Under Lock & Key

A handful of comrades in different cities on the outside have pledged to fast, study and do prisoner support work on 9 September 2025 in honor of the Attica uprising, and in solidarity with comrades organizing inside on this same day. This is the annual Day of Peace & Solidarity initiated by the United Front for Peace in Prisons over a decade ago. As we go to print, Palestinians just recognized Palestinian Prisoners’ Day on April 17. September 9th is like our Prisoners of Amerikkka Day. And this year we aim to carry the torch outside and hope to inspire others to participate.

The act of fasting forces us to slow down, be more reflective and think of others across the country doing the same thing, for the same cause. A larger group of outside comrades will also be coming together the day before to continue ongoing discussions about the Maoist-led united front here on Occupied Turtle Island. We will discuss how to best build this movement to be resilient in the long-term task of ending imperialism. We may also organize events on September 9th.

Comrades inside prison should also hold local discussions about Attica, about the anti-imperialist prison movement, and about the United Front for Peace in Prisons. Comrades can join us by abstaining from food, drugs, television, video games and other pleasure-driven activities that day, and engaging in study, discussion, outreach and reflection instead. Get our September 9th study pack, start planning now. We’ll print an updated list of plans in the next ULK.

Triggers

Addiction does not develop overnight, nor does recovery. Addiction can be devastating to not only the user who is addicted but eir friends and family. In fact, addiction is a cultural phenomenon because it is not specific to any particular race, gender, age, or class. It is developed in the home through parents or family members who are addicts, through friends, TV, music, and other observable things in our environment. It is in every community, in every country, and on every continent. The irony is that as much support as there is for an addict’s recovery, that recovery does not come overnight. In fact, reportedly those who do enter recovery programs have a 60 to 80% chance of relapse before achieving permanent recovery! This is something I have experienced first hand, and I am here to talk to those comrades who put addicts like myself down. To them I offer the following challenge: instead of doing nothing but complaining about addicts, start a recovery group. This would be something more truly revolutionary! Because bitching about it does nothing to help an addict nor have you said anything to persuade me to want to change.

To them I say, “Yeah I’m an addict,” my addiction began in my home. My father smoked cigarettes and kept a supply of liquor under the counter in our kitchen. Drinking was a casual event with family and friends, usually on holidays. I also observed these similar behaviors through TV shows, movies, and commercials. As I grew into a teenager, I heard numerous music lyrics referencing drinking and using various kinds of drugs ranging from marijuana to heroin to cocaine to prescription drugs. Though I was told by my parents, family, and drug programs such as D.A.R.E. to stay away from these things, TV and my experience taught me something different. It looked like everyone on TV was feeling good and having fun and from my experience, it was and did most of the time make me feel good. In fact, it made me feel so much better when I was experiencing loneliness, stress, and conflict at home and within the family, boredom, anger, unrealized feelings of being trapped, depression, and more.

I’ve listed below what are commonly known as “triggers”. There are 10 major triggers I will identify here that can be associated and experienced by most humyn beings through some stage of eir life and not just addicts. For me the following 10 major triggers have not only been a part of my first experiences with drugs and alcohol but especially my relapse and effects of being imprisoned for over 25 years.

The Ten Major Triggers

1. Loneliness (even in the physical presence of family and friends)

2. Stress and conflict at home and within the family

3. Boredom or, in other words, lack of meaningful activities or challenging work

4. Anger and the feelings of being trapped (i.e. accumulated resentments, etc.)

5. Depression (worse with women than men)

6. Spirituality, or feeling like life is meaningless without a higher power

7. Secret disappointment with the straight life

8. Euphoric recall of being high

9. Secret thoughts of drugging or experimenting with a new and different chemical or drug

10. Reactive denial to using or thoughts of it

I was never taught any fundamental coping skills to combat these triggers throughout my life growing up at home or school. Even the coping skills I did learn in recovery groups didn’t seem to work. These feelings and thoughts seemed to always effect me no matter what. I also found out addiction is something that can be hereditary and generational. What does this mean for my persynal recovery? I do not know, but my current struggle is real and I can not experience recovery by myself. So if you are an addict and not just an addict who is addicted to drugs and alcoholic but are under the definition of the United Struggle from Within Revolutionary 12 Step Program, then I want you comrades to listen. Not only you comrades but especially the comrades who do nothing but bitch about us addicts who use K2, suboxone, and whatever else as defined by the comrades who came together to create the Revolutionary 12 Step Program. I want you all to join me in my recovery, in our recovery, together.

