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.
This is my end-of-year report on our MIM Grievance Campaign. We did one
on the “unlocks” here, and we’re currently working on the issue of
showers. Due to the California drought they claim that we are still in a
drought and therefore can only shower on Tuesday and Thursday. Even then
there is no hot water so we are showering in ICE cold water. This is in
spite of the fact that we are in a medical facility and most of us are
older prisoners.
The temp has dropped to 34 degrees in the morning and we have been in
these conditions now for over a month. Enclosed please find the
grievances.
MIM(Prisons) adds: Comrades at Richard J. Donovan Correctional
Facility have been pursuing these issue through 602 appeals forms and
subsequent appeals. After receiving a response of “partially granted”
there was no actual change in conditions and they began utilizing the
grievance petition for California. They have done a good job documenting
the process, citing case law of Armstrong vs. Brown and the 8th
and 14th Amendment.
Comrades in California and other states can write in to get a copy of a
grievance petition to use as an organizing tool to bring people together
around conditions that are not being addressed at your prison.
I got a message to all the tweakers, tecatos, potheads and boozers. Wake
Up! Can’t you see you’re doing exactly what the oppressors wants you to
do? So why are you giving them the satisfaction? With all the cameras
rolling 24-7, you think they don’t know what you’re doing? Newsflash:
You ain’t that slick, buddy.
“All I had to do is drink a lot of water to flush out my system.” I
overheard one drug addict say when he came back from medical, for a drug
test. “My piss came back clean even though I just used in the morning.”
It’s a miracle! We must run and tell the others! Now it’s safe to puff
puff, cough cough, & slam slam! As long as you hydrate and drink
drink (a lotta water), you could pass pass (the ‘drug test’), no
problem. Your passing grade might be a D- but at least you didn’t fail,
right? Wrong!
Let’s face it, water or no water, your urine is dirty. I know it, you
know it, and the porkchop-patrol most definitely knows it. They just
don’t care. Besides, lucky for you, there’s never enough room in the
“hole.” Five segregation singleman cells for a facility that houses 650
prisoners equals “no vacancy”.
It’s like you have to schedule an appointment, make it onto a guest
list, then wait for about a month, in order to make it into the hole.
But if the COs really did their job this whole place would be empty.
Literally, there would only be about 20 people left in each dorm. That’s
how bad this epidemic is. But fear not my drug-addicted friend, the pigs
have bigger fish to fry. Or at least that’s what they want us to think.
Extremely violent prisoners get top priority over minor drug offenders.
But if you’ve been locked up as long as I have, then you’d know that
extreme acts of violence are mostly over a minor drug debt. Common sense
tells me, “get rid of the drugs and the violence shall cease.” I have a
hunch that the “system” could stop the drug flow at any time. But,
looking at it through their eyes, why ruin a good thing?
Figuratively speaking, drugs are the oil that keep the oppression
machine running. Sobriety is the monkey-wrench that’ll break this bitch
down. So put the word out, we need more wrenches. Staying clean is the
worst thing we could do to these puercos.
Think about it for a second. Imagine if we obliterate the drug trade in
prison. Most of these facilities would go out of business. Half the
staff would start filling out applications at Mickey D’z, and Walmart,
at the end of their shifts. But instead, most of us wanna keep on
getting shit-faced; letting the enemy win with its foot on our necks.
Wake up!
The enemy loves getting us high. Because it leads to a lot of drama, and
drama is the safety blanket that keeps the oppressors warm at night. It
gives them job security and a fat bank account. Meanwhile, all the users
and dealers turn against each other while the pigs kick back and laugh.
Don’t worry, though. They’re gonna let you keep using and selling on one
condition; as long as y’all keep fighting and snitching, stabbing and
pinching.
Don’t get my words twisted. I’m not implying that you could keep on
using, and abusing, and not get caught. Because every now and then, like
once in a blue moon, they make an example out of somebody. But from what
I’ve seen, their victim is usually the most humble junkie on the block.
Yeah, this dude gets high but he’s cool. He pays his debts, and doesn’t
bother nobody. But for some reason, the puercos got it in for him. He
already got a few “dirties,” and has an appointment at the “hole.”
“But what about that trouble-making tweaker?” There’s 1 in every block.
“How come he doesn’t ever get called for a random drug test, and go
away?” I ask myself.
Lord knows this trouble-making tweaker is not low key. He’s a dead beat
and proud of it. His drug debts are stacking up, and on top of that,
he’s starting fights in the open; all in front of the cameras. And
still, the hooras act like they don’t see him. They treat him like a
model inmate.
It’s like the pigs are watching in the wings, waiting for the inevitable
to happen. Instead of nipping the problem in the bud, they wait for the
problem to get smashed out, stabbed, or removed from the yard. Only then
they jump into action.
But don’t think they’re gonna swoop in like some superheroes. No. They
take their sweet time, sometimes just stand there looking; waiting for
the “victim” to get nicely bruised up. Only then, they bust out the
cuffs and add charges.
“Come on, you guys are not even doing nothing!” I once heard a pig say
to a boo bop squad while they beat a tweaker. “You gotta hit ’em harder
if you want me to stop it!” Then he laughed, I laughed, and half the
yard laughed. But it wasn’t funny. And his sick sense of humor cost him
his job, cause I didn’t see him after that.
But that’s what he gets for letting things get out of hand. And all that
- the beating and the firing - could’ve been avoided if his co-workers
would’ve done their job properly in the first place. But why ruin a good
thing?
Wake up amigos! It’s time to stop entertaining these hooras. It’s time
to put down the needles, and the pookies, and get our minds back.
Just a short letter to let you know that I received your Texas Pack,
which I found to have lots of needed information in it. The issue of the
July/August Under Lock & Key was DENIED because of something
on page 11 of the publication. I appealed the denial and lost, but I
mailed it home for future reading.
