About two segregation units

The purpose of this correspondence is to bring to your readers’ attention some much overlooked facts worthy of noting.

On several different occasions it has been said (written) in PAC’s newsletters, that while some wardens had called for the construction of several 200 cell bed segregation units, instead, we got WSPF.

The fact of the matter is, that in addition to Supermax (WSPF), we also got two segregation units. One seg. unit - with 185 cell beds - was built in Waupun Correctional. Institution (WCI) and opened in February 1998 (almost two years before WSPF was opened). And a 200 cell bed (or thereabouts) seg. unit was built at the Green Bay Correctional Institution (GBCI), and opened in January 1999 (almost one year before WSPF opened).

In fact, all the WSPF guards were trained in the seg. units at WCI, GBCI, CCI, and JCI.

Many, if not all, of the conditions at the WCI and GBCI mirror those very same conditions at the WSPF. Which conditions - harsh conditions - the federal court found to violate the 8th amendment, etc.

The isolating features of the architectural design are the same at WSPF, WCI and GBCI. Such as the “boxcar door” has a solid metal construction and slides on tracts. Prisoners are essentially encased in metal and concrete 24 hours per day.
Visitation at all three prisons are via video monitors; 24/7 illumination. While WCI has indoor recreation (in six dog cages, literally), GBCI has outdoor recreation. While GBCI cells have showers in each cell - like that in WSPF - WCI have three showers on each range (tier) where prisoners are escorted to showers twice per week. WCI cells have no mirrors, while WSPF and GBCI cells do have mirrors.
While WSPF cell door’s shutters were kept closed at all times to prevent prisoners from seeing one another. WCI and GBCI have a wall which runs from one end of the range, down the middle of each tier, to the other end, to prevent prisoners from seeing one another.

The same tools of punishment are utilized at all three segregation units. Such as food as punishment, back at the cell (bus) knee on the ground with your hands on the wall with your back to the door.

Both GBCI and WCI cells have frosted windows so that you cannot see outside. Both WCI and GBCI do not allow prisoners to possess personal property such as books, magazines newspapers. While WSPF does allow prisoners to possess those materials. Therefore, in some respects conditions at WCI and GBCI are worse than those at WSPF. As part of their level program 1 - 3, GBCI does not permit prisoners to possess their tv or radio in any level. While WCI as part of their step 1 - 3 program, does allow prisoners to possess their tv’s and/or radios once they reach step 3, like WSPF. Like at WSPF, WCI and GBCI, clinicians visit prisoners at the door front where there is no confidentiality.

The PAC readers and or the public in general must be made aware, that many of the prisoners removed from WSPF (including myself) because of the effects from the harsh conditions are barred from being sent to WSPF, find themselves subjected to those very harsh conditions (and in some respects worse conditions) of torture! I simply don’t get it?!

I surmise the reason the DOC can and does torture us in the segregation units in WCI and GBCI, is because those two prisons are not under any court order, while WSPF is. But doesn’t it boggle the mind, that we can be tortured in WCI seg. units and GBCI seg. units, but not in the WSPF seg. prison.

I believe Ed Garvey and the other attorneys, owe us (the original 7 or 8 of us removed from WSPF under a preliminary injunction court order) a legal responsibility to find out where we are today? For we have been victimized a second time and or in retaliation for having been removed from WSPF.

Justice delayed, is justice denied!
Sincerely,
Jerry Saenz

p.s.
Also worthy of note. Like at WSPF (in the beginning anyway, for I believe in this area things have improved), both WCI seg. and GBCI seg., are like a freezer during the winter and like an incinerator during the summer.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Always in the struggle.
Jerry

May 2006 newsletter

THE NEW ABOLITIONIST
newsletter of
Prisoners’ Action Coalition
May 22, 2006
Amendment XIII: Neither slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime...


Dear friends,

Still here swingin’, jus’ like Sugar Ray. The Beast can spend hundreds of millions promoting their malevolent vision while voices of truth and dignity have to scratch for a few nickels. They have an inexhaustible source of funds (taxes) while we must beg and plead in order to bring some honesty into the debate. They have the full weight and violence of the State behind them and we are subject to their whim and muzzle. They write laws, administrative rules, and internal management policies (IMPs) to justify their crimes and oppress their ward, while we suffer their abuse. So it goes in the land of the free.

PAC is drowning in a flood of new members. We are furiously treading water and barely have our financial noses above the waves, and this news probably puts a twisted grin on the faces of the wardens, security directors, censors, and other functionaries who tremble when they see the truth entering their mailroom. We are really pleased that our message is appreciated. We would publish on a monthly basis if we had the funds, but sadly enough, we don’t have the staff to write grants, organize fund raisers, or hold a bake sale. We rely on the support of our readers and we know they have limited resources. But, with nearly a thousand readers, we should be able to come up with $500 every couple of months. Come on, brothers and sisters, if you like it, show your appreciation, nub said.

Before we continue layin’ the leather on the glass chins of the fearful, just to be clear, what appears in these few pages is the way we see it, it is our opinion. It is not the “truth,” for the truth is in the eyes of the beholder. We all come to this debate with a different vision of the world and its dysfunctions. Mustafa-El and warden Pollard speak from different perspectives. This publication is produced to express the viewpoint of the Mustafa-Els in the prison system. Warden Pollard and all the other voices of the State express their opinion everyday with shackles, razor wire, and memorandums. We speak for the prisoners.

We at PAC want to offer our most sincere apologies to the captives held at WSPF. Our last newsletter suggested that substantive changes were underway, but it has become obvious that the “changes” are a ploy to get the court off of their backs. The new “phase system” is the Level System with TV. It seems that the only physical change being under-taken may be a revolving door between the general pop-ulation area and the isolation cells. The programs required to get out of that dismal crypt are the same as before. It’s incredible that a prisoner can sit in isolation for six years without a major conduct report, and not advance out of there.

Speaking of programs completion being used as a way to keep people where they are, we have received tons of letters expressing exasperation with the PRC. The PRC will not allow prisoners into programs until they are close to MR and the Parole Board will not grant parole until program needs are met. What a joke, a cruel joke on all those seeking meaningful parole hearings, justice, and fairness.
We have posted a few very good essays on our blogsite (www.prisoneractioncoalition.blogspot.com). They are a bit too long for this newsletter, so posting it on line the best we can do for now. Maybe your family can download it and send them to you.

One is an excellent report by Nate Lindell that describes perfectly WSPF and the general destructiveness of prisons in Amerika. Another, by Jerry S. at WCI is a very clear essay about the use of segregation cells throughout the system. He writes that the overbuilding of isolation cells in the ‘90s (not just Supermax), and the chronic overcrowding in all WI prisons has created a terrible situation. No beds can remain empty, so the isolation cells are filled with prisoners who have violated petty infractions. This is a recipe for disaster as it builds frustration and resentment at unnecessarily harsh treatment. Comrade Ali Kahlid Abdullah from Detroit, submitted a great piece on “The Fear of Revolution.”

Tobacco withdrawal and the new smoke-free policies for prisoners have filled the isolation beds at some prisons. At the Kettle Moraine warehouse, the guards can puff away for another 4 months making life miserable for the forced ex-smokers. This doesn’t seem fair, and we hear there is an attorney looking into this, but don’t tell anyone.

We hope all PAC subscribers enjoyed the free copy of Prison Legal News sent by Paul Wright and friends. What a great magazine. They are one of the longest living prison mag-azines in existence, and they will be here for a while to come. Their tireless work and unflinching attitude is one we try to emulate. They have just gotten a grant from the Soros Foundation. Hey George look over here!

Many of our new subscribers are signing up to the old law class action suit. Just to be clear, PAC is not bringing this suit. PAC is helping the researchers and litigators spread the word. We are gathering names and trying to help find representation. PAC is also NOT a TIS repeal campaign. We are helping spread the word and if people step forward, we will help organize and coordinate the efforts. PAC is a vehicle for information and an educational resource. Litigation may be the way some prefer to fight the beast. Others choose lobbying and public awareness. We support all efforts and tactics that bring into check, the power of the criminal (in)justice system and the prison-industrial complex.

