MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
Of all the agencies and offices I filed the California grievance
petition with, only the U.S. Department of Justice and the California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation bothered to respond. They
only issued form letters disclaiming any responsibility for further
investigation, and simply redirected me back to the same dysfunctional
process that I had complained of!
MIM(Prisons) responds: It is clear that the U.$. Department of
Injustice and the CDCR won’t back up their words to give administrative
remedy to prisoners with actions when they discover the process isn’t
working. In fact, it’s to their benefit if the grievance system is
broken so that they won’t have to actually deal with the problems that
arise in the prison system. This ensures their control over oppressed
nations peoples.
The prisoner who received these defeating form letters asked for more
copies of the petition in the same letter. S/he recognizes that the
response from the bureaucrats isn’t the be-all-end-all goal of the
grievance petition. We want to show that if we ask nicely for a
solution, we will be given the brush off. We also want to use this
petition to recruit others into doing political work, even if it’s just
sending out the petition to a few administrators. Hopefully this action
will be a simple beginning to a long history of contribution to the
struggle against oppression.
We currently have grievance petitions prepared for California, Arizona,
Oklahoma, Missouri, Colorado, North Carolina, and Texas. If you’re
experiencing obstructions of your grievance procedure but your state
isn’t currently covered by the grievance campaign, consider modifying it
to apply to your state! Write in for more info, or to get petitions.
MIM(Prisons) sent another stack of letters in support of the prisoners
on hunger strike across California to the so-called Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation with the cover letter below. There will
also be a demonstration in support of the prisoners’ demand outside of
the CDCR office today:
Monday, July 18th 1-4PM Demonstration outside CDCR Headquarters.
1515 S. St. in Sacramento, CA
Warden Greg Lewis Pelican Bay State Prison P.O. Box
7000 Crescent City, CA 95531-7000
18 July 2011
Dear Warden Lewis,
Two weeks ago we sent dozens of letters from residents of California who
are concerned for the welfare of the prisoners in Pelican Bay State
Prison. As the conditions outlined by the prisoners have still not been
addressed by the CDCR we are sending additional letters of support (see
enclosed). We are all aware that the conditions of many prisoners are
becoming critical and we urge you to take immediate action to remedy the
conditions. The conditions addressed by the prisoners demands are in no
way conducive to rehabilitation and no one should have to die for these
basic requests.
We have also forwarded copies of these letters to CDCR Internal Affairs
and CDCR Office of the Ombudsman.
Sincerely, MIM Distributors P.O. Box 40799 San Francisco, CA
94140
Three weeks into the California Food Strike the CDCR has given it’s
official response, which can be summed up as “We’ll look into it.” On
July 15, the CDCR made a proposal to the strikers at Pelican Bay to end
the strike without promising any changes. The prisoners declined the
offer and continued to fast, calling it “smoke and mirrors” and
“insulting.”(1) These guys are willing to die for basic rights they’ve
been denied for years, decades for many, and CDCR comes to the table
with nothing.
Our inquiries received similar canned responses from the Warden about
“operating in full accordance to [all] law… while providing for the
ethical, humane treatment of all prisoners.” Even more outrageously, he
claims they provide “the ability to safely program and actively
participate in their rehabilitation.” The strike is on because there are
no programs or rehabilitation!
Those in close contact with the striking prisoners report that some in
Pelican Bay who had stopped fasting have returned to the strike in
response to the CDCR’s negligence.(1) We’ve also received word from 4
comrades in the California Institution for Men in Chino that they have
just begun a hunger strike in solidarity after getting news from
MIM(Prisons).
Other recently received reports include that United Struggle from Within
organized comrades in Kern Valley State Prison for a 24 hour food strike
in solidarity. In High Desert State Prison, where the pigs were serving
double the normal amount of food to prevent a hunger strike, a number of
comrades didn’t eat from July 1 thru 3rd. Whole sections of California
State Prison - Corcoran are still on strike and doctors are coming in
regularly to weigh the prisoners.
“Solitary confinement is not something that the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitations engages in,” according to CDCR
Spokesperson Terry Thorton.(1) According to our
surveys,
California has around 14,444 people in Control Units, defined as
“permanently designated prisons or cells in prisons that lock prisoners
up in solitary or small group confinement for 22 or more hours a day
with no congregate dining, exercise or other services, and virtually no
programs for prisoners.” This is more people than any other state.
