Number 37  Summer 2011

Serving The Interests Of And Their Loved Ones On The Outside For Over Twenty Years FORMAL COMPLAINT COMPLAINT ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND REQUEST FOR ACTION TO END OVER 20 YEARS OF STATE SANCTIONED TORTURE TO EXTRACT INFORMATION FROM OR CAUSE MENTAL ILLNESS TO ’S PELICAN BAY STATE SECURITY HOUSING UNIT (SHU PRISONERS).

By: SHU Short Corridor Inmates, Pelican Bay Prison are serving “term-to-life” sentences, and they have been eli- smaller—much of it inedible or bland diet every day for gible for parole for the last 5 to 25+ years, but they are told 20+ years). No exercise equipment is provided while I. INTRODUCTION: that if they want a chance to parole they have to debrief – most furnish at least a pull-up, dip-bar in SHU his is a formal complaint and request for action to end period! units; all property privileges are severely restricted/de- 20+ years of state sanctioned torture in order to extract The CDCR-PBSP-SHU policies and practices summa- nied (compared to most long-term isolation units across Tinformation from or cause mental illness to California rized violate both the U.S. Constitution and International the U.S. (including Federal Supermax in Florence, inmates incarcerated indefi nitely in punitive isolation at Peli- law banning the use of torture and other cruel, inhumane, or Colorado). Recently all college and education programs can Bay State Prison Security Housing Units (PBSP-SHU), degrading treatment or as a means of obtaining have been taken away from all PBSP-SHU inmates. based on arbitrary policies and practices re: the inmates sta- information via coercion, and/or to punish for acts or sus- Also, “group punishment” is a common response to any tus (i.e., a California Department of Corrections and Reha- pected acts of misconduct as exemplifi ed below: rule violation. bilitation (CDCR) gang label, without ever being charged, A. In December 1989, CDCR opened PBSP-SHU, brag- All of this rises to a level which constitutes illegal policies and found guilty of committing a gang related illegal act), ging that it was meant to contain and isolate the prison sys- that include psychological and physical torture for purpos- in violation of the 1st, 5th, 8th, and 14th Amendments of the tem’s “1 percent worst of the worst inmates”; and this would es of coercion and punishment—all based on the arbitrary U.S. Constitution and international law barring the use of make the system safer and easier to manage; this has proven status. Support for the severity of the combined conditions torture and other cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or to be false (see Note C). (exemplifi ed above) is the fact that many of these inmates punishment as a means of obtaining information, coercion B. There has been a lot of CDCR-PBSP (and guard union have died; many have developed serious medical and men- and/or punishment for acts or suspected acts committed (per CCPOA) propaganda generated about these “worst of the tal illness; and hundreds have elected to become “known in- U.N. Conventions Against Torture of 1984–1985). worst” ever since 1989 and it has been perpetrated by the formants” causing major problems for their families. When corporate media via television, dramas and movies. Yet a a person goes through the debriefi ng process, if they don’t II. PARTIES: review of these so–called demonized “worst of the worst” provide prison offi cials enough information on other prison- 1. Named Complainant(s), on behalf of themselves and PBSP-SHU inmates, who are party to this complaint, will re- ers and free citizens’ criminal activities they are told to come those similarly situated inmates, family members, friends, veal they are actually free of being guilty of serious rule vio- back when they do—forcing those debriefi ng to create and and concerned citizens, harmed by such policies and prac- lations for many years and zero il- legal gang-related acts in invent elaborate half-truth stories incriminating many. tices. prison. Many have paroled and discharged parole—staying 2. The State of California law makers, including, but not out of prison 5 to 10+ years, but as soon as they returned to IV. EXAMPLES OF LEGAL SUPPORT: limited to, Edmund Brown, Governor, and CDCR Secretary CDCR they were placed back into PBSP-SHU indefi nitely. Complainants present the following examples of legal Mathew Cate, et al. (Each and all of them being on notice C. Many of these inmates are those who utilize the legal precedent in support of this complaint, and call for action. of said violations and responsible for inmate care and treat- system to challenge illegal CDCR policies and practices, and It is notable that California lawmakers and courts have ment.) encourage others to do the same. been aware of these blatantly illegal policies and practices D. For the last 10 to 20 plus years these PBSP-SHU in- for 20+ years; however, for the most part they remain III. SUMMARY OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS: mates have been subject to the punitive conditions therein indifferent. Therefore, more direct action is necessary. The CDCR has been violating the human rights of certain for arbitrarily applied status reasons, in order to coerce them inmates for the last 10 to 35 years and counting via their into becoming notorious informants for the state, or die/suf- U.S.CONSTITUTION VIOLATIONS: policy and practice of arbitrary, indefi nite placement of said fer mental illness in SHU – examples being: a) 1st and 5th Amendments – Right to be free of pun- inmates into punitive SHU units alleging said inmates status 1. Subject to 10+20 years of sensory deprivation via ishment for association and/or choosing not to speak (see (i.e., a CDCR gang affi liation classifi cation, which, in turn, is isolation and intentional limitations of normal human NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., 485 U.S. 866, 925 based on allegations made by confi dential inmate informant contact and social interaction, as much as possible. (1982); U.S. v. Safi rstein, 827 F.2d 1380, 1388 (9th cir.1987), seeking and receiving special treatment, etc.) mandates this 2. Denied physical contact with family/friends; no American Arab Anti-discrimination v. Reno,70 F.3d 1045, SHU placement for safety and security reasons. However, the phone calls and not even able to have a photograph taken 1063 (9th cir.1995); Hydrick v. Hunter, 2006 D.J. D.A.R. true nature of such status based indefi nite SHU confi nement to send home. The isolated location of PBSP-SHU near 13181, 13186 (9th cir.2006); People v. Castaneda, 23 cal. is not clear. While the arbitrary nature of such policy/practice the Oregon border, and the fact that visits are restricted 4th 743, 749 (2000) (Re: Cal. Supreme Court’s interpretation is crystal clear, demonstrated by the fact that CDCR claims to 1 ½ hours on the weekends behind glass equates to no of Cal. Penal Code, Section 186.22, which is the Penal Code all validated prison gang affi liates automatically “pose an visits for most. relied upon for CDCR rules re: “gang activity.” See: Cal. immediate, severe threat to the safety and security of all gen- 3. If they want out of the SHU, prisoners have to Code of Regulations, Title 15, Section 3023 (e.g., only con- eral population prison, other inmates and staff” solely based provide staff with information and be willing to testify viction for felonious gang activity is sanctionable per. Cal. on this “status.” It is notable that most inmates who have against other prisoners, free citizens, including family Penal Code 186.22). been in the SHU for the last 10 to 35+ years have never been members. This is a Catch 22 situation—by either be- b) 8th Amendment – Right to be free from cruel and un- found guilty of committing a single gang-related illegal act. coming a notorious informant thereby placing yourself, usual punishment (e.g., not to be subject to serious threat or But the fact is that this status is actually only applied to a few possibly your family at serious risk of retaliation, die or physical or mental harm) see: Valandingham v. Bojorquez, hundred inmates, while tens of thousands of gang affi liates become mentally ill in the SHU. This is outrageous to 866 F.2d 1135, 1138 (9th cir.1989)(Re: “informant status” are in general population in prisons throughout the state. family, friends and concerned citizens; especially given issue); Benefi eld v. McDowell, 241F.3d 1267, 1271 (10th This arbitrary status based indefi nite SHU confi nement the fact that CDCR staff are indifferent to, and incapa- cir.2001); David v. Hill, 401F.Supp.2d. 749, at page 756- was imposed on a few hundred inmates beginning in 1985 ble of guaranteeing the safety of inmate informants and 57 [S.D.Tex.2005] and, U.S. v Basciano, 369 F. Supp. 2d –1986, without prior notice that a gang label was prohib- their families outside of the prison. This is applied to 344(E.D. N.Y.2005); and Madrid v. Gomez, 889 F.Supp. ited and sanctionable; related rules and regulations were not lifer parole eligibility too (i.e., become an informant, or 1146, 1229-30, 1260-67 (N.D. Cal.1955); regarding punitive included in CDCR Cal. Code of Regulations, Title 15 rules do life without parole). conditions in PBSP-SHU, and mental health issues; wherein book until 1999 (while prison gang culture goes back to the 4. Denied adequate medical care. This became more the court questions the legitimacy of SHU punitive measures 1950s). pronounced when Dr. Michael C. Sayre, became PBSP being used indefi nitely on the inmates at issue, and the court The CDCR began housing these inmates in Pelican Bay Chief Medical Offi cer in 2006, and who, with the com- states… “In sum, those incarcerated in SHU for any length State Prison—SHU (PBSP-SHU) upon its opening in De- plicity of several cronies e.g. M. McLean, Sue Risen- of time are severely deprived of normal human contact… cember 1989. These inmates have been housed in PBSP- hoover and James Flowers, et al, began to systemati- conditions in SHU amount to a virtual total deprivation, in- SHU, based on this status for the last 10-20 years now and cally discontinue and deny medication, specialist care, cluding, so far as possible, deprivation on human contact” their sole avenues for release from SHU are parole, death, assistive aids and telling SHU inmates, “if you want (Id.,at p.1230). mental illness, or “debriefi ng.” better care get out of the SHU.” Now SHU inmates are The court noted… “courts have recognized SHU condi- “Debriefi ng” requires a SHU inmate to provide CDCR chained down to the fl oor of the clinic like animals if tions, length of time and effects on mental health, are factors staff with “suffi cient verifi able information that will adverse- they need to see a doctor/nurse. The Psychiatric Staff are that must be considered” (Id. p. 1264-65) and then concludes ly impact the gang, other gang members and associates to the complicit too claiming that “there are no mental health that PBSP-SHU conditions were not a per se violation, extent that they will never accept them back.” This equates issues precluding continued SHU confi nement”, with- “based on the current record” (specifi cally stating: the court to a CDCR requirement that said inmates have the choice of out any personal interaction with those inmates. “cannot speculate on effect it may have on inmates confi ned remaining in SHU until death, mental illness, or becoming a 5. CDCR-PBSP staff constantly seek ways to make in SHU for 10, 20 years or more.” Noting “the inmates stud- known informant who has caused damage to other inmates. SHU more punitive for these inmates (e.g., most cells ied in connection with the case had generally been in SHU This makes the inmate (and possibly his family members) a are freezing in winter and adequate clothing and head target for reprisal, potentially for life. Many of these inmates coverings are restricted/denied; the food portions are Formal Complaint ...... Continued on page 8 LETTERS

That being said, let me fi rst dispel any propaganda CDCR First, I write this letter on behalf of all hunger LETTERS will again use when they tell the media that prisoners are eat- strike (H.S.) participants with serious concerns if ing canteen food items they stocked up on prior to the H.S. you’re attempting to tie our (all races) united H.S. Hunger Strike Clarifi cation That is incorrect. The truth is that PBSP has its own internal with any historical revolutionary fi gure. Dear CPF, regulations called “PBSP Operational Procedure (O.P.) no. Please understand that this must be viewed as Briefl y, I want to clarify some points relating to our July 1st 228 – Hunger Strike Policy”, which states, in pertinent part, a unique historical event in California prison his- protest: at section VI.B.4: “After the inmate has declared he is on tory. Thus, this H.S. cannot and should not be tied A. The peaceful Hunger Strike (H.S.) protest is not hunger strike and has missed three consecutive meals [one to, or dedicated to, any historical fi gure. This H.S. limited to Pelican Bay Short Corridor as indicated in our day], the cell is to be searched, and all canteen items are to involves all three races, and singling out just one 1 Notice of Protest with Five Core Demands. This protest be removed—and stored...” So, when July 01, 2011 comes or two of those races by tying this H.S. to any is a challenge to CDCR-SHU and Ad/Seg policies and around, do not believe CDCR’s propaganda in the face of persons—for example: to George Jackson, Cesar practices statewide! their own Pelican Bay policy. In addition, a day before our Chavez/Zapata, or to any white historical revo- This is an important point because, while other states H.S., we will submit a medical request form declaring our lutionary—will only succeed where CDCR has so far failed have closed down and have modifi ed their long term H.S., and we will request to be weighed on that day, and to accomplish, that is, it will destroy our three-race unity on SHU policies and practices during the past few years, every three (3) days after, until the conclusion of the H.S. this H.S. I cannot be any clearer than that. California has done the opposite—expanding upon and This is the proper standard (weight loss or gain) on which a And by now, I’m sure you have also received a ‘similar’ making them more punitive—all part of CDCR infor- judgment should be based on by your readers and not pro- note/concerns from the African hunger strikers here. Thus, mant procurement agenda (used as a means of control paganda. this must be guarded and kept a unique and separate histori- by having as many inmates as possible on rat status, be- Finally, we ask all California prisoners, who can easily end cal event. So please heed our warnings and wishes and do cause once on rat status they own your ass!). up here, or Corcoran or any SHU, on Indeterminate-SHU, to not tie it to anything or to anyone else. Thank you very much. B. This peaceful H.S. protest is not “led” by any in- ask family and friends to write, call, fax, or e-mail: Second, if you [CPF] really want to help us, what is greatly dividual or group; it was deemed necessary only after  the Prison Law Offi ce (www.prisonlaw.com) to do their vital and should have priority is that you put out a Special more than a year of discussion and thought amongst job and fi le a motion to Judge Henderson to make sure Edition just on the PBSP Hunger Strike by late May or early many PBSP-SHU prisoners, from all races. And it was the Inspector General and the prison medical overseer/ June (even if it’s just a short edition), so all here in both ‘C’ never taken lightly by anyone—actually the opposite is monitor is here at PBSP on July 01, 2011, until the and ‘D’ facility will be fully informed prior to the scheduled the case, because no one wants to put their health/life on conclusion of the H.S. to make sure there’s no abuse and July 1, 2011 H.S. the line, and all understand that there’s a good chance that no medical-records or weight-scale tampering is To be fully effective, we recommend that the short special some will die before this is over, due to the mindset conducted by medical or prison staff. And no retaliation edition should just contain: (1) copy of the formal complaint of the governor, legislators, CDCR administration and is conducted by the Administration on any of the H.S. and the fi ve (5) core demands, and (2) some letters from all many member of the CCPOA. However, many of us are participants. For example, moving them, removing all three races that you receive in support of the H.S. Including 2 also lifers with 20 to 45 year in, and we recognize the liquids and all other property from their cells; the one I sent with Mr. Ashker giving SHU prisoners instruc- tions and warnings. illegal policies and practices (summarized in the Formal  Judge Thelton Henderson (www.cand.uscourts.gov) to And, to help get the above Special Edition out, I and oth- Complaint) continue unabated in spite of thousands of do the same; grievances and hundreds of court challenges. ers have decided to donate some funds in early May and will Thus we are left with no other option than an indefi nite  State Senators (www.senate.gov) and Assem-blymen request family and friends to buy subscriptions to your peri- H.S.—the goal being to expose the illegal policies and Tom Ammiano and Jerry Hill, to exercise their right as odical and to go to your website to stay updated. practices at issue (and the related failure on the part of state legislators to oversee PBSP’s medical and prison Finally, you should not have any concerns about this place law makers and the courts) and to force positive chang- staff during the H.S.; banning the Special Edition when they arrive because (1) the information will be out on the street and (2) you can fi le es. We have nothing to lose.  the Offi ce of the Inspector General (www.oig.ca.gov), suit and win damages to use to further support CPF, just like C. We estimate there will be more than 50 prisoners to do his job; on H.S. beginning on July 1st (that’s 50 just in the short (PLN) did. corridor—we’ve heard other prisoners on other areas  to get Governor Brown involved (www.gov.ca.gov); On behalf of all the Hunger Strike participants, we thank you very much. here, and in SHU and Ad/Seg across the state may also  and to inform the media of the H.S. Arturo Castellanos C-17275 participate). Presently, approximately 25-30 men are On behalf of all H.S. participants, we thank you at Califor- committed to continuing the H.S. indefi nitely, until an nia Prison Focus and all of your readers very much. acceptable agreement is signed off on by the governor, [Ed. Note: This letter was not necessary. There is no way we would in any manner try to claim credit for your struggle, CDCR Secretary Cate, and Warden Lewis. Others will Mail Restriction go for as long as each individual can stand it, as a show or to attribute that struggle to some fi gure we might hold Adendum of support! dear, in order to further our own political agenda. Nor do Related to the H.S., I wish to inform all PBSP SHU pris- The above numbers are lowball estimates, as communi- we refuse to print stuff out of fear your captors might censor oners that recently the administration has actively been cation here is restricted. Many are supportive but unable us. However, it costs around $3,000 to print and mail out an attempting to restrict SHU prisoners’ personal correspon- to participate because of age or serious medical problems. editon of Prison Focus. We could not afford to print a spe- dence. I’m still restricted from writing or receiving personal Some will join the protest in the days following the July 1 cial edition, and I was already working on this one, which mail from those not on my approved list. Recently, the ad- start date. contains my usual rants. I trust our readers to seperate my ministration has begun giving other SHU prisoners a notice Support is greatly appreciated. opinions from the words written by PBSP-SHU convicts.] that they will be going to a Special Committee Hearing in Todd Ashker, order to restrict their personal correspondence. They are told Pelican Bay SHU to submit a list of persons they wish to write; which will be Corcoran: Little Change investigated and if they do not reside at that address, or if Dear CPF: HS Thoughts they also write another prisoner, they will be denied. The Since your visit little has changed here at Corcoran. Dear CPF, rest are your approved list, like visiting. They are not issued Speaking for myself and a few others, it seems to have got- I’m sure by now you have already received more elabo- rule violation reports and when questioned about this and ten worse. Talking/visiting with you was a “no-no” in many rately written and detailed letters concerning the planned them violating their due process, the Committee states that of the offi cers’ eyes, and their actions afterwards proved hunger-strike scheduled for July 1, 2011. Even so, I wish to they are under investigation and they can restrict them under so…from passing mail to other inmates during mail call; le- express myself on behalf of all my fellow H.S. participants safety and security, thus making it administrative—sound fa- gal mail has been opened before I receive it; food portions with these simple words in hopes that you publish it in or- miliar? It should, that’s how most Indeterminate SHU terms smaller and cold, bogus write ups; treats, etc.—it’s all going der to inform your readers of the H.S. that will include SHU are handed out, administratively with no rule violation re- on. prisoners from all racial groups standing together as one in port. So, in reality, like myself, they are literally being placed It’s cold and rainy as I write these words yet the air condi- this struggle. [Emphasis added. –Editor] on Indeterminate Personal Correspondence Restrictions. So, tioner is on and blowing. There is no hot water (it only works There are 500+ Indeterminate-SHU prisoners housed in do not be surprised if any of you receive a notice and the twice a day – early morning and around eight at night). Fur- D-facility (units D1 thru D10) and I am one of those who has Administration tells you you’re under investigation and also thermore, these cells are all cement so it’s COLD! decided to fully commit himself in this indefi nite H.S. that restricts your personal correspondence. That is their latest Nothing has changed except they have put in a new 602 has been planned since January 2011. We expect approxi- serious tactic and another reason why the H.S. has to succeed process. However, that is even laughable because you’re mately 30 prisoners from each unit to participate by July 20, because this Administration will not stop using safety and only allowed to write one 602 every two weeks! So it limits 2011. And we are not only doing this for ourselves, it is also security as an excuse to take everything else from us who your ability to resolve multiple issues at once. That’s two for all the youngsters just coming into the prison system who absolutely refuse to be their debriefi ng-snitches (see formal 602’s per month! “But what if I have three different issues I could easily end up in here. As well as for all other SHU complaint); and the courts will continue to take the Admin- want to address?” “Doesn’t matter!” is the response. prisoners, including all the women housed throughout Cali- istration’s side even though PBSP’s mail policy meets any I have been in jail since I was 15 years old. I’m now 28. fornia’s women prisons with Indeterminate-SHU terms, who security concerns; all the countless issued 128-B “stopped The psychological changes that I’ve been through, and seen, also presently suffer a similar fate as us. mail notifi cations” prove that point. have been dramatic but nothing like I’ve experienced here in To the H.S. participants themselves, we recommend: no Arturo Castellanos C-17275 the SHU at Corcoran. The isolation and lack of human con- one participate if they are too elderly, or have a serious Pelican Bay State Prison, tact puts the prisoners here through like anything I’ve ever chronic illness (e.g. diabetes; heart problems, cancer, ad- PO Box 7500, (SHU D1-121) heard or been through. vanced liver damage, or on interferon in July). And, if one Crescent City, CA 95532 cell-partner cannot join, then the other shouldn’t either. We The small challenges or lack of normal interaction starts to add up. If one chooses to occupy their time by reading feel obligated to give this warning because a lot of us are HS Letter to CPF already committed to remain on the H.S. until CDCR agrees one must be mindful of the material being read or you just Dear CPF, and signs a settlement agreement we all agree upon, even if might be validated. So the plan is for the prisoners here to sit inside our cells 24 hours a day (on most days) do whatever CDCR has to obtain a court order and continually force-feed 1. Participants should send a Request for Interview (multi-paged) we can to stay sane; while being deprived of basic human us for months However, anyone can join any time while the to the Facility Capt. Woods and/or the Warden one to two weeks H.S. continues and should remain on it as long as possible in prior to their H.S. and point out to them that you will be on a “no interaction and not act out. This in itself is unhealthy, not support. Also, order no food items on July’s canteen. solid food” hunger strike only. And staff should only remove “sol- to mention almost an impossible request even of the most The warden, CDCR secretary, and Governor Brown will id foods”, not liquids (i.e. coffee, tea, koolaid, etc.) or any other disciplined person. be served with a copy of the formal complaint and the fi ve property. Otherwise it will amount to retaliation for you exercising Guys on the tier yell out randomly; fl ash themselves; mas- core demands at least 30 days prior to the H.S. (obtain copies your First Amendment right to peacefully protest. 2. We do not recommend anyone drinking any caffeine during the at www.prisonersolidarity.com or www.prisons.org). Continued on page 29 hunger strike. 2 PRISON FOCUS CONTENTS IN THIS ISSUE Formal Complaint ...... 1

Multiracial Revolt Against Slave Labor Practices ...... 4

Prison Focus is a publication of California Prison State Budget Battles Converge on Prison Labor Force ...... 4 Focus, a nonprofi t organization that works with and on behalf of prisoners in California’s control units Coming Home: Revelations From Former Prisoners ...... 5 and other institutions. Formally Incarcerated and Convicted People’s Movement Arises ...... 6

Permission is granted to reprint original articles Colorado Department of Corrections in Need of Corrections ...... 7 from Prison Focus as long as credit is noted to Pris- on Focus and California Prison Focus. Also, please Musings on Political Prisoners and Mumia Abu-Jamal ...... 7 send us a copy of publication in which the article ap- pears. Five Core Demands ...... 8 Our Potential ...... 8 Prison Focus welcomes articles, stories, opinion columns, news reports, poetry, photos, cartoons and Post Racial America, Prisons Feast on Black Girls ...... 9 other artwork. Send contributions to Editors, Prison Focus, 1904 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA The Brutality of Supermax Confinement ...... 9 94612. Web: http://www.prisons.org. Email CPF at [email protected]. Mass Incarceration Creates Costly Disaster Across America ...... 10 Consciousness, Leadership and Liberation ...... 10 Subscribe to Prison Focus for $20 and receive four issues ($5 for prisoners and free to California A Partial California Prisoner’s Resource List ...... 11 SHU prisoners). Upon request, you may receive a free sample in the next bulk mailing. Back issues are PBSP-SHU: Peaceful Protest ...... 12 $2 each (if available). For further information, phone (510) 836-7222. Using Penal Code Section 2933.6 to Expand due Process Rights for Validated ...... 12 © 2011 California Prison Focus CDCR or State Hospital ...... 14

EDITOR The Call ...... 14

Ed Mead About Prisons ...... 15

ARTWORK Right to Challenge Communication Upheld by Feds ...... 16

Many thanks to the prisoner artists Michael D. Rus- The Prosecution Rests, But I Can’t ...... 16 sell and Antonio C. Ramon. Their outstanding pieces on the Pelican Bay SHU added special emphasis to The New Inquistion, Gang Validation ...... 17 the content of this issue. Artists have been attributed where possible. In issue #35 I used the great SHU Stop Abuse of Mississippi’s Incarcerated Youth ...... 18 art of Mr. Avitea without attribution. My apologies. Injustice Against ...... 18 SPECIAL THANKS Political Prisoners in America ...... 18 Our deepest appreciation goes out to former Black Panther, George Jackson Brigade member, and po- Hunger Strike & Pedagogy of the Oppressed: Liberation from Dehumanization ...... 23 litical prisoner Mark Cook who paid for much of the Money Trumps Civil Rights ...... 23 amount needed for the printing and mailing of this is- sue of Prison Focus. The remainder was paid for by Torture at Pelican Bay State Prison SHU ...... 25 SHU prisoners at Pelican Bay. If there are to be more issues published there will need to be more people America’s Nightmare ...... 27 contributing to the cost of production. Lastly, many thanks to Leslie DiBenedetto, my former co-editor, American Corrections ...... 27 who performed diffi cult task of editing/proofi ng this Medical Experiments on Prisoners ...... 28 issue. If there are errors in this edition it is because I have occasionally ignored her good advice. , 39 Years of Solitary Confinement ...... 28

CONTRIBUTORS Some Thoughts About Socialism ...... 31 Michael Rullsell Edward Dumbrique High Court to CA: Cut 30,000 Prisoners ...... 31 Antonio C. Ramon R.A.M. Freedom Archives Sister Amazon Mumia Abu-Jamal John Thompson DEPARTMENTS Mark Cook Steve Champion Pelican Bay Report ...... 15 Michelle Chen Stephen Lendman Marpessa Kupendua Bruce Reilly Ron Ahnen REGULAR FEATURES Jean Casella Michelle Alexandeer Letters ...... 2 James Ridgeway Gabreil A. Huerta Lynne Stewart Don Thompson Quote Box ...... 17 Kevin Drum William Blum Rashel Pfeffer Danny Troxell Book Reviews ...... 20 Lynn Washington, Jr. Todd Ashker Tony Stitt S.N. Jamaa—Dewberry Poetry ...... 26 PARC Arturo Castellanos Ed’s Comments ...... 24 James Crawford G. Franco

Notice! California Prison Focus is drafting litigation to contest the constitutional validity of certain CDCR practices inside California’s Security Housing Units. Any prisoner having information on this subject, or who is seeking to learn more about this law suit, should contact: Marilyn McMahon Attorney at Law PO Box 5187 Berkeley, CA 94705-0187

By way of confi dential legal mail. If you want a response be sure to enclose a SASE. By Antonio C. Ramon

NUMBER 37 3 COMMENTARIES: SOCIETY AND PRISONS

A LIVING WAGE FOR WORK: In violation of the 13th their punitive deployment—explicitly sanctioned under the A MULTIRACIAL REVOLT Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting and in- Constitution—in the dregs of industrial capitalism, speaks AGAINST SLAVE LABOR voluntary servitude, the DOC demands prisoners work for loud and clear to the theory of prison as America’s “new Jim free. Crow.” PRACTICES EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES: For the great ma- Allegations that prison guards severely beat an inmate jority of prisoners, the DOC denies all opportunities for edu- protester in retaliation underscore the inequality endemic to “ON MONDAY MORNING WHEN THE DOORS OPEN, cation beyond the GED, despite the benefi t to both prisoners this labor system, even though the programs are typically CLOSE THEM. DO NOT GO TO WORK. THEY CANNOT and society. endorsed as a form of rehabilitation and self-help. DO ANYTHING TO US THAT THEY HAVEN’T ALREADY DECENT HEALTH CARE: In violation of the 8th Amend- Of course, today’s prison labor is more regulated and con- DONE.” ment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, the siderably less brutal than the post-Civil War convict-lease DOC denies adequate medical care to prisoners, charges system—a regression to slavery disguised as a criminal pen- By Mark Cook excessive fees for the most minimal care is responsible for alty. (Some reforms were enacted during the Great Depres- his was the message that prisoners got on the fi fth extraordinary pain and suffering. sion to prevent downward-spiraling competition between day of a strike that turned out to be the largest prison DECENT LIVING CONDITIONS: Georgia prisoner are “free labor” and incarcerated workers.) Tstrike in U.S. history. confi ned in over-crowded substandard conditions, with little Yet the institutional parallels are striking. From the late- When it began on Thursday, Dec 9, 2010, strike leaders heat in winter and oppressive heat in summer. 19th through the early 20th century, southern states, includ- planned a one-day peaceful, self-imposed lockdown in sev- NUTRIONAL MEALS: Vegetables and fruit are in short ing Georgia, turned to prison labor as a release valve for eral Georgia state prisons. Their headline demand was an supply in DOC facilities while starches and fatty foods are dealing with fi scal crisis, and the white supremacist power end to slave labor in the state, which by its own law compels plentiful. structure, through “leases” with the private sector, which en- state prisoner to work without pay. Fifty-four thousand in- VOCATIONAL AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT OPPOR- abled forced labor, torture and abuse on a massive scale. mates, the largest single workforce in the state, work for TUNITIES: The DOC has stripped its facilities of all op- How interesting, then, that in this latest economic crisis, Prison Industries, a wholly owned subsidiary of Georgia’s portunities for skills training, self-improvement and proper states once again seem to be looking to prison as a conve- Department of Corrections, and get paid nothing. exercise. nient resource for carrying out various government services. The inmates’ intent was to mount a multiracial protest ACCESS TO FAMILIES: The DOC has disconnected As an inexpensive “public” labor source, a cash-strapped against a southern prison infamous for violating human thousands of prisoners from their families by imposing ex- bureaucracy might see inmates as a convenient alternative rights and practiced at pitting one group against another. To cessive telephone charges and innumerable barriers to visita- to, say, real public workers. Particularly the kind of workers educate the public on the intolerable conditions of life for tion. who vote, and who have collective bargaining rights, which incarcerated people. The prisoners also demanded recogni- JUST PAROLE DECISIONS: The Parole Board capri- tend to get in the way of budget deals. tion by prison authorities that the United States is supposed ciously and regularly denies parole to the majority of prison- Is there any way to get around the historically ingrained to be a democracy, which minimally means the abolition of ers despite evidence of eligibility perverse incentives to exploit prison labor? A budding cam- slavery, the right of everyone to vote including ex-cons, and Cross-posted from: In These Times. paign in Canada could bridge the civil rights debate and the have a voice in improving a rigged justice system. For updates and how to help, google Black Agenda Report, underlying labor struggle. In Vancouver, some prisoners Their work stoppage was a conscious labor rights offen- Bay View, or Concerned Coalition to Respect could soon get a full-fl edged union, potentially a watershed sive that demonstrates growing class-consciousness among Prisoners Rights in protecting both inmates and blue-collar workers, reports the millions of people under lock-and-key in this country. These demands are not outrageous by any standards but the Canadian Press. Sit-down strike, not riot. All of the men were outraged at consistent with the demands any poor working class com- Their lawyer, Natalie Dunbar, said Friday organizers at their slave conditions. They could have rioted. Instead, they munity in the U.S. Notwithstanding, federal prisoners in the Mountain Institution in Agassiz are trying to sign up mem- organized a sit-down strike and prepared a list of demands. U.S. Penitentiary at Atlanta are paid for their work. ● bers for ConFederation, Canadian Prisoners’ Labor Union, They used contraband cell phones purchased from guards to Local 001. communicate between prisons. And because of certain retali- A spokeswoman for the institution said administrators are ation, the identity of strike leaders remains a mystery. STATE BUDGET BATTLES moving very carefully because no penal institution in Cana- The prisoners did not get violent. The guards did. They da has ever been confronted with the issue. pepper sprayed, handcuffed and beat inmates with hammers, CONVERGE ON PRISON “It’s a new element for us”, assistant warden Brenda threw many in solitary confi nement, turned off heat and light Lamm said. “We’ve never had inmates trying to organize a utilities, secretly transferred strike activists to other prisons, LABOR FORCE labor union before so that’s why we’re proceeding cautiously offered reactionary gang members money to attack other By Michelle Chen, March 9, 2011 and thoughtfully.” prisoners, and more. rison isn’t just about doing hard time. For many, it’s Dunbar said there’s a lack of resources at federal institu- “They want to break up the unity we have here”, said one about working full-time, too. These days, state gov- tions to address issues that plague prison populations as a inmate. “We have the Crips and the Bloods, we have the Mus- Pernments seem ready to squeeze their captive work- workforce, such as proper work boots and qualifi ed fi rst-aid lims, we have the head Mexicans, and we have the Aryans all forces to plug budget gaps on the cheap. personnel. with a peaceful understanding, all on common ground. We From the chain gang to the , labor in the prison pop- Such a social experiment probably won’t be attempted in all want to be paid for our work, and we all want education ulation predates our modern labor regulations and to this America’s prison-industrial complex, which is one of the in here. There are people in here who can’t even read”. Black day, remains relatively untouched by the legal protections worlds largest and deeply embedded with the profi t inter- men are 61 percent of the state prison population, whites 36 afforded to regular workers. So in most states, prison work ests of corporations and offi cials. Unionization alone would percent. The remaining are First Nation Americans, Latinos/ has come to be seen as a hybrid between conscript labor and never cure the racial disparities and human rights abuses that Latinas and Asians. rehabilitation, putting otherwise “idle” inmates to work on plague the system. What do they want? The public to understand that prison- farms, manufacturing plants, and janitorial jobs. But these are strange times. Inspired by the Wisconsin ers are a hidden labor force not counted in the employment/ The New York Times reports that in many areas, laborers in standoff, we see new labor solidarity movements popping up unemployment statistics. They are workers, not animals and prison uniforms are a growing presence at public work sites, across the country, new momentum for public sector labor want to be treated fairly as working-class citizens. As a re- suggesting that they’re being used to alleviate fi scal pres- organizing, and rising political backlash against policies that porter with Black Agenda Report put it, “With one in twelve sures that are now eroding common public sector services: degrade working people. Maybe the workers taking to the Georgia adults in jail or prison, on parole or probation, pris- [O]ffi cials are expanding the practice to combat cuts streets have some courage to share with their brothers and oners are us.” in federal fi nancing and dwindling tax revenue, using sisters trapped behind bars. ● Prison workers halted the strike after the sixth day to coun- prisoners to paint vehicles, clean courthouses, teract the brutal crackdowns on them and, as one said, “So sweep campsites and perform many other services we can go to the law library and start the paperwork a law done before the recession by private contractors or suit [on prison conditions].” government employees. Although the mainstream press largely ignored the historic In New Jersey, inmates on road kill patrol clean work stoppage, word got out through the independent press, deer carcasses from highways. Georgia inmates tend community activists, prisoners and their families and sup- municipal graveyards. In Ohio, they paint their own porters all armed with cell phones and texting skills. cells. In California, prison offi cials hope to expand The Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisoners Rights existing programs, including one in which wet-suit- formed, and was swamped with messages of solidarity from clad inmates repair leaky public water tanks. There around the country and the world. Meetings and marches are no fi gures on how many prisoners have been en- took place in Oakland, Detroit, New York and Raleigh. rolled in new or expanded programs nationwide, but Because of public pressure, seven prison guards were ar- experts in criminal justice have taken note of the in- rested on February 21 for assaulting one of the many inmates crease. beaten. This is an important start, because similar conditions As we reported in December, prison labor condi- exist nationwide, and collaboration between prisoners and tions have sparked some noteworthy revolts. A wave the public is critical. Two and a half million adults are not al- of strikes rocked several prisons in Georgia late last lowed to vote in the United States because they are in prison. year, touching off a national campaign for the digni- Five times that number just released from prison on parole, fi ed treatment of prison workers. community supervision or probation are either totally disen- The uprisings shed light on how vulnerable inmates franchised or blocked from employment and education op- are when the prison-industrial complex operates not portunities, healthcare service, special housing, etc. just as a warden and dictator but a boss as well, mar- Basic demands. The Georgia strikers presented the fol- shaling the labor of thousands with little oversight. lowing nine demands, which eloquently testify to the condi- The Georgia inmates drafted a list of grievances rang- tions of U.S. and what is needed to help in- ing from abusive treatment and work without wages. mates make it once released. The demands form the basis The inmates’ direct actions resonated with civil of ongoing negotiations between Georgia offi cials and the rights groups who have pointed out disturbing con- strikers. They also constitute a program for action for prison tinuities between the era of slavery and the racializa- organizing in other parts of the country: tion of imprisonment, and by extension, the industries tied to it. The mass incarceration of black men, and By Michael David Russell

4 PRISON FOCUS COMING HOME: REVELATIONS FROM FORMER PRISONERS

up. I want to see her, but part of me wants to leave that part making event for me. I have not yet adjusted to thinking for “I want to live every day, because I’m afraid I might lose it of me behind....!!! i want to help but how can i help, i barely myself completely.” all again!” - Former DOC No. A27963 have my feet on the ground as it is. But I promised I would “It is all a lot faster, people are different, more hostile and and she is counting on me for support.” pushy than I remember. “ By Sis. Marpessa Kupendua “I went into a serious depression and was put on a med- “Once you get outside those gates, you lose those same ransitioning from a prisoner number to an adult per- ication that drove me into a prison within myself. It took independent, ambitious thoughts you had, you feel lost and son expected to take on adult responsibilities can the program staff several months to realize I wasn’t talking very dependent on other’s guidance. I felt thrust into solitude Tbe overwhelming for many ex-inmates, particularly to anyone or eating, that I had lost about 30 pounds. I was after the active, super-responsible life-style I had in prison. I those who were incarcerated for long periods of time. The ‘gone’ even though I was performing my required duties. Af- had a job, a routine, and had earned my respect. I sat in my prison industry is fl ourishing because America is locking ter all those years of taking care of myself, to be so strong room at the halfway house, where there was a small TV. For up more people than any country in the entire world (2 mil- and resourceful and get myself paroled (By God’s grace) and three days, I never turned it on because I didn’t know how to, lion + and counting), most for non-violent convictions. The then not know how to do anything for myself was really dif- and I was too ashamed to ask anyone for help.” subsequent psychological, sensory and physical impact that fi cult.” “I worry about violating parole every time I step outside, many of these returnees experience often goes unaddressed THE REAL WORLD by resembling someone or just by talking to the wrong per- and isn’t discussed very often by politicians or mainstream A study of the attitudes of released prisoners in the United son. Every time I see the police go by, even though I’m not media, even though each day many of us will share space States revealed that most expected to be labeled “ex-cons” breaking any law, makes my heart skip a beat because they with someone who has spent a signifi cant portion of their and treated as failures and pariahs Getting paperwork to- love to harass Blacks and Latinos; it’s a game to them. I only life in a cage. Every one of us should be concerned because gether to apply for services such as a birth certifi cate, social did fi ve years and I still jump at the sound of keys or two these men and women are of us and will be returning to us, security card, driver’s license, etc., are very diffi cult to ob- way radio.” our communities, and many to our own families. This is tain and yet are very necessary to acquire quickly in order to “I am in awe of all of you as I watch you scurrying around, dedicated to better understanding the impact of this system’s become recognized as a person in this system. Learning bus/ maneuvering so nonchalantly, effortlessly, while I stumble ‘corrections’ from those who lived it. subway systems or even walking routes may be diffi cult be- around like I’m deaf/blind, not knowing which way to go, FOR FAMILY AND SUPPORTERS cause of the changes that have taken place in the landscape. too prideful to ask many times. I watch people’s conversa- Former prisoners should receive counseling as part of their A steady diet of encouragement is necessary in order to try tions but have little to offer outside of prison stories, so I release plan to help move through the potentially challeng- and help them fi nd a new ‘normal’ in their life and set and have no conversational chit-chat. I watch people hop on and ing moments they may experience upon re-entry. Likewise achieve goals. The feelings of alienation may still be present, off buses, read confusing street signs and symbols, while I’m the family should (ideally) be offered counseling before the no matter how many people may feel that they are close to still getting lost in these huge stores or feel nervous sitting inmate is released, particularly the children of soon to be ex- the inmate. in a waiting room where it seems that everyone is watching prisoners. Caretakers of the children during the incarcera- The dysfunctional consequences of institutionalization are me.” tion need to know the pitfalls that could occur and learn the not always immediately obvious once the institutional struc- EMPLOYMENT/SURVIVAL tools to protect everyone emotionally while remaining as ture and procedural imperatives have been removed. This is Statistically more than half of all inmates are arrested at supportive as possible during the readjustment period. The especially true in cases where persons retain a minimum of some point, so setting small goals and working towards ac- family members are changed people as a result of the in- structure wherever they re-enter free society. Moreover, the complishing them soon after release is key to getting on good mate’s incarceration, just as the inmate is, and so things will most negative consequences of institutionalization may fi rst footing. The basic requirements are just what anyone would likely not ever get back to the way they once were. Support- occur in the form of internal chaos, disorganization, stress, expect them to be: information on where to obtain temporary ers should always offer encouragement and guidance geared and fear. Yet, institutionalization has taught most people to shelter, food, clothing, health care/medicines, and the legal toward smoothing out potentially bumpy transitions and not cover their internal states, and not to openly or easily reveal documents necessary to apply for employment and services. make the returnee feel as though they owe them something intimate feelings or reactions. So, the outward appearance Instead of prisons providing some semblance of these basic for having supported them while incarcerated nor exacerbate of normality and adjustment may mask a range of serious requirements for inmates upon release, most are instead sent negativity that only serves to further divide and cause pain problems in adapting to the free world ... when severely in- home with less than $100, the clothes on their backs, and within the family. stitutionalized persons confront complicated problems or no support system. They are programmed to fail so that this Ex-prisoners may not readily accept the advice of others confl icts, especially in the form of unexpected events that system can continue to keep its well-oiled, prison money- because they are fi nally free to not follow anyone else’s or- cannot be planned for in advance, the myriad of challeng- making machine humming. ders and so may make errors in judgment when dealing with es that the non-institutionalized confront in their everyday “There had been no help from inside to prepare me to be seemingly simple situations. Opportunists may take advan- lives outside the institution may become overwhelming. The successful getting out. At the core of being successful out- tage of some of these vulnerable returnees as some can be facade of normality begins to deteriorate, and persons may side is how you make decisions. I felt inadequate, stupid, less easily manipulated and led into situations that are detrimen- behave in dysfunctional or even destructive ways because than other people when I fi rst got out, and that made it harder tal to them. Former friends and dangerous infl uences may all of the external structure and supports upon which they to feel able to make any of the decisions. We think we have arise and ex-prisoners may even fall into some old patterns. relied to keep themselves controlled, directed, and balanced a plan and think we have an idea of what it will be, hour by Even when mistakes are made, the last thing returnees need have been removed. ... Parents who return from periods of hour, minute by minute. We just get a Plan A together, but to deal with is ridicule or condemnation, breeding resent- incarceration still dependent on institutional structures and we are not prepared with Plan B, C, or D for when Plan A ment and deterring badly needed support. Many have been routines cannot be expected to effectively organize the lives doesn’t work!” terrorized mentally and physically at the hands of guards and of their children or exercise the initiative and autonomous “I wish I never had to talk about why I went to jail again. other inmates and have deep scarring that no one can see decision-making that parenting requires. ... Those who re- Every time I have to tell someone I’ve been to jail, I have to from the outside looking in. Comparing one ex-prisoner’s main emotionally over-controlled and alienated from others go through the entire story. I just want to put it all behind me, successes to another’s lack thereof is meaningless because will experience problems being psychologically available but no one will let me. I just want to work.” each individual’s journey through their prison years varies and nurturing. See: http://aspe.hhsgov/hsp/prison2home02/ “I am out of a job, so I need a job and services to help are greatly and so shall their journey upon release. Haney.htm#II limited. Because all my adult life has been inside, I have no “I had a family. I had a house. I had a car. I had a job.... “It felt like I was walking into another world again, I work history before 2009 and didn’t make enough to pay into I was making good money. Everything was going well, and couldn’t believe it. Because I’ve been fi ghting so long, when unemployment benefi ts. Because of unemployment’s struc- now I don’t have the patience for anything.... I have prob- (my release) eventually came I didn’t know whether to take ture (like the rest of the government) I only received benefi ts lems with my physical self. I have aches in my body and my it or run back inside.” for four months and have no more money. Also as grateful legs.... [My] life is a lot harder. No matter how many visits, “I was very frightened to walk across a street. I couldn’t as I am for friends who come thru in my time of need, I am phone calls, and letters you have shared with people, you judge the time, distance, and speed of on-coming traffi c. I growing soul weary of taking handouts at my age. I feel like still don’t know how much they have changed over a lengthy had a problem with my sensory depth perception from bars I should be able to take care of myself and not feel as depen- period of time until you’re actually around them regularly, being right in front of my face. I realized it was a problem dent as I was when I was incarcerated.” and they feel the same way about you.” after wildly running in an almost panic across the street, only “The biggest psychological effect that incarceration had Here are some experiences: to see the on-rushing traffi c to remain still considerable dis- on me when I came out after twelve years was not being able “My son wasn’t a baby anymore and he hadn’t seen me in tances down the street. I told myself, ‘you’ve got a problem, to move about as freely as I imagined I would. It isn’t that I 10 years. Now he was 12. He wouldn’t let me hug him. He so get over it - fast.’ And that’s exactly what I did. I worked am not learning some of the things I need to, but that I am not wouldn’t even shake my hand. I’m trying to understand this. and worked on it.” learning all the things I want to and it comes down to time. I cry every night.” “DO NOT walk up behind me without saying something Often people who come out realize that the help they thought “I want to prove to myself and those who stuck by me that or making noise of some kind BEFORE you get near me...” they would easily fi nd isn’t available and they must do things i can make it right. I’m so scared of letting anyone down “It takes a long time to adjust to basic things, like know- on their own and that takes time and often just living day to after the burden I’ve been.” ing you can open the bedroom door and go out. One man I day is hard enough. Now a person can either take their time, “Everything has been taken from me while inside, my know of couldn’t leave his bedroom without someone com- manage their time and eventually get to it, or get caught up mom had been taken from me, my dad has been taken from ing to get him. I’m a lot more claustrophobic now -- even the again and be back on the prison plantation. Basic things like me, I have no family at all out here and I am completely on shower curtain bothers me. Many of us suffer from sleep dis- how to use cell phones, developing resumes, getting legal my own with $75 and nowhere to go. I was engaged when I orders, paranoia, pervasive anxiety, depression, nightmares, documents like ss cards, birth certifi cates and such are dif- got locked up at 18—now I’m 45, the rest of my teens, all of night sweats and many symptoms of post-traumatic stress fi cult tasks and when people don’t plan on how to do some my 20s, 30s, and most of my 40s, gone! My only child was disorder. “ of these things before they come out it will be an even harder born while i was inside and is now himself an inmate and so “”The fi rst few days are the hardest, just getting your task when they are released.” we’ll never be together.” senses used to not being in an institution can be overwhelm- “It is frustrating to lay awake and think ‘Well if I go back “I live with my mother in my old neighborhood. I need a ing. The smells of urban life, the sounds, eyes adjusting to to prison at least my life will be assigned to me: job, clothes, pardon in order to get paid for wrongful imprisonment. After home lighting. Feet hardly know how to walk on wood fl oors bed, and food will all be handed to me and I don’t have to all they’ve taken from me, you’d think they’d at least pro- and carpeting (vs. concrete). Being able to close a door and worry.’ Don’t get me wrong I have no intention (for now) of vide me with my basic needs, I’m embarrassed to depend on not be watched, the softness of cushions and blankets and committing a , however I wonder what I will do if push my family as a 45 year old man to have to eat.” people, lights that can be turned on and off when you want.” comes to shove and I’m truly out of cash and have no way to “Every night I pray and pray for the prisoners I left behind, “Last I checked life doesn’t come with instructions. You eat or support myself at all.” I feel so badly for them living under such horrible conditions just got to take it how it comes sometimes. I wish I knew “Sent home with no money, job, or place to live. Red tape and promised many of them I would help them when I got how to make it through a trip to the grocery store without keeps me from collecting anything from the state for my out. My one friend is getting out of prison this week, she has becoming overwhelmed and traumatized by the experience wrongful imprisonment. Even though i’ve been exonerated, been locked up for 8 years....she was 18 when she got locked of too many choices. Ice cream was a 30 minute decision the record hasn’t shown it and so the charges are still on my

