MIM Notes ***

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 1

MIM Notes

Oct. 15, 2003, Nº 289

The Official Newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM)

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September 15

IM and RAIL activists

attended the hearings on

Security Housing Units (SHU)

in California prisons, held in Los Angeles

by Senator Romero, Chair of the Select

Committee on the California Correctional

System. The SHUs are control units by

another name, a form of long term solitary

confinement that now exists in prisons

across the country. Long term isolation

has been criticized as a form of torture

by many individuals and governments, as

well as by the United Nations. There is

conclusive evidence that these conditions

cause mental and physical deterioration.

In this era of "tough on crime" rhetoric, it

is unusual for a government official to

even question prison programs, and in this

context we can hope to effect some

improvements in the lives of prisoners.

We attended these hearings with no

illusion that the California congress can

legislate substantial change in the criminal

injustice system. As a part of our

campaign against the SHU in California,

and control units across the country, we

attended the hearings to put forward the

perspective that the SHU must be shut

down, not just reformed into kinder, gentler

torture. We were also looking to hook up

with other control unit activists and friends

and family members of prisoners to

expand our campaign against control units

in this state and across the country.

The five California SHUs--Pelican

Bay State Prison SHU, Valley State

Prison for Women SHU, California State

Prison at Corcoran SHU, California

Correctional Institution at Tehapchapi

SHU and Corcoran SATF--are the

lynchpin for the California Department

of Corrections' (CDC) prison system.

Currently housing about 2700 people

(about 40 in the wimmin's prison), they

are the most brutal prisons in the system

and principally target those prisoners who

show the most resistance. They are

designed to break inmates' spirit. The

SHU is a threat which hangs over the

head of all CA prisoners. At Pelican Bay

prisoners are kept in windowless cells for

a minimum of 22 1/2 hours a day. There

is no education, no job training, no work,

no religious services, or hobby materials.

Prisoners are subject to strip searches

upon departure from and return to their

cell when they have not come in contact

with any other individual.

Torture can't be reformed

California senate hearings on Security Housing Units

BOSTONERS

RALLY FOR

PALESTINIAN

RIGHTS

INS threatens
Palestinian activist

n September 27 more than a

hundred people gathered in

Boston's Copley Square to

express their solidarity with the struggle

of the Palestinian people--sandwiched

between a smaller crowd of reactionary

counter-protestors and a few swing

dancers. The pro-Palestinian speakers

MIM heard took an explicit anti-colonialist

line, correctly equating Zionism with

colonialism, recounting the theft of

Palestinian lands going back to the 1967

occupation of the West Bank and Gaza

strip and even further, back to the 1948

"war of independence."

The counter-protestors were

particularly moronic, as most carried signs

mocking Democratic Presidential

candidate Howard Dean. Dean is hardly

an anti-Zionist. He says the Bush

administration's "guiding principles in the

Middle East are the right ones," and his

campaign co-chair is former president of

a large pro-I$rael lobby. True, fellow

Democrat John Kerry has criticized Dean

for recently saying the United $tates

should be "evenhanded" in the Middle

East--a standard pretense Amerikan

Presidents and Secretaries of State have

adopted for over three decades, by the

way--but that says more about the

narrow(ing) range of acceptable

discourse about I$rael than about

Dean.(1)

One of the speakers at the rally was

Amer Jubran, co-founder of the New

England Committee to Defend Palestine.

INS agents arrested Amer on the morning

of November 4, 2002--they came to his

door accompanied by the FBI while he

was in the shower, no less--days after

he helped organize a march for

Palestinian rights. The INS originally

intended to hold him indefinitely, but in

the face of international public pressure

they released Amer after 17 days

internment on a remarkably small bond.

The INS is

now pushing to

deport Amer

based on false

allegations of

t e c h n i c a l

violations in his

green card

status. The

p o l i t i c a l

motivations behind this threat are clear

from the timing of his initial arrest and

the presence of the FBI--in fact, the FBI

attempted to question Amer about his

legitimate political activities and explicitly

threatened him with indefinite INS

detention if he refused to cooperate.(2)

Amer's trial date is set for November

6. MIM and RAIL plan to send a

contingent to support him and denounce

this dangerous, politically-motivated

harassment. Keep an eye on

www.etext.info/Politics/MIM/bos/

bostevents.html for further details.

