NEW ABOLITIONIST May 2007
Friends,
To those of you behind the walls, I hope this newsletter gets to you in a timely fashion. Many of you did not receive the March issue as it was determined to be “a threat to institutional security” by DOC Security Czar, Dan Westfield. Those of you who were fortunate enough to get the newsletter were able to alert your families and supporters about the Al Graham confirmation hearing held by Senator Lena Taylor in Milwaukee.
Turn out at the hearing was tremendous; standing room only, with many wives, mothers, brothers, advocates and supporters giving testimony as to why this man should not spend another day in office. The people were finally given a forum to express their frustration, and it boiled over.
Senator Taylor peppered Mr. Graham with serious questions and hard observations. She referenced all the letters she’s received from families as evidence of the “new” direction the Parole Commission has taken since Mr. Graham took office. She questioned him on the numbers (percentages) of hearings vis a vis grants of parole which Mr. Graham claimed were consistent with past Commissions. Mr. Graham was unprepared with the actual numbers (which didn’t impress Senator Taylor) and his claim of consistency was rebuked by the senator. The numbers actually show a 33% reduction in grants - from 15% under Wells to 10% under Graham.
As it turns out, Senator Taylor gave Al Graham a three month defer. There was little to be done about the term just completed, which ended in March of this year, but she deferred judgment on the ‘07-’09 term for “a few months” to see what changes Mr. Graham might implement and if the community, prisoners and families are being served by the Commission.
We must express our gratitude to Senator Taylor for giving us this opportunity to be heard. We’ll express that gratitude with letters, phone calls and at the ballot box. She has shown tremendous courage in actually looking at the (in)justice system while most politicians only use crime to further their careers. This courage and integrity must be acknowledged and applauded.
That said, if we want that defer to become a rejection of Mr. Graham, we must keep the pressure on. We must continue to inform Senator Taylor and the other members of the Corrections Committee about the continued inaccessibility to Mr. Graham; about our frustration with the process; about the importance of bringing our men and women back home. This must be an ongoing process; Senator Taylor has given us her ear, let’s let her know what we think.
Representative Tamara Grigsby’s office is also involved in the parole process. She has made some suggestions to Mr. Graham that would dramatically change the way parole hearings are conducted. It is within the power of the Parole Chair to make these changes - if he so chooses. If he chooses not to implement these suggested changes, Representative
Grigsby is prepared to move forward with legislation that will mandate those changes. The legislative route would take a long time to implement while administrative rule changes can happen immediately. Please write to Representative Grigsby with your support and to Governor Doyle with your concerns.
As mentioned at the start of this page, the noose around our neck keeps getting tighter. There was absolutely nothing in the last newsletter that advocated anything other that following the rules and procedures for seeking change. Czar Westfield explained that some of the things written were inaccurate and inflammatory. Constitutional rights of free speech are easy to disregard in a nation where the Attorney General calls the Geneva Convention regarding torture as passé. Czar Westfield’s actions are equivalent in the arrogance of power they display.
Speaking of fascism, Warden Pollard assumed dictatorial powers and declared Marshal Law at GBCI in February and is slowly easing the lockdown. He went to the local press with tales of threats and danger to staff. It’s all a fabrication. When a fascistic organization like the military, police, or prison needs to enhance its funding, they rely on the propaganda of fear. The “war on terror” and the “war on drugs” are different manifestations of the same dynamic.
What happened at GBCI is that a group petition was being circulated citing complaints about the conditions of confinement and giving suggestions for relief. This is what triggered the oppressive lockdown. This is what sent 11 guys to WSPF and others to the hole. This is what fascistic institutions do when confronted with the truth; whether it’s a newsletter or a group complaint, the reaction is to shut it down. They are incapable of addressing the underlying truth, they are reactionary.
The fascist functionaries may be able to suppress our voice behind the walls but this newsletter is read by the public, by the press, and by legislators. Much of what is said in this newsletter is not news to prisoners. What we hope to do for prisoners is assemble information and project these disparate bits of info into the BIG PICTURE. Many of you feel individually persecuted but the truth is that persecution and abuse are systemic and only by addressing the SYSTEM, will we end your individual abuse.
Every individual act of resistance adds to the overall pressure we apply to the system. When we go to the courts, we drain the system, when we refuse to work, we drain the system, when we enter hunger strikes, we drain the system, when we produce information exposing the fascists, we drain the system.
Resistance is what PAC is about. Resistance is what you should be about. We must stand together in our resistance. Resistance to dehumanizing, degrading, debasing, infantalizing and abusive treatment. What are we, as humans, if we won’t even stand up for our own dignity?
In resistance, PAC
April 23, 2007 letter from Representative Tamara Grigsby
Dear Chairman Graham:
As you know from our numerous telephone conversations, I have many concerns regarding the standards, or more appropriately, the lack thereof, the Parole Commission uses in determining parole eligibility. After carefully reviewing the Parole Procedures contained in the Wisconsin Administrative Code, I am confident that as Chairman of the Parole Commission you have the authority to make some of the changes we have talked about at great length.
Two provisions in particular that I would request that you address within the Administrative Rules process are PAC 1.06 (5) and PAC 1.06 (7). PAC 1.06 (5) states:
Representation by legal counsel during the interview shall not be permitted. Correspondence from legal counsel shall be accepted, however, and made part of the record. A spokesperson for the inmate should be allowed only in cases of severe speech impediment, where the inmate suffers a severe physical disability which impedes oral communication, or in cases where the inmate's primary language is not English and the individual lacks adequate fluency to represent himself or herself.
I am requesting rule PAC 1.06 (5) be changed to allow an inmate to have 2-3 representatives of their choice at their hearing including but not limited to legal counsel, family members, advocates, and/or spokespersons. This arrangement will be beneficial to both the inmate and the Parole Commission, especially if parole is being denied and the inmate needs a better understanding of the steps needed to obtain release. Having an advocate present may also help the Commissioner to better understand the support services the inmate will have available to him upon release.
Secondly, I am requesting that PAC 1.06(7) be recreated to develop specific criteria which the Parole Commission must consider when reviewing an inmate's eligibility for parole by the use of a scoring system or risk assessment tool.
The current criterion used by the Commission is too subjective and does not give inmates or their families a tangible measurement of the steps an inmate needs to take in order to achieve parole status. Presently, the Parole Commission lacks a tangible, comprehensive, systematic tool that aids and assists Commissioners in determining whether or not qualified inmates are released on parole. Too many inmates are simply told "not enough time served as punishment" as the reason for their denial. Even when other commissioners have recommended parole and have documented the steps the inmate has taken to achieve that status, on several occasions you have overridden those affirmative decisions for inmates who have:
Reached the Parole Eligibility Date in his or her sentence;
Served sufficient time for punishment of his or her crime(s);
Shown positive changes in behavior as well as documented progress in programming, treatment and/or educational achievement;
Presented a viable parole plan which offers the offender realistic opportunities for a stable residence, employment, and programming if needed;
Proven an acceptably reduced level of risk to the public.
As a result, I recommend that the Parole Commission develop a systematic guideline similar to the Structured Decision Making (SDM) model that is currently being used by the Arizona Department of Corrections, which I have enclosed for your review.
Pursuant to a recommendation by the Auditor General's Office in 1991, the Arizona Board of Pardons and Paroles applied for and received a grant from the National Institute of Corrections to develop guidelines that reflect a more structured decision-making process. The Board formally adopted and implemented the Structured Decision Making (SDM) model on July 1, 1993. Since then, the Arizona Board of Pardons and Paroles has conducted extensive research and drawn on the experience of numerous experts to lay the foundation for their present decision-making process in parole consideration.
This SDM model involves the development of guidelines that will provide Commissioners a common framework within which to make decisions in parole consideration and determination. SDM guidelines function as an advisory tool designed to guide and enhance the quality of decisions rendered by the Commission. This advisory function underscores the fact that the Commission will retain ultimate discretion when considering an inmate for release. In fact, the guidelines do not replace the Commission's discretionary authority. The adoption of SDM signals the Commission's commitment to a more systematic, accountable, equitable, and rational decision making process in that include:
1) Stated Goals;
2) Policy Statements;
3) A Measurement Instrument designed to systematically assess an inmates' suitability for release;
4) Risk assessment and offense severity measurement that function as two of the core components of the SDM model.
This model serves to protect the community, while at the same time, providing the inmate with clear guidelines to follow to ensure their own suitability for release and a successful transition into the community. Likewise if an inmate does not meet the requirements of these provisions, or concerns remain about the risk they pose to the community, the inmate and their family will have a clear indication of the steps necessary to achieve parole status.
I am certain that after you have had a chance to review this model, you will agree that this change will be beneficial for the Parole Commission as well. If you need any further information about this model, please do not hesitate to contact me.
I look forward to a prompt written response as to your willingness to immediately pursue the change I requested to PAC 1.06 (5), relating to inmate representation at parole hearings.
Furthermore, while the changes to PAC 1.06 (7), relating to the Structured Decision Making model, may take longer to develop, I am anxious to learn of your readiness to begin working on the changes necessary to implement this model in Wisconsin.
RELIEF SOUGHT AT GBCI
(ON CONDITIONS OF CONFINEMENT COMPLAINT)
NOTE Every single request made herein is reasonable. Moreover, many of the
things identified below are things that we have had, but were taken, not in the interest of maintaining order and security, but as wanton punishment, simply to make our already hard-times harder. The things were taken by prison officials simply because they felt this Prisoner Body was one that they could take it from, easily. It's clear to US that they intend to keep on taking from Us until they've taken everything. This is a show of utter ill-will toward Us, and, as a result, it seeps from the attitudes and behaviors of the guards towards Us everyday - to the point that the atmosphere has become volatile and toxic. What We have here requested below is a part of the process of to detoxify this poisonous atmosphere. We are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment; and a commendable Prisoner Body should not be perceived as a cowardly one.
( 1) Suicidal Conditions - The suicide rate in Wisconsin' s prisons (DOC) is nearly twice the National average, and this is according to the DOC's own January 2005 report by DOC Mental Health Director, Kevin Kallas. We live these conditions daily and witness one another waste away, and this we can no longer accept. Our request is to have implemented all of the other measures listed below as a means to alleviate these draconian and suicidal conditions. Moreover, Our request is to have all mentally ill Prisoners now housed in segregation to be sent to appropriate mental health facilities or be released to general population, as required by law, and to ensure that there will never be another John Virgin (pbuh) tragedy (alleged suicide) in this prison again. Scarver V. Litscher, 434 F.3d 972 (7th Cir. 2006) (holding that segregation is not to be used to house prisoners exhibiting mental illness) requires nothing less.
