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.
The conditions under which we prisoners suffer must not go unchallenged
by the public. I am targeted by prison staff with cold food, half
portions of food, many times 1/4 portions of food, false incident
reports written against me, and kept bound under the strict and harsh
maximum security classification. I am a revolutionary, I study different
methods and test theory from different schools of thought.
I was an activist in society (revolutionary) and I’ve helped to organize
many communities. I now teach and organize the prisoners here, those who
have a will to struggle against our current conditions. The organizing I
teach is to serve our daily needs/human rights. The air conditioner is
blowing full force half the winter, keeping it a cold and icy season. I
openly work with all prisoners around our daily needs including
protection from beatings by prison officials.
I use mostly methods from revolutionary books by mostly the
Black
Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, Angela Davis, Assata
Shakur, Elaine Brown, David Hillard, Bobby Seale. These people gave
their lives for the struggle. The text from this material has the power
to transform minds. Education is a must.
Prison high ranking officials force prisoners to have sex in exchange
for fair/humane treatment. I challenge all my fellow prisoners to stand
against this oppression to join me in legally fighting it. Once again
the prison officials increase the level of abuse, retaliation and
torture against me to isolate and discourage others.
MIM(Prisons) replies: Retaliation against prisoners organizing
for their rights is a common practice in the criminal injustice system.
The best way to fight this is by building our movement. This comrade is
right that we must educate and organize because the larger our forces
the more difficult it will be to single out organizers for retaliation.
The
Black
Panther Party literature provides important historical material that
has relevance today. We encourage our comrades behind bars to also use
MIM(Prisons) literature as an organizing tool.
Under Lock &
Key contains news and analysis to help educate and inspire prisoner
organizing. Form study groups with others, share the newsletter, and
contribute articles to help build this important resource.
“I was born in jail.” This was Stokely Carmichael’s response to a
Swedish reporter in 1967 when asked if he was afraid of being sent to
jail for helping to organize the Black nation for national liberation
and self-determination.(1) In making this very poignant statement,
Stokely Carmichael was putting forward the correct political analysis,
referring to the prison-like conditions of the Black nation and other
internal semi-colonies of Amerika at the time. It’s been 45 years since
then and a string of reformist struggles have proceeded. The completion
of the civil rights movement, the appointment of the first Black U.$.
Supreme Court “Justice,” and the election of the first Black pre$ident.
But have the material conditions of the Black nation truly changed when
compared to other First Worlders? According to the Census Bureau
statistics for the year 2006, which show more Blacks and Latinos are
living in prison cells than college dorms, they have not.(2)
A new documentary titled “The Violence Interruptors: One Year In a City
Grappling with Violence” makes this point ever-so-clear. This
documentary centers on an imperialist-funded lumpen organization from
the streets of Chicago whose membership is primarily made up of ex-gang
members. For the most part they have all done some serious time for some
serious crimes, but upon their release made a commitment to themselves
and their communities that they would help stop the pointless violence
that takes so many lives.
These ex-gang members call themselves “Violence Interruptors,” which is
a reference to their pacifist tactics. They are funded by the Illinois
Department of Corrections, Cook County Board of Commissioners and the
U.$. Department of Justice, among others. They run the Violence
Interruptors under the guise of the non-profit organization called Cease
Fire. The initial idea of the Violence Interruptors program was proposed
and partly funded by Dr. Gary Slutkin, who upon returning to Chicago
from a medical tour of Africa saw the dire straits of the oppressed here
and drew parallels to the African experience. But the organization’s
true roots date back to Jeff Fort, whose life centered around his
leadership in a Chicago lumpen organization that had one foot in Black
nationalism and one in drugs and gang banging.
In federal prison from 1972 to 1976 due to his use of War on Poverty
money from the government, Fort took up aspects of Islam and rebranded
and restructured the Almighty Black P. Stone Nation when he got out.
Along with other leading members, and at times working with the police,
he worked to build peace between lumpen organizations and to keep crack
out of Chicago. But of course the Amerikan government never likes to see
the oppressed come together for the betterment of our people, even if at
first they pretend to agree with what we’re doing. So they had Fort
arrested and sent back to prison on trumped up terrorism charges, where
he remains today. Having successfully neutralized Fort and other early
leaders, the Stones today remain a largely divided umbrella for many
sets of gang bangers across Chicago, the status quo preferred by the
state.(3)
Carrying on Fort’s legacy, Ameena Mathews, a former gangster and Jeff
Fort’s daughter, is a Violence Interruptor. Mathews, like other Violence
Interruptors, is no stranger to the streets and sees it as her own
persynal responsibility to stop the violence, even if it means putting
her own life at risk. An example of this is caught on film when during
an interview for the documentary that’s being given inside of her home,
a fight breaks out on the street. Recognizing that even a one-on-one
situation has the potential to turn deadly, she immediately rushed out
to try and bring peace to the quickly-growing crowd. While attempting to
calm everyone down, a young man saw a rock hurling at his cousin and
sacrificially put himself in the line of fire to protect her. He was hit
in the mouth. Afterwards threats are made with the promise of gunplay to
come, but Mathews quickly ushers the victim away and tells him that he’s
the real gangsta because he defended his family and defending their
families is what true gangsters do.
