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.
I’m attacking the “Heat Sensitivity Scoring (HSS).”
We feel that being classified as “Heat Sensitive”, which requires a
cool-bed housing assignment, is a medical treatment and a medical
diagnosis. A diagnosis that you should be able to choose if you want the
“treatment” or not. We have a right to refuse medical treatment but they
will not let us opt out of this “classification” and will not explain
how this “Heat Score” was calculated.
The best information I’ve gotten on the Cool-bed litigation came from
Nell Gaither at the Trans Pride Initiative PO Box 3982, Dallas, TX 75208
(214) 449-1439, tpride.org. She copied and pasted Document 59-2 from
Sain v. Collier 4:18-CV-4412 and I had her letter entered in my
case. It is a 4 page letter and you can buy it for $0.50 per page from
the Clerk in the Western District, Austin Division @ 501 W. 5th St.,
Suite 1100, Austin, TX 78701.
TDCJ makes First Nation practitioners take a religious knowledge test
before they will approve them for a Designated Native American Unit and
if you can’t pass the test you can’t meet with clergy or attend
ceremonies, etc.
I was shipped off of my Designated Unit and put in High Security in
Allred because I was “Heat Sensitive.” SO they denied me of my religion
due to my health conditions and wouldn’t tell me I had to re-take the
test to re-apply for a Designated Unit (which is unconstitutional).
Anyway, what they’re really doing is shipping [lawsuit/paperwork] filers
off to high security claiming they are “Heat Sensitive.”
If this happens to others, all they need to do is contact the
Chaplain and apply for a transfer to a Designated Unit again. They will
have to take the test again as is TDCJ Religious Policy AD-07.30 policy
number 09.02(rev3)p.1 &2 and policy 09.02(rev2) Attachment A.
We are looking to do away with this unconstitutional religious
discrimination and teach our own religion. TDCJ’s text is based on
Lakota religion and there are no Lakota tribes in Texas, so it is
difficult to get Native Chaplains willing to teach a religion that is
not their own.
People are fired up about ULK 78! I’m going to be ordering
all of my grievances to send to TX Prison Reform. Thank you Triumphant
of T.E.A.M. O.N.E.! for the good info. I’ve already ordered my
grievances, I have 56! You can purchase them from the law library for
$0.10 each.
Note to my Connally Unit comrades: As of 1 August 2022, TDCJ will no
longer make legal copies, which is fucked up! I’m having to send my
original documents through the mail to the court and hope they don’t
steal my mail. Warden Rayford has banned inmate-to-inmate legal visits
and there is no drinking water in the Law Library and no bathroom
breaks. If you need to go to the pisser, your session is over.
No legal copies and legal visits hinders our access to courts, but I
suggest sending an I-60 in and getting a denial on paper even if you
don’t need a jailhouse lawyer. Then, if you loose your case you can say
this was because you didn’t have your “helper.” Johnson v. Avery,
393 U.S. 483, 490(1969) says you have a right to get legal help
from other prisoners unless the prison “provides some reasonable
alternative to assist inmates in the preparation of petitions.” And if
they are still retaliating after that, make sure you got a lot of
witnesses. It is a federal crime for state actors (the prison officials)
to threaten or assault witnesses in federal litigation 18
U.S.C.§1512(a)(2).
With just a month remaining before the first series of actions around
the Juneteenth Freedom Initiative, we have received reports of
repression of activists by the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice(TDCJ).
One of the hearts of this campaign comes out of the brutal Allred
Restrictive Housing Unit(RHU) where people have spent decades in
isolation. We’ve recently learned that one organizer at Allred hasn’t
received half a dozen letters we’ve sent em over the last few months.
Eir outgoing mail is also delayed or gone missing. This mail tampering
is illegal. We wrote the
warden of Allred to stop this censorship.. If he doesn’t stop it, we
know this political repression is intentional from the top of the TDCJ
to suppress our boycotting of Juneteenth.
We are asking others to join our letter writing and postcard campaign
in support of the rights of MIM Distributors and these activists in
Allred to freely communicate. The pdf below can be downloaded, printed
on card stock and cut into four postcards. Then you can ask people to
sign them, put a postcard stamp ($0.40) on them, and drop them in a mail
box. Over the next couple months we want to show TDCJ that people
outside are paying attention and supporting the Juneteenth Freedom
Initiative. This is one way to do that. You can also call Warden Jimmy
Smith @ (940) 855-7477 (**069).
“Page(s) 4 contains information advocating prison disruption.”
Prisoners are very limited in what they can do when their grievances
are ignored. Most actions will lead to repression. A boycott is the most
passive action. There are no calls to violence nor do the plans threaten
security in any way. Just a peaceful demonstration of solidarity,
demanding some basic humyn rights be applied in Texas prisons. Yet this
is being outlawed by the state.
Even worse, in eir most recent update, one comrade in Stevenson
reported that:
“last night I was placed in handcuffs and marched off to solitary
confinement, the place from where I currently write. I woke this morning
to find I’m being charged with 2 new rules violations: 1) Attempt/threat
to assault a correctional officer and 2) Assault of a correctional
officer.”
There was no assault. In fact this comrade is not even supposed to be
housed on the second floor because of eir health conditions. Ey believes
this is retaliation for the appeals ey filed against the censorship of
literature sent by MIM Distributors. Meanwhile, MIM Distributors was not
given the opportunity to appeal, and only received the final decision
from TDCJ.
As our comrade in Stevenson Unit so eloquently concluded,
“They will never succeed in snuffing out my flame and their attempts
to silence the truth only causes it to roar even louder! They cloak
themselves in legitimacy and the trappings of power because deep down
they know they are weak and the system is crumbling – to be swept aside
along with all the silly liberal reformers and we build a better world
over their ruins, a new society based on equality and respect and
compassion and truth and justice and”love” – a human society fit for
fully involved and determined human beings at peace with themselves,
each other, and the world around us.”
