Working

W
Working
ki to
t Extend
E t d Democracy
D
to
t All 

V
Volume
V l
Volume
1, N
1
Number
b 12
12

December

D
D
December
b 2012
2012

MORE ON “END TO HOSTILITIES” PAPER

I

’m one of the PBSP-SU-prisoner representatives. I write this to touch on a
couple of issues of immediate importance.
First, we have received a lot of questions
regarding the ‘End to All Hostilities’ paper,
via prison publications, attorneys, etc. I
will answer the most important ones here.
“No,” it was never meant to be a call for a
hunger strike on October 10th. Those that
did go on one, no biggie. I’m sure it was
good practice. “Yes,” it’s also between all
groups (all good solid southern, northern,
eastern, western, up and down, back and
forward). And since it involves all CDCR
and county jails, it also involves all Youth
Authority, Y.T.S., and all Juvenile Halls,
Camps, etc. across the state.
We hope that this now clarifies the document to everyone’s satisfaction. Of course
there are always going to be groups and
individuals who feel that it does not apply

CONTENTS
More on “End of Hostilities”......1
Protect Prisoners’ Rights .........2
Solitary Abuse in CA Prisons ...3
Speech Must be Free...............3
Humyn Rights Watch ...............4
Letters ......................................7
Change At The Top ..................8
Editorial ....................................8

to them, and act accordingly in an adverse
manner under that false belief. Well, the
only thing that we can say to those, is to repeat an old convict/prisoner/common sense
saying, “don’t ever falsely assume one’s
hands are tied, where one expects all others
to just stand still and take it.” Therefore, it’s
vital that this End to Hostilities holds for all
races and groups, as I will briefly explain.
The documents the Short Corridor Collective have been putting out since our
March 2012 rejection of CDCR’s STGSDP 5.5 Program, and will continue to put
out, are in the following order.
1. The open letter to the Governor
2. The Agreement to End Hostilities between all races and groups
3. Our Rejection/Response to CDCR’s
STG-SDP 7.0
4. Our Demands/Notice giving CDCR a
“Deadline” to meet all of the demands,
or else we are going to resume our
peaceful hunger strike (HS) and work
stoppage (WS) starting on July 8th, 2013.
Note that we only agreed to “temporarily”
ssuspend the July and October 2011 Hunger
Strike after CDCR agreed to change a lot
S
oof SHU policies and practices, etc., etc., in
a positive manner. Since then, CDCR has
ffailed to honor their end of our prior agreements. Instead, they gave us STG-SDP 7.0
m
tthat will only put a lot more in SHU.
July 8th 2013, will be two years. That’s
CDCR’s
C
deadline. Stay tuned for the last
two
t
documents. The last document should
be
b out on the web at the end of this year.
And
A we will also serve a copy of it on all
CDCR
C
officials. But I will give a sneak preview
v
here in a couple of paragraphs.
Since July 2011, we have read in prison
publications
p
how prisoners all across the

state and the U.S. are also being deprived
and tortured in different ways, including
women prisoners. We knew we were not
alone in this. So our Demands/Notice will
contain, among others, the list of Orders/
Demands listed in the Rock newsletter, Volume 1, #10, October 2012 (which are a part
of our original 5 core demands); as well as
our statement about how CDCR must abolish “intelligence” based SHU/AD-Seg confinement, as stated in the Rock newsletter
Volume 1, #9, September 2012.
We will also call on GP; AD-Seg; death
row; and SHU representatives, including
women (I’m also personally including here
all YA and YTS) to draft up their own demands tailored to their own individual institutional needs, to be served on CDCR
and their prison wardens (I would get started on them now). As well as a call for all
prisoners across the U.S., state and federal,
and to join us July 8th, 2013 for a national
hunger strike/work stoppage to protest solitary confinement and the continued deprivations and conditions in their individual
state prison systems.
We will also encourage reps from each
U.S. prison to formulate their own separate
demands, now tailored for their individual
state and institutional needs, also setting
July 8th 2013 as their deadline to meet their
demands or else they will also go on Hunger Strike/Work Stoppage, which we will
support. And for those interested as to acceptable strategies, have family/friends
send you free download copies of the Rock
newsletter Volume 1, #7, July 2012 from
this website (www.prisonart.org).
In closing, we know a lot of prisoners
are wondering why we did come up with a
date so far away. As individuals from each

group we are always itching and ready to
act, however because this involves many
different groups, ideas, opinions, as a collective we had to restrain our urges of going at it now, and instead we had to exercise patience in order to obtain a mutual
agreement between all of our groups which
we now have. That was the most important
aspect of our own negotiations, to set a
deadline for CDCR that we all agreed on.
And to fully understand that our vision,
where we are not only thinking of our state,
one must stand back and see the big picture of this upcoming main event, where all
US prisoners are asked to pick up the flag
of solidarity and also volunteer and join us
on that national HS/WS starting on July 8th
2013.
We are basically also opening the door and
giving all U.S. prisoners a forum to put
forward their own demands for change.
This all takes a lot of time to do, plus, it’s
less than a year away which is nothing
for those of us who have already spent
decades in SHU. And for those who do not
wish to participate, that’s fine with us. Just
like all the past ones, this is going to be on
a pure voluntary basis, however, it is now
time to stand up on July 8th, 2013 and be
counted, among those standing on the line
that we have already drawn on the sand!
Always in Solidarity! ●
Arturo Castellanos, C17275
PBSP-SHU Prisoner Representative
[put no date with this article]

