Federal Prisons

I’ve been trapped inside this building, I’ve been in since I was little
It’s a riddle, but the foundation to it is turning brittle
When you’re walking up the stairs, down the hallway, look to the middle
On the left, you’ll see my doorway is leaning and full of splinters
From taking it off the hinges, Memories back to prison
A victim to those that sentenced, their sinister ways of lynching
Distorted image, through torn prisms, praying the governments lifting
And shifting, its hand from the neck of the oppressed, to relieve some of this tension.

American correctional Association
Standards and Accreditation Department
206 North Washington St.
Suite 200
Alexandria,VA 22314
(703)224-0000
SAC@aca.org

RE.,Bias audit of Martin CI

Dear ACA,

My name is XX. I am a Florida prisoner,housed at Martin CI. I am writing in the behalf of all prisoners regarding your 9/16/19 audit. We couldn’t help but notice that you did not speak with prisoners, leaving us no choice but to conclude that 1) your are not working in the interest or welfare of prisoners or society. And 2) You feel that we are so bell curved that we are not worthy of speaking for ourselves regarding prison conditions. So how objective can you or your audit be if it is based only on one side of the system? How much do you care about genuine rehabilitation or penological interest if you visit a prison for days,and not consider speaking to prisoners regarding Prison conditions?

It is obvious that you are not interested in implementing genuine rehabilitation and effective change to this amerikkklan prison industrial complex. The personality of your auditors showed that you and the state harbors the very same opinion of prisoners,that everyone in prison is an animal who deserves to be there and tortured while there. It is clear that you came to see only the fiscal aspect of Martin CI, while turning a blind eye on the living conditions and well being of prisoners. It’s all about money for you, so please allow me to inform you of what you chose not to see,much-less,make public.

1. YOUR MEMO

You chose not to notice that the memo informing prisoners of your visit was posted on 9/13/19,not the mandacious 8/21/19 date it claims. In fact,fixed prison yard and dormitory video surveillance will show that prisoners knew nothing of your coming until Martin CI administration went all in, forcing prisoners to work all through the weekend, prettying up the plantation for your visit. Sidewalks were pressure washed, trays in the kitchen we’re soaked in soap water overnight in cofinement carts, for mold. Laundry stayed open all weekend. Dormitories were painted and repainted with $2 paint,saves money. We thought Donald Trump was coming to visit. Now had that memo of your visit been posted in time, I would have sent you an in-advance list of attractive sights to see while on your Martin CI tour. I still can’t believe you didn’t see or noticed these inhumane and contradicting living conditions. Then too, if you did notice them and acted objectively by moving for genuine rehabilitation and effective change, what then would happen to FDOC as a 13th Amendment slave housing industry? Too many people will lose jobs, too many investors will lose money. What makes us still think, that the state would spend mega millions building prisons, just to turn around and genuinely rehabilitate itself, and prisoners into not getting rearrested, or changing the way the state itself, including law enforcement and state attorneys, see poor and miseducated people. I’m boring you with this, so I’ll get to the point.

2. WHAT YOU CHOSE NOT TO SEE AT MARTIN CI

PHYSICAL ABUSE OF PRISONERS

9/18/19,btwn hours of 3 PM & 7 PM. While you conducted your psuedo-audit, Sgt. Swain had a handcuffed prisoner, laying on the hot pavement, in front of the dining hall, in the hot sun, for about 3 hours, because Sgt. Swain caught him coming out of the chow hall with a bag of ice. How could you have missed that? Or the fact that it is so hot in the dormitories, that prisoners have to resort to stealing ice from the chow hall, or take several showers a day despite 5 PM shower rule, or put plastic bags on windows to direct air flow to themselves, risking confinement trying to cool ourselves.

TOBACCO PROHIBITION,CH.33-401.401

While prisoners are being placed in confinement for possession of tobacco in violation of Christmas.33-401.401, prison staff are smoking freely, and with impunity, above the law despite FL statutes(944.115) prohibiting use of tobacco on all state prison property.

FOOD SERVICE

Warehouse is filled with long expired and outdated food products, for prisoners consumption,ordered and delivered that way due to being much cheaper than what tax payers are charged. So the profit can be pocketed by higher-ups.

Rats: hundreds,if not thousands of them living under the oven in the baking room of Martin CI kitchen.

Trays,cups,and sporks: Moldy,worn out and torn,and being washed by hand, in cold water, in giant garbage cans, rather than by dishwashing machine with legally required water temperature and detergent.

Food Portions: Exiguous,and food is prepared intentionally bad for the swill and to keep canteen sales up. And prisoners are being rushed to eat their meals in less than 3 minutes like animals.

LAUNDRY

Whites and blues being washed together in the same load with no bleach. Whites (underwears) are coming back literally brown, dirtier than when turned in, exposing prisoners to jock-itch, urinary track infection and other dirty under wear related illness. While prisoners are not allowed to hand wash their whites, or use clothes lines. You need to see how brown, our whites come back.

CANTEEN

Robbing our families, through us, price gouging, way above fair market price, especially considering the fact that prisoners earn no income for performance of prison labor, this price gouging amounts to economic war, not on prisoners, but on families and friends of prisoners, whom are being punished by the state for supporting prisoners. Prison staff are paying half price for same like food items that prisoners and their law abiding civilian visitors are charged double and triple.

