Prisoners Report on Conditions in

North Carolina Prisons

Got legal skills? Help out with writing letters to appeal censorship of MIM Distributors by prison staff. help out

www.prisoncensorship.info is a media institution run by the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons. Here we collect and publicize reports of conditions behind the bars in U.$. prisons. Information about these incidents rarely makes it out of the prison, and when it does it is extremely rare that the reports are taken seriously and published. This historical record is important for documenting patterns of abuse, and also for informing people on the streets about what goes on behind the bars.

We hope this information will inspire people to take action and join the fight against the criminal injustice system. While we may not be able to immediately impact this particular instance of abuse, we can work to fundamentally change the system that permits and perpetuates it. The criminal injustice system is intimately tied up with imperialism, and serves as a tool of social control on the homeland, particularly targeting oppressed nations.

[United Front] [Avery/Mitchell Correctional Center] [North Carolina] [ULK Issue 71]
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Fasting for September 9th Helps NC Comrades Connect to the Struggle

Comrade Tag: I fasted from 7PM on 8 September 2020 until 5PM on 9 September 2020. I did drink water though. It was intense, it was the first time I’ve ever intentionally fasted. In the streets I wouldn’t eat for a day or 2, but I had alcohol, weed, etc. to sustain me.

It was eye-opening for me. Like, “Damn, people go through this for the cause all the time!” I need to tighten up. Self discipline for me and food is poor. I write, stand up against oppression, and help educate people, but food is so essential to survival. Not eating for me is like not living. That’s why I decided to fast.

My stomach complained a lot at first, but after awhile it stopped. I had a goal in mind, so it followed my lead. My thoughts tried to scatter, but I focused on explaining to guys why I fasted. Also, more causes were brung to my attention.

All in all the day was a success! The feast with Comrade L was supportive. Ey is new to being aware and learning about the struggle. I explained my appreciation for eir support. Thank you for sending ULK No. 57, it was a great read and perfect timing. Thanks again for your time and support.

In Struggle!

Comrade L: Hello, my name is [Comrade L] and I participated in the September 9th Day of Peace and Solidarity. This is the first time I’ve fasted in relation to prisoner awareness. I did this to show my support and to have something to do.

I’ve done a few things this year to further our causes here at Avery/Mitchell Correctional Institution. This 11 hours (6AM - 5PM) helped me to think about what I do. I feel a little more aware of what others have had to go through so prison could be better.

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Also, I feel good when I broke the fast with Tag NC. Ey said I should write my feelings so ey could send it with this letter today. I hope you are happy with my support.

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[COVID-19] [Greene Correctional Institution] [North Carolina] [ULK Issue 72]
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NC Prisons COVID Practices a Ruse Among Overcrowding

Revolutionary greetings!

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety (DPS) Division of Adult Correction is hard at work exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to further oppress disadvantaged people. Its first big moves were elimination of visitation and Christian religious services. Then, concerned about overcrowding (which DPS has previously denied) and lack of social distancing, a judge requested DPS to tell the court how its acting to keep prisoners in different pods, dorms and units apart. Then things really got crazy.

After weeks of foolish experiments in the overcrowded dining hall, Greene Correctional Institution stopped letting us eat there at all. All meals are now served on styrofoam takeout trays. The pigs have less “work” to do. The partial lockdown didn’t stop there, though.

The yards are now closed about 19 hours/day. Yard time is the only opportunity we have for distanced socializing. Now its limited to less than 1.5 hours/day for each dorm, two or three dorms at a time. The rest of the day we’re locked up in concrete tombs, suffering from vitamin D deficiencies. Lack of fresh air and vitamin D is compromising our immune systems, increasing our risk of dying of COVID-19.

Disingenuous DPS paperwork has placated courts, which have never been known for integrity or common sense. Any reported isolation is a crude ruse effective only when someone chooses to believe it and ignore the evidence. Despite published rules, prisoners float from dorm to dorm, tattooing each other, buying, selling and taking drugs, bartering and trading medical supplies and contraband, gambling, and extorting weaker, elderly, infirm and handicapped prisoners. Guards pretend not to notice the crowds in the dayrooms, bathrooms and showers.

DPS has now “resumed” (it never really stopped) shipping victims between prisons. New arrivals come straight to regular population. They are not quarantined.

Guards and another non-resident personnel come and go. They are not tested. By now, its a near certainty that some of them carry SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

We who are about to die salute you.

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[Organizing] [Political Repression] [Neuse Correctional Institution] [NC Correctional Institution for Women] [Central Prison] [North Carolina] [ULK Issue 71]
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Admin Cracks Down on Organizers as Protests Begin in NC

Revolutionary Greetings!

