Prison News Service September/October 1989 Number 21

Camp Hill Conflagration

On Wednesday 25/0ct/89 what the Pennsylvania in­ oppressive conditions are not without costs. In an formation monopoly described as a "d isturbance" occurred understandable effort to exit their oppression, some at the medium security Camp Hill Correctional Facility, four prisoners also tried to crash a truck through a back miles west of the state capital, Harrisburg. According to gate. frequently incredible official sources, prisoners took over at least one cell block, did some fire and other damage, and While the immediate precipitator of the second supposedly injured some 44 staff members. Order ~vas uprising may have been official arrogance in refus­ purportedly restored that same night with only seven pris­ ing to honour so meager a pledge as one for a oners being injured (riiiight!). discussion meeting with the warden, the real causes of the unrest arc much deeper. Changes in food and The very next night, however, the upri~ing resumed, medical policies are all that arc cited by official officials alleging that the wily prisoner~ had somehow used sources in their effort to dmvnplay the· rationality stolen tools or keys to get out of the cells. How this happened and reality of prisoners' grievances and to hide.the in the midst of the lockdown that inevitably follows events legitimacy of their protest. But the limited informa­ such as those of the previous night remains unexplained. tion available docs allow some insights. At a popu­ Why it occurred is apparently because a meeting to discuss lation of 2067, Camp Hill is a reported 48% over­ prisoners' grievances that had been promised in order to crowded. Budgets are not increasing in step with the end the previous night's demonstration failed to material­ explosion in prison overcrowding, nor arc the facili­ ize. ties that provide essential services expanding ac­ cording to the number of people nc'Cding them. During the Thursday uprising, prisoners seized a large Security staff and paraphernalia, regardles~ of ex­ part of the prison, controlling at least seven cell blocks. cess or uselessness, arc sacred, uncuttable and even Twelve of the prison's 31 buildings were burned, including needlessly increased, much like the defense budget the furniture factory, commissary, kitchen, and eight struc­ on the national level. Hence, services fur prisoners tures erected as temporary cell blocks. Five hostages were decline despite their already under-representation taken and one guard was stabbed, though employees were in prison expenditures. Given the political atmos­ not the action's target and the injured were released imme­ phere, official paranoia about larger numbers of diately. The action was seemingly intended primarily to prisoners, and atavistic attitudes among many pri­ gain public attention and sympathy for prisoner grievances soncrats, alot of gratuitous repression is added to stemming from the increasingly draconian policies of offi­ the incidental economic kind. Against this · back­ cialdom and overcrowding as well as to show that such drop, the impact of new deprivations is greatly magnified.

According to the exceedingly few details com­ ing out of Camp Hill, medical policy was changed so continued over Prison News Service September-October 1989 Page 2

as to decrease access to health care for prisoners. This amounted to an attack on prisoners' very lives at a time when they have more and more serious medical problems with more of them coming from communities that have grown poorer and most distant from health services during nine years of Reaganism. The danger is compounded by the crowding. Its physiological impact is enhanced by the dimin­ ished educational, recreational and occupational opportunities that increase idleness as well as by ever larger sentences. And that is on top of the physical suffering of having to endure treatable illness/injury.

Only slightly more information has been revealed about the contribution of the food policy changes to the takeover. One change is that prisoners' relatives will no longer be allowed to bring food to the long standing practice of "twice-a-year family picnics". Now th2 picnics will be limited to a few junk-food selections from machines. This is much more than an assault on the prisoners' diets; more importantly, it is an attack on their connections with their families and communities. It is a deliberate and callous control tactic that serves only the purposes of the repressive apparatus. People without com­ munity and familial support may be easier to manipulate and coerce, but it is much more difficult to reintegrate prisoners who have been thus isolated into the free society when they are released. Even some Camp Hill prison officials agrceon the great importance of this family day for prisoners and the impropriety of new policies curtailing it and imposing other new food restrictions. '

Another reported aspect of the food fiasco was the elimination of food packages. Given the marginality of most prison diets, food packages from home are often important supplements, and prisoners come to rely on them to maintain their health and physical condition. This is especially true where there is rapid population growth; food service frequently takes the first and disproportionate hits of budget­ ary restraints despite constituting only about 5 per cent of prison budgets. Suddenly, however, officialdom decreed food packages to be dangerous sources of contraband. The truth is that they are exactly the very minor vectors of contraband they always have been - and even less so given the increasing sophistication of search equipment and techniques. Verily, the events of 25-27/Oct show that the depri­ vation was a far greater security threat than whatever bits of petty contraband may have been smuggled. Increased package inspection would be the logical response to more prisoners receiving more packages, but prisoncrats do not want that burden despite the now even more obvious benefits of the package privilege. Instead, they opted for mass punishment on a pretext. Moreover, the apparatus wants to run a gulag of completely powerless and dependent prison­ ers in secrecy and isolation. Camp Hill turned out to be an overstep toward that goal. Nor was Camp Hill the only Pennsylvania prison at Page 3 September-October 1989 Prison News Service which new policies and oppressive conditions instigated trouble. Two days before the Wednesday revolt, there was a three hour re­ bellion at Huntington State Prison 100 miles to the west in which 29 guards and nineteen prisoners were reportedly hurt. And over the weekend of 28/Oct there was a large demonstration at a Phila­ delphia prison in which prisoners chanted, "Camp Hill! Camp Hill!"