I am a victim of harassment and retaliation, which stems from my
constant filing of complaints and grievances, condemning the
unprofessional actions of unit officials and officers. I’ve had to
endure some pretty rough times because of my never-ending flow of
complaints. Unit officials have conspired to file false disciplinary
infractions against me in hopes of silencing me or discrediting me.
During my last stint of incarceration (1997-2003) unit officials told me
that if I didn’t stop filing complaints, that they were going to make my
time hard. They filed an infraction of “assault on an officer,” which
had me thrown in solitary and stripped of my trustee status and good
time. When I continued to file grievances against the unjust actions
they had taken against me, I was once again charged with “assault on an
officer” (my foot accidentally bumped an officer’s foot). They were
trying to prove that I couldn’t beat them. Well, I eventually got one
officer fired for harassment and retaliation, and a Lieutenant was
allowed to resign and return in six months. When he returned, he was
sent to another unit, (where I had also been sent to) and had to work as
a regular CO for six months before he could apply for his rank back.
Upon seeing me, he called me a “bitch,” which I immediately wrote up.
This time, there happened to be a Major that did not put up with officer
harassment and retaliation, and he immediately got both of us in his
office and made the officer apologize to me and promise to leave me
alone. I was falsely charged with several disciplinary infractions after
I filed a grievance against an officer for calling me a “black son of a
bitch,” back in January of this year. When I refused to drop my
complaint, I received a major disciplinary for being “out of place” (not
attending a law library session, which is voluntary).
A couple of months later, I received another major case for “failure to
obey an order” (another trumped up charge) and after being found guilty
of it, I was stripped of my general population status and re-assigned to
G-4 (medium custody). The whole purpose of charging me with the major
infractions were to 1) get me transferred from the unit and 2) discredit
me so that my complaint against the officer for use of slurs/hostile
epithets could be viewed as a lie against that officer. I was shipped
off of the unit and all attempts to have something done to the officer
who called me a black son of a bitch were ditched.
After arriving here on this unit to be locked away for 6 months on
medium custody, one of the ladies who was part of my Unit Classification
Committee (UCC), disagreed that I should be classified as medium
custody, because the charges were weak. Now I am hoping that the two
major infractions that I received earlier this year have no bearing on
whether I make parole. There are NOT a lot of guys who are willing to
stand up for their rights like me. I recently wrote a letter to Senator
John Whitmire, informing him of the issues we are plagued with over here
at this century-old unit. Just last week, we had not one, not two, but
several pipes burst, leaving us without clean water to drink. Half of
the building had NO WATER to flush their toilets, and there were
restrictions on showering.
I’m continuing in my fight to bring attention to all of the ruthless
officers that continue to oppress us behind these walls. Please let me
know what I can do to help your cause. I am indigent, but I’m able to
write and get things out.
I’m sure you all know that as of September 2017, solitary confinement in
TDCJ was abolished. The inmates at the Pack Unit in Navasoto, Texas
found help with the heat during the summer by way of the 5th Circuit
Court of Appeals when they affirmed class certification. Judge Keith
Ellison ordered TDCJ to put air conditioning in the Pack Unit, which was
found to be a “hot box” to the inmates housed there. Instead of putting
air conditioning in housing areas, TDCJ shipped the inmates to cooler
quarters in other facilities. The reaffirmed class certification paves
the way for inmates’ lawyers to try and win a permanent injunction.
Also, inmates throughout TDCJ have won the right to wear 4-inch beards,
and Muslim offenders are supposed to be able to wear their kufis all
over the unit, yet state officials are trying to stonewall us (yes, I am
Muslim) from doing it. Now, I’ve heard that on some of the more hardened
units, officials would rather allow the wearing of kufis rather than
risk any type of rebellion. The unit I’m on is NOT one of them, yet I’m
working to get some type of wording on WHY we aren’t being allowed to
wear them here. The case citing is Ali vs Stephens, 822 F.3d 776 (5th
Cir. 2016) U.S. App LEXIS 7964. Until next time, stay strong.
MIM(Prisons) responds: There are a number of seasoned comrades in
Texas fighting and winning, in spite of harassment and retaliation from
TDCJ staff and admin. We encourage others to look to this comrade’s work
for an example of eir bravery, dedication, and successes!
The Texas Pack that MIM(Prisons) distributes is a good jumping off point
for people who need basic information on filing grievances and fighting
against some of the most common things prison staff do to take advantage
of us. Most of the information in the Texas Pack ought to be in the law
library by any reasonable standard, and even TDCJ’s own policies and
procedures. Since the TDCJ isn’t following its own rules, and not
informing prisoners of what those rules are and the process to have them
enforced, we have compiled this information. Send a $2.50 donation to
our SF address, or a contribution to ULK, to get the Texas Pack.
Another aspect of this author’s experience that we want to draw
attention to is how eir work impacts the quality of life of other
prisoners on eir unit. Getting a guard kicked off the unit, suspended,
or being told to tone down eir harassment, serves not only this author
but also the prisoners around em. Same goes for the impact of lawsuits
(for better or worse). So if you’re reading this and a guard isn’t
harassing you, know that it’s probably because of all the people who
have fought on your behalf ahead of you. Maybe now it’s time to start
contributing to help others!
On 15 September 2017 my neighbor died smoking K2 and after the pigs saw
I was the last person to speak with him they locked me up under
investigation. The first interrogation was conducted by the Arkansas
state pig and it seemed as if all was well. The next week another death,
same cause. Then my neighbor’s mom appeared on the news saying she was
gonna get to the bottom of his death (apparently they told her he had a
heart attack), and bring a lawsuit before the court.
