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.
Understanding the historical foundations that imperialism rests upon,
it’s not surprising that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has moved to censor
MIM material at United States Prison (High-SMU) Florence, Colorado.
As a New Afrikan, and a native indigenous warrior, I strove to show a
qualitative form of unity by creating a social-political educational
study class with MIM material. However, in a classic predictable
anti-social way the BOP censored our materials. By the will to outlast
our captors we remain committed and courageous as we strive to expand
our political awareness and sharpen our mental tools.
As we study European expansionism, conquest and imperialism we find that
their art of politics easily turns into their art of war. By tracking
the footprints of history we find the first thing to be seized,
controlled and destroyed by European settlers and conquerors is the
cultural, political and educational facilities and institutions of those
conquered.
By studying the mechanics of imperialistic conquest, we find that to
effectively colonize a people the colonial system must thoroughly
entrench itself inside the minds of that subjected people. Thus, the
educational system of that people must be replaced, and repressed with
an anti-social educational system that reinforces a system of
slavocracy.
The masters of the means of production fear a people armed with the
social weapon of political education, because true liberation education
is the well of hope and power that directs and harnesses the humanism of
humanity. Education for the colonized is not static nor does it exist on
a one dimensional level that’s academic in nature. Political, social and
cultural education is forever in motion working in a dialectical
relationship with materialism. Education is the catalyst for the process
of decolonization.
Our brother Frantz Fanon noted: “Decolonization is the veritable
creation of new men. But this creation owes nothing of its legitimacy to
any supernatural power, the ‘thing’ which has been colonized becomes
‘man’ during the same process it frees itself…” Thru correct political
and social education the “things” (i.e. the nigga, the pimp, the social
parasite, the whore, the agent of fratricide and natural genocide, the
gangster, the dope fiend, dope pusha, and every other reactionary
element in our community) become true healers of humanity by finding a
new sense of humanity within themselves. This is the powerful potential
of education.
In Amerikkka it was a crime in the 1700s and 1800s for a slave to be
able to read. We hung like strange fruit from trees for just picking up
a book. This pervasive ignorance was a sturdy bolt in maintaining the
system of chattel slavery, and we find the same system and pervasive
ignorance in place today. So for a system that is bent on maintaining
the present order of things it becomes a criminal act to possess and
process any material that would induce a neo-colonial slave to bend
these bars back, break these chains, challenge our minds, find our
humanism and take our freedom. The class enemy understands that in the
right hands, in the right minds, education would be a dangerous tool. It
would become an anti-imperialist weapon of mass destruction and mass
liberation at the same time. It would compel the “thing” to become
“man”, break the chains and rise up and slit the throat of those who
presently pull the levers of control.
Our captors work overtime to repress any tendency of the birth of new
age Malcolm Xs and George Jacksons. They understand that these jails and
prisons are our universities and finishing schools. They know and
understand there is a living contradiction between the ruling class and
those of us who wear the chains of neo-colonialism. And the imperialists
also know and understand there is a scientific development of opposites
that’s inherent in everything. Thus the material conditions will force
the masses to bear the responsibility of solving the economic, political
and social contradictions one day. So they can burn all the books,
destroy all the libraries, kill all the wisemen, censor all the material
they want, but they can’t stop liberation.
Reading
MIM
Theory #7: Proletarian Feminist Nationalism I couldn’t help but
notice that to date there has been a strong trend of oppressed nationals
becoming more and more molded and fitted to U.$. culture and its
parasitic ways.
A quote by Malcolm X found in MT7 struck me hard: “I’m not going to sit
at your table and watch you eat, with nothing on my plate, and call
myself a diner. Sitting at the table doesn’t make you a diner, unless
you eat some of what’s on that plate. Being here in America doesn’t make
you an American. Being born here in America doesn’t make you an
American.”…“No, I am not an American, I’m one of the 22 million black
people who are the victims of Americanism. I don’t see any American
dream, I see an American nightmare.”(1)
I’m hard pressed to find an organization that’s “Latino” nationalist and
agitating for the emancipation of what is currently the south western
portion of the United $tates to become a nation itself.
