MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
A couple weeks ago National Public Radio (NPR) aired a series called
“guilty and charged” that talked about the way states are charging
defendants and even criminalizing them for not paying court fees.
The series followed and interviewed different people who were caught in
this cycle of repetitive imprisonment. A couple of facts are worth
mentioning, particularly that in New Jersey 4,000 people surrendered
themselves to pay for fines. That is, they got arrested for a
misdemeanor and can’t pay court fees so they get issued a warrant for
their arrest. These charges can be settled with a reduced payment or a
couple months in jail.
In essence the poor are being not only criminalized and imprisoned for
being poor but punished by an injustice system that is not blind!
Forty-one states now charge room and board for people in county jails,
forty-three states charge a defendant for a public defender. In a
supposed democracy where everyone is equal before the law, this is not
only a complete farce but a system put in place to check oppressed
nations, and more so poor people of oppressed nations. Although mention
was given how in 40 years the prison population has boomed 400% and the
rise can be attributed to Richard Nixon in the 70s for his “war on
drugs,” there was not much content on how there is a political context
to this high incarceration of oppressed nations.
It’s no secret that the poor and marginalized will have a harder time
paying court fees, and as mentioned earlier, oppressed Blacks and
Latinos are most likely to end up incarcerated, furthering a system of
criminalization.
Most oppressed nations know first hand the injustice system in the
United $tates. As there is no profit from imprisonment to U.$.
imperialism, the rise of imprisonment is not for profits but for
political reasons. The high cost of imprisonment is taking its toll on
the department of justice, county jails and tax payers. It’s likely that
defendants will be charged more and penalized even more for not being
able to pay these charges.
While agitation, protest and attention should be given to combat this
issue along with a long list of other “wrongs,” a reformist attitude wil
only go so far. People should get into a movement to overthrow this
imperialist system and install a more just society in a socialist
manner.
You ever heard that saying “crime doesn’t pay”? I’m gonna keep it real
with you: that’s a bold face lie, or at the very least a
misrepresentation of the truth. I guess it can be argued that crime
doesn’t pay for the person who does the crime, gets caught, and has to
serve a lengthy sentence.
I don’t necessarily accept that premise because for one, a person can go
undetected for a long time, all the while blowing through millions of
dollars in ill-gotten gains; ask Bernie Madoff. Is it reasonable to
conclude that crime didn’t pay ol’ Bernie-Bern? And the U.$. government
is running a Madoff-like ponzi scheme with some of its entitlement
programs; Uncle Sam knows that crime pays.
Another dimension to this is the guy who does the crime, gets caught,
gets the court punishment, but has friends in high places who sees that
he gets a pardon. Such as the case with “Scooter” Libby or that
California state politician’s son who Arnold Schwarzenegger granted
partial clemency to. Arnold basically admitted that he did it as a favor
for his politician friend. Ask “Scooter” if crime pays.
Then there’s the people who commit crimes, yet due to their status and
position in U.S. society, never get prosecuted. Anybody remember the
Iran-Contra affair? Plenty of evidence has surfaced that implicates the
CIA with drug smuggling and trafficking during this era. There were
reports from agents with un-compromised integrity filed within the CIA
during this time and bringing this criminal activity to light within the
Agency. Ironically George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and the upper level
intelligence/justice officials, claiming ignorance of the crimes,
avoided legal accountability for this criminal activity. Ask the Bush
politicians if their crimes pay.
The government of Columbia sued the Phillip Morris tobacco company for
smuggling Marlboro cigarettes in to that country, readily accepting
large amounts of cash from traffickers, then smuggling the cash back
into the U.S.(1)
Ironically this criminality didn’t receive much focus in the United
States, nor did the Phillip Morris decision-makers have to defend their
criminal conduct in the U.S. criminal court system. Also RJ Reynolds
(Nabisco) has been sued by the entire European Union for large scale
smuggling and money laundering.(1) Ask the elite Wall Street collective
if crime pays.
We see politicians and government bureaucrats on TV all the time
speaking of their commitment to eliminating crime and their sincere
desire “to see a crime-free America.” I say that they’re the grossest
liars and flatterers, devoid of integrity and a healthy sense of shame
for intentional deception. At best they tell half truths on the issue.