So when the internal affairs came and conduct their interrogation the
pressure had been put on ADC (Arkansas Department of Corrections) and
the woman resorts to some dirty ass tactics as soon as I walk in. She
starts by telling me she’s been doing her thorough investigation and
listening to my phone calls, and that she knows about my girlfriend that
I tell that I love her and then call my wife and turn around and tell
her the same. I ask her if it was some type of threat she was implying
because what she was talking about had nothing to do with my neighbor’s
death. She then starts her backpedaling and starts questioning me about
$ I had moved in the “free.” That’s where I decided to end our
conversation.
Right before the time period for investigation ran out I received a
disciplinary for possession of contraband even though I was never in
possession of anything and it was at this point I realized ADC had their
scapegoat in the form of myself. That week topped off with another
death, same cause. That’s 4 deaths from K2 in this prison within 90 days
(there was one about a month before my neighbor).
I was found guilty in kangaroo court, given 30 days punitive and 60 days
restriction on phone, visits, commissary. A few days later, the Arkansas
state pig comes back. The only reason I could see was to fish for some
more circumstantial evidence and bring some type of formal charges to
cover ADC’s ass. I’ve been in the hole for about 40 days now and as far
as that situation, that’s where things stand.
MIM(Prisons) adds: We just completed a survey
of drugs in U.S. prisons, in which we found K2 to be the new
dominant drug across much of the country. See our article on the
K2
epidemic in Texas, where a similar rash of deaths have occurred.
I am reporting an act of solidarity. First we must remember what the
word solidarity means. Solidarity is defined as: A feeling of unity
between people who have the same interests, goals, etc. (Merriam
Webster’s Advanced Learner’s Dictionary).
I am currently in the Residential Mental Health Unit (RMHU). It’s
similar to the SHU. The COs think since we’re diagnosed with bi-polar,
antisocial, major depression and whatever that they can just oppress us.
Well, they learned on 4 September 2017 that we’re not just a bunch of
crazies.
It’s hard to get 10 comrades to stand together as a whole so when a
member from the LGBTQ community got jumped on and 30 comrades refused to
leave the classrooms I was shocked! I asked a few of them “why did you
stand up for one of mine?” Some of them said they were tired of the COs
putting their hands on us, and some of them said the COs went too far. I
thanked these comrades for standing with me and my LGBTQ family.
So, I’m sharing this because in the July/August ULK (No. 57) a
Nevada prisoner weighed in on
“Fighting
Gender Abuse.” As comrades we need to stand together in this way
more. You shouldn’t care who or what the person is, who cares? If s/he
is in the same struggle as you then you need to help him/her. In the
long run by you helping them you’ll be helping yourself.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This is a great example of people coming
together behind bars. And the writer highlights the important point that
we need unity across different groups and individuals. This imperialist
system has created some major divisions between groups of people: based
on class, nation and gender. And these divisions are found in prisons as
well.
In prison, class tends to be less relevant as prisoners are forced
together as lumpen, at least while behind bars. But the national
oppression that is so fundamental to imperialism’s power and wealth
creates national divisions. Within the United $tates (and around the
world) oppressed nations are encouraged to fight one another and even to
form sets within a nation to fight, so that they won’t come together
against the oppressor nation.
Gender oppression is a bit different behind bars than on the streets,
with prisons segregated by designated biological sex. One of the most
common manifestations of gender oppression we see is against
non-heterosexual prisoners (or those perceived as so). Uniting against
this abuse starts with people, like those described above, recognizing
that this abuse is wrong, no matter who is targetted. We can take it to
the next level by proactively combatting gender oppression among
prisoners as well as by the guards. We need to defend our comrades
against abuse, and educate our allies about why gender oppression is
wrong.
Nowhere is the necessity for the societal advancement to communism more
apparent than in the realm of disability considerations. No segment of
society, imprisoned or otherwise, is in greater need of the guiding
communist ethos proclaimed by Marx: “From each according to their
ability, to each according to their need.” This humynist principle
applies to no demographic more than the disabled.
When communist society is realized, the intrinsic worth of each and
every persyn and their potential to contribute to society will be
realized as well. In return, communist society will reward the disabled
population by adequately providing their essentials and rendering all
aspects of society open and accessible for their full utilization. In a
phrase, communism will respect the disabled persyn’s humyn right to a
humane existence. We communists strive for the elimination of power
structures that allow the oppression of people by people. The disabled
population, as well as all peoples that have hystorically been
subjugated by the oppressive bourgeois system of capitalism/imperialism,
can then work toward the implementation of a truly democratic society.
Considering MIM(Prisons) recognizes only three strands of oppression in
the world today (nation, class and gender), able-bodiedness is a cause
and consequence of class, and in countries with more leisure-time it is
intimately tied up in the gender strand of oppression. This essay
intends to analyze disability as it relates to class, gender, and the
prison environment.
Disability and Class
In the United $tates the greatest source of persynal wealth is
inheritance. It can be said the ability to create and maintain
able-bodiedness may be inherited also. For the most part, class station
is determined by birth. By virtue of to whom and where a persyn is born,
their access, or lack thereof, to material resources is ascribed. The
bourgeoisie and labor aristocracy have access to nutrition and
healthcare the First World lumpen and international proletariat and
peasantry do not. The likelihood of a positive health background renders
the labor aristocracy and other bourgeois classes attractive prospects
to potential employers, lenders, etc. This allows them to continue to
enjoy nutrition and healthcare not common to the lumpen, proletariat,
and peasantry.
It would be extremely uncommon to find a First World lumpen, an
international proletarian, or a peasant with a membership to a health
and fitness club. This privilege is reserved for the bourgeois classes,
including the petty-bourgeoisie and its subclass the labor aristocracy.
This, of course, further enhances the prospect of maintaining good
health, and compounded with employer-supplied healthcare, does act as
prophylaxis against the onset of debilitating and degenerative physical
ailments.