Just recently, the national grievance petition that I drafted got published in several newspapers. Then our cell block got raided multiple times, and cellphones were confiscated. Well the C.O.’s put the searches off on my organizing and blaming me for the raids. As a result, a XXXX gang member stabbed me 5 times in the back with an ice pick. I am recovering fine but it just goes to show how far these fascists will go to shut me up.

Next, I would like to update you on these petitions. So on 8 May 2020 citizens in Raleigh, N.C. did a vehicle protest blaring horns, marching with signs in front of Central Prison in Raleigh & prisoners on the inside went on a 3 day hunger strike and refused to lock down at the facility.

On 9 May 2020 many protests broke out at the Neuse Prison inside and outside demanding N.C. prisoners’ human rights.

On 10 May 2020 women prisoners at NCCIW also protested on the inside while dozens of cars blared their horns outside of the prison in solidarity and marched in front of the prison until local police from two agencies were dispersed to break the crowd up.

Prisoners are tired of being restricted from writing to other prisoners of the opposite sex. Tired of paying $10.00 for prison rule violations, restrictions on who can send us money, life sentences and all the b.s. time we are being sentenced.

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[Prison Labor] [Organizing] [North Carolina]
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North Carolina Labor Battle Advice

I hope these words surmount the many communicational barriers that have been put in place to suppress my voice. I'm currently being held at North Carolina's supermax facility. I came across issue 66 of ULK and I read where the prisoners of Pender razor-wire plantation are being exploited and seeking guidance and assistance in redressing this issue.(1)

North Carolina is home to 32 Correctional Enterprise plantations that exploit prisoners for their labor in the name of rehabilitation. As the komrade mentioned, these plantations are profitable enterprises that range from producing janitorial products to a metal plant in Polkton, North Carolina that makes industrial sinks for schools and contraband lockers for the police. Each of these 32 plantations produces goods to be sold to tax-supported entities such as municipal and county governments. So yes it's a fact that prisoners are being exploited and you seek guidance on how you and others can organize to redress this issue.

First and foremost, you must purge the fear you admitted to having, komrade. As the beloved komrade George Jackson stated, "Don't fear the specter of repression, for we are already repressed." The fear of reprisals is what keeps us in bondage. Yes we're held captive by concrete and razor-wire barriers, but it isn't the physical chains that keep us oppressed and exploited. It is the mental chains of ignorance and fear that impede us from liberating ourselves from under the rule of the enemy. Fear is our greatest hindrance. We have been conditioned to believe that the enemy's retaliation will be so brutal that any thoughts of standing up are neutralized by this fear. Nelson Mandela said it best: "In prison, no improvement happens without a reason."

However, you are correct that you must have assistance. You cannot fight this Hydra alone. North Carolina isn't known for its progressive political activity within these razor-wire plantations, nor are there any notable revolutionaries or political prisoners. Being the deputy minister of defense for the White Panther organization, which is an arm of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party - Prison Chapter, under the umbrella of the United Panther Movement, we have been on the front lines and working diligently to transform these slave pens of oppression into schools of liberation.

There are outside supporters here that are very loyal to the prisoners of North Carolina. They provide us with a local newsletter, FloodGates, to serve as a platform for us to network with others and express ourselves. They also organize outside protests and mass call-ins. As of now, we are focused on redressing the new JPay restrictions. You can receive the FloodGates newsletter by writing:

FloodGates Publishing
PO Box 15401
Durham, NC 27704

MIM(Prisons) responds: In ULK 66 we asked for input from other folks in response to the writer from North Carolina who asked what they can do to fight back against the extortion of money, both through their labor and petty fees. This writer offers some good thoughts about building a network both behind bars and on the streets. We work for Under Lock & Key to also serve as a resource to help with this organizing.

As we've discussed in our recent updated "Survey of U.S Prisoners on Prison Labor" in ULK 62, prisoners are mostly working for the state.(2) The examples given by this writer confirm that this is the case in North Carolina as well. This labor is subsidizing the state budget, but it falls far short of covering the cost of imprisonment. So we don't describe prison labor with the term "exploitation" which, in Marxism, means transforming labor power into goods to be sold for a profit. The goods being produced are for state institutions, and just offset the costs to run these institutions. There's no profit involved.

Instead, we say the prisons are extorting this labor. Basically the prisons are stealing it from prisoners, not giving them a choice about work, and paying only a pittance. Still, there's no profit.