Artwork by Carlitos Galindo

2

PRISONERS’
RIGHTS MUST BE
PROTECTED
By Sarah Cueva, Daily Trojan,
Oct. 21, 2012
ast week marked the one-year anniversary of the end of a Northern
California prison’s hunger strikes
and a consequent deal struck between prisoners and the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation. At Pelican
Bay State Prison in Crescent City, Calif.,
prisoners observed the anniversary by writing an open letter to Gov. Jerry Brown expressing their frustration at a lack of change
in the last year and calling on him to end
the indiscriminate placement of inmates in
solitary confinement for years on end.
Though it is undoubtedly necessary for
some inmates to be placed in solitary confinement to protect the safety of prison
officials and other inmates, the policy is
flawed in that it leaves prisoners undeserving of such punishment in solitary confinement for years. This is not just a problem at
Pelican Bay, but at prisons across the state.
Brown must take action to reform Pelican
Bay to set a precedent that further prevents
the violation of basic civil liberties in all
U.S. prisons, especially in those in Los Angeles.
The letter written by the prisoners in Pelican Bay’s Security Housing Unit, or SHU,
expresses their frustrations with the slow
progress on prison reform. The changes
they requested are not unreasonable, and a
failure to implement these changes represents the state’s failure to protect two constitutional rights: due process of law and
the right to not be subjected to cruel and
unusual punishment.
One of the prisoners’ core requests is that
no individual should be placed in solitary
confinement without extensive administrative review, and that those who are sent
there must be given a fixed sentence. The
Center for Constitutional Rights claims that
anything less than these requests amounts
to a violation of the Eighth Amendment,
which grants protection against cruel and
unusual punishment, and the Fifth Amendment, which promises the right to due process of law.
According to the CCR, which filed a federal class-action lawsuit on behalf of the
prisoners last May, SHU inmates spend 22
½ to 24 hours a day in a tiny windowless
cell without access to basic human contact.

L

Such conditions have proven to have a devastating psychological impact on individuals held in such conditions for a prolonged
period, and at Pelican Bay, some inmates
have been held in this way for more than
20 years.
This is not a problem contained only
within Pelican Bay State Prison. Solitary
confinement conditions are also far from
perfect in L.A. County jails — one ex-lawyer, for example, was held in solitary confinement in the L.A. County Men’s Central
Jail for 14 months without being charged
for a crime.
Even more disturbingly, many SHU
prisoners have not broken prison rules and
therefore do not deserve to be held in such
a manner. For example, prison officials can
take even the most basic actions and turn
them into a solitary confinement sentence
for affiliation with a prison gang. Shane
Bauer, an observer of Pelican Bay’s SHU
who has experienced solitary confinement,
told the Los Angeles Times that some “evidence” of prison gang activity includes pictures of Malcolm X, possession of Niccolo
Machiavelli’s The Prince and the use of the
words “tio” and “hermano,” according to
the Los Angeles Times.
It is one thing to place an inmate who has
killed another inmate or assaulted a guard
into solitary confinement for the safety of
others, but arbitrarily locking an inmate
away without judicial oversight for possessing a book remains a glaring inconsistency within California’s prison system that
has largely been ignored up to this point.
Unfair solitary confinement also draws
attention to a larger problem in California
prisons: abuse by prison guards. The L.A.
County Sheriff’s Department, for one, was
sued in January by the American Civil Liberties Union for inmate abuse, and the case
has yet to be decided. The fact that such a
prominent city’s sheriff’s department has
been sued multiple times by the ACLU and
investigated by the FBI should be a source
of enormous public outrage. But the issue
remains at the margins of the media and
public consciousness, further eroding the
ideals all Americans’ constitutional rights
are founded upon.
There is no doubt that solitary confinement is necessary for some inmates for
safety reasons, and most of the time those
inmates are far from model citizens. But
if a nation so dedicated to constitutional
rights and civil liberties does not protect
the rights of all its citizens, no matter how
morally defunct they are, it loses its credRock

ibility to a certain extent.
Because of this, it is vital that grievances
made by people like the prisoners in solitary
at Pelican Bay and the allegedly abused inmates in L.A. County jails are addressed, if
not for their sake then for the sake of being
regarded as a civilized society. ●
[Sarah Cueva is junior majoring in
Middle East studies and political science.
Her ... column “Leaning Toward Liberty”
runs Mondays.]

SOLITARY
CONFINEMENT
ABUSE RAMPANT
IN CALIFORNIA
PRISONS
By Rachel Moran, Reason.com
icky Gray has been in solitary confinement since 2006, despite having a violence-free prison record
and no major disciplinary infractions.
Shane Bauer’s excellent Mother Jones
article on solitary confinement—which
tells Gray’s story—is the latest addition to
a long line of depressing indictments of the
draconian methods practiced in California
prison system. Bauer’s research suggests
that nearly 12,000 Californian inmates are
currently housed in some form of isolation,
with 3,809 of these serving an indeterminate sentence. David Barneburg, the institutional gang investigator for California’s
Pelican Bay prison, claims that segregating
gang members through solitary confinement is the only way to keep prisons from
being overrun by racial conflict and killings. Despite this the rate of violent incidents in California prisons has risen almost
20 percent in the 23 years Pelican Bay has
been in operation.
In 2006 Ricky Gray was validated as a
member of the Black Guerrilla Family (a
gang classified as a ‘security threat group’
that, according to Californian prison officials, operates within the state’s prisons.)
In order to make the official classification
the state of California requires at least
three pieces of evidence pointing towards
gang membership with at least one of these
showing a ‘direct link’ between the prisoner
in question and a validated gang member.
But the state doesn’t seem to have met
this standard in Gray’s case. A review ordered by a sympathetic warden found that
many of the informants in Gray’s case

R

Volume 1, Number 12

didn’t even know Gray. Two alleged informants signed sworn affidavits documenting that they were never interviewed about
Gray and hadn’t even met the guard who
compiled the original statements.
But before action could be taken, the
sympathetic warden in charge of Gray’s review moved on, leaving it up to the initial
gang investigator to choose to overturn the
validation status. After he refused to do so,
Gray took the case to court where it was
ruled that “A prisoner has no constitutionally guaranteed immunity from being falsely or wrongfully accused of conduct which
may result in the deprivation of a protected
liberty interest.”
Bauer suggests that this is merely another way of saying that “it is not illegal
for prison authorities to lie in order to lock
somebody away in solitary.” ●

SPEECH MUST BE
FREE

A

shoutout of solidarity and respect
to all who continue to resist the
CDCR, OCS/IGI illegal policies
and practices via our collective efforts on
the inside and outside of these prison walls!
For the past few months I’ve read articles
in the Bay View, the Rock, and PHSS News
about CDCR/IGI staff punishing people
who talk about non-violent, peaceful protest activities—such as hunger strike/work
strike (e.g., responding to such speech with
punitive action in the form of confiscating
incoming and outgoing mail, issuing serious rule violation reports, cancelling visits
in the middle of the visit, etc.).
I’m not a lawyer, but I believe such acts
of suppression are a clear violation of one’s
First Amendment free speech rights! An
example of legal support for this position
is the Ninth Circuit’s ruling in McCoy v.
Steward, 2002, D.J. DAR 2173, wherein
the court held “…Former gang member’s
conviction for speaking to other gang
members violated the First Amendment”
(he was alleged to have advised some Arizona gang affiliates about various ways
to structure their gang based on his gang
experience in California. The basis for the
court’s ruling was that McCoy’s conviction
was unconstitutional because, at worst, his
words to the gang were abstract advocacy
of lawlessness not directed to inciting imminent lawless action. Thus, they were
protected under Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395
U.S. 444 (1969) and its progeny.

