* *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * *

     -   MIM Notes 106, November 1995  -

MARCH AGAINST PRISONS: MASSES REJECT
BRUTALIZING "CORRECTIONS"

September 30--A RAIL contingent joined in a march 
of over 100 people initiated by the American 
Friends Service Committee (AFSC) against prisons in 
Massachusetts. The march started at Norfolk Prison 
and ended at Walpole, covering 2 miles and passing 
plenty of cops on the way. The march was to protest 
the conditions in Massachusetts prisons, detailed 
in the article on this page which was distributed 
as a flier to everyone at the march. 

The demands of the march were stated in a flier 
drawn up by the Coalition of prisoner Families and 
Friends, a committee of the AFSC and one of the 
principal organizers of the march. The organizing 
flier stated: The Coalition of prisoner Families 
and Friends calls on the Department of 
"correction," the Legislature, and Governor Weld 
to:



* End the lockdown at Walpole Prison for ALL 
Walpole prisoners

* End the lockdown at Shirley Prison

* End arbitrary segregation and abuse of Latino 
prisoners

* Restore contact visits at Walpole

* Restore programs and training in all 
Massachusetts prisons

* Provide adequate health care for prisoners, 
especially those who are HIV positive

* Close the Departmental Disciplinary Unit

* Provide adequate programs and medical care to 
female prisoners



A musical group called Vida Urbana in Springfield 
provided the marchers with songs along the way. In 
between songs people chanted enthusiastically and 
waved signs condemning the criminal injustice 
system. None of the participants thought that being 
at the rally would make a sudden change in the 
prisons. But by bringing people out for a march 
that targeted the prisons MIM and the masses 
oppose, we showed the state that we are watching 
every time the pigs abuse a prisoner, and that we 
know they are working to remove all semblance of 
civility from the prisons. We will make sure that 
the people know this is happening. MIM and RAIL 
work to build public opinion in opposition to pig 
institutions. Only through many such actions and 
educational events can we hope to win small battles 
for better conditions in the prisons while we work 
to overthrow the capitalist system that 
necessitates repressive prisons as institutions of 
social control.

The police and FBI were out in full force with 
cameras and video equipment all along this march. 
Demonstrating what they see as a real threat, there 
were more cops and agents at this march than at 
many of the larger rallies with less radical 
demands and a less threatening target.

RAIL is working on a campaign against prisons in 
Massachusetts and is organizing a prisons awareness 
week in Amherst and a series of educational events 
about prisons in Boston. We are also planning a 
rally against the Department of Corrections and 
NYNEX, the New England phone company that works 
with the DOC to severely restrict prisoners access 
to people on the outside. The DOC and NYNEX 
conveniently have offices across the street from 
one another in downtown Boston. Contact RAIL to get 
involved in this campaign.


***RAIL distributed the following flyer at the 
anti-prisons march described in the article March 
against prisons: masses reject brutalizing 
"corrections" on this page. The information in the 
flyer was taken from an interview with an anti-
prisons activist in Massachusetts.***


Over the last few years the state of Massachusetts 
has increased the repression and abuse in its 
prisons leading up to the implementation of 
unprecedented repressive policies and practices in 
1995. This should be no surprise considering that 
the Commissioner of Corrections is Larry Dubois, 
infamous for his participation in the 
administration of the control units at Marion, 
Illinois and Lexington, Kentucky where prisoners, 
particularly those who were politically active, 
were abused and humiliated. 

This year's repressive measures include cutting 
back on the very limited access to education, 
training, and drug and alcohol rehabilitation, 
limiting medical care, cutting off prisoner's 
ability to write letters to other prisoners, and 
requiring all prisons to convert part of their 
space into segregation units which in reality are 
control units, or prisons within prisons. The 
conditions for women, held in the Framingham 
women's prison, are among the worst in the system, 
with women not even having the very limited rights 
and access given to male prisoners. 

In addition to these reactionary policies, two 
prisons in Massachusetts, Shirley and Walpole, are 
currently locked down, meaning that no one can come 
into the prison, the prisoners are not allowed 
contact with other prisoners, they are only allowed 
out of their cells a few times a week and then only 
for a shower, and they do not get out to exercise. 

The lockdown in Walpole began on March 21st after a 
prisoner was stabbed. During the first 10 days of 
the lockdown prisoners were violently beaten by 
guards on B-4 cellblock and on April 3rd a B-4 
guard was stabbed. Shortly after the institution of 
the lockdown, the DOC designated Walpole a 
Supermax, upgrading it from a Level 5 Maximum 
Security Prison. In a Supermax prisoners can only 
leave their cells twice a week, just for a shower, 
they get no exercise and are allowed no visitors. 
The designation as a Supermax allowed Walpole to 
build non-contact visiting rooms. After the 
construction of these was completed, on August 7th, 
the prison officially ended the lockdown. But this 
is just an official smokescreen: many prisoners 
remain in isolation and lockdown, only the label 
has changed.

To add to the repressive conditions in Walpole, the 
Plymouth High Security Unit was created as a part 
of this Supermax. Prisoners who are labeled 
"dangerous" are now pulled out of other prisons and 
moved to this unit. These prisoners are usually 
identified as gang members and upwards of 90% of 
them are Latinos. The majority of these prisoners 
in Plymouth were the most vocal advocates for 
themselves and other prisoners and so of course 
considered dangerous. 

In addition to the Plymouth unit, Walpole also has 
the Departmental Disciplinary Unit (DDU). This is a 
unit of total deprivation that is entirely sound 
proof. There are also Blocks 8, 9 and 10 which are 
segregated but not totally isolated: prisoners can 
yell to one another from their cells. More than 
half of the prisoners in Walpole are held in one of 
these prisons within the prison and they are all 
required to wear uniforms. The internal level of 
the prisoners is matched by clothing colors with 
Plymouth seen as the worst, wearing bright orange.

The lockdown in Shirley is in its fourth week. 
After a guard sat on the bed of a Latino prisoner, 
counter to prison policies, the prisoner and the 
guard got into a fight. The guards then started 
beating every Latino they found on the ward. The 
harassment continued the next day and the prisoners 
rioted and took over a room. Shirley has been on 
lockdown ever since. 40 of the Latino prisoners 
were shipped immediately to the Plymouth High 
Security Unit.

The lockdowns and repressive measures implemented 
in prisons across Massachusetts must be fought. The 
prisoners are fighting from behind the bars and we 
must support their struggles and make use of the 
freedom we have to organize outside the prisons. 
People must be made aware of the conditions in 
prisons and of the real use for prisons as tools of 
social control by the rich and powerful in Amerika. 
The Amerikan injustice system does not intend to 
"rehabilitate" anyone, it is used to keep people in 
their place, punishing political activists for 
crimes they did not commit, and taking off the 
streets the "dangerous" Blacks and Latinos who do 
not even get a trial of their peers, while allowing 
the worst murderers and thieves to operate freely 
as a part of the Amerikan government and Amerikan 
imperialist corporations.

Join the campaign against Amerika's social control. 
We are working to expose and oppose Amerika's use 
of social control against the people that the 
imperialists see as a threat, principally Blacks, 
Latinos and Indigenous peoples. For more info 
contact your local RAIL branch.

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