Through MIM Notes and other publications that I receive I have noticed that the California Department of Corruptions is maintaining an under the table policy to keep inmates at level IV facilities on current lockdowns. You name it, CHDSP, SVSP, Tehachapi, Corcoran, PBSP, etc., inmate grievances are not working and violence will not work either. Violence will only give the pigs a motive to shoot down a few inmates, extend the lockdowns, and the excuse to ask for a raise because it is "such a dangerous job."
I have learned to read and write English on my own within these 4 walls. I hooked up a grievance (CDC 602) which was not even received due to their stupid 15 day time limit. But I did not give up, I went ahead and filed a 42 U.S.C. 1983 civil complaint. The court decided that my claim had merit and set up a trial court date.
As of today I am waiting for the court response to a motion I filed counterattacking a summary judgment motion to dismiss my case. Apparently this complaint was not welcomed by the prison administrators because they went as far as putting an enemy in the same yard as me. Nothing happened because we were on lockdown.
Any inmate who chooses to challenge any of these pigs' policies runs the risk of being set up or retaliated against. Recently I read that a group of family members staged a little protest outside of SVSP due to the long lockdowns. Well, they were told that if they kept protesting the lockdowns would just get worse. So there you have it, inmates get set up and family members are told to beat it.
Regardless of the pigs' reactions to lawsuits and protests, I want to encourage all the comrades being affected by any unfair prison policy to challenge it in the courts because this is our fight, if we wait, we'll wait forever. Learn the law, visit the law library, buy a couple of legal books. Turn off the TV for two to three hours a day and absorb the knowledge the prison system is doing us wrong. If the pigs don't like lawsuits, so be it, what else can they do to us? All our privileges are gone and now they are taking our outdoor exercise. And to add insult to injury, now they want to decide when we use the toilet. That's right, only 2 flushes every 5 minutes at HDSP. Corcoran SHU gets only 2 flushes every hour.
- a California prisoner, December 2005