NUMBER 37 5 record and I can’t get a job!” and end. There aren’t any limits out here and we stand equal own civil and human rights. “We’re not seen as community members when we get out, to those around us so we don’t have to bend to others will The fi rst exercise was to introduce ourselves to each other and we face discrimination in employment, housing, etc. anymore. I think that was my downfall, I forgot that someone not simply by our names or the many great struggles that we People don’t necessarily see the value of former prisoners, or else’s word isn’t law, that I have the power over my life and were currently engaged in, but by who we embraced as our understand that we have a right to be part of the community most of all my freedom, including freedom to question or heroes. We wrote our names and the name of our hero on a and have something to contribute. We need to get that sense challenge or change the course of my life. My best advice: piece of paper and we taped those to the front of the table of self and value as part of community.” don’t plan beyond fi nding a place to stay. The fi rst week get where we sat. We were quickly able to see the right people “One of the things that happens is we don’t know the ques- your ID, SSI card, and GR or whatever income will sustain were in the room. We participated in designing a historical tions to ask because we don’t know the answers we need.” you until you get a job. But let all the rest be and take it as time line and this practice drew us closer to discovering our it comes.” common history, something uniquely ours as formerly incar- GOD BLESS THE CHILD Keep on pushing forward, together we can make better cerated. Knowing where we came from made it easier to fi nd Information is power. Boston’s ‘Coming Home’ Direc- days ahead! ● our vision. We agreed to accept as our vision “The Fight for tory is an excellent example of the type of resource that ex- Thanks to: the Full Restoration of Our Civil and Human Rights.” offenders need upon release from prison, listing providers Bilal, Deirdre, Diana, Karima, Lee, Mary Ellen, Misty, The concept and construction of a movement requires a of emergency assistance, health care, housing help, legal Mustafa, Nikki, Robin, Vonda and Yango vessel large enough to hold us all, and steering a vessel of assistance, support groups, veterans and women’s groups, CA Coalition for Women Prisoners - http://www.women- this scale requires a crew of many navigators and leaders. plus much more, check it out at http://www.cominghomedi- prisoners.org/ Agreeing on a vision was an essential and amazing accom- rectory.org/index.php. This directory is exactly the type of Prisoners are People, Too - http://www.prp2.org/ plishment in light of the fact that time was short, and with so information that needs to be in the hands of ex-offenders and The Intersectionality of Race, Gender, and Reentry Chal- many leaders in the room, egos could easily have gotten in their families/supporters from day one. Residents of cities lenges for African-American Women, American Constitu- the way. We agreed to maintain the structure that propelled that don’t provide a directory along these same lines should tion Society for Law and Policy. November, 2010. “African- us to this point. However, we needed to enlarge the steering get together and create one and make it widely available. American women offenders face collateral attacks on their committee to seriously consider setting a national agenda. This would be a really excellent project for prison activists motherhood, on their ability to secure housing and employ- Twenty people volunteered to join the steering committee, or any group/church/club to take on. Ex-offenders need as- ment, and on their ability to reintegrate. Reentry programs providing us greater diversity in both geography and gender. sistance applying for and receiving services for some period must have a race and gender focus that confronts intersec- We decided we would do regular conference calls to move of time following release, this is basic and should not even tionality.” http://www.prisonpolicy.org/research/prison_ forward with the agenda and coordinating the Los Angeles be an issue anywhere in this country! programs_recidivism_reentry/ convening. Former prisoners, their families and supporters must be- http://innocenceprojectpa.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/ The Steering Committee planned to kick off the begin- come involved in organizing for serious changes in state and exonerees-speak-about-life-after-prison-2/ ning of this movement by walking across the Edmund Pettus federal policies and within the prison hellholes themselves. http://thejerichomovement.com - Jericho is a movement Bridge, in Selma. Days before any of us hopped in a plane, All can attest to the horrendous conditions and practices that with the defi ned goal of gaining recognition of the fact that bus, train, or car, we were informed that we would have stay violate health codes and constitutional guarantees against political prisoners and prisoners of war exist inside of the on the sidewalk if we were going to march across the bridge. cruel and unusual punishment. With millions of lives being United States despite the US government’s continued denial Over 247 people called the mayor of Selma and let him know impacted in some way by the prison system, there could be ... and winning amnesty and freedom for these political pris- we were coming to march over the bridge, and not on the a massive prison movement happening right now if people oners. sidewalk. Some of us consciously considered going to jail who know the deal would simply participate at whatever http://truthinjustice.org/fi nding-solace.htm again, and some of us even emptied our bank accounts just level they can; there is strength in numbers! A great ex- http://www.law.berkeley.edu/fi les/IHRLC/Returning- in case we needed bail. We didn’t anticipate Mayor George ample of returnees and supporters organizing is Returning HomeDownloadable.pdf Evans of Selma would ask to speak with us after our march, Citizens United ([email protected]) of http://www.scribd.com/doc/11210655/Life-After-Prison- or agree to read our statement at the 46-year Jubilee marking Washington, DC., who actively organize to break the cycle Steps-to-Making-it-on-the-Outside (Cons Helping Cons was Bloody Sunday. Nor did we anticipate that our march across of homelessness, addiction, and incarceration by working in not specifi cally excerpted in this piece but has great sugges- the bridge would be headlines on one of the largest papers coalition for affordable housing, jobs, and addiction treat- tions for ex-prisoners, well worth checking out). in Alabama, with over twenty photos online. Our own Tina ment services which can help address the root causes of these Reynolds was photographed carrying a sign proclaiming that issues. They also are fi ghting for alternatives to incarcera- “Democracy Starts At Home.” We should be allowed to vote tion. They believe that by continued recognition for those and exercise our civil rights regardless of where we live in who have lost their way, they can work together as a unit to the United States. help restore the lives of homeless, recovering, and returning Our visit to the state capital in Montgomery is a testa- citizens (ex-offenders) by meeting their needs so that they ment to the power of unity. While standing on the stairs of can regain structure and stability in society. the capital building we were introduced to, and had a short Helping to rebuild shattered lives is an onerous task that conversation with, Alabama Chief Justice Sue Cobb-Bell. can be rife with frustration and anguish, particularly when The Chief Justice explained the serious effort underway to it comes to families and supporters. Breaking old habits is rewrite the criminal code and reduce the prison population more than just a notion for returnees sometimes, but they by three thousand. Once inside, we were led into a confer- also must not just be about themselves and recognize that ence room where we met Rep. John Rogers, the head of the their loved ones have endured tremendous anxiety, depres- Alabama Black Caucus. After a spirited discussion about sion and grief from missing them and worrying over their pressing issues, we were ultimately promised a community day to day survival inside the prison. No matter the amount forum of which we would take part in choosing the com- of joy family and friends may have felt at any given time, munity organizations to participate. We were also promised that could instantly convert to that sad, sinking feeling by that key elected offi cials, including the governor, would be just the thought of their loved one locked up in a prison far present at the forum. away from home. Many family members struggle with ill- We would be remiss if we did not acknowledge the work nesses, addictions, and other destructive behaviors as they, and support that our host organization, The Ordinary People too, have done time right along with the ex-prisoner as well Society (TOPS), put into the initial organizing. On a side as endured the gossiping whispers of a community, church or note: TOPS was seriously respected by prominent members workplace. Children are traumatized by the teasing of their of the Alabama legislature, who pledged their support to this peers because they have a parent or sibling in prison and are struggle, and prominent offi cials in both Selma and Mont- devastated when visits and phone calls end, many times hav- gomery. Meanwhile, our allies were honing their own ef- ing gone for years without even their human touch. Many By Michael David Russell forts, such as supporting those organizations on our side (and families also suffer fi nancial ruin from lawyer fees, fi nes, the inspiring those who should be), and creating more spaces for obscene price gouging of prisoner phone calls, traveling hun- FORMERLY our voices to be heard. They are committed to recognizing dreds of miles to rural areas to visit, and putting money in our priorities and helping us create the tools for our organiz- accounts. Some parolees are even asked INCARCERATED & ing efforts. to pay a monthly fee for their parole before they have even CONVICTED PEOPLE’S Last but not least, we want to thank everyone who attended secured employment, so this also falls to the families to pay! and wrapped their heads around the bigger picture of Move- These families truly are the forgotten victims. Supporters MOVEMENT ARISES! ment and a larger agenda. As a collective we all commit- ted to something bigger than each of our own organizations must show compassion and not be judgmental or harsh when By Bruce Reilly issues arise as the family and ex-prisoner struggle to readjust or individual work. We took action and decided to organize labama represents the answer to a clarion call. This through Regions represented by our expanded steering com- around a myriad of issues. Plans may have to change but you is a call that speaks to us in our own voice; clear, best believe that there is always a new day and a new way to mittee. Regional caucuses will facilitate closer collaboration Aloud and urgent. A voice that speaks to our identity in our areas, and we will build a movement on one accord, as fi ght for a positive outcome for all concerned. and emanates from the soul, ringing true both in the head and a collective committed to “The Fight for Full Restoration of “What I really wish I knew back then that I know now is the heart. Our objective is a collective one, continuing in that that no matter how well you plan your release it won’t be our Civil and Human Rights”. Let us keep moving forward, vein, as we gathered fi fty people from across the nation to and share this document with people we believe should know anything like you plan!! Even and especially the happy fam- engage in a conversation about the need to build a Formerly ily reunions we dream about won’t be so happy. They may be and participate in our common efforts to build a movement. Incarcerated and Convicted People’s Movement. We under- Let people know about the goal to meet in Los Angeles— at fi rst but then the reality of time and distance starts to show. stand and declare very clearly: the criminal justice system Our families have a lot of unresolved emotions that may be November 2nd, 2011. does not work. It is no more than a destructive force in our We have recognized the dates below for action, meetings, hidden behind the ‘I just want you home’ face. My kids told communities now and for future generations. me a year before I got out on Mother’s Day that they couldn’t and solidarity. We call on our members to take part in order Fifty formerly incarcerated came with a dedication and to raise our capacity, profi le, and build a movement: wait to see me every day. When I got out they had moved commitment stating that this was our time. We were not de- from LA area to near San Bernardino and will barely speak terred by our inability to raise the entire budget to fl y, feed to me. I took it hard when my plans weren’t going my way [Ed. Note: Dates that have taken place before Prison Fo- and house people in Alabama for three days, nor were the cus was printed have been omitted] especially with my family. I just want women to know that few dozen supporters who found their own means to be pres- even though it won’t go as planned, don’t make the mistake I ent for this historic moment. As activists, we have been to made and let it stop you from taking advantage of what new Aug. 21st (40th Anniversary of San Quentin Uprising) our share of conferences and rallies, yet before many of us Sept. 29th (40th Anniversary of Attica Rebellion) ● opportunities arise from life planning itself. This is not the left our homes, we knew this invitation was different. And structured world of prison. No one ever knows how a day can we readily subsidized our own fi ght for restoration of our begin and end. Just push on and enjoy having a day to begin Formerly Incarcerated & Convicted People’s Movement

6 PRISON FOCUS venerable legislators can compel the C.D.O.C to stop doing COLORADO DEPARTMENT what it wants and force it to begin doing what it should. ● WHERE THE BILL OF OF CORRECTIONS IN NEED You can write to Clair Beazer at the following address: RIGHTS GOES TO DIE Mr. Clair L. Beazer, CSP #49801, C.C.F., Box Number 600, By Kevin Drum OF CORRECTION Canon City, CO 81215-0600. ay 17, 2011 “Mother Jones”—So here’s the story: Source: Freedom Archives By Jean Casella and James Ridgeway police in Lexington, Kentucky, were chasing after 522 Valencia Street For seven years, Clair L. Beazer has been an inmate in the some guy who’d just scored some crack. He went San Francisco, CA 94110 M supermax Colorado State Penitentiary in Cañon City which, into an apartment building, but police didn’t know what door www.Freedomarchives.org as we’ve written before, qualifi es as the solitary confi nement he had gone into. So, smelling marijuana under one door, capital of the Western World. In this essay, Beazer describes they pounded loudly and announced their presence. But they the effects of years of solitary confi nement, pointing out that guessed wrong. It was just some random dude doing drugs, while it is particularly torturous for inmates already suffer- SOME MUSINGS ON THE not the guy they were after. The dude, unsurprisingly, pan- ing from mental illness, this interminable, indefi nite isolation icked when police suddenly started pounding on his door and also causes lasting psychological and physical damage to all SUBJECT OF POLITICAL tried to dump the evidence. Police, hearing this, busted down prisoners who endure it. PRISONERS AND MUMIA his door, arrested him, and eventually sent him to prison for Beazer notes that “at long last”, some hope is offered by 11 years. the bill introduced in the Colorado state legislature to limit ABU-JAMAL But let’s back up. The police busted down his door? Don’t the use of solitary confi nement. In an instance of grim irony, By Lynne Stewart you need a search warrant for that kind of thing? Answer: no, we received his essay, written last month, just a day before n the USA we hope we are experiencing that groundswell not if there are “exigent circumstances” that make it urgent lawmakers chose to back away from most meaningful por- of a time when events and history come together; that the that police get in. For example, if a suspect is busily getting tions of the bill. protest against what is happening to civil service workers rid of evidence. n most instances the law is a simple matter of doing what I will result in such a wave of people power that change will But back up again. This particular guy, it turns out, had you should rather than what you want. One consequence start breaking out for all of us. (It should be noted that this actually done nothing to attract police attention in the fi rst of continuing to do what you want regardless, is that a I outpouring of people’s outrage is not institutionalized—not place, and the only reason he was fl ushing his drugs away conscientious legislator someplace may fi nd it necessary to led by the unions or the established Left but mainly by out- was because police were pounding on his door. This is pretty propose a law to compel you to do what you should do. raged individuals and students, who are not coming out for predictable behavior, which means that the police created the Just such a circumstance has come about in the state of a rally on the weekend and then resuming life as usual—the exigent circumstances themselves and then used that as an Colorado’s Department of Corrections (C.D.O.C.), of whom plasma TV, the remote control, beer, sports and the SUV. No, excuse to bust down a door instead of getting a search war- some are known to say the reason they’re called the “De- People seem to be ready to make it happen this time. The rant. Surely that’s a violation of the Fourth Amendment? partment of Corrections” is because they’re always getting Common Good. Well, maybe it was last week, but it’s not anymore thanks it wrong. We need it and mostly we need it for our Political Prison- to eight Supreme Court justices who ruled yesterday that this The C.D.O.C’s execrable practice of warehousing the ers and Prisoners of War. This group of morally incorrupt- behavior is fi ne and dandy. As Scott Lemieux says, the war mentally ill in lockdown 24/7 is unconscionable. To sentence ible and creative and clear political thinkers, dating from the on drugs is “where the Bill of Rights goes to die”: men without due process to a solitary existence in a lonely righteous struggles of the ‘60’s; some of whom have been in Dismayingly, and demonstrating again that the Supreme cell with only the company of their psychoses and personal the depths of dungeons for more than a lifetime, and others, Court essentially lacks a real liberal wing, the decision was demons for interminable, indefi nite periods, some lasting who are relative newcomers (like me, Bradley Manning, of 8-1, with both of Obama’s appointees in the majority....The decades, would and does appear on the surface alone inde- Wikileaks; and Tim DeChristopher, the man who bid on the key problem with the case, as [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg con- fensible. To further exacerbate their evil usage by holding Utah oil leases and disrupted Bush’s last environmental gift- vincingly argues, is that it’s the latest example of the drift of them thus until their mandatory release date only serves to ing to the fi nancially elite.) the exigency exception away from actual emergencies and discharge infi nitely more dangerous parolees into the public. Of course, offi cially there are “no political prisoners in toward the mere convenience of the police. If the police have Enduring this type of incarceration has many debilitating the US”; just like offi cially, the government is now try- time to obtain a warrant and there isn’t an actual emergency, effects, the most common being depression with accompa- ing to say, they always supported the anti-Mubarak forces they should be required to obtain one. But when security in nying apathy and lethargy. The minimal activity and lack and democracy for Egypt. History says differently, and we the home faces the War (On Some Classes of People Who of meaningful exercise can atrophy their legs and some can must be ready to seize the moment to pressure for release Use Some) Drugs, it generally loses. barely walk after years of inactivity, and you can bet that of the unjustly imprisoned 100+ men and women, known But don’t worry. This will never happen to a law-abiding there is little market for ex-cons who can’t even walk a quar- to be incarcerated for their espoused political motivations. person like you. Nothing to get in a lather about. ● ter mile after release. (This number sadly does not include the Muslims, but that’s Kevin Drum is a political blogger for Mother Jones Then there’s the other end of the spectrum, motivated, a struggle for another day.) active, angry inmates that compulsively work out 2, 4, 8 We do not deserve to be called a movement if we do not hours a day in the fashion of the hardened vengeful convict rescue our own. Their absolute and abiding faith in us to do portrayed by Robert DeNiro in the movie “Cape Fear.” For US JUDGES CONSIDER so remains the litmus test of our dedication and belief in soli- months, then years, then decades, driven by their isolation, darity. It is stronger than any religious belief I know of. FATE OF 13 YEAR OLD not even allowed IN PRISON to walk out of a cell without We must recognize that COINTELPRO has now morphed S appeals judges are considering whether a 13-year- a two or three-man escort. In restrains, handcuffs, shackles, into the outrageous entrapment tactics of FBI informants tar- old boy accused of murder could be tried as an adult bellychains, lock-boxes. Surrounded by thick concrete walls, geting mosques and youth of color. It is hard to believe that -- and risk spending the rest of his life behind bars. high fences, barbed wire, razor wire, armed tower and perim- U juries are swallowing the swill served up to them by the gov- The Pennsylvania Superior Court was considering a case eter guards, electrifi ed kill fences. ernment—but the history of America says differently. How that has attracted international scrutiny because of the pos- Ominously and inevitably their long-awaited day arrives, many Black men were lynched and more lately convicted of sibility that Jordan Brown, who was just 11 at the time of his and when it does the C.D.O.C. dutifully, imprisoned in full rape because it was an easy kill—racism + sex = GUILTY? alleged crime, might be imprisoned as an adult and never be restraints, escorts them to the prison gates, where and when Then it was communism and anarchism—Sacco and Van- released. they unleash them upon the public. Not surprisingly, their re- zetti—the deportation of Emma Goldman followed by Mc- A key requirement of the juvenile court would be for cidivism rate is exponentially and in some cases horrifyingly Carthy and the witch hunts of the 50s. Then the 60s and the Brown to show potential for rehabilitation, in which case he higher, as is their toll on society…you know, the public the attacks on the and could be free as early as when he turned 21. C.D.O.C. ostensibly exists to defend. and any movement that sought real change. However, the lower court found against him after insisting The public may want to consider if perhaps the Prison In- Fast forward to now and we have countless terrorist plots that he show remorse -- something his lawyers say he can’t dustrial Complex (of which the C.D.O.C. is defi nitely a part by men and women who can’t even do the math or who do, given that he insists he did not commit the murder. with its Incarceration Capitol of the World designation and have been lured by dollar or glory promises, and grand jury Defense lawyers argued that the lower court had violated proud title) fi nds it more profi table to release their home- subpoenas for green terrorism, and supporters of righteous Brown’s Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimina- made monsters. After all, we all know that high-profi le hor- movements abroad. tion. Appeals judges said this was the key issue to consider. rifi c can and often do drive news cycles, and have Many of our U.S. political prisoners are well known in- “The bottom line is, from my viewpoint: were his Fifth for years. Surely after all these years of high-profi le horrifi c ternationally. Mumia Abu Jamal epitomizes the best among Amendment rights violated because of the way the trial court crimes that lead the news cycles somebody, anybody, every- us politically and as a racial champion. His brilliant insights handled these proceedings?” Superior Court Judge Cheryl body must have noticed that they drive incarceration rates. collected weekly by Noelle Hanrahan for broadcast and his Allen asked a prosecution lawyer. But Christopher Caru- Even so, no one is surprised that the C.D.O.C. has come courage as he toughs it out on must bring a deep sone, Pennsylvania’s chief deputy attorney general, said no out in fi erce opposition to the Senate Bill 176 (introduced commitment from all of us not to allow them to subject him to one had tried to force a guilty plea on the boy. by Sen. Morgan Carroll, if passed the C.D.O.C would need his state-contrived death. He is the best of the best. Likewise “It was not used to determine guilt, because we’re not to limit the solitary confi nement of mentally ill prisoners – Leonard Peltier, a warrior who enlisted in a war that has been there yet”, he said, pointing out that the case hasn’t gone Denver Post, March 14, 2011) , as they claim it is because waged for 400 years against the U.S. planned genocide of to trial. Brown was just 11, a chubby schoolboy, when he they say there is no indication offi cials are abusing the use of native people. Both men are innocent of the crimes for which allegedly shot Kenzie Houk in her rural home northwest of solitary confi nement. Please allow me, from my true insider they continue to rot in prison. And the state knows it. At this Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. perspective, to disabuse you of that notion because for those time there is little hope for relief for either man through legal Last year, a local judge ruled that Brown should stand trial of us actually in solitary confi nement, we say they are abus- channels. No! Their freedom depends on whether, we, the as an adult for what is being considered the double murder ing the over-use of solitary confi nement. people can be organized, rise up and demand it. May it hap- of Houk and her near full-term baby son. In the two years They also make the preposterous claim that the average pen. We challenge a wily opponent, one who in the sixties since the crime, Brown has been in custody and the case has stay is 18 months Let me tell you that those numbers are was able to buy our movement and con people with notions drawn attention to how children are handled in the American about as an off the books as C.D.O. (Collateralized Debt that poverty pimping was organizing for change. We know criminal justice system. Obligation) at AIG. I personally have been in Ad Seg for 7 better. There is a new generation. The freedom of our own Human rights group has cam- years. Let me to a survey, to my immediate right 7 years, to must be realized and it must be soon. We cannot be deterred. paigned to overturn the lower court judge’s ruling, saying my left 8 years, next to him 4 years and under me 10 years. We ask and resolve that the international community join it is “deeply disturbed” by the fact that, if convicted, Brown In my 7 years, I’ve only witnessed 2 men get of Ad Seg. 2! us. This struggle is an urgent one because of the age of our would never be free again. However, under Pennsylvania The C.D.O.C. is in need of correction and the honorable captured heroes. We must Free Mumia! Leonard shall be re- law, a serious crime like a homicide is initially fi led in crimi- Sen. Morgan Carroll and Rep. Claire Levy are the conscien- turned to the Lakota and all native peoples! Free All Political nal court unless the defense can make a case for sending it to tious lawmakers trying to write another C.D.O.C. with Sen- Prisoners! Free ‘em all. ● the juvenile system. ate Bill 176, which is a start, a good start, at least, at long Lynne Stewart “This could go on and on”, said Jack Houk, Kenzie’s fa- last. Carswell Federal Prison ther, before revealing a tattoo on his wrist bearing the name I (we) don’t have much hope up here in the shameless in- Fort Worth TEXAS of his daughter surrounded by elaborate decorations. ● carceration capital of the world, and maybe, just maybe these 3/21/11

NUMBER 37 7 Final Complaint ...... Continued from page 1 for cosmetics, stationary, envelopes, should not count FINAL NOTICE: PBSP SHU towards the max draw limit] for 3 years or less.” (Id.,p.1267) see also: U.C. Santa Cruz D-CORRIDOR HUNGER F) More TV channels. Prof. Craig Haney, expert psych. Studies of mental health G) Allow TV/Radio combinations, or TV and small issues re: “SHU Syndrome” available online (see U.C. Santa STRIKE battery operated radio Cruz website). ttention: beginning July 1, 2011, several inmates H) Allow Hobby Craft Items - art paper, colored pens, Importantly, the Madrid court acknowledged the applica- housed indefi nitely in PBSP-SHU D-Facility, Cor- small pieces of colored pencils, watercolors, chalk, etc. bility of the principles covered by the U.S. Supreme Court ridor Isolation, will begin an indefi nite hunger strike I) Allow sweat suits and watch caps. in Helling v. McKinney, 509 US 25 (1993) (Id., at p.1261, A in order to draw attention to, and to peacefully protest, 25 J) Allow wall calendars. “these same standards will not tolerate conditions likely to years of torture via CDCR’s arbitrary, illegal, and progres- K) Install pull-up/dip bars on SHU yards. make inmates seriously mentally ill”). The Helling court sively more punitive policies and practices, as summarized L) Allow correspondence courses that require proc- principle is that inmates subjected to unconstitutional condi- in the accompanying “Formal Complaint.” tored exams. tions do not have to actually suffer physical-mental harm in PBSP-SHU, D-Facility Corridor inmates’ hunger strike NOTE: The above examples of programs/privileges are order to obtain relief if the risk of future harm is a “substan- protest is to continue indefi nitely until the following changes all similar to what is allowed in other Supermax prisons tial risk” the courts are supposed to provide relief. are made: (e.g., Federal Florence, Colorado, and Ohio), which supports And in the unpublished ruling USDC – N.D. Cal #c98- OUR FIVE CORE DEMANDS: our position that CDCR-PBSP staff claims that such are a 21038 JW, Griffi n v. Gomez, the court ordered CDCR PBSP- threat to safety and security are exaggerations. ● 1. Individual Accountability - This is in response to SHU to release Griffi n to general population after fi nding D. Troxell; T. Ashker; S.N.Jamaa--Dewberry; PBSP’s application of “group punishment” as a means to that the “debriefi ng” requirement, and risk of serious mental A. Castellanos; G. Franco “substantial risk(s)” to both physical and mental health, that address individual inmates rule violations. This includes when combined (per Wilson v. Selter, 501 U.S. 294, 304- the administration’s abusive, pretextual use of “safety and 305(1991) rose to the level of an 8th Amendment violation concern” to justify what are unnecessary punitive acts. This and ordered Griffi n’s release from PBSP-SHU in 2006 (Id., policy has been applied in the context of justifying indefi nite OUR POTENTIAL order Granting Writ-June 28, 2006). CDCR’s response has SHU status, and progressively restricting our programming By Ed Mead been: 1) To place Griffi n in the Administration Segregation and privileges. was watching CNN the other day and saw a story about Units, and 2) to transfer him to Corcoran SHU. Also see: a program that helps to educate ex-cons Robinson v. California 370 us.660 (1962), which held “… 2. Abolish the Debriefi ng Policy, and Modify Active/ I in order to get them into the workforce. What struck me punishment for ‘status’ is particularly obnoxious and cruel Inactive Gang Status Criteria - the debriefi ng policy is il- was not so much the program (which on a micro level may and unusual punishment.” legal and redundant, as pointed out in the Formal Complaint produce some marginal results, but within the context of the [IV-A, p. 7]. The Active/Inactive gang status criteria must be current economic system is doomed to failure on a macro MISCELLANEOUS: See: Madrid ruling at p. 1241, at modifi ed in order to comply with state law and applicable level) was some statistics they brandished. CNN said there FN. 186 (Re: some validated gang affi liates not placed in CDC rules and regulations [eg, see Formal Complaint, p. 7, are 7.3 million people in the United States under some form SHU; also note: Cal. Code of Regulations, Title 15, Sections IV-B] as follows: of penal supervision, parole, probation, etc., and that there 3378(d) and 3378(e) re: general prison population vs. SHU A) cease the use of innocuous association to deny an are 14 million ex-convicts out on the streets. gang affi liates eligibility for “inactive status”). This supports active status, Stop and think for a moment about those numbers. And contention re: arbitrary nature of SHU; the fact that there are B) cease the use of informant/debriefer allegations of as you read this also think about the 2.3 million people still tens of thousands of gang affi liates in CDCR general prison illegal gang activity to deny inactive status, unless such doing time. We are talking about a potential resource of close population is well publicized in news stories and published allegations are also supported by factual corroborating to 25 million people, not counting their friends and families general rulings. See also: Madrid ruling at pages 1263 at evidence, in which case CDCR-PBSP staff shall and or those supportive of prison issues. FN. 204 (re: contrary evidence showing a decline in CDCR must follow the regulations by issuing a rule violation As you well know, the 13th amendment of the U.S. con- violence starting in 1984—six years prior to opening PBSP- report and affording the inmate his due process required stitution legitimizes slavery in the case of those convicted SHU. Notably an analytical study of CDCR violence since by law. of a crime. This amendment runs counter to various treaties Madrid’s Jan. 1995 ruling will reveal a prison system a lot the U.S. is a signatory to, which the constitution mandates is worse off since PBSP-SHU opened.) 3. Comply with U.S. Commission 2006 Recommen- “the supreme law of the land.” The United Nations charter See: U.S.D.C. – N.D. Cal #coo – 905 S.I., Lira v. Cate dations Regarding an End to Long-Term Solitary Con- on human rights, which bars all forms of slavery, is one such order dated 9-30-09 – “Findings of fact and conclusions fi nement - CDCR shall implement the fi ndings and recom- treaty. The U.S. judicial system, however, can only decide of law” (wherein, after a court trial, the court held mendations of the US commission on safety and abuse in what is and what is not constitutional—they do not have the CDCR-PBSP-SHU offi cials denied Lira of procedural America’s prisons fi nal 2006 report regarding CDCR SHU power to hold that portions of the constitution itself are un- and substantive due process…including that the 180 day facilities as follows: constitutional. classifi cation reviews of his continued SHU retention A) End Conditions of Isolation (p. 14) Ensure that Accordingly, as a direct result of having the legal status of (mandated in Madrid) were meaningless (id., order at prisoners in SHU and Ad-Seg (Administrative Segrega- slaves under the U.S. constitution, prisoners are disenfran- p. 3, 40-42), and that PBSP-SHU (for 8 years) caused tion) have regular meaningful contact and freedom from chised from the bourgeois political process. They are also Lira serious mental illness. Such principles apply to all extreme physical deprivations that are known to cause stripped of their social responsibility, held in a condition of (however, very few obtain relief). lasting harm. (pp. 52-57) dependency, dehumanized, and in general treated by their B) Make Segregation a Last Resort (p. 14). Create captors as less than full human beings. INTERNATIONAL VIOLATIONS a more productive form of confi nement in the areas of The next step in this process is for the prisoner to ask her (i.e., U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and allowing inmates in SHU and Ad-Seg [Administrative or his self, “who in this society is knowingly and openly in 1984 convention against torture and other cruel, inhumane Segregation] the opportunity to engage in meaning- support of the slavery of millions of U.S. citizens—who is or degrading treatment or punishment ratifi ed by U.S.A. ful self-help treatment, work, education, religious, and pro-slavery?” When put in this context the number will be 1994). other productive activities relating to having a sense of relatively small. The next question is who is supportive of Wherein the 1984 (C.A.T.) Article 1 defi nes, and criminal- being a part of the community. disenfranchising millions of U.S. citizens from the electoral izes “Torture” (i.e., “any act by which severe pain or suffer- C) End Long-Term Solitary Confi nement. Release in- process? The number will again be small. And fi nally, who is ing, whether physical or mental, is intentionally infl icted on mates to general prison population who have been ware- in support of the torture of prisoners and the high recidivism/ a person for such purpose as obtaining from him or a third housed indefi nitely in SHU for the last 10 to 40 years failure rate of current correctional practices?1 person information or a confession, punishing him for an act (and counting). When all is said and done the number of those who re- he or a third person has committed or is suspected of hav- D) Provide SHU Inmates Immediate Meaningful Ac- spond in the affi rmative to these three questions will not be ing committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third cess to: a large one. person,…when such pain or suffering is infl icted by or at the i) adequate natural sunlight The point I am trying to get across here is that what is instigation of or with the consent acquiescence of Public Of- ii) quality health care and treatment, including the right, good, and just is on our side. Only that which is evil, fi cial or other person acting in Offi cial Capacity”). mandate of transferring all PBSP-SHU inmates with bad, and unjust will oppose us. There are no exceptions - (Article 2) violations are crimi- chronic health care problems to the New Folsom Medi- There are 2.3 million of us on the inside, 7.3 more million nal acts (Article 4). Clearly the acts and omissions summa- cal SHU facility. with only one foot on the streets, and 14 million ex-cons for rized herein violate clearly established U.S. Constitution us to draw from—not counting friends, families, and sup- principles, and International Treaty Law (a fl agrant viola- 4. Provide Adequate Food - cease the practice of denying porters. Moreover, the failure of the status quo has become tion of Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution, which affi rms that adequate food, and provide wholesome and nutritional meals so apparent that even conservatives are talking about chang- treaty law is the “Supreme Law of the Land”). including special diet meals, and allow inmates to purchase es in penal practices. additional vitamin supplements. The existing bad economic situation on the streets is yet CONCLUSION A) PBSP staff must cease their use of food as a tool to another ally. With right on our side, and some 25 million GOOD CAUSE be demonstrated, the complainants re- punish SHU inmates. friends, is there any reason why we cannot build a national quest a formal investigation, offi cial international condem- B) Provide a sergeant/lieutenant to independently ob- struggle aimed at rectifying this terrible situation? nation of said policies and practices, as well as direct action serve the serving of each meal, and ensure each tray has Is the color of some asshole’s skin or the region he comes by those affected, as deemed warranted, just and necessary the complete issue of food on it. from more important than our common cause—is it more to right these wrongs. C) Feed the inmates whose job it is to serve SHU important that what is right and just? These artifi cial divi- meals with meals that are separate from the pans of food sions are all that stand between you and the unity needed D. Troxell sent from kitchen for SHU meals. to start this glorious work. It is time to set aside those old T. Ashker childish games, time to stop playing at being the man’s fool. S.N. Jamaa—Dewberry 5. Expand and Provide Constructive Programming It is time for you to put on your big girl panties. It is time to Anthony Castellanos and Privileges for Indefi nite SHU Status Inmates. Ex- implement All for One - One for All. G. Franco amples include: The system has stolen your sense of responsibility; to take Gabriel Huerte A) Expand visiting regarding amount of time and add- it back all you need do is exercise it! The process starts by James Crawford ing one day per week. talking with each other. Then studying, together or sepa- B) Allow one photo per year. rately. Planning and peacefully implementing soon follow. *NOTE: On February 5, 2010, the original of this com- C) Allow a weekly phone call. Take what is yours, take responsibility! We are indeed our plaint was sent to Gov. Schwarzenegger & CDCR Secretary D) Allow Two (2) annual packages per year. A 30 lb. brother’s keeper. ● Cate. ● package based on “item” weight and not packaging and [Ed. Note: There are other names associated with this un- box weight. E) Expand canteen and package items allowed. Allow 1. Think of the seventy percent unemployment rate for ex-convicts dertaking, but they are too numerous to list here. At the start in California and, according to the governor’s offi cial website, the us to have the items in their original packaging [the cost it appears as if there will be between 50 and 60 participants.] seventy percent recidivism rate in that state. 8 PRISON FOCUS INTERNATIONAL YEAR IN POST RACIAL AMERICA THE BRUTALITY OF OF PEOPLE OF AFRIKAN PRISONS FEAST ON SUPERMAX CONFINEMENT DESCENT: CALL FOR BLACK GIRLS By Jean Casella and James Ridgeway ot to be missed by Solitary Watchers is a new article SUPPORT By Rachel Pfeffer, Mar 15, 2011 on supermax confi nement published in the Boston frican American girls and young women have be- he hundreds of years of residing within the boundar- NReview. The piece is by Lance Tapley, known for his come the fastest growing population of incarcerated ies of those territories referred to as the U.S.A. has investigative reporting in the Portland Phoenix. This com- Ayoung people in the country. Efforts to stop mass prehensive piece makes a strong case for identifying solitary Tseen no signifi cant improvement for the quality of life incarceration focused on black girls are almost nonexistant confi nement–and the abusive practices that accompany it–as of those Afrikan-descended peoples who were abducted, tak- in government policy, the media, foundations and academia. en captive, forced into exile and sold into bondage. Such is torture. Tapley points to “an irony in the negative reaction of Recently, the Thelton Henderson Center for Social Justice many Americans to the mistreatment of ‘war on terrorism’ the case in spite of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Vot- at the University of California, Berkeley’s Boalt Law School ing Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, both ‘Urban Renewal’ prisoners at Guantánamo”: took the bold and necessary step of organizing a day-and-a- Tens of thousands of American citizens are being held in and ‘Model Cities’ programs of L.B.J.’s ‘Great Society’ era, half free event titled, “African American Girls and Young Affi rmative Action and every other social welfare program equivalent or worse conditions in this country’s super-harsh, Women and Juvenile Justice System: A Call to Action.” super-maximum security, solitary-confi nement prisons. The that has come and gone. As we have entered into a ‘modem The beauty of this conference was the focus on black girls day slave era’ in lieu of the ‘Prison Industrial Complex’; it Obama administration—somewhat unsteadily—plans to shut and the passionate energy to create a path for action among down the Guantánamo center and ship its inmates should be clear, by now, that we as a collective body of peo- the participants. ple will never enjoy the full benefi t of our humanity so long to one or more supermaxes in the United States, as though Academics and activists, among them formerly incarcer- this would mark a substantive change. In the supermaxes in- as we continue to expect the ‘oppressor class’ of these United ated African American girls and young women, gathered to- States to treat us as their peers and continue to seek redress mates suffer weeks, months, years, or even decades of mind- gether from across the divides of class, age, race and place destroying isolation, usually without meaningful recourse to under their capitalistic system. to talk about what we know about these young people, their By now it should be clear that we must apply some other challenge the conditions of their captivity. Prisoners may be interaction with the criminal justice system--and what we are regularly beaten in cell extractions, and they receive meager process and strategy besides one predicated by assimilation, going to do about it. integration and inclusion into that which is referred to as the health services. The isolation frequently leads to insane be- Sociologist Nikki Jones of UC Santa Barbara, and Meda havior including self-injury and suicide. American Dream. Therefore, it is being suggested that we Chesney-Lind, University of Hawaii opened up the confer- formulate a comprehensive, coordinated, strategic plan of Tapley’s reporting has helped make public the brutality ence with a look at the statistics. “No”, said Jones, “Black of “cell extraction”–the act of removing a prisoner from his action to seek all the rights guaranteed to national minori- girls are not committing more crimes, even though they are ties under international law. During this ‘International Year cell, which is often done with excessive force, regardless of being incarcerated in record numbers.” whether the prisoner resists. In the Boston Review article, he of People of Afrikan Descent’, let us develop a platform and “I’ve been studying this for decades”, said Chesney-Lind. mechanism to articulate our demand for the human rights describes one prisoner’s experiences, and includes a leaked She added, “We have never seen these kind of numbers be- video of a cell extraction in Maine: that this U.S. government has systemically denied us ever fore. National policies like zero tolerance are responsible for since the fi rst of our fore-parents set foot on the various “They beat the shit out of you”, Mike James said, hunched the school to prison pipeline. And a dual justice system that near the smeared plexiglass separating us. He was talking shores in this western hemisphere. treats white girls differently from black girls is dispropor- We need not expect nor look to the political elite and rul- about the cell “extractions” he’d endured at the hands of the tionately impacting African American girls.” supermax-unit guards at the Maine State Prison. ing class of the global society to qualify our demand for self- She continued, “In 2008, we knew the arrest rate in Cali- determination and political independence. We need only be “They push you, knee you, poke you”, he said, his voice fornia was 49 out of every 1,000 for black girls, 8.9 per 1,000 faint but ardent through the speaker. “They slam your head men and women enough to take a death-defying determined for white girls and 14.9 per 1,000 for Latinas.” stance in pursuit of that which is rightfully ours, until we against the wall and drop you on the fl oor while you’re The cause of the over criminalization of African American cuffed.” He lifted his manacled hands to a scar on his chin. achieve our victory. Likewise, we cannot and should not ex- young women is best understood by looking back through pect the United Nations to deliver us from the condition of “They split it wide open. They’re yelling ‘Stop resisting! the lens of American history and the ideological construction Stop resisting!’ when you’re not even moving.” oppression and tyranny under which we subsist. However, of black criminality. the international arena does provide an excellent forum James experienced frequent cell extractions—on one oc- “The shackles of slavery endured into other eras, includ- casion, fi ve of them in a single day. In this procedure, fi ve wherein to present our argument. Thereby, the entire world ing convict leasing systems and chain gangs”, said Prisicilla will come to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we hollering guards wearing helmets and body armor charge Ocen, a professor at UCLA’s Critical Race Studies. into the cell. The point man smashes a big shield into the are justifi ed in pursuing our liberation in direct accord with “In order to sustain these systems, de-humanizing ste- international law. prisoner. The others spray mace into his face, push him onto reotypes of black women were created to maintain the dif- the bed, and twist his arms behind his back to handcuff him, U.S. Held Political Prisoners & Prisoners of War ference between white and African American women”, she In regard to Political Prisoners and P.O.W.’s held impris- connecting the cuffs by a chain to leg irons. As they continue said. “Black girls are still dealing with racial and gendered to mace him, the guards carry him screaming to an observa- oned on U.S. territory we intend to initiate an active, non- stereotypes that were used to justify punishment.” passive campaign to push for the Offi ce of the United Na- tion room, where they bind him to a special chair. He re- Ocen continued, “These historical stereotypes laid the mains there for hours. tions High Commissioner for Human Rights to support an groundwork for the creation of a dual criminal justice system effort to develop and convene a Truth and Reconciliation A scene such as this might have taken place at Abu Ghraib, – one where African American women and girls are treated where American soldiers tormented captured Iraqis. But as Commission as a means of resolving; a) the status of those differently for the same behaviors.” whom have been identifi ed, by popular opinion, as Politi- described by prisoners and guards and vividly revealed in Many participants saw the treatment of African American a leaked video (the Maine prison records these events to cal Prisoners and Prisoners of War imprisoned on U.S. ter- girls in the justice system as criminal with little accountabil- ritory in the aftermath of the Civil Rights/Black Liberation ensure that inmates are not mistreated), an extraction is the ity. “Adults are committing crimes too; this is part of the supermax’s normal, zero-tolerance reaction to prisoner dis- Struggle, b) the fact that the Liberation Struggle was a legiti- story that needs to be told”, said Barry Krisberg, Research mate ‘Revolutionary Movement’ in full compliance with the obedience, which may be as minor as protesting bad food by and Policy Director at UC Berkeley’s Earl Warren Institute covering the cell door’s tiny window with a piece of paper. stipulations defi ned in the U.N. General Assembly resolution on Law. # 3103, ratifi ed on 12-12-1973 stating: “The struggle of peo- Such extractions occur all the time, not just in Maine but Krisberg went on, “Once in the criminal justice system, throughout the country. The principle applied is total control ples under colonial or alien domination and racist regimes African American girls are treated with brutality, so much for the implementation of their rights to self-determination of a prisoner’s actions. Even if the inmate has no history of emotional and sexual abuse. We are violating African Ameri- violence, when he leaves the cell he’s in handcuffs and ankle and independence is legitimate and in full accord with the can girls’ human rights everyday in all 58 counties of Cali- principles of international law.”, and c) the fact that the U.S. shackles, with a guard on either side. fornia. Where are the lawsuits? Where is the accountability?” But he doesn’t often leave the cell. In Maine’s supermax, government conducted ‘Low Intensity Warfare’ against the The breadth of the problem seems overwhelming, yet no Black Liberation Movement in response to that Liberation which is typical, an inmate spends 23 hours a day alone in a one at the conference seemed daunted. The resolve in the 6.5-by-14-foot space. When the weather is good, he’ll spend Struggle. room at Boalt Law School was palpable and the ideas for On behalf of the Jericho Movement we request this body an hour a day, fi ve days a week, usually alone, in a small action began to fl ow. Formerly incarcerated participants, dog run outdoors. Radios and TVs are forbidden. Cell lights give its full support to this and all other initiatives being con- who work at the Center for Young Women’s Development ducted in pursuit of amnesty and the unconditional release of are on night and day. When the cold food is shoved through (CYWD), and other formerly incarcerated African American the door slot, prisoners fear it is contaminated by the feces, our Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War. girls will lead these efforts. They are the experts. In addition, we call on those bodies and organizations rep- urine, and blood splattered on the cell door and corridor sur- For the past 17 years, young women at CYWD have been faces by the many mentally ill or enraged inmates. The pris- resented here to encourage their respected members and par- leaving jail, the street economies and gangs to work for self- ticipants to sign any and all petitions being circulated calling oner is not allowed a toothbrush but is provided a plastic nub healing, social justice, policy change and a meaningful place to use on a fi ngertip. Mental-health care usually amounts to for the U.S. congress to re-open COINTELPRO Hearings. in their communities. This initiative is being executed as a means of giving cre- a fi ve-minute, through-the-steel-door conversation with a so- “The call to action is the task before us—there are a num- cial worker once or twice a week. The prisoner gets a shower dence to the claim that the U.S. government engaged in il- ber of things we can do”, said Lateefah Simon, activist legal activities to apprehend, prosecute and convict a great a few times a week, a brief telephone call every week or two, and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil and occasional “no-contact” access to a visitor. many of those languishing in prison on account of their po- Rights San Francisco. litical activities, associations and views. ● The article also debunks the myth that prisoners in pro- “The Henderson Center can provide institutional support longed solitary confi nement are “the worst of the worst.” for African American Leaders, who are engaging in the crim- When supermaxes were built across the country in the inal justice system. We can convene all the judges, we can 1980s and 1990s, they were theoretically for “the worst of organize ourselves locally and nationally to focus on African the worst”, the most violent prisoners. But an inmate may be American girl”, said Simon. “Yes, let’s do that--we want our put in one for possession of contraband such as marijuana, girls to be free.” if accused by another inmate of being a gang member, for There is room for everyone to have a meaningful part in hesitating to follow a guard’s order, and even for protec- efforts to stop the over incarceration of African American tion from other inmates. Several prisoners are in the Maine girls or young women. For more information about how to supermax because they got themselves tattooed. By many get involved in this effort please contact: african.american. accounts mental illness is the most common denominator; [email protected]. ● mentally ill inmates have a hard time following prison rules. Rachel Pfeffer is the founder of the Center for Young A Wisconsin study found that three-quarters of the prisoners Women’s Development and currently on the Advisory Board. in one solitary-confi nement unit were mentally ill. In Maine, For more information www.cywd.org. http://ethnoblog. over half of supermax inmates are classifi ed as having a seri- newamericamedia.org/2011/03/in-post-racial-america-pris- ous mental illness. ● ons-feast-on-black-girls-1.php# Submitted by Jericho Amnesty Movement