Prisons are about social control and national oppression, not profits. The prison movement needs to focus on the anti-colonial battle, and the struggle against prison labor can be a part of this. We support the struggles many of our comrades are fighting against prison labor, because we are against extortion and imprisonment of the lumpen class and oppressed-nation peoples. This is one of many ways to weaken the criminal injustice system.

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[Abuse] [Control Units] [North Carolina]
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The Criminal Injustice System Works for the Jailers

It’s August 2019 and people say that the Criminal Justice System doesn't work. I beg to differ. I've come to believe that it works just fine, just like slavery did as a matter of economic and political policy. How is it that a 16 year old in North Carolina who can't get a job can suddenly generate $54,750 (which equates to $150 a day for prison upkeep) when trapped and inducted into the Criminal Injustice System where architects, food and medical providers, masons, carpenters, electricians, painters, correctional officers, administrators and a myriad other skilled trade workers get paid with guaranteed job security?

Just like the era of chattel slavery, there is a class of people dependent on the poor and on the bodies of all of us who are behind bars. All throughout the Criminal Injustice System, the policies of the police, the courts, and our prisons are a manifestation of classism, racism and dishonesty which governs the lives of all of us. Then you have prosecutors. They are like nasty little rats with quivering noses that have invaded our court systems with full impunity across the country feeding thousands of human bodies into the bowels of the razor-wire plantations without the slightest remorse for the hell they are sending us to, where slavery is mandated.

No matter how you look at it, involuntary labor is slavery. You see, the United $tates didn't abolish slavery, they just transferred it into their prisons. So last year on 20 August 2018 with the help of outside human rights activists, prison abolitionists, anarchists, and other public supporters who did a peaceful demonstration in our prison parking lot, I, [Prisoner A], alongside [Prisoners B, C and D] all organized together with hundreds of other prisoners across North Carolina and questioned these policies by assembling peacefully and petitioning our government for a redress of our grievances.

As a result, we were all labeled as rioters and Security Threat Group individuals and sent off to super max prisons and thrown into solitary confinement where we were subjected to all sorts of mistreatment: glass was found in [Prisoner D's] food, I was poisoned and never receiving any treatment, [Prisoner B] was sent to the Rehabilitative Diversion Unit (RDU) program where he is currently being brainwashed. [Prisoner C] got out of prison. I finally got out of solitary hell after spending 8 long months of sensory deprivation and losing 53 pounds only to face more repression and mail censorship that resulted in me receiving another 6 months for simply writing and organizing the 21 May 2019 National Grievance Day complaining about the new discriminatory JPay policy that limits who can send a prisoner money.

And what have I learned in all of this? I've learned that any time you restrain a person from going where they want to go, its an act of violence. Anytime you bully and mistreat someone by placing them in a cell 23 hours a day, it's an act of violence! I've also learned that it's not the inhumanity of the cruelties prisoners face in prisons on a daily basis or inhumane conditions: the cold, filth, callous medical care, tasers, unnecessary chains, pepper spray, beatings, excessive censorship, dehumanizing strip searches, extended and excessive isolation in solitary confinement for simple things like writing, or the robbing of our trust funds of $10 each time a prison guard accuses us of a rule violation that are criminalized; it's the complaining about our conditions of confinement that's made criminal. Right now there are tens of thousands of humans living in enforced solitary confinement cells in U.$. prisons.

Over a decade ago when news broke about what was going on in Abu Ghraib, President Bush stated "what took place in that prison doesn't represent the America I know." Unfortunately, for the more than 2.5 million prisoners and undocumented immigrants and the rest of us living in U.$. prisons, this is the Amerikkka we know, our family members know, and the anarchists and prison abolitionists know. Furthermore, prisoners have got to wake up and realize that the entire executive branch of the U.$. government seems to sanction torture in our prisons and all of the repression and disrespect that we endure on a daily basis from prison guards is unacceptable. It is imperative that prisoners continue to organize and to write about their experiences and complain to folks on the outside so that the public can realize what's happening to people in U.$. prisons. There are watchdog organizations that expose, ridicule and punish Internet and school bullies and there are laws against bullying. The prison guards are also supposed to observe these laws.

The conditions and practices that men, women, and children can attest to here in North Carolina are in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Convention Against Torture, and the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In addition, most U.$. prisons practices also violate dozens of other international treaties and clearly fit the United Nations' definition of genocide. Aren't you tired of being told where to sit? What to eat? Who you can socialize with inside and outside of prison? What you can watch on TV? What you may read or what you can write about or to whom? Of being denied basic dignity based on race or class? Aren't you tired of your bodies being examined, exploited and used through dehumanizing and invasive strip-searches on the whim of a prison guard or a jailer?