Please consider a monthly donation to PAC. We are here for you, speaking for you, fighting for you. Our radical stance doesn’t attract mainstream contributors, so we rely on your support. Get your families behind our efforts.

In solidarity, PAC
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Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down - Frederick Douglass

TRUTH IN SENTENCING RESEARCH UPDATE

In 1997 Wisconsin Act 283, created what is now referred to as the “Truth In Sentencing” act (TIS). The Criminal Penalties Study Committee (CPSC) was created and directed to study the class-ification of criminal offense in the criminal code, the penalties for all felonies and certain misdemeanors and issues related to the implementation of the changes in sentencing made by TIS. The committee submitted its report and recommendations to the legislat-ure and the governor on August 31, 1999. It was the legislature’s intent in the 1999 Assembly Bill 200 that the CPSC’s recommendations be in place by the time TIS took effect.

The Assembly immediately took up legislation implementing the recom-mendations, however, the Senate did not agree with the Assembly version, and both parties were unable to reach an agreement on a proposal, and truth in sentencing began without guidelines or a commission in place. After a period of deadlock, the Assembly and Senate reached a compromise in the summer of 2002. The result, 2001 Wisconsin Act 109, enshrined the committee's recommendations virtually unchanged.

There was nothing in the Act which created Act 283 known as the original truth and sentencing that provided for the bill to pass if the legislature did not reach an agreement. The Bill, in order to become a law, would have to comply with the constitutional requisites be-fore being forwarded to the Governors office for signing into law. However, this was sent to the governor without both houses reaching an agreement and therefore did not comply with the constitutional requisites. Accordingly to In re Round ,659 N.W.2d 374, 2003 SD 30 and State v. Gonzales, 645 N.W. 2d 264,253 Wis. 2d 134,2002 Wi 59 the legislature must comply with Constit-utional requisites in passing legislation.

Right now we are in the process of researching the possible breech of procedural rules in the enactment of TIS1. It is my hope that research will lead us to finding that the manner in which this bill was passed, the first TIS would be invalid under the law. There is a question that to be valid, legis-lation must be enacted in conformity with the Constitution, Minnehaha County v. South Dakota st. Bd. of Equal, 84 S.D. 640, 176 N.W. 2d 56 (1970).

It is also my contention that Act 109 is invalid because there was no provision within the first bill for it to be enacted as a remedial law. If there is one because it is remedial it should have been retroactively applied to all those under act 283. In Joyner v. Monier Roof Title,Inc., 784 F.Supp. 872 the court held that statutory changes "'which are remedial or procedural" in nature apply retroactively, while those that render ‘substantive’ changes apply prospectively.” In Schulz v. Ystad, 456 N.W.2d 312 the court held “substantive law creates, defines, or regulates rights or obligation while remedial or procedural law proscribes method to be used in enforcing right or remedy.”

Only a movement by the people is going to repeal TIS and PAC is a part of the movement. Many legislatures and groups are working to do so but are helpless without the support of the public and your families are the public. You should encourage your family to write to PAC and join the campaign to repeal TIS. Ask them to subscribe to PAC for its newsletter and request that PAC forward to them information as to how they can become involved in the campaign to repeal TIS.

If you want PAC to forward information to a family member or friend as to how they can become involved in the campaign to repeal TIS, please send PAC a stamp for each name you would like information forwarded to.

Those of you who want to help with the campaign who are a victim of this leg-islation who want to learn more about it can also send donations to PAC to assist and subscribe to the Newsletter.

The repeal of TIS is a possibility and can only be realized if we all take part in it. We must not be fooled by rumors that something is going to happen soon, and what we heard someone say. We must all take action and not sit and wait for another to do the work for us. There is no better time than now.

The public is fed up with all this money being spent on prisons, taken away from the schools and community projects. With election time coming up soon there is no better time.

Please encourage your family members and friends to join the struggle. Tell other prisoners as well to write PAC and send donations to help with this campaign.

Your Comrade, Frank R.
Women at Wisconsin’s Taycheedah Prison Suffer Medical Neglect and Receive Worse Mental Health Care Than Men

MILWAUKEE May 2, 2006 In the first class action lawsuit on behalf of women prisoners in Wisconsin, the American Civil Liberties Union is charging that the state prison system puts the lives of women prisoners at risk through grossly deficient health care and provides far inferior mental health treatment as compared to men.

The lawsuit, filed by four women prisoners at Taycheedah Correctional Institution, the ACLU’s National Prison Project and the ACLU of Wisconsin, asks the court to order reforms to the system so that constitutionally ade-quate care is made available.

“When the government puts someone behind bars, it has an obligation to provide humane treatment,” said Gouri Bhat, a lawyer with the National Prison Project.  “The women at Taycheedah are in prison to pay their debt to so-ciety, not to be subjected to untreated disease and premature death.  But that is exactly what they are enduring at Taycheedah.”

In a legal complaint filed on Monday, the ACLU charged that the prison’s health system violates the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, as well as the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of equal protection, because the women receive mental health care far inferior to what male prisoners receive.  The ACLU said these lapses in mental health care occur against the backdrop of a prison system that has a suicide rate of twice the national average.

According to the complaint, the system dramatically fails women with both physical and mental diseases, as two well-publicized incidents demonstrate.  In February 2000, a 29-year-old asth-matic prisoner collapsed and died in Taycheedah’s cafeteria after repeated requests for medical help.  In June 2005, an 18-year-old suicidal prisoner hanged herself in her cell while supposedly “in observation” in the mental health unit at Taycheedah, which provides no in-patient care and serves only to isolate and punish the most vulnerable wo-men.  Unlike the women at Taycheedah, men with severe mental health issues may be assigned to the Wisconsin Re-source Center, an inpatient psychiatric facility that provides round-the-clock care and individualized treatment for male offenders. (cont. page 3)

Even beyond these high-profile cases, the medical system is failing women at Taycheedah on a daily basis, said the ACLU.  The lawsuit graphically describes the human suffering resulting from the breakdown of an understaffed, underfunded and dangerously dysfunctional health care system in Wisconsin’s prisons.  One of the plaintiffs, Debbie Ann Ramos, was not seen by a gynecologist for seven years after arriving at Taycheedah, despite a diagnosis of chronic endometriosis and progressively worsening vaginal bleeding.  Ramos ultimately needed a hysterectomy that might have been avoided by timely care. 

Another prisoner, Tammy Young, developed painful, bleeding sores on her scalp in November 2003.  Despite her repeated requests for treatment for more than 18 months, the medical staff at Taycheedah failed to test Young for MRSA, a highly contagious form of staph infection that plagues prisons and other institutions.  Today, scores of women at Taycheedah are infected with MRSA.

The prison’s mental health system – which seems to consist of little more than solitary confinement and the over-prescription of psychotropic drugs – may be responsible for even greater harm.  One of the plaintiffs, Kristine Flynn, has received no group or individual therapy in five years at Taycheedah even though she has been diagnosed as bipolar and seriously mentally ill.  Flynn attempted suicide six days after her eight medications were abruptly discontinued by prison staff.  Vernessia Parker, another plaintiff who has been suicidal, was found by a court to be in need of in-patient mental health treatment but has never left Taycheedah, where she rarely sees mental health care staff and her calls to crisis intervention staff go unanswered for weeks

“These situations are not isolated mistakes,” said Larry Dupuis, the ACLU of Wisconsin’s legal director.  “They are manifestations of a system that has been in crisis for years, and the state has made no meaningful effort to address its underlying problems.” 

