Under Lock & Key

October 2012: A captive, B (an old white man), a known writ writer, was placed in G1112 cell with a younger Black captive, R. Lt. Harrold and Sgt Green told R that B is a racist, causing R to beat up B. R was rewarded with the head orderly job in G-Dorm, while B is to never get off close management due to receiving constant fabricated disciplinary reports against him because he is a writ writer. The beating occurred between October 13th and October 31st in G1112 cell.

Early November 2012: another writ writer was beaten and cut with a razor blade by another prisoner placed in G1106 cell working for Sgt Patton. This is not his first time he was set up by the police. Currently he is on CM-1 slapped with numerous fabricated Disciplinary Reports (DRs) and won’t get off CM until he is broken.

Early November 2012, prisoner W, a mentally ill prisoner in G1103 cell, after continuous daily harassment, was gassed by Sgt Green and his crew, for no other reason than implementing mass terror and intimidation. He was made an example of via procedural lynching for all to see and fear.

December 3, 2012: CO Maguire and another CO beat up a prisoner in G1209 cell, while the prisoner was handcuffed behind his back. After being beaten the prisoner was slapped with a fabricated assault on a CO DR. How do you assault a CO with your hands cuffed behind your back?

December 5, 2012: two prisoners in G1203 cell were gassed by Sgt Harvey, all in retaliation intended against one of the prisoners due to some incident months prior.

December 9, 2012, A prisoner was taken from G1103 cell in handcuffs, hands behind his back, and jumped on in the hallway by Sgt Green and his crew. Sgt Green had planned and called in the incident moments prior to its actual occurrence.

December 17, 2012: A prisoner in G1210 cell was gassed for simply declaring a psychological emergency. All captives declaring a psychological emergency are gassed and slapped with fabricated DRs to justify and cover up the gassing.

December 30-31st, 2012: Two prisoners in F1213 and two other captives in F1214 cell were placed on strip (72 hour property restriction - no mattress, no bedding, no clothes - left in only boxer shorts) the temperature outside was in the 20s and the heaters were off. They were placed on strip for fabricated reasons by Sgt Fisher.

December 31st, 2012: two prisoners in F1110 cell were gassed and slapped with fabricated DRs because they refused to speak to Sgt Kelly when he approached their cell in his two faced (smile in your face, stab you in the back) manner.

Jan 5, 2012: Sgt Kelly placed two captives beefing with each other on strip together in F2103 cell so they could fight, they’re fighting as I write.

These prison guard brutalities are only a few of the many that occur here on Close Management at Suwanee Correctional Institution here in Florida. Many of the identities of the victims are unknown to me, but can be obtained by simply viewing camera/document evidence which can be obtained by anyone via request of public information pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. Do not just take my word at face value, please request the evidence and speak with the victims mentioned for a more detailed truth of what transpired. (Some may fear staff retaliation and refrain from speaking). We beg that you help by simply calling in or emailing concerning these brutalities.

Just recently in October 2012, Taylor and Union CI underwent a major purge by higher authorities during which approximately 60 officers of all ranks were escorted off institution grounds due to their brutal and tyrannical practice. Suwanee CI needs to experience the same purge of its tyrants like Lt Martin (aka white widow), Lt Harrod, Sgt Harvery, Sgt Patton, Sgt Silver, Sgt Green, Sgt Kelly, Sgt Fisher, CO Barton, CO Maguire, CO Lynblade, CO Diaz, CO Landrum, CO Lane, CO Murman, CO Pope - who brags to captives how he pays captives extra lunch trays to beat up other captives - and all their superiors - captains, majors, colonels, classification officers and warden and secretary of FDOC - who all encourage, condone and even orchestrate these many use of excessive force brutalities and procedural lynchings and fabrication coverup reports.

Many captives are falsely accused of gunning (masturbating) by female COs just so captives can be jumped on, gassed or placed on strip by these male COs. These tyrants and sadists will not stop on their own.

MIM(Prisons) responds: The list of people this writer suggests need to be purged from Suwanee demonstrates our point that it is not possible to reform the Amerikan criminal injustice system. This is not a case of just a few bad apples, but rather a system of oppression and violence, in which employees must participate to receive a paycheck. We must expose the brutality, and fight the individual cases to create some livable space for our comrades, but we will only end the violence by dismantling the criminal injustice system entirely.

