MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
www.prisoncensorship.info is a media institution run by the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons. Here we collect and publicize reports of conditions behind the bars in U.$. prisons. Information about these incidents rarely makes it out of the prison, and when it does it is extremely rare that the reports are taken seriously and published. This historical record is important for documenting patterns of abuse, and also for informing people on the streets about what goes on behind the bars.
I’m writing to update you all of the ongoing mistreatment, abusive and
unconstitutional behavior of the TDCJ prison system. Yes, this
out-of-date prison system still openly promote slavery, personal
vindictive retaliation upon any prisoner(s) a prison staff want to, for
any reason, and allow prisoners to die due to gross negligence or
officer(s) is allowed to just kill us.
I often ponder about if the Texas tax-payers could actually see what
goes on inside the Texas prison system though hidden cameras. They would
seen a 72 years old prisoner get his head slammed against a Brick wall
and slammed to the concrete floor, causing the poor old man to scream in
pain and bleed from a serious head injury. All because the 72 years old
guy throw his ID card on the floor after an abusive officer demanded it.
Tax-payers will see how 68 years of age Marshell Raney, was continuously
denied medical care up to his death 1-19-18. They would see, Donald
Loosier discharging blood for months, crying from pain of a softball
size hernia and untreated hepatitis that caused his death last month
9-6-18. I have personally witnessed many preventable deaths here at the
Jester3 Unit, but I have heard of so many more.
It’s no doubt to me now, TDCJ Administrative Staff are trained to lie,
to cover the truth and conceal any their or staff members wrongdoings.
The deceased prisoner(s) family never find out what really happen
leading to the deceased death. There is too many policies, regulations
and Federal Court orders that has been set in place, prison officials
blatantly disregard because they know they will be protected by their
Malfeasance Wardens and Directors. I have tried to help numerous fellow
prisoners file grievances, write out court claims, etc. I have suffered
much retaliation from prison staff, from being unjustly placed in
solitary confinement, bogus disciplinary reports, being transferred to 5
different prison units, taking my legal books and property, etc. I don’t
consider myself a Jailhouse lawyer, but I have filed 2 federal lawsuits,
only one got dismissed. I’m still willing to keep the fight alive,
fearing only the creator of everything!
I have completed 7 years of a 10 year sentence, and up for parole again
hoping they will grant me parole, so I can start a Texas Prisoners
Transformation Advocacy. I feel this is greatly needed for the Black,
Brown and poor White people coming out of Texas prison, unrehabilitated,
with no family or financial support. The capitalism’s parasitic greed,
with the genocidal tendencies against Blacks, Hispanics and
disenfranchised Whites need immediate help to properly establish
themselves into society once released from a diabolic prison system. I
will need to join with like minded people to find my best avenue to get
a effective and Successful Advocacy up and going. I greatly appreciate
the MIM organization, have helped me and many others know and understand
there are people who are true humanitarians around this world. MIM
Newsletter is a good educational tool, current events and a reading
enjoyment to incarcerated people. Please keep up the good and Honorable
work!
Within the Bureau of Propaganda here in New York State (NYS) Department
of Corruptions I am reaching out to all political prisoners and true
difference makers who are deeply rooted in solidarity, liberation, and
unity. Reach for your victory.
My goal and aim is to unify NYS prisoners and prisoners nationally while
building upon the vehicles necessary to combat the many forms of
injustice that each of us are subjected to per a truly controlled
environment. The time is now!
On 6 January 2018, Voice of the People Daily News, circulated an article
titled “Gov’s gotta correct corrections.” In this article many valid
points were brought to light as to officers stealing from packages,
prisoners being afraid to grieve for fear of retaliation, and no respect
for our visitors who are our families and loved ones, and the list goes
on! This is our reality!
It is my belief that as men and women of a corrupted system built and
established for the purpose of breaking the oppressed, we the people of
the Incarcerated Nation should be reaching out and communicating to
those who stand in solidarity with our struggle. Do not let them win!