Prisoners have got to continue to organize and alter the very core of every system that slavery, racism and poverty has given birth to, and particularly the Criminal Injustice System. The entire prison system must stop violating the rights of men, women, and children in North Carolina! We must effectively eliminate solitary confinement, the restriction of our civil rights, their devices of torture, family-run prisons, and all forms of sentences of "death by incarceration" or sentences that are overly burdensome, oppressive and too lengthy that financially benefit the government instead of victims of crime!

It's plain to see that many victims could be better served by working out an honest agreement with those disingenuous persons who have wronged them, and that prosecutors have a lot of undue power to decide whom to criminalize as well as what cases are or aren't priority. Of course these mutual agreements will not be ideal in every case, but failure to account for social context is such a crucial aspect of what's wrong with our current system. We need to put context first and resolve each dispute in its own way rather than just applying a rigid legal formula.

I think the call for universal basic decency and respect towards all living creatures as well as towards prisoners is a powerful message that's made more powerful when people share their stories of mistreatment. Each of our personal and individual struggles are one of many, but when we as prisoners stop focusing on the color of one's skin, or what he or she is in prison for, and all join hands, that's when we can get our freedoms back and that's when we can all win.


MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer is right on when ey says that prisons do work. It's all about understanding the real purpose of prisons. Amerikkkan prisons are not meant for rehabilitation, they are meant for social control. The author speaks of the child prisoner who is "generating" $54,750 per year. This is another purpose of prisons: distribution of profits stolen from the Third World to First World workers. All those workers in the criminal injustice system are parasites, earning good wages to further this system of social control. Those wages come mostly from state budgets. And those state budgets are just a redistribution of wealth. Imperialist wealth. Which is taken from the Third World through exploitation of workers and theft of natural resources.

This redistribution of super profits is a side "benefit" of the criminal injustice system. The focus is social control, particularly of oppressed nations. That social control wouldn't be complete if prisoners were allowed to study, communicate and organize freely. In fact, there is a contradiction inherent in the United $tates prison system. Locking up people as a means of social control puts these people in close contact, with lots of time on their hands, which facilitates organizing and studying together. So the prisons turn to greater repression behind bars to try to stop these activities. That's exactly what this writer is fighting against. We must demand an end to solitary confinement, an end to censorship of prisoners' mail, and access to a real and effective grievance system. These are small goals in the context of the larger fight against imperialism. But they are goals that will bring real progress for our comrades behind bars. Progress that will allow the prisoners to organize and educate and build.

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[Campaigns] [Craggy Correctional Center] [North Carolina]
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Persistence is Key with Grievance Denials and Games

I remember the first grievance I ever wrote. The blanket I was given barely covered me. Really it was only half a blanket, having been shredded by other prisoners for whatever reason. I was new in prison and wasn't really pressed for conversation with officers, so I wrote a grievance.

A few days later I was brought a complete blanket! I felt successful having petitioned for something and seeing results. The system had worked right? Not so much. Along with my fresh blanket came the return of my grievance—unprocessed.

Granted I was new to prison and Administrative Remedy Procedure, I thought these actions were common. My issue had been resolved so no need to process my complaint, right? I don't think so! I let this one go and started educating myself on the ins and outs of this procedure.

Over the years I heard several opinions of the Administrative Remedy Procedure by other prisoners. Some saw it as "snitching" or "dry snitching". Nearly everyone felt it was just an opportunity for officials to retaliate against us. I witness incidents *daily* that are grievance-worthy, but prisoners refuse to file them for fear they will be harassed or transferred; and, well, the things do happen!

I was never scared or discouraged in filing a grievance myself, but I certainly understand why a prisoner would be. Many times officers are unified, so if you grieve the conduct of officer A, he will send officer B to aggressively search your locker or cell. Other reprisals I've witnessed include: transfer to a new cell, section of the prison and even a new prison altogether; verbal harassment by the officer(s) grievances were filed on, and by other staff in the facility; malicious infractions against the prisoner who filed a grievance and punishments that are far too severe as a result of that infraction.

My grievance activity really began in 2015. On April 27th I was assaulted by an officer after picking up a piece of candy, which he (the officer) assumed was contraband. As the officer placed his hands around my neck I swallowed the candy, which led to me being "dry celled".

I was required to defecate in a bag three times for inspection by the officers, but on the third occasion the officers forced me to make the inspection; without protective equipment, hygiene or cleaning supplies. To my benefit, everything was on camera!