Consider this brief excerpt from Crossing the Rubicon:
“Allegations that the CIA and Department of Justice were complicit in
the flow of cocaine into South Central LA; that the Clintons were
partnered with George H.W. Bush and Oliver North through the offices of
the National Security Council in a little Iran-Contra arms and cocaine
trafficking operation in Mena, Arkansas; and that Hillary Clinton’s law
firm was helping launder the local share of the profits through state
housing agency securities and investments were never addressed,
objectively by the corporate media.”
Notice that this flow of cocaine wasn’t into Beverly Hills or Orange
County. Nevertheless people can speak any number of untrue things with
conviction but the proof is always in the pudding, the pudding being the
person’s actions. The Clintons surely know that their pudding in crime
makes for part of a financially filling pie.
Think of crime and how it relates to your local, state, and national
economies. And of course in a capitalistic nation, one of the main
obligations of a politician is to facilitate the maintenance of a strong
and growing economy. I mean there’s city, county, state, and federal
police; jail and prison staff (guards, probation and parole agents,
medical workers, education workers, maintenance workers, food service
workers, etc.); court staff (judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys,
professional witnesses, investigators, clerks, transcribers, bailiffs,
legal analysts, etc.); and surely some peripheral elements that I
haven’t mentioned, such as the various telephone companies who grossly
overcharge prisoners for collect calls.
To eliminate crime and create this “crime-free America” would be to
eliminate all of these (and more) jobs/money that crime creates. That
would be catastrophic to the U.S. economy. In this crime-free
environment a very slim minority of the displaced workers could be
absorbed into other professions but the vast majority would remain
jobless.
That many jobless citizens is unsustainable in this nation, which has a
consumption based economy. Also the absence of their tax dollars would
certainly diminish, very drastically, government consumption. Which in
turn would cause job and service cuts in other areas, and that trend
would continue on throughout the entire economy. Now, do you think these
politicians really want to eliminate crime, synonymous with destroying
the economy? Of course not! And I can assure you that even if everyone
stopped committing acts that are currently established as criminal, then
acts which are not currently crimes would suddenly be deemed as
criminal. The politicians know, probably better than anyone else, that
crime pays.
As for the bureaucrats, the lie is much closer to the surface with them.
Many of them are employed directly in the criminal justice sector, so
basically their livelihoods is directly dependent on the existence of
crime. So for us to believe their professing that they want to see crime
cease; we are to believe that they want to lose their
hundred-thousand-dollar-plus (in many instances) annual salaries, their
Cadillac benefit packages, and other job-related perks. This absurdity
is almost laughable to any rational being. Even the ones who aren’t
employed in the criminal justice sector are well aware of the negative
effects that an absence of crime would place on the economy. Like
politicians, the bureaucrats know the deal: crime pays.
Here’s another relevant excerpt from Crossing the Rubicon
“A certain percentage of the prisons in this country are run by private
corporations which trade their stock based on how many human beings they
‘house.’ In pure economic terms, inmates have become inventory. The two
largest of these corporations are Wackenhut and Corrections Corporation
of America. Both of these corporations, through their boards of
directors and executive management have direct ties to U.S. intelligence
agencies, including the CIA.
“All of this means that the corrupt economy makes money by first selling
drugs to people and then putting them in prison for using drugs.”
The parallels between private, for profit prisons and slave plantations
are numerous. Big business are in on the secret, crime pays. So whether
we like to admit it or not, this nation generally realizes a benefit
from crime. It’s always about the dollar here in the United States and
crime-related professions combined makes up a substantial portion of the
Gross Domestic Economy, largely aiding the efforts to maintain a strong
dollar. You can believe those who chant “crime doesn’t pay” if you want
to. As for me, I know crime may not pay for those who are ground to dust
in its machinations (prisoners, parolees, probationers, and drug
addicts) but for many others, crime does in fact pay.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This author makes a good point about the
economic value of the criminal injustice system to capitalists as a way
to employ many labor aristocrats. As we expanded on in our review of the
book
The
New Jim Crow, the system serves primarily as a tool of social
control. While there would be economic consequences to dismantling or
significantly reducing the reach of the criminal injustice system in
Amerika, we can look around the world and see examples of capitalist
countries with much smaller injustice systems which manage to keep their
population employed and living happily off the super-exploitation of
Third World peoples. While in the United $tates a change of this
magnitude is unlikely given how entrenched the injustice system is in
the economic and social fabric of society, it is the social control
aspect that we see as the dominant driving force behind the growth and
maintenance of this system.
