Number 27  Spring 2007 By Dominic Lucero LETTERS what’s going on. We really do appreciate [Ed Note: This letter and LETTERS what you have done for us individually and attached information was CALIPATRIA HUNGER STRIKE for the Native peoples on this continent of forwarded to our (swamped) UPDATE Turtle Island. Our day will come. Pelican Bay committee. For Dear CPF: Michael Contreras, Corcoran, CA those on the inside: You are In your fall 2006 issue I noticed your re- [Ed Note: This letter was sent to Marina not alone. Come together and port on the hunger strike we had at Calipa- who is coordinating the Native American support each other. Fort those tria, level IV facility, C prison. language program through CPF.] on the outside: Please fi nd time It is true that we went on a hunger strike to volunteer with CPF. ] so the conditions might be improved. On STOP HATING EACH OTHER Aug. 18, 2005 (more than a year ago) a Dear CPF: CDCR NEEDS OBJECTIVE staff-provoked incident resulted in a death I am writing in response to the article in OVERSIGHT and serious injuries to numerous prisoners the PF # 26 fall issue: “Hate Continues to Dear CPF: occurred. For more than a year now, normal Hurt.” This letter was so poignant, particu- I would like to address some issues and contact visits and yard access have been larly from the view of a transgender pris- concerns that affect all California prisoners denied to those of us not involved in the oner. This could be the most pressing issue because they violate our civil rights. incident. As of September 2006 a few pris- affecting prisoners today, and the key to First on my list are the excessive and oners were allowed out as critical workers, solving so many of the problems we face. disproportionate sentences being meted out but those privileges were revoked on Oc- It is a point that needs to be reiterated again arbitrarily by judges whose appointments tober 4 due to speculative information. In and again. are basically for life. It is absurd to say the November those privileges were reinstated If we cannot stop the senseless hate and least, that a person convicted of a nonvio- and people are slowly be allowed out, a few violence against each other, we will never lent, non serious offense is sentenced to at a time. Normal contact visiting has been be able to effect positive change within the an indeterminate term of 25 years to life. allowed to remain active for about three prison system. Our horrid conditions of These punishments are not proportionate months, to date. Racial hatred is the only confi nement will only continue to worsen to the crime committed and [should] seri- description that can be given for the actions day by day. ously violate eighth amendment standards. of this administration against its prisoners, I would like to suggest that we act now, These excessive sentences do nothing more as this lockdown was race based. collectively and individually to advance than turn prisons into warehouses for hu- Anonymous, Calipatria a program of voluntary cooperation and man storage. mutual aid. This simply means that we all Unless our elected representatives truly FEEDBACK ON LANGUAGE must stop the hate! Instead, we must work seek answers and legislate prison reform, STUDIES together and offer each other support in our the lives of the incarcerated, the future of Dear CPF: struggle. Don’t hate; participate! California, and the California budget are I received your notice that you ordered Johnny Gann, Pleasant Valley headed for disaster. the Kupa book to be sent to me, today. I As the prison population begins to age, immediately thought, “oh no!” But had MEDICAL ISSUES AT THE BAY the cost of housing increases due to illness a smile. It was kind of funny. After I just DEAR CPF: and transportation (moving prisoners back wrote telling you I fi nally got the one the I’m sorry for interrupting your daily and forth from hospitals). Housing for the reservation sent in June. But all is not in activities. I ask a minute of your valuable elderly costs between 2-3 times more than vain or lost. I have a son in the next yard, 25 time, please. it now costs to house the average prisoner. years old, who I have been teaching about A number of us at Pelican Bay are cur- (Legislative Analyst Offi ce Report, Oct. our Kupa people, and I can send the book rently appealing (via the 602 process), the 2005) to him. He’s enthusiastic for the subject inadequate medical care, abuse of power In addition to the above concerns, other and intelligent and I’m sure he will absorb and deliberate indifference we are suffer- issues are of constant irritation. For in- every bit of it. I myself am coming along ing by medical staff. I got fed up with this stance, mail is routinely delayed 14-30 real great with the book. I had learned some frustrating situation and decided to take ac- days, and oftentimes lost or destroyed. Pris- things here and there, bits and pieces of our tion—and take it all the way to the courts oners in the middle of legal suits have had history, culture, and etc., but this book is since our rights have been violated. Many their cases dismissed, because their mail is the bomb, the base, the foundation. I’m of us have chronic pain and little has been not received in a timely manner or at all. sure the Kupa Ancestors guided everyone’s done to alleviate it. The administrative appeals (602) process hand who did it. I’m strong on the An- One particular doctor abuses her posi- does not work. It is useless and haphazard. cestors. I admire them and think of them tion by using aggravating and abusive lan- Frequently these appeals are also lost, ig- more than some. But anyway, when I get guage towards us. We are not treated with nored or destroyed. the book I will get it over to my son right respect. As serious as the broken appeals process, away. The Native spiritual advisor here can Now, I don’t know much about this issue, are the violations against prisoners’ consti- take it over to him. That was real heavy of but I am willing to take it on for our health tutional rights which severely limit their you and the organization, and I mean that. and dignity. So, do you have any way of use of the law library. Without legitimate Thank you very kindly from myself and on helping us? behalf of the Kupa Ancestors. They know Jaime Estrada, Pelican Bay Continued on page 39 2 PRISON FOCUS CONTENTS IN THIS ISSUE American Prison Planet ...... 4

Prison Focus is a publication of Cali- A Cry From Guantanamo ...... 7 fornia Prison Focus, a nonprofi t orga- nization that works with and on behalf Dignity Sunday in LA ...... 12 of prisoners in California’s control units and other institutions. On The Backs of Mexicanos ...... 16 Permission is granted to reprint orig- Prison Decried as “Abomination” ...... 18 inal articles from Prison Focus. Credit Prison Focus and California Prison An American Forgotten ...... 18 Focus. And please send us a copy of the publication in which the article ap- The Horrors of Extraordinary Rendition ...... 20 pears. Prison Focus welcomes articles, sto- Israel Violates Palestinian Rights ...... 22 ries, opinion columns, news reports, The Plight of Palestinian Child Prisoners ...... 22 poetry, photos, cartoons and other artwork. Send contributions to Editors, Prison Proposal Akin to Eugenics ...... 25 Prison Focus, 2940 16th Street, Suite B5, San Francisco, CA 94103. Web: Gulag of the Golden State ...... 26 http://www.prisons.org. Subscribe to Prison Focus for $20 It’s The System ...... 26 ($5 for prisoners) and receive four is- American Prisons are Government Sponsored Torture ...... 27 sues. Prison Focus is available free to California SHU prisoners. Others can Waging A Security War...... 29 send for one free sample copy. For fur- ther information, call (415) 252-9211. The BJS Special Report and Social Reality ...... 31 © 2007 California Prison Focus Supporters Rally to Demand Freedom ...... 32

EDITORS The Cuban Five ...... 33

Leslie DiBenedetto - Ed Mead Pleadings Claim Padilla Tortured ...... 34

PRINTING To The Conference on Control Units ...... 35

Sonoma Valley Publishers To Activists: A Critical Perspective ...... 36

CONTRIBUTORS Still Struggles Ahead - Vindication for the Angola 3 ...... 37 Judy Greenspan J. Sawyers Marilyn Bromley Jamie Day DEPARTMENTS Mary Rubach C. Landrum Pelican Bay ...... 8 K. Tashiri Askari Tom Big Warrior Charles Carbone Eugene A. Dey Litigation in Prison ...... 10 Bato Dortell Williams Dominic Lucero James Lawless REGULAR FEATURES Wayne Willhoite Kevin Johnson Cleve Husley Terry A. Kupers Letters ...... 2 Jesus Gomez Russell Shoats Pat Parker Abdul O. Shakur Poetry Page ...... 13 Cynthia Skow Buddy Clark Corey Weinstein C. Carruthers Recent History ...... 14 Polly Walton G. Schreiber Ed’s Comments ...... 17 Craig Gilmore E. Thomasson James Johnson Sean Bromley Book Review ...... 23 Richard Biester

NUMBER 27 3 INTERNATIONAL IMPRISONMENT Welcome to our most recent issue of Prison Focus, dedicated to international issues relating to imprisonment. Given the current state of affairs, we felt it important to visit the topic – we hope you do too. Encompassed in this section are ten articles written by prisoners, reporters, and activists. Included you will fi nd a piece titled “American Prison Planet” on our use of prisons outside the U.S. such as the now not-so-secret CIA prisons used for interrogation and Guantanamo in Cuba and more; a fi rst person account of extraordinary rendition and subsequent torture under the guise of the war on terror; an update on Lori Berenson still held in Peru; news on the treatment of Palestinian children held in Israeli detention; and a communiqué from Turkish prisoners in support of struggles inside their country. Surely, there is much more we could have included in this section, so look for another issue on this topic soon. –Leslie AMERICAN PRISON PLANET By Nick Turse according to the International Committee third-nation facilities, much larger prisons oday, the United States presides of the Red Cross, the Bush administration holding thousands in Iraq, and a full-scale over a burgeoning empire – not only detained people from around the world in network of detention centers and prisons in Tthe “empire of bases” fi rst described sweeps, imprisoned them without charges Afghanistan. by Chalmers Johnson, but a far-fl ung new and kept them incommunicado at U.S. de- We may never know how many secret network of maximum security penitentia- tention facilities at a CIA prison outside prisons exist (or, for a time, existed) in the ries, detention centers, jail cells, cages, Kabul, Afghanistan (code-named the “Salt shape-shifting American mini-gulag, but and razor wire-topped pens. From super- Pit”), at Bagram military airbase in Af- according to the Washington Post, some lo- max-type isolation prisons in 40 of the 50 ghanistan, and at Guantanamo Bay Naval cations for these black sites include itiner- states to shadowy ghost jails at remote sites Station, Cuba, among other sites. ant CIA detention centers “on ships at sea,” across the globe, this new network of de- Since it was set up in 2002, the detain- a site in Thailand, and another on “Britain’s tention facilities is quite unlike the gulags, ment complex at Guantanamo Bay has Diego Garcia island in the Indian Ocean.” concentration-camps, or prison nations of been the public face of the Bush admin- Uzbekistan has been reported as one pos- the past. sible location, Algeria another. De- Even with a couple million pris- nials were issued about ghost jails oners under its control, the U.S. being located in Russia and Bul- prison [and jail] network lacks the garia. The British Guardian named infrastructure or manpower of the “a U.S. airbase in the Gulf state of Soviet gulag or the orderly planning Qatar” as another suspected site. of the Nazi concentration-camp And while proposed prisons on system. However, where it bests “virtually unvisited islands in Lake both, and breaks new incarcera- Kariba in Zambia” were evidently tion ground, is in its planet-rang- nixed, various black sites located ing scope, with sites scattered the in “several democracies in Eastern world over—from Europe to Asia, Europe” apparently did come into the Middle East to the Caribbean. being. Unlike colonial prison systems of ABC News reported that the the past, the new U.S. prison net- “CIA established secret prisons work seems to have fl oated almost in Romania and Poland in 2002- free of surrounding colonies. Right 2003” before shutting them down now, it has only four major centers in early 2006 and moving the dis- – the “homeland,” Afghanistan, appeared prisoners on to “a facility Iraq, and a postage-stamp-sized in North Africa.” Following this parcel of Cuba. As such, it already report, Tom’s Dispatch contacted hovers at the edge of its own im- Major General Timothy Ghormley, perial existence, bringing to mind By Wayne Willhoite then the commander of the Com- the unprecedented possibility of a bined Task Force Horn of Africa prison planet. In a remarkably few years, istration’s semi-secret foreign prison net- (CJTF-HOA) for U. S. Central Command, the Bush administration has been able to work – a collection of camps, cells, and to inquire about the prisoner transfer. Ghor- construct a global detention system, al- cages that today holds 437 prisoners. But mley stated: “There are no other U.S. bases ready of near epic proportions, both on the “Gitmo” has always been the tiny show- in the Horn of Africa besides Camp Lem- fl y and on the cheap. piece, the jewel in a very dark crown, for onier [in Djibouti].” He went on to assert, Soon after the attacks of September 11th, a much larger, less visible foreign network “There are no prisons under CJTF-HOA’s 2001, the U.S. began the process of creat- of military detention facilities, CIA “black” command, and Camp Lemonier does not ing what has been termed “an offshore ar- sites, and outsourced foreign prisons. It is do prisoner transfers.” When asked about chipelago of injustice.” In addition to using a prison camp that rightly attracts oppro- CIA operations at the camp, he said he was “the Charleston Navy Brig” and locking up brium, but it also serves to focus attention barred from talking about “any security op- “one prisoner of war in Miami, Florida,” away from shadowy ghost jails, borrowed erations worldwide” and could not speak

4 PRISON FOCUS for the CIA. It is, however, worth noting the Letelier-Moffi tt International Human of over 1,000 secret CIA fl ights over Eu- that Amnesty International reported earlier Rights Award, offers a glimpse into the ropean Union territory alone since 2001, this year on a Yemeni man who was “disap- American prison planet in action in its ear- suggest a large number of “extraordinary peared” and “fl own on a small U.S. plane ly stages of formation. Arar has described renditions” have been carried out. to a site probably in Djibouti, where he was how he was detained and then held incom- When President Bush fi nally came questioned by offi cials who told him they municado—shackled and chained—in a (somewhat) clean about the CIA’s illegal were from the FBI.” terminal in New York’s JFK Airport before prisons (even turning them, along with his While these illegal sites, mainly run by being transported to Brooklyn’s Metropoli- torture policies, into a proud election is- the CIA, were intermittently identifi ed in tan Detention Center. sue), a senior state department offi cial also the U.S. or foreign press, it was only this At that federal prison, Arar recalls an Im- asserted that there were “no detainees” September [2006] that President George W. migration and Naturalization Service (INS) currently in them. Within days, however, Bush fi nally acknowledged the existence of agent telling him, “The INS is not the body newspapers began to point to evidence that the CIA’s secret prisons. Still, it’s unknown or the agency that signed the Geneva Con- people presumed to have been disappeared how many CIA black sites are still active vention against torture.” by the U.S. were still unaccounted for. In and how many clandestine military prisons “For me,” said Arar, a Canadian citizen mid-October, a specifi c case hit the press are still in operation. born in Syria, “what that really meant is when it was disclosed that “a Syrian with What little we do know, however, indi- we will send you to torture and we don’t Spanish citizenship, was captured in Paki- cates that the “archipelago of injustice” has care.” He was, in fact, soon fl own to Jor- stan in October 2005 and is held in a prison grown to world-spanning proportions. For dan, where he was beaten, and then driven operated by the U.S. Central Intelligence example, in an investigative article in the to Syria. There, he was locked in a fi lthy, Agency.” British Guardian in March 2005, Adrian dark cell “about three feet wide, six feet The war in Iraq boosted the profi le of the Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark reported that American prison planet immeasurably, es- a network of over 20 U.S. prisons was pecially after the Abu Ghraib prison revela- believed to exist in Afghanistan, includ- tions burst into public view in the spring of ing “an offi cial U.S. detention centre in 2004. At that time, approximately 20,000 Kandahar, where the tough regime has Iraqis were imprisoned by U.S. forces, in- been nicknamed ‘Camp Slappy’ by former cluding a report that year disclosed more prisoners.” Just recently, Trevor Paglen than 100 children as young as 10 years of and A.C. Thompson, authors of “Torture age. Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Over two years later, there are still many Flights” confi rmed this, reporting that “the thousands of Iraqis held by U.S. forces in U.S. military has erected some 20 deten- that country—including about 3,550 in a tion centers [in Afghanistan] which all op- brand new “$60-million state-of-the-art erate in near total secrecy. These are facili- detention center” at Camp Cropper near ties that the U.N., the Afghan government, Baghdad’s airport and another almost journalists, and human rights groups can’t 9,500 in somewhat more primitive prison get into.” conditions at Camp Bucca in the south and We know as well that suspects, swept up Fort Suse in the Kurdish north. around the world, have been outsourced to Meanwhile, the number of prisoners and the prisons and torture chambers of third detainees held by the U.S.-backed Iraqi countries in “extraordinary rendition” op- By Wayne Willhoite government and allied militias and death erations. The number of prisons operated squads is murky at best, but probably size- by other countries is shadowy, but certainly deep and about seven feet high” where he able. Secret prisons—where the grimmest geographically wide-ranging. Foreign fa- was kept in isolation for 10 months and 10 kinds of torture are performed, often with cilities available for Bush administration days when not being physically assaulted. power drills—are reputed to be scattered use evidently have included the al-Tamara Despite being tortured into a false con- around Baghdad, the capital. In November interrogation center, located in “a forest fession, Arar was found to have no links 2005, then-Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim fi ve miles outside [Morocco’s] capital, to terrorism and was never charged with Jaafari admitted receiving word on condi- Rabat”; sites in Jordan including “prisons crimes of any sort by the United States, tions in just one of these. According to the in the capital, Amman, and in desert loca- Canada, Jordan, or Syria. Instead, he was BBC, “173 detainees had been held [in an tions in the east of the country”; facilities sent back to Canada without so much as an Interior Ministry building], that they ap- in Saudi Arabia; “a series of jails in Da- apology or explanation by the Bush admin- peared malnourished, and may have been mascus,” Syria; “the interrogation centre istration. His is the archetypal tale of the ‘subjected to some kind of torture.’” The in the general intelligence directorate in American prison planet that has been un- next month, the Washington Post reported Lazoughli and in Mulhaq al-Mazra prison” der construction these last years—a torture the discovery of a “second Interior Minis- in Egypt; “facilities in Baku, Azerbaijan”; tour of the globe’s most dismal hell holes. try detention center where cases of prisoner and “unidentifi ed locations in Thailand,” How many others have suffered variations abuse have been confi rmed by U.S. and among others. of this treatment remains unknown. The Iraqi offi cials.” The treatment given in 2002 to Cana- few useful fi gures we do have, such as the By June [2006], it was reported that the dian Maher Arar, recently the recipient of European parliament’s April 2006 fi ndings Iraqi Interior Ministry was still holding

NUMBER 27 5 1,797 prisoners; the Defense Ministry a prisoners of indeterminate number not list- nounced that, after fi ve years of captiv- smaller undisclosed number; and the Jus- ed on the rolls—war resisters. ity, Benamar Benatta, “believed to be the tice Ministry, at least 7,426. Just recently Iraq War veteran turned re- last remaining domestic detainee from the The offshore archipelago of injustice sister Kevin Benderman was released from Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was released.” In garners the headlines, but it’s the homeland a military prison where he had been held mid-October, however, word surfaced that prison network that locks up far more peo- for over a year for refusing to redeploy Ali Partovi, also caught in the dragnet, was ple and provides at least one possible model to Iraq due to his conscientious objection still being held captive although he “is not for what the foreign network could morph to the war, while Army Lieutenant Ehren charged with a crime, not suspected of a into given the time and funds to expand and Watada is currently facing an eight-year crime, [and] not considered a danger to so- harden into a permanent supermax system. prison sentence, if convicted, for similar ciety.” Comprised of federal and state prisons, ter- opposition to Iraq. One website lists 27 From time to time, certain people in the ritorial prisons, local jails, “facilities oper- war resisters “presently in legal jeopardy, U.S. also fi nd themselves tossed into spe- ated by or exclusively for the Bureau of or currently incarcerated” who have gone cial kinds of detention facilities. For exam- Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” public with their stories. ple, during the 2004 Republican National military prisons, “jails in Indian country,” Additionally, in the immediate wake of Convention (RNC) in New York City, pro- and juvenile detention facilities, the home- 9/11, the government conducted sweeps of testers (and also bystanders) swept up in in- land prison system is a truly massive ap- Muslim immigrants (and Muslim-Ameri- discriminate mass arrests or illegal acts of paratus. cans) reminiscent of the detentions of preemptive incarceration were temporarily Just as the global network has expanded Japanese and Japanese-Americans during locked up in “Marine and Aviation Pier in the years since 9/11, so has incarceration World War II, “locking up large numbers of 57,” a fi lthy facility of razor-wire topped in the U.S. In fact, it has climbed steadily in Middle Eastern men, using whatever legal chain-link cages that was soon dubbed recent years. Today, the U.S. stands preem- tools they can.” “Guantanamo on the Hudson.” While being inent among all nations in treating people imprisoned in New York City’s own Gitmo like caged animals. didn’t begin to compare to being tossed in According to statistics provided to the the real McCoy or any other secret offshore BBC by the International Centre for Prison site, there was one striking similarity. U.S. Studies, 724 people per 100,000 are impris- intelligence offi cials estimated that 70-90 oned in the U.S., overwhelmingly trump- percent of prisoners detained in Iraq “had ing even increasingly authoritarian Russia, been arrested by mistake.” the world’s second- ranked prison power, By Wayne Willhoite That was also 2004. The next year, it who’s rate of caging humans is only 581 was revealed that, of the large majority of per 100,000. RNC arrest cases that had run their course, All told, the U.S. now has 2,135,901 91 percent of the arrests were dismissed or prisoners in domestic detention facilities, ended in acquittals. alone – several hundred thousand more On the American prison planet, not only than are imprisoned in both China and In- has the principle of habeas corpus been for- dia, the world’s two most populous coun- mally abolished and torture proudly added tries, combined. Of these people, 192,198 to the mix, but that crucial tenet of the le- are imprisoned in federal facilities, though gal system, the presumption of innocence, just 5.3 percent of them for the violent has been cast aside. Whether at home or crimes of most people’s nightmares: homi- abroad, the solution for U.S. security forces cide, aggravated assault, kidnapping, and is a simple one, identify the likely suspects, sex offenses. conduct sweeps, and preemptively lock Instead, most—53.6 percent—are locked them up. up on (often small-time) drug charges. There was never any full accounting of According to recent statements by the Of the federal prison population, the gov- these mass roundups, codenamed PENTT- Department Homeland Security ‘s Immi- ernment classifi es about 0.1 percent (100 BOM, or what happened to all the people gration and Customs Enforcement bureau, people) as having committed “national se- who were rousted from beds or yanked out some time in the future undocumented eco- curity” offenses. There’s no category in the of places of work by federal agents. What nomic migrants may be imprisoned on “old U.S. system for political prisoners, which little is known suggests that “762 of the cruise ships.” Other illegals may even fi nd doesn’t mean they don’t exist. 1,200 PENTTBOM arrestees were charged themselves in a KBR concentration camp. According to a 2002 Harvard Black with immigration violations at the behest of Earlier this year, news broke that Hal- Letter Law Journal article by J. Soffi yah the FBI because agents thought they might liburton subsidiary, KBR—the fi rm infa- Elijah, there were, prior to September 11, be associated with terrorism... [but] almost mous for building prison facilities at Guan- 2001, “nearly 100 political prisoners and every one was either deported or released tanamo Bay and for scandals stemming prisoners of war incarcerated in the Unit- within a few months.” Only a small per- from work in the Iraq war zone—received a ed States—many of them the surviving centage of the 1,200 are thought to have $385 million contract from the Department victims of Vietnam-era government cam- even been processed through the federal of Homeland Security (DHS) to build de- paigns against activists.” criminal justice system. tention centers, according to The New York There is also another group of political This summer the Washington Post an- Times, “for an unexpected infl ux of immi-