( 2) Medical Responses- DOC staff's response' to medical matters, in general, is inadequate, and grossly inadequate in cases of emergency, such as for heart attack, stroke, breathing problems, which has- resulted in the death of Prisoners Michelle Greer (asthma. attack); Donald Powe (heart attack); Kelvin Brooks (epileptic seizure), and over 100 others (pbut). Consequently, Our request is for an emergency response protocol that requires staff to have a Prisoner experiencing emergency medical complications transported to a qualified hospital's ER room within 15 minutes (and definitely no later than 20 minutes) of being notified of the emergency. Moreover, Our request is for compliance with p.12-20 of the settlement agreement in the case of Stokes, et ale V. Thompson, et al., #89-C-666 (E.D.WI. 8-8-94); i.e., for a generally prompt medical protocol as well.
(3) Out-Of-Cell Time - Our request is for at least 35 hours of out-of-cell time for those double celled and on unassigned status, and 50 hours for those on an assignment status, as required by the above mentioned settlement, supra ( 2), p. 11-12 . Currently, We are getting no more than 1 0 hours a week on unassigned status, and an average of about 35 hours on assignment. This is to include daily rec., structured rec., night library, structured library, daily hobby shop, and daily music room.
( 4) CeIling Conditions - The fact that there exists a ceIling problem is undisputed, and the administration has been aware of this for well over a decade [supra (2), p. 6- 9 of settlement]. However, instead of providing more general population bed-space the prisons have opted to create more seg. bed-space, and it is this space that's being used in place of gen. pop. bed-space to confine Us punitively for minor offenses We would not otherwise be confined for as a means of containing the population it has deliberately neglected to provide enough bed space for. Our request is for an end to double ceIling in any cell less than "9 x '12" ft. in size. Our request is also for the conversion of at least half of the seg. cells into gen. pop. cells (specific wings, with electrical outlets, etc.). In addition, any double ceIling, until these changes are made, is to be done according to the considerations expressed in the above mentioned settlement, the cells (occupied now) are to include a foot locker for each occupant, a platform/rack for each occupants TV, a garbage basket for each cell, and night lights allowed to be purchased from any available vendor.
( 5 ) Showers - There are to be showers stalls installed for every shower head, with privacy curtains, and showers permitted at least 5 times a week, whether one attends rec. or not, and without regard to one being on loss of rec.
( 6) Sanitation - The plumbing, water, and waste system has to be fixed. Currently, We are forced to suffer the unhealthy odor of raw sewage almost daily, drink water that has visible metal/rust particles (Likely from the pipes), clearly seen in the bottom of our cups, daily. Lastly, the toilet seating is too small. No toilet seat should be so small or low that one's genitals touches the rim, walls, or water of the toilet when the person is seated.
( 7) Segregation & Treatment Center - No ones cell light is to be kept on 24 hours in punitive seg., but rather allowed to turn it out just as anyone else is in the population. This is not a security measure, but a punitive measure. When We are locked in a cell at night there is no more seeing in a seg. cell than in any other one. Moreover, before these new control seg. units were built lights were turned out in seg., just as any other cell, and there was no problem there, and it isn't now. In addition, those in seg. are to be allowed a phone call at least once a week, whether on T.L.U., prog. seg., or admin. seg.; allowed at least 5 personal books and allowed to exchange them once every 30 days; allowed visits behind a partition as opposed to on a video screen; allowed thermal tops in the winter, and shorts (for exercise) all year round; allowed visits from other prisoners (if requested) when going through a crisis, as well as contact visits from outside visitors (during crisis); provided a rec.~area for days when it rains or snows, and not simply be exposed to the elements; and all other conditions at least as compatible to WSPF/Supermax conditions, which is the "worst of the worst" and still better than the seg. here. Lastly, those of Us in the treatment center are to be allowed the same privileges and access as those in gen. pop. and are not to be treated as if We’re in seg.; and an inside prisoner-to-prisoner visiting program is to be allowed so those in gen. pop. can come visit their bedridden fellow Prisoners.
( 8) Conduct Reports, Hearings - There is to be an end to upgrading minor conduct reports to major ones; all cr.. hearings are to be recorded, just as Our phone calls are, as staff continually lie on Us and falsify what We actually say in our defense. Moreover, an oversight committee of non prison staff (such as an appointed committee from DOC headquarters, outside volunteers, etc.) must be established to investigate and address any allegation of staff abuse, or any cr.. alleging any exceptionally major violation by a prisoner.
(9) Phone Access - Phone access is to be provided for every cell house just as they are for the dorms. We should not have to choose between exercise and calling our family; and loss of rec. should not also result in a loss phone. Moreover, the purchase of phonecards should be allowed, just as they are in many county jails and prisons.
(10) Visits - Currently, the visiting conditions at this prison are hostile, antisocial, not family oriented, and is deterring visits as opposed to fostering them. Our request is for a kids playroom, visiting seating with side-by-side visiting as opposed to opponent style seating, the ability to hold hands and place arms around our visitors during the visit, a father and child visiting program just as the Mothers have at TCI, and for movement on the visit in a reasonable manner (vending machine, pictures, the john, and getting toys for the kids), as opposed to being forced to sit still for up to three hours.
(11) Prison-Pay - Our request is for a pay raise of a minimum of $1.00 an hour for any prison job, with a ¢.50 wage increase for pay-range advancements, and minimum wage for any industry job such as BSI. Moreover, Our request is for other projects to be established for Us to earn pay and privileges (such as Jaysees, talent contests, furniture building, :[food stuff at rec. and visits, etc.).
(12) Basic Cable - In a Dish on Demand world, internet, DirectTV, etc., Our request is for basic cable at a minimum; ie., ESPN, BET, MTV, TBS, a at least one movie channel (Showtime, Cinemax, or HBO). The prison already has the capability to allow these channels in, but if necessary We should be allowed to raise the money for the cost of it. Moreover, many Prisoners have Spanish as a first language, and some have it as an only language. For this reason, there should be at least 3 Spanish channels for those who don't have English as a first language.
(13) Cassette Tapes/CD’s - Most prisons in Wisconsin are in rural areas with very limited radio selection (mainly rock or country, while hip hop is arguably the most popular music to date), and the selection is so limited even in areas such as Green Bay. Music is recognized as being therapeutic, and is even said to ‘calm the savage beast'. We must be allowed the purchase of cassette tapes and CD's for this purpose, and educational and religious purposes. Walkmans and I-pods should also be permitted.
(14) Weights - In 1994 free weights were taken from Us, without any consideration of alternatives. However, there are some, and they are hereby requested. That is, that the free weights be brought back, and that they be made stationary by welding the free weight plates (a job We can do) to the bench & curl bars, and even have some of them chained to posts or the floor, as a few already are at WCI. Additionally, those in the Dorms are to be permitted to workout in the Dorms, there is ample space for them to do so, and the prohibition against it is punitive, not a security risk, and is therefore unacceptable. .
(15) Publications - We are adults, in an adult prison, doing adult time. Inherent in the word adult is what it defines: mature; grown-up; of or for adults (Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus, p. 12 (1997) ). With that said, We are to be allowed to purchase publications of Our choice, whether of an unpopular political nature, sexually explicit nature, about hip-hop culture or Hitler. This is the world in which We live, and the current practice of placing Our minds in a steel box, confined from any exposure to these aspects of the world is not in Our best interest, and has less to do with security, and more to do with punishment and absolute fascist control. This access We need in furtherance of being accurately informed of, and able to relate to, the world around Us, particularly after Our exile from it - in many cases for over a decade, in some cases several.
(16) Legal Routes - We need a legal route system here, to be able to assist one another legally, considering the prison does not provide legal assistants for Us. This system is already at many prisons, and it allows Us to forward one another legal documents and files through inner-institution mail. We aren't even making enough for personal expenses, so few of Us can afford the postage to mail legal files back and forth, and the prison is so segregated and library access is so limited that We send one another legal files in order to get assistance.
(17) Library Access - Access to the library in general, and law library in particular, is ridiculously inadequate. Our request is for night library to help improve access, and for those on a deadline to get at least two hours in, not counting any hour one has to spend on another's deadline which is used assisting that other person.
(18) Dining Hall Time - We aren't being given enough time to finish Our meals. Wolfing food down is unhealthy, and unacceptable. Our request is for at least 30 minutes for every meal.
(19) Mail Delivery - We want mail on everyday the mailman delivers it. Our was allegedly suspended "temporarily", due to a specific staffing shortage at a specific time, and was to resume immediately thereafter. That’s been over two years now. This is the type of abuse of authority and disrespect that is unacceptable. Mail is Our access to the world, and We want Ours on Saturday and every other day it's delivered.
(20) Picture Exchanges - Our request is to be able to send each other pictures, as We have done for decades before the oppressive ban. Many of Us have no family out there to write Us and send Us photos, and rely on correspondence amongst one another. This ban must be lifted.
(21) Cultural Groups/Banquets - Our request is for the reestablishment of Cultural Groups, and Banquets allowed to be held by these groups where various families, . friends, sponsors, and community members can attend; and that We be allowed to form programs to give back to Our communities, such as through the donation of clothes to shelters in the areas We came from (clothes that We would otherwise have to destroy or send out), and other similar positive measures. This fosters family ties and rehabilitation.
(22) Humanity Training - Our request is that staff be required to attend humanity training to train them how to speak to people in a respectful manner, without the barking and unnecessary confrontational postures, which are accidents waiting to happen.
(23) Shakedowns - Our request is that all shakedowns/searches and seizure of Our property be documented, whether done in a cell or outside of it; and that We be given a choice to send out any items taken from Us or fight it through the ICRS or disciplinary process as DOC 303.47 (appdx.) states: "the inmate's property is not confiscated. Property is disposed of or returned in accordance with DOC 303.10." Currently, staff is taking property from Prisoners, claiming it's contraband, and then using it for themselves (such as food) or even giving it to other Prisoners, even paying informants with it.
(24) Smoking - Those who wish to smoke should be permitted to smoke outside. Prison life is stressful, and smoking is one means many use to relieve that stress; arguably unhealthy, but a better means than releasing it on others, and in a way in which those who don't smoke aren't affected.
(25) Canteen - The canteen prices are too high for the pay We receive, which has decreased while prices have went up. $20.00 today doesn't even fill up a canteen bag if one has to purchase hygiene items with it. This means that many of Us don't go to canteen regularly. When We do go We need to be able to stack up to a reasonable degree, and be allowed to purchase at least $50.00 worth of canteen a week. We are requesting this, and also to be allowed to purchase at least 4 bars of soap a week, and 25 single stamps, and 4 deodorants and toothpastes.
(26) Passing of Items - many of Us don't have the means to buy Our own personal effects, and friends and even relatives in here who try to assist Us, but this is prohibited while the institution itself fails to do so for many needed items (such as postage, deodorant, hair products, etc.). Our request is to be able to pass a reasonable amount of items to one another, and that the tier tenders be allowed to do so as well. This is often done anyway, but only leads to problems with items being gangstered by staff, thrown away, or lost in the process.
