Federal Prisons

I am interested in getting petitions for the Three Strikes law. I would very much like to contribute my time in collecting as many signatures as possible. I could easily be a victim of this so called Justice System, I have 2 strikes on my record as a first timer.

I really do have to fight for justice, because after being in the system just a few years I have heard all the stories of inmates who are serving a 25 to life sentences for such petty crimes as petty theft, drug paraphernalia, little petty stuff that I can't believe these sentences handed down. And the number of years these fellow inmates have served are unjustifiable. I've been to San Quentin, and to Old Folsom, in my 3 years I've met over 100 inmates who in total years probably served over 1000 years for such minor offenses as shoplifting at Safeway a $10 bottle of liquor (25 years). All too many to name, but as I go through the system I'm seeing more 3 strikers.

It is a crime in itself to take a man away from his family for so long, for so petty shit as taking a pack of batteries, or a pair of levis from the gap. No matter how much this merchandise may add up to, it can never add up to life. And I'm hearing a lot of horror stories like this about condemned men now facing 25 years to life. This is a crying shame, I do hope that the MIM continues to distribute its literature through these prisons so that more people can rally up and speak out on, for I could easily be the next victim of this so called justice system. I'd just like to say to keep up the good work and keep the MIM Notes coming!

MIM adds: A copy of our Three Strikes Petition can be found on our web site at http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/agitation/prisons under the California campaigns section.

"Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people, by its example. Crime is contagious. If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law: it invites every man to become a law unto himself."Olmstead v. U. S., 277 U. S. 439, 485 (1927)

In April 2007, Richard Rowlette became the new Assistant Warden at Red Onion State Prison (ROSP). Rowlette had previously worked at ROSP in the position of Security Chief from the time that the prison opened in 1998 until December 1999. During that time he was a principal administrative player and ringleader in the racist abuses that won ROSP its reputation for prisoner mistreatment. He was instrumental in helping ROSP gain national notoriety as one of the country's most abusive prisons.

Since his promotion to Assistant Warden, I have filed an official complaint with Rowlette concerning ROSP officials refusing me telephone contact with two attorneys who had offered me their professional assistance. I presented a request to Rowlette to allow me to call these two lawyers.

Months before, both of these lawyers had verified their credentials and their intent and efforts to advise and assist me in litigation against various ROSP staff, including my assigned counselor John Sykes and the chief warden Tracy Ray. One of these lawyers is Mr. Malik Shabazz. Upon being informed of my ongoing experiences of abuse at ROSP (abuse which is a response to my political activism and continuing exposure of abuses at the prison), Mr. Shabazz decided to support me. Mr. Shabazz happens to be the Chairman of the New Black Panther Party (NBPP), an organization with which I have no affiliation.

Rowlette's response was that if he had anything to do with it I'd never talk to a lawyer. When I pointed out that this was a basic constitutional right, he responded, "Your people have no rights." I am New Afrikan (Black) so his meaning was obvious. I filed a complaint. I also filed a complaint about being denied contact with my lawyers for months, despite their repeated attempts to arrange legal calls with me. Rowlette responded to my complaint with a memo stating that my request to have confidential legal calls to these lawyers was "DENIED." In this memo he rationalizes denying me legal calls by claiming that no attorney-client relationship exists between me and these lawyers.

The memo states that unless I prove that they are actively representing me in litigation pending in a court of record in Virginia, I will be denied legal calls. It specifically states that a letter from a lawyer stating the she is representing me "will not suffice." The memo also states, "Your request is further DENIED in regards to Mr. Malik Shabazz due to his involvement with the New Black Panther Party. To allow unrecorded phone calls between you and the President/Founder of the New Black Panther Party would present an unacceptable risk to the Security of this Facility."

For the benefit of any doubters, I've attached a copy of Rowlette's initialed memo.

Rowlette's memo breaks a barrel full of criminal laws. In Virginia it is a crime for any person to interfere with the relationship of confidence and trust that must exist between a lawyer and her/his client. It is also a crime for any one not licensed to practice law to present himself as qualified to give legal opinions. Both of these acts constitute the crime of "unauthorized practice of law."'