6 PRISON FOCUS grants” or “new programs that require addi- tional detention space.” For anyone who re- A CRY FROM GUANTANAMO members the First World War-era proposal am writing from the darkness of the U.S. member of al-Qaida. I did not encour- by four state governors to imprison mem- detention camp at Guantanamo in the age anyone to go fi ght for al-Qaida. bers of the Industrial Workers of the World I hope that I can make our voices heard by Al-Qaida and Osama Bin Laden have done (IWW) for the duration of the confl ict, or the world. My hand quivers as I hold the pen. nothing but kill and denigrate a religion. the 1939 Hobbs (“Concentration Camp”) In January 2002, I was picked up in Paki- I never fought, and I never carried a Bill that sought the detention of aliens, or stan, blindfolded, shackled, drugged and weapon. I like the U.S. and I am not an en- the forcible relocation and imprisonment loaded onto a plane fl own to Cuba. emy. I have lived in the U.S., and I wanted of Japanese and Japanese-Americans dur- When we got off the plane in Guanta- to become a citizen. ing World War II, or the 1950 McCarran namo, we did not know where we were. I know that the soldiers who did bad Act’s provisions for setting up concentra- They took us to Camp X-Ray and locked things to me represent themselves, not the tion camps for subversives, or the Vietnam- us in cages with two buckets—one emp- U.S. And I have to say that not all Ameri- era plans to round up and jail radicals in ty and one fi lled with water. We were can soldiers stationed in Cuba tortured us the event of a national emergency and con- to urinate in one and wash in the other. or mistreated us. duct mass detentions in the face of possible At Guantanamo, soldiers have assaulted There were soldiers who treated us very urban insurrections, the announcement me, placed me in solitary confi nement, humanely. Some even cried when they may have seemed less than startling. But threatened to kill me, threatened to kill my witnessed our dire conditions. Once, in thought of in the daughter and Camp Delta, a soldier apologized to me context of prison- told me I will and offered me hot chocolate and cookies. planet planning, it stay in Cuba When I thanked him, he said, “I do not need nonetheless strikes for the rest you to thank me.” I include this because I an ominous note of my life. do not want readers to think that I fault all indeed. They’ve Americans. One Vietnam-era deprived But, why, after fi ve years, is there radical, former Pen- me of sleep, no conclusion to the situation at Guan- tagon analyst Dan- forced me tanamo? For how long will fathers, iel Ellsberg, grasped to listen to mothers, wives, siblings and children the impli cations extremely cry for their imprisoned loved ones? immediately. “Al- loud music For how long will my daughter have to ask most certainly this and shined about my return? The answers can only is preparation for a intense be found with the fair-minded people of roundup after the lights in my America. next 9/11 for Mid- face. They I would rather die than stay here forever, Easterners, Mus- have placed and I have tried to commit suicide many lims and possibly me in cold times. The purpose of Guantanamo is to de- dissenters,” he said. rooms for stroy people, and I have been destroyed. I am “They’ve already hours with- hopeless because our voices are not heard done this on a out food, from the depths of the detention centre. drink or the If I die, please remember that there was a human smaller scale, with By Wayne Willhoite the ‘special regis- ability to being named Jumah at Guantanamo whose tration’ detentions of immigrant men from go to the bathroom or wash for prayers. beliefs, dignity and humanity were abused. Muslim countries, and with Guantanamo.” They’ve wrapped me in the Israeli fl ag Please remember that there are hundreds In 2005, Irene Khan, Amnesty Interna- and told me there is a holy war be- of detainees at Guantanamo suffering tional’s general secretary, described Guan- tween the Cross and the Star of David the same misfortune. They have not been tanamo Bay as “the gulag of our time.” on one hand and the Crescent on the oth- charged with any crimes. They have not But the American gulag is so much more er. They have beaten me unconscious. been accused of taking any action against than Guantanamo and so much worse. The What I write here is not what my imagina- the U.S. combination of U.S. “homeland” prisons, tion fancies or my insanity dictates. These Show the world the letters I gave you. Let where “one in 140 Americans, or as many are verifi able facts witnessed by other de- the world read them. Let the world know people as live in Namibia, or nearly fi ve tainees, representatives of the Red Cross, the agony of the detainees in Cuba.  Luxembourgs” are locked away, the off- interrogators and translators. shore imperial detention facilities, the shad- During the fi rst few years at Guanta- Jumah Al Dossari is a 33-year-old citi- owy CIA black sites, and the ever-shifting namo, I was interrogated many times. My zen of Bahrain. This article was excerpted outsourced detention facilities operated by interrogators told me that they wanted me from letters he wrote to his attorneys. Its other nations adds up to something new in to admit that I am from al-Qaida and that I contents of these letters have been deemed history—the makings of a veritable Ameri- was involved in the terrorist attacks on the to be unclassifi ed by the Department of De- can prison planet.  United States. fense. Source: http://www.tomdispatch.com/in- I told them that I have no connec- The Gulf Times, Jan. 15, 2007 dex.mhtml?pid=135352 tion to what they described. I am not a International...... Continued on page 18

NUMBER 27 7 open air) for about 14 hours before they ney against the administration on the mat- PELICAN BAY were returned to their cells. The warden as- ter. It is a very diffi cult case to pursue, but sured us that they could return to their cells it would appear that the quality and quan- at any time, but the prisoners deny this. The tity has deteriorated over the months to the warden stated the prisoners had been able point where it is lacking in nutritive value to cut through their cuffs. They deny this, and fl avor. We were told occasionally for- too. According to the prisoners they went eign objects have been found in the food. without two meals, and had no form of san- We are therefore poised to send out a ques- itation or way to relieve themselves. When tionnaire so we can quantify how prisoners they returned, they found their cells not yet are suffering, and make some comparisons decontaminated. Their mattresses which between units. We will need prisoners’ co- had been taken, were not returned for some operation if any change can be effected. days. They were not given blankets or We believe, remedying the food situation sheets or toiletries or clothing for days and would be an easy “fi x” for a number of their personal property was still longer in problems within Pelican Bay, by decreas- coming. Some prisoners were housed im- ing distress, and “acting out.” mediately in Administrative Segregation. The warden spoke to us of “heart healthy There are other side effects to this pro- food” – as a requirement from Sacramento, gram. It appears that a few prisoners, at but prisoners are not seeing the result and least, have been given C status (program there seems to be a disparity between GP failure) although they have not been of- and SHU in quality and quantity of food. fered jobs and have no infractions. INADEQUATE CLEANING PROGRAM UPDATES SUPPLIES PROVIDED A REPORT FROM One of the units is fi lled with prisoners Also common to all units and classifi ca- that require “behavior modifi cation” which tions is the complaint of inadequate clean- PBSP VISIT involves the total loss of privileges. Al- ing supplies, although the supplies vary Per usual this report is based on infor- though the initial term is 90 days it is very somewhat from section to section. We mation gleaned from interview notes and easy to fi nd reasons for extending this. Fil- understand that there is no implement sup- prisoners’ letters. This visit took place on ing a 602 could be one reason and contact plied for washing the toilet bowl. Only a Nov. 9 and 10, 2006. Also included are with California Prison Focus is thought to small amount of cleaner is passed out. Bac- statements made by Warden Robert Horel be another. teria are a worry from the nail clippers and during an interview on Nov. 10. In Ad-Seg we understand the policy of nothing is given to sanitize them. denying a TV continues although a prisoner LEFT OUT IN THE COLD ON B can be held there for several months at least HEALTH CONCERN YARD and they are denied other pursuits except The other major common health concern PF spoke with prisoners and for yard. We’ve been informed it is pos- is Hepatitis C. We have been told by pris- the warden about an incident on sible to get a TV by accepting psychotropic oners they are not getting any treatment CJune 26, 2006 that involved ap- medication. We have been told there have even when they have symptoms. These proximately 190 prisoners on B yard. The been suicide attempts, though we have no symptoms can be confi rmed with a simple background, very briefl y, is that a group offi cial word. blood test thus curtailing the spread of the of Southern Hispanics had agreed among In the Psychiatric Services Unit, we hear disease and ameliorating the damage to the themselves to request an interview with the leg restraints are increasingly be utilized. prisoner before the disease has progressed administration about a new program which They are potentially dangerous, particu- to organ damage in the liver. We must ques- would affect their privileges and their co- larly when a prisoner is under the infl uence tion how far the lack of nutrition, hygiene, housing. Called “population realignment,” of medication because he can trip and fall. sunshine, exercise, especially in the case of the warden explained that the purpose is to Besides, they cause chafi ng pain and some- reduce violence on the yard which prevents times abrasion around the ankles. We must programming and is responsible for lock- ask, “Why is it necessary to use both heavy downs. The program divides prisoners into medication and leg irons on a person?” three categories according to whether they In the Security Housing Unit, there are had jobs, wanted jobs or were ‘program three prisoners who again requested to be failures.’ allowed to lead a peace process between In protest, some prisoners obstructed the gangs on condition that they could be the guards’ view of their cells at count released from the SHU. This request was time. They were then cell extracted. Next denied. they were stripped to their boxers, pepper The principal complaint in the SHU con- sprayed, showered down, cuffed, taken out- tinues to be the quality and quantity of the side on to the concrete yard where they re- food served, an issue to prisoners in other mained (in wet boxers and in the cold night units too. A prisoner has retained an attor- By Richard Biester

8 PRISON FOCUS SHU prisoners is responsible for the early thoughts of doubt, as to why you should get appearance of symptoms. A CALL FOR involved in this initiative, my people you It seems that the word ‘crisis’ which COMMUNITY should try to understand that we prisoners Gov. Schwarzenegger used in the sum- are a extension of every poor and oppressed mer to warn legislators of the overcrowd- SUPPORT: community out in Babylon. Meaning that ing in the prisons throughout the state, can we prisoners remain an integral part of the be used equally appropriately to describe EACH ONE, REACH ONE, community that we were removed from, conditions in the lives of every individual TO BRING ONE! but also, our families, friends, and loved prisoner. ones are affected by this repressive practice Each one, reach one, to bring one” via the mail that we send to them as well. is an initiative that is geared towards ADDENDUM TO PBSP REPORT What if your loved one or family member requesting the community’s support, Below you will fi nd more feedback from “ had a very important message to get our to and is being brought forth under the social Pelican Bay prisoners since our November you, but when you received his letter you principles of communal cooperative work. visit on unresolved issues: were unable to read it on account of it be- The focus point of this initiative is to com- 1. The 602 system is broken. Although it ing stamped (vandalized) in very big red bat a arbitrary policy that the Pelican Bay should be possible to fi le suit when the letters? Or what if he were to send you a State Prison administrators have initiated, prisoner does not have his 602 returned drawing or card for your birthday, and when which essentially violates the constitution- or his claim is denied, the staff has found you received it, this too was also stamped al 1st Amendment right to the freedom of ways to delay the processing so that the in big red letters? Or what if a prisoner was speech/expression, as applied to the kaptive

time limit for fi ling expires before the By Cleve Husley to send out for class of prisoners prisoner has his papers returned. One photocopies of a being held in the particular litigation coordinator was drawing, or a po- Security Housing cited as responsible for obstructing the litical writing he Unit (SHU). On way. (The administration has informed had typed up and Nov. 13th 2006 the us the 602 volume is so large that it is this too was also Associate Warden impossible to handle the total quantity.) stamped (vandal- Ms. C.M. Scavetta 2. The mail is either blocked, delayed (from ized)? authorized a mem- a week to a month) or presumably tossed. It is a historical orandum which Pieces that are known to have been sent truth that repres- mandates that “All never appear. Legal mail is often opened sion breeds resis- prisoners housed before it reaches the prisoner. CPF has tance, so let our in the SHU shall received several pieces with a stamp call of resistance have their outgo- “Opened in error.” be echoed in the ing mail stamped 3. Access to the law library is obstructed. form of placing in big red letters, (We need to hear more from prisoners on “phone calls/writ- on the outside of this issue.) ing letters” to the the envelope as 4. Little or no “yard” is offered. For ex- warden and as- well as on every ample, the BMU unit apparently has no sociate warden single page of the yard. of this prison in enclosed corre- 5. We’ve been told that some staff are very opposition to this spondence, or on given to retaliation. For example, if a practice. It will the noted contents prisoner writes a 602 or fi les suit, it is also help if you therein, such as very common for staff to fi nd a ratio- would notify your drawings, cards, political writings being nale for issuing a 115. Retaliation is, local politicians and legislators about this, sent out for photocopies, or publications of course, strictly prohibited in the Title to encourage them to investigate this mat- purposes, etc.” XV. ter, and to send letters as well. We prisoners fi rmly oppose this new ar- 6. In general medical staff members have Please send your letters to the following bitrary policy, in the it vandalizes, defac- not been singled out for criticism, with address: es, and undermines the essence of our 1st the exception of one doctor who is fre- amendment right to the freedom of speech/ quently named because of her intoler- ATTN: Pelican Bay State Prison expression. Furthermore, this practice is ance and disrespectful ways. c/o Robert Horel, Warden similar to how the Nazis branded the jews 7. With regard to treatment, it appears that 5905 Lake Earl Drive that were being held captive in their con- Hepatitis C is not (usually) treated until Crescent City, CA 95531 centration slave kamps for purposes of so- after the liver has been damaged. The cial control and eventual extermination. So count is then the determining factor and ATTN: Pelican Bay State Prison in the true spirit of communal cooperative not the symptoms. If the prisoner does c/o C.M. Scavetta, Assoc. Warden work, we prisoners are requesting the com- not respond to the treatment (interferon 5905 Lake Earl Drive munity’s support in the form of launching and Rbovirin) there can be a very long Crescent City, CA 95531  a “phone call/letter writing” campaign in delay before an alternative treatment is opposition to this arbitrary policy/practice. offered.  — Kijana Tashiri Askari For those of you who may be entertaining NUMBER 27 9 by the judge—will be subject to re-sentenc- ing and a shorter prison sentence. Next, comes the principal term. This ITIGATION is the base sentence plus any enhance- L ments which accompany the conviction. An enhancement is extra time added to a sentence due to the nature of the criminal act, such as being armed with a fi rearm, us- N ing a weapon during the crime, or stealing I money over a specifi ed amount. Enhance- ments also can be added due to the person having a prior prison record. (See CA Penal Code Sec. 667(a)). RISON But prior enhancements are treated P slightly differently because they apply only once to the conviction (one per crime) made the crime more serious) or mitigating instead of to each count of a particular con- HOW MUCH TIME (facts making the crime less serious) cir- viction. Plus if there are several applicable MUST I SERVE: cumstances which would incline the judge enhancements, only the one with the lon- to favor a lower term. In fact, the judge was gest sentence imposed will apply. There is MAKING SENSE required to set the term at the middle tier a small exception to this in situations when unless he or she found aggravating or miti- a count is enhanced due to use of a fi rearm OF HOW TIME IS gating circumstances warranting a upward and infl iction of great bodily harm. In these CALCULATED ...... or downward departure. In the past such cases, both enhancements will apply. circumstances could include the severity of So, stay with us. Remember, a Principle By Charles Carbone, Esq. the crime, the defendant’s criminal record, Term = Base term + Enhancements. n this article, CPF’s LIP project will and his or her remorse, among other fac- For example, a second degree robbery help prisoners and their families makes tors. (See Cal. Rules of Court, Rules 4.421, can have its base term set at the upper term sense of the inherently complicated law I 4.423.) of 5 years, plus an enhancement of 1 year of sentencing. Here we dissect and explain In early 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court for use of a fi rearm, resulting in a principle in plain English the law of how judges and ruled in a case called People v. Cunning- term of 6 years. CDCR (California’s prisons) set the length ham that this sentencing scheme which al- Now, if a prisoner is convicted of sev- of time a prisoner is required to serve. Like lowed judges, rather than juries, to set the eral crimes. The other, lesser offenses are I said, it’s needlessly complicated, so buck- base term was unconstitutional. Because called subordinate terms, decided by a le your seat belt, and let’s go. this case is quite new, it is too early to tell jury. With the exception of some sex crimes This maze begins at California Penal the reach of its impact. But we know that and Three Strikes offenses, the judge then Code Sec. 1170 which deals with determi- many prisoners cases—especially those makes the decision whether the subor- nate (fi xed) sentences that require a con- whose base term was given an upper term dinate terms are served on a consecutive victed person to serve a specifi c length of (meaning that the prisoner must serve the time. Of course, after a person has served sentences one after the other) or a concur- a determinate sentence, they still must rent basis (meaning that all the sentences serve 3-5 years on parole (depending on can be served at the same time). In decid- their sentence), but let’s deal with how ing whether to impose multiple sentences a judge calculates the determinate sen- on a consecutive or concurrent basis, the tence. judge takes into consideration whether the First, the judge sets the base term. He crimes were distinct, or were there any or she is required to calculate a term of mitigating circumstances. The general rule a lower, middle, or upper length of time for subordinate terms is that when they on the most serious of offenses for which run concurrent they are of no concern. the person was convicted. All felonies When they run consecutively, they will be have a range of sentence lengths such as served at one-third of their usual middle two, four, or six years that a convicted term. Plus any enhancements attached to person must serve. the (consecutive) subordinate terms are When a person enters a plea agreement, that they too are served at one-third of the judge selects the base term depending their normal length. on the agreed upon length established in Once you add up the base term + en- the plea agreement. If the case was de- hancements + any subordinate terms + cided by a jury, the judge used to set the any enhancements (for the subordinate base term by considering whether there terms) this all equals = the Aggregate were aggravating (meaning facts which By Cleve Husley term. Simply, the aggregate is the sum

10 PRISON FOCUS total of all the sentences imposed. STOP THE CONTINUAL LOCKDOWN AT HIGH DESERT Here’s the overall formula: I am a member of the High Desert State Prison Inmate Family Council. My Aggregate term = base term + enhance- loved one has been at High Desert State Prison for fi ve years. Of those years ments + subordinate terms (only if served he’s been off lockdown for a total of two years at the very most! consecutive) + enhancements on the sub- It seems every Christmas and New Year they are locked down. This Christ- ordinates. mas was no different. The depression that falls on my loved one, as well as With all this in mind, there are a few fi nal everyone else, I’m sure, is devastating. Extreme depression, aggression, and considerations to bear in mind. One, prison- suicide are common inside HDSP. ers can receive time credits for their time Even when they are not locked down, there are no programs to look forward served in prison. As a general rule, prison- to, no quarterly packages, no work, and High Desert is so isolated, very few ers who have no conduct issues in prison inmates receive visits. When they are locked down, even fewer people come to serve 50 percent of their aggregate term. visit their loved one, because of the restrictions. This is true except for those crimes called I got on the Inmate Family Council in hopes to help in some way. We meet a “violent felony” in California Penal Code with the warden once every other month. We bring up these issues along with Sec. 667.5(c) and those sentenced under many others, hoping to fi nd a way to help ease the pressure that is mounting. Three Strikes. For these crimes, prisoners When addressing the lockdowns, we are always answered in the same way, it must serve 85 percent of their aggregate is a security reason. They are always searching, always investigating and move term. Prisoners serving time for violent at a snail’s pace when conducting their duties. The prison’s response to our felonies also must serve 85 percent of their inquiries does not match the information we receive from our loved ones. subordinate terms. What good does it do to be on the IFC? Do we even make a difference? I The prisoner also gets time credit for any can’t help but wonder. But I do know my loved one, as many, many others do time spent in jail before and during their not have a choice. So I continue. Continue to fi ght for human rights. Continue trial at a rate of one-third time off their sen- to try and fi nd a way to help. tence. For violent felonies, again prisoners We need more families on our council. only get 15 percent of this jail time await- Please call the warden’s offi ce and complain about the lockdowns. [(530) ing or during trial. 251-5100 X5336.] If you are a High Desert family, and want to help, please ap- For those serving a life sentence, such ply for the IFC. Email us if you are interested: [email protected]. prisoners must fi rst serve their entire ag- gregate determinate (fi xed) sentence with Notice to Readers: Prison Focus only considers articles, essays, artwork, and the benefi t of good time credits before be- poetry related to prison conditions, politics, the criminal justice system, political ginning their life sentence. (See California prisoners, and occasionally, stories about individual experiences. Penal Code Sec. 669.) Ok, so now you are either more con- In general we do not publish individual case histories or appeal for help. If you fused, or hopefully, you have a basic un- send us your appeal papers or and expect us to write an article on the injustice derstanding of when a prisoner and loved that was done you, it won’t happen and your papers will be lost. one is coming home. Making sense of this maze is especially important for those pris- THANKSGIVING DAY AT CPF RADIO - KPOO 89.5 FM oners serving the absurdly long multiple sentences handed out in California. As the old saying goes, knowledge is power. Use it. 

By Jesus Gomez

CPF had a Thanksgiving Day prison radio program at kpoo radio San Francisco community based radio. Our Program can be “streamed” on-line every Thursdays from 11am - 12 noon at www.kpoo.com. Photo: L to R. Attorney Gordon Kaupp; Brother Leonard, program engineer; Kiilu Nyasha, Independent radio announcer; Georgia Screiber, CPF coordinator; Bato, prison radio programmer; with Station Manager J.J. Stay tuned to Prison Focus Radio at 89.5 FM.

