Prisoners Report on Conditions in

Federal Prisons

Got a keyboard? Help type articles, letters and study group discussions from prisoners. 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.

Anchorage Correctional Complex (Anchorage)

Goose Creek Correctional Center (Wasilla)

Federal Correctional Institution Aliceville (Aliceville)

Holman Correctional Facility (Atmore)

Cummins Unit (Grady)

Delta Unit (Dermott)

East Arkansas Regional Unit (Marianna)

Grimes Unit (Newport)

North Central Unit (Calico Rock)

Tucker Max Unit (Tucker)

Varner Supermax (Grady)

Arizona State Prison Complex Central Unit (Florence)

Arizona State Prison Complex Eyman SMUI (Florence)

Arizona State Prison Complex Eyman SMUII (Florence)

Arizona State Prison Complex Florence Central (Florence)

Arizona State Prison Complex Lewis Morey (Buckeye)

Arizona State Prison Complex Perryville Lumley (Goodyear)

Federal Correctional Institution Tucson (Tucson)

Florence Correctional Center (Florence)

La Palma Correctional Center - Corrections Corporation of Americ (Eloy)

Saguaro Correctional Center - Corrections Corporation of America (Eloy)

Tucson United States Penitentiary (Tucson)

California Correctional Center (Susanville)

California Correctional Institution (Tehachapi)

California Health Care Facility (Stockton)

California Institution for Men (Chino)

California Institution for Women (Corona)

California Medical Facility (Vacaville)

California State Prison, Corcoran (Corcoran)

California State Prison, Los Angeles County (Lancaster)

California State Prison, Sacramento (Represa)

California State Prison, San Quentin (San Quentin)

California State Prison, Solano (Vacaville)

California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison (Corcoran)

Calipatria State Prison (Calipatria)

Centinela State Prison (Imperial)

Chuckawalla Valley State Prison (Blythe)

Coalinga State Hospital (COALINGA)

Deuel Vocational Institution (Tracy)

Federal Correctional Institution Dublin (Dublin)

Federal Correctional Institution Lompoc (Lompoc)

Federal Correctional Institution Victorville I (Adelanto)

Folsom State Prison (Folsom)

Heman Stark YCF (Chino)

High Desert State Prison (Indian Springs)

Ironwood State Prison (Blythe)

Kern Valley State Prison (Delano)

Martinez Detention Facility - Contra Costa County Jail (Martinez)

Mule Creek State Prison (Ione)

North Kern State Prison (Delano)

Pelican Bay State Prison (Crescent City)

Pleasant Valley State Prison (Coalinga)

Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility at Rock Mountain (San Diego)

Salinas Valley State Prison (Soledad)

Santa Barbara County Jail (Santa Barbara)

Santa Clara County Main Jail North (San Jose)

Santa Rosa Main Adult Detention Facility (Santa Rosa)

Soledad State Prison (Soledad)

US Penitentiary Victorville (Adelanto)

Valley State Prison (Chowchilla)

Wasco State Prison (Wasco)

West Valley Detention Center (Rancho Cucamonga)

Bent County Correctional Facility (Las Animas)

Colorado State Penitentiary (Canon City)

Denver Women's Correctional Facility (Denver)

Fremont Correctional Facility (Canon City)

Hudson Correctional Facility (Hudson)

Limon Correctional Facility (Limon)

Sterling Correctional Facility (Sterling)

Trinidad Correctional Facility (Model)

U.S. Penitentiary Florence (Florence)

US Penitentiary MAX (Florence)

Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center (Uncasville)

Federal Correctional Institution Danbury (Danbury)

MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution (Suffield)

Northern Correctional Institution (Somers)

Delaware Correctional Center (Smyrna)

Apalachee Correctional Institution (Sneads)

Charlotte Correctional Institution (Punta Gorda)

Columbia Correctional Institution (Portage)

Cross City Correctional Institution (Cross City)

Dade Correctional Institution (Florida City)

Desoto Correctional Institution (Arcadia)

Everglades Correctional Institution (Miami)

Federal Correctional Complex Coleman USP II (Coleman)

Florida State Prison (Raiford)

GEO Bay Correctional Facility (Panama City)

Graceville Correctional Facility (Graceville)

Gulf Correctional Institution Annex (Wewahitchka)

Hamilton Correctional Institution (Jasper)

Jefferson Correctional Institution (Monticello)

Lowell Correctional Institution (Ocala)

Lowell Reception Center (Ocala)

Marion County Jail (Ocala)

Martin Correctional Institution (Indiantown)

Miami (Miami)

Moore Haven Correctional Institution (Moore Haven)

Northwest Florida Reception Center (Chipley)

