MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
www.prisoncensorship.info is a media institution run by the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons. Here we collect and publicize reports of conditions behind the bars in U.$. 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.
Stiles went down on its annual oppressive lockdown on the 9th of
September. Still no mail pick up (it’s Sat the 17th!) and only
one official shower given on the 14th. Most of the guards (99.9%) are A)
Nigerian citizens on work visas, or B) African-American females with
little education, marketable job skills, or energy. Either way, the
levels of adherence to the rules of confinement per TDJC Guidelines in
Huntsville is laughable, and most paper work is pencil-whipped.
I yelled out to D-2 Asst. Warden Fisher on Tues the 13th that “4
building D-wing” has not received a shower yet, and she yelled back
“That’s not what the paperwork says!”
Policy posted on the dayroom window on Day 1, Week 1 of this lockdown
says showers will be allowed 3 times per week on M-W-F, with a 10 degree
hygiene spend in the 2nd week. Good Luck
No mail pick up, no law library, no showers, and most meals consist
of a “Johnny sack”– a paper sack with a PB+Syrup sandwich on cheap
donated white bread, and a teaspoon of spicy hamburger meat an another 2
slices of bread. No access to cold water. I’m up on 3 row where
the heat collects and my Vaseline turns liquid by 10 A.M.
I’m writing this to express my concern about the treatment of inmates
with heat related disabilities, and their treatment, and lack of propper
medical care. Since I have been on this farm there has been five deaths
that I know of. One before i got here when an inmate burned to death in
his cell while staff stood by and did nothing, the second was found
hanging in a cell, that had been there so long, rigor mortus had set in.
The third, was made to look like a suicide but turned out to be a
murder, fourth a man just had health issues and died in his cell, and
the fifth was on the way back from the hospital in Galveston, now that’s
just prisoners. We’ve had one T.D.C.J. Captain blew his brains out while
at work, for what reason is still unknown as well as the other five
deaths.
Now all of this has taken place over a span of around 5 months. And
this is just on this farm, I wonder what happens at other farms. The
question is has Texas prisons turned into internment/death camps. To me
it seems like T.D.C.J. is doing its best to take all the things away
from prisoners that they were awarded in the Ruiz V. Estelle,
and Ruiz V. Johnson. Now if we do not educate ourselves against
this type of oppression and push for more people to ease some of the
over-crowding. What part of justice is served when a man or womyn serves
30 years flat. That’s a lifetime, that time stood still for them, if
they were 30 years old now they are a 60-year-old crippled old man or
woman, let them go spend what time they have left with any family they
might have. To keep them locked up any longer is just cruel.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Mark W. Stiles Unit has
been operating for most of 2022 so short of staff that it is placing the
public’s safety at risk. For instance buildings 3, 4 and 7 house up to
432 each and on most days operate with one officer at the building
control desk, 3 officers assigned to the 3 control pickets and one rover
per building. That is 5 officers per 432 prisoners. The 3 buildings
mentioned above not to mention buildings 11,12,18 and 19 (of which I
have no personal knowledge of the number of prisoners housed in those
buildings) that is a total of 15 officers for 1,296 prisoners. The
officers are over-worked and have short tempers. They are tired and the
rovers are only giving the prisoners an ingress/egress to and from the
cells every 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours causing tension levels to be extremely
high.
LAW AND FACTS
Mission statement: The Mission of the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice is to provide Public safety, promote positive change in
offender behavior, reintegrate offenders into society and assist victims
of crime.
TDCJ Administrative Directive (A.D.)-s.40 clearly states: Offenders
will be afforded at least hourly ingress tom and egress from their cells
during dayroom hours. Post Order 7.023 (1) The cell block officer shall
call for an ingress/egress on the hour, from the dayroom to cells and
from cells to dayroom, (2) The cellblock officer shall give offenders
returning to cellblock from assigned jobs, school, commissary, or other
unit activities opportunity to return directly to their cells.
TDCJ’s failure to follow its own procedural rules and regulations is
an independent violation of due process. This holds true even if the
rules and regulations provide protections beyond those which are
constitutionally required. The existence of rules creates the expectancy
that they will be followed… except to create an illusionary semblance of
compliance… The legislatures failure to appropriate funds sufficient to
increase significantly the security staff does not absolve the TDCJ of
liability for any unconstitutional shortcomings in the area of security
(see Ruiz V. Seator, 359 U.S. 535 (1959)).