In this news article it was stated: “The outside world has no idea about
the horrible mind games and abuse that some prisoners are forced to
endure.” These corruptional officers are very methodical and meticulous
when it comes to seeing a male or female disciplined and/or labeled as a
security threat.
I have been reaching out for quite some time to bring light to what has
been hidden and enraptured in darkness for so long. I have no doubt that
many other comrades are reaching out and doing the same as is necessary
to defeat the many forms of injustice enacted upon us.
To look into the eyes of a brainwashed pig and see how deeply ensnared
in corruption he or she is, is to see the real and actual truth of the
war that has silently been waged against our people. We the people must
release our voices. The first step is to open your mouth as to the
injustices you have been through while animalized and dehumanized within
a cage built to break you. Free your mind.
I am also in request of each comrade who lives in, builds up, and opens
the doors to solidarity to reach out to MIM(Prisons) and provide a 5
stamp donation so that we can further our national systems of support
and releasing knowledge. There are many doors available, you are the key
to these doors being opened. To give is to receive!
If you see a weak link in our chain, reach out and truly set your pride
and ego aside to strengthen this weak link. This will in time strengthen
your support if you only knew.
For United Separation Ministry, know that a comrade is setting aside his
pride and ego to reach out to you.
19 October 2018 – One week to the day of the Dia de la Raza celebrations
in Mexico, a caravan of three to four thousand migrant men, wimmin and
children (forming part of what’s been dubbed the Central American
Exodus) stormed the Mexico-Guatemala border at the southern Mexico State
of Chiapas demanding passage through Mexico on their way to the United
$tates. The migrants had spent the previous seven days walking from
Honduras, where the caravan originated, through Guatemala, where they
grew in numbers as Guatemalans joined the procession. Upon arriving at
the Mexico-Guatemala border, the migrants were stopped by an assortment
of Mexican Armed Forces equipped with riot gear, armored vehicles and
Amerikan-supplied Blackhawk helicopters. The neo-colonial government of
Mexico was acting on orders of U.$. Pre$ident Donald Trump who had
issued the threat of economic sanctions against Mexico and warned of
sending troops to the joint U.$.-Mexico border if Mexico didn’t stop the
caravan from reaching the United $tates. Similar orders were given to
Honduras and Guatemala, who initially ignored the command. As a result,
Pre$ident Trump has warned of cutting off economic aid to the
recalcitrant countries.(1)
Hungry, thirsty, tired, and now frustrated, the caravan broke through
the border fence and began flooding into Mexico where Mexican forces
fired teargas and resorted to the use of their batons on the migrants in
an attempt to push the caravan back. While some migrants began throwing
rocks at the police, the event reached a focal point when various young
men began climbing the gates of the bridge where they were held and
began to jump into the shallow Suchiate river below. After
unsuccessfully trying to dissuade people from jumping, a reporter
present at the event asked the question, “why jump?” One migrant
responded that he was doing it for his children, and while he didn’t
want to die, the risk was worth it if only he could provide for his
family. Others stated that they would rather die than return to the
crushing poverty and pervasive gang violence that awaits them back home.
“We only want to work,” other migrants stated. When it was all over one
child was reported to have died from teargas inhalation.(2)
Unfortunately, the assaults on the caravan did not end there.
Forty-eight hours after being stopped at Suchiate, about half of the
caravan was eventually admitted into Mexico while 2,000 opted to board
buses heading back to Honduras. On 22 October, the remaining members of
the caravan along with additional Central American refugees already in
Chiapas came together, after which their numbers swelled to 7,000 to
8,000 strong. This included the 2,000 children in their midst, along
with the migrants’ rights organization Pueblo Sin Fronteras. Members of
the caravan made a public plea to the United Nations to declare the
Central American Exodus a humanitarian crisis. They ask the U.N. to
intervene and send envoys and a military escort to monitor the caravan’s
journey through Mexico which they referred to as a “Corridor of Death.”
