MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
I will just hit on the one that seems to echo No. 70: Unity. People
must realize We are inherently the same; when I am hungry I want to eat;
moms in every country around the world love their babies; people want to
live productive, peaceful, happy lives the world over.
Through the five pillars of the United Front, these kinds of
universal needs and wants of people should be stressed with the added
ingredient: I care about you.
Unity is: I care about you, you care about me; We work together for
Our mutual well-being, happiness and development. We are not the same,
yet have fundamentally the same fears, hopes, needs, wants and dreams
and the reality is that We can only achieve them when We live and work
together in Unity. Unity is not being in relationship; it is more being
in fellowship; not just co-workers but comrades.
…
One thing we hear the staff or guards say all the time is “I don’t
care.” All of their actions, policies and procedures prove it is
absolutely true; they do not see us as people any more. This is an
extension of the imperialist view of the rest of the world’s population.
“They don’t care” whether this or those people live or die, have a
decent standard of living, live free of famine or war, or free from
social instability, mass discrimination, incarceration or class
stratification.
They don’t care – the target is not a person with thoughts, feelings,
needs or dreams. It is an insanity that plagues mankind: people treating
others as things, objects, property, chattel or goods; to be used,
abused or destroyed at will.
As the article Individualism
Equals Hunger pointed out greedy people just do not care about
others to the point of allowing millions of people worldwide to either
starve or at the least live malnourished. Especially here in America,
individualism is a key component of “I don’t care.” Even in prisons,
huge amounts of food are thrown away daily, it is really crazy when one
sits back and thinks about it all.
by a North Carolina prisoner September 2020 permalink
Comrade Tag: I fasted from 7PM on 8 September 2020
until 5PM on 9 September 2020. I did drink water though. It was intense,
it was the first time I’ve ever intentionally fasted. In the streets I
wouldn’t eat for a day or 2, but I had alcohol, weed, etc. to sustain
me.
It was eye-opening for me. Like, “Damn, people go through this for
the cause all the time!” I need to tighten up. Self discipline for me
and food is poor. I write, stand up against oppression, and help educate
people, but food is so essential to survival. Not eating for me is like
not living. That’s why I decided to fast.
My stomach complained a lot at first, but after awhile it stopped. I
had a goal in mind, so it followed my lead. My thoughts tried to
scatter, but I focused on explaining to guys why I fasted. Also, more
causes were brung to my attention.
All in all the day was a success! The feast with Comrade L was
supportive. Ey is new to being aware and learning about the struggle. I
explained my appreciation for eir support. Thank you for sending ULK
No. 57, it was a great read and perfect timing. Thanks again for
your time and support.
In Struggle!
Comrade L: Hello, my name is [Comrade L] and I
participated in the September 9th Day of Peace and Solidarity. This is
the first time I’ve fasted in relation to prisoner awareness. I did this
to show my support and to have something to do.
I’ve done a few things this year to further our causes here at
Avery/Mitchell Correctional Institution. This 11 hours (6AM - 5PM)
helped me to think about what I do. I feel a little more aware of what
others have had to go through so prison could be better.
It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Also, I feel good when I
broke the fast with Tag NC. Ey said I should write my feelings so ey
could send it with this letter today. I hope you are happy with my
support.
First of all I would like to say that I truly admire the work that
you all are doing. Even though I am somewhat new to the cause, I know
that I am definitely headed in the right direction. At this point, I
don’t feel qualified to contribute any articles that would be worth
publication. There is so much that I would like to learn from you so
that I will be in a better position to write for ULK. I am a
teacher and a writer at heart and I definitely plan on providing you
with work contributions in the future. In the meantime, I will offer a
few comments on an article found in ULK 56. The article is titled
“Building
Unity Through Talk”, by Soso of MIM(Prisons).
Being incarcerated for over 13 years, I have seen what hatred and
division does to prisoners. What I love about MIM(Prisons) is the fact
that you all not only encourage peace & unity among prisoners, but
you also labor to help them to see the bigger picture of what’s going on
“behind the scenes.” Oppressed nations are frustrated and they don’t
realize why they are so upset. MIM(Prisons) helps us to see that the
real problem is found in the overarching imperialist system rooted in
capitalism, not each other.
The article speaks about contradictions with the enemy and
contradictions among the people, and it goes on to describe the best way
to deal with both. “When we run into problems with people who should be
our allies,” the article states, “we need to start from [the] desire for
unity.” If oppressed nations would stop and take a moment to see that
the system is designed to bring disunity among the people, and that this
is really a divide-and-conquer strategy used by the bourgeoisie to
ensure their continued ability to exploit the proletariat, only then
will we see how important maintaining unity is when it comes to
revolutionary struggle.
