Under Lock & Key

Hey fellas,

I got a correspondence letter from y’all a couple of weeks ago that was denied for “contents which would incite a disturbance”. First, I asked if the letter was “Media Correspondence” and the chick said “yeah”. So I’m like “Who denied it and why was it opened without my presence?” Of course, she didn’t want to give no name – neither hers or of whoever denied it. So I refused to sign. I did try to appeal, but after refusing to sign I’m sure they just threw it away. So I don’t know if you’re acknowledged as a media correspondent or not, or if they got you some kind of watch list. I know what policy says and if they do it again I’ll grieve that ass hard. I’m sure you been banned ever since you got those Texas Pack’s out. They won’t let that in, or any regular mail you send. But it’s too late.

I did all I could and spread the word in the Allred law library – shit was a hit. They (TDCJ) call it inciting a disturbance, but we all know that it’s all the information we should be entitled to have to fight the negligence, abuse, and misinterpretation of state and federal laws. This unit has a loooong history of violating its own policy and civil rights with impunity. The grievance department, to medical and everything in between, is set up this way. People like me who are in the know and work to expose the corruption are either shipped elsewhere, or if they don’t have outside help, are “rolled” off the unit with an ass whoopin and/or false charges. They do this to protect the “overall safety and security of the institution” that they have going.

I’ve only been here since February 2022 and have been either a witness or victim of every violation but murder. My biggest gripes were that the P4s (safe keeping G4) are religiously discriminated on and refused worship services unless they are of the mainstream faith. The trans-women have no privacy screens to cover their breast in the shower areas. Exposing them to voyeurism when there is no “exigent circumstance”. P4s are stuck in the cell during the peak heat of the day, even the hottest of days, everyday. Respite, and respite showers do not exist during such times. Cold water is only offered if they are lucky enough to have a janitor there to pass it out. The cops sure as hell ain’t doing it. It’s fucked up. I just got off that custody but I still feel for ’em and want to help cause I’ve never seen such animosity and neglect towards a population. There are only a little over 30 P4s on the unit, almost 1/2 are trans women. They should be protected, but instead are targeted. That’s bout all I got for now.

Please hit me back when you can.

Revolutionary greetings to u all! We hope everyone is prepping for the upcoming action(s) of Juneteenth, and otherwise doing well. Comrade FireWater posed a question, “How can i help Tx TeamOne with a class action suit to have Our grievances heard or to get independent oversight of the grievance system?” i’ve decided to share Our answer with all of you as it may be helpful to the Tx lumpen populace at large.

In the past few months, Tx TeamOne’s founding committee has been forming working relations with a few liberal and petty bourgeois groups for progressive improvements within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). These groups include some elected officials, christian sympathizers, lawyers, radio personalities, and policy groups.

One such group is Tx Prison Reform (TPR), with whom one of Our founding committee members was able to conduct an extensive interview, establishing the basis of Our and the prison masses possible working relationship with this group. The interview will be published in their monthly newsletter and We hope to share it with u all as well. TPR is focused on the destruction of Restricted Housing Units (RHU), but is also collecting grievances and other forms of documentation to showcase the foul nature of TDCJ.

Many of u may be familiar with Tx CURE. If so you’ll know the Tx branch has been M.I.A. for awhile, but now has been reorganized by a recently released TDCJ ex-prisoner. This persyn was a leading figure behind the RACK II air conditioning lawsuit. Ey hasn’t established an actual mailing address but we have the help of a family law attorney who’ll send mailings to the head of Tx CURE. Right now, We’re looking for documented complaints regarding major issues in TDCJ. These grievances will be read in front of and by the Tx legislator at the next session. The persyn from Tx CURE will be persynally speaking on behalf of Tx inmates.

The issue of the grievance process is not a new one to us nor the state officials. The grievance system in Tx and in fact many prison systems around the country were the direct result of the Ruiz Litigation (Ruiz v. Johnson, 37 F. Supp. 2d 855 (S.D. Tex. 1999)), and since it was instated the same issues have been present. Accompanied with your grievances you should write an official statement which may also be read for/by the legislators and others. This statement should articulate the need for independent oversight of TDCJ grievance system, and make specific reference to Representative Jarvis Johnson’s 2019 House Bill which called for said oversight but has never been heard by the House. We want the 2019 House Bill 363 heard and approved by the Texas House of Representatives.