I spent three days in segregation and when released was charged with "interfering with staff duty". The officer who assaulted me said I "led him away from his search" when I placed a piece of candy in my mouth. Also, upon returning to population, I bought a Policy and Procedures Manual from a prisoner in my dorm.

I familiarized myself with policy related to use of force, close observation (dry cell), and Administrative Remedy Procedure. I followed every rule, such as—grievances can only be written about one incident and one grievance must complete step two before another can be filed. Most of my grievances were accepted and processed with no problem, but staff violated their own procedures with nearly every one.

My first grievance was on the assault/use of force. It was assigned the routing number 4630-15-0065. When I started receiving responses by prison administration, not only were they delayed, but the routing number had been changed to 4630-15-0066! Of course the obstruction was worthy of a grievance itself, so I filed one about that too.

Just six days after my obstruction grievance was accepted, I was transferred to the most dangerous prison in North Carolina. Lucky for me I had alleged threats of transfer on grievances I'd written and I requested no retaliation such as institutional transfer as one of the remedies for my grievances. All of this aided and supported another grievance on a retaliatory transfer.

A separate grievance was written concerning the dry cell incident as well. Response to this grievance alone admitted fault for the officers' conduct. All others were covered up, denied or ignored altogether.

As you can see, one grievance led to events that required others. Grievance Procedure in North Carolina requires grievances be written within ninety days of an incident so in my case that wasn't easy; especially when staff delayed responses past the time limit.

Grievance responses come in three steps and each step has a timeline which must be met, unless extensions are filed. The entire grievance process, acceptance through step three, is supposed to take ninety days, but rarely does this happen. Some of my grievances took over two hundred days to complete and even then the responses would claim that incidents never occurred.

Not only were response delays an issue, but Grievance Policy itself was violated when officials I made allegations against gave the response to grievances; grievances were left void of date, signature and indications of acceptance or rejection. All of these violations warranted more grievances and sometimes "corrective action" was said to be taken. However, the violations continued.

In April 2018, I filed a §1983 suit about each of these incidents; from the use of force to the final grievance response. Several of my claims survived the Judge's review and are still being litigated, but *none* of the grievance violations merited a Constitutional Violation. In other words, the prison system can continue violating their own procedures and won't be held accountable.

Grievances are considered "protected speech", so my retaliatory transfer claim is active. While the delays and obstruction to my grievances and responses did "hinder" my litigation, they didn't prevent it, so any claims of access to courts were dismissed. I am still seeking justice and accountability for these grievance issues. I do plan to appeal on some grounds, but I'm still exploring that as well. It's clear that grievance procedure is protected, but Administrative Remedy Procedure is not a process that is? I haven't figured it out yet, but I will.

What I have learned is that our right to petition the government for redress of grievances is one of our most important retained rights as prisoners. It should be exercised often, and without fear of consequences or retaliation. I encourage everyone to study your state's policy and procedure and apply it to your grievances. Also study your state's Administrative Remedy Procedure, so you file and appeal your grievances appropriately. Most importantly, stay strong and stand up for your rights.

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[Hunger Strike] [Abuse] [Polk Correctional Institution] [North Carolina]
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Scotland Hunger Strike Met With Retaliation

July 30th. I went on a hunger Strike to not only motivate but avoid a group demonstration charge. The next day eight more people in our pod went on hunger strike and two in another pod, followed by four other people who went on S.I.B. (self-injury behavior) and some floods occurred in opposite pods.

Outside supporters called down here at Scotland NC Correctional Institution all day until around 9:00 at night tying up the phone lines.

Captain Henderson's name was heard all day over the intercom. She had me and three other guys strip searched and placed in a holding cell to have a meeting where we asked for recreation five times a week, the 90 day phone call policy to be activated, food requirements to be met and access to more than one library book a month.

The next day the whole pod was searched and torn apart. They threw away our pictures of our family members—some of whom may have passed away—and took books, contact information and destroyed whatever they chose. One European guy who didn't participate in the strike was forced out of the pod and taken to medical. On the way there he was punched in the face. In receiving he was jumped by Sgt. Sims, Off. Veto and a few other staff members.

When the victim they attacked returned to the pod, they escorted him in a wheelchair. He was tied down and had red gashes and bruises on his face and body and they left him in his cell with nothing to wear but a pair of boxers, socks and sandals. He had been beaten with a nightstick and they refused to give him medical treatment or take pictures of any of his injuries.

DPS doesn't consider it a hunger strike until you refuse to eat nine meals. Then they will start checking your vital organs and observe you.