NUMBER 27 11 is a former prisoner who understands the DIGNITY SUNDAY challenges that women face leaving prison. U.S. FAILS TO SIGN IN LOS ANGELES She is a role model who provides compas- TREATY BANNING sion, direction, and hope to women who By Pat Parker and Corey Weinstein most need an opportunity to start a new SECRET PRISONS t was Dignity Sunday in Los Angeles life. on January 14 when California Prison By Jamey Keaten With the authority that only someone Focus kicked off its organizing effort early 60 countries signed a treaty I recently released from prison could have in Southern California. The event held at on Tuesday that bans governments Cresia Green-Davis spoke of her experi- the Rejected Stone Christian Ministries Nfrom holding people in secret de- ences inside. Ms. Green-Davis, a former was well-attended by 150 concerned citi- tention, but the United States and some of President of the Board of the Inglewood zens: male and female, young and old. The its key European allies were not among Unifi ed School District left the California hour-and-a-half long program maintained them. prison system with a burning desire to cre- the spirit of human dignity for all and was a The signing capped a quarter-century of ate transitional preparation opportunities wonderful complement to the celebration of efforts by families of people who have van- for women such as her. Ingrid Archie, a for- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday. The ished at the hands of governments. merly incarcerated woman returned with a day included inspirational music provided The convention defi nes forced disappear- commitment to educate young black wom- by the Rejected Stone Christian Ministries ances as the arrest, detention, kidnapping en and has begun her journey by working worship team, an open forum for questions, or “any other form of deprivation of free- on her own education. Pat Parker of The and refreshments. dom” by state agents or affi liates, followed Value Series who is coordinating this lo- CPF’s Dignity for Women Prisoners by denials or cover-ups about the detention cal effort for California Prison Focus and Campaign is building on last year’s victory and location of the person gone missing. the host Pastor Walter K. Davis of Rejected at forcing California prisons to stop the “Men and women disappear every day Stone Christian Ministries Eagles Wings sexually abusive cross-gender pat searches on every continent, for defending human Ministers Alliance spoke on the theme “A of women prisoners by male guards. Digni- rights, for just opposing their governments’ Call for Dignity.” ty Sunday launched the drive to have male policies or simply because they want jus- At the end of the morning the audience correctional offi cers removed from any tice,” Douste-Blazy said. “The situation clearly understood that it’s not an issue of posts in housing units in prisons for wom- could not continue to go unpunished. It re- guilt; it’s an issue of dignity. Women are in en. The ban on male staff having access to quired a strong response from the interna- prison as punishment, not for punishment. women prisoners in their housing units is tional community.”  Their dignity is essential for their rehabili- an internationally recognized protection for Associated Press, Feb. 7, 2007 tation and successful return to our commu- women inside. That ban would have pre- nities. Dignity Sunday put forth a clarion vented the rape of a sedated woman in her UPDATE ON cry to South Los Angeles that “these are cell last summer at the California Institu- our mothers, daughters, sisters and friends. SUBSCRIPTION GRANT tion for Women. If we don’t speak for them, who will?” Thank you for your help and trust. Women have told us repeatedly that hav- Everyone appeared to have enjoyed the We are pleased to report we’ve ing male guards observing them in their program and seemed informed and in- added more than 600 names of rooms is sexually abusive and adds to the spired, but the proof of the day was when a your family and loved ones to our all too common disrespect, verbal harass- 68-year-old woman in a wheel chair rolled mailing list. Each person receives ment and excessive force they are forced up to our sign-up for action table and in- a free one-year subscription to to endure. quired. “Besides praying, what can I do?” our newsletter, Prison Focus. So, The keynote speaker on Dignity Sunday The next Campaign event will be Sat- our goal of expanding our reach to was Susan Burton, the Founder and Execu- urday, May 12, in Los Angeles. Save the concerned people is moving along. tive Director of A New Way of Life. Susan date!  This effort is also a fundraiser for us (each subscription bring us $10 from an anonymous donor) so we have currency to maintain our work. We’ve been offered additional funds for more subscribers, so continue to send us the names and addresses of people you believe want to hear about and join in our collective ef- forts. As you know, we do not sell our mailing list; it is kept strictly confi - dential. Congratulations, and thanks for helping us continue our work to- gether. CPF Members and Board of Directors Pat Parker of CPF’s Dignity Campaign and keynote speaker Susan Burton

12 PRISON FOCUS THREE STRIKES FREEDOM’S RAIN By James Johnson By Sean Bromley People lives are being reduced The cool rains are falling To something as common as a baseball slogan Like a million tiny tears Three strikes I’m out Howling winds across the night Three strikes your out As moonlight disappears Three strikes and our families are without The justice I stand beneath the heavens I’m just-us As darkness chills my soul Who say’s that she’s blind to the fact A vengeful breeze upon my skin That my skin is black As distant thunder rolls When politics and propaganda Feed the monkey The sky is ripe with chaos Of recidivism on my back POETRY And lightening cracks its whip Batter up! Battles up! Hail pelts my chilly bones The District Attorney declares As treetops start to drip With premeditated victory in his eyes And indignity about his airs PAGE The smell of moisture lingers Earning himself a livelihood As puddles merge as one By marking notches on his belt Winter steals my living breath Introducing minorities My warmth is overrun To a bias Unlawful hell But as the storm is raging I seize its wet domain And with a smile upon my face THE SOLUTION I dance in freedom’s rain By J. Sawyers The next generations are our future leaders And look the way we treat them. COOPED UP By Jamie Day Advertising the fast life, big cars, fancy jewels I can see why they want to escape Society is more concerned with building more prisons and not schools. Something inside wants to be free; Wants to take the outside with it… Minority groups looked down upon The pressures of warehoused humanity- Reality is, we can’t do this on our own No room to swim in a sardine can- Packed none to fresh in our own We must come together and recognize Collective, testosterone juices. The problem for what it is No woman around here to bless us as men. Only female correctional offi cers, the ultimate reminder As a nation divided we’re losing the kids Of no love here… I can feel why they sometimes The government wastes money on “war on drug operations” Bolt for the chain-link fence: But every year they line the kids up on probation. Some hommie Jack Bean Stalk With an inspiring bouquet of razor wire, Everyday the industry glorifi es drugs and gangs Which never fails to set And everyday we accept it-so who can we blame? The blood free… at least. There’s something to be said There’s only one way to stop the problem before it begins About risking a bullet in the back, We need you, the people reaching out to the kids. Being fried by the further electrical fence (Dead birds, rodents and reptiles lying on the ground, We are so quick to point out the problem day to day attesting to its effectiveness). Yet nothing gets done. Or simply being dragged to the earth- Move beyond words and speak with your actions Stomped, kicked and pepper sprayed Lead by example and see what happens. Into perpetual submission. What… Exactly… does it say? Give something back; reach out to your future A lot more than my personal It’s time to open your eyes and see Release can express The bigger picture. In these attempts to say it….

NUMBER 27 13 people. Most industrial nations have rates 4) prohibits only felons in state prison and around 100 per 100,000. those on parole for a felony from voting. The federal system held the most prison- “We are thrilled with the courts ruling ers, followed by California and Texas. The vindicating the voting rights of more than R E C E N T largest cause of the growth of the federal 100,000 Californians,” said Maya Harris of system was drug convictions. the ACLU. Los Angeles Times, Dec. 1, 2006 Alameda Times-Star, Dec. 23, 2006 Reuters, Dec. 9, 2006 HISTORY THE RICH OWN HALF THE WORLD PARTNER BATTERING DEFENSE According to a new UN report, half the EXPANDED world’s wealth is owned by only 2 percent Compiled by Craig Gilmore The court of appeal in the fourth district of the population. The top ten percent own has ruled that battered partners who aid in 99 percent. FIXING PRISON HEALTH CARE a murder may be covered by California’s Half of the richest one percent live in the BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY Intimate Partner Battering law. U.S. and Japan. The world’s two poorest “We’ll get medical care where medical The court determined that Ny Noum, countries are Ethiopia and the Democratic care has to be, because I think we have the sentenced to life without parole, was in Republic of the Congo. authority to do that over time. It’s just a fear of her life if she did not assist her lover The Scotsman, Dec. 5, 2006. monstrous path to get there,” said Robert Ronald Barker in committing a murder. Sillen, the receiver of the prison health care Noum will be retried. REQUIRED DRUG TREATMENT system who was appointed by Judge Thel- San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 16, 2006 FOR PAROLEES ton Henderson. Under a new law signed by Gov. Schwar- He vowed to raid the state treasury for zenegger, many parolees will be required funds, void state laws and civil service LOWER CRIME AND FEWER to enroll in a residential drug treatment pro- rules and attack any state employee who PRISONERS IN NEW YORK gram. Those completing the program suc- stands in his way with contempt of court “If you want to drive down crime, the cessfully will be released off parole after citations. experience of New York shows that it’s ri- fi ve months. In testimony before the Little Hoover diculous to spend your fi rst dollar building The program will enroll those leaving Commission, Sillen repeated that 65 pris- more prison cells,” said Michael Jacobson prison without any serious or violent fel- oners in California die unnecessarily ev- president of the Vera Institute and former ony convictions, not serving indeterminate ery year. “Those are inmates who perished corrections commissioner for New York sentences and those not required to register because of either lack of access to care or, City. as sex offenders. Legislators estimate that more horrifi cally, access to care.” “Crime is down and people realize, sure, 5,270 parolees will be eligible for the pro- Sending a strong threat to the governor we can lock up more people, but that’s why gram this year. and legislature, Sillen reminded the com- your kid’s pre-K class has 35 kids—all the As many as 80 percent of California mission of his powers. “Something you money is going to prisons,” he added. prisoners have alcohol or drug problems, must realize about money,” he said, “is I do New York has seen a 70 percent drop according to the CDCR. The law did not not need legislative appropriations to fund in homicides in the last 14 years while the fund the prison aftercare programs. this. The power of the court includes calling number of prisoners in the city has declined Sacramento Bee, Dec. 30, 2006 the federal marshals, going to the controller by one third (21,449 to 14,129). or treasurer—we’ve already worked out the San Diego sent 25 percent fewer people CHINO RIOT arrangement—and taking the money, seiz- to prison showed a 62 percent drop in ho- Fighting at Chino involving as many as ing the money, through a writ of execution. micides. 1,000 prisoners put the prison on lockdown And if we have to do that, we will.” “I leave it to the economists and the and sent 27 to local hospitals. Prison offi - Sacramento Bee, Nov. 17, 2006 moralists to decide if we’ve paid too high cials regained control within 90 minutes. a cost to imprison,” said current New York Reports said that two prisoners squared PRISON POPULATION UP 35% Corrections Commissioner Martin Horn. off in an exercise yard at 9:30 a.m. Saturday IN TEN YEARS “New York proves you can lock up a lot morning and that the melee soon spread to American prisons held 2.2 million fewer people and get a pretty big impact.” four barracks. people in 2005, an increase of 35 percent City offi cials are now considering con- Pepper spray and tear gas were shot into since 1995, according to a new justice de- verting jail cells in Brooklyn to luxury the barracks and followed by COs using partment report. An additional 4.1 million shops. batons and hard foam bullets. people were on parole and 784,000 on pro- Washington Post, Nov. 24, 2006. Los Angeles Times, Dec. 31, 2006 bation. The U.S. continues to imprison more VOTING RIGHTS FOR FELONS EXPORTS TO ARIZONA people than any other country. China has IN JAIL California has sent over 600 prisoners to 1.5 million prisoners and Russia ranks third A San Francisco court has reinstated a private prison in Florence, Arizona that with 870,000. voting rights for California felons serving has had serious security lapses in recent This country also has the highest rate of time in county jail and felons on probation. years. incarceration: 737 out of every 100,000 The state Constitution (Article II, section Caroline Issacs of the American Friends

14 PRISON FOCUS Service Committee in Tucson said that ev- ons are overcrowded as a result of a nation- plies” as well as “work programs, televi- eryone should be concerned about “how wide crackdown on gang membership. sions and religious services. The only they’re [the prisoners] being handled.” “These deaths are another sign that the physical contact we’ll get until they kill The state is paying $51.6 million to CCA penitentiary system doesn’t work,” said us is when CO’s hold our restrained arms to hold the prisoners. Gov. Schwarzeneg- Beatrice de Carrillo, human right prosecu- while escorting us.” ger’s former fi nance chief, Donna Arduin, tor. “This is one of the ugliest massacres Texas prison authorities said that be- left his administration to work for CCA and that we have seen in recent times.” cause the prisoners have not made formal it’s subsidiary, the GEO Group. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/ requests to have their grievances heard The governor released an Emergency exeres/88BAFB6E-3E3E-44E1-AA76- “there’s no formal response.” Proclamation on Oct. 4, 2006, declaring AF7E3058D79D.htm The New York Times, Nov. 8, 2006 that the overcrowding of California prisons was so bad, he would make decisions by- DOGS OF EXTRACTION passing the Legislature. Both the CCPOA THREE YEAR SENTENCES IN Five states allow the use of unmuzzled & SEIU have fi led lawsuits challenging the COUNTY JAILS? dogs to attack prisoners during extractions, decision. Gov. Schwarzenegger has proposed according to a recent report by Human Arizona Daily Star, Jan. 7, 2007 that the state prison system would accept Rights Watch. no prisoners with terms shorter than three The report, Cruel and Degrading: The SUIT DEMANDS CAP ON PRISON years. Use of Dogs for Cell Extractions, names POPULATION The governor hopes that by shifting Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, South Da- A lawsuit fi led on behalf of California many felons to counties, he might allevi- kota and Utah as the states that put dogs prisoners by the Prison Law Offi ce has ate overcrowding in the state system. How- on prisoners. asked the courts to limit the number of ever, more than a third of the state’s county “The entire world has seen the photo of people locked in California’s overcrowded jail systems are operating under court-man- an Abu Ghraib detainee crouched in terror prisons. dated population caps currently. before a snarling dog, but the use of attack Without a reduction in the prison popu- “We’ve still got issues associated with dogs against prisoners here in the U.S. has lation, prisoners will continue to be denied the fact that so many of the county jail fa- been a well-kept secret,” said Jamie Fellner, constitutionally protected levels of mental cilities are at max right now, and others are of Human Rights Watch. “Longtime cor- and physical health care, the suit claims. rapidly approaching max,” said Sacramen- rections professionals were appalled when “They’re packed in there like sardines, to County Sheriff John McGinness. we told them that guards in some states use under horrible conditions, and there’s sim- In December a federal judge put the dogs on prisoners.” ply no space even to provide medical ser- state on a June 4 deadline to fi le a plan to The New York Times, Oct. 11, 2006 vices,” said Don Specter of Prison Law deal with overcrowding in the prisons and Offi ce. threatened to put caps on the prison popula- Twenty (out of 58) California county tion if not convinced the state plan would NO SURRENDER jails now operate under court-ordered pop- work. writings from an anti- ulation caps. Another part of the governor’s plan is to San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 14, 2006 build tens of thousands of new prison cells imperialist political and 40-50,000 new jail cells with $10.9 bil- prisoner ANARCHISTS ATTACK GREEK lion in bond funds. Of course, even if those PRISON bonds are approved, it will take years be- Abraham Guillen Press and Arm Fifty anarchists on motorcycles roared fore the new cells are available. the Spirit are happy to announce past the Korydalios Prison in Athens throw- State Senator Mark Leno called the plan the publication of David Gilbert’s ing smoke bombs and fi reworks at police, “a huge imposition on the counties.” book “No Surrender: writings from then dropping leafl ets that demanded the “We’re locking up too many people,” an anti-imperialist political prison- release of one of their group who was ar- Leno said. “We’re ripping families apart. er.” This 288 page book is an an- rested during the protests against the Euro- We’re creating thousands more foster chil- thology of David Gilbert’s prison pean Social Forum in Athens last May. dren. We’ve got to recognize that we’ve got writings since 1981 until the pres- During the New Year’s Eve celebration to put more violent and serious offenders ent. in Athens, the group released a banner de- away for longer periods and let up on those manding prisoners’ release which fl oated who are not a risk to society.” To order send $20 ($15 + $5 ship- on helium balloons over the partying city. San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 16, 2007 ping) in cash or cheques made out At least two of the May 6 prisoners are to “Abraham Guillen Press” and on hunger strike. TEXAS HUNGER STRIKE mail to: http://bombsandshields.blogspot.com/ Death row prisoners in Texas have been on hunger strike to protest conditions which Abraham Guillen Press 21 DIE IN SALVADORIAN PRISON they compare to Abu Ghraib. C.P. 48164 RIOT Steven Woods, one of the hunger strik- Montreal, Quebec Rioting in the Apanteos prison has killed ers, wrote: “Either conditions will improve, at least 21 prisoners. Guards abandoned the or we will starve to death. We lost all our H2V 4S8 Canada prison during the riot. El Salvador’s pris- group recreation, art programs, and sup-

NUMBER 27 15 ON THE BACKS OF MEXICANOS The economic transfor- t is a fact that never in the history of this manifests itself. Whether it manifests itself mations necessary to country’s parasitical existence has it in the form of a direct military invasion of free the gente from the Ievery fully supported itself. Just as the Iraq under the guise of fi ghting terrorism, of clutches of foreign and settler economy of the east was erected on if it manifests itself in the form of so-called domestic capitalist para- the backs of African and indigenous slaves, “Free Trade” agreements to further plunder sites can not be achieved so too was the economy of the west erected the natural resources and cheap labor-pow- from within the confi nes on the blood and sweat of Mexicanos and er of Mexico, makes little difference. The other oppressed nationalities. essential nature of imperialism remains the of a political system that Throughout the early and mid 1800s same, i.e. driven by capitalism’s inherent is inherently designed to when the U.S. chain of settler colonies necessity to expand. perpetuate the current was in its fi nal stages of transforming into Over the years Mexico has become has economic system. a settler empire, it launched a mass cam- become a looting ground for imperialism. paign of land grabbing and terrorism, re- The value-creating intensive jobs of Sony, within the confi nes of the established polit- ducing the northern 40 percent of Mexico Caterpillar Tractor, RCA, Samsung, Ford, ical framework is Manuel Lopez Obrador to a semi-colonial status. To consolidate its Chrysler, Wal-mart, G.M., Foster Grant, of P.R.D., who has enthralled his support- colonization and land theft, the Mexicano Samsonite, Mattel, Fisher Price, Kraft and ers with pseudo-leftist rhetoric and empty and indigenous population was not only innumerable others have expanded to Mex- promises to serve Mexico’s 50 million who reduced through a genocidal campaign to ico while the higher paying non-value cre- live in abject poverty, all the while promis- dismember them as a nation, simultaneous- ating white collar managerial, professional, ing foreign corporations tax’s break if they ly their labor-power was replaced with the clerical, technical, sales and distributive come to Mexico and open up more sweat imported labor-power of other oppressed jobs created as a result of this production shops. Despite his accurate claims of elec- nationalities in the west. have been retained within U.S. borders. toral fraud and the construction of his pho- In particular reference to California, Ro- Likewise, large landowners and aero- ny parallel government, the gente should dolfo Acuna, captured this well in his oc- businesses acting as neo-colonial agents not allow themselves to be deceived with cupied America: for U.S. supermarket chains have driving illusions of grandeur. Obrador is no Mao- “During the time the Chinese were used millions of campesinos from their lands Tse-Tung or Emiliano Zapata. The differ- as an alternative to Chicanos as California’s and into Mexico’s shanty towns and U.S. ences that exist between Calderon and Ob- labor force, Chicanos were pushed to the cities. rador exist in form only. In essence they are southern half of the state and were literally The United State’s parasitical relation- identical. Both are agents of domestic and forced out of California in order to escape ship with Mexico is not only horizontal in foreign capitalist interests. the lynchings, abuses and colonized status that it transcends the border between two Lenin correctly said …politics is concen- to which they had been condemned”…. countries; it is also vertical in that Mexico’s trated economics…, and Mexico’s political Once the settlers grip on the annexation capitalist class is sustained on the exploita- system is no exception. It is not only an of Mexico had been secured, cheap Mexi- tion of other Mexicanos. As well as provid- outgrowth and refl ection of Mexico’s econ- cano labor was re-imported back into the ing a bloated consumer market that absorbs omy and the property relations on which its region and used as a tool to drive out those 80 percent of Mexico’s exports which are economy rests upon, but its political sys- oppressed nationalities who had once re- produced by cheap labor, the second largest tem and institutions reacts back on its econ- placed them. source of profi t for Mexico’s ruling class omy in an interpenetrating way, reinforcing At the turn of the 19th century, through is derived from undocumented workers in these property relations and the fi nancial imperialist expansion, the U.S. began out- the U.S. sending fi nancial assistance back interests of Mexico’s privileged classes sourcing its domestic exploitation abroad, to Mexico. at the detriment of Mexico’s proletarians not only raising the standard of living of More recently in an effort to further tight- and campesinos. The economic transforma- much of its own population in the process, en its grip around gente, the U.S. has infl u- tions necessary to free the gente from the but increasing its parasitism on the gente. enced the presidential elections in Mexico clutches of foreign and domestic capitalist The nature of a given phenomenon is not in favor of their preferential candidate, parasites can not be achieved from within determined by its external appearances or Felipe Calderon, by providing his P.A.N. the confi nes of a political system that is in- the labels we attach to it, anymore than a party with U.S. campaign strategists and herently designed to perpetuate the current paint job on a car determines its make or millions of dollars. In exchange, Calderon economic system. Only through a success- model. The nature of a given phenomenon will insure Mexico’s capitalists the ‘right’ ful struggle on the part of the gente armed is determined by the objective necessity to further pillage state owned enterprises with an advanced political class conscious- existing within it, i.e. by the laws which through privatization, and has vowed to ex- ness and a complete transformation of the govern the direction and development of pand foreign investment in Mexico which existing property relations accompanied its motion. Although the various forms in in reality amounts to a greater exploita- with the implementation of a planned econ- which a given phenomenon manifests itself tion of labor-power, natural resources and omy based on need rather than profi t, will depends upon the particular conditions in a greater access to cheap goods for those the gente have their needs met in full.  which it develops and interacts in. U.S. middle class consumers obsessed with The same is true of U.S. imperialism and excessive consumption. —C. Landrum the various forms in which its expansion Attempting to challenge Calderon from Pelican Bay State Prison

