Number 38  Spring 2012

Serving The Interests Of Prisoners And Their Loved Ones On The Outside For Over Twenty Years

THE NEW BOSS LOOKS A LOT LIKE THE OLD BOSS AN ANALYSIS OF THE CDCR’S PROPOSED MODIFICATION OF THE VALIDATION AND SHU PLACEMENT PROCESS

“[T]he goals we are currently pursuing are objective- Gangs” or “Disruptive Groups” and instead will use a “Se- otherwise very restrictive regimen. After a given amount of ly incorrect. To reform the validation process is good, curity Threat Group” designation or STG. STGs are divided time, with what your captors regard as good behavior, the but as an ultimate objective it is not a resolution. It’s a into two groups, STG-I and STG-II, what used to be gang prisoner slowly moves from one phase to another. With each peripheral manifestation of the SHU’s themselves. It’s members and gang associates or affiliates, respectively. phase they get more privileges, and also have additional obli- secondary, like bed sores on a cancer patient. Bandages What is a STG? It is defined as “[a]ny group or organiza- gations, such as participating in mandatory group program- and topical treatment are necessary, as a reformation tion of two or more members, either formal or informal (in- ming, small groups at first, then larger ones. Upon successful of the validation process, to cure the bed sores, which cluding traditional prison gangs) that may have a common completion of the “Inmate Treatment Plan” (behavior modi- are peripheral to the cancer, but the patient needs to be name or identifying sign or symbol, whose members engage fication process) the prisoner is released either to an SNY cured of the cancer. We are not going to be cured of per- in activities that include, but are not limited to … acts or or to GP, or possibly returned to the SHU if the process is petual isolation with Band-Aids, by reformation of the violations of the department’s written rules and regulations” deemed unsuccessful. process, but only by dealing with the principle source of or any law or attempting, planning, soliciting, etc. to do such this illness—the SHU itself.” things. How is one assessed to be an STG? The list is too The carrot A SHU prisoner long to detail here, suffice it to say two or more people who Of course there must be a little carrot in there, it can’t be By Ed Mead the cops feel might represent “a potential threat to the safe all stick. That bite of carrot is the opportunity to at some Prison Focus Editor and secure environment of the institution … such activities point allow an administrative review of the status of current n this issue of Prison Focus CPF’s President, Ron Ahnen, as group disturbances [like a peaceful hunger strike?].” SHU or ASU prisoners, which of course would be fair and and our Executive Director, Marilyn McMahon, as well Validation continues to be “[t]he objective process by impartial—that what they had to say to you yesterday will be Ias myself, and even Amnesty International, have all writ- which an inmate is determined to be or have been an active different than what they have to say to you tomorrow. ten articles expressing our opinions on the disadvantages of member of a STG.” While the CDCR’s draft documents The CDCR says it “will be conducting a case by case re- the CDCR’s proposed modifi cation of the SHU placement refer to the STG designation, the surrounding verbiage is view for program determination of the existing STG popula- and validation process. Yet there is only one opinion that re- all about gangs and validation. The stated purpose is still to tion housed in SHU facilities.” They continue, “[I]t cannot ally matters in this situation, and that consists of the conclu- “prohibit inmates from creating, promoting, or participating be overemphasized that change of this magnitude in current sions reached by the SHU prisoners themselves—those who in any club, association, or organization, except as permitted housing of SHU offenders must be done in a thoughtful and are directly suffering under the CDCR’s boot on their collec- by written instructions.” This of course prohibits forming security minded manner…” (read slow). So when will this tive necks. That conclusion is follows this article. a prisoners’ union, something guaranteed to all humans by administrative review of existing SHU prisoners start to take There is very little velvet glove and a lot of iron fi st in the the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. place? They say “[u]pon approval of this document, CDCR CDCR’s proposed policy. The essence of their draft rules is will develop new regulations consistent with this policy for to do away with gang status as a means of SHU placement, Validation changes - a case of too little too late submittal to the Office of Administrative Law” for approval. and to replace it with a threat model or designation, like the Under the proposed new rules it would still take three Sometime after that approval the case by case review will feds do. Instead of them saying you are somehow related to sources to validate a prisoner as a gang member (STG) or as- begin. a gang, they now change the name of “gang” to “Security sociate. The only difference would be that under the new sys- Threat Group.” If you should (god forbid) write about or ver- tem these sources would be “weighted” in a ten point scale. Conclusion bally communicate how messed up it is to be a slave in 2012 Use a hand sign, that’s two points. Someone informs on Maybe some will be released from the SHU, people may America, then you are a “threat.” My friend Bill Dunne has you, three points. Got gang-related material in your posses- call it a victory, and everyone will go home (to GP) happy. been perpetually locked down in the federal system under sion, four points. A photo of you taken with suspected gang But what has really been won? A new generation of SHU just such a designation. But more to the point, how does this members, four points. Staff observations, for example, you prisoners will take the place of those few who go through proposed new policy meet the fi ve core demands? are exercising with the wrong group of people, four points. the behavior modification program or are otherwise released Another agency says you are gang affiliated, four points. As- from the SHU. The process of litigation will start all over The name has changed but the game is the same sociation, four points. Visitors who are claimed to be promo- again, and another 15 years are wasted—a period during The CDCR plans to no longer utilize the terms “Prison ting gang activity, four points. Phone conversations, mail, which even more lives are destroyed. In my opinion this is notes, greeting cards, etc., four points. Tattoos or body mark- not the time to be settling for cheap trinkets. It is time to fin- ings, six points. Legal documents evidencing gang conduct, ish off the SHU once and for all. The Prisoners’ Five Core Demands seven points. There is more but you get the idea—the new On March 10th the NY Times printed an article titled “Pris- boss is a lot like the old boss. ons Rethink Isolation, Saving Money, Lives and Sanity.” Similar articles are in the New Yorker magazine and other 1. Eliminate group punishments Behavior modifi cation by another name trend-setting publications. The mood on the streets is open Before there was the super-max prison in Florence Colo- to substantial change in segregation policies—not a merely 2. Abolish debriefi ng policy and modify active/inac- rado, the federal ADX, there was the U.S. Penitentiary at changing the name of the bland soup they always serve up. tive gang status criteria Marion, Illinois, which was built to replace Alcatraz. Marion SHU prisoners have finally stepped onto the stage of history, housed “the worst of the worse”, a phrase frequently used by now it is time to amplify their voices even further—not just 3. Comply with recommendations of US Commission California’s prison officials with respect to SHU prisoners. to the halls of power, but to their peers and communities as on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons (2006) In the late 1970s and through the early 1980s the feds well. Now’s the time to build a lawful and peaceful move- implemented a controversial step or behavior modification ment to bring about a positive change in the existing prison 4. Provide adequate food program at Marion. Prisoners in the program would start out paradigm. ♦ with nothing, and step-by-step be given their rights based on their behavior. In the final phase or step, in order to show [Editor’s Note: See column three on page four to read 5. Provide constructive programs and privileges for you were worthy of transfer to a less secure facility, during Amnesty International’s take on the proposed new regula- SHU prisoners the regular group meetings you would be expected to snitch tions Having no understanding of the history of the pris- on fellow prisoners who may have violated some minor unit oner’s rights movement in the U.S., they think the state’s ● Feb 2011 - Prisoners send these demands to rule. Marion prisoners waged a historic and eventually suc- behavior modification scheme is just fine.] the Governor and CDCR offi cials cessful struggle against this behavior modification program and it was shut down. To see this exact same program slated ● July 2011 - Hunger strike commences, over for implementation inside of California’s SHUs is a chilling 6,600 prisoners participate. CDCR promises reminder of those terrible days; a reminder of how history to but fails to show real progress repeats itself for those who fail to learn from the past.1 The process is a simple one. There would be a series of ● Sept 2011 - Hunger strike resumes with 12,000 steps or phases. In phase 1 you may or may not participate participating in the debriefing process, but you will have nothing in your ● Oct 2011 - CDCR promises to review all cur- cell but minimum hygiene items, locked up 23 hours a day, rent SHU assignments subject to mandatory urinalysis, no contact with others, and 1. For a history of the historic struggle of Marion prisoners against ● March 2012 - CDCR proposes new Security the behavior modification, outside people can Google the subject Threat Group Management Strategy for articles such as “Resisting Living Death at Marion Federal Penitentiary” (http://realcostofprisons.org/materials/Resisting_ Living_Death_Gomez.pdf). LETTERS

tion do not in themselves impose an atypical and signifi cant many more insignifi cant things. In short, protect- LETTERS hardship in the ordinary incidents of prison life. Meaning, ing prisoners from prisoners instead of protecting conditions in the general population of a maximum security society from rapists and child molesters! Dear CPF, prison and segregation are no different. Prisoners, wake up These units should be reassigned to monitor Hello. I just received a copy of the Summer 2011 rag. I and donate money to CPF! and keep track of rapists and child molesters re- am very impressed with what I am seeing. It has taken many Prisoners need to looks at the playing fi eld and educate leased into society or already in society. They years of life’s experiences, study and literature to fi nally themselves to begin to understand what are the practical pro- would serve a greater purpose for society in that come to a place in my life as a man and a prisoner, to under- gressive strides that can be made to change these onerous capacity, not wasting their time and tax payers’ stand where I fi t into the scheme of life. I could ramble on on conditions. How much money need be raised to run a suc- dollars monitoring persons —people already in- 1000 different topics. First, I want to say this: In the Winter cessful campaign to change oppressive polices? What are carcerated!!! 2011 issue, my published letter encouraged the use of hunger practical solutions to unite all prisoners, inside and outside This is just common sense: a review of what strikes and non-violent resistance as forms of revolt against of the SHUs? What can prisoners do to help CPF secure IGI’s duties are and the monies allocated the of- oppression. Now, I receive this issue and see all my brothers grant monies based on having an impact on changing poli- fi cers in these units will expose the enormous misuse of re- coming together to starve and it makes my head swell! cies that result in torturous conditions in the SHU? Find out sources. The reason I am so happy is that I know the effects of where help is needed and give it whole heartedly! I believe society and the legislators do not care who or a well-planned hunger strike. In Tehachapi SHU in 2007, Finally, I will end this letter with a pledge to donate $50 what a prisoner writes, or what he draws if it means that in me and six other guys did one. Staff fl ipped out. When we from my trust account to CPF to do with as they see fi t for the order to monitor such activities the CDCR cannot keep track went to the yard, they placed lunches in our cells and photo- struggle CPF is now focusing on. And I hope to read CPF/ of rapists and child molesters within society. graphed it. They rigged scales between weigh-ins and they Ed’s feedback on this letter as I’m sure it will prove informa- In the event that some may believe that IGI’s are the only used my medical, chronic-care issues to say that not eating tive. Thanks and keep struggling CPF. qualifi ed individuals to monitor alleged gang affi liates, then was akin to “suicidal” behavior and placed me on suicide Demondza Hunter, SATF Corcoran there is no reason why they shouldn’t be assigned to run the watch. Then, they went to the others, clandestinely, and said units where alleged gang associates are housed. That is, con- that I left and secretly betrayed my fellow hunger strikers. Dear CPF, trol both positions, fl oor offi cer, S & E and all other positions Thankfully, having read other organizers manifestos, I had I initially drafted this after the Chelsea King story, in required to run a unit, therefore allowing all the other “regu- assigned code words that unless all of us were given this which a pedophile-rapist kidnapped, raped and murdered lar” C.O.’s to fi ll other positions and better allocate the tax code, no one should eat. Of course, they eventually broke this young girl. The rapist-murderer was—or should have payers’ money and the CDCR’s resources. one young hunger strike partner, who gave statements say- been—on supervised parole from the CDCR for a previous Martin Bibbs H03951, PBSP ing we were eating. The medical department was complicit similar conviction. in the whole affair. It got really ugly. Staff went into our cells I recall being outraged when I heard part of the CDCR’s Two Letters From The Family Members HS Sup- in back-to-back searches and took everything personal to us. defense: they “did not have the necessary resources” to mon- port Site, They poured coffee on our photographs and then turned our itor this pedophile and others similar to him. This is one of Ladies/everyone: i have been getting messages, wonder- water and toilets off. It was ugliness, human contemptibility many lies by the CDCR. ing why it seems as if ‘southern’ is taking over all this and at its utmost worst. Having read your comments in this issue, It’s no secret that even within the prison walls rapist pe- admin’s are ‘southern.’ I want to respectfully remind those I have some input, Ed. People now do not have the grit that dophiles are unwelcome and are the bottom of the bottom! that we are all working together in all places, i may live in your generation did. These kids coming in are living off of CDCR protects them from the rest of the prison population. LA but i am now very close with women up north. I am an the cream of your sacrifi ces. To them, Ramen soups and corn [Thus while those child molesters and rapists are kept safe admin this group and i live in LA but Jessica is also an admin chips are all the reason in life to obey. Furthermore, the intel- from other inmates who might injure them, from those rap- and she lives in San Francisco. It’s not about who is north or ligence level of the average prisoner is contemptible. It does ists once they are free on parole, for lack of proper supervi- south or east or west, and it is not about what race you are not matter what avenue of approach that I take to educate sion by the CDCR.] either. It is about helping these men. LA group got together these idiots, they are scared, Ed. Cowards. Yesterday, I had a My anger and outrage comes from being an uncle to many because family members spoke up and decided to just get 43-year-old, multi-termer get into the vent and he asked me if young nieces, who I would hate to see go though such an together to coordinate on their own. If loved ones up north I thought that they would mess with his mail if he 602’d (ap- experience as Ms. King—because of wasted resources and need help getting to visits, getting to Sac on the 23rd please pealed) the issue of not getting it. First, if you’re not getting miss-directed priorities. don’t be shy to speak up and ask and of course we’ll all do it, then what is there to lose? Second, if a guy’s too scared to Now, in explanation, CDCR has several units within the whatever we can to help! Everyone will. That was also the do a 602, then, do me and the rest of the movement a favor; prison walls: whole point of starting this group, so everyone could come quit reading this activist publication! This newspaper is not 1. Administrators; together & meet. I hope we continue to openly communicate for cattle, cowards or the faint-hearted. Activists are riders, 2. Free Staff, which covers everything from mail process- and help one another without barriers of location of where not hiders. There were many famous slogans in the 1960s. I ing to maintenance; their loved one is at in prison or what race they may be be- don’t remember how one went exactly but it was like, “Re- 3. C.O.’s, Correctional offi cers, who handle the custodial cause our loved ones on the inside need all of us to work sist or get out!” We have a governor who revolutionized aspects of prisons; together as one for them. Thank you! C.D.C. in the 1970s. If there were ever a time for reconstruc- 4. ISU, Institutional Security Units, which investigate I know this has been a diffi cult time for all of us with the tion in the prison system, it’s now. Infl ation, defi cit, disasters and deal with offenses and incidents within prisons; public scrutiny, but this is pale when compared to what peo- and a like-minded governor and oppression at its worst in 40 5. IGI, or Institutional Gang Investigators—and this is ple go thru on the inside! When you are verbally attacked years coupled with the will of the human spirit. Everyone where CDCR , using these employees inside prisons that is just an attempt to silence you, belittle you and take should read the Declaration of Independence. Just substitute while leaving society vulnerable to pedophiles, rapists out the fi ghter in you. Don’t let something like that put the words geared toward our plight and it’s easy to visualize the and murderers on parole without proper supervision. fear in you. I’ve seen prisoners be put in the hole for stand- similarities in the framers of our Constitution and our prison 6. Each prison has several of these units, which consist ing up for themselves, but guess what they can’t stick us in sub-culture. One more thing that I’ve said before – race, re- of approximately 15 or more offi cers per unit per in- a hole, so we just have to keep standing up and speaking. ligion, party or gang identifi cation, gay/straight, G.P/S.N.Y., stitution is to monitor gang affi liates who are already It may seem wrong to some now, but we are changing the all of these things only serve to defeat us. As one, as a class behind bars. course of history, just like Rosa Parks did when she sat in of prisoners, we have a voice – but, divided we fall…. 7. This monitoring consists mainly of: the front of bus breaking the laws of that time, and many Robert Dragusica a.k.a. Validated “Bigfoot” a. Reading all incoming and outgoing mail–which is others who did the same. Years from now, people will look Delano AD-SEG done by Mailroom staff and the regular correctional of- back in shame to remember this dark period where prisoners fi cers. Thus the IGI task is redundant. were placed in isolation cells for years, but unless we stay Dear CPF, b. Monitoring and tracking who is writing to whom, strong, and stick together, no matter our races, our locations, Prisoners not housed in segregation should have more who says Hi to whom, reviewing drawings done by pris- we won’t change anything. Let’s continue to encourage one reasons to support California Prison Focus after Ron Ahnen oners, and other such trivial things. another, and support each other, so we don’t lose our focus refocused on issues that originated CPF: torturous conditions Ninty-nine point nine percent of all IGI duties result in no on what is important, and that is saying we won’t stand for of the SHU. H5 Rules Violation Report, or in any type of prosecution! injustice whether it happens outside or inside prison walls, These very same conditions have been successfully mi- However, they result in the seclusion of inmates, such as, and this is an injustice being done to our prisoners, costs us grated into the 180 level-4 yards cell-doors outside of the mail delayed or denied, or “validation” as a gang member more money to maintain SHU’s, and it has no value in our SHU. For instance, SATF Facility C 180 design general pop- because of an alleged symbol in a drawing. society! It is abusive, dehumanizing, and breaks the spirits of ulation [GP] has been providing less programs and privileges The IGI Units are redundant and a waste of resources. A our prisoner’s lives and those of their families, and we need to prisoners than what is allowed in the SHU: no vocational, thorough investigation will clearly support this. Consider to stay strong in that! There is nothing rehabilitating about jobs limited to institution function, and no full-time aca- the following facts: The people they are monitoring are in locking someone up for 23 hours a day for years at a time, demic classes. Then there are the issues of ADA and medical prison, thus no threat to society. 99.9% of the people they are and this battle is long over do, but we are here now, and we neglect due in part to custody overrides; the average of only allegedly protecting are other prisoners. These units serve no must demand as taxpaying citizens better then is and make two hours of yard per week; no access to recreational books purpose in protecting society. Also, 99.9% of the prisoners CDCR accountable. or law library without a court deadline; little or no access to they are monitoring are, or were, admitted street gang affi li- JE religious programs/services, etc. Facility C SATF GP prison- ates prior to coming to prison, so the IGI is not making any ers spend about 23 hours per day in their cells, not counting real discoveries! From my loved one in PBSP SHU (did not want to the too frequent and unwarranted lockdowns that suspend all Most importantly, the CDCR already has staff that does use his name) programs and privileges—no visits. all the same exact functions as the IGI Units, which is: Read Oct. 8 2011: Woke up late with a massive headache. The Prisoners should refocus their efforts to a bare-bone bud- all incoming and outgoing mail. Observe prisoners’ behavior MTA came by yesterday for second weigh in, and to take our get for struggle too. Because most of you would agree with and investigate prison incidents. These functions are already blood pressure. My weight now 198 lbs.; I lost fi ve pounds Professor Haney’s words in issue #36: “Ironically, but some- carried out by 1) Free Staff, 2) Regular Correctional Offi - since I was weighed on Tuesday. I never really gained back times uncontrollably, some prisoners are driven by these de- cers, and 3) ISU, Institutional Security Units. I strongly be- all my weight after the July hunger strike (hs). I saw doc prived and oppressive conditions to pursue courses of action lieve that if people in California were aware of these wasted yesterday, it seemed that her mind was somewhere else. Af- that further ensure their continued deprivation and oppres- resources and redundant practices, they would be upset and ter dinner was served, the MTA came around, stopped by sion.” demand a change! my cell to drop off powdered lemon Gatorade. I was having In the wake of Sandin v. Conner, the United States Su- The CDCR alleges they don’t have the resources to ad- chest pains and shortness of breath. They brought a wheel- preme Court said that generally prisoners do not have a right equately monitor and track rapists and child molesters who chair in to cart me to the medical clinic to run tests. An EKG to due process protection of the Constitution prior to being have been released into society. They do have the resources was done, also my blood sugar level checked, it’s at 56 really placed in segregation, and cannot sue for money damages (entire units dedicated solely to the task of monitoring a per- low from what the health care provider said. He said 80-120 under Title 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983 (Civil Rights Complaint). son—reading their mail after it has been read and inspected The court reasoned that the very same conditions in segrega- by other capable staff; monitoring what a person draws, and Continued on page 25

2 PRISON FOCUS CONTENTS IN THIS ISSUE The New Boss Looks A Lot Like The Old Boss ...... 1

SHU Representatives Respond to CDCR’s SHU Management Scheme ...... 4

Prison Focus is a publication of California Prison Back To Basics ...... 4 Focus, a nonprofi t organization that works with and on behalf of prisoners in California’s control units Why The Security Threat Group Management Strategy Will Fail ...... 1 and other institutions. Amnesty International’s Position on CDCR’s Proposal to Amend Policies ...... 4 Permission is granted to reprint original articles from Prison Focus as long as credit is noted to Pris- Pelican Bay Short Corridor Update ...... 5 on Focus and California Prison Focus. Also, please send us a copy of publication in which the article ap- Open Letter to Hunger Solidarity Coalition from SHU Prisoner ...... 5 pears. Prison Focus welcomes articles, stories, opinion Hunger Striking Prisoner Dies ...... 5 columns, news reports, poetry, photos, cartoons and What Is The Meaning Of The California Hunger Strikes ...... 6 other artwork. Send contributions to Editors, Prison Focus, 1904 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA Suicided ...... 7 94612. Web: http://www.prisons.org. Email CPF at [email protected]. Purpose of ‘Security Threat Group’ Desihgnation is to Place Thousands More in Isloation ...... 9 Subscribe to Prison Focus for $20 and receive four issues ($5 for prisoners and free to California PBSP SHU Studying CDCR’s Proposed Gang Strategy ...... 9 SHU prisoners). Upon request, you may receive a Pelican Bay Update ...... 9 free sample in the next bulk mailing. Back issues are $2 each (if available). For further information, phone Facebook Caves In To The Prison Industrial Complex ...... 9 (510) 836-7222. Jailing the Undocumented is Big Business ...... 10 © 2012 California Prison Focus Ohio State Penitentiary Super Max Fasts in Solidarity ...... 10 EDITOR Attica Is All Of Us ...... 11 Ed Mead Ten Years Ago Portugal Legalized All Drugs—What Happened Next? ...... 11

ARTWORK Private Prisons Spend Millions Lobbying to Put More People in Jail ...... 11 Unlike most issue of Prison Focus, this one contains Multiple Stories on “Occupy San Quentin” ...... 12 only two items of artwork by prisoners, both created by Kevin “Rashid” Johnson. This is because we are Ex-Cons Face Higher Rish of Death ...... 13 printing photographs from various prisoner support demonstrations rather than prisoner created art. Prison Doctor Earns $239,000 To See No Patients ...... 13 We’ll have convict artwork in the next issue. International Prison-Related News ...... 14 SPECIAL THANKS Slavery on The New Plantation ...... 16 The last issue was largely paid for by former Black Panther, George Jackson Brigade member, and po- Thirteenth Amendment Overruled by U.S. Treaty ...... 17 litical prisoner Mark Cook, who kicked in $2,500 for Black Liberation in the 21st Century ...... 18 the printing and mailing of issue #37 of Prison Fo- cus. The remainder was paid for by SHU prisoners The Prison System and Its Historical Context ...... 21 at Pelican Bay. Hungry Ghost Trail ...... 22 If there are to be more issues published there will need to be more people contributing to the cost of Are Gang Members Special? ...... 23 production. Lastly, many thanks to Leslie DiBene- Georgia Prison Strike, One Year Later ...... 24 detto, our former co-editor, who performed diffi cult task of editing/proofi ng this issue. If there are errors Reflections on Crime and Class ...... 31 in this edition it is only because I have occasionally ignored her good advice. Souls On Ice ...... 31 CONTRIBUTORS DEPARTMENTS Ron Ahnen Roger Bar Marilyn McMahon Kiilu Nyasha Pelican Bay Update ...... 7 Kevin “Rashid” Johnson Ana Lucia Gelabert The Corcoran Report ...... 30 Hadar Aviram Ruchell Cinque Magee Kenneth E. Hartman R. Morales Mumia Abu-Jamal Nicole Jones REGULAR FEATURES Todd Ashker A. Castellanos Letters ...... 2 C. Landrum Sitawa (s/n Dewberry) Ben Turk A. Guillen From the Desk of the President of California Prison Focus ...... 7 Jalil A. Muntaqim Jack Leonard Tony O’Neil Robert Faturechi Quote Box ...... 7 Andrea Nill Sanchez Bruce A. Dixon Carol J. Williams Organizations: Recent History ...... 8 John Wildermuth Amnesty International Ed’s Comments ...... 26 David Smith ACLU Alissa J. Rubin National Lawyers Guild Poetry ...... 28 Victoria Burnett All Of Us Or None

NOTICE! NOTICE! For ease and effi ciency, please follow these guidelines when writing to CPF: Many thanks to all those who have written to me regarding possible litigation contest- ● Write your complete name, address, pris- ing SHU conditions and gang-validation policies and practices. I was seeking named on number and date on the letter. plaintiffs for two lawsuits, one still being planned by a jailhouse lawyer in PBSP SHU, ● Print legibly and be brief. and another involving a national civil rights organization. I have now heard from a suf- ● Indicate on the envelope who the letter is ficient number of potential named plaintiffs for both lawsuits. A legal team member will for (i.e., Newsletter, etc.). contact anyone we need more information from. We will be not be able to respond to ● Write and underline if an action is re- new inquiries about the lawsuits. However, everyone in SHU or at risk of being placed quested (Although this does not guaran- there will benefit from the litigation if we are successful. tee a response). ● Do not send unsolicited legal or medical Marilyn McMahon documents. Attorney at Law ● Enclosing a SASE will increase the likeli- hood of getting an answer.

NUMBER 38 3 It is what decent people accord every individual. (3) If the into the prison system. If these individuals engage in activity PELICAN BAY SHU same people make the rules, apply them, benefi t from them, that is interpreted by the CDCR to constitute the recruitment REPRESENTATIVES and judge the rulebreakers, there really are no rules. of new members (saying “hi” to someone you knew from There’s no point in discussing the details of a plan that the street?), these individuals will fi nd themselves subject to RESPOND TO CDCR’S lacks a strict—and short—time limit for holding a human placement in the SHU. This change has the potential to ex- being in isolation. Or that withholds humane conditions and pand considerably the number of individuals housed in SHU. PROPOSED GANG treatment until they are “earned.” And the fi rst fi x that is Finally, the steps of the new step down program (SDP) MANAGEMENT SCHEME needed is the addition of independent oversight. CDCR has are too many, the time to complete the program too long, abundantly proved that it is incapable of policing itself. the standards by which one graduates from one step to the By Todd Ashker, Arturo Castellanos, Sitawa Jamaa (s/n ~ ~ ~ ~ next of the program are absolutely not clear, the benefi ts R.N. Dewberry) and Antonio Guillen What now? CDCR has had its chance to show the will for and incentives too weak, and most importantly, the ability ritten to Kendra Castaneda on March 13, 2012, real change and, unsurprisingly, they didn’t. So now the rest for CDCR to hold individuals in solitary confi nement for de- postmarked March 15 – The PBSP SHU (Pelican of us must step up. More than ever, it’s up to the governor, cades on end is ultimately secured. Bay State Prison Security Housing Unit) Short W the legislature, the courts, and above all, “we the people.” This new proposal cannot be allowed to stand. Systemic Corridor representatives have read and carefully considered Let’s send CDCR back to the drawing board, and meanwhile, abuse of the current gang management policy must be rooted and hereby reject CDCR’s gang management proposal (for- continue the struggle in the streets. Join the movement! Or- out. Long term solitary confi nement must end and it must mally titled by the California Department of Corrections and ganize, resist, end the torture--shut down the SHU! ♦ end now. ♦ Rehabilitation “Security Threat Group Prevention, Identifi - cation and Management Strategy”) of March 2012, based on the following three points: 1) Prisoners designated Security Threat Group Members WHY THE NEW SECURITY CDCR’S PROPOSALS TO (STG-1) – e.g., the majority of those presently in PBSP SHU Short Corridor – will not receive any meaningful, substan- THREAT GROUP AMEND POLICIES REMAIN tive change to their current indefi nite isolation status. Our MANAGEMENT STRATEGY INHUMANE status quo will remain the same as it has been for the past AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, PUBLIC STATEMENT 25 years. (See the proposal at page 7 under the defi nition of WILL FAIL AI Index: AMR 51/21/2012 (12 March 2012) sanctioned “Criminal Gang Behavior,” page 25 in the middle By Ron Ahnen alifornia’s prison isolation units remain inhumane of the last paragraph, and page 36 at the second paragraph.) President, California Prison Focus despite proposals to amend policies Remember, many of us have been held in the torturous con- here are too few things to like and too many things Amnesty International welcomes proposals by ditions of isolative sensory deprivation for 25-plus years and C to hate in the CDCR’s new gang management policy the California prison authorities to provide a route out of counting. T(now known as security threat group management isolation for validated gang members through a step-down 2) The proposal requires STG-1 members to remain in strategy). More importantly, the positive developments only process. However, Amnesty International remains deeply SHU for a minimum of an additional one to four years, in look good on paper, but in reality will be negated by other concerned by conditions in the state’s Security Housing Unit spite of fi ve to 25 years of zero serious rule violation of- aspects of the new approach. (SHU) units, which fall short of international standards for fenses! This is NOT in accordance with our Core Demands The potential improvements are twofold: First, those humane treatment. Nos. 1-3 regarding realistic individual accountability and an prisoners who are validated as associates of security threat Prisoners are confi ned for 22 hours a day in single or end to long term isolation etc. (Reference our Core Demands groups (no longer gangs) will not automatically be placed double cells, which in Pelican Bay have no windows to the online as well as the points in No. 1 above and the CDCR in SHU. This change could theoretically reduce the SHU outside or direct access to natural light and cell doors which proposal on page 39 in the top paragraph.) population signifi cantly unless--and it’s a distinct possibil- signifi cantly impede vision and look onto a bare wall. Such 3) The proposal is typically full of CDCR Offi ce of Cor- ity—gang investigators quickly adapt and learn how to vali- conditions are contrary to international standards which pro- rectional Safety (OCS) propaganda, such as references to the date as members those prisoners they previously validated as vide that prisoners have access to natural light and should “worst of the worst” etc. – e.g., “CDCR manages arguably associates. (Roughly 3000 of the 4100 prisoners in SHU are not be held in conditions of reduced sensory stimulation. the most violent and sophisticated gang members and associ- gang associates). Prisoners in Pelican Bay are allowed solitary exercise for ates in the nation.” (See the fi rst paragraph on page 5 of the Second, the step down program technically provides a way 10 hours a week, in small high-walled concrete yards with no proposal.) The proposal implies that although CDCR’s gang out of the SHU and out of the gang structure for those who view to the outside. In other SHU units the yards have given policies have been successful for the past 25 years, they rec- want to leave it (if they were really in it in the fi rst place) way to bare, single, cages. ognize a need to change some things. (See the fourth para- WITHOUT having to incriminate themselves or others in The proposed step-down program – announced by the graph on page 5.) criminal activity and thereby put themselves or their loved California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation last It’s arguably really all about money. See our September ones in danger. Technically speaking, however, prisoners week – takes place in four stages, each lasting a minimum 2011 statement, “Tortured SHU prisoners speak out,” includ- can do this today. All they need to do is reach “inactive” of 12 months. The plan does not appear to include physical ing a discussion of an expansion of OCS and Institutional status after six years of being locked down. In reality, of changes to the SHU units nor does it allow any group inter- Gang Investigations (IGI) staff and money, and the last para- course, this rarely happens, and the new system will not action for at least the fi rst two years, Amnesty International graph on page 5 of the CDCR proposal. [In “Tortured SHU change that fact. said. The organization is concerned by both the conditions prisoners speak out,” the representatives wrote: “CDCR has CDCR expects the number of SHU prisoners to decrease and the long periods in which prisoners will remain confi ned made clear that one certainty is their plan to substantially under their proposal. The new strategy will fail, however, to cells while completing the process. expand on the use of ‘solitary confi nement’ via targeting due to the following major problems (I’ll leave the minor In a report to the United Nations (UN) General Assem- all prisoners deemed ‘disruptive groups’ (security threat ones aside for now) with the policy: bly last year the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture noted groups) … – e.g., all street gang affi liates, prisoners deemed First, the institution of Security Housing Units in their cur- evidence that solitary confi nement, even for a limited period, political-revolutionary etc. … It costs nearly double to house rent conditions is preserved with no specifi c limit on how could cause serious psychological harm. He called on states prisoners in solitary confi nement!” – SF BayView Editor.] long one can be held in isolation. Even with the possibility to isolate prisoners only in exceptional circumstances, for as While CDCR’s OCS staff may pat themselves on the back of an eventual step-down program, the new policy does not short a time as possible. He defi ned solitary confi nement as claiming their policies of torturous human rights violations prohibit the department from holding individuals in solitary the “physical and social isolation of individuals who are con- for 25 years are a success, the facts prove otherwise – exam- confi nement for years or decades on end with very limited fi ned to their cells for 22 to 24 hours a day”. ples being the so called rehabilitated debriefers who simply time out of their cells (and then only in isolation or with their Amnesty International, which visited California’s SHU went out and either got assaulted or formed new gangs – or cellmate in SHU). Personnel in charge of “graduating” in- units in November last year, said that conditions inside the both – all over CDCR sensitive needs yards (SNYs). (See the mates from one step to another can simply fi nd that the in- cells, and the poverty of the exercise facilities were of great proposal at page 13, at STG-II, re SNY gangs.) mate is “not ready” for phase 2 and prisoners can get stuck concern, as was the length of time prisoners were confi ned to Also, don’t forget to consider all the families of these suc- for years on end at phase 1. It cannot be emphasized enough: cells. The organization is calling on the California authorities cessful debriefers who’ve had to relocate and live in fear of Long term isolation per se is torturous, causes mental illness, to ensure that its proposals will include changes to condi- reprisal, based on the debriefers’ self-serving actions. It’s and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment—even if al- tions in the unit, with more out of cell time and better exer- doubtful they’ll agree with the CDCR-OCS view of success. legedly done for administrative purposes only. The specifi c cise facilities for all prisoners. We will be presenting our counter-proposal soon. The conditions of long term solitary confi nement in CDCR must The organization is also urging the authorities to allow struggle continues. Our resolve is solid and focused on our end. SHU prisoners to have telephone contact with their families. collective efforts to force real change of substance. ♦ Second, the new policy does not change in any funda- At present SHU prisoners are denied all phone calls except Todd Ashker, C-58191, PBSP SHU, D1-119, P.O. Box mental way the lack of quality control over gang validation in emergencies, exacerbating their isolation from the outside 7500, Crescent City CA 95532, and Sitawa Jamaa (s/n R.N. processes. Clearly CDCR personnel abuse the current gang world. The new proposals would allow no change during the Dewberry), C-35671, PBSP SHU, D1-117L, P.O. Box 7500, management policies by validating as gang members or as- fi rst year and only one phone call to family members after Crescent City CA 95532. Arturo Castellanos and Antonio sociates people who have not participated in gang activity completion of the fi rst year and two the following year. Guillen are not allowed any mail; that’s an issue that should in any way, shape or form. The new strategy will not solve In November 2011 an Amnesty International delegation be raised with CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate. this problem. The basic diffi culty is the lack of real account- toured the SHU units in three California prisons at Pelican ability and independent, objective review of gang validation Bay, Corcoran and Valley State Prison for Women. Follow- http://sfbayview.com/2012/pelican-bay-shu-representa- fi ndings. The interpretations of gang related behavior is so ing its visit the organization sought more information from tives-respond-to-cdcrs-proposed-gang-managementstrategy fl imsy and fl exible today that gang investigators can essen- the department about its SHU policies and populations; it is tially validate anybody (and they do). The Offi ce of Correc- currently preparing a detailed report. ♦ tional Safety reviews the work of the IGIs, but relies solely BACK TO BASICS on the IGI’s investigation and fi ndings to determine if a gang validation fi nding is valid. Nothing in the new policy chang- By Marilyn McMahon es that structure. Prisoners are told to fi le a 602 to challenge Executive Director of CPF and attorney at law their gang validation status, but that process does not provide o try to evaluate CDCR’s new gang/SHU policy pro- meaningful review in any sense of the word. The only real posal as a serious reform is like listing all the ways a solution is a new organizational structure that allows some hot dog is not a perfect strawberry. There’s no good T agency outside of CDCR authorities to review gang valida- starting point, and there’s no end. So I’ll just mention three tion fi ndings in a truly independent fashion. Anything less principles that a SHU reform proposal must incorporate to will simply allow the current corrupt and widespread abuses earn serious consideration. of the gang management policy evident today to fl ourish. (1) Longterm isolation is torture. The people of Califor- Third, the new policy widens the scope of threat groups nia should stop doing it (under any name—SHU, ASU, PSU, susceptible to SHU placement by identifying members of etc.). ( 2) Humane treatment is not a “privilege” to be earned. street gangs as STGs who can be validated as such coming