Here is the fundamental science: when we act we achieve! Over the past year we have acted in unity to exemplify our collective strength. We joined a nationwide grievance petition. We campaigned for a non-violent resolution. We organized with the Islamic community and an on point social network. We conducted round table discussions. Many brothers enjoyed our track and field events, and we conducted a mass rec grievance campaign so that we could hold these events. We ended with a unit wide collective fellowship meal.

In 2013 we are refocusing our efforts on our primary function of sharing information. If you look back over the trajectory of the African history in this land you will see that every time we gained knowledge and acted on it we advanced. This must always be the comrade’s conscious focus. Acquiring and distributing intelligence. We understand that roughly 95% of prisoners won’t put in the effort to do this, and it may well be true that 4% of the ones who do will only seek to acquire certain knowledge for personal profit and gain. OneLife intends to focus its developmental efforts on that critical 1% who will both actively seek to inform themselves as a part of their daily routine and exercise due vigilance in passing that intelligence along to others in a sustained, structured way.

Our vanguard development understands the importance of knowing what is going on in Syria, Mali, or Nigeria. Understanding our u.s. economy, how it impacts other world peoples, and what is our place and power of potential in determining the greater scheme of things. We want to learn about specific political actors, the actual function of their office, and how specific policies impact our lives and the lives of our families and communities. Then we want to learn how to affect these processes. The 1% must lead such struggle. This is what is meant by movement. Any single campaign or event is pointless without solid comrades who are committed to sustained struggle.

As I’ve said before, you don’t have to be with OneLife to be serious about this movement, but you do have to be consistent. If your word ain’t shit, neither are you. Comrades preach what they practice, knowing it’s not about them. It’s about the people. Real lives are at stake based on what we do or don’t do.

MIM(Prisons) adds: We print this leaflet as an example of what organizations that join the United Front for Peace in Prison are doing on the ground in their prisons. This group has declared its agreement with the UFPP five points of unity, and is striving to implement them by organizing and educating others, and fighting winnable battles for change. As they point out, you don’t have to be with their organization to be in the movement, but you need to be doing something.

Welcome to MCI Shirley Prison where low-level drug dealers are turned into murderers. Where minor felons are instilled with such anger and resentment that they are talking mayhem as they depart through the razor wire gates. Where un-professionalism and abuse are the norm and the seeds of future killings are being sown one thousand at a whack. It is a place where it is hard to distinguish the real criminals. Do they wear gray scrubs? Do they wear paramilitary jump suits and badges, do they wear a shirt and tie, or do they wear Dolce & Gabbana skirts with Prada shoes? It is truly hard to tell.

Young men enter MCI Shirley (or “ShirleyWorld” as it is largely known) thinking they may be able to get an education through college courses or the trades. Those hopes are dashed upon the rocks of guard overtime, administrative nepotism, and complete lack of any semblance of order. The warden is deaf, the deputy is dumb, and the captain is blind. This barrel of monkeys chews upon taxpayer dollars while the young prisoner is further separated from the societal norms the rehabilitative process was meant to instill. You can see the death in their eyes. It is scary.

This vast criminal conspiracy that is the department of corruption is as much a killer as Charles Manson or Adolph Hitler were. They see with perfect vision the folly of their ways but press on with malicious intent: premeditated job security equaling death in the Mattapan Corridor. Drunken guards bring in drugs and cell phones, take out their ire on weaker prisoners and all the while talk about pay raises, time off and pension plans. They are the thieves and murderers!

The prison system spends $517,000,000 per year to diminish the safety of the streets. Criminal guards suck up $360,000,000 of that yearly budget while rehabilitative programs and education are allotted only 2% of that budget. An equation which is designed for failure. It assures repeat customers but that assurance comes at the cost of far too many lives. When will you, the taxpayer, become outraged? When will your ire replace the apathy that belays commonsense? This is a state, a country, and a land that is founded in second chances.

If you were ever afforded the tragic opportunity to tread the pathways of MCI Shirley you would witness first hand the systemic failures. There are guards everywhere – sergeants, lieutenants, captains, and multitudes of line staff – but each and every day some rehabilitative aspect of the prison is shut down due to “under-staffing.” It is a lie. The DOC has 5500 employees for about 12,000 prisoners. The guard’s union has injected so much propaganda that even Hitler would be proud of their achievements.