Official reaction to the Camp Hill uprising was demonstra­ tive of intransigent and totalitarian attitudes. At dawn on Friday, 27/0ct, guards and state troopers stormed the prisoner held blocks, indisc riminately firing tear gas and automatic weapons. Two prisoners were shot. The only chanbe announced in the aftermath to alleviate the flash-point conditions has been that some 9(10 prisoners, roughly a third of the population, are to be trilnsterred. It is unlikely that any will find themselves in im­ proved circumstances. Officials are quick to decry such hard line tactics· "over there", but seek to justify their use ot the same and worse by describing this situution as a riot exclu sivclylhe fau lt of the nasty prisoners. The real responsibility, hOlVevcr, is directly attributed to ()tficia I policies and practicl's ot rl'pression, but those ot t hl' prisorH)(r:1cy ,md the larger pol i ti G11 ,1 PP<1r,ltus t h,H teed sit. Without Subq,lnti\·c change - chJngL' thl' present systcm is inGlpable ot provid ing - we can on Iv ('x pect morl' Camp Hills. oc

~ Freedom When? The National Campaign for Amnesty ilnd Hum,ln Rights tor Politic,l l Prisol1L'rs, which gocs by the short title "Freedom Now l " is h'l\'ing its shMe ot difficulties in gctting org,miZL'd. Civcn the lack ot cohesion, limited commitmcnt ,1 nd competing currents within the U.s. left, this is understandable for any national endcavor, purticularily one that requires the melding of such disparate forces as does the issue of politicul prisoners. l3ut when the difficulties encountered by a nascent orgunization rise to the point ot preventing effective action and/or risking counterpro­ ductive results, it is time to retrench: to recognize that "going public" was premature and to take the effort back into privacy where its problems can be resolved for a stronger start later. This is especially true for an organization such as Freedom Now! (FN) that apparently purports to set movement policy in so vital an area as the representation of political prisoners generally.

FN's inclination/ability to communicate has not been good, particularily with the prisoners who are supposed to be the subject continued over Prison News Service September-October 1989 Page 4 of its work. Verily, it decided to eliminate the "commis­ identified. The very inclusion of the people in the first sion" intended to represent them from its bureaucracy. and second editions indicate that there is at least enough Hence it is impossible to know in the depths of dungeon debate about their status to warrant their inclusion. Ma rion from the organization itself whether the follow­ Their decertification would also be a bad advertise­ ing accurately portrays the circumstances. But much of ment, a demonstration of the lack of seriousness with the information of which the conclusions and analysis which our sideofthe barricade (and FN is avowedly left, are the logical product come from credible sources to albeit decreasingly radical) views its activists, its most whom it apparently travelled by word of mouth. Some valuable resource. of it came from the document included in FN mailings. In a vacuum, one has to work with the material avail­ FN is having other problems, too. It was unable to able. send anyone to the UN conference on political prisoners in Geneva, something that would seem an elementary FN seems to have decided upon some unduly nar­ move for such an organization, even if it meant collect­ row and exclusionary definition of what constitutes a ing recyclable cans for the fare. The implications of its political prisoner. It did so largely in isolation and rare and untimely mailings are of chronic fi nancial without approval of the majority of the people involved insufficiency down to its most basic necessities and in the issue, let alone a consensus. Moreover, FN is locational, structural and active indecision stemming planning to take unilateral action on the basis of its largely from it. Pol itical uncertainty allows credibility definition, most egregiously, the deletion of some damaging (or possibly otherwise harmful) inconsis­ people from future editions of Can't Jail the Spirit, a tency li ke the apparent liberal drift exemplified by FN's compilation of biographies of political prisoners. That desire to emulate Amnesty International. That would might bc..alright if FN were establishing a defense or certainly bederadicalizingand more lik<; ly to lead to the representation committee for particular people it wants deligitimiz(ltion of some essential forms of struggle, to support and billing it as such. But it isn't. By "certify­ especially armed struggle. And it would tend to support ing'" or "adopting" some prisoners as political and the state's criminalization of people imprisoned as "decertifying" others (contrary to FN's protests that it is those form's alleged practioners and supporters more not decertifying anyone, it is defacto), it is attempting to than it would raise consciousness of political prisoners write out of existence things and people that exist. That in the American Gulag Archipelago. Anotherextremely makes not only FN look silly, but also those who are important consequence of the political weakness is that associated with it through the issue. By this action, FN is it attracts and engenders the divisive bickering for also attempting to define what constitutes acceptable which the American left is so notorious and by which it line and means of struggle and making those opinions is so fragmen ted and debiJita ted. By trying to li m p a long determinative of whether a victim of the repressive in a vehicle so overburdened, FN risks produci ng a net apparatus is a political prisoner or a criminal. It has no loss. brief or legitimacy to do that, to say that its politics are the only politics, for anyone but itself. It needs to incor­ FN is pursuing a laudable and much neglected porate into its work the realization that recognition of objective. There is nothing to suggest that the intent of political prisoners does not necessarily require support its people is not commendable and demonstrative of and acceptance of their deeds, tactics or politics, just commitment. The questions that arise concern their acknowledgement of their political status. execution of the organizational tasks requisite to realiz­ ing the issue's potential without damaging the struggle, The problem with Can't Jail the Spirit is even more not their motivation. The evidence indicates that FN immediate. The elimination of anyone other than at his needs to strengthen its base, establish better connections or her request would be a serious insult, a denigration of with its target community, develop its theory and struc­ the risk that person had assumed in being included and ture and assemble the economic and material ante for its a slap at the segment of the broad movement for the activity. It is thus that i can build to the"summit it has most equitable social reality with which the person is continued on page 10 Page 5 September-October 1989 Prison News Service Police Shooting Protested The Black community and women's movement in Toronto are organizing together in response to Toronto­ area police's latest actofgratuitous oppressive violence, the October 27 shooting of Sophia Cook. Cook, 23, is the third Black person to be shot by police in the Metro area in the last 15 months, and the only one to survive. Cook was shot at point-blank range in the side by a traffic cop, Cameron Durham, Durham had flagged down the car in which Cook was travelling with two men, on suspicion that it was stolen. Contrary to initial police and media reports of an "ill tcrcation" during the course of which the officer's gun was "dischilrged", the two men fled when Durhilm leaned into the Cdr \'vindow and shot Cook I·vho was still wearing her sea tbelt , She may never walk again,