Notes:
1. Michelle Goldberg, "Howard Dean's Israel
problem," Salon magazine, 23 Sep 2003.
2. www.amerjubrandefense.org/
3. http://www.etext.info/Politics/MIM/bos/
bostevents.html

Continued on page 4...

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 2

What is MIM?

The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is the collection of existing or emerging

Maoist internationalist parties in the English-speaking imperialist countries and their English-

speaking internal semi-colonies, as well as the existing or emerging Maoist Internationalist
parties in Belgium, France and Quebec and the existing or emerging Spanish-speaking
Maoist Internationalist parties of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the U.$. Empire.

MIM Notes is the newspaper of MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-speaking
parties or emerging parties of MIM. MIM upholds the revolutionary communist ideology
of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and is an internationalist organization that works from the

vantage point of the Third World proletariat. MIM struggles to end the oppression of all
groups over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM knows this is only possibly by
building public opinion to seize power through armed struggle. Revolution is a reality for

North America as the military becomes over-extended in the government's attempts to
maintain world hegemony. MIM differs from other communist parties on three main
questions: (1) MIM holds that after the proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution, the

potential exists for capitalist restoration under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within
the communist party itself. In the case of the USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the
death of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's death and the overthrow of the "Gang

of Four" in 1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural Revolution as the farthest advance
of communism in humyn history. (3) As Marx, Engels and Lenin formulated and MIM has
reiterated through materialist analysis, imperialism extracts super-profits from the Third

World and in part uses this wealth to buy off whole populations of oppressor nation so-
called workers. These so-called workers bought off by imperialism form a new petty-
bourgeoisie called the labor aristocracy. These classes are not the principal vehicles to

advance Maoism within those countries because their standards of living depend on
imperialism. At this time, imperialist super-profits create this situation in the Canada, Quebec,
the United $tates, England, France, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Italy, Switzerland,

Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Israel, Sweden and Denmark. MIM accepts people as
members who agree on these basic principles and accept democratic centralism, the system
of majority rule, on other questions of party line.

"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is universally applicable. We should

regard it not as dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is not merely a matter of

learning terms and phrases, but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of revolution."

- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208.

Editor, MC206; Production, MC12

Letters

MIM Notes

The Official Newsletter of The Maoist Internationalist Movement

ISSN 1540-8817

MIM Notes is the bi-weekly newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement. MIM

Notes is the official Party voice; more complete statements are published in our journal,
MIM Theory. Material in MIM Notes is the Party's position unless noted. MIM Notes
accepts submissions and critiques from anyone. The editors reserve the right to edit
submissions unless permission is specifically denied by the author; submissions are
published anonymously unless authors insist on identification (prisoners are never
identified by name). MIM is an underground party that does not publish the names of its
comrades in order to avoid the state surveillance and repression that have historically
been directed at communist parties and anti-imperialist movements. MCs, MIM comrades,
are members of the Party. The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) is an anti-
imperialist mass organization led by MIM (RCs are RAIL Comrades). MIM's ten-point
program is available to anyone who sends in a SASE.

The paper is free to all prisoners, as long as they write to us every 90 days to confirm

their subsciptions. There are no individual subscriptions for people outside prison.

People who want to receive newspapers should become sponsors and distributors.

Sponsors pay for papers, distributors get them onto the streets, and officers do both
distribution and financial support. Annual cost is: 12 copies (Priority Mail), $120; 25
(Priority Mail), $150; 50 (Priority Mail), $280; 100, $380; 200, $750; 900 (Express
Mail), $3,840; 900 (8-10 days), $2,200. To become a sponor or distributor, send
anonymous money orders payable to "MIM." Send to MIM, attn: Camb. branch, PO Box
400559, Cambridge, MA 02140. Or write mim3@mim.org.

