Under Lock & Key

Here in the Youth Correctional Facilities (YCFs) of California the wards are put into training camps to further their commitment to a life long criminal pursuit. The “youth councilor” (a.k.a. the imperialist swine puppet) make sure to not only further the cause of these criminal acts, but they play other methods of corruption throughout the units where they’re all given power over their assigned group of prisoners. All under one higher echelon of imperialist corruption, called administration control.

These YCC (Youth Correctional Councilor) and YCO (Youth Correctional Officer) are given power over the wards who are incarcerated in these housing units. The job of the YCC is to study their assigned wards and learn their past history and behavior, then act like they have solutions to prevent any further violence or acts of criminality that these wards might do. At the same time they (YCCs and YCOs) use their power to manipulate the ward’s behavior by falsely accusing the wards of doing or saying things that reflect off their past when they have not done anything at all. This of course frustrates these prisoners to the point that they attack the pigs, throw bodily fluids at these pigs, or they simply tongue lash, i.e. verbally threaten these pigs.

Just two months ago a ward here was placed on Specialized Modified Program (SMP) lockup for these same treatments. One day when he asked a YCC if he could shave, the YCCs all ignored his request. Then when he asked again the YCC he initially asked told him to “shut the fuck up or I’ll put you on suicide watch.” The ward then began to get frustrated and loud, which gave the YCC the incentive to go through with his threats. That same YCC said this ward had made threats to kill himself, so the YCOs used chemical agent spray to detain him, then they took him to the suicide unit. I was a witness to the whole incident – he didn’t say any of the things they claim he said.

There have been many more incidents where these pigs have lied and then tried to cover their mistakes with more lies. I mean why else would the higher ups put cameras in every unit, down every hall in this facility. Up north too, in Chad. The sick thing is that to some of these pigs this sort of treatment towards us is fun for them.

Here I sit in the infamous Texas injustice system. Examples of the conditions here at the Bill Moore Unit include watered down food, cornstarch added to thicken our food, and constantly being given less food than we’re supposed to receive according to the menu. When I complain through the official grievance process, the Unit Grievance officer has the exact same answer no matter what the grievance is about “…it has been investigated and no wrong doing has been found. No further action is necessary.”

At night we have a female ranking officer who, during the winter time, thinks it’s funny to turn the air conditioning on while wearing her winter coat buttoned up and saying how warm it is, while the prisoners are forced to shiver with blankets that are too short. The winter coats we’re given are nothing more than long sleeve shirts.

My unit is under contract to be operated by the Correctional Corporation of America, by the Texas Dept of Criminal Justice. This way when the public are given the numbers of prisoners in the Texas prison system, the state can lie and mention only those in the state run prisons and leave out the numbers in the private prisons.

One day soon I hope we will obtain victory and the corrupt corporate and state employees who misuse prisoners and steal from not only us but also the general public will be placed into the prison system where they so deserve to be.

On September 12 at Clinton Correctional Facility I was a victim of Prison Official's assault. They came to my cell searching it, and while one CO kept asking me what's in my cell, as soon as I spoke up another CO kept slapping me in the face roughly for 20 minutes. I told the prison official to keep his hands to himself so COs took me to an isolation area for the beating of Blacks and Latinos where I was roughly beaten for 30 minutes. I was repeatedly assaulted with CO's intentions to break something (an arm or leg), kick my teeth out, and they shouted racial slurs during these attacks. E block is a Special Housing Unit with no camera to record these attacks.

In a surprising move, Sgt. Randell transported me to the new hospital mental health unit where Sgt. Randell hit me in the face with his stick over my left eye causing a painful injury to my left eye, a bleeding cut on the side and a black eye.

Prison officials have begun to engage more frequently in a monstrous form of prison homicide, a strategy to instill terror in the hearts and minds of Black prisoners. This is Clinton County NY, a white district. We don't have Black nurses or Black CO employees to lessen the racial tensions here at Clinton Corr Facility. In spite of the brutality, there is no special prosecutor and consequently no conviction of any criminal charge in recent homicide at Clinton Correctional Facility.