Eddie Bocanegra, aka “Bandit,” is another Violence Interruptor who did
14 years for murder, but who, during his imprisonment, went thru a
period of reflection. He recognized that he not only fucked up his life
but that of his family and the family of the person he killed. Now on
the streets Bandit admits to having identified pride with his gang but
now sees that it was all pointless. Besides being a Violence
Interruptor, Bandit also visits schools across Chicago in an attempt to
counsel oppressed nation youth who might find themselves in similar
situations to the ones he once did.
In the film, a delegation from South Africa requested to meet the
Violence Interruptors during a recent visit to the United $tate$ in
order to find out their secret to keeping the peace. Yet, the delegation
became critical of one of the Interruptors’ policies, which is to never
involve the pigs in the community’s affairs. The delegation argued that
the Interruptors were not “neutral enough.” The Interruptors responded
that this was the reason that they were so effective within the
community, because the community knows they can confide in and trust the
Interruptors with their problems without the fear of being sold out.
Certainly the masses are correct to think this way. Problems that arise
within the community should be dealt with by the community. To bring in
the pigs is only to justify the oppression and occupation of the
internal semi-colonies and oppressed communities. The potential problem
we see with the Interruptors is that the state is happy to fund them as
independent mediators for small meaningless violence, but how do the
Interruptors deal with community organizations that are not
state-funded, and may come into conflict with the state? The
Interruptors present themselves as an independent force, but their
funding tells us otherwise.
One indication of the Interruptors’ reputation with the community occurs
when the family of a young murder victim receives word that his funeral
is gonna be shot up by gang members looking for their original target.
So seemingly effective and revered are the Interruptors that the murder
victim’s family calls them to provide security instead of the police. At
the end of the ceremony, Ameena Mathews gives a fiery speech in which
she righteously calls out all the gang members in attendance and
struggles with them to “get real” with their lives because that dead
body they were all there paying their respects to was certainly real,
and “it don’t get more real than that!”
While the documentary was being filmed, sections of the Woodlawn
neighborhood, an epicenter of violent drama, came into conflict over a
plan to militarize Chicago using the National Guard. The plan was
developed by politicians with some members of the community. By building
a real, independent peace in oppressed communities, we can eliminate the
divisions within oppressed communities triggered by the wild behavior of
lumpen youth and form a united front to keep the state’s occupation out.
The section of the community that spoke out against the call for
militarization knows that the National Guard will not provide more
safety, only more oppression. This shows that just because the state has
gotten smarter about how to control its internal semi-colonies does not
mean that they no longer see the need for armed force.
Jeff Fort and the Almighty Black P. Stone Nation’s peace activism legacy
lives on in the new federally-funded Violence Interruptors. Similarly,
the once largely popular efforts of the Gangster Disciples to hold peace
summits in Chicago has evolved into a project that works closely with
the political machine of the state. Amerika has proven unable to solve
the problems that have plagued the ghetto for generations. While Amerika
was worried about what the Stones or the GDs might become, they were
scared of what the Panthers already were. They drugged and shot Fred
Hampton at age 21, while they eventually sent Fort and Larry Hoover to
supermax prison cells with very limited contact with the outside world.
While Barack Obama has thousands of people murdered across Africa and
the Middle East, we see the level of criminality one must have to become
a successful Black leader out of Chicago in this country. The
imperialist-funded non-profits use pacifism for the oppressed, while
painting mass murder for the oppressor nation as “spreading democracy.”
Many think that the Violence Interruptors have people power, but in fact
they do not, for they wouldn’t even exist if they didn’t have the
blessing of the oppressors. While the short-term goal of the
Interruptors is to “stop the violence,” the long-term goal of the
oppressors in creating the Interruptors is to stop the violence from
spilling over onto themselves. They do this by not just co-opting
grassroots attempts by the people to overcome their oppression and bring
peace to the hood, but by creating organizations such as the Violence
Interruptors which in the final analysis are nothing more than sham
organizations; it is the bourgeoisie laughing at us.
In the Third World the bourgeoisie forms shadow organization and calls
them “communist” in order to split the people and stop them from
launching a People’s War. In the imperialist countries, like here in the
U.$., they either co-opt or infiltrate and wreck those organizations
already in existence. While the Panthers were given nothing but the
stick, the Stones themselves were easily distracted from the path of the
Panthers with the carrot of a little money from the War on Poverty.
After destroying any independent mass movements, the imperialists allow
and even encourage groups that promote integration or confuse the
masses.
While it is true that there is only so much that we can do for the
betterment of our class given our current position as oppressed nations
within the belly of the beast, we must also recognize the importance of
social consciousness on social being and stop letting the circumstances
of our imprisonment both in here and on the street dictate to us the
confines of our reality. We must come together and build our reality. We
must come together and build our own institutions that are there to
serve us; institutions of the oppressed. The Black Panthers had this
power and we can too. We must learn to reject the bourgeois notion of
power, which is only crude power and serves to oppress and exploit. This
type of power is currently exhibited by many LOs, both in here and on
the streets.