Most back issues of MIM Notes are available free on our web site. The web site con-

tains thousands of documents, with ordering information for many more.

MIM grants explicit permission to copy all or part of this newspaper for any reason, as

long as we are credited.

For general correspondence, contact:

MIM

P.O. Box 29670

Los Angeles, CA 90029-0670

eMail: <mim@mim.org>

WWW: <http//www.etext.info/Politics/MIM>

A Black fist salute!

I just got convicted in Texas for a crime

my trial demonstrated I was not guilty of.

I clearly showed in my habeas that I was

only guily of "simple assault," a

misdemeanor, but got convicted for a

felony and sentenced to 45 years. ...

Clearly there is no justice for minorities,

especially if you are indigent. So this is

the last straw: I renounce my citizenship.

They were so gung-ho in going to Iraq

with their machine gun for glory's sake,

because they thought there were gonna

easily kick some Iraqi ass! Now they are

whining that they want to come home

because of these crazy, suicidal Iraqis that

are getting them one by one. Ha ha! Let

freedom ring for the Iraqis! Independence

day!

And as for Ashcroft: What you gonna

do now, you Christian Nazi? Get me for

treason? Aiding and abetting the enemy?

The hell with your evil, manipulative

Patriot Act.

As a last note, there are many defiant

oppressed people like me in your gulags,

but we will win! Power to the left-wing

people and anarchists!

P.S. To comrades out there, submit your

letters to MIM in defiance of Ashcroft!

Let us rock this country. Renounce your

citizenship for this evil New World Order!

--In a Texas gulag, July 2003

MIM responds: We are glad to see

you make the connection between the

injustice system and the imperialist war

in Iraq. Amerika's practice national

oppression and exploitation is definitely

globally interconnected: that is the system

of imperialism. We are also glad to see

you renounce your allegiance to the

U.$.A.

We do not recommend attempts to

formally renounce U.$. citizenship,

however, as a form of protest. That is

one reason we are not printing this letter

with your name (we also don't print

prisoner names because we can't verify

them or the information they contain

ourselves). It is much more important to

renounce your allegiance to Amerika in

practice, by contributing to the movement

against Amerikan imperialism, in support

of national liberation for the victims of

that imperialism, and for a new society

that sheds the oppressive nature of

capitalism and the machinations of its

states.

We are not at a stage in the struggle in

this country where we need people to

sacrifice their lives and die for the

people--or get disappeared by Ashcroft.

We need revolutionaries to stay alive,

healthy, and active in the movement.

Open Letter to Ashcroft

Did you

know?

There are

more than 200

back issues of

MIM Notes

available on

the MIM

website? Not

only can you

browse more

than 15 years

of the

newspaper,

you can also

keep up with

the very latest

on MIM

agitation

campaigns,

prisoner news,

all the latest

on the U$ war,

and much

more. MIM's

website is an

indispensable

tool for the

revolutionary

movement. Get

involved!

www.etext.info/

Politics/MIM

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 3

MIM Notes: In your newspaper,

"People's War," your "Mission

statement" uses the word

"intercommunal," but not Marxism-

Leninism-Maoism. Does the "People's

War" consider itself Marxist-Leninist-

Maoist?

People's War magazine: PW Magazine

is a revolutionary mass news organ

published by the People's Community

Organization (PCO), a mass organization

which organizes around the issues of

survival and independence of the

oppressed black, brown, red nations

dominated by U.S. imperialism in North

Amerika. Though communists work

within the PCO, the PCO is not Marxist-

Leninist-Maoist, but rather anti-imperialist

and intercommunalist (internationalist).

The PCO upholds the revolutionary

intercommunalism of the BPP [Black

Panther Party] under the revolutionary

Maoist leadership of Comrade Huey P.