The community organizing in response to Cook', is of ,1 le\'el and intl'nsity unprecedented in Toronto in recent yeilrs, The !3lack Acti on Dctence Committee (!3ADCl is mobilizing the African community ilnd prl'ssi ng it, inter­ l'q" in the medi,l ilnd court" !3ut a l1l'I\' divl'r"e and ilctive Woml'n'" Cnalition Ag,linq Rdciq clnd ['oli cl' Vi()kncl' ha" cnme t()~l'ther. The Women'" Coalition is kd by kminiq \\'llllll'n o! (lllou r and i, madl' up nf individudls represent­ ing Upl\',lrds of 3ll orgJ niz,ltions in Toronto (i ncluding

!3ulld()zerl.lt hasillreadyorganized twodemonstriltion,ilt v Metro Toronto Police HeadqlhHtl'r' (the second of which wa" co-sponsored by BADC) ,mel a pL'tition campaign, shouldn't have been, But this is pilrticularly perni­ Thi" is the first time feminiqs of colour and white ciou" in Cook' s case, since Cook hild accepted il ridl' femin ists hilve \\'orked together in a public way Zlnd on from tl\'O men, one of whom she knew slightly Jnd !3Iack community issues since \'\'o mL'n of colour en masse the other not at all. They had offered her a rid e as she rL'jected the white ,,\'omen's lcadL'rship several yeilrs ago, stood waiting for a bus.The message for women is Since then, groups of women of colour have been defining c1eilr, and especiillly for women of colour: if you their issues and gilthering their strengths, and groups of accept a ride \'vith strangers, you deserve what you white women have been confronting their ovm racism. The get. And of course the racist media will not acknowl­ Women's COillition is aware that in organizing against edge the fact that theentire incident took place in the racist and police violence it is not starting anything new, but Jane-Finch area, a ghetto of housing projects, subject is joining in a fight that isalreZldy being waged byBlackand to continual police harassment and surveillance, other communities of colour and by the First Nations. conveniently placed in the suburbs where the inner­ city yuppies won't have to see it and where the buses The Sophia Cook shooting was a catalyst for this are few and far between. women's organ izing, not just because Cook is a woman, but because of the sexism of the police and media reports, Like The Women's Coalition was also no doubt cata­ Michael Wade Lawson, a young Black man shot dead by lyzl.xI by increasing awareness of police violence police late last year, Cook is portrayed not ilS il victim of against women, It is not just the lack of police re­ police violence but as someone who \'\'ilS somewhere she continued on page] 6 Prison News Service September-October 1989 Page 6 Activists Counter Grand Jury An Open Letter to Bob Wells and Henry by BuLl<1ozer (Garno) Bortman Two long time anti-racist activ­ ists claimed victory as they turned We have heard about the government's attempts to get you aside an apparehtly crumsy attempt to collaborate with a political witch hunting grand jury, originat­ by a grand jury to get information ing in Chicago and investigating the Joh~ Brown An~i-Kla.n about the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee. We have also heard that you mtend to resist thiS Committee(jBAKO. Henry Bartman government attack against the anti-racist and anti-imperialist and Bob Wells were originally asked struggle. to provide JBAKC stationary, leaflets and newspapers in order to investi­ Brothers, we want to personally and publically commend gate death threats that had been sent you and support you in the correct and righteous stance you are to the U.5. Attorney General's office taking. There is never a "good" or "easy" time to face the prospect in Chicago. In additi6n Wens was of captivity. But there are issues and principles that are worth asked to testify before the grand jury fighting and risking one's freedom and even life for. As. political and provide samples of his finger­ prisoners, we have been through some of the w~rst pn.sons the prints, saliva and handwriting. The u.s. government has. And even while human nghts vI~la.tlOns state linked the two men to the group abound and political prisoners are singled out for abuse, It IS not because their names were on record only necessary but possible to survive the u.s. empire's kamps for the gro.up's post office boxes. and continue to resist and remain an active part of th,,; Freedom Struggle. According to the Gay Community News {GCN) the two men refused to As we have all come to understand, grand juries and so meet the demands saying that the called judicial investigations of political organizations and grand jury was more interested in movements, are intelligence gathering operations as well as political intimidation than in investi­ assaults against us. These attacks are designed to test the depth gating a crime. The FBI admitted that and strength of our principles, determination and ability to cope. the letterhead was fake. Moreover, It is only by immediately and firmly refUSing to collaborate With the literature requested was gener­ the government's efforts, that we can not only withstand the ally available at local bookstores. The .attacks, but that as people and organizations we can actually original demands were later reduced overcome and grow from them. to simply "some literature". Besides refusing to assist the grand -jury, it is necessary to Bartman told the GCN that he expose the government and to call on the ~ple and left to chose not to comply with the grand support the resistors. We want to add our vOices.and call on all jury request because he thinks the revolutionary and progressive organizations and people to sup­ juries have been used by the govern­ port Bab and Camo and to learn from their principled ~nd .correct ment to threaten political activists. stand. In Unity there is Strength -in Strength there IS VIctOry! Since the Nixon administration "the anti-war, Puerto Rican Independ­ Amanda ence, Black Nationalist, women's, Jaa n lVlr/ Laaman Ohio-7 political prisoner lesbian and gay" movements had Leonard Peltier Native American Political prisoner come under this legal attack. '1t's a Larry Giddings Anti-authoritarian political prisoner good tool because it's the place they Leavenworth prison - Oct. 3,1989 can make you talk about anything continued on page 15

