Texas Prisons

This letter is about how we need to encourage and educate each other while we are all in here. I am in my late 30s and this is my first arrest ever in my life. So the first couple of weeks was rough, until one of the guards made a threat against me and I did a greivance. The other prisoners laughed and said it would do no good. At first I felt they were right. The CO I wrote up was given the grievance and ripped it up in front of me and started to tell the others I was a snitch. I felt helpless.

Then I realized every other prisoner is between 17 and 23 – youngsters. So I decided to educate myself and others. So I got a copy of the grievance policy and exhausted it. Then a copy of the state commission policies and filed with them.

Finally I got a copy of your newsletter and passed it around and – bam! – the fire was lit in 2 people on my rung. They wanted to know how to file grievances so I showed them, walked them thru, and gave the support and explained that it all takes time to get any kind of legal paperwork done. After 2 and a half months, 2 suspensions and termination, I was moved to population. After about 2 hours of talking with the 20 inmates I was going to be housed with, we handed in 19 grievances. So now i am back in seg. The basic message is this: we need to teach these youngsters, educate them. As a common voice we can be heard and make a difference.

I’m writing on behalf of my brothers here at the Mark W. Michael Unit. And respectfully request ULK to please convey our cause for unification throughout Texas prison systems. After a review of the May/June issue number 62 Under Lock & Key, I was very inclined to write this letter. Yes it appears that someone has woken up here in the Texas prison system. The old plantation where Texas prison officials is again up to these old tricks. Units are understaffed and overcrowded, being deprived of sleep, extreme heat, poor ventilation, dayroom overcrowded, and not enough available seats, for the offenders assigned to double cells. Here on the Michael Plantation we have so many offenders that we have a lot being housed in high security, and classified as overflow mis-housing offenders assigned to 11 building overflow, transit and mis-housing. And 12 building ad seg A/B pod as well.

So it’s apparent and very clear that Texas prison system once again should be placed up under federal control, due to overcrowding and under staff, delayed medical care, and inadequate medical care, unsanitary living conditions, excessive use of force violation by staff, an enormous amount of suicide throughout Texas prisons. Offenders in high security being deprived of basic human needs, food, not receiving showers daily, due to inadequate staff. The Unit being infested with roaches, unsanitary conditions in the offender chowhall. And them not providing a wholesome and nutritious meal. Black mold in the showers, due to there not being cleaned, and prisoners breaking out with rashes due to exposure to such.

These are not just an Eastham problem, it’s a statewide problem. And we urge that the taxpayers, as well as Texas prisoners on these plantations to become more involved, and let our legislature members to investigate these allegations and hold these prison officials accountable as well as the ACA. We need to let our voice be heard, and quit remaining silent about the things that effect us and the environment we live in. We will be forwarding legal documents to the federal district court, for the Eastern district of Texas at Tyler.

It’s been a long time coming. Texas prison that the men for their effort to slay the devil and his advocates, and it’s time that we do the right thing and bring this to the public attention of what’s really going on behind prison walls. I remain committed as a voice for the incarcerated men and women of Texas prisons.

I came across your Under Lock & Key through a friend and I do enjoy it. I had read an article of a guy who reported a sexual assault abuse from a staff member. I myself went through a situation that the outcome has been the same here in a Texas prison.

I went to the PREA Ombudsman, and I filed a complaint. The result was I had made the whole thing up. I don’t know how staff abuse in prisons anywhere is allowed. If you follow the policy in place, the inmates are always in the wrong, and that’s in any prison. Because we are in prison all we are supposed to be is liars and criminals.

I myself use my time to try to learn to do better so I will not fall into the circle of coming back like so many do. All I can say to all is if you report any type of abuse, be careful because the system is made to make you wrong no matter what you do. My life has been threatened. I have been refused medical help when I try to get it, or any type of help. It seems like the more me and my family try to push the issue with the proper authorities, the worse the harassment gets. Well I just wanted to share my thoughts and say thanks for all you do. May the struggle end soon.