Representatives of the group accused the Mexican government of
perpetuating human rights abuses against them. They claimed that wimmin
had been raped and children stolen. They also spoke of children in the
caravan suddenly traveling alone because their parents had
disappeared.(3)
Meanwhile, further south in the hemisphere, actor Angelina Jolie, who is
a special ambassador for the U.N. Human Rights Commission for refugees,
traveled to Peru to call attention to the “humanitarian crisis” that is
currently playing out in neighboring Venezuela where inflation and food
shortages have led to mass migrations into Peru, Brazil, and
Colombia.(4) The migrations out of Venezuela have been extensively
covered by the Amerikan media, along with increasingly hostile rhetoric
from politicians to topple the government of Nicolas Maduro, which has
stood against imperialist control of the country. In comparison, the
plight of the Honduran caravan has barely been given any attention by
English language broadcasts except in its influence on the mid-term
elections here in the United $tates. Could this be because the
Venezuelan government has been a thorn in the side of U.$. imperialism
for the last 20 years while the combined governments of Mexico,
Guatemala, and Honduras have been faithful, if reluctant, servants of
that same imperialist power?
Since 2005 the official number of refugees in the world has climbed from
8.7 million to 214.4 million in 2014.(5) However, since the very
definition and criteria for refugee status is set by the imperialists
themselves, and hence politically motivated, we’re sure the real number
is way higher. For example, according to the U.N., Honduras isn’t even
considered a country of origin for refugees. Neither is Mexico, and yet
the majority of people migrating to the United $tates come from Mexico
and certainly the people of Honduras and Guatemala are fleeing
conditions comparably worse than the recent crisis in Venezuela.(6)
As of 2014, there were 11.2 million undocumented migrants in the U.$.;
67% came from Mexico and Central America. Of these 11.2 million
migrants, 72% live in four of the 10 states with the largest
undocumented populations. Of these 10 states, four are Aztlán i.e.,
California, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada.(7) Statistics also show that
migrants from the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and
El Salvador will integrate into Aztlán and their children will
assimilate into the Chican@ nation.(8)
As the principal contradiction in the world (imperialism vs. the
oppressed nations, principally U.$. imperialism) continues to develop,
and crisis heightens, we can expect to see more of these mass exoduses
in the not-too-distant future. Already, there are reports of another
caravan leaving Honduras of at least 1,000 strong. Surely to Amerikans
this must seem like a nightmare come true, literally thousands of Third
World refugees banging at the gates of their imperialist citadel. As
tragic as all of this seems it is but a glimpse of how the Third World
masses will finally rise up, and in their desperation, put an end to
imperialism once and for all. Oddly enough, revolutionary forces in
Mexico have yet to make an appearance and lend a helping hand to the
caravan while ordinary working people have already stepped up to lend
their assistance. How will Chican@s respond? That is left to be seen.
¡Raza Si! ¡Moro No!
MIM(Prisons) adds: The U.$. National Endowment for Democracy was
involved in both the 2009 coup to overthrow Zelaya in Honduras and 2002
coup to overthrow Chavez in Venezuela (later reversed). Hillary Clinton
infamously helped orchestrate the coup in Honduras as well. Since then
murderous generals trained by the U.$. School of the Amerikkkas have
terrorized the population, killing indigenous people, peasants and
environmental activists. The U.$. has established a large military
presence in Honduras since the coup, backing the robbing of land from
poor indigenous peasants and peasants of African descent.(9)
I’ve recently been transferred to the AD-Seg section of the Wynne Farm
here in beautiful Huntsville, TX. (Whoa hold on a sec, the roaches are
trying to carry me off, let me kill a few)- alright that’s better.)
Anyway on the conditions here, well, to begin, we have a “small”
infestation of roaches (and/or rodents). With the lights on it’s not so
bad, they only attempt to carry you off your bunk. But turn the lights
off and only the steel cage you live in will keep you in! I’ve never
seen so many roaches! The weather here is below 40° and we are limited
to 1 sheet to cover ourselves with. It’s beyond cruel and unusual as a
punishment.