While commending those individuals within the Violence Interruptors who
really are trying to do their part to stop the violence, we must also
draw a clear line between fighting for self-determination of the
oppressed and serving as the friendly face of the imperialist state. We
need more allies on the streets doing this work in support of the
efforts of MIM(Prisons) and USW in building peace on the inside. Only by
building our own institutions of the oppressed will we truly be able to
stop the violence that takes so many lives and keeps a substantial
portion of oppressed nation youth behind bars.
Brown and Black Unite! All Power to the Oppressed!
In this issue of Under Lock & Key we are featuring reports
from comrades in a number of states who are leading efforts for a
campaign to have prisoners’ grievances heard and responded to by state
officials and employees. This campaign has continued to grow in
popularity, with minimal effort by MIM(Prisons), yet many have not yet
heard of it and there is much room to expand. For all who remain
inspired by the recent efforts of California and Georgia prisoners, but
feel your conditions are not so advanced, we suggest you work on the
USW-led grievance campaigns to start getting people organized in your
area.
The basic actions necessary to advance the grievance campaign are:
File grievances on the problems you face where you’re at. Get people
around you to file grievances. Appeal your grievances to the highest
level.
If your grievances go unanswered, organize people around you to sign and
mail out grievance petitions created by USW, distributed by
MIM(Prisons). Send follow-up letters periodically to check on the status
of your petition. Send responses to the grievance petition to
MIM(Prisons).
If your state is not yet covered by the grievance petition, but your
grievances are going unanswered, translate the petition to work for your
state. This requires looking up citations and policies, and figuring out
who would be best to send the petition to.
While getting grievances responded to is essentially an exercise in
reformism, we see promise in these efforts because they struggle to give
voice to some of the most oppressed. This is a democratic struggle in a
part of the United $tates where the least amount of democracy exists.
Amerikans will tell you that’s the point, “you do the crime, you do the
time.” But we disagree. We don’t think the U.$. prison system has
anything do with justice or applying objective societal rules to its
citizens. The simple fact that about half of all U.$. prisoners are New
Afrikan, while only 12% of the U.$. population is, disproves that theory
in one fell swoop. In general, the oppressed nations have seen an
increase in democracy in the United $tates, yet for a growing segment of
these nations,
their
rights are lawfully being denied. For those who have committed real
crimes against the people and should spend time in prison by proletarian
standards, we think a program of reforming criminals requires
accountability on both sides.
Some have pushed for campaigns to give prisoners voting rights as a
method to increase prisoners’ democratic rights. But we see imperialist
elections having little-to-no bearing on the conditions of the oppressed
nations. In contrast, we see the grievance campaign as a democratic
campaign that we can support because it can actually succeed in giving
prisoners more say in their day-to-day conditions.
The grievance campaign to which we are referring was originally sparked
by some comrades in California in January 2010. Since then it has spread
to Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas. The
petitions are updated regularly based on feedback we get from those
using it. The three states which have been particularly active lately
are Texas, North Carolina, and Colorado.
The Colorado campaign kicked off just before
recent
reforms were enacted in the Colorado system as a result of passive
resistance by the prison laborers being used in large-scale industry
there. Similarly, Missouri’s petition is specific to their conditions of
censorship around a relatively new policy banning music with parental
advisory ratings.
In this issue, there are two reports out of Texas, showing the varying
levels of organization within a state. One comrade in
Connally
Unit reports of a mass demonstration.(page X) While another comrade
has
diligently
filed the maximum grievances he can for almost two years, he has
proved this road to be fruitless by himself.(page Y) But what is the
lesson here? Are our efforts worthwhile? We say there are no rights,
only power struggles. We already know that the injustice system is going
to abuse people; it is made to control certain populations. In order to
win in a power struggle, the other side must feel some sort of pressure.
Sometimes one grievance to a higher level is enough to apply pressure.
But when the higher level is involved in the repression, it’s going to
take a lot more than one persyn’s grievance. Look at the example of the
Scotland
lockdown.(page Z) One comrade reported that grievances were being
ignored, as has been common in Scotland before the lockdown. But we hear
from ULK correspondent Wolf that a combination of complaints
from prisoners and outside supporters resulted in an improvement in
conditions, however small. This is parallel to the petition to End the
High Desert State Prison Z-Unit Zoo, which met some success last year.
The lesson isn’t that getting a little extra time out of cells, or skull
caps, is a great victory. The lesson is in how prisoners and their
outside supporters pulled together and exerted their influence on the
DOC as a group. At the same time, a North Carolina comrade reports how
standing
up by oneself can be risky.(page A)
We think the grievance campaign is a good stepping stone for comrades
who say unity and consciousness is lacking in their area. As we know
from reports in ULK, the conditions in most prisons across this
country are very similar. So the basis for mass organizing should exist
even if it requires some hard work to get started. Circulating a
grievance petition doesn’t require a lot of people to start, and just
about everyone can relate to it.
