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 was recently given the privilege of reading your newsletter
Under Lock and Key
number 20. I was very impressed with the variety of topics and
issues discussed at length in your newsletter. Some of the issues
addressed hit home with me, particularly because I have and am
experiencing the exact same, or incidences that juxtapose with the
issues in your newsletter. Specifically, the articles
False
Validation Campaign in California, and
Forced
into SNY for Political Organization.
My current status and situation, and what led to my current housing
status and prior events, correlates to both articles. I arrived at
Pleasant Valley State Prison (level III) in December 2009 from High
Desert State Prison (level IV), on a bi-annual favorable transfer. In
January 2010 I attended my initial classification committee (ICC) and
received my CDCR 128-G chrono. It indicated I am a member of the “Ansar
El Muhammad” (AEM) disruptive group.
When I arrived in December 2009, while being processed through
receiving/release (RR) I was called an extremist-terrorist by CDCR
(California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) staff and my
religious properties were confiscated. At the time I didn’t give this
event any value, except that I filed a CDCR 602 (complaint). But since
then multiple incidence of retaliation, harassment, false claims and the
confiscation and destruction of my religious property has occurred.
Furthermore housing assignment staff and building floor staff have been
putting active gang members in my cell, and as result I’ve been
assaulted, received multiple threats of violence from prisoners and
staff, labeled a snitch, received a rule violation report (CDCR 115) for
refusing to cell up with any more gang members, and currently I’m in
Administrative Segregation (pending SNY) transfer.
CDCR staff have falsified chronos in my central file (C-file) dating
back to 2006, and I didn’t discover this until 2010. It is my strong
belief that prison officials have manipulated and orchestrated prisoners
since 2006 to cause me physical harm, as I was stabbed and assaulted in
2006.
In 2009 I settled out of court for a §1983 civil complaint I filed in
2007 for the stabbing of 2006. But I strongly believe that somewhere in
my central file prison officials have kept a record that I received an
out-of-court settlement against prison officials (CDCR), which is what
is and has motivated prison officials (Green Wall) to use these tactics
of falsifying records and manipulating prisoners to continue to cause me
physical harm.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This false jacketing of prisoners and
setting up divisions and fights as retaliation against those who
exercise their legal rights to protest abuses in prison is a common
practice. This is a strong reason for our campaign to
build a
United Front for Peace in prisons. A key principle of this United
Front is unity among those facing the same struggle.
The campaign initiated July 1st by prisoners in Pelican Bay State Prison
(PBSP) against the torturous conditions of long-term isolation has
received broad support going on for weeks now. The California Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation [sic] (CDCR) has admitted that 6600
prisoners refused food trays last weekend across 13 of their 33
prisons.(1) Meanwhile, numerous organizations have organized
demonstrations and mobilized support across the United $tates and Kanada
leading up to and following the start of the hunger strike. Over five
thousand people have signed an online petition pledging their support.
Volunteers with MIM(Prisons) have interacted with thousands of people on
the streets inside and outside of California with info on the hunger
strike, gathering dozens of
signed
letters and a handful of donations.
According to CDCR 1,600 prisoners remain on food strike one week after
the start.(2) The media is reporting a sharp drop in the number of
prisoners refusing food in a tone that implies the strike is losing
steam. But this is hardly the case. Many prisoners we’ve heard from
outside of Pelican Bay only pledged to strike one or two days in
solidarity. One reason for this is because it is hard for them to know
when the strike ends or what is happening despite the efforts of outside
supporters to send updates. Even in Pelican Bay many of those protesting
specified the number of days they would fast beforehand. Only a minority
of participants have pledged an indefinite strike until the demands are
met. The rest of us work in solidarity with them until the end.
Despite all the noise being made, word from those organizing to mediate
negotiations is that the CDCR is refusing to negotiate with strikers or
mediators.(3) We know the CDCR has been talking to hunger strike
organizers, but it seems that no resolution is in the works as of July
8.
We’ve seen the ripples of this campaign in our own work as we connect
with many new people in California and reconnect with people who we have
been
cut
off from by the state. We’ve also seen record traffic on our website
with the hunger strike campaign page and the article featuring the
prisoners’ demands bringing in a lot of hits. This increase in
readership is a direct result of the organizing of prisoners in
California. However we must admit that a good chunk of the traffic is
coming from state officials trying to gather intelligence from our
reporting.
Donations we’ve collected so far are less than a tenth of the printing
and postage expenses for outreach, mailing protest letters and sending
communications to prisoners in California. As always, we can use
donations of money and labor to keep up with this important work.
