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.
I’ve written this missive on behalf of the Black Mass Army. We represent
a multicultural group of individuals that is committed to destroying the
weapons of mass destruction: imperialism, fascism, racism, police
brutality, ignorance, and mental slavery. We support the United Front
for Peace in Prisons Statement of Principles. Our political philosophy
“to cure the sickness to save the patient” is our goal by liberating one
prisoner at a time through education, revolutionary science, human
psychology and self-defense.
Oppression is worse than slaughter and this hellish reality of mass
incarceration is the culmination of U.$. state power and its
constitution. We believe and practice the ideology of Ho Chi Minh. We
use revolutionary science and this means we take the ideas of the masses
(scattered and unsystematic ideas) and concentrate them thru study, then
turning them into concentrated and systematic ideas. We then go to the
masses and reproduce, spread info and explain these revolutionary ideas
until the masses embrace them as their own, hold fast to them and
translate them into action and test the correctness of these
revolutionary ideas in such actions.
We will stand together with you and defend ourselves from the
repressive, tyrannical, draconian, ruthless, unjust dictatorship of
imperialism of U.$. bureaucracy. This is what we want and this is what
we believe so that the oppressed will have a revolutionary knowledge of
his/her self and this spirit must never be suppressed or repressed for
the exploitation of others because the human whole is geometrical; “the
whole is not greater than the sum of its parts.” This means that The
Black Mass Army wants freedom, liberation, security of our communities
so that we can determine the destiny of the world’s oppressed people
against the controller, thereby uniting the mind with the body.
Because of the United Front for Peace in Prisons Statement of Principles
the U.$. prison industrial complex cannot be victorious. The walls,
bars, and guards cannot conquer or hold down an idea. We sign on and you
have our support 110% x 110%. We are a movement within the Virginia
State Prisons.
While reading the last few issues of ULK I have seen a theme
which has appeared in the past concerning Special Needs Yards (SNY).
Every state has its version of SNY. Whether it is called Ad-Seg, PC or
SNY is a matter of the “weak.”(1) People end up on SNY for all kinds of
reasons. We have a whole pantry full of names for such people: PCs,
catch outs, drop outs, victims, rats, rapos, cho-mos, or whatever the
case may be.
When a person enters the penal system in the U.S. they are instantly
thrown into a chaotic world of racial, religious and gang hatreds
complicated by competing interests, decades-old animosities and a
complex and contradictory idea system that we call the “convict code.”
All of that is coupled with the prison administration’s coercive nature
of “rehabilitation.” The continued conversation over special needs yards
demonstrates that many of us cannot see past the “institutional
personalities” that the prison system forces on us.
The reality, whether one wants to face it or not, is many so-called PCs
have been the ones that have fought for and secured many of the “rights”
we have as prisoners. In the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Farmer v. Brennan 114 S.Ct.
1970, the prisoner was a so-called “weak” element. Farmer was a
long-time prisoner rights advocate. It’s ironic that the very people who
point the finger at SNY prisoners then cite those same prisoners’ cases
to protect their own rights.
As prisoner activists one of our first goals should be in protecting the
weakest and most vulnerable among us. Sometimes that means you have to
overcome your own personal prejudices, fears and attitudes which might
have developed as a result of the polluted psychological environment in
prison. It also means careful self-examination. Socrates wrote, “do not
do to others what angers you if done to you by others.”(2) That is a
concept we all could stand to reflect on.
Every person has their own cross to bear. We shouldn’t add our weight to
someone else’s burden. I welcome the input of so-called SNY or PC
prisoners. I have no interest in making their time harder. The first and
primary concern we should have is how to collectively work together to
secure rights and improve prison conditions and, second, to further
political goals as they relate to the first. What we shouldn’t do is
victimize each other or conform to an institutional personality that
hinders political reform.
I recently read ULK issue 6 in which a comrade out of
California
discussed
his experiences after the
election
of Obama. This brought back memories I experienced along the same
lines, where at the moment it was announced that Obama was indeed the
new president there was a roar of applause almost as if one were in a
football stadium and your team just scored a touch down! This was in one
of California’s security housing units (SHUs) so this jubilation was
coming from prisoners who are amongst the most “conscious”, the most
progressive, who are taken off the mainline for rebellious acts against
the state. It was a sad sight to see potentially revolutionary prisoners
get sucked into the age-old game of bourgeois politics.