2 Page 7 September·October 1989 Prison News Service International Notes

FRAME UP ADMITTED: The Guildford Four are Irish however, given the U.s. government's willingness people who were accused of bombing a pub in England in to lie to secure it, as demonstrated in the case of 1974. They were snatched during a wave of anti-Irish sen­ Leonard Peltier. timent that made almost any violations of Irish people's rights acceptable. The four were framed and sent to prison From a Canadian perspective the extradition of for life, evidence of their innocence notwithstanding. A Ng gives the lie to the carefully constructed imageof broad and deep campaign developed to overturn the con­ Canada as a haven from repressive regimes and victions so blatantly based on falsifi<;ation of evidence and policies around the world. The abolition of the death statements made under torture. Finally, after fifteen years penalty in Canada was confirmed by a surprisingly of struggle and confronted by overwhelming evidence, the large majority in a Parliamentary vote in 1987. But Thatcher government released the four, admitting in Par­ that has not stopped Canada from sending refugees liament that the police had lied and set up the convictions. back to their probable deaths in EI Salvador, Sri Nothing has been said about compensation for the four­ Lanka, Sudan and many other places. So sending not that any could repay fifteen years of hard time - or alleged killers back to the U.s. won't bother the what will be done about the official who orchestrated the decision-makers. Ng, accused of some rather vile set-up, several of whom have climbed high on the civil sex-torture killings, has been well choosen since few service ladder. people have come to the defense of the basic rule of la w that no one should be returned to their possible POLITICAL REI'RESSION: An article in a recent edition of deaths. The Guardian notexi that Geronimo Pratt, a political prisoner Vvho has serv~ over 20 years on a demonstrated frame-up, ATTICA AfTERMATH: The 26/Oct/89 Neu' York had been transferee! from San Quentin prison ncar San Time <; reported that the State Supreme Court ha s Francisco to the more repressive and remote Folsom prison. 11pheld judgements in favour of people kill"cd and Officials gave as the reason that San Quentin had been injured during the police massacre that ended the downgraded to medium security and Geronimo needs Attica prison uprising. 29 prisoners and 10 guards maximum. In reality, the move was an obvious ploy to were killed in a blizzard of police sniper fire on 13 I interfere with the fast growing campaign for his release­ Scpt/71. The court approved a group of meager which has support even among San Quentin officials - by judgements totaling 1.3 million, saying that the po­ moving him away from the San Francisco Bay Area and lice had used excessive force in ending the rebellion imposing more restrictions on him. so murderously. It took eighteen years to reach that obvious conclusion. The state, of course, disagrees DEADL Y EXTRADITION: On 26/Oct/89, the Canadian and has announced that it will appeal the ruling, government announced that it would seek to extradite likely meaning at least another decade of litigation. Charles Ng, wanted in the U.s. for mass murder, for which The length of time required for so much as even this he could face the death penalty. The decision was made by slight admission of excess and the state's unwilling­ Justice Minister Douglas Lewis. Ng's lawyer said that an ness to accept it demonstrate the bankruptcy of appeal would be made to the Canadian Supreme Court, litigation for prisoners and the real value of the right which is already considering the similar case of Joseph to petition for redress of grievances. Kindler, an escapee from a death sentence in Pennsylvania. The Canadian-U.s. extradition treaty allows either govern­ CEML CONFERENCE: On 4/Nov /89, the Commit­ ment to refuse to return suspects without guarantees that tee to End the Marion Lockdown (CEML) will have the death penalty will not be applied. Anti-death penalty its annual commemoration of the passage of yet people oppose the extradition but the government is seek­ another year of lockdown at usp Marion; the sev­ ing to use the case to soften opposition to the death penalty enth year began on 2710ct. The focus of this year's with scare tactics that Canada would become a haven for event will be the racist use of the criminal "justice" American murders. Any extradition is inappropriate, continued on page II Prison News Service Centrespread September·October 1989