The time has come to reorganize the prison budget, to use these vast taxpayer dollars to actually protect the safety of the public. We must terminate the excess of secretaries, deputies, assistants, aides, clerks, etc., and invest that revenue in expansion of the college degree program. Prisoners who earn that degree in prison do not come back: they do not commit any more crimes. The recidivism rate for in-prison Boston University graduates is less than 1%. The statewide recidivism rate has hovered at about 47% for over a decade. Did you know UMass offered to come into the prisons and provide college courses for free? The DOC rejected them. Did you know that Fitchburg State had a free program at ShirleyWorld but the facility failed to support it? The reason for the folly is that there is no money in it for the DOC to have these programs.

Prisoners need real job training. Prisoners need transitional housing in lower security prisons. Such prisons cost only a fraction of what it costs to run the higher security prisons as they need less staff. This is why the guard’s union fights this at every turn. Please join forces with those who have a plan for real and effective public safety reform. the time is now for you to get involved.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade does a good job exposing the Massachusetts prison system’s lack of interest in rehabilitation and education. It is true that in Massachusetts, and across the country, prisons are providing good jobs to guards who have formed strong unions to lobby effectively for expansion of the system. It is a system whose employees have every interest in expansion and no interest in rehabilitation. The very fact that education has been proven to dramatically reduce recidivism but prisons across the country have cut or eliminated education programs is clear evidence. Further, programs such as MIM(Prisons)’s led study groups are censored as a threat to the safety and security of the prison. It’s not the criminal injustice system that cares about safety and security, they care about job security and social control. And prisons conveniently provide both: locking up the oppressed nation lumpen who might organize against imperialism and giving jobs to the labor aristocracy in the prisons.

But we disagree with this prisoner that tax payers are going to become outraged and fight this system. Both the social control and the good jobs are benefiting those tax payers. The labor aristocracy wants to protect it’s own jobs: and the prison provides a good number of these. If tax money didn’t go to prison jobs it would go to some other labor aristocracy services. And these would not be jobs benefiting the oppressed nation lumpen: that’s not something tax payers are going to get behind. On the contrary, prison guard unions successfully campaign for more pay and funding for defending white power, unlike most labor unions.

With that said, we do think there is value in exposing the lack of safety and security in the current prison system. We may gain some allies in certain battles, people who will see that the streets of Amerika are objectively less safe. But we don’t want to mislead them by appealing to their persynal interests and pretending that substantive change to the criminal injustice system is going to actually benefit them in the long run. Anti-imperialism is not in the interests of the majority of the Amerikan people, because they benefit financially from this system. And the criminal injustice system is an integral part of Amerikan imperialism.

This movie has no use besides its sound effects. Perhaps an E.T. can come and obliterate the bourgeoisie in Amerika. That’ll leave a power vacuum which we communists would be happy to fill. Another self promotion is what this movie is, as if Amerika has the solution to the world’s problems. As a pile of shit walking around telling everybody they stink, so too does Amerika ignore the fact that it’s the problem.

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” - Thomas Jefferson

“Give me liberty or give me death.” - Thomas Pain

The above two quotes are admired citations that most Amerikans with any educational degree deem to be master slogans this country’s freedoms are based on. But these same quotes or those similar, if stated by Black men or Black women, are deemed contraband and gang related.

On August 2, 2012 the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a decision aimed at silencing and caging the spirit of the Panther. The court ruled that the ten point platform that the Black Panther Party (BPP) cited in every newspaper and later put forward as the core demands of the New Africans in the Amerikan ghettos, is gang-related when found in the possession of Black men. This decision was rendered from a case in one of the most racist and oppressive prison systems in Amerika: Wisconsin DOC.

The 7th Circuit Court’s ruling in Tani Toston vs. Muchael Thurmer et al, no# 10 cv 288 stated that Waupun prison officials in Wisconsin could punish a Black man who allegedly has a tribal background (they used the pejorative, “gang”) and who checked out two BPP books from the prison’s own library, and purchased a 3rd book (To Die for the People) and copied from all three the Panthers ten point platform.

The oppressors argued that these ten points were being used to construct a gang structure simply because of the DOC’s slant that he had a tribal background of defunct Gangster Disciples. They offered no evidence but their ethnocentric opinions. They punished the prisoner and gave 90 days segregation for learning Panther knowledge.

