"I was not in shock over the slavery that is legal in this country under the Thirteenth Amendment saying the united states' consitution has the right to enforce this slavery duly as a punishment for a convicted person. But the labor conditions MSI [Michigan State Industries, Michigan's private industry company which controls working wages and conditions in all Michigan prisons --ed.] and MDOC [Michigan Department of Corrections --ed.] force on prisoners even with the threat of solitary these conditions are way beyond slavery they are corporal punishment, and there is no way in hell MSI should have netted a total of $973,997,000. period. When the unskilled or skilled labor pay is 0 cents to $4.94 per hour this is a conspiracy on the prisoners to force hard labor on them to make money for this democratic society.
"This justice system and prison system is nothing more than a black market business for this Amerikan government and its Department of machinery all the way down from the White House to the police who walk the street on foot. This is my comment for the members on May Day. We need to organize our own prisons and make our own laws that will look out for the people ... and their needs, a home, clothes, food, education, health care. When the White House machinery can perform these acts for the oppressed people then and only then will we be able to grow as a whole nation and people.
"Let me add if I may two job details to your factsheet on prisoners.
They also work for MSI and MDOC as porters cleaning up blood in
the units behind SPMU prisons, and cleaning shit off of walls. My
third issue is they are stopping us comrades from smoking in the
units and our cells, we are only able to smoke on yard break. I'm
enclosing a notice to prisoners for you to pass around and let
everyone see what they are imposing on us as a way of stopping us
our rights to exercise smoking when it is available to us by only
letting us smoke on the yard."
--A Michigan prisoner, 4 July, 1997.
MIM adds: This prisoner included a copy of the new anti-smoking policy which was distributed to prisoners. The policy notice states that "prisoners who are observed smoking in their cells or anywhere in any building will be subject to disciplinary action." MIM thanks this prisoner for sending us this information and publicizes this policy because this is a clear instance of the prisoncrats coming up with another excuse to abuse their power over prisoners.
It's not enough that prisoners are held and forcibly made to work slave jobs, the prisoncrats and guards need as many excuses to take administrative or other action against prisoners as they can get. This is just another example of why MIM says that all prisoners are political prisoners: the imperialist state, which has no just authority to imprison anyone, consistently uses its position of power to abuse all prisoners.
Find out more about RAIL's work with Michigan prisoners. Send e-mail to Ann Arbor RAIL at mim@mim.org.