As a bisexual man in prison, I see other oppressed nations attacking
the LGBTQ community (verbally and physically) as if we are the enemy.
But as this article rightly points out, the marginalization of queer and
trans folk is actually characteristic of imperialist oppressors and the
patriarchy. The more oppressed nations are able to see that there are
certain mindsets that are counterproductive to revolutionary struggle,
the more they will be able to channel their energies in a positive
direction that will lead to true change. I believe the greatest strength
of MIM(Prisons) lies in its push for unity, peace, growth,
internationalism, and independence (otherwise known as the five
principles of the United Front for Peace in Prisons).
I can’t help but to notice that this country is slowly moving in a
more socialist direction, and I believe that is because people are
starting to become disillusioned with the imperialist agenda. Unity and
education is the key to keeping the momentum going, and anything that
undermines that unity needs to be identified and exposed for what it is
(which I believe MIM(Prisons) does a good job at). Thank you for the
work that you do and I look forward to studying and struggling with you
all.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade demonstrates that it
doesn’t take special training to contribute articles that are
worthwhile. By analyzing the conditions where ey is at, ey offers some
universal observations around the topic of unity.
While we certainly hope the efforts of building public opinion for
socialism are paying off, we think it’s unlikely that this country is
actually moving in a socialist direction economically, as this author
states above. With the coronavirus having an undeniable impact on
capitalism’s status quo, it is a good opportunity to continue pushing
for socialist change.
History shows us that to put an end to capitalism we will need a
revolution. It won’t be a slow move towards socialism, but rather a
violent revolution to overthrow capitalism. The capitalists won’t give
up without a fight!
One thing we want to clarify about this article is who is the
proletariat and who is exploited, because this is a very common point of
confusion especially among our new subscribers. Where this author is
discussing oppressed nations in prison succumbing to divide-and-conquer
tactics, and helping oppressed nations realize capitalism’s main
interests is in exploiting the proletariat, we want to clarify who is
the proletariat. For the most part the oppressed nations within U.$.
borders are not exploited and not proletarian. Many people in oppressed
nations belong to the lumpen (that’s who is locked up in prison and
hustling on the streets), labor aristocracy, and even the bourgeoisie.
Some migrants are in the proletarian class, and some people are in the
semi-proletariat. For the most part people in oppressed nations in U.S.
borders are not proletarian and are not economically exploited.
We have a lot of study materials about different classes and their
roles in capitalism and imperialism. Simply send us a work-trade and a
request and we’ll get something out to you about it!
We also look forward to continuing to develop with our newer
comrades! We’re inspired by letters like this every day.
In ULK 68 we were asked to submit articles for the next five
issues devoted to each of the five principles of the United Front for
Peace in Prisons (UFPP). One question asked “How can we build
institutions of the oppressed behind bars?”
One sure way to achieve this is by direct exposure. As prisoners, we are
all suffering under the same roof. Although there seems to be some issue
concerning whites as not being considered as lumpen, this is surely just
yet another example of the imperialists’ subliminal divide-and-conquer
tactic, set aside color, we are a race of inmates. But I digress, direct
exposure: One of the easiest ways to build unity, and this does tie in
to the statement above, is to universally teach.
And one way to do this is to sign up your fellow oppressed to receive
information and education. Regardless if they read the material or not,
by signing your brothers and sisters up to receive this publication, you
are planting a seed. And the choice to water that seed lies in the
receiver of the gift.
And by doing this, not only are you building the subscription list, you
are also opening the door for people who may not have known of the
possibilities of unity that UFPP can bring about. Although there are
sure to be some that will not adhere to the education, there will be
many that will. Being as we are all suffering, even the most hard-headed
or ignorant still wants and needs solidarity, and can find this in
Under Lock & Key.
The next question was “Why shouldn’t we just use the programs run by the
U.$. government/police/prisons?” I may be interpreting this question
wrong, but to me, in an effort of re-education, it is most beneficial to
actually utilize programs run by the oppressors against them. We are at
a distinct disadvantage here as prisoners, we lack funding,
organization, means of communication, and sadly, education availability
at large. This imperialist system of oppression has been deeply
ingrained into society and has even bled into the foundations of our own
prisons.