2021 Texas legislative House Bill 3157 by Ron Reynolds. This New Law
increases the penalty for violating a person in custody’s civil rights
from a class A misdemeanor to a third-degree felony.
I am a dialysis patient at the Estelle High Security Unit. Our
Warden and Major are Having a Very Hard time getting us just across the
street to get our dialysis. One day they used a tractor and trailer to
get us there. All of us in High Security are Heat Restricted and a lot
of us are in wheelchairs. They have put us in a transport Van Ford F-350
and put us 8 in the back and 3 in the middle with wheelchairs in or on
top of them. There is a small cage in the van. This is a copy of a
grievance I just sent them:
ON 8-15-22 at 5:45pm-7:10pm 11 Dialysis patients were put in a van
with NO Rear A/C. We got to the rear gate of high security at 6:10pm our
officer driving the van told Lt. Phillips:
“Hey there’s Dialysis in the van and it’s hot for them,”
Lt. Phillips said ,
“I don’t give a fuck I’m crossing my kitchen crew to the main
building. They can fucken wait,”
It was about 90 outside. Our officer driving the van told her
again,
“They just got off dialysis,”
Lt Phillips said,
“They’ll be fine.”
Lt. Phillips, Sgt. Stovall, Sgt. Sabasi, Sgt. Perillo were all out
there. Not one came to check on us at all for the hour we were in the
van. They were in a hurry to go home. We were at risk of Heat Stroke or
worse. When we did pull in to High Security parking one of our dialysis
patients fell out from his blood pressure being low from the heat from
behind the van. Sgt. Stovall and Sgt. Sabasi were there to see it. Are
we not Heat Restricted? Why are we put in a Hot Van? TDCJ says the vans
are in working order. Blowing hot air does not mean its working.
Now I Sent it out on 8-15-22 I’m waiting for it to come back. When I
got it back I will tell you the response.
I’m attacking the “Heat Sensitivity Scoring (HSS).”
We feel that being classified as “Heat Sensitive”, which requires a
cool-bed housing assignment, is a medical treatment and a medical
diagnosis. A diagnosis that you should be able to choose if you want the
“treatment” or not. We have a right to refuse medical treatment but they
will not let us opt out of this “classification” and will not explain
how this “Heat Score” was calculated.
The best information I’ve gotten on the Cool-bed litigation came from
Nell Gaither at the Trans Pride Initiative PO Box 3982, Dallas, TX 75208
(214) 449-1439, tpride.org. She copied and pasted Document 59-2 from
Sain v. Collier 4:18-CV-4412 and I had her letter entered in my
case. It is a 4 page letter and you can buy it for $0.50 per page from
the Clerk in the Western District, Austin Division @ 501 W. 5th St.,
Suite 1100, Austin, TX 78701.
TDCJ makes First Nation practitioners take a religious knowledge test
before they will approve them for a Designated Native American Unit and
if you can’t pass the test you can’t meet with clergy or attend
ceremonies, etc.
I was shipped off of my Designated Unit and put in High Security in
Allred because I was “Heat Sensitive.” SO they denied me of my religion
due to my health conditions and wouldn’t tell me I had to re-take the
test to re-apply for a Designated Unit (which is unconstitutional).
Anyway, what they’re really doing is shipping [lawsuit/paperwork] filers
off to high security claiming they are “Heat Sensitive.”
If this happens to others, all they need to do is contact the
Chaplain and apply for a transfer to a Designated Unit again. They will
have to take the test again as is TDCJ Religious Policy AD-07.30 policy
number 09.02(rev3)p.1 &2 and policy 09.02(rev2) Attachment A.
We are looking to do away with this unconstitutional religious
discrimination and teach our own religion. TDCJ’s text is based on
Lakota religion and there are no Lakota tribes in Texas, so it is
difficult to get Native Chaplains willing to teach a religion that is
not their own.
People are fired up about ULK 78! I’m going to be ordering
all of my grievances to send to TX Prison Reform. Thank you Triumphant
of T.E.A.M. O.N.E.! for the good info. I’ve already ordered my
grievances, I have 56! You can purchase them from the law library for
$0.10 each.
Note to my Connally Unit comrades: As of 1 August 2022, TDCJ will no
longer make legal copies, which is fucked up! I’m having to send my
original documents through the mail to the court and hope they don’t
steal my mail. Warden Rayford has banned inmate-to-inmate legal visits
and there is no drinking water in the Law Library and no bathroom
breaks. If you need to go to the pisser, your session is over.