Other key points of emphasis are the excessive censorship and mail tampering and its socio-political nature. With the recent escape & man hunt We’ve found that censorship due to supposed security threats has picked up. MIM materials have been the target of much excessive censorship.

For those who don’t know the demographics are slowly but surely shifting. Due to national gentrification, the thriving industries in the state, and no state income tax, among other things, Texas is becoming younger, darker, richer, and slightly more progressive, particularly among youthful citizens. An essential contradiction in Tx is that of the rural vs. urban population and the culture wars, and fight for resources this intensifies. Urban populations tend to be darker, more liberal/progressive (not revolutionary though) and lean left of center on prison issues among others. Bernie Sanders’ organization “Our Revolution” has been pushing campaigns by petty bourgeois, Democratic Socialist elements around the country for the last several years and now this present election cycle they have several candidates who’re challenging the districts of the old guard Democratic Party establishment. These districts are in both rural and urban areas but mostly rural, which if successful will shift state electoral bourgeois politics for the next decade or so.

A key point of emphasis for these so-called New Left Democrats is Prison Reform. This will open organizing doors for revolutionaries within the walls and those who support us.

i share all this because elements from the New Left Democrats and some from a more moderate approach have championed and made possible a new committee to ‘Study Tx Criminal Justice Issues.’ They’re excepting documentary information from now until October on a wide range of issues covering initial interaction with police, to jail policies & conditions, Grand Jury issues, sentencing, and finally prison conditions. Below i will include their addresses along with those of the lawyer, and the groups i mentioned have been establishing working relationships with.

p.s. We’re also happy to announce the present development of a Tx TEAMONE committee in Smith Unit.

i hope this information is useful.

Dear MIM:

I’m writing to advise of a need for you to publish in your next issue a NOTICE FOR ALL TEXAS PRISONER ACTIVISTS concerning censorship of TBCJ-and-TDCJ policies (n.b.:The State-level Prison bureaucrats of Personnel) against the prison population and outside communities. This censorship practice is designed to keep the public relations of peoples who are incarcerated in ignorance and from having incarcerated people’ loved ones and friends in a DISADVANTAGED PHASE-AND-STATE-IN-NATURE when attempting to learn the proper information and steps to address the situations and problems arising outta the medical-and-mental health or prison conditions. The prison population needs to know of this. It seems that only certain information we’ve made/or ordered to be omitted from being accessible or available at the central-level and unit-level law library room Department’s list of in-stock holding items on their shelf.

The following is the list of items that the central-level and unit-level personnel does not want us to learn about with respect to TDCJ procedures and rules:

1. Grievance Operations Manual
2. Operations for Mailroom Manual *
3. WSD Recreation Program Procedures Manual
4. Departmental Policy and Operations Manual
5. Food Service Procedures Manual
6. Safe Prison/PREA Operations Manual
7. Access to Court Procedures Manual *
8. Substance Abuse Treatment Operation Manual
9. Sex Offender Treatment Operations Manual
10. Unit Classification Procedures Manual
11. TDCJ Intake Procedures Manual
12. TDCJ Records Detention Schedule
13. TDCJ Property Procedures Manual
14. Operational Review Manual
15. Unit Classification Plan *
16. Restrictive Housing Plan (n.b.: This Plan is not the same as The Manual) *
17. Security Threat Group Plan
18. TDCJ Volunteer Services Plan
19. TDCJ Suicide Prevention Plan
20. Operational Strategic Plan
21. TDCJ Administrative Plan for Capital Improvements by Donor Groups
22. Chaplaincy Department Manual *
23. Safe Prison/PREA Plan *

Comrades! The Procedures/Operations Manuals and The Plans are not the same. The manuals will provide the prison population all the ins-and-outs and references of all federal and state statutes or laws pertaining to the subject-matter in question. Starred items above are items made-and-available for the prison population to inspect and review.

Queridos Compañeros and Camaradas,

(Dear Comrades and Fellow Travelers)

A report from South Texas: In the wake of another mass shooting in nearby Uvalde, the pigs and their masters are engaging in the usual finger-pointing and recrimination but one thing is clear: the cops are cowards who are quick to shoot unarmed people, but become conveniently “policy-orientated” when they are faced with a disturbed young man wielding an AR-15 assault rifle slaughtering defenseless children.