NUMBER 37 9 Movement, said Alexander, author of the hugely popular fi rst ever rejection of a Commission recommendation. That MASS INCARCERATION 2010 book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the powder-crack legislation did not apply retroactively, thus CREATES COSTLY Age of Colorblindness. Pennsylvania’s prison population, failing to mitigate stiff crack cocaine sentences (often ten for example, soared from 8,243 in 1980 to 51,487 in 2010, years for simple possession) that leaves blacks and Hispan- DISASTER ACROSS while the California prison population leapt during the same ics languishing in federal prisons. (Federal authorities rarely period from 23,264 to over 170,000. Incarceration costs are prosecute whites for crack cocaine violations despite federal AMERICA especially obscene when compared to college costs. statistics documenting that whites are the nation’s largest us- By Linn Washington Jr. A report released in January 2011 by Pennsylvania’s audi- ers of crack cocaine.) erman Garner doesn’t dispute the drug charge that tor general noted the Keystone State now spends $32,059 “Obama and [US Attorney General Eric] Holder have no slammed him in prison for nine years. Garner does annually to imprison one person…a cost that exceeds the an- courage when it comes to the prison-industrial complex”, Dr. Hdispute the damning circumstances that doing the nual $20,074 tuition for the MBA degree program at Penn Cornell West said. ● time for his crime still leaves him penalized despite his hav- State University. Source URL: http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/545 ing ended his sentence in the penal system. Garner carries A report released in January 2010 by a UCLA professor the “former felon” stain. That status slams employment noted that the Golden State spends over $48,000 annually to doors shut in his face despite his having a MBA Degree and imprison one person, more than four times the tuition cost CONSCIOUSNESS, two years of law school. of UCLA for a California resident. Back in 1980, California “I’ve applied for jobs at thousands of places in person and spent more of its state budget on higher education than on LEADERSHIP AND on the internet, but I’m unable to get a job”, said Garner, prisons, but that had reversed by 2010, with more of that a Cleveland, Ohio resident who recently published a book state’s budget going for prisons than for higher education. LIBERATION about his prison/life experiences titled Wavering Between America’s corrosive War on Drugs – a “war” that basi- THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHANGE Extremes. cally ignores drug kingpins – has devastated black families, By: Tony Stitt Recently Garner joined hundreds of people attending a author/professor Alexander said. “A black child today is less he prison culture is on the same level of existence, day-long conference at Princeton University entitled “Im- likely to be raised in a two-parent household than during consciousness and development as slave plantations prisonment Of A Race”, that featured presentations by schol- slavery”, she said. “In major urban areas almost one-half of Twith the majority of those within the prison system ars and experts on the devastating, multi-faceted impact of black men have criminal records. Thus they face a lifetime having the same mind-set of slaves who feared death more mass incarceration across America. of legalized discrimination”, encompassing exclusions from than oppression, and had no idea of the power of unity. The U.S. imprisons more people per capita than any coun- employment and access to fi nancial assistance required to Prior to being placed in the SHU, I spent most of my time try on earth, accounting for 25 percent of the world’s pris- secure a viable quality of life. trying to awaken a level of consciousness and advocacy oners, despite having just fi ve percent of the world’s popu- Africa-Americans are 13 percent of America’s population within prisoners (this was a very diffi cult task for me be- lation. America currently holds over two million in prisons and 14 percent of the nation’s drug users but are 37 percent cause of the psychological chains upon their minds). To my with double that number under supervision of parole and of persons arrested for drugs and 56 percent of the inmates in amazement, I’m fi nding the same problems with the majority probation, according to federal government fi gures. Mass state prisons for drug offenses, noted the 2009 congressional of those around me here in the SHU. incarceration consumes over $50-billion annually across testimony of Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentenc- The disruption of most prisoners’ consciousness before America – money far better spent on creating jobs and im- ing Project and a conference panelist. they come to prison, and the dark alien consciousness in proving education. Both ex-felon Herman Garner and Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr., prison, has reduced them from being their true selves to sub- Under federal law persons with drug convictions like Gar- chair of Princeton’s Center for African American Studies, missive and complacent beings notorious for their destruc- ner are permanently barred from receiving fi nancial aid for which hosted the conference, expressed similar views on the tive behavior. education, food stamps, welfare and publicly funded hous- impacts of mass incarceration. Dr. Glaude said mass incar- It’s my belief, that in order to break these chains of slavery ing. ceration is a “moral crisis with political and social conse- upon prisoner’s minds the prison system must bring these But only drug convictions trigger these exclusions under quences for America’s future”, during his remarks opening minds to an embryonic state wherein they can take things federal law. Violent bank robbers, white-collar criminals like the conference. from them. This pacifi cation of their minds lessens the Wall Street scam artists who steal billions, and even mur- Garner, in an interview, described the US prison system chances of igniting the fuel of revolution that once burned derers who’ve done their time do not face the post-release as the “biggest problem” in the American black community. within them. deprivations slapped on those with drug convictions on their While politicians pushing punitive policies help drive mass With a base of over 160,000 people, the prison population records, including those imprisoned for simple possession, incarceration its budget- busting persistence implicates the could be a force to be reckoned with, and has the ability to and not major drug sales. blind-eye of society, said one conference panelist, history build a coffer containing millions of dollars. Such a move- “Academics see this topic of mass incarceration as num- professor Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, the new director of ment requires conscious leadership that isn’t faint of heart or bers, but for millions it is their daily lives”, said Princeton the fabled Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture swayed by corruption like its opposition. conference panelist Dr. Khalilah Brown-Dean of Yale Uni- in New York City. During the 1960s and 1970s, strong and unafraid lead- versity. Exclusions mandated by federal laws compound “Middle-class whites and blacks in the U.S. are a new ers within the prison system stood up and spoke out against the legal deprivations of rights found in the laws of most kind of ‘Silent Majority’ regarding mass incarceration”, Dr. their oppression and the corrupted prison environment. It’s states, such as barring ex-felons from jobs and even stripping Muhammad charged. “This ‘Silent Majority’ supports unjust time for new leaders to rise up and take charge of the prison ex-felons of their right to vote. “Mass incarceration raises policies of increased law enforcement and incarceration as movement for change, freedom and the abolishing of the questions of protecting and preserving democracy”, Dr. the only way to address crime”, ignoring proven alternative present failed prison system. Brown-Dean said, referencing the estimated fi ve-million- approaches like “jobs, education and ending societal inequi- Over the years I’ve heard stories about the demise of pris- plus Americans barred from voting by such felony disenfran- ties.” on leaders, who led the charge in the past, and I have always chisement laws. Famed Princeton Professor Dr. Cornell West criticized been energized by their spirit—holding on to the belief that Many of those felony disenfranchisement laws date from both the black middle class and black leadership for inac- we can restore today that which they gave their lives for. measures enacted in the late 1800s which were devised tion on mass incarceration. “The new black middle class It is time for prisoners of all races, and different neigh- specifi cally to bar blacks from voting, as a way to preserve and black leadership are not attuned to the suffering in poor borhoods, to once again put an end to fi ghting amongst America’s apartheid. During the 2000 presidential election black communities”, West said during the conference’s Key- ourselves and unite as one clenched fi st to fi ght against the Republican offi cials in Florida manipulated that state’s an- note Conversation between him and Professor Alexander. bureaucracy that keeps us behind barbed wire and concrete ti-felon voting law fraudulently to bar tens of thousands of “We need more middle-class people with genuine respect for walls. Sun Tzu pointed out in the text, “The Art Of War”, that blacks from voting. For example, many people with common the poor. This is more than serving as role model mentors”, correct leadership and strong alliances are the key to a suc- names like John Smith who shared their name with a felon he said. Author Alexander said ending the “mind-boggling cessful revolution. So leaders stand up and begin to re-build were barred from voting, despite having no criminal record. scale” of mass incarceration requires “a major social move- the bridges among our fellow prisoners. Until next time, Republican George W. Bush won by Florida by a razor thin ment.” brothers and sisters. ● 537 vote margin…a margin secured by that felon disenfran- One attendee at the Princeton conference, Daryl Brooks, Tony Stitt, Pelican Bay State Prison chisement scheme. That victory in the state where George an activist in Trenton, NJ who operates the respected W.’s brother Jeb served as governor sent him to the White “Today’s News N.J.” blog, backs Alexander’s sug- House. gestion. “To fi x this problem we need mass boycotts. Policies creating barriers to things like education and em- America only understands money and violence. We ployment make it “increasingly diffi cult” for persons recent- need to shutdown businesses like during the 60s”, said ly released from prison to “remain crime-free” according Brooks, who spent three-years in prison for a convic- to a report released earlier this year by the Smart on Crime tion he says was false, aimed at crushing his activism. Coalition. “Blacks leaders allowed this incarceration to happen by More than 60 percent of the two-million-plus people in doing too little to challenge this repression”, Brooks American prisons are racial and ethnic minorities. “The U.S. said. imprisons more than South Africa did under apartheid. A na- The Obama Administration is doing too little to ad- tion that promotes democracy has a racial in its pris- dress mass incarceration and its impacts, many of the ons. We must break that caste system”, said the special guest Princeton panelists and conference attendees agreed. speaker at the “Imprisonment” conference, Pennsylvania These critics blast the Obama Administration for what Death Row Journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, who telephoned they called its tepid approaches to the torturous scourge from prison. Racism is written all over the economically/ of 240 sexual assaults daily in state and federal pris- socially debilitating practices embedded in mass incarcera- ons, charging it with foot-dragging on the tion. An often cited University of Wisconsin study found that Elimination Act which was approved by Congress dur- 17 percent of white ex-con job seekers received interviews, ing the administration of George W. Bush. compared to only fi ve percent of black ex-con job seekers While Obama fulfi lled a campaign pledge to address – a race-based disparity that is additionally devastating for the sentencing disparity penalizing powder cocaine people of color like Garner. more harshly than crack cocaine (a drug derived from Ohio State University Law Professor Michelle Alexander, powder cocaine), Obama’s proclivity for bipartisan the featured speaker at that Princeton conference streamed consensus has resulted in legislation that lower but did live on the internet, said a major reason why imprisonment not eliminate the disparity. rates soared during the past four decades despite decreases A 1995 US Sentencing Commission report called in crime rates is anti-crime policies craftily manipulated by for eliminating the scientifi cally bogus disparity a rec- conservative Republican offi cials for political purposes. ommendation rejected by Democratic President Bill Harsh anti-crimes policies of the 1970s and 1980s were Clinton and the Republican controlled Congress – the largely a “punitive backlash” to advances of the Civil Rights By Michael David Russell

10 PRISON FOCUS A PARTIAL CALIFORNIA PRISONER’S RESOURCE LIST Provided by the Prison Activist Resource Center

Death Penalty Focus Center for the Children of Incarcerated Parents Prison University Project 870 Market Street, Suite 859 P.O. Box 41-286 PO Box 492 San Francisco, CA, 94102 Eagle Rock, CA, 90041 San Quentin, CA, 94964 (415) 243-0143 (626) 449-2470 (415) 455-8088 http://www.deathpenalty.org http://e-ccip.org/index.html http://www.prisonuniversityproject.org [email protected] [email protected] info@prisonuniversity project.org Dedicated to abolishing capital punishment through Provides free educational material for incarcerated parents Provides excellent higher education programs to people grassroots organizing, media outreach, nationwide coalition and their children, as well as therapeutic services, family re- incarcerated at ; to create a replica- building, and education of political and civic leaders and the unifi cation services, and related information. Many services ble model for such programs; and to stimulate public aware- public about the death penalty and its alternatives. Does not are free. ness and meaningful dialogue about higher education and offer any legal services or become involved in individual le- criminal justice in California. gal cases. Centro Legal De La Raza 3022 International Blvd, Suite 410 Prisoners Literature Project Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund Inc. Oakland, CA, 94601 2022 Blake St 2212 6th St. (510) 437-1554 Berkeley, CA, 94704 Berkeley, CA, 94710 http://centrolegal.org/en/services/advocacy.html http://www.prisonersliteratureproject.com (800) 348-4232 Provides many services for immigrants and helps with de- No Texas or Oregon requests. Request by subject. Stamps CA Prisoners Only. DREDF takes on very few cases each tention cases. or donations greatly appreciated. year. We receive far more requests for assistance than our resources allow us to take on. If we cannot take your case we Critical Resistance: Beyond the Prison Industrial San Francisco AIDS Foundation can provide you with referrals to other organizations. Please Complex National Offi ce 995 Market St, Ste 200 do not send original supporting materials. Please note; we do 1904 Franklin Street suite 504 San Francisco , CA, 94103 not provide assistance with disability benefi ts such as denial Oakland, CA, 94612 (415) 487-3000 of Social Security Disability benefi ts. (510) 444-0484 http://www.sfaf.org/ http://www.criticalresistance.org [email protected] Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes (FACTS) Critical Resistance provides information on the prison Provides California HIV/AIDS hotline at 800- 367-AIDS. 3982 S. Figueroa Street #209 industrial complex and produces quarterly newspaper “The Puts out publication called BETA, available in Spanish and Los Angeles, CA, 90037 Abolitionist.” Please do not contact for legal help. CR has English. http://www.facts1.com chapters in Baltimore, Chicago, Gainesville, Los Angeles, (213) 746-4844 New Orleans, New York City, Tampa-St. Petersburg, and San Francisco Children of Incarcerated Parents Works to amend California’s Three Strikes law to target Washington DC. Partnership. violent felonies only. Quarterly newsletter (by donation). P.O. Box 293, 1563 Solano Ave. Print return address exactly if you want a response. National Center for Lesbian Rights: California offi ce Berkeley, CA, 94707. 870 Market Street suite 370 http://www.sfcipp.org Free Battered Women San Francisco, CA, 94102 [email protected] 1540 Market Street suite 490 (415) 392-6257 2.4 million U.S. children have a parent behind bars today. San Francisco, CA, 94102 http://www.nclrights.org The partnership formed to improve the lives of incarcerated (415) 255-7036 x320 Provides legal referrals for LGBTQQI children and to demand a “Bill of Rights” for them, down- http://www.freebatteredwomen.org loadable from the website in English and Spanish. “In California, the majority of women prisoners are survi- National Center for Youth Law vors of domestic violence; some are doing time for defend- 405 14th Street, 15th Floor SYDA Foundation Yoga Prison Project ing themselves and their children, or were forced to confess Oakland, CA, 94612 PO Box 99140 to crimes. Join the movement to free battered women from http://www.youthlaw.org Emeryville, CA, 94662 prison.” [email protected] Mails monthly free newsletter and the “Siddha Yoga Home Provides information, referrals, technical assistance, or Study Course” to any inmate that requests it. Justice Now written materials; serves as co-counsel in cases affecting a 1322 Webster Street suite 210 large number of children and families. Assists lawyers who The Hepatitis C Support Project (HCSP) Oakland, CA, 94612 are directly representing at-risk or incarcerated youth. Pub- PO Box 427037 Hepatitis C Support Project (510) 839-7654 lishes Youth Law News. San Francisco, CA, 94142 http://www.jnow.org http://www.hcvadvocate.org/ Focuses solely on the needs of women prisoners. They National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights [email protected] work on alternative `sentencing, document human rights 310 8th Street suite 303 Publishes monthly patient newsletter. Fact sheets on Hep abuses in prison, and their Building a World without Prisons Oakland, CA, 94607 C available for free download in fi ve languages. project (works with women prisoners to get their words and (510) 465-1984 art in the media) http://www.nnirr.org Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex (TGI) Helps monitor and share information to build campaigns Justice Project La Raza Centro Legal Inc. against immigration raids, police collaboration with immi- 342 9th Street suite 202B 474 Valencia Street, Suite 295 Attn: Detention Project gration enforcement, abuses by immigration police or other San Francisco, CA, 94103 San Francisco, CA, 94103 law enforcement agents, and BICE and other DH.S. activity (415) 252-1444 (415) 575-3500 in workplaces, neighborhoods, and public spaces. http://www.tgijp.org http://www.lrcl.org The TGI Justice Project works mainly with prisoners in Resources and possible legal referrals for INS detainees in Prison Program at Buddhist Peace Fellowship CA; they work on alternative sentencing, writing advocacy Northern California. We are not able to help with criminal or PO Box 3470 letters trying to help transgender prisoners get access to hor- other civil matters. Spanish services provided. Berkeley, CA, 94703 mones, fi nding attorneys and preparing cases for attorneys. (510) 655-6169 Prisoners can send confi dential legal mail to the above ad- Grassroots Movement California Offi ce http://www.bpf.org/html/current_projects/prison_program/ dress, c/o Alexander Lee, Attorney at Law. PO Box 3585 prison_program.html Oakland, CA, 94609 The Buddhist Peace Fellowship Prison Project provides WORLD (Women Organized to Respond to Life- (877) 248-6095 ministry to help prisoners develop skills to meet everyday Threatening Diseases) http://www.mxgm.org violence in prison. Also has training for inmate meditation 414 13th Street 2nd fl oor The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement is an organization programs, a Community Correspondence Program, and an Oakland, CA, 94612 of Afrikans in America/New Afrikans whose mission is to Advocacy and Education network. (510) 986-0340 defend the human rights of our people and promote self-de- http://www.womenhiv.org/ termination in our community. Prison Reform Unity Project Provides information and educational support for women 1150 Duchow Way Apt 4 Non-denominational and families infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. Span- MIM(Prisons) Folsom, CA, 95630 ish resources available. PO Box 40799 (916) 983-7618 San Francisco, CA 94140 http://prisonministry.net/prup Barrios Unidos [email protected] We are a national group of people who work on prison 1817 Soquel Avenue MIM(prisons) is a revolutionary anti-imperialist group reform issues and urgent inmate needs and when possible Santa Cruz, CA, 95062 fi ghting criminal injustice, helping prisoners to organize and helping parolees with re-entry issues. Our goals are to re- (831) 457-8208 educate themselves. Sends books and offers prisoners a free form the prison system and make it a better place based on http://www.barriosunidos.net subscription to our newspaper MIM(Prisons). rehabilitation versus warehousing. Our goal is also to help Post-release services. Performs Pow-wow/ Cinco De reduce recidivism in the United States and to resolve issues Mayo/Juneteenth ceremonies at Tracy and info packet re- Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund such as medical neglect/abuse. Our goal is that no one would lated to cultural traditions. (MALDEF)--National Offi ce be left out in the cold alone. We have a group where we try to 634 S. Spring St., 11th fl oor educate the public on what is going on through news articles. California Coalition for Women Prisoners Los Angeles, CA, 90014 It is also a place where people can come when they are in 1540 Market St. #6 (213) 629-2512 need of assistance for their imprisoned loved one or them- San Francisco, CA, 94102 http://www.maldef.org selves once released from prison. We have in the past done a (415) 255-7036 x314 Has regional offi ces in GA, IL, TX, CA, and DC. Largest nationwide picket at all the prisons to bring attention to the http://www.womenprisoners.org Latino civil rights organization. Write for more info. Pro- need for prison reform. Runs action center and produces newsletter The Fire In- vides referrals. Best to use online contact form. side

NUMBER 37 11 toward early release. PELICAN BAY STATE PRISON SHU: PEACEFUL In addition, section 2932 specifi cally governs what PROTEST HUNGER STRIKE STARTING JULY 1 procedures shall be used when credits are denied or lost for serious disciplinary offenses. In this case, Petitioner t is important for readers to understand the cruelty of the they do not follow. Nothing the court did persuaded the is considered to have committed serious misconduct by policy sanctioned by the state that allows the CDCR to guard staff or prison administration to change their abusive violating c.c.r. Title 15, section 3023. Any doubt as to place men/women under an indeterminate SHU program behavior. This place is a plantation or a prison colony and whether validation is a form of misconduct is dispelled I th only on the word of a prison informer—where there is no we prisoners are the slaves (a status legitimized by the 13 by P.C. 2035. A review of the title, legislative language offense, no violence, nor any gang or criminal activity. Yet amendment to the U.S. constitution). The guards are free to and legislative history of section 2933.6 leads to the un- prisoners who are held in indeterminate SHU are held, well, do with us as they please. They have complete control of avoidable conclusion that validation is considered seri- indefi nitely—for the rest of their lives in SHUs and Adjust- our medical care, mail, visits, property, supplies, law library ous misconduct. Accordingly, Petitioner has a statutory ment Centers across the state, and even on Death Row if access, laundry, yard, isolation, the lights in our cell, family, interest in receiving the procedural due process required validated as a gang member. friends, lock downs, etc. This is an environment in which the under section 2932. The cruelty is a protracted attack against prisoners, their prison guards can torture prisoners both physically and psy- families, friends, and all of their associates who are subject- chologically over extended periods of time. One such attack C. THE PRIVATE INTERESTS AFFECTED BY THE ed to investigations for criminal activities. It does not matter is the dehumanizing yet widely used “potty watch” which is OFFICAL ACTION IS SUBSTANTIAL if they are into crime or gang activity or not, the objective is used under false pretenses—not to fi nd drugs, but to humili- Being validated as a prison gang member or associate has to insinuate that they are and to cut off any relationships that ate other human beings. an enormously adverse impact on inmates’ private interests. may exist with the prisoner. The gang investigation offi cers The actual objective or goal of all this is to force every in- Validation has direct and collateral consequences on all as- manufacture their evidence by using inmate informers to cre- defi nitely held SHU prisoner to “debrief” (to turn rat, snitch, pects of an inmate’s life while in prison and on parole. ate an assumption of crime to attack our friends and families. turncoat, however you want do defi ne it). Some SHU pris- The CDCR’s gang investigators understand that the pris- oners break and give their captors names just to escape the 1. RELEASE DATE-LIBERTY oners held in solitary confi nement are being subjected to terrible conditions of confi nement. These prisoners are re- An inmates’ private interest in early release through credit various forms of torture and are nonetheless able to sustain warded by being placed in Special Need Yards (SNY) where earning is inevitably and directly affected by gang valida- themselves, even in the face of these ongoing attacks. Pris- living conditions are better. This has been happening since tion. See P.C. 2933.6. Petitioner is due to serve additional oners have adapted to maintain their sanity. So the gang in- the 1990s and it continues today. Ninety-fi ve percent of the months. in prison because he is validated. Validated inmates vestigators take it a step further, beyond the prison walls, debriefers lie in order to get out of the SHU and then go on are assigned indeterminate SHU terms. Therefore, they are where they work to intimidate by way of threats and other to become lifetime stoolies for the cops. ineligible to earn credits for an indeterminate amount of means our friends and families, be they children, grandpar- The CDCR uses every trick they can to force men into de- time. The longer an inmate is in SHU, the less time he will ents, sisters, bothers, parents or whomever—people who are briefi ng, including every increasing levels of what can only have to earn credits once release. Of course, this I assuming completely innocent of any gang or criminal activity. They be described at torture. But if you are innocent, or if you are he will ever be released. For those inmates with 6 years or intimidate and incriminate people across the board. They run a principled person, they force you to endure every hardship less to serve on their prison term, there is no controversy them off in fear of being prosecuted for a crime that does not in an effort to break you. It is this ever increasing attack that they will not earn any credits and will serve their maximum exist (other than to say they are under investigation). This has forced us prisoners to put aside our historical differences term. kind of attack is not only very intimidating for someone who in order to address the protracted attack on our lives and to has never even had a traffi c ticket, they are actually cruel to expose the criminal activities and abuses against all indeter- 2. MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH those dear to us. minate SHU prisoners in the state of California. Petitioner is in Pelican Bay SHU long-term solitary con- Since 1990 prisoners at Pelican Bay have been making Effective July 1st we are initiating a peaceful protest by fi nement. The harsh conditions of confi nement-validated in- complaints against abuses by prison guards. Some of these way of an indefi nite hunger strike in which we will not eat mates endure mirror those of inmates who have committed abuses against PBSP-SHU prisoners were addressed in the until our core demands are met. This hunger strike will be violent offenses while in prison. The Federal District Court Madrid case, where the court agreed that guards were re- carried on by all races, New Afrikans (Blacks), Mexicans made extensive fi ndings of fact on the conditions of confi ne- sponsible for a number of areas of prisoner mistreatment. (i.e. of all walks), whites and others who realize that we are ment imposed on validated inmates. See Madrid v. Gomez, Because medical treatment was so bad the federal court put silently being murdered by CDCR/CCPOA Union as well as 889 F. Supp 1146, 1228-1230 (N.D. Cal. 1995). Validated the prisons into receivership and appointed a special master the U.S. judicial system who have turned a blind eye while inmates are assigned indeterminate SHU terms. to oversee changes.1 Many prisoners have suffered mental we suffer a civil death at the hands of profi teers. There is overwhelming evidence that long-term solitary disorders as a direct result of their placement in the Pelican Therefore we have decided to put our fate in our own confi nement deteriorates a person’s mental and physical Bay State Prison Security Housing Units (PBSP-SHU). The hands. Some of us have already suffered a slow, agonizing health. (See e.g. Haney C, The Social Psychology of Isola- overwhelming majority of these men had not mental illness death in which the state has shown no compassion toward tion: Why Solitary Confi nement is Psychologically Harm- prior to entering the SHU, but rather lost their sanity as a these dying prisoners. Rather than compassion they turn up ful, Prison Service Journal issue #181, pp. 12-20; Haney C result of their placement in this facility, as a result of the their ruthlessness. No one wants to die. Yet under this current Mental Health Issues in Long-Term Solitary and Supermax long-term impact of such confi nement. system of what amounts to intense torture, what choice do Confi nement, 40 Crime & Delinquency 124-156 (January The Madrid ruling was a failure. Prison guards either we have? If one is to die, it will be on our own terms. 2003, Study of Pelican Bay SHU inmates); Hawkley LC, ignore the court order altogether or implement token rules Power concedes to nothing without demand. Cacioppo JT, Loneliness Matters: A Theoretical and Em- pirical Review of Consequences and Mechanisms, 40 ann. 1. According to the San Francisco Chronicle one prisoner a James Crawford, Mutop DuGuya (a/k/a Bow Low) Behav.med? 218-227 (2010); Shiovitz-Ezra S, Ayalon L. week was being killed in the state’s prison system due to medical MuTope DuGuma Situational Versus Chronic Loneliness as Risk Factors for neglect. All-Cause Mortality, 22 Int. Psychgeriatr. 455-462 (2010).). Accordingly, the private interest in maintaining one’s USING CA PENAL CODE SECTION 2933.6 TO EXPAND mental and physical well-being should be recognized by the DUE PROCESS RIGHTS FOR VALIDATED INMATES: A court. GUIDE TO ACTION 3. COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES inclusive and protects a broader range of interests than Finally, the collateral consequences of gang validation are By Edward Dumbrique under the federal constitution Id. At 1069 (citing cases). substantial. Upon being released on parole validated inmates his article is written with the aim of assisting inmates Although under the state due process analysis an are designated to the highest level of parole supervision: who want to challenge the woefully inadequate “rub- aggrieved party need not establish a protected prop- High Control. See CCR Title 15, 3504 (a)(1). High Control ber stamp” gang validation process. The following is erty interest, the claimant must nevertheless identify a designation is not a discretionary decision, it is mandatory T for validated inmates and entails substantial limitations on an argument under the California Constitution Article 1, sec- statutorily conferred benefi t or interest of which he has tions 7(A), 15. It is necessary to fi le a CDC 602 and obtain been deprived to trigger procedural due process under a parolees liberty once released. See CCR Title 15, 3504 (a) a third level response before fi ling a Habeas Corpus peti- the California Constitution and the Ramirez analysis of (1). Validated inmates released on parole are also subject to tion. In order to avoid getting your appeal screened out as what procedures are due, Ryan, 94 Cal. App. 4th at 1071 Global Positioning System (GPS) supervision, which means untimely you should fi le the CDC 602 either once you have (citing cases). being required to wear a GPS monitor for the duration of received your validation packet or after going to committee The Ramirez analysis of what procedures are due re- parole. See CCR, Title 15, 3561 (b)(2). Finally, for those in- (if you are already validated). If we are challenging this is- quires consideration of four factors: 1) The private in- mates serving life with the possibility of parole being vali- sue from Calipatria to Pelican Bay, we increase the chance terest that will be affected by the offi cial action. 2) The dated virtually ensures that the parole board will not grant a of one or more of these courts ruling in our favor, which will risk of an erroneous deprivation of such interest through parole date. benefi t us all. the procedures used, and the probable value, if any, of These collateral consequences and any others not men- additional or substitute procedural safeguards. 3) The tioned should be recognized as private interests. See Wolff v. I. PETITIONER’S DUE PROCESS RIGHTS UNDER dignitary interest in informing individual of the nature, McDonnell (1974) 418 US 539, 565 (recognizing collateral THE CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION ARE BEING grounds and consequences of the action and in enabling consequences, in support of affording increased procedural VIOLATED BY THE CURRENT GANG VALIDATION them to present their side of the story before a respon- due process). PROCESS, WHICH PROVIDES INSUFFICIENT sible governmental offi cial, and 4) The governmental in- PROCEDURES TO PROTECT THE PRIVATE INTER- terest, including the function involved and the fi scal and II. THE RISK OF ERRONEOUS DEPRIVATION OF ESTS NOW AT STAKE AFTER THE AMENDMENT administrative burdens that the additional or substitute SUCH INTEREST TROUGH THE CURRENT PRO- TO PENAL CODE SECTION 2933.6 procedure would entail. People v. Ramirez, (1979) 25 CEUDRES IS SUBSTAINTIAL; PROBABLE VALUE Cal. 3d 260, 269. OF SUBSTITUTE PROCEDURES A. STANDARD OF REVIEW California law requires a more stringent standard of A. INADEQUATE NOTICE UNDER CURRENT PRO- Our state due process constitutional analysis differs proof for disciplinary fi ndings than is dictated by the CEDURES from that conducted pursuant to the federal due process federal due process clause In re Rothwell, 164, Cal. App clause in that the claimant need not establish a prop- 4th 160 (2008). A. INADEQUATE NOTICE UNDER CURRENT erty or liberty interest as a prerequisite to invoking due PROCEDURES process protection. The state due process clause focuses B. PETITIONER HAS A STATUTORILY CONFERRED Currently, prison offi cials are not required to promptly no- rather on an individual’s due process liberty interest to BENEFIT OR INTEREST tify an inmate when evidence is obtained that is considered be free from arbitrary adjudicative procedures. Ryan v. All prisoners in California are eligible to participate to be a “source item” towards validation. As a result it can be California Interscholastic Federation- San Diego Sec- in California’s statutory sentencing scheme. See Penal many months or years after the evidence is discovered that tion, (2001) 94 Cal. App. 4th 1048, 1069. Procedural due Code sections 2931 et. Seq. Therefore, petitioner has a an inmate is notifi ed and given a chance to submit a rebuttal. process under the California Constitution is much more statutorily conferred benefi t or interest in earning credits These unwarranted delays in notifi cation have a chilling