P.S. This kept me from using so far today.

MIM(Prisons) responds: The Revolutionary 12 Step Program pamphlet has been one of our most frequently distributed publications in recent years. Unfortunately the main author and comrade who was training others to lead the program has not continued this work. For now we hope to continue the conversation, development and promotion of revolutionary recovery here in the pages of ULK. As comrade Menlo suggests, we want to create a community here through our readers’ own stories of recovery. And we thank comrade Orko and comrade Menlo for kicking this off.

Another publication we want to recommend to those working around recovery (whether you yourself are addicted or those around you) is Under Lock & Key No. 59. You can just ask us for the “drug issue” of ULK. It gives some deeper historical and sociological background on the fighting of addiction in the revolutionary movement.

As Orko explains above, addiction is a product of our environment. That is why when communists seized power in China they were able to eliminate almost all addiction in short time. And it is why people who had been life long addicts suddenly quit to join revolutionary organizations in the United $tates during the Black Power movement. The hope, meaning and empowerment that comes with revolutionary organizing is key to the success of our own revolutionary recovery programs.

In anticipation of some responses we might get to this article, we’d like to ask Orko and other readers for ideas on how to reach those stuck on drugs. We hear from a lot of readers who say they are surrounded by zombies, and feel like there is no way to reach such people because they are always high. What can be done to shift this reality and reach those in need?

Addiction is a disease/syndrome that is not dependent upon any given drug. As an addict and alcoholic, what this means to me is that I am a meth addict even though I have never tried meth. I am addicted to K2 even though I have never tried K2. My drug of choice is alcohol, but my struggle is with addiction. My method of combating my addiction in prison is:

1. Not using any substances
2. Refusing to be ashamed of myself
3. Sharing my experience, strength and hope with the addict who is still suffering.

While addiction cuts across class, nationality, ideology, and gender, it concentrates in prison as many of us committed crimes in order to fuel our addiction. Addiction thrives in an atmosphere of shame, of hiding, and of loneliness. All of that and more is the atmosphere of prison. It is incredibly difficult to stay sober by myself. I need community in order to maintain my sobriety.

One incredibly important aspect of recovery that is missing from the revolutionary 12 step program is the personal stories of recovery that form the back of each 12 step book. These stories are essential as they serve as that community of recovery and way for us to relate and be inspired. I would be more than happy to contribute to the revolutionary 12 step program.

i want to thank all of those here in NC who responded to my call to action and submitted grievances about the lack of due process when We’ve been validated as a “gang member” and the draconian policies and restrictions we find ourselves subjected to here in North Carolina. This act of unity was so impactful, to the point i was pulled out to meet with Chief of Security Daryll Vann, and 4 other ranking facility intelligence officers.

After having them pull a komrade of mine to be present during this “meeting,” i agreed to listen to what they had to say. The aforementioned individuals asked if i would be interested in drafting up a proposal for the validation process of SRG members and a denouncement process. i immediately declined their offer and was adamant about my decision until the komrade i had accompany me told me “don’t allow this act of unity to be in vain” and he was right.

228 of ya’ll took the time to support me, therefore i agreed to draft up a proposal for new SRG policies here in North Carolina. Never before has this been done and it was made possible because of you all. Thank you again.

In closing, if any of you would like to read more about komrade George Jackson i encourage you to write to:

And request my In the Spirit of George Jackson zine or The Voice of the Lumpen zine that both Komrade Triumphant and i wrote. The New Afrikan POW journals are available as well. Lastly for prisoners here in NC that are serious about their political education, if you don’t already have a copy of Jalil Muntaqim’s We Are Our Own Liberators write to:

There are limited copies, so write to them immediately.