Over the past few weeks many of us locked up within Amerikkka’s prisons
have watched, read and heard about the genocidal war crimes currently
being committed against the oppressed nation of Palestine by the white
settler state of I$rael. What these events show us is not only the
carnage and slaughter of a one-sided war, but that the oppressed will
never be free to forge their own destinies so long as the monster of
imperialism remains intact.
With forked tongues like the pit of vipers that they are, the United
Nations (UN) sits idly by and does virtually nothing to help the people
of Palestine as the Zionist regime attempts to bomb them out of
existence. The so-called “international community” does nothing for
Palestine other than speak hypocritically about the need for a cease
fire on both ends and the continued need for a two-state solution, as if
the mounting deaths (1,432 deaths as of today)(1) and the balance of war
was even! Even as the world watches complacent and content through their
pacifist, non-interventionist actions, and some begin to complain about
the rising number of Palestinian civilian deaths, the United $tates
continues to arm I$rael. The worthless UN has thus shown its true color:
yellow! The international community is guilty of complicity thru
complacency, thus Palestinian blood is also on the hands of the United
Nations.
As prisoners of good conscience we reject the genocide and slaughter
which has hystorically been imposed on the people of Palestine and which
is currently being played out by the Jewish state ever since the
creation of I$rael in 1948. And while the Amerikan imperialists and
their general citizenry and population have found us guilty of crimes
against civil society, we prisoners likewise find them guilty of crimes
against humynity for their collusion with the state of Israel to
exterminate the Palestinian nation.
Within these walls we are as yet powerless to tap into the potential of
the imprisoned lumpen, but we are not yet powerless to sign a piece of
paper to denounce the state of Israel and their support in the United
$tates. Therefore with this declaration we angrily express our
indignation with the state of Israel for committing genocide, and the
Israeli people for allowing it to happen in the 21st century after
vowing “never again.”
Furthermore, with this declaration we express our concern, condolences,
solidarity and humynity with the people of Palestine. We grieve your
loss. I$rael must pay! Just as Palestinian prisoners of war showed their
support and solidarity with the California hunger strikers by issuing a
statement of solidarity to end solitary confinement in the United
$tates, we must now do the same. We must recognize and acknowledge that
their struggle is our struggle and we must say no to I$rael and no to
the genocide of Palestine.
Long live the people of Palestine! Down with I$rael! Charge and
convict the war criminals! Free Palestine!
Since my last correspondence I’ve experienced the greatest oppression in
my entire 8-year sentence. This past week or so also presented me with
revelation into the power of positive energy and the adverse effects of
negative energy, which can affect your mental and physical health.
At Sussex II State Prison, a pig ran in and dribbled my head 3 times
between his knee and the ground, when I was cuffed and already grounded.
Then, that same pig tossed me in the box and stuck his knee in my neck
with intensive force. At this same time, my arm was being bent so far
back that breaking it was highly anticipated. Furthermore, my ankles and
thumb were in the hands of the pigs. My thumb had nerve damage for 2 or
3 months.
At Red Onion State Prison I was sprayed for a false claim of assault by
a super redneck. The pig first grabbed the shackles as if he was going
to strike me with them, he looked around, and then had his partner use
the can. They rinsed me fully clothed, returned me to storage and then I
tried to refuse to give up the leg irons. They then took me out on the
block and tackled me to the ground. During this they twisted me, bent my
fingers and yelled “stop resisting.” Afterwards I was stripped naked and
8-10 pigs placed a turtle suit on me - chained me - and left me for
about 15 hours. This happened because the officer refused to correct my
negative meal, and I stuck my arm out of the slot because of it.
Those are just two of the oppressive events I experienced in kaptivity.
This week though, it was oppression from kaptive residents. The
oppression came by high energy/high volume gossip, to spread wildfire
word of myself being homosexual. The fire starter(s) knows nothing about
me, knows no one within or outside the block who knows me, and has no
evidence of such activity. Fifteen to twenty people whispered this
around. The way this happened in a rapid and collective manner, you
would’ve thought I was of great status and/or a part of a group that
calls for questioning and violation. I got into a 30-second-or-so
bullshit fight and received rejection from workout crews. The fight was
with a comrade who was supposed to be a good friend and solid
individual, but he needed to protect himself and reputation, so he got
defensive and helped the spread.
My point in presenting this is: I’m not gay and this event is coming my
way at a time when my sentence is over. I’ve never seen or heard of this
shit before. It was so collective and everyone possible was engaged.