These days you hear Latinos all throughout the United $tates clamoring
for comprehensive immigration reform. Enough of this assimilation, and
how about a call for what was once Mexico to return to its people.
Whether this emancipated state will become part of modern day Mexico or
form its own nation is for the people to decide for themselves. Those
same people clamoring for immigration reform, who fail to realize that
they are an oppressed nation within an oppressor nation, can’t help but
feel as if they constitute a part of this oppressor class (white
chauvinism). The policies that will be enacted due to their protesting
and petitions will only hurt and destroy the Latino communities. As a
people who are already stigmatized and oppressed, the crumbs of the
white nation are counter to the ultimate interests of Latino people.
It’s no secret how the INS and ICE deport huge numbers of Latino people
who only come here to make and earn a living. Some might ask: if Amerika
is so fucked up why do you want Latinos here? Well if numbers are power
then the more people we have the better we are able to form a
revolutionary nationalistic party and arouse national sentiment in face
of brutality. Moreover as burdensome jobs will go to those immigrants
the better it’ll be to swell the ranks of the proletariat.
Most people these days are so jingoistic with Amerikanism that at the
same time they wave the U.$. flag they wave their country of origin flag
too, not grasping how NAFTA and trade relations with “south Amerika” are
one sided and are to the advantage of the white U.$. middle class. Even
within prison you hear prisoners clamoring of how great the United
$tates is.
Oppressed nations must take notice that you are not what the U.$.
constitution meant to defend, you never will be and it’s futile to think
cheering and asking for reforms will free your nation. H. Ford Douglas
put it nicely: “There is as much force in a black [Brown, red, etc]
man’s standing up and exclaiming after the manner of the ‘old Roman’ -
‘I am an American citizen,’ as there was in the Irish man who swore he
was a loaf of bread, because he happened to be born in a bake oven… I
can hate this government without being disloyal, because it has stricken
down my manhood and treated me as a saleable commodity. I can join a
foreign enemy and fight against it, without being a traitor, because it
treats me as an ALIEN and a STRANGER, and I am free to avow that should
such a contingency arise I should not hesitate to take any advantage in
order to procure indemnity for the future. I can feel no pride in the
glory, growth, greatness or grandeur of this nation.”(2)
Much hype and media attention has been brought by the murder of the
runner up of the Miss Universe, Miss Venezuela. News pundits like to
point out that Venezuela had over 25,000 murders last year and is the
world’s murder capital. The killing of any person through murder and
greed is sad and tragic, but what the media fails to talk about is
Amerika’s own murder rate.
Statistics for 2010-2011 from the FBI’s Crime in the U.S.
report has murder and negligent manslaughter at 14,612. This is below
the 24,000 murders in Venezuela, but it doesn’t account for murders
committed by the U.$. armed forces around the globe. In the United
States the number of forcible rapes for 2010-2011 was 85,593. This does
not account for non-reported rapes as well as rapes in the military.
The government-mouthpiece media in the U.$. viciously portrays other
country’s problems and flaws in order to keep the prying eyes of the
world off the United $tates.
People the world over should strive to end crime in their communities.
But most importantly people should understand that the grandfather of
all criminals is the imperialist system here in Amerika.
by a North Carolina prisoner January 2014 permalink
They say “America is the land of the free” But what about the
millions of people who are just like me Locked in a cage for petty
crimes Don’t you see in this so called land of the free a dead
president’s face on a piece of paper is worth more than you or
me And they say the U.S.A. is home of the brave What’s so
brave about locking a man in a cage with nothing other than time
to bottle up his rage There is some who are addicts others who
are mentally ill And the answer to the problem when society no
longer wants us around send us to a court so a judge can lay us
down But that judge is no better than you or me He’s just as
crooked as any other politician you see If you have the money
he’ll let you go free But if you’re indigent the outcome is the
millions of people who are just like me
On 21 May 2013 I filed a Section 1983 Civil Suit against Illinois
Department of Corrections employees S. Rhone-Plaskett (Counselor), A.