RECREATION

Once a week if that. There are never enough staff to conduct recreation, but there are always more than enough thrill seeking goons when it’s time to apply excessive force on handcuffed prisoners. They appear out of thin air like magic.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

According to facilitators,the head of Martin CI education department, Dr.Layton, received an annual education budget of only $1500 while security security has unlimited access to program funds, while canteen profits pay for the very same handcuffs, pepper spray, tactical gear, and all else used against prisoners,in what is called the Department of Corrections. What kind of education can prisoners get on a $1500 budget?

Then you wonder why there are so many stabbings. This is clear proof that the state and it’s avaricious superiors and investors have no interest in genuine rehabilitation. The worse part is the fact that the state will not allow prisoners to become independent thinkers capable of determining their own social and political destiny. We are not allowed to genuinely rehabilitate ourselves. Not allowed to even order certain books,or publications,under the guise that certain books can be a threat to the prison system.

A prisoner may read a certain books and become too positively or essentially self aware and disciplined. Positive Prisoner self control is the total opposite of FDOC standard of rehabilitation,the dumber a prisoner,the better for FDOC. being autodidactically genuinely rehabilitated is considered the ultimate threat,and a crime to the state. If every Prisoner become genuinely rehabilitated,the prison system will be rendered irrelevant, out of business, obsolete, thus genuine rehabilitation or correction of any kind for prisoners or staff, is no where in FDOC’s thought or mission.

JPAY MAIL SERVICE

FDOC is robbing prisoners loved-ones,by use of prisoners,charging .39¢ per postage stamp which cost only .7¢ wholesale at JPay. A .32¢ profit per stamp,which go towards buying the very same pepper spray, handcuffs,and all else used against prisoners. The mosquitoes hate the very same cows off whose blood they cannot live without.

On 9/11/19,there occurred a multiple prisoner on prisoner stabbing. The whole plantation was placed on lockdown, collective punishment. RRT, rapid response teams showed up immediately, many from neighboring plantations, in full military tactical gear, clicking-illegal-electric tazer shields and brandishing riot batons to intimidate prisoners while conducting a mass trashing of prisoners cells and property, claiming a so-called mass search. So to keep prisoners from informing the free world of these illegal electric shields and batons, the JPay WiFi was turned off for almost a whole week. In fact, the WiFi is off as I write this on 9/27/19. It’s turned off during every lockdown to keep prisoners from reporting what’s going to the outside world,to keep the truth from getting out,to kill all transparency. So the story is told only by the real criminals, FDOC.

JPay is taking funds(.39¢ postage)from our prisoner account even after censoring and denying our Jmail from leaving the JPay kiosk system,or reaching it’s intended destination.

9/3/19, I plugged my tablet into JPay kiosk to download music. I unplugged my tablet to find that all my political journal notes, essays, and poems, grievance drafts, legal letters, criminal appeal case citings, the event and birth dates,i.e.,my entire calendar section, all stored in my tablet had been illegally accessed, and deleted after being downloaded by JPay. The JPay trouble ticket response basically told me to get lost. Informal grievance response stated that I had exceeded the storage capacity of my tablet, so it automatically deleted, “yes, of all entries on my tablet, just my entire calendar.”

The truth is,my tablet comes with 32 Gigs of storage capacity, and there is still space for 5511video grams, so how did I exceed storage capacity? I get censored alot by Jpay, and the political content of my tablet is well known by JPay and Martin CI mail room. It’s a known fact, I am being retaliatorily targeted due to my prison activism and political belief. They’re reading all my writings right now. This is not the first time, and it won’t be the last, and the physical may be next.

PRISONERS PERSONAL PROPERTY

Prisoners personal property keep getting lost because overseers do not follow CH.33 F.A.C rules in regards to inventorying and safe guarding prisoners personal property, family photos, legal papers and more. Prisoners personal property keep coming up missing.

COUNT

Intentionally long counts, so overseers can sloth their senicure days away, hanging out, smoking cigarettes at tax payers expense, while prisoners can’t get to their legal deadlines in the law library,or other call outs and programs.

During your audit, if you just stepped one foot in side of wing 4 of A dormitory, you would have been left no choice but to smell and see the clogged up sink in the mop closet. It’s been clogged up for months, the water is black, stink and a breeding pond for mosquitoes. It gets over looked every week during inspection. Every senior administrative overseer has taken cell phone pictures of this sink week after week, with the promise of getting it fixed to no avail. Only if you’d entered wing 4 of A dormitory, where your true Accreditation skills are needed. That mop closet is still clogged, stink, and dirty if you think I’m lying or if you need proof. Now you see why the state is in permanent fear of prisoners having any kind of recording devices. These amerikkklan iron curtain issues just mentioned would all been going viral. This is why the prisoners side of prison must be kept concealed at all cost. And you will have to Lynch me to keep me quiet.

