Federal Prisons

It is said that you can measure how far a society has advanced by how well it treats its prisoners, so by Connecticut's standards we have not come very far. We are fair game to be brutalized and tortured, have our property stolen at will or destroyed with impunity. Then they act shocked or surprised when one of their captives strikes back. And instead of learning they attempt to intensify the torture methods, and the cycle starts all over again. I continue to put my thoughts on paper even though I'm aware of the systematic effort to stop any mail that is critical of staff or other DOC policy.

None of the policies or tactics being used against us are accidental. In fact they are a part of a larger illegal psychological experiment. Under the code name 'behavior modification,' that will be used to control all of the sheeple in the larger society, once it is perfected, and there is no outcry by the sheeple. Prisoners are the most vulnerable in society, and if our basic rights are denied then no one will have rights. These experiments as they are being conducted should give raise to serious legal, cultural, political and ethical questions. Systematically prisons destroy your support system, charging astronomical surcharges for phone calls, victimizing our wives, children and family so that the billionaires and millionaires can reap more profit. And trust me, profits is all they care about.

We are limited to visits from immediate family only, which destroys most other relationships you may have. Again I contend it's by design. When in fact other interpersonal relationships are just as important as those of your immediate family. They purposely subject your family members to all kinds of degrading mistreatment, as they try to dissuade them from further visits. One they cut off your phone calls and visits, then comes the 'coup de grace': they withhold your mail, creating a state of total isolation from any community support base. Furthering this isolation they deprive you of any meaningful reading material, i.e. only material they choose. While enacting and enforcing draconian, no passing rules, so you cannot share anything with your neighbor, keeping you totally isolated from each other.

This so-called program is being run by persons from the mental health field, so I know they are very much aware of the damage and negative effects that is caused by the extreme isolation and sensory deprivation upon its victim's psyche. They are very much aware that by reducing the sensory feedback, which is essential to a person's well-being, cracks can appear in their mental defense system, which I believe is their diabolical plot. They attack those of us who they consider to be troublesome, militant agitators or even writ-writers and jailhouse lawyers. Severing your family ties and putting you in isolation. Depriving you of human contact, mail, and all other sensory stimulation, while making every effort to weaken your internal defenses, and heighten your susceptibility to the influence and control of the prison authority. And if you respond by abandoning your attitude of individuality and independence as a man, then and only then are you granted so called privileges, i.e. phone calls, commissary or the use of your radio. I personally see this as the modern equivalence of the old slave breaking technique. If you do not conform, your psychological torture continues indefinitely. No matter what any staff uses as an excuse, like "oh I'm just doing my job," "I'm just following orders" or "just making a living," they are all part of this twisted Orwellian attitude, and Machiavellian experiment. With this call to assist, I am seeking to have an investigation into the continuous retaliation, discrimination, and harassment which boarders on a form of psychological torture.

This is being written as an ongoing report as I try to have the conditions I face and treatment I'm being subjected to disseminated as widely as I can. If you are reading this, please send it to people you know and ask them to do the same.

On December 22, 2009 a guard was assaulted. It was alleged that I assaulted him. In vigilante style retaliation, I was attacked by a hoard of guards. If you can imagine a group of wild beasts in a feeding frenzy, you would have the exact picture. I had 13 to 17 guards on top of me all out of control. Without any resistance from me, lieutenant Germond (who continues to threaten me) sprayed a powerful mace substance point blank up my nostrils. Then shook the can and sprayed my entire face. This act was sadistic at the least, done only to inflict gratuitous pain and suffering. This chemical agent burns your skin and will take your breath away at 10 feet, one can only imagine the effects of having the can against your nose and the chemical shooting up your nostrils. Three months later and I am still having to use a nasal flush solution because I'm unable to breath through my nasal passage. I believe that the chemical burnt the lining membranes of my nose. Because I was never properly decontaminated it continued to burn my skin for days. Even though the instructions for its removal warn against the use of hot water, that is exactly what they did, while handcuffed they forced my upper torso under hot water, face first, knowing that such actions would cause me excruciating pain because the hot water opens your pores and allows the chemical to go directly to your nerves. It felt like someone was sticking a red hot poker to my face and skin, again done only to appease their sadistic lust. The powerful chemical totally took my breath away, it's constructed to actually consume the air molecules, in a chemical reaction.