In Brandenburg, its seminal advocacy
case, the Supreme Court held that the
“mere abstract teaching” of “the moral propriety or even moral necessity for a resort
to force and violence” is protected by the
First Amendment unless such speech is
“directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite
or produce such action.” 395 U.S. 444-448
(1969). Under Brandenburg timing is crucial, because speech must incite imminent
lawless action to be constitutionally prosecutable. Thus, several years later, in Hess
v. Indiana, the Court made explicit what
was implicit in Brandenburg: a state cannot
constitutionally sanction “advocacy of illegal action at some indefinite future time.”
414 U.S. 105, at 108 (1973).
The above principles apply to the subject
matter at issue because CDCR, et al., have
sought to criminalize and punitively sanction people for what amounts to “abstract
advocacy” regarding non-violent, peaceful
protest types of activity that does not present an imminent threat to safety or security.
Also notable is the California Appellate
Court’s implicit recognition of a mentally
competent prisoner’s right to peacefully
protest issues of personal/moral importance to the individual. See: In re Conservatorship of Burton, 170 Cal. App. 4th 1016
(2009).
These can be further researched, expanded upon, and used to challenge CDCR’s
ongoing efforts to suppress our speech—so
they can keep us silent while they continue
to torture and oppress us under the guise
of their “worst of the worst” propaganda.
Their ability to do so depends upon on our
complacent cooperation! ●
Onward in Struggle and Solidarity
Todd Ashker, PBSP-SHU
[Note: The above article was printed in
the November issue of Rock, but that issue
was censored at Pelican Bay guards so I am
reprinting it here for those readers.]

3

FREEDOM – JUSTICE – AND HUMYN RIGHTS
Investigations, Monitoring, &
Reporting on CDCR’s “CSW”
(Potty Watch)
Abuses & Human/Civil/Constitutional Rights Violations
News Update, September 3, 2012
“TORTURE and other Cruel, Inhumane,
or Degrading, Malicious, Sadistic treatment or punishments” are prohibited under Article of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. (Art 7 and l0.1, United
Nations International Convention Against
Torture, states “…All persons deprived of
their liberty shall be treated with respect for
the inherent dignity of the Human person.”
Even the Eighth Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution prohibits “cruel, unusual punishment,” which the U.S. signed.
INTRODUCTION
In 1990, when we prisoners were transferred here to Pelican Bay SHU, it was
common practice (just as previously at
Corcoran SHU) for the goon guards to
greet us, with their black leather gloves,
and seven/twenty-three (“7/23”) handsigns representing their “Green Wall”
(GW) gang. They would be standing there
as the Welcoming Party, some dressed in
shielded helmets and all wielding batons.
About four of them would board the CDC
transportation bus and randomly snatch
someone off, force him to the concrete cement ground and commence to beating him
right there outside the bus windows; so we
all could see it, as if they were trying to say,
“We’re the big gang up here in the North
Coast Pelican Bay gulag area.”
These fellow imprisoned persons were
dragged off through the doorway into the
SHU torture facilities and forced into these
small, closet-sized Holding Cells that were
lined up and down “C” and “D” SHU corridor hallways, where the goons chained
our ankles up to the handcuffs behind our
backs and left us lying in a puddle of blood
in what became known as a Hog tied position for days! (see Madrid v. Gomez, U.S.,
District Court, North Cal. Class Action
Trial, case no. 90-3094 the/889 F. Si [1146)
Welcome to the birth of CDCR’s “Pelican Bay SHU indefinite isolation Torture
Chamber! (see http://pelicanbaygunderstrike.org/wordpress “Formal ComplaintFive Core Demands”); and http://ccrjustice.org/pelican-bay; also, the Class Action
4

lawsuit against the CDCR, filed May 31,
2012, Ruiz amended complaint
FLASH forward twenty-two (22) years
later to today. Walk down the same Pelican Bay SHU hallway corridors right now
and you will see the same eight (or so)
Holding Cages located directly in front of
the “C” and “D” facilities SHU “Corridor
Control “ booths, and you will find them
regularly filled with men dressed in orange
or pink jumpsuits, duct taped around the
bottom legs and upper waist, restricting
their breathing and blood flow. (see Cases
in Point – Mr. S. Perez, below). The conditions in the CSW holding cells are deplorable, filthy, very cold, urine and fecal waste
matter spread on the plastic (Lex-an) glass
covering the front, perforated steel door.
They are denied all basic personal hygiene
care items, such as soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, clean clothing, a shower, razor to
shave with, and not allowed to exercise.
Current practice is for the goons to take
them out of the cell, down the corridor,
into the hallway to the SHU Law Library,
where they remove the duct tape from
around the waist, pull down the jumpsuit
and boxer shorts; so the person can sit
down on the portable potty and take a shit
(if possible). He’s sitting right there in full
view of the other staff and inmates attending the Classification Committee Hearing
held right across from the front entrance
where other guards and escorted prisoners
pass by to and from short corridor units,
including those of us being escorted to the
Law Library; at that time (like this author),
by guards R. Reich and others who tried
to order us to walk down past the fellowprisoners sitting there on that potty, already
degraded, dehumanized, and humiliated.
But I immediately stopped and backed
out of the hallway, ignoring the threats to
“write us up” by the escort guards. The
prisoner behind me, also backed up and
waited so we could allow the fellow human being whatever little dignity he still
had left!
FREEDOM? JUSTICE? AND HUMYN
RIGHTS!
CASES IN POINT
There are at least four (4) instances that
come immediately to the attention of our
project, each illustrating clear examples of
CDCR guards at PBSP SHU Facility abusing their authority targeting the following
innocent persons for subjection to the CSW

sadistic and malicious games: Salvador
Perez, James Harvey, Daryl Burnet and (his
celly) Kenneth Carter, and Paul Jones, and
James Williamson.