4 PRISON FOCUS gained on canteen and dip-pull up bars—which, is all good. and courts refuse to make are based upon the politics and PELICAN BAY SHORT This is an example of what we pointed out in our “Formal greed related to manipulative special interest groups. CORRIDOR UPDATE Complaint” re: disparate treatment at PBSP-SHU compared We need to do all we can to open people’s eyes and minds to other SHU’s. to the following reality: Most prisoners are not serving valid, December 2011 This is also a typical CDCR attempt to create discord and legal sentences! Our sentencing laws are not based on valid, Shout-out of respect and solidarity—from the Peli- disruption to our unifi ed struggle…we’re certain this feeble sensible public safety interests. Rather, our sentencing laws can Bay Short Corridor Collective—to all similarly move will fail because all of us understand what our main are based on the politics associated with failed policies – situated prisoners subject to the continuing torturous A objective is—an end to long term torture in these isolation e.g., the war on drugs. conditions of confi nement in these barbaric SHU & Ad/Seg units! It is our fundamental right to be treated humanely… We are not serving valid sentences. Most prisoners serving units across this country and around the world. we can no longer accept state sanctioned torture—of our “term-to-life” sentences are many years beyond minimum This is our update of where things currently stand and selves! (and, our loved ones!) and we remain unifi ed in our terms. We’re in prison based on the money made off of us where we’re going with this struggle—for an end to draconi- resistance!! by special interests! Thus, we need to resist and by our resis- an policies and practices—summarized in our “Formal Com- Footnote#2, addresses of people to write: tance gain additional exposure and outside support. plaint” (and many related documents published and posted 1. Tom Ammiano, Assemblyman Our compliance and recognition of the prison’s power online, since early 2011) Capitol Bldg. Rm# 4005 over us is our downfall. If we collectively refuse to comply, As many of you know… beginning in early (2010), the Sacramento, CA 95814 and refuse to recognize the prisoncrats having any power PBSP—SHU Short Corridor Collective initiated action to Phone# 916-319-2013 over us via refusal to work, refusal to follow orders, then educate people and bring wide spread exposure to—the (25+) Fax# 916-319-2113 these prisons cannot operate! Our goal needs to be to force years of ongoing—progressive human rights violations go- 2. Gov. Edmund G. Brown major changes, benefi cial to prisoners and our families and ing unchecked here in the California Department of Corrup- State Capitol, Ste #1173 loved ones regarding prison conditions and the amount of tion—via dissemination of our “Formal Complaint” to 100’s Sacramento, CA 95814 time people serve. Our supporters outside need to make a of people, organizations, lawmakers, Secretary Cate, etc… Phone# 916-446-2841 hard core, serious stand on the same agenda. wherein, we also sought support and meaningful change. Fax# 916-558-3160 People need to see that we are not in here legally. We’ve The response by CDCR—Secretary Cate was “fi le an in- 3. CDCR—Secretary Matthew Cate served our time – a great many of us have – and paid our mate appeal” (collectively, we’d fi led thousands); therefore, 1515 S. St. Ste. #330 debt and then some! We are no longer accepting the abuse after much reconsideration and dialogue, the collective de- Sacramento, CA 95811 and torture. We are human beings and demand humane, non- cided to take the fi ght to the next level via peaceful protest Phone# 916-323-6001 punitive treatment from this point on. And until there are ma- action—in the form of hunger strike. 4. Carol Strickman, Attorney at Law jor changes toward this end, we collectively refuse to comply With the above in mind—beginning in early (2011)… 1540 Market Street, Ste. #490 with orders – and will possibly go back on hunger strike. Our we again sought to educate people about the ongoing tor- San Francisco, CA 94102 outside supporters can rally and demand out release! ture prevalent in these prison systems—solitary confi nement Phone# 415-255-7036 On the radio today we heard that a 27-year-old man at units; and pointing out our position that—the administrative Fax# 415-552-3150 Corcoran died Feb. 2 in Ad Seg. How many more have to grievance process is a sham, and the court system’s turned All inmates writing to these people should be sent ‘confi - die this way? Here we are in 2012 and prisoners are dying a blind eye to such blatantly illegal practices—Leaving us dential mail’ and anyone outside of prison, supporters, fam- in peaceful protest of prison conditions. What is really going with no other meaningful avenue for obtaining relief, other ily members, etc… please write and also email. ♦ on?! ♦ than to put our lives on the line and thereby draw the line and force changes, via collective peaceful protest hunger strike action. We believed this was the only—fully advantageous—way HUNGER- for us to expose such outrageous abuse of state power, to the world and gain the outside support needed to help force real STRIKING change. CONVICT DIES We requested support in the form of—asking people to write letters to those in power… we received more support IN CALIFORNIA than we ever expected—in the form of letters, rallies, and By Nicole Jones hunger strike “participants”—more than (18,000) similarly spokesperson with Califor- situated prisoners and some people on the outside! nia’s Department of Correc- All united in solidarity, with a collective awareness—that A tions and Rehabilitation has the draconian torture practices described in our “Formal confi rmed that an inmate on a hun- Complaint” are prevalent across the land; and that—united ger strike at Corcoran State Prison in peaceful action, we have the power to force changes. died on Feb. 2 after refusing food The hunger strike actions of (2011) achieved some suc- for four days. cess, in the form of—mainstream world wide exposure— Gomez began fasting to protest solid, continuing outside support—some small improve- conditions in the Administration ments to SHU/Ad-Seg unit conditions … and assurances of Segregation Unit at Corcoran. Over more meaningful—substantive changes to the overall poli- Photo of the demonstration at the February 20th “Occupy San Quentin” demonstration. thirty inmates housed in the isola- cies and practices re: basis for placement and amount of time One of many Occupy Prison events that took place on that day around the nation. tion unit at Corcoran had also been spent, in such units—a substantive review of all prisoners Another photo of the protest is located on page 11. refusing food since January for the fi les, per new criteria—and more change to the actual condi- same reason. On Feb. 13, all inmates resumed eating, ac- tions in such units. OPEN LETTER cording to CDCR’s spokesperson Terry Thornton. However, this fi ght is far from over! Notably, the second Correctional Healthcare Service spokeswoman Nancy hunger strike action was suspended in mid-October … in FROM PELICAN BAY Kincaid said nothing in the preliminary autopsy suggests response to top CDCR administrator’s presentation that the starvation was the cause of death. Gomez was under medical substantive changes be fi nalized… would be provided to REPRESENTATIVE TO care prior to hunger strike, suggesting he may have been in “the stakeholders” (this includes our attorneys), within 60 PRISONER HUNGER poor health which was further complicated by fasting. days for comment. To date, CDCR hasn’t produced anything Once he started missing meals, Kincaid said, the medical re: SHU/Ad-Seg policy changes; and PBSP’s Warden has STRIKE SOLIDARITY staff monitored him daily. The effects of starvation typically not even replied to the (2) memo’s we’ve sent him concern- start to show in the third week of fasting, but someone who ing—additional program—privilege issues, per core demand COALITION is diabetic or has other health complications is going to feel #5 (see footnote #1 below) By by Todd Ashker the impacts quicker, she said. Naturally, many people are not happy about CDCR’s fail- (Reprinted from SF Bay View Feb. 29, who received it from Isaac Ontiveros, spokesperson for the Prisoner Hunger ure to abide by their word—again—and they are asking… the Prison Activist Resource Center) Strike Solidarity coalition, said inmates in Corcoran’s segre- “what’s the next move in this struggle?” iscussions are underway with the intent to set short gation unit report being kept in “horrendous conditions” for Based on our collective discussions, our response is … term and long term goals in the resistance struggle months after they’ve served their assigned terms. In an open people need to remain focused, and continue to apply pres- Dagainst SHU practices and the prison industrial com- letter to CDCR’s Director Mathew Cate and Corcoran Chief sure on CDCR, via letters, emails, fax, etc… summarizing plex. People are indoctrinated, brainwashed into believing Deputy Warden C. Gipson last December, strikers listed de- the continuing core demands—immediately! There’s real they are weak or powerless – that prisoners in this state are mands that included access to educational and rehabilitative power in numbers!! (see addresses to contact below, at foot- evil and deserve to be punished and treated as some type of programming, adequate and timely medical care, and timely note #2) sub-human animal, based on their felon status. By “people,” hearings on their cases and petitions. It’s important for everyone to stay objective and on the I’m referring to prisoners, their families, friends and support- Thornton said revisions to its policies regarding security same page—remember… united we win, divided we lose. ers, as well as the general public at large. This is the wrong threat group management and changes to the gang validation And, if we don’t see real substantive changes within the next way to see things and it has to change! process is nearly complete. He anticipates the revision will 6 months… we’ll have to re-evaluate our position. Here in the prison system, it’s become the norm for men to go out for legislators and inmate advocacy groups to review Additionally, now is a good time for people to start a dia- brag that they have become “institutionalized,” complacent- near the end of this month. ♦ logue about changing the climate on these level IV main- ly accepting more and more abuse and deprivations. They http://informant.kalwnews.org/2012/02/hunger-striking- lines… As it stands now, these lines are warehouses, with all talk about “I can take whatever they do to me and won’t give inmate-dies-in-california/ the money meant for programs—rehabilitation, going into them the satisfaction of complaining about it.” This is the guard pockets. example set by many older cons for the younger cons. It’s in all of our best interests to change this in a big way, I don’t agree with this type of mind set! We should never and thereby force CDCR to open these lines up and provide accept being abused or mistreated. It’s our duty as human be- all of us with the programs and rehabilitative services that ings to FULLY RESIST! Our hunger strike activity over the we all should have coming to us!! ♦ past year has shown that solid resistance is not only possible, Respect and Solidarity, but also very effective, and it can be done in smart, fully T. Ashker, A. Castellanos, advantageous ways. It simply requires prisoners to come to- Sitawa (s/n Dewberry), A. Guillen gether collectively for the common good of all and with the support of the people outside, forming a powerful force to Footnote#1: To date, we’ve received zero improvements force the changes that are long overdue. Changes dictated by re: core demand #5 … while Corcoran and Tehachapi have morals and common sense principles which the lawmakers

NUMBER 38 5 true to form, the hunger strikers have been “dirtied up” as the liefs and having co-founded the New Afrikan Black Panther WHAT IS THE MEANING work of prison gangs: Party as a Party of the oppressed, so too you’ll fi nd in these OF THE CALIFORNIA “The CDCR has continued to lie about the hunger strike units across Amerika those who hold and practice revolu- – saying it was organized by gangs and attacking representa- tionary political views and affi liations that are supposed to be PRISONER HUNGER tives of the strikers and others, depicting them as the ‘gener- constitutionally protected, not persecuted. As the high court als’ of the prison gangs and the ‘shot callers’ who order other once proclaimed: STRIKES? prisoners to engage in gang violence. “Our form of government is built on the premise that every A statement in support of the “Dolores, whose son has been in the SHU for 10 years, citizen shall have the right to engage in political expression hunger strikers said “If that is their [the prisoners’] way of thinking, then and association. This right was enshrined in the First Amend- why did they just conduct a hunger strike willing to risk their ment of the Bill of Rights. Exercise of these basic freedoms “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” own lives, to suffer on a daily basis in a nonviolent dem- in America has traditionally been through the media of po- –Frederick Douglass onstration that spread across California prisons involving litical associations. Any interference with the freedom of a By Kevin Rashid Johnson thousands and thousands of men crossing all racial lines? It’s party is simultaneously an interference with the freedom of ix thousand six hundred California prisoners partici- because they are human beings. They do have dignity, and its adherents. All political ideas cannot and should not be pated in a 3-week-long hunger strike in July, seeking they want to be heard.” [3] channeled into the programs of our two major parties. His- Srelief from unjust and inhumane conditions. In the Not coincidentally, another of the hunger strike’s main tory has amply proved the virtue of political activity by mi- face of California Department of Corrections (CDC) offi cials protest issues is the CDCR’s labeling prisoners as gang nority, dissident groups…” [7] failing to honor settlement negotiations, the hunger strike re- members upon the fl imsiest grounds, then confi ning them in But contrast these political ideals with the political reality sumed on September 26th, with nearly 12,000 prisoners par- SHUs until they “debrief” – that is, fi nger other prisoners as that such parties face at the hands of offi cials, as admitted by ticipating in thirteen of that state’s prisons. gang members to be thrown in the SHU. Thus the only way Justice Hugo Black: “History should teach us…that…minor- It is a truism that oppression breeds resistance. Indeed, the to leave SHU is as a known informant to be ostracized and ity parties and groups which advocate extremely unpopular U.S. Declaration of Independence enshrines the right and targeted as such by others. social or governmental innovations will always be typed as duty of the oppressed to resist their oppression. criminal gangs and attempts will always be made to drive In this era of capitalist oppression on a global scale, the solitary confi nement ... is no more them out” [8]. hunger strike exhibits the very same humyn spirit, courage than modern-day torture chambers This is the function of the SHUs like those that Califor- and outrage that drove millions across North Afrika and the for the poor. nia’s prisoners are protesting, and the ones used as a weapon Middle East this year, to take to the streets in protest against to censor and repress political consciousness. oppressive governments. U.S. rulers, in the face of pretend- Resistance to the oppression of these units is the meaning ing to champion and support human rights, democracy, and The Real Purpose of SHUs and Super-maxes of the hunger strikes. Amerika’s oppressed and disenfran- the demands for basic rights by people half a world away, The true purpose of SHUs isn’t to control gangs and ra- chised victims of modern penal enslavement and the New can’t admit they practice abuses just as vile against their own cial violence. In fact, the CDCR has long instigated and fa- Jim Crow, are struggling like those of generations past for subjects – right here in Amerika. cilitated prisoner-on-prisoner violence. From the notorious recognition and respect as humyn beings. As a Party of the Hosni Mubarak, the U.S. puppet and Egyptian dictator ‘gladiator fi ghts’ – where guards at CDCR’s Corcoran State oppressed, especially the imprisoned, the NABPP-PC stands who was driven out of Egypt by mass protests this year, was Prison set up prisoner fi ghts, gambled on the outcomes, and in unity with the heroic struggles of California’s entombed, notorious for torturing his own people. But so too are U.S. then shot the prisoners for fun, killing 8 and shooting 43 just and call on all freedom-loving people everywhere to take up offi cials. Indeed, one of the key protest issues of the Califor- between 1989 and 1994 – to massive numbers of prisoner- their cause. ♦ nia prisoners is the acute psychological torture of sensory on-prisoner clashes instigated and manipulated by the noto- Dare to struggle! Dare to win! deprivation in the CDC’s Security Housing Units (SHUs) – riously corrupt California prison guards’ union, to generate All Power to the People! Pelican Bay’s SHU in particular. This torture can’t be hon- public support for building more prisons to increase prison Notes estly denied. jobs and dues-paying membership. 1. Albert D. Biderman and Herbert Zimmer, eds. The Ma- It has long been the game of U.S. offi cials, especially since In 1999, prisoners at the New Folsom Prison went on a nipulation of Human Behavior (New York: Wiley, 1961), 29. the 2004 Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib torture scandals, hunger strike protesting being forced onto prison yards with 2. The court found under conditions of solitary confi ne- to pretend that psychological torture isn’t really torture at all. rivals. CDOC Ombudsman Ken Hurdle rejected negotia- ment “A considerable number of prisoner fell, after even a However, they secretly know the exact opposite to be true. tions, stating “Then you’d have two groups normally aligned short confi nement, into a semi-fatuous condition, from which According to torture experts, psychological – or ‘clean’ tor- on the yard together. They would have only staff as their it was next to impossible to remove them, and others became ture – is the most destructive, sadistic and inhumane type enemy” [4]. This admits offi cials deliberately facilitating violently insane; others still committed suicide, while those of torture. Among the most proven effective methods is the prisoner-on-prisoner violence as a technique of prison con- who stood the ordeal better were generally not reformed, and very sort infl icted by design in the isolated cells of the SHUs, trol. This is what they fear in the unity shown by the hunger in most cases, did not recover suffi cient mental activity to be namely sensory deprivation. strikers. And it undermines the disunity they need to project of any subsequent service to the community.” Noted psychologist and torture expert, Dr. Albert Bider- them as animals. 3. “Hunger Strike to Resume September 26 – Support the man, long ago found as to sensory deprivation, “the effect Offi cials welcome and incite gang violence. It creates jobs, Just Demands of the Pelican Bay Prisoners,” Revolution of isolation on the brain function of the prisoner is much justifi es their oppression, and enhances their ‘control.’ Even #243, September 25, 2011. like that which occurs if he is beaten, starved or deprived of Crips co-founder Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams, who was killed 4. Quoted from Sacramento Bee, December 8, 1999. sleep” [1]. The very same U.S. Central Intelligence Agency by the CDCR exposed this [5]. 5. “Yes America, as unbelievable as it may seem, ‘hood that employed Biderman as one of its torture researchers and More revealing is that then-California Governor, Arnold cops, with impunity, commit drive-bys and other lawless experimenters, encoded these fi ndings in its 1963 “Kubark Schwarzenegger, rejected massive international pleas to stay acts. It was common practice for them to abduct a Crip or Counterintelligence Interrogation” torture manual, confi rm- Tookie’s execution on grounds that Tookie dedicated his Bounty Hunter and drop him off in hostile territory, and then ing that: book, Life in Prison, to Black revolutionary George Jack- broadcast it over a loudspeaker. The predictable outcome ● The deprivation of sensory stimuli induces stress; son, who was murdered by CDOC offi cials in 1971. Schwar- was that the rival was either beaten or killed on the spot, ● The stress becomes unbearable for most subjects; zenegger said the dedication “defi es reason and is a signifi - which resulted in a cycle of payback. Cops would also in- ● The subject has a growing need for physical and social cant indicator that Williams is not reformed.” Which brings form opposing gangs where to fi nd and attack a rival gang, stimuli; and us closer to exposing the real reasons SHUs exist. and then say ‘go handle your business.’ Like slaves, the gang ● Some subjects progressively lose touch with reality, The actual “leaders” offi cials fear, and who are the prime did exactly what their master commanded. Had they not been focus inwardly, which produces delusions, hallucina- targets of SHUs and super-maxes are those who are politi- fuelled by self-hatred, neither Crips, Bounty Hunters, nor tions, and other pathological effects. cally conscious and prove able to unite prisoners across ra- any other Black gang, would have been duped: “The ‘hood What’s more, over a century ago the U.S. high court found cial and other lines. cops were pledged to protect and serve, but for us they were and denounced the same in U.S. prisons, in the face of In Re The proliferation of SHUs and super-maxes began with not there to help, but to exploit us – and they were effective. Medley, 134 U.S. 150 (1890) [2]. These fi ndings have been the Marion Control Unit, which opened in 1972, following With the cops’ Machiavellian presence, the gang epidemic repeated in U.S. courts today in response to the conditions of the murder of George Jackson and the peaceful 1971 Attica escalated. When gang warfare is fed and fuelled by law en- SHUs and super-maximum security prisons that have swept uprising that offi cials ended with the coldblooded murders forcement, funds are generated for the so-called anti-gang Amerika since the 1970s, alongside massive imprisonment of 29 prisoners and 10 civilians, and systematic humiliation units. Without gangs, those units would no longer exist.” of the poor and people of color. In one case concerning Peli- and torture of hundreds of prisoners, provoking international Blue Rage, Black Redemption (2004). can Bay’s SHU, the California federal courts found “many, outrage. Like the brutal government responses to mass pro- 6. Stephen Whitman, “The Marion Penitentiary – It should if not most, inmates in SHU experience some degree of psy- tests in Asia and Afrika this year, when the prisoners of At- be Opened-Up Not Locked-Down.” Southern Illinoisan. Au- chological trauma in reaction to their extreme social isola- tica took to the yard in protest, with grievances articulated gust 7, 1988, p. 25. tion and the severely restricted environmental stimulation in and represented by politically conscious prisoners, the of- 7. NAACP v. Button. 371 U.S. 415, 431 (1963). SHU.” Madrid v. Gomez, 889 F. Supp. 1146 (1995). fi cial response was murder and torture, then high security 8. Barenblatt v. U.S., 360 U.S. 109, 150 (1959) (J., Black, So it’s no wonder thousands of prisoners have been driven torture units. In one of the few admissions on record, Ralph dissenting). to starve themselves in desperate efforts for exposure and Arons, a former warden at Marion, testifi ed in federal court: redress, and to show they are worthy of basic humyn rights “The purpose of the Marion Control Unit is to control revo- and dignity. lutionary attitudes in the prison and in society at large” [6]. But the typical response of offi cials is to discredit the re- Yet U.S. offi cials deny confi ning or persecuting people for sistance of those who suffer at their hands by villainizing political beliefs. (or “dirtying up,” as Johnnie Cochran used to called it), the In fact, Pelican Bay offi cials recently banned my own victim. It was done to Civil Rights activists from the 1950s- book, Defying the Tomb, as “gang material,” a book of po- 1970s who opposed and exposed racism – U.S. offi cials pro- litical writings and art, which many readers and reviewers jected them as fronts for foreign communists, and denounced have compared to George Jackson’s writings, whose books as “Soviet propaganda” graphic photos of Southern lynching CDOC banned in the 1970s as well. And with the resurgence that appeared in world media. of prisoners’ political consciousness, they’ve recently begun Whatever happens to be the popular offi cial enemy and confi scating this book as “gang material.” Like Nazi book bogeyman of the day, is the label used to discredit those who burnings and concentration camps, the object is to censor resist offi cial oppression. During the Cold War, the ‘enemy’ and persecute political consciousness and revolutionary cul- was communists. Then it was terrorists. In the era of mass ture amongst the most oppressed peoples. And ‘gang’ labels incarceration and ongoing persecution of Black and Brown are used to “dirty up” the people, practices, and ideas they youth, it’s gangs. These labels are used to provoke visceral seek to repress. reactions in the population at large of fear, hatred and conse- Just as I am confi ned in a remote Virginia super-max, un- quent disregard for and alienation against the oppressed. And der ‘special’ conditions of a SHU because of my political be- By Kevin “Rashid” Johnson

6 PRISON FOCUS FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT OF CALIFORNIA QUOTE BOX PRISON FOCUS “The men the American people admire most extrava- s Ed Mead, C. Landrums, Kevin Johnson, and oth- how many prisoners I could get out of the SHU with that. I gantly are the greatest liars: the men they detest most ers refl ect in this issue on the meanings—both large was in awe. violently are those who try to tell them the truth.” Aand small—of the recent prison hunger strikes, I am I began to see the hunger strike not as something the pris- H. L. Mencken - (1880-1956) also so moved to add my refl ections. I’ll try avoiding what oners were doing for themselves, but for others. Not a selfi sh American Journalist, Editor, Essayist, others had to say, except to summarize that we are far from act to improve their own lot, but a selfl ess and heroic move done with carrying this hunger strike to its fi nal conclusion. to benefi t those who would be left behind. Many were ready “The abuse of buying and selling votes crept in and As Ed notes in his rant using the game metaphor, we are at to “go all the way” and give their lives in order to obtain money began to play an important part in determining about half-time and so far the score appears to be about tied. change. I know the public commonly views prisoners as self- elections. Later on, this process of corruption spread The real success, of course, has been getting CDCR ish bastards who care for no one but themselves. They need to the law courts. And then to the army, and fi nally the to move at all—an inch, a yard, whatever—at all. Clearly to understand that prisoners are real live human beings who Republic was subjected to the rule of emperors” CDCR has come to the point of conceding that its SHU pol- cannot withstand on-going and indefi nite torture, and that Plutarch, Historian of the Roman Republic icy is outdated and in need of reform only very reluctantly. they are quite capable of altruism, heroism, and self-sacrifi ce Unfortunately, by waiting, they endangered the physical and for the benefi t of their brothers. “The issue today is the same as it has been through- mental well being not only of thousands of prisoners, but The goal of CPF as an organization is to shut down the out all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern their families and loved ones on the outside who suffered SHU. Juan Mendez, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture himself or be ruled by a small elite.” immensely throughout the strikes. Nothing that CDCR of- and himself a torture survivor of the Argentina’s past mili- Thomas Jefferson fi cials are doing today could not also have been started in tary government, argues for the use of isolation cells in the June, averting the entire need for the strike. Why did they most rarest of cases, and then, for a maximum of only 15 “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who change their minds? days. Such a change would convert SHUs into short term falsely believe they are free.” Two reasons. First and foremost, the unity among the pris- security cells—essentially Ad Segs. When such a change Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - (1749-1832) oners and widespread support inside was essential to forcing gets implemented in California, would render the SHU units CDCR to admit that reforms are necessary. Prisoner repre- at Pelican Bay, Corcoran, and Tehachapi obsolete. I believe sentatives had initially spoken of up to 200 prisoners going that day will come, hopefully in my lifetime, but certainly “Silence in the face of injustice is complicity with the on an indefi nite hunger strike in the D unit of Pelican Bay. it will come. And that day will be a beautiful day indeed. ♦ oppressor.” They did not estimate how many prisoners might join the Ron Ahnen, President , CPF Ginetta Sagan, strike for limited periods of time. That number turned out to Rights Activist on behalf of prisoners be 6,600 in 13 prisons. I think that kind of widespread unity both shocked CDCR offi cials (and probably a lot of prison- SUICIDED “The ruling class has the schools and press under ers as well), and made them realize they were not going to be he CDC’s shameless attempt to suppress the tragic its thumb. This enables it to sway the emotions of the able to just wait this out and let it blow over (their Plan A). loss of life of three recent hunger strikers has inevi- masses.” Second, forces on the outside unifi ed across the state in a tably failed in the whole, despite the fact that it still Albert Einstein (1879-1955) very concerted manner. Dozens of volunteers from several T refuses to knowledge its own complicity with regards to the organizations throughout the state, country, and world (news particular details surrounding these deaths. The essential “The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it ex- and activist organizations from Canada, Germany, and other facts are widely known among the prison masses. ists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil.” countries contributed) came together to put the story in the This comes as no surprise for those of us familiar with Albert Einstein news media and to get our allies in the California legislative the practices of the CDC. Yet for those naïve to the CDC’s branch involved. While the Supreme Court declared last year duplicity, there are valuable lesson to be learned from all of It’s no measure of wellness to be adjusted to a pro- that the conditions of California’s prisons constitute “cruel this. With respect to the three men who needlessly lost their foundly sick society. and unusual punishment” in violation of the federal constitu- lives, it is signifi cant that we not pass judgment on them pre- J. Krishnamurti tion, the hunger strike put a human face to that cruelty. Think maturely. about it: how bad does it have to get before prisoners decide The taking of one’s own life is a conscious decision, and “A true revolution of values will soon cause us to to risk self-starvation in order to force the state institution such a decision is as relevant as the surrounding conditions question the fairness and justice of many of our past to change its inhumane and cruel treatment of people under that gave rise to the decision itself. This inseparability be- and present policies. On the one hand, we are called their custody? tween our consciousness and our environmental conditions to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that We received dozens of letters and notes from prisoners in is summed up well in Karl Marx’s simple, yet revealing, will be only an initial act. One day we must come to recent weeks thanking those of us on the outside for our ef- statement: see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed forts, citing the fact that without our outside support, what the “…the ‘ideal’ is nothing more that the material world so that men and women will not be constantly beaten prisoners accomplished on the inside would have amounted refl ected in the human brain and translated into forms of and robbed as they make their journey on life’s high- to nothing. Yes, but the opposite is also true. No matter how thought….” way. True compassion is more than fl inging a coin to a many organizations ban together and hold protests or hear- To speak of these avoidable deaths in the context of “sui- beggar. It comes to see that an edifi ce which produces ings in the state assembly about prison conditions, no one cides” is to legitimize the state’s role in creating the oppres- beggars needs restructuring.” would have listened to us if were not for the 6,600 prisoners sive conditions that resulted in these deaths, and thus, exon- Martin Luther King, Jr. in July and nearly 12,000 prisoners in September who es- erates it of responsibility. sentially forced the issue. Without you, we are also helpless. To judge the suicides based solely upon the “possible” de- “Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for Thus, to the extent that we have achieved some success thus cisions of these three individuals alone is to allow ourselves speaking their minds... Pity the nation that needs to jail far, it is due to effective organization on both the inside and to be divided and conquered. We should not pass judgment those who ask for justice while communal killers, mass the outside combined. upon the alleged decisions alone, but also upon the state and murderers, corporate scamsters, looters, rapists and Preparing for the strike was amazing. We received several the conditions that gave rise to such contemplations. those who prey on the poorest of the poor, roam free.” letters from folks on the inside explaining why they would The state apparatus of various governments, including the Arundhati Roy be partaking in the hunger strike. Initially, I thought I under- US government, have a long history of eliminating oppo- stood why prisoners were striking—because they could no sition to the status quo, and in particular, “suiciding” that “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did longer stand the tortuous conditions in the SHU and the pa- opposition when they are confi ned. We must ask, did these nothing because he could do only a little.” tently unfair and unjust manner in which CDCR offi cials ar- three human beings commit suicide? Or were they “sui- Edmund Burke bitrarily send people to indefi nite SHU terms as alleged gang cided” by inconspicuous means? All three of these deaths affi liates. As they say, you can’t squeeze water from a rock. have been quite conveniently classifi ed as suicides. Yet by “What we think, or what we know, or what we be- Prisoners were under such intense pressure that they were all indications these classifi cations do not correspond with lieve is, in the end, of little consequence. The only con- just about ready to explode. Our reports have demonstrated the actual circumstances. sequence is what we do.” that SHU conditions have been getting progressively worse How do we know that these men intended suicide? We John Ruskin in the last four or fi ve years, and that the debriefi ng and gang don’t. But of greater signifi cance, we do know that there validation processes were being routinely manipulated to were repeated attempts to call “Man Down”, kicking on cell “You must be the change you wish to see in the take anyone off the mainline that was writing up too many doors, etc., which was willfully ignored and neglected by world.” 602s, helping other prisoners with their 602s or lawsuits, or guards. In parallel circumstances, were not state employees Mahatma Gandhi were maybe folks that the guards just didn’t like. involved, anyone else would be charged with either murder So I understood—or so I thought—that people needed or at the very least manslaughter. “When the people fear the government, there is tyr- some relief for themselves. But as I read the letters carefully If this concept comes across as unorthodox, this is only a anny. When the government fears the people, there is in the fi nal week before the strike, I began to understand demonstration of how effectively we have been conditioned liberty.” something I hadn’t initially. And that was that the people go- to think, but the objective reality is, these three men were Thomas Jefferson ing on indefi nite hunger strike were so deeply committed, “suicide” even though it was by inconspicuous means—in- they were preparing for the very real possibility of their own tentional neglect. It requires no great feat of intellect to un- “He who dares not offend cannot be honest” death. In letter after letter, prisoners talked about sacrifi c- derstand that the state will rarely prosecute its own. But to Thomas Paine ing their lives as the only way to force change onto CDCR. ensure that the deaths of the three men were for naught, we Many opined that policy change could only result AFTER must do all that we can to publicize and transform this trag- “It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather some minimal number of bodies had been removed from the edy into an educational opportunity. an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fi res in peo- prison in body bags. We call on Amnesty International to assist us and demand ple’s minds.” As I was reading these letters at home one night at my a United Nations investigation into these deaths and the de- Samuel Adams kitchen table, I began to get quite emotionally stirred. Person plorable conditions of solitary confi nement throughout the after person refl ected on how their sacrifi ce would lead to US penal system. We likewise call upon the UN to appoint “Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.” a much more humane environment for those prisoners who an independent and unbiased autopsy of these men and any Alexander Hamilton, would come after them. My family, seeing that I was moved, others who may be subjected to a similar fate. asked me to read the letters aloud. I did so. After about 20 There is no such thing as prisoner rights, only power strug- “It’s not who you are on the inside but what you do minutes, and without saying a word, my two grade school gles. ♦ that defi nes you!” aged children ran to their rooms, got their piggy banks, came C. Landrum Darius Shah back to the table, and dumped out all of their money, asking

NUMBER 38 7 verdicts related to a payment of $997,600 from the builder. requires all contractors working with the agency to adhere Conahan, meanwhile, pleaded guilty last year and awaits to this policy.” sentencing. 2011 United Press International, Inc. By Associated Press , August 12, 2011 R E C E N T Chronicling civil-service life for California state CA Cons In Private Prison Riot workers Inmates from California held in a private prison in western California prisons issuing 26,000 layoff warning notices Oklahoma rioted on Tuesday in a melee that injured dozens The California Department of Corrections and Rehabili- HISTORY of prisoners, some of them critically, authorities said. tation is issuing some 26,000 layoff warning notices to its Fights broke out in several parts of the North Fork Cor- employees over the next few days as it begins downsizing rectional Facility in Sayre, Oklahoma, shortly before noon, and shifting some of its work to local governments. authorities said. The company that owns the prison said 46 It’s not clear how many employees are actually in danger Multimillion-Dollar Parties While the Globe Burns inmates had been hurt, including 16 who were sent to hos- of losing their jobs. Corrections is sending out more notices As the economy for most regular people continued to sput- pitals. than the number of positions it expects it will cut, said Judy ter toward the end of the Bush years, and as Wall Street was By evening, guards were securing the last portions of the Gelein, deputy director of human resources for the CDCR. gearing up to administer its mortgage-meltdown pile driver facility, Beckham County Sheriff Scott Jay said. “When we The state has already started shifting its responsibility for on unsuspecting Americans, multimillion-dollar parties be- arrived we had lots of people fi ghting and lots of injuries,” some newly sentenced criminals to counties, creating a “tim- came all the rage. Jay said. Mike Machak, spokesman for Capital Corporation ing issue,” Gelein said, to quickly evaluate Corrections’ per- The most famous of these was the $5 million birthday bash of America, the Tennessee-based company that owns the sonnel needs and make changes. for the Darth Vader of private equity, Stephen Schwarzman. prison, said the company had brought guards from other fa- The department started mailing the notices today to staff But before Schwarzman could be held up as an anomaly, he cilities in the region to help. Sayre police, county deputies with fewer than 10 years of service . CDCR can only process was soon topped by a $20 million celebrity-studded hotel and state highway patrol offi cers stayed outside the prison about 6,000 notices per day for mailing, so the bad news will party right in the heart of the desperately poor Middle East. while guards quelled the violence, Jay said. He added it was continue going out into next week. Held just weeks after the global economic meltdown com- too early to say the cause of the violence. Usually the state issues three warning notices for every menced, the bash included “a fi reworks show that organiz- Some critically injured inmates were fl own by helicopter position it intends to cut. This time, however, the department ers said was visible from outer space,” according to the New to Oklahoma City hospitals, about 130 miles away. Other cast the net even wider across a broad swath of job classifi - York Daily News. prisoners were taken by ambulance to hospitals in Sayre and cations. That will give it the fl exibility it needs to observe Today, revelry in the shadow of destitution is ubiquitous to nearby Elk City. No prison personnel were hurt. The private its employees’ contractual and civil service protections while the point of mundanity. In New York, for example, it’s mil- company contracts with the California prison system to keep offi cials fi ne tune downsizing plans. lion-dollar bar mitzvahs just a short subway ride away from inmates in the 2,400-bed medium-security prison. State law and union contracts allow at least 120 days after the pulverizing poverty in the Big Apple’s outer boroughs. Okalhoma City, Oct 11, 2011 11:54pm EDT (Reuters) the formal warning before employees can be laid off. Those in affected CDCR positions will have until Feb. 29, Gelein Jailer Accused Of Creating Orgy-Like Atmosphere Stop Solitary - Advocacy Campaign Tools said. At Fla. Women’s Prison The ACLU, together with our state-based affi liates, schol- Affected employees have essentially three choices: trans- A Florida corrections offi cer didn’t just lust for power, he ars, activists, mental health experts, and faith-based orga- fer, demote or face termination. used his power for lust, according to former co-workers and nizations around the country, is engaged in a campaign to Some of the 26,000 getting notices -- about 7,000 non- inmates under his watch. challenge the use of long-term solitary confi nement – in the custodial workers at overstaffed prisons -- will soon receive A Pompano detention center took on an “orgy”-like atmo- courts, in the legislatures, in reforms of correctional practice, offers to move to understaffed facilities in exchange for a sphere with female inmates dancing topless and performing and in the battle for public opinion. The goal of the Stop lump-sum transfer incentive payment, time off and layoff sex acts on one another as deputy Mason Chibnick looked Solitary campaign is to limit and abolish the use of long- protections. on, The Orlando Sentinel reported. Games of “Truth or term solitary confi nement in U.S. prisons, jails and juvenile The department last week asked correctional offi cers at Dare” were common when Chibnick was on duty. Accusers detention centers. overstaffed prisons to consider transferring to understaffed said he had sex with one inmate. The ACLU website also provides pages for getting started facilities in Folsom, Susanville, Crescent City, Soledad and Chibnick, who’s been transferred to work in a men’s jail, with the campaign to abolish solitary confi nement in your Vacaville. At last count, about 200 of them have volunteered also allegedly sent a picture of his penis to a former inmate’s area, such as: to move in exchange for incentive pay, time off and job safe- sister and was seen with an inmate entering a closet, the pa- 1. Stop Solitary – Quick Facts guards. per reported. 2. Stop Solitary Briefi ng Paper Corrections has just updated its website with the latest in- The allegations sparked an investigation that concluded he 3. Getting Started – Collecting Corrections Data in Your formation on vacant positions in the system and job target broke the code of ethics. He was given a counseling slip that State for elimination. outlined department policies, but has faced no other disci- 4. Campaign Dos and Don’ts The Sacramento Bee, Oct. 21, 2011 pline. 5. Model Social Networking Language Five colleagues testifi ed against him, along with four in- 6. Model Stop Solitary Legislation Occupy A Private Prison mates, although two other prisoners defended him, The Sen- 7. Model Fiscal Analysis Memo Correction Corporation of America’s Stewart facility in tinel reported. 8. Checklist for a Visit to a Supermax Facility Lumpkin, Georgia is the largest private detention center in Chibnick asked for a transfer in April, because he didn’t 9. See: http://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/stop-soli- the nation. Stewart currently profi ts close to $50 million a feel “comfortable” working with female inmates, accord- tary-advocacy-campaign-tools year. As if that weren’t enough, CCA often cuts costs by de- ing to the Orlando paper. He closed his Facebook account, nying basic services to its inmates and by limiting access to which he’d allegedly used to track down ex-inmates, but 185 immigrant detainees report sex abuse their family members. didn’t share his cellphone records with investigators who NEW YORK, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Immigrants have reported CCA charges inmates close to $5 a minute to make a phone were exploring charges he’d sent an explicit picture to an being sexually abused 185 times since 2007 while in the cus- call. To pay for this, inmates work in the facility and earn a inmate’s sister. tody of federal immigration authorities, documents show. whopping $1 a day. Five days of hard work gives them just Offi cials from the Broward County Sheriff’s Offi ce didn’t The American Civil Liberties Union said the documents, enough time for a one minute phone call. respond to repeated inquiries from The Huffi ngton Post. obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, CCA’s greed knows no boundaries. In the past few years Huffi ngton Post, 8/5/2011 show the alleged abuse occurred in nearly every state, but they have spent $14.8 million lobbying for anti-immigration Texas has had more allegations “by far” than any other state. laws, like HB87 in Georgia, to ensure they have continuous ‘Kids for cash’ judge gets 28 years in Pennsylva- “It is clear there is an urgent need for the government to access to fresh inmates and keep their money racket going. nia bribery case recognize just how pervasive a problem the sexual abuse of It’s time to put an end to it. A long-serving judge has been ordered to spend nearly 30 immigration detainees is and take immediate steps to fi x the On November 18th, Brave New Foundation partnered years in prison for his role in a bribery scandal that prompted problem and ensure that everyone in the government’s care with a coalition of immigrant and civil rights organizations the state’s high court to overturn thousands of juvenile con- is protected,” David Shapiro, staff attorney with the ACLU in a powerful vigil and occupation outside the Stewart facil- victions. Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr National Prison Project, said in the news release. ity in Georgia. The demand: Shut down Stewart Detention was sentenced on Thursday to 28 years in prison for taking “The detainees in immigration detention are a particularly Center now. $1m (£617,000) in bribes from the builder of two juvenile vulnerable population.” www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29733.htm detention centers in a case that became known as “kids-for- The ACLU revealed the fi ndings from the documents as cash.” The Pennsylvania supreme court overturned about it announced a class-action lawsuit alleging three immigrant Medical offi cer faces criminal complaint 4,000 convictions issued by Ciavarella between 2003 and women were sexually assaulted while in custody of Immi- Accused of vandalism at Pelican Bay 2008, saying he violated the constitutional rights of the ju- gration and Customs Enforcement in Texas. A misdemeanor criminal complaint has been fi led against veniles, including the right to legal counsel and the right to The ACLU of Texas fi led the lawsuit on behalf of women the chief medical offi cer at Pelican Bay State Prison, accus- intelligently enter a plea. who were allegedly sexually assaulted by staff at the T. Don ing him of vandalizing a coworker’s car that was parked in Ciavarella, 61, was tried and convicted of racketeering Hutto Family Residential Center in Taylor, Texas, “along his designated space. charges earlier this year. His lawyers had asked for a “rea- with numerous others who experienced similar trauma,” the Michael C. Sayre, 64, is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 9 sonable” sentence in court papers, saying, in effect, that he news release said. for the charge of “damaging part of a vehicle” fi led by Dis- had already been punished enough. “The media attention to The Texas lawsuit, fi led in U.S. District Court in Austin, trict Attorney Jon Alexander. this matter has exceeded coverage given to many and almost names as defendants three ICE offi cials; Williamson Coun- In June, Sayre allegedly tampered with a correctional ser- all capital murders, and despite protestation, he will forever ty, Texas; Corrections Corp. of America, the private prison geant’s 2004 BMW sedan by pointing the windshield wip- be unjustly branded as the ‘kids for cash’ judge,” they said. company that manages the Hutto facility; the former facil- ers’ upward, twisting the rearview mirrors around and pil- Federal prosecutors accused Ciavarella and a second judge, ity administrator for Hutto; and Donald Dunn, a guard who ing “two handfuls” of small rocks on the hood, a Del Norte Michael Conahan, of taking more than $2m in bribes from pleaded guilty in state court to three counts of offi cial op- County sheriff’s deputy report stated. the builder of the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care pression and two counts of unlawful restraint based on his A correctional offi cer later overheard Sayre fulminating detention centres and extorting hundreds of thousands of assaults of fi ve women. Dunn also has been charged with about a car being in his spot prompting the offi cer to go in- dollars from the facilities’ co-owner. four federal counts of criminal violation of civil rights. spect the vehicle, the report said. Ciavarella, known for his harsh and autocratic courtroom The three women immigrants were allegedly assaulted Sayre was overheard saying “words to the effect of ‘That’s demeanor, fi lled the beds of the private lockups with children while Dunn was transporting women from the Hutto facility okay; I left a nasty little message on the car,’” said the report. as young as 10, many of them fi rst-time offenders convicted to the airport or bus station in nearby Austin. When the correctional offi cer went out to the BMW, he of petty theft and other minor crimes. The jury returned a CNN reported ICE didn’t comment on the lawsuit but a found the note Sayre left, which read “The next time you mixed verdict following a February trial, convicting him on spokeswoman said it “maintains a strict zero-tolerance pol- park here, I key the hell out of it,” the report said. 12 counts, including racketeering and conspiracy. The guilty icy for any kind of abusive or inappropriate behavior and The BMW’s owner surveyed the damages after her shift