While already unable to breath a full mask, like those worn by prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, was placed on my head, effectively preventing me from breathing, and my heart was under excessive strain. Combined with this I had over 1200 pounds on top of me, and I was unable to expand my diaphragm, and was slowing being asphyxiated. It was fortunate for me that I had my arms in front of me, as this allowed me to get enough leverage to turn in order to get some air. One of the guards whom I believe is named Sisk was punching me repeatedly in my jaw. While another one was standing up then dropping his knee only my body with all of his weight using as much force as he could. Someone else was trying to break my legs and yet another was trying to break my finders. All types of sadistic underhanded things were being done to inflict pain, and at all times during this assault on my person they were yelling like a bunch of banshees.

Finally they put leg irons and cuffs on me. The leg irons were so tight I was unable to walk. So I was dragged down this quarter mile long hallway. I was put in this dirty filthy cell, and in all my years of doing time I have never been in a more foul place. It smelled like you would expect the den of a wild animals to smell. Unfit for human occupation. There was dried blood, urine and spit on the walls and floor. The toilet had crud caked on it, outside and in, the crud on the inside of the toilet was more than an inch thick. I was 4 pointed (chained feet and hands) to the bed. As these two guards (Sisk/Thomas) were chaining me, they were putting their feet on the bed to get leverage in order to be able to pull the chains as tight as possible to assure maximum pain. So much pressure was applied that my right collar bone was hyperextended, leaving me in constant and continuous pain to date. I was four pointed over night. It was the longest night of my life, or so it seemed. I was in pain as the chemical burned my skin all night. I was denied water by lieutenant Germond. My cloths were cut and ripped off of leaving me totally naked, while the cell was freezing cold. They draped a summer blanket over me to cover my nakedness, but it was pourous and did nothing to keep me warm, purposely leaving my feet exposed to the cold that was radiating from the back wall. I was only inches away from this wall which was like a block of ice, it was so cold that you could see your breath when you exhaled. I had serious concerns that my feet would suffer frostbite.

The next day I was released from the four point restraints and for the next four days I was kept in a three point (leg irons, handcuffs, and a tether chain). I was chained in such a way (called, short chained) it prevented me from being able to stand erect, which is illegal and done to create pain in your lower back and that is exactly what the results were. The floor of the cell was concrete, cold and dirty, and I was not given any socks or shoes. I spent 9 days shivering from being cold, which defines torture. The toilet could only be flushed from the outside by the guard, and they only flushed it 3 or 4 times in 9 days, which in itself is inhuman and sadistic. I was not fed at all for the first few days, until I was seen by a captain from internal affairs. Once I started to get meals the guards started bringing in my food and drink. My food tray would sit with the guards in their guard station, sometimes for over an hour and a half, and they would do ungodly things to it before a supervisor would come to give me my food. While I was in what are called cell restraint I ate no solid food. I was able to consume only my juice and milk out of a carton.

Right after the incident, every Tom, Dick and Harry started writing me false disciplinary reports, with impunity. This one guard named Michael Jaison has been allowed to write false DRs continuously to retaliate against me. I am the only prisoner for whom they are enforcing the rule about no radio while on seg time, everyone else has their radio while I've been without mine for 5 months. The same goes for my photo album, what value is it to them, to deny me photos of my family and friends, while all others have theirs, except gratuitous punishment, acting like juveniles, because I wanted my photo album they want to deny it, in retaliation.

Everything they are doing to me is an attempt to attack me psychologically, in the hopes it will produce cracks in my mental defenses. This is the scheme behind putting me in a dog cage and leaving me chained, foot and hands, when the door to the cage was designed so the cuffs and leg irons could be removed. All other prisoners have their cuffs and leg irons removed once they are secured inside. All other prisoners are afforded the ability to interact and converse with others, I am the only one kept totally isolated, leaving all other dog cages empty. They gave strict orders that no other prisoner can pass me anything to write with, or to read while allowing all others to do so. Any privilege or amenity that is denied other prisoners on my tier, the guard will infer that it is due to the heat that my presence brings on the tier. The purpose is to attack my popularity and make me a scapegoat. They are trying to capitalize off of my mistreatment to convince others not to resist their authority, or we will isolate you and torture you. It is the weakness of principles in those around me that causes me to stand out. All I do is refuse to abandon my independence as a man, a principle that is ingrained in my heart and soul.