12 PRISON FOCUS effect on inmate’s ability to marshal the facts and prepare is Penal Code section 186.22. Section 186.22 is a key sec- “perfunctory review process”); Lira v. Cate, U.S.D.C. N.D. a defense against the charge. For example, the staff mem- tion in the Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act Cal. 2009 Case No. 000-09050-SI (Judge Illston concluding ber who documented the evidence and is familiar with the (STEP). In interpreting P.C. 186.22, the court in People v. the periodic reviews of gang validation and SHU confi ne- circumstances will not be the one considering an inmate’s Englebrecht (2011) 88 Cal. App.4th 1236, 1261 held, “The ment were insuffi cient because the Classifi cation Commit- rebuttal. Also staff or inmates who have relevant information participation or acting in concert must be more than nominal, tee had no real power or interest in reviewing the merit of that can exonerate him or her will not be accessible due to passive, inactive, or purely technical.” The Englebrecht court the original validation); Also in Stewart v. Alameida, 418 transfers or release and their memories may have faded due defi nition was based on People v. Castenada (2000) 23 Cal. F. Supp.2d 1154, 1163 (N.D. Cal. 2006) (“There is a valid, to the passage of time. This creates an unnecessary risk of 4th 743, 747. In Castenada, our Supreme Court considered rational connection between institutional security and regu- erroneous deprivation and arbitrary validations. the meaning of “actively participates in any criminal street lations designed to isolate threats before their potential is gang” as used in P.C. 186.22. The California Supreme Court realized. This nexus is not destroyed by the possibility that I. PROBABLE VALUE OF SUBSTITUTE defi ned the term “as meaning involvement with a criminal inferences might sometimes be a necessary substitute for di- PROCEDURES street gang that is more than nominal or passive” Castena- rect evidence [in gang validation].”). Requiring an inmate be notifi ed within 15 days of the da, 23 Cal 4th at 747 (citing Scales v. United States (1961) If this court allows a “perfunctory review process” and date the evidence is discovered would allow the inmate 367 U.S. 203, 223: See also Scott N. Tachiki. Indeterminate mere inferences to replace direct evidence of gang associa- a fair opportunity to marshal the facts and prepare a de- Sentences in Supermax Prisons Based upon Alleged Gang tion, then many inmates will be required to serve extra years fense to the charge. Additionally, promptly notifying the Affi liations: A Reexamination of Procedural Protection and in prison based on arbitrary decisions. The result is “rubber- inmate of his alleged misconduct—gang activity will a Proposal for Greater Procedural Requirements; 83 Calif. stamp” decisions and perfunctory reviews. deter the inmate from engaging in further gang activity L. rev. 115 (1995) (arguing, inter alia, that some evidence Inmates submit rebuttals to the OCS, but these rebuttals which is in the interest of prison offi cials objective. This of misconduct should be a predicate for segregation on the receive no acknowledgement or explanation on why the would also promote accuracy and reliability in govern- basis of gang affi liation). OCS found the rebuttal unpersuasive. Upon validation and mental decision-making. For the above reasons mere inferences of gang activity/ an interval of 180 days, inmates appear before ICC for sup- association based on behavior that is nominal, passive, inac- posed consideration for release from SHU if they no longer B. NO INVESTIGATIVE EMPLOYEE UNDER tivity or purely technical should not be considered as source pose a threat to the institution. ICC regularly denies release CURRENT PROCEDURES items for validation purposes. Allowing inferences to be and does not give any written disposition explaining how the Inmates being validated are placed in administrative seg- used creates an overwhelming risk of erroneous deprivation inmate continues to be a threat other then the fact he is vali- regation. This housing status signifi cantly restricts inmate and arbitrary and discriminatory validations. dated. With OCS and ICC not having to explain the reasons movement and makes it unlikely the inmate for their actions, they have created system can collect and present evidence necessary where arbitrary decision are made by gov- for an adequate presentation of a defense. ernmental offi cials insulated from review This creates an unnecessary risk of errone- (since inmates do not know the rationale ous deprivation and arbitrary validations. behind the decisions and therefore cannot challenge them directly). I. PROBABLE VALUE OF SUBSTI- TUTE PROCEDURES I. PROBABLE VALUE OF Investigative employees are routinely SUBSTITUTE PROCEDURES assigned to inmates charged with a CDC OCS should be required to provide 115 Rules Violation Report (See CCR inmates, who are validated with a rea- Title 15; 3315 (d)). Requiring inmates sonably detailed explanation as to why who are being validated or have been source items are reliable and qualify as accused of engaging in gang activity to gang activity. OCS should also be re- be assigned an Investigative Employee quired to address the issues raised in the would ensure the inmate has the ability to inmates’ rebuttal to the suffi ciency of the present a defense to the charge. Similar to evidence. section 3315 (d) investigative employees When ICC retains an inmate on inde- would only be assigned when the inmates’ terminate SHU status they should be re- housing status makes it unlikely the in- quired to explain with suffi cient detail mate can collect and present the evidence why the inmate continue to be a threat to for his defense himself. This procedure the institution. would promote accuracy and reliability in This will encourage fairer decisions. A governmental decision-making. “reasons requirement” promotes thought by the decision maker, focuses attention C. NO RIGHT TO CALL WITNESSES on the relevant points and further protects OR PRESENT WRITTEN STATEMENTS against arbitrary decisions while promot- FROM PARTIES WITH RELEVANT ing accuracy and reliability in govern- INFORMATION UNDER CURRENT mental decision-making. It also establish- PROCEDURES es a record for judicial review. Inmates being validated cannot call wit- nesses or even present written statements F. CURRENT PROCEUDRES PROVIDE from inmates or any other parties who have MEANINGLESS REVIEWS relevant information to the presentation of a As noted above in part E, ICC is required defense. This creates an unnecessary risk of to conduct periodic reviews in order to de- erroneous deprivation and arbitrary valida- termine whether the inmate continues to tions. pose a threat to the institution and therefore I. PROBABLE VALUES OF SUBSTI- needs to be retained in SHU. Therefore, TUTE PROCEDURES the decision to validate the inmate and the The right to call witnesses is routinely subsequent decision of whether or not to granted to inmates charged with a CDC segregate him are the supposedly indepen- 115 Rules. Violation Report See CCR dent decision. The fact is inmates who are Title 15, 3315 (e). By Michael David Russell validated are guaranteed to get sent to the I. PROBABLE VALUE OF SUBSTITUTE SHU and are automatically deemed a sever threat. See OCR D. BURDEN OF PROOF REQUIRED UNDER PROCEDURES Title 15, 3341.5 (c)(2)(1)(2). The Federal District Court in CURRENT PROCEDURES: INFERENCES VS. Requiring all source items toward validation to be Liva V. Cate criticized this fact. Other courts likewise have PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE STANDARD based on activity/association that is more than nominal, held meaningful reviews to be required in order to satisfy Under current procedures, inferences of gang association passive, inactive or purely technical and based upon a due process. See e.g. In re Henderson (1972) 101 Cal. Rptr. are recognized as “scarce items” for validation purposes. See preponderance of the evidence would promote accuracy 479, 484 (“Although conduct or circumstances may have CCR Title 15, 3378 (c)(4), which states, “an associate is an and reliability in governmental decision-making. warranted the initial confi nement, lapse of time or change in inmate/parolee, who is involved periodically or regularly circumstances may subsequently dissipate or erode the legal with members or associates of a gang. This identifi cation re- E. CURRENT PROCEDURES PROVIDE justifi cation for its continuance”; Hewitt v. Helms, 459 U.S. quires at least three independent source items of documenta- INSUFFICIENT WRITTEN DISPOSITIONS 460, 477 A.9 (1983) (prison offi cials must engage in “peri- tion indicative of association with validated gang members There are three occasions in the validation process where odic review” of the decision to segregate an inmate to ascer- as associates. Validation of an inmate/parolee as an associate momentous decisions are made: 1) The Offi ce of Correc- tain “whether a prisoner remains a security risk”); McClary of a prison gang shall require that at least one source item be tional Safety Committee’s decision on whether or not the v. Keely, 4 F.Supp.2d 195, 213 (WDNY 1998) aff’d 237 F.3d a direct link to a current or former validated member or as- evidence submitted is suffi cient to validate the inmate; 2) 185(2d Circ.2001) (“Due processes not satisfi ed where the sociate of the gang.” Once an inmate is validated, the Institutional Classifi cation periodic reviews are a sham; the reviews must be meaning- This inferences used as source items for validation are of- Committee’s (ICC) decision of whether or not to release the ful an not simply perfunctory”); Giano v. Kelly, 869 F. Supp. ten based on “association” that is nominal, passive, inactive, inmate to general population or assign him an indeterminate 143, 150-151 (WDNY 1994); Rhinehart v. Gomez, 1998 WL or purely technical. The use of inferences may be appropriate SHU term, and 3) At the periodic reviews where ICC de- 118179 p.4 (N.D.Cal); Mims v Shapp, 744 F.2d 946, 951-95 in the initial decision to segregate an inmate being validated. termines whether the inmate continues to pose a threat and (3d Cir. 1984); Keely v. Brwer, 525 F.2d 394, 400 (8th Circ. However, the momentous decision to keep him segregated requires segregation or can be released from SHU. See CCR 1975) and punish the inmate for gang association should be not Title 15, 3335, 3339(a). and 3341.5 (c)(3). An inmate can be free of gang activity for years, have no founded on mere inference of gang association, which are At all three of these stages validated are not provided with violent history and still be denied release from SHU based on notoriously subjective and invite arbitrary and discrimina- an explanation or statement of reasons for the decision. The the initial validation. This is a status-based decision. Allow- tory decisions by governmental offi cials. Surely, the substan- fact that offi cials can make these judgments that affects all ing these status based on decisions with no evidence of con- tial private interests call for a fact-based fundamentally fair aspect of the inmate’s life without any justifi cation invites ar- duct or intent results in arbitrary and erroneous deprivation. decision making process. bitrary governmental action. This is exactly what the Federal CDCR’s defi nition of gang activity is found in CCR Title District Court criticized in Griffi n v. Gomez, 2008 U.S. Dist I. PROBABLE VALUE OF SUBSTITUE 15, 3000 & 3023. The authority cited by these regulations Lexis 111776 p.? (The court called the Validation process a PROCEDURES

NUMBER 37 13 ICC should be required to conduct comprehensive III. PETITIONERS DIGNITARY INTEREST selves in prison—not medicated. reviews of the inmate’s fi le and any other relevant in- The California Constitution as interpreted by the Califor- Why are mentally ill inmates being housed in C.D.C.R. formation to determine whether retention in SHU is nia Supreme Court recognizes the dignitary interests in in- because they are given deals without knowing what’s go- necessary. Similar to inmates sentenced to life in Cali- forming individuals of the nature, grounds, and consequenc- ing on. During trial proceedings if your lawyer has a doubt fornia trying to get a parole date, validated inmates are es of the activity, and in enabling them to present their side of if you’re incompetent to stand trial, you’ll be evaluated by trying to get parole from S HU and release to the general the story before a responsible governmental offi cial Ramirez therapists in order to stand trial if you’re competent. If you population. The Parole Board must conduct meaningful 158 Cal. Rptr. at 321. are mentally ill, all court proceedings stop and you are sent reviews and ICC should be required to do the same. This is what petitioner seeks through this petition. to a state hospital. Taking a deal before hand once in prison, A number of studies concluded that incarceration in they are faced with the realization of being behind bars after SHU-like conditions should be based on some evidence IV. GOVERNMENTAL INTEREST; FISCAL AND AD- the effects of drugs ware off, can’t cope with it, then abuse of overt misconduct and not status alone. See Scott N. MINISTRATIVE BURDENS medication which isn’t necessary and complicates matters Tachiki, Indeterminate Sentences in Supermax Prisons It is very expensive to house an inmate in SHU, substan- worse by brain washing individuals so they can’t function Based Upon Alleged Gang Affi liations: A Reexamina- tially more than what it could to house an inmate in general once released into society or to a E.P yard. It’s a revolving tion of Procedural Protection and a Proposal for Great population, therefore and fi scal burdens, will be off set the door with no results. Procedural Requirements, 83 Calif. L. Rev. 1115, 1138- money saved from not having to segregate the inmate. All the fi scal budget spent on psychologist, psychiatrists, 1146 (1995); Supermax Prisons: An Overview and The administrative burden that may result from affording psychic techs, meds, and numerous C.O.S. to escort inmates General Considerations, U.S. Dept. of Justice, National additional procedures with be de minimis since the burden of in C.D.C.R. can be spent on rehabilitating individuals by Institute of Corrections (Jan. 1999) (Suggesting that validating an inmate carries its own burden. These likewise given them proper housing not a isolated cell block in Maxi- segregation should be based “solely on actual behavior” offset each other. mum Security Prisons, but on a G.P. yard and given the op- because “attempting to use predictive criteria based on portunity to go to school, college, vocational school or work subjective information has led historically to unsatisfac- V. CONCLUSION (a P.I.A. job), and talk to a counselor not a psychic about how tory and possibly indefensible results”); Phillip Kassel, For all the above reasons inmates subject to validation to better your life. The Gang Crackdown in Massachusetts Confi nement : should be granted increased procedural due process under What I’m saying is, is this a warehouse to store mentally 37, 59 (1998) (discussing prison studies and arguing that the California Constitution Article I, sections 7(a), 15. ● handicapped inmates without the goals set by C.D.C.R. to prisons should “punish prisoners’’ conduct not their sta- rehabilitate him. If that’s the case make this a state hospital tus” in part because “punishing status, particularly since and have psychic around the clock caring for these mentally accurate gang identifi cations are so diffi cult, can rise to “C.D.C.R. OR STATE handicapped inmates and are C.O.s trained to deal with and the justifi ed perception of arbitrariness in prison man- capable of caring for mentally ill people without the use of agement, contributing to instability.”) Human Rights HOSPITAL” force on a handicapped person in PHY, CCOMS use of force Watch, Supermax Prisons: An overview, at http://www. he ongoing treatment of mentally ill patient who are on a handicapped person in PHU, CCOMS blocks. You de- hrw.org/reports/2000/supermax/spprmx002.htm (argu- not ill at all but suffer from post drugs induced trances cide C.D.R. or State Hospital? ● ing that “mere membership in a gang, absent actual dan- Tfrom drug abuse or temporary insanity which can be By R.A.M. Pelican Bay gerous or predatory behavior, should not be the basis remedied without min altering drugs prescribed by psycholo- for supermax confi nement.”) ; Jerry R. DeMaio, If You gists and psychiatrists. Build It They Will Come : The Threat of Overclassifi ca- C.D.C.R. California Department of Corrections and Re- THE CALL tion in Wisconsin’s , 2001 Wis. L. Rev. habilitation. By Mutope Duguma (s/n James Crawford) 207, 229 criteria, (2001) (“The only fair solution may Rehabilitation means to restore to a former capacity rank This is a call for all prisoners in Security Housing Units be to defi ne gang activity based on objective, concrete or right: to restore to good condition or health. (SHUs), Administrative Segregation (Ad-Seg), and Gen- criteria, such as documenting assaultive or threatening C.D.C.R. has incorporated a money making business in eral Populations (GP), as well as the free oppressed and behavior. This would lower the risk of misidentifying patients suffering from drug abuse and people who are not non-oppressed people to support the indefi nite July 1st 2011 gang members, and subjecting them to unnecessary in- insane at all and given medication to replace one drug with peaceful Hunger Strike in protest of the violation of our civ- tensive incarceration of (Wisconsin’s SHU equivalent”). another as for example methadone to help heroin addicts. il/human rights, here at Pelican Bay State Prison Security Further, state and federal courts have clearly rejected Mind altering drugs as in Meloril, Prozac, Thorozine, Sero- Housing Unit (PBSP-SHU), short corridor D1 through D4 guilt by association and gang membership as evidence quil etc. are being administered to inmates who are not men- and its overfl ow D5 through D10. that a specifi c act was committed. See e.g. N.A.A.C.P. tally ill and can be brought back to normal with rehabilita- It should be clear to everyone that none of the hunger v. Claiborne Hardware Co. (1982) 485 U.S. 886, 925 tion, a daily program of yard, work, and housing and proper strike participants want to die, but due to our circumstances, (rejecting not only guilt “by” association, but also guilt counseling. Instead the medication administered is damaging whereas that state of California has sentenced all of us on “for” association, characterizing guilt by association as inmate’s brains so they are unable to function and require Indeterminate SHU program to a “civil death” merely on the “a philosophy alien to the traditions of a free society… further treatment. I don’t want to go into types of damages word of a prison informer (snitch). and the First Amendment itself.”; U.S. v. Robal, 389 because I’m not a psychiatrist. The purpose of the Hunger Strike is to combat both the U.S. 258, 264 (holding unconstitutional law es- Ad-Seg/SHU psychological and physical torture, as tablishing guilt by association alone); Keyishian well as the justifi cations used of support treatment v. Board of Regents, (1967) 385 U.S. 589, 607 of the type that lends to prisoners being subjected (rejecting law resting on “the doctrine of guilt to a civil death. Those subjected to indeterminate by association which has no place here”)’ Up- SHU programs are neglected and deprived of the haus v Wyman, (1959) 360 U.S. 72, 79. (“guilt basic human necessities while withering away in a by association remains a thoroughly discredited very isolated and hostile environment. doctrine”) Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee Prison offi cials have utilized the assassination of v. McGrath, (1951) 351 U.S. 123, 175 (Douglas prisoners’ character to each other as well as the gen- J concurring) (rejecting guilt by association as eral public in order to justify their inhumane treat- “one of the most odious institutions of history”); ment of prisoners. The “code of silence” used by American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Commit- guards allows them the freedom to use everything tee v. Reno, 70 F. 3d 1045, 1063 (9th Cir. 1995) at their disposal in order to break those prisoners (“Guilt by association alone violates the First who prison offi cials and correctional offi cers (C/O) Amendment.”) ; People v. Perez, (1981) 114 Cal. believe cannot be broken. Dpp. 3d 47c, 477 (Evidence of gang membership It is this mentality that set in motion the establish- inadmissible insofar as it does not “have any ten- ing of the short corridor, D1 through D4 and its D5 dency in reason to prove a disputed fact, i.e. the though D10 overfl ow. This mentality has created identity of the person who committed the charged the current atmosphere in which C/Os and prison offense”); People v. Soto (1984) 15?? Cal. App. offi cials agreed upon plan to break indeterminate 3d 694, 712-713 (Membership in an organization SHU prisoners. This protracted attack on SHU pris- does not lead reasonably to any inference as to oners cuts across every aspect of the prison’s func- the conduct of a member on a given occasion”); tion: Food, mail, visiting, medical, yard, hot/cold People v. Gomez (1991) 235 Cal. App. 2d 957, temperatures, privileges (canteen, packages, prop- 971 (P.C. 186.22 “regulates conduct, not speech erty, etc.), isolation, cell searches, family/friends, or association, and there is no right of association and socio-culture, economic, and political depri- to engage in criminal conduct … one is free to vation. This is nothing short of the psychological/ associate with whomever one wishes under the physical torture of SHU/Ad-Seg prisoners. It takes statute as long as the primary purpose of associat- place day in and day out, without a break or rest. ing oneself with a group is not to commit crime. The prison’s gang intelligence unit was ex- It is not the associating with others about which tremely angered at the fact that prisoners who had section 186.22 addresses, but the association been held in SHU under inhuman conditions for with others about which section 186.22 address- anywhere from ten (10) to forty (40) years had not es, but the association with others for the purpose By Antonio C. Ramon been broken. So the gang intelligence unit created of promoting, furthering or assisting them in the the “short corridor” and intensifi ed the pressure of commission of crime”); People v. Castenada (2000) 23, What I do know is C.D.C.R. is making a habit of having their attacks on the prisoners housed there. The object was CAL. 4TH 742, 749 (as a person’s active participation in mentally retarded inmates housed in E.O.P. PHU, CCMS to use blanket pressure to encourage these particular isolated a criminal street gang, without more, does not amount to housing on prison yards when they require to be proper eval- prisoners to debrief (i.e. snitch on order to be released from a violation of section 186.22) uated in a state hospital like Napa, Patton, etc. SHU). For the above reasons, the segregation of validated Inmates come to prison to try to better there lives just to The C/Os and administrative offi cials are all in agreement inmates should require meaningful reviews where the be lured into the dynamics of psychology to be used as guin- and all do their part in depriving short corridor prisoners and decision to retain the inmate in SHU is based on actual ea pigs and given medication to resolve problems resulting its overfl ow of their basic civil/human rights. None of the de- conduct and evidence of gang activity and not status from long or short term drug or and alcohol abuse. These liberate attacks are a fi gment of anyone’s imagination. These alone. To determine what constitutes conduct and gang inmates that are mentally ill require a proper setting a Mental continuous attacks are carried out against prisoners to a sci- activity prison offi cials should abide by the relevant and Hospital. ence by all of them. They are deliberate and conscious acts governing regulations defi nite gang activity. See CCR Inmates recovering from temporary insanity, drug abuse against essentially defenseless prisoners. tit. 14, 3000 & 3023. should be given a chance the chance to rehabilitate them- It is these ongoing attacks that have led to the short cor-

14 PRISON FOCUS ridor and overfl ow SHU prisoners to organize ourselves uprisings like Attica Prison in New York in 1971, where pro- used this as evidence of gang activity. One prisoner became themselves around an indefi nite Hunger Strike in an effort to testing prisoners asking only to be treated like human beings friends with another prisoner while in GP only to fi nd out combat the dehumanizing treatment we prisoners of all races were massacred in cold blood on the order of politicians in later that his new friend was being investigated at the time are subjected to on a daily basis. such unbridled and savage carnage by National Guard troops of being a gang associate. He noted, “I was not aware of Therefore, on July 1, 2011, we ask that all prisoners that they also shot dead prison guards. Prison guards have that at the time. They should at least give you a warning of throughout the State of California who have been suffering been killed by inmates throughout the life of prisons in ap- who not to associate with. Even with the gun-fi re, there are injustices in General Population, Administrative Segregation parent acts of desperation. It takes very extreme conditions big signs on the walls noting that one warning shot will be and solitary confi nement, etc. to join in our peaceful strike to to make hardened prisoners do such a thing, along with con- fi red. But when it comes to getting validated and landing in put a stop to the blatant violations of prisoners’ civil/human ditions far beyond human endurance. Prisons are seething the SHU, they don’t give you any warning that you might be rights. As you know, prison gang investigators have used with frustration and anguish in an environment of unprec- speaking with someone who is a suspected gang member.” threats of validation and other means to get prisoners to en- edented violence and terrifying realities. It does not get any Yet another prisoner said they put a known gang associate gage in a protracted war against each other in order to serve worse. Suicide is common. Still, voters (i.e., society at large), in a cell near him and then claimed that he was “associat- their narrow interests. If you cannot participate in the Hunger prisoncrats, politicians and presidents steadily take more and ing” with the gang member. Still another talked with a fellow Strike then support it in principle by not eating for the fi rst more things away from us in already extremely restrictive prisoner while in reception for only a few days, but that was 24 hours of the strike. living conditions, such as visiting time, conjugal visits, read- used to validate him. I say that those of you who carry yourselves as principled ing material, property, medical treatment, access to foods Race continues to be used by the prisons to pit one pris- human beings, no matter you’re housing status, must fi ght and products, religious practices, grooming practices, access oner against another. A white prisoner noted that he was to right this and other egregious wrongs. Although it is “us” to courts and the press, the need to strike and protest, and not a member of the Nazi low riders as claimed. They used today (united New Afrikans, Whites, Northern and Southern make harsher laws that keep us in prison longer or for life. several pieces of false evidence to validate him, but most Mexicans, and others) it will be you all tomorrow. It is in The courts upheld that prisoners are not entitled to such hu- were debriefers. They tried to tie him to fi ghts at his pre- your interests to peacefully support us in this protest today, man things and may be so treated, citing the 13th Amendment vious prison claiming falsely that he had a leadership role. and to beware of agitators, provocateurs, and obstructionists, Slavery Clause. The most powerful and infl uential governing He is constantly being written up with 115s even though he because they are the ones who put ninety percent of us back and review bodies have made it clear that rather than having has never assaulted anyone. He has 602ed most of his 115s here because they could not remain principled even within human rights under the Constitution, these things, and more, and beaten them. (In one incident, he was not even on the themselves. were only privileges that can be just as easily taken away as yard at the time!) He feels his challenges to the write ups are The following demands are all similar to what is allowed they had been allowed, with no legal or moral consequence the main reason for his validation. Another prisoner reported in other super max prisons (e.g. federal Florence, Colorado, attached and at the discretion of prisoncrats. Thus, they deny that prison guards get wind of fi ghts before they happen, but Ohio and Indiana State Penitentiaries). The claim by CDCR to prisoners what is lawfully theirs. they allow them to happen anyway. and PBSP that implementing the practices of the federal pris- Surely, as any dog in an alley would sympathize, such a Pressure to Debrief: CPF views long-term isolation in the on system or that of other states would be a threat to safety constitution, system, society, and government must be over- SHU as a form of mental and physical torture that is pro- and security are exaggerations. ● thrown in the interest of humanity. There is no other solu- hibited both by the U.S. constitution and international law. [Ed. Note: The Five Core Demand are printed on page 8.] tion; everything else has failed miserably. One prisoner we talked to demonstrated the depth of the Sister Amazon, Corcoran State Prison, Ad-Seg cruelty of prison offi cials. This prisoner has a disease which will likely take his life within the coming year, and doctors ABOUT PRISONS encouraged him to contact his family as it may be his last opportunity to do so. After some hesitation, the prisoner re- rison is government. Prison is one of the most stark, PELICAN BAY STATE quested a phone call to his family. When the guards arrived living images of the tyranny of government, with its PRISON INVESTIGATIVE for what he thought would be the phone call to his family, the secrecy, unrestrained cruelty, corruption, tortuous P guard simply put a piece of paper on the door with the word conditions and treatment, extreme sexism and racism and REPORT, APRIL 2011 “DEBRIEF.” The prisoner refused and was not allowed to hate by guards, and its overall degrading nature at the hands By Ron Ahnen, CPF make the phone call. of “prisoncrats”. Mass incarceration is the product of the verview: In April, Marilyn McMahon and I had the Food: Most prisoners reported that the food was low in failures of society in terms of social institutions, economy, opportunity to talk with 16 prisoners at Pelican Bay. both quality and quantity. One prisoner said, “The food was politicians, and state and federal governments. Prisons and OWe visited mostly with prisoners on the SHU side, really good here 20 years ago.” Another reported that he had prisoners are the cover-up and scapegoats of these failures. but I note that prisoners housed in B2 on general popula- to cut back in his workout routine [his way to relieve stress] Prisons have become increasingly relied upon to hold back tion side are now being converted to a permanent Ad-Seg or due to lack of protein. He noted that spaghetti comes with and stamp out social protest of the errors and tyranny of makeshift SHU. The offi cial prison reports list “only” 3,259 sauce and noodles, but no meat. government, and the desire for people to be really free, by prisoners in SHU units system wide, but we know the real Mental Health: A few of the prisoners were willing to locking up anti-social and anti-government protesters and number is much larger than this due to Ad Seg units that speak about the diffi culty of enduring the mental torture of anyone who challenges injustice, inhumanity and tyrannical have become de facto SHUs. As in past reports, we report SHU. Several noted that SHU prisoners show clear signs of rule. Prison, by its very idea and nature, acts tyrannically to- all information anonymously to prevent retaliation by prison mental disorder including PTSD, problems relating to other ward it subjects, with or without impunity. Prisoncrats essen- guards. Here are several key issues reported by prisoners: human beings, or just plain shutting down. Stress is high. tially answer to no one and cannot be controlled with token Lockdown: After the stabbing incident in January, the Medical: Getting an appointment to see the doctor takes a toothless checks-and- balances measures. Prisons are anti- prison was on lockdown until just before our visit. For SHU, long time, sometimes 3 or 4 months. Trying to see a dentist nature and have become extremely harmful and dangerous lockdown means “no yard.” One prisoner mentioned only is even worse. One prisoner said he refuses to put in to see institutions of government, producing angry, vengeful sub- getting yard once in the last month. Another noted they re- the doctor because “all they do is take your $5, weigh you, jects, extreme violence and bizarre behavior in people who ceived no yard in January or February. and tell you ‘You’re fi ne.’ You don’t even see the doctor, but are then released back into society, untreated. Prisoncrats are Family Visits: Due to the Lockdown, visiting for southern a nurse practitioner.” One prisoner reported having all of his well aware of this cycle but care not for the public above Hispanics was denied and visiting for other prisoners was re- chronos simply cancelled after being transferred to Pelican their own self-perpetuating interest, which is money and its stricted. One prisoner noted that he was getting regular visits Bay. He was in the process of trying to get them reinstated attendant political power to buy off politicians and control while in general population, but since being moved to SHU, with the 602 process. One prisoner cannot get attention for election agendas to their benefi t which means more prisons, his wife and family have not come to visit. He stated, “SHU fl are-ups due to a slipped disk and sometimes is in so much more guards and a bigger and more powerful union and trea- put an end to my marriage, not prison.” pain he cannot even remain standing. He was refused treat- sure chest for their ever-expanding schemes, which always Bogus Gang Validation: ment by a doctor on one produce in the end, harsher conditions for prisoners. Prisons [Note: CPF reiterates our view Getting an appointment to see the visit but was clearly in have become a power bloc with broad political and econom- that prison offi cials have the duty doctor takes a long time, sometimes 3 or so much pain that the ic infl uence both domestically and abroad. As with corrupt to investigate matters that truly 4 months. Trying to see a dentist is even nurse defended him and government and the ultimate demise of any government, threaten the safety of prisoners ultimately he ended up prison is a sudden image of what is taking place in society worse. and staff—including gang activ- spending a few days in by degrees: the steady erosion of fundamental human rights, ity, and to use legal means to ensure the safety of everyone. the hospital. One prisoner suspects he has diabetes, but his restrictions on movement and privacy and possessions, and The patterns of gang validation processes reported by prison- tests come back negative. Fellow prisoners save breakfast naked tyranny camoufl aged in civil rhetoric. The day-to-day ers clearly demonstrate, however, that prison offi cials abuse syrup packages for him and throw them toward his cell if he unbearable existence of prison life will eventually befall the this mechanism, and do so in order to punish individuals for encounters a low sugar attack. One prisoner developed pain greater society, absent the dissolution of government. defending their rights or to justify their own jobs (eg, gang in his thigh and down his leg, and suspects nerve damage. The United States is the only government in the world investigators). This abuse results in “validating” prisoners as He has seen several doctors who only grant him Motrin and with a constitution that unabashedly enshrines slavery on its gang associates by the hundreds and placing them in SHU say “it will go away.” A recent doctor told him “It’s a cyst” subjects, making slavery and conditions of slavery constitu- indeterminately, a very illegitimate and illegal practice.] The without even examining and suggested the previous doctors tionally right, proper, required and thereby morally and le- issue of bogus gang validations resonated loudly during our was “just guessing” in his diagnosis. gally right and sustainable. The institution of slavery that the visit and echoes what we hear in our correspondence with Retaliation: This issue is tied to bogus gang validations Constitution proposes, enacts and upholds is that of prison, prisoners. When asked, most prisoners estimated that only because prisoners often receive a validation packet shortly found in the 13th Amendment. The 13th Amendment, which 10 to 20 percent of offi cially validated gang members or as- after sending in a 602. One prisoner was assisting others actually was an afterthought, reserves slavery and “involun- sociates serving SHU sentences had actually been involved with their legal matters, and had seven legal books removed tary servitude” as punishment for violating the law. This pro- in such activity (lowest estimate was 1 percent, highest was from his cell. He 602ed it and won a judgment to replace the slavery clause has been supported and more fi rmly instituted half). Prisoners continued to report the use of common or books. A week later he was validated as a gang associate. by rulings at all levels of court, up to the Supreme Court. It cultural symbols as indicative of gang activity, a practice that Yard: As noted above, for the past few months there was is practiced and enforced by the treatment of prisoners like clearly violates established federal law precedent (see Lira virtually no yard. All of PBSP was on a “modifi ed program” slaves, with every kind of brutality, inhumanity and more vs Cate). One prisoner said he didn’t even receive his valida- from August 2010 to February 2011 meaning only 5 hours vileness – a virtual green light to treat us as less than hu- tion packet, and another said that prison offi cials stuffed a per week of yard rather than 10. One prisoner reported get- man, degrade us and strip us of our sense of self-worth. The poem he wrote that contained the word “sureño” in a letter ting yard on only fi ve times in the last six months. 13th Amendment is cloaked in anti-slavery sleight-of-tongue from his girlfriend and called it gang communication. Tsunami: Prisoners reported to us that during the Tsunami riddles, but we prisoners are slaves and exist in slave sta- One Hispanic prisoner reported being validated for tattoos warning, padlocks were manually placed on the cells to keep tus, and this makes it right and permissible, even laudable, that he has for cultural reasons, some of which he obtained them secure. One prisoner noted “What happens if the water to deny prisoners normal human rights as others have and while a soldier in Vietnam. One prisoner was validated for reaches here, we all drown in our cells?” to treat us inhumanely. We are not considered full human having the name of a gang associate in his cell. He used the Educational Programming: With all these problems oc- beings with full human rights and respect due us. Prisoners person’s name to obtain additional legal paperwork because curring in SHU, one prisoner reported that he asked everyone are reminded of this day-in-and-day-out by the way in which the limit on 30 pages makes it impossible to do real legal on his pod what he should report to CPF as their main issue. we are treated by guards, medical personnel, and others in work. One prisoner was asked if he knew person X, his for- the prisons. Among the results that have been popular are mer crime partner. He said, “of course I know him” and they PBSP-Report ...... Continued on page 27 NUMBER 37 15 in from Philadelphia to give me the news. They didn’t want RIGHT TO CHALLENGE DOJ ASKS SUPREME me to hear it from the prison offi cials. They said it would EXPERIMENTAL ISOLATION COURT TO RULE COPS take a miracle to avoid this execution. I told them it was fi ne — I was innocent, but it was time to give up. UNITS RESTRICTING CAN TRACK SUSPECT BY But then I remembered something about May 20. I had just fi nished reading a letter from my younger son about how he COMMUNICATION UPHELD GPS WITHOUT A WARRANT wanted to go on his senior class trip. I’d been thinking about IN FEDERAL COURT he U.S. Justice Department is asking the U.S. Su- how I could fi nd a way to pay for it by selling my typewriter preme Court to overturn a federal appeals court deci- and radio. “Oh, no, hold on”, I said, “that’s the day before Center for Constitutional Rights Wins Tsion requiring police to get a warrant before attaching John Jr. is graduating from high school.” I begged them to Over Government Motion to Dismiss Case a global positioning device to a suspect’s car. get it delayed; I knew it would hurt him. Involving Segregated Units That Target Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal urged the Supreme To make things worse, the next day, when John Jr. was at Muslims, Activists Court to grant cert to resolve a circuit split, according to sto- school, his teacher read the whole class an article from the ries by the Washington Post, Wired’s Threat Level blog and n March 30, 2011, in a New York federal court, pris- newspaper about my execution. She didn’t know I was John The BLT (The Blog of Legal Times). At issue is whether use Jr.’s dad; she was just trying to teach them a lesson about oners in two experimental federal prison units called of the device is a “search” under the Fourth Amendment and “Communications Management Units” (CMUs) making bad choices. So he learned that his father was going O whether a person has an expectation of privacy for his travel to be killed from his teacher, reading the newspaper aloud. I won the right to have their day in court and challenge the in public, The BLT says. panicked. I needed to talk to him, reassure him. violation of their fundamental constitutional rights, includ- The police used a GPS device to record the movements of ing the right to due process. The units are being used over- Amazingly, I got a miracle. The same day that my law- accused cocaine dealer Antoine Jones, including his trips to yers visited, an investigator they had hired to look through whelmingly to hold Muslim prisoners and prisoners with a stash house where police found cocaine and $850,000 in unpopular political beliefs. The Center for Constitutional the evidence one last time found, on some forgotten micro- cash. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit over- fi che, a report sent to the prosecutors on the blood type of the Rights (CCR) fi led the case on their behalf exactly one year turned Jones’ conviction because police did not get a war- ago on March 30, 2010. perpetrator of the armed robbery. It didn’t match mine; the rant. report, hidden for 15 years, had never been turned over to Said CCR Attorney Alexis Agathocleous, “Today, Judge The government contends the GPS device can be installed Urbina has agreed that our clients have raised serious consti- my lawyers. The investigator later found the names of wit- under a 1983 Supreme Court case, United States v. Knotts, nesses and police reports from the murder case that hadn’t tutional questions about the CMUs, and has vindicated their which allowed police to install a beeper device in a can of right to a day in court to pursue their claims. Our clients were been turned over either. chemical used to make drugs. There is no reasonable expec- As a result, the armed robbery conviction was thrown out designated to the CMUs without due process or oversight, tation of privacy in a person’s movements from one place to even though they have no signifi cant history of disciplinary in 1999, and I was taken off death row. Then, in 2002, my another, the government argues in its brief (PDF posted by murder conviction was thrown out. At a retrial the following infractions. This led to pattern of retaliatory designations to Threat Level). The D.C. Circuit said the case did not apply the CMUs. In a signifi cant victory for our clients, the court year, the jury took only 35 minutes to acquit me. because it involved tracking from one place to another, while The prosecutors involved in my two cases, from the offi ce will now scrutinize the BOP’s actions.” the GPS was used to track a person’s movements “24 hours Said plaintiff Hedaya Jayyousi, “I am deeply gratifi ed that of the Orleans Parish district attorney, Harry Connick Sr., a day for 28 days.” helped to cover up 10 separate pieces of evidence. And most the court will hear our claims. My husband has been held Washington, D.C., lawyer Daniel Prywes calls United under these conditions for years without a proper explana- of them are still able to practice law today. States v. Jones “the seminal privacy case of the 21st Cen- Why weren’t they punished for what they did? When the tion. My children and I hope that we will now be given some tury”, the Post says. He wrote a brief in the case for the answers.” hidden evidence fi rst surfaced, Mr. Connick announced that American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier his offi ce would hold a grand jury investigation. But once it Transfers to the CMU are not explained, nor are prison- Foundation. ● ers told how release into less restrictive confi nement may be became clear how many people had been involved, he called earned as there is no meaningful review process. The court it off. agreed the plaintiffs had alleged conditions in the CMUs that In 2005, I sued the prosecutors and the district attorney’s were suffi ciently restrictive to support their claim that they THE PROSECUTION offi ce for what they did to me. The jurors heard testimony have a “liberty interest” in having the right to procedural due RESTS, BUT I CAN’T from the special prosecutor who had been assigned by Mr. process. Connick’s offi ce to the canceled investigation, who told The court wrote, “In light of the plaintiffs factual allega- By John Thompson them, “We should have indicted these guys, but they didn’t tions supporting their contention that reviews provided by SPENT 18 years in prison for robbery and murder, 14 of and it was wrong.” The jury awarded me $14 million in dam- the defendants are ‘illusory’ and meaningless, the court de- them on death row. I’ve been free since 2003, exonerated ages — $1 million for every year on death row — which termines that they have adequately alleged there is a high I after evidence covered up by prosecutors surfaced just would have been paid by the district attorney’s offi ce. That risk that the procedures used by the defendants have resulted weeks before my execution date. Those prosecutors were jury verdict is what the Supreme Court has just overturned. in erroneous deprivations of their liberty interests.” never punished. Last month, the Supreme Court decided 5-4 to overturn a case I’d won against them and the district at- The prosecutors involved in my case Lawyers say that because these transfers are not based on ... helped to cover up 10 separate facts or discipline for infractions, a pattern of religious and torney who oversaw my case, ruling that they were not liable political discrimination and retaliation for prisoners’ lawful for the failure to turn over that evidence — which included pieces of evidence. ... Why weren’t advocacy has emerged. proof that blood at the robbery scene wasn’t mine. they punished for what they did? The court allowed the claims of violation of due process Because of that, prosecutors are free to do the same thing as well as of retaliation to go forward. The court found that to someone else today. I don’t care about the money. I just want to know why plaintiff Royal Jones made serious allegations that cannot I was arrested in January 1985 in New Orleans. I remem- the prosecutors who hid evidence, sent me to prison for be dismissed that he was put into the CMU in retaliation for ber the police coming to my grandmother’s house — we all something I didn’t do and nearly had me killed are not in jail protected speech, and speaking out and fi ling complaints knew it was the cops because of how hard they banged on themselves. There were no ethics charges against them, no about improper prison conditions. Similarly, the court found the door before kicking it in. My grandmother and my mom criminal charges, no one was fi red and now, according to the that allegations that plaintiff Daniel McGowan was twice were there, along with my little brother and sister, my two Supreme Court, no one can be sued. designated to the CMU in retaliation for social justice ad- sons — John Jr., 4, and Dedric, 6 — my girlfriend and me. Worst of all, I wasn’t the only person they played dirty vocacy and for seeking legal information from his attorneys The offi cers had guns drawn and were yelling. I guess they with. Of the six men one of my prosecutors got sentenced to could not be dismissed. thought they were coming for a murderer. All the children death, fi ve eventually had their convictions reversed because The court further refused to allow the BOP to evade re- were scared and crying. I was 22. of prosecutorial misconduct. Because we were sentenced to view by transferring the Center for Constitutional Rights’ They took me to the homicide division, and played a cas- death, the courts had to appoint us lawyers to fi ght our ap- clients from the CMU. The court dismissed several of the sette tape on which a man I knew named Kevin Freeman peals. I was lucky, and got lawyers who went to extraordi- claims raised by the lawsuit, including claims of equal pro- accused me of shooting a man. He had also been arrested as nary lengths But there are more than 4,000 people serving tection, substantive due process, and freedom of association. a suspect in the murder. A few weeks earlier he had sold me life without parole in , almost none of whom have CCR fi led Aref v. Holder in the D.C. District Court on a ring and a gun; it turned out that the ring belonged to the lawyers after their convictions are fi nal. Someone needs to behalf of current and former prisoners of the units in Terre victim and the gun was the murder weapon. look at those cases to see how many others might be inno- Haute, IN and Marion, IL; two other plaintiffs are the spous- My picture was on the news, and a man called in to report cent. es of those prisoners. The CMUs were secretly opened under that I looked like someone who had recently tried to rob his If a private investigator hired by a generous law fi rm the Bush administration in 2006 and 2007 respectively and children. Suddenly I was accused of that crime, too. I was hadn’t found the blood evidence, I’d be dead today. No doubt were designed to monitor and control the communications tried for the robbery fi rst. My lawyers never knew there was about it. A crime was defi nitely committed in this case, but of certain prisoners and to isolate them from other prisoners blood evidence at the scene, and I was convicted based on not by me. and the outside world. The fi ve plaintiffs in Aref were des- the victims’ identifi cation. John Thompson is the director of Resurrection After Exon- ignated to the two CMUs despite having relatively or totally After that, my lawyers thought it was best if I didn’t testify eration, a support group for exonerated inmates. ● clean disciplinary histories, and none of the plaintiffs have at the murder trial. So I never defended myself, or got to received any communications-related disciplinary infrac- explain that I got the ring and the gun from Kevin Freeman. tions in the last decade. Between 65 and 72 percent of CMU And now that I offi cially had a history of violent crime be- LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE prisoners are Muslim men. cause of the robbery conviction, the prosecutors used it to get In addition to heavily restricted telephone and visitation the death penalty. FOR $10 CRACK DEAL access, CMU prisoners are categorically denied any physical I remember the judge telling the courtroom the number of Apr 21, 2011 contact with family members and are forbidden from hug- volts of electricity they would put into my body. If the fi rst 28-year-old Cherokee County man who sold $10 ging, touching or embracing their children or spouses during attempt didn’t kill me, he said, they’d put more volts in. worth of crack to an undercover informant has been visits. On Sept. 1, 1987, I arrived on death row in the Louisiana A sentenced to life in prison without parole under the For information about CCR’s federal lawsuit around State Penitentiary — the infamous Angola prison. I was put state’s repeat offender law. CMUs, visit the Aref, et al v. Holder, et al case page or www. in a dead man’s cell. His things were still there; he had been Prosecutors say James R. Byers Jr. was sentenced after ccrjustice.org/cmu. executed only a few days before. That past summer they had he was convicted of third offense distribution of crack co- The law fi rm Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP and attorney executed eight men at Angola. I received my fi rst execution caine and distribution of crack cocaine within a half mile of Kenneth A. Kreuscher are co-counsel in the case. ● date right before I arrived. I would end up knowing 12 men a school or park. Byers’ prior criminal record includes fi ve who were executed there. drug convictions. Source: Over the years, I was given six execution dates, but all of Prosecutors say Byers’ sold the crack to an informant in Freedom Archives them were delayed until fi nally my appeals were exhausted. August 2009 near an elementary school. Cherokee County 522 Valencia Street The seventh — and last — date was set for May 20, 1999. sheriff’s deputies videotaped the transaction. San Francisco, CA 94110 My lawyers had been with me for 11 years by then; they fl ew The Associated Press.