Thorton claims that prisoners in Pelican Bay State Prison’s Security
Housing Unit (SHU) have access to cable TV, books, yard time, the law
library, weekly visits with family, and correspondence courses.
Yes, it is true that prisoners can occasionally receive books through
the mail, as long as they aren’t by or about Blacks or Mexicans. If
you’re not in SHU yet, such books might be used to validate you as a
gang member and throw you in SHU on an indeterminate sentence. Otherwise
they are often just censored as “gang material.”
Correspondence courses are occasionally allowed, too. But we’ve
confirmed 35 incidents of study materials from a MIM(Prisons)
correspondence course being censored in California, 15 of which were at
Pelican Bay. We’ve also been told that a radio show that broadcasts to
Pelican Bay was shut down there after broadcasting a correspondence
course on a show popular among prisoners.
Interaction with family, inmates and staff is greatly exaggerated by
Thorton. We’ve known comrades whose only physical contact with another
humyn being for many years has been guards putting cuffs on their
wrists. And while Thorton makes family visits out to be a regular thing,
the distance to Crescent City, California for most families is the first
barrier that makes visits rare at best. One family member who spoke with
MIM(Prisons) at a table while we did outreach in support of the strike
described how they went to visit their brother at Pelican Bay once and
had to talk through a TV screen. They have not gone back since. Others
who visit Pelican Bay talk about how their freedom of association is
limited just as the prisoners’ is. If they are seen speaking to the
wrong persyn (another visitor) while going on visit they can be
restricted or banned from coming back.
Thorton described “the two ways” one can get into SHU in California,
painting prisoners as either violent attackers or mob bosses running
organized crime. Yet, as those who were there when Pelican Bay was being
conceived can
attest, it
was built in response to those who dared to organize and stand up for
their rights as the thousands of prisoners who went on food strike
across California have done. As prisoners continue to organize and move
in a positive and united direction, it will become harder and harder for
the state to paint the organizations of the oppressed as enemies that
deserve any torture or punishment they receive.
The CDCR is trying to blame the organizing of the statewide food strike
in California prisons on gangs. Meanwhile, the liberal line being put
forth in the bourgeois media is that activists dismiss such accusations.
Somehow prisoners across California, and even those transferred out of
state, participated in solidarity with the food strike on July 1. We
know that MIM(Prisons) was one of many organizations with newsletters
that contributed to spreading the word, but none of us initiated or did
the groundwork to ensure the effectiveness of this campaign. CDCR
Spokesperson Terry Thorton tried to explain this as an indication of
“the reach and the influence that prison gangs have on other inmates.”
She went on to say, “It’s one of the reasons we have a Security Housing
Unit, to remove gang members influence on other general population
inmates.”(1)
The media is juxtaposing the pigs’ assertions about gang leadership to
the denials of activists to paint strike supporters as idealistic
know-nothings. The prison bureaucrats make careers out of being experts
on gangs and criminology, and they rely on the public to trust in their
expertise to keep them “safe.”
In reality, this pseudo-debate being played out in the media is painting
an idealistic view of prison society that ignores history. The pigs know
that groups allied to the Black Panthers and other national liberation
movements used to lead the prison masses. They know because they broke
that up, partly by using long-term isolation, and they encouraged
oppressed nation groups with more criminal tendencies to develop with
bribery and by turning a blind eye. Now they condemn the monsters they
created to justify more repression.
The line MIM(Prisons) has been pushing since before the hunger strike
began is in defense of the First Amendment right to association. While
countless people have been placed into gangs they’ve never even heard of
by state officials in California, there are many in the SHU who are not
trying to fool anyone into thinking that they aren’t members of a lumpen
organization considered an enemy of the CDCR. This is evident in the
statements of the strike leaders which talk about uniting all “races,”
including “northern” and “southern” Mexicans. Aztlán is one oppressed
nation that the pigs have helped draw a line through by promoting
criminal organizations that must compete. It is only the fascist
conditions within California prisons that prevents prisoners from even
being able to speak of their organizational ties.