Things here in Connecticut remain same as last communique: regressive
and stifling! Oh! I do have intel which you comrades may find
interesting?!
In January I went to R.H.U. and initiated a hungerstrike. My
objective(s) were:
to get my rehab appointments from month’s ago
rescheduled;
to see the quack masquerading as a doctor!
After thirteen days, my tactic was successful! Now, the issue came
when a unit manager calls R.H.U. (at behest of my associates in unit) to
check on my health.
The R.H.U. Lieutenant “bad jackets” me & says, “[name of author]
has nothing coming as he is a child molester”. This blatant lie was
manufactured in response to my chastisement of this R.H.U. Lieutenant
for his managing conduct (lol)! In his quest to “get me” he locates a
child molester with my 1st & last name (sans middle name obviously)
and goes on to spread the falsehood to his subordinates, who in turn
spread it to captives in various pseudo-leadership roles within their
lumpen entities. Now, as I am from another state, the killers believed
that their smear campaign would work, ie. I am unknown here! However, as
a New Afrikan! one’s day-to-day stride coupled with fact, that I’ve
striven to build quality captives since my arrival! negated the pigs’
ploy. “Real recognizes real.” But, as many of Connecticut’s captives are
ideologically backwards and overtly pig acolytes, I may have to spit
fire at some point! Enough said.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We want to commend the people,
the L.O. leaders, in this Connecticut prison for not being taken in by
the pigs’ lies and judging people by facts and action. This is the second
principle of the United Front for Peace in Prisons –
Unity – in action!
We must not let state paperwork determine who we trust and who we do
not. What this comrade faced is an old trick. And we commend this
comrade for eir righteous behavior in a new environment. It goes to show
how righteous, revolutionary action helps build peace in prisons, even
when it seems like the environment is in a backwards state of affairs.
‘Department of Corrections’. A place in which nothing is correct. Nor
does it correct, but corrupts absolutely. Missouri DOC and its
Corruption Officers (C.O.’s) hold in clear disdain the lives of the
human beings in its corrupting facilities. An example of this: the
‘South-Eastern Correctional Center’ (herein after referred to as the
“South-Eastern Plantation” or “SECC”) located in Charleston, MO.
The South-Eastern Plantation has taken two new modes of torture
within its Ad-Seg units. On top of being overly eager to unleash
chemical weapons known as MK-9 or “pepper spray” on offenders even in
non-violent, non-hostile, non-threatening or unsafe instances; the
South-Eastern Plantation has taken to starvation tactics and
food-poisoning. By providing inmates with week-old food or in cases of
those on “Certified Religious Diets”, stale and black-molded crackers,
peanut butters, etc. It is bad enough that COII Pig Sites puts it, “This
is our house boy, we own you.” COII Pig Sites and COI Pig Dobbs alike
make it their business to “break offenders in” by beating them in
handcuffs upon arrival to their single-cell confinement building 1
house. They say such beatings bring “safety and security” to the
facility, and that “If you don’t like it, then don’t make mistakes and
obey our commands”.
In January of this year 2022, prisoners held in the two-man cell
Ad-Seg unit (herein after referred to as Z House) all began to check out
of their cells and refuse to enter into cells for being deprived of
hair-cuts, proper food rations, clothing and unsatisfactory living
conditions. Instead of accommodating offenders to what is theirs by
‘right’, the institution instead attempted to pull the bus up to
transfer these individuals. As FUM (Facility Unit Manager) Cosby put it,
“We don’t want people like you all here, we need good boys that do what
they’re told and accept what we give them. The likes of you will only
mess up what we’ve got going on.” As to what they have going on we may
never know…$$$.
SECC’s nurses formerly employed by ‘CORIZON’ are helping the corrupt
facility by submitting fake test results for COVID-19. They just
recently filled up a wing in General Population twice under the pretense
of “testing positive” for COVID-19. 64 individuals, only 24 of which had
actually been tested and 12 of them actually positive. The only option
being, go to quarantine or go to the hole. These offenders with full
privileges now only allowed one 45 minute cell rotation. This was used
as a way to scheme money as well as punish/target individuals whom they
had a certain disliking for. The games never stop.
The comrades here at SECC fight for a world free of oppression, and
to bring awareness to Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. Even in the midst of
ongoing battles we will continue to shed light to the MIM and its
readers. We wish you all the best of luck as well, because our fight is
one. For a quick overview of what
else has been going on here see ULK NO.76 Winter 2022.
i am taking the time to write this because i would like the
readership to know the truth about what’s been going on recently at the
TDCJ Allred unit in regards to COVID-19 and targeted repression of
socio-political leaders.
Many of you reading this are already aware of the spike in COVID
infections related to the emergence of the Omicron variant. Here at
Allred, particularly in the restrictive housing unit, which houses some
six hundred plus people in conditions internationally recognized as
inhumane, there has been a dangerous and life threatening pattern of
administrative negligence in regards to the effort (lack thereof) to
quell the spread of this aggressive virus.
Back in August of 2021, captive persyns held on the Allred RHU and
other units held a hunger-strike protest. One of the issues raised and
forwarded to unit, regional, and state level administrators was, ‘#10-
follow all CDC COVID-19 protocols’. Even after people have literally
starved themselves, the unit administration still has refused, and
neglected to implement, and re-implement basic CDC COVID guidelines.
On January 6th, Comrade Ozomatli, co-founder, and key figure of the
TX TeamOne organization, was strategically targeted for harassment, by
way of an unlawful search and seizure, and purposely exposed to
COVID-19. On the above date Ozomatli was taken from his cell and placed
in a holding cage in the building’s main hallway for five hours!
i am not too good with math and measurements, but i know the cage in
question is absolutely too small to place a full grown human in for that
amount of time. There is no where to relieve ones self, not anywhere to
comfort ones self. Regardless, Ozomatli remained in this holding cage
while a multitude of agents of repression searched his usual abode. i
raise the question, what possibly could they be looking for, and not
find if it were there, in such a small space, for such an extended
period of time?