I remember having a long beat with my neighbor at the time over the
Obama sham and how Obama is like a Booker T. Washington, only worse.
Booker T. Washington was used to pacify the Black masses for the
Amerikan government but had no power outside the Black nation, whereas
Obama is the Commander in Chief and has much more power than Booker T.
Yet, like Booker T., Obama is used to corral the Black nation and many
others into the realm of bourgeois politics. On the doorstep of
imperialism, Obama’s presence in the White House is used to “legitimize”
the program of Amerika and the actions of the oppressor nation, and to
sweeten the bitter pill of repression for the oppressed nations to
swallow more quickly.
The upcoming elections have the imperialists once more dressing up
Obama, having him show up for a photo shoot at an all-Black Baptist
church, at a press conference for Latino rights, etc. But I’ll make this
real clear real fast - Obama is an imperialist and does not care about
the Black nation. Latinos have learned from Obama being in office. Many
Latinos were sucked into bourgeois politics, standing for hours in lines
beside Black folks and voting for Obama. Now what do they have to show
for it? They have over one million Latinos who had their asses deported!
Over one million - that’s more Latinos deported with Obama as president
than with Bush II as president!
Obama and the Democrats feel Latinos have no choice but to support them
because of the Republicans being so outspokenly anti-migrant, but this
is wrong! Both are anti-migrant and only tolerate migrants when we are
picking their baby spinach and heirloom tomatoes, or when we are
cleaning their homes, watching their kids and washing their cars. They
tolerate La Raza, the people, when it saves them a dollar. They let us
work and then a day before pay day they call Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) on us as happened in the processing plants in the last
couple years. It’s an old con game that both the Republicans and
Democrats use to bamboozle Raza and save a buck in the process. This is
a rerun that the Chicano nation has been battling in Aztlán since 1848
and will continue until we liberate Aztlán.
Our liberation will not come from the Democrats or Republicans; it will
not even come from any other party in the Amerikan bourgeois political
elections. The imperialists will never permit Aztlán to be liberated. It
will fight tooth and nail and sabotage any ballot box initiative even
hinting about this and neutralize any leaders who built momentum to
build any ballot box initiative in this direction. Our liberation will
come from the Chicano movement and its struggles outside of bourgeois
politics.
I am beginning to hear the same old tired talk about Obama again since
the elections are coming up. I heard one Chicano talking about how he
wrote his family and told them to vote for Obama so that the Raza will
be better off than they would be with a racist Republican. So I got on
the tier and asked him “what the hell has Obama or any Democrat during
his term done for Raza?!” He had no answer as I figured so I explained
how Raza has even suffered more with the Democrats but that they are in
fact one and the same; a double-headed monster, a single beast.
The problem is many prisoners who initially take an interest in
political science will watch these imperialist propaganda shows on the
corporate TV stations and begin to parrot what they hear and swear up
and down its true because they heard it on the “news.” What they are not
grasping is this “news” is controlled by the imperialists. They will not
put out views that work contrary to their program, they will not inform
us on revolutionary news and analysis, and they will not educate us to
rise up as these news corporations are owned by billionaires who protect
their bread and butter like a revolutionary protects his/her people.
This is why we did not hear much when, on June 7th 2010, the U.$. border
patrol shot and killed a 14-year-old Mexican child named Sergio
Hernandez as he played on the Mexican side of a canal. This is why the
killing of Oscar Grant didn’t get proper coverage. Yet we see the same
actions played over and over on TV when it’s a country that the U.$.
wants a regime change in - like the Middle East.
As author/journalist Juan Gonzalez has pointed out, the birth of the
Amerikan newspaper was around the need to share information about the
movements and behaviors of indigenous people and to rally the white
settlers around their genocide.(1) The idea of objective journalism was
a myth created much later in history, but the practice has been
consistent.
