The Voice of the Anti-Imperialist Movement from

Under Lock & Key

Got a keyboard? Help type articles, letters and study group discussions from prisoners. help out
[Elections] [National Oppression] [Racism] [California] [ULK Issue 5]
expand

Obama changes nothing, Amerika is still racist

I would like to expand on some very pivotal issues, starting with Senator Barrack Obama. I am 100% not fooled by Obama’s tactics. I’ve come to see that Mr. Barrack Obama has been trying to capitalize on his skin color and his short time in the projects to trick the oppressed people of this nation into believing he is one of us. The thing that me and Senator Obama have in common is our skin color. Barrack Obama is part of the bourgeois political line. He’s not for the people, he’s only for using the oppressed people for his own political gain.

It gets me angry when I hear people say Amerika is no longer a racist country. They are quick to use Barrack Obama to justify that statement, saying they are not racist because an African Amerikan is running for the White House. This is what I want to know: if it’s true that Amerika is no longer racist, why is it that if Barrack Obama starts talking about the empowerment of oppressed people in this country, he wouldn’t stand a chance of becoming President? This country has not changed, it only found better ways to operate its white power structure.

The new Ku Klux Klan are the Boys in Blue (police) and they are fully protected by the Korrupt Government. If you ask me, I think that half of the Amerikan police departments should be sitting in prison, on death row for the murders that they commit every day in the ghettos and barrios. Brothers and sisters, have you ever asked yourself, why do the police get away with just a slap on the wrist after committing a brutal murder? They claim to care for the children, but yet they take the parents away from them, by using lethal force, and false imprisonment tactics.

Back in 2007 the California corrections system changed its name from California Department of Corrections to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. This is a big gimmick. They did that in the attempt to fool the public into believing that the prisons are trying to help prisoners get ready for parole. But that’s nothing but a big front. Nothing has changed, they are still operating on old tactics. They want us to stay blind so they can continue to control the minds of the prison population.

This country is built on lies, corruptness, imperialism, racism, capitalism, etc. I am a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, and I will not subside my resistance to this Abu-Grahibization (torture).

chain
[Gender] [California] [ULK Issue 6]
expand

Female guards watching male prisoners shower

I wanted to bring to your attention that the psycho-sexual warfare in California include the fact that I am in a Security Housing Unit and I am required to exit the cell to go to the shower with nothing on but a pair of boxers. I also have a problem with female staff working in the unit during showers because I am not an exhibitionist and I believe it is improper for female staff to view naked male prisoners just as it is not proper for male staff to view female prisoners' showers.

California Code of Regulations Title 15, Division 3, Chapter 1 Article 2 "Security" Section 3287 "cell, property and body inspections" sub (b)(4) explicitly prohibit male correctional employees from non-emergency body searches of female prisoners. I resent and take offense to female staff looking at my nakedness, whether they derive some psycho-sexual pleasure or not it's simply not right, and another example of the double standards of the CDCR. When staff come for showers I have to ask if female staff are working in the building and if so I simply decline the shower and most of the regular male guards know this.

chain
[Abuse] [Mule Creek State Prison] [California]
expand

Assault for refusing to double cell

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.

chain
[Prison Labor] [California] [ULK Issue 6]
expand

Prison workers paid overtime for 2 hours labor

The program at this prison is getting worse and changing daily. The new excuse is the budget. We are only getting program every other day because they can't afford to pay staff overtime. What a joke! On the days we are locked down it's common to see 10 cops sitting on their fat, overpaid asses, on the yard and eating sunflower seeds.

I overheard a nurse saying that she was working a double shift. She said she was making $48.50 an hour. Her job consists of dispensing medication to prisoners. What the hell, this lady is making $582 for her 16 hour day, she passes out pills two times a day, it takes about one hour to dispense pills so she is actually doing 2 hours of work and the rest of her day she sits and complains that our economy is messed up. Damn! She is why our economy is what it is.

They are still shipping people to different states. A bus load left a few days ago for Arizona. They will not transfer anyone who has any medical or dental issues or if you are CCCMS. By a prisoner agreeing to transfer they are helping this state. It's crazy that California not only has the biggest prison system but now we are taking over the prisons in other states. When will it stop.