There are two 14th amendment claims that I wrote the Department of
Justice on today, as well as filed a grievance over. The first is the
mop closet that has been converted to a shower that we are forced to use
if we intended to be hygienic. It’s not equipped with anything beyond a
leaky pipe that is supposed to suffice for a shower head. I speak of the
constitutional claim because there are many of us that are legally
disabled and confined to canes, crutches, etc. There are no handles,
seats, etc. It’s beyond a safety hazard. The second is the denial of our
recreation/outside of cell time because we are on said disabilities. In
my attempt to go utilize my 1 hour out of cell a week this Saturday, I
was told I couldn’t go outside and take my cane for worry of offender
assault with such! Likewise, another offender was denied at the same
time because of his crutches! Like I said, I’ve filed and will bring
this claim before the U.S. district court as soon as administrative
remedy is exhausted.
I’ve tried to push the “inmates” on my block to band together for a
grievance campaign but they just ignored such and went on about their
urbane idiocy and mindless chatter! Oh well, fuck ’em and their desire
to stay stupid and pre-programmed by the system they claim to hate yet
support, if only through inaction.
You know, I’m not sure I’ve mentioned it, but I landed in seg. because I
disassociated myself from an STG group, racially bound to a constitution
(supposedly), so that I could further my maturity and growth, without
being bound to an outside influence of an ideology that amounted to less
than the words they used, to lie to themselves, so that they could
convince themselves that they were more than they could ever be. I
stepped aside because I’m a man and they made me beat one half to death
to prove it, as they pulled a knife on me!
I’m white and I’m proud. However, I’m also a revolutionary thinker and a
soldier in every sense of the word. I’ll bet they never question that
again. I wanted to state that because too often in the ULK publication I
see reference to “white imperialism” and I know you speak of the powers
that be, but even so it hurts my heart because of the work I put in to
further our cause. Anyway, love and respect to all those like minded
generals, thinkers, and soldiers of our revolutionary struggle. Below is
an update to the law library section of the Texas Rack. In solidarity!
aa) Consular notification and access for immigration services bb)
Directory of Foreign Consular Corps cc) Texas Sessions Law
1999-current dd) Court Structure of Texas Flow Chart ee) Venue
list for Texas ff) Intra-law library loan holdings program AD- seg
offenders!
Well Houston, we have a problem. I sent out a letter to you asking for
the Texas Pack. I enclosed 1 SASE and 4 stamps. The mailroom denied the
envelope with SASE and 4 stamps. Yet they wrote the denial form up
stating denied 4 stamps and did not say anything about the self
addressed stamped envelope. So I sent out another letter with (see
denial form) 2 SASE, one with 6 stamps, one with one stamp. I wanted the
Texas Package and the complaint form.
I have appealed both denial forms. The 1st denial form was in the 2
letters I sent to you. The first denial said I could not purchase
anything with stamps. I explained I wasn’t purchasing anything, just
covered postage. So I request you’ll also appeal this. The reason they
don’t allow stamps is because inmates have been using them to purchase
“Kill Shot” magazines. I am also filing a grievance over this matter.
There is nothing in Texas mailroom rules about stamps or SASE. Another
violation of freedom of speech. There are others who require SASE like
Merriam Webster Language Research Service. I don’t see how that can stop
SASE going out. So please appeal this also so that your name can be on
approved list since you do not sell “Kill Shots.”
by a North Carolina prisoner October 2018 permalink
I would like to continue receiving these subscriptions. I am in a North
Carolina prison that is probably more different than any others across
the U.S. I say this because women are so different than men. We let
everyone treat us any way.
We are the only prison (I think) that doesn’t have air conditioning for
1600 inmates. Some dorms didn’t have working water fountains this summer
and if the officer didn’t make someone get ice coolers at a certain time
we have nothing cold to drink. The officers response, “it isn’t me I
have my water in a ref.”
I noticed this summer after 7:30 PM or 8 PM they started seeing what the
temperature was. The food we get is less than a child would eat. And big
cockroaches as big as my pinky, well fatter but that long. If you don’t
have money you starve. They throw away food but don’t give seconds.
There is almost 16 hours between supper and breakfast.