Just as the news supported the control of indigenous and African people
during the birth of this nation, the control of la Raza is at the
forefront of TV news today. The mass deportations while Obama has been
president are not done randomly. Aztlán is growing rapidly and with it
Latinos continue to multiply. Seven of the ten fastest growing cities in
the U.$. are in the area currently called the Southwest(2) and of these
seven cities all are overwhelmingly Latino states. The future must seem
very bleak for the oppressor nation. Thus they use their puppets to
attempt to curb this “invasion” and “re-conquest” as conservative
mouthpiece Pat Buchanan calls it.
Raza need to see Republicans and Democrats as one and the same. We need
to educate Raza so that we become our own liberators; national
liberation will never come from the ballot box. We need to educate our
families, friends and barrios, this needs to be done house to house and
persyn to persyn one letter at a time via snail mail if need be, but it
is the only way to ween Raza off of putting faith into bourgeois
politics.
We can look today at the many Latin@ elected officials and yet the
Barrios continue to be occupied and under siege! We continue to be used
as target practice by those claiming to protect and serve. Like our
Third World counterparts in Afghanistan who suffer “night raids” we also
get our doors kicked down in the middle of the night and the barrel of a
gun stuck in the face of our children. When the Afghan villagers hear
the helicopters they flee to the caves as they know all too well the
predators lurking in those chinooks, just as we rush to avoid the
spotlight when we hear the ghetto bird. It is a safari in the barrio and
we are the prey. The people of Afghanistan are far more oppressed than
anywhere here in Amerika yet we face the same oppressor.
The
Great
Leap Forward of 1958-59 in China was a special period in China’s
revolutionary history. The essence of which was to build communes. Today
in the imperialist controlled media the Great Leap Forward is distorted
as a situation that “killed millions” when in reality it was a socialist
economic and social development to enhance people’s power in the
countryside. Here in Amerika we are nowhere even remotely close to that
stage of development as Mao’s China. But just as early in the Chinese
revolution the peasants formed people’s communes, I see a future here in
Amerika where the people begin to form revolutionary committees. These
mutual aid teams will be anchored mainly in the barrios and ghettos but
eventually spread out to all areas where the oppressed nations reside.
These committees will work to provide the people with independent
outlets outside of the capitalist state in order to get the people to
begin exercising people’s power.
We of course are not at this juncture yet but it is a goal to work
toward in our communities, in our barrios and within our lumpen
organizations. We need education. Without learning and developing we
will continue hoping the Democrats make things better for us and
continue being hoodwinked. Now is the time to rebuild the Chicano
movement! The past struggles of our gente are not forgotten nor will our
martyrs have gone in vain or laid down only for us to stand in a line to
vote for an imperialist!
Excerpted from a longer article by this prisoner: Who Am I
As is the case with just about every young Black male/female of the
inner city ghettos of the world today, I first came to prison at a very
young age, via several previous stints in juvenile hall, the California
Youth Authority (CYA), etc. While in prison, I began to become
politically and socially conscious through my individual studies and
political education classes that I was fortunate enough to be involved
with while housed in the adjustment center at San Quentin State Prison,
with other like-minded brothers.
Due to my various political positions that became manifest in my active
participation in speaking out against, and my refusal to accept, the
many social injustices/abuses that were being perpetrated by our
kaptors, against the prisoner class, I became the latest target of these
gestapo agents’ neo-fascist scheme of COINTELPRO [government counter
intelligence program aimed at political activists such as the
Black
Panther Party]. In 1994, as a brotha was commemorating the
historical significance of my New Afrikan Black ancestors’ legacy of
struggle, that entails the elaboration of, and the redemption of all New
Afrikan Black people from the subjugation of U.$. colonial slavery, I
was removed from the general population mainline of New Folsom State
Prison, under the spurious premise of me planning a physical assault for
a prisoner that I have never met, or been around, in my entire life!
A prisoner supposedly sent me a letter through the regular U.$. mail
system, and ordered me to do this physical assault. It was later proven
that no such letter ever existed, and I was never found guilty of
anything. But nonetheless, I was still given an indeterminate Security
Housing Unit (SHU) term, based on this one source of information. A room
full of informants collaborated this information to prison officials,
along with the fact that I was supposedly a prison gang member. This
collaborated information was coerced from these prisoners via the
arbitrary threat of them being removed from the general population
mainline. It has been proven that some prisoners, as some civilians of
the free world, would sell you their soul to keep from being locked up,
or as in this case, from being placed in the SHU indefinitely.
