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BOYCOTT CORPORATIONS THAT FEED ON PRISONS By Chris Hedges Amos Caley, who runs the Interfaith Prison missary companies, and against the dozens ll attempts to reform mass incar- Coalition, a group formed by prisoners, the of corporations that exploit prison labor. ceration through the traditional formerly incarcerated, their families and The boycotts will target food and mer- Amechanisms of electoral politics, religious leaders. “Mass incarceration is chandise vendors, construction companies, the courts and state and federal legisla- the most important civil rights issue of our laundry services, uniforms companies, tures are useless. Corporations, which have day. And it is time for communities of faith prison equipment vendors, cafeteria servic- turned mass incarceration into a huge rev- to stand with poor people, mostly of color, es, manufacturers of pepper spray, body ar- enue stream and which have unchecked po- who are unfairly exploited and abused. We mor and the array of medieval instruments litical and economic power, have no inten- must halt human rights violations against used for the physical control of prisoners, tion of diminishing their profi ts. And in a the poor that grow more pronounced each and a host of other contractors that profi t system where money has replaced the vote, year,” Caley said here. He and other prison from mass incarceration. The movement where corporate lobbyists write legislation reform leaders spoke Saturday at the Elm- will also call on institutions, especially and the laws, where chronic unemployment wood Presbyterian Church. churches and universities, to divest from and underemployment, along with inad- corporations that use prison labor. equate public transportation, sever people “All the companies that The campaign, led by the Interfaith Pris- in marginal communities from jobs, and use prison labor have to on Coalition, will include a call to pay all where the courts are a wholly owned sub- be boycotted. prisoners at least the prevailing minimum sidiary of the corporate state, this demands wage of the state in which they are held. a sustained, nationwide revolt. “We have to shut down the system,” said (New Jersey’s minimum wage is $8.38 an “Organizing boycotts, work stoppages Gale Muhammad, another speaker and the hour.) Wages inside prisons have remained inside prisons and the refusal by prisoners founder and CEO of Women Who Never stagnant and in real terms have declined and their families to pay into the accounts of Give Up. “All the companies that use pris- over the past three decades. A prisoner in phone companies and commissary compa- on labor have to be boycotted. And we can’t New Jersey makes, on average, $1.20 for nies is the only weapon we have left,” said stop there. We have to boycott the vend- eight hours of work, or about $28 a month. ing machines in the prisons and the phone Those incarcerated in for-profi t prisons companies. We have to stop spending our earn as little as 17 cents an hour. Over a CONTENTS money. Until we hit them in the pocket they similar period, phone and commissary cor- Boycott Prison Profiteers ...... 1 won’t listen.” porations have increased fees and charges Former prisoners and prisoners’ rela- often by more than 100 percent. Small Notices ...... 3 tives—suffering along with the incarcer- There are nearly 40 states that allow ated under the weight of one of the most private corporations to exploit prison la- UN Banned From US Prisons ..4 exploitative, physically abusive and larg- bor. And prison administrators throughout est prison systems in the world, frustrated the country are lobbying corporations that Mothers Stage Hunger Strike...5 and enraged by the walls that corporations have sweatshops overseas, trying to lure have set in place to stymie rational judicial them into the prisons with guarantees of Can't Live by Bread Alone ...... 7 reform—joined human rights advocates at even cheaper labor and a total absence of the church to organize state and nationwide organizing or coordinated protest. Little Guantanamo’ Lawsuit ...... 8 boycotts inside and outside prisons. These Corporations currently exploiting prison boycotts, they said, will be directed against labor include Abbott Laboratories, AT&T, S.F. Jail Cons Forced to Fight ..9 the private phone, money transfer and com- AutoZone, Bank of America, Bayer, Berk- shire Hathaway, Cargill, Caterpillar, Chev- charges prisoners double what items cost midst.” ron, the former Chrysler Group, Costco outside prison walls, makes $41 million a She called on the audience to “speak dif- Wholesale, John Deere, Eddie Bauer, Eli year in profi t. All of these companies have fi cult and unpopular truths,” not to avoid Lilly, ExxonMobil, Fruit of the Loom, GEI- to be targeted. “the racial dimensions or the profound CO, GlaxoSmithKline, Glaxo Wellcome, It will be a long and hard battle. It will moral questions for purposes of expedien- Hoffmann-La Roche, International Paper, require tremendous sacrifi ces from those cy” and not to seek “justice on the cheap.” JanSport, Johnson & Johnson, Kmart, who have loved ones who are incarcerated “We can and we must build a movement, Koch Industries, Mary Kay, McDonald’s, and from the 2.3 million locked in cages and not only [about] mass incarceration Merck, Microsoft, Motorola, Nintendo, in the United States’ vast archipelagos of and mass deportation, but a broad-based Pfi zer, Procter & Gamble, Quaker Oats, prisons. It will require those on the out- radical, human rights movement that ends Sarah Lee, Sears, Shell, Sprint, Starbucks, side to boycott corporations that use prison once and for all our history’s cycle of creat- State Farm Insurance, United Airlines, labor and corporations that gouge prison- ing caste-like systems in America, a move- UPS, Verizon, Victoria’s Secret, Wal-Mart ers and their families. It will require us to ment for education, not incarceration, for and Wendy’s. build networks to support prisoners when jobs, not jails, a movement to end all forms Prisons in America are a hugely profi t- they begin, as they must, to carry out work of legal discrimination against people re- able business. And since profi t is the only stoppages to demand the minimum wage. leased from prison, discrimination that language the involved corporations know Building a movement is our only hope. denies them basic human rights to work, how to speak, we will have to speak to Michelle Alexander, the author of “The to shelter, to food, a movement for vot- them in the language they understand. In New Jim Crow,” is outspoken about the ing rights for all, including those behind New Jersey the fi rst boycott will be direct- imperative for organizing to fi ght back. In bars … a movement that will end the war ed against Global Tel Link, a private phone a speech at Union Theological Seminary in on drugs, once and for all, and shift to a company that charges prisoners and their New York City in March she told her au- public health model dealing with drug ad- families exorbitant rates and that has a mo- dience: “Jesus taught that he who is with- diction and drug abuse, a movement that nopoly. Organizers at the Saturday event, out sin should cast the fi rst stone. Well, we will stand up to the police unions and trans- including Gale Muhammad, called on have become a nation of stone throwers. form the police itself from warriors into prisoners and families to stop paying into And in this era of mass incarceration it is peace offi cers directly accountable to the Global Tel Link accounts and boycott the not enough to drop your stone. We have to communities they serve, a movement that prison phone service. She urged families be willing to catch the stones raining down will ensure that every dollar saved from and prisoners