No legal copies and legal visits hinders our access to courts, but I
suggest sending an I-60 in and getting a denial on paper even if you
don’t need a jailhouse lawyer. Then, if you loose your case you can say
this was because you didn’t have your “helper.” Johnson v. Avery,
393 U.S. 483, 490(1969) says you have a right to get legal help
from other prisoners unless the prison “provides some reasonable
alternative to assist inmates in the preparation of petitions.” And if
they are still retaliating after that, make sure you got a lot of
witnesses. It is a federal crime for state actors (the prison officials)
to threaten or assault witnesses in federal litigation 18
U.S.C.§1512(a)(2).
Dillard v. Davis, et al. Civil Action
No. 7:19-cv-00081-M-BP
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Texas T.E.A.M.O.N.E.-Legal Representative
113 Stockholm, #1A
Brooklyn, NY. 11221
#endrestrictivehousinginTDCJ
more about Plaintiff at
https://wireofhope.com/prison-penpal-daniel-dillard/
TDCJ Officials DENIED Summary Judgment in fight to END restrictive
housing in Texas
On 2 August 2022, Chief Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn rendered an Order
Accepting Findings, conclusions and recommendations of the United States
Magistrate Judge.
The Honorable Magistrate Judge Hal R. Ray Jr. submitted the findings,
conclusions and recommendations on 17 June 2022, effectively denying
TDCJ’s officials qualified immunity defense and finding that continuous
confinement in TDCJ’s version of solitary confinement is INDEFINITE
under the unconstitutional Restrictive Housing Plan. A date for trial
has not been set though it was also recommended by Magistrate Judge Ray
Jr.
The time is now for pre-trial preparations and the Plaintiff and
Texas T.E.A.M.O.N.E. are requesting that individuals that are being held
in TDCJ’s Restrictive Housing please submit their testimony, artwork,
poems and writings to the contact info above. We want to hear your
stories about what you have suffered in TDCJ’s Restrictive Housing.
Anyone who wishes to participate in the trial must first submit their
testimony to Texas T.E.A.M.O.N.E. first. Serious
inquiries ONLY! Secondly you must be willing to have your background
checked thoroughly. So once again, Serious Inquiries ONLY!
*** ATTENTION *** ATTENTION ***
Texas T.E.A.M.O.N.E. is putting together a scrapbook about solitary.
Submissions would go to the above address also, along with permission to
publish your material. Submission should be turned in NO later than
November 30th 2022.
Texas Together Ending All Mass
Oppression aNd Exploitations
MIM(Prisons) adds: We have distributed copies of this
press release to a number of prisoners in Texas, but need help doing so.
If you know someone suffering in RHU, please share this information with
them ASAP.
The campaign against long-term solitary confinement is a campaign
against torture and a campaign against political repression. It is
perhaps the most important struggle in the U.$. prison movement. Texas
has an opportunity to do what California failed to do. In California, an
alliance
of lumpen leaders and reformist organizations settled the
Ashker suit against the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation.(1) Texas T.E.A.M. O.N.E. will not be
following suit, and will be taking this battle to trial with the goal of
ending, not reforming, long-term solitary confinement in Texas.
As the Texas prison movement continues to grow, we must build broader
awareness and support for this battle, especially among the most
affected masses who are willing to dig in and fight for this. The
largest prison strikes in history precluded the battle against the
Security Housing Units in California, and yet the battle was lost. We
must put politics in command and rally the prisoners and people of Texas
to put an end to torture.
Notes: 1. Wiawimawo, September 2015, Torture Continues: CDCR
Settlement Screws Prisoners, Under Lock & Key No. 46.
At the O.L Luther Unit we just had our annual Lockdown/Shakedown
during which we were forced to sit outside with limited shade and denied
respite. A close friend of mine, a 62-year-old prisoner, repeatedly told
officers that he was feeling unwell and needed access to respite. After
he was promptly denied respite he suffered from heat exhaustion and had
to be taken to the hospital where they had to perform an emergency
operation to install a pacemaker, even though prior to this he had never
suffered from cardiac issues.
I feel that this incident is indicative of the type of behavior that
is perpetuated inside TDCJ. A blatant disregard for the well-being of
those incarcerated is the modus operandi of these facilities as
well as denying respite during category 4 level heat they are also
restricting access to ice. When we tried to address the issue with
grievances, the responses we received were flat out lies. They
maintained that we have continual access to ice for our drinks and
commissary purchases. Despite the fact that several of my comrades here
have received unjust disciplinary action for the simple act of trying to
get ice.