Okaloosa Correctional Institution (Crestview)

Okeechobee Correctional Institution (Okeechobee)

Orange County Correctons/Jail Facilities (Orlando)

Santa Rosa Correctional Institution (Milton)

South Florida Reception Center (Doral)

Suwanee Correctional Institution (Live Oak)

Union Correctional Institution (Raiford)

Wakulla Correctional Institution (Crawfordville)

Autry State Prison (Pelham)

Baldwin SP Bootcamp (Hardwick)

Banks County Detention Facility (Homer)

Bulloch County Correctional Institution (Statesboro)

Calhoun State Prison (Morgan)

Cobb County Detention Center (Marietta)

Coffee Correctional Facility (Nicholls)

Dooly State Prison (Unadilla)

Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (Jackson)

Georgia State Prison (Reidsville)

Gwinnett County Detention Center (Lawrenceville)

Hancock State Prison (Sparta)

Hays State Prison (Trion)

Jenkins Correctional Center (Millen)

Johnson State Prison (Wrightsville)

Macon State Prison (Oglethorpe)

Riverbend Correctional Facility (Milledgeville)

Smith State Prison (Glennville)

Telfair State Prison (Helena)

US Penitentiary Atlanta (Atlanta)

Valdosta Correctional Institution (Valdosta)

Ware Correctional Institution (Waycross)

Wheeler Correctional Facility (Alamo)

Saguaro Correctional Center (Hilo)

Iowa State Penitentiary - 1110 (Fort Madison)

Mt Pleasant Correctional Facility - 1113 (Mt Pleasant)

Idaho Maximum Security Institution (Boise)

Dixon Correctional Center (Dixon)

Federal Correctional Institution Pekin (Pekin)

Lawrence Correctional Center (Sumner)

Menard Correctional Center (Menard)

Pontiac Correctional Center (PONTIAC)

Stateville Correctional Center (Joliet)

Tamms Supermax (Tamms)

US Penitentiary Marion (Marion)

Western IL Correctional Center (Mt Sterling)

Will County Adult Detention Facility (Joilet)

Indiana State Prison (Michigan City)

Pendleton Correctional Facility (Pendleton)

Putnamville Correctional Facility (Greencastle)

US Penitentiary Terra Haute (Terre Haute)

Wabash Valley Correctional Facility (Carlisle)

Westville Correctional Facility (Westville)

Atchison County Jail (Atchison)

El Dorado Correctional Facility (El Dorado)

Hutchinson Correctional Facility (Hutchinson)

Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility (Larned)

Leavenworth Detention Center (Leavenworth)

Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex (West Liberty)

Federal Correctional Institution Ashland (Ashland)

Federal Correctional Institution Manchester (Manchester)

Kentucky State Reformatory (LaGrange)

US Penitentiary Big Sandy (Inez)

David Wade Correctional Center (Homer)

LA State Penitentiary (Angola)

Riverbend Detention Center (Lake Providence)

US Penitentiary - Pollock (Pollock)

Winn Correctional Center (Winfield)

Bristol County Sheriff's Office (North Dartmouth)

Massachussetts Correctional Institution Cedar Junction (South Walpole)

Massachussetts Correctional Institution Shirley (Shirley)

North Central Correctional Institution (Gardner)

Eastern Correctional Institution (Westover)

Jessup Correctional Institution (Jessup)

MD Reception, Diagnostic & Classification Center (Baltimore)

North Branch Correctional Institution (Cumberland)

Roxburry Correctional Institution (Hagerstown)

Western Correctional Institution (Cumberland)

Baraga Max Correctional Facility (Baraga)

Chippewa Correctional Facility (Kincheloe)

Ionia Maximum Facility (Ionia)

Kinross Correctional Facility (Kincheloe)

Macomb Correctional Facility (New Haven)

Marquette Branch Prison (Marquette)

Pine River Correctional Facility (St Louis)

Richard A Handlon Correctional Facility (Ionia)

Thumb Correctional Facility (Lapeer)

Federal Correctional Institution (Sandstone)

Federal Correctional Institution Waseca (Waseca)

Minnesota Corrections Facility Oak Park Heights (Stillwater)

Minnesota Corrections Facility Stillwater (Bayport)

Chillicothe Correctional Center (Chillicothe)

Crossroads Correctional Center (Cameron)

Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center (Bonne Terre)

Jefferson City Correctional Center (Jefferson City)

Northeastern Correctional Center (Bowling Green)

Potosi Correctional Center (Mineral Point)

South Central Correctional Center (Licking)

Southeast Correctional Center (Charleston)

Adams County Correctional Center (NATCHEZ)