They changed the name to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. They offer no form of rehabilitation on this yard. Do you know if I could file a lawsuit for false advertisement?

chain
[Prison Labor] [California]
expand

CDCR taking 55% of money sent to prisoners

My respects to all of you. I just wanted to let you know your letter was a touch down and is being passed around so others can be enlightened on topics that you provide so the struggle can be strengthened by more support on the inside.

As always, the condition in the SHU is poor, but I want to bring up another issue. The CDCR is taking 55% of all money loved ones or friends send. This is strong arm extortion at the highest level. It can also be considered robbery since none of my victims have been given a penny in reimbursement. I'm not alone in this concern. 95% of the prisoners are effected by this extortion. This needs to be addressed to the state legislators so they know the prison is not providing jobs to prisoners to earn money to pay off any restitution owed. It's been said it may go to 60% soon. It is not fair to friends or loved ones to pay any restitution we owe. I am slammed down 24/7 as well as everyone in the SHU, so none of us are able to get jobs.

chain
[Censorship] [California] [ULK Issue 6]
expand

Responses to ULK4 on censorship

I'd like to comment on some of the articles written by prisoners in September's ULK. While I haven't finished reading it just yet, only the prisoner articles, I quite enjoyed the ULK. This edition should've been titled "The Censorship Issue."

It's true that institutions throughout the country focus only on Black and Brown oriented magazines, citing "pornographic material" or "gang paraphernalia." Now this doesn't just have to do with "Vibe" or "XXL" or "Maxim en Espanol." Even "ESPN en Espanol" has begun to be targeted within SVSP. Now last I checked "ESPN en Espanol" focuses on soccer and sports in Latin America in general and last I checked there weren't many scantily clad women in this magazine. So what's the deal? It seems that since many adult institutions so successfully banned pornographic materials, such as pictures and magazines, now they're trying to stop us from appreciating our own women who aren't even naked in these magazines. Now that they see that they can get away with this they seem to move on to sports magazines stating that they can't understand the language therefore there's a possibility that coded messages might be hidden somewhere in the text or some other frivolous, ridiculous reason.

To me this seems like a type of aggressive assimilation. You can't look at brown/black women, but you can look at some fancy white model in Vogue magazine. Also I recall seeing an issue of GQ magazine sometime back with an article about a supposed member of the CRIPS gang in Watts. In this article there were a few pictures which, if found in Vibe or any other culturally oriented magazine, would've deemed the magazine a "safety and security risk" to the institution, but because it was in good 'ol GQ, no one batted an eye. I'm sure they don't even bother to crack those open for inspection in the mail rooms inside institutions across Amerikkka.

Another article that caught my attention in the ULK was the plight of the South Carolina inmate. There seems to be a lot wrong with what's going on over there. To begin with, by law every institutional law library must be properly stocked and equipped with adequate and up to date legal materials. Off hand I can't remember the title of the case but I believe this has already been decided in the U.S. Supreme Court. Next time I go to law library I'll try to find it.

Also concerning the New Mexico inmate whose grievances are not being responded to, it would be a good idea if he acquired declarations from other inmates there who've gone through similar experiences he could use these declarations to show the court how the prison refuses to let prisoners exhaust their remedies. This is what I'm doing for a couple of guys here whose civil suits were dismissed in the district court due to supposedly not exhausting the remedies. They are now appealing in the 9th Circuit and my declarations of how I found 602s and legal mail in the trash will hopefully be helpful.

chain
[Abuse] [California]
expand

Limiting toilet flushing in California

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.

chain
[Censorship] [California]
expand

Censorship at Pelican Bay State Prison

For the past eighteen years a clear pattern of racial discrimination and political persecution has reared its ugly head, its presence is vivid clear and profound, a procedural manifestation within the protocols of official -sanctioned practice here at Pelican Bay. Which simply means the inherent propensity to discriminate against New Afrikan (Black) prisoners, an antiquated evil which is still prevalent in today's society and is magnified ten-fold within the concrete confines of the U.S. penal system and its deplorable code of conduct.

Though we can concede to the observations that socio-demographics contributed and facilitates the proliferation and perpetuation of racial discrimination, being that the majority of U.S. prisons are located in white rural areas where New Afrikan people are only an image on the 5 o'clock news. It is only inevitable that racism flourishes in these areas. Many of the local rural citizens are hired to work in these new prisons, and they don't leave their racist beliefs/attitudes at home. In fact these folks bring/import their racist attitudes with them, and these attitudes manifest themselves within the core penological psyche of the Prison Industrial Slave-Complex thus influencing every aspect of the Prison Industrial Slave-Complex and this is applicable to the entire U.S. penal system.