I’m not really in the habit of blaming the consumers of this toxic system called “democracy”, but these poor children were already the “walking dead” after only a few years in the classroom. The lame-ass governor and the fascist Ted Cruz and their clique call it a “massive system failure”, but those who have been paying attention will immediately see the system works exactly as it was designed to operate: the state of Texas is the NRA torchbearer but ranks dead last in mental health treatment. In fact, the single biggest mental health care facility in the state is Harris County Jail.

Those who are waiting for a legislative solution better stop dreaming and open your eyes to the reality nobody is going to save us or free us unless we liberate ourselves and that can only happen if we organize and think and act strategically with our comrades and fellow travelers. It all begins with educating ourselves and arming ourselves with the necessary facts and tools to accomplish our goals and make the world a better place.

Here in Texas among the prison class it’s a real challenge to create solidarity as the cell blocks are constantly flooded with mind-numbing substances along with the disputes and rivalries and materialism that comes along with it. I’ve made very little progress in my effort to “kill the ‘bossman’ in your head” – not actual physical violence, but to actually banish the word “boss man” from our vocabulary when addressing these pigs.

I’m attempting to show the direct line from slave plantations through “convict leasing program” all the way to the modern system of mass incarceration, and how the term “boss man” helps keep us linguistically and psychologically in bondage. So we need to banish the term, thought, idea of “boss man” from our hearts and minds if we ever want to be free.

So my Juneteenth Freedom Initiative direct action is only days away and I will be peacefully protesting the lie that "slavery was abolished when in fact it’s alive and well in forced prison labor programs all over the United Snakes of America. As you can see from the enclosed denial forms, almost all your subsequent mailings have been denied. I am appealing the censorship and will keep you posted. At this point I am largely in the dark with regards to progress in other facilities, but I ask your assistance in helping me to challenge this censorship. In the meantime, I await further info/instructions.

PS: It is increasingly clear to me that so-called “Aryan” white supremacist groups are expanding and enjoying cover from prison officials. We need to focus on this and build Brown and Black alliance/solidarity along with white fellow travelers (very few of them), but I’m sure they are around. But my point is, these Aryan reactionaries are tools of the state and should be viewed as such. Recent headlines about “Right-Wing Domestic Terror Threat” are propaganda designed to increase even more police/surveillance state apparatus that will be used to control us, not them. That’s how they justify this shit with headlines to “combat neo-nazi terrorists” when in fact the plan all along is to keep their foot on our necks.

The Movimiento Ibérico de Liberación (MIL) was an anti-capitalist group consisting of both anarchists and communists that was active between 1971-1973 in the fascist state of Spain under Franco. The group was unique in that, unlike most revolutionary organizations, it was not centralized. MIL did not believe that a centralized group could be revolutionary. They insisted that a centralized group was synonymous with a party and that a party could not achieve social revolution because a party, by necessity, seeks to gain state power and then strengthen its position. The strengthening of state power – any state power – weakens the revolution.

MIL Line and History

MIL was internationalist in scope and honored the memory and history of various class struggles around the globe. Including, but not limited to: the Iberian class struggle, the Revolution of 333 Days in Hungary, the November Revolution in Germany, and the Bavarian Council Republic. They also had ties to anti-capitalist organizations outside of Spain, especially in France. In addition to it’s internationalist practices, they also collaborated extensively with other revolutionary organizations in Spain (most notably the GAC and OLLA).

The main element of MIL’s revolutionary action was the expropriation of funds from the capitalists through armed agitation. They would spread the expropriated money around the anti-capitalist movement to help further other clandestine operations as well as support worker’s struggles, families of prisoners, and victims of the police. A good chunk of these expropriated funds were invested in the library that MIL helped create called the Ediciones Mayo del 37. The purpose of this library was to publish and distribute revolutionary texts that could help raise the political consciousness of the working class.