16 PRISON FOCUS Note: The views expressed in these comments are the opinions ED’S COMMENTS of the writer, and do not necessarily refl ect the views of California By Ed Mead Prison Focus or its members. his edition of Prison Focus address- human rights couple grand and a lot of donated labor to es the issue of prisoners internation- abuses. The attack on Iraq was the fi rst put this issue in your hand. We all volunteer Tally, and we can’t do that without phase of a pre-existing strategy to increase our time and our money to make CPF func- talking about double standards. Perhaps you U.S. control of the world’s oil supplies. It tion on your behalf. We are asking that you didn’t notice, but the rest of the world does was an attack on China, as by controlling give a little something back. see that one yardstick is applied when Sad- the oil spigot that feeds China we control Here’s a quote from a too familiar let- dam Hussein is put on trial and executed for their ability to grow economically and mili- ter I get from non-SHU prisoners here in war crimes, while a different one is applied tarily. This is a course that can only lead California: “Hello and thanks for your when the U.S., UK, and Israeli government to world war. Justice demands that we not publication. I would like you to extend my offi cials commit far greater crimes by ille- be silent in the face of this crime against subscription. I wish I could donate some gally invading countries, targeting civilian peace. money but I’m broke, sorry.” What I really populations, and torturing detainees. It is It has been said that when fascism1 hear that person saying when I read such these kidnappings and torture that we will comes to this country it will not be in the letters goes something like this: “I am such focus on here. Why? Because as pointed form of an anti-American movement or a a loser that I am too pitiful to even hustle up out in last issue’s Quote Box, “When the pro-Hitler bund practicing disloyalty. It a few stamps to contribute to the struggle. rights of just one individual are denied, the will [has]2, rather, come wrapped in the fl ag Don’t waste your time and money on me, rights of all are in jeopardy!” of patriotism. The American people are too as I wouldn’t waste mine on you.” Where is the justice if our government obedient—too much like Good Germans. We are trying to reach out to the most the executes murderers and jails thieves, and In an essay titled “The Problem is Civil rights conscious and politically advanced then itself launches its military against Obedience,” historian Howard Zinn wrote, prisoners. We are trying to communicate other lands, killing thousands and pillaging “I start from the supposition that the world that things are not going to change for the their wealth? The quest for justice is also be is topsy-turvey, that the wrong people are better until prisoners themselves and their a central focus of this publication. in jail and the wrong people are out of jail, loved ones on the outside are part of a state- The mainstream media, like organized that the wrong people are in power and the wide struggle to advance prisoner issues. religion, is used to program our percep- wrong people are out of power...” How We are trying to reach people who will give tions—to steer us away from truth and to true. A great change is needed. us their energy, their people, and a portion perpetuate fairy tales that extol the virtues If there is not a point of confl ict, there of their meager resources. These are people aggressive war and greed. President George is class peace. CPF is growing and build- who have the commitment to at least hustle Bush’s invasion of Iraq had nothing to do ing to develop that point of confl ict. Our up a few stamps. If you are not one of these with eliminating “weapons of mass de- request to prisoners is an easy one, that you people, what are you doing reading this struction,” preventing terrorism or ending support us in the form of a few bucks, a publication? few stamps, and the active support of your If you are not a SHU prisoner and you’ve loved ones on the outside.. been riding free for years, well, it’s time to In the last three days CPF has spent pay the fare or get off the bus. The guard’s $183 in postage sending Habeas and Gang union is where they are today because Validation Manuals in to prisoners. Nearly they’re organized. You are where you are $400 more was spent making copies of the today because you are not. Get it? We have 602 manuals. We spent another $500 send- a print run of 7,000 copies. So far I’ve cut ing legal investigators up to Pelican Bay 2,500 prisoner names off the CPF mailing for a weekend to interview 31 prisoners on list. I’m fi xing to whack another 1,000 be- conditions there. And just before that we fore the next issue (#28). If you are not a By Kevin “Rashid” Johnson sent an investigative team in to Corcoran. SHU prisoner and you have never kicked a We have no paid staff. Indeed, it cost us a little something down to us, your free sub- 1. “A new fascism promises security scription may be on the chopping block. from the terror of crime. All that is re- Finally, the artwork in this issue is all quired is that we take away the criminals’ original prisoner-created art that was sup- rights—which, of course, are our own. Out plied to us by the Prison Art Project (http// of our desperation and fear we begin to feel www.prisonart.org). If you have art you a sense of security from the new totalitarian want us to use, send us a good copy or an state.” –Gerry Spence, author, 1998 original. Source: Information Clearing House And with that, boys and girls, my rant for this issue is over. Be sure to get those bucks 2. Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator and stamps in to us, and if you have people of Italy during WWII defi ned the term for in the Bay Area, be please ask them to lend us. He said: “Fascism should more appro- us a helping hand. There is so much work priately be called Corporatism because it is to be done that we at CPF are always in a merger of State and corporate power.” need of more volunteers.  NUMBER 27 17 International Imprisonment ...... Continued from page 7 Whether or not Lori Berenson is guilty of collaborating with MRTA, I think few in PRISON DECRIED we have not forgotten about you,” the 25- this country, on the right or left, would con- year-old said at a news conference Tuesday tend that her trials in Peru were fair. Yes, AS ‘ABOMINATION’ in Havana, two years after his release. “Un- there were two of them—the fi rst a light- til that place is closed down, I cannot forget By Michael Melia ning-fast trial at gunpoint from a hooded what happened there.” legal aid group representing Guan- tribunal, after which she received a life sen- Iqbal recalled three months in an isola- tanamo Bay detainees condemned tence for treason, and the second a civilian tion cell, where he said he endured painful the U.S. military prison Tuesday as trial—held under the same fl awed Peruvian A positions, screeching music, strobe lights, an “abomination” and called on Washing- anti-terrorism laws—in which the charge sleep deprivation and extreme tempera- ton to close the facility, which opened fi ve was reduced to collaboration and the sen- tures. He said he and two British friends years ago this week. tence set at 20 years. Even her civilian trial at the camp were forced to “confess” they Michael Ratner, president of the New was presided over by a judge who had pre- were members of al-Qaeda. York-based Center for Constitutional judged her as a “terrorist” and her access The men’s story is portrayed in the Rights, said reports of abuse inside Guan- to her lawyer was severely limited in that movie “The Road to Guantanamo,” which tanamo and the prisoners’ lack of access to trial. Her lawyer, in fact, was never even recounts how Iqbal went to Pakistan, later the U.S. justice system damages the United given a copy of the court fi le in the case. joined by his friends, to meet the woman States’ international standing. The center It’s true that Berenson hasn’t helped her- his mother had arranged for him to marry. represents hundreds of Guantanamo de- self at times with her own strongly stated They said they heeded a call for humanitar- tainees. leftist views. She has steadfastly denied ian aid in Afghanistan, arriving just as the “The abomination that is Guantanamo participation in any MRTA activities; but U.S. began its post-Sept. 11 assault. Bay must be shut down,” he said in a con- while she has condemned terrorism, she’s The men were captured by Northern Alli- ference call with reporters. “There is sim- been ambiguous in her assessments of ance troops and turned over to U.S. forces, ply no place in a democracy for offshore the role terrorism has played in Peru and who held them in Pakistan and then trans- penal colonies in which people have no whether violence and armed rebellion are ferred them to Guantanamo in early 2002. rights.” acceptable forms of protest in general. In They were released in 2004 without ever About 395 foreign men held at Guanta- this country as in Peru, that’s pretty much being charged with a crime. namo allegedly are linked to al-Qaeda or equivalent to a guilty plea; and all that most “One of the most diffi cult things was not to the Taliban. All are classifi ed as “enemy people know of her case appears to come knowing why we were in Guantanamo, or combatants” - a status that accords them from news footage more than a decade ago, when we were going home,” the former de- fewer rights than prisoners of war under showing her at a press conference staged tainee said. “It must be so much worse after international law. Most have been held for by the Peruvian government after her ar- fi ve years.”  years without being charged. rest, angrily yelling support for the MRTA. The Associated Press, January 10, 2007 The U.S. government has blocked their Yet, the subtleties of the case have been access to U.S. courts, claiming that it has largely ignored, not only in Peru, but in the the authority to detain them indefi nitely to U.S. as well. keep the United States safe. The military AN AMERICAN There is a larger issue here. Berenson says many of those imprisoned in the sea- was one of hundreds of young Americans, side compound ringed by razor wire and FORGOTTEN: who travel abroad every year and get in- watchtowers provide interrogators with in- LORI BERENSON volved in politics and social causes in formation about terrorist networks. countries that have oppressive regimes and By Dave The fi rst 20 detainees, shackled and think little of niceties such as fair trials and t the end of November (2006), Lori blindfolded, arrived from Afghanistan on due process. In an essay he wrote about her Berenson, an American citizen, will Jan. 11, 2002. Since then, nearly 800 pris- case, which Berenson’s parents have dis- have spent 11 years imprisoned in oners have passed through the detention A tributed, Nicholas Birns a senior researcher Peru, and will, at that time, have nine years center in southeastern Cuba. at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, left to go in that country’s practically medi- To mark the anniversary, demonstrations asked: “Does this country’s lack of concern eval prison system. After her initial deten- are planned Thursday in New York, Lon- about the detention of Lori Berenson, one tion in 1995, she was convicted of collabo- don, Sydney, Australia, and other cities as of its citizens, send a message to the young rating with a Peruvian terrorist group, the well as dozens of small towns in the United people of America that it would be wiser to Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement or States and Britain. stay home and keep quiet?” MRTA, and given a 20-year sentence, with A delegation including Cindy Sheehan, Why has so little been done to help an credit for time already served. who became an anti-war activist after her American citizen who was seized abroad, She has become essentially forgotten in soldier son was killed in Iraq, plans a pro- subjected to court “trials” that few, if any, this country today. And that’s to our detri- test in Cuba outside a gate leading to the Americans can believe were fair, and sen- ment and disadvantage, because the lack of U.S. base. She will be joined by Asif Iqbal, tenced to serve the rest of her youth in interest our government and the public at a British Muslim who was held at the pris- harsh and degrading conditions? Why has large have shown in this case bodes ill for oth- on for 2 1/2 years. there been so little public concern over her er Americans who may get in trouble abroad, “I’ve come and joined this delegation to situation and the possible ramifi cations it regardless of their guilt or innocence. say to the people in Guantanamo Bay that has for other Americans abroad?

18 PRISON FOCUS The answers to these questions may lie version of Berenson’s case. Despite our le- and the government itself, from then Presi- in a confl uence of events that have made gal tradition of a presumption of a person’s dent AlejandroToledo on down. Thus, the her an extreme example of someone be- innocence until proven guilty even if he or Inter-American Court’s subsequent deci- ing in the wrong place at the wrong time. she expresses unpopular views, Berenson sion may not have been so inexplicable. First, there’s the left-wing issue. The Bush has already been convicted as a terrorist It would seem that Berenson’s last best administration, which has been notoriously collaborator in the court of public opin- hope of release before 2015 now lies with uninterested in Latin American politics in ion, as media critic Danny Schechter put the application of pressure by the Bush general, has been less than interested in it. Writing for MediaChannel.org in 2000, administration on the Garcia administra- helping her because she’s a leftie. Schechter blamed the media in both Peru tion in Peru. But some political pressure Compounding the problem of her po- and the U.S. for cementing that image of fi rst needs to be applied on Bush from the litical persuasion has been the fallout from Berenson, starting from that infamous 1996 grassroots here before that is ever likely to 9/11. Her parents’ tireless efforts to build “press conference” in which she voiced her happen. With the Democrats having pried congressional support for her release might support for the MRTA. loose the Republican grip on Congress in have had some effect on the administration Berenson has since backed away from last Tuesday’s elections, one would hope had Osama bin Laden not attacked us and her statements that day, and it appears she that Democratic leaders in the U.S., at least, completely diverted the attention of the may have been deliberately provoked at the will rediscover this case and its importance administration and the rest of the country time by the Peruvian authorities. As she ex- for all U.S. citizens abroad. After all, how from just about everything happening in plained, she had been taken before report- can we argue effectively for human rights Latin America and most everywhere else ers and photographers into a room with no of other countries’ citizens if we don’t seem other than the Middle East. Moreover, we podium or microphone and told she had to all that concerned about the rights of one of now have precious little grounds even to shout to be heard. She had been held up to our own? criticize Peru over its repressive responses that moment in a cell with a wounded pris- We should call our new senators and con- to its own terrorism problems, given the oner, who had been denied treatment for gressmen and ask them to press the Bush Bush administration’s own authoritarian several days. administration to bring about Lori Beren- responses to 9/11—take, for example, the It might be understandable for the media son’s release and to show that yes, we do Military Commissions Act of 2006, which to presume Berenson to be guilty of the care about our citizens abroad.  has narrowed Geneva Convention protec- collaboration charge had there at least been tions available to those this country has de- solid evidence of her guilt. But the evi- To get involved contact: Free Lori Be- tained as possible terrorists. dence has all been circumstantial at best. renson, http://www.freelori.org/ or The And then there’s the mainstream media, The court in her civilian trial ultimately Committee to Free Lori Berenson, 320 E. which, even in this country, has done little dropped all charges against her of leader- 25 Street, #2AA, New York, NY 10010. to scrutinize the Peruvian government’s ship, membership, and militant involve- ment with the MRTA. EU TO INVESTIGATE SECRET CIA Yet that lack of evidence is apparently AFGHAN TORTURE CLAIMS JAILS IN POLAND a fi ne point that appears to have been lost. UPSET DENMARK A delegation of the European Council On October 19, 2000, for instance, CBS A documentary called “The Secret will arrive in Warsaw to start a three-day broadcast a piece on her on “48 Hours,” War” has revealed that a group of 31 probe into alleged secret CIA prisons in which, as Schechter noted, included an Taliban militants were tortured in Kan- Poland, the Polish Press Agency report- interview of her that seemed more like an dahar in the custody of U.S. soldiers ed. interrogation. ABC’s “Prime Time Live” after they had been captured in 2002 The delegation of the special commit- did a similar, hostile piece on Berenson in by Danish troops serving as part of the tee of the European Council, in charge 1998, which also replayed footage, with NATO forces in Afghanistan. of the investigation into the CIA-run se- little explanation, of the 1996 “press con- Christoffer Guldbrandsen, who shot cret jails in Europe, hoped to interrogate ference.” the documentary, released his work to some related Polish citizens during its Berenson’s last best hope for freedom both reporters and government offi cials. visit to the country. before the year 2015 would seem to have The revelations have caused a storm Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kac- been the Inter-American Court of Human of protest and indignation, and Defense zynski warned that the committee had no Rights. And yet that organization, seem- Minister Soren Gade was pressed to re- right to summon Polish citizens. ingly inexplicably, upheld her 20-year sen- sign. The Polish authorities denied that the tence in 2004, overturning a recommenda- According to the documentary, Frank CIA had established secret prisons for tion by the Inter-American Commission on Lissner said that Danish Ministry of De- terrorist suspects since it was accused of Human Rights that she not only be released fense offi cials all knew that the Taliban running secret CIA jails last November. from prison, but that she be compensated militants were being tortured. Dick Marty, a member of the European for wrongful suffering. The Commission Although Prime Minister Anders Fogh Council, said in his report in July [2006] had declared that Berenson’s second trial of Denmark said he had no comments at that 14 European nations had agreed that had been fraught with violations of due this stage, Guldbrandsen argued that the the CIA could transfer terrorist suspects process. prime minister also knew about the 31 or operate secret jails within their terri- Birns has written about the intense lob- Afghans being tortured. tories. bying of the Inter-American Court against Source: zaman.com; Dec. 6, 2006 www.chinaview.cn Nov. 7, 2006 Berenson’s release by the Peruvian press

NUMBER 27 19 THE HORRORS OF EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION By Maher Arar end of that day, instead of sending me back sically read the pieces of document to me Canadian citizen Maher Arar, who is barred to Canada, they shackled and chained me saying, that we will be sending you Syria. from entering the United States, delivered his and sent me to another, another terminal in And when I complained, I said to them, I acceptance speech for the Letelier-Moffi tt the airport where I stayed overnight and in did explain to you if I’m sent back I will be International Human Rights Award in a pre- that place, in that room they kept me in, the tortured and they, I remember, the INS per- recorded videotape. This is a transcript of lights were, were always on. There was no son fl ipped a couple of pages in this docu- his speech. bed in that room and I could not sleep that ment, to the end of this document and read y name is Maher Arar. Sorry I night. to me a paragraph that I still remember un- could not join you for today’s The next day another set of interrogations til today, an extremely shocking statement Mceremony. started. This time it was about, they asked she made to me. All Center for Constitutional Rights Staff me about political opinions—I answered She said something like: The INS is not and I are humbled to have been chosen this openly, I didn’t try to hide my political the body or the agency that signed the Ge- year’s recipient for the Letelier-Moffi tt opinions. The asked me about Iraq. They neva Convention, convention against tor- International Human Rights Award. This asked me about Palestine and so many oth- ture. For me what that really meant is we award means there are still Americans out er issues. And they also, if I remember cor- will send you to torture and we don’t care. there who value our struggle for justice and rectly, asked me about my emails and some So they put me on a private jet, which who are truly concerned about the future of other questions. I found extremely strange. I was the only America. And they told me that day we are about passenger on that, on that plane. Its a luxu- We now know that my story is not a to decide about your fate. At the end of that rious plane, with leather seats in it. My unique one. Over the past two years we day, surprisingly, one of the immigration only preoccupation during this trip is how I have heard from many other people who offi cers came and asked me to volunteer could avoid torture. By then, I realized that were, who have been kidnapped, unlaw- to go to Syria. I said to them: why do you they were exactly sending me to Syria for fully detained, tortured and eventually want me to go to Syria, I’ve never been torture. And that became very clear to me. released without being charged with any there for 17 years. And they say, “You are Then the plane fl ew to Washington from crime in any country. special interest.” Of course, back then I did Washington it fl ew to Maine then to Rome, My nightmare began on September 26, not know what this expression meant. But then from Rome to Jordan. 2002. I was transiting through New York it was clear that the Americans, the offi cer And I remember on the plane I was most airport, JFK Airport, when they asked me did not want me to go to Canada. of the time I was shackled and chained ex- to wait in a waiting area. I found that to be When he insisted, I said, let me go back cept the last two hours when they offered strange. Shortly after, some FBI offi cials to Switzerland. That was my point of de- me a shish-kabob dinner. Up until this day came to see me and they asked me whether, parture before I arrived at JFK and he re- I do not, I cannot explain why they did I was willing to be interviewed. fused. Eventually they took me into the that. If I was a dangerous person like they My fi rst immediate reaction was to ask Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal claimed in the beginning, why they would for a lawyer and I was surprised when they prison, where they kept me for about 12 remove my chains and shackles the last two told me that I had no right to a lawyer be- days. During this time I was interviewed hours of the trip? cause I was not an American citizen. for six hours by INS. It was a very exhaus- During also the trip, whenever I wanted Then I asked for a phone call, I wanted tive interview from 9 p.m. to like around 3 to use the bathroom, one of the team mem- to call my family to let them know what a.m. in the morning. When I asked them to, bers would go inside with me. Even though was going on. And they just ignored my during this interview to go, to allow me to I complained that this was against my reli- request. go back to my cell to perform my prayer, gious belief. Then they told me, we only have couple they refused, completely refused. The plane landed in Jordan on three in of questions for you and we’ll let you go. Also during my stay at the Metropolitan the morning October 8th. And a couple of So I agreed. I had nothing to hide. And the Detention Center I could clearly see that Jordanians were waiting, men, were wait- interrogation started. Soon after, you know, I was being treated differently from other ing for me. They took me, they blindfolded they asked me about people I knew. It was prisoners. For example, they didn’t give me me, they put me in a car and shortly after deeper, until the interrogation was going toothpaste they would allow me to go for they started beating me on the back of my deeper and deeper and deeper. recreation for about a week. They always head. Whenever I complained about the During this time, they played mind ignored my demand for making a phone beating they would actually start beating games with me. They would sometimes in- call. Eventually they allowed me to make me more. So I just kept silent. sult me; say to me something like you’re a phone call. Up until that time, which I stayed in Jordan for about 12 hours in smart. Other times they would accuse me was a week after I was arrested, no one a detention center. I still don’t know what of being dumb. in my family knew where I was. My wife that place is. And, I repeatedly ask for a lawyer, to thought I was disappeared, I was killed. No I was always blindfolded whenever they make a phone call. They always ignored one knew exactly what happened, until I took me from one cell to another or when my question. informed my mother-in-law that I was ar- they took me to see the doctor. But I felt The interrogation that day lasted about rested. something strange in that prison. I felt, four hours with the FBI offi cials and an- Eventually on October 8th, against my what, that I used an elevator, which is quite other four hours with immigration. At the will, they took me out of my cell. They ba- strange for a Middle Eastern prison.

20 PRISON FOCUS After 12 hours of detention, unlawful de- fi ghts tears) without no warning the inter- States, Since my release I have been suffer- tention in Jordan I was eventually driven to rogator came in with a cable. He asked me ing from anxiety, constant fear, and depres- Syria. And I just didn’t want to believe that to open my right hand. I did open it. And he sion. My life will never be the same again. I was going to Syria. I always was hoping hit me strongly on my palm. It was so pain- But I promised myself one thing, that I will that someone, a miracle would happen— ful to the point that I forgot every moment continue my quest for justice as long as I the Canadian government would intervene. I enjoyed in my life. have a breath. What keeps me going is my A miracle would happen that would take This moment is still vivid in my mind faith, Americans like yourselves and the me back to my country Canada. because it was the fi rst I was ever beaten hope that one day our planet Earth will be I arrived in Syria that same day, at the in my life. Then he asked me to open my free of tyranny, torture and injustice.  end of the day and I was able to confi rm left hand. He hit me again. And that one COMMUNIQUÉ FROM HUNGER that I was in fact in Syria after my blind- missed and hit my wrist. The pain from STRIKERS IN SOLIDARITY WITH fold was removed and I was able to see the that hit lasted approximately six months. TURKISH PRISONERS pictures of the Syrian President. My feeling And then he would ask me questions. And Georges Ibrahim Abdallah has been sen- then is I just wanted to kill myself because I would have to answer very quickly. And tenced to 23 years and Jean-Marc Rouil- I knew what was coming. I knew that the then he would repeat the beating this time lan to 20 years. Since their trial they re- Americans, the American government send anywhere on my, on my body. Sometimes main in security prisons. “Through the me there to be tortured. he would take me to a room where I could, years we have come to know the total iso- Sometime later the interrogators came where I was alone, I could hear other pris- lation cells as well as the normalization in. They started asking questions, routine oners being tortured, severely tortured. I pretense of the high security regimes. questions at the beginning, but whenever remember that I used to hear their screams. Our political experiences within jail drive I hesitated to answer their questions or I just couldn’t believe it, that human beings us to a conclusion: our ‘criminal arrest’ whenever they thought I was lying one would do this to other human beings. has only one true aim, to individualize the of them would threaten me with a chair, a And then they would take me back to revolutionary militant, to drive him/her to metallic chair with no seats in it, only the the interrogation room. Again another set reject his/her combatant past or to destroy frames. And back then I did not understand of questions, and the beating starts again him/her physically and physiologically. or I did not know how they would torture and again. On the third day the beating This ill-treatment perpetuates as long people with it. I later learned that from oth- was the worst. They beat me a lot with the as the prisoner refuses to acknowledge er prison inmates. cable. And they wanted me to confess that the role that the governors want him/her But the message was clear: if you don’t I have been to Afghanistan. This was a big to consent to: a puppet at the service of speak quickly enough we will torture you. surprise to me because even the Americans counter-propaganda! That day, the interrogation lasted about four who interviewed me, the FBI offi cials who It has been this way since the utiliza- hours. There was no physical beating; there interviewed me, did not ask me that ques- tion of the cells of sensorial obstruction was only verbal threats. Around midnight, tion. I ended up falsely confessing in order against the fi rst RAF prisoners in the they took me to the basement. In the base- to stop the torture. The torture decreased in early 1970s. Gradually this ill-treatment ment, the guard opened a door for me, a intensity. of ‘pacifi cation’ and ‘blackmail’ has been metallic door. I could not believe my eyes. From that moment on they rarely used used by all the reactionary regimes in Eu- I looked at him and I said, what is that? He the cable. Mostly they slapped me on the rope: QHS and QI here in France, FIES didn’t answer. He just said to me: Enter. face, they kicked me, they humiliated me in Spain, H-Blocks in the North of Ire- The cell was about three feet wide, six all the time. land, F-type prisons in Turkey, etc…and feet deep and about seven feet high. It The fi rst 10 days of my stay in Syria was we have fought everywhere against this was dark. There was no source of light in extremely harsh and during that period I unequal battle. After seven years of a gi- it. It was fi lthy. There were only two thin found my cell to be a refuge. I didn’t want gantic sacrifi ce, our comrades in Turkey covers on the fl oor. I was naïve; I thought to see their faces. But later on living in raise the fl ag of prison resistance. All they would keep me in this place for one, that cell was horrible. And just to give you 121 of them have already paid with their two, maybe three days to put pressure on an idea about how painful it is to stay in lives. me. But this same place, the same cell that that place—I was ready after a couple of With this symbolic action we want to I later called the grave was my home 10 months, I was ready to sign any piece of highlight our message of solidarity with months and 10 days. The only light that document for me, not to be released, just our comrades in Turkish jails. Likewise came into the cell was from the ceiling, to go to another place where it is fi t for hu- we would like to salute all the delega- from the opening in the ceiling. There was man being. tions and groups working against prison a small spotlight and that’s it. During this time I wasn’t aware that my isolation. Life in the cell was impossible. At the be- wife launched a campaign with other hu- In this homage, we would also like to re- ginning—even though it was a fi lthy place, man rights organizations like Amnesty In- gain the memory of those comrades who it was like a grave—I preferred to stay in ternational and others. My wife lobbied the died in the same struggle against prison that cell rather than being beaten. When- media, she lobbied politicians and eventu- destruction such as: Holger Meins, Bob- ever I heard the guards coming to open my ally I was released. The Syrians released me by Sands, Patsy O’Hara, Kepa Crespo door I would just think, you know, this is it and they clearly stated through the ambas- Galende...and the rest of them from all for me that would be my last day. sador in Washington that they did not fi nd the countries and guerrillas. The beating started the following day. any links to terrorism. I was not charged Central de Lannemezan Dec. 15, 2006 Without no warning...(long pause as he in any country including Canada, United

