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 am lucky this far to have received my mail [including many
newspapers, study packs and books from MIM Distributors], but the
tablets are soon to arrive. As far as books go, I am unable to order any
as there seems to be some type of mystery in that realm. No books until
further notice, and nobody appears to be able to guide you in the proper
direction.
Their goal seems to be to stop the flow of contraband into the
prison. Yet, there seems to be more of it than food on your tray. People
are falling out and sent right back to the place they came out of to be
back in the same shape they left in: on drugs. They appear to do nothing
about the problem. A person on drugs can walk right past an officer and
he acts as if he doesn’t see him. The smell of something on fire stays
in the air. You are forced to sleep in a room with unbearable smoke
fumes in the air. All they want is for the alarm to not go off. Smoke
bailing out of some buildings isn’t that something.
Yes, we’re going to have to accept the tablets because they can solve
the problem of unbearable conditions - or so they say!
MIM(Prisons) adds: Despite word from prisoners in
Tennessee that there are new restrictions on books coming in, we have
not been able to confirm the new rules. We have heard from other Books
for Prisoners programs that they have stopped sending books to
Tennessee. The Tennessee Department of Corrections’ website hosts the
Inmate Mail policy dated 8 December 2023, which states:
“Printed materials may be received by inmates in an unlimited amount,
provided they are mailed directly from the publisher(s) or recognized
commercial distributor.”
Despite some censorship, and
mail gone missing, MIM Distributors has been able to deliver books
to TN prisoners prior to December 2023. And lately our biggest problem
has been with Tennessee rejecting manila envelopes because they think
they might harbor drugs!
As we’ve reported in Texas
and elsewhere, drugs in prisons have risen to all-time highs,
despite Covid-19 restrictions on visitations and new digital mail
policies. And science has proven that drug addiction is a product of bad
living conditions. So not only are prison staff bringing in drugs, they
are driving prisoners to use them through their repressive and
alienating conditions.
When Republican Bill Haslam was elected Governor of the $tate of
Tennessee, he appointed Derrick D. Schofield as Commissioner of the
Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC). I assume the “D” in
Schofield’s middle name stands for either dumbass or dickhead, because
since then the conditions in prison have deteriorated. Schofield is one
of the $nakes that was instrumental in causing the largest prison
sit-down in United Snakes hystory.
It is no doubt that the Governor brought this individual to cause chaos
and mayhem to the captives at all the prisons in Tennessee. They do this
in the hopes of enticing the captives to riot so that they can receive
federal funds and justify turning the state plantations over to
Correctional Corporation of America (CCA). This way they can pad their
pockets and implement new legislature that will rob the captives of what
little dignity they may have left.
Many of your politicians have stock in CCA as well as political
allegiance to their dubious goals. Recently it was revealed that CCA had
sent
letters to
most state governments offering to buy up prisons on the condition
that the state contracts with them for at least 20 years, and that the
state keeps the prison at a 90% occupancy rate or more. Such a move
would further cement the prison industrial complex that profits off
humyn suffering while lessening government oversight in how prisoners
are treated.(1)
Schofield has attempted to remove all identity and dignity from all
captives. His agenda is to persecute instead of rehabilitate the
captives. His tactics have been to disregard policies and procedures
that have been in place for years and implement unwritten rules. He has
caused an atmosphere of hate, discontent and danger for both his
employees and the captives.
Captives are required to walk single-file under escort on the compound,
a specified distance apart. Captives are not allowed to talk or have
their hands in their pockets while under escort, even during cold
weather, and the TDOC has not issued gloves to all captives. Captives
must be neatly dressed and keep their cells in an orderly condition with
beds made, and must stand at attention during morning inspections
without speaking, engaging in any other activity or making eye contact
with the inspectors. This includes captives who work night shifts who do
not get off work until early in the morning, yet must be out of bed for
inspection. When captives are called to meals, they are required to line
up and wait outside until it is their turn to go to the dining hall,
even when it is pouring rain. Captives must keep their property in
specific locations in their cells, and property storage rules have been
changed multiple times in an arbitrary manner, leading to confusion and
frustration among both captives and staff. Captives may no longer
possess coat hangers, which makes it difficult to dry wet towels.
Permissible items on the property list have been changed and, rather
than be grandfathered in, items that are no longer allowed have been
confiscated or required to be mailed out.
Wardens have been transferred to different facilities, and it has been
stated that Schofield intends to continue transferring Wardens every few
years, which may have an adverse impact on institutional stability.