Another important aspect of MIL was its support of women’s struggles against patriarchy. They claimed that any group that did not support such struggles were not revolutionary, for it was impossible to fight against capitalism and remain blind to the oppression and exploitation of women in capitalist society. Therefore, any organization that did not support women’s struggles were purposely ignoring their plight, and thus, could not be called revolutionary. Furthermore, MIL advocated revolution across all aspects of society: social, cultural, sexual, familial, and political. Revolution is not partial to any part of society; revolution effects society in its entirety. MIL did not consider itself a vanguard of the revolution – in fact, they opposed the very idea of a vanguard. Which is why they engaged in armed agitation rather than armed struggle.

“‘Armed agitation’ is wholly different from the strategy of ‘armed struggle’, in which a specialized group acts as the vanguard of the movement by constituting the nucleus of a future army…serving as the military wing of a clandestine political party…or by carrying out the most spectacular actions and using its position to attempt to influence and direct a mass movement…on the contrary, the groups that carry out armed agitation understand themselves to be simply a part of a bigger movement, increasing that movement’s capacity for communication, self-defense, and self-financing by organizing and funding clandestine printing, attacking the forces of repression, and expropriating money from capitalists…They also seek to generalize their practice rather than centralize it, distributing weapons among the lower classes and encouraging the horizontal proliferation of armed groups.” (1)

The core reason why MIL was opposed to armed struggle and the philosophy of the need for a vanguard was because they believed that nobody but the proletariat could liberate the proletariat. The idea that the proletariat needed an external group to lead or liberate them went against everything that MIL fought for and believed in. The members of MIL did not think of themselves as heroes of the people. They believed that their role in the anti-capitalist struggle was to act in ways that would help the working-class become politicized and then liberate themselves. As mentioned previously, the way that MIL thought best to achieve their purpose was through the expropriation of funds. By the time that MIL dissolved in September 1973, they had expropriated 24 million Pesetas from capitalists.

Ultimately, MIL dissolved itself after it had reached a point where the members could no longer consider their actions as revolutionary. Although MIL opposed specialization they found that they had become an organization that practiced specialization. They had done so inadvertently by continuously engaging in armed agitation without developing a political line that could explain and support their action to the masses. Just as theory – political line – needs to be supported by practice, so too does practice need to be supported by theory. The lack of one diminishes the other.

Initially, a Congress was held by the members of MIL to seek a solution that could save the group. In the end, they decided to dissolve; in part because their actions had failed to inspire the proletariat to engage in open class warfare. They decided that, at that time, the working class was not sufficiently politically conscious and that their main objective should be to politicize the masses through propaganda until the time came when armed agitation was necessary.

Salvador Puig Antich

The most famous member of MIL was, by far, Salvador Puig Antich. Salvador was born on 30 May 1948 in Barcelona. He began rebelling against authority figures in his youth and was once expelled from school for punching a teacher in defense of another student. Although he was involved in the worker’s struggles in his youth, he did not engage in revolutionary actions until he joined MIL during the summer of 1972. He participated in his first bank robbery on October 21st of the same year (acting as the getaway driver), and the action resulted in the expropriation of 990,200 Pesetas from the Laietana Saving Bank. Shortly after that Salvador began to carry a gun and go into banks himself.

He was a committed anti-capitalist who identified as an anarchist. Although he didn’t join MIL until it had been active for a year, he quickly became a prominent figure within the organization. He authored several texts that were circulated among the members of MIL. The purpose of these texts was to formulate discussion about various topics relevant to the organization and the revolution.

On 25 September 1973 Salvador was in a shootout with the police. During the altercation he was shot twice and one officer was killed. After the incident occurred he was taken to the hospital to be treated for his injuries; when he was determined to be in stable condition he was transferred to Modelo prison to await trail. On 9 January 1974 he was given the death penalty.

Although capitalists have attempted to portray Salvador as a degenerate criminal, the truth cannot be denied: he was a true revolutionary. He never denied his actions and always maintained that everything he did, he did in the name of the anti-capitalist struggle. His every action, his every thought, was centered toward the abolition of the state and the state apparatus. He never capitulated. He stayed true to the revolutionary struggle until the bitter end.