Winemiller (Correctional Officer), Jackie Miller (Administrative Review
Board Representative), and Grievance Officer (John Doe) for the
unconstitutional banning of the November/December 2012 No. 29 issue of
Under Lock & Key (ULK).
This lawsuit is the second one that I have filed concerning the bogus
banning of ULK and I expect to file many more in the future.
This lawsuit is based on the grounds that the Defendants cannot
substantiate the banning of ULK and that the banning of
ULK violates my Constitutional Rights to:
Receive and own reading material;
Have freedom of speech; and
Have freedom of political expression.
Any material or support you can offer that would aid me in my battle
against censorship in Illinois would be greatly appreciated.
Specifically, I would count it a blessing if you would comb through your
archives and send me anything you have regarding censorship of
ULK in Illinois, especially the November/December 2012 No. 29
issue of ULK.
Filing lawsuits does work! Because of the pressure I have been applying
by filing Section 1983s, I was allowed to have the March/April 2013
No. 31 issue of ULK, the first issue of ULK that I
have received since November 2011. So keep your heads high and your
hearts strong as we continue to fight the phenomenon of censorship. It
is just another contradiction facilitated by the proletariat/bourgeois
contradiction.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Some comrades in Illinois have been
permitted to receive ULK without censorship, after much work on
their end to defend their rights. In other facilities, it is still
banned. Specifically, at Sheridan, Menard, Stateville, and Lawrence
Correctional Centers, ULK is being censorsed for any reason
from “banned in facility” (Stateville) to “promotes unauthorized
organization activity” (Menard). Still, we are being banned without
notice to publisher or prisoner (Lawrence) and mailroom employees at
Sheridan inconsistently enforce a policy that labels are not permitted
on mail pieces; we have yet to see this policy in writing in any
official format.
Several prisoners in Illinois have stepped up to help out with the
censorship battle in their state. We recently began engaging with these
volunteers on an organized basis to help push this battle to a head. We
need prisoners who are facing censorship to fight out their persynal
censorship battles, like the author of this article has done.
MIM(Prisons) and the Prisoners’ Legal Clinic volunteers can assist, but
we can’t fight the battle for you.
The author of this article is correct that occasionally we will make
gains, and expand space, for revolutionary organizing. We can use the
legal system to make small reforms that make our job easier; for
example, defending the right to receive revolutionary newsletters. But
we don’t expect to be free of all censorship, as it is a manifestation
of the battle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat; it is a
manifestation of the battle between the Amerikan oppressor nation, and
the oppressed internal semi-colonies. We use the administrative
procedures and courts when we can, but ultimately we know we can’t rid
ourselves of censorship, or any other social ill, unless we resolve the
root problem: oppression of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie, and
oppression of the internal semi-colonies by the Amerikan nation. We can
only make this sweeping change by throwing out the entire capitalist
imperialist system itself.
by a South Carolina prisoner January 2014 permalink
It’s cold outside, yesterday we had ice on the ground, and lots of rain,
and for a month now I have been without shoes. We are given clogs, which
you know are not made for inclement weather. They have holes in the
bottoms. I wear compression hose due to edema in my legs. The cement
sidewalk eats a hole in them and medical won’t replace them for a month,
the clogs I’m told have to be worn one year before they can be
exchanged. The service life is one year, which does not take into
account the weight of a person or his walking habits.
The medical department at Evans Correctional Institution is
dysfunctional. South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) hired a
racist physician’s assistant as a necessary component to reduce prison
medical expenditures. Finally after letters to the medical board,
Senators, filing grievances, talking to other prisoners who experienced
problems with this same physician’s assistant, prompting them to engage
this fight against intolerance, he finally moved on. SCDC only hires
those with less than perfect records, the last doctor was barred from
practice in 3 states (Dr. Paul Drago #9700531). Now the nurses are
taking up where they left off, we’ve had three deaths that I know of and
it’s not getting any better.