My validation as a prison gang member, on this one source of
information, violates the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation’s (CDCR) own rules and regulations. In particular, CDCR
Title 15 Section 3378, that states that for a prisoner to be validated
as a prison gang member, there must be three independent sources of
information that are proven to be reliable. My case is a concrete
example of the fruit of the poisonous tree phenomena, because as the
years passed on, with me now being housed in the SHU indefinitely, more
and more informants have been forth to accuse me of being a prison gang
member. This makes it impossible for me to be released from the SHU to a
general population mainline.
But in addition to these material factors, Pelican Bay State Prison’s
(PBSP) Institution Gang Investigation officers have instituted a new
phase of fascism, for purposes of implicating the indeterminate SHU
class of captive New Afrikan Black prisoners as allegedly being involved
in gang activities, by way of the political and social commentary that
we send out through the mail to people of the free communities. This
practice amounts to state-sponsored persecution for our political
beliefs. This phase of fascism is continuing in spite of the court
having ruled that:
“PBSP - CDCR Institution Gang Investigation unit officers, have been
utilizing a race-based (e.g. ‘racism’) approach to say that our
political and social commentary is gang activity.”
The courts even went on to say:
“That PBSP - CDCR Institution Gang Investigation unit officers have not
produced any evidence that said political and social commentary is gang
related.”
Make no mistake about it, 17 years later, and the struggle still
continues as a New Afrikan Black political prisoner of war!
I’m scribing this missive out of solidarity and admiration for all the
comrades participating in the
hunger
strike in California, Georgia, Ohio and abroad. Thinking of this
brings me back to a book I’ve scrutinized in my captivation recently
titled Ten Men Dead by David Beresford. It’s about the Irish
Republican Army’s (IRA) organized hunger strikes, pig assassinations,
and overall solidarity of the politically conscious convicts confined in
the infamous Long Kesh prison in Belfast. These brothaz (I say brothaz
despite ethnicity because we’re all “born” from the same struggle)
struggled to overcome oppression, implement justice, and overcome
oppression toward for freedom. These comrades were willing to fast until
death if demands were not met by the tyrants who oversaw them. They also
had political support on the outside.
I see the same thing transpiring in California as you read this. I’m
intrigued and am in constant awe at the consciousness that permeates
from that SHU battle which pivots on the anticipation of that “moment of
truth” - the immediate prospect of death. The build-up to that moment is
marked by the two sides to the dispute maneuvering to heighten the
psychological pressure on the other. And the groundwork for this was
carefully laid for this feat of courage I read about in MIM(Prisons)’s
ULK.
My plantation has no solidarity amongst us. If you try to manufacture
some you’re put in long term administrative segregation (Ad-Seg) on
solitary confinement for up to a year, due to safety and security being
breached or a panya (rat) wanting you out the way before you get h
privileges taken. I write this from Ad-Seg. Currently I’m a lone soldier
in this struggle but as Terence MacSwiney, the Lord Mayor of Cork and
commanding officer of the IRA said in a political essay, “A man who will
be brave only if tromping with a legion will fail in courage if called
to stand in the breach alone.”
Comrades don’t give up, fight on, our day is near. The weight of the
people will soon crumble this paper tiger. You have my support. Shout
out to my Gaidis confined in these gulags. Keep yo face up and chest
out.
MIM(Prisons) responds: It is true that the hunger strike in
California required much work to build unity and organization before the
action. But those comrades in other states who complain that there is no
unity should not be thinking that California is so very different and
united. It is only through hard work and organizing and educating about
common goals that any unity can be built. Across the country this kind
of work is punished with solitary confinement by the prison
administrators because they know that we are effective. It’s often hard,
slow work, but it’s the only way we can build a united front and take
the fight against the criminal injustice system beyond words and into
actions.