On 2 March 1974 Franco’s fascist state executed Salvador Puig Antich via garrot vil [editor: a chair that is used to strangle people to death]. He was 25 years old. Even though MIL did not develop a sufficient political line and dissolved after only two years of revolutionary action, it should by no means be forgotten. Both MIL and Salvador Puig Antich have influenced countless people in Spain to engage in revolutionary struggle. And, importantly, MIL advanced the theory of the Labor Aristocracy in a time when few did. Even today few recognize that in places like the United States of America, the proletarian class has ceased to exist and a new class has risen in its place; a parasitic class that benefits from the exploitation of the working class in the Third World. This parasitic class is the Labor Aristocracy.

MIL on the Labor Aristocracy

The same day that Salvador was executed Oriol Solé wrote the following from Modelo prison:

“In the United States, in Europe, under the rule of the superpowers, the proletariat has disappeared. Society has engendered a new social class that creates surplus, accumulates capital, and at the same time grows bloated on the surplus generated by millions of wage workers in the poor countries. A new class that builds itself a paradise paid for with the blood of the exploited poor of Africa, Asia and Latin America.” (2)

MIL’s line regarding the Labor Aristocracy was spot on, but several of their positions were flawed. For example, MIL viewed a vanguard as synonymous with a party and argued that any party would seize state power and strengthen its position. They held that no party could be revolutionary because the point of revolution is to abolish the state and the state apparatus.

This is an anarchist view and cannot lead to revolution. The anarchist believes that you should abolish the state and its apparatus immediately. While their concern about a new power oppressive power arising is a valid one, the communist recognizes the impracticality of combating strong class enemies without a state power and acknowledges that an intermediary stage between capitalism and communism is necessary – this stage being socialism. The socialist stage gradually diminishes until the state no longer exists. Only then can communism been achieved.

Another flaw is MIL’s view regarding the vanguard. They did not believe one was necessary and actively spoke against the creation of one. However, history has shown us that not only do vanguards work, but they are necessary to carry out a revolution. Three such examples are the centralized vanguards led by Mao, Castro, and Lenin. All of which carried out successful revolutions. Without their vanguards, those revolutions would not have occurred.

Yet, even with obvious flaws in their political theory, the MIL should not be thrown on the ash heap of history. Both MIL and Salvador Puig Antich are famous in Spain for their revolutionary legacy. But they are little known elsewhere. We should remember Salvador for his revolutionary actions, beliefs, and ultimate sacrifice. He lived for the people and he died for the people. Likewise, we should not let the MIL fall through the cracks of history. In the two short years of its existence, its actions shook the foundations of Spain, and surprisingly, it did so without killing. The only death attributed to MIL was that officer killed during the shootout with Salvador. MIL directly contributed to the worker’s struggles and did not seek to control or direct the proletariat for personal gain.

Every anti-capitalist revolutionary should remember Salvador Puig Antich and MIL and celebrate their legacy every March 2nd – the anniversary of Salvador’s death.

1. Salvador Puig Antich: Collected Writings on Repression and Resistance in Franco’s Spain; by Ricard de Vargas Golarons; translated by Peter Gelderloos; pg.16
2. ibid; pg.159

MIM(Prisons) adds: The story of MIL becoming specialized when they opposed specialization echoes the lesson of Jo Freeman’s The Tyranny of Structurelessness. This essay is included in our study pack on organizational structure, for those who want to dive deeper into the Maoist line on this topic.

While MIL grasped the economic realities of the imperialist countries at an early stage of history, like many others they failed to answer the question of how to organize for the end of oppression in these conditions. This has been a question that many similar groups in the First World took to similar conclusions, leading to dissolution. MIM attempts to answer these questions by recognizing the fact that armed struggle is not viable against a strong imperialist state, and the need to be a mass-based movement. We cannot expect huge or flashy actions at this stage of the struggle, and we must build the infrastructure and educate the cadre for when conditions change. Time is on our side.

I began a Juneteenth protest in April on the 23rd. I went on hunger strike on the 28th, but broke it 2 days later to get my strength up after being threatened by Sergeant Couper.

19 May 2022 – I began a second hunger-strike for 8 days. On the 3rd day of the strike, I was taken to a dirty holding cell in receiving – with ants, no bunk, and poop caked up inside a broken toilet. I was only allowed a bible, one sheet, and one blanket. They placed the old raggy mattress on the floor where I was to sleep for the next 5 days.

