those who are most likely to 
rebel against Amerika are locked up. Naturally their attempts to 
organize from within prisons are also greatly restrained.

For this reason MIM places emphasis on organizing absolute 
opposition to the u.s. criminal injustice system. We work to 
support revolutionary reforms -- those reforms that make our work 
possible -- like combating censorship so that we may pursue 
relations with those behind the walls. The work of the Prisoners' 
Legal Clinic is vital here, and MIM urges prisoners to add to and 
use this material to fight tactical battles for the ability to 
organize. But we do not pretend that this system can ever be made 
into something that will serve the needs of the oppressed. As 
Maoists we work for a system in which all people will have the 
basic rights to housing, education, work, health care and 
political activity. In such a society -- the dictatorship of the 
proletariat -- prisons will be used to defend these rights, not to 
suppress them.

ITAL MIM organizes the Serve the People Prisoners' Legal Clinic 
(PLC). This is a revolutionary program geared toward serving needs 
of the oppressed masses as we build opposition to imperialism. PLC 
activities vary widely (with room for expansion) and include 
fighting censorship, prisoners providing guides on grievance 
procedures and the publication of MIM Legal Notes. MIM leads this 
program with the knowledge that only armed revolution to seize 
state power and establish a dictatorship of the proletariat will 
liberate the oppressed. This is one aspect of how we fight 
winnable battles to create more maneuverability for political 
organizing within the current corrupt system.

MIM Legal Notes is researched and written by comrades behind the 
walls. We publish these articles because we believe that the legal 
research and information will be useful to other prisoners. But 
comrades should be aware that differences in laws between states, 
changes in laws and legal precedents over time, and different case 
circumstances all mean that even something that was successful for 
one person might not work for others. We print the best legal news 
and information available to us with the understanding that this 
program will only grow stronger with increased exposure and 
participation. We encourage prisoners and non-prisoners to 
contribute to this program with research and writing. END