NUMBER 27 21 said. “They were shouting and threaten- REPORT SAYS ISRAEL VIOLATES ing to use their guns. They asked me to get PALESTINIAN PRISONER RIGHTS my son Layth, and soon after they tied his hands, covered his eyes and put him in a visits end up taking place only every few By Luke Baker military vehicle and drove away.” months. Checks and delays when they do srael’s policy towards Palestinian pris- Activists say the manner of the arrest and happen can mean that a visit of a few hours oners is “arbitrary and disproportion- detention of children like Layth contravenes takes up to 24 hours to carry out. ate” and violates international humani- international laws protecting children. I “Israel’s arbitrary and disproportionate tarian law by moving them out of occupied Iyad Misk is a lawyer for the NGO De- policy not only infringes the right to fam- territory, an Israeli rights group said. fence for Children International (DCI) in ily visits, it also results in violation of other B’Tselem, an independent body that the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT). rights and principles of international hu- monitors Israeli actions towards the Pales- He said international law allows for the manitarian and human rights law,” said the tinians, said the vast majority of the 9,000 detention of children or adolescents un- report, entitled “Barred from Contact.” Palestinians being held by Israel were ille- der 18, but under specifi c conditions. As an example, B’Tselem said children gally imprisoned inside the Jewish state. “A specialised interrogator for children aged six and above were not allowed to “Holding these prisoners and detainees in should interrogate them. The interrogation touch imprisoned parents, and said some Israel fl agrantly breaches international hu- should be fi lmed and the parents should at- four-year-olds were traveling to visit jailed manitarian law, which prohibits the transfer tend to be sure that the child was not sub- relatives on their own because other family of civilians, including detainees and pris- ject to psychological pressure or abuse,” members could not go with them. oners, from the occupied territory to the Misk said. In a series of recommendations, the group territory of the occupying state,” B’Tselem He added that minors should appear be- called on Israel to transfer all Palestinian said in a 53-page report. fore a special tribunal for children and only prisoners to detention facilities inside the (Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza be detained in facilities dedicated exclu- West Bank or Gaza. in the 1967 Middle East war. It withdrew sively for them, never with adults. Short of that, it said Israel should ease soldiers and Jewish settlers from Gaza in “All these conditions are not provided to the process of granting permits for people August last year, but still has forces in the Palestinian children detained by the Israeli to enter Israel for family visits and provide West Bank.) authorities, although they do provide it for more assistance in making those visits hap- “Israel’s disregard for this prohibition is Israeli child prisoners,” Misk said, adding pen. one of the main reasons the prisoners and that Israeli authorities try Palestinian chil- It also recommended that restrictions their families are unable to exercise their dren in military courts—another contra- on minors making contact with prisoners right to visits in a reasonable manner,” vention of international law. should be lifted and that communications B’Tselem said. Misk said Article 37 of the UN’s Conven- facilities for prisoners and relatives should Israel’s prison system said in response tion on the Rights of the Child states that be improved.  it made all efforts to allow family visits to detaining children should be a measure of Reuters, Oct. 10,2006 take place in a “respectful manner”. last resort, and must be for the shortest pos- “(The prison system) also acts in accor- sible period of time. Israel signed this pact dance with laws and regulations to check in 1990 but the NGO’s lawyers say that it is proof of identity meticulously, especially THE PLIGHT OF only being applied to Israeli children. in light of recent events,” said spokesman Orit Stelser, a spokeswoman for Israel’s Yaron Zamir, referring to the stabbing of a PALESTINIAN prison service, denied that the conditions guard by a prisoner’s relative. CHILD PRISONERS Palestinian child prisoners are held in, In a response sent to B’Tselem in August, contravened international law. “Of course Palestinian Layth Ghalib Bedwan, 14, the Justice Ministry said it did everything they don’t break the law. There are lots of was arrested and detained by the Israeli possible, within the constraints of security, organisations, such as the Red Cross, who authorities in August 2006. Since then, his to facilitate visits and said that it had de- come to visit them and who check their family has waited anxiously for him to re- nied only 41 of 4,616 visits requested since conditions,” she said. turn home. December 2005. “Five thousand children have been either His mother is crying all the time. “I con- “The state has been acting relentlessly, imprisoned or arrested in Israeli investiga- tacted all the children’s rights organisations despite the many security and administra- tion centres for different periods of time in the hope that they can do something to tive diffi culties involved, to enable the ex- since the start of the Intifada,” said Da- accelerate the release of my son, but all my istence of these visits,” it said. The ministry wood Dar’awi, head of the DCI offi ce in efforts were in vain,” said Ghalib Bedwan, did not directly address the allegation of the OPT, adding that they were being detained 36, Layth’s father. illegality of holding the prisoners in Israel. for participation or “suspected participa- In September, an Israeli military court B’Tselem said Israel had a duty to assist tion” in intifada activities. accused Layth of throwing stones at Israeli Palestinians living in the West Bank and Dar’awi said 95 percent of detained chil- soldiers, sentencing him to three months in Gaza to visit relatives in Israeli jails, but dren are from the West Bank and the rest prison, and imposing a U.S. $400 fi ne on since 1969 that task has fallen to the Inter- from the Gaza Strip. This is because Israel him. national Committee of the Red Cross. maintains overall control over the West “The occupation force stormed into our Since it is often very diffi cult for Pales- Bank and not the Strip, from where Israel house at 2 a.m. in the morning,” his father tinians to get permits to enter Israel, prison disengaged in July 2005.

22 PRISON FOCUS A landlocked territory bordering Jordan and Israel, the West Bank is home to 2.4 GOLDEN GULAG: PRISONS, SURPLUS, million Palestinian residents and some CRISIS, AND OPPOSITION IN 400,000 Jewish settlers. As such, Israeli soldiers regularly patrol the streets and GLOBALIZING CALIFORNIA make arrests as they see fi t. By Ruth Wilson Gilmore The Palestinian Ministry for Prisoners’ Book Review radical struggles, weakening of labor, and Affairs and children’s rights activists, like shifting patterns of capital investment have the DCI, confi rmed the presence of about 412 pages, 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches, 8 line been key conditions for prison growth. The 450 Palestinian children from the West illustrations, 1 map, 10 tables results—a vast and expensive prison sys- Bank in Israeli prisons, including three Published January 2007, $19.95 tem, a huge number of incarcerated young girls aged 15, 16 and 17. About 100 are ill, people of color, and the increase in punitive they said, three of them suffering from gun- ince 1980, the number of people in justice such as the Three Strikes law—pose shot wounds.  U.S. prisons has increased more than profound and troubling questions for the 450 percent. Despite a crime rate that future of California, the United States, and This item comes to you via IRIN, a UN S has been falling steadily for decades, Cali- the world. Golden Gulag provides a rich humanitarian news and information ser- fornia has led the way in this explosion, context for this complex dilemma, and at vice, but may not necessarily refl ect the with what a state analyst called “the biggest the same time challenges many cherished views of the United Nations or its agencies. prison building project in the history of the assumptions about who benefi ts and who Report, IRIN, 5 December 2006. world.” Golden Gulag provides the fi rst de- suffers from the state’s commitment to tailed explanation for that buildup by look- prison expansion.  ing at how political and economic forces, $43,287 TO HOUSE ranging from global to local, conjoined to produce the prison boom. EACH CA CONVICT In an informed and impassioned account, By Andy Furillo Ruth Wilson Gilmore examines this issue he average annual cost of housing through statewide, rural, and urban per- an inmate in the California prison spectives to explain how the expansion de- Tsystem has more than doubled over veloped from surpluses of fi nance capital, the past decade to $43,287 a year, accord- labor, land, and state capacity. Detailing ing to fi gures released Wednesday by the crises that hit California’s economy with Legislative Analyst’s Offi ce (LAO). particular ferocity, she argues that defeats of Brian Brown, the author of the LAO’s criminal justice report that contained the cost fi gures. “The bigger portion has to ALL OF U.S. OR do with the combination of the increases NONE in salary for the correctional offi cers, who make up the bulk of the prison staff….” An organization of x-felons, both The annual cost per inmate pencils out women and men, making good to a daily per capita prison rate of $119— by community involvement, nearly a 33 percent jump since the Califor- participation, and social activism. TO ALL PRISONERS: A NOTE ON nia Department of Corrections and Reha- Please join. Call for information at WRITING TO CPF bilitation in October mistakenly said that (415) 255-7036. For ease and effi ciency, please it was paying an average of $90 a day to follow these guidelines when writing house a prisoner. VOLUNTEERS to CPF: “Wow,” said state Sen. Mike Machado, • Write your complete name, ad- D-Linden, the chairman of the budget sub- NEEDED dress, prison number on the letter itself and date committee that oversees prison spending, Database volunteer needed. when told about the $43,287 fi gure. • Print legibly Building a database is essential • Be brief “It [the $43,287 per inmate fi gure] also to All Of Us Or None’s growth, and says the prison system is broken because • Indicate on the envelope who the input into shaping today’s social letter is for (i.e. Mary Rubach, our population keeps increasing and we system for the better for x-felons have a recidivism rate above 70 percent,” Newsletter, etc.) their communities and families. • Write and underline if an action is Machado added. Get in touch. California currently houses 172,000 in- requested (Although this does not mates in 33 prisons, as well as in fi re camps guarantee a response, it will help General Meetings us identify those that need specifi c and other facilities. The prisons are current- Every Third Thursday, 6:30 p.m. ly packed to more than twice their designed help.) 1904 Franklin St., 9th Floor, • Do not send unsolicited legal or capacity.  Oakland, CA Source: Sacramento Bee, Feb. 2007 medical documents.

NUMBER 27 23 confi ne them in a prison for a year? When Prison is a brutal and heartless place. Reha- ON VICTIMS you have a tear in an item of clothing you bilitation and redemption is denied to most By Ed Mead apply a patch to the weak spot to strengthen prisoners. Warehousing prisoners for profi t eople commit crimes for a lot of dif- it. Crime is but a refl ection of a weakness in is the main objective for the corrections in- ferent reasons, including widespread the social fabric, it is an indication of where dustry nationwide. Debilitation, sickness, Punemployment, racism, sexism (be- energy and resources need to be applied— misery and mental illness are brought to lieving that women are property), poverty, like a patch. Banishing the offenders from our attention in super maximum security and many other diverse and complex fac- their communities, depriving them of their facilities where we are forced to speak over tors that lead to alienation and desperation. human rights, and treating them cruelly phones, and across fi lthy Plexiglas barri- But here I am not going to go into why have the opposite effect. Rather than seeing ers. CPF has visited thousands of prisoners people commit crimes; we’ll save that for them as “other” we should see offenders as and reported their plight in our publication, another day. Instead I want to briefl y ad- a part of “us” in need of our attention and Prison Focus, as well as in the commer- dress the perceptions of the victims’ rights resources. cial press. We also write wardens, and fax community. The analysis of the victims’ rights people public agencies and offi cials to complain I’m not a religious man, but didn’t Jesus is petty and vindictive; their understanding and inform CPF activists have written to teach something like—as you do unto the of the issue of crime and punishment is thousands more prisoners, providing them least of them so you do unto me? Here you both superfi cial and reactionary. The irony a voice and encouraging them not to suc- have millions of people held in a state of of the victims’ rights advocates is that they cumb to the ill treatment and lack of hu- dependency and irresponsibility; they are fail to see that their ongoing demand for mane care. disenfranchised slaves of the state. They ever increasing levels of punishment and We must continue with our work. The are subjected to cruel and crowded living repression will only result in more victims. prisons are in sad shape. Pelican Bay, Corco- conditions, arbitrary punishments, etc. That is the fl aw in their reasoning—always ran and the women’s prisons at Chowchilla The problem with the professional victim more and more of what clearly doesn’t continue on a downward spiral. Deaths by advocates is that they think good results work.  violence and thru medical neglect, as well will come from doing bad things to people. as suicide, are a daily onslaught we face as But my experience as an ex-convict teach- we sort through the incoming prison mail. es me otherwise. When you poke a stick in AN APPEAL FOR We have much work to do for the people at a caged dog, hour after hour, day after in prison. We trust you feel the same as we day, week after week, etc., you are going FUNDS BY BATO do. “Upholding prisoners’ rights to pre- to wind up with an angry animal on your ritical times are at hand. And we serve human rights” has been our guiding hands. Greater minds than mine have said need your help. Human rights have motto since our beginning. to distrust anyone in whom the urge to pun- all but disappeared inside Ameri- We ask our friends and supporters to give ish is strong. The eagerness of the victims’ C cas’ prisons and other detainment facili- now. Help us stay viable. All donations to community in this regard is telling. ties. Here in California we see the growth CPF are tax deductible. You can contribute But what about the victims our criminal of the prison state beyond all our fears and by mail or at http://www.prisons.org.  justice system? Nearly everyone is eventu- apprehensions. Families live in dread over ally released from prison. Today’s prisons the safety and well-being of loved ones in- IN MEMORY are like factories that produce a product, side such remote prison facilities as Pelican and that product is angry men who when Bay, Corcoran and Chowchilla. CPF’s Eleanor Ohman passed released take that rage out on their children, Systematic imprisonment is accepted away on Nov. 6, 2006. She will be wives, neighbors, or the community. These now as the solution for the masses of the missed. Eleanor came to the group confused victims of a failed social system, poor, people of color and the infi rm. Mean- a number of years ago to volun- not to mention a badly broken correctional while inequalities between rich and poor teer her services with prisoner cor- complex, will most likely offend again. continue to increase. Injustice and legal ex- respondence, and to help with the If victims’ rights people are really all that pediency rule the courts. Prosecutors now newsletter (of which she had many concerned about the victims of crime they determine who goes to prison, and there are years of experience). I know she would want a prison system that reduced not enough quality lawyers for the poor. was a great help to Mary in organiz- crime, not one that aggravated it. Conser- America’s prisons are nightmares far and ing and answering the mail, and to vative estimates put the recidivism rate at wide. This world inside prison walls has me she was always available to help 67 percent; other experts say it is more like been shut off from the rest of our commu- on the newsletter and forwarded me 82 percent. In any case, if you had a factory nities. We do not know enough about what many pieces of neatly typed prison- the produced a product with that high a re- takes place inside these closed off cham- er submissions. I knew of Eleanor’s ject rate how long would you stay in busi- bers of inhumanity. work at the weekly newspaper, the ness? Wouldn’t you want to do something California Prison Focus (CPF) has for 16 Sun-Reporter, and her political car- about it other than doing more and more of years been active as a not-for-profi t organi- toons. I only wish we had actually what clearly doesn’t work? And when that zation, visiting, and interviewing prisoners put aside the time to look at them, still fails, to do yet more of it? at random and upon requests at some of the as we had often planned. Wouldn’t it be less expensive and more most notorious and harsh prisons in Amer- effective to send offenders to a university ica. We believe what most prisoners tell us —Leslie DiBenedetto and make rocket scientists of them than to about what takes place out of public view.

24 PRISON FOCUS WRITINGS ON PRISONS AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE In this section you will fi nd writing about U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson ap- proposal this year. the California prison system, pieces with pointed last year as federal receiver over It is crucial that our elected representa- a national focus, others that have interna- California’s prison health-care system, has tives don’t fall for this dangerous policy tional implications and still more that want documented that a person dies each day in proposal and that such efforts are not given us to work on and improve our activism in- California prisons due to gross medical ne- consideration in four other states to which side and outside prison. glect. How, in such an environment, could GRSC members announced their intention Check out the story about “voluntary” we trust prison staff to ensure informed to export this California mini-prison expan- sterilization of women in prison in the “In consent to such a procedure? sion model. California” section; read how the condi- Though the sterilization program has No legislators or policy advocates who tions in Abu Ghraib are compared to those not offi cially commenced, our work with care about low-income women and wom- in control units across the United States, people in California’s women’s prisons in- en of color, racial justice, or reproductive and about the recent revisiting of evidence dicate that prisons themselves already act rights can continue to support the GRSC in produced under torture against Black ac- as agents of reproductive oppression. Last good faith. California policymakers should tivists of the 1960s and 1970s. Find two year, one young Latina woman told us that demand the termination of all state em- articles in “Activism: Moving Forward” a prison doctor tried to convince her to be ployees present at the meeting at which this written for the conference on control units sterilized right after she gave birth. recommendation to investigate sterilization held last year by prisoners that explain And we are already hearing of coerced was made, and dismantle the GRSC alto- their critiques and plans to make substan- and unnecessarily invasive procedures to gether. Accountability to women’s health- tial change. remove the reproductive organs of prison- care, reproductive freedom and racial jus- We hope you enjoy. As always, please ers occurring under the cloak of medical tice demands such action. continue to send your written and graphic necessity. To truly respond to the needs of people submissions. Given the over-representation of people in women’s prisons, we need to end the use —Leslie DiBenedetto of color in U.S. prisons, the GRSC’s pro- of imprisonment as a de facto response to posed sterilizations smack of the state’s social problems. long embrace of eugenics, the pseudosci- Legislators in California and beyond IN CALIFORNIA ence that resulted in the forced steriliza- should know better than to consider return- tions of people in state hospitals, ostensibly ing to our shameful eugenicist past, and PRISON PROPOSAL IS for mental or developmental illness, in- must stand up for what voters all know cluding “female promiscuity,” according to is right: communities where everyone is DISTURBINGLY AKIN TO William Keating, a doctor who practiced at worth caring for. We need to radically re- Sonoma State Hospital in the 1950s. duce the number of people in prison, be- EUGENICS Because the state has yet to thoroughly ginning with a moratorium on new prison By Robin Levi and Vanessa Huang examine its own longtime enthusiasm for construction and staffi ng. We can then take iven California’s shameful his- eugenics practices, it’s diffi cult to know funds saved from building a new system tory with the forced sterilizations how many of the estimated 20,000 Cali- to imprison women and redirect them into Gof thousands of people during the fornians forcibly sterilized by the state in much-needed social services at the county 20th century, you would think that bureau- the 20th century were people of color, but level, independent of the prison system, crats would think twice before suggest- it’s a good bet that many were. What we do including housing, health care, education, ing that the sterilization of an imprisoned know is that, upon embarking on their own and job training. Only then can we have woman could ever be freely chosen. And eugenics program, the Nazis were inspired true gender justice.  you would be wrong. by California’s model. Robin Levi is the human rights director “Doing what is medically necessary” is “Elective” sterilization is not the fi rst for Justice Now. Vanessa Huang is Justice how the Gender Responsiveness Strategies problematic proposal coming out of the Now’s campaign and media director. Commission of the California Department GRSC. Source: L.A. Daily Journal, Jan. 8, 2007 of Corrections and Rehabilitation termed Last year, a policy proposal put forward its July 18 [2006] recommendation to con- by the GRSC used misleadingly family- sider providing, in the course of delivering friendly language to dress up a prison ex- a baby, “elective” sterilization of women pansion scheme as a “community-based,” who give birth in prison, “either post-par- “alternative-to-incarceration” plan that tum or coinciding with cesarean section.” would better serve the families of impris- To describe a sterilization performed oned people. This proposal for a whole new under such circumstances as voluntary is system of mini-prisons for women failed absurd. One’s ability to consent to steriliza- after Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, tion—or anything else—during pregnancy the proposal’s principal coauthor, removed and labor is limited in any setting, not to her name from it and declared it to be “a mention in a coercive environment such as fraud.” That hasn’t stopped Assembly- a prison. Moreover, Robert Sillen, whom woman Sally Lieber from reintroducing the

NUMBER 27 25 GULAG OF THE GOLDEN plagued by innumerable malignancies. IT’S THE SYSTEM THAT Currently we on indefi nite lockdown in STATE the California Correctional Center in Su- NEEDS CORRECTIONS By Eugene Alexander Dey sanville. Now, based solely on race, not AND REHABILITATION: risons will never be mistaken for personal culpability, we are sequestered 24 model communities. And prisoners, hours a day to suffer in a perpetual state of NO TRANSFERS Punable to cure ourselves of myriad untreated indisposition. In lockdown hate By Dortell Williams imperfections while allowed to deviate is allowed to fester in a population well- t was kind of like asking a captured en masse, we are an assemblage of thugs, versed in generational intolerance—and robber to voluntarily handcuff himself thieves, and miscreants. With draconian little else. We voluntarily detach ourselves Iwithout the threat of authority, or ex- sentencing mandates, decreased civil liber- on exercise yards, chow halls, and day- pecting a rabbit to hold still while you aim ties, and zero rehabilitative opportunities, rooms, so in-cell integration as advertised and fi re. Today, the prison guards distrib- hopelessness reinforces our last bastion of sounds like propaganda to mask the pan- uted a survey asking if we’d be interested passion: hatred. Trapped in a permanent demonium. in voluntarily transferring to out-of-state downward spiral, senseless and meaning- Obviously, the goal of ending segrega- joints to help them ease overcrowding. less bloodshed dominate the mind’s eye. tion is to create a melting pot of sorts. But The survey said, as if we didn’t know, Upon arrival in the California Depart- decades of race-based hatred, aggravated that the prison system is dangerously over- ment of Corrections and Rehabilitation by stacking 173,000 untreated lunatics like crowded and voluntary transfers would (CDCR), prisoners bring with them severe cords of wood, force us to compete like help relieve the pressure. drug, mental and learning problems, ex- savages for scare institutional resources. The stakes are high, so they want us to acerbated by the inability to manage an- Kept in a state of sustained desperation, help dig them out of this mess. ger and intolerance. Since upwards of 80 with the steady pressure of the man’s jack- So, let’s say the needed 5,000 of us percent have substances abuse issues, in boot on our throats, we remain an extreme- agree to transfer. The problem is temporar- addition to co-occurring mental ailments, ly unstable demographic. Stripped of our ily countered. Yet laws like Three Strikes without professional help we get worse, humanity, with nothing of consequence to continue to gobble up petty thieves for life, not better. look forward, all we have left is contempt: while the parole board, which is designed Rather than identifying the root causes for self, society and each other. As negli- to actually parole people, continues to re- behind our deviation, we are asked at the gent administrators attempt to merge an lease its annual two percent trickle and beginning of our penological sojourn: entangled people. I’m reminded of ethnic the newly released continue to get tripped “Where are you from? …What gang do and sectarian struggles in the Sudan, Bos- up on technical violations and recidivate. you bang?” Through this investment in nia and the Middle East. Before you know it, we’re up to the brim punitive correctional methodologies, im- Reluctantly held captive in this failed again. Then what? pressionable teenagers enter institutions of social experiment, underscored by recent Meanwhile, for the rest of us, there’s intolerance and become addicted to insane waves of violence, instead of experts on little by way of job training, or rehabilita- ideologies about race, gangs and drugs. confl ict we receive fl yers by incompetents. tion or drug treatment – though 85 percent When the Supreme Court held segregat- We don’t require more prison beds or cor- of offenders have drug or alcohol directly ing prisoners unconstitutional, the depart- rectional offi cers, and defi nitely shouldn’t or indirectly related to their imprisonment. ment answered by crafting a three-year be shipped together to other states like Opportunities to gain productive skills are plan to integrate the state’s 33 prisons. cattle. We call for parole and sentencing slim to none in California prisons, so we Ending segregation is a just cause; yet it’s reform to coalesce with multi-systemic abide in a world of idleness where violence not being advanced by social libertarians, treatment models designed to provide tan- reigns as a result. but court order. Correctional ‘mis-manag- gible incentives for those willing to attempt That pretty much describes the cycle ev- ers’ who run a murderous medical depart- rehabilitation. Moreover, for their role in ery time they build a new prison as well. ment and a parole system with a 70 percent creating this quagmire, scores of CDCR California has been trying to build its way rate of failure, are now circulating a fl yer offi cials should be excommunicated before out of overcrowding – without releasing that reads: “Big News! In-Cell Integration they unleash incomprehensible weapons lifers or rehabilitating those with fi xed sen- is coming.” of mass ineptitude on the fragile lines of tences for over 20 years. It hasn’t worked With unending pressure on Gov. Schwar- demarcation, trapped in bitter confl ict: the in the past and nothing suggests that fail- zenegger to solve the crisis of prison over- Gulag of the Golden State.  ure won’t repeat itself with Gov. Arnold crowding, staff shortages, and a lack of By James Lawless Schwarzenegger’s two proposed prisons or rehabilitative programs, I fi nd it vexing multimillion dollar extensions to existing integration has become a footnote. Causing sites. additional apprehension is a bill by Sen. The survey listed 28 applicable states, Gloria Romero a democrat from LA, who from Alabama to Wisconsin, none of which endeavors to force the CDCR to abandon lock up their citizens for 25-years to life using race as a factor in determining cell for video game theft or other such petty of- placements. Despite the senator’s good in- fenses. tentions, adding another piece of legislation So “what do we get out of the deal?” on the mosaic of miserables already in place was the echo on the yard. Or how does the doesn’t restore to health a prison system taxpayer benefi t, for the matter? It’s just a