Again thank you all for yall’s support and it’s a must i thank komrades at MIM for publishing my call to action and providing us with a platform to express ourselves that enables us to organize a unified struggle.

Free The Land

MIM(Prisons) adds: The comrade mentions requiring another comrade to be present during the meeting with staff. This is a wise move to prevent rumors from being spread about what went down in said meeting, and the pigs being able to manipulate the narrative. The more witnesses the better.

Second, we agree with the hesitancy to write up a new policy. We see how the same struggle ended in California, though their agreement was made by lawyers in the midst of a lawsuit. The challenge is how to keep the struggle alive, for without struggle, you end up right where you started. A new policy signed off on by a lead organizer can easily pacify people. Until we recognize that this kind of repression will never end without liberation from imperialism, it will continue.

And as the lawsuit in North Carolina advances, we also must remember what it took in California. And after all that sacrifice, the settlement was still a compromise that did not end torture in California prisons, while expanding the list of Security Threat Groups in that state.

This gang validation repression is only expanding as we’ve seen the Trump regime apply it to those outside of prisons who are not involved in any illegal activities. So we should be thinking big picture. And we will continue to stand with and support the comrades in North Carolina coming together to fight arbitrary SRG repression. If comrades inside can send copies of grievances or other documents related to this campaign we will collect and forward them along.

Back in September, as part of Prison Banned Books Week, MIM(Prisons) had pledged to send out more free literature (not counting our newsletter) this winter than any other winter since 2020. Prior to 2020 our organization was bigger both inside and outside, and as a result our Serve the People Free Political Books to Prisoners Program was also larger.

Despite our efforts, we failed pretty hard at meeting this modest goal. It was not for lack of books, nor was it for lack of funding, though we could use help there. It was for lack of participants in the program. Part of this, again, is due to our limited reach with a lower number of subscribers. But even if we normalize for number of subscribers we mailed out more lit last winter than this one.

Therefore it seems it is our inability to recruit people into the program that is our main limiting factor. We attempted to boost the program in 2 main ways. First we printed a large ad in the center spread of ULK advertising some popular books we offer, with an explanation of how to get said books in large font. We know people saw the ad because many wrote in asking for the books in it. But almost no one actually followed the instructions for how to join the program.

The second way we attempted to promote the free books program was through persynal correspondence. We fairly aggressively wrote to people asking for books explaining how the program works.

One possible explanation for this failure is that people in prison just want free books, but aren’t actually interested in anti-imperialist organizing. It has always been the case that the vast majority of our subscribers are not actively involved in the work we do. There are also a myriad of subjective explanations for why people don’t get involved despite having interest. Promoting a Revolutionary 12 Step Program is an attempt to address one of the possible limitations.

Yet, objectively, the number of people in U.$. prisons and the oppression they are facing has not changed significantly. Some prison systems, like in California, have seen significant structural changes in the last ten years. K2 and tablets have been the biggest change countrywide.

Despite the challenges it is up to us to find ways to reach the oppressed masses and serve them in a way that is engaging to them. Us means MIM(Prisons), AIPS, and especially USW comrades who are working on the ground amongst the prisoner population. Our failure to expand the book program this winter is another data point, along with our declining subscribership over many years, to measure our work.

Comrades in SCI-Muncy came together to draft a petition for people imprisoned by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. The petition demands that the state ensure that grievances be addressed by PADOC staff in a timely manner, and that people do not face retaliation for filing a grievance. The comrades ask for additional contacts to add to the list to send the petition to, and any other edits from others in Pennsylvania.

I have been a member of USW since 2017. Since then I have contributed zealously, especially the move away from publishing the revisionist ideal of prisoners complaining about prison conditions and their grievances, which served no purpose to the movement other than to teach comrades revisionist methods of resolution to make prisons ideally more comfortable and less punitive.

As I attempt a corrective analysis, I ask is writing grievances and filing lawsuits against prison adminsistrators a revisionist ideal or revolutionary? and if it is revolutionary, how?