16 PRISON FOCUS THE NEW INQUISITION radical views. Prison administrators know that if even one prisoner shuns QUOTE BOX Gang Validation George Jackson’s books or other leftist material because he “Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital By Steve Champion thinks he might be labeled a gang member and placed in is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed n July 23, 2010, my cell was searched and three the SHU, then the strategy of suppression is effective. Do- if labor had not fi rst existed. Labor is the superior of boxes of my property (legal material, books, notes, ing routine or targeted cell searches when George Jackson’s capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.” and personal writings) were confi scated and turned books and other leftist literature are not being found (or not O Abraham Lincoln over to Institutional Gang Investigations (I.G.I.) for possible being found in abundance) allows prison offi cials to claim gang validation. The reason for the action, I was told, was that the policy is effective. One prisoner’s fears can poten- “When plunder becomes a way of life for a group my possession of a Kiswahili dictionary and the book Sole- tially infect many, and the fear becomes a deadly pathogen of men living together in society, they create for them- dad Brother by George Jackson. This is not the fi rst time that kills self-determination, resistance, and critical thinking. selves, in the course of time, a legal system that autho- I have been targeted for a gang validation wherein George Unwittingly, a fearful prisoner becomes a tool for a COIN- rizes it and a moral code that glorifi es it.” Jackson was the cause. In May 2007, I co-wrote an article in TELPRO-like apparatus. But because they understand what Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850), French economist which we referred to Jackson as “Comrade George Jackson.” is at stake, politically conscious prisoners can never become It was determined by I.G.I. that the word “Comrade” consti- unwitting agents of a pacifi cation operation; they understand “To be innocent in America is to permit the continued tuted gang association or sympathy; therefore, I needed to be that acquiescence would mean the struggle is lost. The price theft of hundreds of billions of dollars from the state by investigated (the investigation yielded nothing). they pay for this understanding is long-term persecution in Wall Street swindlers and speculators. To be innocent in I have been in San Quentin (and on death row) for almost SHUs. America is to stand by as insurance and pharmaceutical 28 years, and for most of this time I have had George Jack- What also facilitates the suppression of political con- companies, in the name of profi t, condemn ill people, son’s books in my cell. I ordered them through the prison sciousness is the unending cycle of ethnic and sectarian vio- including children, to die. To be innocent in America is Special Purchase Order (SPO). My cell has been searched lence that permeates the U.S. prison system. Violence is mi- refusing to resist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that are hundreds if not thousands of times and never, not once, were cromanaged to perpetuate racial hatred and division among not only illegal under international law but responsible George Jackson’s books taken. Why now? And why the link prison groups. And let me be honest, prisoners make it easy for the murder of hundreds of thousands of people. This to gang activity when it is well known that George Jackson for prison administrators to accomplish this when they fail is the odd age we live in. Innocence is complicity.” was a member of the and a political rev- to redress the stark contradictions between their intransigent Chris Hedges olutionary? It is only by exposing the insidious and inscru- confl icts against each other and the repressive and often bru- table use of politically charged books to label prisoners gang tal treatment meted out to them by the prison regime. As long “The goal of a good society is to structure social re- members, thereby criminalizing critical literacy, that we can as prisoners don’t frame their conditions and treatment in a lations and institutions so that cooperative and gener- arrive at answers. Both prisoners and prison activists need to political context, they will remain powerless to alter their ous impulses are rewarded, while antisocial ones are understand how the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) is using situation. The gang mentality cannot produce viable change discouraged. The problem with capitalism is that it best political and historical texts to repress prisoners. for prisoners. This can only come from conscious prisoners rewards the worst part of us: ruthless, competitive, con- My story is not new or who are willing to struggle niving, opportunistic, acquisitive drives, giving little unique. I’ve read numer- collectively. reward and often much punishment—or at least much ous accounts from across The need for a new and handicap—to honesty, compassion, fair play, many the U.S. prison landscape, radical ethos among prison- forms of hard work, love of justice, and a concern for state and federal, of prison- ers is self-evident and long those in need.” ers having books by George overdue. How to bring a Michael Parenti Jackson, Che Guevara, unifying ethos into being Chairman Mao, and oth- is open for discussion and “There is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No ers stolen from their cells, critical debate. Such debate one can avoid them. But it’s better to lose some of the or confi scated under the can take place in cells, on battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be de- false pretext of gang activ- the tiers, in yards, at school, feated without ever knowing what you’re fi ghting for.” ity. Some prisoners have and in work places between Paulo Coelho even been validated as gang friends and foes. What can- members and locked away not be questioned is the “To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishon- indefi nitely in Security truth that the route from an est.” Housing Units (SHUs). And apolitical gangster mental- Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi - (1869-1948) in June 2010, a ruling by a ity to a socio-politically California appeals court ex- conscious prisoner is only “Liberty is often a heavy burden on a man. It involves plicitly condoned the prac- through education. This is the necessity for perpetual choice which is the kind of tice in California, as fol- the fundamental message to labor men have always dreaded.” lows: “Assigning an inmate all prison writers and activ- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. - (1809-1894) to secure housing based on ists. It is why prisoners, me his possession of constitu- included, have gravitated If you keep on excusing, you eventually give your tionally protected materials to the writings of George blessing to the slave camp, to cowardly force, to orga- linking him to a gang [does] Jackson, Franz Fannon, nized executioners, to the cynicism of great political not violate his fi rst amend- Che Guevara, Bobby Sands, monsters; you fi nally hand over your brothers. ment rights.” Liam Mellows, Nelson Mandela, Paulo Freire, Mal- Albert Camus Let’s be clear. The confi s- By Antonio C. Ramon cation of leftist and revolu- colm X, and many others “We are reluctant to admit that we owe our liberties to tionary books, magazines, and newspapers is not a mere First like them. The trajectory and/or transformation of their lives men of a type that today we hate and fear—unruly men, Amendment issue; failing to understand the bigger picture offer prisoners a new perspective from which to radically disturbers of the peace, men who resent and denounce will just extend your stay in wonderland. Thus, I’m not going contextualize their own identity. Prisoners can tangibly and the insolence of elected persons—in a word, free men.” to argue a case of censorship (although one can certainly be emotionally relate to the words of these authors, even though Gerald W. Johnson made since none of the above authors have been ruled to be most prisoners don’t view themselves through a political either dangerous or obscene by a court of law or the PIC). I lens. Yet these same “apolitical” prisoners will recognize on “I was called a terrorist… What I tell people who say am interested in a much broader analysis that deconstructs a general level that their own existential condition can be those struggling for liberation in their country are terror- the current ideology of suppression in U.S. prisons that can compared to George Jackson’s. It is this identifi cation with ists, that I was also a terrorist. But today, I am admired be traced to other interrelated post-9/11 realities, such as cre- George Jackson that makes him symbolically powerful and by the very same people who said I was one.” ation of Homeland Security and the gradual erosion of civil very much alive. And for this, he must be vilifi ed and pun- Nelson Mandela liberties; the prosecution of a global “war on terrorism”; the ished, over and over again suppressed and chased away from virtually unrestricted spending on and by intelligence agen- anyone who dares consume his words. “Cautious, careful people, always casting about to cies; and redefi ning domestic terrorism to meet the threat The revisionist tactic by the PIC of not acknowledging preserve their reputation and social standing, never can posed by gang violence. that George Jackson developed a political philosophy that bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest Included in these realties, but in a more subtle way, is he lived and died for (not unlike like the Founding Fathers must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world´s the government’s fear of the possible rise of a new prison of the United States) makes it easy to deny the political ac- estimation.” movement and radicalized prisoners. The fear of prisoners tivism and convictions of conscious prisoners. However, Susan B. Anthony, (1820-1906) becoming political extremists and functioning as indepen- the confi scation of books, newspapers, and magazines with dent terrorist cells once they are released is, I believe, the political content acknowledges the existence of politically “The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it main catalyst for the “unoffi cial” policy of censorship car- minded prisoners. The truth is contained in the system’s lie: can make a criminal look like he’s the victim and make ried out nationwide. But such fear is unfounded and seems George Jackson was not a gang member! He was a politi- the victim look like he’s the criminal. This is the press, to be based more on paranoia than rooted in reality: How cal thinker. To suspect a prisoner of gang activity because an irresponsible press.” . . . . “If you aren’t careful, the many inmates have been paroled who have participated in he reads Jackson’s books is, therefore, also a political—cer- newspapers will have you hating the people who are be- or been linked to a terrorist organization? Where is the evi- tainly not a logical—move. ing oppressed and loving the people who are doing the dence? Can prison administrators or the government show It is ideas that can change individuals and, so, change the oppressing.” this happening? They cannot. The objective of this unoffi cial world. Ideas awaken the mind, galvanize courage, and liber- Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches policy is fourfold: ate people; and ideas, not gangs, are the most potent weapons 1. To defi ne any “in prison” political activism as gang against tyrants and repressive regimes. People may fear other “It could probably be shown that there is no distinctly activity. people, but people’s ideas are feared even more. ● American criminal class except Congress.” 2. To criminalize and dehumanize politically con- Mark Twain, 1835-1910 scious prisoners, past and present, by labeling them Steve Champion is on California’s Death Row at San gang members. Quentin. He is author of Dead to Deliverance: A Death Row “We must not believe the many, who say that only 3. To redefi ne revolutionary and leftist writings as Memoir. You may write him at Steve Champion, C-58001, free people ought to be educated, but we should rather gang literature. San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, CA 94974 believe the philosophers who say that only the educated 4. To institute countermeasures that will disrupt, in- are free.” hibit, and delegitimize the emergence and growth of in- http://www.counterpunch.org/champion02162011.html, Epictetus (55-135 A.D.) Greek philosopher dividuals/groups that could in any way be infl uenced by February 16, 2011

NUMBER 37 17 numerous offers as a computer professional, he was denied HELP STOP ABUSE OF SYSTEMATIC INJUSTICE in a 20 minute proceeding, giving him “a 20-year hit, the MS’S INCARCERATED AGAINST SUNDIATA ACOLI longest in New Jersey history”, minimally requiring him to serve another 12 years before again becoming eligible for By Stephen Lendman YOUTH! parole. n her book titled The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration Reasons given were his Black Panther Party and Black This youth prison has violent, abusive conditions in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander cites Liberation Army membership, as well as hundreds of “Free But the company that runs it makes millions. Join Martin Luther King in 1968 highlighting the need to shift I Sundiata” form letters calling him a “New Afrikan Prisoner us in calling on Mississippi offi cials to shut down from civil to human rights advocacy, saying initiatives for it of War” and that he hadn’t been suffi ciently rehabilitated. At this prison. just began. In fact, it’s truer now than then with Blacks and issue, however, is forcing him to renounce his social justice By Nelson, ColorOfChange.org Hispanics comprising two-thirds of America’s prison popu- advocacy and admit wrongdoing for struggling to liberate his eenagers and young men locked up at the youth prison lation, by far the world’s largest at around 2.4 million, most people. in Walnut Grove, Mississippi live in a nightmarishly incarcerated for nonviolent or political reasons. On March 4, 2010, the New Jersey State Parole Board Tabusive and violent environment. Focusing on the war on drugs, Alexander characterizes (NJPB) denied him for the third time, again calling him “not According to a lawsuit against the prison, guards have sold the New Jim Crow as a modern-day racial caste system de- rehabilitated” despite over a 1,000 supportive letters and drugs to the youth there, engaged in sexual relationships with signed by elitists who embrace colorblindness. Believing petitions from noted fi gures, including lawyers, clergy, aca- them, beaten them while they are handcuffed and defense- poor Blacks are dangerous and economically superfl uous, demics, psychologists, community members, and journalists. less, and looked the other way as some inmates are brutally America’s gulag became an instrument of control. Accord- Then in mid-July, with no explanation, he got written no- attacked by others.1 The prison is privately run, and its man- ing to Alexander: tice of a 10-year hit, requiring at least another six years im- agement has tried to increase their profi ts by cutting essential “Any movement to end mass incarceration must deal with prisonment before parole eligibility at which time he’ll be 79 safety, health and educational services. (it) as a racial caste system, not (a method) of crime control. years old or perhaps dead. It’s sick. Mississippi shouldn’t be paying a private compa- We need an effective system of crime prevention and control On August 27, 2010, an administrative appeal to the New ny to neglect and abuse youth prisoners. Will you join us in in our communities, but that is not what the current system Jersey Parole Board was fi led, his legal advisers saying his demanding that Mississippi offi cials cancel the state’s con- is. (It’s) better designed to create crime, and a perpetual class case is strong based on NJPB procedural errors. tract with the company that operates the prison? It takes just of people labeled criminals, rather than to eliminate crime or Throughout his incarceration, he’s endured harsh treat- a moment: http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/geo/ reduce the number of criminals.” ment yet maintained an exemplary record, as well as becom- Two youths have lost their lives in the Walnut Grove Youth Overall, America’s most vulnerable are victimized by ju- ing a talented painter and writer on prison industrial complex Correctional Facility over the past three years and countless dicial unfairness, the get tough on crime policies, a guilty issues. He’s also a father, grandfather, and both brother and others endure daily threats to their safety. The violence at the unless proved innocent mentality, three strikes and you’re mentor to fellow inmates besides making invaluable com- prison was highlighted a year ago when a melee broke out in out, racist drug laws, poverty, and advocacy for social justice munity contributions before incarceration. the prison, leaving multiple youth injured and 21-year-old issues challenging repressive state policies. In the 1960s, after years as a skilled computer program- Michael McIntosh with permanent brain damage.2 As a result, fi gures like former UN ambassador Andrew mer, he participated in southern civil rights struggles. More- Ross Walton, who spent three years inside the Walnut Young believes “(t)here are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of over, his New York chapter Black Panther Party activities Grove prison said this when he testifi ed recently in front of people (in America incarcerated as) political prisoners.” In- involved him in numerous social justice struggles, including the Mississippi state legislature: cluding undocumented Latino immigrants and other aliens, education, slum housing, school breakfasts, healthcare, legal “Walnut Grove treated us like we were nothing. Like we it’s tens of thousands, an April 2011 Government Account- help, and politics. He also worked on anti-drug and police didn’t matter. Like our destiny was to spend the rest of our ability Offi ce (GAO) report saying Washington annually brutality initiatives, an admirable record overall deserving lives locked up, making more money for the spends over $1.5 billion imprisoning them. praise, not incarceration for nearly four decades. corporations and making our mothers cry….We have the po- Currently, around 55,000 are in federal prisons, another A FINAL COMMENT tential to turn our lives around and make you proud. And 75,000 in state facilities. At a November 2010 Workers On April 17, 2011, Acoli’s latest article headlined, “Sun- we all deserve more than an abusive prison that cares more World Party conference, International Action Center orga- diata Acoli: Why You Should Support Black Political Prison- about profi ts than people.” nizer Gloria Verdieu said: ers/POWs and How”, said: A for-profi t youth prison, like Walnut Grove, has a strong “Freeing all political prisoners, prisoners of conscience “My name is Sundiata Acoli....and am now a Black Po- fi nancial incentive to imprison as many young people as pos- and prisoners of war tops America’s social justice struggle, litical Prisoner and Prisoner or War (PP/POW) who’s been sible on the cheap, and a fi nancial disincentive to rehabilitate because the state uses the criminal justice system to lock up (incarcerated) for the last 37 years.” prisoners (which would reduce the demand for prison beds). those who sacrifi ce their livelihood for freedom and justices “So why should you care”, he asked? “Why should you This profi t motive is a big part of why the Walnut Grove for the masses.” support Black PP/POWs? Well, maybe you shouldn’t. If prison has such terrible conditions. In fact, international precedent recognizes releasing them. you’re happy with (how America) and the world is going, The prison is run by the GEO Group (formerly Wack- France freed anarchists, Germany Baader-Meinhof fi gures, and if you want (Washington and Western powers) to domi- enhut), the second largest for-profi t prison company in the and Britain IRA members. Not America, however, in con- nate and oppress the rest of the world, then (don’t) support country. The company makes hundreds of millions of dollars trast to notorious criminals pardoned, including Iran-Contra Black PP/POWs (and it agenda to end predatory) capitalism, each year, and has a long history of health and safety viola- conspirators Caspar Weinberger, Elliott Abrams and John sexism, (racism), and all unjust oppressions of people and tions in their facilities. Poindexter, as well as others convicted of serious offenses life (on) earth.” A SYSTEMIC PROBLEM warranting long . That advocacy got Acoli and many others imprisoned for We’ve seen before how private prisons create openings Unlike them, today in America, heroic activists are incar- supporting and doing the right thing. Now it’s up to mass for corruption and abuse. In the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylva- cerated unjustly, including Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Pel- activism no longer to tolerate it. ● nia, a private juvenile prison company bribed two judges to tier, Ramsey Muniz, Oscar Lopez Rivera, the Cuban Five, [Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached fi ll their cells with youth who committed minor infractions. lawyers Lynne Stewart and Paul Bergrin, and, among many at [email protected]. Also visit his blog site at One of the judges, Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Cia- others, Sundiata Acoli (born Clark Edward Squire) for 38 sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discus- varella, Jr., was recently convicted of accepting bribes and years. (Access his complete profi le at: http://www.sundiataa- sions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio kickbacks for putting juveniles into detention centers. He coli.org). News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at and another judge, Michael Conahan, are said to have re- Born in January 1937, it calls him a New African political 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. ceived $2.6 million for their scheme.3 , mathematician, and computer analyst with All programs are archived for easy listening.] In Boise Idaho, guards at a corporate prison watched, but a BA in math from Prairie View A & M College. In summer Source: Freedom Archives did not intervene as a man was beaten unconscious by anoth- 1964, he did voter registration work in Mississippi. In 1968, 522 Valencia Street er inmate. This victim now lives with permanent brain dam- he joined the Harlem Black Panther Party, doing community San Francisco, CA 94110 age and the company, Corrections Corporation of America work relating to schools, housing, jobs, child care, drugs, and (CCA), faces an FBI Civil Rights investigation.4 police brutality. ENDING THE ABUSE AT WALNUT GROVE In 1969, he and others were arrested in the con- Some of the youth imprisoned at Walnut Grove have com- spiracy case, jailed for two years without bail, then acquit- POLITICAL PRISONERS IN mitted serious crimes, but 67% of them are there for non- ted and released. Afterward, FBI pressure denied him pro- violent offenses.5 But no matter what crime they’ve commit- fessional employment, and COINTELPRO harassment and AMERICA ted, children’s lives shouldn’t be at risk because corporations surveillance drove him underground. By Stephen Lendman cut corners in order to increase their profi ts. Youth prisoners Driving on the New Jersey Turnpike in May 1973, he oted journalist HL Menchen described “The most must be given safe and healthy conditions, and an opportu- and others were accosted by state troopers. Zayd Shakur dangerous man to any government (as someone) nity to lead successful lives after their incarceration. was killed, wounded and captured. One state Nwho is able to think things out for himself, without The abuse at Walnut Grove needs to end immediately and trooper was killed, another wounded. Acoli was captured regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost the youth there should be moved to facilities that can provide days later. In a highly charged, “sensationalized and prejudi- inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government for their care and rehabilitation. Your voice can help make cial” trial, he was convicted of fi rst degree murder and sen- he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable”, yet re- that happen. Please join us in calling on Mississippi Gover- tenced to life plus 30 years. sisting, he faces recrimination - political imprisonment for nor Haley Barbour, and the Mississippi Department of Cor- Initially for fi ve years at Trenton State Prison (TSP), he his beliefs and activism, offi cials tolerating no opposition to rections Commissioner, to cancel the state’s contract with the was confi ned to a special Management Control Unit (MCU) their authority, no matter how extreme or lawless. GEO Group. And please ask your friends and family to do solely for political reasons, given only 10 minutes daily for In his book Race to Incarcerate, Marc Mauer focuses on the same. It just takes a minute: showers and two hours weekly for recreation. America’s obsession with imprisonment, punishment, and http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/geo. ● The International Jurist (TIJ) “publishes perspectives the commodifi cation of prisoners to fi ll beds - harming so- James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Matt and opinions on the current state of international law and ciety’s most vulnerable, targeted for supporting ethnic jus- References: its future”, especially international humanitarian law, human tice, racial emancipation, and political, economic and social 1. “Federal Lawsuit Reveals Inhumane Conditions at For- rights law, transitional justice and international criminal law, equality across gender and color lines, locked away in the Profi t Youth Prison”, SPLC, 11-16-2010 and comparative law. “Land of the Free.” In submitting a new report to the UN, 2. “C.B., et al. v. Walnut Grove Correctional Authority, et After interviewing Acoli in September 1979, TIJ declared National conference of Black Lawyers activist/attorney Stan al.” SPLC, 11-16-2010 him a . Days later, he was secretly trans- Willis said: 3. “The verdict’s in, let change begin”, The Times Leader, ferred to solitary confi nement at maximum security US Peni- “The United States is very, very concerned when its citi- 2-20-2011 tentiary, Marion, IL despite no outstanding federal charges. zens begin to raise questions in these international forums, 4. “’The public doesn’t know what goes on behind these In July 1987, he was sent to Leavenworth, KS federal prison. because (America) still prefers to posture itself, including the walls,’” KBOI, 2-28-2011 Eligible for parole in fall 1992, he was denied permission Obama administration, as the leader of the free world and 5. “Federal lawsuit seeks to end years of physical, sexual to attend his own hearing, permitted only to participate by that they don’t have any human rights violations, and they abuse of teenage inmates”, Better Mississippi Report, 12- prison phone. Despite his exemplary prison work, academic certainly don’t have any political prisoners, and we have to 20-2010 and disciplinary record, hundreds of supportive letters, and dispel that notion in the international community.”

18 PRISON FOCUS American offi cials don’t “want to have these issues reach for which your country is supposed to stand, then certainly Earlier through today, they’ve been targeted, hunted down, the world’s people. How do you go into Iraq (and) Afghani- the right to dissent is one of those principles. And if we’re rounded up, held in detention, kept in isolation, denied bail, stan telling people about their democracy when (you’ve got exercising that right to dissent, it’s a patriotic act....One of restricted in their right to counsel, provided the “McJus- innocent people) locked down in prison for 30 - 40 years as the great mistakes (about) patriotism....is to think (it) means tice” kind, tried on secret evidence, convicted on spurious political prisoners....(activists) against social injustice, colo- support for your government....(ignoring America’s Decla- charges, given long sentences, then incarcerated and abused nialism, and/or imperialism, (incarcerated for) their political ration of Independence principle that) when governments in America’s gulag, its hell, for Dante its entrance inscription commitments.” have become destructive (of life, liberty and equality) it is saying “Abandon hope all ye who enter here”, the fate of Others are victimized by judicial unfairness, get tough on the right of the people....to alter or abolish” it. many locked away in the “land of the free.” crime policies, a guilty unless proved innocent mentality, three strikes and you’re out, and what the Innocence Project INCARCERATION AS AN INSTRUMENT OF SO- A FINAL NOTE calls “McJustice - the crisis of indigent defense.” CIAL CONTROL On July 15, political prisoner Marilyn Buck was released Also for being undocumented, violating the racist drug In her 1999 article titled, “Prisons, Social Control and from the federal prison medical center in Carswell, TX and laws, for being Black, Latino or Muslim, to fi ll prison beds, Political Prisoners”, former political prisoner Marilyn Buck paroled to New York. Three weeks later on August 3, she to satisfy the prison-industrial complex, one of America’s called prisons warehouses to “disappear the unacceptable.... died. fastest growing, including a private gulag, prisons for profi t, to deprive their captives of their liberties, their human agen- She served 25 years of an 80 year sentence for opposing nearly a score of corporations running dozens of facilities cy, and to punish....(to) stigmatize prisoners through moral- racial injustice and US imperialism. Late last year, she was with tens of thousands of prisoners, about 8% of state and istic denunciations and indictment based on bad genes - skin diagnosed with uterine sarcoma, a rare aggressive cancer federal inmates, expected to increase exponentially in the color (ethnicity, or other characteristics) as a crime.” that took her life. To the end, she heroically maintained her next decade, the Wall Street Journal saying: Millions of prisoners aren’t incarcerated “because they are beliefs. ● “This multimillion-dollar industry has its own advertising ‘criminal,’ but because they’ve been accused of breaking (a Information Clearing House campaigns, architecture companies, construction companies, law) designed to exert tighter social control and State repres- investment houses on Wall Street, plumbing supply compa- sion”, scapegoating, demonizing, and criminalizing them for nies, food supply companies, armed security, and padded their beliefs and activism. CA SENATE APPROVES cells in a large variety of colors.” America’s militarized police state brutalizes them, locking Over 2.4 million prisoners are held in federal and state fa- them in cages for advocating peace, not war, for their cour- BILL TO END LWOP FOR cilities, local jails, Indian, juvenile, and military ones, US age to resist injustice, defend freedom, equality, and human territories, and numbers held by the Immigration and Cus- rights, and believe another world isn’t just possible but strug- JUVENILES toms Enforcement (ICE), half for nonviolent offenses, many gling for it nonviolently is noble and needed. n Wednesday June 1, the California Senate approved for political activism, the Truth & Justice Foundation (the In a 1986 Quinn v. Robinson ruling, the US Court of Ap- Senator Leland Yee’s SB9 on a 21-16 vote. If ap- National Innocence Project) estimating up to 15% wrong- peals for the 9th Circuit differentiated between political and Oproved by the state Assembly, the bill could end the fully convicted overall. other crimes, saying: practice of sentencing children in California to life without Using modern-day slave labor, the Left Business Observer “It is the fact that the insurgents are seeking to change their parole (LWOP). An earlier attempt by Senator Lee (SB399) reports that American prisons produce 100% of US military governments that makes the political offense exception ap- was approved by Senate, but died in Assembly last year. helmets, ammunition belts, bullet-proof vests, ID tags, shirts, plicable, not the reasons for wishing to do so or the nature of The US is the only country in the world to have LWOP for pants, tents, bags, and canteens.” They also supply 98% the acts by which they hope to accomplish that goal.” juveniles. California leads the nation for racial disparity in of equipment assembly services, 93% of paints and paint- In other words, advocating benefi cial social or political handing out LWOP for juveniles, with African American and brushes, 92% of stove assemblies, 46% of body armor, 36% change is criminal, turning justice on its head, the same kind Latino youths serving sentences rates eighteen and fi ve times of home appliances, 30% of headphones, microphones and that imprisons lawyers for defending unpopular clients to in- higher than white youth. speakers, 21% of offi ce furniture, and much more. timidate others not to try. Senator Yee, who is also a child psychologist, states that Captives in America’s gulag, political and other prisoners In the Harvard BlackLetter Law Journal, Vol. 18, 2002, J. “The neuroscience is clear - brain maturation continues well have languished for decades, under cruel and inhumane con- Soffi yah Elijah headlined, “The Reality of Political Prisoners through adolescence and thus impulse control, planning, ditions. Some die there. Others rot, endure years of solitary in the United States: What September 11 Taught Us About and critical thinking skills are not yet fully developed.. (the confi nement, poor medical care, other forms of abuse, and Defending Them”, saying: bill) is an incredibly modest proposal that respects victims, perfunctory parole hearings denying their right to justice. In a post-9/11 climate, they “and their lawyers have been international law, and the fact that children have a greater targeted for renewed abuse”, constitutional protections not capacity for rehabilitation than adults.” Under SB9, courts AMERICA’S LONGSTANDING POLITICAL shielding against spurious charges, corrupt prosecutors, could review cases of juveniles sentenced to life without REPRESSION AGENDA hanging judges, and long , many under ex- parole after 15 years, potentially allowing some individuals COINTELPRO targeted political activists, J. Edgar tremely harsh conditions, including long-term isolation, to receive a new minimum sentence of 25 years to life in Hoover’s illegal counterintelligence program to neutralize over time producing severe anxiety, panic attacks, irrational instances when offenders show remorse and are working to- political dissidents, including communists; anti-war, human anger, social withdrawal, and a profound sense of hopeless- wards rehabilitation. ● and civil rights activists; the ; ness and despair, for many a totally dysfunctional state and Excerpted from jlwop.com Black Panther Party; Puerto Rican nationalists; the Chicano inability ever to live normally outside of confi nement. Movement; environmentalists, and others challenging state Always unfair, American justice is now worse than ever, No Struggle, No Progress authority - “threats” to “domestic tranquility” for support- unjustly affecting undocumented immigrants, Blacks and The whole history of progress of human liberty ing equity and justice, the rule of law, and right over wrong. Latinos, anyone of color, Muslims for their faith, ethnic- Shows that all concessions Today they’re called “terrorists.” ity, activism and prominence, and those challenging state Yet made to her august claims Yale Law Professor/constitutional scholar Thomas I. Em- authority, its imperial marauding, and sweeping homeland Have been born of earnest struggle. erson (1908 - 1981) expressed outrage saying: repression, turning America into a police state. If there is no struggle “The FBI jeopardizes the whole system of free expression Activists were always targeted, noted civil liberties writer There is no progress. which is the cornerstone of our society (raising) the specter Stephen Kohn documenting nearly 1,000 cases in his 1994 of a police state....In essence, the FBI conceives of itself as book titled, “American Political Prisoners: Prosecutions Un- Those who profess to favor freedom, an instrument to prevent radical social change in America.... der the Espionage and Sedition Acts.” Today, it’s under the And yet deprecate agitation, The Bureau’s view of its function leads it beyond data collec- 1996 Effective Death Penalty and Anti-Terrorism Act, and Are men [and women] who want crops tion into political warfare”, protecting privilege from benefi - post-9/11 ones, including: Without plowing up the ground, cial social change, denying due process and judicial fairness -- the 2001 USA Patriot Act, eroding Fifth and Fourteenth They want rain to society’s most vulnerable, easy pickings for America’s Amendment due process rights; First Amendment free ex- Without thunder and lightning. criminal injustice system. pression and association ones; and Fourth Amendment free- They want the ocean dom from unreasonable searches and seizures, enabling vast Without the awful roar of its waters. DEFINITIONS OF POLITICAL PRISONERS extralegal surveillance powers to destroy the right of privacy; This struggle may be a moral one; The Free Dictionary call them people “who have been -- the 2001 Military Order Number 1, letting the president Or it may be a physical one; imprisoned for holding or advocating dissenting political usurp authority to capture, kidnap, arrest and torture accused Or it may be both moral and physical; views....for holding, expressing, or acting in accord with terrorists, holding them indefi nitely without charge; trying But it must be a struggle. particular political beliefs.” them in Military Commissions with no right of appeal; deny- Power concedes nothing without a demand. In the 1960s, Amnesty International (AI) coined the term ing them due process and judicial fairness; It never did, and it never will. “prisoner of conscience”, referring to anyone incarcerated -- the 2002 Homeland Security Act, a sweeping anti-ter- Find out just what any people for their race, religion, ethnicity, language, sexual orienta- rorism bill creating a national Gestapo, centralizing unprec- Will quietly submit to tion, beliefs, or lifestyle. edented military and law enforcement power in the executive And you have found the exact measure In a London Observer May 28, 1961 article titled, “The branch, enhanced by US Northern Command (USNORTH- Of injustice and wrong Forgotten Prisoners”, AI’s founder Peter Benenson (1921 - COM), established in 2002 to militarize the homeland, Can- Which will be imposed upon them, 2005) defi ned the term as follows: ada, Mexico, Gulf of Mexico, Straits of Florida, and, for the And these will continue till they are resisted. . . “Any person who is physically restrained (in prison or oth- fi rst time, let troops deploy on US streets to protect “national The limits. . . are prescribed erwise) for expressing any opinion which he honestly holds security”, and By the endurance and which does not advocate or condone personal violence.” -- other repressive laws, Executive Orders, National and Of those whom [are] oppress[ed]. “Open your newspaper any day of the week and you will Homeland Security Presidential Directives, and other mea- fi nd a report from somewhere in the world of someone be- sures targeting anyone threatening state authority by any Men [and Women] may not get all they pay for ing imprisoned, tortured or executed because his opinions or means, including those advocating nonviolent political or in this world, but they pay for all they get. religion are unacceptable to his government.” Millions are social change. If we ever get free affected globally - “by no means (all) behind the Iron and Using previously unavailable FBI, Bureau of Prisons and from the oppressions and wrong heaped on us, Bamboo Curtains, and their numbers are growing.” other DOJ divisions fi les, Kohn covered earlier cases, includ- we must pay for their removal. “That is why we have started Appeal for Amnesty (AI), ing activists for “blowing the whistle” on WW I participa- We must do this 1961. The campaign, which opens today, is the result of an tion, unionists fi ghting for worker rights, pacifi sts, socialists, by labor, initiative by a group of lawyers, writers and publishers in and others for having unpopular political or religious beliefs. by suffering, London, who share the underlying conviction expressed by In three parts, he chronicled the history and use of the law by sacrifi ce, Voltaire: ‘I detest your views, but am prepared to die for your to imprison anyone for their political or religious views, de- and if needs be right to express them.’ “ scribed prison life in their own words, and covered hundreds by our lives and the lives of others Howard Zinn called dissent “the highest form of patrio- of people affected, discussing their beliefs, length of impris- tism. In fact, if patriotism means being true to the principles onment, and treatment. Frederick Douglass, 1857