Political Repression via Imprisonment Hunger Strike in Spain The Western political establishment likes to stroke itself and delude those it exploits with Solidarity With the PCE(e) and CRAPO prisoners at Almeria on against us, in particular against the imprisoned militants of the PCE(r) the fiction that its police and prison apparatus serves only a criminal function and never a Hungerstrike and CRAPO, have become so extreme that we find it necessary to even political one. The following excerpt, reprinted from the July-August edition of Fight Racism! put our own lives in danger to better our living conditions here inside. Fight Imperialism! newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist Party Croup based in London, Starting today, September 5, militants of the PCE(r) (Spanish Many of our comrades (at Almeria, Carabanchel - Women's prison,,,) was written by Rab Henry, a prisoner in the infamous H-blocks of Long Kesh prison in Communist Party {reconstituted)) and Crapo (First of October Anti­ are in permanent isolation; our women comrades in Castellon have Northern Ireland. There, many Irish Republican prisoners arc held for participation in th e Fascist Croup), imprisoned at Soria prison, Telmo Varela, Antonio been put in isolation after they were first severely beaten; visiting with struggle to build a united Ireland free of British occupation. Rab's piece provides a graphic Narvaez Ternero, Juan Jose Donoso Pulido and Francisco Cela Seoane our families has been reduced to a few minutes. Here in Soria prison, as illustration of the political use of imprisonment clothed in legalisms by British authorities in have begun a hungerstrike. Using this form of struggle, as well as others in other prisons generally, they have begun to impose restrictions that Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is under the direct occupation and ruleofl3ritain, suppo~­ we may usc later, we support the hungerstrike by our comrades im pris­ prevent communications with friends, everi those who have always edly the font of Anglo-American notions of justice. It must be remembered that under British oned at El Acebuche (Almeriil) to gain decent living conditions, as well visited. Police officials are now posted at the prison entrance and harass rule in Northern Ireland, no-jury courts arc used and convictions arc frequently based on the as to demand an end to the repre~sive measures that the government, our families, and OUT living and working space has been reduced to half uncorroborated stories of paid perjurers; these courts arc also permitted to prc~ume guilt through the Ministrie~ of Justice and the Interior and the Ceneral of what it was. fro m defendants' refusal to speak during police interrogation. Rab's comment~ : Headquarters of Pri sons, has put into effect against us. "Ostensibly the British govern­ The gravest ment and the NIO (Northern Ireland For more thiln 2 years, the PSOE situation exists a t Office) portray the LSRB (Life Sen­ (the ruling socialist party) ha~ been Almeria prison. tence Review Board) process as 'non­ putting mea s ur e~ into operation where the com­ political and impartial and there to against all the political pri~oner~ - rades hilve been assess individual caseson individual di~persdl and exterminJti{ln. The ETA held in isolation merits, for .relea~ e.' However, it is a c,)]nrddl'<; a nd (lur~l'h'L' ~ ha\'L' ,llrL\ldv cel l" for alrm)<;t ,I device which allows the NIO to bL'L'n d i~per<;ed to 1':> out llf .1 tot,li t'i' YC.lr, Vi<;iting h.l ' m

plight of Britain's political hostages up with the British government."oo defending ourselves, At the present time, the repressive measures :; /89 00 Prison News Service September·October 1989 Page 10 Ontario Guards Protect Themselves by Bulldozer Prisoners in the Ontario jail system were the pawns dying early even by working class norms. The normal when the guards, members of the Ontario Public Service alienation of the thirty-year-job is destructive enough, Employees Union (OPSEU), and the provincial govern­ knowing that one is giving up control of one's life for an ment engaged in a round of lock-downs, lock-outs and endless pursuit of the good life. But combine that with walk-outs for 5 days in late October. Guards at the the misery, despair and just plain nastiness of jail life Hamilton-Wentworth regional jail, just west of Toronto, that on some level has been choosen, and one can began the action by locking-down the prisoners to pro­ understand why they conk out young. test what they said were threats to their health and safety caused by the overcrowding of provincial jails by up to The union and the province buried the problem 25 per cent. momentarily in the usual way by agreeing to study the matter further. But meetings between government and The job actions spread quickly to other areas of the union bureaucrats will not get at the real problem. The provi nce as guards booked in sick, worked to rule or union understands quite clearly that the war on drugs refused to work under the Health and Safety Act which has added to the already intolera ble situation inside the allows all workers but prison guards to refuse to work jails. This "war" is little more than a race war directed under unsafe conditions. The government locked-out against the African-Caribbean people. Taking advan­ the Hamilton-Wentworth guards and suspended others tage of the anti-drug hysteria which has seeped across after being granted an injunction which ruled that the the border from the U.s., the police, media and politi­ lockdown of the prisoners and the other job actions cians have all decided that the imprisonment of thou­ constituted a strike which is forbidden theguards under sands of more people was a .small price to pay for the provincial iaw. They have been working without a greater glory and profits of saving society from the twin contract since last December. evils of drugs and Black youth. The guards ilre just one more clement in a whole system of repression that is The prisoners, who were generally forgotten dur­ involved in this war and they want a chunkofthespoils: ing this whole episode, protested the lock-down by better pay and more jobs for their members. 00 blocking toilets, setting small fires and generally mak­ ing lots of noise. Tensions have been running high Freedom Now continuedjrom page 4 throughout the .whole proyincial system. There were several small riots.andwork refusals during the sum­ staked out for itself rather tnan just leaping for it. mer as increased commissary prices made life inside Circumstances indicate that it is presently incapable of even bleaker. It seems only inevitable that it will take a .. attending to the issue of political prisoners as a national major riot to make any impact on the system. The organization in an effective manner without doing so. guards, walking a dangerous line, used the threat of riots in their struggle with their employer. If FN insists on following its current marginal and meandering course of adhering to a narrow and exclu­ OvercrOWding is a danger to both prisoners and sionary view of political prisoners, the least that prin­ guards. In the early eighties, the union local at the ciple demands is that: it cease using political prisoner as infamous Toronto Don Jail released a report on over­ a generic term as if those it "adopts" are the only ones in crowding which recommended that the solution was the American Gulag who qualify for the status; it iden­ not to build more jails, but to release prisoners who were tify itself as a partisan organization representing its there fornon-violentcrimesand to quit locking them up. political prisoners, not all of them; it either refrain from Unfortunately there was no evidence of such a progres­ dropping anyone from any future editions of Can't Jail sive attitude this time. The guards were concerned only the Spirit or change the name of the book to reflect the with their own interests. They even went so far as to say fact that it is a new and different publication based on that they were doing a li fe sentence as well, a thirty year FN's and only FN's new description of political prison­ stretch. They say that the stress of the job results in them ers.oo Page 11 September-October 1989 Prison News Service Israeli Regime to Expand Palestinian Prison The Israeli regime is expanding its notorious prison Recalling two confrontations in which guards in­ camp in the Negev desert to make room for 1,200 Illore jured and killed several prisoners, the letter said that the Palestinian prisoners. Meanwhile, camp [prisoners] prisoners are being subjected to merciless pressure and appealed to Israeli and world opinion "for the immedi­ that this is now reaching unprecedentecl' levels. They ate closure" of the camp. warn that if it continues, the previous confrontations "will look liKe minor outbreaks compared to the total The inhuman conditions at the Ketziot camp have outbreak we will all witness." been condemned from the outset, with groups like Amnesty International scoring it as trampling on hu­ They point to the lack of toilet and shower facilities, man rights. Currently, there are a reported 4,400 prison­ lack of medication, deprivation of reading materialsand ers in thecamp,a majority of them held without charges. radios, and the denial of adequClte food and water. They Prisoners are c{ammed into tents surrounded by mul­ declare they want food "separated from politics, as food tiple wire fenccs. Thedcscrt heat rcgularly goes beyond is a legal right to all living beings." 100 degrees Fahrenheit. There is a shocking absence of proper food, sanitation facilities, and medical care. In Reprinted from The Militant, 6/ 0ct/89 their appeal, published September 1, the prisoners liken the facility to the concentration camps of Europe in World War II.