While Israel/Netanyahu proclaim that Iran has, or is developing, a
nuclear arsenal and that nuclear research by Iran can be dangerous for
peace in the Middle East, Israel continues to stockpile nuclear weapons
freely, without any restriction or limit from the international
community; the same as the U$A! So why is Israel allowed to develop all
kinds of nuclear arsenal and weapons of mass destruction, as is the
United $tates, but Iran is not allowed to have any kind of nuclear
research, not even for peaceful purposes, such as energy? Is Israel less
aggressive and less war-waging than Iran? Is the U$A less war waging
than Iran? Are the U$A and Israel more democratic and just than Iran or
Syria or Iraq or Afghanistan?
It looks like democracy, to the U$A, is in the eye of the beholder! To
the imperialists, democracy means providing for the elite, the top
aristocracy and their lackeys, but not for the oppressed and exploited
of the world. This is part of the principal contradiction in imperialist
society. It is selfish and cannot see democracy from the vantage of the
oppressed nations and the Third World nations!
So Israel can have nuclear warheads, pointing toward Iran, Syria, or any
Arab-Muslim country that they claim threatens Israel, but none of those
countries can have nuclear research, even if it is for peaceful purposes
like generating electricity. With this kind of provocation, Israel is
ushering the Arab-Muslim countries to war; but that might be unfortunate
for Israel!
MIM(Prisons) responds: This is a good point about imperialist
double standards that we need to hammer home each time we see examples
of it. The imperialists define who they want to label “terrorists” while
they run around the world committing real acts of terror: mass murder,
widespread destruction, and environmental devastation. It is the
imperialists who will be the cause of the end of humyn life on earth if
we do not come together with the oppressed of the world to put an end to
imperialist terror.
Today, the United $tates threatened to trigger conflict with Iran when
one of its unmanned drones allegedly lost control and flew into Iranian
air space.(1) If it was Iran’s drone that had flown over the United
$tates, we would again see the double standard at play. Last month the
Amerikans made unlikely accusations against Iran’s Qods force that it
plotted a terrorist attack in Washington DC with the Mexican drug
cartel, Zeta. Amerikan politicians attack the Third World as
“terrorists” and the internal semi-colonies as “gangs.” While they tell
fantastic
stories(2) to link foreign terrorists with North American gangs, we
work with lumpen in the United $tates to develop in a united front with
the struggle of Third World peoples to end oppression and exploitation.
Many people join the anti-imperialist movement out of persynal reasons
(for instance fighting against the horrible conditions of imprisonment
in Security Housing Units) but we need to broaden our thinking beyond
our persynal struggles and see the connections to the oppressed of the
world if we hope to make real and lasting change.
On November 14, 2011 in 4 building recreational yard, 20+ prisoners
(Brown, Black and white) gathered in an historical moment in the state
of Texas. This gathering consisted of different organizations, and was
the result of the Connally Unit’s continued lack of responsibility:
unsanitized trays in the chow hall
no cleaning supplies for individual cells
lack of nutritious food
medical enslavement
high commissary prices etc.
As a result of this peaceful gathering, we were targeted and
harassed by the units of “gang intelligence,” Ms Gonzalez and 30+
officers, all coming out to the recreational yard and surrounding us as
we sat on the ground discussing our reasons for coming together. The
unit warden also came out but never asked us any questions as to why we
were gathered. I did have a piece of paper stating all the above and
more, that Ms. Gonzalez took from me. Ms Gonzalez questioned me as to
why this gathering was in place and I simply stated that she needed to
read the piece of paper she got from me. But she didn’t believe what was
on it and stated that we were there because we wanted to start a racial
riot. As we sat peacefully with their cameras on us we continued to
discuss some of the concerns prisoners had pertaining to the health and
well being of every individual.
One by one we were stripped and placed back into our cells. The whole
building, which consists of 432 prisoners, got locked down for over 24
hours due to our actions and the administration’s lack of understanding.
Seeds were scattered that day and the growth of these seeds we shall
continue to maintain for a better tomorrow. We have reason to believe
that persistence and dedication will soon give us a beautiful “rose
within the garden.”