It would be unreasonable to ignore the possibility that a member of the
bourgeoisie might be genetically infirm, or a labor aristocrat
debilitated by an accident. But, due to their class position, these
classes are better prepared and equipped to minimize the adversities
resulting from such an unfortunate occurrence.
Able-bodiedness may also affect upward class mobility. An able-bodied
First World lumpen that can find employment might enter the ranks of the
labor aristocracy. A blue collar labor aristocrat may be promoted to a
managerial position, and so forth. Of course other factors, such as
national background, do play a role in one’s mobility (or stagnation for
that matter), but disability also plays a significant role.
Disability and Gender
Gender only comes to the fore after life’s essentials are secured,
thereby standing out in relief on its own aside from class/nation. In
the First World leisure-time plays a major role in gender analysis.
MIM(Prisons) defines “gender” as:
“One of three strands of oppression, the other two being class and
nation. Gender can be thought of as socially-defined attributes related
to one’s sex organs and physiology. Patriarchy has led to the splitting
of society into an oppressed (wimmin) and oppressor gender
(men).
“Historically reproductive status was very important to gender, but
today the dynamics of leisure-time and humyn biological development are
the material basis of gender. For example, children are the oppressed
gender regardless of genitalia, as they face the bulk of sexual
oppression independent of class and national oppression.
“People of biologically superior health-status are better workers, and
that’s a class thing, but if they have leisure-time, they are also
better sexually privileged. We might think of models or prostitutes, but
professional athletes of any kind also walk this fine line. … Older and
disabled people as well as the very sick are at a disadvantage, not just
at work but in leisure-time. …” - MIM(Prisons) Glossary
This system of gender oppression is commonly referred to as
“patriarchy,” which MIM(Prisons) defines as:
“the manifestation and institutionalization of male dominance over
wimmin and children in the family and the extension of male dominance
over wimmin in society in general; it implies that men hold power in all
the important institutions of society and that wimmin are deprived of
access to such power.”(1)
Professor bell hooks’s description of patriarchy in eir work The
Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love has also contributed to
this author’s understanding of gender oppression:
“Patriarchy is a political-social system that insists that males are
inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak,
especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over
the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of
psychological terrorism and violence.”(2)
Professor hooks’s definition of patriarchy not only recognizes terrorism
as a patriarchal mechanism, but that patriarchal forces do not intend
only to oppress, dominate, and subjugate females or even just females
and children, but patriarchy’s pathology is to hold down anything it
regards as weaker than itself. Patriarchy is a bully.
Children are one of the most stigmatized and oppressed groups of people
in the world. Patriarchal society considers children physically disabled
due to their undeveloped bodies and therefore susceptible to patriarchal
oppression – regardless of the biology of the child. This firmly places
children in the gender oppressed stratum. Due to disabled people’s
diminished bodies (and/or cognizance), disabled people can be
categorized similar to children subjected to patriarchy, ergo,
disability falls into the gender oppression stratum as well as class.
Patriarchy and Prisons
U.$. prisons are, from top to bottom, patriarchal structures. Prisons
are institutions where the police, the judiciary, and militarization
have crystalized as paternalistic enforcer of bureaucracies of
patriarchy; prisons, the system of political, social, cultural and
economic restraint and control, are fundamentally patriarchal
institutions implemented to enforce the status quo – including
patriarchal domination. Disabled prisoners in Texas have long been
labeled “broke dicks,” illustrative of their “less-than-a-man” status in
the prison pecking order.
There are laws mandating disabled prisoners not be precluded from
recreational activities, or any other prison activity for that matter.
Yet enforcement of these laws are prohibitively difficult for disabled
prisoners, especially prisoners with vision or hearing disabilities, or
cognitive impairments. The disabled have few advocates in bourgeois
society; they have virtually none in prison.
The likelihood that prison officials discriminate against and abuse
disabled prisoners is readily apparent. What is most disheartening is
able-bodied prisoners are often the perpetrators of mistreatment against
disabled prisoners, frequently at the behest of prison administrators so
as to procure favorable treatment. In fact, the most telling aspect of
the conditions of confinement imposed on disabled prisoners is the abuse
of the disabled prisoners at the hands of able-bodied prisoners. The
able-bodied prisoners are quick to manhandle and overrun disabled
prisoners in obtaining essential prison services which are commonly
inadequate and limited. When queued up for meals, showers, commissary,
etc. the able-bodied prisoners will shove and elbow aside disabled
prisoners; will threaten to assult disabled prisoners; and have in fact
assaulted disabled prisoners should they complain or protest being
accosted in such a fashion. All this invariably with the knowledge
and/or before the very eyes of prison administrators and personnel.
It is far too common for the victims of sexual harassment and assault in
prisons to be gay, transgendered, and/or disabled. Whether the
perpetrator be prison officials or fellow prisoners, this practice is
condoned by the culture of patriarchy and the hyper-masculine prison
environment.
In the Prison Justice League’s (PJL) report to the U.$. Department of
Justice titled “Cruel and Unusual Punishment: The Use of Excessive Force
at Estelle Unit” the PJL outlined the routine and systematic abuse of
disabled prisoners by prison personnel at the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice (TDCJ) Regional Medical Facility for the Southern
Region, Estelle Unit.(3) Prisoners assigned to the Estelle Unit per
their disabilities are regularly and habitually denied medical treatment
for their disabilities, ergo oftentimes exacerbating the causes and
effects of the disabilities which brought them to Estelle initially; are
denied auxiliary aids so as to accommodate their disabilities as
required by law; are physically assaulted by prison administrators and
staff, or their inmate henchmen; and with egregious frequency are
murdered at the hands of state officials.
Since the PJL’s report and subsequent Department of Justice
investigation, there has been a bit of a detente in the abuse visited
upon disabled Estelle prisoners by prison personnel. But the pigz are
barely restrained. Threats of physical violence directed at disabled
prisoners are still a regular daily occurrence, and prison personnel
assaults on disabled prisoners are still far too common.