Newton and today recognizes the

revolutionary leadership of the Ghetto

Liberation Political Party. Thus while PW

does not claim to be a Marxist-Leninist-

Maoist Organ, but rather a "revolutionary

Hip-Hop Magazine and Intercommunal

News Service," we are definitely friendly

to revolutionary M-L-M and genuine

Maoist revolutionary Parties around the

world and the struggles under their

leadership.

MIM Notes: Can you give us some

reasoning on the 7 heads pictured on page

18 of the People's War issue of the

summer 2003? Who are they and how

do they fit together?

People's War magazine: We

forwarded your second question in regard

to the banner printed on page 18 to a

GLPP representative. We received this

reply:

"Certainly. The Heads pictured are

Marcus Garvey, revolutionary African

nationalist, anti- imperialist leader and

organizer of the largest anti-imperialist

movement of the Black nation in the

beginning of the 20th century. (Marcus

Garvey's class position was that of the

left wing of the national bourgeoisie of

the Black nation and with criticisms we

recognize the progressive thrust of his

Pan-Africanism and its historical role.)

Lenin, revolutionary communist and

leader of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution

which ushered in the world's first socialist

state. We uphold the Russian Revolution

from 1917-1956. Elijah Muhammad,

revolutionary African nationalist leader,

whose Teachings and anti-integrationist

stance contributed to development of a

revolutionary consciousness of African

working class as later represented by the

Malcolm X and the BPP. (Like Garvey,

Elijah Muhammad's class position was

that of the left wing of the national

bourgeoisie of the Black nation, and with

criticisms we recognize the progressive

thrust of his metaphysicism and its

historical role.) Mao Zedong, chairman

and leader of the CPC [Communist Party

of China], leader of great 1949 Chinese

socialist revolution (which altered the

world's balance of forces in favor of

socialism), opponent of the white

nationalist revisionism and Soviet social-

imperialism, leader and inspirer of the

GPCR [Great Proletarian Cultural

Revolution] which was overthrown by the

revisionist elements of the CPC in 1976.

Malcolm X, revolutionary African

nationalist and internationalist, his anti-

capitalist pro- socialist, pro-self-defense

position in his last years particularly

contributed to the founding and

development of the BPP. Kwame

Nkrumah, African communist leader,

revolutionary Pan-Africanist. Unlike

forces claiming to uphold Kwame

Nkrumah's line we recognize Kwame

Nkrumah as carrying out the historical

work of applying the universal truths of

the intercommunal working to the

concrete problems facing the revolution

on the African continent, namely 1.) the

need for an independent revolutionary

Communist Party to led the revolution in

Africa 2.) the need for an all African

People's War under the leadership of this

Communist Party 3.) With the political goal

of one unified socialist Africa under the

leadership of a revolutionary proletarian

dictatorship in alliance with the African

peasantry, at the service of the World

Proletarian Revolution the establishment

of world communism. Last but not least

is Huey P. Newton, U.S. African

communist leader and revolutionary

organizer. Founder and leader of the

Black Panther Party, which we uphold

and recognize was the most advanced

Communist Party in the history of the

U.S. The GLPP is a revolutionary

Communist Party guided by Marxism-

Leninism-Maoism Ingiaye thought and

considers itself the political and ideological

continuation of the original Black Panther

Party under the leadership of HPN [Huey

P. Newton].

"These are seven persons, out of many

others such as Stalin, W.E.B Dubois,

George Jackson, Chairman Gonzalo etc.,

who we uphold and recognize as

positively influencing the revolutionary

movement of the oppressed Black Nation

under the leadership of the African

working class in general and the

revolutionary work of the GLPP in

particular."

We send friendly greetings to MIM

Notes and are thankful for this interview

and look forward to further struggle.

In Solidarity, PW Magazine

MIM interviews "People's War" magazine

Let Freedom Ring: Winning the
War of Liberty over Liberalism
Sean Hannity
NY: Regan Books, 2002, 338pp.
hb

reviewed by mim3@mim.org,

September 2003

Dear Sean Hannity:

We write to you on behalf of a

communist website to say we have read

your book Let Freedom Ring and would

like to interview you. What follows is a

series of facts from your book followed

by a question for each set of facts.

