Greetings to you all out there! First I hope all of you are safe after Hurricane Sandy. I was following it in the news and saw the devastation that occurred in your region, so I hope you all have seen the last of that for a while. The people suffered once more while wealthy areas had all of FEMA’s attention. I read about “Occupy Sandy” and others of like mind who rose to the occasion to show the imperialists what relief looks like, and wish I was there to lend a hand.
I wanted to first of all thank you all who made it possible for me to continue receiving your newspaper. It is strongly needed here and has been a great help in my work here. So many prisoners come from environments where backward thinking thrives and Liberation newspaper really is a tool that I use to cut through the BS that permeates the TV and bourgeois press. Many here don’t realize how important real news is and yet others wait eagerly for papers like Liberation to be passed down the tier from cell to cell. So I just wanted to let you all know we do appreciate the paper.
[Click to make a donation to the Liberation for Prisoners Program and help get the newspaper to more prisoners.]Speaking of the paper, I noticed how you no longer print the writers’ names, that seems sensible. I enjoy how each paper is more or less one theme. I tend to remember more and get more out of these themed issues as it’s like a mini crash course on certain themes.
For an update on the situation here, we continue to face much of the oppressive conditions that first brought on the 2011 strikes. We continue in solitary confinement and with the [“gang member”] “validation process” fully intact, which are the two most vicious components to our oppressive existence here in SHU [Secure Housing Unit]. I continue to believe our principal demand should be to abolish SHUs in general and I work tirelessly to build public opinion around this from within these prison walls. To me the SHU is the essence of what is wrong here in Pelican Bay and their history of abuse.
As you probably know, there is a lawsuit in the courts that is led by the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is fighting to end long-term solitary. This, coupled with the UN Special Rapporteur stating that Pelican Bay SHU is cruel and unusual punishment and the Mother Jones magazine printing the recent op-Ed on Pelican Bay SHU, adds to more much-needed publicity. But, as I’m sure you all know, the courts will not bring forth real justice. Ultimately our human rights will come from our own efforts and our own struggles here in this torture camp. What was seen in 2011 can best be described as a test-run for what everyone knows will turn out as a tragedy for the prison masses, but a necessary tragedy. If we ever close down or at least declaw the SHUs, this will come from what road prisoners take on the inside. What we know now is that promises from the state will not be enough next round as most of the promises we were given last time continue to be fruitless.
We have received superficial improvements, with some art supplies, photos, sweats and limited education opportunities but we remain in the same dungeon.
Most recently, a “new” program called the “step down program” [to get out of the SHU] is supposed to go in effect. We were told currently 2 prisoners out of over 1,000 are on this “step down program.” This “new” program is simply a repackaging of the old validation process, where now instead of prison groups being called “prison gangs” they are merely called “security threat groups,” which enables the state to cast their net even wider. Even prisoners who are part of motorcycle clubs or revolutionary groups can now be validated as well as any lumpen youth who as it is are automatically placed in a designated group by the state here in California prisons.
Many prisoners, as much as one-third, will not be eligible off the top [for “step down”], because of supposed “membership” in a “gang.” Only those labeled “associates” will be eligible but even then eligibility does not automatically translate to being accepted. This acceptability relies once more on the prison which again creates the conditions for abuse! So the state is merely reshuffling the deck but it’s the same old game that is being played.
I do have one piece of good news that was a result of the strikes and that is I can finally further my education. I have enrolled in a community college here and i should start this January and work toward getting my associates degree. We are only currently allowed to take one course per semester but it’s a start. I plan on continuing my education well past an associates degree but I am happy to have received an opportunity to better myself.
I have begun to use the color pens and pastels to create art. I’m enclosing one original and a few copies for you all along with a poem I wrote. Enjoy.
En la lucha,
Jose
Ps. A new round of hunger strikes is scheduled for July 8, 2013 if prison officials don’t grant the five demands.
[Click to make a donation to the Liberation for Prisoners Program and help get the newspaper to more prisoners.]
