Under Lock & Key

13 May 2018 — 208 prisoners of every race, background, group, organization, etc. said enough is enough! We came together and sat down in a peaceful protest. During dinner (chow hall) as usual the pigs not only violated our constitutional rights (First Amendment freedom of speech) but they also attempted to bully us by flex'n and threatening us. That's when our peaceful protest turned uprising. I wish y'all could have seen the way all the guards (C.O.s, Sergeants, Lieutenants, etc.) ran out the kitchen and chow halls. You would have thought they ran track! Who the cowards now?

For the first time in Missouri history we united. The pigs see the end of their control within our unity. In a matter of seconds we gained control of the kitchen, both dining halls, property room, canteen storage, the factory, forklifts, weapons, keys, phones, computers, etc. Well after a few hours the phones start to ring. Guess who's calling? The warden and highway patrol. For the first time they listened to our demands. They respected us. They feared our unity. They was at our mercy.

On our own terms we surrendered 8-9 hours later. After we got our point across.

Note: 90% of guys in our peaceful protest turned uprising have outdates ranging between a few weeks and 15 years. So only imagine if the outcome was the other way around. 90% of us could have been locked to the board (life without?).

Due to us striving so fast and hard we left administration not only confused but also emotionally off balance. Being that this never happened before in Missouri history they acted off impulse and violated every constitutional right you can think of. Which led to KC Freedom Project lawyers starting a class action lawsuit on our behalf against Missouri DOC. The media has been on fire regarding this.

Update? We still on lockdown! We still receiving brown bags (sack lunches). They say it was $3 million worth of damage. They making us do 1 year. We damn near 6 months in.

Administration is still up to their tricky ways. They have attempted to divide and conquer us by destroying all the guys' property that was in the hole and told them we did it. Also telling all the guys in GP it's our fault they are locked down still. So yeah the struggle continues.

By the way, there have been two other uprisings of this kind since we kicked it off. If we can unite here in Missouri where unity has never existed then any state can.

Another Missouri prisoner wrote:

It has been 13 months since the prisoners bonded together, Black, White, Native and brown (Chicano) and kicked off a riot at Crossroads Correctional Center in Cameron, Missouri, causing over a million dollars in damage. What did it accomplish?

1. Prison property got damaged that your families who are tax payers (and you too cause you pay taxes on your canteen items) are going to have to pay for the damages.
2. You injured one another with violent acts and all it accomplished is enemies, and lockdown of the prison.
3. Supposedly two housing units are to be cleared out for the creation of SHU units. They are supposed to lock up all the gang leaders and violent soldiers.

As of now, this is all just rumor, but every time Missouri prisoners show acts of violence via riots, the prison gets stricter. For example, the 1985 riot in the old Missouri State Penitentiary caused them to build a supermax housing unit.

When are we gonna learn that we are hurting ourselves more ways than one by these acts of violence? When I was advocating peaceful protests with demonstrations of how to shut the prison system down, nobody in Missouri wanted to participate. But you go off on your own and committed this no nonsense act of violence against your brother, your friends, your families, and jeopardized everyone.

It costs $85 million a year to keep the U.S. prisons up and running. The government is not producing this money to keep the prisons going. So where is the money coming from? Let's see now, in Missouri it's coming from Missouri Vocational Enterprise (MVE), the sign shop, the printing shop, the license plate plant (tag plant), the furniture factory, the chemical plant, information technology (IBM program), the braille program, the laundry, the cooled-chill plant (cold food storage), the shoe factory, the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDot work release) and the newly implemented paneling factory.

The above-mentioned factories are multi-million-dollar industries per year. They are paying you pennies. So what a couple of these jobs pay between $150 and $300 per month. If you peacefully protest by refusing to go to work in these factories, either they are going to pay you at least minimum wage where you will be making at least $340 a week, or they are gonna bring in civilians to do the work, in which case the factories are going to have to be uprooted and moved because most civilians are not coming inside the prisons to work. So to shut down a beast like the U.S. prison system is to shut down their economy — that is, the very thing that's bringing them money to keep the prisons open is the very thing that can shut it down.

This just doesn't begin and end with the prisoners. The prisoner has to survive. He has to eat. So the people in the free world are going to have to support the prisoner financially. Family, friends, advocate organizations are all going to have to pitch in and support the prisoner financially. That means to stop working we have to buy food to eat. To stop using the phones and tablets, we need stamps, envelopes, paper and pens to write letters that cost money. So the free world must understand that for us to make these sacrifices, then society is going to have to make sacrifices to assist us.

So Missouri prisoners, society (family, friends, organizations, advocates, etc.), stop going about things the wrong way and do them like they should be done in order to get results.

I go home next year on parole, but I do not leave my fight behind. There is a bigger world out there, which means a lot more opportunities to fight. I am going to find resources and seek out that they join me in my quest to do away with this beast. I will need their support mentally, physically, spiritually and above all, financially. With this, Comrades, I hope to see you on the other side, working with me and supporting me from the inside and outside.