International Notes continuedfrom page 7 appilratu> an eXilmplc being the fact thilt about 2/3 of Correction: the locked-down population of Milrion i ~ non-white while less thiln half of thosc in the pre-tr,wsfer unit arc. But that will not bCilll: the event is not to be-and hasn't David Gilbert was the author of the been in the past - merely a mar.king of a continuing article in last issue about AIDS myths dirty deed. It will bea working gathering toward cievel­ in prison. We neglected to credit him oping consciousness and action that will eliminatc it in our enthusiasm to finish the issue. and its clones. In the next issue we will be updating information concerning AIDS in CONVERSION: The priorities of the Republican ad­ prisons in general and safety proce­ ministration of Illinois governor Jim Thompson were dures in particular. revealed when it was announced on 6/0ct/89 that the state would spend $8 million to convert a former high school into a minimum and pOSSibly medium security prison in East St. Louis. Given the powerof education to help people avoid imprisonment, we should be hearing about the latter being turned into the former. 00 Back issues of Bulldozer #8 are available. Though it is four years old, the issues dealt with in the last issue of BulIdozer magazine are still PNS Editors: Bill Dunne, 10916-086, P.O. ielevant. Write to us at POB 5052, Stn A, Box 1000, Marion, IL. 62959, and Jim Toronto, Ont. Canada M5W lW4. Non- prison­ Campbell, Bulldozer, P.O. .Box 5052, Sta. A, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ers include a dollar for postage if you can. A Marion prisoners' newsletter The Marionette September-October 1989 Number 45

Another One Bites the Dust

On 27/0ct/89, the lockdown of USP Marion passed into its seventh year. The passage of time, how­ ever, has not rendered the "concentration model" prison any less an instrument of oppression, Dungeon . Marion is still a place where the repressive apparatus of the U.s. ruling class engages in destructive experiments in social manipulation and control. The overt brutality has receded from a common characteristic of the daily reality of Ma rion lockdo\\'n to more of a threat that enforces prisoner's consciou<;ne<;s of thei r powerl ess­ ness. But tha t doc, not <;ignify progre<;<;: the thre

Every thing about the MMion lockdown contrad icts ha ve negative c() n~cquencl'<; - - Gln but worsen those its alleged purpo~ es of decreasing violence in other problems instead of alleviating them. Yet the prison­ prisons and allowi 19 them to be operated more openly. ernts pursue their draconian policies at Marion, in the The Bureau of Pris( 'ns has advanced no credible support process revealing their ulterior motives even as th ey for the notion that liolence has decreased as a result of deny them. the lockdown - even assuming that its statistics could be trusted in the fa·:e of all the official lies surrounding Officialdom endlessly reiterates its tired old lies Marion. Nor has it :,uppJied any information to counter about all Marion prisoners being vicious and predatory the fact that the I( lckdown has served to drag other fiends who have perpetrated acts of violence in other prisons toward its repressive extreme rather than allow­ prisons "the worst of the worst". The transparency and ing them to be more open. Moreover, the Bureau of repeated refutation of those li es are outweighed for the Prisons has been unable to show how depriving prison­ appnratchiks by their utility Such a horrific vision of ers of work, educat on, adequate reere ", dnd other Marion victims - which, even if true, would not justify congregate ac tivitie; - in short, all the ;::o ~ it ivc human their counterproductive mistreatment - makes it eas- endeavors whose absence h,l' been dc'mcm<;t ra tl'd to r:o ruinlled on page 15 Page 13 September·October 1989 PNSIMarionette A Filthy Disease at Marion