But by educating ourselves on the Rules & Regulations, and the Civil
Rights and Constitutional Laws, we can effectively use their own words
for our benefit. I personally have been raising lawsuits against the DOC
in my prison for not following its own policies. My most recent success
was in changing how the DOC’s policy for “Step-Down Management Program”
(SDMP) was operated.
SDMP for a long while was basically an extended disciplinary segregation
sentence, served after completion of your actual discipline sentence. In
Minnesota, the law had been that no prisoner could be subjected to more
than 90 days of loss of good time for a single disciplinary offense, and
the court ruled this to also mean that a single disciplinary offense
could not result in a sentence of more than 90 days of disciplinary
segregation.
The Minnesota DOC retaliated by the implementation of a program that
they claimed “is not punishment,” keeping prisoners in disciplinary
segregation-like environments years after their actual discipline
sentence was completed.
As a right of the U.$. Constitution, no person shall be deprived of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of the law. And this
program sought to deprive prisoners of property and liberty, with no due
process. This was illegal. Thankfully, prison officials made placement
on the program ungrievable, so there was no need to exhaust grievance
remedies at all, and we could file suit directly according to Prison
Litigation Reform Act standards.
Now, if you are on this SDMP, you actually get Ad-Seg privileges. The
next step is fighting for no SDMP at all.
The last question was “What should be our priority for new independent
programs?”
First and foremost: Education. It has been long proven that by forced
ignorance of the majority, the minority can safely rule. By educating
ourselves, we can defend ourselves.
Second: Promotion. By spreading the message of Unity to all available
ears, we will find those who will listen. The pigs seek to silence us,
so the more of us who hear the truth of peace and solidarity, the more
our message will spread.
Third: Solidarity. We need to acknowledge that there is no other race in
reality other than the human race. To accept and use other
imperialistic-created class names or distinctions serves only to take
away from our true mission. By this I do not mean to disparage your
ancestry, or your own personal heritage or ethnicity. I mean only to
convey the truth our universal brotherhood of humanity, by washing away
castes, sets, class, etc. We are all in this together, all for one, and
one for all.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade calls for unity of all behind
bars. And we echo that call in the United Front for Peace in Prisons and
all of our organizing work. We want to encourage this comrade to go
deeper in eir analysis around distinctions of class and nation. We
vehemently agree that race is a made-up concept that only serves the
interests of imperialists to keep us divided from each other. At the
same time, in looking at material reality through the lens of
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, we see oppressed and oppressor nations, and we
see exploiter and exploited classes. Talking about these distinctions
isn’t a problem for our work. It’s when people take on these
distinctions as part of their identity and in an chauvinistic manner
that it’s a problem.
So for example we wouldn’t call for unity with the imperialist
bourgeoisie because we know they have no basis for uniting with us.
Similarly, while we call on all prisoners to unite against the criminal
injustice system, we recognize that there is a very real historical
basis for the vastly disproportionate number of First Nation, New
Afrikan and Chican@ prisoners. And this national oppression provides a
material basis for national unity to fight against the oppressor nation
which has benefited from imperialism and national oppression. We can’t
just wish away these distinctions because they exist with years of
reinforcement through economic, educational, and cultural oppression. So
we must consciously address this reality. Only with this honest
assessment of conditions can we build unity across nations and classes
behind bars.
by a South Carolina prisoner August 2019 permalink
When I think of unity, I think of “together.” It doesn’t matter your
sex, race, religion, organization, age, or where you’re from. Unity is
putting all our differences aside, coming together to focus on the
bigger situation. Like the saying “there’s strength in numbers.” If
we’re constantly battling against each other, how can we ever focus on
the root of the problem?
I’m currently incarcerated in Ridgeville, South Carolina at Lieber
Correctional Institution. I’m not a part of any organization, but I’ve
learned about a movement going on throughout the yard, promoting “peace”
as well as “unity.” An older brother told me about the movement from my
cell door, and he explained that you shake hands with 2 fingers, meaning
“together” and “peace.” Then I moved to another unit, where brothers are
throwing up the peace sign passing by in the unit, and hollering out
“peace” from across the unit. Now, I find myself peacing up brothers,
and after reading ULK
68, I find myself peacing up brothers more than I used to. After
reading ULK 68 I was impressed with the movement, and was eager
to promote peace as well as unity, considering myself a leader, as well
as being looked up to, as respected.