Unabashedly, the goal of the Maoist Internationalist Movement is to eliminate capitalism and imperialism. We aim to replace these economic systems with socialism, and then communism, to end all oppression of people by other people. In our study of humyn history we see Maoist China as the most advanced social experience to date toward this goal, and we draw on our study of Maoism (shorthand for Marxism-Leninism-Maoism) to build our strategy. Maoism is a universally-applicable science of social change, which has its effectiveness proven in practice.

Our study of history shows the necessity of armed struggle to take power from the bourgeoisie, to build a world without oppression. Yet we’re not presently in a period of social upheaval that we would call a revolutionary scenario, which is why we discourage people from initiating armed struggle at this time. While we prepare for that inevitable reality, the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) works on our dual strategy of 1) building independent institutions of the oppressed to seize state power, and 2) building public opinion against imperialism.

This is all in preparation for when the United $tates’s military power becomes sufficiently overextended, and nations oppressed by Amerikkka start striking significant blows against Amerika’s domination over their land and livelihoods. When the United $tates enters this period of social upheaval, we will be equipped to draw on the public opinion and independent institutions we’re building now. The point is to get started now so we’re ready to help a revolution in this country be successful, with results in favor of the most oppressed people in the world. Our institutions in themselves will not cause the transition to socialism, because the bourgeoisie will not allow us to carry out a quiet coup on their power.

Independent institutions of the oppressed are designed to simultaneously meet the peoples’ present needs, while organizing against imperialism. When coupled with political education in building public opinion for socialism, these institutions help to advance our movement toward communism. People can see in practice what it would look like (and that it’s possible) to meet the social needs that the government is failing on. And people learn how to work collectively.

Maybe this is obvious, but independent institutions don’t have ties to the power structure that we are fighting to dismantle. Our goal is the full liberation of ALL people, not just some people, and not just our people. To do that we need to have true independence, so we can say what needs to be said, and do what needs to be done, without one arm tied behind our backs.

Defining who are “the oppressed,” who our institutions are in service of, is extremely important. While many institutions are happy to just serve any oppressed group, in the MIM we want to make the transition to communism as swift and efficient as possible. We take instruction on this question from our class analysis, and particularly our class analysis on the labor aristocracy and lumpen.

We recognize that the vast majority of so-called “workers” in the First World are actually a bought-off class of net exploiters. They are relatively comfortable with the existence of imperialism, and our independent institutions don’t aim to serve that class’s interests. Most people don’t want to hear that they are net exploiters, and that actually they are in the top 13% globally.(1) It stops them from crying about being in the “bottom 99%” and self-righteously working for a minimum wage that is three times higher than what it would be in an equal global distribution of wealth.(2) Representing the interests of the international proletariat makes MIM(Prisons) an unpopular organization among the vast majority of the population in the United $tates.

In contrast, in our class analysis we see the oppressed-nation lumpen as the most likely group to favor a proletarian internationalist revolution in this country. When the Maoist Internationalist Party – Amerika disbanded into a cell structure in 2005, MIM(Prisons) was established specifically to organize among the lumpen population. There are many, many areas of life that need Maoist leadership and independent institutions – many that can even be built around the coinciding interests of people in the First World and Third World, like revolutionary ecology — and MIM(Prisons) focuses on the needs and education of the imprisoned oppressed-nation lumpen.

BPP STP

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) had a prolific set of Serve the People programs and independent institutions. The BPP coincided with the tail-end of the New Afrikan proletariat’s existence, and focused its organizing among proletarian and lumpen New Afrikans.

In its independent institutions, the BPP served tens of thousand of kids breakfast across the United $tates, accompanied by political education during the meals. The BPP ran other services such as “clothing distribution, classes on politics and economics, free medical clinics, lessons on self-defense and first aid, transportation for family members to upstate prisons, an emergency-response ambulance program, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and testing for sickle-cell disease.”(3)

In addition to providing necessary services for New Afrikans, the BPP’s Serve the People programs also built public opinion for socialism by showing what a world could be like with people working together to meet humyn needs. We often hear myths about humyn nature, that people are “too selfish” or “too greedy” or “don’t care enough” to ever have a socialist economy, let alone participate in a single campaign. Yet BPP programs showed that selfishness, greed, and apathy are values of the capitalist-imperialist economic system we live under; not inherent to humyn nature. And the education programs built people’s consciousness around how the economic structures of imperialism and capitalism are related to the seemingly-insurmountable problems in their lives. Coupling that with Maoist theory and practice, the BPP provided an ideology for how to overcome these economic systems, further building public opinion in favor of a transition to socialism.

The Black Panther Party did all this without government funding. Yet they did accept hefty donations from white leftists, especially during the Free Huey campaign to get Huey Newton released from jail in 1967-70. This lack of self-reliance had a big negative impact on the organization when the white leftists stopped donating.(4) The experience of the BPP shows extensive positive examples of how oppressed-nation organizations can build institutions to contribute to the liberation of one’s people. It teaches another lesson on independence, which is to never rely on your oppressor-nation allies to fund your liberation.

Other Outside Orgs

Whenever we connect with an organization that does work that’s related to ours, that gets government funding or is linked to a bigger organization like a university, they say the same thing. They are really excited about our work, because they know how important our line is, and they have seen first-hand the limitations in their own work. When we ask why they can’t say or do something similar to what we say, it goes back to a funding source or an authority they’re operating under.