I hope that those who read this article familiarize themselves with past
experiences before trying to engage in the same, from the uprisings in
the plantation camps, to the more modern times: the Attica uprising and
Georgia’s historical lockdown December 2010, and the more recent,
Pelican Bay
fasting this year.
Together we can move mountains!
MIM(Prisons) responds: This severe repression in the face of
peaceful protests for modest demands provides a good example of the
importance of building a strong and unified prison movement if we hope
to fight the criminal injustice system. To further build this unity we
are calling on all lumpen organizations to join the United Front for
Peace in Prison. The
Statement
of Principles of the UF includes this first point of Peace, “We
organize to end the needless conflicts and violence within the U.$.
prison environment. The oppressors use divide and conquer strategies so
that we fight each other instead of them. We will stand together and
defend ourselves from oppression.”
Comrades, here is a CDCR regulation that we can use against censorship.
Essentially there are no ban lists. Straight from the California Code of
Regulations:
15 CCR § 3190(i)(2) “Legal Material, including legal reference
material, books, and legal pads not available in the institution
canteen, pursuant to section 3161. There shall be no ‘Approved Vendor
Lists’ for any legal publications. Inmates may receive legal
publications from any publisher, book store or book distributor that
does mail order business.”
15 CCR § 3190(i)(7) “All publications, including books and subscriptions
to periodicals, subject to section 3006. There shall be no”Approved
Vendor Lists” for any publications. Inmates may receive publications
from any publisher, book store or book distributor that does mail order
business.”
MIM(Prisons) responds: This has been official policy since 2008,
yet CDCR staff continue to cite the 2006 ban memo years after a lawsuit
put an
end
to the
ban
on MIM Distributors’s mail in the state of California. Therefore we
find it useful to reprint these rules, for comrades to use in their own
appeals. Remember to forward us any documentation of censorship and
appeals. Many of these facilities have been citing the overturned 2006
memo for years, yet claim it is a mistake when we write them for an
explanation. Establishing these patterns is important in building our
cases. While they’ll never follow the rules all the time, using the law
against them is one tactic for organizing resistance and creating more
space for education to occur. We have put together a supplement to our
Censorship Guide which focuses on the California ban, so write in to get
it if you’re being given this reason for censorship.
by a Pennsylvania prisoner November 2011 permalink
Two Republican judges were convicted in a cash for kids jail time scheme
in Pennsylvannia. In PA this practice goes on each and every work day.
Republicans in the state of Colorado send kids as young as twelve to
adult penitentiaries, keeping them locked up until they’re dead or grow
old. This is a savage system.
Black people receive two and sometimes three times as much time as white
people for committing the same offenses. A Black woman will receive life
or a 20 to 40 year sentence for killing her child. A white woman will
receive probation or 30 months for the same offense. This in itself is a
crime. Black men are automatically charged with rape for any type of
sexual offense. White men are rarely charged with rape for any type of
sexual offense. Wealthy white individuals aren’t charged at all. It
matters not how much money a Black person has, should a Black man get
accused of a sex crime no matter how preposterous, that ass is going to
jail.
Pennsylvania recently sent 1000 prisoners to Michigan in March 2009 and
they came back in May 2011. Pennsylvania also sent 1000 prisoners to
Virginia who have yet to return. They were sent away, not to reduce over
crowding, but for financial reasons. Michigan is hurting for jobs since
most of their business moved out of town. Pennsylvania had 7k prisoners
who had already served their minimum sentences; however, the Parole
Board refused to release them for what they said was non-compliance or
lack of programming. Why didn’t they just release the seven thousand
prisoners who were eligible? Because it’s a business. Pennsylvania
earned $7 million dollars from the phone system in 2010. This
institution earns $5k each day the commissary is open. The Correctional
Industry (laundry) here at SCI-Somerset earns $1 million dollars
annually from outside contracts.
Pennsylvania does not permit prisoners to purchase photographs with or
without nudity. Prisoners are allowed to buy magazines but 6 out of 10
issues will be censored (denied) in order to discourage prisoners from
ordering magazine subscriptions. I have had four publications denied in
a single day. Under Lock and Key was denied October 7, 2011
along with my People Against Racist Terrorism publication, my Human
Rights Coalition magazine and my Black Enterprise magazine on the very
same day. Five or more of my publications are denied each month.