Chickasaw County Regional Correctional Facility (Houston)

George-Greene Regional Correctional Facility (Lucedale)

Wilkinson County Correctional Facility (Woodville)

Montana State Prison (Deer Lodge)

Albemarle Correctional Center (Badin)

Alexander Correctional Institution (Taylorsville)

Avery/Mitchell Correctional Center (Spruce Pine)

Central Prison (Raleigh)

Cherokee County Detention Center (Murphy)

Craggy Correctional Center (Asheville)

Federal Correctional Institution Butner Medium II (Butner)

Foothills Correctional Institution (Morganton)

Granville Correctional Institution (Butner)

Greene Correctional Institution (Maury)

Harnett Correctional Institution (Lillington)

Hoke Correctional Institution (Raeford)

Lanesboro Correctional Institution (Polkton)

Lumberton Correctional Institution (Lumberton)

Marion Correctional Institution (Marion)

Mountain View Correctional Institution (Spruce Pine)

NC Correctional Institution for Women (Raleigh)

Neuse Correctional Institution (Goldsboro)

Pamlico Correctional Institution (Bayboro)

Pasquotank Correctional Institution (Elizabeth City)

Pender Correctional Institution (Burgaw)

Raleigh prison (Raleigh)

Rivers Correctional Institution (Winton)

Scotland Correctional Institution (Laurinburg)

Tabor Correctional Institution (Tabor City)

Warren Correctional Institution (Lebanon)

Wayne Correctional Center (Goldsboro)

Nebraska State Penitentiary (Lincoln)

Tecumseh State Correctional Institution (Tecumseh)

East Jersey State Prison (Rahway)

New Jersey State Prison (Trenton)

Northern State Prison (Newark)

South Woods State Prison (Bridgeton)

Lea County Detention Center (Lovington)

Ely State Prison (Ely)

Lovelock Correctional Center (Lovelock)

Northern Nevada Correctional Center (Carson City)

Adirondack Correctional Facility (Ray Brook)

Attica Correctional Facility (Attica)

Auburn Correctional Facility (Auburn)

Clinton Correctional Facility (Dannemora)

Downstate Correctional Facility (Fishkill)

Eastern NY Correctional Facility (Napanoch)

Five Points Correctional Facility (Romulus)

Franklin Correctional Facility (Malone)

Great Meadow Correctional Facility (Comstock)

Metropolitan Detention Center (Brooklyn)

Sing Sing Correctional Facility (Ossining)

Southport Correctional Facility (Pine City)

Sullivan Correctional Facility (Fallsburg)

Upstate Correctional Facility (Malone)

Chillicothe Correctional Institution (Chillicothe)

Ohio State Penitentiary (Youngstown)

Ross Correctional Institution (Chillicothe)

Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (Lucasville)

Cimarron Correctional Facility (Cushing)

Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution (Pendleton)

MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility (Woodburn)

Oregon State Penitentiary (Salem)

Snake River Correctional Institution (Ontario)

Two Rivers Correctional Institution (Umatilla)

Cambria County Prison (Ebensburg)

Chester County Prison (Westchester)

Federal Correctional Institution McKean (Bradford)

State Correctional Institution Albion (Albion)

State Correctional Institution Benner (Bellefonte)

State Correctional Institution Camp Hill (Camp Hill)

State Correctional Institution Chester (Chester)

State Correctional Institution Cresson (Cresson)

State Correctional Institution Dallas (Dallas)

State Correctional Institution Fayette (LaBelle)

State Correctional Institution Forest (Marienville)

State Correctional Institution Frackville (Frackville)

State Correctional Institution Graterford (Graterford)

State Correctional Institution Greene (Waynesburg)

State Correctional Institution Houtzdale (Houtzdale)

State Correctional Institution Huntingdon (Huntingdon)

State Correctional Institution Mahanoy (Frackville)

State Correctional Institution Muncy (Muncy)

State Correctional Institution Phoenix (Collegeville)

State Correctional Institution Pine Grove (Indiana)

State Correctional Institution Pittsburgh (Pittsburg)

State Correctional Institution Rockview (Bellefonte)

State Correctional Institution Somerset (Somerset)

Alvin S Glenn Detention Center (Columbia)

Broad River Correctional Institution (Columbia)

Evans Correctional Institution (Bennettsville)

Kershaw Correctional Institution (Kershaw)

Lee Correctional Institution (Bishopville)

Lieber Correctional Institution (Ridgeville)

McCormick Correctional Institution (McCormick)

Perry Correctional Institution (Pelzer)

Ridgeland Correctional Institution (Ridgeland)

DeBerry Special Needs Facility (Nashville)

Federal Correctional Institution Memphis (Memphis)