I know no revolution that was won through writing grievances or use of the courts! Read Dr. Burton’s book Tip of the Spear and see how that ideal worked for the comrades in the Attica Liberation Faction (ie. BPP, BLA, W.U. and all). It gets minimum results that require the exhaustion of much energy, study of law and money. Tip of the Spear calls for deep analysis of revolution and how it looks when applied in multiple states and facilities.

I am so disappointed I never received ULK 83 so I can analyze comrades’ analysis of Dr. Burton’s book.

Wiawimawo of MIM(Prisons) responds: I don’t know of any USW leaders that don’t write grievances or file lawsuits. Grievances are tactics. So we agree that no revolution has been won by grievances, just as none is won by maintaining a website. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do these things.

To further answer your question i’d point you to Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A. by Mumia Abu-Jamal, or my review of it. In that book Delbert Africa is quoted explaining what happens to people who go deep into fighting their case in the courts:

“They go crazy becuz, Mu, they really believe in the System, and this System always betray those that believe in it! That’s what drive them out they minds, they cain’t handle that.”

As i said, we look at these things as tactics, as opposed to strategy. Though strategically we do believe we are in a stage of legal struggle in this country, we mean that in the broad sense. Legal struggle in the courts is just one form of legal struggle, and not one that we focus on.

So why engage in grievance battles and the grievance campaigns USW has going in various states?

1. To win battles that are more strategic, especially around First Amendment rights to communicate, affiliate and just read. Fighting censorship has always been a struggle we have put effort into because it is a direct threat to our organizing efforts. It’s not just about making conditions more comfortable. The most recently added grievance petition was in Indiana, where it has already been used to help get 6-month-old mail delivered. When we distribute the petitions to prisoners we include a cover letter where we state:

“MIM(Prisons) sees these petitions as a good use of our resources because our ability to fairly have our grievances handled is directly related to preventing arbitrary repression for people who stand up for their rights or attempt to do something positive. We support this petition in light of our anti-censorship work and anti-repression work in general.”

An outside supporter recently expressed concerns echoing Orko’s:

“but if what it ends up being is just MIM(Prisons) helping prisoners get their immediate personal grievances addressed, i don’t see how that differs from the work being done by hundreds of other reformist/bourgeois prison advocacy groups, other than that you also offer them Maoist resources”

It is true that people use the grievance petitions for various issues. And an individual using the petition to get some persynal issue addressed is not contributing to the prison struggle, nor to the anti-imperialist struggle. It is up to the comrades on the ground to use the petitions to build an organizing base. In either case, it is a tiny amount of time and resources that we are putting into getting petitions into peoples’ hands. When we put in the effort to assemble articles and conduct support campaigns, it will be around issues like censorship, solitary confinement and political repression.

2. To mobilize the masses of prisoners. The grievance campaigns have been utilized by many to mobilize those around them for a common cause. Mobilizing the masses to organize against state oppression is a central task to any revolutionary movement. However, both of the critics above pointed out that just filing grievances and petitions is only teaching people to beg the oppressor for resolutions. It is up to USW organizers to ensure that multiple tactics are employed in any campaign, including tactics that contribute to building independent struggle. As we always say, there are no rights only power struggles.

A longer debate between USW leaders over how to do this has already appeared in a series of articles in ULK.(1) As the comrade concluded in that first article, when the masses see the smallest victory as a miracle and are easily pacified by it, leaders are easily isolated by the state, so security precautions are of utmost importance for any sustained effort. The other USW leader in that article argues that without a strong cadre organization to frame such struggles, they will only set the revolutionary struggle back.

There have been many cases where USW comrades report that with a lot of struggle they barely get people to sign a petition or grievance if the leader does all the work to write them up and make copies. In such cases, where the masses must have their hands held to express the slightest bit of discontent, we must conclude that we are not succeeding in mobilizing the masses to take their destinies in their own hands.