The plaintiff, who I call the Panther seeker, argued to the 7th Circuit Court that the ten point platform could not be a gang related security concern because the two books in the library recited the same program, and prisoners are permitted to get the books and to buy them. They were not on the state’s book ban list.

In opposing the Panther seeker and rationalizing their reactionary measure, the prison defenders in the 7th Circuit stated: “…prison librarians can not be required to read every word of every book to which inmates might have access to make sure they contain no incendiary material. There is no reason to think that a librarian or other employee of the prison read cover to cover any of the three books that contain the ten point program.”

Yet, they expect prisoners to know they could not write down the same, though they did reverse and remand the due process claim that the prison never told him he could not do so.

They further stated: “And even if the prison read the books and made a determination the book was not gang lit. on whole, that does not preclude disciplinary proceedings if an inmate copies incendiary passings from it.”

It seems the court took issue with point #8 of the program, which calls for “freedom for all Black men held (implicit also women) in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails.” The court states the seeker is Black and that the BPP were implicated in many acts of violence including murder, and Huey himself may have killed a cop. Their source is Hugh Pearsons The Shadow of the Panther: Huey Newton and the Price of Black Power in America.(p. 145-46 1995). They also cited the case People vs. Newton, 87 Cal. Rptr, 394 (CA), app. ct. 1970) and the case in which Black Panther leader Richard Moore was convicted of assault in a shootout between Black Panthers and Oakland police (Clener vs. Superior Court, 594 p.2d 984, 985-86 (Cal. 1979), In Re Cleaver, 72 Cal. Rptr. 20, 23-24 (Cal. App. Ct. 1968)).

They even went so far as to cite a coloring book as their source research in coming to this ethnocentric ruling. “Black Panther coloring books” depicting children murdering police, which were developed and distributed under their own FBI’s COINTELPRO.

Then they had the disrespect to cite our beloved brother Fred Hampton’s estate lawsuit which was filed after the Chicago pigs’ assassination of the beloved. Hampton vs. Hanrahan 600 F. 2d 600, 654 (7th Cir. 1979) (dissenting opinion).

They wish to project they are fair. But how fair are they when they cite all these biased cases and omit the fact that the police, FBI, and others were actively seeking to destroy the BPP and even pacifists like MLK, and these incidents were self-defense. The BPP was a self-defense response to a racist system. How can you fault a people who stand up for their human and constitutional rights and label them criminals for defending the same principles this country was established on? The answer is clear: what white leaders say, Black ones cannot say.

The court defended their ruling by saying: “The BPP is history. But the ten point program could be thought by prison officials as an incitement to violence by Black prisoners - especially since there is a new BPP active today, which claims descent from the original. And like its predecessor both advocates and practice violence.”(Citing: Southern Poverty Law Center, New BPP).

They go on to cite disputing evidence to their conclusion by stating: “In context, in the book of Huey’s writings, point #8 is much less inflammatory than when read in isolation on the paper the plaintiff wrote down and had in his foot locker.” They claim, in all three books, there are explanatory commentary around each of the ten points and that explanation is “innocuous” on point #8. “We believe that all black people should be released from the many jails and prisons because they have not received a fair and impartial trial.” (To Die for the People. Bk. At. p5)

They seek to soften the blow of their ethnocentric cudgel: “…although Newton’s book advocates revolution, it could no more be regarded as a criminal incitement than the Communist Manifesto could be. But this underscores the difference between a book as a whole and an arguably inflammatory nugget plucked from it.” So what say they if we cite Thomas Pains “give me liberty or give me death”? Same as Huey’s statement in point #8.

The court went on to justify their favoritism to a ethnocentric/racist prison by stating: “Not being experts in prison administration, but aware of the security problems in American prisons, judges sensibly defer within broad limits to the judgements of the prison administration.”

How can the court make a fair ruling if they don’t acquire some expertise in prison administration? That is the court’s job as arbitrators of the case. We as prisoners need to present evidence on the expert level of how prison administrators exaggerate the facts and cite spookisms in their affidavits and summary judgement motions. As prisoners we are and should be experts in prison administration operation and the lies they tell. So why are we not illustrating the same in our litigation.