During the night of ~9 /Sep, a large number of More likely is that the Marion administration wants to prisoners were suddenly stricken with severe cramps, cover up its substandard food service. This was the nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, chills, fever, and head and third incidence of a filth-induced, food borne epidemic body aches. Official estimates are that 14D prisoners this year, not to mention a lot of smalJerdiscomforts that were afflicted, but are likely low. The illness was com­ could be similarly ascribed. It is apparently part of the pletely debilitating for about 24 hours and then tapered more sophisticated government torture that has, ac­ off. Some prisoners did not eat for two days or feel cording to local Judge Foreman, made the rack and completely well for a week. All of th e prisoners were thumbscrew obsolete that Marion prisoners be sub­ taken ill over the same 16-hour period, mo.s.t within a jected to food alld water poisoning. 00 few hours of each other. There was no secondary occur­ rence or repitition of the epidemic. Wonderful Water Medical response was meager. A physician's as­ sistant visited the ranges the next day with some pills The u.s. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is still insisting and denials of knowledge of what the sickness was. that water supplied to USP Marion from a lakecontami­ Blood samples were taken from some prisoners, and nated by an EPA Superfund toxic dumpsite is just fine. some were asked to provide stool and urine samples­ To bolster that case in court, it hired a Chicagoenginccr­ which were not collected for days. Guards said that ing firm to test the prison water. It still refuses to let there was no pattern to the incidence of the malady anyone hired by prisoner's lawyers conduct similar with some tiers having many victims and othe", hav­ tests. Thegovernmcnt'scngineers found no mea surablc ing vcry few. They also said that no guards had come quantitie~ of pollutants (of course!) except iron (make~ down with the ailment. the water brownish) ,1nd possibly manganese (makes the water smell bad), neither of which cause illncss, it is The official report of the epidemic was released on said. There has yet to be an explanation of the refusal to 14/Sep in a memorandum by Health Services Adminis­ allow engineers for plaintiff prisoners to test the v,,'ater, trator Terry Finnegan. Though the symptoms of the itself inexplicable since their findings could be disposi­ sickness were virtually identical to thoseoffood poison­ tive in the litigation. ing, the memo absolved prison food. The official version also claimed that some 40 guards had been afflicted, That litigat ion, a lawsuit against prOViding con­ contradicting statements by the guards the day after the taminated water initiated over five years ago by a pris­ sickness hit. Warden Gary Henman himself later oner now dead of cancer, still languishes in the local claimed to have experienced mild symptoms. With federal court. It is stalled pending a ruling on the gov­ some medical mumbo-jumbo, "acute gastroenteritis ernment's motion to dismiss based on its assertion, no\.... was diagnosed; a self limiting condition" in Finnegan's backed by affidavits from its engineers, that it isn't memorandum. No cause was given. violating anyone's rights by supplying contaminated water because the waterisn't necessarily contaminated. The exoneration of the show as the source of the Discovery (requiring the government to provide rele­ illness rings hollow. The Health Services Administrator vant information/ access) is stayed awaiting the ruling, said that the tests allegedly performed were not done by a blatant demonstration of the court's bias. Denying the lab that had made so many mistakes during the plaintiff's experts and attorneys access to the informa­ Giardia infestation of this spring (see Marionettes #43 & tion necessary to contest the issue means that the ruling. 44), but could not demonstrate the reliability of or even can only be a one-sided denial of due process. say for sure who conducted the alleged tests. The sug­ gestion that the epidemic was some sort of flu (and According to intelligence gathered by a lav.-yer for letting the matter rest at that) is also incredible given the the prisoners, there are plans afoot to change Marion's virulence of the sickness and its concurrent incidence. continued on paf!e J 4 PNSIMarionette September-October 1989 Page 14 Marionnotes

BRUTALITY: According to reports from Marion's built here but have to reprogram staff and community segregation unit, physical abuse is escalating there. Lt. that Marion is not, after all, the New Alcatraz. Trammel and his henchies have been increasingly sub­ jecting prisoners to needless beatings on slim pretexts. MORE SLOW-PL AY: The local federal district court Those apparently most at risk are Cuban detainees and seems to be intensifying its efforts to discourage litiga­ people who arc "laying down", refusing to go through tion by Marion prisoners. Though by no means new, the the Marion "program". The abuse appears part of an tactic of si tting on prisoner petitions wit hout action and effort to make the hole more oppressive to discourage for no reason is becoming more blatant. Sometimes it is the growing number of '1ay downs". It also focuses on even done in violation of applicable rules and law. those least able to complain or elicit outside attention When called by an a ttorney, the court clerk readily and sympathy due to their isolation. And some staff un­ admitted th<1t such delays were quite common. This doubted Iy get their jollies from it. Racial harassment: obstruction demonstrates the court's view of justice for Recently reported was that the foreman of the Marion prisoners. It isalso yet a nother illustration that ri ghts arc industries program for pre-transfer prisoners (? only certain for those with the power to enforce them or

Livesay, brother of the former foreman of a coroner's the money to buy some. 00 jury that turned a Marion suicide into murder per Marion officials' statements and was subsequently hired as a guard) has been harassing Muslim prisoners. Water cominlledfrom page /3 His tactic is to reduce their pay grade to the lowest level for the heinous crimes like having a shirttilil out on the water supply to <1nother, much more dist,lnt I'lke in the way to lunch from work. At the time of the report, next clll'ndar Vl',lr. On 11 /Oct/I::.9, Ma'rion vV