To even begin to analyze this question We must first point out that
the incident on January 6th was the second such incident targeting this
same comrade in the last few months. Previously the only thing
confiscated were the comrade’s contact information written down on
various papers and inside books. On January 6th, the comrade’s entire
cache of persynal property was confiscated, and he would remain
property-less for a week.
During this ordeal, Ozomatli was placed in danger, recklessly, of
catching COVID-19. Agents of repression who escorted him from and
returned him to his cell weren’t following proper COVID guidelines.
Afterwards, in the matter of days, a new COVID outbreak ensued on the
RHU building, and unsurprisingly the outbreak has been largely centered
on the pod which Ozomatli inhabits. When other prisoners on other pods
show symptoms they’re re-housed on the same pod as Ozomatli.
Furthermore, prisoners are being constantly moved around, leaving and
being brought to the unit and thus constantly exposing more and
spreading more and more COVID. Daily so-called ‘integrity checks’ are
still in operation, along with unnecessary cell extractions, and are
also inducing the spread of COVID.
Administrators are refusing to test or even symptom check prisoners,
as was done in the mid 2020 days of the pandemic. There’s this untrue
belief that the pandemic is over, despite the fact that less than 70% of
people (prisoners & guards combined) are vaccinated. An untold
number of prisoners have mass filed grievances, but of course appealing
to the same source of Our predicament has rendered little to no
results.
i would be remiss if i didn’t acknowledge the underlying political
undertones of Ozomatli’s being harassed, and also pinpoint other similar
patterns adhered to by the unit administration sometimes at the behest
of the state level agents of repression.
Ozomatli, as i have said, is a leader with the Texas TeamOne
Organization. TeamOne is an organization of politicized prisoners
dedicated to politicizing prisoners and consolidating those in TX into a
class that can actively struggle for its interests, as well as, and more
importantly, reinsert people into the larger society as assets to
communities which are all too often neglected in the realms of social,
political and economic development.
Ozomatli is an abolitionist, a Chican@, and a leader that leads by
example. Thus it goes without saying that Ozomatli’s very existence as a
Chican@ revolutionary imprisoned in tekkk$a$‘s gulags, is seen as a
threat to the enemy-state and the prison administration, and this is the
underlying politics of his harassment. Ozomatli has recently been
working with other comrades and formations, independent of his work with
TeamOne, in mobilizing a Texas prisoners’ political action committee, it
is during the time span of this work in that sphere that the
administration has targeted him.
The clearly politically motivated repression tactics, in a supposedly
‘free’ country, do not stop there. i myself have been a constant target
for similar tactics of intimidation, and retaliation. i have been
‘sentenced’ essentially to LIFE in TDCJ’s RHU. This repression came on
the immediate back of Our collective hunger-strike effort in August
(thru September 9th). i was seen in absentia by the State Classification
Committee four days later. i was denied release to general population,
after having been without any disciplinary incident in over four years
time. The reasons given for this miscarriage of justice was that i am
staff assaultive, and prone to possess weapons, and the main one,
written in large bold letters, was the fact that i am currently serving
an unjust sentence of Life Without Parole. The third reason was provided
as the main reason for my denial of release. The catch is that i can
not, on my own accord, alter my sentence therefore this decision
summarily acts to confine me in isolation for the remainder of my
sentence (life).
Of course the timing and the fact that these issues have never been
previously brought up at these hearings, testifies to the fact that the
decision is a retaliatory measure being used to quell the momentum being
built up among the captives here and around the state. IT WILL NOT
WORK!
Other measures of retaliation such as illegal mail
tampering/disappearance are common place. Outgoing letters of even a
neutral nature take up to two months to even leave the unit, and
incoming mail, including books and other packages have the same waiting
time. The former mailroom supervisor was made to resign for ‘undisclosed
reasons’, yet mailroom negligence, and deliberate tampering continues
even under the watchful eyes of one, Major Murdock, whose been made to
keep eyes on mailroom staff.
By no means is this all the repressive tactics utilized by
administrators, nor is it only TeamOne affiliates, or political
prisoners. For the sake of time however We will hold these slights as a
small example. it is important i say that none of this is meant to
discourage activism and justified rebellion. In fact the contrary is the
intent. i assert here that if more of the captive populace took
liberatory ideals and practices more seriously We could actually begin
to pose a threat, not only to the prison institution, but the
established order as We know it. As George said:
“If we can reach each other through all of this, fences, fear,
concrete, steel, barbed wire, guns, the hystory will commend us for a
great victory won…” - Soledad Brother
As a sign of solidarity, We call on the public to report the
administrative negligence surrounding Allred’s handling of COVID-19 to
the following; (prisoners should write complaints regarding their own
units):
Dept. of Health & Human Services, region6,
regional director
Marjorie McColl Petty
1301 Young St. ste#1124
Dallas, Tx 75202
or call 214-767-3301
Also, outside supporters should be sure to make a report to the
following:
David Blackwell, regional director-region 5 @ 806-296-4500(ext
400)
In 2017, MIM(Prisons) published Under Lock &
Key #59 (ULK) which focused on the impact drugs have on the prison
movement. ULK #59 was particularly significant to our
cause, given the fact that drugs play a central role in preventing the
lumpen from developing into a revolutionary force inside U.$. prisons.
As various comrades attested to in that issue, drugs are poisons that
eat away any potential unity of the oppressed, by fostering violence
amongst the imprisoned lumpen, and the bourgeoisification of those
involved in the trade. Also, discussed in ULK #59 was the
scourge of the synthetic cannibinoid K2 and the rise of opioid use in
prisons at the time. Since then, another opioid has gained popularity
behind prison walls, mostly because of its availability; Suboxone.
In 2020, the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation(CDCR) introduced Suboxone to its 33 prisons as part of
its Integrated Substance Use Disorder Treatment(ISUDT). Suboxone is a
medication used to treat opioid addiction, specifically in the detox and
withdrawal stages of care. According to the San Quentin News,
“ISUDT is touted as the largest in-prison medically assisted treatment
program in the nation.”(1) CDCR credits Suboxone with a sharp decline in
overdose deaths in its prisons since its introduction. But is there more
than meets the eye to this apparent miracle drug?