MIM(Prisons) responds: A lot of folks talk about how hard it is to get people to unite behind bars. The prison controls everything from day-to-day comfort to release dates. And that's powerful incentive to conform. Then they introduce drugs and other distractions to pacify the population. They pay off snitches to keep an eye on activists. And they lock organizers down in solitary confinement. Still, faced with all these barriers, prisoners can and do come together to protest. Conditions at Crossroads CC were bad enough to inspire this action. And while the outcome wasn't all positive, the class action lawsuit and attention of the public has forced the Missouri DOC to admit that prisoners are suffering significant restrictions due to short staffing.

The comrade criticizing this action for its lack of focus and random acts of violence and destruction is right that often these sorts of actions lead to more repression. Though peaceful protests are also often met with increased repression. This debate over tactics in prison protests is one that should be happening within all prisons across the country. We hope the comrades at Crossroads will learn from this action and move forward in greater unity towards future actions that will be even more effective.

Focusing on the economics of prisons reveals the ridiculous scale of the criminal injustice system. As the writer above notes, it would be a significant financial loss to the state if they were forced to hire non-prisoners for all the jobs prisoners are doing. And this is financial leverage that prisoner workers can use to their advantage.

But to debate the value of this tactic we need to first be clear about the scope of prisoner labor. The state of Missouri 2018 budget allocated the Department of Corrections over $725 million. About the same as the previous year, which was up $50 million from 2016.(1) The state would have to allocate even more money if no prisoner labor could be used to help run the prisons, or produce products that are sold to generate revenue. But that prisoner labor is still a small part of the total cost of running prisons.

As we showed from data collected from prisons across the United $tates, in general, losing prisoner labor would add about 10% to the cost of running prisons. Prisons are mostly subsidized by states' budgets. The labor from prisoners just doesn't come close to covering that cost. So while there is definitely economic power in those jobs, shutting down prison industries won't shut down prisons.

We don't aim to just improve conditions. In the end we know the criminal injustice system keeps taking away rights, doing what it can to make prisons a place of suffering and complacency. But this protest showed the people involved that they have the power to take collective action. As the original writer notes, the prison can see their downfall in the unity of the prisoners. This lesson of the importance and power of unity is what will hopefully fuel ongoing organizing.

I am currently on close management (secured housing), a euphemism for 24/7 lockdown. My level was recently dropped to II, which means I now have a cellmate. However, since there are more people in this dorm, I have been able to spread some knowledge.

I am currently involved in a struggle against violations of prisoners' rights in confinement. Although I don't know much about civil law, I am very resourceful and have found 2 non-profit law firms willing to help Florida prisoners. I have begun, after being here since May, to draw a lot of attention and have already been threatened with retaliation for my grievances (in order to file lawsuits, "administrative remedies" must be exhausted). However, I expected this, and take it as a signal that I am doing good and hitting the right issues, such as not being allowed to exit the cell for the specified "dayroom" time.

They are trying to keep the addicts addicted. It is easier to reach people through face-to-face group studies or even individual studies. I have been doing what I can to get some of the interested prisoners involved in utilizing dialectical materialism. I have also been passing around info on how to fight against the constant oppression. Oppression is good for the oppressed. It is what motivates, and without it complacency would be the norm.

I will be enclosing some more poetry for use in ULK. Also, the issue of Under Lock & Key sent to me was rejected citing that I already receive too many periodicals or publications. I am looking into if there is indeed a set limit or if this is just a sorry excuse for unwarranted censorship.

I've been sitting in my room and really, truly devoting myself to studying the MIM Theory I received. I find myself aligning with MIM on all of its issues and where they stand. I do have a question. It is quite perplexing to me.

It seems to me that one of the biggest problems Maoists and other forms of communism face all have a root in greed. The average human is not inherently good and/or caring. Rather, their main objective in life is to accumulate wealth to ensure a better life for them and hopefully their immediate family. They do not have any feelings or true empathy for those that do not have. So how do we solve this? I am new to this movement, but am very intrigued by the veracity that is communism. Expectantly awaiting.

MIM(Prisons) responds: In response to this question about greed we ask another question: how do you know humyns are inherently greedy? Sure, this is what we see today in the world around us. But capitalism is built on a culture of greed and selfishness. It's no surprise that humyns raised in this culture, inundated with it from birth through school, entertainment, and adult examples, will learn to be greedy and individualist themselves. Further, capitalism rewards this individualism with material wealth. There is little incentive or opportunity to be selfless or generous.

But do we really have evidence that this is inherent in the humyn species? When we look at the example of communist China during the Cultural Revolution, so many people were engaging in tremendous acts of selfless work while also actively fighting against reactionary culture. We don't have to look that far for examples of humyn selflessness. Even under capitalism there are jobs that require greater sacrifice than they offer reward, jobs that really help other people. Perhaps you could argue that these are the few oddballs who didn't get the "greed gene." But perhaps instead they represent what we all could be without indoctrination in greed.

This writer argues that oppression is good for the oppressed because it is what motivates. While we'd agree that oppression is a motivating force, it's still something we strive to eliminate because we believe humyns can be motivated by striving for improvements for society without facing constant oppression.