A 2002 study by the National Institute of Corrections found grossly inadequate staffing, confused lines of supervision and almost no mechanism for preventing medical errors throughout the Wisconsin prison system.  Compounding the problem, medicines are distributed by untrained prison guards instead of medical staff.  Other internal studies have confirmed the seriousness of these problems. 

“It is time for Wisconsin to live up to its constitutional obligations to provide decent health care to women in its custody,” said Chris Ahmuty, the ACLU of Wisconsin’s executive director.  “Since the legislature and the administration can’t muster the political will to do so voluntarily, we are asking the courts to order these reforms, before more women suffer and die unnecessarily.”

The lawsuit was filed against senior officials in the state corrections department as well as Governor Jim Doyle. The four named women in the lawsuit are Ramos, Flynn, Parker and Lenda Flournoy. A copy of the complaint is online at: http://www.aclu-wi.org.

ed.- We have a copy of the 20 page DOJ investigative report dated May 1, 2006. This is a devastating report, and as we read it, we can’t help but wonder what third world country Taycheedah is in.

Constitutional Challenge Filed to WI Sex Offender Registration Statute

Wisconsin Statute § 301.45 is violative of various constitutional protections. (1) It violates the Ex post facto clause by allowing the government to refuse, after the fact, to play by its own rules, and deprive a person of fair warning, so as to allow a legislature to pick and choose when to act retroactively risking arbitrary, and potentially vindictive legislation that issue out of the feelings of the moment. (2) Wisconsin Statute § 301.45 allows the government to burden fundamental or important liberties without an indiv-idual determination of dangerousness in violation of due process. (3) Wisconsin Statute § 301.45 imputes individual dangerousness to a discrete and insular minority based on stereo-types. (4) Wisconsin Statute § 301.45 unconstitutionally imposes a depriva-tion of liberty on designated groups based on a legislative determinations that members of the group possess the "taint" of dangerousness. The brief was filed by public defender, Paul Ksicinski, on April 6.

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Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral. -- Paulo Freire
Porchlight in Madison

A second chance. A warm bed. Hope. Opportunity. A helping hand, not a hand out. This is what Porchlight, Inc. is all about. Our mission in the community is a challenging one. The cause of home-lessness - inadequate job skills, a dire shortage of affordable housing, mental illness, and substance abuse - defy easy solutions. It is only the generous support of the community and the dedication of our staff, Board, and volunteers that make it possible for us to help people overcome homelessness.

As a not-for-profit, volunteer agency, Porchlight provides emergency shelter, food, employment services, counseling, and affordable transitional and per-manent housing. Our primary mission is to meet the needs of homeless house-holds in the Madison area through services designed to foster indepen-dence and the transition into perma-nent housing and employment. Porch-light is a ministry of concerned people committed to ensuring that all res-idents of Dane Co. have a place of shelter, freeing them from the fears and intimidation of living on the streets, and offering them respect and dignity as they search for solutions to their dilemmas.

Porchlight, Inc. 306 N. Brooks Street Madison, WI 53715

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men, for
the nastiest of reasons, will somehow work for the benefit of us all.-- John Maynard Keynes
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Meeting in Governor Doyle’s Office
Angela Russell is Governor Doyle’s Agency Liaison, overseeing the DOC. On May 4th, 2006 5 prisoner advocates met with her in the Governors State Capitol office. Wisconsin CURE, Voices Beyond Bars, Community Reintegration Project, and PAC were all represented, and presented questions to her about the oversight the Governor’s office exercises over the Parole Board and the DOC. Ms. Russell is new to the job, and it was apparent that we were informing her more than she was us.

She was candid and forthright and promised to get back to us with answers to the questions we had. She also extended the invitation to call her whenever we needed to clarify the Governor’s position on matters that concern us.

Supermax Essay

The recent “changes” at WSPF along with a few very heartfelt and insightful letters have stimulate some discussion at PAC about the importance of chronicling the history of this oppres-sive institution.

The history that needs to be written, is from the voice of the oppressed, the victims of this insane institution must be documented. Not just the petty deprivations, lack of healthcare, denial of food, etc. etc., but the feelings of having one’s humanity systematically stripped away. What needs to be documented and acknowledged are the hopes that kept you alive and the methods you used to retain your dignity.

As the “Berge” phase of WSPF’s dismal history comes to a close, the nightmare will for many start to dissolve away. Those who have endured this dreadful experiment will no doubt suffer the effects for many years, and some may never recover, but the reality will fade. Memory will either enhance or dull the experience.

It is for that reason, that we wish to document this short but tragic history of Supermax. This will take the form of a long essay, containing the writings of the victims, and may become a book. This will be a collaborative effort between those who have experienced Supermax and PAC’s editing/writing group. Whether it is ever published, will depend on our collective skills as writers and your ability to convey and recall the events.

We will be seeking to interview “graduates” and those still confined, litigators and those who quietly comp-lied. The rationalizations of officials may be presented, but only to expose their hypocrisy. There was no good reason for this prison to have been built, and the efforts by the DOC to justify it’s existence has brought misery, pain, suffering, and death.

The working title for this essay will be “The Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish and Short Life of Supermax”. This is a play on a quotation from Thomas Hobbes a 17th century philosopher whose ideas we despise. Anyway, you get the idea. Any proceeds from this work (if there are any) will be donated to Prisoner’s Action Coalition which works in solidarity with Wisconsin prisoners.

If you are interested in documenting your experience, let us know. We will be developing a line of questions that will require some essay type answers and we hope this will stimulate recollection. We hope also, that this documenting will serve as a cathartic exercise, to purge the horror. We can and will access court records to document dates and circumstances, but what this essay is about is your feelings, your perceptions, what went through your head as you were shackled, strip searched, denied food, denied medical attention, denied recreation, denied reading material, made to sleep with your head near the toilet, with constant lights on, with cameras in the cell, in the summer heat, with closed circuit television visits, and a million other inhumanities.

In solidarity,
PAC Supermax essay group

Ph.D. Candidate Wants to Correspond with Wisconsin Prisoners
Professor Eric Loizeau, from Aix en Provence University (France) is currently working on a Ph.D. about WI DOC, He writes:
I am looking for prisoners who would be willing to share their opinions of the prison system and write about their incarceration. I would like to know what you feel about such subjects as rehabilitation, work programs, conse-quences of incarceration on the outside, racism, your experience as a minority in the WI prisons, etc... Also, I strongly need help from prisoners from Taycheedah and from prisoners from the Native American community. I simply promise to write back to anyone ready to write about their conditions to someone in Europe. Write to:
Eric LOIZEAU
58 AVENUE DES CAILLOLS
Batiment A4
13012 MARSEILLE
FRANCE
or send your letters to PAC’s office and we will forward them.

Death Penalty Referendum on the November Ballot - Are they crazy?

Wisconsin has been without the death penalty since 1854.  Increasingly, both nationally and internationally, govern-ments have outlawed, considered outlawing, or declared moratoria on executions because they recognize the judicial system is highly compromised. 

Stop this insanity!! Tell your friends and neighbors to vote NO! Send a message to the reactionary “tough on crime” politicians. Enough already!!
Old Law Inmate,
Terrance J. Shaw, #138254
Oshkosh Correctional Institution

Since my last update to the readers of PAC, I haven't heard anything from the court. However, I thought I would use this quiet time to explain an old law issue to the readers that may be of interest to other similarly situated old law WI DOC inmates.