What is Suboxone?
Suboxone is a combination medication containing buprenorphine and
naloxone.(2) Suboxone is derived from opium, and was supposedly intended
to be a less addictive alternative to methodone, morphine, and
oxycodone.(3) Though viewed as a safe alternative to other drugs,
Suboxone can still be deadly when taken intravenously or in combination
with other drugs and alcohol. Other side effects are:
* cardiac arrhythmia
* irregular blood pressure
* respiratory issues
* liver and kidney problems
* constipation
* urinary retention
* sweating
* short term memory issues
* difficulty thinking clearly and focusing
* impaired coordination
* headache
* nausea and vomiting
* sedation (4)
Where Did Suboxone Come From?
Suboxone was developed in the 1970s by Reckitt Benckiser, a Briti$h
company at the behest of the Amerikan government. At the time, the
United $tates was searching for a “less addictive” alternative for
patients with opioid use disorder. After Suboxone was created, Reckitt
Benckiser shipped the drug to the United $tates narcotic farm in
Lexington, Kentucky to be tested on detoxified addicts. The farm was
also a prison and treatment facility as well as the site of the U.$.
government’s Addiction Research Center.
It was at the Addiction Research Center that the government
discovered just how addictive Suboxone could be, yet it was still
marketed as a useful tool to combat addiction. Originally the doctors
prescribing the drug had to hold special licenses and undergo special
training. However, the government loosened its restrictions in response
to the number of opioid associated deaths. Since then, Suboxone has
raked in billions of dollars for pharmaceutical companies and millions
more for the addiction treatment sector that sprang up in its wake.(5)
Yet, there have been 100,000 overdose deaths attributed to opioids in
the last 12 months.(6) Those same doctors trained by the government have
also been found to be some of the most unscrupulous predators around.(7)
As such, it was perplexing to many that the CDCR would provide such a
highly addictive drug with such potential for abuse at a time when most
prison addicts had already detoxed and gone through withdrawals, thanks
to the statewide prison lockdown in response to the COVID-19
pandemic.
Drugs are Chemical Weapons
The use of drugs as part of a larger strategy of unconventional
warfare dates back to the 16th century when Europeans created the drug
trade to finance the expansion of their empires and the rise of
industrial capitalism.(8) One of the most infamous examples of this was
the Briti$h East India Company’s use of opium to subdue China and bring
it into its sphere of influence by creating a nation of addicts. While
the Portuguese and Dutch were the first to popularize opium smoking in
China, it was the Briti$h who took full advantage of this. When the
Chinese realized what was happening, they attempted to ban all foreign
ships from entry and close their ports. The Briti$h claimed the Chinese
were blocking their access to Chinese markets, and used this as a
pretext to launch the first of two opium wars. By 1900, 27% of all adult
males in China were addicted to smoking opium and China was forced to
cede Hong Kong to the Briti$h.(9) This chapter in Chinese history marked
the beginning of what Mao Zedong called China’s dark night of slavery to
the west.
It was around this same time that alcohol was used by Amerikkkans to
facilitate the genocide of First Nations people and the theft of their
land. This period also marks the first recorded use of biological
weapons, when the U.$. Army used smallpox infected blankets to decimate
natives and clear the land for white settlers. Together, these acts of
savagery resulted in the extermination of 98% of people indigenous to
what is today the United $tates and the worst genocide in humyn
hystory.(10) Events similar to these played out in Africa, Asia, and the
Americas.(11)
During the 20th century, the Briti$h and Amerikkkan imperialists
developed more sophisticated means with which to subdue the oppressed
nations. Project MK-Ultra is one such example. Project MK-Ultra was
initiated by the CIA in the 1950s along with the Briti$h MI6, their
sometimes collaborators. This top secret project involved using drugs
and the media to attack and discredit Amerika’s political enemies.
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), or just simply “acid” for short,
became the drug of choice for the CIA at this time. LSD was created by
Albert Hoffman, a Nazi collaborator working for the Swiss IG Farben.
Starting in the 1950s, the CIA began producing their own acid in
“tonnage quantities” after asking pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly to
synthesize Hoffman’s formula. This was part of the CIA’s larger plan to
dose the water supply of the Soviet Union. The CIA knew for themselves
the effects of LSD as they tested the drugs on prisoners at the same
facility in Lexington, Kentucky that Suboxone was tested at twenty years
later! Here, prisoners were kept tripping for 77 days straight as part
of Project Artichoke which was one of many programs under the umbrella
of Project MK-Ultra.(12)
The connection between the development of Suboxone, the CIA and
Acid’s early days are alarming given the fact that Suboxone was
introduced to California prisons at a time of heightened political
consciousness amongst prisoners, an economic recession, a rise in white
nationalism, Black Lives Matter protests, a statewide no visiting
lockdown, and the ten-year anniversary of prison hunger strikes that
rocked CDCR and produced ripple effects across Amerikkka’s gulags. Thus,
it was certainly in the interests of the imperialists to suppress the
germs of any potential organizing amongst the oppressed lumpen.
And although the CIA’s plans with respect to the Soviet Union never
came to fruition, they did use LSD to attack the political enemies of
the Amerikan bourgeoisie. Outspoken college professors critical of the
U.$., political activists, communists, government whistle-blowers and
their families all fell victim to LSD and were publicly
discredited.(13)
As the anti-imperialist movement gained traction both outside and
inside of U.$. borders, the use of LSD and other chemical weapons was
expanded. Throughout the 1970s heroin became part and parcel to the
fight against New Afrikan, Chican@, and First Nations national
liberation movements. Asian-produced opium also became critical to U.$.
imperialism’s war against Vietnam. Drug money was used to help
facilitate the creation of Taiwan as a U.$. ally against Maoist China
prior to these events.(14) Methadone too was linked to the opioid
problem in New York City in the 1970s. Methadone as “maintenance
treatment” for heroin addicts was funded by the Rockefeller Program.(15)
The Rockefellers have also been implicated in Nazi atrocities, the red
scare media campaigns, and CIA operations.