8 PRISON FOCUS and found there were scratches in the paint on the passenger cut off. door, hood and trunk, the report said. There were also chips PBSP SHU STUDYING Chief Medical Offi cer Dr. Sayre stopped medication for of paint gouged on the right side of the car, the report said. CDCR’S PROPOSED GANG several prisoners, including one who was suffering from An auto shop estimated the cost of repairing the damages prostrate cancer. In addition, one person said that weight at $2,600, the report stated. STRATEGY monitoring, when done, was manipulated to show no weight A surveillance video captured Sayre tampering with the by Mutope Duguma, s/n James Crawford gain. For example, they weighed prisoners at the beginning car and walking around it, the report said. ritten to ‘Mr. & Mrs. Ratcliff,’ Bay View news- of the hunger strike with no shackles and chains, but later Sayre confi rmed he altered the wipers and mirrors, placed paper, March 12, postmarked March 14, 2012 – I weighed them with the restraints. One prisoner reported that rocks on the hood and left the note, but said he had been care- Wam in receipt of the most needed information you he received no medical attention whatsoever during the sec- ful to not damage the BMW, the report said. forwarded to us and we are so grateful. We cannot thank you ond round of the hunger strike until the 14th day. “We tend to associate this type of sophomoric behavior enough. We received a manila envelope with the California One prisoner noted that ALL prisoners in his section were with the Level 1 inmates on the other side of the walls,” said Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s “Security taken out on the fourth day of the second round and ALL food Alexander. Threat Group Prevention, Identifi cation and Management was removed from everyone’s cells—not just the hunger Sayre was unavailable for comment, a prison spokesman Strategy” dated March 1, 2012 [not released to the public strikers—under the allegation that some prisoners had “lots said. until March 9 – ed.], one copy of the Bay View, and me and of food” and were suspected of feeding the hunger strikers. By Anthony Skeens, The Triplicate Sitawa both received our issues on top of that. CDCR has not One person noted the very poor medical monitoring during November 23, 2011 given us this package. the strike, stating that staff spent no more than 10 seconds at We are going to read over this madness and then synthe- each person’s door and their only concern was whether or not size it based on what it is, but from what I’ve read so far, it’s the person was drinking water. Nurses or other staff checked typical for the oppressors to try to continue to expand their weight, blood pressure or pulse very irregularly. slave quarters, which is why they continue to say they’re go- Many prisoners were issued serious rule violations reports ing to rely on confi dential informants, because they know (115s) at the end of the hunger strike, which occurred on how else can they keep us in these slave quarters unless it’s October 13. Apparently the 115s were issued only to some based on fl awed intelligence, you dig? We must rebel against prisoners, especially those inmates to whom CDCR offi cials this by all means. wanted to continue to deny any of the new privileges being Also, why should we go through a four-year program? rolled out due to the strike. For example, prisoners who re- We’ve been in solitary confi nement over 10 to 40 years. ceived a 115 for hunger striking were denied having photos These people are nuts! We will defi nitely be at you with the taken to send to their families. facts real soon and our assessment on this “slave package.” Continued Abuses by Institutional Gang Investigative Thanks, and the Bay View is the bomb! Unit. CDCR employ a myriad of ways to target and punish Note written in the margin: USA gang member goes on prisoners in the name of “invesgiation.” Some of the marchers at the February 20th Occupy Prison killing spree of families in Afghanistan … These savages One prisoner stated, “They keep my address book in order protest outside of the San Quetin penitentiary. running around the world slaughtering human beings as the to fi nd information, but this leaves me without the ability biggest gang in the world then have the nerve to call (prison- to write to my family members.” This tactic punishes the PURPOSE OF ‘SECURITY ers in Ad/Seg and SHU) the most dangerous gang! What a individual by cutting off contact with his family. Another joke! ♦ prisoner reported that several letters from his family are also THREAT GROUP’ http://sfbayview.com/2012/letters-from-pelican-bay-shu- being held indefi nitely by the IGI and that several family on-un-petition-and-cdcrs-new-gang-strategy/ members were being “harassed” by investigation offi cials DESIGNATION IS TO PLACE with the result of inhibiting visits for fear of being accused THOUSANDS MORE IN of some “ghost crime.” PELICAN BAY UPDATE Anothr prisoner reported that he was encouraged to debrief ISOLATION as a way to continue his education. In other words, CDCR By Todd Ashker March 7, 2012 continues to use isolation as a punishment for prisoners by ritten to Kendra Castaneda March 11, 2012, post- By Ron Ahnen denying certain “privileges” (such as access to rehabilitation marked March 13, 2012 – I want to update you: his report is based on recent interviews with and let- and educational courses) and then dangling them in front of WThere’s a public radio station out of Humbolt ters received from prisoners housed in Pelican Bay prisoners in exchange for intelligence on gangs. CPF notes State University and there’s an oldies program I listen to ev- TSHU. The names of particular prisoners have been that such activities demonstrate that SHU is employed by ery Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. with DJ Sista Soul. You can omitted in an effort to protect them from retaliation. the CDCR for punitive purposes—not simply administrative check it out online. Retaliation from Hunger Strike. The most common thread segregation as the CDCR claims. Second, such holding back Today she mentioned the United Nations petition and running through the correspondence and reports from Peli- of basic rehabilitative services from prisoners is immoral and press conference set for the 20th and she referenced the web- can Bay is the various methods of retaliation that have been unjust on two counts: First, it constitutes torture (ie, plac- site for people to check out: http://sfbayview.com/2012/pris- and continue to be infl icted on prisoners who participated in ing people in extreme isolation for prolonged periods of time oners-tell-the-world-about-the-horrors-of-california-prison- the hunger strike. After the fi rst round of the hunger strike in ways that cause physical and mental illness, and then of- isolation/. ended on July 20, prisoners reported receiving a 128B infor- fering relief from those extreme conditions in exchange for Also on the radio was the CDCR SHU policy changes mational chrono advising them that participating in a hunger information). Second, denying educational opportunities to and stepdown program proposal … saying it was more of strike constitutes a violation of the rules and that any subse- prisoners violates one of CDCR’s primary missions which is CDCR’s typical manipulative tactics; i.e., to the uninformed quent hunger striking would be dealt with accordingly. to help people to rehabilitate themselves. it may appear positive, but in reality it will only make things When the hunger strike was re-commenced in September, Food. The only reports on food that we have received is worse by creating the Security Threat Group (STG) desig- several prisoners reported a very different and harsh treat- that the food is now worse than ever—worse than it was in nation so as to place thousands more in Ad/Seg-SHU-type ment from staff. One prisoner overhead a guard informing June of 2011 when the hunger strike began. units. other guards about how to retaliate against the prisoners on While the four-year stepdown program proposed is a hunger strike. Cell extractions of the hunger strikers’ repre- laughable joke, interestingly, back in September, we put out sentatives were conducted and signifi cant losses of materials FACEBOOK CAVES IN TO our document titled “Tortured SHU prisoners speak out: The in the cells were reported. Some hunger striking prisoners struggle continues, hunger strike resumes Sept. 26,” wherein (noted that they) were put on mail restrictions. Several had THE PRISON-INDUSTRIAL- we spelled out CDCR’s agenda and basis for coming with all canteen items (not just food) removed from their cells. COMPLEX the STG policy: money and staff. It’s their way of expanding Many prisoners also had all visits cancelled. IGI (Institutional Gang Investigations) staff and, more im- The hunger strikers’ representatives were pulled out of By Kenneth E. Hartman portantly, it’s the only way for CDCR and CCPOA (guards’ their cells and put in bare cells in the administrative segrega- In a decision setting back prisoners’ rights and helping to union) to recoup some of the loss sustained from the prison tion unit. These cells were reportedly very cold and pris- advance the interests of prison bureaucrats and their guard population reduction forced by the U.S. Supreme Court rul- oners reported that prison personnel had turned on the air union allies, Facebook announced plans to work with the ing in May of 2011. conditioning on top of the already cold temperatures of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to Reducing the prison population by 45,000 prisoners building. Generally, thinner prisoners are kept in cells that shut down pages set up for prisoners. Spokespersons for the equates to a loss in CDCR’s yearly budget by $2 billion and are far from the heaters and thus suffer from being too cold, Department claimed that prisoners were using their Face- a loss to CCPOA of dues paying members by about 7,500! while more heavy set prisoners are housed right next to the book pages to “stalk victims” and “conduct illegal activi- The Ad/Seg-SHU units cost twice as much and require near- heaters that blast them with heat. One person reported hav- ties,” and that this was all related to the increased incidence ly twice the staff as do general population! ing to put up his blanket to block the blast of heat into his cell of cell phones found inside the prisons. This is a no brainer! The policy proposal is NOT AC- while another complained of the constant cold. A request What a load of crap! CEPTABLE and people will have to ramp up the rallies sent by one prisoner to Sacramento to have heat more even I’m one of the prisoners with a Facebook page that will be and contacts with the legislators etc. rejecting such proposal distributed throughout the prison was denied. shut down to appease the shrill hate groups that continue to and demanding real changes of real substance and an end Medical treatment for prisoners did not follow the written try and own the public debate about prisons, about crime and to CDCR robbing taxpayers by their manipulative bullsh-t. protocol with respect to monitoring weight gain, blood pres- punishment, and about what kind of justice should be prac- I am constantly reminded that CDCR administrators are a sure, etc. More importantly, medications were curtailed or ticed here in the Land of the Free. It’s past time to address bunch of clowns – straight out idiots! I expect to be able to some of this fear mongering head-on, even if my keepers review a copy of the proposal this week but I already know surely won’t appreciate it. what to expect. The prison-industrial complex is a huge jobs engine for Yes, earlier last month, a memo was put out by an associ- unionized public employees. Governor Andrew Cuomo ate warden here on Feb. 10 – we met with him and the war- spelled it out it accurately when he withstood intense lob- den that day – but it wasn’t about sh-t, just more same BS, bying pressures and closed a couple of prisons in New York, ignoring our actual issues with the same old spiel, “We’ll “I’m not running a jobs program, putting a lot of people in look into it.” We’re working on our follow-up response now prison to give a few people high paying jobs.” This is the and will be putting it out there soon. We’re just waiting on fundamental truth about prison. The people who profi t off of getting and seeing the fi nal draft of the SHU policy changes mass, disproportionate incarceration know that a reckoning that came out. is coming. Crime is at historic lows. State budgets are upside I have to tip my hat to all who rallied at the Occupy4Pris- down, like the rest of the country. The majority of people in oners rallies on Feb. 20. That was really big and cheered all prison are not monsters. The public’s safety is not the issue. of our spirits up! The posters of us looked great too! ♦ The threat is to the paychecks of public employee unions. For the past quarter of a century, the playbook has been NUMBER 38 9 simple, direct, and frighteningly successful. Play the fear mongering tactics of the prison bureaucrats and their guard like the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation.” card, mention the word “victim,” and shut down rational allies. I’ve seen worse in my time inside, up to and includ- Some of ALEC’s model bills include the “three Strikes” debate. It’s unclear to me how anyone could “stalk their ing incitement to violence to overturn unfavorable court de- law, changes in mandatory minimum sentences and “truth- victims” through Facebook. This is a perfect example of cisions. Watch out for some extremely dangerous prisoners in-sentencing,” which would further eliminate the possibility dragging a particularly stinky red herring across the trail, fi nding themselves on the other side of the fences. of parole for many inmates. something prison bureaucrats are wont to do. When the inevitable tragedy occurs, all the rest of us will One of the best known legislative members of ALEC is For an interesting case in point, during a recent interview be tarred with the same outrage. Someone’s grieving mother State Senator Russell Pearce, a proponent of Arizona’s very on Los Angeles public radio station KCRW’s excellent pub- will plead for retribution while the newsreaders tut-tut in restrictive immigration law, SB 1070. According to an inves- lic affairs program “Which Way L.A.,” host Warren Olney sympathy. Mock outrage will spew out of red-faced politi- tigation by NPR, Pearce took his version of the legislation to repeatedly asked California prison chieftain Scott Kernan cians in thrall to the prison-industrial complex. The guard an ALEC meeting, where it was then revised and adapted by how allowing men at Pelican Bay to wear a warm hat dur- union will magnanimously put up the many millions needed members of the corrections industry, obtaining their unquali- ing the winter could be a security threat. (This was one of to pass the poorly written initiative that results in tens of fi ed support. the legitimate demands of hunger strikers.) Bossman Kernan thousands of pathetic drug addicts and troublesome mentally SB 1070 has been imitated by similar laws -- some even never really answered the question and, instead, kept ram- ill homeless people receiving long life sentences. No less stricter and more encompassing -- in at least fi ve other states. bling on about how dangerous these “offenders” are and how than United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, These include HB 56 in Alabama, Utah’s Compact / HB 497, these issues impacted “victims.” Interestingly, both prisoners a Republican and no fl aming lefty, described this state of af- Indiana’s SB 590, Georgia’s HB 87 and South Carolina’s S and victims of crime have been commodifi ed into roles in fairs, in regard to California’s infamous three-strikes law, as 20. support of the prison-industrial complex. “sick.” According to Cuéntame, CCA houses about 60 percent of The prison system has two great fears: The fi rst is that the The prison system has a unique hold on the political pro- the almost 100,000 -- up from 14,000 in 2006 -- immigrant rest of society will learn that prisoners are, in actuality, fel- cess that renders it almost invulnerable to the kind of fun- detainees at any given time. low human beings who deserve to be treated in a humane damental reform 25 years of dismal failure should have CCA, together with other prison companies GEO Group fashion, and the second is that what really goes on in these demanded. The Democrats won’t criticize their public em- and Management and Training Corporation, owns more than places might be exposed to the cleansing light of public scru- ployee union allies, and the Republicans remain wedded 200 private prisons with 150,000 beds and makes an annual tiny. to the concept of keeping the disempowered classes down profi t of $5 billion. To prevent the fi rst of their fears from being realized, the and disenfranchised through mass incarceration. The prison Private prisons profi t like a hotel. The more occupants they prison system has upended basic civil rights and created a de bureaucrats and their guard union allies have cynically, and can throw in, the more money comes out. ♦ facto no information zone around prisoners. When I came very successfully, played the two ends against the middle. The Huffi ngton Post, 12-31-11 to prison more than 30 years ago, I could write to anyone in Neither side of our dysfunctional dyad is willing to pro- the media through confi dential mail. Any reporter with legiti- pose remedies to what is obvious to every independent ob- mate credentials could come inside a prison and interview server: there are too many people in prison for too long, cost- PETITION FILED WITH any prisoner. Today, I can only contact the media through ing society way too much money. closely censored mail and recorded, monitored collect phone Facebook’s craven decision to appease the prison-industri- THE UNITED NATIONS ON calls. And reporters, on the rare occasions they manage to al complex has nothing to do with protecting crime victims slip through the fences and get into these places, are strictly or stopping criminal activity. (Let me assure you, we knew BEHALF OF CALIFORNIA forbidden from interviewing any specifi c prisoner. how to conduct illegal activity before Mark Zuckerberg “in- PRISONERS LOCKED For the great rip-off of society to continue, it’s imperative vented” Facebook, before even Al Gore “invented” the inter- for the public to continue to be hoodwinked into believing net.) It’s all about trying to keep the public in the dark about INDEFINITELY IN SOLITARY that the prisons are incredibly dangerous, fi lled with slaver- how their billions of dollars have been wasted behind the ing beasts ready to go on a killing spree at the fi rst opportu- electric fences, out of sight and beyond accountability. CONFINEMENT nity. Nothing ruins this sham more than the taxpayers getting My 1,300 “friends” and me didn’t threaten anyone. But the Contact: Kendra Castaneda, 562-253-8386 a good look at prisoners in the fl esh. We don’t have horns prison system and its allies pose a genuine threat to society. os Angeles – The Center for Human Rights and Con- or tails, and the vast majority of us aren’t even in prison for The sooner the public wakes up and realizes this the better stitutional Law has prepared an unprecedented Peti- a violent crime. The rationale, such as it is, for preventing off we’ll all be. Until then, be afraid; be very afraid of people Ltion for the United Nations (UN) on behalf of Cali- the press, in a supposedly free country, from directly inter- claiming to be protecting you. ♦ fornia prisoners in Administrative Segregation Units and viewing prisoners is it could cause discomfort to a victim. Security Housing Units in CA Prisons. Invocation of the “victim” is, again, used to justify virtually [Kenneth E. Hartman’s memoir of prison life, “ Mother On Tuesday, March 20, at 10:00 am PST, this UN Petition, any depredations of both civil rights and common humanity. California: A Story of Redemption Behind Bars? (Atlas & will be fi led with the United Nations Group on Arbitrary De- More frightening to the system than the public fi nding out Co. 2009) won the 2010 Eric Hoffer Award. He is currently tention, the UN Human Rights Council, and United Nations prisoners, generally, aren’t the embodiment of evil, is the at work on a memoir about hitchhiking through the ‘70s. For General Assembly, will be made public for the fi rst time. possibility that what actually goes on inside will be revealed. more information, please see www.kennethehartman.com or CA prisoners, who have been literally “buried alive” from What is imagined and what is reality are so far apart as to be contact him indirectly at [email protected]] 1 year up to 39 years... CA prisoners, who have been held in wholly disconnected. The guards have invested heavily in almost total and complete isolation based solely on a gang promoting the perception that death stalks them every day Source: http://www.counterpunch.org/hartman08182011. “validation” designation by the California Department of in these places, and their bureaucrat allies (just about all of html, 8/18/11 Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), speak for the fi rst whom started out as guards) happily sign on to this fi ction time about their personal experiences in this UN Petition. because it provides the perfect excuse for why the system is These are prisoners who have been arbitrarily sent to isola- such a dismal failure. JAILING THE tion, for years and decades, without any due process. No What really goes on inside the prisons is horrifi c treatment, court of law has sentenced these prisoners to such tortuous provoked and encouraged racial violence, constant violations UNDOCUMENTED IS BIG conditions. of constitutional rights, and so much more it could fi ll more For the fi rst time, the public will hear the full story of what than a hundred of pages of small print. In fact, it does, and BUSINESS led to 12,000 CA Prisoners participating in the 2011 CA Pris- anyone can read it in the decision of the three-judge panel mmigration authorities -- both local police and federal oner Hunger Strike in 13 of CA’s 33 State Prisons. Prison- that found California’s prisons so defi cient and inhumane it ICE agents -- have embarked on a program to seek out ers will reveal their personal experiences in “temporary” and ordered a massive downsizing of the system. (Plata, et al. I“criminal illegal aliens” and, whether they fi nd them or “long term” segregation, including its effects on their physi- vs. Schwarzenegger, et al. and Coleman, et al., vs. Schwar- not, have often rounded up entire families for deportation. cal and mental health. 400 “validated” segregated prisoners, zenegger, et al. Case 2:90-cv-00520-LKK-JFM, Document The Department of Homeland Security pays between $50 of all races, in SHUs and Administrative Segregation Units 3641, fi led 08/08/2009) This was necessary because the to $200 per day per person to local, county and state pris- across California, are named in this UN Petition. judges knew the special interests (guard union, contractors, ons to house apprehended aliens. A few years ago, a series Peter Schey, President and Executive Director of the Cen- suppliers) had bought so much in the state’s political process I wrote for La Opinión showed how prisons in general, and ter for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, reached out that there was no other viable way to achieve change. California’s prisons in particular, benefi t from the largesse of to prisoners being held in isolation in solitary confi nement In my thirty-plus years of imprisonment in California, the the federal government and vie for a piece of this lucrative units across the state known in California as Security Hous- rate of incarceration went from around 100 per hundred thou- business. At that time, I visited a detention center in Lan- ing Units and Administrative Segregation Units (SHU/Ad- sand to close to 450. The rate of parole failure went from less caster, Calif., run by the Sheriff of Los Angeles, where im- seg/ASU). At this press conference, he will be joined by than 25% to more than 70% during the same period. Similar migrants rounded up in raids were housed until their depor- representatives from the ACLU, Families To Amend Califor- numbers can be found in the rest of the country. For com- tation or legal proceedings. The process is supposed to take nia Three Strikes (FACTS), California Families to Abolish parisons sake, the incarceration rate of other industrialized just a few days, but some of the detainees rushed to tell me Solitary Confi nement, Progressive Christians Uniting countries is less than 100, and the world average, including that they had been kept there for more than two years. “I have been in SHU isolation for 35 years. I would not all of the repressive countries, is less than 200. Recidivism But the incarceration trend is not limited to public prisons. treat my worst enemy in such a way as I have been placed rates run at about 35%, everywhere else. This country has the A concerted lobbying push from the corrections industry, in isolation this long. To torture another human being with highest incarceration rate in the world, bar none. growing numbers of undocumented immigrants could end these horrifi c conditions should be contrary to what consists To put it into another perspective, with less than 5% of the up in private detention facilities. of a healthy society,” writes Phil Fortman, one of the 22 main world’s population, we have fully 25% of the world’s prison- Over the past three years, immigration politics has seen UN petitioners from Pelican Bay State Prison SHU. ers. This is the prison nation. more restrictive legislation at the state level and the unprec- Several treaties obligate the U.S. To conform to interna- Numbers can be mind numbing, but it’s important to see edented enforcement of current laws by the Obama admin- tional standards against torture and inhumane treatment, such and internalize what all of this means. All across the country, istration. The laws have the potential to bring tens of thou- as the Geneva Conventions of 1949, the International Cov- as the various states wrestle with diminished resources and sands of individuals into for-profi t jails. enant on Civil and Political Rights of 1976 and the United shrinking tax bases, decisions are being made about priori- The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. Nations Convention Against Torture. Solitary confi nement is ties; interests are competing for the dollars left in the smaller Some of ALEC’s members are both the most ardent propo- considered by most experts to be a form of psychological tor- pie. The prison bureaucracy is vigorously advocating for cuts nents of anti-immigration laws and representatives of the in- ture. Placing thousands of prisoners in segregation for long in funding for poor children, for disabled people, for seniors, dustries that will benefi t directly from having more people periods of time is one of the most serious mass human rights in its desperate attempt to keep the imprisonment gravy train behind bars. At least 12 companies involved in the correc- violations taking place in the United States today. on track. tions industry are members of the alliance. If the UN Committee on Arbitrary Detention determines But that’s not the full extent of it, not by a long shot. To Each year, ALEC produces approximately 1000 legisla- that the treatment of California prisoners may be in viola- tilt the scales in favor of more prisons and less social wel- tive proposals, 20 percent of which eventually become laws, tion of international law, they can request on-site visits and fare spending, the system will trot out the same hoary tropes according to the group. The Center for Media and Democ- prepare reports calling for changes. Such actions could help it’s used during the past generation of unchecked expansion. racy’s PR Watch reports: “98% of ALEC’s funding comes publicize the segregation and isolation of prisoners and may This Facebook nonsense is right along with the standard fear from corporations like Exxon Mobil, corporate ‘foundations’ UN Petition ...... Continued on page 13

10 PRISON FOCUS at Attica as racist, but when there is an institutional culture However, as Glenn Greenwald, the author of the Cato OSP PRISONERS FAST IN of racism, fear and terror, it is diffi cult for a humane guard study, concludes: “By freeing its citizens from the fear of SOLIDARITY to not jeopardize his own safety; this includes the few Black prosecution and imprisonment for drug usage, Portugal has offi cers in this prison. dramatically improved its ability to encourage drug addicts t least 20 prisoners at Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP- Why? One of the reasons is because these Correctional to avail themselves of treatment. The resources that were Ohio’s Super-Max prison) will refused food on Feb- Offi cers, beyond the innate racism, fear another insurrection previously devoted to prosecuting and imprisoning drug ad- ruary 20th in Solidarity with the National Occupy A that will cause “state sanctioned killing,” as when former dicts are now available to provide treatment programs to ad- for Prisoners Day of Action. NYS Governor Nelson Rockefeller ordered State Troopers dicts.” Under the perfect system, treatment would also be The fast was called by Siddique Abdullah Hasan, a Mus- and Guards to open fi re, massacring 41 prisoners and guards. voluntary, but as an alternative to jail, mandatory treatment lim Imam on death row at OSP for his alleged involvement Therefore, fear, terror and brutality are the measure of their save money. But for now, “the majority of EU states have in the 1993 Lucasville Uprising. In January of 2011 Hasan false safety and security, none of which is a secret to the rates that are double and triple the rate for post-decriminal- and other death row prisoners wrongfully convicted in rela- authorities in Albany. ization Portugal,” Greenwald says. tion to the Lucasville Uprising staged a successful hunger In September 1971, there was a vibrant progressive and For those looking for clues about how the U.S. govern- strike, winning their demands for improved conditions and revolutionary movement in this country. The prison move- ment can tackle its domestic drug problem, the fi gures are access to legal resources. ment refl ected the fi ght- back determination of young people enticing. Following decriminalization, Portugal eventually Outside supporters in Columbus OH will be staging a believing they could create a better world. On the streets found itself with the lowest rates of marijuana usage in peo- demonstration downtown, delivering symbolic letters to there was a movement, and in prison there was a movement. ple over 15 in the EU: about 10%. Compare this to the 40% politicians and offi cials involved in maintaining, managing No such animal exists today, at least nowhere near the level of people over 12 who regularly smoke pot in the U.S., a and expanding the prison system in Columbus, in Ohio and of the late 60’s and early 70’s. Then there were “Free Politi- country with some of the most punitive drugs laws in the across America. They will demand increased state pay and cal Prisoner” campaigns going on, from the Free Huey, Free developed world. Drug use of all kinds has declined in Por- reduced commissary and telephone prices in Ohio prisons. Angela, Free the Panther 21, Free the Soledad Brothers, Free tugal: Lifetime use among seventh to ninth graders fell from The continuous rise of commissary and telephone prices, San Quentin Six campaigns that forged a national conscious- 14.01% to 10.6%. Lifetime heroin use among 16-18 year while prisoner pay remains the same creates an artifi cial ness of fi ght back. No such broad political consciousness or olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8%. And what about those horrifi c economy and living conditions akin to modern slavery. campaign exists today. Hence, today’s prisoners refl ect the HIV infection rates that prompted the move in the fi rst place? RedBird Prison Abolition’s website: http://www.redbird- drug and gang culture, much of which includes functional HIV infection rates among drug users fell by an incredible prisonabolition.org/2012/02/occupy-for-prisoners.html illiterates. Therefore, correctional personnel are not worried 17%, while drug related deaths were reduced by more than about these prisoners fi ghting back physically or legally. half. “There is no doubt that the phenomenon of addiction is Some of the largest gains of civil rights for prisoners were in decline in Portugal,” said Joao Goulao, President of the OSP PRISONERS DECLARE in the 60’s and 70’s, when prisoners fi led a multitude of law- Institute of Drugs and Drugs Addiction, at a press conference VICTORY AFTER THREE suits and had the assistance of progressive legal organiza- to mark the 10th anniversary of the law. tions. Today, the Supreme Court has severely restricted pris- We’re not holding our breath that the Portuguese example DAY HUNGER STRIKE oners’ ability to fi le lawsuits and win. will lead to any kind of abrupt about-face in America’s own By Ben Turk The absent dynamic of a vibrant prison movement nega- sputtering drug war, which is still sputtering steadily along at n Wednesday evening, twenty-fi ve prisoners at tively impacts the capacity of prisoners to fi ght. Absent both a cost of trillions a year. However, with the medical marijua- Ohio’s super-max prison ate their fi rst meal since community and legal support, in a confi ned repressive envi- na movement so far refusing to be strangled out of existence Sunday night. The hunger strike was inspired by the ronment, prisoners can only be expected to survive, and try by the DEA, Senators Jim Webb and Arlen Specter recently O and make it home alive. Attica, Comstock, Clinton and other made a proposal to create a blue ribbon commission to look Occupy4Prisoners National Day of Action called by Occupy Oakland. According to Siddique Abdullah Hasan, one of the NYS maximum security prisons suffer the same reality, all of at prison and drug sentencing reform. And for any pro-le- hunger strikers, they initially intended a one day fast as a which tells All of Us of our collective failure. galization presidential hopefuls in 2012, the movement for “symbolic gesture, a way of locking arms with the people on It is my sincere hope, on this 40th Year commemoration of a common sense drug policy in the United States may be the outside.” Attica, that NYC’s activists recognize what for many inside fi nally moving into the mainstream. By Monday evening, the prisoners had decided to issue prison seems to be abandonment. That they will decide to The Fix’s newsletter demands and continue refusing food. Their demands includ- recognize the work that needs to be done to help restore the ed specifi c changes in the conditions of their confi nement at capacity for all of us to fi ght back for freedom! Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) as well as calls for broader Jalil A. Muntaqim PRIVATE PRISONS SPEND reforms. They resumed eating after Warden David Bobby agreed to grant a number of their demands including: MILLIONS LOBBYING TO 1. Reversing the recent decision to reduce outdoor recre- TEN YEARS AGO PUT MORE PEOPLE IN JAIL ation time for prisoners to a schedule alternating between 3 By Andrea Nill Sanchez and 4 hours per week PORTUGAL LEGALIZED n June 23rd the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) re- 2. Improving enrichment programming, including new ALL DRUGS—WHAT leased a report chronicling the political strategies of movies and religious movies for the prison television station. private prison companies “working to make money 3. Bringing the head dietitian from Central Offi ce in Co- HAPPENED NEXT? O through harsh policies and longer sentences.” The report’s lumbus to review OSP food policies and hear prisoner com- When the nation legalized all drugs within authors note that while the total number of people in prison plaints about inedible and scorched food. increased less than 16 percent, the number of people held in 4. A number of specifi c instances of price-gouging, skimp- its borders, critics predicted disaster. A private federal and state facilities increased by 120 and 33 ing and lack of variety in the commissary. decade later, drug use has plunged. percent, correspondingly. Government spending on correc- Hasan said “Warden Bobby has been a man of his word in By Tony O’Neil tions has soared since 1997 by 72 percent, up to $74 billion the past, so we don’t anticipate the kind of situation going he government in Portugal has no plans to back down. in 2007. And the private prison industry has raked in tremen- on in California” referring to slow response to negotiations Although the Netherlands is the European country dous profi ts. Last year the two largest private prison com- during last years large prisoner hunger strikes in California. most associated with liberal drug laws, it has already T panies — Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and The prisoners consider their hunger strike a victory be- been ten years since Portugal became the fi rst European na- GEO Group — made over $2.9 billion in revenue. cause they won these specifi c demands and also because they tion to take the brave step of decriminalizing possession of helped raise awareness of state and even nation-wide issues all drugs within its borders—from marijuana to heroin, and ...the private prison industry uses regarding the artifi cial economy of state pay and commissary everything in between. This controversial move went into three strategies to infl uence public prices. effect in June of 2001, in response to the country’s spiral- Prisoners from across the institution participated in the ing HIV/AIDS statistics. While many critics in the poor and policy: lobbying, direct campaign hunger strike, including Siddique Abdullah Hasan a Muslim largely conservative country attacked this change in drug contributions, and networking. Imam who has been on death row fi ghting what he says is a policy, fearing it would lead to drug tourism while simul- According to JPI, the private prison industry uses three wrongful conviction following the 1993 Lucasville Uprising. taneously worsening the country’s already shockingly high strategies to infl uence public policy: lobbying, direct cam- More information about the Lucasville Uprising is available rate of hard drug use, a report published in 2009 by the Cato paign contributions, and networking. The three main com- on a new website Hasan and other prisoners helped create at Institute tells a different story. Glenn Greenwald, the at- panies have contributed $835,514 to federal candidates and LucasvilleAmnesty.org torney and author who conducted the research, told Time: “Judging by every metric, drug decriminalization in Portugal over $6 million to state politicians. They have also spent has been a resounding success. It has enabled the Portuguese hundreds of thousands of dollars on direct lobbying efforts. ATTICA IS ALL OF US: government to manage and control the drug problem far bet- CCA has spent over $900,000 on federal lobbying and GEO ter than virtually every other Western country.” spent anywhere from $120,000 to $199,992 in Florida alone n February 10, 2011, I arrived at Attica for the third Back in 2001, Portugal had the highest rate of HIV among during a short three-month span this year. Meanwhile, “the time during my 40 year incarceration. As soon as I injecting drug users in the European Union—an incredible relationship between government offi cials and private prison Oentered the reception room, I heard a Correctional 2,000 new cases a year, in a country with a population of companies has been part of the fabric of the industry from Offi cer announce to all the other prisoners: “What you heard just 10 million. Despite the predictable controversy the move the start,” notes the report. The cofounder of CCA himself about Attica is true. We don’t care what you do to each other, stirred up at home and abroad, the Portuguese government used to be the chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. but if any of you touch one of us, we will put you in the hos- felt there was no other way they could effectively quell this The impact that the private prison industry has had is hard pital or worse … welcome to Attica!” Since being here, I am ballooning problem. While here in the U.S. calls for full drug to deny. In Arizona, 30 of the 36 legislators who co-spon- aware of 7 prisoners who suffered a beat down by guards, decriminalization are still dismissed as something of a fringe sored the state’s controversial immigration law that would and the Superintendent here knows what is going on, yet concern, the Portuguese decided to do it, and have been qui- undoubtedly put more immigrants behind bars received cam- fails to curtail the level of violence against prisoners. etly getting on with it now for a decade. Surprisingly, most paign contributions from private prison lobbyists or compa- nies. Private prison businesses been involved in lobbying ef- Attica today is pre-September 9th- credible reports appear to show that decriminalization has been a staggering success. forts related to a bill in Florida that would require privatizing 11th, 1971, where prisoners are con- The DEA sees it a bit differently. Portugal, they say, was all of the prisons in South Florida and have been heavily trolled by fear and terror. a disaster, with heroin and HIV rates out of control. “Portu- involved in appropriations bills on the federal level. gal’s addict population and the problems that go along with Tracy Velázquez, executive director of JPI recommends In essence, Attica today is pre-September 9th-11th, 1971, addiction continue to increase,” the DEA maintains. “In an that we “take a hard look at what the cost of this infl uence is, where prisoners are controlled by fear and terror. The only effort to reduce the number of addicts in the prison system, both to taxpayers and to the community as a whole, in terms Black Captain, apparently sent here for the purpose of over- the Portuguese government has an enacted some radical poli- of the policies being lobbied for and the outcomes for people seeing the madness of Attica, is only capable of intervening cies in the last few years with the eventual decriminalization put in private prisons.” when on site. As soon as he is gone, the guards return to their of all illicit drugs in July of 2001.” http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/06/23/251363/cca- racist deadly antics. This is not to blanket all white guards geogroup-prison-industry/ NUMBER 38 11 unusual punishment. that there were over 700 people in attendance and hearing END TO CA PRISON D’Opal said in her 22-page ruling that the state’s failure and seeing the crowd on their televisions. They had been on RECEIVER NEAR? to consider replacing the former execution practice with a lockdown all day with no program as the prison prepared for single-injection method violated state law and ignored the the event. He said, it was so worth being locked down for this alifornia’s ability to provide health care to its prison courts’ and public criticism of the previous protocols. event, and he so appreciated the work of all the people and inmates has improved so much since a receiver was The de facto moratorium on executions imposed by U.S. the organizations, and even the neighbors of SQ that were in- appointed to oversee it that the state should prepare C District Judge Jeremy Fogel in February 2006, when he terviewed that questioned exactly what was going on behind to resume some oversight, a District Court judge said on halted the scheduled lethal-injection execution of convicted prison walls today! This is the one time he didn’t mind being January 16th. murderer Michael A. Morales, has remained in place despite locked down! He asked me for addresses of the organizations “While some critical work remains outstanding - most the state’s revision of the procedures to address Fogel’s con- that participated to send written thank you letters! notably on construction issues - it is clear that many of the cerns. Attorneys for Morales and other condemned inmates Just wanted to let everyone know how much it meant to goals of the Receivership have been accomplished,” Judge have made additional challenges to the new execution pro- those on the inside that everyone was there and for once they Thelton Henderson said in a court document. tocols, and Fogel left the bench earlier this year to head a knew they were not forgotten! “Given the Receivership’s progress to date, the end of the academic center in Washington. [Wife of prisoner name withheld] Receivership appears to be in sight, and the Court seeks to get D’Opal’s ruling, though expected to be appealed by the Prisons are, and always have been, a failed social experi- the parties’ and the Receiver’s views on when the Receiver- California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, ment. ship should be terminated and how this case should progress would further stall federal court review of the new protocols after the Receivership has ended,” Henderson added. and ensure that executions won’t resume for years. Henderson, who nearly six years ago appointed a receiver CDCR spokeswoman Terry Thornton said corrections of- to take charge of California prisons’ inadequate health-care EX-CONVICT STATEMENT fi cials were reviewing the ruling and had no immediate com- system, ordered state offi cials and prison receiver J. Clark ment. Kelso to plan for how much responsibility to return to the ON OCCUPY SAN QUENTIN Anti-death-penalty activists cheered D’Opal’s decision, state. o the Occupy Oakland family, all supporters of Oc- casting it as a sharp reminder of the billions of dollars being A spokeswoman for Kelso said the receiver’s offi ce al- cupy Oakland, and the larger Occupy Wall Street spent on a broken capital punishment system. ready is “80 percent” toward completing its work of improv- Tmovement: “The time has come to replace the death penalty with life ing medical care in California’s overcrowded prison system. We are writing to appreciate everyone who has ever sup- in prison with no chance of parole,” said Natasha Minsker, Under a program initiated last year by Governor Jerry ported PEOPLE inside jails, prisons, and detention facilities an American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California Brown, California is addressing its prison overcrowding throughout the country. We are also writing to ask for sup- lawyer and campaign manager for a voter initiative to repeal problem, and cutting its expense, by sending thousands of port from everyone planning to participate in February 20th capital punishment. “Any attempt to devise new lethal-injec- felons who are not sex offenders and deemed to be nonvio- National Day of Occupy in Support of Prisoners. PEOPLE tion rules will take an enormous amount of public employee lent to serve time in county and local jails. in prisons – a nice name for cages – as well as formerly im- time and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.” The case in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of prisoned PEOPLE, are one of the most marginalized and A three-year study published earlier this year by a federal California is Plata et al v. Brown et al., No. C01-1351 TEH. vulnerable populations in our society. We have been labeled judge and a Loyola Law School professor reported that tax- January 17, 2012, Reuters as “offenders”, “criminals”, “convicts”, “ex-offenders”, “ex- payers have spent $4 billion to carry out 13 executions since cons”, and many other dehumanizing terms, and are scape- capital punishment was reinstated in 1978, and that it costs goated for causing society’s fundamental problems. We are at least $184 million a year to maintain death row and the PEOPLE, and not the labels they use. The real “criminals” UPDATE ON RIOT AT capital defense system. are those who run Wall Street, who are responsible for geno- SACRAMENTO STATE cide, racism, xenophobia, and all forms of discrimination. They lead the attacks against communities throughout Amer- PRISON 700 GATHER OUTSIDE SAN ica. More than 150 prisoners Feb 20th is a National Day to support PEOPLE inside cag- QUENTIN FOR OCCUPY es who express their solidarity with the 99% and to support involved PROTEST PEOPLE seeking social, economic, and other forms of jus- EPRESA – Offi cials from California State Prison- tice. With the help of our supporters, allies, and larger com- Sacramento’s Investigative Services Unit are investi- Feb. 20, San Quentin munities, we aim to create a safe space to allow the voices of Rgating the cause of the December 7 riot that involved Some 700 peaceful Occupy demonstrators gathered out- PEOPLE in captivity to be heard. more than 150 maximum-security inmates. As required by side San Quentin State Prison this afternoon as part of a na- Many of us inside as well as out in the “free” world live Departmental policies, the California Department of Correc- tionwide effort to call for prison reform. by a code of conduct and support self-determination. We tions and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR) Offi ce of Internal Affairs “It’s been an amazing day,” said Crystal Bybee, a spokes- strive to build and follow leadership in our collective and Deadly Force Investigations Team is investigating the use of woman for the local Occupy 4 Prisoners group. “We’ve had public actions. We do not advance individual agendas over lethal rounds in halting the disturbance. hundreds of people out here reading messages from prison- our collective needs. We further pledge to treat each other Correctional peace offi cers used pepper spray and rubber ers and speaking out about issues that are important to us.” with respect and not allow differences to divide us, to accept projectiles, and fi red seven lethal rounds to quell the riot that Among the reforms protest organizers are calling for are responsibility for any acts that may have caused harm to our broke out about 12:40 p.m. Wednesday. No inmates were elimination of solitary confi nement, a ban on the death pen- families, our communities or ourselves, and to play an active critically injured in the riot. alty and an end to California’s “three-strikes” law. The pro- role in making our communities safe for everyone. Eleven inmates were transported to Sacramento-area hos- test was one of about 15 taking place at prisons across the Seldom if ever, are people inside asked or given a safe pitals. Nine were treated for minor injuries and released, but country today. space to tell their stories. The broader Occupy Oakland and two inmates remain hospitalized Thursday morning. One is San Quentin was placed on lockdown in anticipation of general public need to know what is going on inside these being treated for a gunshot wound to the leg and the other for the protest, with prisoners being kept in their cells. On-ramps cages, how the bottom of the 99% are treated by the 1%, and facial injuries and a possible broken shoulder not related to and off-ramps from Interstate 580 at East Francisco Boule- the need to meaningfully include people inside as we build gunshots. Each is in stable condition. vard were closed during the protest. our collective efforts. More than 400 staff members at CSP-Sacramento re- The demonstration, outside the prison’s East Gate, ran We ask everyone reading these words to support our ef- sponded to the incident, including custody and medical per- from about noon to about 3:30 p.m. A spokesman for the forts to create a safe, secure and genuinely inclusive space sonnel. No staff member was injured; previously reported Marin County Sheriff’s Offi ce described the protest as for people inside, and to build a genuine role for their voices staff injuries were not related to the riot. peaceful. in the February 20th National Day of Occupy in Support of Correctional offi cers recovered fi ve inmate-manufactured John Wildermuth, Prisoners. We do not want to create or exacerbate conditions weapons after the incident. San Francisco Chronicle that endanger anyone’s freedom. We know police have at- The prison’s C-Facility, where maximum-security inmates tacked our sisters and brothers at Occupy encampments all are housed, was placed on a modifi ed program pending fur- over the country. We ask everyone participating to remember ther investigation into this matter. The Offi ce of the Inspector OCCUPY SAN QUENTIN, that for many of us even a mass arrest could escalate to a General’s Bureau of Independent Review was notifi ed. parole violation and a return to prison. We also want to guar- CSP-Sacramento is a multi-mission institution that houses THANK YOU antee the safety of family members with loved ones inside approximately 2,800 inmates and employs more than 1,700 I received an incredibly moving phone call this morning because they are the lifeline for PEOPLE in cages. staff. Opened in 1986, the institution primarily houses maxi- from my husband who resides on the condemned row at San We ask you to be our sisters’ and brothers’ keepers! ♦ mum-security inmates serving long sentences and those who Quentin, [name omitted]. He told me he asked his tier offi cer With Humility, have proved to be management problems at other institu- about the crowd, and was told, “oh it’s about 50 people out tions. there.” “It was total over kill with offi cers out there in riot Formerly-Incarcerated People from All of Us or None Source: CDCR website, 12-8-11 gear, etc.” And then they started seeing the news and hearing and Occupy for Prisoners

JUDGE REJECTS CALIFORNIA EXECUTION PLAN By Carol J. Williams, L.A. Times 12-16-11 judge on Friday threw out California’s new lethal- injection protocols, which have been six years in the A making, because corrections offi cials failed to con- sider a one-drug execution method now in practice in other death penalty states. The action by Marin County Superior Court Judge Faye D’Opal sends the state back to square one in redrafting pro- cedures for lethal-injection executions. The death penalty has been on hold for six years in California after a federal court held the previously used three-drug method unconsti- Photo of the message wall at Occupy San Quentin protest that ended up being a wonderful opportunity for people to express tutional because it might infl ict pain amounting to cruel and their love to folks inside.