One USW leader involved in the original campaign in California came out
to question the effectiveness of the tactic of signing petitions and
sending them to state officials and legal observers. S/he proposed
moving into
lawsuits
to get them to pay attention, particularly after
one
CDCR staff member implied they wouldn’t address any complaints without a
lawsuit. As John Q. Convict points out, there are also connections
still to be made between the
grievance
campaign and media access in states like California to create more
accountability for the captors. The best tactics will depend on your
situation, but the petition is a good place to get started and to test
out the waters.
This work is not just a way to bring allies together locally, but is
connecting struggles across the country. One Massachusetts comrade was
inspired by the efforts of a Florida comrade who was having trouble
mobilizing others and wrote in to tell h: “To my Florida comrade, I want
to tell you to stay strong.” S/he went on to quote Mao, “In times of
difficulty we must not lose sight of our achievements, must see the
bright future and must pluck up our courage.”
Of course, oppression will always exist under imperialism, because it is
a system defined by the oppression of some nations by others. And we
cannot hope to use reforms to fix a system that
tortures
people and then ignores administrative remedies to cover their own
asses.(page B) But we must begin somewhere. And the grievance
campaign encompasses many of the little battles that we have all fought
just to be able to read what we want, talk to who we want, and have a
voice in this society.
I am writing from a prison in Colorado. Here they have special units
called RP or Restricted Privileges. These units are 22 and 2 lockdown.
They will put you in here for anything they feel is right. Like being
fired and having reasonable excuses for missing work. Also for not
admitting guilt to your crime when your case is still in appeal. They
want you to admit to your crime so you can take their classes and be in
compliance. I’m in a camp that houses persons with a sex offense. 85% of
this camp has some sort of a sex crime. They will violate you and put
you in RP if you do not participate in a group, but they are
understaffed and so it takes years if not a decade to get into these
groups.
In this RP we are limited to almost everything. We are called last for
chow, which usually interferes with our two hours out a day. Also they
let us only look through a preselected book cart with books that are not
rotated out. They keep us from the library here. This keeps us from
learning and making copies. Our yard time is limited as well. We get one
hour out, once a week. Even people in the hole get one hour out every
four days. Our visits are restricted to a two hour visit on a Thursday
afternoon. My family lives out of state so a visit is impossible. Also
they turn off our phone time so we are unable to call home or friends.
And lastly they restrict our mail.
Their grievance process is impossible here. You properly file step one,
two, three and still they tell you “you failed to follow the proper
grievance steps.” If somehow you do make it through their grievance
process, and you fill out all the forms properly, still there is nothing
done.
I’m trying to create here a strong offense and a powerful defense.
Educating others and myself about ways we can stop this injustice. This
is supposed to be “the land of the free.” Well we all know it’s not. I,
however, shall stand strong and fight till the better end. I shall stand
till we overcome! I shall fight for peace and inform all.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This story of lockdown and lack of
effective grievance procedures is echoed across the country throughout
the criminal injustice system. It has become acceptable in this country
to lock people up in long-term solitary confinement for years, and then
to deny them any legal recourse to even enforce the prison’s own rules
and policies. United Struggle from Within has initiated the
grievance
campaign to demand our grievances are addressed. But this is just
one small part of the larger fight to do away with this system of
injustice. Write to us for a copy of the petition for your state or to
help modify a petition to the laws of your state if we don’t yet have
one.
I’ve been reading through the past few
newsletters that you
sent. First I want to thank you for sharing with me. I find it
interesting and enjoy hearing about the rebellions against the system.
It’s fucked up to hear what fellow prisoners have to deal with, but from
experience I know a time comes when we must say enough is enough. So I
would like to share an experience with you that I had while doing time
in California Youth Authority.
In August of 1996 a counselor was killed in YTS (Youth Training School)
in Chino, California. She just disappeared one day. Three days later her
body was found in the Chino dumping grounds. This has repercussions
throughout the whole youth authority, statewide. But it really hit hard
right here in YTS. They locked the whole institution down and things
didn’t completely go back to normal operations for about a year. We were
slammed down 24 hours a day. The only thing we came out of our cells for
was a racially segregated shower for 3 minutes a day. That’s it! The
only thing sold on canteen was Ajax to clean our cells. They took away
weights, cigarettes, magazine subscriptions, visits, phone calls, school
and trade classes, packages, canteen, everything. If you had a TV, radio
or shoes you were allowed to keep them, but they were no longer being
sold on canteen. Cells got ransacked and a lot of electronics went
straight into the trash.
Now, understand that YTS is ages 18-25. No minors are there. This place
is known as gladiator school. It’s the end of the road before going into
CDC (California Department of Corrections). The majority of the vatos go
there from the younger YAs for punishment. And the majority of these
youngsters are maxed out till they’re 25. So that’s a 7 year stretch on
top of what they’ve already done. There’s nothing that could stop them
from going home besides new charges, and a trip upstate. So most already
don’t give a fuck, and then the system itself took away everything that
kept us calm. And they had no intentions of giving anything back. So
fuck it, we kicked it off. And kept kicking it off. It was mostly racial
riots, fighting amongst each other, but there were times the pigs would
get smashed out, jaws broken, etc.
