MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
art by Loco1 of United Struggle from Within
In response to the
Call
for Solidarity Demonstration on September 9 in the recent issue of
Under Lock & Key
letters are coming in from prisons across the country. The solidarity
demonstration is timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Attica
uprising, and during the 24 hour work and food strike prisoners will
focus on building unity and peace among the prison population. This is
short notice to organize in the severely restricted conditions found in
most prisons, but comrades behind bars are doing what they can, with at
least one person pledging to start now to build for next year.
In Nevada we heard: “I have been doing my part on getting as many people
as I can to sign up for September 9, 2012. Here at High Desert State
Prison they are constantly taking away what little we have and I look
forward to sticking it to them. So far I have recruited 20 people just
myself in the past couple of weeks from all races. Just imagine how many
more by the time our time comes!”
From Missouri we learned of comrades participating and using this
opportunity to study this history of the
Attica
uprising: “I would like to request study material of all sorts for
this coming August in solidarity regards. Our mission is to improve self
from conditions and we gain understanding through great experiences of
this nature, a struggle that’s mighty, yet achievable. We’ll detail
progress in the coming months. September 9th we will partake in our
common sights.” Another comrade in a Federal prison in Texas has been
sharing ULK 27 with others and pledged to fast on September 9.
Organizers like this one from Pennsylvania are eager to hear news from
the demonstration in the next issue of Under Lock & Key: “Please
make sure I get my next issue [of Under Lock & Key], copy due the
week of the solidarity demonstration on Sunday September 9, 2012. From
midnight September 8 to midnight September 9 in a show of solidarity I
will be strongly participating!” This is a good reminder to all
participating that we need reports immediately after the demonstration
to make it in to the next issue of ULK.
From the state that had it’s own broadly supported
food
strike last year (starting July 1, 2011), we heard from organizers
building for September 9. One California prisoner wrote: “I am in the
call for solidarity demonstration September 9, 2012 and I will be
fasting on that day, etc. Thank you for all your help and moral support
that you have given to me in the last ten years.”
Comrades are spreading the word about the September 9 demonstration in
any way they can. This person from New York sent us a handwritten kite
he passed to another brother at his facility: “Bro. - Please pay close
attention to the article ‘Call for Solidarity Demonstration September 9’
on page 3. Let me know what you think. I’ve decided to fast on Sept
9th.” The response was written on the same paper: “Yes I will fast on
that day, it looks better when we all go to chow but we just don’t eat.
Thanks for that information.” This comrade noted that the short lead
time on this demonstration will limit his organizing abilities this
year, but he’s already started to build for 2013.
Update August 26: More comrades in
North
Carolina have joined the campaign: “The solidarity movement on
September 9th is a go for the few conscious comrades behind me. It is
definitely a time to remember this historic event that changed the
prison system afterwards.”
And more prisoners in California are stepping up. One wrote letting us
know that he has liver cirrhosis and is not going to make it out alive,
but is very much engaged in the struggle for as long as he’s able: “I
will participate in your September solidarity. I share your publications
with other prisoners. Each individual has his own set of beliefs, goals,
values, etc., I can only express what I feel is right. I thank you for
your moral support represented in Under Lock & Key. Those confined
in the SHU lockdowns need all the support your group provides.”
Update August 30: A group in Florida is working to pull people
together for an act of solidarity on September 9th.
Update September 1: A comrade in Kansas made hand written
copies of the call for solidarity demonstration and sent them to 17
prisoners at his facility. At least a few of them agreed to participate
in solidarity.
by a North Carolina prisoner August 2012 permalink
I have been a reader of your publication going on a couple years now,
and I find it the most uplifting and informative I’ve seen yet! Also,
the comrades in this movement have been most helpful in demonstrating to
us how to file a petition against the grievance process here in North
Carolina prisons. I am currently housed at Marion Correctional
Institution’s segregation unit in Marion, North Carolina where they keep
any prisoner who dares to challenge and question their conduct or
actions. However, I have witnessed over the years how our grievance
process has become so watered down to the point when you ask for the
DC-410 form you’re laughed at by correctional officers and told to spell
their names right (ha ha ha). It has become no more than a venting
process for us! There is no consideration that this is a
constitutionally protected right.