26 PRISON FOCUS shell game, but with bodies. Just more of a mad rush to fi nd cheap labor, corporate personal phobias. the same. Amerika looks to prison as a source of free Sensory deprivation alone proved effec- They should honor the punishments [cheap] labor. But let’s look at torture. tive on its victims. As one CIA researcher originally meted out and start releasing Brutality and torture are common fea- in Canada, Dr. Donald Hebb, discovered, the thousands who have met their board tures of U.S. prisons. Nothing coming out “the effect of isolation on the brain func- of parole hearings requirements. The leg- of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib has tion of the prisoner is much like that which islature should enact sentence reform, and matched the images that showed the savage occurs if he is beaten, starved, or deprived implement genuine rehabilitation like other torture of prisoners following the Attica up- of sleep.” He found that normal brain func- states with successful prison systems. rising in 1971. And what about California’s tion is severely impaired if a person is de- I checked the “Not Interested” box on Corcoran State Prison where guards set prived of the complex sensory stimulation the survey without the slightest hesitation. up fi ghts between prisoners, gambled on of normal social environments. In fact, the In spite of the myriad of criminal allega- the outcomes, and then shot the prisoners CIA’s psychiatrist found that “sensory de- tions we see those in power spin their way for fi ghting? Some 43 were shot and eight privation can produce major mental and out of, they hold us responsible to the tenth killed just between 1989 and 1994. Others behavioral changes in man” and produces degree for our slightest slip ups. I say it’s were shot and killed with no justifi cation. psychosis more naturally and consistently time we fi nally hold them accountable As during slavery, sexual abuse by offi - than drugs and physical torture. The equal- for something; namely this overcrowded, cials in U.S. prisons is prevalent. There has ly effective opposite extreme of sensory mismanaged, wasteful and out of control long been a nationwide scandal surround- deprivation is sensory overload, where prison system they’ve created that needs a ing women prisoners being raped by male the victim is bombarded with loud noises, good dose of correction and rehabilitation guards. Then there’s the sexual humiliation bright light, noxious odors, etc. itself.  attendant to abusive strip searches, which The CIA embodied the fi ndings of these are often accompanied by degrading verbal and other studies in its 1963 torture manual abuse. This all exacerbated by complete “Kubork: Counterintelligence Interroga- ACROSS THE denial of voluntary heterosexual relations. tion” where it confi rmed that: And there’s a genocidal component to this 1. The deprivation of sensory stimuli in- UNITED STATES and the vast targeting of virile-aged youth duces stress; of color for lengthy imprisonment where 2. The stress becomes unbearable to most AMERICAN PRISONS they cease to be able to reproduce, and subjects; ARE GOVT SPONSORED in an environment where HIV, AIDS, and 3. The subject a growing need for physical hepatitis abound. and social stimuli, and, TORTURE But there’s a higher grade of torture. 4. Some subjects progressively lose touch By Kevin “Rashid” Johnson After World War II, western governments with reality, focus inwardly, and pro- ost people don’t quite relate U.S. established an aversion to physical torture, duce delusions, hallucinations, and other prisons to government-spon- which they embodied in the charter and pathological effects. Msored torture. We can thank the treaties of their newly established United The second feature of mental torture the mainstream corporate media and politi- Nations. This was brought on by the out- CIA developed was “self-infl icted pain” cians for this. Since the 1960s and 1970s, rages of Nazi Germany tortures and human where the victim is caused to remain in they’ve persistently projected the image experiments against its own white citizens: physically and/or mentally painful posi- as resorts where dangerous criminals eat Jews, Slavs, Poles, Gypsies, disabled peo- tions and conditions (called “stress posi- chips, lift weights, and watch videos all ple, dissidents, etc. On account of this the tions”), which he is told will end upon his day, much like the false image given of newly established CIA became very inter- cooperation with his captors. This causes slavery as an experience that Black folks ested in developing less physically evident the victim to feel he is the cause of his own actually enjoyed. These portrayals are sus- methods of mentally breaking and brain- pain, thus making him the master of his tainable because the real world of prisons is washing enemies. As a result the CIA and own fate. So long as he resists he will suf- a hidden one, concealed behind walls and Defense Department funded several stud- fer, but as soon as he cooperates his suffer- razor wire, inaccessible to the public. ies with Harvard University, the National ing will instantly stop. There’s also a connection between prison Institute of Mental Health, and other psy- The last two methods which were later and slavery. The plantation system actua1ly chiatrists and psychologists. developed target the victim’s cu1tural sen- merged with the penitentiary system after These studies led to breakthrough devel- sitivities and personal phobias such as the the Civil War, and the torture and savagery, opments in the art of torture that focused practice of degrading, or fl ushing a Mus- especially beatings, remained a mainstay. primarily on psychological methods and lim detainee’s Qu’ran. Apparent from the In fact, at the end of the Civil War, slav- produced revolutionary results with a con- photographs that came out of Abu Ghraib ery was for the fi rst time authorized by the sistency never seen before under physical and other testimony (also from Guanta- U.S. Constitution in the 13th Amendment, torture. What the CIA learned was that namo), prisoners were hooded, goggled, which authorized the government to treat stated of mental disorder, collapse, capitu- ear-muffed, and gloved to shut out sensory convicts as slaves. So the newly “freed” lation and psychosis could be produced in stimulation; loud noises and music were Blacks were simply targeted with criminal a victim by use of seemingly benign and used to attacks the senses and deprive peo- prosecutions and then placed right back harmless methods. Namely, sensory de- ple of sleep; long-term stances (kneeling into bondage to serve as laborers, on chain privation and “self-infl icted pain” coupled and standing at length, forced to keep arms gangs, on prison plantations, etc. Today, in with attacks on cultural sensitivities and outstretched, etc.) were meant to cause

NUMBER 27 27 physical pain. prisoners’ image and isolate us to eliminate family and friends, etc. Sensory shock and Those who saw some of the images of public awareness and support. Meantime, overload is also infl icted in such prisoners these combined techniques saw nothing measures were taken to kill the revolution- being housed next to or near others with alarming because there was no evidence of ary activist spirit in prisons, to remove and mental disorders or whom guards incite physically damaging brutality. However, isolate the politically conscious and ad- that scream, rant, bang, fl ood, throw body all who have made expert analyses compar- vanced prisoners, and incite the remainder waste, don’t bathe, etc. “Se1f-inf1icted ing mental and physical torture have unani- into internal violence and division. Only pain” is also a common practice in con- mously found psychological torture the months after offi cials opened the fi rst con- trol units. Prisoners are routinely shackled worse of the two, because it causes more trol unit in the U.S. prison at Marion, Il- and handcuffed or restrained to cell bunks severe mental damage, is hard to prove, and linois, within which torture became institu- in cramped and uncomfortable positions its effects last longer. tionalized with clear political objectives. without meals and left to urinate and def- But what many who saw those images As former Marion warden Ralph Amos ecate on themselves and lie in it for hours coming out of the U.S. military’s prisons stated in federal court: “The purpose of the to days; they’re left hours to days in bare did not recognize was they were also seeing Marion Control Unit is to control revolu- cold cells with little to no clothing; sub- a stark refl ection of conditions and practic- tionary attitudes in the prison system and jected to destroyed or denied property and es occurring everyday inside prisons across in society at large.” (Note his emphasis on meals and privileges like outside exercise Amerika. mere thoughts of fundamental change and and showers; or forced to remain in high The Amerikan reformers who fi rst de- actions, and not only inside the prisons control confi nement until1hey decide to vised the penitentiary believed that crimi- but also society at large.) But U.S. leaders cooperate with offi cials, cease a pattern of nals could be “reformed” though solitary deny political imprisonments or persecu- disagreeable conduct, abandon or snitch confi nement, labor, and deprivation, which tion of political dissenters or opponents. on political or gang affi liations, etc. (Many all began at Philadelphia’s Eastern State By Dominic Lucero simply remain in these units, indefi nitely Penitentiary in the early 1820s, but what out of offi cial spite, for no reason at all, was actually discovered was that condi- or for being inclined to complain or liti- tions of sensory deprivation in isolation gate against or publicly expose abusive caused mental deterioration and psychosis. treatments and conditions.) They are made Leading writers like Charles Dickens and to feel that their discomfort is their own Charles Darwin, upon touring the peniten- fault for failing to cooperate and will cease tiary, spoke out against its conditions of upon their fi nally giving in. mental torture. As Dickens observed, “I Attacks on prisoners’ cultural sensitivi- hold this slow and daily tampering with ties and personal phobias is the norm also, the mysteries of the brain to be immeasur- especially in that most of the control unit ably worse than any torture of the body.” and supermax prisons are located in re- The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled mote rural white populated areas, whereas such solitary confi nement mentally de- the prisoners arc primarily urban people of structive and outlawed it. However, the color. There is a racial and cultural divide practice along with physical brutality per- that generates offi cial insensitivity and sisted inside the hidden confi nes of U.S. intolerance to the prisoners’ cultural inter- prisons. ests, and causes prisoners to suffer acute The brutalities of the U.S. prison system cultural shock. Male prisoners’ senses of became public knowledge in the 1960s masculinity are routinely targeted with and 1970s as a result of the activism and suggestive strip searches accompanied by literature of a broad prison movement and demeaning and provocative remarks, etc. eloquent writings like those of George While seemingly benign, this combi- L. Jackson, Field Marshall of the Black nation of psychological techniques has Panther Party. Prisoners views were being proven revolutionary in its consistency widely published, and the Attica uprising, in crushing prisoners’ wills, esteem and sparked by inhumane and oppressive prison Since Marion opened its control unit in value systems, and driving them into acute conditions and the assassination of Jackson 1972, control units and supermaxes have psychosis. I have personally witnessed this by prison guards, exposed in shocking im- swept the country, with most located in iso- result in those confi ned in the supermax ages the oppression and brutality of U.S. lated rural white communities far removed prisons with me. The rate of attempted and prisons. from prisoners’ loved ones and sympathetic successful suicides is unprecedented com- The offi cial response was to suppress communities. pared with “normal” prison environments. prisoner literature, eliminate or restrict col- All U.S. supermaxes and control units I’ve witnessed four attempts in my own 22- lege and writing courses, to outlaw pris- practice sensor deprivation isolation and bed unit in less than two months—two in oners’ profi ting from their writings, and solitary confi nement most hours of the day. one night. eliminating prisoner-oriented media. This Prisoners live in cells the size of a small Most of those who’ve endured super- effectively de-politicized prisoners and al- bathroom, with minimal human interac- max confi nement for a year or more, I’ve lowed offi cials and the mainstream media tion, little to no change in scenery, lim- observed, suffer a distinct regression into to wage a racist campaign to demonize ited property access, minimal contact with paranoia, irrationality, grandiose and perse-

28 PRISON FOCUS cutory delusions, childish attention seeking volved in the scandal, “the highest profi le WAGING A SECURITY behavior, reduced impulse control, hyper- cases in which the severest sanctions are sexuality, reduced ability to concentrate sought consistently involve those soldiers WAR: U.S. SUPERMAX or maintain organized thoughts, compul- who … permitted photographic evidence LOCKDOWNS sive and irrational searches for stimula- of the crimes at Abu Ghraib to become tion, gratifi cation and attention, etc. Many public knowledge.” As Horton concluded, By Avery F. Gordon decline to eating and smearing feces on “it wasn’t the abuse of prisoners that was bservers didn’t regard conditions themselves and their cells, mumbling to being punished, but the fact that the mili- and behaviors in Abu Ghraib pris- themselves, screaming and ranting day and tary, and particularly [Secretary of Defense Oon in Iraq as abnormally brutal. night, throwing feces on others (especially Donald] Rumsfeld, bas been embarrassed That’s because they so closely resembled on other prisoners under guard encourage- by these matters becoming public.” This conditions in ordinary supermax prisons in ments), etc. All are simply left untreated is the reality across the political spectrum, the U.S.. except for being prescribed antipsychotic and no less than in U.S. prisons. The expansion of the United States’ war drugs, which further damage the brain and There is need for us to move collectively on terror and its overseas military bases have dangerous side-effects, which many against this reality of routine torture spe- have given the army and marine corps cus- don’t take. All are treated by guards with cifi cally and the slave status of U.S. prison- todial responsibility for a large number of violence, abuse, and disciplinary measure, ers in general. The alternative is to sit in prisoners of war, enemy combatants and often being left property-less indefi nitely relative isolation, each of us, and permit the civilian security threats. The new demand inside empty cells—further sensory depri- outrages to continue and increase, which for military prison guards has mostly been vation. they will, until no one will be left unaffect- fi lled by the Army Reserve. Since April Not only do I witness these methods and ed. Ninety-fi ve percent of those imprisoned 2003 over 5,000 civilian prison guards their sobering and heartrending effects on in Amerika will return to society at some have been called up for active military duty the human psyche, but I have been and am point, and most of them in a more damaged and the American Corrections Association 1 a victim of them. My only advantage, I be- state than when they came to prison. It’s estimates the fi gure could reach 9,000. lieve, is in knowing and understanding the likely that some of them will be living with There is no offi cial information on the methods, being conscious to counter their or near you. specifi c jobs to which these civilian guards effects, and having a strong constitution. There’s a movement underway to amend are assigned but, according to Mark S. Inch, Indeed, only a few weeks ago, in response the 13th Amendment to Abolish Slavery in who is corrections and internment branch to my work in exposing the brutalities at all its forms. The New Afrikan Black Pan- chief at the Offi ce of the Provost Marshal this prison and refusing to back down in ther Party, Prison Chapter, supports this General: “The military personnel who are other political work I’ve been involved in movement. We also promote transforming more likely to perform enemy prisoner of with outside people, I was twice electro- the iron houses of oppression into schools war and detention operations during war cuted with a 50,000-volt electric stun belt of liberation. We ask that you join us in reside almost exclusively in the Army Re- by guards. these efforts. A rally is being organized to serve and Army National Guard. Therefore, Decades ago, U.S. offi cials have learned take place along with a conference in Phila- the synergy between the reservist’s civilian that torture is best carried out in the dark delphia in 2007. The conference will focus employment in the corrections fi eld and his and in ways that avoid proof and attention. on: or her duty to confi ne enemy combatants in The norm is therefore to deny the practice 1. Reaching out broadly to prisoner rights Afghanistan, Cuba [Guantanamo] and Iraq publicly, to couch it in seemingly harmless groups and drawing them together into a ... could not be more evident and essential forms, but to continue to plumb it of all its national association with abolishing the to mission success.” benefi ts in hidden and veiled practice. Its status of slavery for prisoners as its cor- The synergy is extensive. The 300th Mili- victims are the poor and homeless. That’s nerstone. tary Police Brigade, and a number of Mich- me, and potentially you. 2. Reaching out broadly to the Black and igan prison guards, designed Camp Delta Torture is an offi cial part of U.S. foreign other oppressed people in the Philadel- at Guantanamo. The brigade’s senior non- and domestic policy under its federal and phia area and getting them to build for commissioned offi cer, John Vannatta, is the state executive powers. It’s simply politi- and attend this conference. The rally fol- superintendent of the Miami Correctional cally incorrect to allow this fact to be ex- lowing the conference in the streets of Facility in Indiana. Sixty other professional posed to the public. When abuses and tor- Philly will raise the demands of: correctional offi cers are in key administra- ture come out, damage control has blame a. Abolish Slavery—Amend the 13th tive and leadership positions in Cuba. The placed on low-level offi cials as “renegade” Amendment. 327th Military Police Battalion, including and “rogue” soldiers or police or prison b. Amnesty and Freedom for Political many Chicago prison guards and police- guards, whereas clearance for these prac- Prisoners/POWs. men, currently runs detention operations tices go up to the highest levels of com- c. End the Racist Death Penalty. in Afghanistan. The now notorious 800th mand. This has proven to be the case in d. Defend the Human Rights of all Pris- Military Police Brigade was put in charge the scandal surrounding tortures at Abu oners.  of re-establishing Iraq’s jail and prison sys- Ghraib, with those soldiers targeted for 1. Mark S Inch, “Twice the Citizens”, prosecution who were reckless enough to For information on this conference and Corrections Today, December 2003; Dave allow practices of torture to come out. As rally, or to reach the NABPP-PC, contact Moniz and Peter Eisler, “U.S. missed need Scott Horton of the N.Y. Bar Association Rising Sun Press, P.O. Box 4362, Allentown, for prison personnel in war plans”, U.S.A found after interviewing U.S. soldiers in- P A. 18105. Today, June 24, 2004. NUMBER 27 29 tem as well as staffi ng and managing army best site for the main prison and then over- 50 percent were convicted of merely non- prisons for enemy combatants and prison- saw its organizational transition. violent drug-related and petty economic ers of war. Captain Michael Mcintyre and Only a month before the Justice Depart- crimes, yet nearly 2 percent of the prison Master Sgt Don Bowen, two builders of the ment sent him to Iraq, it issued a report population is in “administrative segrega- Iraqi prison system, work at the U.S. Peni- criticizing the lack of medical and men- tion”; these supermax prisoners are housed tentiary at Terre Haute, Indiana.2 tal health care at one of Management and in fortifi ed security units, prisons within a Several reservists convicted of crimes at Training Corporation’s jails.5 The report prison, electronically monitored and locked- Abu Ghraib were civilian prison guards. followed the death of a prisoner. down 23-24 hours a day in small window- Ivan L. “Chip” Frederick II, identifi ed in The practices exposed in overseas mili- less cells, sealed with solid steel doors, the Taguba report as one of the ringlead- tary prisons are not unique. Despite a sanc- periodically allowed to leave for showers ers because of his expertise in corrections, tioned ignorance that pretends otherwise, and caged exercise only when shackled and was a guard in Virginia.3 Charles A. Graner violence in U.S. prisons is common. Tor- accompanied by armed guards. Jr, shown with Lynndie England smiling ture, humiliation, degradation, sexual as- U.S. prisons are highly militarized, with behind a pyramid of naked Iraqi prisoners, sault, assaults with weapons and dogs, ex- vertical command structures, obedience had been repeatedly implicated in violence tortion and blood sports always have been norms, and paranoid us/them cultures in- against prisoners at the Pennsylvania su- part of U.S. prison culture and behavior. distinguishable from soldiering. The mili- per-maximum security State Correctional This normalcy of brutality explains why taristic aspects of policing have intensifi ed Institute at Greene, where he was em- there was, as the Taguba report showed, with unfettered permission to use lethal ployed. Army reports indicate that Graner an easy collaboration between the reserv- force and the presence inside the prison of was called up in May 2003 and given su- ists and the professional military police, a sophisticated weaponry and surveillance pervisory positions at Abu Ghraib because collaboration that was approved and unre- equipment: the list runs “metal detectors, x- of his guard experience.4 markable until the photographs became a ray machines, leg irons, waist chains, black Graner was not the only one assigned public scandal. The normalcy of the behav- boxes, holding cages, restraint chairs, tas- command responsibilities despite a known ior also explains why no one who the FBI ers and stun guns, pepper sprays, tear gas history of abuse accusations. John J. Arm- interviewed had observed any misconduct canisters, gas grenades, mini-14 and 9 mil- strong, who in 2004 was the assistant direc- or mistreatment at Abu Ghraib. limeter rifl es and 12 gauge shotguns.”6 tor of operations of U.S. prisons in Iraq, had As documents obtained by the American In supermax units, excessive force is resigned as the Connecticut commissioner Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) demon- routine: forced cell extractions, tasers, of corrections after settling lawsuits brought strate, nothing that Abu Ghraib personnel chemical sprays, shotguns, pacifi cation by the families of two of 200 Connecticut saw—prisoners with nylon bags over their with drugs, sensory deprivation or over- prisoners who died after being transferred heads, handcuffed to the wall, naked pris- load are the normal detention regime. The to Wallens Ridge prison in Virginia. oners spread-eagled on wet fl oors in isola- convergence is striking: waging war looks Lane McCotter is an executive with tion, prisoners deprived of sleep, prisoners more and more like a high-security prison; Management and Training Corporation, a repeatedly kicked in the stomach by guards, prison looks more and more like waging a private prison company, which he joined prisoners shocked and stunned, burnt or security war. after being forced to resign as director of branded, and their family members threat- Over the past 10 years, prisoners’ po- the Utah Department of Corrections, fol- ened—rose to the level of mistreatment in litical and civil rights have been severely lowing the death of a prisoner who had been the minds of the observers. These were, to disabled. It is as easy to fi nd in the U.S. shackled naked to a chair for 16 hours. U.S. quote the respondents in the report, “no as outside it prisoners without access to Attorney General John Ashcroft chose Mc- different from ... procedures we observed independent legal counsel, who are being Cotter to direct the reopening of the Iraqi used by guards in U.S. jails.” held incommunicado in secretive locations prisons under U.S. rule and to train Iraqi The Abu Ghraib photographs did not inaccessible to the public, charged with guards; McCotter chose Abu Ghraib as the expose a few bad apples or an exceptional violating internal arbitrarily bureaucratic instance of brutality or perversity. They rules, and promised trials adjudicated by 2. Maj Gen Donald J Ryder, “Military exposed the modus operandi of the lawful, the authorities who hold them. Pre-emptive and Civilian Corrections: The Profession- modern, state-of-the-art prison. Nowhere is civil “death” has become an effective and al Bond,” Corrections Today, December this clearer than in the growth over the past intimidating means to prevent the exercise 2003. 25 years of what is called super-maximum of political and social will by destroying a 3. “Article 15-6 Investigation of the imprisonment, the cutting edge in technol- person, and replacing him or her with that 800th Military Police Brigade (the Taguba ogy and the prototype for re-tooling the wartime designation, “the enemy.” Report)” in Mark Danner, “Torture and military prison for the war on terror. The language of security has authorized Truth,” New York Review of Books, New In the U.S. today, 6.9 million people, dis- supermax imprisonment by treating it not York, 10 June 2004. proportionately black and Latino, are im- as punishment but as a set of administra- 4. See Paul Pierce, “Fayette reservist prisoned or on probation/parole. Well over tive procedures for managing high-security implicated in scandal,” Pittsburgh Tribune populations. The procedures used, now le- Review, 5 May 2004; Pennsylvania Aboli- 5. Fox Butterfi eld, “Mistreatment of gally sanctioned as ordinary and acceptable tionists, “Currently Employed SCI-Greene Prisoners is Called Routine in U.S.,” New norms of prison life, were once considered Prison Guard Supervised Torture of Prison- York Times, 8 May 2004; Fox Butterfi eld ers in Iraq”, 6 May 2004; Sasha Abramsky, and Eric Lichtblau, “Screening of Prison 6. Craig Haney, “Prison Overcrowding,” “Seeds of Abu Ghraib,” The Nation, 26 De- Offi cials Is Faulted by Lawmakers,” New testimony to Commission on Safety and cember 2005. York Times, 21 May 2004. Abuse in America’s prisons. 30 PRISON FOCUS violations of the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth have been homeless prior to incarceration, or trans-institutionalization, of people suf- Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual jail prisoners with a mental health problem fering from serious mental illness, then we punishment. The Supreme Court’s Eighth are three times as likely as others to have a arrive at the ugly reality that our society has Amendment cases are the legal and linguis- history of sexual and physical abuse, and been “disappearing” psychiatrically dis- tic basis for the “detainee interrogation” state prisoners with a mental health prob- abled individuals into correctional settings memos prepared for the war on terror.7 lem are twice as likely as those without to for decades. In other words our society has Memos from President George Bush’s have been injured in a fi ght since being in- reneged on the promises of the New Deal White House that decide what is “torture” carcerated. Our society has been systemati- and the War on Poverty. and what is only “abuse”, “prolonged cally transferring the population of people What the BJS does not mention is that harm” or “lasting” or “permanent damage” with serious and persistent mental illness our concept of mental illness has shifted, just echo a deadly social reality, as does the from state and federal hospitals to jails and and the stigma we attach to it has become insistence that Eighth Amendment viola- prisons, usually with an intervening period nasty. Not too long ago the standard teach- tion requires demonstration of “specifi c, of community residence, where many will ing in psychiatry was that individuals suf- deliberate intent [not outcome] to infl ict turn to illicit substances and become home- fering from SMI were no more violence- cruelty or excessive punishment.” This re- less prior to their arrest. Then, in jail and prone than the average citizen – unless ality has been already settled, in law and in prison, they are victimized and do not re- they were non-compliant with treatment practice, in the civilian prison, where the ceive the treatment their psychiatric condi- and partook of illicit substances, in which sovereign state’s power over life and death tion warrants. case their risk of violence would be ex- goes unchallenged; the state has impunity The question is: Why does our society pected to rise. But today, with an unwritten and immunity. rely on prisons to deal with mental illness? policy of many parole boards to count SMI The war on terror is a perpetual and gen- But before we can get to that question, we as a risk factor in determining whether it is eral war without end, waged against shift- have to consider the destructive effects of safe to parole prisoners, and with recently ing spectral enemies. In this security war, what social psychologists would call an legislated post-release civil commitment the foreign enemy captured, tortured, hu- “attribution error.” Will we focus on the procedures for felons with SMI, there is a miliated and detained indefi nitely, often narrow question whether one or another in- tendency to stigmatize those with SMI as secretly, fi nds his complement in the in- dividual with mental illness broke the law representing a relatively high violence risk. ternal enemy: both are subject to crushing and was arrested – i.e. attribute the problem And, in all too many cases, the individuals punishment described as “administration,” to the bad behaviors on the part of a whole being considered for parole or post-release a necessary price for “our” safety and se- lot of individuals? Or will we ask why, at civil commitment are more disturbed and curity.  this point in history, so many people with unpredictable than they would have been Le Monde Diplomatique, Nov. 2006 mental illness wind up behind bars - i.e. had they not spent years being victimized attribute the problem to a tragic situation? on a prison yard or enduring forced idle- The former approach leads to arguments ness and isolation in some form of isolated THE BJS SPECIAL over diagnosis. Is it really Schizophrenia, confi nement. On average, they have not or is a particular individual acting out his received adequate mental health treatment REPORT AND SOCIAL psychopathy, or worse, is he merely malin- during their incarceration and they have REALITY gering? almost certainly been traumatized – two On the other hand, could it actually be eventualities that are known to make men- By Terry A. Kupers, M.D., M.S.P.* the situation rather than the individuals tal illness more severe and less remitting. he Special Report from the Bu- that cries out for our attention? As a soci- Then we punish them with an even longer reau of Prison Statistics, “Mental ety, we have opted to deinstitutionalize, we period of lock-up. Health Problems of Prison and Jail T have opted to make successive cuts in pub- Another implication of the BJS Report is Inmates” confi rms what we knew and did lic mental health and other social welfare that it is unfair to blame the staff who work not want to mention: There are a huge and programs, we have decimated the “safety in jails and prisons for the shortcomings of unprecedented number of individuals suf- net” that once provided housing and sup- treatment programs that are extremely un- fering from serious mental illness (SMI) ported work opportunities for emotionally der-funded, relative to the immense need. behind bars today (56 percent of state pris- disabled people, we have declared a “war Society disappears people with mental dis- oners, 45 percent of federal prisoners and on drugs” and prolonged prison sentences abilities into the jails and prisons, and then 64 percent of jail prisoners); the proportion for all manner of offenses. If we attribute fails to consign suffi cient funds to provide of prisoners suffering from serious mental the massive explosion of people with them adequate treatment there. I know illness has actually been rising even as the mental illness behind bars to individuals’ this statement will be thrown back at me incarcerated population multiplies; over 70 criminal inclinations, then the question we someday when I am on the witness stand, percent of prisoners have a substance abuse must address from a historical perspective but I would argue that the more inadequate problem; prisoners with mental health prob- is why we have so many disturbed crimi- the funding for correctional mental health lems are twice as likely as other prisoners to nals in our midst compared to the number programs within a correctional system, the in 1970, when the prison population was more common is the attribution by clini- 7. Joan Dayan, “Cruel and Unusual,” one tenth what it is today and the propor- cians of malingering. It really gets down to Boston Review, Oct./Nov. 2004; Working tion with mental illness was smaller? But a matter of not diagnosing what you know Group Report on Detainee Interrogations if we look at the successive social policy you do not have the wherewithal to treat. in the Global War on Terrorism: 6 March decisions that led to the mass incarceration, So the short supply of mental health ser- 2003. NUMBER 27 31 vices are reserved for those prisoners who Party organizers were arrested, Richard their heads and wet wool blankets wrapped are provably worthy of services, and the Brown, Richard O’Neal, Francisco Torres, tightly around their bodies. greater the budget shortfall the higher the Ray Boudreaux, Hank Jones, and Harold The government failed in the early sev- bar for proving worthiness. Taylor. Two well-known political prisoners, enties to bring any of these men to trial Who is to blame? The overburdened cli- Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqin (aka An- for the killing of San Francisco police- nician who erroneously diagnoses “merely thony Bottom) part of the New York Three, man John Young. In fact, all of the coerced malingering” in a prisoner who had three who were falsely accused and convicted of false confessions from New Orleans were state psychiatric hospital admissions and killing two New York City policemen, have deemed inadmissible by California courts was taking anti-psychotic medications and also been pulled into this ancient and unjust due to the physical abuse and torture suf- receiving Social Security total disability case. John Bowman, one of the targets of fered by the men. (SSI) prior to his arrest? Or a society that the two-year long grand jury witch hunt, Brown, who has spent the last 30 years disappears people suffering from serious died in December. working with young people in this city’s Af- mental illness into jails and prisons? It is Why did the government indict this rican American community, in an interview time to change our social priorities.  group of Black freedom fi ghters now? Why in the San Francisco Bay View newspa- *Institute professor at The Wright Insti- has the government relentlessly pursued per, denounced the government’s violence tute, Berkeley, California, and contributing these activists more than 35 years after the against the Black Liberation Movement. “I editor of Correctional Mental Health Re- alleged “crime” was committed? Today, a was named as a participant in 1971 in the port. This article was originally published local activist media collective, Freedom murder case. All Panthers were targeted. in Correctional Mental Health Report, Vol. Archives, premiered their latest exposé If we were doing something constructive, 8 No. 5, January 2007, P. 71. (http://www. of racism and injustice in this country, we were singled out. They killed Bunchy ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/mhppji.pdf) “Legacy of Torture: The War against the Carter, arrested and imprisoned Geronimo. Black Liberation Movement.” The new It was just our turn. We were next on the DVD documented the torture of several of list,” Brown stated. SUPPORTERS RALLY TO the arrested activists, Bowman. Jones, and Soffi yah Elijah, a New York-based attor- Taylor at the hands of the New Orleans po- ney who has defended many Black freedom DEMAND FREEDOM FOR lice department in 1973. Several of the men fi ghters, spoke briefl y at today’s program ACTIVISTS VICTIMS OF were incarcerated for refusing to testify be- which drew so many people to the Roxie fore the grand jury. The video also captured Theater, the movie had to be shown twice. TORTURE the level of police brutality, assassinations “In the wake of 9/11 and the Patriot Act, the By Judy Greenspan and abuse suffered by the Black commu- government is now resurrecting its COIN- n the same day that U.S. Attorney nity during the 1960s and 1970s. TELPRO actions. Homeland Security is General Alberto Gonzales an- According to the Committee for the De- merely an extension of that effort,” Elijah Onounced that people do not have fense of Human Rights (CDHR), a group said. COINTELPRO was the domestic a constitutional right to challenge their devoted to exposing human rights abuses government program used to undermine, imprisonment, nine former Black Panther against progressive organizations and in- disrupt and assassinate the leadership of Party leaders and community activists were dividuals, thirteen Black activists, were ar- domestic liberation movements, revolution- indicted for something that happened over rested in New Orleans in 1973 and tortured ary organizations and progressive groups 35 years ago, the killing of a San Francisco for several days in a similar manner to to- in this country protesting U.S. government policeman. And if today’s support rally is day’s torture at Guantanamo Bay and Abu policies in the 1960s and 1970s. any indication, the Bay Area progressive Gharaib prisoners. In “Legacy of Torture,” John Bowman, had this to say in “Legacy community will not tolerate this outrageous Bowman, Jones and Taylor graphically de- of Torture,” now dedicated to his memory, attack on the Black Liberation Movement. scribed being stripped naked and beaten by “I am sick of these people trying to destroy On Tuesday, January 23, after a two-year slapjacks and blunt objects; probed by cattle our community,” he said. The support at witch hunt by local, state and federal po- prods in their genital areas; and nearly suf- today’s program echoed this sentiment as lice, seven former Bay area Black Panther focated by plastic bags being placed over hundreds of people signed-up to become