12 PRISON FOCUS UN Petition ...... Continued from page 10 ships may be up in the air.” “He was best known for passing out donuts and candy If, for example, a former inmate has no home and his fam- bars,” explains Daryl Wein, a former physician’s assistant at help lead to some improvement in their treatment. Through ily lives in public housing, he cannot stay with them. the Jamestown prison, which houses minimum and medium this UN Petition, the Center for Human Rights and Constitu- All of that instability can be risky, especially if a person custody inmates and trains them in fi ghting wildfi res. tional Law is aiming, through intervention by the United Na- has a history of mental illness or drug problems. Wein was hired as a physician’s assistant under contract, at tions, to take steps that would benefi t all inmates in segrega- A “huge” issue, Rich said, is addiction to opiates, which more than $18,000 a year, in part to cover the duties that Dr. tion -- many thousands of inmates -- not just the individuals includes not only illegal drugs like heroin, but also prescrip- Savage could not perform, according to Wein. named in the petition. tion medications like oxycodone and hydrocodone. He said Savage, better known as the “donut doctor,” was At this press conference Tuesday, March 20, at 10 am If opiate addicts go to jail and then stay off the drugs for very popular with the staff. According to Wein, Savage often PST, this UN Petition and quotes from 22 prisoners will be weeks to months, they’ll face a risk if they go back to opiates brought candy bars, ice cream and even hamburgers to the made public. The UN Petition will also be available on the after release. prison staff. CHRCL website on Tuesday, March 20th: please visit: www. “If you start using again at the same levels as before,” Rich So why is Savage still getting paid, amid a four year inves- centerforhumanrights.org explained, “you’re likely to overdose.” tigation into his competence as a doctor? Civil service rules Submitted by: geri silva That might help explain the increased risk of drug-related require that you have to go through certain steps in order to FACTS Education Fund: deaths in the current study. As for homicide deaths, Rich said terminate an employee. The prison system cannot terminate Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes it’s possible that some of those could also be related to drugs, the doctor but at the same time it cannot allow him to see 213.746.4844 but it’s not clear. patients. facts1.net So, Dr. Savage remains in legal limbo until a committee DRUG DEATHS OR HOMICIDES SIX TIMES MORE decides his fate. In the meantime he’ll continue to make close LIKELY to a quarter of a million dollars a year, and come to work at a ANOTHER ACTION The fi ndings are based on 155,272 people age 16 and up place where he’s best known for handing out donuts. who had spent at least one night in a New York City jail, Dr. Savage did not respond to multiple requests to be inter- “We may not have had the 700 they had at Quentin, but I’m from 2001 through 2005. viewed for this story. thinking that we did have 100+. We drew sisters, mothers Overall, 1,149 of those people died after being released, at and wives of those entombed in Solitary Confi nement, many some point during the study period. That included 219 drug- http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/02/24/northern- of them new faces. Progressive Christians Uniting, Nation- related deaths and 219 homicides. california-prison-doctor-earns-239k-to-see-no-patients/ al Religious Campaign Against Torture, ACLU and other When compared with New Yorkers as a whole, former in- groups gave the event an air of broad support. It was covered mates were six times more likely to die from drugs or homi- on channel 7 and 5 and KNX radio.” Supporters included cide. And their risks were two- to three-times higher versus Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes (FACTS), All BILLIONAIRE GEORGE New Yorkers in the city’s poorest neighborhoods -- suggest- of Us or None, Chicana Pinup, Fair Chance Project, Califor- ing that neighborhood surroundings alone don’t explain the nians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), UC-River- SOROS DONATES $500,000 risks, the researchers say. side students, Cuauhtemoc Ceremony (awesome dancers).” There were also 35 suicides among former inmates. Over- TO THREE-STRIKES Name Withheld, all, that risk was not higher-than-normal -- but former in- California Families to Abolish REFORM mates who were white or had been homeless before jail were Solitary Confi nement (CFASC) illionaire investor George Soros has given a half-mil- at heightened suicide risk. lion dollar boost to efforts to overhaul California’s According to Lim’s team, the fi ndings highlight a need for three-strikes law. more mental health and drug treatment programs in jails, and B Soros’ $500,000 donation to the “Three Strikes Reform AFTER JAIL, FORMER outside of them. Act of 2012” was reported Friday by the ballot drive’s fund- Since some people are in the jail system for a matter of PRISONERS FACE HIGHER raising committee, sponsored by the NAACP Legal Defense days or less, it can be challenging to do a lot for them. But and Educational Fund, records show. Rich said that with enough resources, even people who pass DEATH RISK Stanford University professor David Mills, the measure’s quickly through the system can be helped. eople released from New York City jails face an in- proponent, invested an additional $250,000 last week. He “You can sit down with someone and pretty quickly see if creased risk of death from drug overdose, homicide or cumulatively has contributed $603,000, records show. they have an opiate addiction,” Rich said. Psuicide -- especially in the fi rst couple weeks of free- The only other substantive donation this year was $100,000 Screening people for drug dependence and giving them dom, city health offi cials say. from investor Peter Ackerman of Washington, D.C. information on treatment is at least “a step in the right direc- In a study of more than 155,000 people released from city The campaign must collect 504,760 valid voter signatures tion,” he noted. jails over fi ve years, researchers found that former inmates by May 14 to qualify for the November ballot. According to the New York City Department of Health, were twice as likely as other city residents to die of a drug The initiative would amend California law to require that “Discharge planning efforts occur for persons with both overdose or homicide. only serious or violent felonies qualify as a third strike pun- mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders and specifi - Those risks were especially high in the fi rst two weeks ishable by prison sentences of 25 years to life. cally address linking inmates with care in the community, after release -- when they were fi ve- to eight-times greater The measure also would allow some offenders to appeal if which they then have the option to access.” compared with other New Yorkers’ risks during the same they were sentenced under “three strikes” law after convic- “Upon release, all inmates receive our overdose preven- two-week period. tion of minor crimes. tion education materials,” according to a department spokes- Some former inmates also had elevated risks of suicide, http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/02/ person. “More studies are needed to assess the impact of including whites and people who had been homeless before billionaire-george-soros-donates-500000-to-three-strikes- counseling and treatment on mortality risk and the associa- going to jail. drive.html#storylink=cpy tion of homicide with drug sale/purchase.” ...researchers found that former in- Ultimately, Rich argued, the best course will be to get mates were twice as likely as other more of those people into treatment, rather than a longer stint city residents to die of a drug over- in jail. “The answer is to fi gure out how we can stop incarcer- PRIVATE PRISON CORP ating so many people.” dose or homicide. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/yQaRJP American Journal of OFFERS CASH IN The fi ndings, which appear in the American Journal of Epidemiology. EXCHANGE FOR STATE Epidemiology, are not exactly surprising. They are in line (Reuters Health, Mar 11, 2012) with studies from other parts of the U.S., and in the UK and PRISONS Australia, write the researchers, led by Sungwoo Lim of the s state governments wrestle with massive budget New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. NORTHERN CALIFORNIA shortfalls, a Wall Street giant is offering a solution: But the fi ndings, they say, underscore a need for more pro- Acash in exchange for state property. Prisons, to be grams -- including mental health counseling and drug abuse PRISON DOCTOR EARNS exact. treatment -- to be offered in jail, and then continued in the $239K TO SEE NO Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest community, after inmates are released. operator of for-profi t prisons, has sent letters recently to 48 PATIENTS states offering to buy up their prisons as a remedy for “chal- lenging corrections budgets.” In exchange, the company is MANY PRISONERS WITH MENTAL alifornia’s prison system, the nation’s biggest and asking for a 20-year management contract, plus an assurance HEALTH ISSUES most expensive with a $10 billion yearly budget, is that the prison would remain at least 90 percent full, accord- It’s been estimated that more than half of Americans be- paying a prison doctor nearly a quarter-million dol- C ing to a copy of the letter obtained by The Huffi ngton Post. hind bars have symptoms of some type of psychiatric dis- lars a year – even though he treats no patients. http://www.huffi ngtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1272143.html order, ranging from schizophrenia to major depression. And The state spends more money on prisons than on higher most of them also meet the defi nition of drug or alcohol de- education. Even as the state budget shrinks, California is pendence. spending more and more to lock up prisoners. But only about a quarter of prison inmates, and seven per- It costs about $45,000 a year to keep an inmate at a state cent of those in jail, receive mental health treatment while prison. About a third of that cost is health care, a cost that is incarcerated. only going to rise along with the age of the inmates. Con- “The largest mental health facility in New York City is tributing to that cost is one doctor at the Sierra Conserva- Rikers Island,” said Dr. Josiah D. Rich, referring to the city’s tion Center in Jamestown, Tuolumne County who makes main jail complex. $239,000 dollars a year according to state records. Rich directs the Center for Prisoner Health and Human William Savage, a prison doctor, still has an offi ce at the Rights at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, Jamestown facility, but his nameplate has been taken off the and was not involved in the current study. door, and he hasn’t treated inmates for four years. A little over 2 million Americans are incarcerated, the ma- According to Nancy Kincaid, the medical receiver’s jority being black and Hispanic men. But many more “fl ow spokesperson, “Dr. Savage is not allowed to treat inmates or in and out” of jails each year, Rich noted. provide medical care.” Some are there for days, others weeks to months. When The public can’t really know why. Because of privacy stat- they come out, they may fi nd that life is very different, ac- utes, all the prison system will say is that Dr. Savage is being cording to Rich. evaluated by a peer review committee to see if he’s com- “You may not have a job, you may not have an apartment,” petent to practice. However, Dr. Savage is still collecting a he told Reuters Health in an interview. “Your social relation- paycheck, and he’s got a tasty reputation.

NUMBER 38 13 INTERNATIONAL PRISON-RELATED NEWS

New Egypt? 7,000 civilians jailed since CIA role suspected in 2003 Iraq prison Mubarak fell homicide Egypt’s military rulers told human rights advocates Mon- A secret US federal grand jury is looking into the role of day that at least 7,000 civilians have been sentenced to pris- CIA agents in several alleged “war on terror” abuse cases, on terms by military courts since Hosni Mubarak was ousted including the November 2003 homicide of a prisoner — an astoundingly high number likely to fuel debate over at Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison, Time magazine how much the revolution has changed the country. reported Monday. Advocates said the military promised to review the cases The dead man, Manadel al-Jamadi, became known as “the and vacate any improper guilty verdicts and commute the Iceman” when his CIA handlers placed his body in ice to sentences. But the advocates voiced skepticism and demand- slow decomposition in a failed attempt to hide the death. ed more information about civilians in military custody. Prosecutor John Durham has started calling witnesses, “This is not the fi rst time they’ve promised,” said Mona including US military personnel who served at Abu Ghraib, Seif, a member of a rights group called No Military Trials before the grand jury investigating the case, the magazine The Associated Press news agency, which worked with that met with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, reported. the Sueddeutsche and ARD on their investigation, says the Egypt’s ruling body. “We were offered no guarantees what- Durham spokesman Tom Carson had little to say. “This is alleged prison in Romania opened in 2003 after the CIA de- soever.” an ongoing investigation,” Carson told AFP. cided to empty the black site in Poland. The use of military courts to try people who’ve been de- US Attorney General Eric Holder appointed Durham in It quoted former US offi cials speaking on condition of tained in anti-government protests in recent months is highly August 2009 to look into several cases of alleged harsh anonymity. charged here. One of the complaints against Mubarak’s re- abuse by CIA agents on terror suspects that had been The basement consisted of six prefabricated cells, each gime was that it silenced dissidents by quickly prosecuting ignored for years. Durham’s grand jury mandate could with a clock and arrow pointing to Mecca, the offi cials told them in military courts. The caretaker government that took involve charging CIA offi cers as well as contract employees AP. over after Mubarak’s resignation has done little to alter the in other cases, Time said. Waterboarding was not used in Romania, they said. practice, however. “The grand jury is conducting an investigation of possible Other detainees of intelligence value to the US held in Ro- Seif said the military council told her group that 7,000 violations of federal criminal laws involving War Crimes mania included Ramzi Binalshibh and Abu Faraj al-Libi, AP civilians had been tried in military courts since Mubarak re- (18 USC/2441), Torture (18 USC 243OA) and related reported. signed Feb. 11 and other cases were pending. But the council federal offenses,” the subpoena reads, according to Time. offered no details, Seif said. “We asked the council to pro- Al-Jamadi’s death at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison was Former Guantánamo Prisoner Seeking vide the exact number and the names of any civilian held by offi cially classifi ed as a homicide, but the only person ever Bush’s Arrest in Canada for Torture military police,” she said. charged in the case was found to be innocent. Police in British Columbia have taken extra security mea- Before Monday’s meeting, No Military Trials had de- Agents from the Central Intelligence Agency’s Inspector sures ahead of a visit by former President George W. Bush, manded a halt to military trials of civilians, unless violations General’s offi ce sent the case to the Justice Department for who is set to speak at an economic summit. The security is to occur in military zones or facilities. It also asked that the possible prosecution, but there has been no movement on handle hundreds of protesters, but Amnesty International has government guarantee the security of peaceful gatherings the case, Time said. also called on the Canadian government to arrest Bush and and protests and release fi ve oil fi eld workers who were de- The magazine fi rst reported on the case in 2005, and ran either prosecute or extradite him for the torture of prisoners tained during a recent strike. pictures that included smiling US military personnel posing in the so-called “war on terror.” Meanwhile, four men who On Monday, the group announced a hotline to report cases over the victim’s body. say they were tortured in U.S. prisons under the Bush admin- of military violations, detentions or abuse. istration will lodge a private prosecution today against the Heba Morayef, a Cairo representative for Human Rights CIA ‘secret prison’ in Romania former president in a Canadian provincial court. The Center Watch who met with the council last week, said the military By The BBC for Constitutional Rights and the Canadian Center for Inter- defended its use of military courts in civilian cases because December 08, 2011 “BBC” -- The CIA operated a secret national Justice have already submitted a 69-page draft in- of the heightened level of crime. She said it was hard to prison in the Romanian capital Bucharest where terrorism dictment to Canada’s attorney general, along with more than know the accuracy of the 7,000 fi gure the government cited. suspects were interrogated, an investigation by the Associ- 4,000 pages of supporting material, that set forth the case “It includes protesters, activists, thugs, ordinary criminals ated Press and German media has found. against Bush for torture. We are joined by one of the alleged and innocent passers-by,” she said. “They all received jail Former CIA operatives identifi ed the building where, they torture victims, Murat Kurnaz, a former Guantánamo pris- sentences.” said, detainees were held and tortured. oner. He is a Turkish national who was born in Germany. He The role of the military in arresting political dissidents and The building belongs to a Romanian agency, Orniss, which was detained in Pakistan at the age of 19 in 2001. “I believe peaceful protesters became a major topic after military po- stores classifi ed information from the EU and Nato. George Bush is a criminal, and he has to pay for this, what lice stormed into Tahrir Square on March 9, nearly a month Orniss has denied hosting a CIA prison and the CIA has he did. And even in my own case, even though it proven that after Mubarak’s resignation, and arrested 173 protesters refused to comment. I’m innocent and never had done anything wrong, they still who’d gathered there, including 17 women; military courts The investigation, by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspa- kept me for like fi ve years. After that I got proof that I’m subsequently sentenced 123 of them to three to fi ve years in per and the German TV network ARD, said those held in the innocent, they kept me for fi ve more years, and they never prison. secret prison included Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, who has stopped the torture.” After two months of protests, the military eventually admitted organising the 9/11 attacks. Democracy Now agreed to retry the 123 and they all were released in May. He was seized in Pakistan in March 2003 under the US But complaints about the military’s use of emergency laws programme known as “extraordinary rendition” - the extra- UN Finds Systematic Torture that have been in effect since the 1981 assassination of Presi- judicial detention and transfer of terrorism suspects. dent Anwar Sadat continue. He has been in the US detention centre at Guantanamo in Afghanistan Last week, a conference on political prisoners hosted Bay since 2006, where he is awaiting trial. By Alissa J. Rubin by the Egyptian Lawyers’ Syndicate and sponsored by the ‘Bright Light’ Detainees are hung by their hands and beaten with cables, General Human Rights Committee and the Political Prison- The building identifi ed in the German investigation houses and in some cases their genitals are twisted until the prison- ers Rights Committee demanded the unconditional pardon the Offi ce of the National Register for Secret State Informa- ers lose consciousness at sites run by the Afghan intelligence and release of all political prisoners jailed during Mubarak’s tion, or Orniss. service and the Afghan National Police, according to a Unit- three-decade reign. Orniss has denied all claims that its premises were used as ed Nations report released here on Monday. “Political prisoners are still suffering injustice and dis- a CIA prison. The report, based on interviews over the past year with crimination after the January 25 revolution,” said Mamdouh Asked whether the building was ever used to hold Islamist more than 300 suspects linked to the insurgency, is the most Ismaiel, a member of the lawyers’ syndicate’s board of direc- terrorism suspects, Orniss deputy head Adrian Camarasan comprehensive look at the Afghan detention system and an tors. told the Sueddeutsche: “Here? No!” issue that has long concerned Western offi cials and human “Some activists were jailed in 1992 after suffering illegiti- The building, at 4 Mures Street, was codenamed “Bright rights groups. mate and unfair military prosecutions,” he said. “They are Light”, the Sueddeutsche reported. It paints a devastating picture of abuse, citing evidence still suffering behind bars, just as they did under the former One former CIA operative who said he visited the site fre- of “systematic torture” during interrogations by Afghan in- regime.” quently was quoted as saying: “It was very discreet there. It telligence and police offi cials even as American and other http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/06/13/115722/egypt- was not as though Romanian offi cials came out to greet me.” Western backers provide training and pay for nearly the en- military-7000-civilians.html. Jun. 13, 2011 Allegations of a network of CIA “black sites” in countries tire budget of the Afghan ministries running the detention including Romania fi rst surfaced in 2005 but were denied by centers. Washington. As the United States looks to wind down a decade of war In 2007, an investigation by the Council of Europe accused here, the report threatens to complicate efforts to transfer Romania of operating a secret prison - accusations denied by more detention responsibilities to the Afghans. It could also Bucharest. The CIA called the report “biased and distorted” set in motion provisions of American law that would require and said it had operated legally. the United States to cut off money to any Afghan unit in- Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty on Thursday volved in abuses. welcomed the new report. Nearly half of the detainees interviewed by United Na- “The dynamic of truth has run its course and we are at last tions researchers who were in detention sites run by the Af- beginning to learn what really happened in Bucharest,” he ghan intelligence service, known as the National Directorate said in a statement. of Security, told of torture. The national police treatment of However, he criticised the lack of what he called a “serious detainees was somewhat less severe and widespread, the re- judicial inquiry” in Romania. port found. Its research covered 47 facilities in 22 provinces. In 2006, then-US President George W Bush admitted that Most of those interviewed were suspected of involvement in terror suspects had been held in CIA-run prisons overseas, the insurgency, which has attacked both Afghans and their but he did not say where the prisons were located. Western allies. A BBC investigation in 2010 alleged the CIA used a secret Of the 324 security-related detainees interviewed, 89 had Polish prison where Khaled Sheikh Mohammed was sub- been handed over to the Afghan intelligence service or the jected to simulated drowning - the practice known as water- police by international military forces, and in 19 cases, the boarding. men were tortured once they were in Afghan custody. The United Nations Convention Against Torture prohibits the

14 PRISON FOCUS transfer of a detained person to the custody of another state of State, Cuba’s highest governing body, include women, the hub of Monterrey, Nuevo León state security spokesman where there are substantial grounds for believing they are at ailing and people over 60, Mr. Castro said in a speech to Par- Jorge Domene Zambrano told Milenio television. He said risk of torture. liament. Those released would also include some convicted authorities at the state prosecutor’s offi ce reported 20 dead. “Use of interrogation methods, including suspension, of crimes against the state who had served a large part of their A group of inmates in one cell block started to riot and beatings, electric shock, stress positions and threatened sex- prison sentence with good behavior. He said the government took one of the guards hostage, Domene said. The riot then ual assault is unacceptable by any standard of international would also release 86 foreign prisoners from 25 countries, spread to a second cell block. Authorities regained control of human rights law,” the report said. provided that their governments agreed to repatriate them. the prison within a couple of hours, he said. Families of the One detainee described being taken in for interrogation By Victoria Burnett, NY Times, 12-23-11 prisoners were gathered outside Sunday morning, seeking in Kandahar and having the interrogator ask if he knew the word of the victims. name of the offi cial’s offi ce. The detainee said that after he China Jails Writer for Subversion Deadly fi ghts happen periodically in Mexican prisons as answered, the interrogator said, “You should confess what Chen Xi, a liberal Chinese writer, has been sentenced to 10 gangs and drug cartels stage jail breaks and battle for con- you have done in the past as Taliban — even stones confess years in prison on a charge of inciting subversion of the state, trol of penitentiaries, often with the involvement of offi cials. here.” The man was beaten over several days for hours at a according to reports by news agencies on Monday that cited Some 31 prisoners died in January in a prison riot in the Gulf time with electrical wire and then signed a confession, the Mr. Chen’s wife, Zhang Qunxuan. coast city of Altimara in Tamaulipas state, which borders report said. The harsh sentencing, imposed by a court in the city of Texas. Another fi ght in a prison in the Tamaulipas border city Guiyang, the provincial capital of Guizhou Province, was for of Matamoros in October killed 20 inmates and injured 12. 358 prisoners trapped in cells during 36 essays that Mr. Chen had written and posted online, Ms. In July, a riot at a prison in the border city of Juárez killed ‘horrifi c’ Honduras prison fi re Zhang said. 17 inmates. Mexican authorities detained the director and four guards over that clash. Surveillance video showed two A fi re at a prison in central Honduras killed at least 358 The Chinese government, fearing revolts of the kind that have swept across the Middle East this year, has undertaken inmates opening doors to let armed prisoners into a room trapped inmates in scenes one offi cial described as “horrifi c.” where the slain victims were reportedly holding a party. Honduran authorities have yet to determine the cause of a broad crackdown on liberal writers and artists to try and stamp out any stirrings of dissent. Intellectuals have been Twenty-three people were killed in a prison riot in Du- Tuesday night’s blaze at the prison in the town of Comay- rango city in 2010, and a 2009 riot in Gomez Palacio, an- agua, but said they were examining whether it might have widely detained with no legal recourse. On Friday, another writer, Chen Wei, was sentenced by a other city in the northern Mexican state of Durango, killed been ignited by a riot or an electrical failure. 19 people. The death toll was expected to rise as rescue workers court in Suining, Sichuan Province, to nine years in prison on the same charge. His lawyer said offi cials were offended http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/02/19/mexi- picked through the charred cells, where many inmates were co-prison-riot-leaves-20-dead/#ixzz1mx0Z3QSM asphyxiated or burned alive, offi cials said. Dozens of others, by four essays he had written and posted online. some with severe burns, were taken to hospitals in Comay- By Edward Wong, NY Times, 12-26-11 agua and the capital, Tegucigalpa. Bagram prisoner’s bid for freedom re- Lucy Marder, head of forensic medicine for the prosecu- Nigerian prison raid frees 118 inmates buffed in UK tor’s offi ce, provided the death toll during a news conference. At least 118 prisoners have been set loose by men armed By Robert Barr, Associated Press Josue Garcia, spokesman for the Comayagua Fire Depart- with guns and explosives in an attack on a prison in Nigeria. LONDON — Britain’s Court of Appeal has accepted that ment, described “horrifi c” scenes as fi re swept through the Gunmen stormed the federal prison in Koton-Karifi , just the government has been unable to comply with an order to prison, He was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that south of the capital Abuja, on the evening of February 16th, obtain the release of a Pakistani man from a U.S. military about 100 prisoners died in their cells. killing one guard in the process, according to Nigeria Prisons prison in Afghanistan because “the Americans are not going “We couldn’t get them out because we didn’t have the Service spokesman Kayode Odeyemi. to play ball.” keys and couldn’t fi nd the guards who had them,” Garcia The inmates escaped during the fi ghting, with 118 known In December, lawyers for Yunus Rahmatullah won a writ said. It took fi refi ghters about an hour and a half to contain to be missing by Thursday afternoon. Other reports put the of habeas corpus from the court to compel British offi cials to the blaze, Honduran media said. number of escapees higher, at nearly 200. bring the prisoner before the court. Some inmates were able to escape by breaking through A unnamed police offi cer told Nigeria’s Daily Trust news- But on Monday government lawyers said the U.S. has re- the roof, Honduran media reports said. Many others remain paper that the group of around 20 gunmen took half an hour fused to release the prisoner it has held for eight years, and unaccounted for. to storm the jail on motorbikes. the Court of Appeal accepted that outcome. It will release its Photographs taken at the scene showed relatives of inmates Another witness told the paper: “After bombing the gate written judgment on Thursday. gathered outside the fence of the prison, throwing stones at they immediately moved into the prison shooting sporadi- “A writ of habeas corpus was issued to test whether Mr. guards in anger and frustration. cally in order to chase other prison offi cers away.” Rahmatullah could be released,” James Eadie, a lawyer for Honduran prisons, like many in Latin America, are se- Hadijha Aminu, a local prison offi cial, said guards had still the Foreign Offi ce and Ministry of Defense, told judges. verely overcrowded, fi lthy and poorly equipped. Rioting at not completed a head count and were unsure how many pris- “The Americans are not going to play ball. The Foreign another Honduran prison in October left nine people dead. oners were inside the prison at the time of the attack. Offi ce view is that we have reached the end of the road,” Feb. 15, 2012, LA Times Odeyemi said he did not know the reason for the attack. “It Eadie said. “They don’t accept that we have an unqualifi ed might be that some of the armed robbers are trying to free the right and that they have an unqualifi ed obligation under in- [Update: Most of the prisoners who died in Honduras’ armed robbers there awaiting trial,” he said. ternational law.” prison fi re had never been charged with a crime, let alone No group immediately claimed responsibility for the raid Lawyers for Rahmatullah and the legal rights group Re- convicted, according to an internal Honduran government in Kogi state, in central Nigeria. The Nigerian government prieve contended that international law required Britain to be report. said an investigation had been launched. responsible for his care since British forces in Iraq originally More than half of the 856 inmates of the Comayagua farm Odeyemi said he did not know if the prison held any mem- seized him in 2004. He was turned over to U.S. custody and prison north of the Central American country’s capital were bers of Boko Haram, the militant Islamist sect behind a huge transferred to the detention facility at Bagram air base in Af- either awaiting trial or being held as suspected gang mem- jailbreak in 2010 in Bauchi state that freed about 700 prison- ghanistan. bers, according to a report sent by the Honduran government ers, many of them Boko Haram members. “This is far from over,” said Clair Algar, Reprieve’s execu- this month to the United Nations. Last month the group also freed some of its captured mem- tive director. Prisoners only needed to have a wrong tattoo to be incar- bers during a series of bombings on police stations in the “The British government’s failure to persuade its suppos- cerated under the strict Honduran anti-gang laws, according northern city of Kano. edly closest ally to honor agreements signed between the two to the report, which was obtained by the Associated Press. The sect’s violence comes amid a campaign brought by its countries has left it open to war crimes charges. The govern- The U.N. condemns the practice as a violation of interna- leader, Abubakar Shekau, aimed at avenging Muslim deaths, ment now faces yet another investigation over its involve- tional law.] freeing imprisoned members and pushing for strict sharia ment in torture and rendition,” Algar said. Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/ law across Nigeria. On Saturday - the deadline for complying with the habeas news/2012/02/16/most-honduras-prison-fi re-victims-had- Nigeria’s prisons remain overcrowded and understaffed, corpus writ - Reprieve lodged a formal complaint with Lon- not-been-charged-with-any-crime/#ixzz1mZoFrcG6 with the majority of those imprisoned awaiting trials for years don’s Metropolitan police accusing the government of a role with no end in sight. A 2007 study by Amnesty International in war crimes against Rahmatullah and a man arrested with 2,900 cuban Prisoners Pardoned called the system “appalling”, with children locked up with him, Amanatullah Ali. “Unlike some crimes, this is an ongoing one. These men Cuba has pardoned 2,900 prisoners and may release doz- parents and guards routinely bribed by inmates. Government continue to be held in breach of the Geneva Conventions, ens of foreigners serving jail sentences as a “humanitarian pledges to reform the system have made little impact. with no one having been held accountable for the crimes gesture,” President Raúl Castro said Friday. The amnesty David Smith, Guardian, Feb. 16, 2012 committed against them,” Reprieve’s director, Clive Stafford will not include Alan Gross, an American contractor whose Smith, said in the complaint. arrest two years ago has strained relations between Cuba and 20 Dead in Mexican Prison Riot Read more here: http://www.thestate. the United States. Cuba’s vice foreign minister, Josefi na Vi- Twenty people died in a prison riot in northern Mexico on com/2012/02/20/2160390/bagram-prisoners-bid-for-free- dal, told The Associated Press that Mr. Gross was “not on February 19, a state security offi cial said. The riot broke out dom.html#storylink=cpy the list.” The prisoners, who were pardoned by the Council at 2 a.m. at a jail in the city of Apodaca outside the industrial

You’ve probably never wondered what some well-dressed prison guards wear on their off hours, but for those who have, below is a sample of tee shirts guards can order from the website http://www.correctionstees.com

NUMBER 38 15 post as a violation of the 8th Amendment’s ban on “cruel and es are $.30 to $.95 per hour before deductions. SLAVERY ON THE NEW unusual punishment.” For the State’s highest wage, $1 hour, prisoners provide PLANTATION In response to the demands of World War II, the number the “backbone of the state’s wild land fi re fi ghting crews,” of both free and captive road workers declined signifi cantly. according to an unpublished CDC report. The State Depart- By Kiilu Nyasha (updated March 2012) In 1941, there were 1,750 prisoners slaving in 28 active road ment of Forestry saves more than $80 million annually us- camps for all types of construction and maintenance. The ing prison labor. California’s Department of Forestry has 200 “Slavery 400 years ago, slavery today. It’s the same, numbers bottomed out by war’s end at 540 captives in 17 Fire Crews comprised of CDC and CYA (California Youth but with a new name. They’re practicing slavery under camps. Authority) minimum-security captives housed in 46 Conser- color of law.” vation Camps throughout the state. These prisoners average Ruchell Cinque Magee The Proliferation of Prisons, Jails, and Camps 10 million work hours per year according to the CDCR. In the 1940s, California Governor Earl Warren conducted “Their primary function is to construct fi re lines by hand he 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution retained secret investigations into the State’s only prisons, San Quen- in areas where heavy machinery cannot be used because of the right to enslave within the confi nes of prison. tin and Folsom. The depravity, squalor, sadism, and torture steep topography, rocky terrain, or areas that may be con- “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as T he found led the governor to initiate the building of Soledad sidered environmentally sensitive.” (I.e., the most dangerous a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been Prison in 1951. fi re lines). duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any Prisoners were put to work in educational and vocational Now at least 37 states have similar programs wherein pris- place subject to their jurisdiction.” Dec. 6, 1865. programs that taught basic courses in English and math, and oners manufacture everything from blue jeans to auto parts, Even before the abolition of chattel slavery, America’s his- provided training in trades ranging from gardening to meat electronics and toys. Clothing made in Oregon and Califor- tory of prison labor had already begun in New York’s State cutting. At wages of 7 to 25 cents an hour, California prison- nia is exported to other countries, competing successfully Prison at Auburn soon after it opened in 1817. Auburn be- ers used their acquired skills to turn out institutional cloth- with apparel made in Asia and Latin America. came the fi rst prison that contracted with a private business ing and furniture, license plates and stickers, seed new crops, One of the newest forms of slave labor is the U.S. Army’s to operate a factory within its walls. Later, in the post Civil slaughter pigs, produce and sell dairy products to a nearby “Civilian Inmate Labor Program” to “benefi t both the Army War period, the “contract and lease” system proliferated, al- mental institution. and corrections systems” by providing “a convenient source lowing private companies to employ prisoners and sell their Within a decade this “model prison” at Soledad had be- of labor at no direct cost to Army installations,” additional products for profi t. come another torture chamber of fi lthy dungeons, literal space to alleviate prison overcrowding, and cost-effective Today, such prisons are referred to as “Factories with “holes,” virulently racist guards, offi cially sanctioned brutal- use of land and facilities otherwise not being utilized. Fences.” (http://www.unicor.gov/information/publications/ ity, torture, and murder. Though prison jobs were supposed “With a few exceptions,” this program is currently limited pdfs/corporate/CATMC1101_C.pdf) to be voluntary, if prisoners refuse to work they were often to prisoners under the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) that given longer sentences, denied privileges, or thrown into allows the Attorney General to provide the services of fed- The Convict-Lease System solitary confi nement. Forced to work long hours under mis- eral prisoners to other federal agencies, defi ning the types of In Southern states, Slave Codes were rewritten as Black erable conditions, in the 1960s, “Soledad Brother,” George services they can perform. The Program stipulates that the Codes, a series of laws criminalizing the law-abiding activi- Jackson, organized a work strike that turned into a riot after “Army is not interested in, nor can afford, any relationship ties of Black people, such as standing around, “loitering,” white strikebreakers tried to lynch one of the Black strikers. with a corrections facility if that relationship stipulates pay- or walking at night, “breaking curfew.” The enforcement of The Black Movement’s resistance, led by George Jackson, ment for civilian inmate labor. Installation civilian inmate la- these Codes dramatically increased the number of Blacks in W. L. Nolen, and Hugo “Yogi” Pinell, eventually brought bor program operating costs must not exceed the cost avoid- Southern prisons. In 1878, Georgia leased out 1,239 con- Congressional oversight and overhaul of California’s pris- ance generated from using inmate labor.” In other words the victs, 1,124 of whom were Black. on system. (The Melancholy History of Soledad Prison, by prison labor must be free of charge. The lease system provided slave labor for plantation own- Minh S. Yee.). The three “exceptions” to exclusive Federal contract- ers or private industries as well as revenue for the state, since California’s prison system rose exponentially to approxi- ing are as follows: (1) “a demonstration project” providing incarcerated workers were entirely in the custody of the con- mately 174,000 prisoners crammed into 90 penitentiaries, “prerelease employment training to nonviolent offenders in tractors who paid a set annual fee to the state (about $25,000). prisons and camps stretched across 900 miles of the fi fth- a State correctional facility” [CF]. (2) Army National Guard Entire prisons were leased out to private contractors who largest economy in the world, as Ruth Gilmore’s book, units “may use inmates from an off-post State and/or local literally worked hundreds of prisoners to death. Prisons be- “Golden Gulag” reports. That number can be doubled or CF.” (3) Civil Works projects. Services provided might in- came the new plantations; Angola State Prison in Louisiana tripled by those on other forms of penal control, probation, clude constructing or repairing roads, maintaining or refor- was a literal plantation, and still is except the slaves are now parole, or house arrest. esting public land; building levees, landscaping, painting, called convicts and the prison is known as “The Farm.” (A Since 1984, the California has erected 43 prisons (and only carpentry, trash pickup, etc. documentary of that title is available on DVD.) one university) making it a global leader in prison construc- This Civilian Inmate Labor Program document includes in The inherent brutality and cruelty of the lease system and tion. Most of the new prisons have been built in rural areas its countless specifi cations such caveats as “Inmates must not the loss of outside jobs sparked resistance that eventually far from family and friends, and most captives are Black or be referred to as employees.” A prisoner would not qualify if brought about its demise. Brown men, although the incarceration of women has sky- he/she is a “person in whom there is a signifi cant public in- One of the most famous battles was the Coal Creek Rebel- rocketed. Suicide and recidivism rates approach twice the terest,” who has been a “signifi cant management problem,” lion of 1891. When the Tennessee coal, Iron and Railroad national average, and the State spends more on prisons than “a principal organized crime fi gure,” any “inmate convicted locked out their workers and replaced them with convicts, on higher education. (The seeming contradiction between of a violent crime,” a sex offense, involvement with drugs the miners stormed the prison and freed 400 captives; and the offi cial fi gure of 33 prisons relates to the additional build- within the last three years, an escape risk, “a threat to the when the company continued to contract prisoners, the min- ings constructed at a given prison complex, and the various general public.” Makes one wonder why such a prisoner isn’t ers burned the prison down. The Tennessee leasing system camps and county jails.) just released or paroled. In fact, the “hiring qualifi cations” was disbanded shortly thereafter. But it remained in many Between 1998 and 2009, the CDCR’s budget grew from -- makes me suspect the “Civilian Inmate Labor Program” states until the rise of resistance in the 1930s. $3.5 billion to $10.3 billion (the latest fi gures available). At is a backdoor draft, especially in lieu of a military already Strikes by prisoners and union workers together were or- its peak in August 2007, the department had 72 gyms and stretched to its limit. ganized by then radical CIO and other labor unions. They 125 dayrooms jammed with 19,618 inmate beds. Note: When I tried to fi nd an updated web page on the pressured Congress to pass the 1935 Ashurst-Sumners Act “They provided an accurate and extremely graphic exam- Civilian Inmate Labor Program, there was none. The date making it illegal to transport prison-made goods across state ple of the crowding and inhumanity that engulfed the entire remains 2005 for its latest report. Could the latest data be lines. But under President Jimmy Carter, Congress granted system,” said Don Specter, director of the nonprofi t Prison classifi ed? exemptions to the Act by passing the Justice System Improve- Law Offi ce in Berkeley, which sued to force the state to ease The Federal Prison Industries (FPI), a nonprofi t Justice ment Act of 1979, which produced the Prison Industries En- crowding as a way to improve the treatment of sick and men- Department subsidiary, that does business as UNICOR, was hancement program, or PIE, that eventually spread to all 50 tally ill inmates. created in 1935, and began supplying the Pentagon on a states. This lifted the ban on interstate transportation and sale broad scale in the 1980s. of prison-made products, permitting a for-profi t relationship The Privatizing of Federal and State Prisons The prison privatization boom began in the 1980s, under between prisons and the private sector, and prompting a dra- Under court order to reduce overcrowding, by 2009, the the governments of Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr., but matic increase in prison labor which continues to escalate. CDCR had transferred 8,000 prisoners to private prisons in reached its height in 1990 under Bill Clinton when the Wall As the leasing system phased out, a new, even more brutal four states –Tennessee, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Arizona, Street stocks were selling like hotcakes. In fact, President exploitation emerged -- the chain gang. An extremely de- among the most virulently racist states in the country. The Clinton accomplished a record $10 billion prison building humanizing cruelty that chained men, and later women, to- rest of the prisoners were transferred to county jails. Cur- boom in the 1990s. gether in groups of fi ve, it was originated to build extensive rently, the inmate population is about 142,000 and must re- His program for cutting the federal workforce resulted in roads and highways. The fi rst state to institute chain gangs move another 17,000 prisoners to reach the June 2013 court the Justice Department’s contracting of private prison corpo- was Alabama, followed by Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, deadline. rations for the incarceration of undocumented workers and Illinois, Wisconsin, Montana, and Oklahoma. In 1985, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger lauded high-security inmates. (Global Research, 2008) Arizona’s fi rst female chain gang was instituted in 1996. China’s prison labor program: “1,000 inmates in one prison I By 2003, there were 100 FPI factories working 20,274 Complete with striped uniforms, the women of a Phoenix jail visited comprised a complete factory unit producing hosiery prisoners with sales totaling $666.8 million. And currently (to this day) spend four to six hours a day chained together and what we would call casual or sport shoes... Indeed it had FPI employs about 19,000 captives, slightly less than 20 per- in groups of 30, clearing roadsides of weeds and burying the been a factory and was taken over to make a prison.” Burger cent of the federal prison population, in 106 prison factories indigent. called for the conversion of prisons into factories, the repeal around the country. Profi ts totaled at least $40 million! Georgia’s chain-gang conditions were particularly brutal. of laws limiting prison industry production and sales, and the In 2005, FPI sold more than $750,000,000 worth of goods Men were put out to work swinging 12 lb. sledge hammers active participation of business and organized labor. to the federal government. Sales to the Army alone put UNI- for 16 hours a day, malnourished and shackled together, Heeding the judge’s call, California voters passed Prop COR on the Army’s list of top 50 suppliers, ahead of well- unable to move their legs a full stride. Wounds from metal 139 in 1990, establishing the Joint Venture Program allow- known corporations like Dell Computer, according to Wayne shackles often became infected, leading to illness and death. ing California businesses to cash in on prison labor. “This is Woolley, Newhouse News Service. Prisoners who could not keep up with the grueling pace were the new jobs program for California, so we can compete on a In 2011, the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) released a report whipped or shut in a sweatbox or tied to a hitching post, a Third World basis with countries like Bangladesh,” observed that exposes how private prison companies are “working to stationary metal rail. Chained to the post with hands raised Richard Holober with the California Federation of Labor. make money through harsh policies and longer sentences.” high over his head, the prisoner remained tethered in that Currently, California’s Prison Industrial Authority (CAL- The report notes that while the total number of prisoners in- position in the Alabama heat for many hours without wa- PIA) employs 7,000 captives assigned to 5,039 positions creased less than 16 percent, the number of people held in ter or bathroom breaks. (Human Rights Watch World Report in manufacturing, agricultural service enterprises, and sell- private federal and state facilities increased by 120 and 33 1998). ing and administration at 22 prisons throughout the state. It percent, respectively. Thanks to a lawsuit settled by the Southern Poverty Law produces goods and services such as offi ce furniture, cloth- Government spending on so-called corrections rose to $74 Center, Alabama’s Department of Corrections agreed in ing, food products, shoes, printing services, signs, binders, billion in 2007. And last year (2011) the two largest private 1996 to stop chaining prisoners together. A few years later, gloves, license plates, cell equipment, and much more. Wag- prison companies—Corrections Corporation of America the Center won a Court ruling that ended use of the hitching