I began telling brothers about ULK, MIM(Prisons) and USW
movements, and I’m dying to receive a copy of the next newsletter. To
educate myself, as well as share to educate other brothers as I was
educated by another leader about this movement. I’m in the process of
putting something together on the oppression going on right here at
Lieber, so I promise you’ll be hearing from me again soon. Thanks, as
well, for voicing our concerns, conditions, and struggles behind these
walls, that the public never knew, knew and didn’t care, or didn’t
believe what goes on back here.
Is it possible to defeat gangster mentality in ourselves? The short
answer is: Yes. There is plenty of solid individuals who have turned
their back on the thug life and criminal thinking. But, is that what is
needed when building a revolutionary cadre organization? Instead,
perhaps we should attempt to harness and direct our vision of
revolutionary social force into a hammer to first shatter the old
imperialist system. And then from the ashes and rubble shape a new and
better society that will serve the masses free of exploitation.
As members of the revolutionary cadre organization, each of us has to be
a leader, a teacher, an activist, a soldier and represent the future by
our conduct. Individual members must take the initiative to bring
together various organizations for a united front. For this to happen
our members have to think beyond their neighborhood, set or clique. All
of us are already soldiers of battles that take place right under the
nose of pigs. The system does not care if we kill each other. Actually
they encourage warfare between lumpen organizations. When we fight each
other we do their job for them.
Fight the imperialist system by making peace in prison and on the
street. Educate the young, think on an international level, and lead by
example. Evolve from a gangster into a hardcore communist revolutionary.
Consider your time fighting for your neighborhoods as basic training for
the real battle yet to come.
Peace to all the Gods that’s stuck in these chains. I would like to
speak power to the truth. I’m a young God in prison, but I feel there is
a need for U$ Afrikans on these prison yards to focus more on building
up a school than to focus on these prison politrix. What will the
curriculum be in this school??? Knowledge of Self (KOS)! Why?? Well my
son, that’s a question asked most by the 85 and less by the 5ive%. It’s
a necessity for U$ to gain this truth about ourselves and all of our
stolen greatness, to remind ourselves who you really are: “Original
Man.”
Because the majority of U$ are living in a bunch of lies, believing the
blood suckas and what we’ve been taught by them; the trick-knowledge,
weak wisdom, slick-understanding enslaved our mind frames believing
since I was born and came from the trenches I have to depend on the
United $nakes government for GR, Section 8, SSI, EBT, etc. to live and
function as a citizen.
Wake up, that’s wrong G. See this issue we focus on the topic at
hand, which is “Independence.” That’s 1 of our 5 principles in the
United Front for Peace in Prisons. Correct and Exact. So we don’t need
no government assistance in building up a school, we just need brothers
who are dedicated to show up to cipher, getting these lessons Father
Allah gave U$ Gods. It’s all about chain of command with the system. If
custody sees brothers coming to cipher they should have no problem
getting our cell doors unlocked for school. Word is Bond.
The article we printed in Under Lock & Key No. 65 on the
forced
integration and its relation to the Agreement to End Hostilities
continues to elicit responses. However, reports are still sparse, so we
reiterate our request to readers in California to continue to send in
updates on the progress of the integration. One comrade was won over by
the article:
“I’ve never thought about the SNY situation, as written in your No. 65
issue, page 9, about the AEH agreement as I would pertain to a group of
konvicts that usually leave a bad taste in most dudes’ mouths. I have a
cousin in SNY that I’ve written off for like 5 years. After reading your
past few issues, I think I’ll get at him this week.”
There was concern coming from Valley State Prison, where a comrade wrote
on 18 December 2018:
“I am writing to let you know I did receive ULK Nov/Dec 2018,
No. 65, and I enjoyed reading about G.P.’s mixing with SNY, it’s
crazy. There will be people filing lawsuits. The G.P.s are expected here
at Valley State around 15 January 2019. I can imagine things will get
bad.”
Yet we received a positive report from another comrade at Valley State
Prison from 17 February 2019:
“I have a new ‘bunky’ who is a GP prisoner who came here to VSP as part
of the integration of SNY & GP. There have been no problems with him
and I am using this as an opportunity to learn more about how all of us
can build unity using the UFPP Statement of Principles as a guide. We
here appreciate all the material support of MIM(Prisons) and the
valuable organizational guidance. The ULK No. 66 article”Ongoing
Discussion of Recruiting Best Practices” was damn good and quite helpful
as well.”
The above victories are small, and do not necessarily give us a picture
of what is happening across CDCr. But they do speak to the possibilities
of the positive leadership of USW and the efforts to build a United
Front for Peace in Prisons. However, negative reports are coming from
concerned family members. One womyn campaigning for support for her
loved one in Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility reports that he
has been repeatedly brutalized after refusing to give information to
guards. The guards are setting up scenarios reminiscent to the Corcoran
SHU gladiator fights, except this time with many-on-one, to punish those
that don’t cooperate with their manipulations.