(27) Attire.- Our request is for at least two pairs of shoes, so We can have a pair to exercise in and a pair to where on visits. Our request is also for at least one pair of jeans to where on visits, a jeans shirt to go with it, and other t-shirts/sweatshirts and shorts of any color We choose, and to be able to wear Our shirts outside Our pants as have been done for decades before the ban. None of this was a major problem then, and isn't now. This is an unnecessary exercise of control upon us. We are adults, not kids.
(28) OSHA & FLSA - Our request is that all prisons comply with OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) which is not currently being complied with.
(29) Free Stamped Envelopes - Our request is for at least three (3) free stamped envelopes a week, as was done in the past, due to the poverty in which We are held, so We have enough to write Our family, friends, and the court.
(30) Prisoner Committee - Our request is for the reestablishment of the Prisoner Committee, to be elected by Us, and not appointed by staff.
A DAY OF CRITICAL RESISTANCE IN MILWAUKEE
DR. RUTH WILSON GILMORE VISITS
The Milwaukee community was fortunate to host a lively pair of panel discussions on April 14th addressing the themes of “Holocausts and Healing: Race, Globalization and the Prison Industry.” Ruth Wilson Gilmore gave the keynote speeches at both events. Dr. Wilson is an associate professor of geography at the University of Southern California and recently wrote the book, Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis and Opposition in Globalizing California. She is also a founding member of Critical Resistance, a national organization dedicated to struggling against the expanding prison industrial complex. The panels were mainly organized by Corry Joe Biddle, director of America's Black Holocaust Museum, and Jodi Melamed, assistant professor of English at Marquette University. One panel spoke at Marquette in the morning and the afternoon panel spoke at the Black Holocaust Museum. Adding their perspectives to the panels were local community educators, a professor from UW-Madison, grassroots activists and state and local officials. I report here on just the morning session at Marquette, mostly on Ruth Wilson’s presentation.
The morning at Marquette was intense, information-filled and mind-expanding, but it was extremely rushed. Ruth Wilson's plane had malfunctioned, and the organizers had to scramble to get her on a plane to Chicago. She then drove to Milwaukee. The session was scheduled to go from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and at 11:00 Dr. Wilson was still racing down I-94 from Chicago to Milwaukee. She arrived at about 11:40 and still somehow managed to put on an effective, intelligent and spirited presentation. Reggie Jackson, lead griot at America's Black Historical Society Museum, and Pam Oliver, chair of the sociology department at UW-Madison, both spoke well before Dr. Wilson arrived.
Dr. Wilson first showed us a California Department of Corrections map of prisons in California. The map shows 98 major prisons, and the “smaller” prisons, with prisoner populations of say, 500 instead of 2500, are not even included in that number (and not on the DOC’s map). Dr. Wilson pointed to the categories of “people, money and land” -- and the government's ability to organize these things into the biggest prison building project in the world.” Dr. Wilson also talked about prisons being made up of “surpluses”, and in particular, “surplus” people. She is from L.A., where, like Milwaukee, the numbers of manufacturing jobs (and the other kinds of jobs that accompany them) have decreased substantially. Reggie Jackson had statistics when he spoke: 120,000 manufacturing jobs in Milwaukee have decreased to 34,000. There is a gap of 88,294 between the numbers of jobless people and the number of available jobs. That is, there are 88,294 folks for whom jobs simply do not exist. The people squeezed out of those labor markets are “modestly educated men and women in the primes of their lives,” those who would be “making, moving, growing and caring for” things. (Dr. Wilson) These are the “surplus” lives that make up U.S. prisons.
Dr. Wilson spoke quickly of some of the history behind the phenomenon that all social problems in the U.S. are now conceived of as “crime” and the solution to all problems therefore imprisonment -- mass and growing. As Dr. Pam Oliver said when she spoke, before the civil rights movement and the urban riots of the early 1970s, politicians were not accused of being “soft on crime”. Crime was not a political issue. But in the ‘70s we began to see civil rights activity criminalized, from sitting at lunch counters to more chaotic political unrest.
Some of the factors that play into this criminalization of social problems in the U.S., both historically and currently, include slavery, the expropriation of American Indian land, Jim Crow, residential zoning and the labor market structure. But another critical factor is a belief that has become central to U.S. culture that “the key to safety is aggression.” This of course is not a natural belief but an inculcated one. In Dr. Wilson’s words, the cultural belief in “the perpetual enemy who must always be fought but can never be vanquished” is a controlling factor in the need to find, label and imprison “criminals”.
Dr. Wilson spoke of how well-studied and proven it is that saturation policing does not create stable communities. She also referred to studies in which rural counties that did not turn to prisons to solve their economic problems are doing better than counties who tried to solve their economic problems by prison-building.
About the economic history of the U.S., Dr. Wilson talked about the development of corporations taxing themselves to protect the idea of capitalism -- by providing security for some of the people in society (excluding black people, brown people, most women, agricultural workers, people with the wrong politics). As corporations pulled the plug on providing this security, stopped taxing themselves and began moving more and more operations outside of central cities and out of the U.S., corporate-influenced media explained new cultural unease and anxiety by pointing to “the welfare state” -- essentially code words for the poor, including coded language for people of color -- as the ones who were draining the economy.
Dr. Wilson closed her morning talk by asking “Who Cares, Who Cares, Who Cares” about these problems and by showing some positive attempts at solutions she had witnessed. One was reaching out to environmental justice activists. This makes sense because, first of all, prisons are geographically toxic presences in such otherwise beautiful places. I remember myself being so struck by this the first time I drove to Boscobel, connecting with the absolute beauty of the landscape, and then saw the prison there, stuck like an oozing scab on the land. Really, think of any aerial photo of any prison you have ever seen. Second, each prison is like a city unto itself, where dysfunction rules and runs things, seeping into everyone’s human nature who is imprisoned or works there -- a poison. And then, of course, there are often so many tangible chemical poisons in the land and water near prisons, whether we talk about the buildings being built on uncleaned-up toxic land and/or near polluted water, or whether we’re talking about the prisons’ functioning actually creating hazardous toxins in the environment.
Dr. Wilson showed us slides of a talking session (after some event I think) where, instead of folks asking questions of speakers or talking about the problems, organizers asked people to stand up and say what they do about the problems. This brought out some shining positive stories.
One more activity involved giving people $100,000 in fake bills and arranging on the walls places for “Housing”, “Art”, “Health”, “Education”, “Policing” -- and then asking folks to distribute their money.
I am definitely going to check out Ruth Wilson-Gilmore’s book and urge others to do so.
-- Melissa Froiland
Milwaukee
TAG, WE'RE IT!
by Prisoner X - Jokehill Correctional
Heavy is the pen exploring the "whys" of the federal funding fueling the prison industrial complex. It has become nothing but a "tagging" process for the government. The catalyst for the process is interesting, but the reasons are frightening and sovereign.
For many the first strokes of writing on the wall was when Tommy Thompson issued a directive to DOC to block the release of violent offenders. He also acknowledged it was illegal but directed DOC to find legal ways to affect it. It didn’t take long for it to also engulf all prisoners regardless of their offense. It made no sense for him to put himself out-there like that by instructing DOC to create legal ways to perform unlawful acts. The guy is a professional politician, so why would he do that?
Over the years I have read much about the Thompson fiasco, the new rules, the new-new rules, and the effects people are finally starting to realize, the outrageous judicial suppression preventing challenges to the process, all of it. But the bigger picture still is not coming into focus yet for most. I have been predicting all of the effects of the ex post facto punishment since the early 90's, and knew people would rue the day the obscene truth became undeniable in their lives. I even elaborated on the effects of the policies and rules in letters and document mailings to numerous legislators, State Representatives, Senators, various agencies supposedly overlooking the madness, and in many legal briefs to the Judicial arm during litigation through all the state and federal courts, but the message was ignored all the way around. Again, why?
The increasing number of complaints about some of the effects -- not allowed to take treatment programs, the subsequent parole preclusion, etc. -- shows an awareness of the problems in the way the system is designed. But it is time people take notice of the bigger picture and understand what it is they're looking at. The bigger picture is nothing short of awesome, and perfectly strategic. I even predicted it would occur so subtly that people wouldn't catch on until it was too late. It probably already is.
The catalyst is 42 USC §13701, et seq., which became law as Thompson was issuing the directive to DOC. It provides for billions of dollars in federal tax fisc in the form of grants to the states for doing things like creating parole rules and classification rules which conflict with one another to create a catch-22 which, consequently, precludes parole. It also provides grant funding for states to create more administrative rules, municipal laws and codes, penalty enhancers, and other nonsensical statutes like Truth In Sentencing. The "85%" figure has its genesis in ~ §13701; when a state can show the FBI they are making prisoners serve at least 85% of their sentences they get the grants. Same thing for all the counties, cities, towns and villages increasing arrest rates and conviction rates. It also provides for the unbridled expansion of existing prisons -- new x-buildings, new segregation units, new program facilities, as well as the conversion of existing buildings into prisons. The federal appropriations statute (§13701) does even more than this. And Congress provides all this for a system that has more than proven itself not to work. Why?
One reason is obvious when focusing on the bigger picture; the prison industry is providing a service and very necessary function for Congress. They pay big for the states to create more laws, essentially creating crimes where there were none before. These laws even target younger groups of people -- truancy laws for school children which allow school officials to refer kids to prosecutors for tagging -- and sweeps up all other sorts of people who are not really criminals. All these people are guilty of is not staying in the additional lines designated by the government. And why would Congress need to have this information on its ordinary citizens?
The "why" has to be kept in context with and attributed to the bottom line governmental political and global agenda, and the fact they realize that the American Empire will fall in time. History has taught us that all empires are inherently unstable, mainly because they inspire enemies rather than allies, and people naturally seek to live free of their influences. But empires fall as they must, there is nothing greater to aspire to; examine Rome, Byzantium, the Ottomans, Japan, et aL Those in power need to know who will likely revolt, who has the capacity to organize, to motivate, who can use weapons effectively, who has them, who has the resources and wherewithal to finance and sustain opposition. By creating more lines and boundaries the government can and will tag us all. They have to. And it's nothing personal; the empire only recognizes itself, and cares not one iota about wasting massive amounts of humanity. It has nothing to do with "corrections" or crime, although that's the spin the government has the media put on it.