When we say there are comrades in Pelican Bay SHU who are respected
leaders of lumpen organizations, there is no criticism implied there.
Some of those comrades have worked tirelessly to orchestrate a Peace
Accord between the major divisions within the California prison
population, among many other positive projects for their people,
including the current campaign. The lie that is promoted by the “tough
on crime” bourgeois media is that to be a member of a lumpen
organization you must be an evil persyn. Just like they did for Tookie,
there is no redemption for the lumpen under imperialism, even when they
do more than anyone around them to change the world for the better.
Central to the demands of the striking prisoners is that the state
cannot claim to abide by its own rules while it punishes people using
secret evidence and petty charges like who they talk to or get mail
from, what books they read or tattoos they have. The bureaucrats hide
behind the presumed neutrality of the bourgeois courts to defend the
torture they put these prisoners through.
The striking comrades are some of the individual oppressed nationals
that the imperialists find the most threatening within their own
borders. That is why they are being tortured in long-term isolation.
Yet, by all indications, the state is going to let these brothers die
rather than grant them Constitutional rights to association.
The oppressed nations are free to organize in this country, as long as
it’s on the Amerikans’ terms. If not, then even talking about such
organizations will get prisoners thrown in long-term isolation and will
get supporters on the streets censored.
[Editor’s note: We want to remind our readers that USW is open to
anti-imperialist prisoners of all nationalities, just as the strike is
being led by prisoners of all nationalities. MIM(Prisons) agrees with
the line put forth here, because it is by building movements for
national liberation from imperialism that we can best conquer the
oppressive system we currently live in. And any genuine national
liberation movement supports the liberation of all people. We want to be
clear about this because there have been reports of the CDCR attempting
to fuel divisions among the prisoners on strike along long-standing
organizational and national divisions as they always do.]
A people’s salute goes out to all who find themselves under lock and key
in Amerika! I wanted to write and send a brief update on the conditions
here in Pelican Bay coming from one of the participants of the hunger
strike (HS) that began two weeks ago, on July 1 of 2011. I figured the
historic precedent that the HS has accomplished thus far is worth noting
as the cause of the non-violent protest is one in which many people find
themselves in across Amerika. The material conditions that have forced
prisoners to deny themselves nutrients and sustenance are not
exclusively bound to Pelican Bay, California. Whenever imperialist
lackeys run a country they will also be expected to round up the most
rebellious and potentially revolutionary populations and bury these
people alive as these are the ones who pose the highest threat to the
ruling class.
The fact that the protest is in regard to torture chambers known as the
Security Housing Unit (SHU) in California, a state that has more prisons
than any other state in a country that has more prisoners than any other
country, should be examined more closely for what it means to oppressed
nation prisoners in general but to people of Aztlán in particular. The
fact that the state of California, which is geographically in Aztlán,
has initiated what amounts to a war on the people of Aztlán by setting
up more koncentration kamps (prisons) in Aztlán than anywhere else in
Amerika, along with incarcerating more Latinos in California than any
other oppressed nations, and the fact that Latinos are now the largest
population of captives held in Federal prisons, and the fact that most
of the prisoners held in California SHUs are Latinos, all show that
oppressed nation are under attack via the injustice system, and that
prisoners from the Aztlán Nation are particularly targeted in Aztlán.
California is also the state with the largest Latino population in
Amerika.(1) Thus the scope of what is taking place should be seen for
what it is - the assault on Aztlán is real and should be met as such.
What is occurring here at Pelican Bay is an attempt to break the will
and desire to resist state repression plain and simple. The SHU was
opened in 1989 and this facility was designed to isolate and deprive
people of the most basic “human rights.” Things like human contact, a
cell mate, the ability to eat salt in one’s food, the ability to
correspond with friends and family via the mail, the ability to have
natural sunlight or even to be able to read political literature have
all been stripped from prisoners in the SHU. Brutality here has been
documented for decades. Beatings and physical torture have even been
brought to the courts to no avail. Recently the U.$. Supreme Court has
ruled that California prisons constitute “cruel and unusual punishment.”
They are telling the state of California to clean up its act.