The food is mostly a mystery meat that is supposed to be turkey, which
used to come in a box that read “not for human consumption.” Now we have
the same meat, in a different box. More often than not the food is cold
(not serving temperature), prisoners are given the wrong size portions,
some more, others less. Food supervisors just come for the pay check,
and we get 6 minutes to eat. Some prisoners say they are going to bed
hungry. The others that can afford it go to the canteen where most of
the food is high in price and salt.
MIM(Prisons) adds: We looked up Dr. Drago and found that he was a
plastic surgeon before working at the prison, not exactly the specialty
needed there. But after having his license revoked in multiple states,
this was likely the only job he could get. This is how little we value
the health of prisoners: subjecting them to the “care” of doctors who
are deemed unfit to practice medicine outside of prison.
Health and
health
care are generally available in direct proportion to people’s wealth
and status under imperialism. Those at the bottom are lucky to have
access to any medical care, and live in conditions that lead to greatly
reduced life expectancy. The life expectancy in many African countries
is less than 60, and those doing well are in their 60s, while
imperialist countries of the world enjoy a life expectancy in the 80s.
This discrepancy is killing people, lives that could be saved with a
more equitable distribution of resources and education. Prisoners in the
United $tates share the interests of the oppressed in the Third World in
the fight for access to health care and safe and sanitary living
conditions.
by a North Carolina prisoner January 2014 permalink
I would like to update
my
article in ULK 33. Our lawsuit against guard assaults on prisoners
has gained attention and helped us win some protections. The pigs in
Raleigh were ordered to install eleven new cameras and extra equipment
to double storage capacity, set up a new policy to investigate assaults,
and the court hired an expert to go into the prison to inspect it to see
if blind spots are covered and other areas have been corrected. They
have also replaced the entire unit staff.
We are now in discovery since the judge refused to throw out the
prisoner beatings lawsuit. This case is getting some press, and the
Herald Sun reported: “The judge made a not so veiled reference
to the practice of punishing inmates by locking them up in dim solitary
units.” The judge said “your case is about sunlight where you claim
there were systematic violations” to the lawyers for the prisoners.
“What we need to do with this lawsuit is not bury it in a deep, dark
hole and proceed with discovery.”(1)
So one damn thing for sure we got a judge on our side. The same way they
have taken from us (a little at a time) we all can do the same to them.
It’s just a matter of team work.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This is a good example of a winnable court
battle that will result in some improvements in safety for prisoners.
But it will not stop the inhumane abuse that continues throughout
prisons in North Carolina. This is an ongoing contradiction of our fight
against the criminal injustice system at this stage: we take on
reformist battles to try to improve the conditions under which our
comrades suffer, but we know that these reforms offer no more than minor
adjustments to a system that is based on the oppression and suffering of
those locked within.
It is ironic that the prisoners in North Carolina have to go to court to
fight for their own safety within prison, while the state’s
justification for every repressive act is “safety” (including North
Carolina’s excuse for censoring Under Lock & Key for over
three years straight). This exposes the reality of the criminal
injustice system: a brutal tool of social control that endangers the
safety of all who are captured in its broad nets. We need to take
advantage of reform battles like this one, both to gain some breathing
room for our comrades and to educate others and build unity. We can’t
end the abuse until we eliminate the criminal injustice system, but
these reformist battles are important steps along the way in our
ultimate fight against imperialism as a whole.
No. I do not believe in your government never have never
will No. I do not support your wars for your greed i will not
kill No. I will not sit back and shut up nor play deaf, dumb and
blind No. I will not hear what you say you can’t corrupt my
mind No. I will not teach my children your hate nor will i teach
them your lies I can see your true colors through your red, white,
and blue disguise No. I will not go to your church nor will i read
your bible No. I will not worship your god fake prophets, a book
or an idol
As of 27 December 2013 we have received reader surveys back from 7.6% of
our subscribers over the last 11 months. We began running the survey in
Under Lock & Key requesting some basic persynal information
and feedback on the content of ULK. Our goal was to assess who
is reading ULK and what we can do to improve the content. The
survey respondents overall represent a distribution of prisoners in line
with the general prison population, with a few exceptions consistent
with the focus of our work. In particular, we have significant
over-representation from Texas, California and Pennsylvania among our
readers. This means prisoners in those states are getting more input
into the content of ULK. While we are no longer collecting
survey responses, we welcome readers to send us your feedback on what
you like and what you think could be improved as we are constantly
looking to improve ULK.