Some readers will likely conclude this author is just an alarmist with an axe to grind. Inasmuch as the axe continues to be honed, and I feel everyone should at least be aware of what is coming at them, I simply say educate yourselves to the government's own statistics. Even the backdoor statistics are striking,if not alarming. The number of people released from state prisons each year has been steadily increasing because of the increase of those coming into the system for tagging. In 2007 the numbers will climb to nearly a million releases from prison. Moreover, there's an estimated nine million individuals released annually from US jails. The numbers are staggering -- this is an annual process occurring each and every year. People are being tagged at an unprecedented rate, and as the world population increases, so too, the government has to step it up even more if they're going to stay on top of their game. No matter the senseless-ness, no matter the cost.
Even with the many billions of dollars Congress has allocated for the states
to expand the tagging industry, there are huge financial problems being realized by each individual state. Those fiscal problems are met with short-sighted solutions at penny-pinching, many of which will make prison life much more intolerable. It's basically open season on prisoners these days. The media continues putting a negative slant on everything remotely dealing with the notion of crime. Prisoners and their families have no constituency or political clout. Term-limited legislators, looking for any chance to appear tough on crime have little to lose. Any idea to cut costs without closing prisons, no matter how whack, will get a hearing. '!heir purported solutions to the financial problems will all inevitably lead to harsher conditions of confinement. We will soon see massive cuts in wages, food, programs, treatment, health care, and other necessities. And that, in turn, will inevitable lead to endangered health and safety for all concerned. these places are destined to become some of the most dysfunctional and dangerous places on the planet --- warehouses that evict convicts unprepared foc anything constructive or worthy. What to do. What to do, indeed. Responding to the above will take rare virtues in politics, common sense and courage. (continued)
TAG - continued
A great deal could and would be accomplished if people focused more on the monstrous beast that has us in its belly. The beast needs us to exist in its present form. There is a lot to be said about the evasive quality of solidarity -- the role it used to play, and the role it must play in the future. People must solidly unite and ponder the proposition of doing nothing. Think about that. If people just did nothing -- just stuck their miserable hands in their pockets and refused to do anything -- the system would change within a month or two, tops. The system cannot possibly sustain itself without prisoner labor, and would be forced to reduce the prison population by half with a quickness, or go broke spending all their money for blueshirts and whiteshirts, social workers, secretaries and other staff coming in to do laundry, prepare and serve food, do maintenance, and the like. If you want to see how much power you have, just put your hands in your pockets and learn something. The power of not doing anything eludes most prisoners. Most don't see that the reason for that lack of power has been and is being conditioned into us.
There must be unity and solidarity if any struggle against systematic abuse if it is going to succeed. And if people are going to fight a thing that is worth fighting, they must go for the source of the problem instead of attempting to deal with the symptoms of the problem as so many people currently do. The only thing which separates the makers of history from those whose histories are made for them, is the power to alter their environments, the power of change. We will still be tagged upon release and that’s where a greater struggle awaits us. We need to de-condition our friends, neighbors and children. Get the children out of the public schools, educate them to what matters most in the world, teach them to become self-sustaining, to grow their own food and livestock, and become people of substance, free thinkers with integrity enough to stand up. It can start with nothing; put your hands in your pockets.
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Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it. Woodrow Wilson
TRIP TO U.W. HOSPITAL AND CLINIC
by Charles Coogan
At 3:00 am, wakened by a prison guard given a bologna sandwich for breakfast. Taken to a shakedown area and strip searched being careful not to rip open my strangulated hernia, which has now turned blue and other shades of yellow. Now come the handcuffs and leg shackles with a chain around my waist and placement of Federal cuff blocks.
Can all ready feel the cuffs digginq into my wrists and legs.
Two hundred miles and three hours later we arrive in Madison at the U. W Hospital and Clinic.
UP to the sixth floor strip searched once again, this time one hand is allowed to be free.
It is now 6: 15 am.
Placed in a 15 ft. x 15 ft. waiting room with 20 other inmates with one bathroom.
My appointment is at 3:00 pm. in the afternoon. --
Noon time another bologna sandwich. No wonder I have hernia from eating this crap.
Three o'clock arrives, thank God! Down to see the doctor. What's that you say doctor Shmuck, isn't here today, so we'll have to reschedule.
Strip searched again after returning to the sixth floor.
Five o'clock time to leave 14 hours have passed handcuffed and shackled, now another three hour drive back to prison.
Once again strip searched and returned to the institutional hospital and “how is your hernia?”
All I've got to say is I need some bandages for my wrists and ankles were the cuffs have dug into my skin, and an ace bandage to hold in my hernia because there is no way in hell I'm going down there again - not unless l'm unconscious.
“Here Mr. Coogan, have other bologna sandwich.”
If that isn't cruel and unusual punishment I don't no what is.
“GRIDLOCK"
Timothy Olinger -Redgranite
Insufficient time ...lack of program participation. These are just a few of the superlatives constantly echoed throughout the Wisconsin Prison System, for those of us who languish under the ambiguous cloak of the "OLD LAW"!
As a good portion of us enter into our respective 14th ...15th, and 16th year of incarceration; most of us have become pessimistic, and somewhat embittered with a system that continues to contradict itself. Have the powers that be simply lost their way!? Or have they too become overwhelmed by the sheer gravity of it all? The cliché' commonly used amongst politicians today ..."Pass the Buck"! As we witnessed our only relief disappear with the dubious resignation of Mr. Lenard Wells, which left those of us under the old law, reeling in a sea of apprehension and despair. (Meanwhile)...we tentatively wait for Mr. Alfonzo Graham to embrace his position, and confidently carry out the arduous task that lay before his office.
Even though Mr. Graham hasn't said much; his silence speaks volumes. In the wake
of this "Pass The Buck" mentality, we are left at the hands of unqualified, and unscrupulous individuals, their capricious whims, and their twisted justice. These people sit on committees, parole boards, and other functions within the DOC, charged with the responsibility of moving people through the system
in a fair and timely manner. Yet it is at these levels of Corrections, that prisoners experience the greatest frustration, and the wheels of so called justice, come to a screeching halt! The social workers have virtually been rendered ineffective, and their power of recommendation, fall on deaf ears. Here at R.G.C.I.., PRC has slowly and meticulously become just a mere formality. Since the inception of Truth In Sentencing January I, 2000, the parole board exist for one purpose only:
to deal compellingly, and successfully with those prisoner doing time under the guise of the "Old Law". Yet the parole commission has failed miserably in this capacity. Webster's Universal Dictionary, defines "GRIDLOCK" as a major traffic jam in which all movement comes to a stop because "key" intersections are blocked. A complete stoppage of normal activity.
continued next page
Gridlock - continued
With very few programs, and the notion of rehabilitation, just that, a notion ...what incentives are there for prisoners!? Politicians like State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, proposed that the DOC simply send prisoners back out of state, and build more prisons. In my opinion the equivalent of putting a bandage on a gunshot wound.
As it stands, no one wants to stand up and take the responsibility for this huge debacle. It’s ironic that the onus of responsibility falls on the of the prisoner as it rightfully should. But what of those who preach these philosophies? Are they exempt? Are they held to a different standard? Or are their words simply filled with aberrations, and half truths!? Who knows? But those who know! This is not a one person job, and until those people courageously, effectively, and fair-mindedly step in ...the system will remain in "GRIDLOCK"!
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The Ten Contradictions
by Carlos Abadia, RGCI
1. They want us to become responsible but they remove us from all responsibility;
2. They want us to be positive and constructive but treat us with negativety and hate;
3. They want us to be trustworthy, so they put us where there is no trust;
4. They want us to be nonviolent but they treat us violently;
5. They want us to become kind and loving people but they subject us to hatred and cruelty;
6. They want us to quit acting the “tough guy” yet they treat us with toughness;
7. They want us to quit exploiting but they put us where we are exploited;
8. They want us to take control of our lives yet they make us totally dependent on them;
9. They want us to become part of the community yet they isolate us from our loved ones;
10. They want us to gain self worth but do all they can to degrade us.
A note from Moso
Dear Comrades,
I assume a lot of Brothers didn't get the last issue of PAC, as it appear the DOC is attempting to now block access to this publication. At Waupun, all issues were not allowed, so we are exhausting our Administrative remedies and will be taking this to court. We may need to make this a class action, depending on how wide spread this action was. I know it was allowed in several other institutions, but in individual cases, it was not at those same Prisons. So for anyone who was not allowed to receive last months issue, you should contact me if you want to be a part of
this case. The person named on the denial slip, was Mr. Westfield, and he is the Security Director for the entire DOC. So how did he made the decision to deny the publication at this institution? Or is it that he has issued a State Wide Prison ban. So I won't know until I get some feed back. Everyone here at Waupun is on board to get this in court once our administrative remedies are exhausted. So if there is anyone else out there, let me know.
As expected, the DOC is getting spooked, once they see us waking up and getting our friends, loved ones and fellow comrades "Politically" involved and being a counter balance to those forces who feed off other people's suffering and misery.
It was unfortunate what occurred in Green Bay, as the concerns should have been addressed with public support first. Those issues is exactly what we try to accomplish through our political actions. Now they will exploit it and use the situation in their favor. they have the propaganda machine, so what ever they put out, that's what the public hears. If we had our act in order, we could have gotten the truth out to the public. But some of our comrades are still not putting as much effort into this cause as could be done, so we are making only slow progress. We need the numbers. We need you to get in touch with your family members and loved ones and friends, so next time when they want to hold a news conference and talk about how Dangerous Kenneth Georden is because he is getting released after serving thirty (30) years, because some Cop tried to play hero, we will have someone who will have the other side of the story. Now, we have no voice or advocate. Now is the time, as the Political winds are changing, and all we need now is to get our act together, we can get some good things happening. There is a proposal now asking the Governor to start a Review for possible Pardons for inmates who have served over 15 years on non-life sentences. They understand this argument of slacking up on the so called, first time, nonviolent offenders, ain’t gonna work. Sorry to say that I but some of this new generation, is only gonna get worse, so they will need some time in PRISON. It is the older Prisoners who really can get out and do some good. So we are asking the Governor to look at some of these inmates who were caught up back in the middle 80' s and early 90' s, who got caught up in the middle of this Conservative Extreme Right Wing Conspiracy, when they were routinely over sentencing people as part of their agenda to reduce the population. A lot of this agenda has been exposed now with the winding down of this Bush administration.
So Comrades, I again hope you will spread the word and get your people involved. Hopefully, PAC will have a contact phone, where your people can contact.
On the latest legal news, there was some good news for those who know him. Manuel Cucuta ~Qui-Qui" got his case reversed on a double life Sentence, without Parole. State V. Cucuta, Case No. 2005AP777. The court ruled that if a portion of the trial transcripts are missing, or in his case, was not even recorded, the Trial Court must attempt to reconstruct that portion of the unrecorded proceedings, and if it cannot be done, the defendant is entitled to a new trial. We prosecuted his Habeas action pro-se. I'm sure he will be a asset for the good fight.
