Dear MIM,
On September 28, 2001 I was brutally beaten by four guards here at the Limestone Korrectional Facility in Capshaw, Alabama. I'm not the first prisoner beaten by these particular guards. Just one in a long line of victims of brutality.
Let me give you a rundown on what happened.
I was walking on the A-side exercise yard, coming from looking for a 'rad whom I let see a few newspapers. I was approached by a guard and asked to escort him to the segregation unit. Once inside the segregation unit I was ordered to strip naked for a search. I complied. I was then ordered onto B-side of the segregation unit and questioned about drugs. I denied having anything to do with drugs and asked this guard why was he harassing me. He then started pulling on a pair of leather gloves. I assume that he didn't like being questioned by a lowly inmate who has no rights. How dare I question him about his actions.
He then grabbed me by the neck and struggled with him, then another guard ran over and hit me with a metal baton across the left side of my head, and I fell to the floor. Another guard ran in and immediately started beating and kicking me, yelling "we're gonna teach you." At this time another guard came in and put his foot down on my head and pressed it to the floor. He then told the other guards to handcuff me. After I was handcuffed he kicked me in the ribs, and that motivated the others to start kicking me. I was then taken into the processing room and thrown to the floor, and the Lieutenant was called. When he arrived they immediately started trying to cover up what happened. How did I receive a broken leg, broken ribs and cuts to my face? They don't know.
I was then taken to the infirmary and then the hospital. When I arrived back at the prison infirmary, the deputy warden paid me a visit. He asked me what happened. I told him. And he insisted that that's not what happened. He stated that the guards say that I attacked them and that I hit one in the nose and bent one guard's fingers back. I denied both allegation since they're lies.
As a result of this beating I've been placed in maximum custody without a reclassification hearing in violation of due process. I've been given 190 disciplinary segregation and two free-world charges of assault.
Remember, this is Alabama where prisonkrats fought very hard to keep chain gangs.
Even after an investigation (?) where other prisoners corroborated by story, and a nurse who witnessed the beating corroborated my story also, I've still been denied justice.
The only way this kind of repression is going to end is a strong movement on the inside with support from those on the outside. To protest this repression and demand the charges be dismissed write to the address in the next article.
-- a prisoner in Alabama, December 2001
Comrades,
Recently I wrote to you about the repression that I experienced in September. Before the ink could dry on paper another prisoner in lockup unit 9 was beaten by pigs. He was talked out of his cell without handcuffs and questioned about an incident in general population. When he refused to cooperate by being an informant he was hand cuffed and thrown on the floor. His jaw bone was fractured from having his head repeatedly smashed into the floor by four pigs.
My case and his are only two instances of pig brutality in the lock up unit at Limestone Correctional Facility. There has been eight previous cases of brutality in the last thirteen months.
In order to understand the kind of mentality that the overseers of the lock up unit has, I think it will be instructive to give a brief synopsis of recent events involving the pigs of this prison in recent news reports.
These three are just representative of the mentality that is pervasive among the pigs at this prison. Sadistic, ignorant, unscrupulous and backwards.
Myself and a couple of other prisoners have filed 42 U.S.C. 1983 federal suits against the use of excessive force and discrimination against the pigs, and we definitely have adequate evidence (medical records, incident reports, affidavits, photos, etc.) to show and prove a historical pattern of discrimination and excessive force in the lock up unit. We've also filed complaints with the Department of Justice. But only a strong movement can win and enforce significant "legal" victories. The prison movement can also use court action to help build its political strength. A well-publicized lawsuit can educate people outside about the conditions in prison. Favorable court rulings backed up by a strong movement can convince prisoncrats to hold back so that conditions inside are a little less brutal and prisoners have a little more freedom to read, write and talk. To make basic change in prison we can't rely on lawsuits alone. it's important to tie the lawsuits to the larger struggle. The anti-imperialist struggle.
To protest the brutality write to the following address and demand an investigation into the brutality at Limestone Correctional Facility lock up unit. Sent a copy of your protest letter to MIM.
Albert N. Moskowitz
Section chief
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20530-6018
--INACELL, Alabama, February 2002
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