In February, I went on an eleven day hunger strike, only surviving from sugar pills the effects of which I had not been conscious of at the time. It’s only afterwards that I realized I was bleeding internally but still they have refused to give me medical treatment til this day as I complained on my recent sick call. They have blood samples and all.

The people on S.I.B. a.k.a. suicide watch are left in their cell with nothing but a spock a.k.a. turtle-suit with no blanket or mattress. I was in receptive on the same treatment and I have dates and times.

Overall our recreation request has been met. Everything else was probably a pseudo. We failed to address the main issue during the meetings, which is police brutality. Prisoners were being beaten there at least four times a day when I first arrived. I believe officials are a little more restrained now due to the outside support.

Due to the harassment of the prisoners in my pod from an official who called us snitches and b*tches for writing articles and filing lawsuits, I decide to sacrifice my freedom by accepting his challenge on behalf of my komrades. This was resolved in a George Jackson fashion style water gun that they sent me back to supermax for, with a felony charge facing 68 months to continue my webstar's studies.

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[Organizing] [Campaigns] [North Carolina] [ULK Issue 69]
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NC Prisoners File 15,000 Grievances; Organizers Face Retaliation

In 2018, North Carolina prisoners answered South Carolina prisoners' call out coordinating amongst each other in multiple states alongside outside supporters, agitators and Anarchist Black Cross by organizing their POW movement (prisoners of the world).

Three prisoners [names removed] staged a peaceful protest with the support of over 300 prisoners and outside public supporters. They even hung signs on the prison fence made out of sheets. Meanwhile nearly 100 public protesters piled out of dozens of cars, vans, and SUVs, armed with bullhorns, signs, and drums in solidarity with the prisoners while perimeter guards trained loaded firearms at the prisoners and the supporters. Then prisoners submitted a list of demands:

  1. Establish parole for lifers who demonstrate rehabilitation
  2. End life sentences
  3. End all 85% mandatory minimum sentences
  4. End long-term solitary confinement
  5. Abolish article 1, section 17 of the constitution of NC which permits slavery to those convicted of crime through the 13th amendment of the U.$. constitution
  6. End $10 administrative fees for the guilty disposition of a write up or rule violation
  7. Better food with real beef
  8. Better health and dental care
  9. Allow prisoners to purchase JP4 players/notebooks
  10. End security threat group policies that restrict contact visits with their wives, children and fiances
  11. Fair wages for our slave labor
  12. End exaggerated censorship policies
  13. More meaningful rehabilitation and educational opportunities

The following day, on 21 August 2018, prisoners at Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Raleigh went on strike, refusing to eat our work, followed by prisoners at Craggy Correctional Center. Then reports began flooding mainstream media that thousands of prisoners across the U.$. were joining the international prison strike in solidarity with the POW movement.

The organizers were then each transferred to separate super maximum security prisons and charged for inciting a riot with the exception of [name removed] who was sent to Butner, NC to a prison that is so violent and popular for 5-on-1 fascist beatings that prisoners call it "baby Guantanamo Bay." After 8 months of cruel and harsh treatment with reports of fascists putting glass in food and feces in another, prisoners [two names removed], with the help of public support, organized their national grievance day calling on all NC prisoners and any similarly situated prisoner in other states who are affected by this oppressive rule to join them and file grievances against their director in their state to end the oppressive rule that prohibits anyone in the public from sending a prisoner money unless that person is an approved visitor on the prisoner's visit list.

As a result of this new restrictive discriminating policy, many prisoners whose families are poor and of color, who don't have identification or transportation to visit a particular prisoner to show em support, now cannot send the prisoner any money. This has resulted in a scarcity of funds to go around resulting in an uptick of gang violence and rule violations. For example, prisoners who can't hustle for money due to no artistic skills or other lacking reasons and whose family can't send them any money for hygiene, food, stamps or phone time now are forced to have their families send money gram, western union, square cash app or greendots to pay inside drug dealers for K-2, CBD, marijuana, suboxone, heroine, or other drugs that they can easily sell in order just to survive.

So in response to this intrusive rule, on 21 May 2019 both men and women prisoners stood together in solidarity and sent in more than 15,000 administrative grievances against the NC prison director. Then on 1 June 2019 North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NCDPS) reported receiving more than 100,000 phone calls and emails from angry families and supporters internationally backing up email servers and phone lines nearly causing their site to crash, urging the director to repeal his 5 February 2019 Jpay rule. One outside organizer spoke with the public affairs office and reported that "there was an ongoing investigation and the director will be looking into it."