In their attempt to stop my ability to defend these attacks upon me, they discarded my legal papers and destroyed the files I do have, over 7 boxes of my legal papers are missing and what they gave to me, you cannot make heads or tales of them. When they removed me from the isolation cell, I was put in a Klu Klux Klan den, run by the Grand Dragon of the unit. As the head goes, so does the body. His Klan members were being allowed to spit and urinate in any food. To bring attention to this fact, I made some samples of what I believe to be urine in my coffee. The Grand Dragon retaliated against me and used his authority to have me chained foot and hands, and returned to those same filthy cells mentioned earlier, for another four days or so.

Since December 22, 2009 they have continued to subject me to all kinds of retaliation and psychological torture, and in their attempt to keep me from having a real investigation into these criminal matters they have cut off most of my envelopes and paper. I have filed numerous complaints concerning the harassment and mistreatment I am being subjected to. My complaints have either been ignored or allowed to be whitewashed with rote investigation, no matter what evidence or witnesses I have they say "based on the facts gathered the accusations are found to be uncorroborated." No further investigatory action will be taken.

During subzero temperatures outside, I was under threat of force and denial of OCE (out of cell exercise), told I could not dress warm enough, only allowed to put on 1 pair of socks, 1 t-shirt, and I was not allowed to wear both my sweat pants and thermals, I was told either one or the other, I was not allowed to wear anything on my head or hands which I could not put in my pocket, because I was cuffed feet and hands. Once I was outside I was forced to stay out for the full hour and sometimes longer. All they gave me was a thin summer jumpsuit, and cloth top tennis shoes. The jacket was draped over my shoulders, again because of the handcuffs.

There are a group of lieutenants known to me as the gang of five (Shakpe, Germond, Pafumi, Revera and Correa) who are the main perpetrators of these diabolical schemes being used against me. While denying me clothing to wear they will leave the camera off, antagonizing and badgering me, then turn the camera on to try to capture me acting bad on camera. They came to toss my cell, before leaving they threw my toothbrush in the toilet. This retaliatory treatment continues on a daily basis with impunity. In closing, I'm telling all who read this, I am under threat of bodily harm from the gang of five.

MIM(Prisons) responds:
This is a good exposure of the brutal abuse that happens in prisons across the Amerikan criminal injustice system. There are a few points in this article where we disagree with the author. First s/he states that these tactics used in prisons "will be used to control all of the sheeple in the larger society, once it is perfected, and there is no outcry by the sheeple." Prisons are a tool of social control, targeting oppressed nations within U.$. borders. However there is no need for expansion of this tool beyond the criminal injustice system because imperialism has created a bought-off middle class out of the citizens of imperialist countries. This population already has a material interest in imperialism and does not need further controlling, especially the white nation.

Our second point of disagreement is over the question of profits in prisons. The author states that the goal of prisons is profit: "victimizing our wives, children and family so that the billionaires and millionaires can reap more profit. And trust me, profits is all they care about." As we explained in our article on the economics of prisons, prisons in Amerika are not profitable. They are a tool of social control propped up by the profits of imperialism. It certainly helps to reduce the cost of prisons to charge prisoners exorbitant prices for purchases, take 50% or more of money sent in to prisoners, and force some prisoners to engage in labor for little or no wages. But none of this is sufficient to cover the cost of running the Amerikan prison system.

I am writing to you to seek advice, assistance or referral on how to get word out about biased racial profiling, mass validation, and their failure to follow their own policies and laws. Now let me just give a quick run down on what is going on here at High Desert State Prison (HDSP). In August 2009, the California Department of Corrections' goon squad, Institutional Gang Investigators, took all personal property from all "northern Hispanic" inmates on C-facility and at this time removed between 40 to 50 "northern Hispanics" from the mainline and validated us as prison gang members. Several inmates were placed on potty watch. (This is where inmates are placed in a diaper taped up and handcuffed 24 hours a day and forced to use a plastic bag to relieve themselves.) The inmates were eventually validated as gang members and are retained in ASU and we are not being transferred to appropriate prisons. Most of the points used against us were either made up or do not meet guidelines of the law to validate us. There are a lot of violations of federal and state laws going on here but I'm going to keep this brief.