However, I recently have sent copies of my petition to the Justice
Department in Atlanta, Georgia and the Inspector General’s office in
Virginia, as well as two copies to North Carolina Department of Public
Safety (NC DPS) Secretary Jennie Lancaster via certified mail. I haven’t
even gotten acknowledgements that they received any of them. So you see,
we’re being stifled, even at the highest levels. Therefore, we won’t get
anything done on this issue, short of court action. The people who are
supposed to protect our rights won’t even do so. So we regroup, and
continue this fight for justice, so as to stop this “rubber stamping”
game with our rights.
MIM(Prisons) responds: It seems other prisoners in North Carolina
have already come to similar conclusions, as comrades recently passed
the two week mark on a hunger strike demanding improvements in
conditions, including an end to long-term isolation.
On Monday July 16th, prisoners began hunger strikes at Bertie CI in
Windsor, Scotland CI in Laurinburg, and Central Prison in Raleigh.
Targeting a wide range of conditions related but not exclusive to
solitary confinement, the prisoners have vowed not to eat until their
demands are met.(1)
Check this link below for the
full
list of demands, because apparently the list released by the NC DPS
had sections redacted for “security issues.”(2) Which might explain why
the mainstream media is not reporting the more serious demands, such as
“An immediate end to the physical and mental abuse inflicted by
officers”, “The end of cell restriction. Sometimes prisoners are locked
in their cell for weeks or more than a month, unable to come out for
showers and recreation” and “An immediate stop to officers’ tampering or
throwing away prisoners’ mail.”(1)
We’ve seen the increased activity in North Carolina over the last couple
years, and so has the DPS, who have stepped up a campaign to keep
Under Lock & Key and other mail from MIM(Prisons), out of
the hands of their prisoners. Below is one image that triggered
censorship in the last issue of ULK.
The NC Publication Review Committee ironically cited this image when
they censored ULK26 for “Violence against any ethnic, racial or
religious group”
Just as this comrade has been pushing every administrative avenue to get
prisoners’ rights respected, MIM(Prisons) has been doing the same to
fight this rampant censorship and ignoring of grievances. As this
comrade says, we continue to regroup and do everything we can to stop
these injustices. We encourage the comrades in North Carolina to keep
speaking up, as your rights are not guaranteed; you must stand up and
demand them.
The author wrote: “So often there’s ‘new’ groups popping up, and I only
laugh.” I ask myself, why put it like that? Okay we do live in an era
where there’s many beliefs and points of view on different politics or
outlooks. I think there was too much written for just too little. Start
uniting, stop dividing. Come together as one people in one struggle
doing one work to overcome those who oppress us.
Paraphrased, MIM(Prisons)’s response was that it’s true on one hand; you
agree with this comrade on the importance of not forming new groups just
for the sake of recognition or self-aggrandizement. The writer fails to
address the need to lead by example, as well as showing others by
organization for our struggle within, and leading by positive actions.
If you arrive in an environment that lacks structure or recognition and
there’s so many bright strong minds, but they fail to see how they
should be fighting for a united front, you are not just going to stand
around and let it be. You should strive to maintain positive
communications not by bringing negative attention but by doing it
correctly. At this current stage of struggle within imperialist Amerika,
there is a practical need for organizing and structure in a cell where
regional independence provides security. Demonstrate your work with even
the best in your organizations claiming to uphold Maoism. We hold
everyone to a high standard of work and don’t just look at the names and
labels they choose.
Another thing, a person can’t force people to comprehend. We are here to
show by example, learn, and study the value of communism. I’m with
whoever is building peace in prisons. As I do time in this state, it’s
really not as unorganized as it’s said to be. As time passes, progress
builds. I’m not even from this state but since I’m doing my time here
that makes it my home. I myself am learning and truly interested in our
movement and will always strive to stay positive, uniting for what’s
right. Comrades, keep on pushing, stay strong mentally, and lead by
example.