That’s just the way it was, although I now see all our energy should’ve
been focused against the system itself. But what we did worked to our
advantage. Through years of struggles and fighting the puercos could not
control us. Outside administration thought the superintendent didn’t
have what it takes, so they replaced him. The second superintendent
wasn’t trying to hear any of our demands or compromise either. So we
kept doing what we did and eventually he got replaced too. The third
superintendent since the killing was a little more understanding and
wanted to keep his job. So in an attempt to calm us down he reformed the
institution to our benefit.
They started selling TVs, radios and shoes again. We got magazine
subscriptions, day long visits, necklaces, and even packages (which were
only twice a year to start with, but it was a start). There were a few
things we didn’t get back (weights, cigarettes, playboy, tape players,
etc.), and all the juvenile lifers got shot to the big joints.
Furthermore, the amount of time we were slammed down improved. YTS had a
policy of locking down the whole institution for two or three months at
a time for basically anything more major than a 1 on 1 fight (which is
almost every incident). So while cats are sitting in their cells pissed
off, they figure if they’re gonna be slammed down for something they
didn’t do they might as well get involved and make it worth it. So, just
about every incident that happened turned into a riot. The
superintendent then changed the policy and only slammed down the unit
involved. It still wasn’t good enough, because usually not everyone on
the unit is involved. Then he changed it so only the races involved are
slammed down. Still not good enough. Well, after years of going through
this we finally got it to where they only slammed down the people
involved and only for three days of racially segregated showers. We then
all came out together for day room program for 30 days. After that we
were allowed to go back to school, trade, and yard. Not too bad. But it
wasn’t an easy path. When I got released in 2001 it was still off the
hook. There was shit happening just about everyday - one unit after the
next - and we were still getting shit back from the system.
So there we were, an institution that went from having it all, to having
nothing overnight. It wasn’t the whole prisoner population that killed
that counselor, only one person was accused of it. But they retaliated
on us as a whole group. So we reacted in a way that seemed justified to
us. And it worked. Never once did we try any peaceful protest (food
strikes, canteen strikes, phone strikes, etc.) There was no such thing
in our eyes. I’m not against a peaceful resolution when dealing with the
system, but as Mao said, it’s up to us to analyze our own conditions of
oppression and react accordingly. The institution pushed us in a corner
with no reasonable way out.
I know there’s many oppressed prisoners nationwide who feel hopeless,
who feel there’s no way things can get better. They feel lost and in the
dark. Therefore, there comes a time when we must say enough is enough
and make the necessary sacrifices to better our own conditions on the
necessary level, peaceful or otherwise. It’s better to try and fail than
to have never tried at all. May honor, hope and victory be with those in
the struggle.
MIM(Prisons) responds: It is true that there are times when
fighting repression with peaceful protests will lead to nothing more
than ongoing repression. This is why revolutionaries know that the only
way to achieve ultimate victory over the imperialists is through armed
struggle; they will not give up their power without a fight. Even within
the criminal injustice system this is true. However, engaging in armed
struggle prematurely will only lead to greater oppression and deaths for
the oppressed. This is what revolutionaries call
focoism:
revolutionary violence without the proper support and mass base and
often without the correct ideological leadership.
This story about Chino appears to counter our position that we need to
build the vanguard leadership and mass base of support before engaging
in armed struggle. The prisoners there successfully won back many
privileges that had been taken away by rioting and fighting each other.
But we have to look at what they really won. As this writer notes, the
privileges taken away were things that used to keep the population calm:
TV, radio, canteen, etc. These are pacifying elements, not threats to
the criminal injustice system.
Certainly lockdown 24 hours a day is inhumane, and we want our comrades
to have access to reading material and visits and phone calls. All these
things are essential to raising political consciousness and
re-integrating back into society. But did the riots that forced the
prisons to throw prisoners a few bones actually gain anything for the
fight against the criminal injustice system? Prisoners learned that
fighting each other is rewarded. They didn’t learn how to fight the
pigs. They didn’t gain any education about the actual cause of their
oppression or how to get free. And as we look at the contradictions
between prisoners we also must ask what role privileges play in
pacifying sectors of the imprisoned lumpen and turning them against
those that rebel. This is a question United Struggle from Within is
contemplating as we discuss which is the principal contradiction facing
the prison movement.
The victory of a few calming privileges at YTS is an example of how
little can be accomplished with focoist violence, and how an ultra-left
focus on “action” is often just the other side of rightist reformism.
Next time the prison takes away privileges there will be no better
organization, no greater understanding and no progress towards real
change. As a counter example, in Pelican Bay and elsewhere, the recent
hunger
strike led prisoners to study politics and organizing, and to think
more systemically about how to fight the criminal injustice system and
what we really want to win. This may not have resulted in
many
(if any) privileges won for prisoners, but the growing education and
unity is a much bigger victory.
As a high ranking member of a Lumpen Organization (LO) I encourage all
LOs in the Colorado State slave system to organize and unite with the
MIM(Prisons) United Struggle from Within (USW). These pigs in the CDOC
have taken a page from
B.F.