MIM(Prisons) adds: The U.$. imperialists have divided the Chicano Nation (and Latinos in general) in California by drawing a line across the middle of the state and labeling those who grew up north of that line "northern Hispanics." They call the "northerners" and "southerners" gangs worthy of repression, yet countless comrades have been forced into these groups by the CDCR themselves. Early in the process, they assigned certain prisons and units to "northerners" and others to "southerners." Then when they want to lock up all the Latinos they can do so and say they are dealing with a "gang."

It is an absolute joke that this thinly veiled form of national oppression passes as legal in a bourgeois democracy. Of course, there are neo-colonial agents that have played into these divisions from the beginning. Just as the Amerikans divided Korea and Vietnam between north and south by setting up puppet leaderships, they have done the same in U.$.-occupied Aztlán. This is why the demand for the unification of oppressed nations and their territories is an inherently anti-imperialist demand.

As I write this communique I am in an empty cell void of all creature comforts. I am on 72 hour linen and clothing restriction because an officer lied and wants to make me commit suicide. I sit in this "think tank" of steel and concrete and I contemplate life in its totality. I wonder will I live to see better times? Will I ever get out of the belly of this beast or will I die and my memories be forgotten like so many before me. Even though I have a release date nothing is promised to anyone. There is no guarantee that I won't be murdered by these officers just like Ra'd (RIP).

As I contemplate my current state of existence I wonder do I have the fortitude and resilience to endure the bad just like I enjoyed the good? Surely it doesn't take no hell of a lot of wisdom to realize with good days there will be bad days. Some bad days will include having officers tamper with your food, mail, lie on you. Get your property taken away. Get bogus write-ups and anything else they can think of to grind your soul down to a fine powder and blow you to the wind. I have had the good days where no officer is harassing me. All my mail is coming on time. I eat all the canteen I can buy. Even had the people in the courts grant some appeals.

I accepted those good days with the vibrant anticipation of one day being free, and so now I must feel the pure reality of my life and the low state in which I have allowed myself to fall. I must open my eyes wide to the moment that speaks of bondage, oppression, suffering, and despair. I must pay close attention to the lesson being taught, lest I prove to be an unworthy student in this school of hard knocks. I must not let cold steel and concrete crush my will to be a strong man. I will not let the sadistic intent of those who are mere minions for the imperialists have victory over my existence.

It is my solemn vow to the memories and hard fought efforts of my ancestors to be stronger than anything these people can inflict upon me. I get weary and depressed. I get discouraged and confused, but those are the pains that come before the gain.

I implore of you comrades everywhere to not give up. Thoughts of suicide are wasted thoughts that could be better spent. When things are at their worst, think of all the other hard times you've made it through. No matter what, don't let the beast crush your will to survive. Don't let the beast crush your soul. Staying strong is our obligation.

MIM(prisons) adds: When faced with sterile, tortuous conditions, people with something to hold onto to keep them going can usually make it through. Some find that in family, or religion, or fighting for justice. However, self-preservation in and of itself is not a righteous goal, by proletarian moral standards. As Mao said, a reactionary's life is as light as a feather.

We do promote revolutionary organizing as a better solution to depression and other difficult mental states. It is better, because it is by struggling against the conditions and systems that created your mental state that you can both overcome the problems you face as an individual and prevent others from having to go through the same difficulties.

Whether its thoughts of one's ancestors who stood strong or of those you know who submitted to depression and drug abuse. Wherever we find our inspiration, all people who are part of an injust system (as we all are) are obligated to change that system. That is the moral code of those who have nothing to lose but their chains.

I was reading ULK 13 about the Illinois prisoner driven to suicide and I understand why he seeks death. They say I'm very suicidal, but that was before I was enlightened by your publication. We have nothing to live for, but I say, but for the revolution. These imperialist and capitalist countries have been destroying the proletariat long enough. My fellow comrade has put in several cases against this prison to fix their new control unit they just modified. The windows are about 4 feet high and 4 to 6 inches wide, and they still placed bars across them. This is one of the new modifications to the Long Term Segregation (LTS) unit. They barricaded the door, so they said, because they were afraid it'd get kicked off the hinges. What a crock of shit. And this is going to be done to this small mental health prison of 400 crazy people including some minimum security on the hill. There is a suicide attempt daily here and all they do is lock us in a room, naked, for several hours before we get a security blanket. Then we have to wait and beg for a gown or other things like toilet paper. I had a long talk with the psych doctor explaining our torture but I got a deaf ear now that I stopped being stupid and going on crisis. They threaten to place me on LTS. They hear me speak to people in population, so I had only 20 days out before I was placed back in seg. I am currently on strike from taking medication I don't need, so I only take what they can force me to take, 1 pill out of 10 of my anti-psychotics. Brothers we can only dedicate this life to the revolution. The KKK have evolved from white hoods to SORT gear and chemical agents. We must unite and fight.