Rowlette has no legal training or authority to define the attorney-client relationship. He certainly cannot use any such unauthorized definition to block confidential communications between a lawyer and client. Indeed, the Virginia Supreme Court itself has defined what constitutes an attorney/client relationship. The court's definition is quite different from Rowlette's. In the U.S., it is the function of the courts to define and interpret the laws and the functions of executives (including prison officials), to enforce and apply those laws.

In its definitive document "Practice of Law in the commonwealth of Virginia" (PLCV), the Virginia Supreme Court defines the attorney-client relationship as follows:

"Generally, the relation of attorney and client exists and one is deemed to be practicing law whenever he furnishes to another advice or services under circumstances which imply his possession and use of legal knowledge or skill.

"Specifically, the relation of attorney and client exists, and one is deemed to be practicing law whenever (I.) One undertakes... to advise another... in any matter involving the application of legal principles to facts or purposes or desires. (2) One ... undertakes, with or without compensation, to prepare for another legal
instruments of any character...(3) One undertakes, with or without compensation, to represent the interest of another before any tribunal judicial, administrative, or
executive..."

Rowlette's memo presumes to overrule the high court's definition of the attorney-client relationship. Using his unlawful definition, he has barred me from confidential contact with these lawyers. The bigger absurdity is the obvious Catch-22 in Rowlette's position. A lawyer must be able to consult with a client in order to gather the information necessary to file a lawsuit for him/her. If I am blocked from confidential communications with lawyers, then they will never be able to bring litigation on my behalf. This is the real intent behind Rowlette's game.

As for Mr. Shabazz's NBPP membership, Rowlette presents no evidence that this affiliation threatens prison security. As a federal lawyer, Mr. Shabazz is foremost an officer of the courts. If his private organizational affiliations conflicted with his professional status, Mr. Shabazz would not be permitted to maintain his legal license.

Furthermore Rowlette has directed ROSP mailroom clerks to intercept, open, read, and refuse to send out mail that is clearly identified as "legal mail" intended for lawyers. These mailroom officials, based upon Rowlettes' position, refuse to treat or process mail to and from lawyers as confidential legal mail in blatant violation of VDOC mail policy. This is a federal crime, obstructing U.S. mails,² and violates my constitutional rights to free speech and to privacy in my legal mail.

History of Abuse at Red Onion State Prison

When ROSP first began operating in 1998, it developed almost instantly a nationwide reputation for racism and abuses of its predominantly nonwhite prisoner population by its near exclusively white staff.

In response to receiving a flood of letters from ROSP prisoners complaining of unjustified transfers to ROSP and of frequent and widespread racism, brutality and general abuse, Human Rights Watch (HRW) attorney Jamie Fellner conducted an independent investigation into conditions at the remote Virginia prison. Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC) officials refused to cooperate with the investigation.

Ms. Fellner's findings were set out in an April 1999 HRW report entitled Red Onion State Prison:Super-Maximum Security Confinement in Virginia.³

This report touched on the various abusive conditions and treatments suffered by ROSP prisoners and found that many of those assigned to the prison did not meet the criteria for "supermax" confinement. Actually almost none did. Seven pages of the report focused on incidents and practices in the "Use of Force" at the prison. One incident described in that section stands out and is particularly relevant here:

"One inmate told HRW that immediately upon arrival at Red Onion in September 1998, he and other inmates were told to strip and permit a visual body search, including by spreading their buttocks. Female staff were present—indeed one was taking a video of the proceedings—and the inmate was reluctant to do as ordered in front of them. A captain shot him with the taser in the presence of the warden, associate warden and a major. After the inmate had been tasered, the major screamed in his ear, “Boy, you’re at Red Onion now” and then told the other officers to “get that nigger out of here.” The inmate filed a grievance because he felt—correctly—that he should not have had to submit to a visual body search strip in front of female staff.