________
S. Perez, J47812, D-4-205.
Facility SHU Sergeant appeared in front
of his cell and ordered him to “cuff up because he is going down to be wanded with
the Metal Detector.” When he asked, “What
for?” they gave him the excuse that he was
supposed to “have a cell phone.” So when
they went to wand Mr. Perez with the metal
detector, they intentionally kept moving the
wand close to their uniform that had metal
keys and chain hanging on it, which made
it sound off. Mr. Perez was then ordered to
be placed in strange “plastic tube devices”
(which a Pelican Bay guard had created at
home in his garage, waiting for CDCR’s
official approval for mass-production) The
PVC pipe, about 7” in diameter, was pulled
over Mr. Perez’s hands and lower arms area
He was then placed in a jumpsuit with duct
tape wound around at the bottom and top
(ankles & waist) therefore restricting his
breathing and blood flow and causing pain.
He was placed in a CSW cell, in conditions that were deplorable, filthy, very cold,
urine and feces-ridden. The cell is encased
in Lex-an glass with a perforated steel
door. There was no running water or sanitary provisions in the cell. Perez was kept
in those inhumane conditions and restraints
for a total of four (4) days, without any
basic personal hygiene materials such as
soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, clean clothing, a shower, razor to shave with, and was
not allowed to exercise. Although he told
medical staff and other correctional staff
about the pain caused by the restraints and
PVC devices, and that he wanted to submit
to an x-ray to prove he didn’t have anything
concealed, he was ignored. During those
four days of torture in the CSW cell, Perez
was made to defecate in a bucket in front of
staff and other inmates walking by, while
still in restraints. The Staff members (aka
Green Wall gang) would just cut the tape
off and pull down his pants/boxer shorts,
exposing him to the most humiliating and
degrading condition, as they shouted obscene comments and laughter. No contraband was ever produced. For further information check out Mr. Perez’s complaint
filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern
California, in the case of: Salvador Perez,
Rock

J47812 v. Mathew Cate, et al. (Case No.
C10-3730JSW(PR)
J. Harvey, C48884, D-4-102.
Next, is the case of Mr. Harvey, who was
forced to go over to the Pelican Bay SHU
CSW holding cage when he would not let
some guard try to make him go through unnecessary body movements while Mr. Harvey was getting dressed to be returned from
the SHU Law Library back to the Housing
Unit. Mr. Harvey explained to the goon
that his medical condition prevents him
from moving his body certain ways without
causing severe pain, but the guard (Scott)
was stuck on stupid and would not allow
Mr. Harvey to return to the Unit. He called
the “D” Facility Program Sergeant, who
also did not seem to care about Harvey’s
medical condition, ordering him to do the
extra squat motions that his fellow green
wall gang guard Scott wanted to see him
do. Refusing to go through the pain caused
by such movements, Mr. Harvey was ordered escorted down the hall to the CSW
cages located in front of the D-SHU Corridor Control. Once there, he demanded his
right to see their Captain and the Doctor to
confirm and verify that he does suffer from
a painful medical condition. It took hours
for the higher SHU dungeon administrators
and keepers to finally allow Mr. Harvey to
be returned to his assigned Housing Unit,
even though the prison’s medical staff had
verified his serious medical condition in the
records.
Cases of D. Burnett, B-60892 and K.
Carter, R52119, D-4-103.
Then there is the game these same Pelican Bay dungeon keepers/supervisor operatives played in Mr. Burnett and Mr. Carter’s case. When the guards first appeared
at their assigned cage telling Mr. Carter
to “cuff up,” he asked “for What?” They
said, “he’s going down to be wanded with
the metal detector,” because they had been
told by a prisoner at another prison somewhere that Carter was supposed to have a
cell phone. He was cuffed up and taken to
the D-SHU program office.
Then the guards returned to remove Mr.
Burnett from off the Unit’s so-called “yard”
and escorted him also down to the program
office. They completed wanding Mr. Carter
with negative results and returned him back
to his assigned cell. But they kept Mr. Burnett for days, because when they wanded
him, that guard kept moving the device past
Volume 1, Number 12

the metal handcuffs on Burnett’s wrists, as
well as next to the key chain on the guard’s
uniform, making the detector sound off. So
he was ordered placed inside their CSW
cage and forced to endure the same pain
and suffering that is described above. (See
Mr. Perez’s case.)
Ultimately, after taking more shits on
the portable potty than they normally require, the goons had to admit that Mr. Burnett never did possess any contraband. But
they still refused to immediately return him
to his assigned cell right away, saying that
being that it was the weekend, they would
wait and get their boss’s permission later.
Eventually, Mr. Burnett was escorted back
to the Unit’s cell.
Case of P. Jones, B26077 & J. Williamson, D34288, D-4-107
Finally, this last instance, involving
Mr. Jones and Mr. Williamson, started out
similar to the Burnett/Carter case, where
the goons were sent to their cell (three day
after they went for Burnett/Carter) and ordered Jones & Williamson to cuff-up. “We
were told to escort both of you down to the
program office.” Once there, they began
investigation into who and for what reason
were they there. From the first, the program
administration were playing their games,
giving runaround excuses.
However, being that these two men were
informed of the games played in the previous fellows’ cases, they knew what to do.
So when the dungeon administrators (Sgt.
R. Moore, Lt. J. Diggle, Capt. T.A. Wood
and Assoc. Warden K. McGuyer) would
Artwork by Michael Russell