The medical and mental health services in here is bad news. Either by sham or lack of care, or none at all. I have bad allergies and a doctor here at CSP-SAC [California State Prison - Sacramento] took me off my allergy medication to treat it. And even worse, a guy who had cancer was taken off his meds that treats his cancer.

For a time, between 1997 and 2001, I was constantly cell extracted and beaten by prison officials just for filing grievances/litigation and standing up for yard, showers, store, mail, medical, law library access, etc.

At this current time I am back in the hole. I've been here a little over a year for not accepting a celly. As I stand up to oppression I stand high to death or victory.

This is a response to the grievance petition a Texas participant sent to the TDCJ Ombudsman Coordinator. The same information was mailed as a response from the TDCJ Executive Director as well.

"If you wish to comment on the effectiveness and credibility of the grievance procedure, write a letter or send an I-60 Request form to the grievance investigator on your unit, or file a Grievance regarding that issue...

"If you have already pursued this issue through utilization of Step 1 and Step 2 of the Offender Grievance Procedure; no other administrative remedies are available to you on this issue at this time and you may pursue the matter in any manner you choose outside the Agency."

Basically, the TDCJ administrators claim no responsibility for a grievance procedure that is completely broken. These letters show that they will not grant us what is just without a power struggle. We push forward the campaign for the proper handling of grievances as a means of bringing these lines in the sand into plain view.

History shows that the most effective way to end all oppression — including the oppression of mishandled grievances, and beatings endured because of filing grievances against staff — is to work toward building a communist society. History also shows that the best way to do this is by organizing ourselves into revolutionary factions and building public opinion for national liberation struggles.

Pensé escribir con respeto a su décima edición que recibí y disfrutí mucho. Con respeto al tema principal "hip-hop", el cual no soy aficionado, hice un buen reflejo a como la cultura dominante conocida como el angloamericano explota a las clases bajas, y/o, los grupos minorías. Aunque la cultura angloamericana es la más común en sus influencias, los capitalistas que forman parte de esta clase angloamerican no tienen respeto ni a su propia raza y cultura cuando se hablan del símbolo del dinero.

Siendo nacido en los años 50, yo formaba parte del movimiento de los derechos civiles para los Chicanos durante el período entre el medio de los años 60 hasta el comienzo de los años 70. Por eso, me dí cuenta de que mi raza estaba harto de la supresión de nuestro ser y cultura cometido por parte de los angloamericanos. Lo que la raza angloamericana queria de nosotros los habitantes del area sudoeste de los E.E.U.U. fue la asimilación cultural, ¡punto! La asimilación no funciona para la mayoria de nosotros, con solo un poco integrando en la sociedad angloamericana. Sin embargo, me preocupen esos pocos que se asimilaron. Estos "asimiladores" no hicieron nada más que imitar a otros que vivían antes los cuales olvidaban su propia cultura porque solo se interesaban tener conocimientos deliberados del proceso de asimilación angloamericano.

Antes de mi encarcelamiento en 1990, la música "rap" era muy conocida y ya se estaba entrando muy fuerte en los mayores ciudades metropolitanos de Texas. Mientras yo cumplía con mi sentencia en los añs 90, este típo de música progresé y evolucioné mucho. Observé que la rap estaba bien mirado y oído, con muchos de mi Raza imitando las expresiones (lenguaje) de la cultura hip-hop que estaba penetrando por todas partes de la sociedad del mundo libre hasta las instituciones penales. Me costó mucho trabajo saber que estos aficionados de rap no puedieron hablar, ni entender su propio lenguaje, español (ni siquiera el más util Spanglish, Cali, o Pachuco). Reflexionando en todo eso, me dí cuenta de que el culpable de esta forma astuto de asimilación angloamericano fue el capitalista angloamericano quien controla las medias de comunicación para el propósito de destruir cualquier cultura que no sea igual a la suya.