"The inmate's grievance was denied. The warden acknowledged that a taser had been used because the inmate hesitated to strip and thus 'was failing to obey instructions.' The denial was upheld by the regional director without comment 'based on the information provided.' There was no effort to suggest that application of physical force was warranted by any possibility of danger or that nonphysical effort to persuade the inmate had been attempted and failed. The use of the taser appears more likely to have been a deliberate and malicious excessive use of force calculated to intimidate new arrivals to the facility.

"In denying the inmate's grievance, Warden George Deeds stated that post orders at Red Onion permit females to work at any post in this case, assignment to the video camera. It is widely recognized, however that cross-gender strip searches violate inmates' 'Individual dignity and right to privacy'. The warden's policy at Red Onion ignores basic correctional principles and international standards prohibiting cross-gender strip searches unless in an emergency." (pp. 21-22)

The prisoner who was the victim of this abusive strip search and unwarranted attack was XXXX XXXX. Indeed, most every prisoner assigned to ROSP during that time, including myself, were subjected to this cross-gender strip search process, during which it was often demanded that we repeatedly manipulate our genitals and spread our buttocks.

These searches were conducted under threat of being immediately tasered. A taser was trained on us throughout the strip search process. We were bodily subdued and searched by force by a mob of guards who were always present and dressed out in full riot armor. We were then escorted to our new cell assignment. Most were literally dragged stark naked through the prison while being observed nude by multitudes of guards, both male and female, as well as by other prisoners.

The entire process was calculated to humiliate and terrorize new arrivals and convey the message that at ROSP we would comply without hesitation with any staff demands, no matter how abusive or arbitrary. If we failed to promptly comply or questioned the demands, we would be met with immediate overwhelming force and further humiliation.

To convey this message these officials deliberately created a situation (for example the cross gender strip searches) calculated to provoke our resistance or hesitation and thereby justify the
premeditated intent to use overwhelming force.⁴

Before Abu Ghraib there was Red Onion.⁵

Richard Rowlette: Crime Time at ROSP

The Major who was personally present and supervised most of these intake strip searches, the very same major that screamed in XXXX's ear and told guards to "'get that nigger out of here," was Richard Rowlette.

XXXX subsequently filed and won a lawsuit concerning the incident. The court found that the officials had violated his constitutional rights, which is a federal crime.⁶ XXXX was then transferred away from ROSP and hasn't since returned. However, the multitudes of other prisoners who were subjected to the same treatments and worse, including myself, were granted no relief

In the wake of extensive bad media, the HRW report, and a U. S. Department of Justice investigation, Rowlette was assigned to another VDOC prison in Powhatan County, but not before he acted to settle a long standing vendetta he had against me.

On December 6, 1999, the day before he left ROSP, and in a departing last show of power, Rowlette attempted to force me to talk to him at my cell door. I ignored him. I generally refuse to engage him in conversation. This enrages him, as he believes he can intimidate prisoners to do whatever he demands under threat of having them attacked by guards.

Because I wouldn't talk to him, Rowlette had two extraction teams of some 10 guards assembled at my cell in full riot armor, with two 50,000 volt electric shields and a 36 ounce canister of gas. Under his direct supervision and direction I was gassed for an entire hour while the entire canister was emptied into the cell. This level of gas was far in excess of the 6 grams that federal courts have found to be an "estimated lethal dose" when sprayed into a small closed-in cell.⁷ He then had me sprayed with more gas from a smaller canister that guards generally carry on their sides. This was a clear attempt to torture and murder me by asphyxiation.

I was then met with violent attack by the two teams of armored guards. After being restrained and strapped down to the bunk in 5-point restraints⁸ for 48 hours (in the still contaminated cell), I was electrocuted repeatedly. For the entire two days in restraints I was denied water, meals, medication, and restroom breaks. This is all documented and on record in the U.S. District Court in Roanoke.⁹

Rowlette had remarked that he had hoped I'd refuse to talk to him and that the attack he'd orchestrated was his "going away present" to me. His spell away from ROSP was merely a "cooling off period" and a token move by VDOC officials to create a public appearance of responding to abusive conditions at ROSP. Indeed, there was little effect on abuse levels after he left.