No Justice,
No Peace,
One,
Moso
££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££
The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same: Marie Beyle
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The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing: John Adams
To those of you behind the walls, I hope this newsletter gets to you in a timely fashion. Many of you did not receive the March issue as it was determined to be “a threat to institutional security” by DOC Security Czar, Dan Westfield. Those of you who were fortunate enough to get the newsletter were able to alert your families and supporters about the Al Graham confirmation hearing held by Senator Lena Taylor in Milwaukee.
Turn out at the hearing was tremendous; standing room only, with many wives, mothers, brothers, advocates and supporters giving testimony as to why this man should not spend another day in office. The people were finally given a forum to express their frustration, and it boiled over.
Senator Taylor peppered Mr. Graham with serious questions and hard observations. She referenced all the letters she’s received from families as evidence of the “new” direction the Parole Commission has taken since Mr. Graham took office. She questioned him on the numbers (percentages) of hearings vis a vis grants of parole which Mr. Graham claimed were consistent with past Commissions. Mr. Graham was unprepared with the actual numbers (which didn’t impress Senator Taylor) and his claim of consistency was rebuked by the senator. The numbers actually show a 33% reduction in grants - from 15% under Wells to 10% under Graham.
As it turns out, Senator Taylor gave Al Graham a three month defer. There was little to be done about the term just completed, which ended in March of this year, but she deferred judgment on the ‘07-’09 term for “a few months” to see what changes Mr. Graham might implement and if the community, prisoners and families are being served by the Commission.
We must express our gratitude to Senator Taylor for giving us this opportunity to be heard. We’ll express that gratitude with letters, phone calls and at the ballot box. She has shown tremendous courage in actually looking at the (in)justice system while most politicians only use crime to further their careers. This courage and integrity must be acknowledged and applauded.
That said, if we want that defer to become a rejection of Mr. Graham, we must keep the pressure on. We must continue to inform Senator Taylor and the other members of the Corrections Committee about the continued inaccessibility to Mr. Graham; about our frustration with the process; about the importance of bringing our men and women back home. This must be an ongoing process; Senator Taylor has given us her ear, let’s let her know what we think.
Representative Tamara Grigsby’s office is also involved in the parole process. She has made some suggestions to Mr. Graham that would dramatically change the way parole hearings are conducted. It is within the power of the Parole Chair to make these changes - if he so chooses. If he chooses not to implement these suggested changes, Representative
Grigsby is prepared to move forward with legislation that will mandate those changes. The legislative route would take a long time to implement while administrative rule changes can happen immediately. Please write to Representative Grigsby with your support and to Governor Doyle with your concerns.
As mentioned at the start of this page, the noose around our neck keeps getting tighter. There was absolutely nothing in the last newsletter that advocated anything other that following the rules and procedures for seeking change. Czar Westfield explained that some of the things written were inaccurate and inflammatory. Constitutional rights of free speech are easy to disregard in a nation where the Attorney General calls the Geneva Convention regarding torture as passé. Czar Westfield’s actions are equivalent in the arrogance of power they display.
Speaking of fascism, Warden Pollard assumed dictatorial powers and declared Marshal Law at GBCI in February and is slowly easing the lockdown. He went to the local press with tales of threats and danger to staff. It’s all a fabrication. When a fascistic organization like the military, police, or prison needs to enhance its funding, they rely on the propaganda of fear. The “war on terror” and the “war on drugs” are different manifestations of the same dynamic.
What happened at GBCI is that a group petition was being circulated citing complaints about the conditions of confinement and giving suggestions for relief. This is what triggered the oppressive lockdown. This is what sent 11 guys to WSPF and others to the hole. This is what fascistic institutions do when confronted with the truth; whether it’s a newsletter or a group complaint, the reaction is to shut it down. They are incapable of addressing the underlying truth, they are reactionary.
The fascist functionaries may be able to suppress our voice behind the walls but this newsletter is read by the public, by the press, and by legislators. Much of what is said in this newsletter is not news to prisoners. What we hope to do for prisoners is assemble information and project these disparate bits of info into the BIG PICTURE. Many of you feel individually persecuted but the truth is that persecution and abuse are systemic and only by addressing the SYSTEM, will we end your individual abuse.
Every individual act of resistance adds to the overall pressure we apply to the system. When we go to the courts, we drain the system, when we refuse to work, we drain the system, when we enter hunger strikes, we drain the system, when we produce information exposing the fascists, we drain the system.
Resistance is what PAC is about. Resistance is what you should be about. We must stand together in our resistance. Resistance to dehumanizing, degrading, debasing, infantalizing and abusive treatment. What are we, as humans, if we won’t even stand up for our own dignity?
In resistance, PAC
April 23, 2007 letter from Representative Tamara Grigsby
Dear Chairman Graham:
As you know from our numerous telephone conversations, I have many concerns regarding the standards, or more appropriately, the lack thereof, the Parole Commission uses in determining parole eligibility. After carefully reviewing the Parole Procedures contained in the Wisconsin Administrative Code, I am confident that as Chairman of the Parole Commission you have the authority to make some of the changes we have talked about at great length.
Two provisions in particular that I would request that you address within the Administrative Rules process are PAC 1.06 (5) and PAC 1.06 (7). PAC 1.06 (5) states:
Representation by legal counsel during the interview shall not be permitted. Correspondence from legal counsel shall be accepted, however, and made part of the record. A spokesperson for the inmate should be allowed only in cases of severe speech impediment, where the inmate suffers a severe physical disability which impedes oral communication, or in cases where the inmate's primary language is not English and the individual lacks adequate fluency to represent himself or herself.
I am requesting rule PAC 1.06 (5) be changed to allow an inmate to have 2-3 representatives of their choice at their hearing including but not limited to legal counsel, family members, advocates, and/or spokespersons. This arrangement will be beneficial to both the inmate and the Parole Commission, especially if parole is being denied and the inmate needs a better understanding of the steps needed to obtain release. Having an advocate present may also help the Commissioner to better understand the support services the inmate will have available to him upon release.
Secondly, I am requesting that PAC 1.06(7) be recreated to develop specific criteria which the Parole Commission must consider when reviewing an inmate's eligibility for parole by the use of a scoring system or risk assessment tool.
The current criterion used by the Commission is too subjective and does not give inmates or their families a tangible measurement of the steps an inmate needs to take in order to achieve parole status. Presently, the Parole Commission lacks a tangible, comprehensive, systematic tool that aids and assists Commissioners in determining whether or not qualified inmates are released on parole. Too many inmates are simply told "not enough time served as punishment" as the reason for their denial. Even when other commissioners have recommended parole and have documented the steps the inmate has taken to achieve that status, on several occasions you have overridden those affirmative decisions for inmates who have:
Reached the Parole Eligibility Date in his or her sentence;
Served sufficient time for punishment of his or her crime(s);
Shown positive changes in behavior as well as documented progress in programming, treatment and/or educational achievement;
Presented a viable parole plan which offers the offender realistic opportunities for a stable residence, employment, and programming if needed;
Proven an acceptably reduced level of risk to the public.
As a result, I recommend that the Parole Commission develop a systematic guideline similar to the Structured Decision Making (SDM) model that is currently being used by the Arizona Department of Corrections, which I have enclosed for your review.
Pursuant to a recommendation by the Auditor General's Office in 1991, the Arizona Board of Pardons and Paroles applied for and received a grant from the National Institute of Corrections to develop guidelines that reflect a more structured decision-making process. The Board formally adopted and implemented the Structured Decision Making (SDM) model on July 1, 1993. Since then, the Arizona Board of Pardons and Paroles has conducted extensive research and drawn on the experience of numerous experts to lay the foundation for their present decision-making process in parole consideration.
This SDM model involves the development of guidelines that will provide Commissioners a common framework within which to make decisions in parole consideration and determination. SDM guidelines function as an advisory tool designed to guide and enhance the quality of decisions rendered by the Commission. This advisory function underscores the fact that the Commission will retain ultimate discretion when considering an inmate for release. In fact, the guidelines do not replace the Commission's discretionary authority. The adoption of SDM signals the Commission's commitment to a more systematic, accountable, equitable, and rational decision making process in that include:
1) Stated Goals;
2) Policy Statements;
3) A Measurement Instrument designed to systematically assess an inmates' suitability for release;
4) Risk assessment and offense severity measurement that function as two of the core components of the SDM model.
This model serves to protect the community, while at the same time, providing the inmate with clear guidelines to follow to ensure their own suitability for release and a successful transition into the community. Likewise if an inmate does not meet the requirements of these provisions, or concerns remain about the risk they pose to the community, the inmate and their family will have a clear indication of the steps necessary to achieve parole status.
I am certain that after you have had a chance to review this model, you will agree that this change will be beneficial for the Parole Commission as well. If you need any further information about this model, please do not hesitate to contact me.
I look forward to a prompt written response as to your willingness to immediately pursue the change I requested to PAC 1.06 (5), relating to inmate representation at parole hearings.
Furthermore, while the changes to PAC 1.06 (7), relating to the Structured Decision Making model, may take longer to develop, I am anxious to learn of your readiness to begin working on the changes necessary to implement this model in Wisconsin.
RELIEF SOUGHT AT GBCI
(ON CONDITIONS OF CONFINEMENT COMPLAINT)
NOTE Every single request made herein is reasonable. Moreover, many of the
things identified below are things that we have had, but were taken, not in the interest of maintaining order and security, but as wanton punishment, simply to make our already hard-times harder. The things were taken by prison officials simply because they felt this Prisoner Body was one that they could take it from, easily. It's clear to US that they intend to keep on taking from Us until they've taken everything. This is a show of utter ill-will toward Us, and, as a result, it seeps from the attitudes and behaviors of the guards towards Us everyday - to the point that the atmosphere has become volatile and toxic. What We have here requested below is a part of the process of to detoxify this poisonous atmosphere. We are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment; and a commendable Prisoner Body should not be perceived as a cowardly one.
( 1) Suicidal Conditions - The suicide rate in Wisconsin' s prisons (DOC) is nearly twice the National average, and this is according to the DOC's own January 2005 report by DOC Mental Health Director, Kevin Kallas. We live these conditions daily and witness one another waste away, and this we can no longer accept. Our request is to have implemented all of the other measures listed below as a means to alleviate these draconian and suicidal conditions. Moreover, Our request is to have all mentally ill Prisoners now housed in segregation to be sent to appropriate mental health facilities or be released to general population, as required by law, and to ensure that there will never be another John Virgin (pbuh) tragedy (alleged suicide) in this prison again. Scarver V. Litscher, 434 F.3d 972 (7th Cir. 2006) (holding that segregation is not to be used to house prisoners exhibiting mental illness) requires nothing less.
