Working
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W
Working
ki to
t Extend
E t d Democracy
D
to
t All 
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Volume
V l
Volume
1, N
1
Number
b 4
4

May
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M 2012
May
2012

VOICES FROM SOLITARY
On Solitary Confinement and Finding Humanity
By Jean Casella and James Ridgeway
[The following text comes from two letters written by Susan Crane on May 10 and
12, 2011, in which Crane–who had herself
served stints in isolation after earlier arrests–observes and reflects upon the lives
of women in solitary confinement.]
hile at the Federal Detention
Center (FDC) SeaTac, Sr. Anne
[Montgomery] and I were in cell
11 in one of the women’s units. Cells 2 –
10 are filled with women wearing orange,
held in solitary (Special Handling Unit as
it is officially named). These sisters eat all
their meals alone in their cells. They get
out of their cell for a 15-minute shower
three times a week (M, W & F). They are
offered no exercise or outside time. They
not allowed to communicate with other
prisoners, and we were not allowed to motion or talk to them. There is no yelling between cells. They can’t participate in group
prayer, or any group activity. No one offers
them Eucharist.
The best we could offer was a smile as
we walked by the line that is ten feet out
from their doors; Sr. Anne and I would
walk around the SeaTac women’s unit (21
laps = 1 mile).
Some of the women in solitary are pretrial, some have been sentenced. They are
probably here for some sort of write-up for
an infraction of a prison rule: some have
had a hearing with a BOP [Bureau of Prisons] officer and have been found guilty,
and so continue to sit in the solitary cells.
The write-ups might be, for example, for

W

fighting, making a three-way call, or the result of mental illness.
One woman who was eating meals with
us had just been abruptly taken off antianxiety medication. She was understandably having a hard time. The “counselor”
came over during lunch and was excoriating us for keeping items on the shelf and
desk in our cells. Our friend quietly walked
up to the “counselor” and is reported to
have said, “Why don’t you let the women
eat in peace?” (or something to that effect).
She is now in orange, in solitary.
According to Bill Quigley, one of our
lawyers at the Disarm Now Plowshares
trial, and the legal director for the Center
for Constitutional Rights, medical testimony presented in the case of Syed Fahad
Hashmi in New York “concluded that after
60 days in solitary people’s mental state begins to break down. That means a person
will start to experience panic, anxiety, confusion, headaches, heart palpitations, sleep
problems, withdrawal, anger, depression,
despair and over-sensitivity. Over time this
can lead to severe psychiatric trauma and
harms like psychosis, distortion of reality,
hallucinations, mass anxiety and acute confusion. Essentially, the mind disintegrates”
(Not Just Guantanamo: US Torturing Muslim Pre-Trial Detainee in NYC, Huffington
Post, by Bill Quigley).
Of course the 9 solitary cells holding
women at FDC SeaTac are a small part of
the entire solitary population at SeaTac, or
in the Federal prison system, or in the US.
The US has 5 percent of the world’s popu-

lation and 25 percent of the world’s prisoners! The US now has 25,000 prisoners in
supermax prisons, and an additional 50-80
thousand in restrictive segregation units
(Hell Hole, by Atul Gawande, in the New
Yorker). Although the argument for solitary confinement is that it prevents violence
and rule breaking, studies have shown that
there is no correlation between the use of
solitary confinement and a decrease in prison violence. In June 2006 the Commission
on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons
released its study and called for ending
long-term isolation of prisoners. The report
concluded that “after 10 days, no benefits
of solitary confinement were found, and the
harms are clear.”
Sr. Anne was recently released from
FDC SeaTac after serving her sentence. I
am now at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Dublin. Things here are the way
prisons are.
Yesterday there was a group of people
who were given a tour of the prison. I was
on the rec. field walking on the track. I
try to see the facility through their eyes.
Women walking, running, talking, laughing; all dressed in khaki; no one rowdy; no
one crying. They see buildings, well cared
for, floors clean and waxed, organized, no
garbage or litter; sort of looks like a clean
college campus.
But there is a lot that they don’t see.
They don’t see the pain of toothaches. They
don’t see the pain of mothers who can’t
raise their children, or the pain of the children who want their moms. They don’t see