I am a indigent comrade from Texas and I do all I can to help the cause and struggle against the administration. I recently received the state-level grievance petition and mailed it to the Executive Director. Not even 10 days later my cell was searched for no apparent reason. BUT I noticed my legal mail was gone thru without a written I.O.C. from the Warden. Just a lil update.

Now I am in Ad-Seg and unable to get or make copies of the petitions. So I’m writing to request 5 copies of the state petition and also 5 copies of the new follow-up petition written to Federal law. Thank you for all help.

I’m doing all I can to help organize people at the James Allred Unit down here in Texas. But a lot of people only care bout their selves. But I have 85 years to do and I’m down for the cause to help abolish slavery and prisons. I will keep y’all updated if I receive any update on the petition I sent out.

I need more info on the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. I do know that handrails are considered reasonable accommodation for disabled persons. How is it that the federal government recognizes me as fully disabled but the state of Texas does not? The grievances i have filed have all come back with Basic Generic answers and the person whom signed their name was not legible, no rank or official title was listed and they came back months after the deadline. When I wrote the unit grievance investigator my I-60s never return. That’s crazy. I am in danger of losing a limb if I fall, why isn’t there handrails in the shower or around the toilets? And why are my grievances basically ignored. What’s going on in the Texas prison system. Beto is considered a medical unit that’s not equipped to handle serious inmates with disabilities. I see guys with walkers, canes, crutches, leg braces all struggling to get around and to bathe. The warden “Norris Jackson” told me himself that Beto doesn’t have medical showers, but TDCJ website says it does. Well I live here every day and I am disabled and there are no medical showers. So the website is a lie.

2018 May 7 - You may have seen on the national news a large number of medium custody offenders are on hunger strike. Their main grievance is Warden Strong using group punishment for the actions of individual inmates.

She placed the wing on 30-day lockdown because one inmate was accused of staff assault in the hallway. The incident did not even happen on the wing itself. As a result, the inmate was moved to the disciplinary wing and shipped from the unit. The other 200 men, who had nothing to do with the incident, were put on 30-day lockdown with no hot meals. And all of their cells were trashed by officers doing “cell searches.”

As a result of the media coverage, internal affairs started an investigation into inmates’ claims about the time the unit was hit with a Norovirus outbreak that lasted for 3 weeks. For the immedate future, all grievances are going off unit for review.

I would like the Texas Pack to help inmates file legitimate grievances. For example, being held in dayrooms without a toilet for 3+ hours when cell access is supposed to be granted hourly. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. I’ve enclosed a SASE.

5 May 2018 - The unit has been on lockdown because of a virus that had all of us throwing up and could hardly walk. They locked us down for 30 days but did nothing. It was Naro. Look it up. They had this unit on the internet and Facebook. Then they had 140 offenders that went on hunger strike for some of the wrongdoings that are still going on with the officer. I write more on that later but for now just keep up the good work.

Would you please send anything you have on the rules the guards must follow? Because they make up the rules as they go, with no regard for what policies states in our (GR-106) or (I-202) handbooks. I was told to take my rule books back to my cell, or get locked up today, after telling and showing CO and Ranking COs Hallway and Chow Hall Rules. I was told that policies don’t matter; it’s what they say. Yes, I’m writing this up, no need for audio on the cameras, just watch their actions.

I’m asking for tools to work with, because the law library doesn’t have what I’m asking for (well that’s what I’m told). I’m in there everyday it’s open. I’m not allowed no more than 30 min of extra time a day, because of the number of people I’m helping or those helping me. Plus we have to pack our legal work up, and take it with us, every time we have to use the restroom.