( 2) Medical Responses- DOC staff's response' to medical matters, in general, is inadequate, and grossly inadequate in cases of emergency, such as for heart attack, stroke, breathing problems, which has- resulted in the death of Prisoners Michelle Greer (asthma. attack); Donald Powe (heart attack); Kelvin Brooks (epileptic seizure), and over 100 others (pbut). Consequently, Our request is for an emergency response protocol that requires staff to have a Prisoner experiencing emergency medical complications transported to a qualified hospital's ER room within 15 minutes (and definitely no later than 20 minutes) of being notified of the emergency. Moreover, Our request is for compliance with p.12-20 of the settlement agreement in the case of Stokes, et ale V. Thompson, et al., #89-C-666 (E.D.WI. 8-8-94); i.e., for a generally prompt medical protocol as well.
(3) Out-Of-Cell Time - Our request is for at least 35 hours of out-of-cell time for those double celled and on unassigned status, and 50 hours for those on an assignment status, as required by the above mentioned settlement, supra ( 2), p. 11-12 . Currently, We are getting no more than 1 0 hours a week on unassigned status, and an average of about 35 hours on assignment. This is to include daily rec., structured rec., night library, structured library, daily hobby shop, and daily music room.
( 4) CeIling Conditions - The fact that there exists a ceIling problem is undisputed, and the administration has been aware of this for well over a decade [supra (2), p. 6- 9 of settlement]. However, instead of providing more general population bed-space the prisons have opted to create more seg. bed-space, and it is this space that's being used in place of gen. pop. bed-space to confine Us punitively for minor offenses We would not otherwise be confined for as a means of containing the population it has deliberately neglected to provide enough bed space for. Our request is for an end to double ceIling in any cell less than "9 x '12" ft. in size. Our request is also for the conversion of at least half of the seg. cells into gen. pop. cells (specific wings, with electrical outlets, etc.). In addition, any double ceIling, until these changes are made, is to be done according to the considerations expressed in the above mentioned settlement, the cells (occupied now) are to include a foot locker for each occupant, a platform/rack for each occupants TV, a garbage basket for each cell, and night lights allowed to be purchased from any available vendor.
( 5 ) Showers - There are to be showers stalls installed for every shower head, with privacy curtains, and showers permitted at least 5 times a week, whether one attends rec. or not, and without regard to one being on loss of rec.
( 6) Sanitation - The plumbing, water, and waste system has to be fixed. Currently, We are forced to suffer the unhealthy odor of raw sewage almost daily, drink water that has visible metal/rust particles (Likely from the pipes), clearly seen in the bottom of our cups, daily. Lastly, the toilet seating is too small. No toilet seat should be so small or low that one's genitals touches the rim, walls, or water of the toilet when the person is seated.
( 7) Segregation & Treatment Center - No ones cell light is to be kept on 24 hours in punitive seg., but rather allowed to turn it out just as anyone else is in the population. This is not a security measure, but a punitive measure. When We are locked in a cell at night there is no more seeing in a seg. cell than in any other one. Moreover, before these new control seg. units were built lights were turned out in seg., just as any other cell, and there was no problem there, and it isn't now. In addition, those in seg. are to be allowed a phone call at least once a week, whether on T.L.U., prog. seg., or admin. seg.; allowed at least 5 personal books and allowed to exchange them once every 30 days; allowed visits behind a partition as opposed to on a video screen; allowed thermal tops in the winter, and shorts (for exercise) all year round; allowed visits from other prisoners (if requested) when going through a crisis, as well as contact visits from outside visitors (during crisis); provided a rec.~area for days when it rains or snows, and not simply be exposed to the elements; and all other conditions at least as compatible to WSPF/Supermax conditions, which is the "worst of the worst" and still better than the seg. here. Lastly, those of Us in the treatment center are to be allowed the same privileges and access as those in gen. pop. and are not to be treated as if We’re in seg.; and an inside prisoner-to-prisoner visiting program is to be allowed so those in gen. pop. can come visit their bedridden fellow Prisoners.
( 8) Conduct Reports, Hearings - There is to be an end to upgrading minor conduct reports to major ones; all cr.. hearings are to be recorded, just as Our phone calls are, as staff continually lie on Us and falsify what We actually say in our defense. Moreover, an oversight committee of non prison staff (such as an appointed committee from DOC headquarters, outside volunteers, etc.) must be established to investigate and address any allegation of staff abuse, or any cr.. alleging any exceptionally major violation by a prisoner.
(9) Phone Access - Phone access is to be provided for every cell house just as they are for the dorms. We should not have to choose between exercise and calling our family; and loss of rec. should not also result in a loss phone. Moreover, the purchase of phonecards should be allowed, just as they are in many county jails and prisons.
(10) Visits - Currently, the visiting conditions at this prison are hostile, antisocial, not family oriented, and is deterring visits as opposed to fostering them. Our request is for a kids playroom, visiting seating with side-by-side visiting as opposed to opponent style seating, the ability to hold hands and place arms around our visitors during the visit, a father and child visiting program just as the Mothers have at TCI, and for movement on the visit in a reasonable manner (vending machine, pictures, the john, and getting toys for the kids), as opposed to being forced to sit still for up to three hours.
(11) Prison-Pay - Our request is for a pay raise of a minimum of $1.00 an hour for any prison job, with a ¢.50 wage increase for pay-range advancements, and minimum wage for any industry job such as BSI. Moreover, Our request is for other projects to be established for Us to earn pay and privileges (such as Jaysees, talent contests, furniture building, :[food stuff at rec. and visits, etc.).
(12) Basic Cable - In a Dish on Demand world, internet, DirectTV, etc., Our request is for basic cable at a minimum; ie., ESPN, BET, MTV, TBS, a at least one movie channel (Showtime, Cinemax, or HBO). The prison already has the capability to allow these channels in, but if necessary We should be allowed to raise the money for the cost of it. Moreover, many Prisoners have Spanish as a first language, and some have it as an only language. For this reason, there should be at least 3 Spanish channels for those who don't have English as a first language.
(13) Cassette Tapes/CD’s - Most prisons in Wisconsin are in rural areas with very limited radio selection (mainly rock or country, while hip hop is arguably the most popular music to date), and the selection is so limited even in areas such as Green Bay. Music is recognized as being therapeutic, and is even said to ‘calm the savage beast'. We must be allowed the purchase of cassette tapes and CD's for this purpose, and educational and religious purposes. Walkmans and I-pods should also be permitted.
(14) Weights - In 1994 free weights were taken from Us, without any consideration of alternatives. However, there are some, and they are hereby requested. That is, that the free weights be brought back, and that they be made stationary by welding the free weight plates (a job We can do) to the bench & curl bars, and even have some of them chained to posts or the floor, as a few already are at WCI. Additionally, those in the Dorms are to be permitted to workout in the Dorms, there is ample space for them to do so, and the prohibition against it is punitive, not a security risk, and is therefore unacceptable. .
(15) Publications - We are adults, in an adult prison, doing adult time. Inherent in the word adult is what it defines: mature; grown-up; of or for adults (Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus, p. 12 (1997) ). With that said, We are to be allowed to purchase publications of Our choice, whether of an unpopular political nature, sexually explicit nature, about hip-hop culture or Hitler. This is the world in which We live, and the current practice of placing Our minds in a steel box, confined from any exposure to these aspects of the world is not in Our best interest, and has less to do with security, and more to do with punishment and absolute fascist control. This access We need in furtherance of being accurately informed of, and able to relate to, the world around Us, particularly after Our exile from it - in many cases for over a decade, in some cases several.
(16) Legal Routes - We need a legal route system here, to be able to assist one another legally, considering the prison does not provide legal assistants for Us. This system is already at many prisons, and it allows Us to forward one another legal documents and files through inner-institution mail. We aren't even making enough for personal expenses, so few of Us can afford the postage to mail legal files back and forth, and the prison is so segregated and library access is so limited that We send one another legal files in order to get assistance.
(17) Library Access - Access to the library in general, and law library in particular, is ridiculously inadequate. Our request is for night library to help improve access, and for those on a deadline to get at least two hours in, not counting any hour one has to spend on another's deadline which is used assisting that other person.
(18) Dining Hall Time - We aren't being given enough time to finish Our meals. Wolfing food down is unhealthy, and unacceptable. Our request is for at least 30 minutes for every meal.
(19) Mail Delivery - We want mail on everyday the mailman delivers it. Our was allegedly suspended "temporarily", due to a specific staffing shortage at a specific time, and was to resume immediately thereafter. That’s been over two years now. This is the type of abuse of authority and disrespect that is unacceptable. Mail is Our access to the world, and We want Ours on Saturday and every other day it's delivered.
(20) Picture Exchanges - Our request is to be able to send each other pictures, as We have done for decades before the oppressive ban. Many of Us have no family out there to write Us and send Us photos, and rely on correspondence amongst one another. This ban must be lifted.
(21) Cultural Groups/Banquets - Our request is for the reestablishment of Cultural Groups, and Banquets allowed to be held by these groups where various families, . friends, sponsors, and community members can attend; and that We be allowed to form programs to give back to Our communities, such as through the donation of clothes to shelters in the areas We came from (clothes that We would otherwise have to destroy or send out), and other similar positive measures. This fosters family ties and rehabilitation.
(22) Humanity Training - Our request is that staff be required to attend humanity training to train them how to speak to people in a respectful manner, without the barking and unnecessary confrontational postures, which are accidents waiting to happen.
(23) Shakedowns - Our request is that all shakedowns/searches and seizure of Our property be documented, whether done in a cell or outside of it; and that We be given a choice to send out any items taken from Us or fight it through the ICRS or disciplinary process as DOC 303.47 (appdx.) states: "the inmate's property is not confiscated. Property is disposed of or returned in accordance with DOC 303.10." Currently, staff is taking property from Prisoners, claiming it's contraband, and then using it for themselves (such as food) or even giving it to other Prisoners, even paying informants with it.
(24) Smoking - Those who wish to smoke should be permitted to smoke outside. Prison life is stressful, and smoking is one means many use to relieve that stress; arguably unhealthy, but a better means than releasing it on others, and in a way in which those who don't smoke aren't affected.
(25) Canteen - The canteen prices are too high for the pay We receive, which has decreased while prices have went up. $20.00 today doesn't even fill up a canteen bag if one has to purchase hygiene items with it. This means that many of Us don't go to canteen regularly. When We do go We need to be able to stack up to a reasonable degree, and be allowed to purchase at least $50.00 worth of canteen a week. We are requesting this, and also to be allowed to purchase at least 4 bars of soap a week, and 25 single stamps, and 4 deodorants and toothpastes.
(26) Passing of Items - many of Us don't have the means to buy Our own personal effects, and friends and even relatives in here who try to assist Us, but this is prohibited while the institution itself fails to do so for many needed items (such as postage, deodorant, hair products, etc.). Our request is to be able to pass a reasonable amount of items to one another, and that the tier tenders be allowed to do so as well. This is often done anyway, but only leads to problems with items being gangstered by staff, thrown away, or lost in the process.