Yet, never is this type of bullshit/energy applied to the fight against
the true enemy of imperialist oppression. We have to acknowledge that in
order to get others to move within/for the struggle, the key influencing
factor(s) have to be identified.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This report of abuse by the guards is
nothing new to the pages of ULK, though it is important to
remind our readers on the streets of the brutality of prison guards and
document it for our records. But this report of prisoner-on-prisoner
attacks in the form of gossip and attempts at character assassination is
particularly important for us to discuss.
This is an example of the lack of unity in prisons across the United
$tates, where, as this comrade points out, more energy is put into
attacking other prisoners than into fighting the true enemy of
imperialism. But just as important, we want to address the use of gender
in this particular attack. Claiming someone is gay as an insult or
character attack is a more fundamental problem than just disunity. This
is no different than accusing someone of being Chicano as if that would
be an insult. We can not allow the oppressors to divide us along lines
of gender or nation. Sexual orientation and identity are not a measure
of a persyn’s character. We should look to people’s work fighting
oppression, the way they treat others, and their political outlook.
Lowering ourselves to considering labels and gender/sexual
orientation/identity as decisive is putting ourselves on the level of
the pigs who lock up and beat up people for the very same reasons.
We must build a United Front of all prisoners, coming together against
the common enemy of imperialism. Reject the guards’ attempts to pit
prisoners against each other.
“Everyone should know by now that prison is politics, it is part of the
imperialistic policy of exploitation, oppression and domination over the
internal colonies.” From “Who are the Political Prisoners?,” MIM Theory
11: Amerikkan Prisons On Trial
The pigs at Ironwood State Prison are at it again. Bored with the
apparent lack of excitement and disturbances at this relatively peaceful
and quiet yard, they have decided to manufacture their own entertainment
to the detriment of the imprisoned. Within the span of two short days
the pigs here have decided to raid people’s houses without any kind of
factual proof but only unfounded allegations from “anonymous” sources
and supposed “snitches.” To understand the actions of the past week
however I must first recount the actions of a couple months ago.
It all began when pigs from Ironwood’s Special Investigative Unit raided
the cell of a born-again Christian in the early hours before breakfast
because they’d supposedly received an anonymous kite stating that the
Christian was going to stab a Corrections Officer. The Christian was
taken to the hole pending investigation and everyone here was left
somewhat surprised at this news, as everyone who knew this guy knew that
he’d long since left the lumpen lifestyle behind and was only concerned
with helping people out. Anyways, after finally getting out of the hole
because the investigation turned up nothing, he confided in a couple
people that on the day he went to the hole the pigs showed him a picture
of another prisoner and asked him if he knew who this persyn was. He
lied and told them he didn’t, to which they responded, “that’s the
person who told on you.”
Fast-forward to last week when two pigs unexpectedly ran to a cell and
ordered the two cellmates to step out. When they asked the pigs what
for, they were told not to worry about it and just step out. When the
prisoners refused, the pigs immediately pulled out their batons and
ordered them a third time to step out. Feeling threatened the prisoners
complied. Once in restraints and out of their cell the prisoners were
taken to the pigs’ local command post on the yard, A-Facility program
office. Once there the prisoners were stripped naked and put into
holding cages where they were accused of making wine and subsequently
treated to verbal assaults. Both prisoners denied the allegations, which
proved to be false as the pigs searched and tossed up their cell and
found nothing.
As a result the pigs had no choice but to let them go, but not before
showing them the pictures of a couple other prisoners. The pigs then
asked them if they knew who those two people were, and they said they
didn’t and were then cut loose. However, after returning to their
building they started telling everyone what had happened and that the
two prisoners who were in their building had snitched. Tension began to
rise and it looked as if people were beginning to take sides preparing
for the worst. In the end however, cooler heads prevailed and crisis was
averted between the New Afrikan and Chican@ population, as these were
the two nations being pitted against each other by the pigs’ actions.
And even though I started out this story by saying that this is
something of a peaceful yard, at the end of the day it’s still a prison
and things happen.
The very next day almost the same scenario played out when ten or
fifteen pigs rushed another person’s cell and forced him out the same
way they done to those other prisoners the night before. Again, just as
the previous night the pigs said they were looking for wine, and just
like the night before they found nothing. As the pigs were exiting this
person’s cell however they told him to thank the prisoners who’d gotten
their cell searched the night before for their visit, thereby implying
that those prisoners were somehow responsible.