Hemos estado tratando de establecer un programa efectivo de Liberación En La Vida, aquí en MIM(Prisons) por muchos años. Hemos extendido el apoyo de pre-liberación que ofrecemos a nuestros camaradas activos que están detrás de las rejas. Y hemos sentado algunas estructuras para un mejor contacto y apoyo en las calles. Pero, lo que podemos ofrecer es todavía muy poco frente a la realidad muy dura de una vida en las calles después de una estadía en prisión. Estamos trabajando en extender lo que podemos ofrecer. Eso se implica dinero. Pero eso también requiere de ideas y gente en las calles que trabajen en esto. Nosotros sabemos que lo que estamos haciendo ahora es inadecuado. Pero, estamos tratando de construir.

Por varios años publicamos el boletín, "Liberación en la Vida" (Release on Life newsletter (ROL)), el cuál fue enviado a nuestros camaradas en las calles y aquellos con una fecha de libertad en su futuro cercano. Pero no hubo mucho interés alrededor de este boletín. Nosotros sabemos que Bajo Candado y Llave (ULK) inspira a las personas por que recibimos muchas cartas sobre eso y envían artículos para el mismo. Liberación en la Vida (ROL) no inspiró muchas respuestas o artículos. Así que, vamos a descontinuar ese esfuerzo. En su lugar, nos enfocaremos en apoyo practico y logístico para nuestros liberados. Y seguiremos imprimiendo artículos sobre la liberación en Bajo Candado y Llave (ULK).

Pónganse en contacto con nosotros si tiene una fecha o espera ser puesto en libertad en los siguientes años. Empiece a trabajar con nosotros ahora para poder ayudarlo a que tenga éxito cuando salga a las calles.

A continuación hay una entrevista con uno de nuestros camaradas, quien recientemente fue puesto en libertad, subrayando los desafíos con la vida en las calles y la importancia de prepararse y educarse mientras todavía se está preso.

Pregunta: Has encontrado algún apoyo para encontrar vivienda? Y si no, que has hecho y que recomiendas a otros que hagan sino no tienen todavía arreglado el ir a vivir con otras personas?

No, no he recibido vivienda. Yo no he recibido ni mierda del gobierno Estatal o Federal. Si tu no tienes amigos o familiares que te den un techo sobre tu cabeza, entonces sí vas a lucharla de verdad aquí fuera. Yo tengo familia y amigos que me han bendecido con apoyo.

Pregunta: Has podido inscribirte para cualquier programa de apoyo del gobierno (Estampillas para comida; Seguro Social; Asistencia Pública, etc)?

Sí, me inscribí para beneficios y mierdas de ese tipo, pero, tanto el gobierno Estatal como el Federal me negaron.

Pregunta: Que hiciste para encontrar trabajo después de haber sido puesto en libertad?

Yo aplique en agencias de empleo, mierdas como esa, pero cuando investigaban mi nombre, nunca me llamaban. Todavía no tengo trabajo. He estado afuera ya dos meses. Se puede decir que trabajo por mi propia cuenta.

Pregunta: Tú dices que las personas deberían aprender todo lo que puedan mientras que están presos. En qué tipo de programas y estudios les recomiendas a los presos que se enfoquen en prisión, para prepararse para cuando salgan a las calles?

Yo digo, que las personas deberían aprender todo lo que puedan en prisión, como leer libros. Yo cumplí mi sentencia en encierro solitario (Ad-Seg) porque soy un miembro activo de STG. Yo mismo me eduqué. Usa tu tiempo sabiamente porque una vez que salgas a calles, es todo otro mundo.

All my life
I felt nothing but pain
I see no blood, and I see no stains
I lost all that I gained
Where do I go
Where do I run
Running in circles
Til my feet are numb

All my life
I cry, I lie.
I became ashamed, so I denied
What I seen, and where I been
I promise you won't understand a thing
See it's a lie
When they say all champions
Wear a ring

All my life
It's been a struggle
Some people only understand the trouble
Doesn't know how it feel to be poor
And has to hustle

It doesn't matter how you read it, or how it look
Never judge a cover without reading the book
Struggle comes with mistakes
We all understand positive
But live our life with hate

With struggles, life isn't fair
Even with struggles, someone cares
With all the hurt and pain
We learn to move on
When struggles tear us apart
We now pick up the pieces
To try and understand
We leave the past behind
Because with all the errors
And still facing errors
We can't turn back the time

Life is a struggle
For some to comprehend
Life is a struggle
To make us become better men
With tears that fall down our eyes
That actually means
We now realize

We are caught in a system of competitiveness, manipulation, one against the other, brother against brother, family against family, people against people, gangs against gangs, ethnic groups against ethnic groups, color against color, class against class, instead of minority or lower class against the ruling class.

We focus too much on meaningless self-imposed politics that were manipulated into our minds growing up. Like ditch school, destroy your own neighborhoods, sell drugs to your own people, we gang bang, we fight our own over colors and sides only. The only way you can make it is by rapping about killing your own people or selling drugs to your own. As a Chicano I grew up not only hearing this from my peers but that's also what the music I was told to like and listen to said. The television also told me my people are only on TV as gang bangers, drug dealers, etc.