(27) Attire.- Our request is for at least two pairs of shoes, so We can have a pair to exercise in and a pair to where on visits. Our request is also for at least one pair of jeans to where on visits, a jeans shirt to go with it, and other t-shirts/sweatshirts and shorts of any color We choose, and to be able to wear Our shirts outside Our pants as have been done for decades before the ban. None of this was a major problem then, and isn't now. This is an unnecessary exercise of control upon us. We are adults, not kids.
(28) OSHA & FLSA - Our request is that all prisons comply with OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) which is not currently being complied with.
(29) Free Stamped Envelopes - Our request is for at least three (3) free stamped envelopes a week, as was done in the past, due to the poverty in which We are held, so We have enough to write Our family, friends, and the court.
(30) Prisoner Committee - Our request is for the reestablishment of the Prisoner Committee, to be elected by Us, and not appointed by staff.
A DAY OF CRITICAL RESISTANCE IN MILWAUKEE
DR. RUTH WILSON GILMORE VISITS
The Milwaukee community was fortunate to host a lively pair of panel discussions on April 14th addressing the themes of “Holocausts and Healing: Race, Globalization and the Prison Industry.” Ruth Wilson Gilmore gave the keynote speeches at both events. Dr. Wilson is an associate professor of geography at the University of Southern California and recently wrote the book, Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis and Opposition in Globalizing California. She is also a founding member of Critical Resistance, a national organization dedicated to struggling against the expanding prison industrial complex. The panels were mainly organized by Corry Joe Biddle, director of America's Black Holocaust Museum, and Jodi Melamed, assistant professor of English at Marquette University. One panel spoke at Marquette in the morning and the afternoon panel spoke at the Black Holocaust Museum. Adding their perspectives to the panels were local community educators, a professor from UW-Madison, grassroots activists and state and local officials. I report here on just the morning session at Marquette, mostly on Ruth Wilson’s presentation.
The morning at Marquette was intense, information-filled and mind-expanding, but it was extremely rushed. Ruth Wilson's plane had malfunctioned, and the organizers had to scramble to get her on a plane to Chicago. She then drove to Milwaukee. The session was scheduled to go from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and at 11:00 Dr. Wilson was still racing down I-94 from Chicago to Milwaukee. She arrived at about 11:40 and still somehow managed to put on an effective, intelligent and spirited presentation. Reggie Jackson, lead griot at America's Black Historical Society Museum, and Pam Oliver, chair of the sociology department at UW-Madison, both spoke well before Dr. Wilson arrived.
Dr. Wilson first showed us a California Department of Corrections map of prisons in California. The map shows 98 major prisons, and the “smaller” prisons, with prisoner populations of say, 500 instead of 2500, are not even included in that number (and not on the DOC’s map). Dr. Wilson pointed to the categories of “people, money and land” -- and the government's ability to organize these things into the biggest prison building project in the world.” Dr. Wilson also talked about prisons being made up of “surpluses”, and in particular, “surplus” people. She is from L.A., where, like Milwaukee, the numbers of manufacturing jobs (and the other kinds of jobs that accompany them) have decreased substantially. Reggie Jackson had statistics when he spoke: 120,000 manufacturing jobs in Milwaukee have decreased to 34,000. There is a gap of 88,294 between the numbers of jobless people and the number of available jobs. That is, there are 88,294 folks for whom jobs simply do not exist. The people squeezed out of those labor markets are “modestly educated men and women in the primes of their lives,” those who would be “making, moving, growing and caring for” things. (Dr. Wilson) These are the “surplus” lives that make up U.S. prisons.
Dr. Wilson spoke quickly of some of the history behind the phenomenon that all social problems in the U.S. are now conceived of as “crime” and the solution to all problems therefore imprisonment -- mass and growing. As Dr. Pam Oliver said when she spoke, before the civil rights movement and the urban riots of the early 1970s, politicians were not accused of being “soft on crime”. Crime was not a political issue. But in the ‘70s we began to see civil rights activity criminalized, from sitting at lunch counters to more chaotic political unrest.
Some of the factors that play into this criminalization of social problems in the U.S., both historically and currently, include slavery, the expropriation of American Indian land, Jim Crow, residential zoning and the labor market structure. But another critical factor is a belief that has become central to U.S. culture that “the key to safety is aggression.” This of course is not a natural belief but an inculcated one. In Dr. Wilson’s words, the cultural belief in “the perpetual enemy who must always be fought but can never be vanquished” is a controlling factor in the need to find, label and imprison “criminals”.
Dr. Wilson spoke of how well-studied and proven it is that saturation policing does not create stable communities. She also referred to studies in which rural counties that did not turn to prisons to solve their economic problems are doing better than counties who tried to solve their economic problems by prison-building.
About the economic history of the U.S., Dr. Wilson talked about the development of corporations taxing themselves to protect the idea of capitalism -- by providing security for some of the people in society (excluding black people, brown people, most women, agricultural workers, people with the wrong politics). As corporations pulled the plug on providing this security, stopped taxing themselves and began moving more and more operations outside of central cities and out of the U.S., corporate-influenced media explained new cultural unease and anxiety by pointing to “the welfare state” -- essentially code words for the poor, including coded language for people of color -- as the ones who were draining the economy.
Dr. Wilson closed her morning talk by asking “Who Cares, Who Cares, Who Cares” about these problems and by showing some positive attempts at solutions she had witnessed. One was reaching out to environmental justice activists. This makes sense because, first of all, prisons are geographically toxic presences in such otherwise beautiful places. I remember myself being so struck by this the first time I drove to Boscobel, connecting with the absolute beauty of the landscape, and then saw the prison there, stuck like an oozing scab on the land. Really, think of any aerial photo of any prison you have ever seen. Second, each prison is like a city unto itself, where dysfunction rules and runs things, seeping into everyone’s human nature who is imprisoned or works there -- a poison. And then, of course, there are often so many tangible chemical poisons in the land and water near prisons, whether we talk about the buildings being built on uncleaned-up toxic land and/or near polluted water, or whether we’re talking about the prisons’ functioning actually creating hazardous toxins in the environment.
Dr. Wilson showed us slides of a talking session (after some event I think) where, instead of folks asking questions of speakers or talking about the problems, organizers asked people to stand up and say what they do about the problems. This brought out some shining positive stories.
One more activity involved giving people $100,000 in fake bills and arranging on the walls places for “Housing”, “Art”, “Health”, “Education”, “Policing” -- and then asking folks to distribute their money.
I am definitely going to check out Ruth Wilson-Gilmore’s book and urge others to do so.
-- Melissa Froiland
Milwaukee
TAG, WE'RE IT!
by Prisoner X - Jokehill Correctional
Heavy is the pen exploring the "whys" of the federal funding fueling the prison industrial complex. It has become nothing but a "tagging" process for the government. The catalyst for the process is interesting, but the reasons are frightening and sovereign.
For many the first strokes of writing on the wall was when Tommy Thompson issued a directive to DOC to block the release of violent offenders. He also acknowledged it was illegal but directed DOC to find legal ways to affect it. It didn’t take long for it to also engulf all prisoners regardless of their offense. It made no sense for him to put himself out-there like that by instructing DOC to create legal ways to perform unlawful acts. The guy is a professional politician, so why would he do that?
Over the years I have read much about the Thompson fiasco, the new rules, the new-new rules, and the effects people are finally starting to realize, the outrageous judicial suppression preventing challenges to the process, all of it. But the bigger picture still is not coming into focus yet for most. I have been predicting all of the effects of the ex post facto punishment since the early 90's, and knew people would rue the day the obscene truth became undeniable in their lives. I even elaborated on the effects of the policies and rules in letters and document mailings to numerous legislators, State Representatives, Senators, various agencies supposedly overlooking the madness, and in many legal briefs to the Judicial arm during litigation through all the state and federal courts, but the message was ignored all the way around. Again, why?
The increasing number of complaints about some of the effects -- not allowed to take treatment programs, the subsequent parole preclusion, etc. -- shows an awareness of the problems in the way the system is designed. But it is time people take notice of the bigger picture and understand what it is they're looking at. The bigger picture is nothing short of awesome, and perfectly strategic. I even predicted it would occur so subtly that people wouldn't catch on until it was too late. It probably already is.
The catalyst is 42 USC §13701, et seq., which became law as Thompson was issuing the directive to DOC. It provides for billions of dollars in federal tax fisc in the form of grants to the states for doing things like creating parole rules and classification rules which conflict with one another to create a catch-22 which, consequently, precludes parole. It also provides grant funding for states to create more administrative rules, municipal laws and codes, penalty enhancers, and other nonsensical statutes like Truth In Sentencing. The "85%" figure has its genesis in ~ §13701; when a state can show the FBI they are making prisoners serve at least 85% of their sentences they get the grants. Same thing for all the counties, cities, towns and villages increasing arrest rates and conviction rates. It also provides for the unbridled expansion of existing prisons -- new x-buildings, new segregation units, new program facilities, as well as the conversion of existing buildings into prisons. The federal appropriations statute (§13701) does even more than this. And Congress provides all this for a system that has more than proven itself not to work. Why?
One reason is obvious when focusing on the bigger picture; the prison industry is providing a service and very necessary function for Congress. They pay big for the states to create more laws, essentially creating crimes where there were none before. These laws even target younger groups of people -- truancy laws for school children which allow school officials to refer kids to prosecutors for tagging -- and sweeps up all other sorts of people who are not really criminals. All these people are guilty of is not staying in the additional lines designated by the government. And why would Congress need to have this information on its ordinary citizens?
The "why" has to be kept in context with and attributed to the bottom line governmental political and global agenda, and the fact they realize that the American Empire will fall in time. History has taught us that all empires are inherently unstable, mainly because they inspire enemies rather than allies, and people naturally seek to live free of their influences. But empires fall as they must, there is nothing greater to aspire to; examine Rome, Byzantium, the Ottomans, Japan, et aL Those in power need to know who will likely revolt, who has the capacity to organize, to motivate, who can use weapons effectively, who has them, who has the resources and wherewithal to finance and sustain opposition. By creating more lines and boundaries the government can and will tag us all. They have to. And it's nothing personal; the empire only recognizes itself, and cares not one iota about wasting massive amounts of humanity. It has nothing to do with "corrections" or crime, although that's the spin the government has the media put on it.
Some readers will likely conclude this author is just an alarmist with an axe to grind. Inasmuch as the axe continues to be honed, and I feel everyone should at least be aware of what is coming at them, I simply say educate yourselves to the government's own statistics. Even the backdoor statistics are striking,if not alarming. The number of people released from state prisons each year has been steadily increasing because of the increase of those coming into the system for tagging. In 2007 the numbers will climb to nearly a million releases from prison. Moreover, there's an estimated nine million individuals released annually from US jails. The numbers are staggering -- this is an annual process occurring each and every year. People are being tagged at an unprecedented rate, and as the world population increases, so too, the government has to step it up even more if they're going to stay on top of their game. No matter the senseless-ness, no matter the cost.