In my last update I pointed out that the federal judge decided that I could bring 5 of the 7 issues that I raised in my Complaint. Shortly after the judge handed down his DECISION AND ORDER in this regard, I, with the assistance of my jailhouse lawyer from Waupun, Vances H. Smith, filed a MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION with the court on the 2 issues the judge dismissed. The two issues we presented for review are the following:
1. The Application of Ex-Governor Thompson's Directive caused an Ex Post Facto Violation, even though its language appeared to apply only to prisoners who were serving sentences with mandatory release dates.
2. Count VI of Plaintiff's Complaint states a cause of action for conspiracy to violate his right to a "FAIR PAROLE HEARING" for which he has a protected liberty interest.
It's the first RECONSIDERATION issue that I'd like to discuss with the old law PAC readers (specifically lifers). The judge dismissed this Ex Post Facto Clause issue. The judge justified it by concluding the Complaint failed to state a claim for relief on Ex Post Facto grounds (in Count II) because the allegations only alleged "that the directive applies to [v]violent offenders who have reached their mandatory release date." The judge decided that since I am a lifer and don't have an MR date, he would dismiss Count II.

In my MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION I argued that further review of my Complaint will reveal the allegations went further in regards to the application of Governor Thompson's 1994 Directive. A review of Paragraph 7 of the Complaint also alleges "this Directive was intended to increase the amount of time that WI DOC prisoners convicted of violent offenses before April 28, 1994, remain incarcerated." This allegation suffices to state a claim for an Ex Post Facto Clause violation based on the "Directive." It appears this Court only analyzed the potential Ex Post Facto claim based on a facial challenge to the "Directive." (cont. on page 5)

May 2006 newsletter

However, the claim was based on the application of this "Directive" that was alleged to constitute an Ex Post Facto Clause violation. Then we went on to cite case law precedent to support our argument. I am pointing out the significance between the facial challenge and the application of the Directive, so that lifers (like myself) who don't have an MR, will know the difference. I think we made our legal position very clear to the judge, so the issue will boil down to whether the court will accept it or not when he decides on my MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION.

I would also like to mention that I have been getting some personal mail from inmates who read PAC, in regards to what is the difference between my Ex Post Facto Federal Law Suit against the WDOC, and what PAC is proposing to do in court on behalf of all WDOC old law inmates. My lawsuit is personally tailored to me and my own particular circumstances and situation. That is why my Complaint covered 7 issues. Most of my issues don't directly involve "all" old law inmates. It's primarily the Ex Post Facto Clause issue that we share in common. If I can win my case against the WDOC, then the PAC class action lawsuit on behalf of ALL old law inmates can cite the court's decision in my case to buttress their case. I want to say to all the WDOC old law inmates, that I highly recommend you all throw your support behind PAC and their efforts to bring this Ex Post Facto Clause issue before the court on behalf of ALL WDOC old law inmates. Don't just sit on the fence and take that "wait and see" attitude. The PAC class action lawsuit that they are working hard at preparing to file is an appropriate venue for all WDOC old law inmates to get behind and actively support.

Well this is about THE BIG PICTURE at this time. I pray the blessings of 3John2 for all of my (both old and new law) fellow inmates.
Peace,
Terrance J. Shaw
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Whatever little we have gained we have gained by agitation, while we
have uniformly lost by moderation. - Daniel O'Connell, 1824

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He who allows oppression, shares the crime. --
Erasmus Darwin

Old Law Update May, 2006

After reading many letters from various individuals it has become essential for me to address some issues as they relate to the Old Law litigation. We hear your voices and the call for justice related to new policies and practices of the Program Review Committee (PRC). We also hear your cry against the injustice in which those who are denied placement in treatment programs cannot be considered for parole and work release.

I must reiterate as stated in the March issue of the New Abolitionist, while these issues are valid, members of the research committee all agree, that raising the PRC issue in this context would be a very serious distraction to the Ex Post Facto argument.

We must remember that a law need not be retroactive on its face to engage the ex post facto prohibition. It is the effect, and not the form of the law that determines whether or not the law has been applied ex post facto. The critical question is, whether inmates can prove that they have been substantially disadvantaged by the new law.

To satisfy this test, Old Law prisoners whether serving a life term or not must show that these new parole guidelines create a high hurdle to the exercise of discretion, and therefore exposed them to a substantial risk in their opportunity to be paroled.

Thanks to Mr. Norman Pepin, we have obtained charts which show sentence length and reincarceration rates; inmate releases 1980-1993 (excluding lifers); average sentence length, by year of release (excluding lifers); average sentence and time served for serious offenses from 1980-1993 releases; average percentage of sentence served, by year release (excluding lifers); average years served, by year of release 1980-93 (excluding lifers); effect of prior felony conviction on time served-releases 1980-93 (excluding lifers); and life sentence released, 1980-1993.

Mr. Pepin has also provided us with the January 1982 Overview of release experiences of Lifers in Wisconsin Institutions during 1967-81 compiled by the Department of Health and Social Services Wisconsin Parole Board, Fred W. Hinickle, Chairman. Like the parolability range provided us by Mr. McMillian these materials are essential to the litigation. We continue to seek

documents that will bolster our case. If you have any parole documents that suggest a change has taken place, send them to PAC.

The proper standard for determining whether or not any expression of state power, be it law, regulation or a parole practice, violates the ex post facto prohibition must consider two components. First, the law, regulation or practice must have been applied retroactively. Second, the law, regulation or practice must create a “sufficient risk” of increasing the punishment attached to the crime.

For your information, there is one person working for liberation on a full-time scale without any pay, and the vast majority of the cost for the newsletters comes out his pocket. He is not a selfish person who sits in society and does nothing to help his fellow men and women. He has never been imprisoned, but cares about the many of you inside who have no one who cares. Many family members have abandoned their incarcerated loved one. He has not given up despite the cost and difficulty of the task. Many inside sit back and spend their money on tennis shoes and other items; they should think about donating a few dollars to the cause every so often.

They can also ask family members and friends to volunteer and arrange speaking engagements so an “old law” speaker can educate the public about our cause. The more of us involved and the more family members the better our chances of getting support.

A storm is brewing in Ohio. A litigation just as the one we seek to file is before the courts in the summary judgment stage, and being argued by inmates with assistance from family members and friends. If you want to check it out please look for Michael, et al., v. Ghee, et al., Case No. 3:01CV7436. In the United states District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Western District.

Liberation Now! Liberation Forever!
research committee

At press time, there were over 300 prisoners signed onto the old law class. Some have written to ask if they have been added. To avoid confusion, on the reverse of this page, please find a form that will help the organizers analyze the class. PAC cannot answer legal questions. We will forward inquiries to the research committee. PAC

Old Law Class Action Suit

Prisoner information form
Many of you have already signed onto the class action suit, but we would like to have a more formal information sheet for all plaintiffs, and use some of the information requested to better form our argument to the court. Thank you, old law litigators.

Date_________________

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name___________________________________DOC #______________
Current institution__________________________________________
Address____________________________________________________
City_______________________________________, WI Zip__________

SENTENCE
Date of conviction_____________County________________Case #__________________
MR - PMR (circle one) Date_______________Parole eligibility date___________
1st Parole hearing date_________________ recommendation_______________________
reason for defer/action taken by PRC __________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2nd Parole hearing date_________________recommendation_______________________
reason for defer/action taken by PRC __________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
List other hearing/defers/actions on separate sheet of paper

SPECIAL NOTES
Please add as much information as you have about the following:
1. Approximate length of sentences of others convicted of a similar crime at the time of your conviction (this is to establish what your judge may have considered “enough” punishment when sentencing you).
2. Aside from program needs, what other changes have occured in extending the length of your sentence (how has the DOC/parole board changed its criterion for REAL parole consideration) ?
3. Have you initiated any litigation regarding parole? Please include your case # and disposition of the case.
4. Make copies of this form and give them to other prisoners similarly situated.
5. If you want confirmation that we have received this form, please enclose a SASE or a 39¢ stamp.
6. Get your family involved. Ask them to send PAC a donation.
********************************************************************************************************************
Dear Prisoners Action Coalition,
Enclosed is a donation of $_________ to be used in the effort to find justice for prisoners sentenced prior to Jan 1, 2000. These prisoners suffer under new political realities that were not in place when they were convicted. These new realities manifest themselves in lengthy defers and unreasonable hurdles in gaining parole. I want you to use my contribution to help with research costs, printing and mailing of updates, and in the search for legal representation.