the pain that comes when a close relative
or friend dies and you can’t celebrate their
life or mourn with family. They don’t see
the pain of women who grew up in the US
and face deportation to a country in which
they have never lived. They don’t see the
day-by-day humiliations dealt out by some
of the guards who are just doing their jobs.
They don’t hear the stories of an unjust legal system that grinds up so many women
and spits them out into FCI Dublin.
I want to walk up and speak to these
visitors, but I’m not ready to be rebuffed,
yelled at, or see some sort of fear in their
eyes if I come near them.
At FCI Dublin, walking on the track on
the recreation field (3 laps = 1 mile), I pass
the building holding the women in solitary.
Here, the windows have a metal shield
around them, so we have no contact with
them. Is this acceptable punishment in the
United States? Does it serve any purpose?
Are there better solutions?
I saw that many of the guards made a
point of talking through the doors to the
women in the SHU, using their unique humor, being human, showing compassion.
And I was thankful to see that!
But what about the structure, the actual
rules that put women in solitary confinement? Our willingness to allow this sort of
punishment lets us imagine that it’s OK to
hold prisoners and torture them at Bagram
or Guantanamo.
Jesus once said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these
brothers and sisters of mine, you did for
me” (Matthew 25:40). Is that not the measure of our humanity? Is any other human
being less than us? How is it possible that
the US has 5 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s prisoners?
Does our disregard for the humanity of
our brothers and sisters held in solitary
make it easier to imagine killing millions in
nuclear war? Are not the warehoused, marginalized, throw-away people in prisons a
symptom of devalued life, and a symptom
of the kind of thinking that allows us to invade other countries, and spend trillions of
dollars on nuclear weapons and consider
their use?
Where in all this do we find our humanity?
Susan Crane, 87783-011, FCI Dublin,
5701 8th St. – Camp Parks, Dublin, CA
94568
Article provided by Freedom Archives,
http://www.freedomarchives.org
2

3,500 PALESTINIAN
CONS IN ISRAEL IN
HUNGER STRIKE
ON PRISONERS’
DAY

T

he majority of the 4,699 Palestinians currently being held in Israeli
prisons refused their meals on Prisoners’ Day, while 1,200 of them promise to
hunger strike indefinitely to protest unfair
conditions.
The other 2,300 have refused to eat any
food for the whole of Tuesday.
Later on Tuesday Israel is to release Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, 33, who
attracted worldwide media attention after
spending 66 days on hunger strike – the
longest in Palestinian history.
In Palestine, practically every person
has a relative or acquaintance who has
spent or is spending time in Israeli prison.
Palestinians consider them freedom fighters, whichever setup they belong to, be it
Hamas, Islamic Jihad or any other Palestinian organization.
Israel has 17 detention facilities across
the country and the West Bank. According
to Israeli data, 3,864 of the total number of
prisoners are from the occupied West Bank,
475 are from Gaza and 360 are Arab Israelis or from Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian data says that 534 prisoners – more than one in 10 – are serving a
life sentence.
The Israeli rights group B’Tselem reports
that 203 Palestinian children and youth are
imprisoned, 31 of whom are under 16 years
old.

Israeli uses “administrative detention”
that dates back to when the region was a
British protectorate. It allows Israel to detain suspects indefinitely without charge,
simply by repeating the implied maximum
six-month periods of detention time after
time. At the moment there are 319 persons
under “administrative detention” in Israel.
Last year the number of Palestinians in
Israeli jails was considerably reduced with
the release of 1,027 prisoners in exchange
for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, a
swap between Palestine’s Hamas and official Tel-Aviv after years of negotiations.
All in all, since 1967, when Israel occupied East Jerusalem as a result of the
Six-Day War, the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip, some 700,000 Palestinians have seen
daylight from behind the bars of Israeli
prisons. This is equivalent to 20 per cent
of the total population of the Palestinian
Authority.
April 17 [RT Network]

URGENT
MOBILIZATION TO
SACRAMENTO!
By prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity

P

risoner Hunger Strike Solidarity’s
mediation team received word yesterday that the CDCR (CA Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation) will
meet with the mediation team and family member representatives on Thursday
at CDCR Headquarters in Sacramento to
discuss the CDCR’s proposed regulation
changes on SHU (Security Housing Unit)
placement. Legislative aides from the State
Assembly and Senate will also attend the
meeting.
During Thursday’s meeting, Prisoner
Hunger Strike Solidarity’s mediation team
and family member representatives will
support the hunger strikers, their rejection
of CDCR’s proposal, and their five-core
demands (Earlier this Spring, shortly after
the CDCR released it’s proposal, hunger
strikers in the SHU at Pelican Bay rejected
the CDCR’s proposal and issued a counter
proposal).
We need to show the CDCR & State legislators that the hunger strikers do not stand
alone! Please come to Sacramento Thursday, April 26th, for an urgent rally outside
CDCR Headquarters before the meeting.

Rock

PRIVATE PRISON
CORPORATIONS
ARE SLAVE
TRADERS
“The Corrections Corporation of
America believes the economic crisis
has created an historic opportunity to
become the landlord, as well as the
manager, of a big chunk of the American prison gulag.”

T

he nation’s largest private prison
company, the Corrections Corporation of America, is on a buying
spree. With a war chest of $250 million,
the corporation, which is listed on the New
York Stock Exchange [5], this month sent
letters to 48 states, offering to buy their
prisons [6] outright. To ensure their profitability, the corporation insists that it be
guaranteed that the prisons be kept at least
90 percent full. Plus, the corporate jailers
demand a 20-year management contract,
on top of the profits they expect to extract
by spending less money per prisoner.
For the last two years, the number of
inmates held in state prisons has declined
slightly, largely because the states are short
on money. Crime, of course, has declined
dramatically in the last 20 years, but that
has never dampened the states’ appetites
for warehousing ever more Black and
brown bodies, and the federal prison system is still growing. However, the Corrections Corporation of America believes the
economic crisis has created an historic opportunity to become the landlord, as well as
the manager, of a big chunk of the American prison gulag.
The attempted prison grab is also defensive in nature. If private companies
can gain both ownership and management
of enough prisons, they can set the prices
without open-bid competition for prison
services, creating a guaranteed cost-plus
monopoly like that which exists between
the Pentagon and the military-industrial
complex.
“If private companies are allowed to own
the deeds to prisons, they are a big step
closer to owning the people inside them.”
But, for a better analogy, we must go
back to the American slave system, a thoroughly capitalist enterprise that reduced
human beings to units of labor and sale.
The Corrections Corporation of America’s
filings with the U.S. Securities and ExVol. 1 Number 4

change Commission read very much like
the documents of a slave-trader. Investors
are warned that profits would go down if
the demand for prisoners declines. That is,
if the world’s largest police state shrinks,
so does the corporate bottom line. Dangers
to profitability include “relaxation of enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction or
parole standards and sentencing practices
or through the decriminalization of certain
activities that are currently proscribed by
our criminal laws.” The corporation spells
it out: “any changes with respect to drugs
and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons
arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby
potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them.” At the Corrections Corporation of America, human
freedom is a dirty word.
But, there is something even more horrifying than the moral turpitude of the
prison capitalists. If private companies are
allowed to own the deeds to prisons, they
are a big step closer to owning the people
inside them. Many of the same politicians
that created the system of mass Black incarceration over the past 40 years, would
gladly hand over to private parties all responsibility for the human rights of inmates. The question of inmates’ rights
is hardly raised in the debate over prison
privatization. This is a dialogue steeped in
slavery and racial oppression. Just as the
old slave markets were abolished, so must
the Black American Gulag be dismantled –
with no compensation to those who traffic
in human beings.
Black Agenda Radio, Glen Ford
Links:
[1] http://blackagendareport.com/category/
other/ba-radio-commentary
[2] http://blackagendareport.com/category/
us-politics/mass-incarceration
[3] http://blackagendareport.com/category/
us-politics/privatization
[4] http://blackagendareport.com/sites/
www.blackagendareport.com/files/
blackmen_jailed-02.jpg
[5] http://ir.correctionscorp.com/phoenix.
zhtml?c=117983&p=irol-faq
[6] http://www.huffingtonpost.
com/2012/02/14/private-prisons-buyingstate-prisons_n_1272143.html
[7] mailto:Glen.Ford@
BlackAgendaReport.com
[8] http://www.addtoany.com/share_sa
ve?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fblackage
ndareport.com%2Fcontent%2Fprivate-

prison-corporations-are-slavetraders&linkname=Private%20
Prison%20Corporations%20Are%20
Slave%20Traders