These events from last week caused me to think deeper about the pigs’
actions, as well as the prisoners’ response to them and I’d like to
discuss it here. Now, before jumping to conclusions because you took a
pig at his/her word like most who are confronted with this scenario
often do, why don’t we first stop and actually think about what’s really
going on? The real issue in the examples given above aren’t about who
supposedly snitched on who, but about the motivation that the pigs have
in exposing their supposed informants to us. Let us hypothesize that in
all the examples given above the pigs were actually telling the truth
and the people identified by them in their pictures were really
snitching, what then? Should we handle our business in keeping with
prison etiquette or do we conduct our own investigation in an effort to
get to the truth?
Instead of just smashing on the alleged rat because a pig told us to,
why not at least confront this person with the information given to us
by the pigs and ask him if it’s true before smutting him up? As a matter
of fact, since when is a pig’s word even worth anything?
You can even go further than this and tell this person exactly what the
pigs told you and if he denies it then we can offer to file some kind of
paperwork together against that very same pig. Whether it be thru your
local grievance procedure or thru the courts, put it on paper and put
the pigs on blast. This way there will be documentation which shows how
these pigs are putting the lives of prisoners at risk; either because
you mistakenly assaulted another prisoner due to a pig manipulating you
or because the person in question was really a snitch - it doesn’t
matter!
Stop blindly taking the pigs at their word and doing their bidding,
otherwise you’re just a sucker who’ll believe anything, as well as a
tool of the establishment. We should strive to create unity out of the
pigs’ attempts to divide us. Turn their divide-and-conquer tactics
against them and UNITE! These actions on our part could potentially have
a two-fold outcome beneficial to us. First, if the pigs see that we’re
no longer biting into their little games they might stop baiting us, and
secondly, if the rats know the pigs are giving them up and you’re gonna
confront them then they might think twice about telling, thereby
reducing any additional oppression of all prisoners concerned. This way
bad things can be turned into good.
I know that many reading this are probably laughing and thinking it’s a
joke, and yes to a certain degree what I’m proposing is somewhat ideal,
but the harm we keep inflicting on each other is not. The possibility of
creating a United Front becomes less viable without finding ways to
settle contradictions amongst ourselves without resorting to violence,
and we must begin somewhere.
As such, within the prison realm there are generally two different types
of social contradictions: those between ourselves and the pigs and those
among the prisoners themselves. The two are totally different in nature,
and since they are different in nature the contradictions between
ourselves and the pigs and those among the prisoners themselves should
be resolved thru different methods. In order to resolve the very many
contradictions that inevitably arise among ourselves we should look to
the methods of discussion, of criticism, of persuasion and education,
and not the methods of coercion or repression, i.e. violence. This way
we can arrive at a new unity with these unstable prison elements on a
new basis and against the real enemy.
Now, for those of you still reading this and still wondering if the
people pointed out by the pigs were really snitches, that I don’t know.
What I do know however is that one of the supposed “rats” is constantly
pushing paperwork against the pigs on a variety of issues which concern
the prisoner population. While one of the other prisoners involved
recently go this life sentence commuted to a lesser term after serving
almost twenty years; the pigs knew this and didn’t like it.
These pigs don’t care about us and it doesn’t matter to them what
inmates are “snitches” and what inmates are “solid”. To them we’re all
just prisoners and the same. Perhaps we should take that as a lesson and
start looking at each other as one.
To all those people who are really snitching, start showing some
self-respect and stop harming the people you should be working with to
unite against the pigs. If you can’t stop telling them, at least tell on
a pig and not another prisoner. For everyone else, stop being a pawn to
these pigs and at least conduct your own investigation before
erroneously labeling someone a snitch, smutting him up and getting him
or yourself hurt. You never know, next time the pigs might flash your
picture to someone and call YOU the snitch.
I recently came across something that may be of interest to you. I was
doing some research into this reactionary pro-prison propagandist
organization known as the National Gang Crime Research Center (NGCRC).
It’s run by an adamant apologist for this pernicious system named
Dr. George W. Knox. Dr. Knox and the swine that work for NGCRC routinely
conduct surveys for the gulag system to help them identify and
neutralize any potential “threats.” I was able to get my hands on one of
these surveys and preliminary finding reports that was conducted within
148 gulags in the U$A, representing 48 states, and nearly 150,000
prisoners. Now, the part of the survey that I thought may be of some
interest to MIM(Prisons) is the following:
Low Level of Contamination from the MIM
Some types of political extremist groups try to recruit inmates and
prisoners in America, they can do this through the U.S. Postal Service.