Another recent example of the persistent difficulties disabled prisoners
face, even with the courts on their side, can be seen in the American
Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) recent settlement negotiated with the
Montana Department of Corrections (MDC), after it neglected to fulfill
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements from a 1995
settlement, Langford v. Bullock. In 2005, the ADA requirements
were still not met, and despite the Circuit Court’s order requiring
Montana to comply with the 1995 settlement, it is not until 2017, and
much advocacy later, that negotiations are being finalized between the
ACLU and MDC. We can’t dismantle systems of gender oppression one
quarter-century-long lawsuit at a time. That’s why MIM(Prisons)
advocates for a complete overthrow of patriarchal capitalism-imperialism
as soon as possible.
Another patriarchal aspect to be observed in prisons is ageism. As
children are included in the gender-oppressed stratum, so should the
aged. As the able-bodied prisoners’ ability to work subsides due to age
in the First World, especially in the United $tates where the welfare
state is minuscule and the social safety net set very low, the
propensity for a once able-bodied persyn to be relegated to the ranks of
the lumpen is intensified. As the once able-bodied persyn becomes aged
and disabled, their physical, as well as mental, health becomes more and
more jeopardized, accelerating the degeneration of existing disabilities
as well as increasing the likelihood of creating the onset of new ones
(e.g. the First World lumpen are notorious for developing diabetes due
to poor diet and lifestyle issues).
Disability as a Means of Castration
Holding people in locked cages is an acute form of social control.
Solitary confinement creates long-lasting psychological damage. And
prison conditions in general are designed (by omission) to create
long-lasting physical damage to oppressed populations. Prisons are a
tool of social control, and exacerbating/creating disabilities is a way
prisons carry this through in a long-term and multi-generational
fashion.
Prisoners, who are a majority lumpen population, are likely to already
have unmet medical needs before entering prison, as described above in
the section on class. Then when in prison, these medical needs are
exacerbated because of the bad environment (toxic water, exposed
asbestos, run down facilities, etc.); brutality from guards and fellow
prisoners; poor medical care including untreated physical traumas,
improper timing for medications (see article on diabetes), and just
straight up neglect.
Mumia Abu-Jamal’s battle to receive treatment for hepatitis C, which ey
contracted from a tainted blood transfusion ey received after being shot
by police in 1981, is a case in point. Mumia belongs to an oppressed
nation, is conscious of this oppression, has fought against this
oppression, and thus is last on the priority list for who the state of
Pennsylvania will give resources to. And medical care under capitalism
is sold to the highest bidder, with new drugs which are 90% effective in
curing hepatitis C coming with a price tag of $1,000 per day. In a
communist society these life-saving drugs will be free to all who need
them.
Disability in the Anti-Imperialist Movement
The fact that people with disabilities will be treated better after we
take down capitalism is obvious. Our stance on discrimination against
people with disabilities in our society today is obvious. What is less
obvious is the question of how we can incorporate people with
disabilities into the anti-imperialist movement today, while we are so
small and relatively weak compared to the enemy that surrounds us. This
is an ongoing question for revolutionaries, who are always pushing
themselves to be stronger, better, and more productive. After all, there
is an urgency to our work.
Our militancy tends to be inherently ableist. With all the distractions
and requirements of living in this bourgeois society, we have precious
little time to devote to revolutionary work. We are always on the
lookout for things and people that are holding us back and wasting our
time, and we work diligently to weed these things and people from our
lives and movement. Often when people aren’t productive enough, due to
mental or physical consequences of capitalism and national oppression,
we can’t do anything to help them – especially through the mail. No
matter how sympathetic people are to our politics, and how much they
want to contribute, we just don’t have the resources to provide care
that would help these folks give more to overthrowing imperialism. Often
times all we can do is use these anecdotes to add fuel to our fire.
Disabilities amongst oppressed people are intentionally created by the
state, and a natural consequence of capitalism. If we don’t take any
time to work with and around our allies’ disabilities, then we are
excluding a population of people who, like the introduction says above,
are in the greatest need of a shift toward communism. We aim to have
independent institutions of the oppressed which can help people overcome
some of these barriers to political work. At this time, however, the
state is doing more to weaken our movement in this regard than we are
able to do to strengthen it.
[Of note, the primary author of this article has devoted eir life to
revolutionary organizing in spite of being imprisoned and with multiple
physical disabilities. Even though it is extremely difficult to
contribute, it is possible!]
I was transferred to California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and
State Prison (CSATF). Me and a companion from the former prison we
arrived from knew that we had arrived at a concentration camp that was
as shitty of a place as we could have ended up in. One can always tell
the make-up of a prison by the writings on the walls of its R&R. If
its toilets look like something that one could catch a disease from just
staring at, and the pigs search out the property seizing every single
object that the average person would assume allowable; face it, you’re
in hell.
Time has found me here, but since the 30th of March, and there have
already been several incidents forced before me, one of which surprised
the living world out of me. And this isn’t something I say lightly. I am
a person with pretty thick skin who would like to believe can handle
just about anything. But on 6 May 2017, I was revealed a sign that
showed me maybe I am not quite ready to handle it all.
I was solicited for murder of an inmate by a California correctional
officer.
On the date of 6 May 2017, at CSATF, approx. 12:05 p.m. after
returning from rec. yard to the assigned living quarters D2-211 to be
informed by the cell-mate occupying the quarters with me that the
facility unit officer Pano had conducted a punitive cell search of the
quarters in response to the cell-mate’s failure to return to the living
quarters in a timely matter, having my cooling fan confiscated.
The cell-mate mentioned is an XXX YYY ZZZZ, 28-years-old.