TIDBITS
Posts From the HS Support
Mailing List

H

undreds of men in the ASU at
Calipatria State Prison participated
last year in the Pelican Bay State
Prison hunger strike that reached statewide
in July 2011 and another in September
2011. The men at Calipatria State Prison
ASU who starved themselves were in unity
with Pelican Bay State Prison 5 demands
but these men at Calipatria added their
own demand which was to have an appliance to stimulate their minds (either a T.V.
or radio) if they had to be forced to stay
in segregation. With the help from articles
that were published to expose the illegal
extended years these men are serving in
this “temporary” segregation unit, loved
ones pushing CDCR to have these men’s
demand met for an appliance, the men at
Calipatria State Prison ASU expressing to
the public of the extreme inhumane conditions they were facing, and after Warden
Leland McEwen at Calipatria State Prison
was removed; Sacramento approved T.V.’s
for all men in Calipatria State Prison ASU.
On 4-19-2012, at the expense of CDCR,
T.V.’s were distributed/installed around to
all the men in the Administrative Segregation Unit.
Now while in segregation the men won’t
have to just stare at a damn wall all day,
the men are just waiting on the headphone
extensions. Next step is getting them out
of that hellhole of segregation. The men at
Calipatria ASU wanted me to share with
everyone who helped support them, were
their voices and pushed to help them say
“THANK YOU!!!”.
(Note: some of these men have been
in ‘temporary’ segregation at Calipatria
ASU from 1 year all the way up to 7 years
straight).
I hope a few families talk about how
men statewide at the moment in segregation units throughout CA prisons are getting themselves ‘mentally prepared’ to die
in just around 2 months if they start another
Tidbits ...................... Continued on page 9
3

Linking Struggles
ust got done going through the March
issue of PHHS News, ¡Rock!, and the
spring 2012 issue of Prison Focus, and
wanted to say Thank you, Ed. Thank you
for being there. Thank you for your time
and energy, not to mention the resources
you put into all of this. I just wanted to let
you know that it is appreciated by many.
Many prisoners just don’t get it and think
that this is your job and that you do all this
for us or else that you’re gaming us somehow and making money off us—now that’s
just silly!
Sure, a lot of people just don’t like you
for one reason or another, but isn’t that
true about anyone who kicks up the dust?
I’m just glad to see that regardless of all
the negativity you’re still there! Now that’s
gumption.
There is an article by Chad in the Prison
Focus that reads, “As a side effect of capitalist economics they all understood Lenin’s
statement that ‘politics are concentrated
economics’ and they used this knowledge,
hitching their struggles to other political
struggles and international movements and
gaining support from various international
entities, such as Amnesty International, etc.
The I.R.A. succeeded in abolishing solitary
confinement, and in other cases they were
successful in achieving ‘association’, that
is group housing up to fifteen prisoners.”
I was wondering if you could enlighten
me a little bit about this “hitching” our
struggle to other political struggles or international movements. How would that work
in that present context?
¡Rock! looks fine to me, you’re doing a
great job! Is there a website it can be downloaded from?
Name Withheld

J

[Ed’s Response: Rock is not written for
outside people so I did not have it posted
on any website. However I have just now
posted copies of it on the Prison Art website (www.prisonart.org). As for linking or
hitching the prisoner rights struggle with
others, it’s a simple matter of prisoners
using their collective voice in support of
some movement, or rendering some form
of material support to that movement. This
could be anything from the pro-war movement to the anti-war movement, etc. It’s
a thing where you support them and they
4

NCTT Cup Holds no Water
ust received your latest newsletter the
Roca, Gracias! Here we all sincerely
appreciate all of the great work you are
doing to get our voices heard, and to bring
us messages of information we might not
get the opportunity to otherwise hear due
to our housing. So all of us hunger strikers
thank you for that.
Speaking on the latest newsletter it was
interesting: First no voice should be ignored, especially if he was a full participant
in both hunger strikes, but common knowledge it has been solely demonstrated that
one voice coming from the shorty corridor
has communicated on behalf of all SHU
inmates concerning the challenge of conditions we in the SHU/Ad-Seg face.
I have been in the SHU since 1990, and
it and it has been without chaos in the
message conveyed out of the short corridor to the five core demands. I find that