Skinner and created an Incentive Program in all Level 3 & 4
yards. This program allows participants more rec time, pod time, DVD
player and movie rental for their cells and the privilege of eating
before all units. It is clear staff goes out of their way to make sure
General Populations know these are “specially privileged.” In turn they
have to sign a contract agreeing to not participate in any Security
Threat Group (STG) related activities, including organized protest,
staying write up free, and working any “facility needs job,”
i.e. kitchen, janitorial, etc., in the event of a lockdown.
This is a classic divide and conquer technique and an insurance policy
against peaceful protest, i.e. hunger strikes, work strikes, etc. I
encourage all prisoners in the Colorado slave system who are
participating in this program to re-evaluate their position. Giving up
your morals for simple comforts by entering this program makes it
impossible for those of us who want to fight imperialism and injustice
for all of us. Any kind of peaceful organized protest against injustice
and imperialism will be ineffective because these program participants
will mitigate the effects of such protest for these pigs.
At first the program was not being taken advantage of by prisoners so
the pigs employed the carrot and the stick technique by decreasing GP’s
privileges in order to make this program more appealing. Those who
openly protested the programs existence were systematically removed from
GP and put in Ad-Seg.
The effect of this program is already apparent. The pigs have become
more brazen in their actions against us as a whole. There is no fear of
any type of retaliation for their actions, and because each prison
organization is split by some of its members participating in this
program, no organization has any structure. This program is not to help
you comrades. Wake up! Look at the long term and don’t follow the
carrot.
MIM(Prisons) adds: Prisons attempt to divide and conquer
prisoners using many tactics. Privileges are one very effective tactic
in buying the complacency of some prisoners. We need to be aware of the
impact this has on our ability to organize protests and take action.
Educating all prisoners about the big picture of the Criminal Injustice
System and its connections to imperialism is an important component in
the fight against these potential divisions. Those prisoners who
understand the broader context of their day-to-day oppression will be
less likely to take small privileges as a buy off in exchange for their
silence and inactivity.
I am a strong brother who is currently living on a Special Needs Yard
(SNY). I am writing this letter in response to several articles about
the many individuals who are or who have
chosen
to live inside of an SNY yard. I know that I am an exception. I have
never been in prison before. I have never testified on anybody or been
victimized by another human being. I chose to lock it up or become an
SNY yard prisoner despite the stigma because of my experiences as a gang
banger. I wanted to give up continuously putting myself into danger and
stop standing up for a code and structure that served no purpose other
than to steal, kill, beat down and destroy myself, my family and my
community.
I won’t pre-judge those brothers and sisters in the mainline who believe
that everyone on SNY is a snitch, a bitch or a tattle tell. But there
are a lot of good and bad brothers everywhere who can and may contribute
to this cause. We have to figure out a way that we as a people can use
our common sense to focus on who our real oppressors are within and
beyond these walls.
We need to address our fears and really look deeply into what are we all
really fighting for. Is it to end all oppression or to continue allowing
ourselves to oppress our people. Whether we are on SNY yards or on
mainline yards, prison is prison and oppression is oppression.
I have started work groups and study groups with all types of
individuals around me here, something that structures and constant
distrust has prevented many of us on the mainline or in society from
doing. I came to SNY for better opportunity, a better way for me to do
my time positively and productively. Despite the stigma, I think that it
is a better environment to begin to work in, and reprogram our minds
from our years and years of brainwashing.
MIM(Prisons) adds: There is little question that the expansion of
the SNY program in California that has been long debated in the pages of
ULK is part of an effort on the part of the CDCR to weaken
lumpen organizations. And this is why SNY receives much ire from
prisoners of many political persuasions. While they see the expansion as
a plague spreading across the prison system, we have not seen any
practical antidote to this come from those who consider SNY prisoners to
be absolute enemies. The structures are too rigid and are not adapting
as the masses begin moving in another direction. Granted this “new
direction” is still largely guided by the CDCR itself, but it has a
basis in real contradictions within the imprisoned class. We see plenty
of people in GP working with the CDCR in anti-people activities and we
see people in SNY supporting independent institutions of the oppressed.
The oppressed need organization, with structure, discipline and
security. We should work to maintain these aspects of current
organization where they exist. But most importantly, we need
organizations that serve the people. And this is why we welcome the work
of comrades like this one who are bridging gaps and organizing where
others are not willing.
MIM(Prisons)
position on the SNY debate remains one of looking at each
individuals actions around the revolutionary struggle to judge their
value to the movement. The larger problems that led to the current
levels of SNY populations still need to be addressed by comrades with a
common vision in all populations.
Revolutionary - one who takes part in a sudden,
radical, or complete change especially the overthrow or renunciation of
one ruler or government and substitution of another by the governed.
Gang - a group of persons working or associated
together, esp a group of criminals or young delinquents. Also: mob,
band, clan, club, crew, pack, ring, team, crowd, horde, posse, circle,
clique, outfit, friends, syndicate.