In Pelican Bay State Prison the inherent racism has manifested in a very blatant but unique way. The Institutional Gang Investigation Unit (IGI), Investigative Service Unit (ISU) and the Office of Correctional Safety (OCS) out of Sacramento have reduced New Afrikan (Black) history and culture to prison gang politics. By doing so they have limited New Afrikan politically conscious prisoners ability to learn and teach our history and created a method to circumvent our first amendment rights, for example: New Afrikan revolutionary prisoners presently being housed in the security housing unit (SHU - Solitary Confinement). We are forbidden to possess any book, literature/material or pictures/drawings by or about George Jackson, we can't even write about George Jackson. This is considered contraband and gang activity. They have reduced George Jackson to a prison gang symbol. This is a method they have employed to conceal their racial and political persecution. But it don't stop there, we are also forbidden to possess any literature or publication about/or that mentions Black August. Though New Afrikan people in every major state including the New Afrikan Independence Movement/New Afrikan Liberation Movement commemorate Black August. It is considered gang activity for us to write about it or commemorate it.

They have also criminalized the New Afrikan Independence Movement by reducing its primary ideology (i.e. New Afrikan Revolutionary nationalism) to prison gang politics. They have confiscated any/and all relevant literature. They have reduced our political activities to gang activities. For example, about 8 years ago I wrote a pamphlet titled "The Bell Curve Conspiracy - A Recipe for Black Genocide." Two of the New Afrikan prisoners who contributed to this booklet were also alleged members of the Black Guerrilla Family (like myself). For this reason alone this pamphlet was confiscated, claiming we were involved in gang activity. Anytime we come together to participate in a clear political act it is reduced to gang activity and every literature that is associated with that project is confiscated.

Another example: I had Professor Dorothy B. Fardan (Sojourner Truth Forum School, Center for Human Growth) send me a printed copy of a proposal I had written back in 1996 and revised in 2002. this proposal is designed to eradicate hunger/starvation among all children, Black children in particular, because they content I had intended to distribute copies to other alleged Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) members it was confiscated and I was accused of participating in gang activity.

People, what I have described to you above is only a brief glimpse of what we as New Afrikan prisoners are going through. We are also being penalized for our political activities, when they reduce our political activities to gang activities. They are then able to write negative reports which can and have affected our release to the general population, many of us have been in solitary/isolation over 20 years, for me it has been 25 years in the hole. At least 12 of us have lawsuits pending in the Federal Court, and many more are in the process. Before I end this, I would like to provide you with one more example. On January 30, 200, special gang units from Sacramento along with IGI that ISU raided our cells, the following is a listing of what all they had confiscated stating it was gang related, list one consists of my personal writings and list two consists of Black historical, cultural and political literature and artwork and religious material:

List one: 1. New Afrikan Criminology 101 textbook. 2. Other literature pertaining to New Afrikan Criminology 101. 3. Bell Curve conspiracy (pamphlet). 4. The U.S. fradulent annual crime report (pamphlet) 5. All material pertaining to the George Jackson University and Marcus Garvey Study Group. 6. Pan-Afrikan Community Dept. of Agriculture proposal. 7. Support the Pelican Bay State Prison peace summit (proposal). Note: unbeknownst to many, California prison system averages 300-500 race-based riots/melees a year and this does not include the individual race-motivated stabbings. This has been going on for the past 20 years and now it has spilled over into the streets of Los Angeles. 8. Save the Black Farm (proposal) 9. How to stop the spread of the Control Unit Prison (proposed strategy) 10. All my writings concerning George Jackson and Black August. 11. All my notes and rough drafts to at least 15 proposals. 12. Over 40 poems.

List two: 1. Blood in my Eye, by George Jackson. 2. Malcolm X Last Speech. 3. Revolutionary Handbook, by Kwame Nkrumah. 4. A pamphlet on the Black Liberation Army. 5. A pamphlet commemorating those members of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army that was murdered during the 1960s, 70s and early 80s. 6. All literature pertaining to George Jackson. 7. A picture and art work of George Jackson. 8. A painting of dead Black Panther members. 9. Revolutionary artwork. 10. All literature pertaining to Black August. 11. A CD cover: one song titled Long Liver the Guerrilla, one song dedicated to George Jackson. 12. Approximately seven newsletters from the New Afrikan Black Panther Party. 13. Pictures. 14. A number of handwritten material. 15. Chairman Mao interpretation of Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism. 16. Swahili dictionary. 17. Seven Christian pamphlets by the army of god. 18. Black history book catalog. 19. A class action petition (note: they claim this legal petition is a cover designed to disguise a roster of alleged BGF members).