I reported to the officer in question C/O Pano, who was covered by
colleague C/O Barajas – female floor officer – and C/O Martines – male
tower officer – where I opened a dialogue with Pano in regards to an
explanation for the confiscation/seizure of my cooling fan; at a time
when the temperatures of the living quarters are rising to high
levels.
C/O Pano replied that the objective of the search was to “give him
the attention that he was looking for” referring to XXX YYY ZZZZ.
I notified C/O Pano that I had nothing to do with him and XXX YYY
ZZZZ problem, and it was unfair that I’d had my personal property
confiscated as a result of another person’s actions. I informed this
officer that I would not be held accountable for another prisoner’s
actions unless he was somehow asking me to rectify the problem between
him and XXX YYY ZZZZ by “handling it.”
By “handling it”, I for all intents and purposes meant to do bodily
harm to XXX YYY ZZZZ, as physical force is the only power I have over
another, to harm an inmate – being an inmate myself – I went so far as
to describe “bashing his head into the wall”, as to getting a clear
understanding to the degree of violence that officer Pano smiled at me
and said, “You know how it goes, it’s just business.”
But I didn’t “know how it go.” I am not accustomed to officers
soliciting my service to do harm to another inmate. Though I have
experienced in the past, officers of CDCR attempting to incite violence
between myself and a cell-mate out of retaliation for a cell-mate’s
misbehavior. [Officers conducted a punitive cell search of my assigned
living quarters, destroyed only my property and then informed me that it
was because of my cell-mate that the nature of the cell search
transpired as it did, hoping I’d take my anger out on him, See,
KVSP-APPEAL-602-0-10-00887]
I am a political prisoner freedom fighter with many years of
experience in dealing with crooked officers who abuse their power,
invested into both badge and seal by the republic of California to cross
up prisoners and have them framed for rule violations and criminal
charges in the local courts. My particular history can be reviewed in
the Superior Court of CA County of Kern, “People of California v. David
Cauthen DF010469A.”
Officers at Kern Valley State Prison made me the target of a
physical beat down, while in handcuffs, for my leadership role in a ten
man protest on the rec yard. KVSP officials came together in an effort
to frame me in disorder to cover up their attack on me. False statements
were made in reports used to have me prosecuted by Kern Valley District
Attorney Lisa Green, Officer of the Court, in a criminal complaint based
on charges of ATTEMPTED MURDER OF A POLICE OFFICER. I spent nearly two
years in California’s Security Housing Unit defending myself in court on
bogus charges.
When it comes to the struggle being waged between California and its
most advanced political prisoners, I may be considered an expert.
Identifying the sneaky tactics of officers/pigs instigating problems
amongst the prison population to justify their failure to correct &
rehabilitate. I have made it a point to single-handedly lead the charge
of political prisoners uniting and holding the state accountable for
their actions.
I believe it is in a database held by the state that I am who I say
I am and C.O.s may and often do access this data for their own personal
information. Officer Pano had to have accessed this information to make
himself familiar with me as a prisoner with capabilities of committing
violence against another prisoner.
After standing in the center of the dayroom of the unit, pleading
with Officer Pano that as it had begun to get extremely hot in the cells
[The staff at CSATF TURNS THE HEAT ON IN THE SUMMER TIME] his decision
to enter my living quarters and confiscate the cooling fan used to keep
me cool, would be construed as inhumane & cruel treatment. He just
smiled and walked away to retrieve the fan.
Pano returned the fan, but not without making a smug statement about
how I needed to “get at my celly” and how he’d return to confiscate the
fan if the particulars of a situation did not check out.
I returned to my assigned living quarters without any further
dialogue with Pano. Upon my return I opened a dialogue with my cell-mate
XXX YYY ZZZZ in relation to his actions having an effect upon my
program, bringing about unnecessary altercation with the Babylon, and
what could be done to rectify the situation.
I informed XXX YYY ZZZZ that the Babylonian officer had acted in a
manner that would cause the two of us to be placed in a cross. It was
intended for me to act rash in response to the level of disrespect
suffered at the hands of both “Ant” and the Babylons, but as a righteous
member of the Black Riders Liberation Party and leader of the United
Struggle from Within Chapel Group Ra’star Far I, Prison Ministries I
would not be puppeted by the pigs.
I informed “Ant” that there were two options. 1) The two of us could
file a complaint and get paid from the Babylons’ willingness to break
the law, or 2) we could fight, like the pigs wanted, for the disrespect
suffered to my character and make our people look like fools. I
explained to him how I aspired to be a member of the African People’s
Socialist Party and could not in good conscience support the second
option and preferred the first alternative. He too agreed and settled
for the first option.
I immediately got to work drawing up the statement of facts for the
entire incident. Once I had concluded my works I took my outcome to the
young ndugu “Ant” to read over. To my surprise he lit up and seemed on
fire to bring justice to the situation. We agreed that the facts I
outlined were best and should be moved forward on.
But on the following day, 8 May 2017, things took a turn for the
worst. I reported from my work assignment as a Main Kitchen Baker,
making about $0.15 an hour :( Upon arrival to the living quarters I
discovered that my cell-mate had rolled up, voluntarily removed himself
from the yard and was in the process of being transferred to a more
safe/comfortable living environment.
This young African stole close to $400 worth of property from me and
the Babylons helped him pack it up and travel to the program office. The
pigs actually inventoried my belongings as being inside of his property
and tried to tell me that it was nothing they could do about it when I
brought it to their attention. This alone confirmed to me that the
Babylon had planted this lost ndugu amongst my ranks to distract my
mission and disorder my campaign to unite the prisoner masses.