On the question of the “security problems in american prisons,” again, these perceptions are all based upon what the prison officials report and claim; hardly a fair assessment as to what is really going on. This is possible because we are not disputing and putting the truth out there. We are not uniting and pooling our resources to fight the lies the prison system puts out.

The Beard vs. Banks case illustrates this fact. The lawyers/prisoners did not submit anything disputing the alleged facts in the defendant/prison official’s summary judgement motion. As such, the court accepted all their exaggerations as true. Though they probably would have accepted the prison exaggerations anyway, we cannot make it so easy or allow them to justify it without exposing their favoritism and bias. The fact is that this case had lawyers, so the court could have given the disputes more weight than pro se disputed facts. This is the litigation war we are engaged in. No capitulations allowed.

The Van den Bosch case shows how censorship is allowed when we write articles like this one here. There, an article on how Wisconsin is #1 in creating conditions in segregation for petty stuff and these conditions leading to what I call intentional conditions for “suggestive ideation” (suicide). The court accepted the Wisconsin prison administrator’s exaggerated security claim that criticizing these conditions could be viewed as incitement because people were killing themselves and the article stated officials were to blame. We cannot even complain or express our opinions.

We see how the court forgets that the BPP was attacked by the pigs and FBI, and they also forget all the cases in which the prison administrations have been proven busted and exposed for presenting lies. However, I stress again, it is our job to present such overwhelming facts/evidence to not allow the courts to easily accept the judgements and defer to the prisons, because we know they are straight up liars. This is war in facts.

This fact is shown by what the court wrote: “The nexus between plaintiffs copying the ten point program from”To Die for the People” and gang activity may seem tenuous, but the defendants argue that the likeliest reason the plaintiff copied the ten point program was to show it to inmates whom he hoped to enlist in a prison gang, a local cell as it were of the Black Panthers, the ten point program would be the gang’s charter”. They go on to say “this is merely a supposition, but it is not so implausible that we can dismiss as groundless the prisons concern.”

They support that racist logic on the affidavit submitted by the prison’s so-called gang coordinator, a racist named Bruce Muranski, who has been discredited in at least one case as possibly manufacturing so-called informant statements. “In the U.S. the main organizations that monitor intolerance and hate groups are the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) have deemed the new BPP as a hate group… there would be no other purpose…in the ten point program other than recruiting group members and establishing, reinforcing and maintaining an organizational structure for furthering gangs…”

In another part of the affidavit Muranski claims: “isolating the ten point from these library books allows it to be taken out of context, easily circulated and simultaneously possessed by gang members and changed or adopted for the specific needs and activities of the group… (another prisoner, other than plaintiff) was alleged to have unsanctioned security threat group items in his cell…(including) a hand written paper titled ‘notes on African American leaders’. This sheet of paper contained the ten point which was identical in content to the ten point found in plaintiff cell…”

There we have it. All Black leaders who were willing to say in their own words or actions “give me liberty or give me death” are deemed contraband. Yet, I can have all the quotes I wish of white revolutionaries and Amerikan founding fathers. White “inciteful” language against the British crown is protected expression while George Jackson, or a Hoover or Malik, or Huey Newton is contraband.

The fact is that damn near every BPP or associated case, in law books or on the computer, has the same ten point program in it. So all we would need to do is buy a Panther case and circulate it if we wanted to share the ten point program. We see this decision is about intimidation and instilling inferiority. For even the cases the court cited have the ten points in them. Surely they knew that.

Still more, the case in which they made this racist ruling itself can now be used to promote and propagate the ten point program. So it’s clear: the prison has no lawful reason to exclude the ten points even if they subsequently ban the books, which I’m sure they might try. The ruling is a joke and more about suppression and control.

MIM(Prisons) adds: While it is a set back for revolutionaries when important historical literature is banned or access limited to sharing this literature, it is something of a public admission of the strength and value of the Black Panther Party political line that this court felt the need to decree it as gang material. Prisoners who are labeled as part of a “Security Threat Group” are often actually organizing for the betterment of oppressed people, and promoting the peace and security of prisoners. This exposes the lie of the prison’s claim that they want security. The only security prisons promote is job security for the guards and other prison workers. Prisoners’ lives are far from safe and secure, due to conditions created by the guards and the criminal injustice system in general.