Building Support
The hunger strike comes almost a year and a half after a
formal
complaint was filed with the governor of California regarding the
torture and violation of Constitutional rights that prisoners face in
Pelican Bay. After being ignored by official channels, they turned to
outside supporters who came together and organized a press campaign and
negotiation support. There was enough lead time that MIM(Prisons) was
able to send campaign info to all of our California subscribers prior to
the strike. We also hit the streets to gather signed letters of support
and explain to people the importance of this struggle leading up to the
strike.
Demonstrators support the demands of Pelican Bay prisoners at a march to
reduce incarceration in California marking 40 years of the U.$. war on
the oppressed called the “War on Drugs.”
A rally in San Francisco in June against the drug war featured the
Pelican Bay prisoners’ demands prominently. A comrade representing
MIM(Prisons) spoke on the upcoming hunger strike, stressing that Pelican
Bay was developed as a tool to repress political organizing in the
California prison system and that those being targeted with indefinite
SHU terms are largely leaders and influential people among the
imprisoned oppressed nations. A former California prisoner also spoke
about the torturous conditions in Pelican Bay, urging people to support
the hunger strike.
During the march, supporters of the “Revolutionary Communist Party -
USA” (rcp=u$a) were chanting, “Once we have the revolution, there’ll be
no mass incarceration!” Which revolution are they talking about? Even on
a simple issue like opposing torture in prisons, rcp=u$a’s
idealist/chauvinist colors showed through. As we point out in every
issue of Under Lock & Key, all Amerikans should be viewed
as criminals who need to reform under the dictatorship of the
proletariat. When the revolution finally hits U.$. soil there will
likely be an increase in incarceration of U.$. citizens, as the majority
of the world experiences freedom they have not seen for centuries. The
difference is that proletarian prisons focus on reform and reintegration
into society not torture and isolation as the imperialist system does.
Comrades spread word of the upcoming strike at a Juneteenth festival
celebrating the struggle of the Black nation for freedom in Amerika.
The Campaign Continues
Once the strike began, MIM(Prisons) stepped up efforts to reach the
public about the sacrifices and struggles of our comrades in prison.
While comrades were able to reach visitors coming to CDCR prisons with
fliers and letters of support, repression was reported from a few public
spaces inside and outside California. In one case police forced comrades
to leave for accepting donations without registering with the state, in
others merely handing out fliers on public property got shut down. One
police officer claimed that activists could not set up a table on a
public sidewalk to solicit support for the strike, contradicting
California laws and illegally shutting down our free speech. There are
contradictions in a country that locks 100,000 of its citizens in
isolation cells and prevents people from distributing leaflets in public
space to support their struggle against torture. Their repression only
strengthens resistance, and this campaign is a prime example of that. It
is ludicrous to consider the label “free country” for a country that
does not even provide equal access to political dialogue to all people.
In addition to talking to people on the street, comrades made efforts to
reach people through independent media and art. MIM(Prisons) hosted a
video clip on
its website from the documentary
Unlock the Box
explaining the history of control units and how they were developed to
repress those whose politics were in opposition to the state. Comrades
also did outreach at hip hop shows and talked to a revolutionary Chicano
group called BRWN BFLO who pledged
active support to spreading the word about the hunger strike. Allies in
the United $tates and Kanada hosted screenings of Unlock the
Box as part of the campaign. Other organizations did interviews and
programs on various radio shows.
Those doing outreach reported many interactions with people who had been
in Pelican Bay State Prison, in some cases multiple people in the span
of a couple hours. All strongly agreed with our criticisms of the
conditions there. However, some people concluded that there was nothing
that could be done, and that oppressed nations will always be treated
this way.
There is a common attitude among current prisoners as well that
struggling is useless. The SHU was invented to reinforce that idea. The
best way to change those people’s minds is by showing them the
possibilities. We do that by fighting smartly, as these comrades in
Pelican Bay have done resulting in people all over the world knowing
about their fight. Serious, diligent organizing work is needed in our
struggles for liberation, and basic rights such as the right of
association, communication with the outside world and access to
educational materials and programs. There are no quick fixes.