Promoting Official Criminals as the Norm

Rewarding criminally inclined prison officials in Virginia is the norm. For example, one guard, David Allen Taylor (a prior captain at ROSP), has been found guilty in several prisoner lawsuits of involvement in beatings and abuses of Black prisoners. in one such case, a prisoner YYYY YYYY, won a monetary judgment against Taylor. The state not only paid the judgment for Taylor (your tax dollars at work), but he was promoted in the meantime from lieutenant to captain. Just this year, he was promoted again, to major, at one of the VDOC's new prisons.

Another guard, William Wright, is widely known for assaulting Black prisoners at ROSP while they are fully restrained. His attacks have resulted in broken bones, dislocations, lacerations, and other serious injuries. Wright was recently promoted from corporal to sergeant.

Indeed an unmistakable pattern and long-standing trend in the VDOC is to promote guards who are being sued by prisoners for abuses while they have litigation pending against them. This is a ploy to bolster the professional image of abusive guards in order to create bias in their favor. Furthermore, the state defends abusive guards against prisoner litigation no matter how obvious their guilt and no matter what their offense. And as occurred with David Taylor, the state pays any monetary judgments awarded, no wonder there is no fear of consequences for abuses.

Most of the abuses at ROSP are captured on videotape, but those records are routinely erased, which is a crime in Virginia. ¹⁰ So where do the illegalities end and "justice" come into play? Rowlette won't be prosecuted for his crimes. This contributes to the cavalier attitude of officials towards the very laws they are sworn to uphold. Indeed what is a man like Rowlette doing running a prison? Ain't prisons in Amerika supposed to exist to punish and deter criminals? Where are all the tough on crime politicians when you need them?

Power to the People!

Notes;
¹ In Part 6 Section II of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia, "Introduction," the Supreme Court states: "any person practicing law without being duly authorized or licensed is guilty of a misdemeanor." The statue under which this crime is enforced is Code of Virginia section 54.1-3904. The Supreme Court has promulgated a set of Unauthorized Practice Rules (UPR) which outline some specific acts which constitute a criminal unauthorized practice of law. Rowlette's actions violate the following UPR's:

"UPR 3-101. Attorney Client Relationship": (A) An agency shall not disrupt the relationship of confidence and trust which must exist between a lawyer and his client.
"UPR 9-101. Holding Out as an Expert": (A) A non-lawyer shall not hold himself out as authorized to furnish another advice or service under circumstances which imply his possession of legal knowledge."

The lady in the mail room here has committed so many mail fraud violations she should be my neighbor.

I didn't know anything about the package sent back to you, but I did receive about five MIM Notes and one MIM Theory on the 24th of July minus several pages, courtesy of media review. They said that the material excited rebellion, as if any rebellion isn't a direct result of this systems abuse and oppression.

Around the same time I sent you my initial letter conveying my interest in your organization, I also wrote the SYDA Foundation, which is also based in Cali. It's basically a yoga study course. Anyway, after my first lesson they began taking pages out of each lesson, which destroyed the lessons. After that I lost interest in the course.

Media Review is just another way for them to control population, they label almost everything gang related if they don't understand it, and any group that is not on the commissioner's approved list is unauthorized organization material, etc.

These people have little regard for our rights, as long as they can hide they harrassment behind the goose of "security reasons" and get away with it they will.

MIM responds: This report is more evidence that NY State Dept of Corrections is violating its own rules regarding censorship, not to mention the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. Despite the department's stated purpose of, "encourag[ing] inmates to read publications from varied sources if such material does not encourage them to engage in behavior that might be disruptive to orderly facility operations," it now appears that "varied sources" is often interpreted to mean a small selection of publications hand-picked by department officials.