As I grew older I started to realize something is wrong here, where did I go wrong? What have I done for myself? For my family? For my people? Nothing but self-imposed distraction. I am soaking in my own blood and that of my people. I got a hunger for knowledge. Why is it things are the way they are?

The more I studied, the more I realized this is not new but a very old cycle set up by a system to manipulate my mind. A system that went after Martin L. King, a peaceful man, a pastor on his quest for civil rights. The government unlawfully wired his phones, tried to break up his family, tried to unlawfully disrupt his movement by all means to an end. We've learned how the CIA was helping Pablo Escobar flood our streets with drugs. How they dismantled and unlawfully disrupted the Brown Berets and Black Panthers because they were trying to teach and uplift the people; telling them there is a system in place to oppress you, know and understand your rights, bear arms to protect your neighborhoods from pig brutality. After both Brown Berets and Panthers fell our children were open to assault by this system, poor schools, no jobs, drugs. Then record labels signed groups who furthered the system's wishes singing and rapping, "kill your own," "sell drugs," "it's cool to go to prison."

Regardless of tribe, set, race, if you are classified as Security Threat Group (STG) you are on the same boat as me. STG is a Homeland Security term for a domestic terrorist. First rule in war, identify your enemy. We have been identified and classified as enemies of the state. What else is there to be said? Are we to continue letting our self-imposed politics disrupt reality? Such insignificant things and views like colors and sides or race hinder our lives? They can stop one arrow not a hundred. There's nothing wrong with being part of groups, families, etc. But it is wrong when those groups lose focus of the message and cause. It is not okay to soak in the blood of your own people, period.

Learn from our oppressor, they are some cold operators, they understand the power of knowledge and education. The ruling class in the United States is composed of men and their families who use ivy league universities and elite law schools as private schools for their offspring and as training grounds for their corporate livelihoods. They rule us with iron precision through the military, the CIA, the FBI, private foundations and financial institutions. Their control of all the media of education and communication comprises an extremely effective system of thought control.

We must learn from someone who defeated this system. Ho Chi Minh understood the power of education. His mandated policy for his warriors and cadres was spot on. Fighting and violence is easy. You must have balance. You must be able to read and write, be able to teach others and most importantly fully understand and be educated in your political paradigm and why you are fighting.

Chicanos in Colorado are currently in a struggle for our true history. We hunger for knowledge because that knowledge has ended all violence between tribes, shown us our common interests, not the blind mentality of colors and sides. We are currently under assault by Colorado Department of Corrections, not allowing us to receive our real education, stopping all education or history on the concept of Aztlán, Chicano unity, Mexica movement, claiming it's STG. Since when is history and education a crime? Well for us, always.

If there is to be a movement, then there must be leaders. Those leaders must be judged by their ability to give not take. Leadership must convey confidence, not egotism, one who sacrifices, not one who is an opportunist. Leadership is the act of using power to free people, not to control them. It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

MIM(Prisons) responds: The destruction of the Black Panther Party, the flooding of cities with drugs, and the rejection of literature on Chican@ history in prison are all manifestations of the same system. This system seeks to peacefully control oppressed nations by keeping them from learning about the history of this oppression and the many examples of resistance. And when that fails it locks up the oppressed, or even targets activists for death.

What can we do about this system with so much more power and resources than we have as activists and anti-imperialists? The truth is our side has more power; we have 80% of the world's population, which is exploited and oppressed by imperialism, on our side. The imperialists are paper tigers, that appear fearsome, but in reality are propped up on a fairly fragile structure of power.

That said, dismantling that structure will take a lot of organization, trial and error. As this comrade points out, we need to focus on education and fight to get true history into the hands of the oppressed. And then we need leaders to step up and organize and educate others. There is no special qualification for this leadership. Anyone who sees the problems in the world around them can take up organizing others to fight back. United Struggle from Within is an organization for these leaders, and MIM(Prisons) supports USW organizers with literature and resources. Get in touch today to get started with a local study group or campaign against repression in your prison or elsewhere in the world.

Ministerio Internacionalista Maoísta de Prisiones (MIM(Prisiones)) ha establecido la ambiciosa meta de hacer de Bajo Llave y Candado (Under Lock & Key - ULK) una publicación mensual para el 2022. ULK satisface una necesidad en la prisión, dando un reporte revolucionario anti-imperialista acerca el subproletariado tras las rejas. Este es un proyecto revolucionario relativamente pequeño centrado en el sistema de injusticia criminal. Pero las prisiones son sólo una parte de la gran maquina imperialista y tomará un movimiento revolucionario mucho más amplio que sólo en las prisiones el derribar el capitalismo. Somos una parte de este movimiento y es nuestro trabajo hacer lo que podamos para empujar hacia adelante este desarrollo.