Nevertheless, before the ink was even dry on Bakker' s judgement and commitment, establishment pontificators were publicly musing that the sentence was too much. After all, poor Jimmy only swindled masses of poor and working people who didn't know any better out of hard earned savings they could ill­ afford to lose, not to mention their faith in the comfort­ ing religious mythology that ameliorates the pain of their exploita.tion and oppression. Of course, they should be (should have been) the ones ·to deal with Bakker and his ilk instedd of allowing or expecting the repressive apparatus to do it; contradictions like this in Grand·Jury continuedfrom page 0 so using the apparatus make it apparent why: they want." The grand jury has virtually unlimited ability to interrogate witnesses. He warned that the activism of the AIDS movement and perhaps the repro­ The ponti fica tors falsely made it appear that Bakker was more harshly treated than the media's great ductive rights movement could make them grand jury targets in the future. satans - "violent" criminals like robbers - by compar­ ing his sentence to the time they actually serve and without making any distinction between actual and A motion was filed on behalf of the two men to statutory violence. And what is the difference between quash the subpoena. The process was strung out forten extorting something by threatening someone with fire weeks. When they finally got to court, the motion was and brimstone and threatening them with a firearm? 00 brushed aside. But the 3 month term for the grand jury was virtually over, so the immediate threat was gone; though new juries can be empanelled at any time. Another Year continuedfrom page 12 ier to legitimize their particular oppression. It makes it The response always varies when the grand jury easier to conduct anti-popular experimentation and comes knocking. Though many people rationalize co­ expand dangerous precedents that will do injury far operation and others are simply intimidated or else self­ beyond Marion. These will be used against an ever more interested, it seems clear that non-cooperation is the deprived and two tier populace as its exploited majority only way. Bortman and Wells were able to stop what becomes increasingly restive and politicized and in­ could have been a fishing expedition through the anti­ clined to resist its victimization. "Final solutions" al- · racist movement. The accompanying letter in their ways start with the use of special repression like "con­ su pport gives the reasons why it was necessary that they centration models" against small and especially vilified act as they did. It is good to be able to say that their minorities like "the worst of the worst". But they never strength and determination was victorious. 00 stop there. 00 The Prison News Service/Marionette intends ers are particularly encouraged to receive addi­ to expand both in size and circulation in the near tional copies in order to forward them to their future. Currently the Bulldozer collective and Bill prisoner correspondents. Anyone doing bulk dis­ Dunneare working out thedetails of the expansion. tribution of literature into prisons should just let us We will add more sections to current Prison News know how many copies you could use. Service and the Marionette. Though the exact crite­ ria for the new sections have yet to be established, We are slowly dealing with some of the prob­ we will be looking for more contributors in the lems of computer accessibility and compatibility. future. Anyone who has specific ideas as to what Recent changes in our methods of work should they would like to see included in the expanded allow us to haveit in themail by the twentieth of the version should write to either of the addresses month. The changes will be slow but steady. But included at the bottom. And if you already have they will raise costs. If you can contribute, it will be articles on prison issues, please send them our way. much appreciated. If possible, send copies to both addresses. And we We ask anyone supporting a particular certainly need graphics, so if you doodle, send struggle around prison or repression more gener­ some of them along. ally to place both Dunne and Bulldozer on your mailing lists. And it would be good if magazines We are also looking for people, both inside and with which we exchange check to see if Bill Dunne out, who would like to receive multiple copies of is on your list since he compiles much of the infor­ the PNS/M in order to distribute them in their local mation for this publication. The addresses once area or increase circulation in their prison. Postal again are: Bill Dunne, #10916-086, rOB 1000, costs are one of our major expenses and it is much Mnrion, ' IL 62959; BulldOi~er, POB 5052, Stn A, cheaper per copy to mail 4 or more copies to the Toronto, ant. M5W 1 W4. 00 same address. Anyone writing regularly to prison-

beaten to death two white men, Gardiner Myers and Police continuedfrom page 5 John Newman. Never mentioned in the media is the fact thatTremblay,oneofthecops who raped Voce, wnsalso sponse to the needs of assaulted or threatened women in on the fatal beating of Myers. And this is in nddition that is the problem, but the fact that police rape too, and to the police violence and official negligence in dealings rather often. This was highlighted earlier this yearby the with oppressed peoples ncross Canada and the general suicide of Robin Voce. Voce was raped by two cops in a and increasingnttempts to criminalize whole communi­ cruiser in 1984after she had requested that they take her ties in Toronto under tht' guise of the \"\'ar on drugs. to a women's hostel. When the case finally came to il police tribunal earlier this year, Voce's reputation and Although Bulldozt'r would like to see the total private life were dragged through the media in a man­ abolition of the police, we support the community's ner now illegal in criminal prosecutions for sexual as­ efforts to control the worst of thei r excesses. The police sault. The two cops were acquitted of rape and merely arc on the front lines of racism in Canada and the so­ convicted of having sex while on duty. Voce's suicide is called waron drugs is their battleground; created by the as much a police murder as if the cops had drawn their state in order to control and marginalize oppressed and guns on her at the time of the rape (something they may potentially dissident elements in the community. We well have done.) are encouraged by the diversity of the women's coali­ tion: from lesbians to labour unionists, anarchists to re­ Metro-Toronto area police are running out of con­ formists, women are uniting against the common en­ trol, despite sometimes sincere attempts by a reformist emyand respecting each other's autonomy and diver­ City council to curb some of the abuses. In the last one sity. Bulldozer will continue to work as part of this and a half years, besides the Cook shooting, the Voce coalition and with other movements toend theabusesof suicide and th e Lawson murder, Metro-aren police have the police, pri~ons and other parts of th e just-u~ sy~ t e m , shot uC'