to write letters to each oth- on the most vulnerable. And we must be ending the wars that have been declared er until the company’s phone rates match willing to stand up to the stone throwers on poor communities of color, the wars on those paid by the wider society. and disarm them.” crime and drugs, will be invested back into “Prisoner telephone rates in New Jersey these communities, the communities most are some of the highest in the country,” Global Tel Link charges harmed, meaningful reparations and justice Caley said. “Global Tel Link charges pris- $4.95 for a 15-minute reinvestment, a movement that abandons oners and their families $4.95 for a 15-min- phone call our purely punitive approach to dealing ute phone call, which is about two and a with violence and violent crimes and em- half times the national average for local “I believe we now fi nd ourselves at a fork braces a more restorative and rehabilitative inmate calling services.” in the road,” she went on. “We can continue approach … a movement that is rooted in Prison phone services are a $1.2-billion- down the road most traveled of business the dignity and humanity of us all, no mat- a-year industry. Prisoners outside New Jer- and politics as usual, the path of reform- ter who we are, where we come from or sey are charged by Global Tel Link, which ing our political institutions here and there, what we may have done.” makes about $500 million a year, as much the path Dr. King was determined to leave At Saturday’s gathering in Newark, as $17 for a 15-minute phone call. A call behind, or we can choose a different path, among the roughly 100 participants were of that duration outside a prison would cost the rocky, dangerous path that comes with- leading advocates for prison reform such as about $2. If a customer deposits $25 into a out a map. It is a path that is beckoning us Bonnie Kerness, the director of the Ameri- Global Tel Link phone account, he or she again, thanks in large part to the courage can Friends Service Committee Prison must pay an additional service charge of of the young people in Ferguson who stood Watch Project; Gale Muhammad; and Larry $6.95. And Global Tel Link is only one of up when Michael Brown was shot down. It Hamm, the chairman of People’s Organiza- several large corporations that exploit pris- inspired thousands of people to wake up, tion for Progress. There were mothers and oners and their families. JPay is a corpora- get up and march here in New York City fathers of incarcerated sons and daughters, tion that deals in privatized money transfers and beyond. If we choose this rocky path former prisoners including Earl Amin, who to prisoners. It controls money transfers for there will be no guidebooks, no map, no was leader of the Black Panthers in New- about 70 percent of the prison population. instructions. All we will have is our moral ark and spent 34 years in prison solely for The company charges families that put compass and the whispering of our angels discussing the possibility of carrying out a money into prisoners’ accounts additional and our ancestors in our ears reminding us bank robbery, and Ojore Lutalo, who was service fees of as much as 45 percent. JPay to dig for deeper truths and to speak and to in the Black Liberation Army and spent 22 generates more than $50 million a year in act with greater courage, reminding us, in years in solitary confi nement in Trenton’s revenue. The Keefer Group, which con- the words of Dr. James Cone, that human- supermax prison. There was universal and trols prison commissaries in more than 800 ity’s salvation is available only through our emphatic agreement that if we do not or- public and private prisons, and which often solidarity with the crucifi ed people in our ganize to destroy this country’s system of

2 Rock! mass incarceration it will spread like a can- rections Corporation of America (CCA), cer, destroying more lives, more families the largest owner of for-profi t prisons Free Electronic Copy and more communities. and immigration detention facilities in Outside people can read, down- The corporate state seeks to reduce all the country, had revenues of $1.7 billion load, or print current and back is- workers at home and abroad to the status in 2013 and profi ts of $300 million. CCA sues of the Rock newsletter by go- of prison labor. Workers are to be so heav- holds an average of 81,384 inmates in its ing to www.rocknewsletter.com and ily controlled that organizing unions or re- facilities on any one day. Aramark Hold- clicking on the issue of the Rock sistance will become impossible. Benefi ts, ings Corp., a Philadelphia-based company newsletter they'd like to read. pensions, overtime are to be abolished. that contracts through Aramark Correction- Outside folks can also have a Workers who are not slavishly submissive al Services to provide food to 600 correc- free electronic copy of the newslet- to the will of corporate power will be dis- tional institutions across the United States, ter sent to them each month by way missed. There will be no sick days or paid was acquired in 2007 for $8.3 billion by in- of e-mail. Have them send requests vacations. No one will be able to challenge vestors that included Goldman Sachs. And, for a digital copy of the newsletter to unsafe and physically diffi cult working as in the wider society, while members of [email protected]. conditions. And wages will be suppressed a tiny, oligarchic corporate elite each are to keep workers in poverty. This is the goal paid tens or even hundreds of millions of of corporate power. The 1 million prisoners dollars annually, the workers who generate employed at substandard wages by corpo- these profi ts live in misery. On Jailhouse Lawyers rations inside prisons are, in the eyes of our “It is an abomination that prisoners are “…jailhouse lawyers often unwit- corporate masters, the ideal workers. And paid 22 cents an hour, $1.20 cents a day,” tingly serve the interests of the state those Americans who ignore the plight of Larry Hamm told the Newark meeting. by propagating the illusion of ‘justice’ prison labor and refuse to organize against “Every prisoner should get the minimum and ‘equity’ in a system devoted to it will increasingly fi nd prison working wage of New Jersey, $8.38 per hour.” neither.” They create “illusions of le- conditions replicated outside prison walls. He went on. “Even when you come out gal options as pathways to both indi- Prisons, to swell corporate profi ts, force [of prison] it moves from slavery to share- vidual and collective liberation.” prisoners to pay for basic items including cropping because they have these fi nes and shoes. Prisoners in New Jersey pay $45 obligations that they put on people. ... That Mumia Abu-Jamal, for a pair of basic Reebok shoes—almost is how sharecropping was. That is why a lot JAILHOUSE LAWYERS: Prisoners twice the average monthly wage. If a pris- of our great-grandparents and grandparents Defending Prisoners v. The U.S.A. oner needs an insulated undergarment or couldn’t leave the South. Everything was an extra blanket to ward off the cold at owned by the former slave master. If they night he must buy it. Packages from home, bought a plow they ended up in debt over once permitted, have been banned to force the plow. If they bought seeds they ended prisoners to buy grossly overpriced items up in debt over the seeds. They were tied at the commissary or company-run store. to the land. Probation is like sharecropping. Some states have begun to charge prisoners You are off the plantation, but you still be- rent. This gouging is burying many prison- long to us. And look at this rapacious, ex- ers and their families in crippling debt, debt ploitative system where phone companies that prisoners carry when they are released make 50 times what