En esta etapa de la lucha, hay celdas revolucionarias organizadas en varios segmentos dentro del vientre de la bestia. Estamos construyendo un Frente Unido por la Paz en las prisiones para reunir al movimiento detrás de las barras. Y además de eso, queremos un frente unido en contra del imperialismo que incluya tanto a organizaciones penitenciarias como no penitenciarias. Este extenso movimiento necesita una publicación unificada, un periódico que pueda ser usado tanto para difundir información y organizar a las personas.

Lenin escribió: ¿Qué hay que hacer? Acerca de la importancia de una publicación regular de un periódico que organice la revolución en Rusia. Y en las primeras etapas de la organización, antes de que el movimiento gane popularidad y mayores miembros, el líder Bolchevique argumentó la necesidad de los revolucionarios de soñar con una extensa distribución de una publicación regular. El escribió que, con suficientes grupos locales y con un circulo de estudio trabajando activamente:

"Podríamos, en un futuro no tan distante, establecer un periódico semanal para su distribución regular en decenas de miles de copias a lo largo de Rusia. Este periódico se podría convertir en parte de un par enorme del fuelle de Smith que avivarían la chispa de la lucha de clases y la indignación popular dentro del conflicto general. Alrededor de lo que, en sí mismo todavía permanece como un esfuerzo muy inofensivo y muy pequeño, pero regular y común, en el total sentido de la palabra, se reuniría y entrenaría sistemáticamente a un ejército regular de luchadores experimentados. Las escaleras y el andamio de esta estructura organizacional general […] [los revolucionarios] despertarían a todo el pueblo para saldar cuentas con la pena y la maldición de Rusia. ¡Esto es lo que deberíamos soñar!"

¿Por qué imprimir un periódico cuando tenemos internet?

Lenin estaba escribiendo en un tiempo donde no había otra forma de comunicarse entre localidades. Ahora tenemos internet, y algunos debatirán que la agitación en línea es todo lo que necesitamos. Nos podemos comunicar con otras personas alrededor del mundo en pocos segundos por medio de internet. Y esto es, en efecto, una herramienta poderosa de organización. Entonces ¿Por qué publicar un periódico más allá de las prisiones, uno de los pocos lugares en los países de primer mundo sin acceso al internet? La respuesta a esta pregunta es acceso y organización.

La mayoría de las personas no llegan accidentalmente al sitio web de Maoísta mientras navegan en línea, y con el inminente fin de la neutralidad de la red esto tendría a ser cada vez más cierto. No vamos a obtener publicidad en medios de comunicación de tendencia y no queremos alentar la mala seguridad invitando a las personas a publicar en Facebook o Twitter y exponerlos a la policía. Les podemos dar salida a los periódicos en las cafeterías, librerías, tiendas de libros, refugios para personas de la calle, centros comunitarios, lavanderías y otros lugares donde las personas puedan cruzarse con una perspectiva que no se ve en otra parte. Esto expande el acceso a noticias revolucionarias y la educación.

Podemos usar el internet para compartir rápidamente información sobre las campañas, y reunir personas de muchos lugares para acciones rápidas. Y podemos publicar el contenido en un periódico en línea, expandiendo ampliamente su alcance más allá de los medios impresos. Pero si bien el internet es una herramienta poderosa, no lo podemos usar afuera en las calles organizando personas, hablando con ellos, y construyendo grupos de estudio y organizando comités.

Con una publicación impresa, los organizadores pueden acercarse e involucrar a las personas en una forma que no podemos hacer online. Los periódicos dan a los organizadores herramientas para usar en la organización cara a cara. Hablar con las personas acerca de sus condiciones, y haciendo las conexiones al sistema imperialista. Pedir a alguien leer un artículo y hablar con ellos al respecto. Responder a un discurso en una movilización con un artículo periodístico sobre este tema como un punto de inicio para conversaciones con la gente que ya simpatice con la causa.

Metas políticas en la expansión del periódico.

• Recibe actualizaciones de la organización de camaradas en prisión con mayor frecuencia, construyendo la unidad entre el movimiento Maoísta dentro de la frontera de los Estados Unidos.
• Distribución más amplia de la información anti-imperialista.
• Coordinación más estrecha del trabajo entre varias organizaciones dentro el frente unido en contra del imperialismo. Herramientas de organización para la gente en la calle y detrás de las rejas.

Se necesita expandir ULK

Distribuidores: Sólo podremos lograr nuestro objetivo si podemos expandir rápidamente nuestra red de distribuidores. Aquí es donde tú, nuestros lectores y seguidores intervienen. Queremos enviarles un pequeño paquete de ULK a $50 por un año. Para nuestros compañeros del programa lanzamiento de vida queremos enviarles gratis hasta que puedan pagar. Enviarlos por $1 la pieza es una manera de obtener los fondos para su suscripción. O si tienes el dinero puedes tomar la ruta fácil de entregar unas pocas copias en tiendas locales y espacios públicos que tengan espacio para que las personas recojan publicaciones gratis. Para nuestros lectores en prisión, comuníquense con cualquier individuo o institución del exterior que creas podrían ser capaces de tomar un envió regular de ULK.