Left: Cover of new DVD, Legacy of Torture: The War Against the Black Liberation Movement. From left, Hank Jones, John Bowman (deceased), Ray Boudreaux, Harold Taylor and Richard Brown. Right: Members of local former prisoners activists, All of Us or None, and strong supporters of the imprisoned Black activists at a memorial for John Bowman. Photo credits: Scott Braley 2006 32 PRISON FOCUS involved in the defense effort. A large The Five are Cuban, and three were born Wilhelm, former chief of the Southern crowd attended John Bowman’s memorial outside the United States. They were ac- Command, to stop him from testifying for at the African American Art and Culture cused of conspiracy to commit espionage the defense. Complex following the fi lm showing. For and endangering U.S. national security and, The defendants and their lawyers were more information about how you can sup- incredibly, conspiracy to commit murder. prohibited from viewing evidence against port these activists or purchase a copy of What they were actually doing was moni- them for “reasons of national security.” the new video, go to http://www.cdhrsup- toring powerful anti-Cuban groups based in The government used a highly controver- port.org or http://www.freedomarchives. Florida with an admitted and long history of sial process called CIPA (Classifi ed Infor- org.  murders, bombings, and other terrorist acts mation Procedure Act) to protect classifi ed against Cubans in Cuba, in foreign coun- “sources and methods” from public disclo- tries, and on U. S. soil. They did not spy on sure. Another process, the Foreign Intel- THE CUBAN FIVE: the U. S., possess weapons, or in any way ligence Surveillance Act (FISA), was also threaten U.S. citizens. The murder charge used. The code defi nes “foreign intelligence POLITICAL PRISONERS stemmed from the unproven allegation that information” to mean information neces- IN THE U.S. Gerardo Hernandez “could have” supplied sary to protect the United States against information to the Cuban government that actual or potential grave attack, sabotage, By Carolina Cositore Brothers to the Rescue planes intended to or international terrorism. None of this was itizens are unfortunately famil- again fl y over Havana in 1996. (The Cuban relevant against the Five, although it could iar with the recent extrajudicial government shot down the planes in ques- have been used in their favor. practice of “rendition,” by which C tion, thus preventing a 9/11 in Havana, for Ninety percent of the validation of the the United States, acting through the CIA which the Brothers had practiced.) Five’s reasons for infi ltrating the Miami and third countries, has, since 9/11, ille- The trial was held in Miami where it was groups—the more than 40 years of count- gally detained and most probably tortured impossible to get a fair one. Repeated re- less terrorist activities against Cuba, and “suspects” around the world. Likewise, we quests for a change of venue were denied. against anyone who advocates a normal- have become aware of the unlawful deten- Appellate Court Judge Birch later described ization of relations between the U.S. and tions and inhumane treatment of hundreds this case as a “perfect storm” of prejudice. Cuba, by these very anti—Cuba terrorist of “enemy combatants” at the U.S. Naval Not relying only on the power of propa- organizations based in Miami-were not al- Base illegally situated on Cuban territory ganda to infl uence the jury, photos of jurors’ lowed. More than 3,000 Cubans have died in Guantanamo Bay, despite international license plates were displayed in the news, as a result of these terrorists’ attacks. protests and the U.S. Supreme Court fi nd- should someone take exception to their The prosecution based its propaganda ing that this is contrary to the Geneva Con- decision and want to fi nd them later. After show on the charge of conspiring to shoot vention. six months of a complex trial, with dozens down the planes. The court did not allow But these atrocities must not let us forget of testimonies and extensive evidence, the proof that Cuba and the U. S. knew about the political prisoners at home. Amnesty jury needed only a few hours, without ask- these fl ights in advance or that the U. S. had International defi nes a political prisoner as ing a single question or voicing a doubt, to warned Brothers to the Rescue not to make one whose incarceration is politically mo- reach a unanimous verdict. The press state- them. After two years of close surveillance tivated. A survey of the internet provides ment by the jury foreperson reveals they and tapes of most of their conversations, the names, addresses, charges, stories, and were more infl uenced by prejudice and the as well as the confi scation of a large quan- even birthdays of some 1,501 political pris- deceptive words in the prosecution’s clos- tity of materials, the prosecutors could not oners currently being held in the United ing argument than the arguments they heard present a single piece of evidence to dem- States. Of the people imprisoned here for over the course of half a year. onstrate that Hernandez had conspired to political, not criminal reasons (despite the Pressure was brought to bear on the de- shoot down the planes or contributed in any charges), the case of the Cuban Five serves tainees and their families to plead guilty way to that act. There was no evidence that as a paradigm of the U.S. government’s and testify as told. The prosecutors resorted the Five attempted to obtain military se- machinations to put away political liabili- to blackmailing witnesses under the threat crets, infi ltrate government organizations, ties. What makes it a paradigm? of legally incriminating them if they did or in any way endanger national security, The Five had infi ltrated Miami anti- not plead the Fifth Amendment. They even though the Five did admit to being “unreg- Cuban terrorist groups with strong ties to tried to blackmail four-star Gen. Charles istered agents of a foreign government.” high U.S. government offi cials. Discov- ering plans that could endanger the U.S., as well as Cuban lives, their information was passed to the FBI, which initially be- gan an investigation of the groups. This investigation was halted in Miami, allow- ing Commandos F4, CANF, and Brothers to the Rescue to continue to operate with complete impunity inside the United States in order to plan terrorist attacks on Cuba with the knowledge and support of the FBI and CIA. Left to right: Ramon Labañino, Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernández, and Rene González. http://www.freethefi ve.com

NUMBER 27 33 When discovered in the U. S., unregis- Padilla was held on the sensational alle- later termed “light on facts” by U.S. District tered agents of a foreign government are gation that he was an “Al Qaeda agent” who Court Judge Marcia Cooke, was an obvious routinely deported. Yet, Gerardo Hernandez had planned to detonate a “dirty bomb” on effort to thwart possible action by the U.S. received two consecutive life sentences; U.S. territory. As an “enemy combatant,” Supreme Court, which was to consider the Antonio Guerrero received a life sentence; Padillla was denied legal counsel and vir- issue of his detention a week later. Ramon Labafi ino received a life sentence; tually all contact with the outside world. The details of the U.S. government’s Fernando Gonzalez was sentenced to 19 The Bush administration maintained that vendetta against Padilla, a 36-year-old years; Rene Gonzalez was sentenced to 15 he could be held indefi nitely without any ex-convict, are quite horrifying. He was years. charges ever being lodged against him and continuously and “viciously deprived of On August 9, 2005, after seven years of without any recourse to the courts. Several sleep,” according to the brief submitted on unjust imprisonment, the Cuban Five won federal courts rejected in whole or part this his behalf. For a substantial portion of his an unprecedented victory on appeal. A assertion of police state powers by the Bush captivity, he was deprived of a mattress and three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court White House. forced to sleep on a cold, steel bunk. His of Appeals overturned the convictions of In late 2006 Padilla obtained lawyers captors created loud noises throughout the the Cuban Five and ordered a new trial who fi led a motion asking a U.S. district night to deprive him of regular sleep. outside of Miami. However, in an unusual court judge in Miami to throw out charges Various efforts were made to manipulate judiciary move, the 11th Circuit Court also against their client on the grounds of “out- Padilla and “break his will,” including de- agreed to hear the U. S. prosecutors’ ap- rageous government conduct.” The 20- priving him of reading material and provid- peal. A year later, the Court reversed the page brief spells out the various means by ing him with small comforts, like a pillow 2005 Appellate opinion and the Cuban Five which Padilla was mentally and physically or a sheet, and then arbitrarily removing remain imprisoned. tortured by American authorities. The law- them. His disorientation at not seeing sun- The Five were kept in solitary confi ne- yers quite rightly call the prospect of his light for months on end was made worse by ment for the fi rst 17 months after their ar- prosecution “an abomination,” describe his the practice of turning on very bright lights rest. Lawyer-client visits were severely treatment as “a blot on this nation’s char- in his cell or imposing utter darkness for curtailed and at times stopped altogether durations of 24 hours or more. preceding their appeal. Family visits have His lawyers’ brief stated, “Mr. Padilla’s been limited and, for two, prohibited. Rene dehumanization at the hands of his captors Gonzalez has not seen his youngest daugh- also took more sinister forms. Mr. Padilla ter since she was an infant, as the U.S. will was often put in stress positions for hours not give his wife, Olga Salanueva, a visa at a time. He would be shackled and man- to visit him. The child, Ivette, is a U.S. acled, with a belly chain, for hours in his citizen. Adriana Perez, wife of Gerardo cell. Noxious fumes would be introduced to Hernandez, has also been denied a visa to his room causing his eyes and nose to run. visit her husband during his eight years of The temperature of his cell would be ma- in carceration. nipulated, making his cell extremely cold In a reversal of media disinformation in for long stretches of time. Mr. Padilla was the cases of Mumia, MOVE, and Leonard denied even the smallest and most personal Peltier, the U. S. media has been silent in shreds of human dignity by being deprived a case that should have been sensational of showering for weeks at a time, yet hav- news from the initial charges and through- ing to endure forced grooming at the whim out one of the most prolonged legal pro- of his captors.” ceedings in history. In the words of U.S. His interrogators practiced mental torture, historian Howard Zinn: “The fi ve Cubans deceiving him about his location, threaten- that have been imprisoned in the United ing him with removal to Guantanamo Bay States is something that is secret from the where his treatment would be even worse, people of the United States.”  By Dominic Lucero with being cut with a knife and with immi- Source: Z Magazine, Nov. 06 acter, shameful in its disrespect for the rule nent execution. “He was forced to endure of law” and argue that it “should never be exceedingly long interrogation sessions, repeated.” without adequate sleep, wherein he would PLEADING CLAIMS Padilla remained in the brig until January be confronted with false information, sce- 2006. He was then fl own to Miami to face narios, and documents to further disorient PADILLA TORTURED vague charges connected to an existing case him. Often he had to endure multiple in- ose Padilla, is an American citizen who that was entirely unrelated to the supposed terrogators who would scream, shake, and was declared an “enemy combatant” “dirty bomb,” Padilla’s previously alleged otherwise assault Mr. Padilla. Additionally, Jby George W. Bush in June 2002, and Al Qaeda ties, or any activities in the U.S. Mr. Padilla was given drugs against his then held for three years and eight months of belonging to a “North American support will, believed to be some form of lysergic in military detention. Padilla was arrested cell” that “sent money, physical assets, and acid diethylamide (LSD) or phencyclidine at Chicago’s O’Hare airport on May 8, mujahideen recruits to overseas confl icts (PCP), to act as a sort of truth serum during 2002 as he stepped off a plane from Zurich, for the purpose of fi ghting violent jihad.” his interrogations.” Switzerland. Padilla’s indictment in November 2005, The lawyers, in their brief, sum up by

34 PRISON FOCUS writing, “For most of one thousand three in the streets, causing hundred and seven days, Mr. Padilla was them to kick a dozen tortured by the United States government of us out of a control without cause or justifi cation. Mr. Padilla’s unit in Pittsburgh. Fi- treatment at the hands of the United States nally, when thousands government is shocking to even the most of fellow prisoners hardened conscience, and such outrageous burnt down another conduct on the part of the government di- Pennsylvania prison Russell “Maroon” Shoats(z) by Rashid vests it of jurisdiction, under the due pro- in 1989, their actions cess clause of the Fifth Amendment, to caused our jailors to prosecute Mr. Padilla in the instant mat- exile 1200 of its pris- ter.” oners to other states, The U.S. government is accused (with and I was banished to convincing details) of the systematic tor- the federal system for ture of one of its own citizens. America, implication in that re- where is your outrage?  bellion (falsely). Yet, everywhere I Edited from web article: http://www.wsws. am sent, control units org/articles/2006/nov2006/nyt-n03.shtml are used and so I’ve from the World Socialist Web Site. spent over 25 years in them - and counting. our toughest job. Let’s face it: we lost the I was returned to Pennsylvania in 1991, ideological struggle and allowed this gen- ACTIVISM: MOVING where I’ve been held in its newer control eration to become captives to the glamor- units, since. ization of gangsterism, with limited excep- FORWARD Notwithstanding all of that, I’ve come tions. So, these gangstas are not conditioned to learn that there’s really only one sure- to do anything that requires them to work TO THE CONFERENCE fi re way to defeat the use of control units: or sacrifi ce for goals that don’t entail them ON CONTROL UNITS: sunlight! It’s simply because the clowns making money. that operate them are like vampires. They Therefore, we must require them to GET PRISONERS ON only respect and fear exposure to their help by fi rst bringing on board their loved BOARD dirty deeds. The more exposure, the more ones—before we’ll lend a hand. Otherwise, they run. Ain’t that what stopped them at they will pimp our efforts to death! (smile) y name is Russell “Maroon” Abu Ghraib? And it has them on the ropes How? Simple: Set up an Emergency Re- Shoats(z) and I’m a New Afrikan at Guantanamo. It’s not the courts, not a sponse Network (ERN), anchored by our Mpolitical prisoner of war. bunch of useless moral pleas, or periodic few outside activists, that requires any con- For over 34 years I’ve been locked up in demonstrations. trol unit prisoner who needs to activate it so many different prisons and jails it would to do it through a loved one on the streets. be too depressing to detail. Moreover, for ...there’s really only one And don’t let any prisoner tell you they over 25 years, the people who operate these surefi re way to defeat the cannot fi nd anyone in the streets who will places have done their best to destroy me use of control units: sun- help them, since they can always fi gure a through lockdowns in control units. To way to do that when they want to get their give you an idea of what that’s been like, light! It’s simply because the clowns that operate them hustle or jailhouse pimp games on. just keep up with the news surrounding Such an initiative will guarantee a huge this country’s treatment of its prisoners at are like vampires. They only response from inside; seeing as how a11 of Guantanamo Bay, or recall Abu Ghraib. respect and fear exposure the control units thrive on abusing and tor- Hard to believe, huh? Well, it’s true, and to their dirty deeds. turing their prisoners. that’s why we can defeat this practice. Therefore, by demanding that prison- With the exception of the forced closure We have to organize a protracted cam- ers activate our ERN through their outside of the former Women’s Control Unit at paign centered on exposing the torture loved ones such a mechanism will assure Lexington, Kentucky and the questionable that’s practiced in control units from coast us of eventually building up a mass-based changes made in the Ohio system, most to coast. We should use demonstrations, effort, one that will be able to fuel and sus- other efforts to close control units, have the courts, etc. – but only in support of our tain a protracted struggle. failed. main thrust. At all costs, we must guard against fall- In the last three decades, they were forced To be successful, however, we must en- ing victim to a bunch of prisoners’ pleas to let me out of control units for brief pe- list and depend on the control unit prisoners that will cause us to try to shoulder the ERN riods on three occasions: I faked being to bring their loved ones into the struggle. work without their loved ones. All prisoner crazy and was medicated and transferred to Otherwise, we will never muster enough letters must be sent back informing them a mental hospital, from which I escaped. I energy to turn up the heat and keep the pot how to activate the network. Anything organized a year-long rolling hunger strike boiling, like in the past. short of that will doom our efforts.  that was strongly supported by activists Getting most prisoners on board will be This piece was edited for space.