Even with the many billions of dollars Congress has allocated for the states
to expand the tagging industry, there are huge financial problems being realized by each individual state. Those fiscal problems are met with short-sighted solutions at penny-pinching, many of which will make prison life much more intolerable. It's basically open season on prisoners these days. The media continues putting a negative slant on everything remotely dealing with the notion of crime. Prisoners and their families have no constituency or political clout. Term-limited legislators, looking for any chance to appear tough on crime have little to lose. Any idea to cut costs without closing prisons, no matter how whack, will get a hearing. '!heir purported solutions to the financial problems will all inevitably lead to harsher conditions of confinement. We will soon see massive cuts in wages, food, programs, treatment, health care, and other necessities. And that, in turn, will inevitable lead to endangered health and safety for all concerned. these places are destined to become some of the most dysfunctional and dangerous places on the planet --- warehouses that evict convicts unprepared foc anything constructive or worthy. What to do. What to do, indeed. Responding to the above will take rare virtues in politics, common sense and courage. (continued)
TAG - continued
A great deal could and would be accomplished if people focused more on the monstrous beast that has us in its belly. The beast needs us to exist in its present form. There is a lot to be said about the evasive quality of solidarity -- the role it used to play, and the role it must play in the future. People must solidly unite and ponder the proposition of doing nothing. Think about that. If people just did nothing -- just stuck their miserable hands in their pockets and refused to do anything -- the system would change within a month or two, tops. The system cannot possibly sustain itself without prisoner labor, and would be forced to reduce the prison population by half with a quickness, or go broke spending all their money for blueshirts and whiteshirts, social workers, secretaries and other staff coming in to do laundry, prepare and serve food, do maintenance, and the like. If you want to see how much power you have, just put your hands in your pockets and learn something. The power of not doing anything eludes most prisoners. Most don't see that the reason for that lack of power has been and is being conditioned into us.
There must be unity and solidarity if any struggle against systematic abuse if it is going to succeed. And if people are going to fight a thing that is worth fighting, they must go for the source of the problem instead of attempting to deal with the symptoms of the problem as so many people currently do. The only thing which separates the makers of history from those whose histories are made for them, is the power to alter their environments, the power of change. We will still be tagged upon release and that’s where a greater struggle awaits us. We need to de-condition our friends, neighbors and children. Get the children out of the public schools, educate them to what matters most in the world, teach them to become self-sustaining, to grow their own food and livestock, and become people of substance, free thinkers with integrity enough to stand up. It can start with nothing; put your hands in your pockets.
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Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it. Woodrow Wilson
TRIP TO U.W. HOSPITAL AND CLINIC
by Charles Coogan
At 3:00 am, wakened by a prison guard given a bologna sandwich for breakfast. Taken to a shakedown area and strip searched being careful not to rip open my strangulated hernia, which has now turned blue and other shades of yellow. Now come the handcuffs and leg shackles with a chain around my waist and placement of Federal cuff blocks.
Can all ready feel the cuffs digginq into my wrists and legs.
Two hundred miles and three hours later we arrive in Madison at the U. W Hospital and Clinic.
UP to the sixth floor strip searched once again, this time one hand is allowed to be free.
It is now 6: 15 am.
Placed in a 15 ft. x 15 ft. waiting room with 20 other inmates with one bathroom.
My appointment is at 3:00 pm. in the afternoon. --
Noon time another bologna sandwich. No wonder I have hernia from eating this crap.
Three o'clock arrives, thank God! Down to see the doctor. What's that you say doctor Shmuck, isn't here today, so we'll have to reschedule.
Strip searched again after returning to the sixth floor.
Five o'clock time to leave 14 hours have passed handcuffed and shackled, now another three hour drive back to prison.
Once again strip searched and returned to the institutional hospital and “how is your hernia?”
All I've got to say is I need some bandages for my wrists and ankles were the cuffs have dug into my skin, and an ace bandage to hold in my hernia because there is no way in hell I'm going down there again - not unless l'm unconscious.
“Here Mr. Coogan, have other bologna sandwich.”
If that isn't cruel and unusual punishment I don't no what is.
“GRIDLOCK"
Timothy Olinger -Redgranite
Insufficient time ...lack of program participation. These are just a few of the superlatives constantly echoed throughout the Wisconsin Prison System, for those of us who languish under the ambiguous cloak of the "OLD LAW"!
As a good portion of us enter into our respective 14th ...15th, and 16th year of incarceration; most of us have become pessimistic, and somewhat embittered with a system that continues to contradict itself. Have the powers that be simply lost their way!? Or have they too become overwhelmed by the sheer gravity of it all? The cliché' commonly used amongst politicians today ..."Pass the Buck"! As we witnessed our only relief disappear with the dubious resignation of Mr. Lenard Wells, which left those of us under the old law, reeling in a sea of apprehension and despair. (Meanwhile)...we tentatively wait for Mr. Alfonzo Graham to embrace his position, and confidently carry out the arduous task that lay before his office.
Even though Mr. Graham hasn't said much; his silence speaks volumes. In the wake
of this "Pass The Buck" mentality, we are left at the hands of unqualified, and unscrupulous individuals, their capricious whims, and their twisted justice. These people sit on committees, parole boards, and other functions within the DOC, charged with the responsibility of moving people through the system
in a fair and timely manner. Yet it is at these levels of Corrections, that prisoners experience the greatest frustration, and the wheels of so called justice, come to a screeching halt! The social workers have virtually been rendered ineffective, and their power of recommendation, fall on deaf ears. Here at R.G.C.I.., PRC has slowly and meticulously become just a mere formality. Since the inception of Truth In Sentencing January I, 2000, the parole board exist for one purpose only:
to deal compellingly, and successfully with those prisoner doing time under the guise of the "Old Law". Yet the parole commission has failed miserably in this capacity. Webster's Universal Dictionary, defines "GRIDLOCK" as a major traffic jam in which all movement comes to a stop because "key" intersections are blocked. A complete stoppage of normal activity.
continued next page
Gridlock - continued
With very few programs, and the notion of rehabilitation, just that, a notion ...what incentives are there for prisoners!? Politicians like State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, proposed that the DOC simply send prisoners back out of state, and build more prisons. In my opinion the equivalent of putting a bandage on a gunshot wound.
As it stands, no one wants to stand up and take the responsibility for this huge debacle. It’s ironic that the onus of responsibility falls on the of the prisoner as it rightfully should. But what of those who preach these philosophies? Are they exempt? Are they held to a different standard? Or are their words simply filled with aberrations, and half truths!? Who knows? But those who know! This is not a one person job, and until those people courageously, effectively, and fair-mindedly step in ...the system will remain in "GRIDLOCK"!
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The Ten Contradictions
by Carlos Abadia, RGCI
1. They want us to become responsible but they remove us from all responsibility;
2. They want us to be positive and constructive but treat us with negativety and hate;
3. They want us to be trustworthy, so they put us where there is no trust;
4. They want us to be nonviolent but they treat us violently;
5. They want us to become kind and loving people but they subject us to hatred and cruelty;
6. They want us to quit acting the “tough guy” yet they treat us with toughness;
7. They want us to quit exploiting but they put us where we are exploited;
8. They want us to take control of our lives yet they make us totally dependent on them;
9. They want us to become part of the community yet they isolate us from our loved ones;
10. They want us to gain self worth but do all they can to degrade us.
A note from Moso
Dear Comrades,
I assume a lot of Brothers didn't get the last issue of PAC, as it appear the DOC is attempting to now block access to this publication. At Waupun, all issues were not allowed, so we are exhausting our Administrative remedies and will be taking this to court. We may need to make this a class action, depending on how wide spread this action was. I know it was allowed in several other institutions, but in individual cases, it was not at those same Prisons. So for anyone who was not allowed to receive last months issue, you should contact me if you want to be a part of
this case. The person named on the denial slip, was Mr. Westfield, and he is the Security Director for the entire DOC. So how did he made the decision to deny the publication at this institution? Or is it that he has issued a State Wide Prison ban. So I won't know until I get some feed back. Everyone here at Waupun is on board to get this in court once our administrative remedies are exhausted. So if there is anyone else out there, let me know.
As expected, the DOC is getting spooked, once they see us waking up and getting our friends, loved ones and fellow comrades "Politically" involved and being a counter balance to those forces who feed off other people's suffering and misery.
It was unfortunate what occurred in Green Bay, as the concerns should have been addressed with public support first. Those issues is exactly what we try to accomplish through our political actions. Now they will exploit it and use the situation in their favor. they have the propaganda machine, so what ever they put out, that's what the public hears. If we had our act in order, we could have gotten the truth out to the public. But some of our comrades are still not putting as much effort into this cause as could be done, so we are making only slow progress. We need the numbers. We need you to get in touch with your family members and loved ones and friends, so next time when they want to hold a news conference and talk about how Dangerous Kenneth Georden is because he is getting released after serving thirty (30) years, because some Cop tried to play hero, we will have someone who will have the other side of the story. Now, we have no voice or advocate. Now is the time, as the Political winds are changing, and all we need now is to get our act together, we can get some good things happening. There is a proposal now asking the Governor to start a Review for possible Pardons for inmates who have served over 15 years on non-life sentences. They understand this argument of slacking up on the so called, first time, nonviolent offenders, ain’t gonna work. Sorry to say that I but some of this new generation, is only gonna get worse, so they will need some time in PRISON. It is the older Prisoners who really can get out and do some good. So we are asking the Governor to look at some of these inmates who were caught up back in the middle 80' s and early 90' s, who got caught up in the middle of this Conservative Extreme Right Wing Conspiracy, when they were routinely over sentencing people as part of their agenda to reduce the population. A lot of this agenda has been exposed now with the winding down of this Bush administration.
So Comrades, I again hope you will spread the word and get your people involved. Hopefully, PAC will have a contact phone, where your people can contact.
On the latest legal news, there was some good news for those who know him. Manuel Cucuta ~Qui-Qui" got his case reversed on a double life Sentence, without Parole. State V. Cucuta, Case No. 2005AP777. The court ruled that if a portion of the trial transcripts are missing, or in his case, was not even recorded, the Trial Court must attempt to reconstruct that portion of the unrecorded proceedings, and if it cannot be done, the defendant is entitled to a new trial. We prosecuted his Habeas action pro-se. I'm sure he will be a asset for the good fight.
No Justice,
No Peace,
One,
Moso
££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££
The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same: Marie Beyle
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The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing: John Adams
posted by F. at 12:33 PM
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