These institutions of the oppressed aren’t wrong for organizing this way. They are doing great work and reaching audiences we can’t reach in our current capacity. Yet they aren’t reaching them with the stuff that’s going to bring an end of oppression in the grand scheme of things.

MIM(Prisons) chooses to do the most effective thing, which in our case requires total independence. If everyone who saw the importance of our line actually worked to promote it, it would inevitably increase our capacity to also reach the people these dependent organizations are currently reaching, and with a program to transform the deep-rooted causes of the problems they’re working to change.

An example of limitations imposed by funding sources was explained in a 2012 interview MIM(Prisons) did with a comrade in United Playaz (UP). UP is a “San Francisco-based violence prevention and youth development organization,” staffed and run by many former prisoners. It is work that is desperately needed, and UP has a huge positive impact on the lives of the people it works with.

“If it’s up to us, we’re gonna go hard, and really fight for peace. But because we’re fund[ed] by DCYF [San Francisco’s Department of Children, Youth, & Their Families], they limit our movement. We can’t even participate, or like rally. If there’s a Occupy rally right now, we can’t go, cuz our organization are prevented from doing things like that. And I think that’s important, that we’re out there with the rest of the people that are trying to fight for change. Every year we do a Silence the Violence Peace March. That’s okay, you know, Martin Luther King, marches like that, we’re okay to do that. But when it’s like budgets, and crime, and about prison, you know, rally to try to bring those those things down, we can’t really participate. …

“What’s going on outside the youth can affect them in the future if things don’t change. And why wait til those kids get old and take em to expose them to march and fight for your rights? You know I love to take these young adults to a movement like that, cuz that gives em knowledge of life, that there’s more than just hanging out on the street. But unfortunately we’re not allowed to participate in that kind of movement.”(5)

ULK-based Institutions

Under Lock & Key (and the new newsletter that’s coming January 2020)(6) is a media institution of the oppressed, with a mission to serve two classes: 1) the oppressed-nation lumpen in the First World, which our class analysis says is the most likely class in imperialist society to be favorable to the long hard struggle to communism; and 2) the Third World proletariat, which is the revolutionary class with the least to lose in imperialist society. All the articles and line in ULK revolve around this mission.

United Struggle from Within (USW) is the MIM(Prisons)-led mass organization for prisoners and former prisoners, and another example of an institution that has developed and organizes within the pages of Under Lock & Key. USW is a way people can plug into anti-imperialist organizing from behind bars, leading campaigns, handing out fliers, putting out art, participating in petitions and struggles. USW cells have independent institutions locally, including study groups, libraries, food and hygiene pools, jailhouse lawyer services, and other forms of support. Through ULK, USW can share experiences and knowledge to further build the anti-imperialist movement behind bars.

USW and UFPP organizing comes with its own set of challenges. Organizers are moved and isolated all the time. Repressive attacks and false disciplinary cases are also carried out by prison staff on our comrades. Censorship of mail impacts our ability to organize, with some states or institutions fully banning ULK or mail from MIM(Prisons). It means we hold no illusions that anyone else can or will do this work for us, and we take that on, with all the sacrifices and challenges that come with it.

Some comrades choose to work within larger organizations, or with prison staff, to get a bigger platform for their organizing. Like any alliance, a big consideration is if one can actually do the work that needs to be done within that alliance, because most likely these alliances will require you to water down your political line. Everyone will assess their own conditions to see what they can do to be most effective in the facility where they’re held. The method we use to do this in MIM(Prisons) projects is analyzing the principal contradiction in a situation, and upholding MIM(Prisons)’s 6 main points.(9)

Other Prisoner-led Projects

Within ULK we also regularly report on independent institutions that didn’t originate in our circles, which serve the interests of the oppressed-nation lumpen in the First World. There are many hardships that prisoners can organize around inside, to build independent institutions (communication channels, organizational connections) and public opinion in favor of socialism.

One example is the organization Men Against Sexism (MAS), which existed in the Washington state prison system in the 1970s. Men Against Sexism worked to protect new, and otherwise vulnerable, prisoners from sexual assault and other forms of gender oppression that prisoners were doing to each other. It was a different time back then, and these guys were celling together so they could organize better, and collecting donations from outside to purchase cells from other prisoners to house people who needed protection from the typical prison bullshit. MAS eliminated sexual assault in the Washington state system.(10) Imagine if you came together with other people in your facility to enact your own prisoner rape elimination campaign. What difference would that make for you and the people around you?

Somewhat similar to MAS, in 1969 the Colorado State Penitentiary housed an organization called the Latin American Development Society (LADS).