These groups often have sophisticated websites as well. The Maoist
International Movement (MIM) exists to spread communist ideology among
inmates incarcerated in American jails and prisons. It seeks to
radicalize prison inmates and give them a platform for organizing
resistance against the American government. If your inmates are
corresponding with MIM, you might have a problem brewing.
The survey included the question “have any of the inmates in your
facility corresponded with the Maoist International Movement (MIM)”?
Only 4.6 percent of the respondents indicated that their inmates have
been in contact with MIM. Thus, it would appear that MIM is not
effectively reaching out to the vast majority of American inmates. Not
yet at least. Alternatively, maybe such contact with MIM is going under
the radar of prison and jail officials.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This report on “Gangs and Security Threat
Groups” does not include mention of any other communist groups, so we
could see our inclusion as an indication of MIM(Prisons)’s success in
reaching oppressed nation activists and the correctness of our political
line in threatening imperialism and Amerikkkan rule. Communism is our
goal: a society where no group has power over another group. This
threatens the imperialist criminal injustice system for sure. In
reality, as the study admits, they cannot really judge our reach based
on survey of prison administrators alone. We would love to reach the
vast majority of prisoners, but in practice we are focused on those who
are interested in anti-imperialist politics and/or open-minded and
looking to learn. Nonetheless, we take this as a call to action for
Under Lock & Key readers: we need to increase the
percentage of people in contact with MIM(Prisons)!
A few years ago, former Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PA DOC)
Director Jeffrey Beard relocated to the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Director Beard was known for his
tyrannical style of utilizing confinement and isolation for more
sadistic than safety purposes, by increasing constantly the number of
prisoners placed on the restricted release list (RRL). Once on this
list, the only persyn who can finalize your release back to general
population is the Governor of Pennsylvania. Beard, after seeing the
practice of the California STG program, informed current PA DOC
Director, John Wetzel, of these tactics of oppression, suppression and
repression. In the summer of 2012 the Pennsylvania security threat group
(STG) unit was started.
In Pennsylvania, a security threat group is any group of persyns who
continuously ignore the department’s administrative rules, i.e. any
unauthorized group activity. The word “group” is the concealing factor
of the oppressive practices in place in the PA DOC. Members of religious
“groups” such as Muslims, Jews, Moors, Nation of Islam, Nation of Gods
& Earths, etc., are placed on the list of documented STGs violating
the First Amendment right to freedom of religion and freedom of
association. Members of political “groups” such as the New Afrikan
Communists, New Afrikan Independence Movement, Black Liberation Army,
etc. are placed on the list of documented STGs, violating the first
amendment right to freedom of political identification and freedom of
association.
Of approximately 175 captives brought to the Pennsylvania STG program,
95% (166) are of oppressed nation heritage. Out of this percentage,
about 20 were actually told why they were abducted for the program,
i.e. why they were labeled STG members, although the reasons were mostly
untruthful and unjustifiable. There is no appeal process in place to
combat placement in the program. There is no validation/assessment
hearing or procedure in place to present your side of the alleged claims
or bring forth any evidence or witnesses on your behalf. Those who do
attempt to refuse this assignment are placed on RRL. In order to be
released from there you have to agree to do the STG program (the same
program you refused in the first place!).
The tactics employed here are quite surely the same as any other STG
unit. Obstruction of correspondence (incoming and outgoing), no visits
(unless earned through advancing in the program), no phone privileges
(unless earned through advancing in the program), inadequate legal
services and materials (unless earned through advancing in the program),
thought police/Orwellian indoctrination and debriefing systems disguised
as cognitive restructuring. Those who hold firm the belief this is an
injustice are labeled as “in denial and unwilling to give up
participation in group activity.” Those who express their opinions are
titled as “thinking criminally” or using a “gang mentality.” The
guidelines, procedures and policies governing the programs are
restricted to the public. Instead a prisoner supplement handbook is
issued to each captive which quite surely differentiates from the
restricted policy.
Exercise, food, commissary and restraints are used as an enticement
method as well as punishment. For example, you may hear a pig say “if
you program, you won’t have to wear handcuffs.” Or “if you don’t
complete the assignments you won’t be able to order commissary.” To
increase the allure of these “privileges” they make contrasting
practices as hard and uncomfortable as possible. They feed you next to
nothing to increase hunger and craving for commissary. They make all
movements restrained to add to the uncomfortability. This is all done in
hopes of breaking your spirit or to make you “give in to the
inevitable,” to quote a pig.