We are looking for a yes/no answer, as

you often push people on your show. After

your "yes" or "no," we will accept any

other details you may add and we are

happy to put your complete and unedited

responses on our website with links to

yours. We will accept written answers

or .mp3 or some other format.

Question set I: Who is the traitor?

FACT: You called Johnny Walker Lindh

a "traitor" who "deserves execution." (p.

22)

FACT: Lindh had not attacked anyone

in the United $tates and in fact Johnny

Spann and the thousands of others went

to Afghanistan to attack him. Lindh had

been there first and had a right to self-

defense.

FACT: You said Clinton did not focus

enough on terrorism and you pointed out

attacks on embassies, the USS Cole and

let's not forget the original World Trade

Center (1993) bombing.(p. 13, 22)

QUESTION: Knowing all this about

terrorist attacks in the 1990s, by May,

2001 Colin Powell had delivered $124

million in just one year's aid to

Afghanistan where the Taliban ruled.

Colin Powell did more for the Taliban

than Johnny Walker Lindh ever did, yes

or no? Powell "deserves execution" yes

or no?

Question set II: More or fewer
CIA "human assets"?

FACT: You echoed Reagan who said

Democrats "made it sound as if the chief

threat to our liberties was our own

intelligence apparatus."(p. 28)

FACT: You spoke repeatedly for

having more human CIA assets instead

of just electronic and other mechanical

spying. You complained when "roughly

1,000 `assets'"(p. 37) were allegedly let

go by the CIA for connections to too

many murderous activities.

FACT: Osama Bin Laden was a CIA

human asset in the 1980s and Saddam

Hussein before that.

QUESTION: Do you support a rule

that would have cut Osama Bin Laden

as a CIA asset, yes or no?

QUESTION: Should someone in the

1980s have complained about CIA

human assets in the 1980s to cut training

and funding of Osama Bin Laden, yes or

no?

Question set III: Illegal immigration

FACT: You say there are 8 million "illegal aliens" and

2 million who overstay their visas for a total of 10 million

people in the United States.(p. 54)

FACT: In the next two pages you list crimes involving

three people among those 10 million. (p. 55-56)

QUESTION: There would be no Irish or anyone else

but the indigenous peoples in the Unites States if we cut

off immigration whenever 3 out of 10 million people

committed felony crimes, yes or no?

QUESTION: You published no statistics comparing

the crimes of legal U.S. residents and citizens and "illegal

aliens"; yet you used the crimes of the "illegal aliens" to

justify kicking them out, so

you made an argument

involving a double

standard, yes or no?

Question set IV: the
theory of "peace
through strength"

FACT: You repeatedly

defended the whole

"peace through strength"

theory and found $30

billion for intelligence too

small, the weapons budget

too small etc.(e.g. p. 70)

FACT: The United

States is the strongest

country in the world.

FACT: The jumbo jets

did not crash in

Luxembourg on

September 11 2001.

QUESTION: Your

theory "peace through

strength" was proven

bankrupt when terrorists

attacked the strongest

instead of the weakest

countries, yes or no?

As of 6 October 2003

MIM has received no

response from Mr.

Hannity.

MIM takes conservative pundit to task

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 4

In California, and across the country,

these units principally target oppressed

nations. In 1998 the CDC reported that

34% of the population in all CDC

institutions was Latino, and 31% was

Black. The population of the Security

Housing Units (SHUs) is even more

disproportionate. 82% of those in SHUs

were non-white, and 52% of those in

SHUs were Latino. This compares to a

California population that was 32%

Latino, and 7% Black in 1998. The

population appears to be about the same

today but exact statistics are not published

by the CDC for the public.