Hardeman County Correctional Center (Whiteville)

MORGAN COUNTY CORRECTIONAL COMPLEX (Wartburg)

Nashville (Nashville)

Northeast Correctional Complex (Mountain City)

Northwest Correctional Complex (Tiptonville)

Riverbend Maximum Security Institution (Nashville)

Trousdale Turner Correctional Center (Hartsville)

Turney Center Industrial Prison (Only)

West Tennessee State Penitentiary (Henning)

Allred Unit (Iowa Park)

Beto I Unit (Tennessee Colony)

Bexar County Jail (San Antonio)

Bill Clements Unit (Amarillo)

Billy Moore Correctional Center (Overton)

Bowie County Correctional Center (Texarkana)

Boyd Unit (Teague)

Bridgeport Unit (Bridgeport)

Cameron County Detention Center (Olmito)

Choice Moore Unit (Bonham)

Clemens Unit (Brazoria)

Coffield Unit (Tennessee Colony)

Connally Unit (Kenedy)

Cotulla Unit (Cotulla)

Dalhart Unit (Dalhart)

Daniel Unit (Snyder)

Dominguez State Jail (San Antonio)

Eastham Unit (Lovelady)

Ellis Unit (Huntsville)

Estelle 2 (Huntsville)

Estelle High Security Unit (Huntsville)

Ferguson Unit (Midway)

Formby Unit (Plainview)

Garza East Unit (Beeville)

Gib Lewis Unit (Woodville)

Hamilton Unit (Bryan)

Harris County Jail Facility (Houston)

Hightower Unit (Dayton)

Hobby Unit (Marlin)

Hughes Unit (Gatesville)

Huntsville (Huntsville)

Jester III Unit (Richmond)

John R Lindsey State Jail (Jacksboro)

Jordan Unit (Pampa)

Lane Murray Unit (Gatesville)

Larry Gist State Jail (Beaumont)

LeBlanc Unit (Beaumont)

Lopez State Jail (Edinburg)

Luther Unit (Navasota)

Lychner Unit (Humble)

Lynaugh Unit (Ft Stockton)

McConnell Unit (Beeville)

Memorial Unit (Rosharon)

Michael Unit (Tennessee Colony)

Middleton Unit (Abilene)

Montford Unit (Lubbock)

Mountain View Unit (Gatesville)

Neal Unit (Amarillo)

Pack Unit (Novasota)

Polunsky Unit (Livingston)

Powledge Unit (Palestine)

Ramsey 1 Unit Trusty Camp (Rosharon)

Ramsey III Unit (Rosharon)

Robertson Unit (Abilene)

Rufus Duncan TF (Diboll)

Sanders Estes CCA (Venus)

Smith County Jail (Tyler)

Smith Unit (Lamesa)

Stevenson Unit (Cuero)

Stiles Unit (Beaumont)

Stringfellow Unit (Rosharon)

Telford Unit (New Boston)

Terrell Unit (Rosharon)

Torres Unit (Hondo)

Travis State Jail (Austin)

Vance Unit (Richmond)

Victoria County Jail (Victoria)

Wallace Unit (Colorado City)

Wayne Scott Unit (Angleton)

Willacy Unit (Raymondville)

Wynne Unit (Huntsville)

Young Medical Facility Complex (Dickinson)

Iron County Jail (CEDAR CITY)

Utah State Prison (Draper)

Augusta Correctional Center (Craigsville)

Buckingham Correctional Center (Dillwyn)

Dillwyn Correctional Center (Dillwyn)

Federal Correctional Complex Petersburg (Petersburg)

Federal Correctional Complex Petersburg Medium (Petersburg)

Keen Mountain Correctional Center (Oakwood)

Nottoway Correctional Center (Burkeville)

Pocahontas State Correctional Center (Pocahontas)

Red Onion State Prison (Pound)

River North Correctional Center (Independence)

Sussex I State Prison (Waverly)

Sussex II State Prison (Waverly)

VA Beach (Virginia Beach)

Clallam Bay Correctional Facility (Clallam Bay)

Coyote Ridge Corrections Center (Connell)

Olympic Corrections Center (Forks)

Stafford Creek Corrections Center (Aberdeen)

Washington State Penitentiary (Walla Walla)

Green Bay Correctional Institution (Green Bay)

Jackson Correctional Institution (Black River Falls)

Jackson County Jail (BLACK RIVER FALLS)

Racine Correctional Institution (Sturtevant)

Waupun Correctional Institution (Waupun)

Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (Boscobel)

Mt Olive Correctional Complex (Mount Olive)

US Penitentiary Hazelton (Bruceton Mills)

[United Front] [Louisiana]
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Inspired by UFPP in Lousiana

Myself and a few more wish to organize on the five principles of the United Front for Peace in Prisons (UFPP) in an old issue of Under Lock & Key 52 we came across. Peace first, because the oppressors have utilized petty conflicts to keep the people divided into classes. Unity second because as a unit we all come together 1 mind 1 goal: the destruction of oppression. Growth Because of its necessary role in our development into a true revolutionary society (and if our movement is not growing we are obviously decaying). Internationalism because we recognize that the U.$. programs the lumpen with materialism so that oppression can thrive through pillaging poor people, and with internationalism we recognize the worldwide struggle. Independence to determine what is best for us and building program that serves the people righteously.