While we are denied ice, in violation of their own directive (A.D.
1064) which states that we are guaranteed ice during times of elevated
heat, the C.O.’s (capitalist oppressors) have their own cooler just for
ice and it is kept under lock & key to prevent our access. This
level of hypocrisy is inexcusable. We are currently trying to initiate a
1983 civil suit to demand A/C and access to ice. Thank you for allowing
me to express my grievances. Stay strong comrades.
UPDATE FOR AUGUST 2022: Now that Juneteenth 2022 has passed,
please use this updated
flyer and these updated
postcards now address the censorship across the state of Texas in
recent months. We need your support to keep increasing the pressure to
fight this censorship of political speech.
Download and print this flyer to hang or hand out.
We are also asking others to join our letter writing and postcard
campaign in support of the rights of MIM Distributors and activists in
Allred to freely communicate. There has been a rise in mail
censorship as organizing has progressed.
download PDF below
print 2-sided on cardstock
cut into 4
add $0.40 stamp (or more)
go to event or public space and ask people to sign their name, city
and state
explain the Junteenth Freedom Initiative to them
hand them a flyer (above) or Under Lock & Key
ask for a donation to pay for postage & printing
drop postcards in mail box (don’t mail them all at once we want a
consistent stream of cards coming in)
On 19 June 2022, prisoners across Texas abstained from celebrating
the federal Juneteenth holiday until real freedom is attained by the
oppressed in this country. Instead they organized, studied and made
their voices heard for the demands of the Juneteenth Freedom Initiative,
including:
End Solitary Confinement! End Restrictive Housing Units(RHU)!
End Mass Incarceration!
Stop Mail Censorship!
Transform the prisons to cadre schools! Transform ourselves into NEW
PEOPLE!
Updates Since Juneteenth
The response from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice(TDCJ) was
swift and coordinated. MIM(Prisons) sent hundreds of update letters to
comrades in Texas during the month of June, and almost all of them
appear to have been censored.
Prisons where our letters were censored for “inciting a disturbance”
or “riot” include:
Allred Unit
Beto I Unit
Boyd Unit
Christina Melton Crain Unit
Estelle High Security Unit
Estelle 2
Ferguson Unit
Gist
Hughes Unit
McConnell Unit
Mountain View Unit
Stevenson Unit
Telford Unit
Terrell Unit
Wallace Unit
Wynne Unit
We are still receiving and compiling censorship notices from June.
Needless to say, there was a coordinated effort to block our letters
across the state, and they were really worried about the Juneteenth
boycott. Of course, there was nothing about organizing a riot in our
letters. But the imperialists will consider a boycott a “disturbance”
worthy of violating Constitutional rights. Biden said we must celebrate
Juneteenth, so now we face the consequences of his goons in the
TDCJ.
The censorship at Allred Unit had been going on for months prior.
This is the worst RHU in the state, where a lot of the JFI organizing
began. Therefore we began a postcard
campaign to protest the political targeting of mail and of certain
prisoners at Allred. One comrade there received 22 mail denial notices
in one day in May! Another comrade in Allred wrote:
“I been denied 2 newsletters & 1 letter that ya’ll sent my way.
[everything we’ve sent this comrade] I highly appreciate ya’ll. I’ve
sent them home. This only confirms that Texas don’t want us to know.
Your news letters were denied for tha reason of ‘inciting a
disturbance’.”
“I asked the mail room lady if anything sent from this address will
be denied and she said, ‘Yes.’ Just like that, freedom of speech
denied.”
This campaign is ongoing, as the censorship continues, and we ask
outside supporters to get involved. Mail from prisoners in Allred is
often delayed a month or more, so updates on the launch of the JFI have
not yet come in from some of the organizers.
Outreach during June included flyering and postcards on the streets,
hundreds of update letters sent to TX prisoners and radio interviews in
Texas and on Free Aztlán on 96.1 KEXU in Oakland.
One Texas comrade reported:
“The Juneteenth Freedom Initiative flyer was displayed for several
weeks here. On Juneteenth, no movement due to low staff and no special
holiday meal. The officers dining room had ribs, BBQ chicken and
brisquet with all the fixins, and these were supposed to be delivered to
each officer on duty. However, most were stolen en route. The warden and
kitchen captain were pissed.”