Demographics Summary
Assuming that respondants to our reader survey represent the general
readership of ULK, we evaluated the information on their
demographics to see how this compares to the prison population overall
in the United $tates. Below we discuss some differences between
ULK readers and the general prison population.
Our average surveyed age is 40, but in 2011 only 40% of the prison
population was over 40. This is not a surprising fact: people who are
older and more educated behind the bars are turning to revolutionary
politics. We could conclude that a longer time in prison leads people to
become more politically advanced.
Relative to the U.$. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) on “race” of
prisoners, our survey respondents include a slight over-representation
of New Afrikans and a significant underrepresentation of Latinos (16%
compared to a 23% “Hispanic” population in 2011 overall). We are not
surprised to have an undercount of Spanish-speaking folks responding to
an english language survey, especially as Spanish-only
migrants
have been the fastest growing segment of the U.$. prison population
in recent years. In addition, there was a significant percentage (8.3%)
of people who identify as indigenous in our survey (including those who
identified as half indigenous and half white). The BJS does not collect
statistics on First Nations, so we must assume they are included in the
remaining 5% that they do not class as Black, white or Hispanic. This
indicates 8.3% is a relatively high percentage compared to the general
prison population. As an organization fighting for the national
liberation of oppressed nations, both internationally and within U.$.
borders, we are not surprised that our readership in prison is even more
skewed away from whites than the general prison population which is
already only 34% white.
The latest study we found (2006) reports that 52% of prisoners are
re-incarcerated. 61% of our respondents were incarcerated at least once
before. This may be because those with a prison record get longer
sentences and so are more likely to come into contact with ULK.
They are also more likely to be older and active in prison, if our
theory about age of prisoners is correct.
A very high percent (48%) of survey respondents are locked up in some
form of solitary confinement (RHU, SHU, Control Units, Administrative
Segregation, etc.). This is consistent with our experience that
politically aware and active prisoners are targeted for isolation as
punishment for their activism, and to try to isolate them from other
prisoners to reduce their influence. Our research on control units
indicates that
less than 5% of
prisoners are in long-term isolation in the United $tates.
Reader Suggestions
In response to our question about what people like best about
ULK, the most popular response (22%) was “all of it!” We
appreciate the enthusiasm of our readers. More specific responses that
were popular included a lot of support for the unity demonstrated by
ULK articles (11%) and the stories about other prisoner’s work
and organizing (20%). There was also a lot of appreciation for
state-specific and legal reporting (6%). Five percent of survey
respondents liked best the core mission of ULK (which people
described as Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, internationalism, reporting the
truth, or just “the mission”). In addition, we saw responses in support
of book reviews, culture, Spanish, country-wide and world news
reporting, and general education.
In response to the question about what our readers would like to see
more of in ULK, aside from the third of the respondents who
thought it was just perfect as is or just requested more of
ULK, one of the popular responses (9.5%) was a request for more
theory, including information on the history of revolutionary movements
and revolutionary heroes, quotes from communists, Maoist theory in
general, and more in depth analysis from MIM(Prisons). Related to the
request for theory, because strategy is developed from theory, and
tactics come from strategic direction, we also had a lot of people
asking for strategic direction in general (5.5%), and many asking for
more campaigns and tactical campaign work they can do in their prisons
(5%). This is a good reminder for our USW leaders as well as our
ULK writers and editors that we should tie general prison news
to campaign work when possible, and we should be looking for
opportunities to initiate new campaigns that will be both educational
and lead to potential tactical victories for the revolutionary movement.
A lot of people (9%) want to see more state-specific information (every
prisoner wants more information on their own state). We can only
increase the content about your state if you take action and
write about what’s going on there. We rely on our readers for all of the
state-specific reporting in ULK. And to really make good news,
people need to be organizing so that we have campaigns, successes and
failures to report on. So this is a response we hope comes from comrades
who are sitting down now to write about their organizing efforts for the
next issue.