Thank you,

_________________________________________________________date_______________________

The Slow Rot at Supermax
By Richard A. Serrano, LA Times

At Moussaoui's future home in Florence, Colo., inmates are reportedly not merely punished, but incapacitated and broken down.

Halfway through the trial, prison expert James E. Aiken looked straight at jurors and told them what Zacarias Moussaoui could expect if they sent him away for the rest of his life. "I have seen them rot," he said. "They rot." Aiken was describing what happens to the nation's highest-risk prisoners after they settle in at the federal government's maximum-security prison in Florence, Colo., known as Supermax.

Moussaoui was formally sentenced Thursday to life in prison after a federal jury rejected a death sentence for the admitted Sept. 11 conspirator. Officials at the Federal Bureau of Prisons said that Moussaoui was destined for the facility high in the Colorado Rockies.

Already there is a veritable "bombers' row" — Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, master-mind of the 1993 World Trade Center blast; Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski; Terry L. Nichols, an accomplice in the Oklahoma City bombing; Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber who Moussaoui testified was to join him in another Al Qaeda hijacking; and Eric Rudolph, who bombed abortion clinics and the Atlanta Olympics.

All, like Moussaoui, are serving life without parole — spending their days in prison wings that are partly under-ground. They exist alone in soundproof cells as small as 7 feet by 12 feet, with a concrete-poured desk, bed and stool, a small shower and sink, and a TV that offers religious and anger-management programs. They are locked down 23 hours a day.

Larry Homenick, a former U.S. marshal who has taken prisoners to Supermax, said that there was a small triangular recreation area, known as "the dog run," where solitary Supermax prisoners could occasionally get a glimpse of sky. He said it was chilling to walk down the cellblocks and glance through the plexiglass "sally port" chambers into the cells and see the faces inside.

Life there is harsh. Food is delivered through a slit in the cell door. Prisoners don't leave their cells to see a lawyer, a doctor or a prison official; those visitors must go to the cell. But prisoners can earn extra privileges, like a wider variety of television off-erings, more exercise time and visit-ation rights, based on their behavior.

There are 1,400 remote-controlled steel doors. Motion detectors and hidden cameras monitor every move. The prison walls and razor-wired grounds are patrolled by laser beams and dogs. The facility is filling up. Four hundred inmates are there now. There is room for 90 more.

Looking to restore order after a rash of prison violence at the federal maximum-security lockup in Marion, Ill. —the facility that replaced the notor-ious Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay — officials in 1983 put the prisoners on indefinite lockdown.

California was among the first states to copy the concept, opening super-secure units in Corcoran in 1988 and Pelican Bay in 1989. The federal Supermax prison in Colorado was opened in November 1994. Nobody has escaped. "We just needed a more secure facility," said Tracy Billingsley, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. "We needed to bring together the most dangerous, that required the most intense supervision, to one location."

In his trial testimony, Aiken said the whole point of Supermax was not just punishment, but "incapacitation." There is no pretense that the prison is preparing the inmate for a return to society. Like the cellmate of the count of Monte Cristo who died an old, tired convict, Aiken said, "Moussaoui will deteriorate." The inmate "is constantly monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week," he said. "He will never get lost in a crowd because he would never be in a crowd."

Christopher Boyce, a convicted spy who was incarcerated at Supermax, left the prison about 100 miles south of Denver with no regret. "You're slowly hung," he once told The Times. "You're ground down. You can barely keep your sanity." Bernard Kleinman, a New York lawyer who represented Yousef, called it "extraordinarily draconian punishment." Moussaoui might be a haousehold name today, "but 20 years from now, people will forget him," Kleinman said. "He will sit there all alone, and all forgotten."

Ron Kuby, another New York defense lawyer, has handled several East Coast "revolutionaries" who went on a killing spree, and a radical fundamentalist who killed a rabbi in 1990. All were brought to Supermax. He thought Aiken's description that prisoners rot inside its walls was too kind. "It's beyond rotting," he said. "Rotting at least implies a slow, gradual disintegration."

He said there were a lot of prisons where inmates rot, where the staff "plants you in front of your TV in your cell and you just grow there like a mushroom. But Supermax is worse," he said. "It's not just the hothouse for the mushrooms. It's designed in the end to break you down."

WHO SAYS WISCONSIN DOESN'T HAVE TIlE DEATH PENALTY?
by Mustafa-El Ajala,
On Psychological Death Row

Green Bay, WI. - Technically, Wisconsin doesn't have the death penalty. However, it does have a penal system with a prisoner mortality rate exceeding the execution rates of any state in the U.S. Only here it is the conditions of confinement that has led to suicide as the form of exacting that ultimate punishment.

A January 2006 report by Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) mental health director Kevin Kallas and psychology director Don Hands has revealed that suicides are committed within WI. prisons at a rate nearly twice the national average. The nation averages 14 suicides per 100,000 prisoners, while WI. averages about 25 per 100,000. From 2001 - 2005 there were 28 suicides at the state’s prisons, averaging 7 suicides per year.

The latest death is that of prisoner John Virgin, a striving Brother of the incarcerated Islamic Community and a personal friend. We spoke and saw each other regularly; that is, until he was taken to the segregation unit of Green Bay Correctional Institution (GBCI), and placed in "the box" (the boxcar cells of the unit). John, just 25 years old, with only 15 months remaining on a 2 years sentence, reportedly hung himself on April 7, 2006.

In the box prisoners are isolated from the general population and subject to much harsher conditions: 23-24 hour cell confinement, limited communication, sleep deprivation (cells illuminated 24 hrs... a day), loss of property (t.v..., radio, books, etc.), no-contact visits, denial of food, clothing and running water, among other similarly atypical hardships.

In July 2000, while confined to WI’s Supermax Prison, I and co-plaintiff Emir Shabbaz (a.k.a. Michael Johnson) filed a class action law suit which resulted in the U.S. . District Court for the Western District of WI. finding that such conditions as these described in the box violates the 8th amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment when prisoners exper-iencing psychological problems, or with a history of them, are housed there. See Jones-El V. Berge, 164 F.Supp.2d 1096 (W.D. WI 2001).

In spite of the Jones-El decision, nearly 5 years later Kallas and Hands’ report show a steady increase from 2001-2005 of mentally ill prisoners being subject to the conditions of “the box”. In fact, officials report that they are placing prisoners with mental illnesses in these type of "segregated settings" at a rate twice that of other prisoners.
Quoting Kallas, “We recognize that being in a segregated setting can lead to more mental health issues." There is clearly no lack of awareness of the debilitating and lethal effects of WI. segregation units, and especially at GBCI.

In July 2001 mentally ill and epileptic prisoner Kelvin Brooks was placed in GBCI’s box and accused of violating the rules. As a result, he was placed on a food restriction known as "seg. loaf" (a medley of congealed food particles) which caused him to vomit, making it impossible to keep down his anti-seizure medication. On July 12, 2001, disturbing videotapes show Brooks buck naked in the cell (on "clothing restriction") and having full blown seizures repeatedly, which GBCI staff claimed he was faking to get his clothes back. He was already in rigor mortis when medical personnel did respond. On November 1, 2004, his family settled a wrongful death suit against the DOC for $600,000 dollars in the case of Brooks v. Bertrand, #01-C-1017.

Just last year GBCI s notorious "box" claimed the life of prisoner Jae Sumners on October 17, 2005, reportedly a suicide. Method of death? Hanging. Who says WI. doesn't have the death penalty?

While WI.'s seg. units make up only 10% of its 22,000 person prison system, more than 50% of its suicides occur there. Most of these occur at the state's 6 maximum security prisons where more than half of the state's seg. units are, in some cases making up 20%-25% of the prison.