Outside activists and supporters are reporting good feedback from the NCDPS, and folks behind bars. Also an art gallery in New York contacted organizers from itsgoingdown.org and is asking for NC-specific art around this extension of our POW movement and wants to get behind NC prisoners to support them.

With the 21 May 2019 national grievance day, in addition, prisoners are beginning to coordinate amongst each other in multiple states, and working with outside supporters; word of the coordinated action has now spread all over the country.

Supreme Court shut down Prisoner Organizing

For nearly 40 years, prisoners in North Carolina have avoided the political arena surrounding prisoner rights ever since the United $tates Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in Jones v. NC prisoners labor union, inc. 433 u.s. 119, 129 97 S.ct 2532, 53 L.Ed 26, 629 (1977), preventing NC prisoners from unionizing, meetings and solicitation of membership.

The union formed in late 1974 with a stated goal of "the promotion of charitable labor union purposes" and the formation of a "prisoners labor union at every prison and jail in NC to seek through collective bargaining... to improve... working... conditions..." It also proposed to work towards the alteration or elimination of practices and policies of the Department of Corrections (DOC) which it did not approve of and to serve as a vehicle for the presentation and resolution of prisoner grievances. By early 1975 the union had attracted some 2000 prisoner members in 40 different prison units throughout NC.

The state of NC, unhappy with these developments, set out to prevent prisoners from forming or operating a union. While the state tolerated individual "membership," or belief, in the union, it sought to prohibit prisoner solicitation of other prisoners, meetings between members or the union, and bulk mailings concerning the union from outside sources. So on 26 March 1975 the DOC (now North Carolina Department of Public Safety - NCDPS) prohibited that activity.

Since prisoners were on notice of the proscription prior to its enactment, they filed suit in the U.$. Federal District Court for the Eastern District of NC. That was on 18 March 1975, approximately a week before the date upon which the regulation was to take effect. The union claimed that its rights of its members to engage in protected free speech association and assembly activities were being infringed by the no-solicitation and no-meeting rules.

The district court felt that since the defendants countenanced the bare foot of union membership, it had to allow the solicitation activity, whether by prisoners or by outsiders and held "we are unable to perceive why it is necessary or essential to security and order in the prisons to forbid solicitation of membership in a union permitted by the authorities. This is not a case of a riot. There is not one scintilla of evidence to suggest that the union has been utilized to disrupt the operation of the penal institution." The warden appealed to the fourth circuit who also agreed with prisoners. The warden appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States who reversed the 4th circuit's decision.

The court deferred to the warden's conclusions that the presence and objectives of a prisoners' labor union would be detrimental to order and security in the prisons. The court held those conclusions had not been conclusively shown to be wrong in this view, and that when weighed against the First Amendment rights asserted, these institutional reasons are sufficiently weighty to prevail. In sum, the court's decision established that the institutional interest of the prison outweighs a prisoner's constitutional rights. The rulings in Jones, in hindsight, defined prisoners' status as "prisoners" and eliminated prisoners' rights to free association and essentially paved the future for correctional czars to place iron curtains between the First Amendment and prisoners with impunity.

Punished for writing a letter to organizers

Update: On 12 June 2019 and still claiming actual innocence as to why ey's in prison. Prisoner [name removed] was in eir cell writing organizers when a sergeant and two prison guards entered eir cell for a search. During the search one of the prison guards picked up the letter and began reading it. The prisoner was handcuffed and charged for inciting a riot for simply stating in his letter to outside supporters and organizers "thank you for helping put NC prisoners on the map and for giving prisoners a voice on May 21, 2019 and June 1, 2019 as we continue to bring our collective struggles to the battlefront. I look forward to the 2020 strike calling on all us prisoners to stand in solidarity to demand an end to slavery in prisons and to restore our freedoms."

At this time, this prisoner was scheduled to receive eir first visit in 11 years from eir sister who has no criminal record and who had been unapproved for no reason and was finally approved. Unfortunately, eir sister drove over 8 hours to visit and took vacation time plus a portion of eir husband's disability money to cover the expenses. What's worse is that eir son was just accepted at university which puts an even worse financial strain on the family. Meanwhile this prisoner remains in administrative segregation and faces another 8 month long-term lock up. While in lock up ey accused prison guards of putting feces in eir tea and poisoning eir food. Ey reported having diarrhea, vomiting blood, inability to hold down food, weakness, shakes, hallucinations, hot-cold sweats, stomach pain and dry heaving. Ey has since recovered after two weeks on a self-induced diet of milk.