On July 7, 2012 a kite was passed to me, and it read as follows:
“I might be in some trouble. You don’t know me and this is going to
blow your mind. If I die in the next day Sr. Menendez in Unit 11 is
responsible and probably the warden too. They are going to use inmates
to do it. I threatened the warden with letters to the health department
about blatant violations in the culinary and the way they do laundry and
other things they are getting away with in here. If you hear of an
inmate dying in the next couple of days don’t let my death go in vain.”
Without addressing the veracity of this communication, it is disturbing
for a number of reasons (aside from the obvious). First and foremost is
the specter of the state’s use of inmates (and I use “inmates” here in
the most specifically derogatory and anti-revolutionary sense of the
term) to do their bidding. That a prisoner who sought to expose an evil
visited upon us all would then have to fear reprisal from fellow targets
of the evil, at the direction of the oppressor, is treachery of a
singularly despicable character. (This is nothing new, but its nature
has become more dominant, as is discussed below.) This is aside from the
actual violation of our most fundamental constitutional and human
rights, the subsequent retaliation for exposing this malfeasance of
prison officials and the complete and utter disregard and contempt for
human dignity.
This “tool” culture is becoming increasingly prevalent. Today, not only
do we revolutionary and activist prisoners have to combat the oppressors
themselves, but we must overcome their minions within the ranks of the
oppressed as well – we must be ever vigilant against their agents among
us. Not in the ordinary sense of infiltrators and narcs, but a whole
culture of puppets, sympathizers and panderers intoxicated by
imperialist fictions. What is truly frightening about this new breed of
traitor is this fact: they want no recompense for their treachery. They
believe in the rightness of the betrayal. They believe in the rightness
of their loyalty to the oppressor, the enemy. These “people” are not
seeking gain. They are an enemy cadre, steeped in enemy thought and
ideology. They are (in the truest sense) patriotic Amerikkkans.
Doubtless, the state creates deprivations and uses these deprivations as
bargaining chips to enlist the aid of petty snitches and unsavories of
all types. That is never going to change in or out of prison. That is
not the same animal. What is named here is a devoted enemy, an
unrecognized and unofficial extension of the state in both thought and
deed.
We must be aware of this counter-revolutionary element and be prepared
to deal with them as they arise. There is increased urgency for A) the
unification of all revolutionaries and activists regardless of race,
religion, gender, custody, set or hood; B) critical analyses of the
battle field without set mentalities; and C) application of the
principles and theory which arise out of critical analyses. We must
rethink our strategies and possibly our associations and act based upon
what we have been taught by our conditions, not by what we feel or
desire. The local conditions as applied to the global struggle should
advise us – not predilection.
The only reason why we have remained oppressed is the enemy’s effective
and continuous infiltration and dis-empowerment. It is the enemy’s
ability to disunite and exploit this disunity, which provides them with
a critical advantage. These are textbook guerrilla tactics which
continue to work and reinforce the need for a steel-willed revolutionary
vanguard. As such, we must immediately re-evaluate our objectives and
tactical assessments, and evolve to meet the pale of the enemy. This
requires that we take a long hard look at our environment and account
for this emerging class of “enemy combatants.”
A friend of the enemy is still an enemy.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We recently announced
a day of
solidarity for the United Front for Peace in Prisons, which in part
is about promoting the five principles to discourage the kind of petty
back-biting where prisoners will sell out for small favors from the
pigs. But this comrade brings up a good point, that not all prisoners
can be won over. The divisions created by the oppressors are not just
individuals bought off to carry out individual reactionary acts in
exchange for favors, but also individuals who buy in to the Amerikan
political ideology and truly support imperialism as a system. Both
groups are dangerous to the movement. We must protect ourselves from
these people, both by trying to turn them to the side of the oppressed
while exposing them and avoiding their traps and aggression.
We here at Wayne in Goldsboro, NC just received the invite to join the
solidarity demonstration, and certain individuals will partake. Not all
persons are willingly sacrificial, through lack of guidance and
direction. For this reason I am asking for educational material to study
and distribute through these dismal crypts.