There have been numerous reports of prisoners being charged with 105.12 violations for possessing materials from certain political groups, including MIM. We are currently working with comrades from the New Afrikan Maoist Party, who are leading the efforts to bring a class action suit against these violations of our First Amendment rights to communicate and affiliate with people thru prison walls.

Rule 105.12 doesn’t prevent NY prisoners from, writing about, writing for, possessing the literature of, corresponding and associating with, or being members of any outside organization, so long as the organization is not a gang and the prisoners don’t organize inmate chapters of it within the facility without approval. But due to incompetence, lack of training, and prejudice many staff members are applying Rule 105.12 to written materials related to outside organizations they’re not familiar with or don’t like or agree with. This tactic has been effective in scaring a number of potential comrades away from working with us, or even reading our literature.

Prisoners in NY can join and contribute to this case by writing affirmations attesting to the facts around this struggle. If you have faced a 105.12 charge or similar censorship it is even more important that you help out. Write us to request more information on the case and how to compose an affirmation. Readers on the outside will be able to get more information about this battle soon at www.prisoncensorship.info.

I see that the United Front has broken down on the issue of migrants, or what some term illegal immigrants. All I can say is those who call themselves Marxist-Leninist or Maoist should read their works on this issue. What is going on now is nothing new that the imperialists are doing, Lenin, Mao and Stalin all dealt with this. Besides, if you really claim to know the history of Amerika you'll know that this nation was started by who? White Settlers! Or illegal immigrants, because I've never seen the documents granting them tribal citizenship by the five nations, or what was once northern Mexico. So get past your chauvinisms so-called anti-imperialist revolutionaries.

As for myself, I still sit languishing in the Texas state prisons' version of control units. We call them "High Security Buildings." And this is all because I won't and refuse to become part of their program GRAD: Gang Related Activity Desensitizing. You know the game that the federales play, if you wanna get out you renounce your affiliation to whatever family you are a part of and you become an informant for the administration. No thank you, I'll pass.

So I'll sit in this cold ass building and study, plan and grow mentally, physically and spiritually. If these prisoners before me that were kept isolated for their beliefs could hold up with no let up ten and twenty years strong. I would be doing my ancestors in the struggle a grave disservice by becoming weak for an opportunity to get an extra tray at chow or watch a football game out in the dayroom among others. How could I be amongst them and call myself a man knowing I'm snitching for the man. They can keep those bullshit illusory privileges. Remember if we keep pulling, snapping and twisting, we'll eventually break this damn chain of imperialism. We have nothing else to lose.

I am writing to let you know that these fucking pigs are at it again. Yesterday and today these pigs turned away at least fifty people from coming in to visit they're incarcerated loved ones. I myself was waiting on a visit yesterday and today. However since we are on lockdown at the moment there is no possible way for me to know whether my visitor did indeed come. If she did, then she would've come all the way from New York for nothing. Protocol for these pigs requires that they notify us inmates if they refuse our visitors entry into the facility, however that almost never gets done.

We here at Salinas Valley State Prison (SVSP) have been having many difficulties with our visiting for the past couple months, it is now beginning to come to a boiling point.

Our recent troubles mostly began a month and a half ago when rumors first started flying within the inmate population that there would be new visiting guidelines implemented. The main guideline affecting us at this moment is one which states that from now on all previously approved visitors must re-submit every two years. Now when rumors of this new implementation were first whispered, I as well as other inmates wrote and inquired to staff about it. Somehow visiting staff nor any other staff seemed to know anything about anything.

All of a sudden at the eleventh hour about 65 inmates on the yard received notices that some of the people on their approved visitors list were due to re-submit by July 9th or risk being taken off of their visiting list. Now they say that visitors were due to re-submit by the 9th of July, however no one was official notified until the last week of June and everybody knows it takes an average of 30 days or more to be approved. These pigs know damn well that even if visitors re-submitted before July 9th it still wouldn't have given anyone enough time to be re-approved by the deadline.

More than 65 people on the yard have had their visitors entry into the insitution denied, and furthermore they were never duly notified before or after the fact. They all had to find out from their own visitors days later via the phone and in some cases weeks later thru the mail. Total bullshit!