These are only a few of the ever-changing, ever-occurring issues here
for myself and the komrades. There is a resistance to struggle not only
for our liberties but for those who would come after us as an example of
unity, komradery and solidarity in struggle.
MIM(Prisons) adds: We are seeing this STG classification used to
target activists in
Colorado,
Maryland,
North
Carolina,
Michigan,
as well as
California
and no doubt many more states. While the development of STG programs is
a sign of the strength of the oppressed nation organizations and
political activists, it is also a dangerous tool of repression that we
must expose and fight. Targetting prisoners for “group” or “gang”
activity has long been an excuse to bring down oppression on those with
the greatest interest and organization in fighting the criminal
injustice system.
“The mission of the Institutional Division is to provide safe and
appropriate confinement, supervision, rehabilitation, and reintegration
of adult felons, and to effectively manage or administer correctional
facilities based on constitutional and statutory standards” - Texas
Government Code 494.001
For those of us housed within the prisons operated by the Texas
Department of Criminal inJustice (TDCJ) we know this statement is
nothing more than well-worded lies!
Recently the University of Texas - Human Rights Clinic came out with a
report “Deadly Heat in Texas Prisons.” The report pretty much proves
what many of the lumpen already know: conditions inside Texas prisons in
the summer violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and
unusual punishment. TDCJ keeps telling the public they have policies in
place to combat the heat. However, Brian McGiverin, a lawyer with the
Texas Civil Rights Project, said during a news conference on the topic,
“Fourteen inmate deaths are strong evidence the prison agency’s measures
don’t do enough to beat the heat’s health risks.” He continued, “The
response that their policies are adequate today is ridiculous.”
Senator John Whitmire, the chairman of the Texas Senate Criminal Justice
Committee, had this to say on the topic: “But I can tell you, the people
of Texas don’t want air-conditioned prisons, and there’s a lot of other
things on my list above the heat.” The “other things” were education,
health care, and rehabilitation programs, but never has this racist
pontificator said he was committed to ceasing the senseless murder of
Texas prisoners by TDCJ employees! Whitmire, who has been in the Texas
senate over 30 years, continues to turn a blind eye to the systemic
abuse and discrimination of prisoners housed in TDCJ facilities. We
suffer from racial discrimination, religious discrimination, sexual
assaults, vicious beatings and abuse, and Whitmire continues to play
good ol’ boy politics.
For complaints on specific prison issues I found a strategy that’s been
working. I’ve been having family members
file
Ombudsman complaints via email. They can file formal public
complaints on a wide range of issues and these complaints must be placed
online for the public to view. We have been experiencing a lot of
success! All that PO Box 99 shit to Huntsville is a waste of paper and
time. Do it online and put these assholes on Front Street.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This is just one example of the rampant abuse
of prisoners in Texas and across the country, that is well documented
and exposed in ULK and on our prisoncensorship.org website. But
we aim to do more than just expose the brutality of the Amerikan
criminal injustice system. Our goal is to organize and educate to make
meaningful change. In the short term we fight battles like the
campaign to have
prisoners’ grievances addressed so that we can create better
conditions for our comrades behind bars. But in the long term we know
that no Amerikan politician is ever going to fundamentally change the
system of injustice. It will take the oppressed joining together to
demand change to put an end to imperialism before we can hope to end the
criminal injustice system. Get involved in this long-term fight today!
In a much-anticipated ruling, Federal District Judge Kenneth Hoyt struck
down Texas Deparmment of Criminal inJustice’s (TDCJ) attempt to
terminate the Brown vs. Beto consent decree. The Brown
vs. Beto case goes back to 1969 and it stemmed from a federal
action brought by a TDCJ prisoner, Bobby Brown, who fought hard against
the racist oppressors in Texas who would unmercifully beat any prisoner
who declared himself a Muslim. At the time Brown was a member of the
Nation of Islam (NOI) and it was members of the NOI and Fruit of Islam
who provided material support, legal support, and physical security to
Brown and other Muslim prisoners who were victims of religious
discrimination and racial hate. It is noteworthy to mention that even in
the year 2014 over 95% of the Muslims in TDCJ are New Afrikans (Black).
There is a racist dynamic to Texas’s ongoing oppression of Muslim
prisoners.