MIM(Prisons) responds: Join these comrades in Louisiana to take up the United Front for Peace in Prisons (UFPP) five principles. Think about how they apply to your work, and what you can do to implement them in organizing against the criminal injustice system. See page 3 of every issue of ULK for details on the UFPP principles.

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[Abuse] [Sussex I State Prison] [Virginia]
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A lost and dead people

I am a prisoner housed here at Sussex One State Prison. One of the three supermax prisons in Virginia. I have been housed here at Sussex One for about a year. Most of the prisoners housed here are Black and most of our overseers who work here are also Black. This is a very repressive regime with no chance of a prisoner rehabilitating himself. We are a lost and dead people who suffer from the Willie Lynch syndrome. Most prisoners do not care about their human rights, because we as a whole allow our overseers to violate our human rights without any challenge. We as prisoners are human beings, who have the same cares, concerns, and are capable of love, like any other human being. However, our overseers sees us as less than human and a lot of the prisoners here sympathize with their overseers, the same people who violate our human rights every day, who sees us as less than human beings, who only sees us as objects to be controlled and manipulated. Some of us will reenter society one day. How is it possible to reenter society and be successful when us prisoners are not given the tools to be successful. We act out against each other and a lot of us don’t even know each other. That’s what happens when you are lost and dead people. Most of us do not even know what is happening to us. Chaos and disorder is the order of the day. A lot of us don’t have a voice because our family and friends have given up on us and abandoned us, there is no hope for lost and dead people.

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[Security] [ULK Issue 57]
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Drug Survey or Pig Questions?

Revolutionary Greetings,

I just recently received ULK 56. To get straight to the point, you asked to help you do a “survey,” on the drug culture in the prison we’re at. Wow! Are you serious? Really! I know you are aware that 1st, the cops or C/Os read the letters and studies we send to you. Are you asking us to work with the K-9 to inform the administration on that issue? Cause that’s what i’m getting from this. I am definitely not going to do that survey. Would you please inform me on why you are asking us to do that?


MIM(Prisons) responds: Another imprisoned comrade wrote to us with a similar concern: “Look I’m all for trying to fix things in the prisons but I’m not with exposing certain things that goes on within the system as far as how certain convicts take care of themselves. No coubt it’s prisoners getting drugs in these institutions and how they getting them I won’t be the one to expose it, that’s snitching at its highest level and people get seriously hurt for things like that. So that article kinda threw me off.”

We are asking those questions to investigate a problem that comrades bring up over and over. As Maoists we attempt to apply the method of “from the masses to the masses.” The drug survey came about because we have been hearing from comrades across the country that the people around them are consumed by drugs or are more concerned with selling drugs than fighting for their own dignity and rights. With that in mind we drafted the series of questions in an attempt to survey the facts on the ground around this problem. Perhaps they are not the most useful questions, and comrades can send us suggestions for improving them. But we were conscious about how we worded them because we knew it could be sensitive to answer certain questions on this topic. We think all the questions can be answered in a general way that does not incriminate anyone, or give out information that is sensitive. From the answers we have received so far we think that’s proven true. We imagine none of the info we’ve received is news to the prison staff.

However, the point both of these writers make is a good one. No one should be filling out that survey with information that the pigs don’t have already. And at the very least we should have printed a warning about not giving any information that could get you or anyone else in trouble. We are printing this letter in this issue of Under Lock & Key to both serve as a warning and to remind comrades that we are still interested in this information. We will be summing it up in a future report in ULK. Anyone who feels there is a risk to responding to the survey should not do so.

In addition, we welcome general feedback on the topic, on the survey, or articles on the topic as well. All of this is with the goal of exploring ways to resolve or at least address this contradiction that poses a problem to those organizing for positive change on the inside.