I have a habeas corpus petition in the Superior Court which challenges the “conditions of confinement” in California Department of Corrections and “Rehabilitation” (CDCR) Security Housing Units (SHUs), and the pro forma sham “periodic reviews” that CDCR purports to conduct for possible release from SHU.

My “conditions of confinement” challenge is based upon the fact that 30% of the validated “gang affiliates” in SHU are actually “gang associates,” which are basically prisoners who had a social relationship with one prisoner who was a former gang “associate” [or member], or an “associate” who had been classified by CDCR as no longer “active” in the gang, i.e. a guy who has been “inactive” for a minimum of six years, or who had a social relationship with a “gang” member. How such a one-on-one social relationship constitutes “associating” with the gang is a leap of logic only a CDCR mentality could make.

It is unconstitutional for the government to find a person guilty of “association” sans any overt acts of personal misconduct. So it is very curious that prisoners are the only group of citizens who are consistently placed in SHU on the sole basis of being “guilty by association” without any charge of personal misconduct, and without any finding of guilt of any acts of personal misconduct, or of any acts of misconduct on behalf of or at the behest of a “gang.”

Since Title 15, Section 3312(A) mandates that all prisoner misconduct be handled in the specific manners set forth in that section/regulation. Either CDCR is in violation of Section 3312(A), or there has been no misconduct! If there has been no misconduct, then a prisoner cannot be subjected to punitive treatment. Punitive treatment includes conditions of confinement that are historically recognized as punishment. So, it is all about identifying the conditions in SHU that are historically recognized as CDCR (or general prison) punishment, such as: loss of privileges, loss of property, solitary confinement, etc.

I know that making the SHU more comfortable is not an acceptable alternative to closing the SHU. But if you take the whip away from the CDCR, and SHU becomes just another general population facility with just a “maximum custody” designation, it then loses its value to CDCR.

MIM(Prisons) responds: Why would the government want to torture people for talking to someone? Presumably they fear this persyn. This has nothing to do with “misconduct” or “safety” and everything to do with politics; one group oppressing another. Yet, control units are still torture, no matter if the population decreases or increases by 30%. As this comrade states, there is no humane alternative to abolishing the SHU altogether.

The sentiment expressed in the Men Against Sexism review in ULK 29 that we should not be fighting for sex reassignment surgery or hormone replacement therapy, is exactly the type of infighting that cuts comrades off from each other. How can a man be against sexism, yet support the oppressor’s sexist stance on hormones? This is exactly why resistance is so watered down in Amerikkka. All the so-called resisters make a hobby of petty posturing and holier-than-thou attitudes which is nothing more than sugar-coated (and thinly at that) bourgeois ego games. The sad part is the gay crowd was at one point the outsider like us trans people are now but they are playing pass the shit-stick. How pathetic.

MIM(Prisons) responds: In the article this prisoner criticizes, we wrote that we do not fight for sex reassignment surgery in the same way we don’t fight for gay marriage, because both amount to further privileges for people already benefiting from imperialism. We could equate these struggles with the fight to get more women in executive positions in companies, or the fight to get a Black man in the white house. They represent steps forward in equality for Blacks, wimmin, gays and trans people in reaping imperialist spoils of war and gender oppression on Third World peoples. These struggles do not help advance the fight against imperialism, to liberate the Third World peoples.

Most trans people in the Third World don’t have the privilege of even thinking about hormone replacement therapy, and Third World gays certainly are not pre-occupied with their right to marriage. These people are focused on day-to-day survival, getting enough to eat, and avoiding getting raped or killed by Amerikan-backed militias. We mislead people when we focus on battles that distribute the imperialist privileges more equally among the already privileged labor aristocracy. We must focus on the real enemy of the majority of the world’s people, an enemy that won’t stop exploiting and killing through the ballot box. Gay and trans people in Third World countries deserve all of our attention and energy, to help ensure their survival and ultimate liberation.

I write this missive from the bowels of California’s Death Row (DR), at San Quentin. Just wanted to give an update at what is going on and the progress we are making in regards to a wide area of issues which the condemned population has been experiencing.