a phone call should from prison. cost. And people are charging high com- The United States has 2.3 million people missary fees. in prison, 25 percent of the world’s prison “This is capitalist exploitation, and it population, although we are only 5 per- must stop,” Hamm thundered. “But it won’t cent of the world’s population. We have stop unless we build a movement to make increased our prison population by about it stop. Every organization that calls itself a 700 percent since 1970. Corporations con- civil rights or human rights organization, if trol about 18 percent of federal prisoners they do not have the plight and condition of and 6.7 percent of all state prisoners. And the incarcerated on their agenda they need corporate prisons account for nearly all to hand in their credentials.” newly built prisons. Nearly half of all im- Last week’s call to launch nationwide migrants detained by the federal govern- boycotts signals the start of the most im- ment are shipped to corporate-run prisons. portant frontal assault yet against the pris- And slavery is legal in prisons under the on-industrial complex. I do not know if it 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. will succeed. But I do know it is our only It reads: “Neither slavery nor involuntary hope. Halting the abuse and exploitation of servitude, except as punishment for crime the poor inside prisons is not only the most whereof the party shall have been duly con- important civil rights issue of our time, it victed, shall exist within the United States.” promises to be a vital check against a cor- Vast sums are at stake. The for-profi t porate state that, if not dismantled, will im- prison industry is worth $70 billion. Cor- prison us all. ●

Volume 4, Number 5 3 WHY THE U.S. WON’T LET U.N. LOOK INSIDE ITS PRISONS Sarah Shourd Bay State Prison—a facility known for to expose the abuse of solitary confi nement fter a half-decade and a mandate keeping inmates in isolation indefi nitely in since 2013, when the largest prison hunger by the U.N. to investigate solitary its Security Housing Unit (SHU). strike in American history erupted across Aconfi nement practices, U.N. tor- This visit did not come about through the state—which Martinez immediately ture rapporteur Juan Mendez had to fi nd a the offi cial channels Mendez had long been joined. backdoor into an American jail. Today, his appealing to, however. Instead, he found a A self-taught jailhouse lawyer, Marti- fi ndings are released in a report. way in to one of the most notorious prisons nez spends most of his day where Mendez In 2010, Juan Mendez was appointed in the country through a kind of backdoor. found him, kneeling in front of an old-fash- Special Rapporteur on Torture and other “I’m disappointed to still be waiting for ioned typewriter resting on the concrete Cruel, Degrading and Inhumane Treatment the State Department to respond to my re- block that also serves as his bed frame. His by the United Nations. His mandate is wide quest. I’ve been waiting over two years.” cell is windowless, 8 by 10 feet in diameter, in size and scope—to expose and document “I was allowed in as an expert,” Mendez and he’s only allowed out of it for an hour torture wherever it exists on the planet to- says in his fi rst interview since he toured a day to exercise in a slightly larger, open- day. Pelican Bay State Prison, “but not wearing ceiling cell they call the “dog run.” Since the beginning of his mandate Men- my U.N. hat.” “I saw Johnny two weeks after Men- dez has made criticizing the overuse of The request came from the Center for dez’s visit,” Canales says, referring to the solitary confi nement a priority. In 2011, he Constitutional Rights (CCR) and was 15-hour drive she makes once a month for issued a report stating that 22 or 23 hours a approved by California Judge Claudia her three-hour no-contact visit with her son day alone in a prison cell for more than 15 Wilken. The visit will facilitate Mendez’s through thick plexiglass. “His face just lit days at a time can cause permanent, lasting appearance as an expert witness in court up when he told me about it. That’s some- psychological damage and can constitute for a class-action lawsuit, Ashker v. Brown, thing I haven’t seen happen very often in torture. challenging prolonged solitary confi ne- the last 14 years.” This problem, he emphasized, is particu- ment as unconstitutional. Mendez’s report “A lot of journalists get in and just dis- larly severe in the U.S., where prisoners was submitted to the court on Friday. miss the whole thing,” Canales continues. are routinely held under such conditions During his tour of Pelican Bay State “They see prisoners playing chess in their for months, years and even decades at a Prison, Mendez was allowed to traverse its cells by calling the moves down the hall time. Many have never committed a vio- multilevel pods virtually unencumbered. and think, ‘This can’t be that bad.’ They lent crime. Flanked by an entourage of prison guards have no idea what they’re looking at, what Fast-forward fi ve years. The U.S. gov- and administrators, his fi rst request was solitary confi nement actually does to a ernment has yet to grant Mendez access to to be taken to the cell of 37-year-old John person. Mendez is different, he’s studied a single isolation pod in any U.S. prison. Martinez, whom he found kneeling on the torture for decades—and he’s been there The clock is ticking. Mendez has a mere concrete fl oor. himself.” 20 months left of his term, and he has yet Struggling to stand on wobbly legs, Mar- Mendez endured torture as a political been able to substantiate his reports with a tinez greeted Mendez with a huge smile. prisoner in Argentina in the 1970s, includ- fi rsthand investigation. “My mom asked you to come see me?” he ing periods in solitary confi nement. He’s “The U.S. was voted into the Human asked. also seen conditions of isolation in coun- Rights Council—a position that carries Martinez’s mom is Dolores Canales, tries around the globe. At Pelican Bay with it an obligation to cooperate,” he says. co-founder of California Families Against Mendez was allowed private, non-moni- When he speaks, Mendez wears a look of Solitary Confi nement (CFASC). She has tored visits with 11 of the named plaintiffs weary determination befi tting of his post. been at the center of California’s struggle of Ashker v. Brown, each of which have “I’m disappointed to still be waiting for spent between 10 and 29 years in isolation. the State Department to respond to my re- “Some have TV, books, a pen and paper,” quest. I’ve been waiting over two years.” Mendez says. “But clearly any mitigating “That fact that he hasn’t received a factors are outweighed by the sheer dura- response is contemptible,” says Laura tion. Isolation should be described in terms Rovner, legal expert on prison condi- of days, maybe weeks…but never years or tions from University of Denver. “It puts decades.” the U.S. in the company of countries like Human rights groups estimate that as Syria, Pakistan, and Russia that also have many as 80,000 people are kept in solitary been unresponsive to requests for country confi nement in U.S. prisons on any given visits.” day. This is far more, per capita, than any “Given the length of the delay,” Rovner other country in the world. Yet the U.S. continues. “You have to wonder about the government continues to make statements reason, whether it’s motivated by concerns to the contrary. Just last October a U.S. about what the Special Rapporteur will fi nd spokesperson stood in front of the UN inside these prisons.” Committee on Torture stating that “no sys- Then suddenly, last December, Mendez tematic use of solitary confi nement exists was allowed access to California’s Pelican Art by Michael Russell in the United States.”