Medical services are even used as barter. One prisoner was told if he
wanted medical treatment then he should “debrief” (snitch on another
prisoner). This is the depraved culture that has thrived here in SHU.
This is a world where prisoners who are most often poor Brown and Black
people are subject to a whole plethora of experimental depravity which
in some cases would probably have Mengele raise an eyebrow.
It is well known that solitary confinement causes very real
psychological damage even if used for a few weeks, yet here in SHU
prisoners have endured solitary for years and even decades in some
cases. Human rights groups have condemned solitary confinement, yet the
SHU continues this brutal practice. Once here in SHU the only way back
to general population is to snitch on others (even if it is false
accusations), die, or parole. Keep in mind the vast majority sent to SHU
have not committed any crime or physical acts but are labeled a “gang
member or associate” and thus locked in this control unit for one’s
supposed gang affiliation, i.e. one’s beliefs. They are locking one in a
solitary confinement cell, sometimes for life, for what amounts to
thought crimes!
Placement in the “hole” or SHU is frequently due to political
affiliation of prisoners who are members or may associate with
revolutionary groups or lumpen organizations that the state labels as
“gangs.” In their play on words, any attempt at oppressed nations to
organize in a way that is not state sanctioned, is a gang. Similarly,
they call uprisings “riots” in a derogatory way, to hide the real causes
behind them. But many times people aren’t even members of any
organization and are falsely accused by others who are trying to get
themselves out of SHU. In either case, prisoners held in SHU conditions
overwhelmingly qualify as political prisoners.
The world would gasp should they find out the thought police are
goosestepping in lock step here in Pelican Bay, jack boots and all. The
Gestapo in Nazi Germany rounded up communists and others and placed them
in kamps and jails under “preventative custody.” And now the
imperialists’ first line of defense keeps oppressed nations in neo-kamps
(SHUs) under “validation custody.” This is what the lumpen face in the
United $tates; this is our apple pie in the home of the incarcerated,
land of the oppressed.
Yet, prisoners have always defied the lash, because as
Mao
said, where you find much repression you’ll find much resistance.
This is the dialectical materialism that manifests itself and blossoms,
even within cinderblock gardens, in the form of our united resistance.
The first of the five demands issued for the hunger strike here at
Pelican Bay is to end group punishment. This happens frequently where
one prisoner breaks a rule and that whole group or ethnicity will be
locked down or penalized in some way. We are talking about one person
doing something against prison rules and two or three hundred people are
then locked down for months over it. This is common practice and is
meant to pit prisoners against prisoners.
The second demand is to abolish debriefing and modify active/inactive
gang status criteria. Debriefing is used to force people held in SHU to
give up names and activities of others in order to leave SHU - even if
the information provided is false. The accused cannot even present a
good defense as the informants are not identified and often times the
accusations themselves are considered “confidential.” Active/inactive
status is when after six years if one has no new activity one may be
given “inactive” gang status and released to the general population. But
this is rare since anything qualifies as “activity.” For example,
participating in this hunger strike will be considered new gang
activity.
The third demand is that the CDCR complies with recommendations from a
2006 U.S. Commission which called for an end to isolation. The fourth
demand is to provide adequate food. The food here would make a racoon’s
stomach turn. Often we don’t know what it is we are eating and we get no
salt, so all food is bland. For punishment often times we get boiled
beans with no salt, and this has gone on for years. The fifth demand is
to expand and provide constructive programs and privileges for
indefinite SHU prisoners. This means those of us who must stay in SHU
will be able to have educational courses, art supplies, and the ability
to make a phone call, which some have not done for 30 or more years.
These points are basic things that should be given, especially to people
who have not broken any rules to be placed in SHU in the first place!
What is happening here in Pelican Bay SHU amounts to crimes against
humanity. To have people in solitary confinement in some cases for
decades is incredible, and it’s incredible that this has gone on so long
and that for the most part the public has been silent over this. Well,
today the light is shining on these torture chambers and Pelican Bay
prisoners will no longer be silent while taking the lash.
I am one of the participants involved in the peaceful protest at Pelican
Bay, basically and simply just to challenge our predicament. We’ve
exhausted all other resources but no one within the system listens to
our cries for human decency and respect. We are expected to abide by the
designed laws of the state, but when we elect to exercise so-called
given rights, we are condemned for such action.