The 1980s brought us the Iran-Contra scandal responsible for the
introduction of crack-cocaine into the ghettos and barrios of the United
$tates. Again, the CIA was found to be at the heart of these dirty wars
which involved the use of Iranian money to buy Amerikan guns. Money from
the Iranians was then use to buy cocaine from Colombia for sale in the
United $tates. Amerikan drug money was then re-circulated to fund
counter-revolutionaries in Nicaragua fighting the leftist
Sandinistas.(17)
More recently, Operation Fast and Furious made international
headlines when the CIA was exposed for selling firearms to Mexican
cartels as a means of keeping the Mexican government destabilized and
the Mexican people from fighting their oppressors. The last thing the
U.$. wants is for a neo-colonial country on their doorstep to turn
independent and determine their own destinies.
The Problem as We Understand
It
If the imperialists really wanted to they could shut down the drug
trade, but that runs counter to their interests. Addiction defines
capitalist society. Addiction lies at the center of supply and demand
economics and is what drives the anarchy of production. From cell
phones, to soap operas, to opioids and methamphetamines, everyone living
in a capitalist society is addicted to something. Addiction in
capitalist society is encouraged as a means to realizing profit; but
also as a way to keep people in general, and the masses in particular,
distracted and unable to rise up against oppression. Nowhere is this
seen better than in the recent hystory of the oppressed nations.
In a critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, Karl Marx
explained how religion had hystorically been urged to drug people much
in the same ways the bourgeois uses actual drugs today:
“Religious suffering is at one and the same time the expression of
real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the
sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the
soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”(18)
Marx was writing at a time of the industrial revolution when the
“miracle” of capitalism was creating advancements in humyn hystory never
before seen. However, it was also creating grinding oppression and
poverty previously unknown. Capitalism also promoted ideas of
individualism, self-centeredness, greed, and exceptionalism, some of the
worst qualities in humyn behavior, and expanding them to include entire
populations, most pointedly in the labor aristocracy. All this combined
led to lives full of misery and desperation for the masses. Lives in
which the only solace was that of an afterlife. And while religion
continues to act as a smokescreen in the oppression of the masses, the
use of drugs has proved indispensable.
Today the root causes of oppression can be better traced to nation,
class, and gender contradictions which have completely warped the way
people interact on both a macro and micro level. The root causes of
addiction are much the same.
In regards to religious suffering, Marx knew better than to simply
call for the abolition of religion. Instead, he realized that it was the
conditions that led to religious suffering themselves that needed to be
abolished. Otherwise, some other new feel good belief would come to fill
the void left by religion, and the oppressive system itself would remain
in its place:
“The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is
the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their
illusions about their conditions is to call on them to give up a
condition that requires illusion. The criticism of religion is therefore
in embryo the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the
halo.”(19)
In other words, religion sanctified capitalism and helped make it
tolerable for the oppressed. Drugs play a similar role in today’s
culture. If one is high all the time than ey does not think about the
many years ey have to spend in prison. One does not have to deal with
the fact that ey made a decision that impacted countless lives because
of eir parasitic behavior. The use of drugs allows one to cope with the
impact nation, class, and gender contradictions have had on em through
intergenerational trauma, all the while keeping them unable to
understand how the three strands of oppression manifest through that
trauma.
We encourage people to get drug free and stay that way, but this
requires more than the status quo in addiction treatment, which only
teaches how to better cope with the trauma of imperialism. We encourage
comrades to go further and destroy the conditions that require
illusions. We encourage comrades to take up revolution.
MIM(Prisons) adds: We will be doing a follow-up on this
article with the results of our second survey on drugs in prisons found
in ULK 75. We are still collecting and aggregating your
responses. It’s not too late if you have not responded yet.
We know the state is opposed to our efforts to expose and combat the
plague of drug addiction among imprisoned lumpen. Branchville
Correctional Facility in Indiana censored ULK 75 citing:
“denied based on the article about Suboxone, and the common drug
slang terms and sale information used in one of the articles. The items
in the article violate IDOC/BCF policies.”
Notes: [1] San Quentin News, September 2021, Pg. 8. [2]
5 Myths About Using Suboxone, Peter Greenspan MD, October 7, 2021
[3] Extended Suboxone Treatment Substantially Improves Outcomes for
Opioid Addicted Youth, November 4, 2008 [4] Suboxone vs Methodone:
Positives and Negatives, Avatar, May 21, 2021 [5] Addiction
Treatment with a Dark Side, New York Times, 2013 [6] Amanpour &
Co, PBS, December 7, 2021 [7] Addiction Treatment with a Dark Side,
New York Times, 2013 [8] Drugs As Weapons Against Us: The CIA’s
Murderous Targeting of SDS, Panthers, Hendrix, Lennon, Cobain, Tupac,
and Other Activists, John L. Potash, Trine Day LLC, 2015, Pg 7-9 [9]
Ibid, pg 10 [10] J. Sakai, 1989, Settlers: Mythology of the White
Proletariat, 3rd Edition, Morningstar Press, p. 7. Sakai cites
200-300,000 native people remaining by 1900, of an estimated 10 million
people before colonization. [11] Drugs as Weapons Against Us, Pg
10 [12] Ibid, Pg 29-30 [13] Ibid, Pg 31-36 [14] Ibid, Pg
45-51 [15] Under Lock & Key, Issue 59, Pg 5, 2017 [16] Drugs
as Weapons Against Us, Pg 13-14 [17] Ibid, Pg 279-285 [18] Karl
Marx, 1843, Introduction to “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s
Philosophy of Right.” [19] A Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of
Right, Karl Marx
In the recent history surrounding Texas prison reform there has been
an erasure surrounding the plight of those held captive in solitary
confinement as it’s practiced by the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice’s(TDCJ) Restrictive Housing Units(RHU). There are numerous
groups and persyns who proclaim that they advocate for the interests of
the Texas prisoner class, but their class interests prevents them from
aligning themselves with the objective struggles of this prison system’s
cast-a-ways in RHU.