This ndugu was allowed to roll up with a variety of valuables, but
what was of a tell-tale sign that the individual was a plant is that he:
1) Took the complaint that I had put together, 2) He stole letters from
the latest supporters of my United Front for Peace in Prisons project
“FREE KING DAVID” as a means to interfere with communications, and 3) He
stole the goods of commerce to support the economical needs of an
initiative to finance the subscriptions to: “The Burning Spear,” “The 5%
Power Paper,” “The Final Call,” “The Bayview Newspaper,” and “Under Lock
& Key.”
After establishing a partnership with the leader of “Peace Behind
Bars” to develop a system of exchange inside prisons using photos of
women, to remind men what they struggle to be released to, for postage I
convinced this brother to begin printing photos for my project so that I
can begin accumulating postage stamps, and in turn offer them to the
comrades employed by the above publications in order to have the
publications mailed in to the yard with hopes of raising the awareness
level. I had a total of 50 wonderful photos prices at the least 8
postage stamps alone. Taking care of the bill of one subscription, dues
to he who made it possible and postage for a new 50 photos to be mailed.
But all was delayed by Babylon.
I have submitted the report as a complaint of C.O.s soliciting
murder from me as of 22 May 2017. So I trust Babylon will bring its
fire. All of this comes right after the announcement published in
“Turning The Tide” of my works to move along the United Front for Peace
in Prison and a complaint filed at the previous prison against “UNSAFE
WORKING CONDITIONS” in support of the 2016 nationwide prison work
stoppage. [See, CSATF Appeal-STAFF COMPLAINT-D-17-02787- ]
I write this statement to describe to brothers & sisters behind the
wire inside Babylon of what staying strong under pressure looks like.
When you sign up to join forces with groups like the Ida B. Wells
Coalition Against Police Brutality, Anti-Racist Action/People Against
Racist Terror, Black Riders Liberation Party, Uhuru Movement and the
United Struggle from Within, Babylon is going to bring its death game.
We must remain strong under fire and lean even greater on the teachings
of the groups mentioned above, and those not, placing the people’s
principles into practice.
No matter who you are, radiate the teachings and uphold good conduct.
Feed other prisoners who wander the path of the freedom fighters and
trust in the teachings, not the student. The Babylon will scratch and
claw at what it fears threatens its existence as a system of power
oppressing the people. All of the above mentioned groups are feared
because they bring light to the minds of prisoners, who are essentially
the most capable mass of people in the United $tates to free themselves
from the strongholds of imperialism.
Educate yourself on the methods of government interference with United
Front culture campaigns, that you will be prepared. Both state and
federal government agencies will go out of their way (the District of
Columbia) in order to intimidate the members. In the newsletter
publication of Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons, ULK
No.56, there is a story published titled,
“No
TX pack tactics have worked,” by a Texas prisoner. This story really
touched me because I know the struggle. It feels like it’s all a waste
of time, but it’s not! I’ve learned that we won’t see the works of our
labor filing charges against the Department, but it will be NOTICE.
At the moment the Campaign Demanding that our Grievances be addressed is
in a phase where supporters of the campaign in states across the U.$.
are familiarizing themselves with the art of serving NOTICE to the
office that corruption is taking place. Once prisoners master the art of
serving NOTICE, then they will learn to FILE CHARGES against the office
with the right people/agency, forcing the Department to make a public
statement officially ANSWERING to our charge :)
The comrades being released will then begin holding court with the
agents/representatives in the streets. Until then, just keep documenting
the corruption until you have a book to release. And you will see the
movement that has been here all along. Keep it sharp, keep it tight.
In struggle, David S. Cauthen, Jr.
MIM(Prisons) adds: Since receiving this report, the comrade has
asked for supporters to call CSATF on eir behalf at (559) 992-7100. Ey
is going to initiate a civil complaint. The appeals coordinators are not
even processing the appeals, they’re just rubber stamping them. Callers
should inquire:
Why wasn’t a report filed? A crime occurred.
Why was a complaint against a C.O. processed as a first level appeal
when it was accepted on its charges of “An Officer Soliciting Murder”?
Why was appeal log #SATF-D-17-03418 against SATF Appeals Coordinators
for failure to process appeals canceled by a Lt. N. SCAIFE – an officer
who wrote themselves into the coordinators office?
As this example paints quite clearly, the campaign to have grievances
heard in California prisons, which began over 7 years ago, is a campaign
to get the CDCR to put a stop to life-threatening behavior by their
staff. The lives of the oppressed nation lumpen are given little regard
in this injustice system. Those in power manipulating their wards to
fight and kill each other has long been a practice in California prisons
to control those who the state sees as a threat. The notorious
“gladiator fights” staged by staff in the Corcoran Security Housing Unit
is just one blatant example of this. So while the right to have
grievances heard may seem like a nicety of civil society, it is more
than that. It is about the oppressed having recourse when their lives
are threatened by their captors.
Our comrade has already been retaliated against with a transfer for
filing a complaint on the above incident, filed by a grievance when the
Appeals Coordinator refused to NOTICE the complaint. We expose this case
to rally support on the inside and the outside for the campaign for a
meaningful grievance process in California prisons, and in all the
states across the country waging this same battle.
by an Illinois prisoner July 2017 permalink
Click to download PDF of Illinois petition
Mail the petition to your loved ones and comrades inside who are
experiencing issues with the grievance procedure. Send them extra copies
to share! For more info on this campaign, click
here.
Prisoners should send a copy of the signed petition to each of the
addresses below. Supporters should send letters on behalf of prisoners.
John Baldwin, Acting Director, 1301 Concordia Court, PO Box 19277,
Springfield, IL 62794-9277
US Dept of Justice, Civil Rights Div, 950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, PHB,
Washington, DC 20530
And send MIM(Prisons) copies of any responses you receive!
MIM(Prisons), USW PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140
translated by Soso of MIM(Prisons) June 2017 permalink en español
Amerikan prison guard-turned-soldier handling the dead body of a
persyn deemed a political enemy
On June 13, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) released an
Amerikan student, Otto Warmbier, who was imprisoned there for 15 months.