16 PRISON FOCUS (CCA) and GEO Group—made over $2.9 billion in profi ts. than the offense. For example, a $300 robbery resulting in Treaties made, or which shall be made, under Authority of These corporations use three strategies to infl uence public a 5-year sentence, at the Massachusetts average of $43,000 the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land.” policy: lobbying, direct campaign contributions and net- per year, will cost $215,000. That doesn’t even include law One such treaty, duly signed, nay, promoted by the United working. They succeeded in getting Arizona’s harsh new im- enforcement and court costs.” States of post-World War II, and duly ratifi ed by the U.S. migration laws passed, and came close to winning the priva- Nearly 75% of all prisoners are drug war captives. A crim- Senate and still in full force today, is the Universal Declara- tization of all of Florida’s prisons. inal record today practically forces an ex-con into illegal tion of Human Rights (G.A. Res. 217 U.N. 3 F.A.O.R., U.N. A relatively new ordering tool used by BOP (Bureau of employment since they don’t qualify for legitimate jobs or Doc 1/777, 1948), which ways in its Article 4: “No one shall Prisons) is GSA Advantage!, the federal government’s pre- subsidized housing. Minor parole violations, unaffordable be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade mier online ordering system that provides 24-hour access to bail, parole denials, longer mandatory sentencing and three shall be prohibited in all their forms.” over 17 million products and services, solutions available strikes laws, slashing of welfare rolls, overburdened court Signed and ratifi ed 84 years after the Thirteenth Amend- from over 16,000 GSA Multiple Award Schedules contrac- systems, shortages of public defenders, massive closings of ment, Article 4 should overrule the Thirteenth Amendment tors, as well as all products available from GSA Global Sup- mental hospitals, and high unemployment (about 50% for as to the former’s “slave license” against those convicted of ply. (http://www.gsaadvantage.gov) Black men) -- all contribute to the high rates of incarcera- crime. Article 4 absolutely and without any exceptions pro- Since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan in 2001, the tion and recidivism. Thus, the slave labor pool continues to hibits “slavery or servitude,” period. It prohibits them “in Army’s Communication and Electronics Command at Fort expand. all their forms,” such as Texas Government Code sec. 497 Monmouth, N.J., has shipped more than 200,000 radios to Among the most powerful unions today are the guards’ et. Sequitur TCI/PIE (prison industries), which, pious and combat zones, most with at least some components manu- unions. The California Corrections Peace Offi cers Associa- empty words to the contrary, do indeed take every scarcer factured by federal inmates working in 11 prison electron- tion (CCPOA) wields so much political power it practically free-world jobs, by opposing the unfair competition of free ics factories around the country. Under current law, UNI- decides who governs the state. Moreover, its members get (or dirt cheap) involuntary servitude of convicts. COR enjoys a contracting preference known as “mandatory the State’s biggest payouts, according to the L.A. Times. “Involuntary servitude” is defi ned as “The condition of source,” which obligates government agencies to try to buy “More than 1600 offi cers’ earnings exceeded legislators’ one forced to labor – for pay or not – for another by coercion certain goods from the prisons before allowing private com- 2007 salaries of $113,098.” Base pay for 6,000 guards earn- or imprisonment.” Black’s Law Dictionary (7th Ed, 1999) So panies to bid on the work. This same contracting restriction ing $100,000 or more totaled $453 million with overtime beyond question the forcible and unpaid labor of prisoners applies to state agencies. adding another $220 million to wages. One lieutenant guard falls within the forms of “slavery or servitude” prohibited The demand for defense products from FPI became so earned more than any other state offi cial, including the Gov- expressly and without any exceptions by a U.S. Treaty – “the great that “national exigency” provisions were invoked so ernor, or $252,570. supreme Law of the Land.” the 20 percent limit on goods provided in each category California’s per prisoner cost has risen to $49,000, and that Is the way then clear in the courts to once and for all times could be exceeded. The rules were waived during the 1991 fi gure doubles and triples for elderly and high-security cap- abolish the slave labor of prisoners? By no means! As long Persian Gulf War. Private manufacturers say they’ve been tives. That’s enough money to send a person through Har- as “those with the most capital” may continue to appoint the hurt by such practice, as they are unable to bid on various vard! best politicians that money can buy, the rights of workers, products. The National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA), whether imprisoned workers for “free” wage-slaves, shall be According to the Left Business Observer, the federal pris- is an international nonprofi t professional association, whose last on the priorities list. And one hurdle in our way in the on industry produces 100% of all military helmets, ammu- self-declared mission is “to promote excellence and credibil- courts is that, by “post-Constitutional case law,” treaties are nition belts, bulletproof vests, ID tags, shirts, pants, tents, ity in correctional industries through professional develop- not enforceable in the courts, unless containing some “self- bags, and canteens. Along with war supplies, prison work- ment and innovative business solutions.” executing clause.” Yes, you’ve heard right. That unless it has ers supply 98% of the entire market for equipment assembly NCIA’s members include all 50 state correctional industry some “self-executing clause,” treaties are still (of course!) services; 93% of paints and paintbrushes; 92% of stove as- agencies, Federal Prison Industries, foreign correctional in- “the highest Law of the Land,” but, alas, not enforceable by sembly; 46% of body armor; 36% of home appliances; 30% dustry agencies, city and county jail industry programs, and going to the courts! of headphones/microphones/speakers; and 21% of offi ce private sector companies working in partnership with cor- Que no? ♦ furniture. Airplane parts, medical supplies, and much more: rectional industries. prisoners are even raising seeing-eye dogs for blind people. Chattel slavery was ended following prolonged guerrilla By 2007, the overall sales fi gures and profi ts for federal warfare between the slaves and the slave-owners and their LAWSUIT REALIGNMENT and state prison industries had skyrocketed into the billions. political allies. Referred to as the “Underground Railroad,” Apparently, the military industrial complex (MIC) and the it was led by the revolutionary General Harriet Tubman with SAYS PRISONERS HAVE prison industrial complex (PIC) have joined forces. support from her alliances with abolitionists, Black and The PIC is a network of public and private prisons, of mili- White. It only makes sense that this new form of slavery RIGHT TO VOTE tary personnel, politicians, business contacts, prison guard must produce prison abolitionists. hree organizations concerned with voting rights have unions, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers all mak- As George Jackson noted in a KPFA interview with Karen fi led a lawsuit in the First District Court of Appeal ing big profi ts at the expense of poor people who comprise Wald (Spring 1971), “I’m saying that it’s impossible, impos- Ttoday to clarify that people who have been sentenced the overwhelming majority of captives. The fastest grow- sible, to concentration-camp resisters....We have to prove for low-level, non-violent offenses under the state’s historic ing industry in the country, it has its own trade exhibitions, that this thing won’t work here. And the only way to prove reform of criminal justice known as Realignment are entitled conventions, websites, and mail-order/Internet catalogs and it is resistance...and then that resistance has to be supported, to vote in the 2012 elections and beyond. direct advertising campaigns. Corporate stockholders who of course, from the street....We can fi ght, but the results are... Petitioners in the case are All of Us or None, Legal Ser- make money off prisoners’ labor lobby for longer sentences, not conducive to proving our point...that this thing won’t vices for Prisoners with Children, and the League of Women in order to expand their workforce. work on us. From inside, we fi ght and we die....the point is Voters of California, three organizations committed to vot- Replacing the “contract and lease” system of the 19th cen- —in the new face of war—to fi ght and win.” ing rights and reintegration of people with convictions, as tury, private companies that have contracted prison labor in- Power to the people. ♦ well as a woman confi ned in San Francisco jail for a narcot- clude Microsoft, Boeing, Honeywell, IBM, Revlon, Pierre [Kiilu Nyasha is a San Francisco-based journalist and for- ics conviction who wishes to vote. Secretary of State Debra Cardin, Compaq, Victoria Secret, Macy’s, Target, Nord- mer member of the Black Panther Party. Through the end Bowen and San Francisco Director of Elections John Arntz strom, and countless others. of 2009, Kiilu hosted a weekly TV program, “Freedom Is are named as respondents. In 1995, there were only fi ve private prisons in the country, A Constant Struggle,” on SF Live, and many shows are At the center of the lawsuit is a 2006 ruling (League of with a population of 2,000 inmates; now, private companies archived here: http://kiilunyasha.blogspot.com. Kiilu also Women Voters vs. McPherson) in which the same court clari- operate 264 correctional facilities housing some 99,000 adult writes for many publications, including the SF Bay View fi ed that people who are confi ned in county jail as a condition prisoners. The two largest private prison corporations in the Newspaper and Black Commentator. Also an accomplished of felony probation are entitled to vote under California law. US, GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut) and Corrections radio programmer, she has worked for KPFA (Berkeley), SF Individuals sentenced to county jail under Realignment are Corporation of America (CCA) are transnationals, managing Liberation Radio, Free Radio Berkeley, and KPOO in SF. not “in state prison” or “on parole” as required by McPher- prisons and detention centers in 34 states, Australia, Canada, Kiilu can be contacted via email: [email protected]. son. The organizations that brought McPherson have re- South Africa, and the United Kingdom. http://kiilunyasha.blogspot.com.] turned to the Court of Appeal to protect the voting rights of A top performer on the New York Stock Exchange, CCA people living in their communities, in county jails or under called California its “new frontier,” and boasts of investors probation-like supervision, following Realignment. such as Wal-Mart, Exxon, General Motors, Ford, Chevro- THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT In December, Secretary Bowen issued a memorandum let, Texaco, Hewlett-Packard, Verizon, and UPS. Currently, (#11134) to all county clerks and registrars stating that none CCA has 80,000 beds in 65 facilities, and GEO Group oper- OVERRULED BY U.S. of the individuals sentenced under Realignment are eligible ates 61 facilities with 49,000 beds, according to Wikipedia. to vote. But according to the McPherson ruling, the Califor- Employers (Read: slavers) don’t have to pay health or TREATY nia Constitution deprives individuals of the right to vote on unemployment insurance, vacation time, sick leave or over- By Ana Lucia Gelabert the basis of criminal convictions only if they are “imprisoned time. They can hire, fi re or reassign inmates as they so de- early 140 years after it was abolished, slavery, by in state prison” or “on parole as a result of the conviction of sire, and can pay the workers as little as 21 cents an hour. way of the involuntary servitude of prisoners con- a felony.” The inmates cannot respond with a strike, fi le a grievance, or Ntinues to fl ourish in this “land of the free,” thanks to Petitioners are represented by the American Civil Liberties threaten to leave and get a better job. the clause in the Thirteenth Amendment authorizing “invol- Union of Northern California, Social Justice Law Project, On September 19, 2005, UNICOR was commended for its untary servitude … as a punishment for crime whereof the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco outstanding support of the nation’s military. Deputy Com- party shall have been duly convicted….” Bay Area, A New Way of Life Reentry Project, Legal Ser- mander of the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP), Based on such “license to slavery,” Texas and Florida, vices for Prisoners with Children, and the Law Offi ce of presented the Bureau of Prisons Director with a “Supporting both former slave states and both under the toe of the Bush Robert Rubin. Petitioners argue that excluding Californians the Warfi ghter” award. The award recognized UNICOR for mafi a family, pay their prisoners nothing at all for their com- with criminal convictions from voting is at odds with the its tremendous support of DSCP’s mission to provide equip- pulsory labor; while several other states, again mostly in the California Constitution and contradicts a central purpose of ment, materials, and supplies to each branch of the armed ex-slavery South pay “peanuts and shells” after forcible and Realignment, which is to stop the state’s expensive revolving forces. “We at DSCP are very appreciative of UNICOR, es- often brutal prison labor. door of incarceration. pecially with our critical need items. With more than $200 Prisoners work long hours in the sun or very hot indoors. “Being deprived of the right to vote is civil death,” said million worth of orders during Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005, They work long weeks, year after year with no vacations, Joe Paul, who coordinates a re-entry program that focuses on UNICOR has not had a single delinquency.” no sick leave, no retirements or benefi ts of any kind and, in workforce development and life skills in conjunction with Mass roundups of immigrants and non-citizens, currently Texas, after the years those lucky enough to make parole are the Los Angeles County Sheriff and the Department of Cor- about half of all federal prisoners, and dragnets in low-in- given fi fty bucks and a one-way bus ride to start their broken rections. “To reintegrate, you need to exercise the rights of come ‘hoods have increased the prison population to unprec- lives again. citizenship - to get a job, to serve on a jury, to vote. For edented levels. Andrea Hornbein points out in Profi t Motive: The same U.S. Constitution that supposedly perpetuated democracy to work, especially in the inner city, everybody “The majority of these arrests are for low level offenses slavery by way of the Thirteenth Amendment, says in its needs to be a part of the franchise. If we are not inclusive, we or outstanding warrants, and impact the taxpayer far more Article VI: “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United cannot be indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all http://aclusandiego.org/article_id=001246 NUMBER 38 17 BLACK LIBERATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY: A REVOLUTIONARY REASSESSMENT OF BLACK NATIONALISM

“[T]rue revolutionary leaders must not only be good sentially a peasantry’s struggle for the land they labored on That we New Afrikans are now a predominantly proletar- at correcting their ideas, theories, plans or programs, geographically defi ned by their having a common language, ian nation—and one without a national territory—is an ad- when errors are discovered... but when a certain objec- history, culture and economic life together. Hence the slo- vantage to the cause of building a multi-ethnic, multiracial tive process has already progressed and changed from gans “Free the Land!” and “Land to the Tiller!” socialist Amerika. Indeed, it thrusts us into playing a van- one stage of development to another, they must also be Indeed, ALL the national liberation struggles of the 20th guard role in leading the whole working class and the broad good at making themselves and all their fellow revolu- century occurred in peasant-based societies in opposition masses in pulling down the capitalist-imperialist system and tionaries progress and change in their subjective knowl- to colonial or neo-colonial domination and feudal or semi- achieving social justice for all. edge along with it....” feudal class oppression. Today, however, the Black popu- This conception of our historical role corresponds with Mao Tse-tung, On Contradiction lation within the U.S. is no longer a rural peasantry. It is Lenin’s and Mao’s lines on the National Question which we overwhelmingly a proletarian nation (wage slaves) dispersed contrast with Stalin’s and dogmatic continuation of the BBT. By Kevin ‘Rashid’ Johnson across the U.S. and concentrated in and around urban centers Lenin and Mao saw the national question primarily as a mat- Introduction in predominantly Black or multi-ethnic oppressed communi- ter of building the ranks of the proletarian revolution to pull ome time ago comrades of the New Afrikan Maoist ties. down the system of imperialism. In fact, in all of his writings Party (NAMP) expressed a desire to reconcile contra- The trend since World War I has been towards migration on Black liberation in the U.S. Mao consistently talks about Sdictions between their line and the line of our New away from the “Black Belt” South and from the rural to the merging the Black liberation struggle with the proletarian Afrikan Black Panther Party—Prison Chapter (NABPP-PC) urban setting (even within the South). Check this out from revolutionary struggle in the U.S. He doesn’t mention the on the question of Black National Liberation in the 21st “1001 Facts” on Black History: land issue once. In A New Storm Against Imperialism, (April Century. On this question, NAMP along with several other “African Americans continued to move northward 16, 1968), he stated: organizations—including the New Afrikan People’s Organi- and cityward after World War I in 1918. In fact, the mi- “Racial discrimination in the United States is a prod- zation (NAPO), the Provisional Government of the Republic gration increased during the 1920s as another million uct of the colonialist and imperialist system. The contra- of New Afrika, the Maoist International Movement (MIM) southern African Americans picked up their bags and diction between the Black masses in the United States and others promote the Black Belt Thesis (BBT) as it was left southern living conditions. The migration expanded and the U.S. ruling circles is a class contradiction. Only set out by the Comintern (Third Communist International) in the 1930s as the New Deal Agricultural Adjustment by overthrowing the reactionary rule of the U.S. mo- in the 1920s. Act of 1933 forced many more to migrate once the AAA nopoly capitalist class and destroying the colonialist and The NAMP comrades are correct in pointing out that our paid white southern farmers not to produce crops and imperialist system can the Black people in the United respective organizations have a major line contradiction on made it profi table to dispense with Black sharecroppers. States win complete emancipation. The Black masses this question. We have as yet not publicly fl eshed out our Technological advances such as the cotton picker ma- and the masses of white working people in the United line on this, in contrast to that States have common inter- of NAMP and others, so it is ests and common objectives time we did so in a formal to struggle for. position paper. “Therefore, the Afro- In developing our line on American struggle is win- the Black National Ques- ning sympathy and support tion in the U.S. we have ap- from increasing numbers of plied the method of historical white working people and dialectical materialism and progressives in the United deepened the analysis put States. The struggle of the forward by Huey P. Newton Black people in the United of the original Black Panther States is bound to merge Party (BPP). This means we with the American workers’ do not hold dogmatically and movement, and this will idealistically to outmoded eventually end the criminal ideas and formulations that rule of the U.S. monopoly no longer fi t the current situ- capitalist class.” ation. Instead we base our In his August 8, 1963 arti- analysis on the study of con- cle, “Oppose Racial Discrimi- crete conditions in the con- nation by U.S. Imperialism”, text of their actual historical Mao’s emphasis is on racial development, realizing that discrimination, not “Free The everything is in a state of mo- Land!” He sees Black lib- tion and development from a eration as driving forward the lower to a higher level, and United Front Against Capital- that correct ideas develop in ist-Imperialism and pulling struggle and contradiction white workers and other strata with incorrect ones. towards socialist revolution in chine made large numbers of unskilled agricultural la- the U.S. The issue is not integration versus separation but The Black Belt Thesis and the New Class Confi gu- borers obsolete in southern agriculture. Then, as World revolution. ration of the New Afrikan Nation War II began, Black mass migration exploded and nearly Even Malcolm X came to embrace this position. In fact, The BBT was developed by the U.S. “Black Bolshevik,” 5 million African Americans left the South for the North every popular, independent Black leader who came to hold Harry Haywood, in his 1928 and 1930 “Comintern Resolu- from 1940 to 1960... [This] Second Migration created this view and actively advanced it was promptly assassinat- tion on the Negro Question,” which was adopted by the Co- huge ghettos in all the major American cities. Whereas ed. Why? Because neither separation nor integration threat- mintern and the U.S. Communist Party with support from in 1890 close to 90 percent of African Americans lived ens the imperialist system—socialist revolution does! V.I. Lenin. It holds that Blacks in Amerika (New Afrikans) in the South, by 1960 only 50 percent of African Ameri- constitute a nation within the territorial U.S. and that we cans still resided there. Moreover, the movement north Separation, Integration or Revolution? should establish our own sovereign national territory in Ala- was also a movement toward urban rather than rural Take Brother Malcolm; in his early stages of political bama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana and South Carolina living. By 1990 over 84 percent of African Americans development, he promoted Black separatism. Based upon (the “Black Belt” also known as the “Cotton Belt”). The lived in urban areas, making ‘African American’ and his observation of independence struggles across the pre- states were chosen because we slaved there and developed ‘urban’ almost synonymous in moden America.” dominantly peasant-based Third World of the 1950s and and evolved as a national group and “internal colony” where Therefore, without need of pursuing a struggle to achieve early 1960s, he adopted the view that revolution was about Blacks made up the majority. The principle factors which a New Afrikan nation state, we have achieved the historical land, and he embraced the slogan “Free The Land!”, which supported the BBT were economic and demographic that ex- results of bourgeois democracy, at least as far as transform- he elaborated on in his Message to the Grassroots speech isted in the 1920s but no longer exist today. ing ourselves from a peasant to a predominantly proletarian given in 1963. However, in an April 6, 1964 speech given No one can sensibly deny that Black people were forged national grouping through the “Great Migration.” in Harlem, he expressly rejected both Black separatism and into a “nation within a nation” because of their loss of Of course the Amerikan liberal democratic revolution be- integration, in favor of revolutionary change of Amerika as Afrikan national identity under slavery and exclusion from gun in 1776, which was continued by the Civil War (1861- a whole. He stated: the white Amerikan nation under conditions of “Jim Crow” 1865), remains unfi nished—in particular as far as Black “We have to keep in mind at all times that we are not segregation. Nor can one deny that this nation is bound to people are affected. Pre-capitalist forms of exploitation con- fi ghting for integration, nor are we fi ghting for separa- its Afrikan origin and defi ned by the imposed value that a tinue to exist, such as the “slave status” of U.S. prisoners, tion. We are fi ghting for recognition... for the right to drop of Afrikan blood sets one outside of the “melting pot” institutionalized torture, legalized “lynching” as embodied live as free humans in this society” [my emphasis] of white Amerikan society. in the racist death penalty, and all manifestations of racism, Malcolm increasingly came to identify capitalism and But where the BBT breaks down is that our present situa- sexism and discrimination that prevent all from enjoying the imperialism as the ultimate enemy—embracing the need of tion doesn’t fi t into the neat defi nition used by the Comintern “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” promised by liberal Afrikan people everywhere to consolidate their struggles into in the 1920s. The reality is more complex today. democracy. a united Pan-Afrikan movement, and for Blacks in Amerika At the time the BBT was developed, Blacks in the “Black To complete the liberal democratic revolution and move to unite in a common struggle with all the “have-nots”, re- Belt” were a predominantly peasant (sharecropper) nation forward to socialist reconstruction the proletariat must lead gardless of their skin color, against the common exploiters tied to cotton production. This condition was also shared by the struggle which is stifl ed by the increasingly antidemo- who try to divide everyone and play us against each other. It many poor whites and some Indians and mixed bloods. The cratic, fascistic and reactionary bourgeoisie. The bourgeois was at this crucial stage of his development as a revolution- BBT was based on Comrade J.V. Stalin’s analysis of the Na- are no longer capable of playing a progressive role in history. ary that he was silenced with a bullet. tional Question as essentially a peasant question. Unlike the A few months before his assassination, Malcolm X criti- analysis put forward by Lenin, and more fully developed by The Revolutionary Advantages of Our Proletarian cized his earlier views on separatist Black Nationalism, fi nd- Mao, Stalin’s analysis limited the National Question to es- National Character ing that:

18 PRISON FOCUS “I was alienating people who were true revolutionar- in this country could be organized like that, with com- initiative. Is the juridical institution which serves as a ies dedicated to overturning the system of exploitation munity control. At the same time, no Black control so reference for the right of all peoples to struggle to free that exists on this earth by any means necessary…. I had that no whites can come in, no Chinese can come in. I’m themselves a product of the peoples who are trying to do a lot of thinking and reappraising of my defi nition saying there would be democracy in the inner city. The to liberate themselves? Was it created by the socialist of Black Nationalism. Can we sum up the solution to the administration should refl ect the people who live there.” countries who are our historical associates? Let us not problems confronting our people as Black Nationalism? While Huey proved less than adept at linking together, forget that it was the imperialist countries who recog- And if you notice, I haven’t been using the expression organizing and leading a multi-racial anti-imperialist united nized the right of all people to national independence.” for several months. But I would still be hard pressed front in Amerika, Fred Hampton, the leader of the BPP in Cabral went on to point out the inherent contradiction in to give a specifi c defi nition of the overall philosophy Chicago, successfully pulled together a revolutionary coali- the imperialists “promoting” Third World national indepen- which I think is necessary for the liberation of Black tion of poor whites (Rising Up Angry and The Young Patriot dence if indeed such struggles were a threat to imperialism: people in this country.” Party), Puerto Ricans (the Young Lords Organization), Mex- “This is where we think there is something wrong At the opposite pole, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—who icans (the Brown Berets) and various student groups known with the simple interpretation of the national liberation was initially pro-integration and pro-capitalist—also came as the “Rainbow Coalition.” He was being considered for movement as a revolutionary trend. The objective of the to identify capitalism and imperialism as the ultimate enemy, promotion to national leadership when he as killed in his bed imperialist countries was to prevent the enlargement of expressly rejecting integration and privately promoting so- by FBI and Chicago police in a planned assassination. the Socialist Camp, to liberate the reactionary forces in cialist revolution in Amerika as the way forward. He stated Around the country the Black Panthers did inspire and our countries which were stifl ed by colonialism, and to in November 1967: “Something is wrong with capitalism as forge alliances with many different ethnically-based groups enable these forces to ally themselves with the interna- it stands here in the U.S. We are not interested in being inte- including the White Panther Party, I Wor Kuen (Chinese), tional bourgeoisie. The fundamental objective was to grated into this value structure.” During later 1967 and 1968, Ang Katipunan (Filipino), the American Indian Movement create a bourgeoisie where one did not exist, in order shortly before his assassination, King repeatedly promoted (AIM) and many others. This was paving the way for a revo- specifi cally to strengthen the imperialist and the capital- socialism to his inside circle, but he refused to make this lutionary united front against imperialism rooted in the op- ist camp.”—Amilcar Cabral. The Politics of Struggle, stand publicly for fear of government assassination. But his pressed communities. (1964) private statements, public opposition to U.S. imperialist wars The NABPP-PC also fi nds relevance in Huey’s theoretical Cabral found that “what really interests us here is neocolo- abroad, and support for the rights of the poor and workers’ concept of “Revolutionary Intercommunalism”, which rec- nialism,” which he observed was a new phase of imperialism strikes were enough for the imperialist ruling class to mark ognized that the U.S. no longer fi ts the classical defi nition devised after World War II to replace the old colonial system, him for death. of a nation state nor do the countries under its neo-colonial by “grant[ing] independence to the occupied countries plus George Jackson, pursuing the same path and arriving at the domination. Using “Dollar Diplomacy”, along with covert ‘aid.” same conclusions in a more developed way, was likewise cut operations and outright invasions, the U.S. has successfully Witnessing the failed promises of ‘national liberation’ Ca- down by an assassin’s bullet. He observed: imposed itself upon all of the former European colonies and bral recognized that to be genuinely revolutionary and ‘lib- “It’s no coincidence that Malcolm X and M.L. King overthrown the socialist-oriented governments brought to erating’ the struggles for national independence had to be died when they did. Malcolm X had just put it togeth- power by national liberation struggles in the Third World. joined with the struggle of the international proletariat. He er.... You remember what was on his lips when he died, This paved the way for the U.S. becoming the world’s sole concluded: Vietnam and economic, political economy. The profes- imperialist superpower. Amerika’s consolidation of global “... that imperialism is quite prepared to change both sional killers could have murdered him long before they power since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the increas- its men and its tactics in order to perpetuate itself. it will did. They let Malcolm rage on Muslim nationalism for ingly globalized economic interdependence gives greater make and destroy states and. as we have already seen, a number of years because they knew it was an empty credibility to Comrade Newton’s theory of “Intercommunal- it will kill its own puppets when they no longer serve ideal, but the second he got his feet on the ground, they ism,” but we embrace this theory conditionally, recognizing its purposes. If need be, it will even create a kind of murdered him.” that nation states still exist in the geo-political sense under socialism, which people may soon start calling ‘neo- Despite Malcolm X’s and even King’s clearly-stated revo- various political and military set ups of “reactionary inter- socialism.’ if there has been any doubts about the close lutionary positions that New Afrikan liberation lies neither communalism,” although they exist within a system of rela- relations between our struggle [for national liberation] in assimilation (accommodation) nor separation (running tive dominant and subservient positions with the U.S. in the and the struggle of the international working class away), but in fundamentally changing Amerikan society as position of “Top Dawg.” The shackles of bourgeois national- movement. Neo-colonialism has proved that there need a whole, so that we can live as a free people right here, the ism still bind the productive forces of the various nations to not be any.” Ibid. Black Movement, and those purporting to lead it, have re- some degree, from which world proletarian socialist revolu- Even the U.S. imperialists admitted using such “new tac- mained deadlocked between these two less than revolution- tion will liberate them, creating the conditions for “revolu- tics” of neo-colonialism as Cabral observed in supporting ary positions. The original Black Panther Party has been the tionary intercommunalism.’ Afrika and Asia’s various national liberation movements. notable exception. In the words of Vice President Richard Nixon on his return The Panthers recognized that the New Afrikan Nation can Reassessing the National Liberation Question from a 1957 tour of Afrika: neither effectively separate from nor integrate into capitalist As every national liberation struggle in the 20th century “American interests in the future are so great as to imperialist and white supremist Amerika. Neo-colonialism has demonstrated, genuine national liberation and self-de- justify us in not hesitating even to assist the departure precludes the former and racist national oppression pre- termination have been unattainable. In each case the capi- of the colonial powers from Africa. If we can win native cludes the later. Our path to liberation—which even the talist-imperialists have created and appealed to aspiring opinion in this process, the future of America in Africa Panthers found a bit diffi cult to consistently articulate—is native bourgeois and petty-bourgeois elements within the will be assured.” Quoted in Dirty Works 2: The CIA in to overthrow U.S. imperialism and play a leading role in the oppressed national groups and used these puppets to de- Africa, edited by Ellen Ray, et al. (Seacaucus; Lyle Stu- global proletarian revolution and socialist reconstruction. rail their own people’s liberation struggles. They have used art, Inc., 1979, p. 58) We must be the tip of the spear and rally everyone who has “Dollar Diplomacy” to forge neo-colonial bonds upon these Accord this statement of the U.S. National Security Coun- contradictions with imperialism to unite with us. new republics. cil: Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, who were greatly in- Through their neo-colonial designs, the budding social- “We must recognize, although we cannot say it pub- fl uenced by Malcolm X, were organizing in this direction, ist and non-aligned Third World blocs were undermined licly, that we need the strong men of Africa on our side. in implementing the BPP’s 10 Point Program and Serve The and overthrown (sweeping the tillers off the land) and their It is important to understand that most of Africa will People (STP), survival programs while carrying out revolu- natural resources and productive forces were brought under soon be independent…. Since we must have the strong tionary agitation, education and political organizing to build U.S. imperialist domination (with other imperialist powers men of Africa on our side, perhaps we should in some community-based people’s power. Huey saw that Blacks getting a share). In this world of U.S. imperialist hegemony, cases develop military strong men as an offset to Com- were an oppressed nation inside Amerika, but his ideas on any New Afrikan struggle for independence and separation munist development of the labor unions.” Quoted ver- charting our path to liberation took a quantum leap forward from the U.S.—along the lines of the BBT—would suffer batim from the record of a January 14, 1960 meeting of when he visited and toured Mao’s revolutionary China. the same fate in spades. Even if we did manage to recon- the NSC. There he found that numerous racial and ethnic minorities stitute ourselves as a territorial nation in the “Black Belt,” So clearly the U.S. government favored pushing its Eu- had attained genuine liberation within China’s socialist state, we would only join the ranks of imperialist dominated Third ropean rivals and their colonial governments out of Afrika without separating or integrating in the classic sense. world nations—and with the imperialist U.S. right on our by supporting the Afrikan national liberation struggles, by What Huey observed in China gave him a blueprint for or- border. backing or placing native puppets at the head of those anti- ganizing Black folks to become self-reliant in the very urban At a time when few within the Third World national libera- colonial movements. In doing so, communities where they were concentrated in preparation tion struggles foresaw the danger of U.S. neo-colonialism, “The stage was set for the transition to neo-colonial- for revolution in the U.S. The BPP’s implementation of these Amilcar Cabral sounded a warning to other leaders of anti- ism: formal political independence for the African coun- ideas quickly earned it the label of the “greatest threat to colonial national liberation movements in the Third World. tries, but continued economic domination by imperial- imperialism’s security, and the U.S. government concentrat- He questioned whether the national liberation movements ism, with imperialist political control exerted indirectly ed its forces in an all-out campaign to destroy the Panthers. were altogether born of the colonial peoples’ determination through bureaucratic African governments more or less Here’s what Huey found in People’s China that inspired to be free or if they were also to some degree instigated by subservient to imperialism, and military control exert- the BPP’s STP survival programs and illuminated his ideas imperialism to create and “liberate” Third World bourgeois ed indirectly through covert links between imperialist about Black liberation in Amerika: and aspiring petty bourgeois forces to serve as imperialist powers and African military/police hierarchies” Daniel “I saw, crystal clear, how we can start to reduce the agents and “front men” to impede and counter the growth Fogel, Africa in Struggle: National Liberation and Pro- kinds of confl icts that we’re having in [Amerika]. I saw of world socialism and create global U.S. imperialist hege- letarian Revolution (ISM Press: CA, 1982, p.116). an example of that in China... what I saw was this: when mony. Few took heed to his words—then or now. Here is National ‘Liberation’ has therefore proved empty of sub- I went there, I was very unenlightened and I thought I Cabral: stance to oppressed Third World peoples, absent the defeat of knew something about China. I thought, as it has been “In Guinea, as in other countries, the implementation imperialism, just as it would be in a struggle for New Afrikan said so often, that China would be a homogeneous kind of imperialism by force and the presence of the colo- national ‘liberation’ in the southern U.S. territory absent the of racial/ethnic territory. Then I found that 50 percent of nial system considerably altered the historical condi- defeat of imperialism. the Chinese territory is occupied by a 54 percent popula- tions and aroused a response—the national liberation Moreover, any such struggle would almost certainly de- tion of national minorities, large ethnic minorities. They struggle—which is generally considered a revolutionary generate into an imperialist-sponsored race war, similar to speak different languages, they look very different, and trend; but this is something which I think needs further what went down in the Kosovo confl ict (1998-1999), and they eat different foods. Yet there is no confl ict. I ob- examination. I should like to formulate this question: is present day Sudan. In any such struggle, Blacks would be at served one day that each region—we call them cities— the national liberation movement something which has a decided disadvantage—witness our helplessness in the face is actually controlled by those ethnic minorities, yet simply emerged from within our country, is it a result of the Hurricane Katrina Crisis and attendant martial law in they’re still Chinese…. I’m talking about a general con- of the internal contradictions created by the presence Louisiana and Mississippi (both “Black Belt” states). And in dition in China where ethnic minorities I’ve observed of colonialism, or are there external factors which have that crisis we didn’t have to contend with angry and desper- control their whole regions. They have a right to have determined it? In fact I would even go so far as to ask ate whites fi ghting to keep their land and homes. Or do our representation in the Chinese Communist Party. At the whether, given the advance of socialism in the world, proponents of the BBT expect whites in the “Black Belt” to same time they have their own principles.... The cities the national liberation movement is not an imperialist passively concede the territory and leave? Or do they think

NUMBER 38 19 we will just grab the imperialists by the throat and demand Just as the proletariat seeks to abolish itself as a class by Global Communism. that they give us fi ve states, make all the arrangements, and abolishing all classes, we must seek to abolish ourselves as The success of socialist revolution in the U.S. would then let us run the show there without interference? a nation by abolishing all nations—all national divisions and “break the back” of global imperialism and create conditions And what about the white proletarians who live in the all national oppression. But this has to begin with liberating for successful revolution in every other country. This even- “Black Belt?” What stake would they have in this? Or would ourselves as nations from the grip of colonialism, neocolo- tuality will create the conditions for a global dictatorship of we want to just push them into the arms of the reactionaries nialism and imperialism. Just as the proletariat must rise as the proletariat and move the struggle decisively towards ren- opposing us? Such a plan would only divide the proletarians a class and “pick up the gun to put down the gun” (what is dering nation states obsolete. What then will be the need for along racial lines, set them against each other and give the the state but a special body of armed men and wimyn?), we national boundaries or militaries? imperialists a free hand to play the “Divide and Rule” game create nation states only to render them obsolete and allow Could we not then move forward towards classless society “Willie Lynch” style. them to fade away when they are no longer necessary. The at an accelerated pace? Could we not, for example, create a Furthermore, our migration back to the “Black Belt” would transitory nature of nation states under socialism is clear. single international currency and globalized planning of pro- be “a leap from the frying pan into the fi re” for how would duction and distribution of goods? Would it not be possible we survive in the already poor economy of the rural South? Comparing Racial and National Oppression to have a World Health Organization that really provides for “Returning to the Land” may sound romantic, but trying to We can only speak of New Afrikan national liberation people’s health needs and a global commission with clout to bust a living out of the depleted soil of the Deep South was a because we suffer from national oppression. National op- address the issues of ecological preservation and balance? dead end that caused the “Great Migration” in the fi rst place. pression is linked to but not the same as racist oppression. Could we not standardize wages and prices and ensure a de- And what a loss it would be to the international proletariat The people of Haiti don’t just suffer national oppression as cent standard of living for everyone on the planet—eradicat- for us to give up our strategic positions within the urban cen- citizens of a Third World nation but also racist oppression ing poverty? ters across Amerika. Of course revolutionary work should be because they are black. Iceland is a small island nation too, done among the people of the “Black Belt” South (including but if an Icelander family emigrates to the U.S., they will be Conclusion the poor whites and others) as well, as part of building the accepted as whites. If a Haitian family moves here they will Most theories on the National Question do not address revolutionary movement to overthrow capitalist-imperial- face racial oppression. All people of color, to one degree or the dialectical relationship between New Afrikans in the Di- ism. another, suffer racist oppression because of the institutional- aspora and Afrikans in Afrika, the contradictions between ization of the ideology of white supremacy. Afrikans everywhere and imperialism in the Age of Neo- The Haitian family will suffer oppression and discrimina- Colonialism and the Crisis of Capitalist-Imperialism, and be- tion in the U.S. because they are immigrants, because they tween New Afrikans in the U.S. and the white-supremacist, are Black, and because they are not white. A Korean family imperialist U.S. ruling class. These questions demand a re- will have to face the fi rst and the last but not the specifi c op- analysis of the BBT and our strategy for Black Liberation. pression and discrimination leveled at Blacks (New Afrikans Kwame Nkrumah’s concept of an All-Afrikan (Pan-Afri- in Amerika). This oppression is rooted in the history of slav- kan) Revolutionary Party (supported by a military arm) is the ery (not just in the “Black Belt” South) and colonialism that correct answer to neo-colonialism. We can take a lesson in spawned the white racist mentality. this from the struggles going on in South Asia. India contains In Amerika, the oppression of the indigenous people is many nationalities with their own languages and regions, yet a bit different. People with Indian features (“Skins”) suf- they are being led by a united Communist Party of India fer from national oppression and so do Indians with black (Maoist). Likewise we can look to Nepal where the Maoists or white-skinned features. Black Indians are also oppressed have won the support of many national minorities and have as New Afrikans. White-skinned Indians (if they are iden- created autonomous regions. In Afrika, neo-colonialism had tifi able by their dress) may be subjected to racial slurs and an advantage because it was able to play the various bud- discrimination, but this is really national oppression. There ding nation states and tribal groups against each other. Our is a difference between “white Indians” and “white people” strength is based on unity and common purpose. in Amerika, but the difference is national rather than racial. Our concept of Afrika as a Pan-Afrikan nation departs By Kevin “Rashid” Johnson Within the Indian nations there are divisions between from the Comintern’s defi nition of the National Question The BPP did not promote a mass exodus of New Afrikans “Bloods” and those who are perceived as “Black Indians” which confi nes the nation to the boundaries already in exis- back to the “Black Belt”; rather they correctly looked to and “White (or mostly white) Indians.” These contradic- tence (even though these only refl ect the imperialists’ carv- New Afrikan self-determination right in the oppressed urban tions (which can be antagonistic) between “Red”, “White” ing up of Afrika). We don’t expect that the New Afrikan Na- communities where Black people are concentrated. It really and “Black” members of the same oppressed indigenous tion will ever constitute itself again in the “Black Belt,” but wasn’t until Harry Haywood’s book Black Bolshevik was nations are a refl ection of the culture of racism that perme- we can play a signifi cant role in the constitution of a Socialist published in 1978 that the BBT was revived among the New ates Amerikan society (a colonial settler state) and projects Afrikan Union, and in the creation of a Socialist U.S.A. Communist Movement in the U.S. The name New Afrikan throughout the world. We believe that it is the historic destiny of the nation of was adopted by a convention of 500 Black Nationalist lead- We do not (as many Black nationalists do) confuse race New Afrikans in Amerika to play a leading role among the ers in Detroit in March of 1968 at a Black government con- with nationality. Nationality is not confi ned by race. One can oppressed peoples of the World in overthrowing capitalist ference. change their nationality. One can also have dual or multiple imperialism and advancing humanity to a higher stage of For the NABPP-PC “New Afrikan” is more than the latest nationalities. One can be a Puerto Rican and a New Afrikan political-economic organization based on the principles of in a series of monikers given to Black people in Amerika. (and also a Taino Indian). One can be a Palestinian, an Arab social justice and equality. Afrika is our common heritage. It (not the “Black Belt”) is and a New Yorker all at the same time. National identity is a Our unique history and position within the “Belly of the our common historic homeland. When a Black person comes complex issue. Beast” gives us the opportunity to deal the coup de grace to to Amerika from the Caribbean, Brazil or from Afrika they Do not some New Afrikans identify primarily as Ameri- U.S. imperialism. Our long suffering at the hands of white become a part of the New Afrikan Nation in Amerika—and kans? What is Obama trying to sell us? Yet look around any supremacist Amerika gives us a bond with all who have suf- suffer national oppression and discrimination—even though prison and what do you see? Look at the statistics on poverty, fered racist and national oppression and enables us to be their ancestors never set foot in the “Black Belt.” infant mortality, hunger, unemployment, and violent deaths. truly internationalist in outlook. As proletarians, our relationship to production and the These tell a very different story—one of continued (and in- As Mao predicted: world economy makes us “New” and different from the tensifi ed) national and class oppression for the Black masses “The struggle of the Black people in the United States peasantry of the Third World and our ancestors in the Old in the U.S. is bound to merge with the American workers’ move- South. Even if we could go back it would be a retrogressive I have written before that: ment, and this will eventually end the criminal rule of step—and we doubt this is what the Black masses want. “As revolutionary New Afrikan nationalists, we real- the U.S. monopoly capitalist class.” ize that there is a contradiction between race and nation- This is the mission of the New Afrikan Black Panther Par- We Have Not Liquidated the National Question alism, and moreover, that there is no nation composed ty Prison Chapter and our position on the National Question. By our pointing out that the shift from peasantry to prole- of a single race. All existing nations, like the Indian na- Dare to Struggle Dare to Win! All Power to the People! ♦ tarian and from rural to urban has fundamentally changed the tions here in North Amerika, include whites and mixed [Rashid’ is a social prisoner who became politicized while National Question for New Afrikans, we expect some critics bloods, even though there are contradictions. It was on the inside. He can be reached at: Kevin “Rashid” John- will accuse us of having “liquidated” the National Question. the policies of white colonialism created by the ruling son #1007485, Wallens Ridge State Prison, PO Box 759, Big For those who dogmatically apply Stalin’s analysis, the prob- class that produced these contradictions, and indeed the Stone Gap, VA 24219-0759.] lem is: “How can we be a nation without a land base?” New Afrikan Nation. In this regard, we say all people We reiterate that the issue is a bit bigger and more complex of Afrikan heritage, regardless of skin tone, are part than that. of a single New Afrikan Nation a Pan-Afrikan Nation. If we look at the New Afrikan Nation as being part of a Indeed, most “Blacks” in Amerika are “mixed bloods; greater Pan-Afrikan Nation, inclusive of the peoples of Af- mixed with white and/or Indian bloodlines. rika and the Afrikan Diaspora (as Malcolm X did, and this “We therefore move beyond black and white dog- liberation struggle in the context of world proletarian social- matism Native Americans have always done this in ist revolution, then we shall see the issue a bit differently. adopting any “race” of people into their nations who Then we can also see our struggle within the context of a embrace and respect their heritage and culture. All non- future socialist Amerika that is multi-ethnic and a strong ally chauvinistic nations have done this. We also accept that of the oppressed peoples internationally. nationalities can overlap and are not merely an either/ The proletariat fundamentally has no country and seeks or situation. People the world over embrace multiple to create a world without boundaries or nation states. So to nationalities, and so can New Afrikans. One can be a the proletariat national liberation is not an end in itself but Venezuelan and a New Afrikan, or a Lenape and a New a stage to pass through on the road to World Communism. Afrikan, etc. This concept becomes practical revolution- It is a stepping stone to greater unity and the ending of all ary internationalism that has all nationalities struggling oppression. for both national self-determination and united multi- There are many white comrades (Communists, Socialists, national, anti-imperialist cooperation... Anarchists, Radicals and Progressives) who are committed “From our point of view, the key question is building to supporting Black liberation because it serves the cause alliances between the oppressed nations [and nationali- of liberating all of humanity from imperialism and exploi- ties] within the U.S. and abroad and the multi-national tation, and because it strengthens the workers’ movement. proletariat.”—Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, On the Ques- The cause of uniting the Black liberation struggle with the tions of Race and Racism, Revolutionary National Lib- proletarian class struggle is a step towards the total liberation eration, and Building the United Front Against Imperi- of humanity and the whole world becoming one people. alism, 2007. U.S. Revolution as an Advance Towards