A peaceful protest presents us the opportunity to demonstrate our
humanity contrary to the misguided propaganda that’s utilized to degrade
and demean our intelligence. It is definitely a drastic approach and
sometimes when there are no doable options, its necessary to take the
struggle to the next level of development. Dialectical materialism
teaches us about the science of reason and logical development in order
to reach a synthesis to whatever that contradiction is, anything that
isn’t growing is definitely stagnant!
The hunger strike is reaching critical stage for those who have pledged
to strike indefinitely, especially the elder and ill. The CDCR still
refuses to negotiate and the leaders of the oppressed locked in Pelican
Bay continue to exert their leadership. Here is the latest report being
circulated by a point persyn on the outside:
Tuesday 8:30 AM: According to a SHU nurse, things are bad at Pelican
Bay. The prisoners have not been drinking water and there have been
rapid and severe consequences. Nurses are crying. All of the medical
staff has been ordered to work overtime to follow and treat the hunger
strikers. As of Monday, there were about 50 on C-SHU and 150 on D-SHU.
They are not drinking water and have decompensated rapidly. Some are in
renal failure and have been unable to make urine for 3 days. Some are
having measured blood sugars in the 30 range, which can be fatal if not
treated. They have refused concentrated sugar packs and ensure. The
staff has taken them to the CTC and given them intravenous glucose when
allowed by the prisoners, but some won’t accept this medical support. As
of Monday, no one has been force fed with a nasogastric tube. A few have
tried to sip water but are so sick that they are vomiting it back up.
Some of the medical staff is freaked out because clearly some of these
guys seem determined to die. Not taking the water is crushing the staff
because the prisoners are progressing rapidly to the organ damaging
consequences of dehydration.(1)
CDCR is reporting 800 prisoners continue to refuse food at 6 prisons.(2)
However there are multiple reports of groups of prisoners joining the
strike this week and even planning to join later in the month.
The campaign initiated July 1st by prisoners in Pelican Bay State Prison
(PBSP) against the torturous conditions of long-term isolation has
received broad support going on for weeks now. The California Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation [sic] (CDCR) has admitted that 6600
prisoners refused food trays last weekend across 13 of their 33
prisons.(1) Meanwhile, numerous organizations have organized
demonstrations and mobilized support across the United $tates and Kanada
leading up to and following the start of the hunger strike. Over five
thousand people have signed an online petition pledging their support.
Volunteers with MIM(Prisons) have interacted with thousands of people on
the streets inside and outside of California with info on the hunger
strike, gathering dozens of
signed
letters and a handful of donations.
According to CDCR 1,600 prisoners remain on food strike one week after
the start.(2) The media is reporting a sharp drop in the number of
prisoners refusing food in a tone that implies the strike is losing
steam. But this is hardly the case. Many prisoners we’ve heard from
outside of Pelican Bay only pledged to strike one or two days in
solidarity. One reason for this is because it is hard for them to know
when the strike ends or what is happening despite the efforts of outside
supporters to send updates. Even in Pelican Bay many of those protesting
specified the number of days they would fast beforehand. Only a minority
of participants have pledged an indefinite strike until the demands are
met. The rest of us work in solidarity with them until the end.
Despite all the noise being made, word from those organizing to mediate
negotiations is that the CDCR is refusing to negotiate with strikers or
mediators.(3) We know the CDCR has been talking to hunger strike
organizers, but it seems that no resolution is in the works as of July
8.
We’ve seen the ripples of this campaign in our own work as we connect
with many new people in California and reconnect with people who we have
been
cut
off from by the state. We’ve also seen record traffic on our website
with the hunger strike campaign page and the article featuring the
prisoners’ demands bringing in a lot of hits. This increase in
readership is a direct result of the organizing of prisoners in
California. However we must admit that a good chunk of the traffic is
coming from state officials trying to gather intelligence from our
reporting.
Donations we’ve collected so far are less than a tenth of the printing
and postage expenses for outreach, mailing protest letters and sending
communications to prisoners in California. As always, we can use
donations of money and labor to keep up with this important work.
