Have you ever felt like the walls around you were closing in so fast that you thought you were going to die? Well, that's what I felt every day for almost two years.
In the state of New Jersey they have what you call S.T.G.M.U.'s (Security Threat Groups Management Units). When you hear that you automatically think that these units would be filled with the worst of the worst, right? Wrong! How could that be, you say? Well, let me tell you how I ended up in a Super-Max Unit.
It started the day I got off the bus at the reception center called C.R.A.F. After being stripped of all my belongings, I was forced to stand butt-ass-naked next to four other newly branded slaves. As we stood there, there were about six pigs watching over us as we were told to lift this and open that, bend over, cough, and all the other degrading things that go along with the sexual assault, I mean strip search. All of a sudden, out of the corner comes a fat fuck of a pig, walking around and looking at all of our tattoos. He stops when he gets to me and asks what the "***" means on my arm. With no hesitation, I tell him that it is a dedication to a friend's death (which, by the way, was the truth). He then tells me that he is I.A. and that my tattoo was a symbol used by the ____, which is a S.T.G. Group.
Now, I am a member of the organization to which he referred, but I didn't tell him that. He then walks me about ten feet into an office and tells me that he has to take pictures of all of my tattoos. Now, remember I am standing there butterball naked, and there are two Pigs in the doorway just waiting for me to step out of line. So he takes the pictures and tells me that he wants me to sign a paper stating that I am a member of the ____. I told him I'm not signing anything that will be held against me at a later time. He gives me a little shit, but eventually he realized that I m not going to give in to his every command. He then tells me that they (I.A.) will be waiting for me to slip up and that I better not move a single hair on [my] head too fast cause [he'll] be there to put it back in place.
Now when he made that statement I did not give it a seconds thought until I realized that not only were they watching me like flies on shit, but they then started to call me down to see them every time something happened with a Latino inmate. This went on for over an eighteen month period until the day I was charged with possession with of narcotics, which were found in my cell amid a random search. When I went before the court line officer, I told him that those pills did not belong to me, and they had the inmate's name on the package that had just moved out of the cell the day before the search. I was found guilty of the charge and received 270 days Ad-Seg for an antibiotic!
I was in Ad-Seg for about two weeks before I was called out for a visit. Take a guess who it was? That's right, the same old fat fuck along with one of his co-workers. I was told that the only way to help myself was if I agreed to become an informant and that if I did not help them I would on the next thing smoking to Northern State Prison where the Security Threat Group (AKA Super-Max Housing Unit) is located. I told them that they had no proof that I was part of any organization. Well, that did not go over very well with them because two days later I was being shipped to that very place that they had been threatening me with for a couple of years now.
So there I am in a place that I have been avoiding for years. You hear so many stories that it would have any individual a little worried, but when I got there I was embraced with nothing but love by individuals that have been labeled "the worst of the worst". Now, how could that be? I was not even twenty-one years old and here I am in a Super-Max Unit.
When you are placed in this unit you are supposed to have a hearing that will show all the evidence that they have against you, but I did not see anyone for almost a month. When I was finally brought in to have my hearing, the evidence was a bunch of fabricated bullshit. First I was told the reason I was there was because I was previously identified as a member of the ____! The thing I wanted to know was how that is possible when I have never been caught with any type of literature or was I ever caught engaging in gang activity. Still to this day, that's a fact!
So now here comes the bullshit, I was told that I signed a self-admission form, and that I have a S.T.G. tattoo. I have already stated that I never, never signed any self-admission form or anything of the sort. I was told that it was in the best interest of everybody that I be placed in the S.T.G.M.U. program. The problem I had with that was that they still had no concrete evidence that pointed to me being a threat to the New Jersey State prison system. To this day, I still really don't understand how they got away with it.
However, I do know that it was one of the best things that could have happened to me, and not because they rehabilitated me. It was the fact that that's where I became what I am today and this is a strong revolutionary! I was introduced to Karl Marx and Mao, the Blank Panther Party along with all the other great revolutionaries before my time. I have since then took all of the teachings I learned and have implemented them into my everyday living as a Konvict! I no longer live for myself alone. I have found something to truly live for and that's the people!
I thank all the strong brothers who took the time to give me the guidance to become a better man in my struggles, and for giving me the opportunity to be their student. I want to say thank you to: Arch Angel, Half Pint, Killer Bee, Honesty, and all those other who gave me the jewels to become what I am. Without any of you, I don't know where I would be today.
Please don't think that I am glorifying the conditions that I was subjected to live under or would I want to see anyone else be faced with the abuse that was handed out in that facility. I don't believe any man or wymmin should ever have to be treated in such a manner, and all the time I spent back there was not fun in any way whatsoever.
The living conditions alone were horrible: air vents that have not been cleaned in years, showers that were disgusting, and that was if you got one. You had one phone for about fifty prisoners, and at times there was no phone at all. We had very limited access to any type of law library, and sometimes would go days without any yard movement. Those are just some of the things that we were faced with while we were housed in the Security Threat Group Management Unit.
The only reason I said it was the best thing that could have happened to me was because that was where the fire I have in my heart was first sparked, and since then I have never been the same. I will continue to fight for the people no matter what the repercussions to my actions will be! So I now say to the world, we must do anything in our power to stop the placing of prisoners into these units of torment. I was only one of many to make it out of the darkness with something to live for, but for the majority, they are either still trapped behind those walls or are lost in all the negativity that they are faced with. But that does not mean that they belong there. I have seen many prisoners placed in that unit for no other reason but to take up space. Half of them are not even a threat to themselves, never mind to the administration! In no way am I trying to belittle anyone that is in the Gang Unit, but I'm trying to make others aware of the situation that you and I were faced with. It's not right!
So to all of the tax players of the State of New Jersey and anywhere else that these facilities are located, it's time to stop the housing of prisoners in these units. To the D.O.C.: you will not get away with the exploitation in silence as long as I and my comrades have voices. We will continue to bring the T.R.U.T.H.!
- A New Jersey prisoner (The Fallen Angel), July 2004