Dinero: Costará más dinero imprimir más periódicos y también más gastos de envío a nuestros distribuidores. Estamos pidiendo a nuestros distribuidores cubrir el costo de envío de lo que enviaremos. También necesitamos personas que intensifiquen y ayuden a financiar la impresión y los costos de envió a los presos.

Contenido: Nuestra meta inmediata es incrementar la frecuencia de ULK, para que nuestros compañeros dentro reciban más actualizaciones regulares de la organización. Puesto que esto también expandirá el contenido, esperamos incrementar el alcance de los temas que ULK aborda actualmente, exponiendo diferentes sectores del movimiento al trabajo de cada uno. Estamos trabajando en conjunto con organizaciones fraternales para ayudar a crear contenido para este periódico. También llamamos a individuos a incrementar sus esfuerzos para producir contenido de calidad y discutir las necesidades de los oprimidos desde una perspectiva del proletariado. ¿Quién debería ser parte de esta expansión?

Organizaciones revolucionarias anti-imperialistas que vean el Maoísmo como la visión a futuro del comunismo hasta la fecha. Este es explícitamente un proyecto revolucionario y no estamos atenuando el Maoísmo como nuestro eje político guía, pero seguiremos publicando artículos de individuos que compartan nuestra agenda anti-imperialista, aunque quizás no sean Maoístas.

Necesitamos expandir nuestra distribución al exterior más allá de los antiguos prisioneros. Expandiendo el contenido en nuestro periódico ayudaremos a atraer más simpatizantes. Pero también necesitamos más partidarios para expandirnos. Así que nuestro reto principal para nuestros compañeros en la calle justo ahora, es el dar un paso adelante y convertirse en un distribuidor regular de ULK. Sin una red de distribución más amplia, no alcanzaremos nuestra meta de duplicar la frecuencia.

Lista de tareas a elaborar para enero de 2022

• Comience por distribuir localmente ULK. Regístrate con nosotros enviando $50 a nuestro apartado postal con una dirección para enviar publicaciones de ULK para empezar a explorar formas de distribuir la publicación regularmente. (No cheques a Ministerio Internacionalista Maoísta de Prisiones, haznos saber si quieres enviarnos un cheque).
• Comprometerse con una contribución financiera para esta expansión. Idealmente, un monto mensual con el que podamos contar. Puede empezar donando ahora para ayudarnos a construir el fondo necesario para este proyecto.
• Ofrécete como voluntario para escribir artículos, pide una copia de nuestra guía para escribir actualizada.
• Las organizaciones revolucionarias interesadas en involucrarse en este proyecto, pueden contactarnos para comenzar a ver cómo podemos trabajar juntos.

Within the Bureau of Propaganda here in New York State (NYS) Department of Corruptions I am reaching out to all political prisoners and true difference makers who are deeply rooted in solidarity, liberation, and unity. Reach for your victory.

My goal and aim is to unify NYS prisoners and prisoners nationally while building upon the vehicles necessary to combat the many forms of injustice that each of us are subjected to per a truly controlled environment. The time is now!

On 6 January 2018, Voice of the People Daily News, circulated an article titled "Gov's gotta correct corrections." In this article many valid points were brought to light as to officers stealing from packages, prisoners being afraid to grieve for fear of retaliation, and no respect for our visitors who are our families and loved ones, and the list goes on! This is our reality!

It is my belief that as men and women of a corrupted system built and established for the purpose of breaking the oppressed, we the people of the Incarcerated Nation should be reaching out and communicating to those who stand in solidarity with our struggle. Do not let them win!

In this news article it was stated: "The outside world has no idea about the horrible mind games and abuse that some prisoners are forced to endure." These corruptional officers are very methodical and meticulous when it comes to seeing a male or female disciplined and/or labeled as a security threat.

I have been reaching out for quite some time to bring light to what has been hidden and enraptured in darkness for so long. I have no doubt that many other comrades are reaching out and doing the same as is necessary to defeat the many forms of injustice enacted upon us.

To look into the eyes of a brainwashed pig and see how deeply ensnared in corruption he or she is, is to see the real and actual truth of the war that has silently been waged against our people. We the people must release our voices. The first step is to open your mouth as to the injustices you have been through while animalized and dehumanized within a cage built to break you. Free your mind.

I am also in request of each comrade who lives in, builds up, and opens the doors to solidarity to reach out to MIM(Prisons) and provide a 5 stamp donation so that we can further our national systems of support and releasing knowledge. There are many doors available, you are the key to these doors being opened. To give is to receive!

If you see a weak link in our chain, reach out and truly set your pride and ego aside to strengthen this weak link. This will in time strengthen your support if you only knew.

For United Separation Ministry, know that a comrade is setting aside his pride and ego to reach out to you.

The prison's segregation unit at Calhoun State Prison (CSP) has a practical policy of delaying an insulin-dependent diabetic's finger-stick & insulin injection until several hours after meals have already been served and the empty meal trays collected back up. This is even though their medical orders call for them to receive finger-sticks & insulin before meals, not afterward. This is a textbook example (or, in this prison setting, a case-law example) of a prison policy of indifference which exists in violation of both the contemporary standards recognized by the medical profession (medical malpractice), and the federal constitution's 8th Amendment's proscription against cruel & unusual punishments.