No incoming or outgoing mail; no human contact; no offer of food; and no vital-signs, weight, or sugar was checked (nurses documented false reports). May 23rd, in medical, when the nurse asked why I wasn’t eating, I told them, “because it’s ‘George Floyd Day’, Get Your Knees Off Our Necks.”

26 May 2022 – I went on S.I.B. [self injury behavior watch] and was given an even worse mattress that smelled of feces. No one checked on me.

27 May 2022 – I was shipped to the Emergency Room at Central Prison. A level-one bone-marrow cancer had intensified the damage to my body. Some negotiations were made and I broke the fast. However, while I was on the IV a nurse came in at shift change and snatched the IV out of my arm and told me and my officers to get out.

One Month Earlier

April 23rd, I was attacked by Sgt Couper because I had asked for a roll of tissue (I had been asking for 24 hours). Sergeant Couper said he needed to search my room for tissues then pulled out his mace and tried to find an excuse to mace me. When I cuffed up he resorted to violence by snatching my arms all the way out the trap, then opened the door and threw me head-first into the back wall, then applied torture techniques, such as bending my fingers & choke holds, while tightening the restraints.

I was eventually taken to receiving and left on the floor with the restraints for 4 hours. I had lost feeling in my arms, wrists, and shoulders.

Sergeant Couper continues to harass and retaliate against us; intercepting grievance appeals and managing investigations for disciplinary reports that he has officers fabricate against us. But “We Reap What We Sow”. On 9 June 2022, he got served!

“Power to the People”

By the United Front “T.R.U.C.E.” of the People’s Army

T.R.U.C.E. (Teams of Revolutionaries Uniting to Combat the Enemy)

MIM(Prisons) adds: On 30 June 2022 there was a phone/email zap to Granville Correctional Institution to support the strikers and to call for an end to the physical abuse by Sergeant Couper. Staff responded by saying that Warden Roach was not in that day to take calls and that there was no physical abuse going on there. Emails to the Warden and Director of Operations were not responded to.

I write this in an effort to educate and bring into understanding one successful method of overcoming malfeasant administrators at their own game when they write a fraudulent disciplinary case on you – even though your actions fail to fulfill the elements of the charged offense while the Agency staff lie in support. Utilizing the Time Lapsed Video (TLV) camera footage evidence when cameras are installed on your unit.

In brief: After gaining authorization from the Floor-Boss I zipped upstairs to another cell, delivering a legal document (E.D.-02.01 TDCJ Ethics Policy) to an inmate. Within six second, I was back on the One Row Run. The units O-3 (warden) confronted me upon my coming down ordering me to return to my cell (we were being let out to go to showers).

In the course of returning to my cell of assignment, I encountered the Floor Boss going the other way. I asked him to inform 0-3 that he had given me permission to deliver the document to another cell as we passed each other. Three seconds later, this 0-3 came up from behind me grabbing my wrist and puts handcuffs on me while proclaiming “I’m tired of you ‘Mother Fuckers’”. While walking me the rest of the way to my assigned cell: the 0-3 yanked the cuffs backwards, forward and side-to-side in efforts to get me to go off – too smart for the 0-3: I didn’t go off.

I immediately filed a grievance against this 0-3 for Non-Provoked Aggravated Excessive Use of Force, implementing penal codes, PD-22 Rules, and E.D.-02.01 “TDCJ Ethics Policy” standards in slamming this malfeasant warden.

Nine days later: following the 06-01 “Grievance Investigation Sheet” was presented to this 0-3 the warden initiated disciplinary charges against me claiming that I was Out-of-Place and Created a Disturbance. Yeah, done in retaliation. Success demands that I be found guilty; and my Grievance was shot-down by the unit’s 0-2 warden.

Thirty four days after the occurrence (the time limit is 30 days) the administration illicitly ran this disciplinary case – taking four & 1/2 hours – where the C.O. I called as a witness in my defense was blatantly compromised (suborned) by the 0-3, the charging officer. on camera in front of me and several others.

After a 30 minute conference with the Hearing Officer: The C.O. came and got me to return to the hearing officer’s office. Where the C.O., of course, lied while supporting the lies of the 0-3’s that ensued.