We as politically conscious soldiers in this great struggle have a large
task of making aware the fuckery that the great imperialists are doing
through disenfranchisement and psychological warfare known as
censorship.
As we convene our third congress, we approach our five year anniversary
as an organization. While members of MIM(Prisons) – and even more so USW
– have been in the prison movement for longer, we find this an opportune
milestone to reflect back on where the prison movement is at and how it
has developed.
In 2011 a series of hunger strikes in California made a great impact
countrywide. Many activists, from crypto-trots to anarchists to
reformists, rallied around this movement and continue to focus on prison
work as a result. While our predecessors in MIM saw the importance of
the prison movement decades ago, their foresight is proving more true
today as we begin to reach a critical mass of activity. It is now a hot
issue within the left wing of white nationalism, which is significant
because whites are not affected by the system extensively enough to call
it a true material interest.
This gradual development has been the result of two things: agitation
around the facts of the U.$. injustice system on the outside, and
prisoner organizing on the inside, both of which MIM and USW have been
diligently working on for decades. In the last year and a half, prisoner
organizing came to a head with the Georgia strike and the
California
hunger strikes, which were both coordinated on a statewide level.
While getting some mainstream and international attention, these events
rang particularly loud among the imprisoned, with a series of similar
actions still developing across the country (recently in Virginia,
Ohio,
Texas,
Illinois,
the federal supermax ADX, Limon in Colorado and a follow-up hunger
strike in Georgia).
Meanwhile, the agitational side of things came to a bit of a head with
the release of the book
The
New Jim Crow last year. This book has continued to get lots of play
from many different sectors of the political spectrum. And while in most
cases those promoting the book are amenable to the lackluster
conclusions, the organization of these facts into a book stand for
themselves. It requires a very biased viewpoint to read this book and
then turn around and deny the national oppression faced by the internal
semi-colonies through the U.$. injustice system. Therefore we think the
overall effect of this book will be both progressive and significant,
despite its limitations.
It is for these reasons that we see this as a moment to seize. When we
started five years ago we had the great fortune of building on the
legacy and existing prisoner support programs of MIM. The ideological
foundation that MIM gave us allowed us to focus our energies on more
practical questions of launching a new prison publication, building
support programs for comrades that are released, developing
correspondence political study programs, and launching a new website
that features the most comprehensive information on censorship, mail
rules, and abuses in prisons across this country.
With our infrastructure built and steadily running, we need to look at
ways to take advantage of the relative consciousness of prisoners right
now and the relative attention the U.$. population has on the prison
system. We have always said that without prisoners organized there is no
prison movement, so we see that as the principal prong of attack. Thus,
we are taking steps to improve the structure of United Struggle from
Within (USW), the mass organization for prisoners that was founded by
MIM and is now led by MIM(Prisons). Building on suggestions from some
leaders in USW, we have enacted a plan to form councils in states where
there are multiple active USW cells. Below we further explain an
organizational structure for our movement, so comrades know where they
fit in and how they should be relating to others.
As we saw during the California strikes, censorship increases, as do
other repressive measures, when organization expands. So as we step up
our efforts, we can expect the state to step up theirs. We will need
more support than ever from volunteers on the outside to do legal and
agitational work to keep the state faithful to their own laws and
regulations.
As big as those challenges are, the internal challenges will be even
greater hurdles for us to jump in the coming years. The recent large
mobilizations have begun to reveal what these challenges will be. And
there is much work to be done to identify, analyze and work to resolve
the contradictions within the prisoner population that allows for the
current conditions where the state dictates how these vast populations
of oppressed people interact with each other and live out their lives.
The prison movement that arose before the great prison boom that began
in the 1980s was a product of the national liberation struggles
occurring at the time. Today, the prison population is ten times as big,
while the political leadership on the outside is scarce. The prison
masses must guard against the great number of misleaders out there
opportunistically grabbing on to the issue of the day to promote
political goals that do not serve the oppressed people of the world.
Prisoners may need to step up to play the leading role this time around,
which will require looking inward. We must not only learn from the past,
but also build independent education programs to develop the skills of
comrades today to conduct their own analysis of the conditions that they
face. On top of that we must promote and develop an internationalist
worldview, to find answers and alliances in the oppressed nations around
the world, and remove the blinders that keep us only focused on Amerika.