NUMBER 37 19 practical it is to run this chapter right after the “RNA-11: with immigration (so-called) issues with Mexicanos? Our BOOK REVIEWS POW” piece; lest people get the notion that packing heat & New Afrikan ideological formulation instructs Us that just correcting pigs is the be all & end all to revolution. To trans- like Mexicano people (or other immigrants) who are coming James Yaki Sayles form one’s mentality is, in essence, to commit class suicide. across the artifi cial & political border in search of work & Meditations on ’s Wretched of the To alter one’s class allegiance. Of course it’s dialectical, far better conditions, so too did New Afrikans migrate out of the Earth, New Afrikan Revolutionary Writings from static, so it can go either way, i.e. a rev can commit class National Territory & into amerika in search of better jobs & suicide by becoming a capitalist or criminal. Conversely, a nicer “white” folks. And, true to the social development of ISBN: 9781894946322 backward, or lumpen, individual can transform into a rev. others, before & to come, the Northern cities proved to be Publisher: Kersplebedeb Also, while skillfully explaining this process, the differ- devastating to Our cultural unity & awareness. Release Date: 2010-02-241 ence between the two (rev vs. criminal) & how to go about This is essentially what “From One Generation to the actually doing it (thru study, struggle & practice) - the rad Next” points out. “That Ours is a struggle with continuity, By Sanyika Shakur On Meditations: A Weapon for Struggle lays down some very important defi nitions: Captive Colo- unbroken except occasionally in Our own mind.” Now, if nials (those New Afrikans captured who are not revs, but you’re not aware at this point of Yaki’s consciousness & The following is a review of Meditations on Frantz Fanon’s natural citizens of the Nation); Political Prisoners (New Af- energy; the class nature of the struggle; the National real- Wretched of the Earth: New Afrikan Revolutionary Writings rikans captured for non-military anti-imperialist activity) & ity of New Afrika as an internal neo-colonized Nation; or by James Yaki Sayles. The review is written by New Afrikan Prisoners of War (those New Afrikans who are captured for of the existence of Our Provisional Government, Declara- Communist Sanyika Shakur, the author of the international carrying out military strikes against the state). Also included tion of Independence & the war waged against oppressed bestseller Monster: the Autobiography of an L.A. Gang within these defi nitions is the category of PP or POW where nationalities & Our efforts to extricate Ourselves from U.S. Member, and a comrade of Yaki’s. one who is already in a kamp, who has transformed his or capitalist-imperialism & the need to transform your colonial her colonial/criminal mentality, makes political/military as- (allegiance to the oppressor nation) & criminal (allegiance e see Yaki’s involvement with the student orgs & sertions & is consequently locked in a SHU/Control Unit for to individualism, exploitation & capitalist class interests) demos; his community service & his military ac- it, is recognized by Our Movement. mentality - while constructing a proletarian/revolutionary Wtions, leading to his capture & imprisonment. In These defi nitions, along with the whole “Transforming...” mentality - then you’re not reading, studying or meditating the kamps tho the comrad poured in on & evolved into the piece on the criminal/colonial mentality, is of the utmost im- on this work. ideo-theoretical giant that touched Us all. Rightfully, the edi- portance to have in Our ideo-theoretical arsenal because they But read on - read over & think deeply, ‘cause this is the tors began at the beginning. Then they expertly connect the give Us concrete lines to follow, to adhere to & to apply in truth! Where else are you gonna fi nd quotes by Martin Lu- dots that will ultimately raise the consciousness & heighten Our overstanding of struggle in the belly of the beast. ther King, jr. on: “Extremism, Capitalism, Imperialism”? the struggle. * Fourth, “Scenes from the Battle of Algiers”. Now, i’ve Read on. * First, with the “War for the Cities” - which is a lesson read, studied & meditated on the “Transforming...” piece, i * Seventh, “Malcolm, Model of Personal Transformation” he always taught Us which is to function with the People in have read the paraphrased version of Ali Aponte’s scene in - here, no clearer, is the actual transformation of the colo- the area in which you live. Deal with the People who are “off question - but i never saw the movie. Thought the Comrad’s nial/criminal mentality in Brother Malcolm X. And altho We the block.” The old tired & true From The Masses to The paraphrased version was suffi cient. That is until i read the know that his early stages of consciousness with the patriar- Masses. The rad was from Chicago, so it stands to reason actual scenes from the fi lm! A master stroke by the editors chal theocracy of the NOI was hardly complete, We know that this would be where he’d concentrate his initial efforts. to bring the actual scenes in. It totally brings to life what the that he continued to grow, transform & develop his revolu- It’s where he knew best. And yet as We see he doesn’t just Comrad wrote in the “Transformation” piece. It’s like see- tionary mentality. It’s unfortunate for Us all, however, but say “Oh Chicago is such a bad place” - as if We can only ing it as it happens & if you’re a real studier (like me) you it is a testament to his seriousness & commitment (and cor- clean-up Chicago We’d be alright. No, Yaki ties “War for the won’t be able to help yourself from going back to the “Trans- rect line) that he was targeted & assassinated by reactionar- Cities” into the whole colonial matrix of u.s. imperialism. formation” piece after you’ve read the actual “Scenes”. The ies in league with the settler government. Continuously, We The language is precise, clear & conscious. is any ghetto - it fact is the transformation must be genuine & thorough - not are confronted with class alliances that go above & beyond is but one of the urban reservations that We fi nd Ourselves an emotional commitment based on “race”, or an imagined what’s perceived as “race”. The leadership of the capitalist stranded on. slight, but a genuine & authentic transformation of class al- Nation of Islam had more in common, on a class level, with * Second, after establishing the fact of a war - of national legiance & interest. And this must be tied into the struggle the U.S. ruling class, than it did with people of its own Na- oppression & genocidal violence - We fall into the “Free the for National independence & Socialism. i feel this piece is tion. So when Malcolm pointed out that the hit on Kennedy RNA 11: Prisoner of War” chapter - brilliant! Both Yaki’s pivotal in the work as a whole. was a “case of the chickens coming home to roost” - & the piece & the editorial placement. Cause We are reading, bourgeois press reported it (knowing Elijah Muhammad’s studying & meditating the things that are engaging Our so- class allegiance) - Elijah Muhammad acted swiftly to show cial consciousness: Him (Yaki); How (National Oppression); his class allegiance with capitalism & submission to imperi- What (War); Where (New Afrika - inside amerika, “a prison- alism. He silenced Malcolm for ninety days. house of nations”); Why (capitalist-imperialist exploitation Malcolm, however, had that infernal thirst for truth & for wealth & profi t) - but let me not get ahead of myself here. genuine freedom & kept on studying & investigating other In explaining who the RNA 11 are, Comrad Yaki diligently struggles that resembled Ours only to fi nd that “every revolu- explicated how, why, where & when the Provisional Gov- tion fought has been against capitalism & for some type of ernment was formed. Crucial this is because most New Af- socialism.” rikans, while natural citizens, remain woefully oblivious to We can learn a whole lot from the steadfastness of Malcolm these facts. And as such, they go unknowingly along with the in the face of varying degrees of adversity that rushed upon current colonial-settler government of amerika because they him. He committed class suicide in prison; he overcame his see or know of no other alternative. Truthfully, the masses addiction; he became an excellent orator, recruiter & military aren’t necessarily down with the U.S. government, but with- strategist; he read, studied & meditated constantly - never out an alternative they cling to what is available. So, pre- being satisfi ed with what was. He associated with other senting this piece after “War for the Cities” highlights the movements & struggles. He travelled & made alliances. And, realization of Our alternative to U.S. settler government. too, We must overstand that when he left the petty-bourgeois Simultaneously it points up the lengths to which the oppres- Nation of Islam, according to what his beliefs were initially, sive arrangement will go to keep its position fi rm & crush he wasn’t just going against Elijah Muhammad, but against any opposition. Over 500 New Afrikan Nationalists signed Allah himself. Elijah Muhammad had propped himself up as the New Afrikan Declaration of Independence. No more than the “Messenger of Allah”, so to oppose him was to oppose seventy fi ve euro-amerikans signed the U.S. declaration of Allah. No easy feat, huh? independence. Imagine that. The difference? Class. Cats will Once he found orthodox Islam he was relieved, i’m sure, get caught up on that nationality thing, or as the cultural na- to learn that that b.s. old Elijah was kicking was just that. tionalists stress, “black race”, & miss the boat altogether on So, Malcolm was a true revolutionary - he was the message the class signifi cance that is the concrete under any struggle. he brought. And it is this sort of fortitude, thoroughness & But as always, Comrad Yaki blows away all that foolishness conscious effort that We must strive to emulate. This is, of here. Yes, it’s a good thing to be around New Afrikans - but course, a strong piece & a well-placed piece in the work. i’d rather be around Communists. Props to the rad & kudos to the keen eye of the editors. * Third, lest We forget, the Comrad (& again the editorial * Eighth, “Refl ections on Victor Serge’s ‘What Everyone geniuses) goes right into “On Transforming the Colonial & * Fifth, the “Raids on Chicago Public Housing - Fact Should Know About (State) Repression’”. Perfect piece, per- ‘Criminal’ Mentality.” i remember when i fi rst read & stud- Sheet” - here We see the rad going back to the block or the fect placement. i know i keep saying this, but building a book ied this piece back in the mid-1980s - it was shocking to me. hood in an effort to point up the continuing genocidal vio- of this magnitude, of this depth & seriousness, is like arrang- No, seriously, because up until that time i was thinking like lence perpetrated under the guise of bourgeois law & order. ing an album of classic jazz - some Bird, or Coltrane. The the old , that the criminal or outlaw was just And while this was written for Crossroad in 1989, it is just layout has to be coherent & consistent in order to maximize like a revolutionary. That as long as he or she was breaking as relevant today as it was then. But what can We learn from the effect. In order to realize the intent - which of course, is the law or shooting pigs they were somehow on Our side. this? We can see that We need to be more conscious & active to heighten awareness so as to see things both as they really That when the revolution matured & We hit the streets, in in Our particular areas of operation - to document, study & are as well as they can be. confrontation with the state, they’d be with Us against the struggle with the people who are in these conditions. Again, So, the “Model of Personal Transformation” of Malcolm law. But “On Transforming...” shattered that line of think- from the masses to the masses. And, again, like everything is followed by “What Everyone Should Know About (State) ing & brought the truth right down front! And, in so doing, else, the Comrad keeps politics in command by tying the Repression” - can you dig that? They were able to repress taught a fantastic lesson in dialectics. Chicago Housing Raids into the overall genocidal violence & eliminate Malcolm, the Muslim Mosque Inc. & the Or- The criminal has no qualm with capitalism, colonialism or of U.S. capitalism against internal nations. Get out, get ac- ganization or Afro-American Unity (both of his young orgs) imperialism. In fact, the criminal is in league with these evils. tive, get involved in what’s going on where you live. Learn because their security wasn’t tight. Because there was no real Why, the capitalist is who the criminal wants to be. The crim- from the masses, keep your politics in command, transform culture of security. inal can only fl ourish under capitalism - with some degree the conditions under which you live. i remember when this piece was fi rst sent to me in 1988, of impunity. The criminal is an individualist, a greed driven * Sixth, We have the “From One Generation to the Next” the actual pamphlet the Comrads printed it in was called: parasite, just like the capitalists. The criminal has more in piece. Again, right out of the New Afrikan P.O.W. Journals, “Study Notes On Secure Communications: So That We Don’t common - as far as class aspirations - with the oppressor than Books 1-7. Also in abbreviated form in False Nationalism Fool Ourselves Again”. It was an eye-opening piece then he or she has with the working class &/or revolutionaries. False Internationalism: Class Contradictions in the Armed & it’s still - more so - an eye popper now! Especially in the Again We are confronted with class & class interests. How Struggle. This, too, was/is beautifully placed because it day & age of Patriot Acts & Homeland Security! It’s timely clearly puts into perspective the continuity of struggle & & precise. It reminds Us that any anti-imperialist activity is 1. Available from AK Press, 674-A 23rd Street,Oakland, CA 94612 migration. And isn’t it poignant today with what’s going on against the law & expect to be surveilled. Therefore work http://www.akpress.org/2010/items/meditationsonbook 20 PRISON FOCUS overtime to create a culture of security & need to know. The Another Review of Meditations on Frantz peans—the former being primarily one of skin pigmentation stress throughout this piece is consciousness. Overstand Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth: New rather than any differences on the genetic level. Once this your situation, believe that the enemy is always alert, act al- Afrikan Revolutionary Writings alleged difference is debunked he moves on to the issue of ways as if your phone is tapped, your mail is being opened racism itself: & that anyone can be turned. It’s not about being paranoid “No matter how We see the relation between ‘racism’ and - it’s about being secure. But again, all this stems from be- ISBN: 9781894946322 capitalism (e.g., that they arose simultaneously, or that one ing conscious, overstanding your politics, keeping them in Publisher: Kersplebedeb preceded the other), I think they should always be mentioned command & maintaining a working-class stand. “Never say Release Date: 2010-02-24 together. That is, I believe it’s counterproductive to ever talk anything over the phone that you wouldn’t say to a police of- Available from AK Books, http://www.akpress.org/2010/ about ‘racism’ without immediately and thoroughly linking fi cer.” Why? Because the police are your class enemy - they items/meditationsonbook it to capitalism, so that no one can be unmindful of the need represent the settler state as a fi rst line of defense & offense. to struggle against capitalism if they claim to be ‘anti-racist’ We have to overstand, dialectically, that weaknesses of ev- By Ed Mead or ‘against racism.’” ery kind begin within - as a qualitative degeneration. That [Note: When referring to Wretched I’m meaning Fanon’s “’Racism’ is used to justify and facilitate the exploitation the primary cause of change is within a thing - anything. And book, when I say Meditations I’m talking about Yaki’s book of peoples, and is based on the false belief that humanity that the secondary, or quantitative development is what alters on Fanon.] is divided into a plurality of ‘races’ that stand in relation to the time & the space of the thing. So We know that Our old ames Yaki Sayles’ Meditations on Frantz Fanon’s each other as ‘inferior’ or ‘superior’ based on physical and/ Movement was destroyed by its primary weaknesses - by the Wretched of the Earth: New Afrikan Revolutionary or cultural differences. There are no ‘races’—only people(s), internal, or qualitative, defi ciencies - & only secondarily by JWritings is one of those rare books that will instill in united and distinguished by common history (social develop- the outer or quantitative make-up of the contradiction. the reader a new paradigm of political thought—a new way ment), habits, interests, etc.—sometimes We call all of this The internal was Us, Our orgs & the class make up of them of thinking about race, nationalism, and the revolutionary ‘nationality’ or ideology.” & how they in turn related to each other & the masses. With struggle for freedom. Because of this, because of the impor- Yaki asks us “to de-link ourselves from the use of language no clear class-based criterion for recruitment, Our qualitative tant subject matter and the book’s expansive content, it is that reinforces and reproduces racial ideology, e.g., the terms center was weak, unsound & not ready for prime time with a diffi cult to review. I am supplementing Sanyika Shakur’s ‘white’ and ‘black’ in reference to the identity of peoples.” the imperialist state. The secondary make up of this contra- review, which is also included in the book review section of He quotes Ngugi wa Thiong’o who discussed the practice of diction was the imperialist state as represented by its various this issue, because I feel it does not squarely address much of writers under colonialism: “Imperialism was far too easily security agencies, foundations, social orgs & loyal citizens. the actual content of Meditations. seen in terms of the skin pigmentation of the colonizer. Labor We learned that the FBI, or Cointelpro didn’t “destroy” Our Well, I am not going to be able to do an exhaustive review was not just labor but black labor; capital not just capital but Movement. Didn’t scatter Our forces. On the contrary, Our either, although I do want to comment on aspects of the book white owned capital.” The terms white and black were freely Movement was weakened from within. We, as the rads say, that changed my way of thinking, one of which is the sub- interchangeable with the terms Europe and Africa. “’…when “Fooled Ourselves”. Like the New Afrikan in this piece who ject of deconstructing race. Sanyika is a New Afrikan and the with man came to Africa…’ and not ‘when the imperialist after discussing surveillance & knowing that others’ cars had his review was primarily aimed at that audience. I’m eruo- or the colonialist came to Africa…’; or ‘one day these whites been tagged, still refused to “be an espionage agent” - to se- american and in this case my review will be aimed at more will go…’ and not ‘…one day imperialism or these imperial- cure himself. It’s almost as if We have grown biased against toward that segment of readers. ists will go….’” Our own safety & security. And this discussion, as pointed Like Sanyika, I too read Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of On page 275, in the last paragraph, Yaki says something out by Comrad Yaki, took place at the so-called height of the Earth a long time ago, back in the early 1970s for me. that will surely cause controversy: “By ‘New Afrikans’ I consciousness. And yet & still, stunning strikes were able to I thought I understood the book then. Today, after reading don’t mean ‘black’ people. I mean those who come to iden- be made against Us by the oppressive forces. Meditations, I understand that I didn’t really get it at all. I tify their nationality as ‘New Afrikan,’ and who thus exhibit We are not emphasizing security & safety in order to just was hungry for knowledge and the book was like a delicious the consciousness and embrace the values and philosophy … be “safe & secure” - We are emphasizing security & safety pie at my table, and I took only crumbs, thinking I had eaten those who pursue the goals of ‘New Afrikans.’ To me, be- in order to carry out Our activity of re-building. In order to the entire pie. Yaki’s Meditations is the whole pie, and much ing a ‘New Afrikan’ is not about the color of one’s skin, but raise up cadres who can relate to the masses in order to re- more. It is also a book that will create a lot of controversy about one’s thought and practice. I know that not everyone plenish ranks, in order to re-build Our Movement, in order to around the issue of race. But let me start you out on some- agrees with this, but that’s their problem.” get free & build Socialism. If We are to do these necessary thing easier—rebellion versus revolution. When speaking about prisoners Yaki writes: “This ‘crimi- things We need to survive, to have a sense of safety & secu- nal/colonial’ mentality was similarly described by Comrade- rity. And of course, to make strikes. Can you see how things ‘I’ve been in rebellion all my life. Just Sister Assata Shakur [while she was in prison]: ‘I am sad are building with this work? We are climbing up a ladder didn’t know it.’ ... The fi rst rebellion when I see what happens to women who lose their strength. of consciousness, circling & spiraling towards a heightened is always crime. They see themselves as bad children who expect to be pun- state of revolutionary awareness. You see, the Comrad has ished because they have not, in some way, conformed to the both the practical & the theoretical experience that he brings conduct required of ‘good children’ in the opinion of prison to the table here & lays out. This work is important. I watched The Battle of Algiers for the second time the guards. Therefore, when they are ‘punished’ they feel abso- i remember what Comrad Yaki would do was type out po- other day. The fi rst time was probably 30 years ago. It is a lution has been dealt and they are again in the ‘good graces’ sition papers, policies & long theoretical tracts & send them movie about the national liberation struggle against French f the guards. Approval has been given by the enemy, but the out to Us wherever We happened to be. That way We’d all imperialism in Algiers back in the 1960s. The movie starts enemy is no longer recognized as the enemy. The enemy have the same things & then he’d expect Our comments, po- out with a small-time street hustler named Ali being busted becomes the maternal fi gure pattering their lives. It’s like a sitions & feedback. So a lot of these Meditations on Wretch- and tossed into prison as a common criminal. While con- plantation in prison. You can see the need for a revolution ed - especially Parts One, Two & Three - We (Comrads of fi ned he became politicized, transformed from a criminal or clearly.’” This reminds me of a statement made by Harriet the NAC) got in raw letter form. i can remember thinking as lumpen with nationalist sentiments to a revolutionary nation- Tubman who said something to the effect of: “I freed a thou- these papers arrived, how was he able to see things as he did alist. Yaki, a former political prisoner/POW himself, takes up sand slaves; I could have freed another thousand if they’d - so vividly, so astoundingly clear? The answer, of course, the story from here: only known they were slaves.” is study & meditation. The Brotha was a “beast” - seriously. “We know this already sounds familiar to many: ‘I’ve Once again I have written a review that only nibbled And trust me, We need beasts more than ever. been in rebellion all my life. Just didn’t know it.’ And, around the edges of a serious political book. In my review We come now upon the actual Meditations on Wretched of ‘For a young New Afrikan growing up in the ghetto, the of Yaki’s outstanding Meditations, I’ve barely mentioned the Earth, the primary namesake of the work. If you’ve read fi rst rebellion is always crime.’ [Comrade George] the name Frantz Fanon, who was the subject matter of the my fi rst book, Monster, you’ll know then that on page 345, i “A clear distinction must be drawn between ‘rebel- volume. In order to glean the full richness of these medita- wrote about my initial arrival at San Quentin SHU (the hole) lion’ and ‘revolution,’ because unless this is done, We tions you will need to read the book for yourself. If you fancy & a fellow prisoner sending me Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of become confused in our thought and our actions. Ar- yourself as being a revolutionary in America today, this book the Earth. This was ‘85 or early ‘86. Admittedly the book riving at clarity on this and other issues is a necessary is not only an original contribution to revolutionary thought was over my head - i couldn’t overstand what Fanon was aspect of transforming the criminal, and the colonial, and must read book, it is a book you should be organizing saying. i even admitted this in the book. i wanted to, tho, mentality. study groups around. That’s what we in the Seattle Chapter cause i’d heard that it was considered the “Panther Bible”. “We can rebel against something without necessarily of National Jericho Movement are doing. I urge you to read Well, it now appears that not even they completely overstood ‘rebelling’ or making revolution for something. A rebel- and study this book as well. ● Wretched of the Earth. A small consolation to what’s left of lion is generally an ‘attack’ upon those who rule—but my ego... it is an ‘attack’ which is spontaneous, short-lived, and When We started receiving these Meditations i was so without the purpose of replacing those who rule. grateful that the Comrad had taken the time to break down “Rebellions bring into question the methods of those Wretched from a New Afrikan Communist perspective. This who rule, but stop short of actually calling into question work will last a hundred years because it is the truth. And their very right to rule, without calling into question the it is rich with substance & dialectical-materialist reasoning. entire authority and the foundation upon which that au- It’s solid & concrete. It is a true weapon for Our struggle & thority or ‘legitimacy’ rests. should be read, studied, discussed, meditated upon & prac- “We rebel as a means of exposing intolerable condi- ticed in order to realize a better world than that in which We tions and treatment, but We seek to have someone other now live. This work will take its place next to Settlers: My- than ourselves change these conditions, and to change thology of the White Proletariat, by J. Sakai; Night-Vision: the treatment, rather than to assume responsibility our- Illuminating War & Class on the Neo-Colonial Terrain, by selves for our whole lives. A rebellion essentially wants Butch Lee & Red Rover; False Nationalism False Inter- to ‘end bad housing.’ Have ‘full employment,’ and ‘end nationalism: Class Contradictions in the Armed Struggle; police brutality and change prison conditions,’ etc.—to Coming of Black Genocide, by Bottomfi sh Blues. i won’t go reform the system, and to leave the power to make these into the Wretched Meditations, by now you should be ready reforms in the hands of the massa. to go forth. Trust me, this is ideo-theoretical gold! Lets get “A revolution, on the other hand, seeks not merely to free! ● reform the system, but to completely overthrow it, and Re-Build! to place the power overthrowing it, and the power for Sanyika Shakur running the new system that is established, in the hands New Afrikan Communist of the revolutionary masses. Thus the slogan, ‘All Pow- You can write to Sanyika at: er To The People!’” s/n Kody Scott D#07829 Yaki spends some time discussing the issue of race, par- Pelican Bay State Prison ticularly pointing out scientifi c studies demonstrating that PO Box 7500 (SHU-C-7-112) there is more genetic differences between some groups of Crescent City, CA 95532 Europeans than there are between New Afrikans and Euro- NUMBER 37 21 Jalil Muntaqim vocated revolutionary armed struggle ‘ultra-leftist’…. “This small woman fought back. Everyone was hol- We Are Our Own Liberators These erroneous postulations have ill effects on the lering and throwing things out of their windows. An egg Selected Prison Writings entire revolutionary movement. They tend to strip the went fl ying and it hit one of the guards. Four of them revolutionary movement of its militancy and prevent dragged the woman up the stairs and into the entrance certain measures of defense from developing with a to the block. The cops had bloodlust in their eyes. In Second edition with an extensive collection of new greater participation from the oppressed masses…. the hall they couldn’t get the cuffs onto her. Her fury material. Thus, those who partake in armed actions are not only matched theirs. Eventually they overpowered her and fi ghting monopoly-capitalist enemies, but also isolated carried her off, I had never before seen that level of bru- 304pp. ISBN 9780974288468 and abandoned by those claiming to be progressive tality directed against a woman. We were all crying from 5.5x8.5 paperback, $17.95 (U.S.) political activists and revolutionaries.” Most of “those anger, frustration, and fear. And yet in the D.C. jail, it who condemn revolutionary armed struggle are either in was almost normal. It was not extreme—a little more By Ed Mead, March 2011 cahoots with U.S. imperialism, seeking to subvert and brutal than usual, but only a little. To administer by fear n a recent review of another book I wrote: “as a revo- defuse the revolutionary development of the mass and and control by terror was a tactic that was understood lutionary I see little on the political horizon containing popular movement, or lack understanding of the neces- by the prisoners; it was a natural way of life, inside or much of what I would call real political substance….” I sity of the revolutionary armed struggle and thus speak outside. I cried because I didn’t know how to resist that And that I am “looking for political writings that strike a in unprincipled ways on issues they know little about. level of dehumanization. chord within my understanding of dialectical and historical They fear the repression of the State in defense of its “Amid the wreckage of my cell, I spotted a book of materialism as applied to the conditions and circumstances continued existence.” poetry on the fl oor. I found the well-known poem by existing in the world today.” Well, I’ve found such writings. We Are Our Own Liberators is not a book that advocates Langston Hughes, “Harlem”, the one that begins “What The book is by Jalil A. Muntaqim (Anthony Bottom) and it is for or is about armed struggle. The dialectical relationship happens to a dream deferred?” I stood at my window the second edition of We Are Our Own Liberators.1 between mass struggle and armed struggle is mentioned to and in the pulsating silence, in the aftermath of what we I fi rst worked with Jalil back in the mid-1970s when I provide lessons to be learned from past experience. I empha- had just been through, I read it at the top of my lungs. No was a prisoner at the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla size the subject here because of the way in which the mass one said anything. Then a single voice started singing Walla. He was then organizing the United Nations petition movement of the 1970s actively aided the state in their effort “Amazing Grace”, and then another and another until campaign in an effort to get that body to recognize the plight to distance themselves from the armed front and the possibil- there were many voices. Everyone knew the words. It of political prisoners held in U.S. custody. Jalil was then ity of repression. I also want to highlight the issue because was a most beautiful rendition, the richest I had ever and still is an imprisoned member of the Black Liberation of the way in which today’s above-ground left eschews any heard. And as the sound rose and fell I remembered Army. He’s been locked down for some forty years for his kind of militancy. They have taken a movement that put hun- hearing somewhere that this song had been written by a alleged participation in BLA “crimes.” During his imprison- dreds of thousands of Americans into the streets to protest slaver, a ship captain who experienced a dramatic con- ment Jalil has tirelessly struggled in both word and deed to the invasion of Iraq, and through their passivity, their ob- version and later spoke out strongly against slavery. ‘I advance the cause of political and social prisoners, as well as sequiousness to bourgeois legality, have managed to reduce once was lost, but now am found.’ the New Afrikan struggle for nationhood. that movement to occasional marches numbering less than “What I was learning in those endless days at the jail We Are Our Own Liberators is not an easy read. While a hundred people. They refuse to admit their mistakes or to was the relentlessness of prison and oppression and the Jalil’s book is exceptionally well written, like all books con- examine the failure of their practice, even in times such as constant abuse of authority as a way of life. To lessen taining signifi cant content, it requires some concentration these, when the future is so pregnant with the possibility of one’s expectations about the quality and content of life on the part of the reader. But this effort will be a labor of change. They forget that revolution is against the law—that is a terrible thing. In prison one faces a direct attempt to love for those interested in the politics of progressive Black revolution is an act by witch one class violently overthrows destroy the human spirit. More than anything else, life Nationalism. We Are Our Own Liberators is the handbook, another. in the DC jail was designed to dehumanize us in order the roadmap activists must traverse on the journey to New In addition to the organizational red meat (vegetarians and enslave us.” Afrikan and class-based revolutionary change in America. It vegans forgive me) of this book, it is also interspersed with An American Radical, Political Prisoner in My Own is not, like so many books written by current or former po- Jalil’s outstanding poetry (one reviewer called his poems Country is a great read in terms of writing style and in terms litical prisoners (including the one I am working on), a book “strong and multi-layered”), as well as brief commentaries of her experiences on the inside. She readily captures the re- about himself or his personal trials and tribulations. It is a on subjects such as Obama, a tribute to Nuh Washington, and alities of prison life from the perspective of the prisoner, and book about the actual mechanics of building a revolutionary others. These chapters provide relief from the heavy reading she has keen insight into the many ways the correctional phi- organization and class struggle. on matters such as organizational and cadre development. losophy and practice of her captors are fl awed. It is always The overall thrust and primary content of Jalil’s book is a One of my favorites was a chapter called The Criminaliza- refreshing to read about the experiences of a woman doing step-by-step “how to” manual for the current and next gen- tion of Poverty in Capitalist America. Jalil cites statistics time, there are so few examples. This is one of the best. So eration of revolutionaries to use when building cadre and on the ever growing gap between the rich and poor, and the long as one isn’t looking for political direction, which isn’t organizations that can reach out to and successfully engage government policies that work to generate greater levels of the author’s intention, I’ll give Susan’s book two thumbs up. the masses. But in the process of doing this he also address- poverty. He points out the relationship between poverty and You can’t go wrong buying this well written and insightful es the weaknesses that must be overcome within the Black crime, adding that “…the real criminals are those who create book. ● Community and other social segments by those seeking to the socio-economic conditions that perpetuate impoverish- implement these changes. This is accomplished through an ment … and defl ect culpability of their criminal behavior.” analysis of the black bourgeoisie and other reactionary forces If I were to isolate one weakness in Jalil’s book it would be and the negative impact they have within these communities. ILLINOIS ABOLISHES his failure to update material in this second edition. Some ar- The book should be read just for this analysis, although the eas of the book were written a number of years ago. I would DEATH PENALTY real substance is the well thought-out guide to building revo- like to have seen those parts updated with more recent statis- lutionary organization in today’s America. 16th US state to get rid of capital punishment tics. That said, for New Afrikan and progressive whites seri- It is diffi cult, at least for me as a white ex-con, to distill llinois governor Pat Quinn after signing legislation abol- ous about building a revolutionary movement, and who of us the essence of Jalil’s political/organizational substance into a ishing the death penalty at the state capitol in Spring- isn’t, We Are Our Own Liberators is a must read book—the mere review—the content is too rich and deep, too detailed Ifi eld. Photograph: Seth Perlman/AP Illinois has abol- central thrust of which we should all be working to imple- and methodical for easy categorization. It is something New ished the death penalty after two decades of deliberation on ment in our day-to-day political practice. ● Afrikans and progressive whites must read, must study. So the grounds that the justice system could execute innocent rather that address this broad range of content, I’ll merely people by mistake, in a move that is likely to renew calls for nibble around the edges. other US states to follow. BOOK REVIEW The move will save 15 men from execution who are on I suspect that every reviewer of a progressive political An American Radical, Political Prisoner in My Own book will take that which he or she feels to be the most rel- Illinois’s death row, moving them to life in prison with no Country hope of parole. Governor Pat Quinn, a Democrat who has evant, and then give that material special attention. For me it By Susan Rosenberg was Jalil’s criticism of the leftist formations in this country— long supported capital punishment, spent two months delib- Pub Date: March 1st, 2011 erating on the decision, which he described as the most diffi - a subject I too feel strongly about. He says: ISBN: 978-0-8065-3304-9 “Only a few of these radicals/militants, either in the past cult he has made in offi ce. “If the system can’t be guaranteed, Page count: 496pp 100% error-free, then we shouldn’t have the system”, Quinn or recently, ever took seriously the fact that Marx and Lenin Publisher: Citadel/Kensington were both developing their theories in a systematic refl ec- said. “It cannot stand.” tion upon specifi c historical reality, a totally different histori- The governor’s decision incensed many prosecutors and By Ed Mead relatives of victims of crime. Republican representative Jim cal reality from what exists in the United States today. Marx n American Radical, Political Prisoner in My Own was writing at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Durkin predicted Quinn will pay a political price if he seeks Country by Susan Rosenberg is about the time she re-election in four years’ time. Quinn said he would oppose Europe 100 years ago and Lenin in backwards Russia over spent in various women’s prisons as a result of her fi fty years ago, in periods when rapid developments in the A any attempt to reinstate a new version of the death penalty. political actions against the U.S. government. This is a book production forces were the urgent concerns…. “ He also promised to commute the sentence of anyone who I enjoyed reading, front to back. It is timely, the content im- might receive a death sentence between now and when the Jalil points out that the United States is not old-time Eu- portant, often moving, and educational for those who have rope or Russia, and that today’s radicals need to do more than measure takes effect on July 1, a spokeswoman said. not spent time inside a prison. It is also an extraordinarily Illinois becomes the 16th state in the US without a death replace the revolutionary role of workers with those in the well written book. At times tears welled up inside me as I so called third world who are in revolt, or casting domestic penalty. New York and New Jersey abolished the death pen- read portions of this book; at other times I would fi nd my- alty in 2007. New Mexico followed suit in 2009. social movements into the role Marx and Lenin gave to the self sharing in her triumphs or despair. As a former prisoner working class. He notes that some of these social movements In his comments, Quinn returned often to the fact that 20 I could readily relate to the petty bureaucracy and power people sent to death row had seen their cases overturned af- (e.g., the prisoners’ movement) “have begun to substitute mongering of prisoncrats. I am recommending this book to themselves for New Afrikan workers….” Jalil goes on to ar- ter evidence surfaced that they were innocent or had been anyone wanting to know more about life inside for a class- convicted improperly. Campaigners studying capital punish- gue that instead of merely “reacting to rebellions and to each conscious woman doing time in the federal prison system. other in sectarian and opportunist ways…. The revolutionary ment said Illinois’s move carries more weight than states that As I said, it was Susan’s engaging writing style made it halted executions but had not used the death penalty often. cadre organization must make its own serious analysis of the easier to meet her at each stage of her development during unique historical development of the United States and the “Illinois stands out because it was a state that used it, recon- her sixteen years of imprisonment. Here’s a little sample of sidered it and now rejected it”, said Richard Dieter of the material development in their area and nationally.” how well Susan writes. This selection was from her time in Addressing the subject of armed struggle Jalil notes that: Death Penalty Information Centre in Washington. the D.C jail. Another prisoner was brushing her teeth when Illinois has executed 12 men since 1977, when the death “Many ‘leftists’ in the class and national liberation the goon squad suddenly opened the door of her cell and or- struggle have labeled individuals or groups who ad- penalty was reinstated. The last execution was Andrew Ko- dered her out. Had they waited ten seconds she could have koraleis on March 17, 1999. At the time, the average length 1. Published by and available from Arissa Media Group, P.O. Box spit out the mouth full of tooth paste into her sink, but instead of stay on death row was 13 years. 27991, Tempe, AZ 85283, the guards rudely grabbed her. She spit the emulsifi ed tooth- Associated Press, March 10, 2011 http://www.arissa.org/weareourownliberators.html. paste into the guard’s face: 22 PRISON FOCUS ernor, John R. Kasich of Ohio, recently announced support THE HUNGER STRIKE AND THE PEDAGOGY OF THE for reducing penalties for nonviolent drug offenders as part OPPRESSED: LIBERATION FROM DEHUMANIZATION of an effort to slash the size of the state’s prison population. A majority of those swept into our nation’s prison system By Ron Ahnen, Preseident, CPF But for Freire, they will not fi nd liberation without entering are poor people of color, but the sudden shift away from the hinking about the recent Supreme Court decision a dialogue with their oppressors. He notes, “the pedagogy “get tough” rhetoric that has dominated the national dis- declaring that overcrowded conditions in California of the oppressed is an instrument for their critical discovery course on crime has not been inspired by a surge in concern prisons constitute nothing less than cruel and unusual that both they and their oppressors are manifestations of de- about the devastating human toll of mass incarceration. In- T stead, as Professor Bell predicted, the changing tide is best punishment, and considering the upcoming hunger strike in humanization.” The oppressors are in dire need of liberation- Pelican Bay SHU starting July 1 over fi ve core demands of -liberation from their daily treatment of other human beings explained by perceived white interests. In this economic cli- prisoners got me thinking about Paulo Freire’s book Pedago- as objects and without dignity. By oppressing their fellow mate, it is impossible to maintain the vast prison state with- gy of the Oppressed. In it, he argues that the process of over- human beings, they dehumanize not only the oppressed, but out raising taxes on the (white) middle class. coming oppression and dismantling the social structures and themselves. They degrade their own human dignity. The pro- Given this political reality, it is hardly a surprise to read institutions that dehumanize our fellow human beings must cess of liberation occurs via the dialogue between prisoners a headline that says, “N.A.A.C.P. Joins With Gingrich in necessarily be led by the oppressed themselves. He writes, and their oppressors that the hunger strike will spark. Each Urging Prison Reform”, rather than the other way around. If “Who are better prepared than the oppressed to understand group must struggle to recover their own humanity. there were ever an illustration of Professor Bell’s theory that the terrible signifi cance of an oppressive society? Who suffer Who are the oppressors? It’s easy to point to the guards, whites will support racial justice only to the extent that it is the effects of oppression more than the oppressed? Who can prison offi cials, or the governor. But the real answer is: we in their interests, this would seem to be it. better understand the necessity of liberation?” The hunger are. We, the people of California. All of us. We have become Of course, in the late 1970s, when Professor Bell, who strikers have taken the fi rst step in recovering their human- oppressors out of fear and out of ignorance. We have dehu- now teaches at New York University School of Law, fi rst ad- ity. They have consciously acted in concert with one another, manized people fi rst by labeling them “criminals”, “felons”, vanced his theories, our prison population was much smaller. overcoming all sorts of barriers to demand together respect “animals”, “monsters”, and “worst of the worst”, and sec- The Reagan revolution had not yet taken hold. No one knew for their basic human rights. ond, by attaching more value to those labels than the hu- that the war on drugs and the “get tough” movement would In order to start the process of liberation, Freire notes, the man beings behind them. In our mind, we have made objects unleash a wave of punitiveness that would trap generations oppressed must “perceive the reality of oppression not as a out of people, and then proceeded to warehouse them in the in ghettoes, and brand them criminals and felons. No one closed world from which there is no exit, but as a limiting smallest of cells with little to no regard for physical, mental, foresaw the caste-like system that would emerge, the mil- situation which they can transform.” The simple recogni- emotional or psychological well-being. This is exactly the lions who would be stripped of basic civil and human rights tion of oppression does kind of dehumanization supposedly won in the — the right to not automatically lead to that the Supreme Court vote, to serve on juries, and to be free of discrimination in liberation, though it is an declared may not stand. employment, housing, education and public benefi ts. imperative fi rst step. The We, the people of Cali- Today, 2.3 million Americans are behind bars; the United oppressed must also come fornia, have been too States has the world’s highest rate of incarceration. Convic- to understand and exploit quick to latch on to the tions for non-violent crimes and relatively minor drug of- real avenues and possi- last slick politician toting fenses — mostly possession, not sale — have accounted for bilities for change. They fear of crime as the key the bulk of the increase in the prison population since the must act. issue of the day—usually mid-1980s. The prisoners on hun- sprinkled with a healthy African-Americans are far more likely to get prison sen- ger strike are not ideal- dose of racism, sexism, tences for drug offenses than white offenders, even though istically blinded or naive or classism. With almost studies have consistently shown that they are no more likely people on a fool’s errand. willful ignorance, we to use or sell illegal drugs than whites. Cynics may abound, but swiftly reach for simplis- What to do now? Understandably, civil rights advocates Freire argues that “the op- tic solutions like mass and criminal justice reformers are celebrating this moment pressed who have adapted R. Garcia, 2004 incarceration which make of what Professor Bell calls “interest convergence.” They to the structure of domination in which they are immersed us feel safer even as we make it impossible for most pris- say we must catch the wave and ride it. Many have given up and have become resigned to it, are inhibited from waging oners to educate themselves, kick bad habits, recover from all hope of persuading the white electorate that they should the struggle for freedom so long as they feel incapable of addiction, and otherwise prepare themselves for a crime-free care about the severe racial disparities in the criminal justice running the risks it requires.” Those who believe no change life after prison. Our actions, and especially our inaction to system or the racial politics that birthed the drug war. It’s will come from this strike are frozen--unable to carry out the stop these processes, have allowed oppression to fl ourish in possible now, they say, to win big without talking about race transformations that could lead to their liberation. They have our state. or “making it an issue.” Public relations consultants like the been defeated before the process of change has even had a We, the activists, supporters, and friends of the hunger FrameWorks Institute—which dedicates itself to “changing chance to start. In contrast, the prisoners on hunger strike striking prisoners, have recognized our part in the process of the public conversation about social problems”—advise ad- clearly see injustice, and understand that change can happen, dehumanizing our fellow human beings. We are beginning vocates to speak in a “practical tone” and avoid discussions but only if they set aside their fear of reprisal and take action. our own liberation just as the prisoners have begun theirs. of “fairness between groups and the historical legacy of rac- Hunger strikes are serious business. There are risks. Let’s We must also act if we are to achieve our mutual goals of ism.” not kid ourselves--some people could die. Those planning recovering our humanity. We must contact our elected of- Surely the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have re- to fast have concluded that, ironically, the only way to get fi cials, sign the online support petition, take to the streets, jected that advice. In 1963, in his “Letter From a Birmingham both the prison offi cials and the general public to perceive show up at protests, fl ood the governor’s offi ce with phone Jail”, he chastised white ministers for their indifference to the depth of their inhumane condition is to starve their own calls, emails and letters. We must let our ire be felt as never black suffering: “I have almost reached the regrettable con- bodies. Only then will enough onlookers begin to scratch before. If we fail to do so, we fail not only the prisoners, but clusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride their heads and ask themselves, “How bad must it be when ourselves. toward freedom is not the White Citizens Counciler or the the prisoners themselves are willing to risk their own lives CPF fully supports the prisoners on hunger strike and their Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more de- for the possibility of liberation that maybe only their fellow very legitimate fi ve core demands. We strongly urge prison voted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace inmates will enjoy?” offi cials to grant these demands and to attend to the hunger which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is And the risks are not merely limited to the hunger strikers. strikers in the most humane, open, honest, caring, and trans- the presence of justice; who constantly says, ‘I agree with For Freire, the struggle of the oppressed for their liberation parent fashion possible throughout the strike. Most impor- you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods “threatens not only the oppressor, but also their own op- tantly, we remain optimistic that real change is possible and of direct action’; who paternalistically believes he can set the pressed comrades who are fearful of still greater repression.” on the horizon. ● timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythi- How will the other prisoners act toward the hunger strikers? In deep support. cal concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to Will they resent them? support them? join them? Freire tells wait for a ‘more convenient season.’ ” us, “when they discover within themselves the yearning to He continued: “We will have to repent in this generation be free, they perceive that this yearning can be transformed MONEY TRUMPS CIVIL not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad peo- into reality only when the same yearning is aroused in their ple but for the appalling silence of the good people.” Such comrades.” Without mutual support, the strike will get no- RIGHTS language would not have tested well in a focus group. Yet it helped to change the course of history. where. By Michelle Alexander, Columbus, Ohio This hunger strike has brought prisoners together, united, Those who believe that righteous indignation and protest HE legal scholar Derrick A. Bell foresaw that mass politics were appropriate in the struggle to end Jim Crow, in a way that is seldom seen inside prison walls. Representa- incarceration, like earlier systems of racial control, tives from fi ve different groups--based primarily on race-- but that something less will do as we seek to dismantle mass Twould continue to exist as long as it served the per- incarceration, fail to appreciate the magnitude of the chal- are cooperating and participating. We know that race is used ceived interests of white elites. lenge. If our nation were to return to the rates of incarcera- in our society to as an instrument of domination, but it is Thirty years of civil rights litigation and advocacy have doubly so in prisons where people are classifi ed more often tion we had in the 1970s, we would have to release four out failed to slow the pace of a racially biased drug war or to pre- of fi ve people behind bars. A million people employed by the than not by the color of their skin. Prisoners’ cells carry color vent the emergence of a penal system of astonishing size. Yet coded information sheets to indicate the race of the person criminal justice system could lose their jobs. Private prison a few short years of tight state budgets have inspired former companies would see their profi ts vanish. This system is now inside. Cooperation among prisoners of different races dur- “get tough” true believers to suddenly denounce the costs of ing this hunger strike signifi es an imperative step--if not the so deeply rooted in our social, political and economic struc- imprisonment. “We’re wasting tax dollars on prisons”, they tures that it is not going to fade away without a major shift in most important step--in the process of prisoners recovering say. “It’s time to shift course.” their humanity. The hunger strike does not make race sud- public consciousness. Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, shocked many Yes, some prison downsizing is likely to occur in the denly irrelevant, but it does mean that racial divisions do not earlier this year when he co-wrote an essay for The Washing- prevent prisoners from naming their condition as oppressive, months and years to come. But we ought not fool ourselves: ton Post calling on “conservative legislators to lead the way we will not end mass incarceration without a recommitment from identifying their oppressors, and from cooperating as in addressing an issue often considered off-limits to reform: an oppressed class to demand their liberation from the ter- to the movement-building work that was begun in the 1950s prisons.” and 1960s and left unfi nished. A human rights nightmare is rible form of dehumanization that is the Pelican Bay SHU. Republican governors had already been sounding the same For the oppressed, according to Freire, the task of libera- occurring on our watch. If we fail to rise to the challenge, note. As California was careening toward bankruptcy last and push past the politics of momentary interest conver- tion is a double one, for they can only become truly liberated year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger lamented that more mon- if their oppressors are also liberated from their participation gence, future generations will judge us harshly. ● ey was being spent on prisons than on education. Priorities [Michelle Alexander, an associate professor of law at Ohio in supporting and continuing the oppressive prison structure. “have become out of whack over the years”, he said. “What Prisoners rightfully and justly despise their condition, and State University, is the author of The New Jim Crow: Mass does it say about any state that focuses more on prison uni- Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.] they may be tempted to despise their oppressors even more. forms than on caps and gowns?” Another Republican gov-