Commissioner Brian Fischer talks about NY gang-related violence in correctional facilities, but he is the gang leader of New York. The white supremacy CO mobs with a routine of beatings and murders that Inspector General in New York State Commission of Corrections fails to prosecute. The term homicide means the murder of one human being by another. A big percentage of COs mistreat Black prisoners, and there is no penalty. There is no regard for the life of the Black and Latino prisoners who have been beaten to death.

Prison official's white supremacy still rules in every sphere, they kill five or six of us every year sending the message, 'you best behave well or die.' This philosophy of intimidation and murders lets prison officials legitimize their mob attacks under the name of "back up". Prison official backup is often no different than the lynch mobs 100 years ago: Brutal murder of Black and Latino prisoners are twisted around and called justifiable homicide.

Another unarmed person was murdered in cold blood this month of September 2008 in Tucson Arizona by a police officer who believes he has a license to kill anyone in this county that he pleases just because he wears a badge. Police that murder unarmed people in this country are assassins with badges. These public servants who are hired to protect and serve the people of this great country, and are paid by the tax payers, have imposed themselves as judge, jury and executioners. And when they are taken to court and charged with murder they are acquitted by ignorant jurors who have been brainwashed by the ever constant cop shows on TV run by Hollywood on a daily basis. Society in general in this country has been misled to believe these cop shows that the police always tell the truth and that if they murder someone that they had "just cause" to kill.

I can go on and on about the countless murders that the police in this country have gotten away with in the past decade alone. But that would just be like beating a dead horse and expounding on the problem instead of the solution.

What is the solution? Marching like the honorable Martin Luther King Jr did back in the dayz? That worked back then, it won't work today.

How about blowing cops up like the Black Liberation Army did back in the 70s? No. Violence breeds violence. Besides it didn't work back then and it won't work now.

So what is the answer then? Sacrifice, revolution and the propensity for action. It worked in the Attica prison revolt in 1971 (though the system has slowly taken back all the rights given to prisoners since then). Prisoners lost their lives to make that happen. Sacrifice has worked in many instances throughout history.

You know we write to MIM. We talk that talk. Blah, blah, blah. Then we get released and we do nothing to help the oppressed peoples and we get caught up in selfish crimes against ourselves and our own people. It's time to step up. Are u down?

"A man who does not have a cause worth dying for isn't fit to live" - Martin Luther King Jr.

MIM(Prisons) responds: We agree with this comrade that now is not the time for violence in Amerika, but not because "violence breeds violence" rather because violence by the oppressed from a position of weakness, and without strategic planning and support of the masses, leads to the destruction of a movement and the oppressed within it. We call this sort of violence focoism and history demonstrates its failure. We would also argue that King's strategy of non-violence did not work in his day - he argued that pacifism and working within the system was the only possible solution, and that too has been proven a failure through history. We know that the imperialists will not give up without a fight, and that they will defend what they control with violence. Where we do agree is with the need for sacrifice and organizing both behind the bars and on the streets. We need to be clear that we are fighting for an end to the imperialist system, but in this country today this is a non-violent phase of the struggle.

I was placed in ad-seg again on July 5th, 2008. The corrupt Mule Creek State Prison CCPOA mafia prison guards dispatched six of their inmate rat pack cronies to assault me in my cell because I refuse to give up my single cell status and take a second prisoner in the cell. The six inmate rats beat me unconscious, both my right and left eyes were swollen shut for over 30 days. They tried to throw me off the tier. I sustained neck, ribs, liver and kidney damage. I was med-i-vac transported to Sutter Amador hospital. The CDCR guards kept punching me in the chest at the hospital, calling me names. I kept slipping in and out of consciousness. I woke up and five days later MCSP CDCR is charging me with assault on a CDCR-CCPOA-Mafia peace officer.

So now I'm caged in ad-seg, held on a D.A. referral on a felony charge of assault on a peace officer. And I still refuse to double cell. The struggle continues.