3. To appeal to the masses where they are at. In 2022, our Texas campaign pack was one of the top referrals for new subscribers after word of mouth and ULK. The grievance petitions are also a tool for recruiting new comrades from the masses. Some will never be interested in anything beyond getting their local grievances heard, others will see the futility in relying on the system and join USW.

[We are currently out of copies of Jailhouse Lawyers by Mumia but would happily distribute more to prisoners across the country if anyone wants do donate copies to our Free Political Books to Prisoners Program.]

^{Notes: 1. see Orientating USW Organizing Strategy in Light of Texas Victory in ULK 72, and the 4 articles titled An Ongoing Discussion on Organizing Strategy found in ULKs 73, 74, 76 and 77.}

This past summer, we gathered commentary from our readers on the student uprising against the genocide in Gaza, which is now expanding across the region. These articles were used in a pamphlet that many USW comrades received, and were all printed in Under Lock & Key 86.

Comrades on the streets distributed the pamphlet and ULK 86 to students (and non-students) in a number of regions across the country. We attended rallies and speaking events, visited the remnants of encampments and shared publications at conferences.

In general, the response was enthusiastic to the articles written by prisoners, especially regarding solidarity with Palestine. Anti-Imperialist Prisoner Support (AIPS) maintained a presence at Socialism Conference 2024 which took place in Chicago during the end of August. Over 100 copies of ULK were handed out at the conference, while also agitating against prisoner repression.

At a New York hacker conference, audience members eagerly grabbed copies of the Palestine pamphlet at a talk on prison surveillance. The speaker exposed most of the issues we discuss in our Prison Banned Books Week articles. Ey also exposed how Securus has a patent to use the phone numbers of prisoner contacts to track their spending data. And Securus already provides location data to Correctional Officers by phone number! We hope comrades can understand why we’re sticking to snail mail. This also happened to be the only talk at the conference where the speaker shouted “Free Palestine!”

At a southern California Palestine solidarity event comrades were able to give out ULK 86 to a large group of students and noticed that others would grab a copy on their way out. Reactions were mostly positive with one criticism being that it may have been too tough on the students. This was presumably referring to the critique written by an outside comrade involved in the student movement.

Comrades have communicated with a number of student groups to solicit responses or statements for this issue of Under Lock & Key. While at least one group expressed interest, we did not get any reports from students on the ongoing legal struggles and political repression they are facing for this issue. It is clear more work is needed to strengthen a connection between the prison movement and the student movement. But progress is being made.

Decades ago, Under Lock & Key was a section in the newspaper MIM Notes put out by the original Maoist Internationalist Movement and its party in the United $tates. For a time, MIM distributed newspapers on the streets at 20-30 times the amount they sent to prisoners, and their paper came out every 2 weeks. Since MIM(Prisons) launched Under Lock & Key in 2007, it has always been a primarily prisoner newsletter. Though in the past we’ve estimated our online readership to be bigger. A couple years ago we set the goal of distributing as many newspapers on the streets as we do in prisons. While not quite there, ULK 86 was by far the closest we’ve gotten to reaching that goal.

If you want to help expand ULK distribution on the street, send us $55 in cash or postage stamps with a return address and we’ll send you 100 copies of the next ULK we print. ULK currently comes out at the beginning of November, February, May, and August.

On 5 October 2024, about 150 people organized by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3585 picketed to call for an end to paper mail in the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). Another protest is planned for October 17th.

The plague of drugs in U.$. prisons is real, and it has continued in states where digital mail has been implemented. The claim of this “labor” union that staff are being poisoned is not real. In neighboring Indiana, a number of prisoners were threatened with isolation in torture cells for mail that we sent them that was accused of being drug-laced. Further testing proved they were not. Meanwhile, there have now been a number of cases of prison staff across the country claiming extreme medical crises from contacting prisoner mail, following similar claims by street cops, that have never been substantiated by medical professionals. It’s interesting that this “labor” union is willing to stand out on the street and picket for a policy that would give Correctional Officers a monopoly on bringing paper into IDOC facilities.