pass by, they stopped them, noted their
names and specifically asked them: 1) Why
are we here? (2) Who ordered it?, etc. First,
the guards claimed, “Jones just returned
from out to Court and we believe he has a
cell phone.” But when Mr. Jones pointed
out the indisputable fact that, “Look at your
own prison records and you will see that
I have not been nowhere out of this SHU,
including out to Court for decades!” they
each started stuttering and fumbling over
their words, and finally said, “Just let’s
wand you and get this over with!”
Then they called the Institutional Service Unit (ISU) goons to the SHU, and took
us down the hall. We first identified each
CDCR employee present (Sgt. Moore, DSHU Program; Guards Schrewberry, Martinez) We next asked, “What exactly will
this procedure consist of? What kind of
device(s) will you be using?” After they
explained that, we followed up asking them
to first run a test to ensure that the wand
and metal detector devices were functioning properly, which they did by first conducting a “Battery charge” check and made
sure that it worked. Then they ran the wand
over metal, and it worked correctly. We
asked that the guard with the wand to make
sure it was kept clear of any metals on his
uniform and our handcuffs, which caught
them off guard, and they not only tried to
ensure us that they would not play games,
but actually carried it out professionally
without making the metal detector sound
off.
We were then taken back over to the program office to wait to be returned to the
unit. But before we left, we again stopped
and jammed Capt. Wood and Lt. Diggle
about the whole ordeal. Letting them know
that we recognize this game they’re playing, which is clearly harassment, because
all that week they had been pulling New
Afrikan prisoners out of our cells, bringing
us down there, which is clearly institutionalized racism. They again started stuttering
and fumbling their words, when PJ asked
them did they check their records and see
that he did not just “return from Court”?
Then at about 6 PM that night they came
to Unit D-4 and pulled out everyone from
their cells. We later learned that the Dungeon Administrators (Wood, Diggle, etc.)
staged the whole “Pod Raid” to cover
up their initial week-long targeting New
Afrikan prisoners in those dragnet CSW
metal detector wanding games. And sure
enough, when we filed our formal complaints, the first thing they used in their de5

fense was that they also had searched others that evening of April 23rd, 2011.
One thing is for sure, they have not been
back to target us since we called them on
the inherently racist green wall gang actions, that their tactics prove to be.
Update Note: Recently, there have not
been regular sightings of the CSW cages
being filled here in the SHU. It’s possible
that this is due to either or both of the “Perez” lawsuit (mentioned above) and the outside Concerned Public Citizenry investigating by the Calif. Senate Research Team.
Laura Magnani, at AFSC, has brought exposure of this prison’s CSW Human Rights
Violations. Whatever may be the case, it’s
important for all CDCR imprisoned-persons to Know Your Rights!
KNOW YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS
It is a fact that CDCR has committed
itself to allow its employees to establish
and continue such dehumanizing, unsafe,
and illegal policies, actions, decisions, and
practices, and overall mistreatment, under
their “Contraband Surveillance Watch”
(CSW) scheme. So it’s important for those
inside CDCR’s gulag to learn, know, and
exercise your legal rights in case it becomes necessary to file in the court, like
Mr. Perez has done. (see cases in point, below “S. Perez” v. Matthew Cate. et al)
1. BE INFORMED! Read and educate
yourself to the laws, rules, regulations,
operation procedures, etc, involving being placed on the prison’s Contraband
Surveillance Watch (CSW) or “Potty
Watch” mistreatment program practices,
by requesting to following legal material
from the library.
• a) CDCR’s Title 15, Division 3, Section
3004 (“RIGHTS& RESPECT OF OTHERS”) & 3991. Department operations
Manual, Section 529.23 (1 through 8);
• b) Case(s) Laws like ours;
• c) Health & Safety codes: Cal. Penal
Code Sections 173, 2650-2653; etc.
2. Next, when approached by Staff ordering you to be “wanded” with their
“Metal Detector”, immediately do the
following:
• a) Request the names of each and every
one of the staff around you Some guards
wear name tags on their uniforms for
you to see, also. Everyone around you;
the guards ordering you, their Supervisor, Sgt./Lt., and all other “possible witnesses” including fellow inmates;
• b) Ask specifically, “Why are you wanding me with the metal detector?”
6

• c) Ask that they put their reason in writing and who ordered it.
• d) Ask that the metal detector’s wand be
tested to ensure it is functioning properly. Watch carefully how the guard
holding the wand operates it to make
sure he keeps it far away and clear from
any metal items attached to his uniform
like keys, chains, cuffs, etc., which can
and has wrongly set off the Metal Detector, including on occasions when the
guards are believed to have done this
deliberately with the intent of falsely accusing the targeted person of possessing
“contraband”. (see example “Cases-inPoint”)
3. If the Metal Detector does go off and
staff wrongly accuses you of testing
positive for possessing contraband, or
for whatever other reason that they use
to put you in the CSW Cage, immediately take the following actions to create
a written record and secure your rights
to take their asses to Courts later if you
decide to:
• a) First, make a verbal complaint and
ask to speak with their higher authorities
(eg., Captain, Associate Warden, etc)
who has the authority to order them to
stop what they’re doing to you.
• b) Demand to be “X-Rayed” to prove
you do not possess any contraband
• c) Ask to speak with the Medical Doctor (any reason, if necessary), and when
the Nurse arrives, have them write down
your Medical complaints such as Medical Health problems you already suffer
from and the harm that being duct taped,
cuffed, and in the CSW is having on your
health, such as the difficulty to breath,
poor blood circulation, back pains, feet/
ankle/leg pains for having to stand up all
day/afternoon/evening (until night time
when they bring the mattress) and any/
all other problems that are causing you
physical/mental pain, suffering, distress,
anguish, etc. Keep demanding to SEE
A DOCTOR, or to BE X-RAYED, and
make sure they write everything down!
And get the Medical staff’s names.
• d) Request both Custody guards and
Medical Staff to provide you with your
BASIC Necessities, guaranteed to all
CDCR State Prisoners, so that you can
take care of your Personal Hygiene care,
such as: soap, toothbrush, toothpaste,
towel, shower/ and shave supplies, clean
clothing, etc. Insist on regular access to
soap and water before and after each
meal-time you eat and defecate. Also,

it’s important that you look around the
CSW Cage you’re in and take notice of
the condition it is in, and tell the Sgt./Lt./
Capt/Medical Staff, it’s too filthy and
unhealthy for them to keep you in there.
• e) Finally, repeatedly ask to be provided
a CDC 602 & 602-A (attachment) “Inmate Appeal” form and a “Rights &
Responsibility” Complaint Form to go
have with you, so that you can exercise your right to file a complaint; both
a Staff Complaint & Excessive Force
Punishment Complaint, (per Title 15,
Sections 3004, 3004.1) and demand you
be given something to write with - with
ink, pen filler, pencil – that will allow
you to write down all the information
on your situation and send it out of the
prison for safe keeping and notifying the
outside world to:
• f) Send your reports to: The California
State Senate Research Team, Attn. Senator Darrell Steinberg, Room 205, State
Capitol, Sacramento CA 94248 [Confidential and Legal Mail]
• and to:
• Marilyn S. McMahon, Attorney at Law,
PO Box 5187, Berkeley CA 94705
[Confidential and Legal Mail] ●
[Submitted by The Freedom & Justice
Project, Pelican Bay SP, James Williamson, Salvador Perez, Paul Jones, James
Harvey, Daryel Burnett, Kenneth Carter.]