A few of us attending the hearings

drove down from the Bay Area. Driving

through the central valley of California

was a stark reminder of the battle ahead

of us in California, a state with more than

160,000 people in prison. Virtually every

town we passed by or near housed a

prison. Visalia, Tehachapi, Avenal,

Modesto, Delano, Wasco, Corcoran,

Coalinga, Salinas, Soledad, Chowchilla,

Lancaster and more, ranging from

medium security to the supermax SHUs,

the desert of California is home to many

of the 33 prisons in the state. And it takes

little imagination to understand that jobs

in the prisons are a good paying

alternative to farming, the only other big

industry around. Especially as Governor

Davis just gave prison guards a raise that

will bring their salaries to $73,000 per year

by 2006.

Outside the hearing at 8am a small

crowd gathered to protest the SHU. Led

by the Barrio Defense Committee,

activists and relatives of prisoners waved

signs and chanted demanding the SHUs

be shut down. MIM and RAIL joined this

protest with complements on our signs

designed for our campaign to shut down

control units across the country.

At 9am when the hearing began

attendees were passed through a metal

detector and forced to leave all signs, food

and water outside. There were at least

six cops outside the main entrance, eight

more up front in the large hearing hall

guarding the area where the senator and

her witnesses were to sit, two or three

more around the sides and back of the

room against the walls, and an uncounted

number more guarding the side entrances

to the hall. In a large hall that could seat

hundreds about 100 opponents of the SHU

gathered along with a small crowd of ten

or so CDC administrators mixed with a

few more cops seated in the corner with

their crowd. The level of security was

astonishing and suggested that the state

government considers friends and family

of prisoners quite dangerous.

Senator Romero questions
SHU system

Senator Romero opened the hearing

with an overview of the California SHUs,

explaining that there are 3 male SHU

prisons and 1 for wimmin, together

housing close to 3000 people. She

CA senate hearings on Security Housing Units

described accurately the conditions in the

SHU which include 23 hours/day

lockdown in the cell, prisoners getting out

only for occasional exercise and showers,

and no programming (educational, work

or otherwise). One point that the hearings

misrepresented was the expansion of the

SHU system. Although the number of

SHU beds has not officially expanded,

the CDC continues to build new

"administrative segregation" units inside

prisons throughout the state. This is just

another name for control units. Many

states use this tactic to overcome legal

or political challenges to their control

units, changing the name and pretending

they have implemented a different system.

One such unit was opened in Soledad

recently.

Romero criticized the CDC for failing

to provide her with exact information on

the cost per prisoner of incarceration in

the SHU and presented the estimates they

gave her of $37,662 per inmate excluding

health care, making the point that she

believes the actual cost is significantly

higher than this. While it is no doubt true

that it costs more money to house

prisoners in isolation units than in general

population, MIM doesn't care about this

point. Unless we are talking about putting

money into more programming for

prisoners, better food and medical care,

and better legal services, we don't care

if the state is wasting money on expensive

cells, wasting money on guards' salaries,

or wasting money paying for a recall

circus election. Our opposition to the SHU

is not based on rallying taxpayers to better

use their prison money to build more

cheaper cells because this is a losing point

of propaganda.

Romero went on to explain that the

SHU houses two groups of prisoners, first

there are those in for determinate

sentences who have supposedly

committed violent acts. The second group

is those labeled "validated" gang

members. The SHU population is split

roughly evenly between the two groups.

Romero stated "I have some very serious

concerns about the validation

process...[and the] lack of oversight of

the process by which it is determined if a

prisoner remains an active gang member

or associate." Romero went on to suggest

that she would like to see the CDC move

to a more "behavioral based criteria" for

gang validation rather than using "status"

criteria. This is a good criticism of the

SHU process, but it focuses on how to

better select prisoners for torture rather

than addressing the torture itself.

It is also important to point out that the

label "gang" is in and of itself a problem.

Gangs are loosely defined to identify any

group of people those in authority see as

a threat. Usually this is any group of

oppressed nation people getting together

for their betterment, self-defense,

education or other activity, not always

including illegal activities. MIM has been

labeled a "gang" or "security threat

group" for our political education

programs for prisoners. And prisoners are

given "gang" classifications for their

association with us and other political

organizations.

Romero also provided some useful

facts, noting that, in response to criticism,

the CDC has carried out a self-audit of

the SHU validation process. She rightly

pointed out that this process is suspect as

it involved no independent oversight.