GBCI is one such prison with approximately 20% of its available bed space comprised of seg. cells. It's operating capacity is for a population of 749 prisoners, but it houses 1088 at this writing. The cry of prison overcrowding and the need for more building, and thus more jobs, is echoed throughout the state by proponents of the prison industrial complex.

However, instead of building more general population units, the DOC has chosen to build more and more high-tech, expensive, and draconian control seg. units, and are using them in place of general population units. Once built, these units, as a matter of necessity, must be filled. Since WI. state prisons aren’t known for frequent homicides, rapes, and riots, as are some more notorious prisons, these units are being filled up mostly with prisoners who have committed only minor offenses (shoes untied, pants sagging, talking too loud, etc.), and the mentally ill. These are offenses a prisoner would hardly be placed in seg. for in most prisons.

Moreover, prisoners in WI. are doing more time in seg. for minor offenses. WI. prisoners once housed out-of-state (Minn., Texas, Tenn., Miss., Ok., Federal prisons) invariably report doing no more than 30-90 days in seg. for the type of offense. (fighting, use or possession of intoxicants, soliciting staff, etc.) that prisoners here often find themselves doing years in seg. for. Thus, it is no strange wonder that WI is leading in prison suicides. It's basic mathematics. If most suicides occur in seg. units and by the mentally ill, and WI. is keeping its mentally ill prisoner there at twice the rate of other prisoners, for minor offenses, and for longer periods of time, you're gonna predictably have more suicides there.

So, why was our brother John Virgin placed in "the box"? For having a pair of state issued pants that didn't have his name and prison # on them, and it cost him his life. You would think that with these type of offenses being the DOC's usual worries, as opposed to more serious offenses, the prison population would be rewarded with more privileges, better prison jobs and wages, a greater good-time program, etc. Instead the reward in WI. state prisons has been new control seg. units, a ban on cassettes tapes, on smoking, on most hip-hop magazines, a 30% wage cut, and the building of an unjustifiable Supermax prison, at a cost of over 44 million dollars, which now

has to be made into a general population -- what it should have been in the first place.

Consider, prior to November 1999, when Supermax Correctional Institution (SMCI -now called Wisconsin Secure Program Facility) opened, there were only an average of about 30 WI. prisoners on administrative confine-ment (as security threats), out of 20,000. Less than a year of SMCI being opened that number increased to over 300, a 1000 % increase. Impossible, but true. There were no unprecedented violent incidents in the prison system, so what was the justification? There was and is none. It was simply a part of the prison industry’s evolution into a self-serving machine and placing its profit interest over the state's penological interests and prisoner's well being. A case of “We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” (Winston Churchill, addres-sing the House of Commons, Oct. 28, 1943).

Punishment for crime is supposed to be loss of liberty, not humanity, and not a
person's sanity. It is clear that this problem with WI.'s prisons has grown lethal, making it impossible for some prisoners to survive within the system and obviously not capable of surviving outside it. However, “The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive?” - Dune. For the proponents of the death penalty the message should be clear: Before worrying about instituting a ~ death penalty, try fixing the one you already have.

My prayers and condolences go out to John’s family, and each family of those slain here on WI.'s psychological death row. Can anybody out there hear me? WI. definitely has a death penalty, because they are literally killing us in here!


Mustafa-El is prisoner at GBCI, a prisoner legal aid, social activist, and freelance writer. For more information he may be contacted at:
Mustafa-El K.A. Ajala (F.K.A. Dennis E. Jones-El #223971
P.O. Box 19033
GBCI Green Bay, WI. 54307-9033
or
1633 N. Wisconsin Street
Racine, WI. 53402
1632 N. Wisconsin Ave. Racine, WI 53402


WI prison suicides are twice national average
By Anita Weier
April 3, 2006
The Capital Times

More than half of state prison suicides in Wisconsin occur in single-cell "segregated" units where inmates are kept apart from the general prison population, though only 10 percent of the beds in the 22,000-person system are segregated.

The suicide rate in segregation units is about 10 times that of general units, according to a recent Department of Corrections suicide prevention report.

Suicides in Wisconsin prisons average about twice the national number.

A January report by Dr. Kevin Kallas, a psychologist who became the state Department of Corrections' first mental health director three years ago, and Department of Corrections psychology director Don Hands, said that the annual suicide rate averages out to about 14 per 100,000 inmates nationally, while Wisconsin's is 25 per 100,000.

"In recent years, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections has averaged six suicides per year, about twice the national average," the report said.

In 2002, the Criminal Justice Institute Corrections Yearbook ranked Wisconsin 12th highest among the states for suicides as a percentage of total inmate deaths in prison, with suicides running at 10.6 percent.

There were 28 suicides in Wisconsin prisons from 2001 through 2005, three that occurred out-of-state when Wisconsin was sending prisoners elsewhere, and one in the Wisconsin Resource Center, which is managed by the Department of Health and Family Services.

Most occurred at night and most were by hanging. For prisoners in the state system under age 35, suicide was the most common cause of death.

State institutions with the most suicides in 2001-2005 were Waupun Correctional Institution, with five; Columbia Correctional Institution, three; Jackson Correctional Institution, three; Racine Correctional Institution, three and the Green Bay Correctional Institution, three.
Discipline problems: More suicides likely occur in segregated settings - such as solitary confinement - because mentally ill people are placed there at twice the rate of other inmates, Kallas said.

"It is nearly always a discipline issue. It varies by unit and institution," he said, adding that people with mental health problems tend to have more disciplin-ary problems and more difficulty obeying rules.

Factors that may increase the suicide rate in segregation, according to a Department of Corrections training document, also include distress over a conduct report or placement in segregation and fewer options for dealing with stress or bad news.

"The extent to which people have problems depends on the individual person and his emotional makeup. Some do better in segregation because they are not in conflict with other people or because they do better in a quiet atmosphere. It can go both ways," Kallas said.

"We recognize that being in a segregated setting can lead to more mental health issues. That is why it is good to do regular rounds."

Corrections officials say they are trying to prevent suicides with training and better communication.

Since November 2002, all new correctional officers have been given eight hours of suicide prevention training prior to the start of employment. And since 2003, new health care staff have been trained in suicide prevention.

A new curriculum is also being taught to other front-line staff, with all expected to be trained by the end of this year. Such training concentrates on identification of people who are suicide threats through awareness of symptoms and causes.

"This is a curriculum psychologists are presenting to front-line staff including correctional officers, health care workers, chaplains and social workers. Other states have found one of the most effective things they can do to prevent suicide is staff training teaching them how to recognize signs and clues," Kallas said.

Communication between divisions is another vital factor, Kallas said. Eighty to 90 percent of "adverse outcomes"

had to do with lack of communication between divisions, such as security, psychiatry and medical.

"We started multidisciplinary meetings once a week where we discuss anyone who has a mental health challenge," Kallas said.

Roadblocks: One difficulty blocking suicide prevention efforts is the fact that the department's administrative code only requires that clinical staff have to respond within two days after security personnel place an inmate in "clinical observation" status, in which an inmate is watched closely for suicide and other mental health issues.

Moreover, the two-day limit can stretch to five days over weekends and holidays. Officials would like to change that maximum response time to 24 hours.

However, correctional officers check those under clinical observation status every 15 minutes and their cells are visible from the officers' posts.

"We would like our psychologists to respond in 24 hours. In some institutions, they would be going in twice a weekend to do inmate interviews. Our psychologists don't get paid at nearly the rate of other professions for on-call work. Nurses get four hours of pay for carrying a beeper, while psychologists get one hour of pay," Kallas said.

Psychologists have resisted more weekend work, Kallas told a committee on adult and youth inmate deaths.

"To keep our staff, we will attempt to get better compensation for being on call. We've identified that as something we want to improve," Kallas said.

Any changes related to compensation would have to be bargained with union representatives, and negotiations are going on now, he added.

He noted that the prisons' clinical staff works well under difficult circum-stances.