In the course of a single decade Pennsylvania prison numbers have
doubled, not as a result of the crime rate, but due to investors who
receive prime rate of their stock. A score ago, forty-six states harshly
rewrote their criminal sentencing guidelines, doubling and tripling
prison terms for a broad array of crimes. For this reason, our
legislators can now afford to reduce the 100 to 1 powder to crack
cocaine ratio to 18 to 1 because the other charges which are the result
of one initial crime will make up for the loss.
First time offenders are receiving lengthy prison sentences, sometimes
for the skin they’re in. Prosecutors decide who will be charged with
what crime. Insensitive judges determine how much time any given
defendant will receive. One prosecutor told an all white jury “what
makes the defendant dangerous is his race.” Prosecutors mention high
profile cases which have nothing to do with the individual being tried
in order to prejudice the jury against the defendant. Prosecutors
intentionally introduce false testimony, flawed forensic science and
allow police officers to get away with perjury, yet they are not held
accountable for their actions. Just as police officers who cut down
unarmed Black men get off with justifiable homicides. No homicide is
ever justifiable.
How is it that Black americans who only make up 12% of the U.$.
population make up 60% of the prison population? Our prison population
has quadrupled since 1980. In 1980 Pennsylvania spent $100K on prisons,
now the state spends $1.8 billion annually. It’s no wonder Pennsylvania
is facing a $2.3 billion deficit. In 1980 only 6% of the nation’s
prisoners were convicted of drug offenses, now that number has grown to
25% and offenders are receiving twice as much time.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This prisoner does a good job summarizing
the national oppression that is inherent in the criminal injustice
system, not just in Pennsylvania but across the United $tates. We have
reviewed the book
The
New Jim Crow which gives more background and details on this system.
While we agree that Pennsylvania (and other states) have an economic
interest in expanding their prison systems, we are careful not to
mislead people into thinking prisons are about business. Prisons are a
tool of social control which also provide good paying jobs for large
numbers of labor aristocracy workers. But they are fundamentally a money
losing business: As we explained in an article on
the
economics of prisons, prisons do not make enough money to cover
their costs so they will always be subsidized by the government.
I am writing regarding our circumstances here in Lea County Detention
Facility. As a group we have decided to go on a food strike to protest
inhuman conditions of isolation. This facility and administration
automatically has placed the majority of individuals in some type of
Ad-Seg. We are currently locked down 23 hours a day with one hour out to
get rec, shower, visit and telephone use. During our one hour out we
have to do all that needs to be taken care of, which is impossible. This
is cruel and unusual punishment.
We have found ourselves getting treated as if we have already been found
guilty for our charges and the majority of us have not even been to
court. Their excuse is that a couple years ago some prisoners caused
some trouble and now we are being punished for something that we had
absolutely no personal participation in. None of those prisoners are in
this facility any longer.
At the moment we are on a group food strike. We are being treated like
animals. I personally have been to prison and in their Ad-Seg lockdown
system we are treated better than here. We would like to be heard, and
ask that this facility be investigated. There have been suicidal deaths
in this facility due to our situation.
On November 21 I was put in full restraints. I was placed in ankle locks
and belly chains with my hands cuffed to my belly chains. And I was
forced to take a shower in full restraints! I was also in full
restraints during my 1 hour out.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We have been getting letters from
prisoners across the country who were inspired by the
food strike
in California prisons and want to use this tactic to bring attention
and change to conditions in their own state’s prisons. We support our
comrades organizing and fighting for better conditions. And we point to
an
article
in Under Lock & Key 23 which provided an analysis of the
California food strike and focused on the importance of ensuring
comrades are fully prepared for these actions before they begin. How a
campaign is led will determine whether it is inspiring or discouraging
to the larger prison population.
As we noted in that article: “One of the major lessons of this hunger
strike is the need for a unifying organizational structure through which
action can be coordinated and goals and information can be formulated
and shared. The
United
Front for Peace in Prisons provides this opportunity by bringing
together LOs and individuals who understand the importance of unity
against the common enemy.”