All the property listed in both list one and two were all confiscated under the fabricated contention it was all prison-gang related. In addition to the censorship, political persecution, we are being intentionally further isolated, New Afrikan prisoners are often assigned to one cell in a pod, while our racist oppositions can occupy up to five/six cells in a eight cell pod, leaving us with no one to communicate with or share our political views. This is a deliberate act by IGI, OCS and the administration.

People, we are presently developing a campaign, if you are interested in helping us put an end to official censorship and political persecution contact MIM(Prisons).

Petition Against Censorship and Political Persecution

1) We demand the immediate end to the IGI/ISU censorship program targeting New Afrikan politically conscious prisoners being held in the security housing unit 1, 2, 3 and 4.
2) We demand the immediate end to the ban on all material concerning George Jackson
3) We demand the immediate end to the ban on all material concerning Black August
4) We demand the immediate end to the political persecution of those New Afrikan revolutionary prisoners who are presently being held in Pelican Bay security housing unit 1, 2, 3 and 4.
5) We demand the immediate end to the racial isolation of those New Afrikan revolutionary prisoners being held in the Security Housing Unit 1, 2, 3 and 4.


Campaign info:
MIM Banned in CA!
chain
[Abuse] [California]
expand

Arsenic in the water at Killa Kern

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.

chain
[National Oppression] [California]
expand

Black August Resistance - history is a weapon

August is one of the hottest months in many ways. Many of the great New Afrikan slave rebellions, including Gabriel Prosser's and Nat Turner's were planned for August. It is the month of the birth of the great Pan-Africanist and Black Nationalist leader, Marcus Garvey, and also of our New African freedom fighter Dr. Mutulu Shakur. New Afrikans took to the street in rebellions in Watts CA in August 1965. On August 18, 1971 in Jackson Mississippi, the official residence of the Republic of New Afrika was raided by Mississippi police and FBI agents.

August 1989 marked the 10th anniversary of Black August commemorations. The promotion of a conscious, non-sectarian mass based New Afrikan resistance culture, both inside and outside the prison walls all across the U.S. Empire. Black August originally started among the brothers in the California Penal System to honor three fallen comrades and to promote a Black culture of resistance and revolutionary development.

The first brother, Jonathan Jackson, a 17 year old man child was gunned down August 17, 1970 outside a Marin County California courthouse in an armed attempt to liberate three imprisoned Black Liberation Fighters (James McClain, William Christmans and Ruchell Magee). Ruchell Magee is the sole survivor. George Jackson, Jonathan's older brother and comrade, a great Black revolutionary theoretician and leader was assassinated August 21, 1971 by guards during a Black prison rebellion at San Quentin. In an unsuccessful effort to cover up the state's pre-planned assassination of comrade George. The third brother, Khatari Gaulden, was victimized by the blatant assassination of capitalist corporate medical politics in prison August 1, 1978.

MIM(Prisons) adds: The original Black August Organizing Committee still commemorates this holiday each year. The group works to maintain the original focus of the commemoration on the ongoing war on oppressed nations in the united $tates. Over 40 people came together to form the BAOC in 1979 after a united front of New Afrikan prisoners formed in 1978 following Khatari's murder. This year's commemoration featured New Afrikan, Native and Asian cultural acts intermixed with the political presentations with a focus on promoting community.

MIM(Prisons) brought to the attention of the audience that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) considers the celebration a "gang activity." That was how the Institutional Gang Investigation unit justified withholding mail from a comrade to a prisoner that mentioned Black August. They don't try hard to hide he fact that their repression and their so-called war on "gangs" is really about keeping the oppressed in their place. Members of Black August face persecution by the CDCR on the streets as well as in prison.

Meanwhile, a local weekly in Oakland ran a smear piece on Black August following the CDCR line. The article bad mouths Black Panthers George Jackson (falsely accusing him of being a convicted murderer) and Basheer Hameed (who just died this past week).

chain