NUMBER 37 23 Talking To You from Barack Obama, on December 20, 2007: “The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally irst of all, we of California Prison Focus extend our authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve thanks and appreciation to former Black Panther, stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.” Last FGeorge Jackson Brigade member, and political pris- night on national television he said the exact opposite; that it oner Mark Cook who paid most of the costs to print and would be wrong of the U.S. not to militarily intervene in the mail out this issue of Prison Focus, the remainder was paid world when armed insurgents were being resisted with vio- by SHU prisoners on the Short Corridor of the Pelican Bay lence by their government. He didn’t use those exact words, SHU. Thanks to all of you. but you get the point. If there are to be more issues published there will need to As our missiles and bombs raining down on Libya? In de- be more people contributing to the costs of production, and fense of protesters opposing that nation’s ruler? Actually, in it must come from folks both inside and out. The volunteers Note: The views expressed in these comments are addition to the desire to deprive China of continued access at California Prison Focus give their time, money, and labor the opinions of the writer, and do not necessarily Libya’s oil, Gadhafi ’s fate was sealed by two other events; to make this publication happen. But it can’t be done without refl ect the views of California Prison Focus or its fi rst his decision to pursue gold standard and reject dollars your ongoing fi nancial support. Help us out if you like the members. for oil payments, and, secondly, his refusal to join the U.S. work we do. If you don’t like it, get off our mailing list. imperialism’s Africa Command. The U.S. turns a blind eye I’ve been editing or co-editing Prison Focus for about ten to their friends in places like Yemen and Bahrain, who are years now. The goal I’ve tried to keep in mind when writing rich do in such a situation of need? Within the fi rst days of shooting into crowds of unarmed protesters from rooftops this has been the pressing need to help make social prison- the disaster the rich pulled $183 billion worth of their stocks and killing them by the hundreds. But unlike in Yemen and ers more rights conscious, and the rights conscious prisoners out of Japanese companies. This is a classic example of the Bahrain, Gadhafi is not killing unarmed and innocent civil- more class conscious. My message is that it’s the duty of the way in which the system of capitalism puts individual greed ians. They are armed insurgents. Worse, according to Abdel- class conscious to win over the rights conscious, who in turn above human need. There are medicines that will save lives, Hakim al-Hasidi10, the Libyan rebel leader, the jihadists who can win over or neutralize the more backwards elements. The for example, but because there are not enough people suf- fought against U.S. troops in Iraq are on the front lines of more immediate slogan has always been one of “working to fering from these diseases, and hence not enough profi t in the battle against Muammar Gaddafi ’s regime. The Libyan extend democracy to all.” That of course includes smash- manufacturing the medicines, the pharmaceutical companies Rebel Commander admits his frontline fi ghters have Al-Qa- ing the Thirteenth Amendment, which legitimizes slavery for refuse to produce them. They put profi ts before people. eda links.11 millions of American citizens. Prisoners are held under con- In the interesting statistics department, the wealthiest 5% Out here on the streets the befuddled masses have mag- ditions of dependency and irresponsibility, disenfranchised of Americans control 72% of America’s fi nancial wealth. The netic yellow ribbons they attach to their cars saying “Support and much more due to their status under that Amendment. It bottom 80% control only 7% of the nation’s fi nancial Our Troops.” They don’t understand that what they are actu- abolished slavery for all except those convicted of a crime. wealth. The richest 400 Americans have more combined ally doing is supporting the policy that’s killing those very Today we have some 2.3 million slaves inside of the Ameri- wealth than the poorer half of all Americans. That means troops—an unconstitutional policy that violates international can gulag. There are 7.3 million more people with only one 400 people have more wealth than 150,000,000 people com- law. In point of fact, the original yellow ribbon was for an foot on the streets (those on probation and parole, etc.), and bined. Meanwhile, according to the Federal Reserve, the av- ex-convict coming home, not a soldier. another 14 million ex-cons out here in minimum custody. erage American family’s household net worth declined 23% As of yesterday 4,778 U.S. military personnel are offi cial- That’s a huge number of potential-slaves, slaves, and former between 2007 and 2009.5 Amongst 20 of the world’s wealthi- ly acknowledged to have sacrifi ced their lives in Iraq, and slaves of the state. est countries, America now has the highest poverty rate, both some 30,000 have been wounded or maimed. The number of It has fi nally started to dawn upon some conservatives generally and for children. And today’s dollar would buy less Iraqis slaughtered since the U.S. invaded Iraq is 1,421,933,12 (most liberals have not gotten even this far, still being locked than a nickel’s worth of goods and services in Woodrow Wil- not to mention the millions displaced and those who have into “rehabilitation” mode), in this time of huge budget cut- son’s time.6 Two thirds of U.S. corporations pay no federal fl ed the country. And for what? Well, for oil of course. But ting, that sending non-violent offenders to prison, like drug taxes.7 At a time when homelessness is widespread, includ- the way things are going in Iraq these days we may not be users, only results in more violent crime and recidivism. It ing entire families, 13 percent of all U.S. homes are current- able to steal that oil after all. As I’ve written in these pages accomplishes the opposite of its intended purpose, and it ly vacant.8 The percentage of Americans who have jobs has before, the winner of the U.S. war against Iraq was Iran. does so at huge public expense. In short, prison administra- fallen to the lowest point in three decades and now hovers While the winners of the American war against the people tors and related prisoncrats might, heaven forbid, be held just above 45 percent of the total population, according to an of Afghanistan will be the Taliban, yet it will ultimately be accountable or somehow responsible for their downright dis- analysis of labor data published by USA Today. Russia who’ll benefi t from that war. mal and ongoing failures. While the goofballs who run foreign policy for the U.S. And as editor I have also tried to help reduce the high re- are squandering trillions on war, and in the process alienat- cidivism rates by advocating the need to put ex-convicts to ing the peoples of the world, China is quietly building their work, and to do so without seeking help from the class ene- infrastructure and adding other forms of wealth to their na- my’s government. According to some experts, the ex-convict tion, and in the process they are winning friends around the unemployment rate in California is seventy percent, about globe. While our defense budget is over 700 billion, not in- the same as their recidivism rate. Recidivism can be reduced cluding hundreds of billions more in special war appropria- by creating not-for-profi t (not government sanctioned non- tions, China spends a mere 65 billion for defense. America’s profi ts), ex-con owned industrial and service cooperatives.1 infrastructure is crumbling because of all the money spent on The manufacture of solar-cell panels, for example, would be the military. Here’s a little economic lesson for you: When one such industry—one that could be started out of a garage you build bridges and the like you are adding to the national or basement. The former prisoners working and managing wealth. When you spend money on military equipment you such organizations (not businesses), especially at fi rst, would might as well be producing garbage. The effect is the same. be class and rights conscious ex-cons dedicated to working The wars that are going on now are mere schoolyard for equal rights for prisoners—including the universal hu- “Oh there he goes again”, some readers will say, “going bully wars. We are taking their lunch money (oil). Like all man right to organize.2 off into one of his anti-capitalist tirades.” Would it sound bet- schoolyard bullies the U.S. picks on the weak, countries like I am from the era back when there was a strong prisoner’s ter if it came from the mouth of billionaire Warren Buffett? Granada, Panama, Serbia, Iraq, and Afghanistan (although movement, back in the late 1960s and up until the later part of Capitalism is like Cinderella, Buffett says in an interview those last two weaklings are kicking the bully’s ass, as did the 1970s—the decade in which prisoners in the U.S. made with TheMarker. “She knew at midnight that everything the people of Vietnam). more progress than in any time in their history.3 It should be was going to turn into pumpkins and mice, but it was just so There will be another world war. World Wars I and II were noted that, like the early labor unions in this country (back much damn fun, dancing there.” He goes on to say that “the fought for the same reason; the little sister imperialists want- when they had some fi ght in them), the prisoners’ movement United States is moving toward plutocracy—government of ed their slice of the pie, but the big imperialists had already was led by communists of all races. 4 Anyone who disputes the rich, not by the people….”9 Moving toward a Plutocracy taken the whole pie. War was the result. Just as in the prelude this fact is a fool. Many of the class conscious prisoners from might be a bit of an understatement. The rich have run the to WW II when Japan and Germany were making economic this period are still confi ned, all these many years later. Yet government from the beginning. It’s only much worse now. inroads into areas controlled by the big imperialists, note the the ear of the younger prisoners has not yet heard them. This Also as I write this the international imperialism, led by inroads China is mading in Africa, Asia, and South America. publication has tried to be an avenue through which those the United States, has launched a war against Libya, a nation The over 3.2 million Vietnamese people the U.S. slaugh- younger prisoners can fi nd and hear the wise voices from a with some of the sweetest crude oil on the planet. But this act tered, the 1.4 million Iraqis butchered in that act of aggres- previous generation of prisoner activists. It is the task of the of aggression is legal because, like the invasion and occupa- sion, or the entire number of the planet’s dead due to colo- reader to learn from these elders of our struggle. tion of other nations (think Iraq for one), has been sanctioned nialism-induced starvation, etc., will be nothing compared by the United Nations. to the lives lost in this next world war. Right now the U.S. Talking At You Former President Dwight Eisenhower had this to say on and its friends are gobbling up the global oil supplies. This As I write this Japan has just suffered a shattering earth- the subject of the U.N’s legitimacy: “If the United Nations is a part of what Libya is all about—preventing China the re- quake and tsunami, with the count of missing or dead at once admits that international disputes can be settled by us- source it needs to continue to grow (not unlike what the U.S. around 28,000. In addition, two nuclear power plants are on ing force, we will have destroyed the foundation of the or- did to Japan prior to the Second World War). The Russians the verge of a meltdown. This is a time when the citizens ganization and our best hope of establishing a world order.” and the Chinese see this aggression for what it is, but for of the world need to be sending aid and otherwise support- Eisenhower expressed the hope; the reality was captured now they are too intimidated to even veto the UN resolution ing the people of that devastated nation. What do the global by the radio commentator Paul Harvey: “One would think authoring aggression against the nation of Libya. There is only one force that can stop another World War, 1. While it is not a progressive organization and has many other by listening to all the propaganda about the United Nations weaknesses, something along the lines of “Delancey Street” in San that they are some sort of benevolent, peaceful organiza- and that force is global socialist revolution. Not a “revolu- Francisco would be the starting point. tion. Never in the history of the United Nations has it stood tion” like you recently saw in Egypt, where a few of the top 2. At the very height of the prisoners’ rights movement of the 1970s, for anything but killing and violence. They have never kept faces are shuffl ed around and the citizens then get to vote for in a case involving the right of South Carolina prisoners to organize peace anywhere on this globe. Their sole function is to re- the candidate that will best represent the interests of their rul- themselves into a union, the U.S. Supreme Court held said no—that place the U.S. military.” ing class oppressors. That is a rebellion, not a revolution. A prisoners do not have such a right. It will take a mass movement Since I’m doing a few quotes let me give you one more, revolution makes a clean sweep of the whole stinking mess, of those in and out of prison to build the force needed to generate the military, the police, and the courts—all of it—and re- meaningful change, a part of which is overturning that pro-slavery 5. http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/24/pf/fi nancial_crisis_outcome/ places them with institutions run by and in the interests of ruling. index.htm poor and working people. 3. In place of that movement rose a continuing series of reaction- 6. http://bit.ly/d2Qv6l ary attacks on the rights of prisoners that continues to this day. 7. http://bit.ly/fKDChj 10. A former military offi cer in Libya who fl ed to the U.S. and for 4. It was those fi ghting unions that brought you the eight hour work 8. http://fi nance.yahoo.com/news/Housing-market-13-of-all-US- the next twenty years lived fi ve miles from the CIA headquarters day, weekends, and an end to the exploitation of child labor. All of cnnm-62477853.html?x=0 at Langley, VA, with no visible means of support. that forward progress stopped when the communists were kicked 9. See, http://english.themarker.com/warren-buffett-the-u-s-is- 11. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27768.htm out of the unions. It’s been downhill for the unions ever since. moving-toward-plutocracy-1.351236 12. http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html 24 PRISON FOCUS Listen to me prattle on about world war and such when we support these struggling prisoners. Here’s what you can do to for only an hour and a half! are only concerned with prison issues here. Of course you help. As you know, if we are to be successful in this effort we You see, regardless of any written policy or goals of the in- don’t have to agree with me on any of these broader ques- will need to generate all of the strength we can muster. One stitution about fostering family bonds and ties to the commu- tions, but I do want you to get another perspective, one dif- important aspect of this is for outside support organizations nity, just the opposite is true. This institution wants to break ferent than the one you get from the bourgeois information to be in touch with your family members and loved ones on as many ties and bonds to family and community as it can. machine. It is good to be exposed to different points of view, the streets during this period. You need to put them in touch It’s all part of an effort to apply even greater pressure so that agree with them or not. CPF or other support groups around the state. We will do the prisoners who haven’t broken yet to crack and become our best to help mobilize all who contact us. Everyone can “debriefers.” Talking With You do something, no matter how small. Even tasks like licking The latest tactic has been to turn up the stopping of our The theme for the next issue of Prison Focus (#38) will envelopes to the media and legislators are important. personal mail. Our families and friends are sent threatening, be gay and Lesbian oppression on the inside (in short, ho- At least give your loved ones on the outside an opportunity menacing notices that accuse them of “promoting gang ac- mophobia). This is a subject that needs to be addressed in a to say no. The bottom line is this: The struggle is going to be tivity”, “circumventing mail”, “third party correspondence”, serious way. Please send us your articles and artwork on this long and diffi cult; to win we must throw every resource we “unauthorized business dealings” for sending “contraband.” subject. The due date for submissions for the next issue is have into the fi ght. Any person who holds back resources Our loved ones are not told that they can appeal these ac- August 1st, 2011. Look at the length of articles in this issue is a defeatist. By the same token, there will be those who cusations, let alone how to go about appealing. It is not to get an idea of how long they should be (a thousand words advocate the use of violence in the furtherance of prisoner even pointed out to them why or how these conclusions are is enough). Oh, when you write would you please stop using goals. These people are provocateurs and listening to them reached. Our friends and families are made to guess at what the term “inmate” and instead say it like it is—prisoner or will result in certain defeat. Protracted peaceful struggle is it was they said for staff to accuse them of such transgres- convict. Anyway, sexism and homophobia are rampant on required to win. And the object is to win! sions. They shouldn’t have to guess. the inside. Rights and class conscious prisoners should be The Security Housing Units may have at one time or an- We prisoners are then left to appeal these mail stoppages, addressing these issues in a serious way. other been a grand experiment in the eyes of prisoncrats, but and that’s when we’re hit from a different angle—of trying Now let me say a few words about the recent and sharply that experiment has clearly failed, and has done so at great to get all of our appeals in within the 15 working day time divided U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the issue of over- human cost. It is long past time to transform these insanity limit, but the rules say we can only fi le one appeal every crowding in California’s prisons. The fi rst case, Coleman v. inducing units into minimum security housing, and to release seven days. It is a battle just to get your appeal in without Brown, was fi led in the federal district court back in 1990, the victims of this barbaric practice back into the state’s gen- having it sent back, and in effect placing you beyond the time some 21 years ago. The companion case, Plata v. Brown, was eral population. They can do that now, or they can do it when limits to appeal. fi led in 2001, 10 years ago. While you consider the amount they are forced to do so. But they will do it. If there is ever But even if your appeal does make it through, it is sent of time it has taken to get this much contested ruling, also going to be a line drawn in the sand by the prisoners of Cali- to the Institutional Gang Investigations Unit, the very unit ponder the fact that Justice Anthony Kennedy cited lower- fornia, now is the time to peacefully draw it. Shutting down that stopped the mail in the fi rst place. And the third level of court fi ndings that preventable suicide and medical neglect the SHUs must be the fi rst thing on the list issues to draw review merely rubber stamps the denial. “needlessly” cause the death of at least one inmate a week in that line around. If not shutting down the SHUs, then at least This is all designed in a effort to frustrate and disrupt any California’s prisons. implementing the Five Core Demands of the SHU convicts. and all bonds we may have with family and friends on the Yeah, you heard me right—one death a week! So we have You have responsibility, you only need exercise it. Take outside. It’s very hard to carry on a conversation through let- people dying due in large part to overcrowding and the high responsibility for your conditions of existence. Vote with ters when the mail is continuously stopped. Many people on court is divided over the question of whether this is cruel and your feet! ● the outside just decide to stop writing rather than endure the unusual punishment as prohibited by the U.S. Constitution? frustration. Not only was the court divided on the issue, the majority Most people don’t know what it’s like to be isolated for gave the prisoncrats two more years of dealing death to pris- TORTURE IN PELICAN BAY so long, the way that we’ve been here, and I would say that oners before they had to implement the ruling. Oh, but if the it’s like being locked in the trunk of a car with just enough state did not have enough time to release this small number STATE PRISON SHU weather stripping removed so that you can breathe, and with of prisoners, the Supreme Court said they can easily get ex- n November of 1986 I was taken off the prison’s general enough food and water stuffed in every day so that you can tensions of time from the court. Notwithstanding the wail- population yard of Old Folsom and placed in the newly physically survive. Soon you are going to realize what it ings of the CCPOA and their puppet victim rights groupies, Iopened Security Housing Unit (SHU) of New Folsom. actually means when it is said that we are social beings. You nobody is getting out; the 30,000 decrease will come from The reason I was given was that there was a confi dential are going to crave social interaction and human contact. attrition, transfers to out-of-state facilities, and sending pris- memo in my C-fi le that connected me to a so-called prison Soon you will be hollering out the cracks of the trunk to see oners to be housed in county facilities around the state. gang. if anyone is out there, anyone you can talk to if even for a California’s prisons are designed to house a population As I later found out under appeal, there was no such memo brief time. Just like that Pink Floyd song says, “Hey you, out just under 80,000, but the current number of prisoners in in my fi le, but by this time there were already a few other there beyond the walls, can you hear me?” And yet every that system is about double that number. Psychologists have memos from “debriefers” that would take the place of that time you talk, every time you act like a human being, you’re conducted overcrowding experiments with mice and found non-existent memo. told that that’s gang activity and you have to stay another six that by doing so the mice exhibit all sorts of aberrant be- I was told that if I wanted out of SHU I would have to years in SHU before your next review. haviors, including cannibalism. When people look at the confess to all the illegal activities I had ever been involved in A book was found in my cell on December 8, 2008, that violence inside California’s prisons they blame the prison- during the course of my life, and I would also have to inform my neighbor had let me read. It had his name and number ers—that’s like blaming the mice instead of the psycholo- on and incriminate others. This is called “debriefi ng.” on the book cover. This same neighbor also shared with me gists who placed them in that condition. The fault for what In January of 1990 I was sent to the SHU at Pelican Bay some pages from a Readers Digest magazine someone had is wrong with the state’s prisons lies directly at the doorstep State Prison (PBSP). sent him—the jokes section. These of the California Department of Corrections (I won’t dignify Is there torture going on here at pages also had his name and number them with phony “R” for Rehabilitation). Not only are they PBSP-SHU? Most defi nitely, yes! written on them. It was concluded killing prisoners through their ongoing neglect, according to But it’s not the kind of torture that’s by staff that “a friendship with a the governor’s website they also have a seventy percent re- easily spotted or proved to exist. No- validated gang members [is] proved cidivism rate. When are they going to be held accountable? body’s fi nger nails are being pulled through this lending and borrowing If I had a factory that produced a product with a seventy out with a pair of pliers; nobody’s personal property [and] solidifi es the percent failure rate the public would not buy what I produced fl esh is being burnt off with a blow association with the gang itself.” My and my stockholders would revolt. The prison does produce torch; nobody’s on a rack having next review will not be 2014. a product—angry people full of rage. That rage gets taken their bone broken—in fact nobody’s Now let me say, there are many out on wives, children, neighbors, or the community. The even being water-boarded (at least of us who can endure this and much penal system is expensive and it not only doesn’t work, it not that I’m aware of). What’s going more—to the very end, hasta la pu- actually makes things worse! on here at PBSP-SHU is psychologi- ratita muerte! But you know what? If you have a suit of clothing with a rip in it you add a patch cal torture. It doesn’t make this existence any to strengthen the fabric. Crime is a refl ection of a weakness My dictionary defi nes torture as less “sorry.” It’s a sorry existence not in the social fabric, but instead of adding a patch we rip the “the act of infl icting excruciating matter how well you can endure it. I item further with prisons. It would be far cheaper to send the pain, as punishment or revenge, as a myself can, if I let myself, get lost in offender to Harvard and make a nuclear physicist of her than means of getting a confession or in- my own little world within the trunk to keep that person in prison. Simply put, you don’t get good formation, or for sheer cruelty.” of this car, reading my books and from doing bad to people. You put a dog in a cage and poke While other prisoners can come to drinking my little pulque. I myself a stick in at it day in and day out, week after week, year after the SHU for a variety of disciplinary offenses—even assault can, if I let myself, let myself become “comfortably numb.” year, and surprise—you have an angry animal on your hands. and murder—and have a set SHU term (three to fi ve years But that’s sorry, and so I struggle in whatever way I can. Prisoners have 20 square feet of unobstructed fl oor space, in the worst case scenarios), many of us are here solely for The U.S. is under the jurisdiction of the United Nations’ most often divided between two or more people. State law “administrative” reasons (non-disciplinary), and we’re here Conventions Against Torture (CAT), and under CAT tor- requires that a primate be given 100 square feet of unob- indefi nitely—which means until we snitch, die, or go insane. ture includes “…any act by which severe pain or suffering, structed fl oor space for every 100 pounds of the animal’s The conditions here are well documented in the case of whether physical or mental, in intentionally infl icted….” Us- body weight. Why would we give humans any less? Is it be- Madrid v. Gomez, 889 F. supp. 1146 (ND Cal 1995), in that ing indeterminate total lock down to extract confessions is cause we are a society of vindictive and punitive people? we are “…severely deprived of normal human contact … torture by international standards as is the use of prolonged Those are not positive character traits. It is time for people condition in SHU amount to a ‘virtual total deprivation, solitary confi nement. to start talking about right and wrong, and about true justice. including, so far as possible, deprivation of human con- And here we are, we’re being tortured!! We’re being held It’s also time to start holding correctional offi cials respon- tact.’” (Id. at p. 1230) Unfortunately the court stopped short in prolonged solitary confi nement; our captors are trying to sible for their actions or, in the case of medical neglect, inac- of holding that the conditions were unconstitutional—but break our bonds and ties with family, friends, and commu- tions. This condition cannot continue unchanged. then again, it was only considering cases where prisoners nity in an effort to extract information from us, in an effort Prisoners should have their right to life and the pursuit of had been subjected to these conditions for about three years. to make us “debrief.” happiness, only their liberty denied them, and then only for Now, here we are, and we’ve been here over twenty years There’s this giant junk yard over here in Crescent City, full as long as necessary. And that freedom denied them must be and nothing has changed for the better. of hundreds of wrecked cars, one stacked on top the other, under conditions suitable for a living human being, given In fact, now we have the “short corridor” where about two and there are human beings locked in each of the trunks— the right to vote, and with access to computers and all other hundred of us have been isolated from even the rest of the can’t you hear us? ● amenities taken for granted by the citizens of this nation. SHU. The visiting schedule has been impacted by the cre- Gabriel A. Huerta #C-80766 Now about the July 1st SHU hunger strike: I am leaving ation of this short corridor, making it even more burdensome Pelican Bay State Prison -SHU Seattle and heading to the Bay Area from late June to early for any family or friends who may visit, many of whom trav- P.O. Box 7500 (D3-222) July in order to add my one human power to the effort to el close to a thousand miles to get here—and then get to visit Crescent City, CA 95532

NUMBER 37 25 THESE WALLS Caged Up S.H.U. You don’t move¸You don’t speak Locked in a cell I am brought before a committee of men, You just sit there and mock me With concrete walls Insidious irony, subtle words of the pen. You sit there laughing, knowing you hold me Old chipped paint They smile in my face, they reach for my soul, Confi ned to your dungeons perimeter And a steel bathroom stall Letting misery and solitude take their toll.

You sit there a witness to my lonely nights – POETRY A metal bed frame Announcing their judgment with noses held high My helpless pleading cries – set me free! Colored green and bright The power they fl aunt will make you sigh. You have come to know me as well as you could Scratched up fl oors I live in oppression, I live in a cage, And see my everyday activities And a glowing white light With all of my anger building up to a rage.

You know my routine and you come to know how I am Recycled air I have been given an indeterminate SHU. You sit by and do nothing to heed my pleas Flowing through the vent You ask what that means?! You mean this is new?! But what can you do? The smell of depression Averaging twenty-three hours a day in a cell, A sullen scent A windowless closet, a solitary hell. You have also been put here as a prisoner of your own rights You sit there and see my dignity, vitality, valor and courage Constant yelling Sensory deprivation, a prison within a prison. To not be defeated within this confi ned space And prying eyes Creative insanity or inspiring vision? Surrounded by people Living my life like a chaotic scream, You sit by and watch as I exercise becoming strong, fi t Full of anger and lies Someone please wake me from this horrible dream. Day by day You sit and watch as I read books on life, shapes and form – Cuffed on the move Not wanting to give in, not wanting to die, Mentally preparing myself for the challenges and the road ahead And shackled down If I were not a man, I would surely cry. Whenever you walk I shall not feel the sun’s warming ray, You sit and watch as I laugh and interact with other human beings There’s guards all around For I will be in Pelican Bay. You sit and watch day by day, minute by minute, second by second – Robert Perrine (“Sykes”) As I become triumphant to your atrocities, your injustices and your Guns always loaded High Desert State Prison Degrading de-humanizing ways Sights always drawn You are powerless to stop my path – my destiny – my future One act of aggression You sit by as the mocker becomes the mocked! And your life could be gone Completely Killing Me Bobby Villado, Terror inside is what I feel constantly, Kern Ten-minute showers Like the force of a sword diving into my heart. And back to the cell Enough pain mentally to break the silence of a monk. Knife fi ghts and fi st fi ghts Waking up to the shadows of darkness, A never-ending hell Just the pressure of the bar’s confi ning me in the process. The Secret Amendment My thoughts being strangled searching for breath. As the smoke begins to clear and dissipates into the air, Alone with our thoughts What’s hope if your labeled as a worthless, The lives of millions of people will be destroyed beyond repair. As the years go by Human wreck stranded left for death. Many of them will be victimized, while others are brutally slain. Life without freedom These walls kill the most determined, Because the unseen hand has elected to bring about change. Caged up ‘til we die Souls to rebel what’s real; is those who rebel. These changes won’t be on the ballot- the meanings will be discreet, Only to be freed from cruel and unusual neglect. The essence of life as we know it today, will virtually be obsolete. By Sean Bromley Must I say we as a mass to the system, The option to choose will be no more—in fact, all rights will be void; Are dollar symbols of advancement. And freedom will have no meaning at all, once the constitution’s destroyed. As I write this illustration of mine, A change of such magnitude spells disaster, no matter how well it’s disguised. Releasing frustrations plus keeping my sanity. And death shall fall abundantly upon those who fail to comply. I admit this prison living is completely killing me, Many are blind but others deny the seriousness of the situation. But my choices as a soldier is to strive. But beyond the horizon, what awaits us all, is a path of total subjugation. No matter how hard I must stay alive mentally, The new world order is comprised of ideas of global power and control; By defeating the killing completely from killing me. The elite will preside over governing laws, while society does as it’s told. By Fedro Black

The indigenous people of early America were victims of a new world order; The European stumbled upon the “new world” and immediately thought to take over. And so began their reign of terror of murder, rape, and pillage; Isolation And innocent blood spilled over the land, throughout every tribe and village. Carnage was carried out incessantly; men, women, and children were slain… The Prison Game Isolation-or should I say ice-o-lation Has left me feelin’ cold They were murdered in hordes, by guns and by swords, ‘til only two million remained. Drab grey walls, On life’s Highway They had to obey and accept many changes, they couldn’t do as they chose. Cold steel cage, Beyond the shoulder of the Road And to stay alive, they had to comply with the “new world order” which arose. Left 24 hours, Years on end To build up rage. With history being recorded for us, the past is right in our reach Stacked like cord of wood Like frozen wood And from the direction things are going, it’s repeating itself as we speak. Voices scream, Whishing spring would grip the good You must pay very close attention to the gradual change occurring; When souls are lost, And shake me from “Big Brother” is practically deciding out fate, which is really rather disturbing. Concrete walls, This tarnished spot But what’s going on is master deception disguised as democracy, Cold like frost. U.S. voting laws which’ll hinder us all… a plan by the powers that be. To fairer weather And somewhat softer cut. They play on our fears and bring us to tears with continuous stories of tragedy, Trapped and alone, By Clayton Gene McCormack But violence and crime plagued us throughout time, Blind to the outside, And history reveals great savagery. Nowhere to run, Most of the time(s) these heinous acts were carried out for only one purpose. Nowhere to hide. The sounds of prison To exercise power, keep people afraid, so things ran smooth on the surface. Clliiiiddddrrrriiicckkk! Is the sound of the handcuffs that Vindictive police, captured us Living under complete control is basically a life under dictatorship, Chase cheap thrills, Cllaaangggg! Is the sound of the steel-barred doors. But we allegedly live in a democratic society, so why are we confronted by this? Towers await, That close by remote control and seal our fate. We face this ordeal because “Big Brother” feels, he knows what’s best for us all, Easy kills. Blunk-blunk-blunk is the sound of the cage door opening But if we refuse to agree with their views, they’ll facilitate martial law, Giving us temporary leave to complete the purpose A law designed for the coming of times, with meticulous care and decision; Restricted space, Of our enslavement. Where your property, home, or anything you own, can be seized without your permission. Drives you insane, Click-click/click-click/click-click NEEXXTTT! So, they perpetuate hate and try to instigate racial division amongst different groups. Another victim, Screams the voice of the drone To cause an uproar and eventually a race-war, which’ll justify their clandestine coup. Of the prison game. Who captures your impression into an Ever-expanding data base. When we look at the present and where things are headed, Steven James, P.B.S.P. Get up—Sit down! Turn around! Bend over! They’re going according to plan; Put your hands on your head! Where we’re all under siege of a “new world order”, as we witnessed in “The Demolition Man.” Lift your feet! Open your mouth! Shut the hell up! Lift your It looked like a show of pure entertainment, but it was much more extreme. arm!— The subliminal message of a “new world order” was played out upon the silver screen. Put your hands down slowly! Lift this bale! Clean this And like many things that appeared in the movie, we’re practically at that stage; asbestos! Where micro-chips are placed underneath the skin, and can single you out anyplace. Pull that can over here! Lights on! Go to sleep! Where hidden cameras are everywhere recording our every move; Everybody up! –Eat! –Stop eating! –Lights out!—Get over Some even issue traffi c citations while others appear on the news. here, now! With all these revelations before us, the next thing to be on the list; Face the wall! –Head down! Is when virtual reality sex is the norm and conventional sex is amiss. Hands behind your back!— And once these changes are initiated through enactment by the elite. Do you understand me boy!!! Because The “new world order” is eminent and the changes will be concrete. If you so much as breathe The people who rebel will die or face jail. And their sentence will not be suspended; You’re dead! Because slavery is legal in the penal institution, affi rmed by the 13th Amendment. Damon C. Scott 03R5603 By Deshá Carter Coxsackie, NY

26 PRISON FOCUS they turned on the two women. They dreaded that. So, they RIDGEWAY ON AMERICA’S would sign anything to get out of that.” SEEKING PLAINTIFFS FOR SOLITARY CONFINEMENT “So, these two women were charged and convicted based LAWSUIT CHALLENGING on this testimony. No one was hurt in this robbery. There NIGHTMARE was a gun involved. But it was always a question as to who LONG-TERM SHU He always wanted to be an insider. was holding the gun and who was doing what with the gun. CONFINEMENT But it never worked out. But nobody was hurt.” The judge sentenced them to two His DNA wouldn’t allow it. consecutive life sentences each. Jamie Scott has described – By Edward Dumbrique, P-27237, Pelican Bay SHU He was always an outsider. through a paralegal – an ugly situation in the prison – where he purpose of this notice is to reach out to particular Always taking the side of the less powerful. inmates have died of second rate medical care, of sewage inmates in order to bring them together for a class seeping on the fl oors, of raining inside when it rains outside, Taction lawsuit challenging CDCR’s use of long-term s a student at Princeton in the 1950s, James Ridge- of the resulting mold build up, and of spiders. SHU confi nement (LTSC). The goal is to improve SHU con- way worked on the student newspaper to expose the “Those conditions aren’t unusual, especially in solitary ditions and limit the amount of time inmates can be confi ned Aelitism and racism at the university’s eating club confi nement”, Ridgeway says. “There are people who say in SHU. In order to do this we need to prove to the court system. that solitary is becoming a mental institution. And people that LTSC is harmful to inmates’ physical and mental health As a reporter at The New Republic in the 1960s, he ex- who aren’t mentally ill when they go into solitary go mad in- because it (1) causes or places inmates at a signifi cant risk of posed General Motors for spying on his friend Ralph Nader. side. They start hollering and screaming–and then, of course, developing serious psychological harm and mental anguish, He then exposed corporate connections to America’s uni- they just keep them in solitary indefi nitely. They go mad in and (2) exposes SHU inmates, especially older ones, to sig- versity in his classic book – The Closed Corporation: Ameri- solitary. To me, that’s the proof that it’s a form of torture.” nifi cant and prolonged stress and offers insuffi cient opportu- can Universities in Crisis (Ballantine Books, 1970) Ridgeway has reported on the case of an inmate at the nities for exercise which in combination cause or exacerbate And now, he says he working to expose President Obama’s Red Onion state prison in Wise County, Virginia. “There is a serious medical problems, e.g. heart disease, diabetes, and lie that “America doesn’t torture.” Of course we torture, case in Virginia of a guy who was spared the death penalty. hypertension. Ridgeway says. Right here in America. In our own prisons. Instead, he was sent to solitary for life. He has begged the There are many studies fi nding that a high stress level for An estimated 80,000 Americans are in solitary confi nement. judge to put him to death. He said he can’t stand it anymore. a prolonged period of time is harmful to human health and Some have been in for decades. Some are brutally beaten and His name is Joseph Armstrong. He’s at Red Onion State pris- we intend to take advantage of this scientifi c evidence just restrained, even killed. Others succumb to madness and kill on in Virginia–one of the worst in Virginia.” as the Angola 3 did in Wilkerson v. Stalder, 639 F.Supp.2d themselves. But to most people, they remain invisible. Ridgeway is not advocating for the elimination of solitary. 654 (M.D. La. 2007). This argument is best suited for older James Ridgeway started a web site called solitarywatch. But he does want to severely restrict it. “There may be cases inmates with serious medical problems and 10 to 20 years com to fi nd out more. And to bring light to what he considers where for safety reasons and other reasons, people need to in SHU. a disgrace to the nation. be by themselves for a period of time”, Ridgeway says. “But To prove that LTSC is harmful to inmates’ mental health “Obama says we don’t torture”, Ridgeway told Corporate not 37 years. And not 20 years. Not for 15 years. Not for a we are seeking inmates-plaintiffs who are being treated for Crime Reporter in an interview last week. “Let me tell you year. And not at all, under the kind of arbitrary, corrupt sys- mental health problems they allege were caused or made something. That’s absolute bullshit. We’re torturing right in tem we have now. Maybe for a short period of observation, worse by their time in SHU. We intend to have you exam- the President’s backyard – all over the place.” “This is a long but nothing more.” ined by a psychologist who will hopefully conclude that your haul”, Ridgeway said. “It’s an uphill battle to draw atten- “There was one recent case where a woman was thrown mental illness was caused or exacerbated by your time in tion to a situation where there are many cases that amount into solitary for reporting that she was raped by a guard.” SHU. We will introduce the medical/scientifi c studies to to torture.” “Another where a dozen Rastafarians have been in solitary corroborate this conclusion. “These little prisoners’ rights groups have to have support. for 10 years because they refuse to cut their dreadlocks.” “In To prove that LTSC is harmful to inmates’ physical health The larger human rights groups and criminal justice reform a lot of states, the response to a prisoner being suicidal is we are seeking older inmates-plaintiffs have serious medical groups have to take on the issue of solitary confi nement to place him in solitary – which drives sane people to sui- problems and have been in SHU for long periods of time. more directly. And there has to be more publicity about what cide.” “As one guy who’s a prisoner in Tamms in Illinois We intend to have you examined by a doctor who will hope- is going on.” said, ‘Lock yourself in the bathroom for ten years, and see if fully conclude that your condition is being exacerbated by Ridgeway is working with David Bruck, a death penalty it makes you go crazy.’” “In one jail in Louisiana, they have years in the high-stress environment of the SHU with insuf- lawyer and a professor at Washington & Lee Law School been putting suicidal prisoners in three by three foot cages, fi cient opportunities for exercise. We would also introduce in Lexington, Virginia. Together they are trying to set up a and leaving them there sometimes for weeks.” the medical/scientifi c studies to corroborate this conclusion. database that will provide some of the basic facts on solitary “These things are going on all the time.” “We have a blog If your circumstances are identical to those described confi nement. Like how many prisoners are in solitary. Like on Solitary Watch and we have no shortage of things to post above and you are interested in participating in this case, how do prison offi cials decide who gets put in the hole. on it—there’s a new story just about every day, one more please contact CPF at the address below. You should explain “It could be done at the whim of a warden or even a prison outrageous than the next. There are thousands prisoners suf- in as much detail as possible the facts of your case including, guard”, Ridgeway said. “After the person is convicted and fering from mental illness who are put in solitary because but not limited to: (1) Were you transferred out of Pelican sentenced, he kind of disappears. He goes into this prison.” they aren’t treated and can’t be controlled. Solitary confi ne- Bay SHU for mental health reasons? (2) What SHU were “And the warden, depending on reports of the guards, can ment cells have become the new asylums. Children in adult you in and for how long? (3) When were you diagnosed with put the prisoner in one kind of solitary or another. He can prisons end up in solitary ‘for their own protection.’ The sys- your medical or mental health problems and are you still be- keep the prisoner there for as long as the warden deems nec- tem is totally out of control.” ● ing treated for them? (4) Did these medical or mental health essary.” 24 Corporate Crime Reporter 25, August 5, 2010 problems exist prior to your confi nement in SHU? Horror stories abound. The Angola 3 – three African Contact info: Americans in the infamous Angola state prison in Louisiana – have been in solitary for 37 years. “These were three men Marilyn McMahon charged with the killing of a prison guard in the early 1970s. AMERICAN CORRECTIONS Attorney at Law (SBN 270059) They were convicted. But there were some open questions. California Prison Focus By Mumia Abu-Jamal The convictions are kind of dubious. They contend that they PO Box 5187 t the western Pennsylvania state prison in Woods were targeted because they were Black Panthers, organizing Berkeley, CA 94705 Run, Pittsburgh, prisoners and guards alike made against prison conditions.” “The most incredible thing was the phenomenon of imprisonment more hellish than that these three guys – they have been locked in solitary con- A [Note from Marilyn McMahon: Confi dential legal mail usual. fi nement for 37 years.” can be sent to this address. I will not share your health infor- That’s because, according to at least one broadcast report, Has Ridgeway interviewed them? “I wanted to go down mation without your permission with anyone except my as- men at the medium to minimum security lock-up, particular- and visit and talk with them and talk with the warden. But sistants and—without identifying you—with Mr. Dumbrique ly those convicted of sexual assaults against children, were I had written one article which quoted the warden’s deposi- for preparation of the lawsuit.] raped, by other prisoners - and by several guards - with rank- tion. And it made the warden look questionable.” “The war- ing staff turning a blind eye. den – Burl Cain – is highly regarded by the press in the Unit- PBSP-Report ...... Continued from page 15 While the radio report was unconfi rmed, the PA Dept. of ed States for running an that anyone can go in Corrections (DOC) did the unprecedented. They fi red the The answer: lack of educational programming! He noted that and look around.” Except for Ridgeway. The prison banned prison’s warden, two deputy superintendents, and even the even though some prisoners are willing and can pay for their him. “I can’t visit the prison. I can’t talk to the prisoners. And major there—something virtually unheard of in this busi- own online courses, the prison has cancelled such programs I can’t talk with Burl Cain.” “After reading these depositions ness. because they don’t want to pay for a test monitor. CPF notes about what happened to these guys in Angola and how they Eight prison guards have been suspended without pay ear- that a department which calls itself “Corrections and Re- had put in solitary, I began reading about other cases where lier this year (although seven of them have not been publicly habilitation” is clearly not supporting rehabilitative efforts people were in solitary.” identifi ed.) even initiated by the prisoners themselves. “Attorneys told me that if I thought the Angola 3 was a bad An Allegheny County grand jury is presently investigating Law Library: Access continues to be insuffi cient and situation, there were many, many other cases where people the sexual assault charges. No state government offi cial has constitutes nothing less than denial of legal rights. Only pris- were in for 15 years or 20 years in solitary. And this was commented publicly on the claims, but certainly the fi ring of oners with a legal case pending in 30 days can ask for access, very prevalent. And it was a kind of torture.” “That’s when the prison’s highest ranking staff suggests that ‘something is but visits are limited to two prisoners at a time for four pods. I started Solitary Watch, together with Jean Casella, who rotten in Denmark.’ The limit of 30 pages is also insuffi cient to carry out serious is a writer and editor.” “Our partner in the project is David What makes these incidents particularly poignant is the legal research. [The recent Supreme Court decision declar- Bruck, who runs the death penalty clinic at Washington & state prison in Pittsburgh, which was closed back in 2005 ing California’s overcrowded conditions to be unconstitu- Lee University Law School. They recognize that this is a ma- because of security and budgetary concerns, isn’t the maxi- tional alone was 91 pages]. In addition, two prisoners noted jor issue in U.S. criminal justice.” mum security prison it once was. It reopened in 2007 as a that legal materials were confi scated from their cell and not Ridgeway also came across the case of two African Amer- treatment center, a kind of medical unit for men suffering returned including CPF’s self-help manual on challenging a ican sisters in Mississippi – Gladys and Jamie Scott – who from addictions, age related physical ailments, or serious gang validation. were convicted of a $12 robbery. “Neither of them had a psychological issues. That’s why it was re-classifi ed as a Worst of the worst?: In nearly every mass media char- previous record. And there is evidence of coerced confes- medium-minimum security facility. acterization of SHUs, the claim is made that prisons such sions. These two women were in rural Mississippi. They That these men, who were promised medical treatment, as Pelican Bay, especially SHU, house “the worst of the were arrested and charged with a $12 armed robbery. The were treated so basely by other prisoners - and reportedly by worst”—violent prisoners who are too dangerous to allow circumstances were all questionable. One witness signed a guards as well- gives us some sense of precisely how poison- on general population yards. Yet many of the prisoners we statement that was written for him without reading it.” “They ous American ‘corrections’ has become. spoke with either had very few 115s or none at all. One pris- were teenaged boys. And they were allegedly threatened by Is there any wonder that American soldiers, many who oner’s last 115 was in 1987. One had two 115s in 10 years the sheriff that they would be sent to a male prison where worked as prison guards stateside, behaved so badly in Iraq which means, he noted, “that I let the guards beat me up for they would become bitches – they would be raped – unless and abroad? ● a while and then they wrote me up.” ●

NUMBER 37 27 MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS ON DISABLED CITIZENS,CHILDREN, AND PRISONERS Dr LL Stanley, resident physician at San Quentin prison, implanted testicles from livestock into convicts

Mail Online, Mar 27 2011 were not told they were being injected with cancer cells be- the-clock solitary confi nement, with brief excursions for .S. government doctors once experimented on dis- cause there was no need—the cells were deemed harmless. showers and solitary exercise in a “dog pen.” Woodfox is abled American citizens and prison inmates. Such But the experiment upset a lawyer named William Hyman, now in his mid-60s, and Wallace is nearing 70. Both depend Uexperiments included giving hepatitis to mental pa- who sat on the hospital’s board of directors. The state in- upon mail to relieve their isolation; they can be reached at tients in Connecticut, squirting a pandemic fl u virus up the vestigated, and the hospital ultimately said any such experi- the following addresses: noses of prisoners in Maryland, and injecting cancer cells ments would require the patient’s written consent. Herman Wallace #76759 Albert Woodfox #72148 into people at a New York hospital. Much of this history is At nearby Staten Island, from 1963 to 1966, a controver- Elayn Hunt Corr. Center Wade Corr. Center, N1A 40 to 80 years old, but it was the backdrop for a meeting sial medical study was conducted at the Willowbrook State PO Box 174 (CCR–D– #11) 670 Bell Hill Rd. recently held in Washington by a presidential bioethics com- School for children with mental retardation. The children St Gabriel, LA 70776 Homer, LA 71040 ● mission. were intentionally given hepatitis orally and by injection to The meeting was triggered by the government’s apology see if they could then be cured with gamma globulin. last year for federal doctors infecting prisoners and mental Those two studies, along with the Tuskegee experiment patients in Guatemala with syphilis 65 years ago. U.S. of- revealed in 1972, proved to be a ‘unholy trinity’ that sparked REAL EYES REALIZE THE fi cials also acknowledged there had been dozens of similar extensive and critical media coverage and public disgust, experiments in America - studies that often involved mak- said Susan Reverby, the Wellesley College historian who TRUTH FROM REAL LIES ing healthy people sick. A review by the Associated Press fi rst discovered records of the syphilis study in Guatemala. ollege students, communities, and convicts in soli- of medical journal reports and decades-old press clippings By the early 1970s, even experiments involving prisoners darity on addressing the social, the political, and the found more than 40 such studies. were considered scandalous. In widely covered congressio- Cfi scal dilemmas of the day would truly make more Arthur Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylva- nal hearings in 1973, pharmaceutical industry offi cials ac- sense than the nonsense going forth through the media today. nia’s Center for Bioethics, said: ‘When you give somebody knowledged they were using prisoners for testing because Restoring America’s greatness will surely require great cour- a disease - even by the standards of their time - you really they were cheaper than chimpanzees. age. “Real eyes, Realize, Real lies” is a concise articulation cross the key ethical norm of the profession.’ Most of the When the supply of readily available prisoners and men- of “The Problem, The Solution and The Proposal.” Firstly recently revealed studies, from the 1940s to the 1960s, ap- tal patients dried up, researchers looked to other countries. the problem; A looming National debt of 14 trillion, a 2011 parently were never covered by the U.S. news media. It made sense. Clinical trials could be done more cheaply defi cit of 1.65 trillion and a 2012 election. Thanks to this Prisoners have long been victimized for the sake of sci- and with fewer rules. And it was easy to fi nd patients who Prison Focus circulation now fi nding its way into community ence. In 1915, the U.S. government’s Dr Joseph Goldberger were taking no medication, a factor that can complicate tests gatherings, churches, and onto college campuses and politi- recruited Mississippi inmates to go on special rations to of other drugs. cal science curriculums, more and more Americans can ac- prove his theory that the painful illness pellagra was caused Despite modern-day outrage, it has not stopped Tuskegee- cess them and decipher with “Real Eyes” what exactly we by a dietary defi ciency. But studies using prisoners were un- style experiments continuing. American-funded doctors in are being told as opposed to what we see. common in the fi rst few decades of the 20th century, and Uganda failed to give the Aids drug AZT to HIV-infected According to our trusted and beautiful news anchors and were usually performed by researchers considered eccentric pregnant women, even though it would have protected their talk show sweethearts (whom, to be fair, are mostly read- even by the standards of the day. newborns. U.S. health offi cials argued the study would an- ing teleprompters in true Ron Burgandy fashion), they say One was Dr LL Stanley, resident physician at San Quen- swer questions about AZT’s use in the developing world. the Republicans and the Tea-Party are just being “fi scally tin prison in California, who around 1920 attempted to treat The other study, by Pfi zer, gave an antibiotic named Tro- responsible” and that the latter is really just a “grass roots; older, ‘devitalized men’ by implanting in them testicles from van to children with meningitis in Nigeria, although there non-partisan” movement of good “American people from all livestock and from recently executed convicts. were doubts about its effectiveness for that disease. Critics over.” It has become strangely important that everyone share PARTIAL LIST OF EXPERIMENTS ON PRISONERS blamed the experiment for the deaths of 11 children and the this view so Republican strategist Bill Geddie (producer 1) A federally funded study begun in 1942 injected experi- disabling scores of others. Pfi zer settled a lawsuit with Ni- for “The View”) is only following the other networks lead. mental fl u vaccine in male patients at a state insane asylum in gerian offi cials for $75 million but admitted no wrongdoing. However, lest we forget… In 2008, the Global Meltdown, Ypsilanti, Michigan, then exposed them to fl u several mont The issue of American-led foreign studies was still being which rocked our economy to its core, had us all focusing on later. Some of the men weren’t able to describe their symp- debated when, last October, the Guatemala study came to regulating (to death) and reforming Wall Street. Also a great toms, raising serious questions about how well they under- light. In the 1946-48 study, American scientists infected pris- deal of anger (aprox. 48% of voters) were devastated at the stood what was being done to them. oners and patients in a mental hospital in Guatemala with defeat of the McCain-Palin presidency so that the marriage 2) In federally funded studies in the 1940s, noted research- syphilis, apparently to test whether penicillin could prevent of Wall Street with this rage gave birth to this so-called “fi s- er Dr W Paul Havens Jnr exposed men to hepatitis in a series some sexually transmitted disease. The study came up with cally-responsible” Tea Party who just by coincidence want of experiments, including one using patients from mental in- no useful information and was hidden for decades. ● to cut the democrat-leaning and non-republican programs stitutions in Middletown and Norwich, Connecticut. such as Education/Pell Grants, Health care, Union bargain- 3) Researchers in the mid-1940s studied the transmission ing rights, Public Radio, Planned Parenthood, Immigration, of a deadly stomach bug by having young men swallow un- ANGOLA 3 MARK 39 etc… Meanwhile, Wall Street and the rich are back in busi- fi ltered fecal matter. The study was conducted at the New ness and the media, which they own, won’t say a word. York State Vocational Institution, a reformatory prison in YEARS IN SOLITARY So a portion of the solution is right here! Over the past 40 West Coxsackie. The point was to see how well the disease CONFINEMENT years. The prison population has quadrupled from 500,000 spread through ingestion. The study doesn’t explain if the to approximately 2.3 million. The U.S.A. with a mere 5% men were rewarded for this awful task. By James Ridgeway and Jean Casella of the World population now hold 25% of its prison popu- 4) A University of Minnesota study in the late 1940s in- erman Wallace and Albert Woodfox have entered lation, costing over 70 billion yearly and 50 billion at the jected 11 public service employee volunteers with malaria, their 40th year in solitary confi nement in the Loui- state level. Studies have shown that massive imprisonments then starved them for fi ve days. Some were also subjected to Hsiana prison system. A series of events in New destabilizes the communities. In 2011 research said in Los hard labor. Then they were treated for malarial fevers with Orleans last month marked the 39th “anniversary” of their Angeles 67% of low-performing schools are located in areas quinine sulfate. placement in solitary, following the murder of Angola prison with the highest incarceration rates and vice versa for high 5) For a study in 1957, when the Asian fl u pandemic was guard Brent Miller–a murder for which Wallace and Wood- performing schools in low incarceration areas. The state’s spreading, federal researchers sprayed the virus in the noses fox were later convicted on highly dubious evidence. The general funds has opted to go toward building more prisons of 23 inmates at Patuxent prison in Jessup, Md., to compare third member of the Angola 3, Robert King, was convicted and propagating fear rather than investing in education or their reactions to those of 32 virus-exposed inmates who had of a separate prison murder, and released after 29 years in needed social programs. been given a new vaccine. solitary when his conviction was overturned. “Realize” that Education and Incarceration have been pit- 6) Government researchers in the 1950s tried to infect King was among the 39 people who paid homage to Wal- ted against one another for funds and as we win, our family, about two dozen volunteering prison inmates with gonorrhea lace and Woodfox’s four-decade ordeal by spending one loved one and the community is losing. Realize that the gang using two different methods in an experiment at a federal hour inside a 6 x 9-foot replica “cell”, constructed by artist on gang violence and homicides were just misguided youth prison in Atlanta. But the researchers noted their methods Jackie Sumell. The anniversary events, which took place at just like those in our nation’s armed forces. They aren’t the weren’t comparable to how men normally got infected - by the headquarters of the organization Resurrection After Ex- deplorable monsters who rape and kill women and children having sex with an infected partner. Too late for the men they oneration in New Orleans. Other events included the screen- they aren’t the molesters, dope fi ends and alcoholics you’d had already infected. ing of the fi lm “In the Land of the Free”, in which Brent believe they are. Finally… The Proposal. Even as the lovely Around the time of World War II, prisoners were enlisted Miller’s widow, Teenie Vernet, expresses her belief that her couple on Oprah, the white woman married to the incarcer- to help the war effort by taking part in studies that could husband’s killers have not yet been caught. Of Wallace and ated black man in New Folsom, I ask that Prison Focus al- help the troops. One was a series of malaria studies at Statev- Woodfox she says: “If they did not do it–and I believe they lows all of us as sober, clean, morally upright convicts to ille Penitentiary in Illinois was designed to test antimalarial didn’t–they have been living a nightmare.” take a knee and ask the hand of colleges and the communi- drugs that could help soldiers fi ghting in the Pacifi c. The three men believe they were originally targeted be- ties to metaphorically marry us the way that Wall Street and It was at about this time that prosecution of Nazi doctors in cause they were Black Panthers, organizing against condi- the enraged McCain-Palin voters got married. There was just 1947 led to the Nuremberg Code, a set of international rules tions at Angola, and Wallace and Woodfox believe they re- 276 million spent on a Federal prison in New Hampshire and to protect human test subjects. Many U.S. doctors essentially main in solitary for the same reason. In a 2008 deposition, its empty and derelict on the 300 jobs it was supposed to of- ignored them, arguing that they applied to Nazi atrocities - Angola Warden Burl Cain said Woodfox “wants to demon- fer and the 40 million expected to the local economy there not to American medicine. strate. He wants to organize. He wants to be defi ant…He is in that town while costing 4 million just to sit there. Perhaps The late 1940s and 1950s saw huge growth in the U.S. still trying to practice Black Pantherism, and I still would this could be a college of sorts and the lifers being wholly pharmaceutical and health care industries, accompanied by not want him walking around my prison because he would warehoused in California for “gang related” violence, obvi- a boom in prisoner experiments funded by both the govern- organize the young new inmates. I would have me all kind ously no longer actively bangin’ could get educated and run ment and corporations. of problems, more than I could stand, and I would have the all sorts of industries at those ridiculous 3rd world wages and By the 1960s, at least half the states allowed prisoners to blacks chasing after them.” be glad about it because ultimately we are merely just de- be used as medical guinea pigs. But two studies in the 1960s Wallace and Woodfox were recently separated from the cent people with a turbulent past to contend with. Everyone proved to be turning points in the public’s attitude toward the prison that made them famous–and from one another–and knows a gang member or two and everyone knows we aren’t way test subjects were treated. moved separately to other maximum security prisons. Wal- the menaces to society that we’re made out to be, we’re old The fi rst came to light in 1963. Researchers injected can- lace is now in the Hunt Correctional Center, down the river men now… You were being frightened by REAL LIES!!! cer cells into 19 old and debilitated patients at a hospital in in St. Gabriel, while Woodfox is in the Wade Correctional Donnie Phillips, E-3720b (D-10 #102) the New York borough of Brooklyn—to see if their bodies Center in Homer, in the far northwest reaches of the state. P.O. Box 7500 would reject them. The hospital director said the patients Both remain in “Closed Cell Restricted” housing, or round- Crescent City, CA 95532