"But there is a reluctance to take an exponential increase, coming in on every non-working day on call. Nobody said, 'I'm not going to do it.' But they suggested that if it adds more difficulty to the job, 'I will look elsewhere.' "

The fear of revolution

THE FEAR OF REVOLUTION

by Ali Khalid Abdullah #148130
17601 Mound Rd. (NRF)
Detroit, MI 48212

We are living in a time when the government has completely lost touch with the concerns of the people. We see more police brutality against the people, more police in our com-munities, higher incarceration rates, more restrictions on constitutional freedoms, and career politicians saying and doing anything to win votes and get reelected. Yet, the people haven't gotten tired of the way government officials and their agencies are acting and treating them. They still have hope and belief in a system that is increasingly totalitarian and fascist.

Many of us are struggling to get the information out to the people so they will get involved in the major issues facing us. Unfortunately, many of us have also landed in death kamps because of our political and social beliefs and because we had the revolutionary spirit to take a stand either by word or by direct action. Though we have taken this bold and uncompromising step for real justice, we have found ourselves languishing in state and federal death kamps (i.e. prisons) under horrific, inhumane and deplorable conditions. And without any real support either from a moral, revolutionary, financial, or legal stand-point. We wonder where the people's concern or caring is. Thus comes the question "WHY???"

During the 1950's, 60's and 70's, New Afrikans (Black people) were fighting for freedom and equality. Now, over 100 years after the Declaration of Emancipation, New Afrikan people are still struggling for their rights. We fought against Jim Crow laws of the South, lynchings, unfair and unequal employment practices and pay, inferior housing, land takeovers - and we are still finding ourselves fighting these same issues today. There were groups like the Civil Rights Movement, the Southern Christian Leadership Confer-ence, the Pan Afrikan Congress, CORE, SNCC, the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Army, the New Afrikan Independent Movement, MOVE and a host of other politically active groups all demanding and struggling for political and social changes in Amerikkka. Also in this period the Amerikan Indian Movement, the anti-imperialist Movement and various Socialist and Labor Movements were raising their voices, taking action, direct action, and working to force the government to hear the VOICE OF THE PEOPLE!

Today many of the leaders and activists of the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's have been assassinated by various government agencies under their COINTELPRO program. Others have been discredited, thrown in state and federal death Kamps to rot and die, or forced into exile - like sistah Assata Shakur who has been forced to live in Cuba to escape Amerikkka's abuse, and no one, or very few of us today, seem to be taking the hard measures needed to defend these violated people. What is going on and why are we allowing our lives to be controlled in this manner?

It appears that the people have lost the will to resist. They have lost the will to stand up and fight for what is right. Some of us have not lost our wills... yet we have no real community support to do anything of significance and make a difference. Some of us are still fighting, demonstrating, holding rallies, teach-ins or writing and publishing so that the people will be aware. But as a whole, we are doing nothing

It is hard for me to sit here, confined in this death kamp, and think about the many sacrifices that were made, the loves lost, the blood spilt, and not see any forward steps towards anything resembling justice. All I see is more repression and government abuse taking more and more away from the people. Have we become so pathetic that we will stand around in a crowd of fifty and let two police officers beat or shoot someone in our very presence and do NOTHING other than offer a nervous cry or a whispered shout to "stop?" Are we that afraid that we're ready to accept racial profiling and no-knock searches of our homes and businesses? Have we come to the point of total surrender to corporate Amerikkka's bullying, the same corporate Amerikkka that takes away benefits, downsizes and fires workers while destroying the unions the people have fought and died for? Is the spirit of revolution dead and does it now only exist in books, the alternative press and in our memories?

New Afrikan communities have lost all control in rearing and raising their children and the children have lost all respect for their mothers, who they now call "bitches," "hoes," and "crackheads" in frustration because of what they see. The children have no male models to learn from, few male teachers in schools and no fathers in their homes or their lives to properly love, guide, instruct, discipline and show them the way.

In the White communities, have the people become tolerant of their children joining racist hate groups (i.e., neo-nazis, skinheads and other groups) that target New Afrikans and other people of color, simply because they are too busy themselves chasing the kapitalist dream and have replaced their consciences with greed? .

A revolutionary consciousness, revolutionary thinking and action, are needed more today than in the 1950's, 60's and 70's, because the problem has gotten much worse. Racial prejudice is carried out in subtle "politically correct" ways - though increasingly these actions are becoming less and less subtle. We need to WAKE UP and realize that the only way we can have justice in this country is by holding those we've elected accountable or by removing them from office and letting the people serve the people. I will close with two quotes from President Abraham Lincoln:
Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. - First Inaugural Address

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise us, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right, a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. - U.S. House of Representatives, January 12, 1848

The above speeches were made over [150] years ago and the truth of these words stands out more today than at the time they were uttered. The people do have a right to stand up and defend their rights. But how many of us are exercising their right? How many of us are willing to follow what Abraham Lincoln said in his inaugural Address or stated to the United States House of Representatives?
There shouldn't be any question that we are in need of some accountability among today's politicians. Accountability in terms of the way they aren't representing the people but are taking advantage of them. So, what are WE going to do about this?
In the trenches...

Rehabilitation at Wisconsin's Supermax and Other Fairy Tales

Rehabilitation at Wisconsin’s Supermax, and Other Fairy Tales
by Nate A. Lindell
created May 4th, 2006

When Wisconsin first opened it’s Super-max prison (then called the Supermax Correctional Institution (SMCI), there was no pretense of rehabilitating it’s inmates. Then Governor Thompson and his lackeys pushed hard their propaganda that they’d pack SMCI with “the worst of the worst” - I can tell you, after being at SMCI for more than 5 years, all inmates are not alike and few could be called “the worst of the worst: (if you sat down and spoke with them, as I have)... although a large minority could be called the stupidest of the stupid (given their irrational and self-destructive/self-degrading behaviors). After the settlement of the class-action suit against SMCI (which 90 % of us wanted to go to trial on ) prison officials agreed to make some changes, including ceasing to slander us all as “the worst of the worst” and degrading us no more than any other Wisconsin prisoner.

Apparently to justify it’s continued existence and high-price tag (consider, there are around 100 staff running SMCI ad 300-350 inmates here, while in a “normal” maximum security prison the same number of staff supervise 1000+ inmates). SMCI adopted a new name (i.e. Wisconsin’s secure Program Facility - WSPF) and now portrays itself as a facility that intensely rehabilitates troublesome inmates with loads of programs. Yet nothing has changed at WSPF (maybe a little velvet disguises the hammer), it still operates as Abu-Gharib - West, pounding the decency and humanity (and there’s not much to spare in many inmates) out of inmates here, dehabilitating prisoners who often have never been habilitated in the first place.

We should first understand what “rehabilitation” is and is not. It is not: a.) adopting religion; b.) getting a GED; c.) completing some mass-marketed programs; d.) becoming needy, weak, servile or blindly complacent towards government officials; or; e.) being crippled by guilt for the harms we’ve caused. Maybe, to a degree, some of these things will occur when one’s rehabilitated, but they aren’t rehab-ilitation. What rehabilitation is, or should be, if one’s objective/just and realistic, is helping a prisoner to realize that: a.) he can achieve his/her life goals without resorting to crime, and ; b.) enabling and helping them to get rid of all the stinking thinking and emotional garbage that made them capable of committing their crimes in the first place. The rehabilitation mindset is inside all of us - we all (those who are same) have the natural desire to thrive, grow and achieve success - it’s just that some people (particularly prisoners) lose focus and lose control, and maybe never were taught it. Rehabilitation is, or should be, simply helping people regain (or gain) their focus and self control then enabling them to maintain this focus and self-control by creating a tolerable environment.

The recollections of my studies of behavioral psychology is that positive reinforcement (i.e. rewarding) good behavior is the most effective way of modifying behavior, while negative reinforcement (i.e. punishment) of bad behavior is the least effective means of changing behavior. Heck, they say this all the time on an Allstate commercial - rewarding good drivers works better than punishing the bad ones.