I have been receiving your newsletter for a couple of years now and have thought to write on many occasions. But reading the article "Psycho-Sexual Warfare vs Political Prisoners" by a New York Prisoner has finally compelled me to do so. My own personal experiences within Montana's prison system share some common ground and I thought I would take the time to offer a comparison.

Unlike most of your contributors, I am not only a political prisoner within the prison system itself, I am a political prisoner for opposing the corrupt authorities on the outside, as well. I did not commit a crime to be arrested, I sued the City of Kalispell, Montana, and was charged with a false crime and arrested, followed by a kangaroo court trial and conviction, to stop my suit against those authorities.

Upon entering the prison system I committed myself to fighting the system from the inside. I have used my legal knowledge to file hundreds of legal documents for other prisoners (in spite of unlawful rules and regulations prohibiting prisoners from assisting each other with legal matters) and filed several claims in the courts on my own, including an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) suit and a class action suit for numerous civil liberty violations.

As a vocally outspoken opponent of the prison industrial complex as a whole, and the Montana State prison system specifically, I have made myself quite the target for retaliations from the prison administration. Though I have not had the sexual element foisted upon me as my New York counterpart reports, I have had the rest done to me. I am a low custody prisoners presently confined in a high security lock-down facility, for instance. This has been done in spite of the authorities' foreknowledge that I am claustrophobic, in spite of the fact that I am housed with predatorily violent prisoners, many of whom are staff bulldogs (prisoners who work for the cops, basically acting as strong-arms against anyone in disfavor with those same cops). I have been not only placed in "ambiguous and pressure-filled situation(s)" but I have been beaten by an inmate who did so I believe at staff instruction.

I have had privileges stripped from me, and even property stolen from me, by staff members whose only intent is to harass and provoke me. Yes, I have been on the receiving end of efforts designed to "dehumanize" me and to make me "subservient." And I have only been subjected to all of this extra hardship because I will not break and I continue to fight the system. The New York prisoner is absolutely right in this regard - prison officials isolate those with the greatest potential and subject them to abuses designed to strip us of our focus and will.

I wanted him and everyone else suffering similar hardship to know that you are not alone. Others fight the war with you. Each time prison officials fail to break you, it's a victory. Remember that and stand strong.

I wish my brothers and sisters in solidarity strength and goodwill.

Just recently CDCR replaced all state owned prison institutions with new flushing mechanisms for the toilets, The flush-o-meters. This is supposed to save money on water waste, leaving the prison money, in other words. First off the flush-o-meter varies from prison to prison. But basically you get 2 flushes within a 15 minutes time zone. If you flush a 3rd time the toilet locks for 15 minutes. If you check within 15 minutes that the toilet is locked, the timer resets. So you could have your toilet lock for a long time (I myself had it lock for over 90 minutes).

The thing is, if you live with a cellmate you need to flush your waste down because of the smell. It's the only logical thing to do. No one flushes that many times.

This is supposed to be a big money saver. First the CDCR pays pennies for work (prisoner's work) so it's a joke. It's basically slave labor. A form of slavery in the worst kind. Because people want to get out of their cells they do anything, It's like building your own cage. So right off the bat the CDCR saved for the installation of the flush-o-meter. Where did all the extra money go that they saved? Who knows.

Second off, the water waste is lessened supposedly. So the water bill for all state prisons are less. Where does that money go? My assumption is that it does not go back to help rehabilitation of prisoners. This machines is broken down, it needs reform and change. One thing for sure, whatever budget the CDCR wants, it gets.

Revolutionary greetings to all. I’m back one again to report the activities here at Killa Kern for the week. To start it off, we’re still dealing with the same problems of the prices on canteen items risen. And the Arsenic poison being fed throughout our prison’s plumbing system.

Now on the count of California’s Governor failing to come up with a way to break bread and relieve its paper pushers of this cash crisis. I gotta give it (the rise of canteen prices) to the Dept of Corrections. They’re doing their thang, and not getting any criticism about it. The people ain’t trippin, cause the soldiers ain’t trippin. So what the hell! Let ‘em do them which is a feeling that can be understood by a person who understands).