20 PRISON FOCUS have been societies that did without it, that had no idea THE PRISON SYSTEM AND ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT of the state and state power.” But then he goes on further to say: By C. Landrum #J-53474 its production? And did not an increase of food goods, agri- “At a certain stage of economic development, which “….the state is an organ of class rule, an organ for cultural produce and advance farming techniques, give rise was necessarily bound up with the split of society into the oppression of one class by another; it is the creation to the social need to feed more people? Of course it did. And classes, the state became a necessity owing to this split.” of ‘order,’ which legalizes and perpetuates this oppres- in the initial stages of a new economic system, this process Of our nearly 200,000 year existence as a species, scratch- sion by moderating the confl ict between the classes. … is facilitated and assisted by the superstructure, i.e., religion, ing and clawing our way through life in primitive commu- It consists of special bodies of armed men which have arts, sciences, education, philosophy, politics, the judicial nalist societies, it was only about 10,000 years ago that we prisons, etc., at their command.” system, laws, the state, etc. discovered farming, i.e., the ability to concentrate a signif- V.I Lenin, The State and Revolution Although in time, as the economic base and the productive icantly large quantity of food supply in a small area, thus s a species we must feed, clothe, and shelter our- forces (the laboring masses, technology, factories, resources, greatly reducing our necessity to expend large quantities of selves if we are to procreate and perpetuate our ex- mines, knowledge, etc.) push forward in their progress, the energy and labor hunting and gathering over large areas for Aistence, i.e., we must engage in “production” and superstructure begins to drag on progression and increas- very little in the way of pay-off. expend our labor power, and in the process transform our ingly loses pace with the needs of the productive forces. It Now one man or woman was capable of producing a sur- material conditions. We do this not as isolated individuals becomes a brake on progress and hinders society’s overall plus beyond what was necessary for his/her own survival. but rather as an organized collective. Our survival necessi- development. The proactive function of the superstructure And this surplus only increased over the next several thou- tates cooperation and coordination of our productive labor, now becomes reactionary, as it now only reacts on those pro- sand years in correspondence with the steady advancements which is the source of our social essence. It is upon the ba- gressive forces in an effort to prolong its inevitable demise. in both the instruments of production—tools, tillage, pastur- sis of this labor that we develop our consciousness and lan- To understand the state and the prison system we must fi rst age—and animal husbandry (the domestication and raising guage. Moreover, it is from this that all other aspects of our understand class divided society and the irreconcilable anta- of farm animals). society develops—the superstructure which includes culture, gonisms of class struggle. Chairman Mao taught us that: As was addressed above, the material world around us and religion, arts, sciences, education, philosophy, politics, the “…the world outlook of materialist dialectics holds its processes are what gives shape to our consciousness, our legal system and law, and the various state institutions. As that in order to understand the development of a thing ideas and ways of thinking. Karl Marx put it: we should study it internally and in its relations with This transformation in our material production, specifi - “In production, men not only act on nature but also on other things; in other words, the development of things cally the increase of the individual’s overall output, that is, one another. They produce not only by cooperating in should be seen as their internal and necessary self- the ability to produce a surplus over and beyond what was a certain way and mutually exchanging their activities. movement, while each thing in its movement is inter- needed to sustain the individual’s mere survival, was in turn In order to produce they enter into defi nite connections related with and interacts on the things around it. The refl ected in the consciousness of the society’s members in and relations with one another and only in these social fundamental cause of the development of a thing is the shape of a concept known as slavery. And as a means connections and relations does their action on nature, not external but internal; it lies in the contradictoriness to implement slavery property rights were also formulated does production take place.” (Marx and Engels, Vol. V, within the thing. There is internal contradiction in every to give legitimacy to the small rising class of slave owners, p. 429.) single thing, hence its motion and development. Con- who had in turn created the state, in all its various forms, as In specifi c reference to the legal system and the conditions tradictoriness within a thing is the fundamental cause a means to direct the economic affairs of society and ensure necessary for its development, Frederick Engels revealed of its development, while its interrelations and interac- the economic interests of this emerging class that would rule that: tions with other things are secondary causes.” (Mao Tse over society. This society which had previously defended “At a certain, very primitive stage of the development Tung, On Contradiction, emphasis added) itself collectively was now disarmed with the exception of of society, the need arises to coordinate under a common Every stage of economic development has progressed the privileged few. A standing army and various forms of regulation the daily recurring acts of production, distri- according to the laws of dialectics, from society’s internal security and policing were created separate from the com- bution and exchange of products, to see to it that the in- struggle between the economic base and the superstructure, mon people, under the control of the state, which itself is dividual subordinates himself to the common conditions between the productive forces and the relations of produc- a tool of repression designed to protect the property rights of production and exchange. This regulation, which is at tion. This contradiction becomes increasingly antagonistic (slaves, land, resources, etc.) of the ruling classes. As Engels fi rst custom, soon becomes law. With law, organs neces- and increasingly manifests itself in open confl ict, in social summed it up: sarily arise which are entrusted with its maintenance— upheavals, such as the so called immigration debate, student “…an institution that would not only safeguard the public authority, the state.” protests against tuition hikes, worker strikes, demonstra- newly-acquired property of private individuals against Both the legal and prison systems are an economic phe- tions against imperialist expansionism, and even our current the communistic traditions of the gentile order, would nomenon with their own historical existence that is insepa- struggle against the oppressive tendencies of the prison sys- not only sanctify private property, formerly held in such rably bound with our reproduction as a species. Yet the state tem. All societies eventually culminate in a quantity-quality light esteem, and pronounce this sanctifi cation the high- in all of its institutional forms is a relatively recent phenom- transformation that ushers into being both a new super- est purpose of human society, but would also stamp the enon. structure and unleashes a new economic system based upon gradually developing new forms of acquiring property, Production is the basis and foundation of all societies. So- different forms of ownership. As Engels stated in concise with the seal of general public recognition; an institution cial development in all its different manifestations is ulti- terms: that would perpetuate not only the newly-rising class mately determined by the particular mode of production of “…a new examination of all past history, … with the division of society, but also the right of the possessing a given society. In other words, all societies without excep- exception of its primitive stages, was the history of class class to exploit the non-possessing classes and the rule tion, be it a slave owning society of antiquity, feudalism, or struggles; that these warring classes of society are al- of the former over the latter. And this institution arrived. modern day capitalism in its current stage of imperialism, all ways the products of the modes of production and of The state was invented.” (Engels, Origin, pp. 238-239) societies consist of an economic base and a corresponding exchange — in a word, of the economic conditions of The development of the state apparatus consisted primar- superstructure. The economic base and superstructure are a their time….” (Frederick Engels, Socialism: Utopian ily of the army, policing, intelligence, the judicial system unifi cation of opposites, that both complement and struggle and Scientifi c) and corresponding laws, etc., including the prison system. with the other—the source of society and its development. We must never forget that the prison system is not only a Marriage was also institutionalized. Prior to class divisions, Both create the conditions for the other’s existence and to- side effect of class divisions and socioeconomically created in most societies we recognized our blood lineage through gether they create and give identity to society. This is the inequalities, but the prison system is likewise a concentrated our mother’s line. Owing to the split of societies into class fi rst meaning of identity in the Marxist-Leninist conception expression, a condensed manifestation of the class and ra- divisions, we now recognized our blood lineage through of the two meanings of identity. cial contradictions inherent in a profi t driven class divided our fathers and began carrying his last name. Societies now In the initial stages of a newly emerging economic system, society. become patriarchal as a means to amass wealth and prop- the superstructure facilitates and pushes the development But before there were class divisions, we homo-sapiens erty in the hands of men though the practice of inheritance of the economic base forward. Production and technologi- occupied this earth in various forms and stages of primi- laws. Women’s infl uential role in society’s direction and de- cal advancements surge forward, and in correspondence to tive communalist societies for nearly 200,000 years, slowly velopment was essentially stripped, as they were now rel- this, new social needs and wants arise as there is always a transforming it, literally reshaping it, and ourselves, in this egated to a secondary role as the property of the husband. need and a want to develop and improve upon that which interacting ascendency from lower to higher. The primitive commune was now replaced by this new eco- has already been produced. Did the staircase not give rise to In primitive communalism the instruments of production nomic phenomenon, a unit we call the family. The family the escalator, as well as the knowledge and technology for are collectively owned. Primitive technology and low pro- was fi rst defi ned by the slave holding Roman state as the duction output excluded the possibility of people combat- “famulus” (Latin, plural is famuli), which was used to denote ing the elements and forces of nature effectively. In order the number of domestic slaves a man owned, including his to clothe, hunt, gather food, and shelter themselves, people wife and children of whom he had a legal right to kill or sell had to produce in common if they were to survive. Labor in into slavery at will. The catalyst upon which all of this rested common led to ownership in common, and this was refl ected was agricultural development and the introduction of private in their brains through their fi ve sense organs, giving shape property into society. And yet, had this not occurred we’d to a collective consciousness. As Marx captured it in Das still be in the Stone Age or extinct. Kapital: The split of society into classes whose economic interests “The ideal is nothing more than the material world are diametrically opposed to each other is the source of class refl ected in the human brain and translated into forms struggle. The fi nancial gain benefi ting one class is the fi nan- of thought.” cial loss of the other classes. Due to the inevitable rise of The exploitation of man/woman over others did not exist hostilities between the different system, the economic base at this stage. And the conditions necessary that would give and superstructure (their forces of production and the prop- shape to the idea of private property in the consciousness erty rights of the ruling classes), there is a qualitative shift in of people did not yet exist, at least not beyond the most ba- the class struggle and violence is introduced becoming the sic implements of production owned by individuals, such as new order of the day. Societies are propelled into and out stone tools, bows and arrows, animal skins on their backs, of, old and new, economic stages based on shifts in owner- etc. And because of the extremely low production rates peo- ship. The long day of communalism comes to an end. Out of ple not only died often due to starvation and exposure, this it emerges the slave owning society of antiquity, eventually primitive form of economic production lasted thousands of giving way to feudalism, which in its own turn comes to an years. Until relatively recent times all energy was devoted to end and is replaced by capitalism, now in its current form of mere survival and no time was left to pursue other aspects imperialism. of social development. At this stage of primitive economic It was correctly observed that “…theory becomes purpose- development the conditions necessary for the creation of a less if it is not connected with revolutionary practice, just as state were not yet present. As Engels elaborated: practice gropes in the dark if its path is not illuminated by “The state has not existed from all eternity. There

NUMBER 38 21 revolutionary theory.” Knowledge is not only accumulated be struck with power, i.e., compromise, acquiescence and and passed down through successive generations, we aug- HUNGRY GHOST TRAIL complacency. MAC councils who refuse to fawn and cringe ment this knowledge through our own concrete struggles as By R. Morales before the despotism of racist, corrupt prison offi cials, are well. Likewise, there are many examples of past organiza- ach morning without fail, the amber fi re of the sun soon targeted for neutralization. The hierarchy of MAC are tions who like us, had struggled against the oppressive nature will splash against the gray walls of an adjacent cell- manipulated into serving the apparatus of control, and MAC of solitary confi nement. There were some failures and many Eblock. Six o’clock: time for the morning medication chairmen who refuse to lock-step with this fascism quickly victories, both of which contain invaluable lessons if we only line. A few minutes later, my cell door will open and, rising become enemies of the regime, exiled to an uncertain fate. take the time to study them. And no doubt such knowledge from my thin pallet, I grab a lukewarm cup of coffee and I am a Native American and a human rights activist, with a would help prevent us from making unnecessary strategic wearily trudge outside. I steel my nerves for another long long, documented history of confronting the abusive power mistakes. There were the successes of the I.R.A. in Ireland, day of penitentiary ennui; an ennui daily interrupted by spo- of Empire. On this occasion, my brother-in-arms was Al- Spain’s Basque separatist movement E.T.A., The Tupamaros radic acts of explosive violence. The stench that greets me varo Quesada; a brawny Mexican American from Boyle of Uruguay and Italy’s Red Brigades, and of course the do- as I exit the cellblock makes me gag. It wafts over from an Heights (East Los Angeles). Al is a fi ery litigator with the mestic struggles in places like Attica, Lucasville, etc. adjacent sewage treatment plant, lending this wretched hell heart of a lion. He and I were a committed team, who lived As a side effect of capitalist economics they all understood the only legitimacy it rightly deserves. and breathed for the challenge of confronting injustice in the Lenin’s statement that “politics are concentrated econom- Corcoran State Prison is a brutal maximum security for- arena of power. ics” and they used this knowledge, hitching their struggles tress, located in the southern San Joaquin valley, 170 miles Both Al and I were considered a threat to the old order – to other political struggles and international movements and north of Los Angeles. This penitentiary casts an oppressive that paradigm of compromise by which activism is kneaded gaining support from various international entities, such as shadow over all who are forced to live within its stifl ing at- into pacifi sm. Deviant prison administrators (along with Amnesty International, etc. The I.R.A. succeeded in abolish- mosphere; an atmosphere charged with racial tension and rank and fi le guards) will grant infl uential prisoners access ing solitary confi nement, and in other cases they were suc- crackling with hostility. and mobility provided they function as marionettes of the cessful in achieving “association”, that is group housing up The prisoners in this seething caldron are housed on small regime. Implicit in this granting of privilege is that MAC ig- to fi fteen prisoners. yards, surrounded by fi ve monolithic cellblocks which rise nore the corruption and malfeasance of power, work to sub- What makes us who we are as individuals is our individual up like an inverse moat, amid an obscene, tangled weave of due overt activism, and in a quid pro quo exchange, a blind personalities, and this individuality can only develop through coiled razor wire and lethally charged electric fences. Stand- eye will be turned to the prisoners’ illicit activities. MAC social intercourse. Again, cooperation and coordination be- ing in stark contrast to this purgatorial scene are beautifully members who align themselves in this trajectory will accu- tween us is how we survive. And it is in this social context delicate murals adorning the entrance to each cellblock. mulate power while acting as an agent for State repression. that we have evolved into social beings—the essence of who Each depicts a temperate zone unique to the Golden State. I had made the decision long ago, that when the road of my we are. Solitary confi nement deprives us of this intercourse They stand now decrepit, like a dishevelled bum on a dingy personal integrity diverged, I would choose the less traveled; and deprives us of the ability to develop the personality and street corner, their imagery bleached by the harsh Central the rough-hewn path of authenticity over conformity. This who we are as individuals. The more isolation of the indi- Valley sun. decision, this refusal to sell my soul, would cost me dear; vidual increases from other human beings, in both intensity The denuded landscape is dotted with gopher mounds that both Al and I were soon targeted, illegally framed on false and duration, the more our personalities and who we are as multiply with a rapid ferocity –(as do diseased like hepatitis charges and subsequently removed from our MAC positions. individuals in essence disintegrate and erode away. This is C, valley fever, MERSA and staph infection). If this prison Our downfall came about due to our activism on behalf of social extermination, while preserving us biologically, it is were a small city, no doubt its epidemic tables would neces- Hispanic prisoners in Corcoran, who were engaged in a pas- an attack on our existence and we retain the right to defend sitate a quarantine by the Center for Disease Control. sive, non-violent hunger strike. On July 1, 2011, prisoners and preserve ourselves. This iron city would take on an eerie, almost apocalyptic at Pelican Bay State Prison began a hunger strike to protest We are the product of the historical development of soci- cast, if it were not for the milling mass of humanity who the extreme hardships and deprivation within the dreaded ety’s economic and class struggles. The dialectical law of the gather daily in the epicentre. Morning and afternoon will Secure Housing Units (SHU). The strike quickly gained mo- unity and struggle of opposites that pushed society forward fi nd the basketball courts teeming with spectators, transfi xed mentum throughout the state prison system, eventually arriv- is the same law governing the direction and development of by the frenzied activity of leaping bodies. Nearby, handball ing at Corcoran. our current struggle. As Lenin correctly said, “Development courts bustle with energy, as small, bronzed men engage in I was summoned from my cell the fi rst night of the hunger is the struggle of opposites.” duels of speed and agility. Those of a more solitary nature strike, and told to report to the program offi ce. A Lieutenant The long-term conditions of our confi nement will ulti- congregate at exercise bars, grunting with exertion as yet an- and Sergeant took me aside and solemnly informed me that mately be determined by our long-term goals, whether or not other pull-up is completed. the Hispanic prisoners in an adjacent cellblock had refused they are revolutionary or reformist. Lenin also stated that: A soggy track fi eld, strewn with clumps of dried mud, the evening meal. The facility Captain had asked them to “People always were and always will be the stupid vic- circles the small exercise area. Here men walk two abreast, contact me, in the hope that I could mediate the crisis. What, tims of deceit and self-deceit in politics until they learn engaged in lively, sometimes heated debates on women, if any, suggestions did I have for resolution? to discover the interests of some class behind all moral, sports, prison politics, religion and the more intricate points My attention was drawn to a small gopher burrowing religious, political and social phrases, declarations and of criminal appeals. softly into the brown earth, while overhead fl ew a magnifi - promises. The supporters of reforms and improvements Across the compound, men of a more mature, placid cent red-tailed hawk, wings swept into a graceful arc. The will always be fooled by the defenders of the old order disposition gather in small groups around concrete tables. wounded sun trailed tawny smoke as it slipped beneath the until they realize that every old institution, however bar- Chess, poker and dominos are played here. Above the din of horizon. This timeless paean of earth, juxtaposed with peni- barous and rotten it may appear to be, is maintained by the yard, one may catch snippets of conversation about the tentiary steel, was both sublime and surreal; the contrast all the forces of some ruling class.” (V.I. Lenin (1913), The sonnets of Shakespeare, the relativism of Nietzsche or the the more marked with this visit by uniformed agents of the Three Component Parts….) writings of W.E. Dubois. The human thirst for knowledge is state. It seemed incredulous that this regime sought my as- Whether our goal is revolutionary with the objective end undeterred by prison walls. sistance, and I was wary of the motive and intent behind of transforming the economic base and society as a whole, or Many will say that none of the men described thus far are their overtures. My suspicions were more than justifi ed, as if we’re simply looking for some “adjustments” (reforms), deserving of redemption, that they form a subhuman group, the historical thrust of empire does not align itself well with the bottom line is, so long as we and the guards exist, creat- unfi t to live in civilized society. A large percentage of the resolution; nor does it tolerate dissidents who chip away at ing the conditions for the other’s existence, so too will the Corcoran prison guards would agree with this view. A few the edifi ce of its immense wealth and privilege. Why were prison system exist, and all gains will be “reformist” despite may add some choice expletives, laced with venom. We are these men here? our ultimate goals. less than human to our captors, to those who profi t hand- Enmity, confl ict and civil discord cannot be resolved by On the other hand, what is important to comprehend, with somely from our collective suffering and misfortune. the same state of awareness responsible for its inception and a revolutionary objective, our goals will also transcend these The truth of this sweeping statement has been proven to nurturing. Resolution requires that one of the parties attain walls and we will continue to perpetuate our struggle within me by recent events. Until a few weeks ago, I was Chair- a higher degree of consciousness, and no matter the height the prison so long as this current (capitalist) state exists. And man of the Men’s Advisory Council. During my brief ten- of ascent, one had better be prepared for the consequential in spite of inevitable setbacks, our overall trajectory will be ure, a great deal of energy was spent combating the deeply dynamics of confrontation with Empire. one of progress, simultaneously transforming the prison sys- ingrained perception that convicts are dirtbags. I also chal- But individuals with this degree of insight do not gravitate tem into a university for the oppressed. lenged, as the fi rst order of business, a small, swaggering towards positions of self-serving power. Nor do they align With only “reforms” as our goal we have to look no fur- cadre of guards who were verbally abusive to prisoners. My themselves with oppression in any form. The Lieutenant ther than our current circumstances, for the situation we fi nd decision to confront this abuse of power earned me the enmi- who sought my counsel that evening was an anomaly. Su- ourselves in today is the result of reforms as a fi nal objective. ty of prison offi cials who, while on the one hand praised the pervisory staff in level IV prisons, for the most part, are bru- With reforms not only do we not seek to change the condi- legitimacy of MAC, on the other hand plotted to undermine tally insensitive, hardened by the immense violence. Stress tions, those forces and infl uences, that were necessary for it, once it countered their agenda of repression and tyranny. levels in a level IV have been likened to that of a combat this situation to emerge, but at some point we become con- The cant of the State party line seems legitimate enough. zone. This Lieutenant was a rather warm, engaging fellow, tent and cease our struggle, and then start all over again—the The purpose of a Men’s Advisory Council is to provide the with a reputation for being open and attentive to the needs of situation repeats itself, and each time the state becomes more California prisoner with representation and a voice in admin- prisoners. Yet his uniform designated him a pawn of a racist, effective at repression. istrative deliberations and decisions which may impact their corrupt regime, bent upon mass containment and raw, naked We must have a revolutionary goal, even in this embryonic daily program. The secondary purpose is to provide the War- force. I could not walk with this individual down a path of stage, no matter how overwhelming it may initially sound to den and his/her administration the means by which to com- honest dialogue and expect him to match my steps. He was the virgin ears new to such concepts. This is what will like- municate the same to us. In reality, the former is overlooked blind. Autocratic regimes do not thrive by granting conces- wise keep our struggle alive and our conditions progressing. while the latter is given precedence. MAC councils have no sions to dissidents. On the contrary, they are instead labelled There are no such things as prisoner rights, only power more input in administrative deliberations than an ant has in insurrectionists, mercilessly hunted and trampled into sub- struggles. ♦ the African savannah. ordination. This is not to say that MAC councils cannot be effective My role in the hunger strike was minimal, after our initial in addressing the needs of the general population. A legiti- meeting with staff and Hispanic MAC members. Al and I mate MAC council can indeed become an effective tool of had made the decision that we would use these hunger strike negotiation, provided it has capable leadership at the helm negotiations as a political platform to address the severe and a highly motivated, intelligent executive team aligned deprivations experienced by those impacted by the current with a shared purpose and common goal. A MAC council lockdown, chief among them being the lack of outdoor exer- with these attributes can quickly become a thorn in the side cise and visitations with loved ones. of tyrannical prison offi cials (who view themselves as sov- The position we took on behalf of the strikers was: ereign lords of a feudal estate, unused to the challenge of a 1. The prolonged, extended nature of the current lock- serf population). down was racist, punitive, and inconsistent with the Corcoran State Prison has long stood as a bastion of sense- threat assessment protocol followed by similarly situ- less cruelty, guard brutality, racial apartheid, cronyism and ated level IV, 270 institutions. ineffectual management policies. A legitimate MAC coun- 2. The targeting (lockdown) of prisoners based solely cil cannot function within these dynamics. A bargain must

22 PRISON FOCUS on ethnicity, was racist, fundamentally unfair and was a defi nite contributing factor in rising tensions (given the ARE GANG MEMBERS SPECIAL? untenable burden it has placed on 99% of an Hispanic From the California Supreme Court to Pelican Bay populace wholly innocent of any acts of violence or col- lateral participation in the original melee). By Hadar Aviram a barren exercise pen surrounded by 15-foot-high concrete Shortly after our initial meeting, we were declared his month the California Supreme Court, presiding walls and a limited sky view. The entrance ticket into the personae non-gratis, our presence at future meetings deemed at UC Hastings, heard oral arguments in People v. SHU consists of being identifi ed by prison authorities as a to be incendiary and counter-productive. This action was il- TVang, an assault case involving gang expert testi- gang member, placing the burden of “debriefi ng”—disavow- legal and appeared to violate the Department Operational mony. Under California sentencing laws, a gang sentencing ing and disproving gang membership—on the inmates them- Manual (D.O.M. Section 53120.7 states in relevant part: All enhancement requires the jury to decide whether the defen- selves, most of whom never fi nd their way out of the SHU. formal meetings, whether alone or with staff, shall be record- dant committed the offense to benefi t the gang. Evidence to Despite consistent fi ndings by social psychologists about the ed and made a permanent record of the M.A.C.’s activities). I this effect is often presented through the testimony of gang immense, irrevocable harms of subjecting human beings to immediately lodged a protest with the Warden. experts, usually police offi cers, who testify as to the norms a regime of isolation, and despite a federal judge’s comment The mailing of this letter began a series of events which and practices of gangs in general and the gang in question, in 1995 according to which such practices “hover on the would culminate in a miscarriage of justice. Al and I were to show whether a given defendant’s behavior falls in line edge of what is humanly tolerable”, courts have consistently soon targeted for our pro-active stance and framed on with gang-related behavior. In Vang, the prosecutor asked found SHU incarceration practices constitutional. trumped-up charges. I was issued a false CDC 115 (Rule the cop/expert two detailed hypothetical questions based on To add insult to injury, during the July Pelican Bay hunger Violation Report) and summarily dismissed from the posi- the facts of the assault according to the evidence, then ask- strike CDCR offi cials went on record discrediting the strike tion of MAC Chairman, along with a punishment of thirty ing the expert whether an assault under such facts would be because it is “led by gang leaders.” This argument is the days cell confi nement. gang related. By doing so, argued the defense, the prosecutor epitome of Lombrosian thinking. It implies that the public is I will not personalize this matter, nor will I hold enmity thinly disguised questions regarding the actual defendants’ to disregard the merit in the striking inmates’ claims against against those who were responsible for framing me. Crimi- behavior as hypothetical scenarios, effectively substituting the dreadful conditions of their confi nement merely because nals are the most despised minority in America and the hue the testifying cop/expert’s logic and common sense for the they are (suspected to be) gang members or led by gang au- and cry for mass incarceration is shouted loudest in the mar- jury’s. The government, on the other hand, argued that it thorities. Why would the arguments against solitary confi ne- kets and trading houses of those who stand to reap the great- would be diffi cult to defi ne permissible questions that are ment and its devastating effects on the human psyche be any est windfall from our imprisonment – yet this is not the time abstract enough to require the jury to make a “logical leap” less valid just because the humans making them, and subject for hatred. and independently assess the perpetrator’s mens rea, while to them, happen to be (suspected of) belonging to gangs? The historical narrative of Empire is that it speaks in one only being provided with guidelines from the cop/expert Indeed, gangs are unique organizations. So are corpora- voice and acts with another. My captors are human pawns about the impact of gang membership on the development tions, hedge funds, motorcycle clubs, cults, schools, military in a bigger game, swept along by powerful, tidal forces of of such mens rea. units, and academic departments. Crime has occurred in each subjugation, exploitation, disenfranchisement and marginal- Setting aside the important criminal justice question of the and every one of these contexts, and while criminal decision ization of those useless for profi t making potential. merits and pitfalls of treating police offi cers as supposedly making has required an explication of the social setting for Our intrinsic worth as human beings must never be defi ned impartial ethnographers and gang experts—this practice is, the crime, it has not deprived us of the sense that juries are by the ignoble, by the meagre, small nature of those truly by now, modus operandi in California courts—I would like capable of understanding these microcosms of human expe- ignorant of their role as oppressor for the status quo. It is my to suggest that there is an even more fundamental issue at the rience. Nor has it implied that any of these settings rightfully intellect, along with an acute sense of insight (deepened by root of Vang: The assumption that gang members are fun- denies its participants of human status. While belonging a Christian and Buddhist discipline) which has given me a damentally different from other people; that their behavior to a subculture has important implications as to a person’s more compassionate understanding of those who despise me is governed by special rules inaccessible through common behavior, social context, and range of choices, it does not for my criminal status. personal experience; and, therefore, special knowledge is re- deny the person’s humanity, relegate his or her behavior to a I am not concerned for my personal safety. My deepen- quired to make sense of them and interpret their lifestyle to place beyond the realm of the logically accessible, or make ing sense of moral outrage for the millions left strewn in the the ordinary jury member. This assumption did not originate him or her less worthy of basic necessities and rights. Gang destructive wreckage of a dying, gasping Empire has caused with modern gangs; it is approximately 150 years old. members may be more diffi cult to explicate—and empathize the self to diminish (as if there were one!). In 1865, a doctor named Cesare Lombroso wrote the fi rst with—than people whose lives more closely resemble that of Speaking truth to power entails we undertake an element medical criminology book, titled L’Uomo Delinquente (“The the average jury member, but they are people, just like pros- of risk. I draw inspiration from the knowledge that these pre- Criminal Man”). Lombroso’s premise, a novelty at the time, ecutors, jurors, and prison offi cials. As such, their lives are carious waters are not uncharted. This is my inner strength; was that criminals were innately different from law-abiding not completely beyond the realm of reasoning, understand- the knowledge that millions have set sail with me, each soul citizens, and predisposed to commit crime by virtue of being ing, and empathy. As we follow up on the hunger strikes, dearly needed by the earth and its people – each soul discov- “atavistic”, that is, “stuck” in a less-developed evolutionary we would do well to educate ourselves on the merits of the ering for itself, that the terra fi rma of complacency is no lon- phase. Lombroso gleaned this predisposition from a series inmates’ demands and remember that the measure of a soci- ger viable. Only when we begin to encompass a wider vision of medical fi ndings involving the measurements of inmates’ ety is the dignity with which it treats its weakest members. ♦ for the liberation of all sentient beings can one transcend this skulls (based on the then-popular science of phrenology), illusion of self. And in gently touching this wisdom, in a mo- their bodily and facial features, tattoos, handwriting, and ment of grace and humility, the universe stares back upon laughter patterns. Pages upon pages of the book included WHY ARE MILLIONS OF itself, and with eyes fi lled with compassion, softly smiles. photographs showing the common features of criminals and My concern is for the thousands of hungry ghosts who be- distinguishing these “special” features from those of ordi- AMERICANS LOCKED UP? lieve the lie that they possess no intrinsic value as human nary people. By Bryan Stevenson, Special to CNN, March 12, 2012 beings. (In Buddhist cosmology, the lower realm of hell is In the years since 1865, we have come to reject Lombro- In the last 40 years, our society has witnessed unprece- fi lled with creatures with gaping mouths and bloated bellies; so’s “science”, both in itself and as a measure for establish- dented rates of imprisonment. I have come to believe that, creatures who can never fully sate their ravenous appetites – ing criminality (not before making a lamentable detour into injustice, poverty and mass incarceration are stains on our a metaphor for the egocentric, addicted self). These are the the territory of eugenics for several tragic decades). Howev- society. They cannot be ignored. tortured, tormented souls, who, after suffering the state spon- er, the idea that criminals were special, or somehow different In 1970 there were roughly 350,000 people in our jails and sored lash of brutality at Corcoran, are then released back from law-abiding citizens, persisted. Much of the criminol- prisons. Today there are more than 2.2 million. That’s not into our cities and communities, and this alone underscores ogy of the early 20th century consisted of ethnographies and counting the nearly 5 million people who are on probation or the urgent need for an independent investigation at Corcoran observations of criminal groups under the assumption that parole. One in every 31 Americans is subject to some form State prison. lack of privilege, living in a given neighborhood, or having of correctional control. An investigation is warranted at this institution for the fol- a certain subset of role models shapes a unique human be- This policy of mass incarceration did not come out of no- lowing reasons: ing, predisposed to commit crime. This literature—much of where. It was born out of a politics of fear and anger based 1. Ineffectual management policies (e.g. punitive nature which was, admittedly, incredibly helpful for understanding on now discredited theories. Public safety is a legitimate pri- of race-based, extended lockdown policies; failure of phenomena such as juvenile gangs—suggests that, while ority for any nation, but it does not explain the fact that the management to rein in abusive, rogue guards) some human beings are within the realm of the knowable U.S. now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. 2. The deeply systematic bias of racism prevalent through common sense and life experience, others cannot be Mass incarceration has been our response to poverty. The throughout the infrastructure; a racism used by admin- understood without the benefi t of special expertise. boom in imprisonment coincided with a retraction of pro- istrators as a divisive means of control. Today’s California gang members are the new Lombrosian grams intended to pull Americans out of poverty. And incar- 3. The dismal lack of rehabilitative, religious and voca- criminals. To curb criminal gang activity, we have adopted ceration itself has a lasting impact, not just on the economic tional programs. special sentencing rules and uniquely oppressive correc- mobility of former prisoners, but on the mobility of their 4. The Green Wall, Correctional Offi cer gang mentality tional practices. This special treatment goes beyond the mere children and families. There are now more than 46 million (i.e. cronyism, code of silence, intimidation tactics, development of special investigation practices, evidentiary people living below the federal poverty line in the U.S. verbal and physical abuse of prisoners; all encouraged rules and penal technologies; it includes the development of But the numbers alone don’t tell the full story. Our sen- and condoned by First and Second Level supervisory a new body of knowledge that regards gang members as spe- tencing practices in individual cases reveal the gross excess- staff). cial, their lives and behavior beyond the reach of ordinary es of our system. As we’ve locked up more and more people, 5. The targeting, manipulation and toppling of MAC human common sense. But we have done more: By examin- sentences have gotten harsher. Misguided three-strikes laws councils who challenge untenable rules, petty regula- ing gang practices as special and unique, through the lens of have had the perverse result of sending people to prison for tions and illegal, underground policies. clinical expertise, we have relegated gang members to the the rest of their lives for petty crimes like stealing a set of On a gleaming, aluminium pole outside Corcoran, an status of incorrigible specimens, who can only be studied, golf clubs. We continue to have a death penalty that is not American fl ag is draped. Now inert and sun-baked, it hangs controlled, governed, and suppressed through special, dehu- only costly, but also produces unfair and unreliable results. lifeless; it’s a fi tting symbol for the cherished iconography of manizing technologies. For every nine people we have executed in the last 40 years, a dying Empire; an Empire born in blood and deeply steeped The perversity of this approach is evident these days, as we have found one person on death row who was innocent. in conquest and subjugation. How fi tting that it be the stan- the Pelican Bay inmates plan on renewing their hunger strike Why? How has a problem that affects one in 31 Americans dard under which justice is meted out to some – and summar- on September 26th. The hunger strike, which lasted for 21 (not to speak of their children, families, and communities) ily denied to others. ♦ days in July and received woefully little media coverage, been ignored for so long? The answer is that mass incarcera- aimed at changing the correctional policies involved in in- tion impacts mostly the poor, the historically disfavored, the Mitakuye oyasin (All my relations) carceration at the Security Housing Units (SHU) in Pelican racial minority: those whose voices are rarely heard. In the spirit of Crazy Horse Bay. When inmates are identifi ed as gang members, they are We need to talk about injustice because who we are as a Wawokiya un (help others) subject to a penal regime that consists of complete isolation society cannot be accurately defi ned by our wealth. We will for 22 ½ hours a day in tiny cells, their only companion of- be ultimately defi ned instead by our treatment of the poor Robert Morales P-27996, 3B3 – 110L, P.O. Box 3466, ten the blearing sound of a television set. Their daily respite and our compassion for the condemned. We need to talk Corcoran, CA 93212 from years of solitary confi nement is a 90-minute outing in about injustice, so that we can create justice. ♦