MIM(Prisons) responds: There are some important lessons in this report from North Carolina. First, the restriction on organizing and even just basic free speech of prisoners is pervasive. It takes the format of transferring or charging with crimes prisoners who initiate protests or even complaints against conditions behind bars. But it is also codified by the courts in rulings like the prohibition of union organizing. These laws and actions amount to telling prisoners that they must accept any and all oppressive conditions, that the so-called "rights" of U.$. citizenship do not apply to them.

We can take inspiration from this oppression. While the threats and retaliation will scare some out of taking action, revolutionaries will understand that our actions must be effective if we have frightened the prison and legal system into enacting rules and policies to stop our organizing work. And so we must continue! These organizers in North Carolina are continuing in the face of serious repression, and providing an example of determination and perseverance for others.

Whether your work is focused on educating others, or directly taking on repressive actions by the administration, it can all contribute to building the United Front for Peace in Prisons. This United Front challenges the criminal injustice system through the unity of the oppressed behind bars. We need more stories like this one about the battles being waged. And for those looking to get involved, write to us for resources, educational materials, and support for your struggles.

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[Campaigns] [North Carolina]
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NC Grievance Complaint Denied by Inspector General

I attempted to participate in the grievance campaign complaint by submitting the form you provided to me to fill out and submit my querimony to the following: The North Carolina Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction – Secretary of "corruption", Mr. Erik A. Hook on April 12, 2019 without any response and the enclosed letter from the office of Inspector General on April 9, 2019. And I did not expect nothing less from either agency.

Enclosed letter dated May 2, 2019

Thank you for your correspondence received April 26, 2019. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of the Inspector General, investigates allegations of misconduct by employees and contractors of DOJ, as well as waste, fraud and abuse affecting DOJ programs or operations.

The matters you raised are outside our investigative jurisdiction, therefore no action can be taken by our Office. Please be advised that we have not retained any copy of your material and any additional material you submit regarding this matter will be destroyed.

Of course, if you have new information that involves other allegations or issues regarding DOJ employees, contractors, programs or operations, please feel free to submit that information to us.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to review your concerns.

Sincerely,

Office of the Inspector General
Investigations Division

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[Organizing] [North Carolina]
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POW Organizers Declare National Grievance Day in NC

On Feb 5, 2019 NC prison director Kenneth Lassiter sent out a memo that now limits who can send prisoners money through Jpay. Under this new restrictive policy, only the approved visitors on the prisoners visitation list may send him/her any money. As a consequence, many prisoners who are from out of state or who’s visitors are elderly or impoverished or disabled who do not receive visits can now no longer receive money from their loved ones, friends or supporters on the outside. Just one example of unfairness is thousands of Latinos who are incarcerated and either don’t speak English or who’s family member does not reside in the United States are unable to receive money to purchase food, hygiene cosmetics and health products. Additionally, many of us have lost visitation privileges with our approved visitors for a myriad of illogical reasons which in turn has caused us to be ineligible to receive money from that prison. This is just another exaggerated response from correction czars drunk on their own undeserved power over others. Its bad enough that we are censored to death over who and what we can write or what we can read without some pederast fascist trying to control free societies sympathy and charity for others.

So in response to this oppressive rule, prisoners in North Carolina are organizing what we are calling a “national grievance day” and calling on all prisoners in NC as well as prisoners in other states with similar Jpay rules to file grievances on their directors of prison on May 21, 2019 and regardless of any response received, appeal it as far as it can be appealed. The only remedy we are seeking is to abolish this counter productive rule.

Once everyone has filed grievances, inside POW organizers have coordinated with outside public supporters and organizations from itsgoingdown.org and www.atlblackcross.org who plan on caravaning to Raliegh, NC on June 1, 2019 alongside the Blueridge ABC chapter armed with drums, bullhorns, picket signs and camcorders to record and protest our cause.

Additionally, we are asking supporters and family members to blow up the NC DOC public affairs phone numbers on June 1, 2019 by calling them and expressing their dissatisfaction with the Jpay rule. The DOC numbers at the PAO is 919-716-3700 919-716-3727 919-716-3733 919-716-3713. Supporters and family members are also encouraged to send emails and letters to the director asking him to abolish this rule at info@doc.state.nc.us or by mail to: Director of Prisons, 831 W. Morgan St., Raleigh, NC 27699.

We are hoping that with thousands of grievances from prisoners flooding their administration alongside negative emails, letters and phone calls followed by hundreds of public protesters on June 1, 2019 that we can beat back repression by attacking on all sides. Family members and friends of incarcerated persons are encouraged and invited to stand with us on behalf of their incarcerated loved one during this public event. All letters welcome.

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