4 Rock! “In judging other countries the State De- partment has regularly treated the use of DOZENS OF MOTHERS STAGE prolonged solitary confi nement as a vio- HUNGER STRIKE AT IMMIGRANT lation,” says Rovner. “We like to see our- selves as an indispensible force for human DETENTION CENTER IN TEXAS rights. Yet solitary confi nement conditions ‘We want freedom for our “This strike will continue until each of in this country are inconsistent with inter- children. It’s not right to con- us is freed.” national standards.” tinue to detain us.’ Karnes, which is run by the private cor- The State Department was contacted for rections company GEO Group, has come By Nadia Prupis, staff writer, 4-2-2015 under fi re in the past for its treatment of comment on this story but failed to reply. bout 40 women being held at the “When someone is covered with blood the children who are detained there, with privately-run Karnes Family De- reports of weight loss and forced separation and has broken bones,” Mendez contin- tention Center in southern Texas ues, “we don’t say, ‘Oh, that’s not torture, A from their mothers, but the U.S. Immigra- launched a hunger strike this week to de- tion and Customs Enforcement (ICE) de- they’ll heal eventually.’ It’s the psychologi- mand their release and the release of their cal aspect that we accept as cruelty.” partment has denied those allegations. families, vowing on Tuesday not to eat, ICE also claimed it was unaware of One of the plaintiffs, Fernando Bermu- work, or use the services at the facility until dez, has spent the last 33 years of his life in any residents actually participating in the they are freed. strike, saying in a statement on Wednesday solitary confi nement. He was “validated” Nearly 80 women being held at the cen- as a gang associate and is therefore serv- that the agency “fully respects the rights of ter, many of whom are said to be asylum all people to voice their opinion without ing an indefi nite sentence in Pelican Bay’s seekers from Honduras, El Salvador, and SHU. Roughly a thousand others are in the interference, and all detainees, including Guatemala, signed a letter stating that they those in family residential facilities such as same position. The majority did not com- have all been refused bond despite having mit a violent act to get there. Karnes, are permitted to do so.” established a credible fear of violence if It also said it was investigating claims “For a legitimate reason, like attacking they are sent back to Central America—a another inmate or a guard, short periods in that members of a nonprofi t advocacy key factor in the U.S. government’s process group encouraged the women to take part isolation can be acceptable,” says Mendez. for screening detained immigrants to allow “But you can’t claim someone is part of a in the hunger strike—a charge which activ- them amnesty. ists deny. gang because they have a drawing that cel- “We deserve to be treated with some ebrates black or Mexican culture.” Cristina Parker, immigration programs dignity and that our rights, to the immi- director at the Texas-based immigrant “Somebody made a decision to put them gration process, are respected,” the letter in the SHU and to keep them there,” Men- rights group Grassroots Leadership, told reads. “You should know that this is just the Guardian on Tuesday, “This is some- dez continues. “The only way for them to the beginning and we will not stop [the end their punishment is to debrief, which thing that has been rippling through the hunger strike] until we achieve our goals. centre almost since it opened. I don’t be- means telling on others. That’s textbook- This strike will continue until each of us is defi nition coercion.” lieve at all that they were coached into do- freed.” ing this.” “All of these factors combined amount The letter also states that many of the to more than just cruel and unusual pun- According to Parker, the center is now children held in the camp are losing weight blocking access to internet and telephone ishment,” concludes Mendez. “There’s no and that their “health is deteriorating.” doubt in my mind this is torture.” facilities for all of its detainees, regardless Many of the families have been detained of whether they are participating in the Canales is hopeful that Mendez’s fi nd- for as long as 10 months. ings, in conjunction with CCR’s lawsuit hunger strike. One woman, 26-year old Honduran At least two women who signed the let- slated to begin in December 2015, at the mother Kenia Galeano, decried the center’s very least will force change in California’s ter were also placed into isolation with treatment of the families in a phone inter- their children in Karnes’s clinic, leading Department of Corrections’ policy. view with McClatchy on Tuesday. “We’re “My son and 30 thousand others risked about half of those who initially pledged to many mothers, not just me,” she said. “We take part in the hunger strike to drop out, their lives on hunger strike so we could get want freedom for our children. It’s not right to this point,” she says. “But we can’t work according to the Refugee and Immigrant to continue to detain us.” Center for Education and Legal Services. toward a solution until they admit there’s a Galeano, who shares a room with three problem.” Johana De Leon, a legal assistant with other mothers and their children, also said the nonprofi t, told McClatchy that other “These fi ndings won’t be easy to brush that her two-year-old son has become de- off,” Canales continues. “That’s why the mothers were warned they could lose cus- pressed and lost weight due to the cultur- tody of their children if they participated. State Department hasn’t let Mendez in in ally inappropriate food. the fi rst place.” In addition to its mistreatment of chil- According to the letter, some of the moth- dren, Karnes has also been accused of “My mandate is not over and I haven’t ers were also left behind in the detention given up,” Mendez says. “I’m still waiting sexual misconduct by guards and denial of center, while their children were granted critical medical care for detainees, among to be listened to.” ● bond. “We have come to this country, with http://www.thedailybeast.com/ other charges. The Department of Home- our children, seeking refugee status and we land Security inspector general reported in articles/2015/03/16/the-u-s-won-t-let- are being treated like delinquents,” the let- the-u-n-look-at-prisons-to-investigate- February that there was no evidence to sup- ter reads. “We are not delinquents nor do port the allegations. ● solitary-confi nement.html we pose any threat to this country.” Volume 4, Number 5 5 WE CANNOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE: TEXAS ABUSES PRISONERS WITH DENIED FOOD, BREAD AND WATER DIETS By Kevin “Rashid” Johnson weapons on their persons and use them to tical ingenuity, he can almost never come ood is routinely used by US prison stab, cut or jab the prisoner. out on top of such odds, even if he be in the offi cials to summarily punish, tor- The beatings are typically carried out best physical shape. And because guards Fture, abuse and retaliate against pris- under cover of a supervising ranking guard enjoy a complete tactical advantage and oners. This happens with especial frequen- yelling repeatedly for the subdued prisoner almost invariably subdue the isolated pris- cy in administrative segregation (solitary to “stop resisting!” This is done for effect oner quickly and suffer no injuries in the confi nement) where prisoners are confi ned and to make it seem that the prisoner is process, cell extractions bolster their sense inside locked cells all day every day, and being combative and the guards are strug- of invulnerability, and embolden them to must have all meals delivered by guards. gling to control him.