The JFI was initiated by TX T.E.A.M. O.N.E who has continued to lead
organizing efforts inside. Others, including Prison Lives Matter,
Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee Local 613 #1, the Texas
Liberation Collective, and United Struggle from Within cells, have
joined the call. On the outside, MIM(Prisons), Anti-Imperialist Prisoner
Support, and the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement have been providing
support.
Phase 2
Per the plan below, laid out by TX T.E.A.M. O.N.E. the next phase of
the Juneteenth Freedom Initiative for prisoners is to file petitions
with the Department of Justice. If you need a sample petition, write us
to get a copy. This petition is not specific to Texas.
Prisoners in long-term solitary confinement in Texas can also join
the Dillard lawsuit against the TDCJ. If you need a copy of the
motion to join, write us.
Outside supporters can best assist organizers inside by joining our
campaign against censorship. We want to continue to let the TDCJ know
that people outside are paying attention and not willing to accept this
political repression. We will be following up with a lawsuit on behalf
of an affected party in Allred and MIM Distributors. You can help in the
following ways:
calling or writing letters to the TDCJ, and to Allred Unit in
particular
getting others to sign postcards protesting the censorship
As you may know, Juneteenth has now been made a federal holiday in
amerika. On this day many will sing the praises of Our oppressors or
otherwise negate the reality of the lumpen (economically alienated
class), that according to amerika’s 13th amendment We are STILL SLAVES.
While We do not wish to nullify the intensity of the exploitation and
oppression that New Afrikan people held in chattel slavery faced, We
must pinpoint to the general public, those upcoming generations of
youngsters looking to follow Our footsteps, that to be held in captivity
by the state or feds is not only to be frowned upon but is part and
parcel with the intentions of this amerikan government, and its
capitalist-imperialist rulers. We say NO CELEBRATING JUNETEENTH until
the relation of people holding others in captivity is fully
abolished!!
Comrades have been organizing around the Juneteenth Freedom
Initiative(JFI) for almost a year now, and we just completed phase 1.
Prisoners in Texas and North Carolina took up the campaign. Instead of
celebrating Juneteenth, boycotters worked to get out the voice of the
incarcerated in TX and NC.
Previous campaign materials include more demands and more details.
Add your own demands that speak to your local conditions and make the
JFI demands heard by the masses and the oppressors. Don’t just boycott,
organize.
The Boycott is just the first phase and launch of this campaign by
and for all Texas prisoners.
Juneteenth boycott and voice demands starting 19 June 2022
present petition to the Department of Justice Special Litigation
division (write in to get a copy if you still need one) – everyone
should mail copies of their own signed petition to the DOJ following
Juneteenth 2022
if (2) fails to bring proper response, we will petition the United
Nations – date To Be Determined – watch for announcement in Under Lock
& Key, we will be requesting testimonials and collecting statistics
to back up our arguments on each campaign position and submit them as
evidence to bolster the recent guilty verdict of the We Still Charge
Genocide, International Tribunal 2021 where mass incarceration and
solitary confinement were ruled to be vital tools in the U.S. campaign
of genocide for centuries against Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples of
this continent.
Styled Name: F Martinez, Doll, Pineapple Pictures, et al. Versus
Members of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, et al.
Dear Friends:
Greetings! I am the leading plaintiff in the above styled and
numbered case. I filed this lawsuit on my behalf and others similarly
situated prisoners in TDCJ. I also represent the interest of Doll,
Pineapple and other commercial vendors.
The reasons in filing this lawsuit is to challenge the
constitutionality of the rules 1(C) and IV(A)(10)(11) of the “Uniform
Offenders Correspondence Rules” (BP-03.91)
Rule 1(C) which limits to receive ten photos per envelope is
unreasonably and arbitrarily applied to deny catalogs, brochures, and
flyers from commercial vendors. Rule IV(A)(10)(11) which totally bans
“sexually explicit images” coming into the general population all in
disguise of rehabilitation purposes.
On or about 17 June 2022, I filed in court a “motion for temporary
restraining order and preliminary injuction.” I hope that the court
grant me this motion and temporarily enjoin the defendants from
enforcing these rules until the merits are decided in trial or through
the summary judgement process.
Anybody interested in copies of the complaint and the “TRO” motion
may request copies form the court. To request the price fees you may
write to the clerk of the court at:
U.S. District Court
Southern District of Texas
Galveston Division
Clerk of the Court
601 Rosenberg Street, Rm 411
Galveston, TX 77550