Fuck the hatred It’s time for changes To free this world from
the oppressor It’s time for us to make some better arrangements In
order to make our lives better Revolution’s the lesson Not
oppression as a profession Anti-imperialist Being groomed for a
new session Educate each other As we’re one within this
struggle United in this Front for Peace Because Revolution is on
the bubble
I am doing an indeterminate SHU program for being validated in the last
place I was at. And the reason they validated me is because I was doing
a lot of Aztec art as well as Aztec tats, which they didn’t agree with
because they considered it to be associated with the “big boys.” So they
locked me down. But what they fail to realize is it’s all part of our
culture. Yet to them it’s based on association, so they see a direct
link to prison politics. So here I sit on the shelf locked down in this
crazy and very sad place where it’s all about no movement whatsoever.
He Recibido su propuesta para promover la paz entre las masas
inferiores. Está en circulación.
Mi crítica es que, al menos aquí en Tejas, hay muchos chavalones que no
tienen conocimiento alguno de cómo manejar relaciones sociales. El nivel
de comprensión de estos jóvenes es muy bajo. El apoyo y respaldo [de
ULK] ha amparado nuestra lucha, pero aún el problema persiste en que el
promedio de los presos en mi bloque tienen 20 años de edad. Debido a
recortes presupuestarios, nuestras oportunidades de educación son cada
día menos. Todas nuestras solicitudes para programación educativa en el
bloque han sido negadas. Y aún dicen que no calificamos para ningún tipo
de programa educativo, debido a nuestro estatus civil y contradicciones
en la política administrativa.
Estos chavalones no pueden ni leer ni escribir ni hacer simple
matemáticas. ¿Cómo es que van a entender las obras de Marx, de Mao y del
Che? Estoy pidiendo su apoyo para realizar un curso básico que le
ayudaría a nuestros jóvenes desarrollar su conciencia social.
Yo soporto y respaldo completamente sus propuestas de paz. Pero, el plan
de Tookie es demasiado básico. ¿Cuáles la esencia de este plan? Estos
mensos necesitan aprender a leer y a escribir y a desarrollar su
capacidad para resolver problemas antes de entrar a la arena política.
MIM(Prisiones) responde: ¿Qué clase de sistema opresivo le quita
la oportunidad de educación a aquellos en los rangos menores? El sistema
está creado con el propósito de perpetuar el estado inferior de las
clases marginales en la nación. Esto demuestra la importancia de
MIM(Prisiones) en la lucha por programas educativos para nuestro pueblo.
Necesitamos donaciones, mecanógrafos y otros recursos para seguir
ampliando este importante labor.
Como se destaca en esta edición de ULK hemos ampliado nuestros cursos de
estudios preliminares y actualmente estamos desarrollando un glosario
revolucionario, ambos con el fin de educar a los ignorantes. Sin
embargo, todavía necesitamos más clases de recuperación. Estamos
investigando esta cuestión y le agradeceríamos sus opiniones para
corroborar este tipo de trabajo. Estamos de acuerdo que uno solo no se
puede enseñar a leer y a escribir a través del correo. Es por eso que
nuestra vanguardia debe luchar para realizar este tipo de programación
educativa desde adentro. La educación es un requisito importante para la
creación de una Frente Único hacia la paz.
I was brutally beaten by seven correctional officers (COs) in December
and was transported to the hospital as a result. They almost killed me.
My hands were restrained the whole time while they maced and punched me
in the face continually. I was kicked in the stomach and elsewhere.
This is the second time that I have been sent to the hospital for
officer brutality. The first time was when CO Goins cut my hand wide
open and I had to get stitches. I have been forced to endure constant
harassment, degradation, malicious behavior, discrimination, etc. All of
this has happened to me as a result of “retaliation” for the many
grievances that I’ve submitted for CO Goins stealing my jewelry out of
my property bag. When I started grieving this and other matters, other
officers joined him in retaliation against me.
There’s a lot more to this matter but this letter is just to reveal some
of what I’ve gone through and am experiencing. This beating took place
six months ago, but the campaign of harassment has been going on longer.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Unfortunately brutality is not an uncommon
response by prison guards against prisoners who try to fight injustice
and illegal guard abuse through the grievance system. This is why United
Struggle from Within initiated a
campaign to
demand our grievances be addressed. There are currently petitions
for California, Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri, and we need help to create
petitions for other states. Write to us to get involved.
On this fourth day of July, Amerikans all across the country are
celebrating their freedoms with beer and bangs. Yet in the same country
there are more people locked in tiny cages for 22 to 24 hours per day,
with little or no access to the outside world, than in any other country
in the world. In Pelican Bay State Prison in California many are in such
“control units” because of who they associate with, and they
were put there based on secret evidence. For any student of the U.$.