10 July 2017 - CA Prisoner responds: Thank you for your most diplomatic and well-received response about my concerns about the drug survey. Granted there is a problem with drugs in prison. Some institutions more than others. Where i’m at, here in SATF, Corcoran, CA, the administration recently installed an x-ray machine in visiting to curtail the introduction of drugs coming in. It worked. Drugs here are practically non-existent. Works for them and people who have a substance abuse problem. Not so much for the people who are, or were rather, trying to feed themselves and their families. This facility is a substance abuse “treatment” facility. I’m sure the federal government gives them extra funding for that title alone. Thank you for clarifying why you are doing the survey on drugs in prison. … My sincerest apologies if I was “over the top” with my critique, although I know you do understand my concerns.

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[Videos] [Aztlan/Chicano]
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VIDEO: Interview with Chicano Power Author from Prison


[Sorry this video was temporarily unavailable at the youtube link, we’re now hosting it on our server.]

A supporter assembled the above video, adding some visuals to an interview conducted with one of the prisoners in the MIM(Prisons) study group that put together the book Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán. We hope that supporters on the outside will find this video useful in events and discussion or study groups around the book. We are encouraging the organizing of such events as part of the campaign to Commemorate the Plan de San Diego this August, initiated by Chican@ prisoners.

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[Organizing] [Culture] [ULK Issue 57]
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Your Babysitter is a Puerco

In the first ULK I read (ULK 49 - Survival and Stamina), I read “Shun TV, Be Humble, and Check Security,” by a California comrade. It was great to know there were others with my same thoughts about the stupid box. There are multiple reasons the “babysitter” is encouraged by authorities, likewise why you should be more than cautious about getting attached to one. Let’s go straight to the pros (not for us captives) for authorities and administrators of DOCs everywhere.

Babysitters are “incentives,” but not in the normal sense. Instead of being incentives (read: prizes) to earn through excellent behavior, it’s used as an incentive to lose through defiance. Pay attention, this is more than just a simple play on words. In the former, you may by your own will (read: volition or choice) decide it in your best interests to excel as a “model” prisoner in order to earn the incentive. This would be a choice exercised through your own judgment. In the second predicament is where 95% of prisoners find themselves.

In the latter, babysitters are used as coercion. Here’s the reality: the authorities establish rules and norms of expected behaviors. Break any rule, or fail to meet an expected norm, and the babysitter won’t be there when you get “home.” Their message is clear: do as we say, behave as we say, or sit in a cell with your thoughts and yourself (if you don’t have a celly). To me it doesn’t seem like much of a threat, but I’m the odd man out. I’ve been in and out of Ad-Seg, or whatever is the en vogue term now, since 2012, and have always preferred to read, study and grow. The majority of us are so caught up in consumerism and what I call “reality avoidance,” that the threat of no canteen (commissary, special packages) or no babysitter (TV) is effective to smother defiance (outside of extreme circumstances) and gain compliance.

Over decades prison officials have figured out how to condition prisoners to cherish things of no importance. A lot of hombres just want to watch Castle, Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, or whatever, eat their food, exercise when they have homies on their case, and be left to themselves. This is the overwhelming majority mentality here in RH-Max (formerly Ad-Seg). Why is this? Simply because nobody’s taken the time to explain the dynamics. In theory we all know what babysitters are used for. In practice, how many internalize this knowledge?

As long as authorities can say “here’s a TV, sit down, shut up and don’t make us do our job” then we’ve failed, because the authorities have rocked us to sleep with something stronger than a lullaby. With TV and being “left alone,” we are content enough to fight amongst ourselves instead of the puercos. As long as a babysitter can sedate us, the puercos are complacent and can run their program as they see fit. I don’t know about you, but I’m not down for catering to the puercos’ agenda.


MIM(Prisons) responds: You don’t have to sit in your cell alone with your thoughts and nothing to do. Pushing this comrade’s observations further, we call on everyone to get involved in the MIM(Prisons) political study group. Or trade some labor for books to study. Make use of your time, like this writer, to read, study and grow. Write to us today to join the next introductory study group.

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[Campaigns] [Abuse] [Download and Print] [United Struggle from Within] [Illinois]
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Downloadable Grievance Petition, Illinois

ILpetition
Click to download PDF of Illinois petition

Mail the petition to your loved ones and comrades inside who are experiencing issues with the grievance procedure. Send them extra copies to share! For more info on this campaign, click here.

Prisoners should send a copy of the signed petition to each of the addresses below. Supporters should send letters on behalf of prisoners.



John Baldwin, Acting Director, 1301 Concordia Court, PO Box 19277, Springfield, IL 62794-9277

US Dept of Justice, Civil Rights Div, 950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, PHB, Washington, DC 20530


And send MIM(Prisons) copies of any responses you receive!