Many of these groups whom i’ve had the choice opportunity to dialogue
with via correspondence, or have spoken to captive representatives of
these groups, have fallen into the keeper’s trap of the ‘violent’
offender as the new boogey man. This line of thought ultimately concedes
that those of us trapped in these isolation tombs deserve such
conditions, that we’re beyond redemption. Sometimes, such persyns spew
the rhetoric that We in solitary are actually well-off, and living a
privileged existence. They say, ‘your food is brought to you, your
laundry, and everything else’ They assert that all We have to do all day
and night is basically chill, and We should be appreciative. Some
officers express a form of jealously, that We don’t pay bills, yet have
a handful of privileges, and seemingly unlimited downtime.
What people like this do not understand is that solitary confinement
as it is practiced via TDCJ’s RHU, is an artificial environment. By
artificial this means that it is an unnatural habitat. It is unnatural
to relinquish all civil and domestic responsibility from humankind. We
must also pose the question as to whether or not such circumstances are
productive for the individual or the society? Of course not! Who
benefits from the cultivation of a sub-class of people who’re forcefully
and entirely dependent upon everyone else in the society, and do not
provide any sort of productive function in return? When humans
cultivated civilization the world over and social responsibility was
entrusted to those of the peer group, these responsibilities were not
merely for the betterment of the social cohesiveness, but also for the
better and more balanced function of the individual as well. In short,
humyns need to be engaged in meaningful and proactive activities in
order to function at their highest levels of consciousness.
The conditions of TDCJ’s solitary confinement debilitate rather than
rehabilitate thousands of people each day. i’ve spent 8 1/2 of the last
ten years in solitary confinement. At no point in this time frame have i
ever had the opportunity to take part in any form of organized
instruction. i entered these isolation tombs as a politically ignorant
cast away. i’ve evolved, and redeemed myself via my own independent
efforts, without the interference or assistance of my keepers. Despite
the state’s stated mission to have the best interests of the general
public at heart, their true motives and intentions for their warehousing
of so many prisoners is clear. This class of people who at any time find
themselves confined in RHU are intended to be kept in an unending state
of dependence and politico-economic alienation. This is even, and
especially, after release. It is with this notion that i assert that it
is this class of prisoners whom embody ‘paper-citizens’ in amerika, as
coined in the ‘New Afrikan Declaration of Independence’.
New Afrikan revolutionary nationalist political prisoner Mutope
Duguma articulated one profound statement, ‘Ask yourselves why is it
that so many New Afrikans who have a strong political line just happen
to be locked up in solitary confinement units. We know they are not
terrorists, We know they are not gang members & We know that they
are not criminals.’
The organization and movement proactively mobilizing Texas’ captive
population is known as Tx TEAMONE. We’re an organization founded for and
by the captives themselves, not by opportunistic outside (or inside)
elements, but by proletarian conscious prisoners. One of Our main
tactics in Our Mission of elevating the socio-political commitment and
awareness of Texas’ lumpen class, is the prisoner-led mobilizing for the
abolition of solitary confinement as it’s practiced by TDCJ’s RHU.
A Case Study on Why RHU must
Go!
Beginning with the general and moving to the particular, a conscious
observer can readily notice that around the empire, from state to state,
politically active prisoners are being held in the most barbaric, and
unthinkably repressive conditions imaginable. Almost invariably these
captives are sitting in solitary confinement cells. The few that aren’t
are being shipped from state to state, sea to shining sea in a federal
effort to ostracize these captives from their political base(s).
Solitary confinement advances the same purpose within each prison
facility. A politically active captive’s political base begins with
their peers whom are also in captivity. The productive revolutionary
behind the walls is the one who’s successful in organizing their peers
behind a revolutionary program. (think; Attica; Angola BPP etc)
Therefore, the tactical use of solitary confinement to quell
revolutionary organizing has been a re-occurring reality in prisons
around the world in the imperialists’ task of keeping the masses of
people blind, deaf, and dumb to the socio-political truths of Our
collective predicament as oppressed nation people in the era of
imperialism.
Whether We look to Califas, where revolutionary New Afrikans were
kept warehoused in SHU’s, or in Indiana were Bro. Kwame Shakur is being
tortured in a SHU, or the domestic exile of Shaka Shakur, or the
thousands of unnamed, lower-profiled politically active prisoners, New
Afrikan or otherwise, it is clear that long-term and indefinite solitary
confinement is being utilized to strategically remove political dissent
off the face of the amerikkkan empire.
In tekkk$a$, there is a long hystory of not only warehousing
political dissenters, but assassinating them. In June of 2000, innocent
death row captive, Shaka Sankofa s/n Garry Graham, was murdered by the
state of tekkk$a$. Not only had evidence came out that Shaka was
innocent but he, unlike most of death row prisoners or prisoners in
general, had become politicized while in captivity. Garry Graham
revolutionized his self into Shaka Shakur, a New Afrikan revolutionary.