Aunque yo en este momento considero el rap "Chicano" que origina de California como una forma de luchar contra el proceso de asimilación, los capitalistas anglosajones no han adoptado ni aceptaron esta forma de "expresión" Chicano (ni "rap" Latino, en general). El autor o editor del trabajo escrito titulado "Hip Hop: Living Culture or Commodity?" en ingles o Hip-Hop: ¿Cultura viviente o mercancía? nos enseñó muy bien como un capitalista y la sociedad dominante angloamericano son capaces de destruir otras culturas cueste lo que cueste. Pero al leer esta composición, ví que el discurso no discutía como la comercialización angloamericano del "hip-hop" en el corriente principal tiene como agenda la eliminación del lenguaje cultural de cualquier persona.

El estar confinado en este nuevo milenio me ha llevado a preguntarme a cerca de la inteligencia de los prisioneros que reciben beneficios del robo, la apropiación y las acciones criminales de aquellos encargados de hacer cumplir las leyes, normas y regulaciones. Aquí hay prisioneros que aceptan de los funcionarios de prisiones, revistas, libros y otros artículos de valor que pertenecen a otros prisioneros y sonríen y carcajean maliciosamente diciendo que aparecieron. Básicamente a expensas de otro prisionero. Es la misma vieja práctica utilizada con los presos desprevenidos una y otra vez para la ejecución del derecho. Son vistos como potenciales fuentes de información, los usan hasta que no sirven y los tiran de vuelta a los leones con el divertimiento acostumbrado.

Por más que lo intento, no puedo entender por qué un prisionero se sale de su camino para proporcionar a los vigilantes y oficiales de prisiones información que implica que ese prisionero sea miembro o esté asociado con una banda organizada de la prisión, de la calle u otro grupo perjudicial, y que automáticamente supone atención especializada y consideraciones acerca de su ubicación, que podrían incluir permanecer confinado indefinidamente en una Unidad de Máxima Seguridad hasta que ese individuo delata a sus compañeros, muere o sale bajo libertad condicional, sin embargo parece haber una nueva aceptación de todo esto.

Me hace gracia cuando veo a alguno de esos personajes jactándose y fanfarroneando de estar respaldados por las autoridades por ser miembros de una banda, mientras se aseguran de preguntar a otros, normalmente aprovechando la presencia de los “trajes de pepino”: “¿estás activo?”. Es como si el nuevo concepto de sistema penal no se tratase sólo de chismorrear a cerca de uno mismo, sino también de engañar a los demás para que chismorreen de sí mismos. Es como si el agente instigador de prisiones haya ganado aceptación y un simbolismo de nuevo estatus.

Cuando me preguntan si estoy activo, tengo que preguntar: “activo en qué?”, pues como ocurre con muchos otros conceptos del idioma inglés, se ha reducido a significar sólo una cosa para el idiotizado prisionero, pero en realidad significa algo significativamente más oneroso para los guardias. Y no es un secreto, pero muchos de los habitantes de la prisión tienen todavía que entender o darse cuenta de la importancia de estos conceptos e ideas que están siendo entretejidas en la estructura social de la fábrica de la prisión, forzando a muchos hombres de verdad a adoptar posiciones anti-sociales para permanecer lejos de la crucifixión.

No me pierdo demasiado, siendo un común habitante de la prisión con conciencia. Sin embargo he notado que hay demasiados idiotas que son aduladores de un antiguo concepto que ha mutado y se ha transformado en algo realmente malévolo. Uno tiene que volver a la idea número uno de “no confiar en nadie” con algo de alguna importancia. Aquellos que son de verdad uno puede adivinarlo, y aquellos que no, terminarán por descubrirse a sí mismos. Concienciaos a vosotros mismos y prestad atención, es todo lo que puedo aconsejaros en esta trampa del CDCR (siglas para el Departamento de Correcciones y Rehabilitación de California), en la que muchos no consideran la realidad de la lucha, y en su lugar practican la aceptación.

En lucha y solidaridad,

John Q. Convicto

We live here at pig central, Richard J. Donovon Correctional Bitch Facility. If you ever want your 14th or 8th Amendment rights violated or be treated like an animal come visit for a while. Prisoner or citizen they don't discriminate.