When the word gang comes into play especially by the media (i.e. radio,
television and newspaper) why is it always associated with negative
energy? We as members of lumpen organizations have effectively allowed
ourselves to be boxed into a stereotype of negativity and successfully
strayed from our paths as revolutionaries. It seems that we as
revolutionaries fighting for an extreme, radical change to and for our
environment have allowed ourselves to become radically changed by unseen
puppet masters thus detouring us from our way of righteousness.
As members of the lumpen organizations known as Crips and Bloods, we
were formed on the heels of the Black power era to override the
oppression and destruction of our inner city neighborhoods and take up
the baton passed to us by our forefathers to continue this fight for
liberation for the people. How have we regressed from a “group of
persons working or associated together” for a noble, common cause to a
“group of criminals and young delinquents”?! We have allowed ourselves
to be labeled “menace to society” by our true enemy (the U.$.
government) but instead of refusing that moniker, we have embraced it
and fallen into line like cattle to a slow slaughter.
History, true history, clearly shows what is happening: covert
government operations, such as the counter intelligence program
(COINTELPRO), are infiltrating our ranks and using their art of “divide
and rule” to weaken us from the inside out. For all of us still living
in darkness; the light of the matter is that this oppressive government
tactic is working and has worked for decades! By pitting our respective
families against each other, they allow us to set our own limitations on
our growth and development. By keeping the lumpen organizations at each
others throats, the government can deal with each faction as an
individual. This has to change! Only by stifling our generations of
feuding can we begin to focus on bigger and better things; only then can
we focus on the rebuilding of the urban communities that we have helped
tear down.
When J. Edgar Hoover initiated his counterintelligence program, to
combat the
Black
Panthers and other Black nationalists, it was a form of genocide.
They threatened to destroy anybody in the Black community who was a
leader, anybody! So, they declared war on us 40-45 years ago and that
war is still going on right now. That is why those in power are so
afraid of our unification, because you can only keep an oppressed person
or people down for so long. Then when unification comes, all of us have
the same enemy and they can’t have that because we become a united body
fighting in solidarity with focus, determination and rage against the
machine!
For us in the “department of corruption” we are already united in our
suffering and our daily repression. We face the same common enemy, we
are trapped in the same oppressive conditions. We wear the same
“plantation” clothing, we are brutalized by the same racist, prejudiced
pigs. We are one people, no matter your hood, set, creed or nationality,
we know we need unity but we need a different kind of unity than we have
at present. We want to move from unity in oppression to unity in serving
the people and striving towards national independence and liberation.
Crip, Blood, Vice Lord, Gangster Disciple, Latin King, it makes no
difference; we are all brothers of the same struggle. The sooner we all
overstand this concept the better. We are revolutionaries, but without
every individual of every feuding family taking a step for peace, there
can be no change. Without change, there can be no revolution.
“Revolution is about change, and the first place where change takes
place is within yourself.” - Assata Shakur
MIM(Prisons) adds: The
United Front
for Peace in Prisons was initiated in 2011 to bring together those
with an interest in revolutionary organizing. This comrade echoes the
principle of Unity that is inherent in the shared conditions imprisoned
lumpen class.
As this comrade explains, to achieve unity in practice, we must come
together and resist the state-sponsored work to undermine that unity. It
is not the labels that matter, but rather our actions that will make a
real difference. We must judge individuals by their actions, regardless
of their affiliation, location, or background.
I extend my greetings to you all and want to make a few observations
based upon questions posed by
Loco1
in ULK 23. It is quite true that we obtained the attention of
prisoncrats who have assumed that the continual promotion of division of
lumpen organizations will keep us at each other throats. Prisoncrats
have adapted and pursued new oppressive tactics as a result of the
intensive scrutiny that the shot across the bow of battleship CDCR
caused.
To retreat is not an option, as to do such only further emboldens
prisoncrats to erode civil and human rights of California prisoners,
actions which will be mimicked across the nation. We must use our
collective brains to adapt new tactics. In war many tactics are used.
You may be able to sneak up on an enemy once or twice but in due course
the opposition will counter with an ambush. So as master Sun Tzu stated
in The Art of War, “Those who win every battle are not really
skillful. Those who render others’ armies helpless without fighting are
the best of all!” And that’s what was done, embarrassing the prisoncrats
who were ill prepared to deal with it. It’s only a battle in a broader
war.
I am nobody’s leader or follower. My duties are to help teach
independent thought, which will ensure that an individual can and will
anticipate the likely reaction of prisoncrats and minimize the effect.
Everyone has seen the so-called increase of privileges, some of which
are still very elusive, since they mandate a year without a
disciplinary, which will never be possible for a true revolutionary or
resister to achieve. These privileges also encourage prisoners to lean
on their families and friends to help finance their imprisonment and
enrich prison profiteers who feed on the golden state’s teat.
The original hunger strike strategy clearly impacted prisoncrats. It
should provide a plethora of new tactical ideas. Consider that besides
the so-called security concerns over prisoners possessing cell phones,
the reality is that cell phones cut into prisoncrats’ fiscal resources.