Consequently, tekkk$a$ saw him as better off dead than alive as a
freedom fighter. Six years later Shaka’s comrade Derrick Frazier, aka
Hasan Shakur, another innocent Black captive whom while on tekk$a$’
death row revolutionized his self into a New Afrikan ‘revolutionary
socialist to the 10th power’. He too was subsequently executed on Black
August 31st 2006, while serving as both the founder of the Human Rights
Coalition-TX chapter, and Minister of Human Rights of the then-named New
Afrikan Black Panther Party. Lastly, yet not for lack of more victims,
there is the case of Sandra Bland, a New Afrikan womyn and activist who
was mysteriously found dead in a tekkk$a$ county jail.
i think it is logical to pose the question that, if the deceased
freedom fighters had not been politically active New Afrikans, would
they’ve still met the same fate? For We know and it has been
substantiated by the recent
International Jurist’s verdict, that there has been/is a systemic
genocide against New Afrikan, and indigenous people in north amerika. We
also know that those who possess a revolutionary orientation are the
people’s only hope of defeating this genocide, and of course this
reality renders such political prisoners as prone to enemy attack and
sabotage.
tekkk$a$ has warehoused and isolated political prisoners in what is
now called RHU for decades. Revolutionary Chican@ political prisoner
Xinachtli has been in such a predicament for over 20 years. Xinachtli
was signaled out for assassination by sheriffs in Brewster County
tekkk$a$, for his legal advocacy for a Chican@ death row prisoner who in
turn wasn’t killed by the state. Xinachtli defended his self by
disarming the pig sent to murder him and for exercising his humyn right
to self-defense this comrade has languished in prison for over two
decades, most of which in solitary confinement.
Recently officials of tekkk$a$’ prisons have identified Texas TEAMONE
cadre as ‘enemy combatants’ and singled key members out for indefinite
solitary confinement (for those who weren’t already serving indefinite
terms), unprovoked cell raids, in which the only confiscated materials
are ones’ outside contact information. Cadre have been victims of
harassment by illegally confiscating typewriters of journalist comrades,
illegally disappearing mail, and upping the level of publication
censorship – specifically that which is politically orientated.
In a recent twist, this writer was recently sentenced to ‘life
without parole’ in solitary confinement. After some officials had
elected to release Triumphant from solitary, those in the know regarding
ey’s political orientation and activity demanded this comrade be
retained in such conditions. Even going as far as scratching out the
handwriting which stated that Triumphant shall be released. When asked
for the reasoning for said continued confinement, officials listed
‘LWOP’. Of course this sentence, placed on Triumphant’s shoulders
unjustly, will not remove itself from reality in six months when the
next arbitrary hearing is to take place. Therefore, the state has
announced that it intends to confine, isolate, and destroy, yet one more
New Afrikan political prisoner in order to perpetuate amerikkka’s
genocidal campaign against the oppressed nations of the globe.
In case it still is not clear to you. All freedom fighting peoples,
those outside and inside, have in their best interest to work with TX
TEAMONE as We struggle to politicize tekkk$a$’ captive population, while
doing just that We are even more determined and justified in Our quest
to abolish long-term and indefinite solitary confinement in TX prisons
and prisons around the globe.
Revolutionary salutations to all Texas USW comrades, leaders,
supporters, and those reading this wonderful newspaper for the first
time. In issue #75 there was some dialogue
regarding the BP 3.91 and i would like to speak to some things.
Comrades, as you all read in the last issue, Allred RHU went on
hunger strike in protest not only against B.P.-3.91, but also the
illegal use of solitary confinement as practiced via RHU, and we also
fought for other pressing issues. Due to this action, on September 8th i
was pulled off the outside rec yard, and brought to a cage; this cage is
very similar to the one illustrated by the comrade in the last issue. Me
and another New Afrikan brother were the only two of all the strikers
who went through this. After standing in the cage for about 30 mins to
an hour I was informed by an inmate worker that “they takin all yo
shit.” By this i assumed he meant food/beverage items of which i only
possessed empty condiment bottles so I had no worries. Half an hour
later, the property officer and a lieutenant come to escort me. They
tell me i will have to send property, particularly books, home; i have
too many and they may not be given to another prisoner. As they say this
i have heated words with the property officer, and have to be escorted
by a major and some others. They bring me to the office and outside my
property (all of it including state property) is slung everywhere. I’m
irate to say the least.
It is at that time that i entered an office with regional director
David Blackwell, along with three unit wardens. Here is a brief overview
of what was said pertaining to the B.P.-3.91 policy.
So this policy was supposedly pushed for by these “family groups”. He
mentioned Texas Inmate Families Association(TIFA) as the main culprit.
Supposedly one of the TIFA members has a brother who’s a sex
offender(S.O.), and she learned that he was allowed to write pen pals
who sent her brother sexually charged letters. Further investigation led
the sister in question to observe that he could also view/receive
pictures of women as long as the female wasn’t showing her “parts”. This
woman was immediately concerned that her brother was not being allowed
the proper environment to rehabilitate his behavior, and this is what
led to the rule change.
In case you don’t know, every week, like clock work, TIFA and other
family groups like the Families for Air Conditioning in TDCJ, have
phone/zoom conferences with the executive director and other top
personnel. In these conferences these groups are having influence on
policy changes and other things that affect us here in prison. The issue
is that these groups are not in contact with the masses, which in this
case is US, the captives. TIFA has a $25 membership fee yearly, and
imprisoned people can join. However, imprisoned voices are a minority,
and are/will be over rode by the petty-bourgeois/labor aristocrat
elements which dominate this terrain and don’t allow prisoners to
practice any level of self-determination. Even worse is that these
groups (TIFA in particular) do not even reply to inquiries from
prisoners. The pigs mentioned above provided me with their info to
contact and begin dialogue. I’ve wrote, I’ve e-mailed, I’ve DM’d, and
have gotten no response. This is on trend as we of TX TEAM ONE have
repeatedly contacted them in the past during our previous 3 hunger
strikes in the last 4 years, not including this year’s. Never have we
received any reply. So what does this tell us?
It tells us that the class divide is very profound in the TX prison
movement, even on the “left”. It tells us that at this present juncture
we can not collaborate with such reformers in any concrete way. Our
movement MUST be prisoner-led.