Further she noted that there have been

403 paroles directly from the SHU since

2000 with a recidivism rate of 78%. The

recidivism rate for inmates in general

population in California is 66%. As

Romero herself stated "even that normal

recidivism rate is extremely abnormal."

MIM agrees and we understand that

prisons are not about rehabilitation at all,

they are an industry and to remain in

operation they have an interest in

continuing to build their population. There

is no effort put into giving prisoners

opportunities to live a better life after

prison. Romero expressed the concern

that community members are not safer

because of SHUs if they are leading to

more crime when prisoners are released.

Senator Polanco, the former chair of

the Joint Committee on Prison

Construction and Operations, spoke at the

hearing first. He went into further detail

on the types of SHU sentences. For a

violent act a prisoner receives a

determinate SHU sentence of up to 6

years. For being a "validated" gang

member or associate a prisoner gets an

indeterminate SHU sentence of 6 years

up to life with the only way to get out

being to parole, snitch or die. He too

objected to the lack of behavior based

criteria for gang validation.

Under his leadership some programs

for reform of the system were developed

which he noted had yet to be implemented.

He gave praise to the CDC for

"progress" but said it has slowed. MIM

sees this as just political lip service. There

has been virtually no change in the SHU

system since Polanco began his

investigation. Prisoners can now allegedly

get out of the SHU by remaining free of

gang activity for six years, but that is a

cosmetic change. Putting a prettier face

on torture and oppression is far from a

goal of MIM's and we are wary that

congressional actions like those taken by

Polanco can do more harm than good for

the oppressed.

Polanco noted that the CDC had sent

people to study the control unit systems

in other states, looking for models of how

to run things better. His complaint was

that none of the examples they had seen

were implemented. MIM looks around

the country at the control units in other

states and does not see a model for the

CDC to follow. This is one case where

MIM agrees with the CDC Director

Alameida; he pointed out that most states

are doing the same kinds of things

California is doing with control units.

CDC pigs defend torture

In some of the most interesting

testimony of the hearing Ed Alameida,

Director of the CDC took the stand along

with David Tristan his Chief Deputy

Director of Field Operations and James

Moreno, the chief of the CDC gang unit.

Alameida also brought along the warden

of Pelican Bay and a few other CDC

administrators who did not speak. For

Alameida and his men this hearing was a

process of justifying their policies so they

could get back to work and avoid cuts in

funding, but a few useful facts did come

out amid their evasions and cautious

phrases.

Alameida began his testimony by giving

some background stating that prison gangs

began in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

He vehemently labeled them an organized

crime syndicate. More than once he

brought up drug and weapons dealing in

the prisons. Romero never challenged him

on this but MIM wants to point out that

these things only happen when someone

lets drugs or weapons into the prison.

Prisoners do not have any way to do this

themselves so CDC employee complicity

is a must.

In 1971 Governor Reagan established

the gang unit in the California prisons. This

timing coinciding with the harsh

crackdown on revolutionary movements

in the United $tates and the dramatic

skyrocketing of the prison population as

the government started rounding up

oppressed nationals and herding them off

to prison in an attempt to squelch any

revolutionary activity.

Alemeida's only factual evidence of the

efficacy of the current SHU program was

his statement that they began in 1971 using

a behavioral based system for gang

classification, and in 1970 the inmate

death rate was 1 per 2400. He said this

death rate increased through the 1980s

and then they implemented a status based

classification system and the death rate

fell to 1 per 12,000 in 2001. He claimed

this was a success of their current system.

California had 27,000 prisoners in 1970

and had 160,000 in 2001. Less than 2%

of the prisoners are in the SHU.

MIM can point out a few flaws in this

argument. First is the lack of information

he provided on the timing of a switch to

status based classification. Second is the

Continued from page 1...

Continued on next page...

Our opposition to

the SHU is not

based on rallying

taxpayers to

better use their

prison money to

build more

cheaper cells...