When I write said grievances, without prejudice is what I ask and please that my complaint be truthfully and thoroughly investigated as per AD-03.82, due to me being under duress about said issue. Designees/employees are only observing the proper procedure, without honestly giving effort to ensure fair and unbiased treatment towards inmates. Also their actions of collusion by being conclusive, they also have/has malicious intent and their actions are negligent to their legal responsibility and liability, namely TX Gov Code Section 493.001 Department Mission. Their callous disregard to complaints, etc, that I and my family has copies of, that’s been filed. This is not providing public safety, or promoting positive change in offenders behavior, or reintegrating offenders into society, or assisting victims of crime.

The question is what does the officers actions show? Yes, they know policies, etc, but do they follow them? Officers lie with authority. Please help in any way you can.

Reification is a term that refers to using the labor power of the people and in turn using it as a powerful force to keep them under oppression.

The only way Texas can afford to keep 150,000 people imprisoned and continue to give parole “set offs” after they are parole eligible by law is through the use of forced labor to offset operating costs. Theoretically speaking if TDCJ were forced by law to pay prisoner workers through a new supreme court precedent, or if prisoners quit participating in enslaving themselves, parole would be presumptive and automatically granted at first eligibility.

Our freedom is at stake here, friends. That is why this issue is absolutely vital. In Texas, per a 1993 law which was passed in reaction to the 90s crack-cocaine-fueled crime wave, violent or aggravated offenders must serve 1/2 their entire sentence before becoming parole eligible. And often times after decades of dreams, hope, hard labor and good behavior, alas many are given the dreaded “set off.” So much time has elapsed that their momma has died, their support structures have crumbled, and they have become old men in terrible health due to poor diet, unable to gain meaningful employment, dreams are dashed. All their efforts seem totally futile.

It reminds me of the book Animal Farm by George Orwell and how they treat the work horse, Boxer. They push the old work horse to work harder and harder for the revolution, promising him great comforts and retirement benefits one day in the future. However the day comes when he becomes so old and unable to work they send him off to slaughter at the glue factory. TDCJ’s treatment of its prisoners is very analogous to this. When will we wake up?

MIM(Prisons) responds: This is an interesting take on a theme that we hear about constantly from our subscribers in Texas. This writer is saying that if prisoners didn’t help offset the operational costs of their own imprisonment, that TDCJ would be forced to release them because it could no longer afford to keep so many people locked up.

There is a contradiction between the high costs to keep people in prison, and the pressure applied to the criminal injustice system from citizens who want to keep oppressed nations in check. Texas is one of the most racist borderland states and has a very long history of national oppression and white supremacy.(1) The call for harsher sentences coinciding with the crack epidemic is simply a manifestation of this racism. It’s not about fear of violence; it’s about fear of Black violence.

TDCJ certainly would have a harder time financing its prison operations if it actually had to pay prisoners for their labor. But if it started releasing people because of these financial problems, we’d be hearing it from the citizenry. We aren’t sure what lengths the state would go to to appease its white constituency.

In fact, we have also heard countless reports of what TDCJ does when it has “budget problems”: it makes conditions worse for the prisoners by skipping rec time, medical call, and other duties it has to prisoners. We have yet to receive a letter from someone saying that TDCJ has started releasing prisoners due to budget problems.

The battle here isn’t between the prisoners getting paid for labor, and the TDCJ not paying them. The battle is between the interests of the oppressed nations who are housed in TDCJ prisons, with their entire lives stolen from them, and the Amerikkkan nation which has a strong material, social, and cultural interest in keeping these oppressed nations locked up. If that battle manifests in a struggle for work to be paid for in TDCJ, or for TDCJ to honor good time - work time credits in releasing prisoners, then we are all for it. But we can’t lose sight of this bigger contradiction, which is what the entire prisoner labor struggle rests on.

This contradiction has always existed since the beginning of the Amerikan nation, and even prior to that when it was still in development. And it has only been heightened under the Trump presidency. We aim to build our power so that we can overcome the contradiction, in unity with oppressed peoples all over the world. Any struggle for paid prisoner labor should primarily be a struggle to build our internal unity and organizing.