Speaking specifically to the BP-3.91 issue, from observation one can
see that these pigs are picking and choosing when/where to enforce this
rule. THE RULE DID PASS! Initially we were told that it hadn’t, that’s
not the case. Not only did this Director tell us so, but as i scribe
this, Allred Unit has been under rolling lock down and the pigs (from
what We in RHU are being told) are solely focused on pics, mags, etc. We
in RHU haven’t been hit yet. Last week the ACA came to the unit. An
audit. The pigs were verbally reprimanded (the wardens were) by ACA
personnel for even operating the lockdown/shake down while they are/were
still supposed to be under COVID protocol. This is a violation of CDC
guidelines, which is one of the things we called attention to during the
strike. The ACA demanded the wardens to cease the shake down. They did
so for the week the ACA was here, yet today (9 November 2021) We’ve
heard that they’ve resumed on the ECB building, and are to be coming
here next. U.S. weekly and Cosmopolitan have been denied here.
The legal standing they’re trying to stand on with this move is that
if they were to target specifically sex offenders with this rule while
not applying it to the masses of the prison population who are not S.O.s
then they open themselves up for suit by the S.O.s for discrimination.
What it boils down to is We’re gonna have to come together and fight
this through litigation. Simple.
We encourage others who are SERIOUS about litigating this issue to
contact us. While our writers within TEAM ONE are busy challenging RHU
confinement, We can possibly put all Our heads together to formulate a
way forward. All those who’ve filed step 1 & 2, and look to move
forward towards litigation should reach out to us: Tx TeamOne/ 113
Stockhom, #1A/ Brooklyn, NY 11221
I have done it again. I have earned myself a mental health referral
from a C.O. for the 2nd time in 1 year. Both times for simply speaking
the truth. Apparently, C.O.s are so blinded by lies that they interpret
the truth as some sort of mental illness.
So last week I was being escorted to medical by a C.O. and do not
remember the topic of conversation but I remember the statement I made
that earned me a mental health referral. I said to the C.O., “Out of all
the 1000s of inmates at this prison, not one of them has ever kidnapped
a person and held them in a cage for a whole lifetime. That is real evil
and only the government is guilty of that kind of evil.”
Of course, he had no reply. One week passes and I get a ducket
yesterday for mental health(M.H.). My first thought is, “what is this, I
have not submitted any request?” But then I look at the date of referral
on the ducket (last Wednesday) and I remember the only thing that
happened last Wednesday is my statement of blame to said C.O. and now it
is clear why I have this mental health referral.
This is the 2nd time I have earned a M.H. referral under this
circumstance. Earlier this year there was a campaign to remove me from 5
Block. Some of the C.O.s there were bringing drugs in for 1 of the
inmates. This inmate did not trust me because he knew I do not agree
with that lifestyle, and so he was asking the C.O.s to kick me out of
the Block. I did not snitch; really I couldn’t care less about what
corrupt C.O.s and gangbangers do, but they were afraid of my honest
lifestyle choice, and so they tried their hardest to remove me, and they
failed in that.
Well, one day as I was entering the Block the tower cop stopped me
and asked me why some of the C.O.s had such a problem with me. I simply
told him the truth. I said, “No, I am not doing anything wrong but if
some C.O.s are collaborating with gangsters then that is something that
should be looked at, so stop looking at me as though I am the problem.”
The following week I received a ducket for mental health. The truth was
interpreted as a mental illness, so I have discovered that when C.O.s
are confronted with truth, they tend to attack it. I think this
phenomenon is because they feel the guilt of their own actions. They are
taught from a young age to have blind faith in someone else’s
interpretation of what is right and wrong; so completely blinded by lies
that when I remove the blindfold, and reveal the simple truth, it is
interpreted as mental illness.
There was a 3rd time I hit a C.O. with the truth, but I did not get a
M.H. referral that time. Again, as I was entering 5 Block, a tower cop
stopped me and asked me why I was having such conflict with the C.O.
that is bringing the drugs in. I replied that “I don’t like (greensuits)
because I am doing a life sentence for a crime I did not do.” She was
taken aback momentarily by this, but she recovered quickly and shot back
that, “It is not my fault, it is the court that did that to you.” A
classic little Eichmann.
I did not continue to argue with that C.O. because I have a lil
respect for her straight forward approach as evidenced by the fact she
did not give me a M.H. referral. Rather, I gave her all the time she
needs for the truth to sink in that she is the one that pushes the
button to either open or close the door on my cage.
Her own greensuit makes her directly responsible for my imprisonment.
It is irrelevant that she has good looks or that she has qualities that
I admire such as an honest straight forward approach, or that she is
blinded by lies of what is right or wrong. All that matters is that
tower cop is directly responsible for depriving an innocent man of his
freedom. She is directly responsible for holding guilty men in a cage
far longer than anyone should be detained.
MLK said that “when confronted with truth, we have an obligation to
stand up for what is right.” The only thing greensuits stand up for is a
dirty paycheck. We all must remove the blindfold of faith and see
ourselves, truth!!
First, on B.P.-391 in Texas, there are units that are fighting this
policy, yet here on Connally Unit they are taking and denying everything
they can and they are not allowing us to appeal anything. We’ve written
a bunch of grievances and they all got returned saying that the issue is
not grievable, and when we file step 2’s, they are all getting thrown
away. We have no wins here on Connally.
Second, we’ve contacted the TDCJ ombudsman on multiple ranking
officers and regular officers. In doing that we are getting retaliated
on and harassed. They are cell searching and destroying our property,
tearing our pics, denying us our privilege of commissary, rec or day
room. We’ve sent multiple grievances on these officers and they never
come back. The wardens are letting them retaliate on us and not doing
anything about it! The Connally Unit is steadily short staff only on
their Fridays and payday. Right now we’re short staffed and when we
asked a question about what’s going on, they put us on 23-hour lockdown
– for asking a question. They are playing with peoples’ lives and
freedoms here on Connally Unit. We can’t grieve officers because they
always come back saying “this isn’t grievable.” We’re in a no-win
situation here!
MIM(Prisons) responds: If they won’t let you grieve,
then it’s time to come together with all who can be united there and get
creative. We’ve been fighting the grievance battle for years. It is only
a tactic. It will never solve comrades’ problems overall because the
rules are only applied when they want them to be.