There are daily cell inspections, including by Wardens and deputy
Wardens, which means that all of a facility’s highest-ranking
administrators are on the compound at the same time, which may
constitute a security risk.
The policy changes that Schofield has implemented have significant
consequences. This is not a concern that is only an opinion of the
captives. At least four Wardens have resigned or retired since Schofield
was appointed commissioner, some due to the implementation of
Schofield’s new unwritten policies. Also, a number of TDOC staff, from
the Warden level down, have contacted the Human Rights Defense Center to
express their concerns about the effect Schofield’s policy changes have
had on both captives and staff in terms of frustration and discontent
among prisoners and decreased morale among employees. None of the staff
members who spoke with Human Rights Defense Center were willing to
publicly identify themselves, citing fear of retaliation. The atmosphere
here is very vile and becoming extremely dangerous. As is the case in
the state of Georgia, the fights, assaults on captives and assaults on
staff have gone up significantly, all because of Schofield’s silly
unwritten rules.
At Turney Center Industrial Prison (TCIX), captives are targeted to fill
up the hole commonly known as segregation. It once held Close Security
captives, and once they were transferred to other plantations, the
oppressors began to target captives by issuing both arbitrary and
capricious disciplinary reports for so-called infractions that the
captives have never been informed of, not to mention the unwritten rules
are as silly as the individual who implemented them. The ridiculous
rules have no penological interest. Moreover, most of the disciplinary
infractions issued are fraudulent and without legal authority.
Within the masses of captives at TCIX, you would be hard pressed to find
many that are willing to fight against their oppressors for the
liberation of the basic human rights. I call them the “i can’t crew.” I
like to say that i am part of the “i can crew.” There is a famous
saying, which goes like this, “if you won’t stand for something, you
will fall for anything.”
Since the atmosphere here and at all the prisons has become vile, a few
of us decided to get together and address our concerns in a petition. We
recognize that the oppressor wants for us to riot and that we must first
put our struggle out there before we start busting heads.
We got together and put all our concerns down on paper. We then found
someone with a typewriter and asked him to type up our concerns. After
this petition was typed up it was given to a person in each pod to go
door-to-door asking individuals to sign. The only ones not asked to sign
were known rats. The signatures were then sent out to be copied and we
sent copies to many organizations, State Senators, State
Representatives, Turney Center Warden, Commissioner Schofield and
Governor Bill Haslam. The petition has also been placed on the internet
and Facebook.
To protect the large number of captives who participated in
brainstorming this movement, we submitted our demands in the petition.
The demands included and were not limited to a meeting between the
Warden, Commissioner, Governor and various other officials, with the
Captive Counsel Members and different religious organizations. The
purpose of having the other organizations present at such a meeting is
because the individuals who go to counsel are generally intimidated by
the current Warden. Even if they were allowed to speak freely, they are
ill-equipped to speak on matters they have no interest in or have no
knowledge about. As in the past, a majority of them cannot be trusted.
Some are sincere, but most are there to be close to the oppressor to
feel some sort of worth.
If the oppressor does not acknowledge or dialogue with us, we will be
forced to conduct a sit-down. The sit-down will consist of all of us
refusing to go to work, and refusing to purchase commissary items or use
the phone. The oppressor can serve the food and make the beds in the
metal plant for the new prison that they have built in Bledsoe County.
We want all of the captives held against their will in all the prisons
in the State of Tennessee to stand up for themselves, before they are
unable to fight for their dignity, identity, freedom and justice.
What the captives don’t realize is that the fiscal year for the TDOC is
July of each year. They can expect more legislation coming that will
give the bourgeoisie more authority to take more inmate property and
continue to deprive us of basic human rights. The food will become worse
than it is presently; there will be less opportunity to access the fresh
air; it will be mandated for all to cut our hair in a military fashion,
including facial hair; and visits will be by monitor, thus denying human
contact with your family, friends and loved ones. There is a laundry
list of atrocities that are on the way, and instead of complaining about
them, the captives must rise up and do something about it, in every
single death camp in this state. If anyone wants to help in the cause
and has ideas, please contact MIM(Prisons).
Warden Jerry Lester recently told one of his minions that he does not
have to respect the captives. Is this a directive from Schofield, or is
this the Warden’s mentality and/or the result of Schofield’s
intervention that is causing this oppressive thinking?
The captives cannot change their condition until they want to change
themselves. Every captive needs to realize who their real enemy is and
come together so that they can maintain what dignity, respect, manhood
and rights they have left.