Even much of the pro-labor union movement in the United $tates will agree that cops aren’t workers, or the oppressed, but rather are the oppressors, regardless of the question of surplus value. And Marxism has always excluded the employees of the state from the proletariat in any country. So it is of little surprise that the AFSCME would be pushing this reactionary policy to eliminate education, resources and community connection in prisons, even if it risks the very safety of their own members.

MIM Distributors submitted the protest email below to Illinois DOC Director Latoya Hughes. We encourage others to send emails or make phone calls or send letters (especially if you are in Illinois). There are more suggested scripts available from campaign initiators working with Midwest Books to Prisoners.(2)

Dear Director Hughes,

I have recently been made aware that several Illinois legislators are calling for an immediate cessation of non-legal paper mail being delivered to people incarcerated in the IDOC. Our organization sends paper mail to thousands of prisoners across the country and we object to this effort to abridge our First Amendment rights to speech and association, as well as those of the people in your prisons. We will be sharing this letter with our members and supporters, especially in the state of Illinois.

Books, newspapers, and other printed materials are a crucial source of information, education and growth for people locked in prison. Letters can be a rare thing to look forward to. Our organization runs study programs, conducts surveys and regularly sends forms to prisoners to get updates on their status. All of these programs rely on prisoners receiving pieces of paper that we send them so they can fill out the forms and return them. The impact of blocking such mail would be massive.

We have been watching the spread of alarmism around drug-laced mail, and have even had such baseless accusations made against our mail! Of course testing proved the accusation false, just as it did in the recent incident at Shawnee, where the testing by Marion Fire Rescue came back false. We’ve also seen multiple cases where staff have claimed to have gotten sick from handling mail, which have been proven to be impossible claims multiple times now. The benefits of education and community connection are proven to help ensure staff safety far more than these imagined risks of being poisoned. Policy should be fact-based and should not succumb to rumors and fear-mongering.

Again, I am writing this email to clearly state my complete opposition to any and all proposals to halt mail delivered to incarcerated people, and urge you not to move forward with this proposal.

Sincerely Concerned,

MIM Distributors

<sup>Notes:
1. Madison Porter, 5 October 2024, Canton prison workers protest how inmates receive mail, 25 News.
2. For more materials on this campaign you can access Google docs here: bit.ly/IDOCmail</sup>

We hope those who have been following our series of articles this week have been both angered by what is going on inside U.$. prisons and inspired to action. (see campaign link below to read previous articles)

MIM(Prisons) is in a period of growth, after some setbacks. In recent years we’ve gradually reinstated each of our 3 different levels of correspondence study courses for prisoners. Just this summer we put out a long-planned Reference Guide that contains historical timelines, maps and a glossary to provide background for many of the things we talk about regularly. We’ve released the Revolutionary 12 Steps Program and Power To New Afrika, both written by prisoners, in the last couple years. We continue to put out Under Lock & Key every three months. And we’ve updated a number of other study packs and resources. And we do it all out of our own pockets and volunteer time. So if you can spare some money or some time to support us it can go a long way.

By the time this series of articles reaches most of our readers inside, in Under Lock & Key 87, the holiday season will be approaching. In that spirit and inspired by all this talk about banned books, we are pledging to mail out more books this winter than any other winter in the 2020s so far!

Please see our get involved page for ways to donate and other ways to help out. Outside supporters can help us make this happen by sending cash or stamps, helping acquire in demand books like dictionaries, Black Panther Party, or Marxist classics, or by volunteering in various ways. All of the new publications listed above have been censored in various prisons, even the Reference Guide was censored in Michigan’s Thumb Correctional Facility for being more than 12 pages long! So continued campaigning and legal support is much needed.

Prisoners can help us get more books out by taking the steps to join our Serve the People Free Political Books to Prisoners Program. Get others to sign up for a subscription to ULK or become a distributor of ULK in your prison. Let us know what organizing work you are doing, what your local study group is discussing, what questions are coming up for you and your comrades. By doing these things you can receive books to help with your local work and studies. We have books on Black/New Afrikan studies, Chican@ studies, First Nation studies, gender, economics, history of Chinese socialism, the Soviet Union, books by Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao and more.