Now today there are new reports of these pigs callousness. It's like they're just making up their own new and special rules every other weekend. They have been changing the color which visitors are permitted to wear on a regular basis. In addition to prohibiting solid blue and solid red, which we all have know about for a long time, they recently added solid brown and solid green tops and bottoms. Today they denied a woman entry because she had on white pants. They are also now stating that there is to be no blue or red of any kind on any piece of clothing at all, no matter how minute. This is perposterous!

To add insult to injury these pigs don't even have the decency to communicate with our friends and family in a civilized or respectfull manner. They always speak to our families in a disrepsectful tone. And if our loved ones try to argue that point, then these pigs always have the same response, "Don't like it? Then you could leave" or "That's it, you're not coming in today." Now remember, these are grandmothers and mothers, fathers and brothers, with children in tow. More than half the people coming every weekend are coming from Los Angeles, San Diego and other parts of Southern California or further away in Northern Calif. It's one thing to deal with us in a certain manner, it's an entirely different thing to disrespect our families.

People are also being denied entry onto the grounds due to a new metal detector in the visitor processing area. If, after going through the metal detector three times, an individual is not able to clear it, then they are being denied entry for the day. We all know that women are not allowed to wear bras with metal wire, so nobody does, however now if the bra has a metal clip or button they are being forced to cut the metal off of the clothing/bra if they want to come in. I was told of a grandmother having to do this in order to come inside. She was forced to cut the metal clip off the bra and then tie it back together.

I will be 602ing this weekend's actions and hopefully everyone involved in these incidents will be held responsible. It would be of great importance and help if you could help us out by calling the institution head wardens office and anybody else who might be able to draw attention to these matters. Call and or write, bug the hell out of em.

Send protest letters to:

M.S. Evans, Warden
31625 Highway 101
Soledad, CA 93960

Send MIM(Prisons) a copy of your letters.

Please allow me to briefly compliment you on both your program of the MIM - what y'all want and what y'all believe - and your political platform for ways of getting those wants and beliefs.

As a 19 year old brotha locked down by a system who cares for no one but themselves, I admire someone who is willing to step to the plate and educate the people about the wicked system which they are a part of. When I first wrote to your organization I was looking for someone who I could turn to and gain political knowledge on this so-called land of the free. Not only does it seem as if I've found that, but also someone willing to teach and give me the tools I will need to change this wicked system that not only takes place here in America, but world wide.

While reading your brief letter I took notice of your speakings on the United Struggle from Within. It is something that I would definitely like to know more about because it sound like something that I'd like to be a part of. Being a young brotha of the struggle within this prison system has made me a young brotha seeking for knowledge and truth about this world and the forces that rule it. I want to learn how to change those forces to make them work for me and the people instead of working against us.

I am one who fully understands and believes in the saying "the blind can't lead the blind anywhere, but into a brick wall or off a cliff." Now while having that in mind, I wish to attain knowledge and see and then lead, or attempt to lead the blind into a safe place of being.

With your help and your guidance I can make that attempt or we can make that attempt together. I've been incarcerated for the past four years and I have plenty more years to go with nothing but time. If given the opportunity I will work and also learn at the same time.

Inside this cage I spill all of my rage onto this blank white paper to expose this place
Where I'm not locked down held captive.
Living in an artificial world with no rights but my mind's still active
Thinking about the way things happened.
At 16 years old I caught a case and was sentenced like Osama Bin Laden
They say that the system's to serve me
But all I see is wicked court judges using laws to hurt me
C/Os and wardens at work see
Behind these prison walls you're no more than a fish in the dark see
The shark he'll eat your alive
Get ta talking too loud and the man'll put a hit on your life
See it's easy they'll just set you up.
Get another inmate to come at you no respsect or love
Once the fight starts their gone shoot.
And you better believe their only one real target is you
One shot then your life is gone.
And it's nothing to them but paperwork and a short call home.
Right now I'm in a four wall hell.
Locked up in the hole living life underneath my cell
With just enough food to survive.
if I'm given anything lesser then it I'm fa'show gone die.