28 PRISON FOCUS Letters ...... Continued from page 2 seen someone go to the cops for protection without snitching dation combined with the new laws and regulations effec- on another prisoner. Encouraging people to take that route tively eliminates any accountability by the CDCR. turbate in front of women; cuss out the staff, etc. It is my is counterproductive to building solidarity among prisoners All the while superfi cial, worn-out, obsolete reasoning guess that this is to just feel alive—a sense of being human which is something I assume CPF is trying to do. permeates our ranks, causing dissention and division—the even if it means trouble for them. There’s a sense of hope- There is a lot of work that needs to be done in the mainline perfect recipe for our own subjugation. Let’s face reality; as lessness inside the SHU here. It seems that even the walls before we can build a strong prisoners’ movement. The odds a whole we are all going to pay the piper for our shortsight- scream when it’s quiet. Yet some men continue to push for- seem to be stacked against us (at the moment) and the chal- edness if we fail to put the common good ahead of antiquated ward and stay strong in hopes that better days are ahead - be- lenges are so great that most prisoners can’t imagine any- views and our bloated egos. In Georgia the prisoners demon- ing thankful for organizations like Prison Focus and people thing changing. But struggle isn’t called struggle because it’s strated the power of unity. Black, white, brown, and yellow who care. easy. It’s hard work. It requires a great deal of commitment are just colors. They do not defi ne our character or integrity; Carlos Johnson, Corcoran and sacrifi ce. PCing up is the antithesis to the courageous nor do they enhance or reduce them. What is the point of action that will be needed. Most activists on the streets seem entertaining ruminations of the natural selection of a species Heads UP to want to be too orderly as they try to bring about change. (jungle law); or another person’s skin color; or any other ge- Dear CPF, As a result, the most fascist elements of society are gaining netic variance when our ship is sinking fast. Suffi ce it to say RE: Letter by inmate D.C., No. 36. Firm embrace to all momentum. I believe that sooner or later the need for pris- we are all governed by the exact same atomic and sub-atom- those souljahs that continue to remain faithful to the “forgot- oners to stand together will be so great that we’ll have no ic principles found in the universe. Our deviation from this ten class” although 80 percent of us don’t give a damn. choice but to set aside our differences. Nothing every stays “universal law” of harmony is not caused by primal instinct Now, let me touch on brother D.C. letter to you and his the same, and if you can’t see that, then you’re not “thinking but by the walls we erect in our individual minds. And those tirade about being validated because of your highly appreci- outside the box.” walls are areas as solid and real as the ones that surround us ated newsletter. In some aspects of his concerns, he’s on- Cacalotl Cordova, Corcoran in our cells and keep us imprisoned. Let us reach out to each point. These aspects I speak of are taking his butt home and other and pull one another up from the pit of ignorance and becoming productive. [Ed. Note: I agree with everything you say. I’ve apolo- superfi ciality. I’ve been incarcerated since I was 16—being 22 years into gized in the past for printing items from SNY yards and yet Lastly, I think Prison Focus is one of the last few forums my sentence and fi ve years validated. D.C. mentioned my I’ve gone ahead and done it again. Why? Well, for two rea- for discourse left, and an invaluable source of information brother, VooDoo, writing to you about a similar situation, but sons: First, I believe that the soft yards were largely created for us dungeonites, so let us all chip in to keep this good D.C. didn’t take heed into VooDoo’s wording. He was not due to bad self-governance by mainline prisoners. The hard thing going and progressing. complaining. He was just giving the masses a “heads up” on yards take no responsibility for this mess; they place the onus Elvin Cabrera, Tehachapi SHU what the oppressors are doing. of blame solely on weak individuals, and fail to see the role J. Burton aka “SykoJay”, CSP Corcoran their behavior has had in creating the PC yards. The second The Green Wall reason I stoop to occasionally printing their stuff is that, now Dear CPF: Criticism of CPF that soft yards make up such a huge portion of California’s My name is Joel Brown. I am currently at KVSP (recently Dear CPF, prison population, I feel the solution to the greater problem transferred from CSATF) where, I believe, I’ve uncovered I have something impoortant to say. I do not avoid reading is going to require the effort of all the yards—soft and hard. more evidence that the “Green Wall”3 has been illegally articles with views that don’t conform to my own even when With that said, I will not print any more articles justifying manufacturing 1030’s” and gang validations. While I was in they’re written by some PC who makes ridiculous claims of PCing up. It was a mistake for me to do so in the article you ASU at CSATF awaiting transfer, I helped a couple of people now PCs have “dared to stand on their own” even though discuss. However, if a soft yard prisoner has something to with affi davits on false gang validations. It is my hope that they’ve practically ran to the cops for protection. If you need say that will actually move the struggle forward I’ll print it. some of what I am about to relate will catch the attention to ask the C.O.s for protection, go ahead. Many people on I correspond with a solid, class conscious convict who’s on of other legal beagles doing indeterminate SHU time. It is the streets call the cops for help when they feel they have a soft yard for medical reasons, Hep-C and AIDS, and he’s my belief that the Green Wall illegally manufactures 1030’s, no other option. People have to seek protection from violent never ratted or checked in. There are exceptions to the rule. and/or evidence to perpetually keep indeterminate SHU in- predators that victimize people in their own communities. In the ten years I’ve been working on this newspaper I think mates locked up. They’ll get that protection anywhere they can fi nd it. That’s I’ve knowingly printed SNY pieces something like three When I arrived at CSATF the white inmates were locked understandable. If you feel you can’t defend yourself, go times. Also, I live in Seattle and don’t really know which of down due to purported racial violence with the blacks and right on ahead. But don’t take that route in prison and then the state’s prison are SNY yards, and can only guess by the the Green Wall kept illegally appointing IAC reps (illegal – act as if you’ve taken some admirable and courageous action content of the letters they send us.] no regulatory elections) then validating them claiming they that should be emulated. were furthering racial violence. So, I wrote a 602 because I There’s a lot that needs to change in the mainline yards A Time of Change? believed this claim was unfounded. The Green Wall also pur- and some of the greatest obstacles we need to overcome are Dear CPF, ported that numerous staff assaults by blacks were happen- established norms setup by prisoners themselves. That’s no There appears to be a cycle in Prison Focus of repeating ing across the state. Said 602 struck a nerve and the Green secret. Divisions help our enemies. Anyone with common the same things over and over again! One would think that a Wall doubled its efforts in attempting to kill me by instigat- sense can reach that conclusion. However, PC yards also change would have come by now. There are times when his- ing/manipulating an incident by use of brutal force. serve those who want to keep us divided. They provide a tory seems dead. And then there are times when history leaps In any event, we fi nally came off lockdown and the Green safety valve through which dissent against the status quo can to life. This is such a time, a time of change. A time when Wall was harassing all the races because of my 602’s (they be funneled. You won’t change a mainline yard by asking people refuse to become passive victims of history and in- purposely lost a 602) submitted on April 4, 2010, which was the cops to remove you from it, and you sure as hell won’t stead will fi ght as agents of their own liberation—that’s what to end all indeterminate SHU terms and on August 30, 2010, change it by railing against mainline prisoners after you’ve is exhilarating about these events on the inside. The CDC the Green Wall claims several white inmates assaulted staff PCed up and diminished any infl uence you might have once does not give a f___ about prisoners. Prison Focus is doing so one Lt. Goss (believed Green Wall) comes to the program had. their part to put the word out … now do your part. Fight! holding cages and tells me and two other inmates something The underlying animosity felt toward PCs is not because James Porter, Corcoran SHU to the effect of, “you know, I hate AIS politics, all gangs re- they’ve “broken free of the ideals and views of the majority ally and AB politics run ‘C’ yard. So if you gentlemen feel of inmates in the mainline population”, that’s self-deceptive The Common Good your lives are in danger because you didn’t participate in the reasoning of someone with a psychological need to justify Dear CPF, staff assault, you let me know.” Well thank you, Lt. Goss his actions. Most PCs don’t express this change of ideals First and foremost, I would like to start this letter by ex- for telling us what the purported AB politics supposedly are. until after they’ve been removed from the mainline. “I got pressing my gratitude to CPF and its staff for the help and I’ve been in CDC (now CDCR) for 24 years and witnessed myself in trouble, I got scared, and I asked the cops to get encouragement it gave me way back in 2008. At that time I at least a few purported staff assaults where others did not me the hell out of there” is too honest an answer for most was rounded up and corralled into administrative segrega- participate and never saw or heard of anyone’s life being in PCs. They’re too concerned with preserving their self-image. tion during one of those pesky mass Gang Sweeps that have danger over it. You weren’t as hard as you thought you were , no big deal, become ever so popular with the prison administrators. CPF The Green Wall was hoping that one, or all of us, would get own up to it, try being yourself now that you’ve come to that wasted no time in supplying me with the “Gang Validation scared and lockup (turn SNY) and repeat his lie – illegally realization. Everyone in a PC yard may not be a snitch, but Manual”, the Prison Focus quarterly newspaper, and strong baiting/seeding us with purported AB politics by using infor- that is the impression most of us have, and that is where the words of inspiration. My whole gang validation package, the mation Lt. Goss gave us, thus, illegally manufacturing 1030 animosity comes from—that and the shameless continuing three sources utilized to casually slap me with an indeter- information in an attempt to instigate white-on-white vio- charade of the hard-core convict. minate SHU term, consisted of three drawings. These were lence in retaliation over the alleged staff assault of 8/30/10 I know that the need to preserve their self-image will pre- photocopied drawings containing Aztec symbols by artists (a Green Wall manufactured incident). It’s funny because the vent PCs from being honest with readers of Prison Focus. unknown to me, and, most importantly, copied from Low- Green Wall also exposed the illegal gang validation practice I don’t pretend to tear down psychological defense mecha- rider Magazines. by validating at least two inmates that weren’t even involved nisms. I just don’t think that some of the views expressed in It seems that just as the CDCR is intent on using the words in the purported staff assault (I say purported because I can articles like “Thinking Outside the Box” should go unchal- of long-gone fallen soldiers like George Jackson to validate prove that the Green Wall entrapped and/or illegally manu- lenged, Especially when they are printed in such an impor- and divide other members of our class, they will just as read- factured the alleged staff assault). Those validations using tant prisoner venues as CPF. ily employ other farces to violate whatever minute freedom 1030’s were never given to the inmates in legal form thus There are a few class-conscious prisoners on the mainline of expression we have left in an effort to accomplish their indicating that these were manufactured as were the subse- who aren’t oblivious to the divide-and-conquer tactics of the agenda. That agenda is to keep us entombed, powerless, quent gang validations on the spot and in retaliation for the oppressor. We do what we can to educate others and build voiceless, and compliant for as long as possible, while they 8/30/10 Green Wall manufactured incident. relationships with prisoners outside our respective groups. extort the highest dollar amount from taxpayers to cover our When the attempt of Green Wall to create white-on-white A big part of our efforts has to do with sharing literature. security housing placement. Fear is their weapon of choice, violence failed, they got extremely angry at me. I continued Among the material I like to pass along is CPF. Some of and it is being adroitly wielded by unscrupulous parasites to write the press about these situations and fi nally received the prisoners I try to reach are turned off by articles writ- whose hypocrisy is limitless. The CDCR unabashedly struc- some good press from the Sacramento Bee and Charles Pill- ten by PCs in CPF because even though they may include tures every policy and regulation to benefi t their paychecks er. On 9/23/10, I wrote to Mr. Piller and related to him that legitimate critiques of gang culture, most of what they write and pensions. Every assembly bill or law the fat-cats push in it was my belief that the Green Wall issued a blatant death are bitter rants fi lled with falsehoods aimed at the mainline Sacramento is designed to fatten their treasure chest under threat against me on legal mail over an article that I wrote population. To top it off they usually assertions the “the grass the guise of “public safety.” The California Department of on 8/1/10 regarding illegally manufactured 1030’s and false is greener on the other side.” This is in essence a call for Corruption and Recidivism maintains the perfect acronym. gang validations, which I didn’t know had even been pub- prisoners to collaborate with the cops. The so-called “correction and rehabilitation” term currently lished. As a result of this article, on 9/24/10, the Green Wall Contrary to what some of your readers on the outside espoused is pure window-dressing for the general public. I illegally (illegally because it takes a Captain’s level decision might have been led to believe, PCing up almost always have been imprisoned for nearly ten years and not one single 3. The green in “Green Wall” represents the color of the guard’s entails informing on other prisoners. I can’t say for certain rehabilitation program has been ever mentioned, much less that this is absolutely necessary, but in 13 years I’ve never uniforms, and the wall represents the code or wall of silence the offered, to improve my situation. Now my bogus gang vali- guards impose on each other. NUMBER 37 29 to withhold/act on mail) placed me in Ad Seg. They also re- inside a cramped cage. And like a tiger that obsessively bobs Black Panther leader Huey Newton and George Jackson. fused to let me sign a chrono and stay on the yard over the from one side to the other of his barred cage. I pace back According to Wikipedia5, “Stender edited and arranged for death threat. I went on a fi ve-day hunger strike to force them and forth, over the small patch of fl oor beside my bunk. For Jackson’s prison letters to be published as Soledad Brothers, to sign a chrono, which I shouldn’t have had to resort to, had hours on end, stopping at the steel door of the cell to stare he became an international celebrity. She convinced French they not illegally and purposely misconstrued the letter to out at nothing… “On occasion, a man might bang his head intellectual Jean Genet to write an introduction, guaranteeing Mr. Piller and let me back on the yard on 9/3/10. However, against the steel door, so he would draw enough blood to be it a best seller. The substantial proceeds from the book went the Green Wall attempted to instigate/manufacture an inci- sent to the hospital for the criminally insane, where condi- to a legal defense fund that she set up. Stender eventually dent against me and succeeded on 10/20/10, though unluck- tions were better and the insanity label protected him from had a falling out with Jackson over his repeated requests ily for them my partial joint replacement left me physically himself”… Besides this common scheme to merely thinking that she smuggle weapons and explosives into the prison.” unable to generate suffi cient cause for them to employ lethal things over with yourself; everyday, you must justify your Few people remember the name of the parolee who pumped force against me. existence to yourself! I, for instance, try to fi nd anything to fi ve shots into her when in 1979 she answered that knock at I’m hoping that I can help an indeterminate SHU termer justify my very existence… why do I continue to live? When her door. But Fay is remembered by a whole lot of people, that has had success against the Green Wall on 1983 lawsuits I am merely waiting to die… When the whole world wants including the California Women Lawyers association, a with an affi davit from me, and…if they will put in a cor- me dead I kill time by reading and staying connected to so- group that presents the prestigious Fay Stender Award to respondence approval request and help me sue the guards ciety, through television—to give my mind something to do, deserving female attorneys. responsible. I would have put in a correspondence approval so I won’t go crazy! I am nothing more than some imbecile, It was also this kind of thinking, this political error, which request myself, but CPF reports they harass people and I or some head of cabbage—exchanging small with virtually put the fi nal nail in the coffi n of prisoner support work not didn’t want them harassing any legal beagle I might have anyone—just to keep my sanity in alignment… for purposes only in California but across the nation. Fay Stender was requested assistance from, especially the ones that got pub- of avoiding a mental collapse, when my life still makes no gunned down by an ex-con who said she had betrayed lished cases against CDCR. I, therefore; leave it up to those sense anyway. And even if I’m cut-off from the world… I George. After that act of political genius nobody wanted to that may want to risk putting in a correspondence approval will live out my life, while maintaining the status quo. support prisoners, not only in California but even in Wash- form with the requisite Title 15 section for assisting other James Porter, Corcoran SHU, Lifer ington State where I was doing time. The pigs could not inmates with legal matters. Thank you! have dreamed of harming our struggle any more than that Joel Brown, Got Game? misguided prisoner did with his act of ultra-leftism, an error Dear CPF, Lenin called “an infantile disorder.” People talk about the problems on the yards re: no unity, Does any thinking person actually believe Fay was any- reactionary “yard cultures” of contemporary times, etcetera, thing other than a white liberal lawyer who could crawl back and have offered solutions for getting ourselves more into the comfort of her class and white-skin-privilege any- together in a common cause, and although it all makes a time the going got rough? If so they’re out of touch with point, this shit plays out real fast with people back here. reality. Class will always out in the end, just look at the Patty “Let’s not fool ourselves that after we’ve put the bullshit Hearst fi asco. Is someone going to shoot Patty for being what aside and got real in terms of a resistance to prisoncrats she is—a daughter of the ruling class? Of course not. and social oppression that it’s going to be roses. There is a Now, thirty-some years after Fay’s untimely demise, we whole lot of bullshit in “the movement” as well that needs out here have to worry about what some fool in there will to be cleaned up. People on the yards know this and take do if we are not suffi ciently “real” according to a standard all this and take and take all this unity/struggle talk as just nobody has seen? Everyone has the right to criticize the all- another game opposite theirs. A lot of us back here outreach volunteer work CPF and other groups do in support of pris- to movement groups and are let down one way or another by oners. People not only have the right to criticize our practice, them, not holding up to their self-imposed responsibilities, they have the duty to do so. But under no circumstances does just more game but from the political end. anyone have the right to in any way threaten us. I remember when G4 was here, and shit was way more real Your captors come down on you from above, with dehu- all the way around, that motherfuckers out there get blasted manizing behaviors that frequently include acts of violence. for trying to put game on us. So anyone talking about us back Too many prisoners have internalized the actions or behav- here getting our shit together had better be serious when we iors of the pigs as the way things should be—of what is do just that and come knocking on your doors…. the right and correct way to motivate people. Accordingly, The above letter to PF is meant for publication and is among this element, if you want to motivate someone it is signed: through violence or threats of violence. Like the U.S. gov- Sister Amazon, Corcoran Prison. ernment does—to rule through fear and force, intimidation and violence. But that’s not the revolution I’m looking to be [Ed’s Response:] The letter writer is a transsexual woman a part of. who belongs to a transsexual political party (see her article I am working for freedom and equality, for democracy and “About Prisons” on page 15). She says there is a lot of BS economic fairness. My motivation comes from the justice of Treat Me Like a Primate, Please in the movement out here on the streets. I ask myself, just our cause, not through thugs who want to coerce me into Dear CPF, what movement might that be? As far as I can see there is no conformity through the use of ever deeper levels of aggres- I have been incarcerated for seventeen continuous years movement, only a disparate collection of mostly liberal non- sion. If the letter writer’s idea of revolution is about coercion of a thirty year to life sentence based on a single count com- profi t organizations, including CPF, of which I am a proud and threats against each other, then I don’t want any part of plaint for a non-violent crime. During these years I have member. it. That’s worse than pig shit. It is a form of ultra-leftism; it suffered deplorable and inhumane care at the hands of the Of course there are the leftist progressive groups, MIM aids the class enemy, retards development of the movement, state’s department of corruptions and retardation. What hu- Notes being one of the best, but in the absence of struggle and is at root a form of sectarianism that works to isolate us man being would treat another human like this? none of them are going to be doing more than the work they from each other. This coming from the top down with force, If I were a primate, even a dog, I would receive much bet- are currently doing in their respective areas of interest. In this pig shit, is what’s created the SNY yards. The revolution ter care and humanity. Strange to think a 52 year-old Ameri- the absence of class struggle there is class peace. Other than that needs to come must grow from the ground up, not from can citizen, a religious man, would envy an ape, but I do. A some sparse black-block anarchists here and there what the the top down—it must be organized from below and moti- mutt at the pound is pitied. A convicted human is loathed. author calls the movement is in a state of class peace. Her vated by a love of humanity and a strong sense of justice. A primate has a minimum of 100 square feet of unob- notion of an actual movement out here is a myth. All that It’s not as if all of you in there are ready to “roll” and structed open space in his cage for every 100 pounds of the exists are the seeds of what could be. just waiting for us outside support folks to get our act to- animal’s weight. The law requires that it be given fresh air, Game playing? Really? Late one night I busted into the gether. Fact is, nothing worth mentioning is happening inside 6 wholesome food, adequate medical care, etc. Compare that headquarters of the Washington Department of Corrections California’s prisons in terms of progressive struggle. There with two large men stuck in a cell with twenty square feet of in the state capitol, Olympia, and planted a huge bomb under is only racism and reactionary politics and the escapism of open fl oor space, no windows that open for fresh air and a the director’s desk. The subsequent explosion did structural chasing after drugs or the dollar. And if you did manage to ventilation and cooling system that has not worked for four damage to the fi ve story offi ce building. The act was done as get something going you’d do it wrong—you’d use violence straight years in my cage. Medical care provided by Doctor part of a group working to advance the struggle of prisoners in place of a protracted peaceful resistance. Death. at Walla Walla, who were being brutalized in the hole in People on the streets need time to organize support, some- You get the picture. If the federal court legally declared me retaliation for fi ghting for democracy. I served 18 years for thing that can’t happen with some fl ash in the pan form of to be a captive primate, then I might have equal rights in my that and similar “crimes.” A game? resistance. Look to the comrades in Georgia for inspiration, conditions of confi nement to an ape or monkey. Such a rul- The writer of that letter should have ended with the and even their state-wide work strike was not near long ing would bring the corrections system into the twenty-fi rst expression of her disappointment in the movement out here. enough. In any event, the very most you can expect from century for everyone. I have no problem using my name in Instead she went on to talk about how prisoner support today’s “movement” is a rather small amplifi cation of your such an action. people “got blasted for putting game on us” and anyone who collective voice. I believe all life is a precious gift from God and should is not suffi ciently serious when those on the inside command Please don’t use our supposed lack of “realness” as a pre- be cherished. All life is salvageable. Society is only harmed them to do so will have someone “come knocking at your text or justifi cation for your own apathy and passivity. Your and endangered with our current treatment of prisoners. Our doors….” struggles in there should in no way rely on those of us doing children are in danger from what has happened with our ad- This kind of thinking has its roots in a serious political volunteer work on the outside. If you’re going get it together, diction to prisons and the deplorable conditions that harm error—instead of attacking some reactionary puke whose do it without any thought to prisoner-support organizations. everyone. passing would benefi t humanity, that mentality will want Indeed, outside support is something that you should plan to Thomas Hightower, Mule Creek to off someone like long-time prisoner rights supporter Fay grow from scratch, starting with your own friends and family Stender. Why? Because in their view she was not doing members on the streets. It Makes No Sense enough work, or what some prisoners considered the right Yes, there is certainly outreach from the inside to progres- kind of support work. In short, it goes something like this, sive individuals and organizations out here in minimum cus- Dear CPF, tody, and yes you feel let down when we don’t drop every- Nothing in life prepares us for living in prison. Everyday “if you are to the right of our political point of view (and of course everyone is) then you are of the enemy.” This political thing to do some hand-holding for you. But what’s the point is exactly like the last. And the next. My life is without pur- if there is no struggle, other than some outside volunteer be- pose, perpetual misery is my condition in life. And my re- error, confusing friends for enemies, results in incidents such as the shooting of Fay Stender. ing your pen pal, your go-fer, or a pawn in your latest scheme ward for surviving today is that I get to suffer tomorrow as to “get over”? well… in prison, where there is no meaning, my mind tries For those who don’t remember, Fay was a Bay Area lawyer to create meaning out of nothing, and this can lead me to who spent much of her professional life fi ghting for prisoner 5. Wikipedia is an online peoples’ encyclopedia. rights. Some of her more well-known clients included See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fay_Stender confuse fantasy with reality. I am like a human animal in 6. This was written well before word of the July 1st SHU hunger one of the old-style zoos. Before I realized it, I was thrown 4. Name omitted in original. strike had reached us. 30 PRISON FOCUS You are held in a condition of slavery, disenfranchised, and In the West, one of the most unfortunate results of the Cold Along these lines, I’ve written an essay entitled: “The dehumanized in every way. Rectifying these terrible condi- War was that 70 years of anti-communist education and me- United States invades, bombs, and kills for it, but do Ameri- tions of existence is your struggle, not ours. Don’t be running dia stamped in people’s minds a lasting association between cans really believe in free enterprise?” your pig mentality on us because we are not, in your opinion, socialism and what the Soviet Union called communism. So- I cannot describe in detail what every nut and bolt of my properly fi ghting that battle for you. You’re the slave. Re- cialism meant a dictatorship, it meant Stalinist repression, a socialist system would look like. That might appear rather sist. In the absence of class confl ict there is a state of class suffocating “command economy”, no freedom of enterprise, pretentious on my part; most of it would evolve through trial peace. There may not be peace among the races and regions no freedom to change jobs, few avenues for personal expres- and error anyway; the important thing is that the foundation in there, but a state of class peace certainly exists. sion, and other similar truth and untruth. This is a set of be- — the crucial factors in making the important decisions — Class struggle may generate outside support or it may not. liefs clung to even amongst many Americans opposed to US would rest on people’s welfare and the common good com- In either case you shouldn’t be threatening folks on the out- foreign policy. No matter how bad the economy is, Ameri- ing before profi t. Humankind’s desperate need to halt envi- side who are doing the job of support. Groups like Critical cans think, the only alternative available is something called ronmental degradation regularly runs smack into the profi t Resistance, the Prison Activist Resource Center, All Of Us “communism”, and they know how awful that is. motive, as does the American health-care system. It’s more Or None, CPF, Bar None, etc. may not be perfect, but they Adding to the purposeful confusion, the conservatives in than a matter of ideology; it’s a matter of the quality of life, are doing the day-to-day prisoner support work—and almost England, for 30 years following the end of World War 2, sustainability, and survival. ● all of them are unpaid volunteers. Give them a break.] fi lled the minds of the public with the idea that the Labour Party was socialist, and when recession hit (as it does regu- Here’s Some Support larly in capitalist countries) the public was then told, and be- HIGH COURT TO CALIF: Dear CPF, lieved, that “socialism had failed”. I just sent you a letter, and then the very next day, yester- Yet, ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in CUT 30,000 PRISONERS day, issue #36 shows up in my mail. Thank you. 1991, polls taken in Russia have shown a nostalgia for the By Don Thompson, Associated Press Many, what a great issue, there are just so many things in old system. In the latest example, “Russia Now”, a Moscow n May 23rd the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Cali- it I could comment on, but in order to keep my rambling to publication that appears as a supplement in the Washington fornia must drastically reduce its prison population you short, I’ll simply say that issue 36 was right on the mark Post, asked Russians: “What socio-economic system do you Oto relieve severe overcrowding that has exposed in- in so many ways. favor?” The results were: “State planning and distribution”: mates to increased violence, disease and death. I also wanted to thank you for sending me copies of the 58% ... “Based on private property and market relations”: The high court’s 5-4 decision calls on the state to cut the newsletter, never allowing me to miss out due to my indig- 28% ... “Hard to say”: 14%. population to no more than 110,000 inmates. To get there, nant status. It’s much appreciated. On that same topic, I’m In 1994, Mark Brzezinski (son of Zbigniew) was a Ful- state offi cials have two years to either transfer some 33,000 afraid I should have tried a lot harder to scrape something up bright Scholar teaching in Warsaw. He has written: “I asked inmates to other jails or release them. to send you. Please accept my apologies and my word that I my students to defi ne democracy. Expecting a discussion on California has already been preparing for the ruling, driven will put forth a better effort. individual liberties and authentically elected institutions, I as much by persistent multibillion dollar budget defi cits as Please fi nd enclosed a book of stamps. Hopefully in these was surprised to hear my students respond that to them, de- by fears for the well-being of prison inmates and employees. tough economic times, this will do for now to keep me on mocracy means a government obligation to maintain a cer- The state has sent inmates to other states. It plans to transfer your subscription list. I will also work at getting some new tain standard of living and to provide health care, education jurisdiction over others to counties, though the state doesn’t subscribers your way. and housing for all. In other words, socialism.” have the money to do it. Every issue is very inspiring, but your latest hit home on Many Americans cannot go along with the notion of a Justice Anthony Kennedy, a California native who wrote several issues for me, and I found it exceptionally inspiring. planned, centralized society. To some extent it’s the termi- the majority opinion, said the state could ask a federal court Thanks for the great and noble work you do. nology that bothers them because they were raised to equate for more time to reach the 110,000-inmate target, even as he James Murphy, Corcoran a planned society with the worst excesses of Stalinism. chastised California for allowing unconstitutional conditions Okay, let’s forget the scary labels; let’s describe it as people to persist for years. Bogus Validation sitting down to discuss a particular serious societal problem, “Our goal is to not release inmates at all”, said Matthew what the available options there are to solve the problem, and Cate, the state corrections secretary. Shorter term inmates Dear CPF: what institutions and forces in the society have the best ac- We prisoners are constantly on each other’s throats over will leave prison before the Supreme Court’s deadline ex- cess, experience, and assets to deliver those options. So, the pires, and newly sentenced lower-level offenders would go bullshit that I had to step back from the shield of being char- idea is to prepare these institutions and forces to deal with acterized as a Los Angeles “Blood.” Thus the new wave of to local jails under the plan. Concerns over prison crowding the problem in a highly organized, rational manner without and security grew over the weekend with a pair of riots that state enacted pseudo-RICO act on every prisoner who is not having to worry about which corporation’s profi ts might SNY, or EDP, will continue. injured inmates, but no guards. be adversely affected, without relying on “the magic of the A fi ght by nearly 200 inmates in a San Quentin State General Population (so-called “actives”) don’t generate marketplace”. Now it happens that all this is usually called profi t like SNY, EDP, and now gang validations. So stop Prison dining hall Sunday left four men with stab or slash “planning” and if the organization and planning stem from a wounds. On Friday, six inmates were sent to hospitals, two complaining like babies; stop tripping on your own because government body it can be called “centralized”. There’s no it’s doing nothing but aiding in the state’s plan, and start of them with serious injuries, after about 150 inmates rioted reason to assume that this has to result in some kind of very at California State Prison, Sacramento. fi ghting fi re with fi re (ink pens with ink pens). Next they will authoritarian regime. All of us over a certain age —individu- use names like Mohammed to validate Jewish prisoners as A special panel of three judges based in different parts of ally and collectively — have learned a lot about such things California decided in 2009 to order the prison population Muslims. from the past. We know the warning signs; that’s why the I was validated using one strike against me for having reduction. Monday’s order puts them in charge of how the Bush administration’s authoritarianism was so early and so state complies. The 2009 ruling grew out of lawsuits alleging “Soledad Brothers.” IGI gave me a receipt saying the book strongly condemned. belonged to another inmate, and in a chrono further stated unconstitutionally poor care for mentally and physically ill The overwhelming majority of people in the United States inmates. One case dates back 20 years. that the book is approved reading material, which I will in- work for a salary. They don’t need to be motivated by the clude with this letter. Despite that, CSR rejected the gang The growth in the prison population in the nation’s most quest for profi t. It’s not in our genes. Virtually everybody, populous state can be attributed in part to years of get-tough validation chrono and told IGI to submit anew. It still has if given the choice, would prefer to work at jobs where the not happened – fi ve years and counting! CPF has all my evi- sentencing laws, including a three-strikes law that sends re- main motivations are to produce goods and services that im- peat offenders to prison for life. As of May 11, there were dence to back my claims. prove the quality of life of the society, to help others, and J. Burton aka “SykoJay”, CSP – Corcoran roughly 143,000 inmates in a 33 adult prison-system de- to provide themselves with meaningful and satisfying work. signed to hold 80,000. It’s not natural to be primarily motivated by trying to win or One of the federal judges involved in the lower court rul- steal “customers” from other people, no holds barred, sur- ing once blamed the prison system’s poor medical care for SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT vival of the fi ttest or the most ruthless. causing the death of about one inmate every week due to SOCIALISM A major war can be the supreme test of a nation, a time neglect or medical malpractice. when it’s put under the greatest stress. In World War 2, the US At the time, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a By William Blum government commandeered the auto manufacturers to make public safety emergency because of the crowding. He then orporations, whether fi nancial or not, strive to maxi- tanks and jeeps instead of private cars. When a pressing need began shipping inmates to private prisons in Arizona, Mis- mize profi t as inevitably as water seeks its own level. for an atom bomb was seen, Washington did not ask for bids sissippi and Oklahoma. More than 10,000 California inmates CWe’ve been trying to “regulate” them since the 19th from the private sector; it created the Manhattan Project to are now housed in private prisons out of state. Justice An- century. Or is it the 18th? Nothing helps for long. You close do it itself, with no concern for balance sheets or profi t and thony Kennedy cited lower-court fi ndings that preventable one loophole and the slime oozes out of another hole. Wall loss statements. Women and blacks were given skilled fac- suicide and medical neglect “needlessly” cause the death of Street has not only an army of lawyers and accountants, but tory jobs they had been traditionally denied. Hollywood was at least one inmate a week in California’s prisons. a horde of mathematicians with advanced degrees searching enlisted to make propaganda fi lms. Indeed, much of the na- Gov. Jerry Brown, who as attorney general fought the rul- for the perfect equations to separate people from their mon- tion’s activities, including farming, manufacturing, mining, ing, sought and signed a bill that would reduce the prison ey. After all the stimulus money has come and gone, after all communications, labor, education, and cultural undertakings population by about 40,000 inmates by transferring jurisdic- the speeches by our leaders condemning greed and swearing were in some fashion brought under new and signifi cant gov- tion for many low-level offenders to counties. The law is to reforms, after the last congressional hearing deploring the ernment control, with the war effort coming before private stalled until the lawmakers or voters authorize money to pay corporate executives to their faces, the boys of Wall Street, profi t. In peacetime, we can think of socialism as putting for the transfer. Much of the money is intended to help coun- shrugging off a few bruises, will resume churning out their people before profi t, with all the basics guaranteed — health ties handle the responsibility of housing convicts. assortment of fi nancial entities, documents, and packages care, all education, decent housing, food, jobs. Those who Dissenters on the Supreme Court fear the worst, both in that go by names like hedge funds, derivatives, collateralized swear by free enterprise argue that the “socialism” of World terms of public safety and what they described as a lower debt obligations, index funds, credit default swaps, struc- War 2 was instituted only because of the exigencies of the bar set for court intervention in how state’s run their prison tured investment vehicles, subprime mortgages, and many war. That’s true, but it doesn’t alter the key point that it had systems. other pieces of paper with exotic names, for which, it must been immediately recognized by the government that the Justice Samuel Alito, in a dissent along with Chief Jus- be kept in mind, there had been no public need or strident wasteful and ineffi cient capitalist system, always in need of tice John Roberts, said he feared that the decision, “like prior demand. Speculation, bonuses, and scotch will fl ow again, proper fi nancial care and feeding, was no way to run a coun- prisoner release orders, will lead to a grim roster of victims. and the boys will be all the wiser, perhaps shaken a bit that try trying to win a war. I hope that I am wrong. In a few years, we will see.” Justices they’re so reviled, but knowing better now what to fl aunt and It’s also no way to run a society of human beings with hu- Thomas and Scalia wrote a separate dissent. what to disguise. man needs. Most Americans agree with this but are not con- Aside from reducing the inmate population, the court said This is another reminder that communism or socialism sciously aware that they hold such a belief. In 1987, nearly the state must continue to improve medical treatment in pris- have almost always been given just one chance to work, if half of 1,004 Americans surveyed by the Hearst press be- on. Cate, the corrections secretary, and J. Clark Kelso, the that much, while capitalism has been given numerous chanc- lieved Karl Marx’s aphorism: “From each according to his federal receiver who now controls prison medical care, noted es to do so following its perennial fi ascos. Ralph Nader has ability, to each according to his need” was to be found in the that construction of a new centralized medical facility south observed: “Capitalism will never fail because socialism will US Constitution. of the state capital is already under way. ● always be there to bail it out.”

NUMBER 37 31 CPF GOALS SOME GUIDELINES FOR CONTRIBUTIONS BECOME A VOLUNTEER ● End all human rights abuses against prison- ers. TO PRISON FOCUS CPF depends on volunteers to do our invaluable work. We ● End the use of long-term isolation. SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR SUBMISSIONS: need your help answering mail, working on our newsletter, ● Close the Security Housing Units. staffi ng our offi ce, fund raising, and outreach. Check our ● Educate the public that SHU prisoners are • Artwork or graphics website for the date of the next CPF meeting. torture survivors. ● Improve medical care and living conditions • Letters (250 words) Let us know if you want us to for prisoners living with HIV, hepatitis C and use your name or we will only publish your initials and PRISON FOCUS #38 other life-threatening diseases. city & state of residence. You can also specify “anony- I would like the topic for Prison Focus #38 to focus on the ● Help gain compassionate release for prison- mous.” ers with serious illnesses and physical dis- subject of homophobia and gay and Lesbian oppression on abilities. the inside. Please send us your articles and artwork. The ● Stop all discrimination against LGBT prison- • Short Articles (250-500 words) The same due date for submissions for the next issue is Aug. 1, 2011. ers. identification guidelines apply. Topics can be issue If you have ideas for issue #39 send them in to us as well. ● Abolish the prison system as we know it. specific, or current news or information. ABOUT CPF • Helpful resources with address and pertinent infor- mation. California Prison Focus is a non-profi t community-based human rights organization working with and for California • Larger articles are accepted but be aware-our space prisoners. Our two main issue areas are fi ghting against the is limited. long term isolation, torture and abuse of Security Housing Units (SHU) and demanding an end to the medical neglect Topics: PF topic of issue; current news; recent or pending and abuse of prisoners with HIV, hepatitis C and other Prisoner Artists! legislation or policy; news from your institution; organizing life-threatening diseases. The focus of our work is our Have you ever wanted contribute to efforts; books—basically anything related to the prison investigative trips to women and men’s prisons with SHU California Prison Focus but never had the industrial complex as you see it. Individual legal cases are facilities and/or medical units. We make at least one visit money? Good news! In October CPF will not usually printed. per month. We work to build strong bridges between the celebrate its twentieth anniversary by hold- Sorry, we cannot return your submissions unless a prior prisoners and the community, and to bring forth the voice ing a fundraising event auctioning off art arrangement is made. Submissions are not guaranteed of the prisoners through our newsletter, Prison Focus, and donated by prisoners. One item of donated to be published and we generally cannot respond to your our ongoing educational outreach and community forums. art will be chosen for the poster that will submissions because of the volume of mail we receive. PF Central to our work is training ourselves, prisoners and advertise the celebration. The remainder of welcomes all submissions (they will not be returned). their loved ones in self-advocacy through public protest, the donated art will be sold to help raise networking, coalition building, letter writing and contacting money for CPF. prison offi cials and policy makers. Send your art contributions to California CPF’S MISSION STATEMENT Prison Focus, 1904 Franklin St. #507, Oak- California Prison Focus fi ghts to abolish the California prison Founded in 1991 (as Pelican Bay Information Project) land CA 94612. Be sure to include a note system as we know it. We investigate and expose human we have made hundreds of prison visits and conducted letting us know you are donating your art- rights abuses with the goal of ending long term isolation, thousands of interviews with prisoners. Our membership work to our organization for the purposes of medical neglect, and all forms of discrimination. We are is comprised of prisoners, activists, family members of fundraising and/or display/use in our news- community activists, prisoners, and their family members prisoners, former prisoners, human rights advocates, paper. working to inspire the public to demand change. attorneys, and prison visitors.