[1] This is a standard abuse us in the absence of fear of harm Under such circumstances we remain at game which police also play as cover for to themselves or other consequences. So guards’ total mercy ‘to eat or not to eat’. beating, tasering, and also shooting people. by racking up repeated ‘wins’, the guards, In the segregation unit of the Texas pris- It is such common practice with so-called while outnumbered by us at least ten-to- on — Clements Unit — where I am con- ‘law enforcement’ offi cials, that I’m con- one, enjoy the highest morale; the overall fi ned, guards frequently refuse (or “jack”) fi dent most every prisoner in Amerika who segregated prisoner body, by resisting them prisoners’ meals, especially mentally ill has witnessed or endured even a few cell in a manner that ensures and results in rou- prisoners, starving them for days to weeks extractions, and most civilians who’ve wit- tine ‘losses’, is left demoralized and sub- on end, and longer. nessed or suffered beatings at the hands of missive to mistreatment. [2] the police, will attest to it. Because of the relative advantage that No Deterrence to Guards Abusing Most prisoners are intelligently unwilling segregated confi nement presents to guards, Food to suffer the compounded abuse of ‘running one fi nds that it is those most inclined to “Jacking” meals occurs so regularly that the team’ on top of having been jacked for sadism and cowardly abuse that choose to most segregated Texas prisoners have been, their meal. However, if the jacked prisoner work in segregation units and super-max- or expect to be, at some point denied meals. doesn’t run the team he becomes the target imum security prisons. Moreover, even And whether the victimized prisoner is ‘re- of ridicule by others as being a “bitch”, the courts have long admitted that poor spected’ by his peers and guards afterward “ho”, etc. and is disparaged as weak, and salaries and training render guards “more is determined by how he in turn reacts. is thus likely to be jacked yet again and os- vulnerable to the corrupting infl uence of The expected reaction is for the ‘jacked’ tracized to a greater or lesser degree. It is unchecked authority than most people.” [3] prisoner to “run the team,” that is, at the largely to avoid ridicule and attendant vic- Also, prisoners are conditioned to fear fi rst opportunity, to act out in some man- timization that many prisoners are induced injuring guards in turn, under administra- ner that will require a team of fi ve or more to run the team, and thereby save face. This tive threat of criminal prosecution if they guards to dress out in full body riot armor is all a cultural reaction that offi cials have do, which means an extended prison term, and forcibly invade his cell and restrain, conditioned prisoners to adopt to our own often an aggravated sentence, which might and more often than not, beat him. The pro- disadvantage, which I’ll explain. result in spending one’s entire life in prison. cess is formally called a “cell extraction” Offi cials have taught prisoners over the And in the fi nal event, offi cials use in- or “cell entry.” The teams of guards who years to resort to ‘running teams’ because, stances of our running teams or responding perform the cell extractions are suited up unless a prisoner employs uncommon tac- to abuse with physical self-defense and de- in body armor, gas masks, etc. exactly as terence to villainize us as being belligerent, police were seen dressed out in their milita- assaultive, etc. painting a completely one- ristic occupation of Ferguson, Missouri to sided picture of events and making their suppress public protest of the police mur- own abusive violence appear only a mea- der of Michael Brown. sured and professional response to danger- To “get his respect” the prisoner is ex- ous and out-of-control criminals, [4] rather pected to go through with the entire cell than their acting under cover of absolute extraction process, which consits of his power to infl ict compounded abuses on a being sprayed multiple times with gas, and completely disadvantaged, disempowered the team of guards then opening the cell and isolated segment of the community. door and rushing in, tackling and/or beat- Which brings me back to the issue of of- ing him to the fl oor, handcuffi ng him from fi cials using their monopoly on our access behind and then beating him further as he to food as a form of abuse. is held down defenseless, which entails sly or open punches, kicks, choking, slamming The Legality of Restricted Prison his head against the concrete fl oor or steel Diets fi xtures inside the cell, gouging his eyes, Texas prison offi cials subject prisoners squeezing his testicles, bending his fi n- to bread and water diets, even though by gers backs, etc. Often guards conceal small law and human necessity we cannot live

6 Rock! by bread alone. [5] Furthermore, the basis food restriction at this unit is literally a sponded by then cursing Sylvan and then upon which restricted diets are imposed are bread and water diet. refused to give him his lunch tray although also forbidden by law. Almost none of the fourteen food-re- Dolleh had already unlocked and opened Prison offi cials may lawfully impose re- stricted prisoners were able to eat the food the cuff port on Sylvan’s cell door in prepa- tricted diets on prisoners temporarily and loaf for more than a day, and most went ration for serving him his meal. only in response to, and to control, food- the entire fi ve days refusing to eat it at all When Dolleh vulgarly told Sylvan he related misbehavior. Such restrictions may because it is so unappetizing and wrecks wasn’t going to give him his lunch and to not be used as punishment. [6] And even havoc on one’s digestive system. back away from the cell door so he could still, restricted diets must provide adequate Actually the “food loaf” recipe is sup- lock the port back without any danger of nutrition, which a bread and water diet does posed to contain a variety of ingredients Sylvan making physical contact with him, not. from the regular menu, blended together Sylvan then stuck his arm out the slot to But here is a recent example of the abu- and baked into a ‘loaf’ which can be eaten prevent its being closed and demanded his sive impunity of prison offi cials, in this without utensils, also an instant beverage meal. case the wholesale use of illegal bread and is to accompany the loaf. This to ‘control’ In turn Dolleh took out his portable can- water food restrictions as arbitrary punish- the misuse of food, utensils, etc., although ister of OC gas and stated to Sylvan to ment, even when prisoners have done noth- this is not how loaf meals are prepared at move back or he’d say Sylvan was attempt- ing wrong. Clements Unit. When complaints are made ing to cut himself with a razor blade and offi cials simply lie and claim the proper in- would thereupon empty the canister of gas Bread and Water to Deter Prisoner gredients are included. on him [7]. Sylvan then backed away from Witnesses Several days after Brandl wrote the the door and Dolleh closed the port cursing I’ve had several articles published about false disciplinary charges, he apparently Sylvan and refusing his lunch. abuses at this Clements Unit, which quote returned to work with a heavy conscience or reference prisoner witnesses who com- and admitted he was concerned that several Conclusion municated their accounts to me via written of the prisoners he lied on might retaliate Today the entire world is bearing witness notes which I have quoted from. Numerous against him. He came to our pod, at which to an ongoing pattern of exposures of, and Clements Unit offi cials have stated to me point I called him to my cell door and asked mass protests against, murders by Ameri- that they’ve read my critical articles online. why he’d fabricated reports on the others. kan police of unarmed people of color and In response, administrators have tried to All fourteen prisoners were served with the militaristic occupation and terrorism of our discourage our passing notes between our- disciplinary charges written by Brandl on communities, which has gone on for de- selves and have explicitly threatened wit- February 25. Brandl replied that Gruver or- cades. This sudden visibility has occurred nesses. dered him to do it, but that he would tell the not because the government nor main- On February 19, 2015, Michael Gruver, truth at the disciplinary hearings, that he’d stream media exposed it. It came about be- the Clements Unit major who oversees the in fact never observed the prisoners open cause members of the victimized commu- prison’s segregation unit, claimed to have the cuff ports on their cell doors but was nities exposed it themselves using social been monitoring surveillance cameras told by Gruver to fabricate the reports say- media outlets to make an end run around mounted in the pod I’m housed in, and al- ing he had. the government and press, who otherwise legedly observed numerous prisoners pass- Brandl honored his word and all the dis- whitewashed, denied, and concealed these ing items between cells. ciplinary charges were withdrawn before realities, often behind perpetuating racist In turn Gruver ordered a guard, Josh- any hearings were conducted, but not be- criminal stereotypes against these commu- ua Brandl, who was then leaving to go fore all fourteen prisoners were made to nities. home—it was shift change—to write disci- suffer a bread and water diet for fi ve days, Recall also that just prior to the police plinary charges on several prisoners. Gru- all as part of an administrative backlash and murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, ver specifi cally directed Brandl to fabricate group punishment for prisoners bearing Missouri this past summer and the milita- the charges to say fourteen prisoners had witness to witnessed and suffered abuse. ristic police response to the community’s manipulated the locking mechanisms on Meal Jacked as I Wrote Article righteous protests, which prompted this the handcuff ports on their cell doors and As an example of how regularly prison- exposure, politicians and the media were opened them. Brandl wrote the charges. ers’ meals are arbitrarily taken by guards, at loudly proclaiming that Amerika had fi - Additionally, Gruver had each of the the very time that I was writing this article, nally risen above its racism and become fourteen prisoners put on food restriction, a guard, Abraham Dolleh, refused the pris- a “post-racial society”. The whole world although none were alleged to have com- oner housed in the cell directly across from now knows that was all a lie. But remem- mitted any food-related misconduct. All me—Jeffrey Sylvan #1649281— his lunch ber, we prisoners do not have access to vid- fourteen prisoners remained on food re- meal, (this occurred on March 9, 2015). eo recording technologies not social media. strictions for fi ve days. Dolleh “jacked” Sylvan’s lunch because So our suffering goes largely unknown to On food restriction a prisoner is given as he was coming toward Sylvan’s cell not just the world, but even our own com- only a “food loaf” three times per day, de- serving lunch, Dolleh called another pris- munities. livered in a paper sack. At Clements Unit oner several vulgar names. When he got to This is why we must devise ways to the food loaf is nothing but a greasy novel- Sylvan’s cell, Sylvan, thinking the guard expose the darkest recesses of Amerika’s sized block of corn bread with little else in was cursing him because Sylvan had been lawless law-enforcement system, namely it. The restricted prisoner must drink only talking loudly to another prisoner, asked its prisons. And it must be realized that water from the sink in his cell. Therefore, Dolleh who he was talking to. Dolleh re- the prisons and the tortures, brutalities and

Volume 4, Number 5 7 abuses occurring within their hidden con- mored vehicles, only to be mowed down “Rashid” Johnson. “Prison Assisted Sui- fi nes are an extension of and organically in turn by the vehicles’ heavy machine cide - The Texas Way.” The full article linked to the federal, state, and local police guns. The city’s defenders were thereby can be read at rashidmod.com ● that are the very forces targeting the poor eliminated and the US and allied forces and people of color for selective mass im- quickly took Baghdad. prisonment in Amerika. 3. Landman v. Peyton, 370 F. 2d 135, 140 JUDGE RULES Dare to struggle. Dare to win! (4th cir. 1966) All power to the people! 