At the hearing as well as in my grievance I repeatedly gave notice that the TLV, when viewed, will show absolute support to all my standings while revealing the malfeasance of this 0-3. At no time did the disciplinary hearing officer view this TLV footage evidence. The video was acknowledged, yet, misrepresented by my counsel.

Of course I was found guilty, maxed-out on the punishments, G-5ed, and then I was shipped to another unit. Being the hardheaded individual that I am, while knowing I am not guilty of the lies I was charged with, I filed in the local Judicial District Court for an injunctive order and successfully gained an order from the court directing the TDCJ’s Executive Director to ensure that the TLV footage evidence of the occurrence; with the suborning of the C.O. video, be preserved and not done away with. The Court bench warranted me for this action.

By the time I finished processing back into the TDCJ the disciplinary hearing’s guilty finding was – miraculously – overturned. Who’d of thunk!?! Presently, in that same District Court, I have filed a Cause of Action against the TDCJ Agency for retaliation. Naming each person involved in this fraudulently run railroading of that case premised solely on lies and retaliation. Naming each individual as “Persons of Incident.”

You see, all too often, the TDCJ Agency will: in the course of “Taking Case of Our Own,” intentionally ignore the TLV footage evidence. Herewith, I have figured out how to force them to acknowledge the video footage evidence as well as achieving accountability for their illegal conducting: getting liability to duly attach on their heads.

The TLV cameras are there to record the truth. I here have opened the door so many have overlooked. Use the cameras to reveal their malfeasance in office. For a small donation I am certain that MIM will be glad to forward a printing of the TDCJ E.D.-02.01. The Ethics Policy is an extremely powerful Executive Directive when quoted in your grievance. It scares them so much that they removed it from the Law Libraries Holding’s list back in 2015.(1)

^{notes: 1. for a list of documents not being provided on the law libraries holdings list, see Censorship of TBCJ, TDCJ Policies, Procedures and Rules}

Dear MIM:

Your last three mailings were denied by the mail room. The Last one, received on 5/25/22 stated “Denied: one letter. Content inciting a disturbance. DRC – non appealable list (offender cannot appeal).” The next two denials arrived on the same day (6/6/22): “One newsletter and one packet. Contains content inciting a disturbance.” I did appeal these last two decisions.

Apparently, when a prisoner attempts to assert his rights, the mail room calls it “inciting a disturbance!?” These are the same racist dogs who can get away with denying me a photograph of my ten-year old nephew who was innocently posing while making some silly hand signs, calling that “gang related.” The kids are being kids and their hand signs have absolutely nothing to do with gangs! Had it been white kids posing in similar fashion, instead of calling it “gang-related,” these racist mail room employees would’ve called the photograph “cute.”

These are the same racist muthafuckers who loved it – and applauded – when that comic figure (D. Trump) was separating all the kids from their parents at the border, you know, that as long as it is not their kids who are being treated so inhumanely, they obviously do not care about our kids, right!? And what’s so fucked up is that when the white ‘lady’ who delivers the denial papers arrives to our cell, she pretends like she’s really upset that I would even want to receive these MIM publications. She practically turns her back on me as if I were being so un-American, or something!

But I have news for her, and anyone else of her ilk. I don’t want part of any system that snatches babies out of the arms of their mothers, or a system that allows their police forces to murder people of color with impunity, while these same fuckin’ cowards refuse to enter a school where kids are being massacred! And while the trigger-happy cowards are quick to murder unarmed civilians, none of the recent sick and deranged school shooters (or other mass murderers) have been killed by police! Why not? Because the cowardly police officers were “too scared” and chickenshit to engage the “active shooters.” Plain and simple. And each time these police officers take the stand at someone’s trial, where they will lie and perjure themselves (as they are wont to do), they will recite their “highly trained” credentials, but where are all these “highly trained” credentials when the little kids in a school are being massacred and need help?

And their “exceptional training,” without fail, goes out the window when these same police officers take the stand, not only do they (conveniently) “forget” vital details during vital parts of their trial testimony, they lie about who handled what piece of evidence, whether or not they used gloves to handle the evidence un-dated and un-sworn “supplemental reports” appear out of nowhere to “assist” these liars and “refreshen their memories” etc. And as the famous attorney Gerry Spence once remarked (an attorney who has practiced law for over 50 years), he has never been involved in a case where police did not lie or plant evidence, or engage in some other illegalities, in other words, like me, he has never met an honest cop! And like me, he’s not saying they’re not out there, I just haven’t ever met one.