And the officers lie on you. All the staff does what they want. They
will lock you in Seg for someone telling them you have drugs or anything
and it don’t have to be true. Just because you pissed someone off. I
went to seg for them telling me a white powder substance tested positive
for crack or crack-based. I know for a fact that it was a norotton pill
and do you think I could fight it? No! Cause the inmate always lies and
the staff is never wrong. The medical here is a joke. They just cut you
off your medication for no reason. Even when the outside doctors say not
to. We are so overcrowded but I’m pulling the same amount of time for
habitual felon as people who has killed.
Oh! If you don’t brown-nose with the police then you’re just going to
have to take what they dish. Oh! But let them hear about an inspection
everything changes. This is the worst run prison, every shift something
changes. And why can’t we smoke? Damn, it’s not illegal. But I guess I
am venting because this place beats all I’ve ever seen. Thanks for
listening.
The prison’s segregation unit at Calhoun State Prison (CSP) has a
practical policy of delaying an insulin-dependent diabetic’s
finger-stick & insulin injection until several hours after meals
have already been served and the empty meal trays collected back up.
This is even though their medical orders call for them to receive
finger-sticks & insulin before meals, not afterward. This is a
textbook example (or, in this prison setting, a case-law example) of a
prison policy of indifference which exists in violation of both the
contemporary standards recognized by the medical profession (medical
malpractice), and the federal constitution’s 8th Amendment’s
proscription against cruel & unusual punishments.
A factor contributing to this policy is that at CSP’s segregation (seg)
unit breakfast is passed out anytime between 4:30 a.m. & 5 a.m. but
CSP’s administration doesn’t have its medical staff clocking in for work
until 6 a.m. every morning. By that time (1-1.5 hours after breakfast)
the diabetics housed in seg are badly in need of relief from the
dangerously high blood glucose/sugar level resulting from their having
ate breakfast without any insulin. I know from my own experience as an
insulin-dependent diabetic that if I eat without first taking insulin I
develop a dangerously high glucose level in the 300s, 400s, 500s, or
higher. This is a typical insulin-dependent’s reaction to eating without
first receiving the prescribed dosage of insulin he requires for the
particular meal.
When nurses clock in at 6 a.m. all of the diabetics housed in prison
general population have not ate yet. However, instead of first
proceeding to seg to promptly attend to those diabetics who are in acute
distress, nurses are instead choosing to administer insulin to the
diabetics in general population. Next, they are choosing to perform pill
call for the entire non-diabetic general population.
Depending on the efficiency of the particular nurses working on a given
day, by the time it’s all said and done nurses aren’t arriving in seg
with glucose meters & insulin until anywhere from 7-10 a.m. every
morning, sometimes even later. Delays are also occurring at lunchtime
& suppertime, even though nurses are already clocked in and on duty,
and so there is really no explanation apparent to justify these
additional delays. I kept a record of the delays between meals &
insulin, and the nurses responsible for the worst delays are Nurse
Williams, Nurse Deefe, Nurse Gilbert, Nurse Porter, and Nurse Mills.
To clear the air on how dangerous hours-long delays are, I am going to
quote to you from page 54 of Dr. Jorge E. Rodriguez’s book Diabetes
Solution, where he explains the dangers of high blood sugar, also
called hyperglycerin:
“Hyperglycemia, by definition, is a level of sugar in the blood above
the accepted normal range… the normal range for a person’s fasting blood
sugar (”fasting” means after 8 or more hours without eating anything)
level is below 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) of blood, and the
normal range at any other time should be below 180 mg/dl)… Elevated
blood sugar in and of itself causes tissue damage but having a blood
sugar that is extremely elevated can cause life-threatening changes in
the body in a matter of hours. An extremely high blood sugar level, and
I mean at least 300 – remember, normal is under 100 (fasting) or 180
(any other time) – can cause an imbalance in the delicate acid-based
structure in the tissues of the body. When the body can no longer use
sugar as an energy source it starts breaking down fat and protein, one
of the by-products of these two alternative sources of energy is
ketones. A high level of circulating ketones not only damages tissues,
but can cause confusion, unconsciousness, and coma.”