The primary problems and concerns I have for women prisoners that reside in Gatesville, Texas are the following:

• Extreme deadly heat: The metal walls on our cubicles, metal bunk and tables are burning our skin to the touch (i.e. arm, face, legs, feet, etc.). The building made out of metal and cement is cooking us alive!
• Poor ventilation: The hot air that does come in thru the sparse vents and small windows is burning our lungs and cooking our organs, to the point that it feels like suffocation. (The fan that is sold to us on commissary feels like blowing fire to our face and bodies).
• Medical neglect: Unethical, unprofessional, abusive, retaliative, cruel, prejudistic, threatening, neglectful, deliberately indifference, inhumane (violating 8th amendment). Note: women are dying due to this medical neglect – none were sentenced to death penalty.
• Suicide encouragement by CO staff and security: Taunting, coercion, verbal abusive, bullying, extreme heat, neglectful mental counseling, prolonged exposure to segregation contribute to this problem.
• Mal-nourishment and food deprivation: Incorrect amount of portions served to women, excessive amount of “Johnnys” served daily and 3 times per day (with no fruit, no vegetables, nor drink when Johnnys served). The “milk” that is served at chow is not properly made. It looks more like dirty water. Lack of proper nutrition is causing a myriad of diseases, illnesses, bone deficiency and/or death for incarcerated women.
• Black mold: Showers/toilet stalls are grossly infested with this killer mold, which causes headaches, ailments, debilitating the already weak immune system that is caused by lack of healthy nutrition. Mold is getting in our lungs and colonizing – this is verified with chest x-rays and shows granuloma.
• Sexual harassment: Cameras are pointed directly into cubicles. We are continuously being called bitches, skanks, cunts, hoes, sluts, dope heads, crack whore, dumb ass and fuck you. (Please note, rank and COs equally do this.)
• Unsanitary conditions: Captain Dixon, kitchen CO, makes the women combine all the leftover used kool-aid by other women to be drank by women that are showing up to chow hall to eat. This is causing cross-contamination, illnesses, spreading diseases, health put at risk daily. (Note: no gloves, no proper PPE, reusing 1-time-use hair nets, and being served by women that have poor hygiene, carry Hepatitis, HIV and other diseases.) This is illegal.
• No outdoor recreation: Due to the claim that there is short staff, or no staff, we are continuously denied sunlight and fresh air. This neglect is causing our health problems to exacerbate, hair fall out, skin develop psoriasis. Our skin is pruning.
• Immigrant discrimination: No rehabilitation opportunity, no education/vocational/college opportunity because of our nationality and/or our legal status. No TV channels in our Spanish language, and no interpreters available.

We need your advocacy so that we receive the correct and legal conditions and medical treatments. Please note that none of us women prisoners were sentenced to the death penalty, but yet many women have died due to cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners in this unit. We have dubbed these units “the Texas holocaust” because of the horrific and sadistic living conditions.

MIM(Prisons) responds: The horrible conditions listed above exist throughout the the United $tates prison and jail system, in some facilities and states more or less than others. MIM(Prisons) and United Struggle from Within have an analysis of why the U.$. government tolerates and encourages these conditions, namely to perpetuate a system of social control. You can find this analysis scattered through Under Lock & Key.

We encourage our subscribers to also think more deeply about these problems. Reporting on the conditions is just the first step in our struggle. Ask yourself, what do you think are the reasons for the horrible conditions at Lane Murray Unit, and at the facility where you are held. What is it about our society that makes this possible? And what can we do to change it? What has been tried in the past, and what has had relative success? What has failed? Why? What is one thing you can do today to work to the end of the conditions listed above? How does that one action relate to a long-term strategy to resolve the conditions laid out in this letter from Lane Murray Unit?

It is through this sort of analysis that we can build correct revolutionary theory and practice. So we encourage our readers to discuss these questions with others at your unit, and send us your answers to these questions so we can continue the dialogue.