“Like prison groups today LADS focused on combating oppression and providing education for the imprisoned Chican@, and LADS also left us with some good examples to learn from. They created several serve the people programs in the pinta, for one they created a committee that worked with new prisoners, what we may call ‘first termers’ here in pintas in Califas. This was important because a new prisoner or ‘fish’ may be easy prey for some predator in prison. In this way youngsters were given revolutionary clecha once they entered the pinta by LADS ‘O.G.’s.’ LADS was comprised of prison vets who were politicized. Within LADS were many sub-committees such as the Committee to Assist Young People (CAYP), as well as a security committee called the Zapatistas. The LADS were anti-dope and combated drug use or sales in the pinta. They were not trying to poison the imprisoned Raza, rather they were trying to build the Raza.”(11)

Protecting newcomers, sexual assault, and drugs are only some of the issues that prisoners have to take care of themselves. There are no petitions we can send you, and there’s no one to appeal to to resolve these problems. Like our comrade at Telford Unit in Texas reported in ULK 59,

“My brothers in here have fallen victim to K2, which is highly addictive. They don’t even care about the struggle. The only thing on their minds is getting high and that sas. I mean this K2 shit is like crack but worse. You have guys selling all their commissary, radios, fans, etc. just to get high. And all these pigs do is sit back and watch; this shit is crazy. But for the few of us who are K2-free I’m trying to get together a group to help me with the struggle.”(12)

Nowadays conditions are a lot different in prisons than they were in the 1960s and 70s. Still, it’s possible to build independent institutions to meet prisoners’ needs. Bigger organizing happens in even worse conditions than the United $tates. There’s no perfect set of conditions that need to be present in order to make a difference. It’s a matter of choosing to do it ourselves. We want to report on and support these prisoner-led serve the people programs in ULK. So get to work, and send us your updates!

Educational Institutions and Public Opinion

ULK is a big part of how we build public opinion in favor of socialism, and in studying different movements and organizations, we saw that many failures are based in a lack of education and empowerment among the masses in society, or the organization’s membership. Depth of political consciousness (and, related, correctness of political line) is arguably the number one reason why movements fail. Depth of analysis isn’t about flashcards and pop quizzes. It’s about “How to think, not what to think.”

We’ve taken this to heart in our emphasis on educational programs. We run a number of different correspondence study groups, including a University of Maoist Thought for our advanced comrades. We run a Free Political Books for Prisoners Program, which isn’t just about books, it’s about books in service of our mission of liberating everyone, including the Third World proletariat, from imperialism. We don’t do general book distribution because we want to liberate more than just individuals’ minds. With our comrades’ help, we develop study packs and distribute literature and study packs to prisoner-led study groups on the inside. We are really offering every format of political education we can through the mail, because this is such an important task in our work.

Besides the written word, there are many other channels for building public opinion. POOR Magazine and the Poor News Network (PNN) are independent institutions using events, rallies, and street theater in combination with the internet, radio, and videos to build public opinion in favor of oppressed-nation and lumpen struggles in the United $nakes. POOR Magazine runs a liberation school for children, and many, many other programs. POOR Magazine is funded independently from its own participants, events, and a donation program for individuals via Community Reparations. PNN goes hard on its line against capitalism, imperialism, and settlerism even with some funding from “reparators,” which is the real measurement of independence.(13)

One radio program on the Poor News Network that especially builds public opinion for national liberation struggles and socialist revolution is Free Aztlán. Free Aztlán airs weekly and covers current issues concerning Raza and Chican@ communities. It has interviews, poetry, music, and even readings from the book Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán for people who don’t or can’t have a physical copy to reference. That PNN is willing to air a program like Free Aztlán says a lot about PNN, and we look forward to this program being a staple in our independent education institutions moving forward!(14)

Building public opinion isn’t just about sharing information and exposing people to ideas. Applying our study to our conditions, we can help educate others in developing their own desire for socialism. It’s an exercise in “Each One, Teach One.” This was explained in our book review of Condemned by Bomani Shakur:

“The first theme addressed in ‘Condemned’ is the author’s ideological transformation. MIM(Prisons)‘s primary task at this point in the struggle is building public opinion and institutions of the oppressed for socialist revolution, so affecting others’ political consciousness is something we work on a lot. On the first day of the [Lucasville] uprising, Bomani was hoping the state would come in to end the chaos. But ‘standing there as dead bodies were dumped onto the yard (while those in authority stood back and did nothing), and then experience the shock of witnessing Dennis’ death [another prisoner who was murdered in the same cell as the author], awakened something in me.’ Bomani’s persynal experiences, plus politicization on the pod and thru books, are what led em to pick up the struggle against injustice.”(15)

We can’t predict exactly what events, what books, or what conversations will spark the revolutionary fire in people. Everyone has their own unique journey into this work. Building independent institutions is one huge way we nourish and support that spark: empowering ourselves and others to do things to change our actual present conditions, while we build toward a socialist future.

Under Lock & Key has been the voice of the anti-imperialist movement within U.$. prisons for 11.5 years. This issue is going out one month later than our usual schedule, because it is the last issue of ULK in its current form.

An important lesson that comes from Lenin’s book What is to be Done? is the importance of a movement’s newspaper, to spread ideas and organize with others. Have no fear! Even though ULK is changing form, we’re in no way stopping producing a newspaper. U.$. prisoners need a voice, and there’s no one else making a newspaper like this, from a proletarian perspective. That will not be lost in this transition.

As we explained in ULK 64 we have a goal of producing a monthly newspaper. In our work towards that goal we are making some big changes to ULK.