The above medical expert’s opinion sufficiently shows how diabetics
housed in CSP’s segregation unit are in imminent danger of serious
physical injury and/or death. Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC)
will try to remedy a prisoner’s medical complaints by transferring him
to another prison. In just 3 years my complaints of improper diabetic
care has caused my transfers to 8 different prisons (there is also a
deficiency in the diabetic care at my present prison, Wheeler
Correctional Facility).
These repeated failures are evidence which supports a civil complaint,
not only against these individual prisons, but against the entire GDC,
under the litigation theory that there’s no prison in the GDC network it
can transfer me to where I won’t be in imminent danger of serious
physical injury or death, due to a lack of adequate diabetic care. I
will keep you informed of all the latest developments.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This is a followup to the articles
“Insulin
Indifference Endangers Prisoners”, and
“Fixing
Insulin Indifference”, which we published in 2017 on this same
insulin problem in Georgia. These medical battles are literally life and
death for some people. Just a further example of the indifference and
negligence of the criminal injustice system.
ULK 61 was very informative to me. I’m 47 years old, and I have
what you call street cred. I’ve been a drug dealer all my life because I
didn’t see it as a crime, I saw it as an illegal business. I’m currently
serving a ten-to-twenty sentence, and all my charges are for drugs
except for one.
In 2001, I worked in roofing. When I got to the job site there were no
shingles so the boss sent us home early with half a day pay. When I came
home, as I started up the stairs, I heard a commotion in my front room
where me and my wife sleep. As I opened the door I saw my wife (or
ex-wife) naked and a man jumping out the window. I lost my mind, started
calling her all type of names and beat on her pretty badly. The
neighbors called the cops. When I was given my charges it was rape,
burglary, kidnapping, and breaking and entering. What should have been a
crime of passion turned into something else. They did a rape kit and it
was negative. I had keys to the house, and bills in my name.
I had a public defender because she had all my money. So me being a poor
Latino, afraid of the racist justice system, I took a deal of 2 years
for sexual battery plus ten years registering as a sex offender. I was
evaluated by a professional and was determined that I didn’t have a sex
problem. Therefore I did not have to take the sex program that a sex
offender must take. I’ve been to prison 4 times after that for
possession with intent to deliver and all four times I was evaluated to
see if I needed the sex program and every time it’s been determined that
I do NOT have a sex problem. My problems are with drugs. So my question
is, if I do not have a sex problem, why is the state of Pennsylvania
still registering me as a sex offender and wants to do it for life?
I want to change my life around but it’s a heavy load to have as an
older man. If anyone knows how I can get relief, please help me if you
can.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer underscores our point that
labels from the criminal injustice system shouldn’t be trusted. Ey also
raises an interesting question related to the topic of crimes against
the people. Ey writes “I’ve been a drug dealer all my life because I
didn’t see it as a crime, I saw it as an illegal business.” Drug dealing
is harmful to those who do and buy drugs, and their families and
community, and so we put it in the category of crimes that are against
the people. This is different from, say, robbing a bank, or tax fraud.
It sounds like this comrade now sees the problem with dealing drugs, and
wants to turn things around. This is a good example of someone who has
great potential to reform and become a productive member of the
revolutionary movement. Having a S.O. label is not a barrier to that,
though we would struggle with this comrade over whether they feels
justified in beating up eir ex-wife. Drug dealing is a business and a
means to get by for many who are deprived of better options. Some think
it is cool, others find it degrading. If someone has stopped and
understands why it’s wrong. We care most what ey does with eir life
going forward.
I am currently incarcerated in Smith County Texas. I have been here for
over 4 months and it appears I will be here at least another 3 or 4
months just waiting to go to trial. They have me on a $250,000 for an
alleged theft charge under 30k. I am no stranger to the legal system in
Texas but this county has so far violated almost every right I have. I
have had to fire my attorney who is apparently a contract attorney for
the court and only does court appointed cases. That said I am attempting
to wing this pro se but they have denied me everything needed to do so
such as a law library, discovery, or anything else needed to mount a
defense. I just filed a federal law suit against the judge, DA and the
court appointed attorney or should I say I just tried. I am pretty sure
they are all going to have absolute immunity. Anyway, all that said only
time will tell.