There is no liberation to be found in Amerikanism. That Amerikans have
created a prison system that dwarfs all others in humyn history is just
one example of why.
So it is with cautious optimism that we approved the resolution below at
our recent congress. We think this plan addresses proposals submitted by
some USW leaders, and hope you all will work with us to make this an
effective structure.
Congress Resolution on USW Structure
MIM(Prisons) is initiating the creation of statewide councils within
United Struggle from Within (USW), the anti-imperialist mass
organization for prisoners. A council will be sanctioned when two or
more cells exist within a state that are recognized as active and
abiding by the standards of USW. MIM(Prisons) will facilitate these
councils, where the focus is on practical organizing around the needs of
the imprisoned lumpen in that state. As the U.$. prison system is
primarily organized by state, the councils will serve to develop and
address the specific needs and conditions within each state.
In the case where cells have identities other than “USW” we do not
require them to use that name. For example, the
Black
Order Revolutionary Organization, which self-identifies as a “New
Afrikan revolutionary movement,” may be invited to participate in a USW
statewide council. While USW itself does not favor the struggles of any
oppressed nation over another, as a movement we recognize the usefulness
and importance of nation-specific organizing. In the prison environment
there may be lines that cannot be crossed in current conditions which
limit the membership of a group. As long as these cells exhibit true
internationalism and anti-imperialism they may possess dual membership
in USW by joining a statewide council.
With this proposal we are expanding the structure of our movement. We
recognize two main pillars to the ideological leadership of our movement
at this time. One being the MIM(Prisons) cell, and the other being the
Under Lock & Key writers group, which is made up of USW
members and led by and facilitated by MIM(Prisons). The statewide
councils should look to these two groups for ideological guidance in
their organizing work, mainly through the pages of Under Lock &
Key. In contrast, the councils’ main function will be in practical
work directly serving the interests of the imprisoned lumpen. They will
serve to coordinate the organizing work of scattered USW cells in a more
unified way across the state.
MIM(Prisons) will be initiating the California Council immediately, with
others to follow as conditions allow.
In December 2010, prisoners across the state of Georgia went on strike
to protest conditions. Rather than address the prisoners’ concerns of
abusive conditions, the state responded with repressive force, beating
prisoners to the point where at least one prisoner went into a coma.
Since then, 37 prisoners have spent the last 18 months in solitary
confinement, a form of torture, in response to their political
activities. On 11 June 2012, some of those prisoners began a hunger
strike in response to the continued attempts to repress them. More
recently, prisoners in other facilities in Georgia have joined the
hunger strike.
MIM(Prisons) stands in solidarity with these comrades that are combating
the abuse faced by Georgia prisoners, being beaten and thrown in
solitary confinement. State employees have told these comrades that they
are going to die of hunger under their watch. Oppressed people inside
and outside prison need to come together to defend themselves from these
state sanctioned murders and abuse.
SAMAEL is calling on all prisoners to engage in a solidarity
demonstration on Sunday, September 9, 2012. We are requesting all
prisoners (who are able) to embark on a solidarity fast and work
stoppage from midnight September 8 to midnight September 9 in a show of
solidarity by:
Fasting for the period above cited unless a medical need necessitates
eating.
Refrain from working for our captors (or slow work to minimal output)
for the period above cited.
Engage only in anti-oppressor, networking and solidarity actions for the
period.
Cease all prisoner-on-prisoner hostilities regardless of set, race,
custody, gender, religion or other division.
Show respect for our mutual bondage and suffering as well as the
sacrifices of all revolutionary brothers and sisters.
This is timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Attica
uprising and is intended to draw attention to our devolving treatment
and escalating abuse of prisoners by the state.
We welcome all prisoners - confined or not - to show support by
participating or speaking out.
Just one day, just one voice!
We do not expect our brothers and sisters to incur casualties or harm -
we do want to send a message, not to them only, but to each other. This
is an us thing - a true united front.