Rock

[Note: Names of letter writers will be
withheld unless the author of the letter explicitly approves printing of their name.]
Group Stamps
First and foremost, I hope to find you and
your staff in the very best of all aspects. I
am detained in Corcoran SHU and I am
writing on behalf of the inmates in my unit
to submit a contribution from us all. Please
find enclosed a total of 62 forever stamps to
assist you in your efforts. This stamp contribution is on behalf of inmates in 4B-3R.
We certainly appreciate your support for
our struggle. Thanks you for your time and
consideration.
Juan Radillo.
Stamps And More
Just stopping by to let you know I received the October newsletter of Rock and
I read you needed more stamps. Us here
in Corcoran SHU 4B-3R will continue to
send you monthly contributions being that
asking friends around us to individually
contribute 1 stamp each is an easy goal to
reach. We’ll rotate the donations to have
some sort of transparency in the process,
but you should receive about 65 stamps
again this month.
My hope is that you can print the letters I
sent you on 9/10 and 9/30 so fellow readers
of your newsletter can do the same collecting 1 stamp per month from friends around
them. This information benefits a lot of us
(actually all of us) and a collective effort
can and will go a long way in assisting
Rock, CPF, and PHHS.
Also, so you and your readers are aware,
the administration here has recently advised us that: “Due to information received
that inmates on facility 4A and 4B plan to
protest the step down program, inmates
who are double celled must attend yard ‘together’ or forfeit their yard if both inmates
are unwilling to go out.” So, when yard
comes around to your cell, if your cellmate
is sick or simply wants some time alone,
you will be denied yard because “both” of
you aren’t going out.
As far as I know, we have “individual”
constitutional rights to yard and I find it
ironic that this is being implemented and I
find it ironic that this is being implemented
as some sort of security measure (to allegVolume 1, Number 12

A Word of Thanks
Please accept a solid handshake from
all of us in this struggle. I can’t thank you
enough for the work you do in the streets
as well as keeping us informed in here. I
am new to the political arena and I am still
learning. Thanks for exposing CDCR and
prisons across the country. This new 7.0
version is a joke. But what did I expect
from my captors? To give up all this exploitations at the first sign of resistance? I think
not. But it’s okay. What can they take from
man that has nothing to lose and everything
to gain? It gives me great joy to hear we are
all uniting and putting our differences aside
for the greater cause I could feel a storm
brewing. So everybody hold on and enjoy
the ride. Well Mr. Mead, thank you for all
your wisdom.
Raul Cuahtli
Exercise Yard Trouble
I’ve placed an “SASE” inside for the upcoming November issue of Rock. Page 2
(of this letter) are my exact words used on
CDCR 22 form, and I sent them to the war-

den. Question: What about my
rights to go to “exercise” yard,
like inmates who not have cellmates? I was advised by CDCR
personnel why this action was
taken. The administration was
told inmates with cell-mates,
once on exercise yard, were
gonna strike and refuse to accept
and/or go back to double celling.
This is discrimination?
(Letter to warden)
“On Friday, 10-19-12, in unit 4B3L,
morning yard release, I was advised by
floor officers I could not go to exercise yard
in my cell-mate did not go to yard also. My
cell-mate is elderly, he is 70 years old. He
never goes to yard. My cell-mate has various ailments that prevent him from being
on his FRRT of exposed to the elements for
5 hours. This action is unacceptable and arbitrary.”
Michael Hawkins

LETTERS

LETTERS

edly protest the “compatibility” within the
cells) when in effect it will only cause incompatibility! As it is now, people who are
double celled spend 24 hours a day confined
in a small cell and their only chance to have
some privacy is to alternate the yard access
within cellmates. For those who have cellies who are elderly or simply don’t enjoy
yard and choose not to go, I doubt there’ll
be much harmony within that cell when
I’m continuously denied yard based on my
cellmate’s decisions.
You know, someone once mentioned
“the bottom line” when it comes to CDCD
and apparently “housing” is an important
part of that. From what I’ve seen in the
last few years, the SHU continues to grow
and I wonder how long we’ll continue to
accommodate them?! The administration
continues to use “single cell” status as an
administrative tool rather than actual security reasons while others are being forced
to compact in what they claim is “solitary
confinement”??
Ok. Now Ed, just wanted to share my
own personal thoughts with you and let
you know we’ll continue to support your
newsletter as best as we can. Thanks for
your help.
Pascua Gosselin #E80407
4B-3R-15/SHU, PO BOX 3481
Corcoran, CA 93212

Media Presence?
I’d like to pass along my heart felt greeting to all in Solidarity. One of the questions
asked was: do we have any suggestions?
My response to this open invitation is if
the main SHU reps haven’t considered this
idea already, others and myself should like
to bring a potentially viable idea to them
for consideration. If we ever protest again,
we could demand the media be present
during any negotiations, the denial would
make them out to be culprits in the public’s
eye. Such a stand off has the potential to
garner a lot of favorable media attention. If
the media is granted access to the negotiations they could end up being more vocal in
holding CDCR accountable to any agreement reached. Also, the media’s presence
during negotiations would give them a better understanding of our issues to convey
to the public. Such a demand seems to us
to be a win-win.
Name Withheld, PBSP SHU
[Ed’ Note: The above letter arrived from
the streets, printed on a laser printer, with
no return address.]
Punishing Our Families
There are a couple of things that I
would like to share with you. Just personal
thoughts in regards to your recent newsletter concerning the hunger strike etc…here
in California
Letters ..................... Continued on page 8
7