MIM(Prisons) adds: Outside supporters, please join our campaign to protest censorship in Allred RHU. This censorship has ramped up in response to prisoner organizing. This is politically-motivated repression and it is illegal. You can call, write a letter, or better yet print out our postcards and get others to sign them to let them know what’s going on in Texas prisons!

In the week following Juneteenth we have received letters from all across Texas reporting on similar censorship of our mail. We need your help combat these attacks on prisoner organizing and basic rights to communication and affiliation.

The North Carolina United Front for Peace in Prisons (NCUFPP) is not a gang – it’s a variety of lumpen organizations united in peace in prisons. No one is over or under anyone in the NCUFPP and we respect and recognize everyone’s credentials/status.

Dear brothers and sisters,

Why do we oppress one another as we are being oppressed by the fox tactics of the divider and conqueror?

They’ve programmed many of our fore-fathers to accommodate in the destruction of our people (the oppressed nations). If we do not band together we will never win. The lone wolf may become timid, but together the pack has courage and we are strong.

Without the United Front the ocean will eventually swallow the land. Give the Man an inch and he’ll take a mile. First our recreation; then our picture-mail; batteries; and now tissues – what next? Everything else like visitation, rations, haircuts, supplies, and property – they take and give back when they feel like it.

When the “Man” (or should we say “children”) don’t get their way, they’ll throw a temper tantrum and turn to violence and criminal behavior. Well according to Huey P. Newton (and the U.$. constitution) we have the right to defend ourselves, don’t we?

We must never encourage their violence among any prisoner because it’ll encourage the man to continue their violent ways among other prisoners (comrades) and citizens of society in the outside world in our homes. If he’ll assault the other prisoner/prisoner group he’ll do it to you too. The man shouldn’t be consulted to; spoken to; nor indirectly lead to assume anything about another prisoner. And we all know that woofing in front of the police is dry-snitching.

We’ve noticed that these children are spraying/gassing comrades for knocking on the window for necessities such as tissues and then attack them and placing them on sanctions (taking their property). While there is no call buttons here for prisoners to use when they need necessities, this shit is out of order. But don’t let it get you down. Take a break; enjoy yourself; set back; and relax. Save your energy for Juneteenth. The last day of our oppression. Listen for the Juneteenth memo on the yard/seg!

As soon as the first printing of our new Revolutionary 12 Step Program pamphlet landed in prisons across the United $tates, it has been targeted for censorship in both Florida and Texas.

The Florida mailroom staff who seized the pamphlet checked two reasons for impounding it:

“(15)(i)is dangerously inflammatory in that it advocates or encourages riot, insurrection, rebellion, organized prison protest, disruption of the institution, or the violation of the federal law, state law or Department Rules”

and

“(15)(p)otherwise presents a threat to the security, order, or rehabilitative objectives of the correctional system or the safety of any person.”

Since the pamphlet is actively preventing harm to the safety of any person and actively training people to stop breaking the law or engaging in destructive behavior, we must wonder what are the “rehabilitative objectives” of the Florida Department of Corrections.

MIM(Prisons) appealed this.

Texas on the other hand did not give MIM(Prisons) the opportunity to appeal, as required by Federal law, and only notified us of the censorship after the review committee’s final decision, which, like Florida, cited the “Entire publication contain security concerns.”

The reason they cited:

“Publication contains material that a reasonable person would construe as written solely for the purpose of communicating information designed to achieve a breakdown of prisons through offender disruption such as strikes, riots or security threat group activity.”

Literally no reasonable person would think this.

But as we’ve been reporting on, the TDCJ is openly trafficking drugs to sell to the people they imprison. So it is not surprising that they find our efforts to combat addiction to be a disruption to their operations.

It’s also no secret that the oppressor prefers us to be drunk and high, rather than thinking clearly and doing good for ourselves and our people.

Prisoners can help by getting our Censorship Guide and appealing any censorship as the comrade in Texas did. People on the outside can help by volunteering to help us appeal and hold these state agencies accountable. Legal expertise with these issues is also something you can contribute.