Just one day.
MIM(Prisons) adds: We support this call from a group
participating in the
United Front
for Peace in Prisons (UFPP) for a day of peaceful unity and protest,
and will work with local organizing cells to coordinate this demo. This
is an opportunity for the UFPP to build on the principle of Peace: “WE
organize to end the needless conflicts and violence within the U.$.
prison environment. The oppressors use divide and conquer strategies so
that we fight each other instead of them. We will stand together and
defend ourselves from oppression.”
This 24 hour action will require a little sacrifice by prisoners, but
should incur no harm, and should lead to a reduction in violence as all
prisoner-on-prisoner hostilities cease for the day. We can build greater
awareness of the oppression against which we fight, and build the unity
that is necessary for that battle, by organizing groups and individuals
to participate. Comrades organizing around the solidarity demo are
encouraged to send their plans or reports to Under Lock &
Key. Note that copy for the next issue will be due the week of the
demonstration, so send your reports in on September 10 to make the
deadline.
From
Georgia
to
California,
from Virginia to
Illinois,
all across the United Snakes, let’s show that the prisoner struggle is
one common struggle.
Recently I received notice of change to regulations number 12-03,
publication date 25 May 2012, effective date 10 May 2012, that is said
to affect sections 3000, 3375 and 3375.6. It states the California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) seeks to establish
requirements for an automated needs assessment tool to be used to place
prisoners in programs that would aid their re-entry to society and
reduce their chances of reoffending by identifying the criminogenic
needs of offenders.
The presentation appears to be harmless, but it is not harmless for
those ignorant enough to boast about their gang involvement, family
criminality, and other sensitive factors that will become readily
available and quickly cross-referenced and correlated with information
contained in intelligence files. In addition, the information gained
from the compass core assessment official record can be used as an
“administrative determinate” under 15 CCR 3375.2(b)(11) in addition to
3375.3 (9)(4)(A) & (B) which is the foundation not only for
validation but for intelligence analysts.
Issuing a list of demands to prisoncrats telling them what their
validation process should be is ludicrous, as is the idea of telling
your body when it should have the urge to excrete. Cats are quick to
want to make demands without any leverage, though prisoners no matter
where they are confined, have economic leverage that they are not
willing to exercise because cookies are of more immediate import.
Since the 1880s the concept of boycotting, or organizing to engage in a
concerted refusal to have dealings with prison/jail stores or
commissaries, has been a very powerful tool. In California it deprives
the CDCR of a source of revenue. It also affects the bottom line of
prison profiteers, whose profits are guaranteed by what amounts to cash
transactions for hundreds of millions in profits and revenues, courtesy
of prisoners who lack the will to sacrifice luxuries for a while in
order to exercise necessary economic leverage, to compel some
administrative change.
Prisoners in California should remember that canteen goods originally
were purchased at wholesale prices and then marked up 10% and the
proceeds over the costs and expenses went into the prisoner welfare fund
to finance many programs and activities that benefited prisoners. This
changed with the rise of Pete Wilson, the governor who used prisoner
welfare funds to help finance a re-election bid which opened the flood
gates for all sorts of misuse of the foundational purpose of the
prisoner welfare fund.
The validation process is a means of control and manipulation that I
have noted that some general population prisoners and sensitive needs
yard (SNY/PC) prisoners embrace as a sort of badge of honor, only to
belatedly find out the effects. In ULK 26an
Oregon prisoner points to the most significant problems with the
divisive nature in the development of LOs who are in competition with
each other.
It’s common for me to hear cats hollering that they are Blood this,
Blood that. Crip this or Crip that, Norteño, Southsider, Bulldog, skin
head, nazi, etc., trying to tout some bogus gangsta facade that
ordinarily would land them on Corcoran SHU 4B and validated. These
boastful cats are easily co-opted and manipulated. Their delusions of
grandeur provide Institutional Gang Investigations (IGI) with a wealth
of intelligence via their eyes and ears on the tier.