A factor contributing to this policy is that at CSP's segregation (seg) unit breakfast is passed out anytime between 4:30 a.m. & 5 a.m. but CSP's administration doesn't have its medical staff clocking in for work until 6 a.m. every morning. By that time (1-1.5 hours after breakfast) the diabetics housed in seg are badly in need of relief from the dangerously high blood glucose/sugar level resulting from their having ate breakfast without any insulin. I know from my own experience as an insulin-dependent diabetic that if I eat without first taking insulin I develop a dangerously high glucose level in the 300s, 400s, 500s, or higher. This is a typical insulin-dependent's reaction to eating without first receiving the prescribed dosage of insulin he requires for the particular meal.

When nurses clock in at 6 a.m. all of the diabetics housed in prison general population have not ate yet. However, instead of first proceeding to seg to promptly attend to those diabetics who are in acute distress, nurses are instead choosing to administer insulin to the diabetics in general population. Next, they are choosing to perform pill call for the entire non-diabetic general population.

Depending on the efficiency of the particular nurses working on a given day, by the time it's all said and done nurses aren't arriving in seg with glucose meters & insulin until anywhere from 7-10 a.m. every morning, sometimes even later. Delays are also occurring at lunchtime & suppertime, even though nurses are already clocked in and on duty, and so there is really no explanation apparent to justify these additional delays. I kept a record of the delays between meals & insulin, and the nurses responsible for the worst delays are Nurse Williams, Nurse Deefe, Nurse Gilbert, Nurse Porter, and Nurse Mills.

To clear the air on how dangerous hours-long delays are, I am going to quote to you from page 54 of Dr. Jorge E. Rodriguez's book Diabetes Solution, where he explains the dangers of high blood sugar, also called hyperglycerin:

"Hyperglycemia, by definition, is a level of sugar in the blood above the accepted normal range... the normal range for a person's fasting blood sugar ("fasting" means after 8 or more hours without eating anything) level is below 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) of blood, and the normal range at any other time should be below 180 mg/dl)... Elevated blood sugar in and of itself causes tissue damage but having a blood sugar that is extremely elevated can cause life-threatening changes in the body in a matter of hours. An extremely high blood sugar level, and I mean at least 300 — remember, normal is under 100 (fasting) or 180 (any other time) — can cause an imbalance in the delicate acid-based structure in the tissues of the body. When the body can no longer use sugar as an energy source it starts breaking down fat and protein, one of the by-products of these two alternative sources of energy is ketones. A high level of circulating ketones not only damages tissues, but can cause confusion, unconsciousness, and coma."

The above medical expert's opinion sufficiently shows how diabetics housed in CSP's segregation unit are in imminent danger of serious physical injury and/or death. Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) will try to remedy a prisoner's medical complaints by transferring him to another prison. In just 3 years my complaints of improper diabetic care has caused my transfers to 8 different prisons (there is also a deficiency in the diabetic care at my present prison, Wheeler Correctional Facility).

These repeated failures are evidence which supports a civil complaint, not only against these individual prisons, but against the entire GDC, under the litigation theory that there's no prison in the GDC network it can transfer me to where I won't be in imminent danger of serious physical injury or death, due to a lack of adequate diabetic care. I will keep you informed of all the latest developments.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This is a followup to the articles "Insulin Indifference Endangers Prisoners", and "Fixing Insulin Indifference", which we published in 2017 on this same insulin problem in Georgia. These medical battles are literally life and death for some people. Just a further example of the indifference and negligence of the criminal injustice system.

ULK 61 was very informative to me. I'm 47 years old, and I have what you call street cred. I've been a drug dealer all my life because I didn't see it as a crime, I saw it as an illegal business. I'm currently serving a ten-to-twenty sentence, and all my charges are for drugs except for one.

In 2001, I worked in roofing. When I got to the job site there were no shingles so the boss sent us home early with half a day pay. When I came home, as I started up the stairs, I heard a commotion in my front room where me and my wife sleep. As I opened the door I saw my wife (or ex-wife) naked and a man jumping out the window. I lost my mind, started calling her all type of names and beat on her pretty badly. The neighbors called the cops. When I was given my charges it was rape, burglary, kidnapping, and breaking and entering. What should have been a crime of passion turned into something else. They did a rape kit and it was negative. I had keys to the house, and bills in my name.

I had a public defender because she had all my money. So me being a poor Latino, afraid of the racist justice system, I took a deal of 2 years for sexual battery plus ten years registering as a sex offender. I was evaluated by a professional and was determined that I didn't have a sex problem. Therefore I did not have to take the sex program that a sex offender must take. I've been to prison 4 times after that for possession with intent to deliver and all four times I was evaluated to see if I needed the sex program and every time it's been determined that I do NOT have a sex problem. My problems are with drugs. So my question is, if I do not have a sex problem, why is the state of Pennsylvania still registering me as a sex offender and wants to do it for life?