MIM(Prisons), USW
PO Box 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140

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[Education] [Tennessee] [ULK Issue 57]
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Denial of Education in Tennessee, Symptom of a Bigger Problem

Recently I was front driver on a battle for education for another inmate. The prison industrial complex had him in a kitchen job at 17 cents an hour. He has been begging for GED for some time now, only to be told no and continue to work for private corporation Aramark in the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC).

I recently wrote the commissioner for the Department of Education in Tennessee, which has zero to do with TDOC. I told her how many are being denied programming and education. How is one supposed to better him/herself without an education? I said “what social interest is served by prisoners who remain illiterate? What social benefit is there in ignorance? How are people corrected while imprisoned if their education is outlawed? Who profits other than the prison industrial complex itself from stupid prisoners?” The recidivism rate for Tennessee is 55% for/in 3 years. 55% will return to prison. That’s fact. And at $64.21 per day, you tell me who profits! Not the innocent women and children who the burden falls on when you get arrested and locked up again.


MIM(Prisons) responds: These are the right questions to raise: who really is benefiting from locking up so many people and then offering no services to help these people gain education and work skills, or address problems that make it hard for them to live outside of prison?

Ultimately we don’t see any profit coming out of the actual locking up of people: it’s a net money-losing enterprise paid for by the government (i.e. by U.$. taxpayers). But certainly there are lots of businesses and individuals working in the criminal injustice system who are making lots of money off this system and who have a material interest in perpetuating it. However, these people aren’t the main ones driving the creation, expansion or continuation of prisons, which we’ve analyzed in depth in past articles. The government, who is allotting so much money to prisons, is using them for the goal of social control, particularly targeting oppressed nations within U.$. borders.

Clearly the whole criminal injustice system needs to be dismantled. But in the short term it is folks like this writer, helping out fellow prisoners, who are doing the ground work to build a united movement strong enough to win the smaller battles today and the bigger battle tomorrow.

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[Abuse] [Eastham Unit] [Texas]
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Eastham assaulting prisoners, losing paperwork

I am writing to let you all know that at Eastham unit there are episodes of the K-2 epidemic. One person falls out we get locked down for 24 hours. Just one line. Its not in the rule book or disciplinary books, they lock you up for nothing, especially if you can’t snitch on someone.

A Lt beat me up last year, I wrote it up and my step 1 disappeared so I could not write a step 2. Also I sent my copies of everything to Huntsville, TX they sent my stuff back saying they don’t want any problems or complaints sent to them, when I got the paperwork back I was missing my medical report.

They wrote me an attempted assault on officer. When I got my time sheet they changed it to an assault on officer said it was the same thing, I still have the original case. I’m writing to ask for a Texas Pack. They took mine when they shook me down. My legal work was scattered all around and only my legal folder was gone through. I had my other papers in another folder. I get tired of retaliation and can’t do nothing about it.

Eastham is out of control, cussing us out all day long. We report it or write it up. Comes back with no proof and that we lie. The guards and rank work together.

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[Abuse] [Gib Lewis Unit] [Texas]
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Brutality prevents prisoner transformation behind bars

We are not correcting bad or criminal behavior, we are not reforming lives or serving justice. We are struggling to get public attention drawn to this torture. I’ve witnessed a guard provoke a prisoner verbally, and taunt him until he had a reaction, which was then used as an excuse to assault the prisoner, claiming the prisoner acted aggressively. Implicit in nearly every interaction with the guards is the potential, the threat, of violence; every breath is a potential disciplinary infraction, or write-up. Many rules are either unknown or go unenforced, making for a milieu where a guard could enter, quite literally, any cell and find a reason to write up its inhabitant. If you have more than three books at any given time, it could be a write-up, or you put a picture of your family on or in your locker, or hang wet clothes up to dry. Almost anything can be considered non-dangerous contraband. Any guard has the power to keep a prisoners from seeing or talking to his family, a power frequently abused.

This kind of control is maddening. For the individuals who live under its influence; any refusal to comply with these instruments of violence – any lack of submission – can be met with a can of mace followed by beatings, while in restraints, and time in segregation. Meeting violent offenders with more violence, along with mental and physical torture is not an effective method of reform. It will only make the prisoners more fluent in the language of violence. And they are frequently angry, bitter and full of resentment.

I have filed grievances challenging this violation of the First Amendment and also the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments due to these prisoncrats stripping me and others of all personal property, denying access to the law library or outside recreation, and deliberately abusing grievance procedure by refusing to process any grievance that is submitted. So we ask that eyes and ears be placed upon this place because there are those offenders ready to force these prisoncrats to remove us from these cruel and inhuman conditions.