One comrade had a more mixed report from Chuckwalla Valley State Prison,
22 February 2019:
Yesterday we received our first group of general population “active”
prisoners and the whole event quickly turned into a spectacle. Over a
hundred prisoners flooded the yard last night in anticipation of these
“active” prisoners. Their purpose was to physically assault these
general population prisoners if they attempted to assault any SNY
prisoner. While I myself did not go outside, I am guilty of looking out
my window in anticipation of seeing some violence. Once I saw how these
G.P. prisoners were virtually swarmed, however, and once I heard and saw
how some prisoners became giddy with excitement at the possibility of
seeing someone get hurt my mood changed from one of an expectant
spectator to one of repulsion, anger and empathy.
Most disturbing of all however was how officers literally abandoned
these incoming prisoners to their fate. Officers (some in riot gear)
simply waited on the sidelines for something to happen while packs of
SNY prisoners taunted, intimidated and pushed up on these prisoners
asking them if they were here to program or get stupid, waiting for the
wrong answer. All of the prisoners who came to this yard stayed.
However, about an hour prior to this other G.P. prisoners were taken to
another yard where we know something happened because we saw everyone
proned out on the ground. And a few days prior some other G.P. prisoners
were taken to A yard where one of them got jumped as soon as he set foot
on the yard. We know this cause plenty of people in another building
were able to see this from their windows and they all corroborated each
others’ stories.
On the one hand it’s understandable that these SNY prisoners are
chomping at the bit after some of them have been victims of gen. pop.
prison gang violence. Others are merely interested in defending
themselves against possible sneak attacks from G.P. prisoners that may
be lying in wait. While many others unfortunately just wanna f___
somebody up.
It also doesn’t help that we keep hearing stories of how other SNY
prisoners are viciously attacked upon setting foot on a G.P. turned NDPF
yard. Most SNY prisoners have never been victimized anywhere on G.P. or
snitched on anyone. They’re just not into the stupid prison politics and
so they opt to go SNY when given the chance. For example, most of the
prisoners here are just a bunch of youngsters who ain’t never been
nowhere. They just wanna do their time and go home. And if people want
to say that most people here are sex offenders, well that too is a myth.
And yeah, there are some sex offenders here, but there are many on the
mainline as well, they just don’t got that “R” suffix on their jackets.
At this point I firmly believe that the only way there can be peace on
these NDPFs is if the G.P. shot callers initiate a truce and prohibit
the G.P. from assaulting SNY prisoners arriving to their yards. Once
SNY’s hear that SNY prisoners are being left alone on their side of the
fence then they will begin to respond in kind, as SNY prisoners are only
reacting to what’s going on on G.P. As it is, one of these G.P.
prisoners here claims to still be G.P. but just wants to do his time and
go home. No one is bothering him, while other prisoners have actually
extended olive branches to some of these guys and given them some basic
necessities.
Anyone who represents prisoners on either side of the integration, who
needs help reaching out to the other side with messages of peace should
contact MIM(Prisons). We will help facilitate any efforts at developing
such a truce as suggested above.
Peace: means to me and my organization that people have a right
to be ok and have sanity and wellness in their lives and experience no
harm to their persons or families, friends and so forth. I live in a
behavioral health unit @ Pinta and see much suffering and I long to see
reform and the end of senseless suffering.
Unity: I long to see the unification of all races and peoples in
a harmonious and integrated diversity of embrace and brother/sisterhood
and so forth. For too long the nations and people suffer because of bias
and division and needless persecution. It’s time to band together.
Growth: I long for a movement, which I believe MIM and USW are
that movement that will spread like wildfire and join in true revolution
and change.
Internationalism: I believe MIM/USW are a blaze waiting to happen
and proposes a better cause than any I’ve seen in recent years. I
believe it is a crown on the head of movements like NuIndian Uprising
and American Indian Movement and also International/Foreign orgs like
the mentioned. I feel that we, through this cause, can unite divided
nations.
Independence: I believe that true independence is gained through
communal occurrence. I am of Iroquoian descent and Marx and Engels
described the Iroquois gens as communist in nature. I am Seneca-Cayneya
Cherokee and Wyandotte (Wandat-Huron) and I believe once people join
together under a true system and do away with genocidal imperialism, we
will truly know freedom.