The student came home in a coma and died a few days later. According to
Korean officials, Warmbier had been in a coma since shortly after his
arrest due to complications from botulism, a condition that can be
contracted from contaminated food, soil or water. It’s likely that the
imprisonment of Warmbier was just a political move by the DPRK
government. He was convicted of stealing a propaganda poster.
What is unusual about Warmbier is that he was a young, well-off white
guy, enjoying the privilege of his Amerikan citizenship and wealth by
going on a fun adventure to visit north Korea. Amerika mostly targets
lumpen from oppressed nations and non-citizens for imprisonment, as well
as people who take up the fight against imperialism. So in this country
Warmbier would be very unlikely to end up in prison.
In a parallel to this case in Korea,
Amerikan
prisons hold many non-citizens(9), especially from Mexico and
Central America, locked up for small or bogus charges. If not for
conditions caused by imperialism, these people want to go home to their
country and families. Some don’t speak English and so can’t even fight
for their rights. Some were railroaded into pleading guilty without
really understanding the trial. And some of these prisoners will end up
seriously ill or even
die
due to conditions in Amerikan prisons.(10)
We don’t hold out hope that the white nationalists will offer a
criticism of the “brutality of the Amerikan regime” for all these crimes
against prisoners held behind bars in this country. It should be an
embarrassment to Amerikans that the United $tates locks up people at a
rate higher than any other country in the world. But this system of
social control is swept under the rug, while appologists for imperialism
hypocritically criticize the DPRK (and other countries) for their
treatment of one Amerikan prisoner.
MIM(Prisons) struggles for an end to a system where prisons are places
where people suffer and die premature deaths.
There is no genuine or legal justification for still using strip
searches in prisons today, except to breed homosexuality and cause
aggressive sexual assaults, using it as a punishment to humiliate
someone. I can prove without a doubt that times have changed/evolved and
this strip naked prison rule is outdated. Modernized technology has
invented what is called x-ray machines, which are used to search/see the
body without forcing nude search. Prisoncrats provided prisons with
sufficient funds to purchase and provide such x-ray machines. Prison
staff, in their sadistic practices and policies to punish captives,
refuse to use the x-ray machines for body searches.
Metal detectors are stationed throughout the prison, checkpoints forcing
captives to walk through them, in their policy to confiscate any and all
illegal metal objects. Captives are never asked if they are allergic to
the radiation of the metal detectors or x-ray machines, which explains
the prison staff’s complete disregard for the physical or psychological
effects on the captives.
We captives of the Pennsylvania state prisons ask for legal advice in
our desires to sue the Department of Corrections for forcing the strip
search policies. We live during advanced technologies and modernized
minds, which dictates, strip searches are outdated, violates religious
rights, breeds sexual predators, and are methods used to harass,
humiliate and harm captives. Not to mention strip searchings are methods
used identical to the times of slavery.
If for no other humane reasons, prison strip searches needs to be
abolished, eliminated, minimized, because state prisons have been
provided with the necessary machinery and manpower to secure prison
grounds and facilities. The time is here. We the state captives in
Pennsylvania prisons ask any and all judicial scholars and students of
civil law, for legal advice, and to petition the courts to abolish all
prison strip search policies.
There is the questions raised about prison security being vulnerable,
and breached, if the strip search policy is eliminated. Such positions,
beliefs or arguments are simply said to continue this long practice of
psychological slavery in prisons. When in fact, x-ray machines detect
any metal or foreign objects and contraband. Therefore, since state
prisons have x-ray machines and metal detectors on facility grounds, it
shows any need to search a subject can be done without the need of such
said subjects being forced to disrobe, strip naked. Which means, if the
metal detectors and x-ray machines they have are not successful to
secure the prison facilities, then their machines are obsolete and
obtained falsely.
However, if such machines and technologies are vital and essential to
the security orders of running the prisons, then strip searchings are
deemed obsolete and performed falsely. It is our contention, challenge,
calling, that because x-ray and metal detector machines are used, that
shows strip searches are no longer needed or necessary. Which proves
strip searching are being used simply as a form of the prison’s
psychological punishments.
The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections state prisons has implemented
a new policy against sexual assaults/harassments, called the Prison Rape
Elimination Act (PREA). This PREA policy exposes its own ineffectiveness
and prejudicial punishment, under the disguise of prosecuting sexual
harassment and/or predators. To prove that this new PREA policy has been
designed to minimize and eliminate sexual assaults in all of its
manifestations on prison grounds, strip searching would also be
minimized or eliminated as a means to sexual assaults and sexual
harassments on state prison grounds.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer makes an important point:
guards use strip searches as a form of gendered power that humiliates
and degrades prisoners. But we don’t agree that this abuse of power
causes guards (or prisoners) to become homosexual. And even if that was
possible, it’s patriarchal society that teaches people to use gender for
power and abuse which is the problem. There is no evidence that any
sexual orientation is more predatory than any other. We need to focus on
the real enemy here: the patriarchy which trains people to enjoy the
abuse of gender power.
Prisoners are in a unique position in that they face gender oppression
as a part of their imprisonment. This is true of both male and female
prisoners. Strip searches are a good example of this gender oppression.
This writer raises a good point about the abuse of power, and
specifically gender power, that happens every time there is a strip
search. This degrading practice is not for security, as this writer
clearly demonstrates.
Identifying this form of oppression and calling it out for people to see
is the first step in fighting back. The idea of using PREA to fight
strip searches is an interesting approach. We’d like to hear from others
who are fighting strip searches about what tactics are and are not
working. Ultimately gender oppression in prisons isn’t going away while
we have a criminal injustice system serving imperialism. The patriarchy
is an integral part of this system. But we can sometimes win smaller
battles against these forms of humiliation and degradation.