Crying tears for the years they gave me.
I understand the pain that I caused but was it truely that crazy?
These rules that they make are amazing.
It seems they only trap me in a world with a system that hates me
And once I feel that time has arrived.
To stand up, and speak out they shut me down with a basket of lies
When will they ever abide
By the rules that they set in the shade while we stand outside
Probably never and we'll never survive until we all unite together to try and open the eyes
Of our brothers, sisters and mothers.
All families and friends
Cause even though we locked in prison we can still start trends

Ya feel my rage?

According to WAC 137-48-050 procedures for restrictions of incoming and/or outgoing mail, the Department of Corrections does not usually comply with paragraph (1) or (2) of this section on 137-48.

The Department of Corrections is not sending publishers or senders a copy of the mail restriction according to the mandatory language of shall.

For example, WAC 137-48-050(1) states in pertinent part:

...This notification shall be provided to the inmate and the sender of the specific publication, letter, or package which has been restricted and the reason for this action.

Another example, WAC 137-48-050(2) states in pertinent part:

The inmate and sender shall be advised in writing of his/her right to seek review of the decision to restrict his/her mail...

The Department of Corrections in Washington State is not abiding with this mandatory language in the code.

Publishers and senders are not receiving notice and this is a Due Process issue according to the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution and also violates 1st Amendment Rights for the publisher and senders of publications.

Inmates probably have no standing to challenge the issue, but the publishers do. My advice to all inmates in the Washington State Department of Corrections to do is send the publisher or sender a copy of the restriction. Inform them of the WAC 137-48-050 mandatory language. Also explain to them the fact that they have standing to challenge the Department of Corrections under 1st and 14th Amendment grounds for censorship and Due Process. The more inmates that do this, the more prison mailroom and administration will be working that prisoners will start seeing less mail restrictions coming to them.

Also challenge on your appeal how the rejection affects you by not allowing the publisher notice since prisoners cannot even see what is being restricted, how can a prisoner effectively appeal the mail restriction? This is another issue every prisoner should challenge in court too. The fact us prisoners cannot see what the Washington Department of Corrections is censoring or restricting there is no effective appeal process because it leaves the keepers with total control without giving prisoners a "meaningful" avenue to peaceably redress government violation of the 1st Amendment and 14th Amendment grounds.

The more people that unite together the more we can expose the hypocrisy of the so-called state administrative governments. Exercise your rights, because if you don't they will continue to take and take until you are totally defenseless. It is better to try and fail than not doing anything for yourself and fellow man. Past generation prisoners have died for what few rights we have such as clean conditions, medical care, food, mail, etc. Don't let the new prison administrators take without a fight.

MIM responds: This comrades points are in the spirit of Black August, which is now coming to a close, when we commemorate the history of the prison movement behind bars; the struggles, both successful and failed and those whose lives were taken. And as the comrade points out, it is still worth fighting even if you don't win immediately. Particularly when there is a movement that you are fighting as a part of. With enough appeals from prisoners and outside groups we can put enough pressure on the prison administration in Washington and elsewhere to at least follow their own rules, if not change their rules.

In 2001 we passed two resolutions in Congress calling on MIM's Prison Ministry to take leadership in fighting censorship. The first resolution took ownership for the censorship of our literature as a violation of all writers for MIM Notes, many of whom are tax-paying amerikkkan citizens. So, we fully agree with this comrade's call for distributors, particularly anti-imperialists who are being targeted with this censorship, to demand their so-called "rights" to free speech and association be respected. Our Prison Ministry regularly fights the censorship we face through legal and administrative challenges. Prisoners can help by letting us know when they do and don't receive the literature we send them and sending us copies of any rejection notices and facility regulations. And of course, those who are serious about winning this battle can contribute through articles like this one and by leading legal battles on their own behalf as the writer suggests.