Being an Indigenous person, we have been in a long struggle with the San Quentin administration and California Department of Corrections and “rehabilitation” (CDCr) in regards to DR captives being afforded access to Sweat Lodge ceremonies. Our rights are grossly violated by denying the access of Indigenous persons to the right to practice their religion/culture. In the administration’s eyes, to have sweat ceremonies available to the DR population creates a serious “security risk.” Each time the CDCr screams “security risk,” the United Snakes courts fall into stride with the department’s assumptions, allowing refusal of Sweat ceremonies, Pipe ceremonies, and access to smudging with sacred Native American medicines. “Safety & security” is an honored mantra here at San Quentin. Stripping us of our culture, religion, and traditions has been the norm for centuries for ALL oppressed nation peoples. It is obvious that no matter what we fight for, the CDCr views it as “Gang Activity/Disruptive.” There are comrades that have been stuck in the infamous Adjustment Center (the Control Units) for over a life time simply because they decided to speak up and push back for what they feel they deserve and what they have a right to actually have.

In this situation, the administration dangles privileges in front of the captive, in order to make them do as they say, not as they do. Comrades are being forced to remain in cages away from other DR captives, being denied any sunlight or room to stretch their legs, because the administration feels that they are “too violent” to be placed on a programmed group yard where they can have fellowship with others, get some sunlight, and take a hot shower. This treatment is barbaric and uncalled for.

The institutional appeals office is no help. They are refusing to process any of these prisoners’ 602s (grievances) by simply throwing their appeals away, or “losing” them until the time constraints to file on a certain issue have run out, preventing them from going any further with their grievances. Captives with a full program label are being subjected to disciplinary conditions, because the administration can do whatever they want. These comrades are pushing for the same fair treatment as any other DR captive who has privileges.

Due to the budget cuts, programs here have been cut in half. Education is almost non-existent, and yard days have been cut. Visits are being supervised by sergeants who violate Title 15 guidelines, and the captives as well as our families suffer. Medical is suppose to be monitored, but even that has failed to meet its mark. The treatment of DR captives is going from bad to worse.

After the Hunger Strikes here in California, the CDCr implemented a new rule, that anybody that participates in any type of strike will be placed in the SHU (Security Housing Units) for good. Those who participate will be “validated” as a member of a disruptive group, even if one is not gang related. The DR administration went crazy with that new rule. They ignore the fact that the last actual murder that took place here was almost 12 years ago. They have made comments to media that they have succeeded in finally having full control of the condemned population, and call this place “The Safest Prison in the State.”

They use tactics of mental torture. They take and give back, then take and give again. It is a mental game and it has driven many good brothers to snap and completely lose their minds. I do not find that to be a weakness in them, nor is it their fault. It is the fault of the pigs here for the games they play. I fault the captives for allowing their minds to be stretched so far without assisting one another instead of sleeping with the enemy and snitching on each other. There are more snitches than crickets at midnight here, and sadly they are blind to the fact that when it is time for the needle to hit the vein, it will be done by the very pigs they blindly befriended while they were here.

So, with that said, a few other solid comrades and myself have decided to up the ante and are holding study groups. We struggle on a daily basis like the rest of our comrades around the U.$., and decided that the only way to begin to break this chain of ignorance is to teach and guide the ones who have the desire to overcome this oppression “by any means necessary.” Along with the education we are receiving from MIM(Prisons)/ULK, we have formed a small movement that we hope will reach beyond the walls of this shit hole. We are the IPLF.

The IPLF (Indigenous Peoples Liberation Front) is composed of comrades from all walks of life, willing to stand firm on the front lines and fight as warriors against the (in)justice system. We are a selected few, pushing to break the chains of systematic oppression of any and all kinds. We are human beings, not animals, and not terrorists. We are a movement choosing to follow MIM theory, and assist our comrades in any way possible.

The IPLF will take part in the Day of Solidarity & Peace on September 9, 2013, and will take that day to focus on what needs to be done here on the row that will have a positive outcome. And if we end up in the hole, then fuck it! We ride or die for the cause! To all my comrades out there, to all our sisters out there - A-HO!

The Washington State Department of Ecology recently required the Washington State Dept of Corrections to conduct an investigation at Washington State Penitentiary to determine the type and location of contaminants present, and evaluate cleanup options.

They found hazardous waste (lead, gasoline) in the soil and well water system here at the prison. This water is used for drinking, showering, cooking, etc.