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 5

MIM prints this letter from a

Connecticut prisoner written several

years ago describing the conditions in

the control units there to demonstrate

that the conditions in these torture units

in other states can not serve as a model

for improving the California SHUs.

Control Units must be abolished in

every state, there is no way the criminal

injustice system can build a better

control unit.

I am a Black revolutionary being held

political prisoner in a concentration camp

called Garner Correctional Institution in

Newtown, Conn. I've been placed in what

they call close monitoring (gang units).

I was taken out of population and placed

in this gang unit. Not for fighting, not for

stabbing another prisoner, or taking of

other prisoners' property. But for pictures;

pictures I took in another state, not Conn.

And because my pictures have a very

expressive body language, that makes me

a gang member [in the eyes of the state].

The only hand sign in my pictures is the

peace sign. That's right! The peace sign.

When white people used it at Woodstock,

it meant "peace and love." But when

young African-Americans use it, it means

gangs. Many of my young comrades are

also here for the same thing.

The state of Connecticut's law

enforcement along with correctional

institutions have declared war on all of

Connecticut's urban communities and

have said that these low income areas

are to be considered gang territories. Let

me explain this skillfully designed, corrupt

Security Risk Group (SRG) system. SRGs

are considered to be gang members who

pose a so-called threat to the Connecticut

Department of Corrections. Information

will be gathered on an individual, whether

it's true or not. Most information is

provided by institutional snitches and is

not accurate. An individual will be given

a hearing to inform him that he will be

removed from general population and

placed in a Close Custody Unit where

this individual will be locked up 23 hours

a day, whereas in population, he's out most

of the day working or in school, learning

a vocational skill, taking college classes,

or trying to better himself by going to

Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics

Anonymous meetings.

It should be mentioned that once this

individual is placed in these concentration

camps called Close Custody, none of the

There is no model for torture

above-mentioned programs are available

to said individual. However, he is forced

into these group gang programs, and

maneuvered into spilling out his feelings

as to why he would join an organization

(which they call a gang). They are using

us; dissecting our minds in these

experimental, psychological, genocidal

labs; having us give them more

information they can use against us. This

information is then turned over to the

office of the Governor of Connecticut,

John Rowland, who will address

concerned taxpayers as to why the state

needs more money to build high- security

prisons. You see, there's big money at

stake for local police and correctional

departments that target gangs. Law

enforcement along with prison systems

are using gangs as a means of keeping

their financial stability. Connecticut's

prison system has become industrial

business. Prisons with 1,158 beds are

worth $25 million a year and 350 jobs to

the community.

Some officials sent out for color

brochures promoting prison economics.

And these gang units are one of their most

brilliant. I've been in these units for two

years. I have not yet eaten a hot meal.

All the meals here at Garner are as cold

as the outside. We are served very small

portions of food. And this is only to bring

the commissary sales up. They

overcharge us for generic products.

Officers in these units are constantly

showing aggressive behavior towards my

comrades and me in these units. We are

not receiving proper medical attention.

Some of the brothers go weeks sick.

Brothers like myself who speak out

about this corruption are sent to

segregation (the hole) on bogus prison

charges. In these units, we are not

allowed to talk with one another. We go

to recreation with only eight brothers for

one hour a day. The program is

supposedly for one year. But if a prisoner

receives an infraction, he must begin all

over. The conditions here at Garner are

at times intolerable. My brothers and

sisters of MIM, I write to you in the faith

that you will support your brothers who

are being held political prisoner in these

concentration camps called gang units....

Power to the people!

Your brother,

-- A Connecticut Prisoner, 27 October

1997

lack of information about who did the

killing: guards or other prisoners. And third

is the correlation between the rising death

rate of prisoners and the guard brutality

against prisoners to the extent that they

were setting up fights between inmates,

betting on them, and then shooting to kill

prisoners as was exposed in Corcoran.

After this was exposed the guards were

forced to stop this practice. Certainly the

drop in guards killing prisoners can't count

as a success of the SHU classification

system.

Moreno described the pro