We are extremely excited to be joining forces with the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist Movement (RAIM) in a consolidation of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) into a single newspaper (name TBD). RAIM’s portion of the newspaper will cover much more international news and analysis than is typically in the pages of ULK, which our readers have been asking for for years. We’ll be decreasing our costs, and greatly increasing our distribution on the streets. This is all in preparation to produce the newsletter on a monthly schedule!

Our movement organ (newspaper) will continue to be fully independent. Meaning it is fully funded by the MIM cells, and costs are partially offset by donations we get from subscribers and people on the streets. There is no grant money or government support for this revolutionary work. We need our readers’ continued support to make this possible – every donation you send helps us send more letters, educational material, and resources to our subscribers behind bars. And ultimately we will need your financial support to fund a monthly newsletter.

The beauty in being financially independent is that it gives us the freedom to be ideologically independent. We can say whatever it is that needs to be said. We can speak from a proletarian perspective, even if the vast majority of people in the First World find it upsetting. No one can pull the rug out from under us if we say something they don’t like.

In this independence, we (the movement) have full responsibility for our successes and failures. If we can’t recruit enough distributors – that’s on us. If we can’t get enough financial support – that’s on us. If people don’t want to contribute to the newspaper – again, on us. While taking on this responsibility might seem like a big burden to some, because they think they can sit back and let others make revolution for them, it’s actually quite liberating. If we want it, we can make it. It’s hard work, and it’s possible. Nothing can hold us back. No strings attached.

“We” isn’t just MIM(Prisons) and RAIM members; it’s all of us in the anti-imperialist movement in the United $tates. This newspaper has been and will continue to be a voice for all our contributors. The artwork, poems, reports, and analysis that come from our subscribers behind bars are what make ULK actually “from under lock & key,” and we will continue to rely on these invaluable contributions.

Making the newspaper is one thing, and making it an organ to advance our struggle against oppression is another. We request that each persyn reading this article send (at least) one letter to someone on the outside asking them to donate and/or commit to distributing the new newspaper. Our subscribers know the value of this newspaper even better than MIM(Prisons) does. You writing directly to your contacts will be more effective than anything we could say to ask them to get involved.

Your contacts’ participation is a matter of you engaging them in the value of this newspaper and this work. ULK is more than just words on paper; it’s more than just an outlet to vent. It’s an independent institution for creating a world without oppression, which has a real impact on the lives of its subscribers and readers, and the world. Share with them what you have gotten out of reading ULK and participating in projects with MIM(Prisons) and United Struggle from Within. Share how the United Front for Peace in Prisons has affected your day-to-day life, and how the articles in ULK have helped you in your time behind bars. Be direct and unwavering in your request for their participation. Worst case scenario is they say “no.”

For donations, your contacts can send cash, stamps or blank money orders to the address on page 1, and every amount really does make a big difference! Being a distributor doesn’t have to be any huge additional commitment, either. If your outside contact(s) can identify one place where they can put the new newspaper, we’ll send them a stack to stick there each time a new issue comes out. Many places have free newspaper areas – coffee shops, libraries, laundromats, etc. Ask them to find one and commit. Then either send us their address so we can follow up, or ask them to write to us directly. The ripple effect of your one letter can have a huge impact on the anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist struggle toward communism.

The rest of these pages of ULK talk about other independent institutions of the oppressed, within the MIM and without, current and past. We’ll apply lessons we’ve learned from history to our analysis of these institutions. We are proud that ULK and all our contributors have spent the last 11.5 years being among them. And we are looking forward to expanding in the new newsletter in 2020.

Until recently I was being held at SCI Somerset with 9 months hole time. During this time prison officials stole my commissary, denied me access to the law library (mini law library), discarded my legal materials, discarded my incoming mail, denied me legal phone calls (even when I had court within days of my request), and I was denied meals (trays), among other things. All in retaliation for my filing grievances about the many injustices and inhumane living conditions I and others suffered from.

After successfully challenging those things via grievance appeals to central office, these C.O.s started targeting other prisoners. Denying them showers, yard, meals, and giving their incoming mail to other prisoners. These guys reacted, as they should, but the way they reacted was counterproductive. So I taught them how to fight our oppressors using the grievance procedure for positive results and they were successful.

As a result of this, the prison guards and prison officials conspired on a course of action and the result was they transferred me to a facility where they know I have multiple enemies, and labeled me as a gang member (which I’m not). This is a Restricted Housing Unit (RHU).

Throughout this entire ordeal I saw opportunity to start teaching those brothers how to put a stop to oppression and injustices they were subjected to before I arrived. I am proud to say we’ve made a couple victories; small ones, but victories nonetheless. The brothers are especially happy of the bigger trays in the RHU! We have more work to do, our battles continue.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
by John Perkins
Penguin Group, New York, 2004

I just read a very enlightening book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins. It’s a memoir of a former manager of Economics and Planning at MAIN (Chas T. Main Inc.), a powerful corporation, where he worked with CIA agents and other economic hit men to impoverish and subjugate peoples and countries around the world. Plagued by a guilty conscience, he later founded Independent Power Systems and developed environmental friendly power plants. Yet he was still tempted by imperialism.