I want to change my life around but it's a heavy load to have as an older man. If anyone knows how I can get relief, please help me if you can.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer underscores our point that labels from the criminal injustice system shouldn't be trusted. Ey also raises an interesting question related to the topic of crimes against the people. Ey writes "I've been a drug dealer all my life because I didn't see it as a crime, I saw it as an illegal business." Drug dealing is harmful to those who do and buy drugs, and their families and community, and so we put it in the category of crimes that are against the people. This is different from, say, robbing a bank, or tax fraud.

It sounds like this comrade now sees the problem with dealing drugs, and wants to turn things around. This is a good example of someone who has great potential to reform and become a productive member of the revolutionary movement. Having a S.O. label is not a barrier to that, though we would struggle with this comrade over whether they feels justified in beating up eir ex-wife. Drug dealing is a business and a means to get by for many who are deprived of better options. Some think it is cool, others find it degrading. If someone has stopped and understands why it's wrong. We care most what ey does with eir life going forward.

I just got done reading ULK 61 and I got to say it opened my eyes to a lot of stuff that I did as a gang member of Aryan Brotherhood in Texas to sex offenders coming into the system. When they came in, me and several other dudes would beat them up to "break them" and then would sell them to the butty bandits due to their crime of being labeled a sex offender.

The system would not attempt to protect them either, due to the label they had on them as a sex offender. So we had free reign to punish them as we seen fit. But nowadays I look back on the stuff that I did and can see the big errors of my ways.

I ran into a dude down in the state hospital that was just about dead of AIDS that he got due to the actions of me and some other dudes breaking him. I was going for breaking my hand in a fight and saw the death wagon pull up and unload two AIDS patients, and one dude seen me and called out my name and asked me if I was still breaking in sex offenders and if so to look at him and see what it causes.

I was like "Dude I do not know you or want to know you either." He told me where I beat him up and sold him, and it blew my mind. I had a lot of hate towards sex offenders when I came into this place and it has mellowed out over the last 34 years that I have been in prison. My baby sister was assaulted by her friend's father, so the issue of sex offenders is personal to me.

When I started in the County Jail beating up sex offenders for something to do, the Sheriff would tell the jailers to put anyone that came into the jail on my tan and tell me in front of the dude what he was in the jail for. I look back on it now and I am coming to the realization that they were using me to punish the dudes that were charged with sexual assault.

One dude, I broke his jaw in two places due to his granddaughter saying he touched her in a private spot. Come to find out it was a lie because she was mad at him for grounding her for the weekend.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not attempting to brag about it, just am showing the length of time and intensity that I have been blinded by the system to do their work, and now I'm starting to understand the system. What made me wake up is one of my brothers got charged with sexual assault/harassment for grabbing his croch and telling a chick to suck is dic- as he left school. Since he made a crude gesture towards her she said she felt violated. He was on a ten-year probation so he got violated for the gesture and came to prison for it. And yes he has to register as a level 1 tier offender due to him being mad about getting kicked out of school for a 3-day period.

Each case is different so you got to look at all of the facts. If you go blindly as I did for years upon years you are no better than the ones you are jumping on, due to the fact that you are siding with the oppressors and are holding down your own people. Yes I am fully aware that there are some sexual offenses that are true crimes and they need all that they get and ten fold more heaped on top of it if they are truly guilty of the crime of sexual assault on a woman or child.

But before you lace up the steeltoe boots and put your pistols on gloves to beat up a sex offender, make sure it's a true crime and one that deserve the punishment that you are fixin to hand out. If not you're just working for the system that you are claiming to work against. You cannot pull both ways at once or you go no place at all.

I used to beat up the dudes, now I try to help them with their cases due to the fact that a lot of them are not able to get help in the law library because they have ask a law clerk to help get a case cite and his first question is "what you charged with?" And he will go to the law books and look up your case, and if you do not pass his smell test he will not help you, or he will tell you the case cite you're asking about is not in the law library, or throw your request slip away and say he never got it at all.

Look at it like this, what if you're with a girl and you're going at it and she says "stop"? If you move forward one more time you have just committed sexual assault.

So before you say it will not happen to you, you got to look at it with your eyes open and see the whole picture and not just what the state wants to show you. So think about all the forms that you may have been labeled a sex offender in the past and then you can get over the stink of the name and start to see the person and not the label that the state has put on a person. Most I can work around because I was a dirty dog in the world and could have been charged a few times too. But the main issue is we need to stop letting the state do our thinking for us and take back our minds from the system. You can handcuff my body but I refuse to let you handcuff my mind any longer.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer has learned through practice pretty much everything we've been saying about sex crimes. This is an impressive transformation, and we hope ey has also transformed eir thinking about oppressed nations over many years behind bars.

It's true that a lot of people have committed sex crimes but not been caught. Men are taught to be "dirty dogs" as this writer says. That's why the revolutionary movement will need to do a lot of work reforming thinking and rehabilitating. Not just those with sex charges, but everyone raised in this messed up system. As we discuss in the "Punishment vs. Rehabilitation" article, we can do some of this rehabilitating now, but we will focus our energy and time on those who recognize their mistakes and crimes and want to make a change and committ to serving the people.