More so, concerning those with some mental and emotional illness or those who have histories of abuse/neglect (e.g. most prisoners), punishment (other than outright physical torture) has no positive effect at all on behavior and tends to cause the behavior to worsen or spawn anger/resentment and a desire to attack authority by doing what it dislikes - like you might lash out on somebody who’s abused/ abusing you or act out because it’s the only thing that gets you attention. It’s not so shocking then that recidivism is so high, when Wisconsin (and the entire country) has chosen to warehouse prisoners in overpopulated, filthy, dre-ary death traps run by staff who’s only difference from the inmates is (often) their greater skill at lying and running their rackets - and these prisoners (e.g. myself, and many more whom I’ve spoken with) often come from backgrounds of extreme abuse/neglect (akin to the prison environment).

BUt another principle of psychology reveals that the cruelty of WSPF and indeed most of the prison system is irrational and counterproductive. This is that people have a hierarchy of needs, and they don’t pursue the higher ones until they’ve satisfied the lower ones - this is well-known by psychol-ogists and anyone with common sense. You tend not to worry about finding the love of your life when you are starving, dying of thirst or freezing - instead you tend to seek to satisfy your needs for food, warmth and water, then pursue love and other higher needs or even wants. In WSPF (and many prisons) inmates are fed such meager/poor-quality food, subject to such extreme temperatures (cold in winter, hot and humid in summer), that they don’t have energy or time to spend pondering rehabilitation. Then, before they can ponder rehabilitation, they need to satisfy their basic needs for a feeling of safety, feeling of being loved, social contact, to merely sleep and be sane/healthy - all of which WSPF does it’s best to deprive inmates of by: forbidding contact visits: not facilita-ting correspondence/phone-calls to inmates’ few loved ones (indigent inmates, like myself, can only send 1 letter a week and there’s no free phone calls and gads of restrictions on calls); leaving inmates alone in their cells, 24/7, without even group religious services. Again, this is com-pounded when we’re talking of inmates who come from backgrounds of extreme abuse/neglect, so their social skills are retarded (e.g. insecure, mistrustful) yet a huge need for love, socialization and security exists!

Considering the above, which most people (if they put aside their biases) will agree is correct, it seems that those running WSPF (and the rest of the prison system) have no desire to rehabilitate inmates but are arch sadomasochists (remember, inmates get out and commit more crimes, hence masochism). Unfortunately good people, innocent people, are forced into being masochists by a sadistic prison system that creates (or at least exacerbates) dehabilitated humans who’ve been taught one thing - pain and misery is good, should be spread far and wide, and nothing should be done to end it or even acknowledge it exists. Of course this reveals that WSPF and the people that condone it are dysfunctional, just as is a “family” that tears down it’s children instead of building them up - for the government, like a family, if “functional”, exists to build up and nurture it’s wards, not create or aggravate distress, pain or misery.

To truly understand the miserable conditions at WSPF you’ll need specific examples, here’s a few:
a.) we get no more than 2 1/2 hours of outside exercise a week, and that’s in a dog-kennelesque cage with only light sun-exposure;
b.) the only visits we get are over a t.v. monitor, which is 8’ away and on a 26” screen;
c.) we spend practically 24/7 in our cells;
d.) every time we leave our cell we’re shackled hand, foot and waist chained;
e.) there’s constant yelling, banging on walls, doors and toilets by deranged inmates - which staff let go on and incite (e.g. by harassing inmates or inciting conflicts) so we hardly ever get to sleep up ere;
f.) staff deluge a select few of us who they particularly hat (e.g. due to our litigation, complaints, religion/politics, refusal to kowtow) with petty or false write-ups, resulting in loss of our paltry outside recreation, visits, pay and continued stay at WSPF;
g.) indigents, like me, can only send one free letter a week and can’t use postage sent in by or paid for by kith and kin;
h.) we get no group religious services;
i.) we get no opportunity to work nor job training;
j.) we’re not allowed to use our radios here;
k.) cameras monitor us in our cells, constantly;
l.) we’re subject to secret meetings where staff decide to keep us here, using a “phase” system;
m.) we’re often punished for non-dangerous remarks in our mail;
n.) the food they’re fed is meager and mostly unhealthy packaged/canned foods;
o.) staff play mind games with inmates to cause stress (e.g. yelling at us, slamming our door’s trap, flirting with inmates or inciting them to engage in sex-acts, give our mail to the wrong inmate, switch our letters when reviewing outgoing mail, grope us when pat searching us and outright assaults) and justify prolonging their stay at WSPF.
At WSPF, with a 1:3 staff/inmate ratio, the devilry is particularly concentrated - yet the same madness permeates the entire Wisconsin and U.S. prison system. The only way to end it and the suffering it perpetuates (both on inmates and non inmates is to:
a/) drop the punishment mentality and swiftly reward any and all behavior of inmates that’s lawful, self-advancing, beneficial to their community or society;
b.) create prison environments that cater to inmates; needs and allow them to grow, improve and feel safe about doing so;
c.) strictly supervise prison staff and the system, to ensure it doesn’t fall into it’s old ways of degrading/tormenting it’s captives instead of rehabilitating them;
d.) abolish all prisons that aren't absolutely needed, convert prisons into the least restrictive type of place possible, don’t sentence people to prison unless this is needed to protect society;
e.) freely allow and promote programs which empower inmates (e.g. diverse job training, work-release, family and conjugal visits, drug programs, diverse college courses, self-analysis classes) and NEVER terminate the programs to punish inmates.

More could be said, more detail added, but right now WSPF needs to embrace these basic realities... if it is to truly rehabilitate it’s inmates. The voters and politicians are going to have to choose either to rehabilitate inmates or continue to dehabilitate them - if dehabilitation remains the game - plan, prison officials should be upfront about this, as the public pays the price. Whatever YOU chose, nothing will change until YOU actively do something.
-finis-

Nate A Lindell
WSPF P.O. Box 9900
Bosocbel, WI
53805-9900

Letter to Angela Russell of Governors Office

PRISONER’S ACTION COALITION
P.O. Box 151
Fennimore, WI 53809
May 8, 2006

Ms. Angela Russell
Office of the Governor
State Capitol 115 East
Madison, WI 53702

Dear Ms. Russell,

Thank you for your time and consideration of the issues we brought before you. As discussed, it is difficult to get attention to prisoner rights in this political climate, so we hope that our arguments offer legitimate, public interest reasons for prison reform.

Enclosed is the infamous Tommy Thompson letter to then DOC Secretary Michael Sullivan. As you can see, the copy I have is probably the 100th generation of the original. This letter has been the impetus to a great deal of litigation regarding the violation of ex post facto law.

It is the opinion of many people that the PRC combined with the Parole Board create a Catch 22 set of rules; the Parole Board won’t release a prisoner without having completed programs, and the PRC denies programs until prisoners are close to their MR. The Parole Board may recommend minimum placement, but the PRC has no obligation to agree. Lenard Wells and his personal staff are the Parole Board, as the commissioners are DOC employees and the Parole Agents are DOC employees. The Parole Board is essentially toothless except that they have the ultimate power to release someone, no matter what the PRC says. This is a system fraught with frustration and ambiguity.

I look forward to seeing the guidelines of the Wisconsin Parole Commission so that I might better understand how so much subjective power could be placed in the hands of one person. As I mentioned, Mr. Wells confirmed that he has no risk assessment tools for determining parolability, and therefore, prisoners have no guidance as to how they may achieve early release. This is a terribly frustrating situation for prisoners who already question the “justice” system.
I have also enclosed a copy of Oklahoma Senate Bill 832 which shows how they decided to handle their overcrowding situation. “Progressive” Wisconsin might take note of this solution.

Sincerely,



Frank Van den Bosch