Letters .................. Continued from page 7
As you can see by my address, I’m
housed as a prisoner here in Corcoran
SHU. I have been here for five years only.
As I read your last newsletter I began to
review the requests now being made and
I’m uncertain if there was a solicitation for
ideas or not. Here goes anyway: currently
the restitution rate is fixed at 55% of any
funds to a prisoners account. Since I’ve
been incarcerated I’ve seen it go from 22%
to 55%. I can understand if not agree with
the concept/ideals at work here. That making restitution apart of responsibility upon
the offender and part of their rehabilitation. My understanding is this is to have a
positive effect upon the offender; by them
repaying victims from their own wages or
earnings. I don’t know how much is actually known of “prison-life” (so to speak) to
many outside of the system. However there
are little to no jobs within California’s prison system and even less with a pay number where one earns payment for services.
Therefore, most of a prisoners restitution,
if any is paid at all, does not come from
the offender himself but from their family
or friends that may send them money. This
process fails to instill the noble ideas of responsibility to one’s victim (and I can honestly laugh at any attempt to use rehabilitation within the current prison system). This
process honestly teaches nothing but contempt and disdain from the point of view of
the prisoner; because they are not held accountable but their family and friends are.
This is only a discussion, I’m not asking
that you champion this idea. Maybe right
now isn’t the right moment. I get that. However, if we are truly sincere that prison and
its primary function is rehabilitation; and
that us prisoners are going to bring forth a
collective effort to promote these positive
qualities; I believe this fits in here. Where
the system no longer needs the victim to
file for restitution but still claims it on their
behalf. Doesn’t that sound odd to you? And
this won’t go away, that’s not what’s being stated. Only follow what was originally
intended by holding the offender accountable. Give them jobs to help rehabilitation
and pay to allow THEM to pay for their
restitution and only from their earnings, not
gifts from family or friends.
Last, as a result of the discussion within
your newsletter on how to go about creating change and getting our voices heard, a
new policy has just been implemented here
where if your cellie refuses yard they will
8

not let you go out even if you want to go.
They knowingly and willfully deny you
your right. A lot can be put down on how
and why this is wrong; short and sweet,
there is abuse of power here, point blank.
Billy M. Sell
Update from Calipatria ASU
We got our cable and it’s a big difference.
Lots of people here in segregation haven’t
had this type of stimulation in years. It allows us to see what’s going on in the world
and to actually see beyond these walls. We
have 7 channels (not including the institutional channels). We get Telefutura, Telemundo (both spanish), FOX, NBC, ABC,
CBS, CW. Then there’s 3 Christian channels and there’s the institutional channels
where they show us “PG-13” movies and
play music. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful but it’s a lot more than what we had.
The warden said that by next year each
prison will establish their own committee
to review our cases and determine whether
we get kicked out to the mainline. People
have been getting validated still but it has
slowed down.... The unity here is strong
and us of the like mind and heart are in solidarity with the struggle. We haven’t forgot
about the Short Corridor and our support
from here is in full. Better days are ahead
for us all but most importantly for those
who’ve endured these torture chambers for
decades and on.
Robbie Riva CDC# T-49359 ASU - 130
P.O. Box 5008, Calipatria, CA 92233

CHANGE AT THE
TOP
By Ed Mead
n October 26th Matt Cate, the head
of California’s draconian prison
system quit. Who knows why he
left. We can only guess. My first thought
was that he must have seen the handwriting
on the wall, and it isn’t good for his team.
The winds of change are starting to blow.
Cate will now become the executive director of the State Association of Counties
(which sounds to me like a step down).
Martin Hoshino has been appointed acting
secretary of CDCR in the wake of Cate’s
leaving. Here is what one support activist,
a member of the Life Support Alliance, had
to say about Hoshino: “This would be a
disastrous appointment if it is serious and
goes through. Hoshino was, until about a
year ago, Ex. Dir. of the BPH and was one

O

rotten troll. LSA fought him tooth and nail
until he left. Under Hoshino’s regime we
had to pay to LOOK at public records—
not get copies, just to look at them. He
constantly allowed the board to violate the
Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, leaving
many meetings that should have been open
to public closed, only for BPH commissioners. He will be awful as Sec at CDCR
and a real disaster for any cooperation between IFCs., families, and stakeholders.
Two-faced troll is the nicest thing I can say
about him. Since he left BPH the board has
come a long way—their meetings are now
more open, public records are available, we
have developed a real working relationship
with the officials there and they are soliciting opinions and input from stakeholders.
The thought of Hoshino running CDC as
whole is chilling. Don’t know if this is just
a temporary place-holder or if he is under
serious consideration as a replacement but
think we need to let the governor know this
is a mistake.” ●

EDITORIAL 1-12

T

hose in government who so heavily glorify concepts such as liberty,
justice, democracy, and freedom
have little inkling of what such terms actually mean. They put these sacred words on
everything, even your postage stamps, yet
use their power to hold people in cages so
small the law would forbid them to house
primates, they will lock people up without
access to habeas corpus, and even murder
their own citizens in the name of freedom.
Like most of you reading this, I too have
been denied both liberty and justice, and
I also have a stronger sense of what these
terms really mean. Democracy is more than
merely voting for pig A or pig B, justice
is not the same as punishment, and freedom…, well, we slaves know better than
most the real meaning of freedom.
There are no versions of the truth; it is
absolute. And the truth is that you are being
held in conditions of slavery, a condition
sanctioned by the thirteenth amendment
of the constitution. You are kept in a perpetual state of irresponsibility and dependency, worse than dogs, and totally disenfranchised from the political process that
supposedly would allow you the means to
bring about change.
You may well ask yourself, but what can
I as a lone individual do—I am but a drop
in a huge ocean? But what is the ocean if
Rock