NUMBER 38 23 GEORGIA PRISON STRIKE, ONE YEAR LATER: ACTIVISTS OUTSIDE THE WALLS HAVE FAILED THOSE INSIDE THE WALLS By Bruce A. Dixon are still mostly untreated. Educational programs are avail- Source URL: http://blackagendareport.com/content/georgia- n December 2010 inmates in up to a dozen Georgia pris- able to less than 5% of prisoners, and thousands of Geor- prison-strike-one-year-later-activists-outside-walls-have- ons either refused to leave their cells for work assign- gia’s prisoners as young as 14, 15 and 16 years old, con- failed-those-inside-walls Iments, or were preemptively locked down by prison offi - tinue to be confi ned in adult institutions with adults. Bank cials. They demanded wages for work, access to educational of America still has the exclusive contract to handle inmate Links: programs, fairness in release decisions, along with decent accounts, and levies a parasitic fee each and every time a [1] http://blackagendareport.com/category/us-politics/ food and medical care. An ad hoc coalition sprung up to ne- family member sends an inmate a few dollars, and deducts georgia-prison-strike gotiate with state offi cials, and gained privileged access to another monthly charge as long as any funds remain in an [2] http://blackagendareport.com/category/us-politics/jails- Smith and Macon State Prisons. But the coalition has long inmate account. This year, as last, thousands of prisoners and-prisons since withered and died, without even issuing reports from who speak mainly Spanish are not afforded interpreters at [3] http://blackagendareport.com/sites/www. its December 2010 fact fi nding visits. What happened? And disciplinary hearings, and with no transparency at any level blackagendareport.com/fi les/goergia_inmates.jpg what happens next? it’s impossible to know whether there is any hint of fairness [4] http://www.endmassincarceration.org/ A year ago this month, black, white and brown inmates in these proceedings. Politically connected companies like [5] mailto:[email protected] in a dozen Georgia prisons staged a brief strike. They put J-Pay and Global TelLink are still allowed to siphon millions [6] http://endmassincarceration.org/sites/default/fi les/emi- forward a set of simple and basic demands—wages for work, each month from the families of inmates by collecting tolls 13points.pdf decent food and medical care, access to educational and self- on the money transfers going into and phone calls coming [7] http://www.addtoany.com improvement programs, fairness and transparency in the way out of prison. Food ranges from bad to merely inadequate, the state handles grievances, inmate funds and release deci- vermin infestations abound, and of course Georgia inmates sions, and more opportunities to connect with their families still work every day without pay. 30 JAILERS PUNISHED and loved ones. A short-lived formation calling itself the On Wednesday December 14, a year after the strike, Rev. Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisoner Rights came to- Kenneth Glasgow of TOPS, The Ordinary Peoples Society FOR INMATE BEATINGS gether, and met with the Georgia Department of Corrections. showed up at the Georgia state capitol with some of the fami- By Jack Leonard and Robert Faturechi, Los Angeles Times In the last weeks of 2010 teams of community observers lies and supporters of prisoners savagely beaten by wardens n the last two years, Los Angeles County sheriff’s of- were allowed to visit Macon State and Smith prisons, where and correctional offi cers in Georgia after the strike. fi cials have disciplined more than 30 jail employees for they examined facilities and interviewed staff and prisoners. “We are here to reaffi rm our commitment to the prisoners Ibeating inmates or covering up the abuse, according to a The Concerned Coalition To Respect Prisoner Rights was who made a principled stand for their own and each others’ report from the agency’s watchdog obtained by The Times. supposed to issue public reports of its fact-fi nding prison vis- human rights a year ago this week. We know the ball was Other deputies “get away” with unnecessary force against its. That never happened. It was to have initiated a long-term dropped. TOPS and the National Organization of Formerly inmates because “they craft a story of justifi cation … which dialog with state offi cials in pursuit of the inmates’ eminent- Incarcerated Persons, along with some others, are picking may be impossible to disprove,” according to the report by ly just and reasonable demands. That never happened either. it up. Over the past year we’ve worked to secure legal and the Offi ce of Independent Review, which monitors discipline It should have called public meetings and begun to organize other assistance to the families of some of the prisoners who in the Sheriff’s Department. a lasting campaign to educate the public on the meaning of suffered beat downs in retaliation for the December 2010 The report comes in response to growing allegations of Georgia’s and the nation’s prison state, and the possibilities strike, and we’ve expanded our work with the National Or- inmate abuse inside the nation’s largest jail system and has for radical reform. These are the things the prisoners expect- ganization of Formerly Incarcerated Persons. But we know been released as the FBI investigates several cases of poten- ed of their allies and spokespeople on the outside. But com- that much more has to be done to fulfi ll the promise of last tially criminal misconduct by deputies. promised and undermined from within and without, the co- year’s coalition. The report documents a dozen cases in which deputies were alition was unable to make any of these things happen. Thus For our part, we can promise that the next twelve months either fi red or suspended in connection with inmate beatings. the trust that Georgia prisoners placed in activists outside the out here won’t be like the last twelve. Decent food and medi- But those who were punished may be only a fraction of those walls to organize in support of their demands was betrayed. cal care, wages for work, educational opportunities and the who actually used excessive force. Investigations into exces- From the beginning, members of the coalition uncritical- like are ordinary human rights to which everybody is en- sive force, especially those that involve relatively minor ly deferred to a single one of their number with extremely titled. The Ordinary Peoples Society is ready to work with injuries to an inmate, can be “lackluster, sometimes slanted limited local availability. That leading person vetoed public whoever is willing to advance the human rights of Georgia’s and insuffi ciently thorough,” the report said. meetings, the establishment of an interactive web site or even prisoners.” The report was by Michael Gennaco, who heads the Offi ce a steering committee list-serve, insisting that nobody else The question is what will that work look like? How do of Independent Review. Even as the watchdog circulated his could be trusted to manage or access the coalition’s contacts. activists in Georgia bring the questions of the prison state fi ndings, department offi cials revealed Wednesday that sev- So apart from the limited interactivity of a seldom updated and the rights of prisoners to the front burner as a public and eral more deputies not mentioned in Gennaco’s report had Facebook page, the coalition maintained no easily found political issue? With the corporate media determined to twist just been disciplined for the beating of an inmate. point of public contact. This leading person, in sole charge and ignore the issue, and prominent sections of the black es- Gennaco, in an interview with The Times, said the deputies of calling meetings, simply stopped emailing or telephoning tablishment lining up in bipartisan endorsement of a phony told the inmate that they had plans to put a bucket under him this reporter and others who contributed signifi cantly to the “criminal justice reform” package in return for a share of “re- and “wait for nature to take its course.” The inmate allegedly cause of the prisoners. entry program” money, how can this be done? Hugh Esco, took a swing at the deputies. After a short struggle, the depu- State authorities did their part to gut the coalition as well. secretary of the Georgia Green Party, thinks he knows. ties took the inmate to the ground, where he was punched, Georgia got a new governor at the beginning of 2011, who “We’ve worked with people in Georgia communities to kicked, pepper-sprayed and kneed. took a keen interest in his own right wing vision of “criminal come up with 13 demands for the governor and his phony Footage captured by a camera attached to a deputy’s stun justice reform.” Taking his cues from an ultraconservative Commission on Criminal Justice Reform. Demands like gun showed that the inmate was on his stomach, “with no think tank called “Right On Crime”, Governor Deal is one of ending the lifelong discrimination in housing, employment evidence of resistance or movement, but the Taser is applied those who believes the main thing wrong with mass incarcer- and other areas against persons convicted of felonies, auto- anyway,” Gennaco said. The stun gun was used a second ation is that it’s too expensive. Aided by the Pew Foundation matically restoring the vote to everyone including inmates time, and the footage again showed no resistance. and a major state contractor, Deal created a commission on currently in prisons and jails, decent food, health care and “The deputies wrote in their report that the reason the Tas- “criminal justice reform” composed of judges, prosecutors education behind the walls, stopping the incarceration of ju- er was used is because the inmate was trying to crawl away,” and state legislators to approve what his consultants cooked veniles in adult prisons, decriminalizing homelessness, men- Gennaco said. The footage disputed that, he said. One deputy up—a hodgepodge of recommendations to shrink the state’s tal illness, drug use, and more. Beginning this week we’ve was fi red and three were suspended. maximum and medium security institutions while greatly got persons on the courthouse steps every day courts are in The report is at times critical of the department’s handling expanding probation, home monitoring, workfare, closely session, fi rst in Cobb and Fulton counties, and within a few of abuse allegations and comes days after Gennaco drew fi re supervised “diversion” and misnamed “re-entry” programs, weeks in half a dozen other Georgia counties. from county Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Mo- all under the profi table guidance of well-connected “not for “Our volunteers will be petitioning, gathering signatures lina, who questioned his independence. The report said de- profi t” entrepreneurs. on these demands. The Georgia Green Party will be send- partment investigators who examined minor force incidents True to his name, Deal reportedly made a deal with some ing letters, postcards, phone calls and emails to those who sometimes failed to interview all potential witnesses or to leading fi gures in the Coalition to Respect Prisoner Rights, sign the petitions inviting them to phone conferences and look at medical records of an injured inmate. who bolted the coalition with the expectation that if they face to face public meetings beginning in January, and going Among the cases highlighted in Gennaco’s report was an help line up black Democrats behind the white Republican throughout the year. That’s what a campaign of grassroots incident in which a deputy thought he heard an inmate mum- governor’s “criminal justice reform” proposals, they’d get public education looks like, and that’s how our party is going ble something disrespectful and began punching the inmate some of the state’s new “re-entry” money. A senior national to pick up the ball that the coalition dropped last year. Our in the head and neck. The deputy initially ignored a sergeant civil rights leader quietly fl ew in and out of Atlanta the same campaign even has its own web site at www.endmassincar- who witnessed the “unprovoked attack” and screamed for day to quietly meet with Governor Deal about his deal. So ceration.org [4]. We are also helping the families of prisoners him to stop hitting the inmate. The department fi red the dep- the Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisoner Rights withered build their own network of mutual aid and support. uty and suspended his partner for not telling the truth about and died. “Using these methods we expect to be able to call well- the incident. And so, a year out from the December 2010 prison strike, attended public meetings on the prison state in many parts In another case, a deputy and a custody assistant entered it is clear that activists outside the walls have largely failed of Georgia this spring and summer. And 2012 is an election the cell of a mentally ill inmate and struck him in the head to honor their commitment to those inside the walls. In the year, so we expect that some of the friends and families of with their fl ashlights. When they realized later that he was past year, not much has changed. Scores of prisoners alleged prisoners will join with us to run for seats in Georgia’s state bleeding, they did not seek medical help. ♦ to be strike leaders were punitively transferred and locked legislature, using their 13 demands as the core of their plat- down in the wake of the strike. Dozens more who were not form. In this way we will use the elections to educate our strike leaders were savagely beaten, as exemplary reprisals neighbors on Georgia’s and the nation’s prison state. Any- for the strike, and denied medical attention afterward. State body who wants to help in this campaign can contact us at offi cials conspired to hide from his family and the public the [email protected] [5]. We’re here, we’re seri- whereabouts of one man they beat into a coma for nearly two ous, and we aren’t going anywhere.” weeks as he hung between life and death. A handful of guards [6]. The 13 demands of the Georgia Green Party’s Cam- were charged, but local prosecutors and grand juries refused paign to End Mass Incarceration [have been omitted to save to indict. The federal Justice Department, under its fi rst black space in this newsletter]. ♦ attorney general, and president has thus far expressed no in- [Bruce A. Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda terest in protecting prisoners from the arbitrary and brutal Report, and a member of the state committee of the retaliation infl icted upon them by Georgia offi cials. Georgia Green Party. He can be reached at bruce.dixon@ Inmates with debilitating and life threatening conditions blackagendareport.com.]

24 PRISON FOCUS Letters ...... Continued from page 2 the next day after I received the memo. tion and support between the undocumented community and Inmates who were still striking in D side long corridor ourselves, as well, the supporters of both who have given life is healthy number. blocks, were all put all in this block, easier for staff to moni- and voice to our struggles. When I feel my body cannot take it no more I will end my tor us and closer to medical. PBSP high up, wanted to also It must be comprehended that the bridge linking our strike not to permanently damage any internal organs if it’s separate inmates striking in the unit from inmates no longer struggles, is the same profi t driven economic system and its not too late. I must do my part in this contributing to protest partaking. Another reason why staff moved us strikers the inherently parasitical laws necessitating expansion, has not bringing change, still seven cells in my pod are going strong hardcore bunch to this unit. The pod I came from, six cells only created and perpetuated the massive poverty and misery striking; one cell hold out, not partaking in this doesn’t be- were moved out to this block, us six weren’t even thinking abroad through imperialist expansionist policies, driving so lieve any good will come out of this strike. My pod has the about ending our hs till CDCR agreed to meet our demands many gente north to the U.S. in search of economic stabil- most inmates striking in the unit. Few days ago over 26 cells 1-2, show fairness at least. ity, but this same economic system has resulted in the class came off the strike same day, and just 12-13 cells now strik- How do I feel now today health overall – great just ex- divisions and social inequalities that both created the condi- ing still in the whole unit. The fi rst hs, makeshift medical hausted slow too and hungry. tions necessitating a prison system, but has also resulted in stalls were set up in the corridor , but not this strike nor were the so-called “immigration dilemma” and the exploitation of any medical staff from outside brought in to help out in case. A Statement and Call for Mutual Support in Unity undocumented laborers. This strike doesn’t seem as strong and united as in July. It is essential to our struggle that the prison masses and We are the product of the same economic practices. We What I mean by that is it seems a lot of prisoners’ hearts’ not our supporters recognize the objective reality that our exis- are, in “essence”, identical. It is only in “form” that we are in this strike, no faith. Many believe that the fi rst strike was tence as prisoners is an economic phenomenon erected upon distinct, which sets us apart as “prisoners” or “undocument- the time to push, go all the way till the main demands were a process of “social production” driven by a “profi t fi rst” in- ed laborers”, the form in which our oppression manifests it- met; that it ended too soon and big error to take CDCR word centive and the “private accumulation” of it in the hands of self. Therefore, to continue our isolation from one another knowing their bad track record not coming through on a lot a select few. is to do so artifi cially for in reality we are connected by that that they say. “Social need” is secondary and only so long as it develops which oppresses despite “formal” differences. The program slammed earlier today—guards say 115s within the context of an available “demand”, i.e. within the In regards to all objective reality and all that exists, F. En- write-ups are being passed out but nobody came through this context of the gente’s ability to pay. This form of a profi t gels said that it, pod yet issuing us a 115 write-up. We been hearing we’ll economy inevitably results in irreconcilable class divisions, “… is in a constant state of coming into being and going get them, but who really knows, it may be a ploy to force social inequalities and disparities, a lopsided distribution out of being, in a constant fl ux, in a ceaseless state of move- inmates to end their strike. If disciplinary action is taken … of socially created wealth (value), and capitalism’s histori- ment and change…” it’s just 90 days loss of privileges (TV or canteen), it’s up to cally unique phenomenon of “unemployment” that stems “Rights” are likewise in continuous motion. Rights are the senior hearing offi cer one of the two to take. I’m feeling from the “over-production” of the “supplies” of a particular relative, they are in a constant state of transformation and more tired as the strike continues, but mentally I feel all right commodity or service within a given sector, that exceeds the change, of perpetual transition. There are no such thing as and my spirits solid last I checked. purchasing-power of the gente. This production and those rights, there are only power-struggles. The moment we cease I been suited up thermals lately to ward off the cold. I get industries that are inter-dependent on this production either to struggle, we cease our claim to rights. All who can be mo- the chills now in the daytime that I have to bundle up fast, to buy, or sell to, will become no longer profi table, and result bilized, stand up! Unite! thermals and jumpsuit. in the hording and warehousing of those extra goods, or their Landrum, C. #J-53474 It seems the ladies at the offi ce (CPF and LSPWC) don’t destruction, a tremendous decrease in production, or a total Pelican Bay State Prison get enough rest and they work long hours into the night. halt in this production and those inter-dependent industries, PO Box 7500 (C-9-102 SHU) Remind them not risk their health overworking themselves all in an effort to drive prices back up and make them profi t- Crescent City, CA 95531 where they become sick. able once again, by decreasing the supplies so that the “de- I need to fatten up lost so much weight that hopefully I mand” of peoples purchasing power is greater than supplies Dear CPF, can gain a lot back (by end of the year). This hs is more available. I just got off the phone with Pelican Bay State Prison Om- important (than food), the fi ght against CDCR torture and This massive decrease in social production likewise results budsman, Sara Malone. She said I was a terrible prison men- neglect. I started this hs on 9/26 with no regret and heart ful- in massive “unemployment” and “lay offs”. The capitalist tor for not encouraging my beautiful friend to provide infor- ly committed. I’ve heard now lots of inmates voicing doubt defi nition of “over-production” is conveniently deceptive, mation and to debrief. She said it didn’t matter how well he about this hs seeing that CDCR aren’t negotiating. Every for it is “over-production” only relative to the “demand” – was doing on the mainline, or that he had been disciplinary inmate knew going into this strike second time, that it may what the gente are capable of paying. This over-production, free for many years or that he was selected among hundreds get rough, things may turn for the better or worse but that a also labelled a “recession”, fails to factor into the equation to be a mentor himself with the ROCK program to mentor at sacrifi ce would have to be made in unity, protesting till one those concrete and real needs of those who are unemployed, risk youths or that he had been working for 3 years straight 7 can no longer go; the body is shutting down. The hs in July, I or lowly paid. In a capitalist economy, these economically days a week for 5 hours a day for that prison at the low rate learned to separate different aspects of myself and deal with oppressed gente are not worthy enough to be factored into of 45 cents an hour. them individually, not to let the situation control me, old trig- the equation of “demand”, despite having real concrete Furthermore, she stated to me if IGI offi cers felt he has gers. This isn’t easy especially in prison, but the biggest dif- needs. And in more severe “recessions”, this is followed up information that the prison needs then it is within policy for ferent dealing with matters today than is the past is the fact with pro-bourgeois ruling class legislation and reforms that IGI to have come during our visiting time Sept 26, while my that now I am wide awake watching my reactions, able to further serve to protect and preserve ruling and upper-class son and I were on a bathroom break. She feels that was prob- stop, re-evaluating the situation instead of rushing forward. fi nancial interests while simultaneously as a part of this leg- ably planned with the intention that I would have encour- I was thinking earlier in the day how people in prison and islation and reform, we gente are further “criminalized” as aged him to provide information that they were seeking, and outside postpone living until things in their lives shape up. both a class and oppressed nationalities. placing him in isolation was right since he had an ample op- I too was trapped in this maze going nowhere … before I It must be comprehended for the purpose of formulating portunity to provide information they needed and he refused picked up the nine years in 1997, I had focused more on the a correct political line and means of struggle, that the prison to do so. She felt that it was not harassment that they trashed day I get out rather than trying to create a plan for myself system is nothing but a “concentrated expression”, a “con- his cell several times and cornered him for two months, his when I am released. What was I thinking?! There’s a higher densed manifestation” of the class, racial, and gender contra- refusal to provide information left staff no other choice but to purpose in life for all humans. We just have to fi nd our place dictions inherent within class divided society as a whole. We place him in Ad Seg pending gang validation charges. in the world being a positive force, and promote change and must see beyond the guards’ smiles and their daily “buenos She told me that this situation with my friend was very sad compassion naturally. How easy it is to deal with adversity dias”, irregardless of any sincerity. This psychological indi- indeed and the department is working towards a new policy and suffering when we are open and generous with ourselves vidualizing what is objectively a “social-issue” only distracts that will be fi nalized by February 2012 and would be pro- and others. us by limiting our perceptions, artifi cially, to seeing trees and vided to California Prison Focus and she hopes cases like his Oct. 18 2011: It’s been hectic on my end during this hs, not the forest. In spite of these subversive perceptions, it is do not make it in because there are a lot of cases similar to also being moved having our property packed then unpacked an issue of class struggle, in prison, as well as within the his where non-violent offenders are permanently placed in (some things stolen by guards) getting situated again is drain- existing internal semi-colonies on the U.S. settler-imperialist the SHU. She could not tell me what the new policy will be ing, especially when your energy is low. Haven’t eaten since empire. but that they are all looking forward to it but that they are on 9/25. I just fi nished today unpacking, organizing a little at a We are truly social-animals, the essence of our existence. a hiring freeze and that it will take some time and hopefully time. I am far off full strength but I feel really good mentally, For as a species of homo sapiens, we must feed, clothe, by February. physically, and spiritually. I just feel weak my joints aching. shelter ourselves, if we are to procreate and perpetuate the She also feels it does not place prisoners in danger to I’m eating slowly building my appetite again. Last I weighed species as the driving force of our DNA compels us to. But provide information to IGI, and that the department plans myself I was at 193 lbs. The last week of hs, medical staff signifi cantly greater to the point at hand is the fact that in to keep this method of basically forcing prisoners to pro- passed out daily packets of Gatorade/vitimins morning and order to meet these needs, we must “cooperate” with one an- vide information or to land themselves in the SHU. She said evening. This stopped after the hs ended, and the medical other and “coordinate” our productive labor and it is within whatever the new policy is it will continue to encourage pris- staff stopped walking through the units checking up on us. I the process of this context of social-intercourse, we not only oners to debrief, basically to snitch on the activities of other started eating on 10/14. develop social consciousness (ideas, ways of thinking, etc.), prisoners. Memo was passed out to us on 10/13 stating that the hs and language as a means to express this consciousness, but Name Withheld is over. The paper had four signatures on it: Carol, Marilyn, only within this social intercourse do we develop our unique Ron, and Laura Magnani. Last name was S. Kernan on the “personalities” and “who” we are as individuals. Dear CPF, memo. A lot of us didn’t want to believe the memo, seeing The years and decades of solitary confi nement and the ef- The men who suffered through the hunger strike and you no names of the reps. Many of us didn’t want to stop strik- fects of “sensory deprivation” deprive us of the social con- who suffered working with them have brought about VERY ing until we received concrete confi rmation from one of the nections and relationships necessary for the development of meaningful changes in SHU conditions. Thank you! Thank reps that hs is over. We thought the memo CDCR issued is our personal identities as individuals. This subtle process of you!!! I went to visit [Name Withheld] in Folsom yesterday. a hoax. For weeks we heard Carol and Marilyn are under oppression amounts to nothing less than “social extermina- While he’s still been valildated, like so many others, on hear- investigation by CDCR not allowed to visit any inmates. Ev- tion”, while preserving life biologically. The assassination of say, he’s content with his SHU conditions in Folsom. He and eryone striking also supporters outside knew the truth why ones personality, the identity which defi nes who we are, is to 20 other men he knows are allowed out on the yard three CDCR banned Carol and Marilyn from visiting – a tactic reduce us to “dehumanized animals”, a total destruction of times a week for four hours. He tells me they are playing ball to shut down communication. Then suddenly, a memo was the human-being. and creating lessons to teach each other Spanish. They can issued to all inmates striking with Carol and Marilyn names This is not only a call for all Californian prisoners who can now have their pictures taken, access to the canteen, sweats signature in which seemed odd to us at fi rst. You can imagine be mobilized to participate in this second round of hunger and other warm clothing, art supplies and their personal how skeptical a lot of us in this unit were to acknowledge the strike and future resistance in an effort to alleviate the state’s property. If you do nothing else, CPF, you can know that memo at fi rst. A few inmates, 4-5, didn’t end their hs in this trend of perpetual oppression and its current systematic and your efforts have made huge strides in changing the Cali- unit till two days later after we got the memo. They didn’t arbitrary social-extermination of both SHU prisoners and fornia penal system and in so doing, you have saved 1000’s believe the memo S. Kernan put out. I said to myself, I don’t those within G.P. alike who are the initial victims of the vali- of men the loneliness and despair of living in isolation from think CDCR would forge the lawyers name on the memo, dation process. other human beings. place the CDC in a position to be sued by the lawyers. That This is likewise a call for the unity and mutual coopera- Name Withheld act would really refl ect bad on this prison. So I ended my hs

NUMBER 38 25 The Paper even a whimper of support for those placing their very lives PF has been getting letters from prisoners asking on the front lines for our common struggle. when the next issue of Prison Focus is coming out. The amount of outside support, however, was unprec- CIndeed, one HS [Hunger Strike] representative wrote edented, and included community supporters, ex-convicts, suggesting that CPF might be trying to benefi t off the peace- family members and loved ones of prisoners all working ful struggle of SHU prisoners, as during the entire time of together. But on both HS1 and HS2 it was the hunger strik- HS1 and HS2 not a single issue came out. He writes “Why ers that were the most awesome in terms of the number of has the CPF newspaper been out of the equation throughout participants. our struggle to be liberated from these gulags, huh?” While the outside support was deep, it was not widespread As the editor of Prison Focus let me try to explain: It costs as it might have been. Mostly because it takes a lot of time about $3,000 to print and mail each issue. Mark Cook and I to mobilize many elements. The progressive community, kicked in $2,500 to put out the last issue of the newspaper, Note: The views expressed in these comments are on the other hand, demonstrated a unity and purpose that along with an additional $300 that was contributed by SHU the opinions of the writer, and do not necessarily re- was clearly successful in amplifying the voice of the strik- prisoners. That issue came out just before HS1, and it was fl ect the views of California Prison Focus or its mem- ing prisoners. The hunger strike support coalition deserves a everything SHU prisoners asked it to be and more. Please bers. well earned pat on the back. I’ve never seen the community understand that nobody at CPF gets paid a dime. We do what come together like that. It was inspiring. And for the fi rst we do out of a shared belief that the SHUs must be shut down time in a long time it made me feel hope for the future. The Prisons and to abolish the prison system as we know it. The money If there was a weakness in our work it was in relying al- “The hunger strike showed CDCR our unbreakable needed to continue doing this work is always a problem. most exclusively on the state’s apparatus of repression for a spirit to fi ght for our human rights and willing to starve In every recent issue of Prison Focus my editorials have solution to the problem of torture in the SHUs. We should to death to stop PBSP torture and abuse. The CDCR can tried to emphasize that we don’t have any money and this have spent more time looking to the oppressed prisoners no longer ignore our complaints and cries. They know particular issue might be the last one. I’ve often complained themselves as the motive force for peaceful and constructive the truth is out—the attention and watchful eyes of the that if the newspaper is to survive it can only do so with the change. That would have been the only reliable method for community is on CDCR now. The strike was but a pre- fi nancial support of its readers. enforcing any promised changes. But the outside community lude for true justice, as the pelican is fi nally airborne Yet prisoners and their loved ones on the outside have did what it was supposed to do, and that was to take direction and can’t be stopped.” failed to come through with enough to keep it going. I’ve of those on the inside and their family members. The legisla- —A SHU hunger striker asked prisoner readers to sell fi ve dollar subscriptions to tive thrust and the level of communicating with state offi cials their peers. This too didn’t happen. If every reader pitched by the Prisoner Hunger Strike Support coalition is ongoing. suppose I can write about the hunger strikes here, since a single buck we could put the newspaper out on time every As for what was achieved by these strikes, well, that re- they’ve been featured in the NY Times and LA Examiner time. Maybe the fault is mine; that readers don’t like the way mains to be to be resolved. On HS1 CDCr made some prom- newspapers, and covered favorably, not only there but all I grind my axe, so they don’t support us. Whatever the rea- I ises on the fi ve core demands, but had not followed through, across the country and even the world, and reported on radio son; no money equals no newspaper. This issue will fi nally at least not in terms of any actual changes in the areas of and TV globally too. be printed, over nine months since the last one, but, again, indefi nite confi nement and the infamous debriefi ng require- After the July 1st hunger strike (HS1), Scott Kernan, then without the help of our readers there may not be another one. ment. Demands not made by the SHU hunger strikers, such the corrections undersecretary for operations, told a legisla- The problem of limited resources also extends to answer- as releasing all SHU prisoners and converting the state’s tive hearing on August 23rd that the Department of Correc- ing your mail. The volume of incoming mail we receive is SHUs to minimum security facilities, have not yet been dis- tions and Rehabilitation locks up more than 3,000 inmates just too much for us to respond to it all. We do our best, but cussed. As you know, the goal of CPF is to shut down the in Security Housing Units or “SHUs.” They spend nearly 23 some of it is never answered. If you send a letter or article to SHUs, not merely to make them more comfortable or the hours a day in their cells. He testifi ed that four hundred thirty our Oakland offi ce it is screened there and, if they feel it is policies a bit more rational. fi ve prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison have been in the warranted, it is forwarded to me here in Seattle. I then give it The leading SHU prisoners used the metaphor of a foot- SHU for more than a decade. Seventy-eight of them have all a read and decide what goes in to the newspaper. ball game to describe their struggle. Continuing on with that been in the SHU for more than two decades. The only way If a letters talks about some individual’s personal situa- metaphor, I think we are at half time. HS1 and HS2 were the out of the SHU is to renounce the gang and debrief (become tion, one that does not involve conditions equally applicable fi rst two quarters. Everyone can call the score what they like. an informant). to others, then the item will not make it into the paper. If an I call it a draw. Now we’re at half time, traditionally a time to When there is resistance to slavery, fi rst comes the repres- article is too long or rambles on about what everyone already look back on the plays of the previous two quarters in order sion and then comes the bribes. On February 11th Corrections knows, it won’t be printed. But if you don’t like something to evaluate strengths and weaknesses. Secretary Matt Cate told a group of journalists in New York about this publication and care to share it with readers, then I talk about the prison struggles of the late 1960s and mid- City, where he was speaking on a panel at the John Jay Col- that comment will most likely be printed. Submissions of 1970s not to show how great I was back then, or to impress lege of Criminal Justice, that state prisons have become so artwork must be prison-related and if at all possible should you with my commitment to our common struggle—neither punitive there is “very little benefi t in obeying the rules.” not be folded (it leaves a visible crease marks). of which are true. I share these parallel experiences only to Cate went on to say: “If you take everything away from a There are those who will object to my printing a lengthy demonstrate the similarities between then and now. It was person, you also take away their ability to infl uence their be- article on Black Nationalism. They say Prison Focus has a Winston Churchill who said “Those who fail to learn from havior.” And then added: “I think, ultimately, I’d like to get New Afrikan bias. Yet the political content of this article is history are doomed to repeat it.” to a place where 95 percent of our prisons are places where applicable to prisoners of all races. When you read the piece Back then, as a result of our struggle, we won conjugal inmates have everything from MP3 players to Xbox to cable try to do so in the context of your own racial background. visits (which are still in effect today), along with a whole lot TV, I don’t care, they can have [all the] goodies you can pos- And of course there are others who will object to the revo- more. The point is that CDCr is on the defensive. They are sibly get, great, as long as they follow the rules ... and our lutionary content of this and other articles. They believe the ready to throw out some token reforms—X-Box 360s, MP3 guards are safe.”2 When the cheap bribes don’t work, then prisons would be fi ne if only this or that reform were made. players, cable TV, etc. And a modest change in SHU policies, actual change takes place. The battle will be to non-violently Rightly or wrongly, this writer believes one of the roots1 which is all of this due to the struggle and sacrifi ce of the convince those who would sell out the struggle some trin- of the problem lies in the very foundation of bourgeois soci- hunger strikers around the state. kets, like an MP3 player.3 ety—the constitution itself. The slavery of millions of Amer- In the SHU at Walla Walla we engaged in near constant During HS1 the CDCr publicly admitted that there were icans is sanctioned by the Thirteenth Amendment, which but peaceful struggle back in the mid-to-late 1970s. By the 6,600 prisoners on hunger strike in 13 prisons across the state abolished slavery and involuntary servitude “except as a time that struggle was over, we (who called ourselves the involved in the hunger strike. They started out saying it was punishment for crime...” Another of those roots that results Walla Walla Brothers), were released from indefi nite isola- only a dozen or so in one prison, but soon had to change their in crime is a social order in which the distribution of wealth tion, the Director of Corrections, Harold Bradley, was fi red, story. The number of participants in HS2 peeked at nearly is grossly disproportionate and based on class distinctions. warden B.J. Rhay was removed, and the associate warden of 12,000 (11,898 according to the Offi ce of the Special Master, The solution is not in reforms to the current economic sys- custody transferred from the penitentiary to a kids joint. That and slightly less than that, 11,619, according to CDCR’s own tem of capitalism, but rather in replacing it with the system victory was achieved after Walla Walla’s general population fi gures, in thirteen prisons). of socialism and ultimately communism—a society in which went on a peaceful work strike for 47 days—the longest pris- To this writer’s knowledge never before in history have so the state has been abolished and replaced with an administra- on work strike in United States history. The fi rst of their 14 many people gone on hunger strike, let alone it being prison- tive mechanism for the distribution of goods and services. demands was to rectify conditions in the SHU. ers who have accomplished this remarkable feat. The heroic Lastly, there are those who will object to my printing of Both justice and the course of history are on our side (“Our sacrifi ces made by striking prisoners in this epic struggle will the name George Jackson, knowing that within the Califor- side?” Yeah, me too; once a convict always a convict, you be remembered for generations to come. nia prison system the mere possession of a publication con- know it’s true). Maybe that can be one of their new threat But there is another group of prisoners that should also be taining that name can be used to “validate” any New Afrikan levels, a threat because that prisoner is a “convict” rather remembered—those main line or general population prison- prisoner as a gang member and subject that person to in- than an “inmate.” Anyway, as you may have gathered, I’m ers of California who did not peacefully support the strike defi nite torture in one of the state’s many Security Housing not a big believer in the notion that we going to win anything must be remembered for their abject cowardice. During these Units. But, as one of CPF’s founders said; “to self-censor monumental hunger strikes by the most oppressed elements George Jackson out of a publication about prisoner rights is of the prison population, the majority of the GP prisoners to take Rosa Parks out of the civil rights struggle.” This is remained as silent as obedient dogs. With tails tucked safely SELL YOUR ART an equal protection and fi rst amendment issue for jailhouse Prisoner between their legs, these faint-hearted curs did not sound lawyers to address. Artists! ON THE WEB If a prisoner has a copy of the L.A.Times that mentions 2. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/10/ Prisoner-created art George Jackson’s name he or she will not be validated. The BA5B1N63SV.DTL Times would sue. But having a copy of the Prison Focus 3. At one time the prison in Monroe Washington was single celled. You can sell: and crafts, except any newspaper can get you validated on the basis of your race. If This was due to a settlement agreement entered into by prisoners x Drawings and their captors resulting from litigation in the federal courts. x Paintings writings, sold over the a white prisoners has a copy of a copy of this publication that Monroe became the only prison in the state that was single celled. mentions Comrade George, he or she will not be validated x Paños Internet. Send only During my ten years at that facility the administration repeatedly x Music on that basis. copies, no originals! tried to bribe infl uential prisoners to agree to abandon the settle- x Crafts Lastly, this is a radical rag, meaning it goes to the root of ment so the prison could be double celled. Each time I would type the issues. If you want to read a reformist publication there up an expose of these would be sell-outs, and post copies around Prison Art is non-profit Prison Art Project are a lot of those around. Take yourself off our mailing list the prison where there was a good chance that only prisoners would website. It charges a ten P.O. Box 47439 and save yourself the aggravation and us some money. This read them. And each time an informed population was able to see percent fee if your art Seattle, WA 98146-7439 through what the collaborators were trying to do. This change in sells. Send a SASE for newspaper is aimed at people who want to peacefully and http://www.prisonart.org lawfully do more about their conditions of existence than prisoner consciousness repeatedly prevented the sell-outs from info. No SASE, no reply. double bunking us. Sadly, after my the release, the DOC got the [email protected] merely complain. federal court set aside the agreement and the prison is now double Offer void where prohib- Call: 206 -271 -5003 1. The word “radical” derives from the 1650s, from “radicalis” celled. ited by prison rules. meaning going to the origin, essential, roots or root causes. 26 PRISON FOCUS meaningful by begging the state to do the right thing. As publicly bragging about the summary execution of American Fredrick Douglas noted: “Power concedes nothing without citizens. “It was a dangerous precedent that establishes the demand. It never has, it never will.” Petition drives and such legal premise that any suspected enemy of the United States, are good tools for educating the public, something we used including American citizens, can be murdered on the unre- on our U.N petition drive in the late 1970s, but they had no viewable say-so of some panel operating out of the White meaningful impact on policy. Like they say, one must learn House (that meets in secret, with no known law or rules gov- how to crawl before they can walk. erning what it can do or how it operates), is empowered to The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a treaty the place American citizens on a list to be killed by government constitution says is the “law of the land”, proclaims that all agents.” (Sorry, I neglected to save the author’s name.) humans have the inherent right to such things as equal pro- Another person murdered in that Sept. 30 U.S. predator tection under the law, freedom of expression, and the free- drone attack in Yemen was Samir Khan, 25, the editor of an dom to work and form labor unions; to freedom from slavery, online English-language magazine that criticized American forced labor, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment imperialism in the Middle East and around the world. Khan and arbitrary arrest or detention; to a standard of living ad- was also an American citizen, from Glendale. Was he more equate for health and well-being; and to be recognized as a than me, a mere critic of the government? We’ll never know person before the law. because he didn’t have the right to a public trial before he California Prison Focus orgaqnized this protest outside the All of these rights are inalienable—just because we are was executed. I watched the bourgeois news channels on the gates of Corcoran prison. humans—and have as their goal the protection of human night of Awlaki’s murder in an effort to learn more about the dignity and fullest development of the human personality. story. Not one of the local or national reporters raise a single doubt this”, says writer Jack Douglas, “just think about the Again, the right to form labor unions, freedom from slavery, question about killing American citizens, who are suppos- recent expansion of drone assaults to Libya and Somalia or torture, and inhuman treatment. The question you now need edly presumed innocent until proven guilty. Even Nazi war your next invasive pat down in an airport or the continuation to ask yourself is this: Are prisoners human beings? If so you criminals were given a trial before they were executed. of the onerous Patriot Act.” Oh, he forgot to mention the U.S. too have these fundamental rights—including the right to or- Back in 1962 Adolf Eichmann, the alleged brains behind drones in Yemen, Ethiopia, and who knows where else. In- ganize into labor unions. The U.S. Supreme Court has held the holocaust, was captured, extradited from South America, deed, today the Somali government offi cially confi rmed that that under the constitution prisoners do not have the right to tried, convicted, and executed by the Israeli government. late last night the US drone had killed at least 21 “fi ghters” unionize. But international treaties the U.S. is a signatory to They say respect for the rule of law is not for the protection and injured many more (probably while they were sleeping). is the law of the land, above the constitution yet not enforce- of people like Eichmann or Awlaki, but for the protection of According to the CIA and quoted in the Financial Times, able in the courts. It requires a political struggle in order to the vast majority of citizens—just as ending prison slavery the US government spends $120 billion a year, to fi ght an gain these rights. is not just for prisoners, but for the health of our society as a estimated “50-75 ‘Al Qaeda types’ in Afghanistan.” This It is prison that’s the crime! There can be no doubt that whole. This is true even if the majority of those citizens are money is being squandered at a time when the true unem- imprisonment to solve social problems is a failure. Indeed, indifferent to living under a regime that arbitrarily uses pre- ployment rate is nearly 23% (according to Shadowstats.com) there is mounting evidence that incarcerating offenders actu- meditated fi rst degree murder against its own citizens. if it was calculated the way Bureau of Labor and Statistics 7 ally exacerbates the problem. It would be cheaper to send The highly respected author Michael Parenti makes this reported it in 1994 and earlier. My unemployment benefi ts you to Yale, and a lot less socially destructive too. Our mes- point about Iraq: “The US destroyed a country that had the ran out years ago, and thus I am no longer counted among sage should be a simple one; we need more schools rather audacity to retain control of its own oil supply, kept its entire the unemployed, although like countless others I don’t have than more jails, and more jobs will mean fewer jails. economy under state control (rather than private corporate and can’t fi nd work. The unemployment rate for ex-cons in Today this state’s governor signed a bill that made Wash- ownership), and did not invite the IMF or the giant transna- California is 70 percent. That, my friend, is the reason for the ington the seventh state to legalize gay marriage. Yes! Equal tional corporations in.” Yet many if not most Americans see that state’s 70 percent recidivism rate. rights for all! Now about the little matter of prisoners? We the action of the U.S. around the world to be benefi cial to the While we’re on the seventy percent, did you know that who are, under the constitution of this land, legally and liter- peoples of the globe. With Libya and its oil now fi rmly under seventy-one percent of Americans—almost exactly the per- ally slaves of the state, we too would also like a little taste imperialist control, the way in paved not only for the rest of centage that thought Saddam was behind 9/11—believe that of equality. How ‘bout some equal rights for us in housing, Africa, but for two other irritants as well—Syria and Iran. Iran has nuclear weapons. That’s the power of the brougeois employment, and let’s not forget to mention the notion of Large reserves of oil were recently discovered in Uganda. press to spread disinformation. Indeed, the CIA admits using 8 our appalling conditions of existence inside the America’s Last week the U.S. government admitted to having at least the news to manipulate U.S. public pinion. gulag? The problems within the California prison system are a hundred military troops on the ground in Uganda to help statewide; the solution to solving these problems, to winning prop up the much hated puppet dictator there. And on page Wrap Up this struggle, is also a statewide approach. A4 of today’s Seattle Times is the headline “U.S. troops help Because prison events in California are changing at a more Did you know that here in Washington state plans for to- fi ght rebels in 4 African nations.” Libya under Gaddafi re- rapid pace than usual, and because the unstable frequency morrow’s prisons are based on today’s fourth-grade reading fused to join the U.S. military’s new Africa Command. He within which Prison Focus newspaper is published, I have scores?4 This is a sad commentary about a policy of planning was murdered shortly thereafter and Libya’s sweet crude oil started a small (ten paged) monthly newsletter named ¡Roca! for failure by building more prisons while closing schools. promptly fell into Western hands. (Rock). The purpose of this publication is to provide pris- None of this will change, however, until prisoners them- The fi rst fact is that both the democrats and the republicans oners with more frequent news and analysis around prison selves become involved in the process of peacefully and law- support America’s permanent war policy. Second fact, and related issues. ¡Roca! is not free. Each issue will cost two fully implementing the future they want to see. one that fools always ignore, is that this pattern of action stamps, one for the postage needed to mail it to you, and the will ultimately lead to another world war. The big imperial- other for the cost of paper, printer toner, etc. You can buy 12 The World ist (NATO) powers try to maintain their hold on the world’s issues, a year’s subscription, for 24 stamps, with the caveat he U.S. maintains 300,000 troops at 761 sites in 39 markets and resources, while the wanna be imperialists that I might stop printing it at any time and your extra stamps foreign countries. Just imagine if any other nation (China and Russia) fi ght for a larger slice of the increas- will be lost (but still put to good use in advancing the rights tried to spread itself across the globe like that our ingly fi nite resources of the globe. Just look at the economic of prisoners). I’m in my 70s and living on social security, so T there are no sample copies or freebies. If you are too lame to government would call them a threat to world peace. And penetration China has already made into areas such as South that’s just what this nation is. Iran is considered a threat to American, Africa, and Asia. hustle up two stamps then this is not the publication for you. this country, but we have that nation surrounded by 45 Amer- During World War One 10 percent of all casualties were If you want to check it out send your stamps to Ed Mead, ican bases. Who’s a threat to whom? civilians. During WW II that number rose to 50 percent. In P.O. Box 47439, Seattle, WA 98146-7439. But they want us to be distracted by the boogie man of the Vietnam War 70 percent of all casualties were civilians, ¡Roca! is not in any way related to California Prison Fo- terrorism and get us all wrapped up in their patriotism fren- and in the Iraq war civilians account for up to 90 percent of cus, the Prison Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition, or any zy. Fact is, you are four times more likely to be killed by a all deaths. The next war will raise these fi gures even higher. other group or organization. It is something I’m doing on my lightning bolt than by a terror attack. Yet the boogie man The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 held that “The kill- own in an effort to help meet the growing information needs of terrorism is used to further advance the police state and ing of innocent civilians and willfully causing great suffering of rights and class conscious prisoners. perpetual war. is a war crime.” I’ve babbled on for two pages, yet what I have to say does We out here in minimum custody have our electronic com- There have been 1.3 million Iraqis slaughtered since our not carry a lot of weight, nor should it. But let me close this munications intercepted, cameras recording everyone’s go- invasion of their nation, and another two million displaced. off with a quote from someone I think you will agree is a ing and comings, and you nearly have to strip (oh, wait, their Our bombs and missiles kill people indiscriminately in plac- lot smarter than either of us. Albert Einstein was a socialist new body scanners strip you electronically) if you want to es like Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, who said, “The world is a dangerous place, not because of fl y on an airplane these days. It is not only the prisoners who and anywhere else the U.S. decides bare its imperialist teeth. those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do should be outraged at these draconian realities. Last week the Associated Press did an investigation of 10 nothing.” Let me tell you about Anwar al-Awlaki, a 40-year-old U.S. drone strikes and found that of 194 people killed, about 70 Until next time, comrades, take care in there and continue citizen and father of fi ve. He is also an al-Qaeda loudmouth. per cent were militants. Others put the fi gures at over a third to stay strong. ♦ There’s no evidence that he ever killed or even hurt anyone, being innocent civilians.5 Yet most Americans believe that yet he was murdered by U.S. forces with a drone strike in Ye- what we are doing in places like Afghanistan is benefi cial to men. The American people not only accept this extra judicial those people and they should be grateful that the Americans killing of an American citizen, they cheer it. Two weeks after are so generous. The media does not tell them about such the killing of Awlaki (far from any battlefi eld and with no endemic poverty in Afghanistan that it is forcing many poor due process) it did the same to his 16-year-old son. families to sell their children into slavery order to survive.6 It’s a sad day when the government takes our most basic If prisoners were ever organized to the extent that they rights, such as the right to a trial and due process, to an at- could speak with one voice, I suspect that they’d get an at- torney and to confront your accuser, and then has the citizens tentive ear from the world’s people if they spoke out against of this country blindly cheering the loss of those rights. Ha- these global and domestic abuses of power. beas corpus has been gutted, preventative detentions imple- Yet things are moving in the opposite direction. With the mented, torture winked at, protections against unreasonable recent appointment of General Petraus to head the CIA, the searches and seizures, etc., all but gone. It was Benjamin ruling class is now moving even faster to concentrate power Franklin who said “Those who give up their liberty for more in the military, to expand U.S. murder attacks around the security deserve neither liberty nor security.” world, and to otherwise intimidate critics. They want perpet- Of course the U.S. government has been using fi rst de- ual war and its political handmaiden, perpetual fear. “If you gree murder as an instrument of foreign policy for years, and training and arming death squads around the world, but 5. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/protests- grow-as-civilian-toll-of-obamas-drone-war-on-terrorism-is-laid- to my knowledge this was the fi rst time they’ve stooped to bare-7494409.html 4. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008644335_ 6. http://www.rferl.org/content/afghanistan_children_being_sold_ 7. http://bit.ly/ulYS7J opinb19fi tzhugh.html into_forced_labor/24326343.html 8. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30652.htm NUMBER 38 27 GORILLA THEATER To teach the untamed ape by lynching, a lesson Who is King Kong? ‘bout rebellin’, You say he me? Hell naw, you wrong! with guns branded by Smith and Wesson. Yeah, they called us both “ape” from day one. And we suppose to just take shit. And we was both kings back home, But, hell naw! We don’t buy it. POETRY The Kongo for one. Like Kong we go ape shit. And just like Kong, They call it inner-city riot... We was defi ant and strong. Insurrection, And yeah, he big and black, and declare a state of emergency. like a whole society of us. But we need direction, And was haunted from dawn to dusk, to stage a real insurgency just to get free. That’s why they aim to slay and scourge, FROM CCWP WOMEN to capture for the sake of enriching a nation of united snakes. leaders like Malcolm X, Comrade George, (Alisha, Veronica, Margarita) Chained to stakes Fred Hampton, MLK. in fi lthy ships’ holds, They target the head Truth is… abducted to be sold to make us easy to play as a spectacle. against ourselves The picture I’m about to paint can only be heard, Expected to and make us easy prey. so listen closely to every word. make the slaver a fortune in gold, Til we exterminated, smiling like sambos. the nightmare scenario eliminated. Innocent until proven guilty? Hell no! Manufactured white fright vindicated. They can’t be serious, Slaver think we supposed Distorting class contradictions In a system where to curb our outrage. with ones based on skin. Drug dealers get more time Claim he done us a favor A distraction than serial killers, saved us from united action juveniles get tried as adults, from our backward ways - against the rich white men, before they become one. by puttin’ us in a cage. who got I guess nobody musta warned’em To entertain our oppressor, Black, White, Yellow about playing with knives and guns. our possessor. Red and Brown all penned in. Be his happy slaves. Yeah, you right, Guilty by association? Be his buck. that King Kong script That’s what it’s called But now, we bucked, did have us in mind. then they get hauled broke our chains A subliminal message, to teach our kind off to the pen, set them self-righteous, lily-white that capitalism’s the greatest where some girls become boyz and some boyz spectators to fl ight. gorilla killa of all time. become women. Outta spite! So we best fold and bend, Sitting around Cuz they felt alright, or face mass hysteria unaware of who they are, making a joke of our plight. to bury the wounded while in the belly of the beast. Put their gorilla theater to fl ames. beast within. I call’em invisible scars, They think they right, Fear and hate the kind that can’t be healed claim we insane. whipped up by media spin. by Neosporin and stitches. Say we wrong for fi ghting to be free, So bow down, do as the Romans do, for making a mockery stay in line. Went in walkin’ of their civilization, But we still here, came out switching. shittin’ all over their tehnology. biding our time. Easily Ain’t dead yet! Could you imagine what it’s like? fi nding cracks and footholds to scale their walls, Done fell and got back up a thousand times. Being told that the beginning with natural dexterity. Survived every hardship is really the end of your life. Still lookin’ to reign tall. their murderous minds could design. 3 strikes and you’re out! Now they gotta look up at me! And we still clinging to the walls, Some think it’s a game, No! Stop! The slaver say: beating our chest, but it’s really outta my hands. Cuz your nimble hands and feet, still rebellin’ yet! Lord knows, I’m not tryna do life was made to serve me, And we might be ‘bout to get - on installment plans. to dance, compete, be my athlete. wise But stay away from Fay Wray! Expose the racist lies. Everybody wanna be a part He say Organize Of the occupy system, she forbidden fruit! all colors to uprise. I need to occupy my life and But he use her too. Unite the masses, fi nd something to do with it, I mean ain’t it funny, against the ruling classes. otherwise it’s useless. even the woman he supposed to cherish Neutralize just an object to make money. their agents and spies. Some may mistake my words as verbally abusive, To berate. Dominate. Man the passes, But the truth is… But the ape to hung the hunters, treated her better than her own mate. and kill the killas. How do we expect our kids to grow Kinda why it was fate, Flip their script ... from concrete, she felt a soft spot for ol’ Kong. from gorilla to guerillas. accept defeat, Her own misery By Kevin “Rashid” Johnson have to fend for themselves made her see in cells where it is dark the slavers was wrong, and hot as hell? But she was pampered not strong. More parents come to see kids in jail Afraid to put her neck on the line, than they do at graduations. for a gorilla That’s cuz the new diploma like he did for her is parole or probation when she was in a bind. She was blind. Fucked up situation And even when she tried to break out No contender. her own detention a breakaway slave sojourner “Now I’ll be gone until November” had to save her convention. Listening to a public pretender But WASPs got twisted minds, telling me to plea rape Kong’s kind, Y? then claim when we demand freedom, Cuz I’m young, black, and sell crack in da streets. we talkin’ ‘bout Fay Ray’s behind. Babies committing robbery, He say, “She mine!” 1st degree. Won’t turn her loose. But our struggle inspires her Even with blind eyes to wanna bust loose. I could see it ain’t cool. ‘Til white reaction bring out They building prison programs the guns and noose. and tearing down schools. Then she bail, leave us jailed, We all got an opinion inside she vacillate. just like we all have a choice. Watch them pierce, fl ail and fl agellate, No one can hear you speak our fl esh and if you don’t use your voice! concentrate their fi repower and incinerate.