I want to share a little story with you. On November 12, 2009 I was in my cell and I broke my window out in protest to some rights of mine that were being violated with the food. Once my window was shattered c/o Rucker and c/o Davis came up to my cell claiming they were moving me to another cell, so I cuffed up without argument or a fight, when my door opened c/o Rucker grabbed me by my throat and slammed me into the top locker head first. I slumped to the floor, Rucker and Davis then picked me up and slammed me into the top bunk striking my chest area with my wind knocked out of me again. I sank to the floor where again they picked me up and slammed me onto the bottom bunk, Rucker forced my arms up as far as humanly possible without decapitating. He placed his knee with all his force into my back so I couldn't move, while Davis struck me several times in the right ribs and lower back, they both then picked me up and drug me through the broken glass down the tier to the stairs. I got to my feet before they could toss me down the stairs. Once I was downstairs they slammed me into a cage, then pushed me into the cage forcing me to strike my left knee on the steel seat. They then went to their area and concocted a lie that I had assaulted them both, they came back to the cage 5 or 10 minutes later and activated the alarm system.

When the nurse came, well actually before she came, Rucker told me I better pretend nothing happened or another beating would follow. So I lied to the nurse, saying my hands were swollen and my wrist possibly broke because I had been punching the wall. I then claimed I was suicidal so that I could go to TTA for protection (the hospital here), where I then became an "enhanced outpatient inmate" and I was moved to another building specifically designed for mentally ill patients, I"m far from being a basket case but I have my problems.

I waited until their time constraints ran out to write me up for staff assault, which I did not do. Then I filed my appeal on what happened and the misconduct I'm currently in Sacramento at the directors level awaiting his response, so I can take it to the courts on a USC 1983 civil suit. X has been putting me up on legal knowledge and showing how to pursue it, he has been a great help to me on the legal know how. I will fight tooth and nail for justice. This story is actually a lot more complicated, but I do have copies of documents they later falsified and tried to back date. These pigs are stupid.

Comrades in MIM(Prisons) and United Struggle from Within (USW) have been studying diligently to solidify and advance the line, strategy and tactics of the anti-imperialist prison movement. This issue of Under Lock & Key will introduce this discussion, while focusing on strategies utilizing the bourgeois legal system. In the imperialist countries we face a strategic period where our battles are legal ones as we build our organization and infrastructure.

In March 2010, MIM(Prisons) recorded its 1000th incident of censorship in the u.$. prison system. And this is just a small sample of the repression that goes on in the belly of the beast. The strategy behind our legal battles is two pronged: 1) when we win we create more space to do the organizing work that is much needed in the movement, and 2) when we lose we build public opinion about the reality that there are no rights, only power struggles, and what real power looks like. Therefore, if done well, every battle moves us forward.

Organizationally, we stand at a juncture where MIM(Prisons) has established itself with a consistent practice, while upholding the political line developed by the Maoist Internationalist Movement. Meanwhile, our allies stand ready to do more to organize the movement. This includes our comrades in the anti-imperialist prisoner organization, United Struggle from Within, which is led by MIM(Prisons), as well as other lumpen organizations at various levels of political development.

As a result, we are focusing on the need to build an anti-imperialist United Front through our work in the prison movement. We are making a call to all lumpen and prison-based organizations who believe in the need for self-determination of all nations to join us in developing this United Front on the basis of some key principles. MIM(Prisons), USW and others are already hashing out these principles, and we want to make sure that it is as agreeable yet powerful as it can be.

Theoretically, we stand on the legacy of decades of struggle and political line development led by MIM. By studying their work, we are able to leap forward theoretically, as each generation must do by learning from the previous. There are some theoretical questions we will be developing further in future months, both in the pages of Under Lock & Key and in larger publications we plan to publish.

We will continue to explore important aspects of strategy for months to come. We begin here with some definitions to help our readers grasp and participate in this discussion.

Definitions

Imperialism: the global economic system that exists today. First World corporations have expanded to the point where they must invest money overseas to continue to grow, so they export their capital to the Third World. These foreign investments in Third World economies, safeguarded by military force, stifle the growth of the local bourgeois classes. With no national bourgeoisie, or a weak one at best, a national economy is unable to grow. Imperialist investment then ensures its own dominance by paying dirt wages to workers who have no options, and enjoying the freedom to escape local taxes and environmental restrictions.