A perfect example is the
Corcoran
prisoner’s statement about cats in ASU I (Administrative
Segregation) laying down in fear of IGI retaliation for exercising their
right to file an appeal! Typically conversations over the tier are
recorded when IGI doesn’t have a reliable agent to make note of what he
sees and/or hears. As to the idea of
not
taking a cellie as a form of protest, the typical response is
privileges taken for 90-180 days and 60-90 days of early release credits
are taken. Cats who are addicted to sports programs or television or
canteen will cave in every time because they lack the will to sacrifice
luxuries for the cause.
Prisoncrats treat gang membership or association as a tool of extortion
used in their agenda of touting the violent nature of street or prison
gangs.
The CDCR is rife with crooked officials and staff and the secretary,
governor and legislature are unable and unwilling to purge itself of
those who regularly falsify reports. Supervisory staff/officials fail to
address the problems so as to encourage the misconduct and repression.
At the same time they are quick to feed a naive public a laundry list of
bogus incidents to justify the administration’s unwillingness to reform
itself.
I try to examine all aspects of the criminal injustice system to see
what tactics we can utilize in our struggle effectively, even if I have
to employ them alone. I sacrifice luxuries already so I know it’s
possible and a little something for all to consider.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade raises a good topic of
discussion: it’s important we evaluate the tactics that will be
effective in fighting prison repression. There are a limited number of
protest options available to prisoners, and some will be more effective
than others. Whichever tactics are best may vary by prison or state, but
the fundamental task of building unity for the struggle remains the same
across the entire criminal injustice system. Comrades in California
continue to strategize on the best ways to build on the recent prisoner
rights activism there. Join United Struggle from Within and work with
other anti-imperialist prisoners so that we aren’t stuck employing
tactics on our own, but rather in a united front across facilities,
organizations and nationalities.
Without a doubt, prison is a microcosm of “free world” society and with
that being said, revolutionary-minded men and women who are serious
about combating oppression face similar struggles that “free world”
comrades face. Earlier this year, on this unit I sat down with two of my
comrades to discuss how we could awaken and revolutionize the minds of
the proletariat on this particular unit. The proletariat group we were
specifically interested in were those who worked in the Prisons
Factory/Textile mill on this unit.
What prompted this discussion was the arrival of a new plant manager who
was implementing a new oppressive system. Now I want you to remember in
Texas, inmates are not paid anything! Some years ago when the feds took
over Texas prisons, a question was put forth to offenders “would you
like to get paid for your labor or would you like to receive good time
and work time credits toward your sentence?” Offenders were bamboozled
and hoodwinked into choosing good time and work time credits. I say
offenders were bamboozled and hoodwinked for this reason: I have seen
numerous men who had time slips that have shown a combination of flat
time, good time, and work time exceeding their sentence length! In some
cases I have seen time slips in which offenders have served, or more
accurately been credited, 150% to 200% toward completion of their
sentence. Why are they still here? I thought Texas Department of
Criminal Justice had told Uncle Sam they would honor an offender’s good
time and work time credits. Comrades - they lied!
So with this and other relevant factors considered I came up with an
idea for a “flier” to be posted up on every housing block on Estelle
urging Black men, Brown men and white men to stand up. Basically I was
calling for a work strike to protest the 10 hour work day and the
austerity campaign implemented by the new plant manager. Please note in
2011 the Textile Factory at Estelle Unit made about $1.8 million. How
many deodorants, toothpastes, or “zim-zims” and “wham-whams” do you
think the prison workers received for their labor? Zero, nada, zilch!
In the aftermath conditions improved slightly inside the factory.
Prisoners still aren’t paid a penny and are treated like scum. However,
there is more than one way to skin a cat. With the application of the
dialectical problem solving method as well as employing some “covert”
tactics the struggle continues, it’s just not “televised,” or
telegraphed.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We commend the scientific process
undertaken by this comrade to think through the contradictions within
the prison and figure out what strategies and tactics will be most
effective in pushing the movement forward. This is the discussion and
debate that we must undertake within each state and prison.
While the proletariat in U.$. prisons is a small minority (see previous
articles on
prison
labor), these types of organizing strategies are useful in many
situations where prisoners are employed in running the prisons
themselves.