NUMBER 27 35 TO ACTIVISTS: A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE community’s involvement. So I ask, are you serious about achieving white liberals and leftists attempting to be By Abdul Olugbala Shakur the above objectives? If so, you must be a voice for the New Afrikan community. If y colonial name is James Harvey, able to comprehend that the present strat- I were a government offi cial, I would pay but I am known as Abdul Olug- egy used in the prisoner rights movement, this movement no mind. The fact that ac- bala Shakur. I am a New Afrikan for the most part, is incorrect because it M tivists in California lack such a signifi cant legal combatant, a revolutionary political lacks a specifi c method designed to get the representation of New Afrikan people is prisoner of war in the service of the New New Afrikan community involved. a clear sign to any politician or lawmaker Afrikan Independence Movement. I came How to get the New Afrikan community that this movement is clearly disconnected to prison at the age of 18 for participating involved? I recently explained this to Kate from the New Afrikan communities. in an armed ambush of a group of white Berrigan of (California) Critical Resis- The movement can/will not achieve its male sailors in retaliation for the rape of tance. I explained that you can’t speak to major objectives without the New Afrikan a young Sista from our community. I am the New Afrikan people the same way you community support and participation. My now 43 years old and have been in isolation would speak to white activists and volun- issue is the movement’s failure to develop a (solitary confi nement) since 1983, and the teers. I told her gang violence and murders specifi c plan designed to recruit more New last 17 of those years in Pelican Bay State are on a pace to shatter last year’s gang vio- Afrikan people, and this critical observa- Prison. lence and murders in the city of Oakland. tion is not only applicable to the California I was asked to write a statement for this You can’t go to these communities speak- movement. conference concerning the control unit pris- ing about prison abolition or shutting down ons and the security housing units (SHU). control unit prisons. This language is not From a revolutionary perspective, I have compatible to the social realities they have seriously contemplated my contribution to confront on a daily basis. to this most important conference. I asked Many of our people live in gang-infested myself, what can I possibly say about the communities and many of them have been control unit prison/SHU that has not been affected by gang violence—directly or in- already said or written? Instead, I would directly. The last thing they want to hear like to take this opportunity to address an about is the abolition of prisons. Another issue equally important and key to our suc- relevant fact, 95 percent of New Afrikans cess as a movement. in prison for violent crimes were perpetrat- Activists (collectively, a movement) have ed on fellow New Afrikans. yet to reach a level of political, psychologi- The point I am making is that when ac- cal, and emotional maturity that would ac- tivists come together to develop strategies cept criticism from politically conscious and tactics, you must keep in mind, strate- prisoners. Instead of engaging in construc- gy and tactics, and must be fl exible enough tive dialogue, activists become emotional, to address the unique distinctions of each subjective and reactionary and then we are target audience or community. ostracized for being professional revolu- A Few years back, a New Afrikan com- tionaries, but our criticisms are rooted in munity activist asked me: “Why should the a concrete analysis of the concrete condi- community support the Brothas in prison, tions. By Dominic Lucero especially when most of them will return People, there are a number of critical, back to the community and engage in gang The government understands that the strategic and tactical errors being made by and criminal activities?” Unfortunately, the vast majority of those activists and vol- the prisoner rights movement and I would Sista was on point. Again, this is a signifi - unteers who make up the prisoner rights like to use this opportunity to expand upon cant observation. What she expressed to me movement, don’t live in the gang, crime a few of them. My criticism in these specif- was not an aberrant feeling. Her thoughts and violence-infested communities and ic areas has fallen on deaf ears, but they are were a refl ection of the community. their voices don’t represent those who do too important for me to just drop. My fi rst You can’t transform or rehabilitate a live in these communities. This takes away issue of critical analysis is the lack of New gangster mentality with a GED or some from the movement’s credibility. Unfor- Afrikan involvement within the movement. college program, or even a vocational tunately, many within the prisoner rights This absence is evident in every state. In skill. All you have is a gang member with movement are not capable of grasping the California where the largest prison popu- a GED, college degree or vocational skill. signifi cance of this observation. But most lation in the country resides, New Afrikan Ninety-fi ve percent of all gang members’ important, the primary objectives of the activists make up only about 2 percent of mental transformation has come as a re- movement such as: 1) Shutting down all the movement. I have been critical of this sult of politically conscious prisoners or control unit prisons; 2) The abolition of the absence since 1994, but to no avail. The ac- community activists. I am not dismissing Prison Industrial Complex; 3) Challenging tivists don’t have a clue to the signifi cance the signifi cance of a formal education or the California Corrections Peace Offi cers of this issue, and their half-hearted attempts a job skill. What I am saying is that these Association (CCPOA) and; 4) Establishing at reaching out to the New Afrikan Com- things alone will not eradicate the gang or social and alternative programs, can/will munity are indicative of their cluelessness. criminal mentality. It is up to us as politi- not be achieved without the New Afrikan Here you have a movement 98 percent cally conscious prisoners to transform the

36 PRISON FOCUS gangster/criminal mentality. Even Com- supposed to be in retaliation for the shoot- ing of the opinion, that the court will adopt rade George Jackson, W. L. Nolen, William ing death of two alleged Crip members by the commissioner’s recommendation as it Christmas, Tony Gibson, Howard Tole, alleged Mexican gang members. is written. James McClain, Jeffrey Khatari Gaulden We need your support to end this war. If the court does overturn the conviction, (just to name a few) understood this in their The CDCR has only interfered with this it is likely that the Baton Rouge district time. Well, things haven’t changed. process.  attorney’s offi ce will appeal that decision People, I try to avoid engaging in regurgi- This piece was edited for space. to the Louisiana Court of Appeal and Su- tated rhetoric or beating folks over the head preme Court, a process that could take as with the same story told. I am a realist and long as two years. It is also possible that that to me means being true to oneself as a STILL STRUGGLES the state could seek to retry Herman, but revolutionary. I don’t often say what people we would vigorously challenge a retrial at want to hear, but what I have to say is based AHEAD - VINDICATION this late stage as a violation of Herman’s on a concrete analysis of the conditions. I FOR THE ANGOLA 3 constitutional rights. Moreover, consider- claim no perfection, but I am committed to By Nick Trenicosta and Scott Fleming ing the weakness of the state’s evidence, it the revolution and I will never place myself ith great joy, we can announce is diffi cult to envision a retrial resulting in before or above the oppressed, and I knew that we have just received an any verdict other than acquittal. when I joined the revolution it would be a opinion from Commissioner We spoke at length with Herman and total sacrifi ce. I have no illusion about my W his codefendant Albert Woodfox today. Rachel Morgan of the 19th Judicial District situation. I understand that I will never step Court in Baton Rouge recommending that They are both overjoyed. Herman was able outside of these gates again. I understood Herman Wallace’s 1974 murder conviction to personally notify several of his family this when I pulled the trigger in the service be reversed. The opinion is the result of an members and friends, and he asked us to of our righteous cause and a violent death evidentiary hearing held inside the Loui- thank all of the dozens, if not hundreds, of is only inevitable. But, as a realist, I am at siana State Penitentiary on Sept. 19, 2006 people who have contributed to this cause peace with this reality. and gives us new hope that Herman, who over the years. Albert is hopeful that suc- People, the theme of my statement is is 65 years old and has now been in solitary cess in Herman’s case will help him, as he four-fold: confi nement for 34 years, may soon win his is just beginning the process of litigating a 1. The prisoner rights movement needs to freedom. There are, however, still struggles federal habeas corpus petition. develop a specifi c plan designed to get ahead. We still have a long way to go before more New Afrikan people and commu- Herman and Albert are freed. We will nities involved. Herman, who is 65 years keep everyone informed of developments 2. Identify your weaknesses and strengths old and has now been in in the case. In the meantime, check out and act accordingly. solitary confi nement for this new music video dedicated to the An- 3. Help us to develop a working relation- gola 3 case, produced by Dave Stewart ship with the New Afrikan community 34 years, may soon win of Eurythmics (http://www.youtube.com/ which would allow us the opportunity his freedom. watch?v=YByERaSXiGA), and the AP ar- to assist our communities in order to re- The commissioner found that the pros- ticle on the new decision (http://seattlepi. solve the gang problem. ecution violated Herman’s due process nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Black_ 4. Help us in our endeavors to transform the rights by hiding from the jury and defense Panther_Case.html).  New Afrikan criminal and gang mental- lawyers the fact that it had provided prison Nick Trenticosta and Scott Fleming were ity. informant Hezekiah Brown, their key wit- attorneys for Herman Wallace and Albert Comrade Anthony [Rayson] is also in ness, with the promise of a pardon from a Woodfox. They can be reached at: scott@ possession of a Peace Talk Mission State- life sentence as well as a carton of ciga- prisonactivist.org ment and Petition that I would also like to rettes per week and a private room with By Miles Santiago-Serrano share with you. This is a very important a television on prison grounds. Under the issue. At present, the California prison law, this constitutional violation requires system is engulfed by a major race war be- that Herman’s conviction for the 1972 mur- tween New Afrikan prisoners vs. Mexican der of a correctional offi cer be overturned. and white prisoners. New Afrikan prisoners This case, like so many others, involves have been the targets in over 300 race riots an incompetent and biased investigation last year (2005). In every one of these riots, focusing on innocent men and prosecutors New Afrikan prisoners were out-numbered who lied and cheated to win convictions. 3 to 1 and sometimes 5 to1. We are still several steps away from But my major concern is, since 2001, this decision resulting in Herman’s release. this war has spilled over into the streets. The commissioner’s recommended ruling In Southern California, just three days ago will now be presented to the district judge, (7/1/06), a young New Afrikan gang mem- who has the power to adopt it as is (which ber allegedly jumped out of a car and walked routinely happens), amend it, or order fur- up to three alleged Mexican gang members ther hearings. We are hopeful, given the and shot them all dead. One of these indi- strength of Herman’s case and the reason- viduals was only 14 years old. This was

NUMBER 27 37 APRIL 1ST – COMBAT SLAVERY! personally or as an organization, in what was said. Though we choose and edit the he plan for April 1st is to hold a TX), Dir. of Human Rights Daren White submissions we receive, we keep in mind march to and rally at the Liberty Eagle, (political prisoner), Steilacoom, our audience. We try to bring our readers TBell, in Pennsylvania, to call for WA. news, resources, and words that inspire, amending the 13th Amendment—specifi - The Black Brigade led by Commander inform and sometimes entertain. As edi- cally to strike the clause that continues the Nathaniel Lee (lumpen turned revolution- tors of California Prison Focus’s magazine, status of “slave” for those convicted of a ary in prison), SCI Graterford, co-founder we are accountable to the organization as a crime. We feel that if this issue can be put Samuel “Angel” Coley, (former Black whole and do our best to highlight its work on the political agenda for the 2008 elec- Panther, political prisoner, died in prison as well as promote its mission. tions it has a chance to gain momentum. It 2005). We continue to do the best we can given would be very diffi cult for any politician to The New Afrikan Black Panther Par- our constraints. Please help us improve our openly make a stand for the continuation ty-Prison Chapter (NABPP-PC) led by work by sending your thoughts on content, of slavery should this become a watershed Chairman Shaka S. Zulu (lumpen turned structure and style to Leslie and Ed this issue. revolutionary in prison), Trenton State year. Thanks much!  We plan to use April 1st as the kickoff Prison, NJ, Minister of Defense Kevin —Leslie DiBenedetto for a protracted national campaign. We see “Rashid” Johnson, (lumpen turned revolu- this as the achilles heel of the system, and tionary in prison), Red Onion State Prison, we intend to hang on with pit bull tenacity. Pound VA, co-founder Minister of Human SUPREME COURT Basically, it exposes the true nature of the Rights Hasan Shakur, (lumpen turned rev- state as a dictatorship of the wealthy class olutionary in prison, executed by the state, STRUCK DOWN and not in any way a “government of the Polunsky Unit, TX, August, 2006). people, by the people and for the people.” The White Panther Organization OLD CA LAW ON We see that the so-called criminal justice (WPO) led by National Spokesman Billy ENHANCEMENTS system is a continuation of the slave plan- “Spider” Johnson (lumpen turned revo- tation system and the Indian reservation lutionary in prison), Corrections Corp. of n January 22 the highest court in system. Of all the ethnic groups, Indians America, Whiteville, TN. the land ruled in Cunningham v. are most disproportionately represented in We need help on the ground in Philadel- OCalifornia, (Docket # 05-6551), the system followed by the Blacks. People phia, to obtain necessary permits, a hall that California’s thirty-year-old sentencing of color make up the vast majority of pris- near the Liberty Bell to meet before and law is unconstitutional. A prisoner argued oners. after at, and to get the word out to those the law violated his Sixth Amendment right It goes beyond racism, and the exploita- who might want to take part. We also need to trial by jury, and his 14th Amendment tion of prisoners for cheap labor, it is fun- outside organizations to take up this cam- right to due process of law. The United damentally a genocidal strategy to destroy paign in an ongoing way.  States Supreme Court agreed in a 6-3 rul- the families of our people and keep them Tom Big Warrior (610) 437-2971 ing that if a California judge enhanced a from procreating. This strategy has reached [email protected] sentence without a fi nding by a jury, the en- epic proportions in the past few decades hancement is illegal and unconstitutional. and needs to be challenged and exposed. In fact, California courts have routinely The civil rights movement fell short, and LESLIE’S added enhancements to defendants’ sen- no where is this more exposed than by the tences subsequent to plea agreements and enslavement of more than two million peo- EDITORIAL bench trials. In light of the new decisions, ple and the denial of the right to vote for the door is potentially open (for prisoners millions more. We believe it is time to re- COMMENTS who fi t the criteria) to have their case re- awaken the movement for civil rights, but just realized that Prison Focus is in its viewed. The California Attorney General’s this time with more teeth. We are targeting 10th year of publication. Time fl ies. So offi ce stated that “potentially thousands of the main pillar of the state, the so-called I many words, much passion, some con- California inmates could go home early.” criminal justice system and exposing it for fl ict and a couple of errors, and here we are. If a judge enhanced your sentence, and what it is slavery and genocide! I have not had the opportunity to look back the jury did not fi nd that there should be Let those who wish to defend the status on the 27 magazines we put out as Prison one, or you entered a guilty plea with an quo defend what it really is! Focus, but I hope to do that before we get enhancement, you may be eligible to have Who we are is an alliance of prison- going on the next one. In marking this ten- the enhancement stricken. If you are one of based organizations: year anniversary, I thought it would be ap- these prisoners and feel that you have been The Red Heart Warrior Society propriate to ask our readers to send in their unconstitutionally sentenced to an aggra- (RHWS) led by Chief Tom “Big War- comments on how to improve this product. vated term you should contact an attorney rior” Watts, (former White Panther, retired I’d also like to ask you to send in any Pris- immediately. You still do have constitu- Exec. Director Children’s Rights of PA), on Focus stories or a memory of a favorite tional rights.  Sub-Chief Dale “White Panther,” (retired piece you read. The Law Offi ce of Buddy Clark steelworker, Grand Master Martial Artist), Over these years, we’ve endeavored to 14252 Beach Boulevard Medicine Chief Iron Thunderhorse, (po- represent prisoners’ voices, what’s been Westminster, California 92683 litical prisoner, Polunsky Unit, Livingston, on peoples’ minds – whether we agreed (714) 901-7535 - (800) 808-3215

38 PRISON FOCUS Letters ...... Continued from page 2 working to replace their car, television, and WHEN WILL THINGS CHANGE? front doors. They are surrounded by bullet- Dear CPF, penological interests we are limited to two proof glass so they will not get killed over a One more year has come to its end. Not a hours per week. This block of time is inad- few dollars. They are terrifi ed that another lot has changed for the better. I fi nd myself equate and restricts the prisoner’s ability to dealer will come around and expose their asking questions that can not be answered, fairly litigate his claims. kids to drugs. They are the mothers who due to the complex design of all that is in- In addition, there is the issue of correc- must visit their children at the grave site. volved. tional offi cers who continually act with They are the little boys and girls who cry I do what it takes to get by in a system deliberate indifference, or engage in cam- at night because their parents chose drugs bent on throwing away the key on thousands paigns of harassment and retaliation. Often over them. of humans in the name of “JU.S.T U.S..” I prisoners are denied showers because the I was justly convicted for the crimes I ask, how can this system justify their con- COs force them to choose between taking committed. I knew the difference between cept of protecting society by targeting mi- a shower or using the law library: taking right and wrong. I chose wrong and society norities with laws designed to lock people a shower or defending himself as a pro se is a much better place without me. up that were only hurting themselves in one litigant; taking a shower or attending reli- The word “penitentiary” comes from the way or another? gious services….all of these are our consti- word “penitent” which means feeling sor- I’m doing a mandatory 25 years to life tutional rights as prisoners, we should not row for sins or offenses. Therefore, a peni- for stealing less than a carton of cigarettes. have to choose. tentiary is a place to do this. We must real- I had prior convictions but, let me explain, Finally, the issues of overcrowding and ize that we have a wonderful opportunity to for those who can’t conceive just how com- double celling of prisoners serving lengthy internalize, to examine ourselves, to focus plex this design has become. sentences accentuate the problems of close on our spirituality, and to fi x what is wrong Three Strikes was devised as far back as confi nement and exceed contemporary inside of us. 1984 when laws started to be manipulated standards of human decency. According to We must embrace our hardships, pain and to allow California to build this depart- The National Council on Crime and Delin- sufferings because the sweetest drink that ment of human sacrifi ce. This may sound quency confi nement in close quarters for we will ever have will come from the most like something out of a story book, but this long periods of time leads to increased vio- bitter cup. We are awesome creatures who is real. Only now are some starting to ask lence, schizophrenia, and other mental dis- have the power of thought and creativity. questions, like, why has California become orders, creating a signifi cant unnecessary The dark energy that the system attempts a state that believes punishment never hardship for the prisoners incarcerated. to cloak us with is nothing compared to the ends? The “Model Act for Protection of Rights power we each have to overcome. We do This ideology is now the biggest market of Prisoners” recommends not less than 50 this by searching for the light that exists in without any competition. In the early 1990s square feet of fl oor space in any confi ned even the darkest prison cell. Not even the private prisons tried to make a stand in Cal- sleeping area, and even more for prisoners most twisted guard can take that away from ifornia and were run out by the infamous who must spend more than 10 hours a day us. Don’t let them rent space in your mind California guards union (CCOPA). in their cell. because some of them live in a greater pris- Now years later, we have a governor Overcrowding is so severe, that if left on than you and I will ever see. who works with special interest groups that unchecked, it will cause serious deteriora- Learn to be still. And always remember transports human inmate commodities out tion of the prisoner’s physical and mental this: “I cried because I had no shoes. Then of state to private prisons. This is the di- health. Prison authorities are aware of these I met a man who had no feet”. lemma California is faced with by not re- grievances, patterns of oppressive discrim- Richard Gatica, leasing rehabilitated prisoners, who have in inatory behavior, and acts of deliberate in- West Valley Detention Center truth completed their term. difference by correctional offi cers but still Now the infamous CCOPA is suing the continue to stay the course. It is obvious KUDOS TO PF governor to keep their human commodities to me that the CDCR is in need of some Dear CPF, in this state and in their prisons. independent oversight; an agency outside I wanted to send my respects to you and Socorro, Soledad of their system who can be more objective your staff of volunteers for an outstanding and fair. copy on the epidemic of prison slavery. Ben Your struggle to raise the political con- sciousness of prisoners through out the SEARCHING FOR THE LIGHT system is a shining light. Unfortunately, not Dear CPF: all prisoners reach toward that light educat- I am serving life and am now face the ing themselves to the U.S. colonial prison death penalty. I have spent more than 19 system; the political and economic reali- years in prison—sixteen of those years ties which are set up to keep us oppressed. have been in the hole. Some are just doing time. I want to thank I have love for my brothers and sisters in you for showing us that we, as prisoners are chains, but when I read PF I wonder if we not alone in our struggle and that our ide- have all gone mad. We are not the victims. als can co-exist with our fellow men and We created victims. They are now in cem- women on the other side of this wall. eteries, morgues, and hospitals. They are Dominic Lucero, Vacaville By James Sharp

NUMBER 27 39 ABOUT CPF CONTACT US California Prison Focus is a non-profi t community-based California Prison Focus human rights organization working with and for California 2940 16th Street, Suite B5 prisoners. Our two main issue areas are fi ghting against the San Francisco, CA 94103 long term isolation, torture and abuse of Security Housing Phone: (415) 252-9211 - Fax: (415) 252-9311 Units (SHU) and demanding an end to the medical neglect [email protected] - http://www.prisons.org and abuse of prisoners with HIV, hepatitis C and other life-threatening diseases. The focus of our work is our SOME GUIDELINES FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO investigative trips to women and men’s prisons with SHU PRISON FOCUS facilities and/or medical units. We make at least one visit per month. We work to build strong bridges between the SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR SUBMISSIONS: prisoners and the community, and to bring forth the voice • Artwork or graphics of the prisoners through our newsletter, Prison Focus, and • Letters (250 words) Let us know if you want us to use your our ongoing educational outreach and community forums. name or we will only publish your initials and city & state of Central to our work is training ourselves, prisoners and residence. You can also specify “anonymous.” their loved ones in self-advocacy through public protest, • Short Articles (250-500 words) The same identifi cation guide- networking, coalition building, letter writing and contacting lines apply. Topics can be issue specifi c, or current news or prison offi cials and policy makers. information. • Helpful resources with address and pertinent information. Founded in 1991 (as Pelican Bay Information Project) we have • Larger articles are accepted but be aware-our space is lim- made hundreds of prison visits and conducted thousands ited. of interviews with prisoners. Our membership is comprised of prisoners, activists, family members of prisoners, former Topics: PF topic of issue; current news; recent or pending prisoners, human rights advocates, attorneys, and prison legislation or policy; news from your institution; organizing visitors. efforts; books-basically anything related to the prison industrial complex as you see it. Individual legal cases are not usually printed. ATTEND MEETINGS Sorry, we cannot return your submissions unless a prior arrangement is made. Submissions are not guaranteed CPF’s general meeting is the second Tuesday of the to be published and we generally cannot respond to your month at our offi ce at 6:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome. submissions because of the volume. Please consider them a Please join us to discuss important topics affecting contribution to the work. PF welcomes all submissions! California prisoners and to familiarize yourself with our day-to-day work. PRISON FOCUS 2007 Prison Focus #28 will deal with various aspects of the issue BECOME A VOLUNTEER of prison labor. Send your articles and artwork please. Due CPF depends on volunteers to do our invaluable date for submissions for the next issue is May 1st. If you work. We need your help answering mail, working on have ideas for the Fall issue (#29) send them in to us as our newsletter, staffi ng our offi ce, fund raising, and well. outreach.