But when the war becomes physical, and the effect goes from psychological and financial, to actually harming ones internal organs, somebody has to stand up and shut it down. These folks here at Killa Kern (named that by me for the way they’re killing their prison population mentally, spiritually, financially, and physically) have already released data that shows a long consumption of this tainted water over a period of time could cause respiratory problems that could lead to cancer. But they say “it’s no emergency, it’s no biggy, we’ll have the problem fixed within 13 months. There’s no need to bring in an outside source of water. Just keep drinking the arsenic water. We’ll get around to it.”

With this sort of response by this prison and its agents, one should be able to see the reason for my naming it Killa Kern. I mean truthfully, how long is too long of a consumption? Three years, four years, or five? Shit, maybe it’s a decade.

I have been at this death chamber for over half a year, and I’ve been heavily drinking the water since my arrival. I work out a lot so I have to stay hydrated. But look what I have to stay hydrated to: Arsenic Lead. This is some shit I wouldn’t even let my hogs drink. And they’re said to be the nastiest animal of them all. This lead that they have us drinking is a weapon of modern day human destruction, and it’s killing us slowly.

I haven’t yet been able to obtain the scientific data needed to enlighten the convict body here, or those who read MIM(Prisons), if anyone reading can add facts of researched data on the damages and long term effects that Arsenic lead can cause to the body, please contact me with the info.

We need them to correct Kern Valley’s water problem now. If this can’t be done, they need to bring in a secondary outside water source for us to drink.

As always I extend my revolutionary love and respect to the comrades of your staff. As things here at KVSP have changed once again like the seasons, I write in to briefly report my captors' activity.

After taking advantage of the economic crises here in the states and boosting all of its institution commissary store product prices sky high, the administrators are taking another path of destruction.

Recently there's been talks of California's budget crises and its effect on its massive prison population. But now 'ol Arnold is letting actions speak louder than words. With a so-called job cut for prisons Correction Officers, prisoners are seeing our little bit of program go down the drain with Amerikkka's stranglehold of the world's bottom class. They have come up with what they call "down days," in regards to a total of four days out of the week where there will be no program at all, due to the so-called lack of staff. This means no yard for most, along with any other program or activity that has to do with one being outside his cell and not working for the prison.

Now I know that by U.$. law these folks are required to give us a certain amount of hours a week for recreational purposes, but with this new budget crisis (or whatever you want to call it) the judge is going to say their arguments of shortness of staff are valid. And to sum it up, they did that just like they took the weights and the family visits for lifers. Hell, they did that just like this prison is feeding its population "arsenic lead" through its plumbing system. They've had a memo on the issue floating around for almost eight months now, but its like the taste only gets stronger. They've admitted that it's there (I guess as a warning) but have done nothing to change it, and we have no choice but to drink it. How about those apples?

This modern day plantation I'm in just came off a week long lockdown due to brothers acting some damn fools [Afrikan on Afrikan]. In that incident a few pigs got injured (so they say), it's funny how they claim to be injured when they was the ones swinging those sticks. In any event, the plantation was shut down then the nonsense started. Very, very small portions of food was given out, not to mention the already small portion that's given. Everyone's cell was tossed-up (they call it legal cell searches), which is crap because what does the entire population have to do with a 14 man (pigs included) incident?

During the cell toss-up these pigs just went along hand-picking brothers in their boxer shorts and handcuffed, taking advantage of them. The roughshod began and it ran for 3 and a half days of plastic buckets over the heads of brothers then striking the bucket with their sticks. They knocked the tooth out of one brother when he asked "why was they kicking his radio around."

These and many other racist tactics was done as a modern day paradigm for the Willie Lynch Theory! I say that because out of the many that I've spoken to, only a handful wrote out grievances, phoned family members, wrote lawyers, etc. The masses chose not to, in fear of retaliation! Some have open dates, others have parole boards coming up, and others just prayed for them!? That last one really got to me and it's a shame that someone would believe that the very god that they forced upon us can save us! I mean, we loved Martin Luther King Jr., but I respect Malcolm because he never gave a damn about the repercussions! By any means necessary! We must continue to uplift our people and stop waiting for some clown named Obama to bring change.