The second resolution we passed in 2001 established a regular report of humyn-rights violations in u$ prisons, with a focus on censorship. Following this resolution we also began reaching out to other groups working with prisoners to compile information on censorship. Only recently have these efforts become visible to the public on the Prison Ministries new website www.prisoncensorship.info. This site will feature news from prisons, including everything printed in ULK, a searchable database of censorship incidents, and rules and regulations compiled by state and facility. (On the site you can view the most recent rejection notices that Washington DOC sent MIM for political cartoons that contained swastikas.) We will be using this site to begin issuing regular censorship reports again, which will be more detailed than we were able to do in the past. We will also be accepting submissions of censorship incidents from other organizations and individuals and incorporating them into our work. We hope these efforts will encourage more collaboration with other groups, lawyers and prisoners in fighting censorship within the u$ injustice system.

Coming out of LA and the gang lifestyle to get here everything is different: everyone stuck together. But you aren't told this while out there in society. There everything is racial. Blacks and Hispanics are the majority here so the police find a way to keep us at each other's throats.

But after you hit these holes and SHUs [short and long term isolation cells], everybody is together, now that we all realize the police don't give a damn about none of us. If you ain't working with them (snitching, kissing they ass, doing they dirty work) they are gonna find a way to get you off the line. Your own might sell you out so they can stay out there and be susceptible to the bullshit. When you bring this to their attention it's always an excuse. It's sad because a lot of the ones who are accepting the BS know better.

These are the ones who been down twenty plus years and ain't getting out. If they ain't letting someone go for petty theft, how do you think you are going to get a date for 2 murders. It don't add up. But these are the role models who are pushing these brooms around this dayroom and getting called out to speak for the population. And if you bring it to their attention, they either drop a kite to get you rolled up off the line, or they leave to protective custody.

I don't promote violence, I'm just one who believes in truth, non-fiction. It is what it is and since I've been here in Calipatria, that's what this prison breeds (snitches, protective custody, illiteracy, racial tension, etc.) So many have debriefed that it has become the norm. I just can't accept befriending someone whose job is to fuck me over and use me and then throw me to the wolves.

The courts already sentenced me, let me just do my time and go home. But if you ain't laughing in their face, you are a threat somehow. It's ludicrous. So the end result is you are either going to conform and go against everything you believe in, or put a muzzle on your mouth and tie your hands together and sit around and deteriorate until you die or you're on you're way to a 180 degree design prison or a SHU term. If you show signs of aggression, Calipatria is gonna have you on a bus up outta here.

It's going to take a lot to open up eyes to truth, but one must continue to push forward towards a better tomorrow!

Quiero dejarle saber lo que me hacen aqui los oficiales. El 7/8/07 el oficial J. Cross le puso veneno o algo a los tres unsources que me dan el medico. Porque el mismo me lo dijo. Y ademas pase el dia vomitando y estoy enfermo desde ese dia. La enfermera hizo un reporte de este incidente. Y el 6/22/07 este oficial me boto todos mis medicinas. Y cuando trabaja no me dan comida, y le dice a los otros oficiales que no me den comida y no me dan comida. Y me tiene amenazado de muerte, y no puedo ir a la clinica a ver al medico porque me quieren golpearme los oficiales de la clinica porque el oficial J. Cross le dijo.

El 6/22/07 mi madre me mando unos libros y el oficial Bruce no quiere darmelo, aunque tengo los recibos de los libros. Aqui no me dan el baño ni la hora de la recreación que tiene que darme mandatoriamente.

Ademas, apagan las camaras de video, y me acusan de cosas que no hice, y me dan tigues. Ademas, aqui no me procesan los grievances. Los Sargentos W. Bisso y Giambruno son lo primero racistas y abusadores. Y el Superintende no hace nada por mi aunque le enseño las pruebas de los abuses de los oficiales contra mi.

Le escribí al Commissioner en Albany para que me ayude, y me saque de Clinton y no han hecho nada por mi tampoco. Ayudemen si pueden para salir de Clinton porque mi vida esta en peligro con los oficiales y los sargentos.