I make statement here to my pledge of unity with and to Maoist
International Ministry of Prisons, the United Front and the United
Struggle from Within.
I avow to uphold the 5 principles and contribute to cause and effect and
the true struggle of this great and rising movement.
There is more to say for myself. But, that would be vain. This is not
about me but aiding others and uniting people.
MIM(Prisons) responds: The United Front for Peace in Prisons
welcomes organizers like this comrade into the movement. The
five
principles of the UFPP underscore the basis for our unity and
organizing work.
It is true that Marx and Engels argued that traditional indigenous
hunter-gatherer communities were based on egalitarian social
relationships and common ownership. They called this primitive
communism. But they were clear that we can’t go back in time. As history
marches forward, new contradictions have developed. Class contradictions
developed throughout the world, manifesting first in slave societies,
then in feudalism, and most recently in capitalism.
We now need to overthrow capitalism in order to establish a new form of
communism around the globe. And unfortunately we can’t just get to
communism overnight. Capitalism has corrupted the thinking of many
people with a lifetime of reactionary culture and drive for individual
profit, so we will need a period of dictatorship of the proletariat
under the transitional phase to communism that we call socialism. This
dictatorship will forcibly keep the minority who support exploitation of
the majority out of power.
It will take many years to work through the period of socialism to
establish a true communist society where no group has power over any
other group. As we work to get there, we should take inspiration from
the egalitarian nature of historical humyn societies. Anyone who says
that humyns are just inherently selfish and incapable of creating a
communist system should study this history.
I am a prisoner at Crossroads Correctional Center in Cameron, Missouri.
I’m currently being held in solitary confinement for our May 12 uprising
against the oppression and abuse inflicted on us by the administration
and guards.
For months, the administration had been keeping us locked in our cells
for 23 hours a day, in population! Using excuses of “short on staff,” we
are only allowed to either shower or call our loved ones for one
30-minute session per day. Our one-hour recs are cut to 45 and 30
minutes consistently. The inmate barber shop is closed. Visits are
canceled. Guards are verbally and physically abusive.
Until, on May 12th at dinner chow (2 hours late) at 7:30 pm, 288
prisoners participated in a mass sit-in, in peaceful protest to all of
the injustices. Instead of answering requests for talks with
white-shirts, all officers fled both chow halls and kitchen, leaving us
locked in, and grouped outside the windows and taunted us. The sit-in
quickly escalated into the largest “riot” in Missouri history,
consisting of a reported $4 million in damages, with the complex being
taken over and held for over 7 hours. Inside, only 2 people were
attacked before leadership and unity were established.
Countless abuses and injustices followed our return to custody,
including: remaining zip-tied for 7-9.5 hours, forced to urinate
ourselves, beatings, double-celling prisoners in single-man cells for a
week with no mattress or bedding, less than 1000-calorie daily diet
instituted for the entire camp for over 70 days, etc.
Through all this, the administration kept up its tricks of sowing hate
and dissension amongst prisoners in population by blaming the 3-month
lockdown on us by actually naming us to other prisoners in hopes of
retaliation). Visits were canceled, no canteen, etc.
However, those of us in confinement know the truth: in 2017, we had a
mass race-riot of Browns & Whites vs Blacks, and less than 12 months
later those same races, true those same prisoners, come together to
fight in unity against oppression! Me and about 20 other comrades came
together again in September 2018.
It is coming up on 6 months since our placement in seg and we are likely
to receive another 90 days just for good measure, but we are still
standing. There are 78 of us from the uprising in seg, and many of us
belong to one organization or another. When we are released we will
continue to spread and build on this unity that was formed under great
oppression. We will carry this momentum to bring all prisoners together
to face the true enemy!
We have seen and heard praise for our battle and victory in the struggle
throughout other max securities in Missouri. There have been other
uprisings that have followed ours at a couple mediums, (one was a
race-riot, but with guidance and support those aggressions can be
properly re-directed), and the administration is taking notice. The
five
principles of the United Front are taking hold in Missouri. We will
do our part to learn, share, teach and uphold them as we struggle
together in our war against oppression. I will do my part in not only
spreading the message to mi raza, but others as well. Unity is the key!
Viva la gente!
MIM(Prisons) responds: We printed
some
good discussion about these Missouri protests in ULK 65. This
writer highlights what is most important about these sorts of actions:
the learning by participants and observers about what prisoners can
accomplish with unity. By building the United Front for Peace in
Prisons, comrades in Missouri are building strength and unity, setting
up the conditions for stronger actions in the future.