I am a 44 year old white man. The last time I was in any serious legal
trouble was in 1998 when I did 18 months in a federal system and about 6
months in state jail. I am sure a lot has changed in our legal system
since then so I am not sure if this county is playing with peoples
rights and lives or the system is just rigged and there is nothing
anyone can do until after you have been convicted. I feel like I am in
the twilight zone here.
Anyway a guy came in on a bench warrant and had a cop of Under Lock
& Key. Very interesting to say the least. I would very much like
to read more of them so if you could please send me your newsletter and
any other info you have that may provide some insight into the alternate
world I find myself in.
The situation where a group was supporting imprisoned white power by
promoting the 23 via events outside prisons was
left-opportunism. It was a situation where the activists felt it was
necessary to cater to imprisoned white supremacists in order to “move
the movement forward.”
During World War II Stalin made temporary alliances with Hitler, but
this was only because Russia had to build up its military, and millions
of lives were at stake. Here, had the activists chose not to promote
imprisoned white power the movement and its united front would have
survived.
Looking back at the response/decision to split with MIM(Prisons) over
them not issuing a statement on the matter, I must now say it was wrong.
I believe now that I should have criticized MIM(Prisons) on this, but I
should not have supported a split. It was an over-reaction, which I feel
was brought on by a combination of things. One being the extreme
repression and pressure I was under in the concentration kamp. It did
affect me in ways I am still dealing with. I was in a situation where
death by the state was perpetual, solitary was a mountain of pressure
and white supremacy was the assassin ever-present. I felt at the time,
betrayal for those who would not issue a response. This of course was an
incorrect response.
Being released from the kkkamps has allowed me to look at my thoughts on
this with new eyes. It is true that MIM(Prisons) had served prisoners
including myself for many years. I should not have responded as if I
just met them. This was a result of many years of solitary, and the
psychological turmoil that the state put me through. This kind of
turmoil often has prisoners turn on each other, here I turned on
comrades politically, comrades who had been my instructors for years. I
was wrong for this.
I accept the criticism from MIM(Prisons) and for the historical record I
stand in unity with MIM(Prisons).
I hope with this self-criticism that our imprisoned comrades can learn
from it. It’s important to know that to split with comrades over
tactics, whether it is over something you feel you may be correct on, is
a very big move. Prisons, and particularly solitary confinement, at
times obscures our ability to respond in a materialist way. One way to
avoid these challenges from escalating is to take a break when you start
to think these thoughts. Write the organization/persyn and let them know
that you are taking a break so as not to exacerbate the conflict.
I should note that the tactic of activists to promote the 23 has now
been overturned. So in that aspect I was proven correct, it was my
response that was incorrect. But this was a very important lesson.
The movement cannot move forward with subjective decisions. I allowed
subjectivism to determine my decisions on this issue and that was an
error. MIM(Prisons)’s line never changed so my affiliation with them
should not have changed either.
In Struggle.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We whole-heartedly accept this
self-criticism from Pili based on this statement and eir principled work
with the Republic of Aztlán.
It is not unusual for us to encounter anger and frustration from our
comrades inside. Our relationship is tenuous through the mail. Often
comrades will question us because of this. We generally know more about
them then they know about us. That is an imbalance that can encourage
doubts. This is a good example of the psychological warfare that
solitary confinement wages on the oppressed. It is not just about
isolating individuals from others, it has broad and lasting impacts on
the oppressed’s ability to organize effectively.
For all the reasons mentioned by Pili, we try to be patient and
understanding when there is the occasional riff with a comrade we have
worked closely with for some time. But we always to looking at practice
– look at our work, look at what we say. Is it consistent? Is it
correct? And we will take the same approach with you. Sometimes
comrades/organizations do change their line and practice to a degree
that warrants splitting with them.
Advanced comrades should think about what a dividing line question is
for them. This can help orientate you, and avoid subjectivism, when you
find yourself questioning whether another group is an ally or not. See
the article cited by Pili above for a discussion of cardinal principles
and what we believe Maoists should and shouldn’t divide over.