In his confessions, Mr. Perkins explains how the USA has seized power in Saudi Arabia, Panama, Ecuador and other countries. We try to avoid open warfare. Before we even send in the jackals (special forces, snipers and other assassins, etc.) we employ economic hit men to corrupt governments, destabilize local economies and destroy environments. A Bedouin hero likened the tactics we’re using against Islam to the tactics used to conquer the Native American nations. We cut down the trees and shot the buffalo. The foundations of indigenous culture collapsed, and we are now exploiting them, their farmland, their gold, and their oil.

“You see, it is the same here,” he said, “the desert is our environment. The Flowering Desert project threatens nothing less than the destruction of our entire fabric. How can we allow this to happen?” (p.130)

In order to defraud and blackmail and corrupt foreign governments, and prepare their countries for exploitation by American corporations, he traveled around the world, living in tents, jungle huts and five-star hotels. Some of the action took place in secret meetings here in the United States. I particularly enjoyed reading some of the conversations that took place in posh offices high up in skyscrapers near my home.

Economic hit men have been very successful in Saudi Arabia. When they fail, as they did in Ecuador, jackals are called in. They probably killed President Roldós of that country and President Torrijos of Panama.

If the jackals fail, as they did in Iraq, military intervention is undertaken directly by the USA government. The book sheds light upon our current aggression against Venezuela, although the author did not have a major role there.

In 1930, Venezuela was the world’s largest oil exporter. By 1973 (the time of the Arab oil embargo), Venezuela was wealthy and its people enjoyed excellent health care, education and low rates of unemployment. Within 30 years, American EHMs (Economic Hit Men) and the International Monetary Fund had changed that. The country’s per capita income was down 40% and the middle class was shrinking.

George Bush and the CIA orchestrated a coup, but their victory was short-lived. President Chavez returned to power and immediately initiated further democratic reforms. Bush began war preparations, but crushing resistance in Iraq and Afghanistan took priority and Venezuela got reprieve. Now, fifteen years after Confessions of an Economic Hit Man was published, Donald Trump is making moves to seize control of one of the world’s biggest oil reserves and other important natural resources, as well as cheap labor in a once prosperous country brought low by Amerikan imperialists.

Confessions is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand how the USA invades, attacks, and oppresses people and starves children in the name of freedom; or why so many millions of people around the world hate us.

MIM(Prisons) adds: The writings of John Perkins are a useful exposé of the modern imperialist methods of subversion of other nations’ self-determination. United Snakes interventions stand in stark contrast to all the concerns over Russian influence in U.$. election outcomes.

Despite the obvious implications of the facts Perkins revealed, ey remains unabashedly embedded in the bourgeoisie. The solutions ey provides in this book include pressuring corporations to do good things, and joining organizations to get laws passed. Now it seems ey is promoting a series of trips to the Third World for rich people to engage in mysticism. Needless to say, we see much different solutions being called for by the stories in this book.

I was in I Pod in a cell that ended up having an electrical problem, which is a Facility Maintenance issue and should have been fixed A.S.A.P. Whenever the floor officer would come around for count and the picket boss would turn on the cell lights, it was knocking my power out. And not only mine but 3 other’s beside mine. There are two people to each cell and no power means no fan; and it doesn’t take long to start overheating in a prison cell in the Texas heat!

When it first happened, me and my celly along with the occupants of one other cell refused to go back into the cell when they put everyone up at night. So 4 of us sacked the day-room. The officers and Sgt understood, and got our power back on after about 30 minutes. So we went back in. There was a note put in the picket to not flick cell lights on. But every day, whoever was in the cell during count was stuck with no power because they would turn cell lights on despite the note. Sometimes the power would be returned relatively fast, about 10 minutes. But more often than not, the COs would finish count, which meant the power would not return for another hour or two.

I have cardiovascular disease and am on a heat restriction: I cannot be housed on 3rd Row because of this. I seen nothing was being done about the power outages so I wrote an I-60 to the warden which got put in the mail early Friday morning. The following Monday I was moved out of the Faith Based Pod and to another Pod, which caused another issue because I was put on a top bunk which is a risk because of the fainting I sometimes experience due to my heart condition. I told Medical; they said my bottom bunk restriction expired. I explained to the nurse the heart condition and symptoms. The nurses can issue a 3 day pass plus a follow-up with DA. But instead she was negligent and said there was nothing she could do and gave me a sick call request. I turned that in a week ago and am still on the top bunk.

Since I’ve been in this new pod I found out they still haven’t fixed the maintenance problem of the previous one. There was a 57 year old American Citizen from Pakistan there in the cell next to mine and his cell was also affected by the power outages. He was on psych meds and heat restriction. He had an anxiety attack when the power was knocked out and was locked up for threatening to kill the CO. In my eyes, this was really a provoked issue because the safety and health hazard arose from a failure to properly maintain the facility. This could have been, or still may be, fatal to someone.

It is very hot 24/7 in TX prisons in summertime. A few months ago, a 29 year old inmate at the Robinson Unit died of heat stroke. This seems to happen every year during summer. At what point is it considered homicide? Murder? To me that’s exactly what it is.

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the Law Library. I plan to write grievances on these issues.