Constitution or the Bill of Rights it is obvious that the promised
freedoms of Amerikkka are not granted to its internal semi-colonies.
Today we are sending dozens of signed letters from residents of
California who share our concerns for prisoners forced to live in these
torturous conditions and who support those in Pelican Bay engaging in a
peaceful hunger strike.
Warden Greg Lewis Pelican Bay State Prison P.O. Box
7000 Crescent City, CA 95531-7000
5 July 2011
Dear Warden Lewis,
Included with this letter are dozens of letters from residents of
California who are concerned for the welfare of the prisoners in Pelican
bay State Prison. We are sending these letters to you in support of the
prisoners on hunger strike. The letters are asking you to do all that is
within your power to do to change the conditions in PBSP to meet the
strikers’ demands.
We have also forwarded copies of these letters to CDCR Internal Affairs
and CDCR Office of the Ombudsman.
Sincerely,
MIM Distributors P.O. Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140
To view a copy of the general letter that people signed, click
here.
Please stop any abuses that are going on inside the prison complex. -
Oakland, CA
Stop locking up prisoners who need other kinds of help (drug, etc.) P.S.
Wasting my tax dollars 4 real! - Berkeley, CA
P.S. U.S. signed the Convention Against Torture. It has been ratified.
It is the law of the land. Please do not violate our laws! Thanks. -
Richmond, CA
Please attend to this!!! NOW! - Oakland, CA
I just don’t understand how people in this day & time are still so
devilish, when they got power & it’s a very fucked up feeling
because we are human beings & you all treat us like
shit! -Oakland, CA
Dehumanizing prisoners is sickness; you are helping commit crimes
against humanity by abuses and deprivation of basic rights and needs of
prisoners. -Eureka, CA
In the letters to Warden Lewis, the California cities of Hercules, San
Francisco, San Pablo, El Sobrante, Stockton, Napa, Chula Vista and
Vacaville were also represented and supporters have forwarded letters
they wrote from as far as BC, Canada.
Here’s an update on what’s going on at High Desert State Prison: A
second Correctional Officer was busted for bringing in drugs and phones.
Boby Joe Corby was arrested for accepting $10,000 for that. And we just
had an Afrikan national overdose on heroin 3 days ago.
The pigs here were feeding us double the amount of food to prevent us
from going on the hunger strike - it only lasted a couple of days (July
1 - 3).
I have been doing a lot of organizing to unite the nations captive in
these U.$. warehouses. A lot of my homies tell me I am crazy because I
want to revolutionize my mentality, as well as my fellow brothaz, from
criminal to revolutionary, to stand up and fight for true freedom.
Hunger strike supporters outreach to visiting friends and family as
hunger strike begins.
We in facility “A” Ad-Seg Unit A1 will be following suit with a hunger
strike July 8 2011, one week after the Secure Housing Unit (SHU) strike
begins here at Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP). Your support would be
highly appreciated.
I am requesting to be provided the PBSP SHU strike campaign update with
flier. Any information that you could assist in this endeavor would be
greatly appreciated.
Letters or phone calls made in support of the abolishment of these foul,
inhumane and unsanitary living conditions would be highly appreciated.
Thank you. Could you please forward most recent Under Lock &
Key.
Thank you.
MIM(Prisons) adds: We have received news from other A units in
Pelican Bay that they are going to be participating in the hunger strike
as well. Isolation is so severe in Pelican Bay that many had not heard
of the strike until receiving our notice, but word is spreading through
many avenues and supporters on the outside and support is strong and
growing.
I am new to the cause, but not new to the system. I am currently in
reception here in California waiting to go to mainline. I am writing to
let you know I have received the newsletter and the letter from the
comrades in Pelican Bay and their serious issues [concerning their
hunger
strike], but I am also writing to let you know about some issues we
are having with health violations and degrading of prisoners by the
pigs.
First, we are being housed in gyms and they are in real nasty condition,
black mold in the restrooms, no air to keep us cool, with temperatures
that reach over 100 degrees this next month. We have no fire sprinklers
and there is an infestation of birds and bird lice that is giving
prisoners rashes and bite marks. People are passing staph infection
around, and they make us go without soap and other supplies for weeks at
a time.
MIM(Prisons) adds: It is conditions like these in prisons across
the country that led to prisoners all over California acting in
solidarity with the
hunger
strike initiated in Pelican Bay this July. And these common
interests compelled the organization of the
United
Front for Peace in Prisons as a vehicle to unite the lumpen so that
we can organize effectively against the criminal injustice system.
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