Anti-Imperialism: the belief that nations have the right to struggle for liberation when faced with oppression by other nations. Opposing imperialism means opposing the system where some nations use their power to exploit other nations’ wealth. Imperialism stifles all indigenous economic and political activity. Anti-imperialists work to release local development forces to better meet the needs of the people.

Nation: a group of people on one connected piece of land with a common economy, language, and national psychology.

Principal Contradiction: the highest priority contradiction that communists must focus their energy on for a long period of time - a strategic period. The concept of the principal contradiction comes from dialectical materialism, which says that everything can be divided into two opposing forces. These contradictions are the basis for any changes that thing goes through. Defining the principal contradiction is a crucial step to developing ones political line.

The principal contradiction in the world today is between the imperialist countries and the countries they oppress and exploit. Based on this fact, we say the principal task is to build public opinion against imperialism and to build institutions of the oppressed that are independent of imperialism, in order to seize power from the imperialists.

Anti-Imperialist United Front: the loose alliance of classes and parties that work to undermine imperialist domination. To achieve our principal task, we must unite all who can be united on the side of the oppressed against imperialism. Developing an anti-imperialist united front, is facilitating the growth of the winning side of the principal contradiction in the world today.

Internationalism: ethical belief or scientific approach in which peoples of different nations are held to be or assumed to be equal.

Line: Line is generally a belief, but line can also be a goal. For instance, our belief is that only through communism can we abolish the oppression of groups of people over other people. At the same time it is our goal to abolish the oppression of people over other people.

Strategy: our long-term plans to get to various goals on the way to communism. For every stage in the revolutionary struggle, there is a strategy.

Strategic Confidence: the belief that the proletarian forces will win based on a concrete analysis of society. Our strategic confidence comes from an analysis of the contradictions within imperialism, which are bringing about its own decay and destruction. As a minority within the united $tates, the oppressed and progressive forces have a hard time developing strategic confidence when focused narrowly on local events and struggles. Therefore, internationalism is a must for the oppressed nations in the united $tates to obtain liberation from imperialism, which threatens to further immiserate and oppress a growing segment of society as crisis ensues and fascism knocks on the door.

Tactics: Short-term plans, some of which may be used again and again in slightly different circumstances. Tactics are short term and flexible based on day-to-day changes in the situation.

Rightism: In general, rightists tend to be too conservative. A rightist is someone who tends to make everything a matter of tactics. Rightists don't care about long-term goals or plans.

Ultra-leftism: Ultra-leftists will tend to judge real-world revolutionaries in the light of principles that only Jesus/Moses/Muhammad-type figures could implement. Ultra-leftism thus smacks of religion/idealism. The ultra-left also tends to go to extremes to achieve their objectives.

(note: Rightism and Ultra-leftism are both errors WITHIN the revolutionary movement. We are not talking about the "right" and "left" wings of the amerikan government commonly referred to in the bourgeois press.)

Proletarian Morality: Proletarian morality is based in the basic concept of doing no wrong in the masses' eyes, but it also goes further than this. It means implementing certain codes of conduct within the party to which all party members must strictly adhere to. This means that we cannot do anything which the masses could see as morally wrong, such as accepting gratuities in exchange for favors, or stealing from the masses. Proletarian morality is not idealist, but recognizes what needs to be done to create a more just world. Pacifists apply an idealist form of morality by saying that violence is never justified. Similarly, anarchists denounce hierarchy and oppression in the hands of the oppressed, even if used as tools to destroy hierarchy and oppression in the bigger picture.

Pragmatism: a philosophy of going forth without theory or line, utilizing wishy washy strategies, and pushing tactics from that thinking. Instead of seeing the whole they see the part. Pragmatists react to a situation, rather than analyze it and address the real problem.

Empiricism: the belief that knowledge is derived from experience through direct observation of phenomena. In contrast, we recognize that 99% of practice is now history and not things that we will experience directly.

Dogmatism: the belief in, or promotion of ideas without basis in fact or without depth. Dogmatists are stubborn, and view things arrogantly and narrow-mindedly.

notes: most of the definitions above came from study and discussion of MIM Theory 5: Diet for a Small Red Planet, download pdf