Building Support
The hunger strike comes almost a year and a half after a
formal
complaint was filed with the governor of California regarding the
torture and violation of Constitutional rights that prisoners face in
Pelican Bay. After being ignored by official channels, they turned to
outside supporters who came together and organized a press campaign and
negotiation support. There was enough lead time that MIM(Prisons) was
able to send campaign info to all of our California subscribers prior to
the strike. We also hit the streets to gather signed letters of support
and explain to people the importance of this struggle leading up to the
strike.
A rally in San Francisco in June against the drug war featured the
Pelican Bay prisoners’ demands prominently. A comrade representing
MIM(Prisons) spoke on the upcoming hunger strike, stressing that Pelican
Bay was developed as a tool to repress political organizing in the
California prison system and that those being targeted with indefinite
SHU terms are largely leaders and influential people among the
imprisoned oppressed nations. A former California prisoner also spoke
about the torturous conditions in Pelican Bay, urging people to support
the hunger strike.
During the march, supporters of the “Revolutionary Communist Party -
USA” (rcp=u$a) were chanting, “Once we have the revolution, there’ll be
no mass incarceration!” Which revolution are they talking about? Even on
a simple issue like opposing torture in prisons, rcp=u$a’s
idealist/chauvinist colors showed through. As we point out in every
issue of Under Lock & Key, all Amerikans should be viewed
as criminals who need to reform under the dictatorship of the
proletariat. When the revolution finally hits U.$. soil there will
likely be an increase in incarceration of U.$. citizens, as the majority
of the world experiences freedom they have not seen for centuries. The
difference is that proletarian prisons focus on reform and reintegration
into society not torture and isolation as the imperialist system does.
The Campaign Continues
Once the strike began, MIM(Prisons) stepped up efforts to reach the
public about the sacrifices and struggles of our comrades in prison.
While comrades were able to reach visitors coming to CDCR prisons with
fliers and letters of support, repression was reported from a few public
spaces inside and outside California. In one case police forced comrades
to leave for accepting donations without registering with the state, in
others merely handing out fliers on public property got shut down. One
police officer claimed that activists could not set up a table on a
public sidewalk to solicit support for the strike, contradicting
California laws and illegally shutting down our free speech. There are
contradictions in a country that locks 100,000 of its citizens in
isolation cells and prevents people from distributing leaflets in public
space to support their struggle against torture. Their repression only
strengthens resistance, and this campaign is a prime example of that. It
is ludicrous to consider the label “free country” for a country that
does not even provide equal access to political dialogue to all people.
In addition to talking to people on the street, comrades made efforts to
reach people through independent media and art. MIM(Prisons) hosted a
video clip on
its website from the documentary
Unlock the Box
explaining the history of control units and how they were developed to
repress those whose politics were in opposition to the state. Comrades
also did outreach at hip hop shows and talked to a revolutionary Chicano
group called BRWN BFLO who pledged
active support to spreading the word about the hunger strike. Allies in
the United $tates and Kanada hosted screenings of Unlock the
Box as part of the campaign. Other organizations did interviews and
programs on various radio shows.
Those doing outreach reported many interactions with people who had been
in Pelican Bay State Prison, in some cases multiple people in the span
of a couple hours. All strongly agreed with our criticisms of the
conditions there. However, some people concluded that there was nothing
that could be done, and that oppressed nations will always be treated
this way.
There is a common attitude among current prisoners as well that
struggling is useless. The SHU was invented to reinforce that idea. The
best way to change those people’s minds is by showing them the
possibilities. We do that by fighting smartly, as these comrades in
Pelican Bay have done resulting in people all over the world knowing
about their fight. Serious, diligent organizing work is needed in our
struggles for liberation, and basic rights such as the right of
association, communication with the outside world and access to
educational materials and programs. There are no quick fixes.
I am doing an indeterminate SHU program for being validated in the last
place I was at. And the reason they validated me is because I was doing
a lot of Aztec art as well as Aztec tats, which they didn’t agree with
because they considered it to be associated with the “big boys.” So they
locked me down. But what they fail to realize is it’s all part of our
culture. Yet to them it’s based on association, so they see a direct
link to prison politics. So here I sit on the shelf locked down in this
crazy and very sad place where it’s all about no movement whatsoever.