There were also a lot of requests for resource lists (14.5%) or
connections to other resources, and requests for legal information
(12%). This is not part of our core mission for Under Lock &
Key. We do run the Prisoners’ Legal Clinic to help fight key legal
battles, such as the censorship of political material. But
MIM(Prisons)’s core mission is to build the anti-imperialist prison
movement, and so we prioritize communist political organizing. We do not
have the labor or funding to provide general resource lists and legal
assistance in addition to our core work. We know there are not many
groups out there doing this, but resource lists and legal assistance
will ultimately only provide band-aids to a fundamentally broken system
of imperialism. And anti-imperialist organizing is even more scarce in
prisons than legal and resource work.
Additional suggestions from readers for specific areas of expansion
included: art, control units, current events, international news,
poetry, security, Spanish, U.$. government reporting, and issues faced
by the elderly, wimmin and LGBTQ prisoners. There were a wide range of
topics suggested and the ULK staff will be discussing all of
them as we strive to improve Under Lock & Key.
A few prisoners responded to some of the survey questions requesting
that ULK be “less racial”, and “stop generalizing whites as
oppressors” while one respondent liked “your hate against white people.”
These responses represent a fundamental misunderstanding of the
MIM(Prisons) political line around nation. We do not hate white people;
we hate the imperialist system which kills, tortures and oppresses the
majority of the world’s people for the wealth and enjoyment of the
minority. We are scientists and we see clearly that in the United $tates
the white nation is part of the minority of imperialist allies leading
global oppression. But we also can see that the majority of the people
in Russia before the revolution in 1917 who were oppressed were “white.”
It is not skin color that determines people’s status as oppressor or
oppressed. However, because of national oppression in the world today,
we do see whole nations of people oppressed as a group by other nations.
The white nation in the United $tates is an oppressor group, and there
are many oppressed nations in the Third World. From an economic
perspective, the other nations within U.$. borders are also part of the
oppressors (New Afrikans, Chican@s, etc.), but these groups also face
national oppression and so have some interest in anti-imperialism. It’s
a complex system, that requires careful analysis and cannot be boiled
down to race or hate against white people. We hope these readers will
engage with us further for study to understand our position.
In this issue of Under Lock & Key we are featuring an extra
four pages of content, which we hope our readers find to be educational
and helpful in their organizing work. These four pages were funded by
donators and the ULK Sustainers group, a group of United Struggle from
Within members and supporters in prison who send in donations to expand
ULK. To help fulfill the requests for more that was loud and
clear in the survey results, join the ULK Sustainers group today.
At this time; in this place; I genuinely know why the caged bird
sings other than being falsely imprisoned, he’s being
called N.I.G.G.E.R. of all things… As I give perfect praise to
“the most high,” I can only wonder how many more bullets have to fly?
How many more of my precious Black and Latino prisoners must
die? Before those of us who still dare to be free can remove the
blood filled tearz from our eyez. We’ve all been shackled by the
same chainz, victimized by the same pain, so… in whose name doez
death blossom? I can vividly recall being racially profiled as a
juvenile, because as a child I refused to pledge my allegiance to a
flag that forced so many of my B.L.A.C.K. Panthers into exile…
This beautiful black revolutionary love of mine is God’s design,
bottom line… I speak from the perspective of a S.O.U.L.J.A with
an objective. Cause being Black in this “white man’s worls,” justice
is often selective. On behalf of the collective, I stand on the
front lines. My message to the b.l.a.c.k. man is to fight the power,
nourish the seeds and restore our flowers… This form of
revolutionary love will never be televized, nor will it be
glamorized, because the very essence of this love affair depicts
us finally being unified!! Let’z reflect back to the bird in the
cage, back to the dehumanization that we endured while naked on
the auction blocks and stage… Or picture the 25-50 million Africans
that died during the passage that never made it to the grave
because it is only through these degrees of pain, horror and terror,
can one truly understand the life of a slave… On the strength of
those whose lives were gave, that divine sacrifice in turn allowed
countless other B.L.A.C.K. lives to be saved!!