The prison phone provider gives the CDCR a concession fee. This is why
prisoners’ phone privileges, canteen, packages and anything that the
CDCR receives a concession fee from, are generally not taken. The income
from canteen purchases pay the wages of state SEIU employees who are
canteen managers II, I, supervisors and workers in addition to profits
being diverted from prisoner welfare to custody welfare activities.
We should consider alternative strategies that hit them where it hurts
the most: in their pocketbook. Just like one can go without eating for a
week or three, people should be able to go without canteen for 3 to 6
months and empty trust accounts, which will result in more expense to
the CDCR. There are numerous ways that the CDCR sticks it to prisoners’
families and friends. So if, as Loco1 suggests, it is correct to
re-evaluate our actions, it is my opinion that the new strategy should
be a fiscal one.
I address this to all prisoners irrespective of your status, as status
is given by prisoncrats. Be you general population or sensitive needs,
if you choose to allow prisoncrats to manipulate and control you with
privileges, you are by proxy their collaborator. As such you cause as
much of the problem, rather than a solution.
I also want to point out that tactically and strategically it is
never
wise to call out numerous lumpen organizations as BORO/Loco1 did.
Such will likely have a negative impact, since those named will have to
deal with substantively more scrutiny. So while others may think that
ULK is a forum to send shout outs, to me the objective is to
try to encourage education and the capacity to think independently. The
CDCR benefits from dumbed-down prisoners, particularly those who do not
have their priorities in order.
Prisoncrats look to pacify all prisoners, particularly the segment that
is weakest. So it is on us to try to encourage self-esteem, self-worth,
self-sacrifice and self-deprivation, all of which builds character and
the ability to endure the picklesuits’ plots and conspiracies. The
preparation that is most important to any struggle is the will to
personally do something to encourage change. I believe that ideas and
strategies of the opposition should be examined, and then we can decide
on a course of action and systematically pass on the purpose and
reasoning, not as leaders to followers but as men and women in concerted
struggle.
The fact that there is no real accountability of prisoncrats and their
subordinates has again led to the introduction of Assembly Bill 1270 on
January 26, 2012 by Assembly Member Tom Ammiano to try to restore media
access to prisoners. Taking away media access gave prisoncrats control
over what’s spoon fed to the public. Independent media access is what
made it possible for the pacification privileges introduced in the 60s
and 70s, since there was a lot more transparency and prisoncrats were
exposed to more accountability. But since the imposition of media
restrictions on pre-arranged in-person interviews with prisoners, what
takes place in prison tends to be out-of-sight/out-of-mind.
I believe in a
United
Front, but we must recognize that the composition of that front is
varied. I prefer that we always seek to encourage education which brings
clarity and understanding to less knowledgeable comrades. I will say,
however that ignorance and stupidity is infectious. I guess I could be
equated with a silverback, only I do not take to leading. But I am not
adverse to the development of consciousness so maybe we should send
requests to the education department of all CDCR prisons asking for
“The
Rise of the Planet of the Apes” that Wiawimawo provided us with a
review of in August 2011, as it might help open up some minds to
revolutionary concepts.
Yes I’m all for a true United Front, where we all (Black, Brown, White,
Yellow, Red, Green, Blue or plaid) can stand together to regain our
civil and human rights, not confusing privileges with rights. We can
positively seek to cease all the senseless grudges that plague the
ethnic divisions and LOs. I do not believe in violence just for
amusement. My battle is not with prisoners, it’s with prisoncrats. Any
prisoner who sees me as a threat, I deem them an agent of the state.
“Think and not hate” is what your commentator in struggle relates.
MIM(Prisons) responds: First we want to agree with the criticism
of calling out LO members by name which we already responded to
elsewhere.
But we do not agree with this comrade’s abdication of leadership. The
movement has a strong need for leaders and pretending that all people
are equal in this way gives power over to the imperialists who have no
problem seizing leadership. Those who are more advanced, have more
education, or more will to struggle, must take up leadership positions
in educating and organizing others. We can’t afford to have these people
step back in the name of equality as that void will be filled by
reactionary leaders. The antidote to misleaders is better, more educated
leaders as well as a better more educated mass that can judge, choose
and reject would-be leaders. Ultimately we are working towards a
society, communism, where all people are equal and all can lead, but we
must deal with the current reality and uneven development of forces and
individuals. USW is an organization for leaders. A vanguard party is the
leader of the revolution. And the oppressed people desperately need more
leaders.
by a North Carolina prisoner February 2012 permalink
I have spent the last 60 days in the hole for writing an administrative
remedy on the superintendent. He turns around and has me placed in
segregation and charges me with an offense due to my political activism.
I am what they call a trouble maker because I teach others with our
knowledge. But that’s what I do. I was taught by the old heads to do
what I do.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This response to prisoner’s fighting for
their legal rights against repression is all too common. It is one of
the driving forces behind our expanding campaign
demanding
grievances be addressed. While we organize and educate for broader
anti-imperialist change, we can use this campaign to fight for greater
freedom to carry out political organizing behind bars. Write to us for a
copy of the grievance petition for your state, or to help expand the
campaign to your state by customizing the generic petition to your local
conditions.