not a vast collection of drops? Each of us
can do something. Albert Einstein wrote
that “The world is a dangerous place, not
because of those who do evil, but because
of those who look on and do nothing.”
There can be no doubt that what is being
done to prisoners is evil. And the ultimate
error would be in refusing to look this evil
in the face.
And speaking of evil, the Pelican Bay
censors banned the November issue of this
newsletter due to an article on page four.
It was only at Pelican Bay that the issue
violated state prison rules. It was just fine
and routinely delivered to readers in every
other prison in the state.
In the process of getting rid of the offending article they also had to censor a
piece by PBSP prisoner Todd Ashker titled
“Speech Must Be Free” (printed in this
issue on page 3). Page three of that issue
also contained the continuation of an article from page two titled “Students Hold
Demonstration to Protest Solitary Confinement Conditions”, and the start of a piece
that was continued on page four titled “Opposition to Elements of Proposed Security
Threat Group Policy. But none of that is
what brought down the wrath of the prisoncrat censors; what seems to have enraged
them is an article entitled “Once hostilities
Have Ended.”
This was a six page hand written article
by PBSP-SHU prisoner Jose Villarreal
that I edited down to about one and a half
newsletter pages. In this article Mr. Villarreal pointed out that captured members of
groups such as Germany’s Red Army Faction and Italy’s Red Brigades, groups that
had bombed and killed government leaders, were able to overcome their solitary
confinement through peaceful means of
struggle. He said “My main thrust here is
that if those who were assassinating government officials, judges, etc., in an attempt
to overthrow the government, were able to
[successfully] overturn their isolation and
draconian treatment, [then] surely we can
as well.” Do you see anything here that
would warrant censorship? I don’t.
The state of California paid Prison Legal News (a publication I founded but am
no longer a part of) nearly $500,000 for
wrongly censoring that paper. The overzealous censors have evidently failed to
learn their lesson from that loss. Accordingly, anyone impacted by the censorship
of Rock, particularly those who are familiar
with filing Title 42 Sec. 1983 complaints
in federal court, should get in touch with
Volume 1, Number 12

me. All prisoners who were victims of this
censorship should file 602s and otherwise
exhaust their administrative remedies so as
to be co-plaintiffs on this upcoming First
Amendment litigation.
My understanding of the applicable case
law is that your captors must remove the
offensive portions of the publication and
send in the rest of it to prisoner-subscribers,
and they are to notify the publisher of the
rejection and the specific passages that violate prison rules. None of this was done. Instead your captors merely cited some legal
mumbo-jumbo subscribers could not use to
appeal because it lacked sufficient information as to what content was offensive.
Please note that this upcoming litigation is
a side issue and has nothing to do with the
larger peaceful struggle for justice that lies
before us all.
In newsletter related stuff, let me once
again urge readers not to send materials
you want printed in Rock to third parties
with a request that such documents be forwarded to me. The September 3rd Freedom,
Justice, and Humyn Right piece (printed
on page 5), for example, reached me more
than two months later. Another prisoner
sent me a document on for publication by
way of a third party on October 8th and I did
not receive it for two days short of a month.
If your stuff comes in late there is a good
chance it won’t get printed.
In other business, I’m told that word has
come down from on-high (shot callers) that
no SHU prisoner should participate in the
CDCR’s step down sham. I have no problem with that. But word is also that these
same “fellas” have put out the dictate that
nobody should take an interracial cellie. If
true, I do have a problem with that.
Are we making all of these sacrifices to
go back to business as usual inside California prisons? Is your individual power
or position more important than the cause
of justice we are all fighting for? Is there
anyone in this struggle that does not see racial or regional equality as an essential and
necessary prerequisite for victory?
If this struggle is only about releasing
the shot callers so they can go back to doing business as usual, the drug dealing and
murder, then I am outta here. I’m not doing all of this for a bunch of predatory dope
fiends.
It is you shot callers of all races and regions who created the need for SNY, who
said nothing as prisoner rights and privileges were repeatedly attacked, and who were
responsible for the maiming and killing of

so many of your fellow prisoners.
I don’t want to further those sick trips.
I want to see the prisons in this state integrated, both in the mess halls and the
cellblocks. This is not only because it’s the
right thing to do, but also because without
such a demonstration of real prisoner unity
we will not be able to win this struggle for
justice—and the object is to win!
Now the liberals in some of these outside support organizations may be okay
with what you say. I’m not. I want to see
what you do. If it’s true that word has come
down from on-high that there is to be no
inter-racial celling, then you are going to
lose a lot of support—including mine.
If this is not true, then the shot callers
should quickly and openly say so, loud and
clear, so we can all hear you. By race and
by region, let us hear you on this important
question.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m not
doing all this so you can go back to business as usual—the business that put California prisons in the sorry mess they are in
today.
This train will be moving forward with
or without you or me. Peaceful mass struggle with racial and regional unity on all levels are the tracks that train will run on. The
five core demands are first and foremost,
but they are only first rung on the ladder
of progress. This train is also headed for
abolition of the 13th Amendment’s provision that permits slavery for prisoners, for
fully enfranchising prisoners to vote, and to
build a national prisoners’ movement rooted in a peaceful yet revolutionary ideology
and practice.
Lastly, I’m working on the next issue of
Prison Focus now. At this point, given the
money situation, it will probably be in the
same format and length as Rock (five pages
printed on both sides). That’s how poor
CPF is. It should go out in December.
Bye for now. Take care in there and continue to stay strong. And remember, justice,
right, and the course of history are on our
side. Or, as my friend Bill Dunne is fond of
saying, “The future holds promise.” ●
Ed Mead

9

Prisoner
Artists!
Prison
ArtArt
is ais
nonprofit
Prison
a nonwebsite.
It chargesthat
a 10
profit website
percent
feeaiften
yourperart
charges
or
craftservice
sells. Send
SASE
cent
fee
if
for a free brochure. No
your art or craft
SASE, no brochure. This
sells.
Send
a SASE
offer
void
where
profor free
hibited
bybrochure.
prison rules.

Notice
Articles and letters sent to the
Rock newsletter for publication are
currently being delivered and received in a timely manner. Please
do not send such materials to third
parties to be forwarded to me as it
only delays receiving them and adds
to the workload of those asked to do
the forwarding.

Sell Your Art
On the Web
Sell prisonercreated art or
crafts (except
writings). Send
only copies, no
originals!
Prison Art Project
P.O. Box 47439
Seattle, WA 98146
www.prisonart.org
sales@prisonart.org
206-271-5003

Free Electronic Copy
Message Box
“You stand with the belligerent, the
surly, and the badly behaved until bad
behavior is recognized for the language
it is: The vocabulary of the deeply
wounded and of those whose burdens
are more than they can bear.”
Gregory Boyle,
Tattoos on the Heart

Outside people can read, downloaded, or print the Rock newsletter
by going to www.prisonart.org and
clicking on the “Rock Newsletter”
link.
Outside folks can also have a free
electronic copy of the newsletter
sent to them each month by way of
e-mail. Have them send requests for
a digital copy to rock@prisonart.org.

Ed Mead, Publisher
Rock Newsletter
P.O. Box 47439
Seattle, WA 98146

FIRST CLASS MAIL