On 9 December 2012, local news ran the story regarding toxic waste in the water here at the prison. Two days later, coincidentally, prison staff were handing out printouts regarding the “toxics cleanup program.” Are they trying to lead us to believe that they had no prior knowledge of this potentially dangerous problem prior to a couple days ago?

Chemicals (TCE and PCE) were identified in ground water outside the exterior prison fences. Some of these chemicals were used in furniture refinishing and repair, license plate manufacturing, dry cleaning, motor pool maintenance, metal working and welding, photo processing, sign manufacturing, and medical and dental labs.

The report given to prisoners claims that the levels of PCE and TCE in certain groundwater monitoring wells no longer pose a health concern to humans or the environment. However, they do admit that “gasoline and lead in soil exceed state standards at certain locations.”

This is something that needs to be looked at by an independent scientist/law firm, so we prisoners know that we have chances of living a healthy life, in and out of prison.

MIM(Prisons) adds: As a prisoner discussed in the article “Environment and Prisons” in Under Lock & Key 7: “The main thing that I learned from this MT 12 was of the overwhelming toxic dump sites in and around oppressed nations areas. . .Yet we hardly hear a murmur from the media when toxic dumps spring up in areas where the oppressed nations swell. Third World countries have become the imperialist dump site. I watched a news program around a month ago about how petty bourgeois here in the U.S. were setting up these scam ‘recycle’ centers for computers and ‘e-trash.’ These ‘recycle’ centers would turn around and ship off this toxic junk to Third World nations and turn a profit, even though there’s supposed laws prohibiting this toxic dumping (for Petty Bourgeois and small time entrepreneurs) it is still continued with a nod and a wink. The bourgeois, big business, transnational corporations etc. are a whole different story. They continue to dump toxins on the Third World nations with only encouragement from imperialist economists.”

We should not be surprised when toxic waste is found in or around prisons as well. In fact, we have published reports of similar incidents in Connally Unit in Texas and Kern Valley State Prison in California. Those suffering under similar conditions must continue to expose these incidents, and campaign for basic safety for the imprisoned. We then need to take this one step further, as the contributor quoted above does, and put it in the context of imperialist environmental destruction and national oppression so that contaminants aren’t just pushed into someone else’s backyard.

Recently we faced two situations that showed short and immediate results, which to a certain extent were good. The first was the united resistance to guards in regards to trying to “handle” the prisoners and deny us our restriction showers. Restriction showers are separate showers for those on restriction from dayroom time, recreation, commissary, etc. We won those participants their showers once the captain was called to settle the dispute.

The second situation was today, 14 December 2012, when 8 cells holding 16 prisoners became flooded with sewer water that was being pushed back out of the drains and into our cells. This triggered a united front from most of those in these cells who represent a mixture of different organizations. This was fruitful because we got maintenance to come and unclog the problem in the drainage system after several on one roll started to flood our cells and push this water out of our cells, causing the dayroom to overflow.

That was one segment to this situation, the next part came when we were allowed to exit to chow minutes after the drains were unclogged. Upon our return from chow we refused to go back into our cells due to the unsanitary milieu that remained. The second shift officer refused to distribute chemicals to clean our cells. This triggered another united resistance until the lieutenant was dispatched to quiet the situation by compensating us with the required chemicals. Every prisoner who participated had a chance to shower afterwards, which was a minor success.

These two situations I speak about not to romanticize but to bring attention to a winnable battle that must be clearly and carefully examined by those who think about doing the same. Not all outcomes garner the same results, so be careful. Remember, they can kill the revolutionary but not the revolution.

MIM(Prisons) adds: This is a good demonstration of the principle of Unity that the United Front for Peace in Prisons (UFPP) promotes as its second principle: “WE strive to unite with those facing the same struggles as us for our common interests. To maintain unity we have to keep an open line of networking and communication, and ensure we address any situation with true facts. This is needed because of how the pigs utilize tactics such as rumors, snitches and fake communications to divide and keep division among the oppressed. The pigs see the end of their control within our unity.”

“Unity” in itself can be a weak and meaningless term, or even a bad thing depending on who it is that is uniting and why. However, MIM(Prisons) sees unity among prisoners as progressive, because of the oppression prisoners face as a subclass and as (overwhelmingly) representatives of oppressed nations. Without unity of the oppressed we cannot end oppression and create a better world. So we echo this comrade in celebrating these small acts as examples of growing UFPP and setting the stage for greater change.