I am an inmate at SCI-Huntingdon in Huntingdon, PA. I am writing you hoping you can somehow help or assist me. I was a victim of rape in this jail in August 2019. I reported this to PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) coordinator here at SCI Huntingdon, Lt. Grassmyer and Ms Pyle. I placed myself in solitary confinement to get away from my attacker who was my cellmate.

While in solitary confinement (RHU) I received threats of retaliation for filing the PREA report. My attacker is a well established gang member here at SCI Huntingdon with a lot of connections. I reported this to “security” and Lt. Grassmyer, I expressed how I was in fear for my safety due to the treats I received. In response I was given an ultimatum by Lt. Grassmyer, “go back to population, or get a misdconduct for refusing to go back to population.” Reluctantly, I went back to population, I didn’t want a misconduct when I see the parole board in Nov of this year. I wasn’t in population for 24 hours before receiving multiple threats of retaliation for filing report to PREA (Lt. Grassmyer).

Friends of mine were approaching me warning me of a hit (bounty) on my head to stab me or cut me up real good. I went straight to the block guard and told him about the hits on my head, since then, Sept 5 2019, I’ve been in solitary confinement. I am in steady fear for my life and I’m afraid that this jail, Lt. Grassmyer in particular is going to get me seriously hurt or even killed.

Under the PREA act, it is my right to be protected from retaliation. If they try to make me go back to general population I know for a fact that I will be stabbed or cut up or even killed. This prison is corrupt and I don’t trust anyone here and I need all the help I can get from the outside. So please, if there is anything, anything you can do to help me or assist me. I have almost 10 years incarcerated and I am not eligible for parole while in the RHU (solitary confinement), because it is a level 5 security, so even though I am eligible to go home, I can’t as long as they keep me here in RHU. I’m in a Catch 22 and this is not right. Please help me.

I am bringing you an update from inside this Texas Gulag or should I just say Konzentration Kamp, to be exact.

I received my last package from you: the writing tips, more about MIM, how to start a Study Group and the material for the study group I just enrolled in. As I look over all the material, I already started scoping out cadres I will offer the Study Group to. But I want to first build a curriculum before I actually start this group. I have pulled two soldiers to the side, teaching them with what I got. And as we advance in our study group, I will offer my comrades to be a part of the positive peaceful movement I want to establish within this battlefield with the sole purpose of eradicating the criminal mentality and promoting a revolutionary state of mind which will help bring both Unity and Change within our prison conditions. The Militia, a group of conscious, mature-minded men. So stay tuned on updates of the building of this brotherhood of leaders.

In other news, the suicide rate in TDCJ was up 40% in 2018. Yearly suicide attempts have nearly tripled since 2009 going from 700 to 2,000. This is due to the lack of rehabilitation if you ask me: Texas has more prisoners than any other state yet they offer no counseling. I see a lot of suicide attempts; a lot because of the Slave Job (Texas Prisoners still don’t get paid for work). No good time, work time, nothing. But they are making a killing through TCI. Here on the Michaels Unit, we teamed up with Administration to start a Suicide Prevention Squad which allows us to offer the people an ear to talk to and even a voice to give feedback.

K-2 is like crack now. If they give us K-2 and flood the inmate general population that will give us more to fight about while distracting us from what’s important. Like issues stemming from over-crowding, or how we are still battling inhumane conditions due to the torching heat. When we ask for respite in designated areas, it’s still too crowded. They already got down on some of those brothers under the Heat Lawsuit that was won. TDCJ was supposed to Air Condition certain units, they did, but are already having issues with the cooling system. It’s still hot as hell with no solution to this issue. Then to top it off, a lot of brothers under the Lawsuit were shipped to other units. I thought they were protected under the Lawsuit.

I hope this letter finds you all in the best of health & spirits. As for myself, I’m not doing too good! I am in a great deal of pain in my back and testicles due to nerve pain. I was seen on 7-31-19, I believe, and a non-formulary [drug] was requested but denied. I was told by the provider that if I didn’t receive the pain medication in a few days to send an I-60 (Request to Officials) to be seen again. I did so on the fourth of August; I still have not been seen. I’ve also filed grievances and sick calls. It is the prison’s policy as well as UTMB (contracted medical care), for inmates to be seen within 10 days of being evaluated by a sick call nurse. I’ve seen the sick call nurse 3 times already. I turned in my carpel tunnel splint because it was sabotaged when I forgot it on rec. yard. Medical still hasn’t provided a replacement even though they have them in their supply stock.

I’m sending you this letter because I wanted to see if you can contact Health Services in Huntsville, Texas (936-437-3618) and report this for me. There should be at least one medical practice manager on this unit, but there isn’t and as a result I’m being denied medical care. I’m also in need of the book Protect your Health & Safety or something like that; an inmate told me about it a while back, but since I’m indigent and halfway through my sentence I was hoping I wouldn’t need it. I was mistaken.

They allowed my jailhouse lawyer’s manual and Texas supplement issue to be stolen last year when I was raped and they lied to me saying it was in my property and I signed the property papers only to find out it was not in there. Can you please help me with the protect your health and safety book ro refer me to someone who may be able to help me?