4. As I’ve demonstrated in numerous past AGAINST CONS articles on Amerika’s abusive prisons, ENDNOTES AND ADDITIONAL the guards and administrators are the IN 'LITTLE COMMENTS: ones who perpetuate all sorts of criminal GUANTANAMO’ acts in their abuses of prisoners, and in- 1. Medical staff and guards tend to down- deed commit federal crimes every time LAWSUIT play any injuries suffered by the prison- they violate a prisoner’s constitutional er and dismiss them as the result of the n late March a federal judge ruled rights as their abuses described herein against inmates who had challenged prisoner himself being combative and/or do. See 18 United States Code, Section falling and striking a hard surface inside Ihighly restrictive federal prison units, 242. It is only, as with the murderous the cell during the cell extraction. dealing a severe blow to their fi ve-year at- police in society they are afforded de tempt to close what are sometimes called 2. This culture which plays on male pris- facto immunity from prosecution by oners’ masculine sensitivities works to Little Guantan amos. merit of being so-called law enforce- For years, advocates have complained the guards’ benefi t and the prisoners’ ment offi cers. The system protects and disadvantage by inducing prisoners to about the special prison wings set up in insulates its own. the wake of 9/11 called “communication ‘fi ght’ the guards from a position of pit- 5. A bread and water diet is unconstitu- ting their weaknesses against the guards’ management units.” The units restrict pris- tional. See, Jenkins v. Werger, 564 F. oners’ links to the outside world, severely strengths. I often point this out to my Supp. 806, 808-09 (1983); Landman v. peers, and illustrate the point with a rev- limiting phone time and barring contact Royster, 333 F Supp. 621, 647 (1971). with visitors. elation I heard made by a US military 6. Food restrictions must be used only to commander during 2003, as he boasted At fi rst, most prisoners in the special control the behaviors for which they wings were Muslims. Today, the inmates to the media how easily US forces took were designed. LeMaire v. Maass, 745 F. Iraq’s capitol city, Baghdad, during the are more diverse. Supp. 623, 635-36 (1990), vacated and In her opinion for the U.S. District Court illegal imperialist Iraq invasion that year. remanded on other grounds, 12 F. 3rd The offi cer told how US military intel- for the District of Columbia, Judge Barbara 1444, 1456 (1993). Rothstein wrote that the Bureau of Prisons’ ligence forces had studied Iraqi culture 7. I discuss the practice of guards at this and thereby developed a profi le of its units do not violate inmates’ rights because unit using fabricated claims that prison- the additional restrictions are “limited in military-aged males. From this the US ers have acted in self harm or suicide at- learned that Iraqi males (like most males nature” compared to ordinary prison units, tempts, to speciously justify assaulting and are far better than solitary confi nement. in patriarchal societies) are highly sen- them with OC gas and taking all their sitive about their masculinity. This was She granted the government’s motion for property, usually against prisoners they summary judgment in the case. turned to the Iraqi’s disadvantage. At dislike or who anger them. See Kevin fi rst, the commander said, US attempts “In short, except where communication to enter Baghdad were quickly and is concerned, (communication manage- soundly repelled by Iraqi defenders fi r- ment units) function like a general popula- ing on them from concealed places and tion unit,” Rothstein said. planting IEDs. Unless the hidden Iraqis Former prisoners like Daniel McGowan could be induced to come out into the disagree. Sentenced to seven years for ar- open and fi ght face-to-face, they would son as a result of his actions with the Earth keep the advantage and the city could not Liberation Front, McGowan was one of the be taken. So, what the US did was make few non-Muslim prisoners placed in the gradual incursions into the city in ar- units. mored formations with a megaphone on For McGowan, the difference between a top of the tanks. From the megaphones regular federal prison and one of the CMUs they blared over and over in Arabic that was like night and day. The CMU left him only women hide from their opponents, feeling isolated and placed a deep strain on and that “real men” meet and fi ght their his marriage. He was originally a plaintiff opponents face-to-face. The commander in the lawsuit, but he was dismissed from laughingly recounted how in response to the case after he was released from prison. such taunts, the hidden fi ghters gave up Rothstein’s ruling “ignores the reality of their advantage and rushed out of build- what these prisoners are living through,” ings and other hiding places in droves said Rachel Meeropol, an attorney at the harmlessly fi ring at the tanks and ar- Center for Constitutional Rights who ar- Art by Mark Makinson gued for the prisoners.

8 Rock! “We know that maintaining contact with to lie if they needed medical attention, the the biggest. one’s family and one’s loved ones is the city’s public defender said Thursday. During the fi rst fi ght, which took place in single most important aspect of rehabilita- Since the beginning of March, at least a part of a hallway that was blocked from tion,” she said. four deputies at County Jail No. 4 at 850 view, Neu appeared to have been betting on The plaintiffs’ lawyers had argued that Bryant St. threatened inmates with vio- Harris, Garcia said, who tapped out after while federal prisoners typically spend lence or withheld food if they did not fi ght the smaller man got him in a headlock. only about a week in solitary confi nement, each other, gladiator-style, for the enter- “Deputy Neu told Stanley he would be stints in the CMUs can last years. Unlike tainment of the deputies, Public Defender coming on Saturday, the following day, to prisoners in solitary confi nement, CMU Jeff Adachi said. take him to work out and to basically train prisoners are allowed to leave their cells. Adachi said the ringleader in these fi ghts him,” Garcia said. “And he also told every- But their phone calls to the outside world was Deputy Scott Neu, who was accused in one that was there that there will be a round are limited and heavily monitored. 2006 of forcing inmates to perform sexual two and he does not like to lose money.” The lawyers also alleged that the govern- acts on him. That case was settled out of Rape threat alleged ment used arbitrary and faulty procedures court. Harris, in another recorded conversa- to place prisoners in the special units, al- “I don’t know why he does it, but I just tion with Adachi, said Neu once made him though Rothstein did not address that claim. feel like he gets a kick out of it because I do 200 push-ups within an hour as part of Meeropol said the plaintiffs will decide just see the look on his face,” said Ricardo “training.” As he did his push-ups, Neu soon whether to appeal the decision. “We’ll Palikiko Garcia, one of the inmates who threatened to anally rape him, telling him be considering all of our options,” she said. said he was forced to fi ght. “It looks like it “he’ll take my cheeks,” Harris said. In the meantime, she said she is heart- brings him joy by doing this, while we’re During other sessions of forced exercise, ened at least that the Bureau of Prisons suffering by what he’s doing.” Neu also told him “he wanted to go a round has loosened some of the restrictions since An attorney for the San Francisco Dep- with me,” taking off his belt and shirt to try their lawsuit was fi led in 2010. uty Sheriff’s Association, the union repre- and fi ght with Harris. “Just the light that litigation has shown senting the deputies, called the allegations “This is sadistic behavior,” Adachi said. on the unit has resulted in some signifi cant “exaggerated,” and said the fi ghting was “This is something that goes beyond any changes that we’re proud of, even though “little more than horseplay.” sense of common decency.” we’re experiencing this current setback,” But