28 PRISON FOCUS LAWMAKERS HAMMER CORRECTIONS OFFICIAL FOR NATIONAL LAWYERS LACK OF ACCOUNTING GUILD CONDEMNS Sacramento Bee those women who remain inside. awmakers lit into a California state prisons offi cial Regarding the receivership, Carney reported that he had NDAA PROVISIONS ON Wednesday afternoon for his department’s failure to spoken with Kelso and that Kelso is “wrapping up his work.” INDEFINITE DETENTION account for its spending -- twice. Carney was unsure of the numbers but thinks Kelso told him L LG analysis of the NDAA: “We oppose indefi nite Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, called his bud- that he (Kelso) could reduce staffi ng by 1000, which would detention without trial because it is immoral and get subcommittee to order and then quickly skipped down result in a billion dollars in savings, because of realignment. cruel and because it violates the U.S. Constitution to the second issue on the agenda, an update on why the De- There was discussion about the out-of-state prisoners. Of N and international law.” partment of Corrections and Rehabilitation hasn’t produced course, CCPOA wants those prisoners back in the state; so After over a decade of the so-called “War on Terror,” Pres- spending reports that the Legislature demanded when it gave do we. But CDCR says there is no plan to bring them back in ident Barack Obama is about to sign the National Defense CDCR an extra $380 million last year. the next year—they are trying to meet their in-state popula- Authorization Act (NDAA) into law. The NDAA permits As Cedillo and other angry assembly members at the hear- tion goals as a higher priority. Maybe in the future, no prom- the indefi nite detention of anyone, including citizens of the ing noted, the extra money went to Corrections while pro- ises, but they might have a plan about this by the May revise, United States, who “was part of or substantially supported grams for the elderly, the sick and children all suffered cuts. their “master plan.” al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces, under the law of But after years of what amounted to fi ctional cost estimates There was discussion also about Fire Camp, which by mid war until the end of hostilities” – an extremely problematic and perpetually blown budgets for the state’s most expensive to late 2013 will be under-populated due to realignment. LA and vague defi nition. In addition, it permits the transfer of agency, Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers agreed to a 2011- County will take over the camps in that county. CDCR is any detained individuals to any foreign country and trial of 12 budget that gave the $9 billion-plus department the extra talking to other counties about similar arrangements. such persons before a military tribunal. money. According to fi gures provided to The Bee by Assem- CDCR announced that all of the “non-traditional” beds are The National Lawyers Guild adds its voice to the many oth- bly Budget Committee Chairman Bob Blumenfi eld’s offi ce, now gone (in gyms, etc.). They said they were getting close ers who oppose this legislation. Our opposition is not based it was the fourth year in the past fi ve that the Legislature to base level staffi ng, which is requiring a tedious process of solely on the fact that this bill allows indefi nite detention of kicked up extra money to cover CDCR’s overspending. The determining baseline on a yard by yard basis. A $1.65 billion US citizens and residents or that the presumed “battlefi eld” augmenting funds totaled nearly $3 billion. target was mentioned. They have fewer adult prisoners and encompasses the entire globe. We oppose indefi nite deten- Last year, hoping to get costs under control, the Legisla- more parolees than projected. ♦ tion without trial because it is immoral and cruel and because ture added reporting strings to the money. The fi rst report it violates the U.S. Constitution and international law. was due within 75 days of the budget’s enactment last June. Our opposition is based on the: A second report is due today. Corrections hasn’t produced 1. United States Constitution’s Article 1, Section 9, any information yet. Clause 2 which enshrines the privilege to petition for Wednesday, an impatient Cedillo and Assemblyman Luis habeas corpus; Alejo, D-Watsonville, took turns lecturing and quizzing 2. United States Constitution’s Article 3, Section 3 which Scott Carney, CDCR’s deputy director of fi nancial services, provides those charged with treason heightened due about his department’s failure. process protections; “What are you doing to get this report?” Cedillo asked. 3. United States Constitution’s Fourth Amendment right “Someone needs to be in charge of this. ... $380 million isn’t SOLITARY CONFINEMENT to be free from unreasonable seizure; chump change.” 4. United States Constitution’s Fifth Amendment prohibi- “We’re doing our best to get that out as soon as possible,” STORIES WANTED tion of deprivations of liberty without due process; Carney said, refusing to throw staff members under the bus. ave you or someone close to you spent time in soli- 5. United States Constitution’s Sixth Amendment right to He blamed the delays on everything from CDCR’s realign- tary confi nement? Have you worked in a solitary a speedy and public trial, to knowledge of the charges, ment to staff vacancies in his unit. Hunit? We want to hear from you. We are collecting to the assistance of counsel and to confront witnesses; “We’ve heard this story before,” Alejo said. “Now here we stories to help our advocacy work against the abuse of soli- 6. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the are, six months later. ... This is a very small request.” tary confi nement. Please take a few minutes to tell us your United States has signed, and which holds that “no one Carney said that CDCR isn’t “projecting a defi ciency at story. shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or ex- this time,” but it still has several steps to take before it can You can contact us directly by email at solitary@aclu. ile” (Article 9); those who are arrested are entitled to a give lawmakers the information that they want. org, or by mail at: Stories from Solitary, ACLU Comms, 125 fair and public hearing by an impartial tribunal (Article “When can we get it?” Alejo asked. Broad St., 18th Fl., NY, NY 10004-2400 10), and all those charged with a penal offence are pre- Carney: “Very soon.” Feel free to attach more pages as necessary. We will not sumed innocent, and have the right to a public trial and Alejo: “Two to three weeks? I fi nd that unacceptable.” publicize your stories without your permission. all of the guarantees necessary for a defense (Article Later, Cedillo said, “I want you to give me a date.” 1. Name: 11); and “A 30-day window seems reasonable,” Carney said. “If 2. Contact info: 7. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, there are any problems, I’ll let you know sooner rather than 3. What is the best way to reach you? which the United States has ratifi ed, and which pro- later.” ● Phone vides in article 9 (1): “Everyone has the right to liberty ● US mail and security of person. No one shall be subjected to And More: Taken From PHSS Blog ● e-mail arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived 4. When is the best time to reach you? of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance At the Assembly Budget Public Safety Subcommittee 5. Where were you or your family member in solitary con- with such procedure as are established by law.” (Sub 5) meeting on February 29, the topic was population fi nement? That is, what was the name of the prison, jail, or The laws of war do not override these rights. International reduction. Most notable was the fact that CDCR (Darby Ker- youth detention center? humanitarian law, set forth in the Geneva Conventions, ap- nan and Scott Carney) showed up and announced that CDCR 6. How long were you or your family member in solitary? plies to all battlefi eld hostilities, including illegal wars. The was not going to be able to present its budget report due the (If there was more than one experience in solitary, please us current “war on terror” is an undeclared war without end, following day. Actually, it had been due a few months ago about each time.) waged everywhere on Earth. Indefi nite detention for the du- and they had gotten an extension. This really angered the 7. Please describe your or your family member’s experi- ration of such a “war” is an immoral act of extreme injustice committee. Assembly member Alejo ripped into them. Over- ence in solitary confi nement. (What was the cell like? Was that makes a mockery of the idea that prisoners of war may all Budget Committee Chair Blumenthal made a special ap- there any contact with other people? Did you or your family be held only until the end of hostilities. pearance just to tell CDCR to get the report in ASAP. Most member get any time outside the cell?) The National Lawyers Guild opposed expansion of execu- vocal was Assembly member Nancy Skinner, who isn’t even 8. How has your time in solitary affected you or your fam- tive power by George W. Bush, who oversaw Guantánamo on the committee but also made a special appearance and was ily member? (How has it affected relationships with family and other “black sites” where prisoners often endured cruel, fi erce. The point was made that this was a bipartisan concern, and friends, for example.) inhuman and degrading treatment and torture at the hands of and one of the Republicans chimed in. One observer stated 9. Do you have a lawyer representing you or your family their captors without access to lawyers or courts to challenge that she has never seen the legislature treat CDCR this way member for this case? either the fact or the conditions of their confi nement. We op- -- she thought it represented a sea change in attitude. 10. Is there anything else you would like to tell us? pose equally the current president’s claim to such executive On the merits, special attention was given to the issue of Disclaimer and Notice power and his apparent desire to expand it. women prisoners, the VSPW conversion and SB 1266, the This Survey does not give legal advice, and you should not The absolute power that the NDAA affords the Executive Alternative Custody Program (ACP). CURB (Californians rely on it as legal advice. You should speak with a lawyer to Branch and the military is dangerous, allowing the Executive United for a Responsible Budget) and Justice Now had sub- get advice on your specifi c situation. We also cannot prom- Branch to designate whomever it chooses to be subjected to mitted documents about VSPW. CURB had a whole package ise that the information on this site is complete, accurate, or its draconian provisions. of written materials that was given to each committee mem- up-to-date. If President Obama were committed to Constitution and ber, and many of us were there and spoke during the public This Survey is not an offer by the ACLU to represent you. international legal norms, he would veto this bill. Instead, he comment period about a variety of issues. We cannot promise you that the information you provide will seems more concerned about consolidating the power of the Regarding the ACP, Kernan stated that 33 women have lead to any specifi c action on the ACLU’s part. Once you Executive Branch at the cost of our legal and human rights. now been released, 2 are now on parole and 1 was returned complete the survey, the ACLU may not do anything—in- As “terrorism” and “radical Islam” have come to replace to prison. 78 have been approved and plans are being created cluding contact you—about your situation. “Communism” in the federal government’s lexicon of fear, for them. There is no funding, so fi nding housing is some- If you fi ll out this Survey, you agree that the ACLU, one of the United States continues its spiral toward a new era of times a problem. CDCR wants to change the law to allow its state affi liates or, if identifi ed as part of the Stop Solitary McCarthyism. The NDAA is another step down that road. ♦ women (and men?) in this program if they have prior strikes. Campaign, one of its coalition partners, may use the infor- [Editor’s Note: The NDAA was signed into law by Obama This will make more women eligible. She was no longer es- mation you give us, as long as we don’t include your name, on December 31, 2011] timating that 500 women would be released via this program address, email or phone number, for one or more of the fol- by June. The advocates brought that fi gure up, not her. The lowing purposes: (1) legislative testimony, (2) litigation; (3) new number was 200-300 prisoners out of prison on ACP contacting a city, state or federal agency; or (4) telling your on a daily average if the law were changed. There may be story to the public, including the media. If the ACLU, its a budget trailer bill on this subject. And she said something state affi liates or one of its coalition partners wants to iden- about them being released during the last 4-5 months of their tify you, we will contact you prior to doing so. We will keep incarceration into this program. She said that 5000-5500 your name, address, telephone number and email confi den- women would be left, and that 5000 women would not be tial unless you give us permission to use it or unless we are “crowded” at the two major prisons. Public concern was ex- ordered to turn it over by a court (although we will attempt pressed about possible crowding, and lack of programs, for to prevent any disclosure). ♦

NUMBER 38 29 THE CORCORAN REPORT

“Americans should be disgusted and outraged that pro- cally denied due process with respect to the validation pro- longed solitary confi nement, sometimes for months or even cess. Prisoners often do not know the evidence against them years, has become a routine form of prison management. It is even though offi cials are required by regulation to present infl icting unnecessary, indecent and inhumane suffering on the evidence to them at least 24 hours before their hearings. tens of thousands of prisoners” In addition, old information items are used to validate pris- New York Times editorial oners, and in one case used and previously rejected informa- tion was used to validate a prisoner, in direct violation of By Ron Ahnen, President CDCR’s Gang Management Policy. California Prison Focus One prisoner reported that if a prisoner wants to debrief March 2, 2012 but has little to no information to report, the institutional gang investigator will “help” the debriefer by providing in- he following report on conditions at Corcoran State formation. They do this by mentioning, in a clearly negative Prison is based on interviews with dozens of prison- way, names of people whom they don’t like, thus inviting the Ters and letters received from prisoners both in SHU debriefi ng prisoner to report on that individual. and in general population over the past year. No prisoners Evidence is routinely employed for validations violating will be identifi ed by name, nor signifi cant identifying infor- basic fi rst amendment rights. Prisoners recently reported mation reported, for fear of retaliation by guards or other spending up to 18 months or more in Ad-Seg units awaiting prison offi cials. Information presented here summarizes the transfer to SHU. Prisoners also complained about the lack of reports we have heard directly from prisoners. rehabilitative programs available in both Ad-Seg and SHU. The great majority of validated prisoners communicat- Conditions relating to Hunger Strike ing with California Prison Focus fl atly report that they are Clearly the death of a hunger striking inmate, Christian neither members or associates of the gangs with which they Gomez, in February 2012 is the most alarming occurrence are allegedly affi liated. The CDCR is not producing the evi- related to prisoners on hunger strike at Corcoran. Prisoners dence required to demonstrate that a prisoner has partaken in in the Administrative Segregation Unit at Corcoran generat- “gang activity” and thus represents a real and present threat ed a list of 11 demands at the end of last year. Administrative to other inmates. staff initially engaged the prisoners about their complaints Dozens of personal accounts by prisoners who have been Looking in to a Pelican Bay SHU cell (cage?). and promised an answer within three weeks. When they re- recently validated and housed in Corcoran SHU reveal a previously submitted grievances are denied (i.e., the com- ceived no reply by the agreed date, the prisoners resumed consistent pattern of abuse of the gang validation process by plaint was never fi led), but when the prisoner fi les again, it is their hunger strike. A few days later, Christian Gomez was guards, the IGI units and OCS with the aim of getting cer- screened out due to duplication. found unresponsive in his cell. His death demonstrates the tain prisoners off the mainline. Which prisoners are targeted? glaring lack of concern for the safety and minimal well-be- The pattern appears to include any prisoner who “shows at- Impact of SHU on Mental Health: ing of individuals under the charge of the CDCR. titude” or somehow does not get along with certain guards, A disturbing pattern emerges from several accounts In 2011 hundreds of prisoners at Corcoran prison joined prisoners who fi le grievances (i.e., stand up for their rights), whereby prisoners develop severe mental health issues due the hunger strike led by the prisoners at Pelican Bay com- prisoners who assist other prisoners in fi ling grievances or to prolonged confi nement at Pelican Bay SHU and then are mencing on July 1 and resuming in September. Corcoran lawsuits, or prisoners who refuse to participate in the gang transferred to Corcoran SHU where they are treated. Essen- prisoners reported that high CDCR offi cials met with them in structure and thus are “out of the control” of the gangs and tially, prisoners are tortured by long term solitary confi ne- an attempt to get them eating again, but they responded that guards. One prisoner noted, “I am not gang affi liated. I get ment until they become suicidal. When they begin to speak offi cials should instead deal with the prisoner representatives along with everyone. That is the problem.” Moreover, pris- seriously about killing themselves, they get transferred not at Pelican Bay noting that whatever changes CDCR made for oners who have the respect of other prisoners but are not in out of SHU, but simply to another SHU. All prisoners noted PBSP would be valid for Corcoran as well. the gang structure are targeted for validation since the guards that they did not suffer mental health issues before assign- Some prisoners, but not all, received vitamins during the cannot control them either. ment to the SHU. While in the SHU, they develop symptoms 2011 hunger strike, but one prisoner reported they were old One prisoner reported that guards use the structure of such as deep depression, hearing voices, anti-social behavior and crumbling. Vitamins were distributed during the hun- the gangs to control the yard by offering incentives to gang (ie, not wanting to be around others even though they have ger strike in July, according to another prisoner, but not in leaders to keep affi liates under control. Thus, prisoners who the chance to engage others during yard time), stark irritabil- September or October. A prisoner said he was taken to the refuse to join a gang, even after enduring physical and ver- ity at even the slightest movements or noises of others in hospital just over a week into the strike and treated for dehy- bal assaults for their refusal, are targeted for validation. One earby cells, problems sleeping, paranoia, stress, seizures, dration. Several prisoners put their lives on the line, losing prisoner reported that the IGI who validated him told him asthma, limited mobility, PTSD, anxiety, and reports of see- signifi cant weight (up to 30 pounds or more) in order to push fl atly, “If you just point me in the right direction, I can vali- ing shadows or images that are not really there. the CDCR to make changes. Many prisoners at Corcoran date anyone.” One prisoner reported being lethargic and hopeless. Pris- reported some positive changes resulting from the hunger Race is still used routinely as a way to validate prisoners. oners who previously wrote frequently or practiced art strike such as new canteen items, sweats allowed for pur- Latino prisoners are designated as either “N” or “S” upon have given up these activities overcome by depression and chase, the availability of art supplies, the ability to get pho- intake which is taken into consideration both in placement despair. Combined with the lack of minimal medical care, tos, new calendars through the canteen, and even some mu- and in gang investigations. Many Hispanic prisoners do not SHU creates a great amount of stress for prisoners who know sic radio stations restored. Problems have already erupted, know what these designations mean until after they have that they could easily die alone in their cell and “nobody however, as some new exercise equipment (ab rollers) has been in prison for a while. Any book or writing by George would care” about them. One prisoner noted, “We’re treated already broken, suncreen is still not permitted, offi cials have Jackson is considered evidence of gang activity, but only like animals.” Another patient with mental health issues ar- balked at allowing prisoners to get tennis shoes, and canteen for African-American prisoners. A white prisoner noted that gued, “You would think that if somebody is mentally ill, they food items which were supposed to be left in their original while Blacks and Hispanics may help to defend other prison- would put him in a place where he could have peace and packaging are now being opened again before distribution ers of their race during a scuffl e or assault with no implica- quiet and could heal.” to prisoners. tion of gang affi liation, white prisoners are assumed to be af- fi liated with the Nazi Low Riders if they ever help to defend Assaults by Staff Gang validation abuses anyone of their own race. We continued to hear reports of severe beatings and exces- As in the past, we heard several prisoners’ reports of their sive use of force by prison staff. One prisoner reported that bogus gang validation processes and how they are systemati- Medical Abuses guards took him around the corner before they beat him to get Nearly every prisoner reported grave instances of medical out of the way of the cameras. One prisoner reported getting abuse. One prisoner had to threaten assault on the nurse after beaten by staff and having an object pushed into his rectum his appendix had burst and was told to go back to his cell by the guards while he was already stripped and handcuffed. with some Tylenol. Another prisoner noted that he waited Another stated that he was pepper sprayed after refusing to literally for years doubled over in pain with his gall blad- take his blanket down from the door, but after the altercation der problem before being taken in for surgery. The surgeon was over, he was not allowed to shower. Several prisoners noted it was the worst case of a swollen gall bladder that he have noted that beatings are routine, and that after several had ever seen. years of such beatings, they are in constant pain and even Prisoners noted that they were routinely denied their medi- have diffi culty doing routine activities such as getting up at cations or equipment including canes, knee braces and wheel night or walking. One prisoner sleeps on the cold fl oor next chairs. Guards will simply deny medication and make the to his bed because when he gets up to go the bathroom, he’s prisoners fi le a grievance. The grievance takes time and usu- not sure he can make it all the way from the bed to the toilet, ally the medication is restored, but only after several days so he prefers to sleep next to the toilet. One prisoner fi nds it or weeks of terrible pain. Some prisoners report having too hard to sleep as he has fl ashbacks of previous assaults. many medications, as if the guards are drugging them into One prisoner has been the repeated target of assaults by sedation. One prisoner noted that the combination of fi ve other prisoners for years and only recently discovered that different drugs made his throat swell up and he was having the fi le of a child molester of the same last name was “mis- great diffi culty in breathing, but the guards would simply not takenly” (he believes intentionally) placed in his fi le. Guards believe that he was really having a reaction to the medica- and nurses share confi dential information in the medical fi les tion. when prisoners are taken to see the nurse and then spread For prisoners with severe mental health problems, psy- the word at the prison. The prisoner has been “gassed” (fe- chological and psychiatric care is extremely limited. Some ces and urine thrown at him when passing by others’ cells), prisoners who are supposed to see a psychiatrist at least once “speared” (with small arrows made of rolled paper) and a month are only seen every two months, and then only for physically assaulted by other prisoners. He had always con- about fi ve minutes in order to renew the psych meds. Pris- sidered himself a non-violent person before being in prison oners reported that one of the main instruments employed and never committed a violent crime on the outside. He has to deny medical care is the paperwork. Grievances are re- now added considerably to his prison sentence due to the al- turned stating that paperwork is missing when the indicated tercations with other prisoners based, of course, on the “mis- The view from inside of a Pelican Bay SHU cell. document is in fact attached to the grievance. References to

30 PRISON FOCUS take” of CDCR personnel in mixing up his fi le. To date, they crime is not some fi xed set of proscribed behaviors, but rath- means of information and education, we can only work to have not corrected the error. That prisoner now suffers from er changes with time and the class nature of the then existing redirect the force of crime back up against those who created chronic pain due to injuries suffered in assaults. social order. Both ancient Greece and Rome, for example, the conditions for its development. were societies based upon the state-supported economic sys- The political consciousness of the under-culture needs to Mail tem of slavery. A slave owner during that period would be be raised to a point that makes preying on the poor uncool The two major problems with mail are that it is often de- perfectly within his legal rights to murder one or more of or even dangerous for those confused victims of capitalism layed by up to 60 or 70 days arbitrarily, and that legal mail is his slaves. He could premeditatedly kill his slaves as punish- who steal from or otherwise victimize their neighbors. The delivered to its adressee already opened. According Califor- ment or for the mere pleasure of watching them die. The law message must be: “Rather than ripping off that old woman nia regulations, if prison offi cials have well founded reasons of the day protected his right to dispose of his property in any for her monthly sustenance check, take your needs to those to open legal mail of a prisoner, they must open it in his way he saw fi t. who can better afford to pay.” Prisoners should especially be presence. Several prisoners indicated that they receive legal Today, getting rich from the surplus value created by your involved in this process. Their lack of class-consciousness mail that is already opened demonstrating that CDCR is both employees is looked upon as one of bourgeois society’s is clearly refl ected by the fact that there is currently no stig- knowingly and willingly violating the law in this regard. highest virtues. In tomorrow’s working class social order, on ma attached if you are in prison for cannibalizing your own the other hand, that sort of behavior will be criminally repug- community. There should be a social stigma on the inside for Food nant. Just as what we call fi rst degree premeditated murder those stealing such things as a welfare mother’s check. In- No prisoner expects anything except the absolute mini- was behavior protected by the power of the state under the deed, these predatory cannibals who prey on their own class mum with respect to the variety and quality of food, yet re- system of slavery, so too in a future social order acts seen as are the very lowest of the low. It must be made clear to them ports indicate that the prison does not provide food of suf- virtuous today will be looked upon as criminal behavior to- that class considerations are always primary. fi cient nutritional value in sanitary conditions to meet even morrow. Indeed, in a future communist society it will right- On the outside we can start laying the foundation for dual that low standard. Prisoners report that the food is very much fully be a crime for one person to materially profi t from the power by policing our communities (without collaboration watered down, often served cold, and extremely bland, and labor of another. with the state’s apparatus of repression). Taking control of the “patties” consist of questionable ingredients. Prisoners Just as the defi nitions of crime can change with the class our neighborhoods is an important part of increasing the cannot survive merely on the food provided by the prison and basis of the existing social order, so too does its punish- resistance that will ultimately direct crime back up against therefore depend on their canteen orders to get by. More than ments. Today’s capitalist system engenders myriad schemes the rich. When the movement fi nally develops again, class- one prisoner noted their trays arrived with light sprinkles of for separating the working class from its hard-earned money, conscious ex-convicts would take leadership in this commu- disinfectant on the food. They were given a second tray after ranging from telemarketing scams to the usury committed nity protection process. And those still on the inside would refusing it. One prisoner received a tray with a piece of hair by banks and credit card companies. Some of these are le- hold study groups for their peers on issues of class, race, and in it. He was told to “eat around it.” Knowing that the food gal and some are not. When such crimes are punished it is the various manifestations of sexism. Although we can’t yet service does not meet minimal sanitary and quality standards only lightly, usually a fi ne of some sort. The same is true eliminate crime, we can at least start the process of making it adds to the already high stress levels of living in the SHU. for punishments against corporations and wealthy individu- more class conscious. als. Indeed, a rich person has never been executed in all of Mayhaps one day I will again be able to walk down the Law Library American history. Yet in all class societies up until now, the street and smile and say hello to the person walking his dog, Visits to the law library are routinely denied and allowed crimes of the poor are punished far more harshly. and to give a warm greeting and a pat on the head to those only infrequently at best such as once a month. This situation This disparity in punishment is applied with a vengeance children who need a whole community to love them. Maybe is itself illegal as many prisoners do not have attorneys who during periods of social instability. In feudal England, for I can stick out my thumb and meet new friends as I travel can conduct their legal work for them, and the renders them example, it became a crime punishable by death to commit the land. likely to lose in court and serve more time in prison. such petty offenses as killing a rabbit on private land, chop- While a revolution is necessary, right now I would be hap- ping down a tree on a public lane, or picking a pocket. These py to get back to the place where society’s head was at in Summary draconian punishments have never worked. History records the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Of course, back then I thought The preceding report demonstrates a clear and consistent groups of pick pockets gleefully plying their trade on crowds things were so bad that I risked death and a life of imprison- pattern of human rights abuses at Corcoran State Prison. gathered to watch the hanging of a fellow pick pocket. ment to try and overthrow the system. In those days we were Judge Thelton Henderson noted nearly two decades ago that When General Licinius Crassus impaled the heads of optimists. We knew that the object was to win. ♦ SHU conditions “may press against the outer limits of what Spartacus and thousands of rebellious followers (all slaves) humans can nearly psychologically tolerate.” We conclude on spikes along the road to Rome, his doing so did not save that conditions at Corcoran are, at present, summarily in- the system of slavery or the Roman Empire that lived off SOULS ON ICE tolerable, and call on Warden Connie Gipson, Ombudsman it. Nor did murdering hapless pick pockets save the Brit- By Mumia Abu-Jamal Jean Weiss, CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate, and Inspector ish monarchy from the onslaught of capitalist productive hen I heard of the call, just raised in Oakland, General Robert Barton to investigate these matters and put relations. Similarly, the adoption of harsh three-strikes leg- California, to “Occupy the Prisons”, I gasped. an immediate end to these horrifi c abuses. ♦ islation, the gutting of constitutional protections, and the It was not an especially radical call, but it was ongoing expansion of the death penalty will not save the W right on time. moribund system of international capitalism. Yet if history For prisons have become a metaphor; the shadow-side, if is any teacher, we can expect ever harsher punishments and REFLECTIONS ON CRIME you will, of America, With oceans of words about freedom, still fewer legal safeguards for accused criminals or others and the reality that the U.S. is the world’s leader of the incar- AND CLASS who seek to implement a radical transformation of existing ceration industry, its more than time for the focused attention class relations. By Ed Mead of the Occupy Movement. While the ruling class makes good use of the existence of alk around town in any major U.S. city and you It’s past time. crime (by keeping people isolated by fear from each other), can’t help but notice the huge and seemingly For the U.S. is the world’s largest imprisoner for decades, they do not want the presence of crime any more than we do. Wgrowing number of homeless people living on much wrought by the insidious effects of the so-called ‘drug Nobody wants crime. Still, in a social order in which a tiny the streets. This sight was particularly unnerving to me, a war’—what I call, “the War on the Poor”. minority owns nearly all of the nation’s property, resources, modern day Rip Van Winkle. I went into prison back in the And, Occupy, now an international movement, certainly and productive capacity (not to mention control of the means mid ‘70s, and came out nearly twenty years later to a very has no shortage of prisons to choose from. Every state, every of education and information), it is understandable that those different world. rural district, every hamlet in America has a prison; a place who have the least will take some stumbling steps to restore Before I went to prison a person could hitchhike from where the Constitution doesn’t exist, and where slavery is all a more natural balance of the wealth. Indeed, as Fredrick place to place without a second thought. In one trip I hitched but legalized. Douglass said: “Where justice is denied, where poverty is from Buffalo New York to San Francisco, then on up to Seat- When law professor, Michelle Alexander, took on the top- enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class tle, and in the process met a wonderful culture of people who ic, her book, the New Jim Crow, took off like hotcakes – sell- is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to op- traveled around the country in this way. Back in those days ing over 100,000 in just a few months. press, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property we could happily talk to people we passed on the streets. We And where there are prisons, there is torture; brutal beat- will be safe.” even had the luxury to smile and speak to children we didn’t ings, grave humiliations, perverse censorship—and even The rich fully understand that crime is a force, not unlike know. In today’s era I can safely speak to a dog passing me murders—all under a legal system that is as blind as that that of electricity or running water, and as such it will fol- on the sidewalk, but not to the person walking the animal. I statue which holds aloft a scale, her eyes covered by a frigid low the path of least resistance. It even has a natural direc- shudder to think about the possible consequences of speak- fold of cloth. tion too—against property (ninety percent of all crimes are ing to some stranger’s child. If this country’s poverty and So, what is Occupy to do? against property). fear has gotten this bad since the mid-1970s, how bad it will Initially, it must support movements such as those call- Through the mechanism of increased resistance required become in another forty years? ing for the freedom of Lakota brother Leonard Peltier, the to attack their property interests, the ruling class effectively Back in the day, as a youthful revolutionary, I was pre- MOVE veterans of August 8th, 1978, the remaining two channels the force of crime back on to the poor. The rich pared to risk imprisonment or worse in an effort to bring members of the Angola 3: Herman Wallace and Albert live in remote, gated communities; their banks have armed about a better world. My peers and I felt the risks were a Woodfox, Sundiata Acoli, Russell “Maroon” Shoatz, and guards, sophisticated alarm systems, and are protected by better alternative than continuing to live under the boot of many other brothers and sisters who’ve spent lifetimes in the jurisdiction of the federal courts and the investigative capitalism’s culture of death. Today that culture is far worse. steel and brick hellholes. techniques of the F.B.I. Since crime tends to follow the path The system is considerably more vicious, the nation’s citi- But, the Occupy Movement must do more. of least resistance, the social effect of these and numerous zens more confused, and the level of social atomization has As it shifted the discussion and paradigm on economic is- other security measures is to redirect the force of crime back never been greater. sues, it must turn the wheel of the so-called ‘Criminal Justice onto the poorer communities. Hence the dramatic increase in One of the state’s primary mechanisms for isolating us System’ in America, that is in fact, a destructive, counter- both the level and intensity of poor-on-poor crime. And with from each other is fear. And there is no fear greater than the productive, annual $69 billion boondoogle of repression, the advent of ever less expensive and more available sur- fear of crime—no domestic segment of bourgeois society is better-known by activists as the Prison-Industrial-Complex. veillance mechanisms and alarm systems, the force of crime more demonized than the criminal. The alleged offender is That means more than a one-day event, no matter how is being steadily pushed further and further into our poor- no longer a part of “us” but rather suddenly becomes one of massive or impressive. It means building a mass movement est communities. We can expect this trend to continue until “them” (the other upon whom any evil can justly be visited). that demands and fi ghts for real change, and eventually abo- every home (or car) that can afford it will be an electronic It is not enough that this demonized person be politically lition of structures that do far more social damage than good. fortress. disenfranchised and held behind bars under constitutionally It means the abolition of solitary confi nement, for it is no How are we to respond to this situation? A starting point sanctioned conditions of slavery, the hapless offender must more than modern-day torture chambers for the poor. would be to organize our communities so as to redirect the be also be subjected to endless forms of state-sanctioned tor- It means the repeal of repressive laws that support such force of crime back up against those elements responsible for ture as well. structures. its development—the rich. We cannot today implement the The fi rst step in getting a better grasp on the crime/fear dy- It means social change—or it means nothing. economically just society necessary for the ultimate elimina- namic is to understand the dialectical processes involved— So let us begin—Down With the Prison Industrial Com- tion of crime. Without that foundation, without control of the not the ongoing media-driven hysteria. What constitutes a plex! ♦

NUMBER 38 31 CPF GOALS SOME GUIDELINES FOR CONTRIBUTIONS BECOME A VOLUNTEER 1. End all human rights abuses against prison- ers. TO PRISON FOCUS CPF depends on volunteers to do our invaluable work. We 2. End the use of long-term isolation. SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR SUBMISSIONS: need your help answering mail, working on our newsletter, 3. Close the Security Housing Units. staffi ng our offi ce, fund raising, and outreach. Check our 4. Educate the public that SHU prisoners are • Artwork or graphics website for the date of the next CPF meeting. torture survivors. 5. Improve medical care and living conditions • Letters (250 words) Let us know if you want us to for prisoners living with HIV, hepatitis C and use your name or we will only publish your initials and PRISON FOCUS #39 other life-threatening diseases. city & state of residence. You can also specify “anony- The topic for Prison Focus #39 will be on the subject of 6. Help gain compassionate release for prison- mous.” ers with serious illnesses and physical dis- homophobia and gay and Lesbian oppression on the abilities. inside. Please send us your articles and artwork. The due 7. Stop all discrimination against LGBT prison- • Short Articles (250-500 words) The same date for submissions for the next issue is August 1, 2012. ers. identification guidelines apply. Topics can be issue If you have ideas for issue #40 send them in to us as well. 8. Abolish the prison system as we know it. specific, or current news or information. ABOUT CPF • Helpful resources with address and pertinent infor- mation. California Prison Focus is a non-profi t community-based human rights organization working with and for California • Larger articles are accepted but be aware-our space prisoners. Our two main issue areas are fi ghting against the is limited. long term isolation, torture and abuse of Security Housing Units (SHU) and demanding an end to the medical neglect Topics: Prison Focus topic of issue; current news; recent and abuse of prisoners with HIV, hepatitis C and other Prisoner Artists! or pending legislation or policy; news from your institution; life-threatening diseases. The focus of our work is our Have you ever wanted contribute to Cali- organizing efforts; books—basically anything related to investigative trips to women and men’s prisons with SHU fornia Prison Focus but never had the mon- the prison industrial complex as you see it. Individual legal facilities and/or medical units. We make at least one visit ey? Good news! CPF will again hold a fund cases are not usually printed. per month. We work to build strong bridges between the raising event auctioning off art donated by Sorry, we cannot return your submissions unless a prior prisoners and the community, and to bring forth the voice prisoners. The donated art will be sold to arrangement is made. Submissions are not guaranteed of the prisoners through our newsletter, Prison Focus, and help raise money for CPF and the Prison to be published and we generally cannot respond to your our ongoing educational outreach and community forums. Focus newspaper. submissions because of the volume of mail we receive. Central to our work is training ourselves, prisoners and Send your art contributions to California Prison Focus welcomes all submissions (they will not be their loved ones in self-advocacy through public protest, Prison Focus, 1904 Franklin St. #507, Oak- returned). networking, coalition building, letter writing and contacting land CA 94612. Be sure to include a note prison offi cials and policy makers. letting us know you are donating your art- CPF’S MISSION STATEMENT work to our organization for the purposes California Prison Focus fi ghts to abolish the California prison Founded in 1991 (as Pelican Bay Information Project) of fund raising and/or display/use in our system as we know it. We investigate and expose human we have made hundreds of prison visits and conducted newspaper. rights abuses with the goal of ending long term isolation, thousands of interviews with prisoners. Our membership Try not to fold your art as it leaves visible medical neglect, and all forms of discrimination. We are is comprised of prisoners, activists, family members of creases. It is best to send it to us in large community activists, prisoners, and their family members prisoners, former prisoners, human rights advocates, envelopes. working to inspire the public to demand change. attorneys, and prison visitors.