These deplorable conditions create an environment that often feels helpless and insurmountable to the prisoners who live through it. We are being oppressed and controlled, mistreated and abused on a daily basis. Some offenders have no means of addressing these abuses – even the grievance procedure is hopelessly flawed, not permitting the offenders to grieve the conduct of the guards, or any procedure whatsoever. They recognize that they are being subjected to conditions that surpass more punishment for their crimes. The parole board isn’t actually there to help us obtain our freedom, it’s there to give the illusion that it is possible, so that we may be controlled. The few that are successful will emerge as scarred, changed men, living with the knowledge and pain of what they were forced to endure, and the daily suffering that continues by the people they left behind.

On May 28 of this year a fellow inmate as well as myself were brutally beaten in handcuffs and sprayed multiple times with chemical agents off of the camera by officers, sergeants, and a Lt on this Gib Lewis Unit in Woodville, TX. Here on this unit these beatings by officers are the norm for us inmates. Most of us have little to no family support to help us voice these cruel acts of injustice to the public. We are here for rehabilitation and transformation not to be beaten to the point of traumatization. We need the public to know that the real criminals are working amongst criminal and breaking laws, rules, etc on the daily and hiding behind their uniform and rank. Assist us in this struggle for justice.

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[Abuse] [Snake River Correctional Institution] [Oregon]
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Bogus ad-seg sentence messes up parole in Oregon

I would like for you to print my story, so that the rest of my brothers and sisters who are a part of the movement will know how I have been treated this past year.

It all started in June and July of 2016 when prisoners started passing out from smoking spice. Well because we have prisoners here who are cool with the police my name was said to them, then they came and snatched me off mainline (messing up my programming that the parole board told me to complete, so I would be able to go home). I was ad-segged in DSU. This is not an ad-seg building like I was supposed to be, where I would be able to make phone calls, have the same clothes prisoners have on mainline canteen.

So, not only was I ad-segged in the hole, but my wife was removed from my visiting list, the STM officer asked that I be ad-segged for 180 days, but the superintendent signed the paper and clearly said I was to be in ad-seg for 60 days. Well the hearing officer who used to be an officer here gave me the 180 days, even though his boss said 60 days. The STM released all the other inmates back to mainline that was under the same investigation I was under, so I filled out a discrimination form against the STM, because he was showing a complete indifference with letting them back to mainline, and keeping me ad-segged. Well the STM tried to force me to talk to the state police by telling me that they had me on tape bringing in contraband, which I knew was a lie, because I told them from the jump I know nothing about what their talking about. The STM continued to try to force me to talk, but I told the state police, and the STM that I have nothing to say, and I plead the 5th amendment. Then he threatened me with going to my wife’s house. Well, of course he never went to my wife house, because he knew that she had nothing to say to him, because she didn’t know anything.

Around November I went on a hunger strike, because the Lt Kleier wouldn’t let me use the phone, or move me to an ad-seg building. I have bi-polar, anxiety and I had to fight with mental health about putting on the right meds, so I started tripping out seeing things, thinking that people was out to harm me. I ended up writing a note to someone that I considered a friend, but remember I was hallucinating, because of my hunger strike. Well this person held on to the note where I was talking about me paying someone to hurt another person who I had no problem with, it was all of the craziness I had going on in my head. Somehow the STM ended up with the note, and because they couldn’t get me on the spice they decided to write me up for the crazy note, and have me sent to the SHU Program.

So, it’s almost been a 2 year, and after all my grievances, my tort, and my civil suit against them they come and tell me that they’re sorry for placing me on ad-seg because of hearsay, and they’re sorry for taking my wife off my visiting list, and they’re going to put my wife back on my visiting list, and that they have no evidence against me, so I’m not going to receive a write up.

Well they still sent me to the SHU program which is going to mess up my parole board hearing, so just like I told my wife I’m going to make them pay for all of this mistreatment of me and my family by getting paid on my tort claim, and my civil suit that I have against them, because during the time I was ad-segged I lost a daughter to suicide, a brother who was killed, and found out my mom is dying from throat cancer, and the only time I was allowed near a phone was when they let my wife call in and tell me the bad news, then I had to get off the phone. I wasn’t allowed to call none of my family to speak with them about how I was doing, so of course I mentally checked out, because that was too much for me to handle.

So instead of easing off me they tried to apply more pressure, but they had to admit that I had nothing to do with their bogus investigation, so now I’m fighting against them with the court system, so to all my brother and sisters that’s going thru mistreatment behind bars I want you to grab your pen, and run the ink out of it by filing grievances, tort claims, and civil suits, because that’s all that they understand and they hate for you to go over their heads, so just like they had me under investigation, now I have their bosses doing an investigation on how I was mistreated at the Oregon state prison.

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