in a recorded conversation with The public defender’s offi ce hired a pri- she said. “Prisoners are now moved out of Adachi, Garcia described a predatory at- vate investigator to look into the claims the unit regularly. A normal stay is prob- mosphere of fear and retribution in which after learning of the allegations this month ably a year and a half, compared to prison- deputies would knock over his tray and and the attorneys were going to wait until ers who spent four or fi ve years there.” force him to gamble for his food. their clients were safe and out of the jail Whatever the fate of the larger litigation Garcia, who is in custody on drug and before they came forward with the allega- against the special units, McGowan is still gun possession charges, said that earlier tions. But they received word that another pursuing his own separate claim against this month he was twice forced to fi ght an- fi ght was planned for next week, Adachi the federal prison system. After McGowan other inmate, Stanley Harris, to the point said. wrote a blog entry for The Huffi ngton Post where his ribs may have been fractured and In a report compiled by private investi- in 2013 about the conditions in the CMUs, he could not sleep on his side because of gator Barry Simon, Harris and Garcia said federal marshals picked him up from a the pain. the deputies — Neu in particular — threat- halfway house and threw him in jail. Adachi said the four deputies involved ened to take them off their kitchen jobs or Only after the frantic efforts of his law- were Neu, Eugene Jones, Clifford send them to a jail where more dangerous yers was McGowan released. His lawsuit Chibaand Evan Staehely. All four have inmates were housed. over retaliation, fi led in September, contin- been placed on paid administrative leave. Witness to gambling ues. ● “They took me down to the hallway and Another inmate, Jonathan Christopher, http://www.huffi ngtonpost. told me to fi ght another inmate, which was witnessed one of the fi ghts between Har- com/2015/03/16/prisoners-little- Stanley, and told me if I didn’t fi ght that I ris and Garcia. He said Neu had a habit of guantanamo_n_6881774.html would basically get beat up by themselves, making inmates gamble against him for by Deputy Neu,” Garcia said. “And he told their basic benefi ts of food and clean laun- me he was going to Mace me and cuff me dry. He carried red dice and a deck of cards SF JAIL INMATES if I didn’t.” with him for this reason, but even if they ‘Anything goes’ won, he would sometimes take their items FORCED TO Neu told Garcia and Harris that if they anyway, giving them to other inmates as required medical attention, they were to lie payoffs. FIGHT, PUBLIC and say they fell off a bunk, Garcia said. Harris said Neu had a tattoo on his right DEFENDER SAYS “And he told me anything goes,” he said. arm and lower leg reading, “850 Mob,” “Just don’t punch the face, so no one can possibly in connection to the jail’s location By Vivian Ho, Mar 26, 2015 basically see the marks. But anything goes, at 850 Bryant St. an Francisco sheriff’s deputies ar- other than the face.” Harry Stern, an attorney for the deputies ranged and gambled on battles be- Garcia said that at 5 feet 9 and 150 union, slammed what he called Adachi’s tween County Jail inmates, forcing S pounds, he was the smallest man in the pod “cursory sham investigation.” one to train for the fi ghts and telling them while Harris, at 6 feet and 350 pounds, was “The hypocrisy of Adachi engaging in

Volume 4, Number 5 9 trial by one-sided press conference can- also was represented by the public defend- said they had been transferred to another not go unchallenged: He has done a cur- er’s offi ce, Adachi said. San Francisco jail “for their protection.” sory sham investigation by interviewing a Matt Gonzalez, the public defender’s Meanwhile, Police Chief Greg Suhr said few inmates over a scant two days rather chief attorney, said the reported abuse indi- he received the report from Adachi and that than having the decency to request a seri- cates that there is a deeper, ongoing prob- his department will be investigating to see ous impartial investigation,” Stern said in a lem within the Sheriff’s Department. if there is any criminal wrongdoing. statement. “It is unfortunate that Mr. Ada- “These acts cannot occur without the im- The allegations “are egregious enough chi didn’t initiate a formal complaint that plicit acceptance of otherwise law-abiding that I forwarded them on (to the special in- would have been investigated thoroughly deputies,” Gonzalez said. “It is impossible vestigations division),” he said. by the appropriate agencies. The investi- for just two or three or even four deputies District Attorney George Gascón called gators would have had the opportunity to to commandeer the jail and stage fi ghts the allegations “deplorable.” interview witnesses, including the accused without other deputies being aware of it.” “Common sense indicates that such con- deputies, and look for physical evidence.” Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, who was at duct does not occur without the knowledge Some inmates working with Adachi have Adachi’s news conference, said he was of numerous people,” he said in a state- exaggerated a rather benign situation, Stern “extremely disturbed” when Adachi called ment. “These allegations require an inde- said. him about the allegations Thursday morn- pendent and thorough investigation into “A deputy may have encouraged one in- ing. The department’s internal affairs unit the practices and supervision of the San mate to work out. The deputy may have also has begun an investigation and the sheriff Francisco Sheriff’s Department.” allowed two inmates to wrestle in order to is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to ‘Sick, sick conduct’ settle a dispute about who was stronger,” conduct an independent investigation into The sexual assault lawsuits against Neu he added. “The ‘wrestling’ was essentially the allegations. were settled out of court, said Adante little more than horseplay. There was no He echoed Gonzalez’s concerns about Pointer, the attorney who represented a fe- betting. The inmates were never forced to a culture problem in his department. “I do male inmate in that case. In addition to the work out. They were never forced to fi ght.” not accept any kind of culture within our woman, Neu was accused of forcing two A permissive culture county jail system that would resort to such transgender inmates to perform sexual acts The fi ght allegations came to light after barbaric or unlawful activity as these depu- on him. Garcia’s father asked his son’s attorney to ties have demonstrated,” he said. “It was sick, sick conduct,” Pointer said. help. Deputy Public Defender Scott Grant Though Harris and Garcia told Adachi “I am surprised he was even still in the po- spoke to his client and learned Garcia had they wanted to stay where they were so sition to be with inmates unsupervised.” ● been forced to fi ght another inmate, who they could work in the kitchen, Mirkarimi

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