The Brown vs. Beto consent decree was put in effect in 1977 and
it provided a wide array of rules and policies geared toward destroying
any obstacles to Texas prisoners’ right to practice Islam if they hoose.
In 2012 under the auspices of the Prison Litigation Reform Act, TDCJ and
the state of Texas petitioned the court in an effort to terminate
Brown claiming they had policies in place which provided ample
opportunities for Muslim prisoners to practice their faith. This was a
lie and a ruse concocted by the racist oppressors to show onlookers an
illusion of freedom. In reality, TDCJ has established rules and policies
which infringe grossly upon Muslim prisoners’ right to practice. We are
monitored as if we all are potential terrorists; our visitors and
volunteers are harassed and overly scrutinized; TDCJ Correctional
Officers regularly disrespect the Muslims and bait them in physical and
verbal confrontations. This is the reality on the ground!
However, the main point Judge Hoyt made in his ruling was that TDCJ has
purposely constructed rules which made it impossible for Muslims in
Texas prisons to practice. Moreover, he stated the agency has
established a practice throughout the system where they show
preferential treatment to Christian prisoners while marginalizing,
ridiculing, and obstructing Muslims from practicing their religion. All
this amounts to a blatant violation of the Establishment Clause of the
1st Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. Judge Hoyt ruled that
Brown will remain intact and told them to make the necessary
changes ASAP.
Instead of rectifying the problems in Texas state Attorney General Gregg
Abbott is ordering an appeal of the judge’s ruling. So there is an overt
collusive effort by the Attorney General and the Executive Directory of
TDCJ to violate Muslims’ U.S. constitutional rights. This is the type of
violation the Department of Justice - Civil Rights Division is supposed
to protect U.$. citizens from suffering, yet they have hesitated to get
involved! It reminds me of that young Black man who got beat in the face
with a hammer by Georgia prison guards. We must come to the
understanding that these imperialists, whether they be white or Black,
Democrat or Republican, do not have a vested interest in the lumpen
underclass who are trapped in Amerikkka’s Gulags.
I can not tell you how many grievances I have written citing Religious
Discrimination and they have come back with that same old bullshit
reply: no policy violated, no further action warranted! And the entire
time these racist oppressors were violating my constitutional rights!
This once again highlights the corruption and hypocrisy of TDCJ! This
grievance program in Texas is a sham and a farce.
I urge all of you reading this piece to join United Struggle from
Within, and fight these racists! Expose the abuse, murders, and
violation of civil and humyn rights. We must make a collective push to
call for an all-out investigation of TDCJ and the Texas Senate Criminal
Justice Committee as they too are culpable in the rampant, systemic, and
pervasive abuse of Texas prisoners.Comrades, I want you to understand
that racism is a byproduct of capitalism/imperialism. Unifying in order
to smash imperialism provides a serious blow to racism. Texas as a whole
is an imperialist stronghold and the overt racism that exists throughout
the state is a testimony to that!
This prison degrades all to the lowest form. We are repeatedly refused
showers, recreation, and medical attention after being abused by
supervising officials. They are running in on us at 3am in full riot
gear while we are resting in what peace we can get around here. The
Certified Emergency Response Team (CERT) is run by a new sergeant and he
is pepper spraying prisoners who pose no threat. He is ordering his
subordinates to “shoot first and ask questions later.”
We are being subject to excessive rectal searches just to take a shower.
Our food is cold, spoiled and inadequately prepared. We don’t receive
beverages and staff talk over, sweat on, and handle our trays with no
gloves, hair nets, or face masks.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. Me and my fellow lumpen comrades
are definitely determined to sink this “titanic” along with other
negligent and corrupt entities within the state. Always remember a
closed mouth doesn’t get fed. It’s time to fight back with our minds,
pens and comradery! Believe me that there’s only so much that we are
going to take laying down! Free all my like-minded brothers of the same
struggle.
MIM(Prisons) adds: There is a growing movement of prisoners and
lumpen organizations in Georgia standing up to the abuse and unjust
conditions in the prisons in that state. Part of this work requires
educating and organizing, and for this we need leaders like this
comrade. Leaders are willing to put in the work exposing the conditions,
and educating fellow prisoners about the need for unity and building for
legal and non-violent actions that will further the anti-imperialist
movement. United Struggle from Within (USW), the MIM(Prisons)-led
prisoner organization, needs more comrades to step up and take on
leadership roles behind bars. Get in touch with us for more information
on working with USW.