J

it might be naïve on some level
to speak outside that one voice,
those who misinterpret the avenues that have been opened
due to making new demands,
historically that not valuable
to the process. It just muddies
the waters. Pelican Bay SHU
inmates are of one voice that
comes from the short corridor,
not some new group that brings
distractions from the five core demands. This Corcoran NCTT/New Afrikan/
Occupy Wall Street new 10 demands is not
speaking in the voice of the majority recognize or believe in. Until the short corridor
embraces that message and conveys that to
us, it holds no water in my cup.
Name Withheld

LETTERS

LETTERS

support you. You are allies in a common
cause, in this case the struggle for justice.
When I was in my mid-teens growing
up in Fairbanks, Alaska, a friend of my
mother’s sold business cards. I asked her to
make a set for me that read “Anything for
money.” She refused. My point is that I too
was so inculcated with bourgeois ideology
that I believed anything worth doing was
worth doing for money. In the late 1960s
when radicals started coming into the
McNeil Island federal penitentiary where
I was doing time, I could not understand
why they would risk their lives or freedom
for a cause that made them no profit. Yet
before long I became one of them; I became a prisoner activist.
To hear that some folks on the inside
think I am in some way scamming everyone to make a profit causes me to laugh.
Nobody at California Prison Focus gets
paid a dime, we are all volunteers. Rock
cost me money to produce and mail. And
my work for the PHSS News is also a volunteer gig. The same is true for Prison Art,
whose only value has been my ability to
deduct the losses it incurs on my taxes.
I can understand people not liking me.
I’m a nigger lovin’ commie fag. What’s
to like? This isn’t a popularity contest. At
Walla Walla prisoners gave me the nick
name “Straight Ahead Ed” (and some others less flattering). Fact is, I am singlemindedly fighting to advance the cause of
prisoners. Like me or not, respect the fact
that I’m trying, the best way I know how.]

[Ed’s Response: The NCTT was making a suggestion to the Occupy Movement
and to the community on the outside. They
were not trying to supplant the five core demands. We are all in total agreement that
first, above all else, are the five core demands. They will be met. But some of us,
including myself, believe that implementing those five demands is but the first step
on a very long journey.
I am an officer of California Prison Focus, and our Mission Statement is to shut
down the SHU, not to make it more comfortable or the policies more rational. Accordingly, in my mind, while the five core
demands are first and foremost, they are
not the end of the road—at the very least
we must shut down the SHU.
If prisoners have differing opinions these
pages are open to all as a forum to express
those thoughts. This newsletter is intended
as a space for differing viewpoints. But to
tell you the truth, I can’t imagine anyone
believing that the five core demands are the
end of it—that after they are met that everything in California’s prison system will
be just dandy.
The five core demands are the priority
and ahead of everything else, but please
allow folks to look a bit further into the
future as well. A non-violent movement
needs to be built in order to get prisoners
the vote and to eliminate the provision of
the Thirteenth Amendment that authorizes
slavery for prisoners. Until those things are
accomplished there will be no significant
change in this nation’s prison dynamic.
If anyone has a different opinion these
pages are open to you.]
Rock

More On NCTT
Does the NCTT have any practical solution to do away with the social stratification
within the prisoner class and divisional segments (i.e., general population, segregation
SHU/ASU status, sensitive needs yard) of
the California prison population? Because
at this point that’s critically important for
the development of prisoners’ political
consciousness. I agree with the article “The
Road Ahead” [Rock vol. 1, No. 1], that
pointed out that dialectical and historical
materialism is our (prison class) basis to
draw from for building a resilient class for
struggle. Anything beyond this point could
only be a superfluous grandiose presentation for the development of a non-existent
movement.
So can we build from this point? Do the
NCTT have any practical programs available to unite the prisoner class on a national
level? Because this battle has only begun
and the political consciousness of prisoners is shouting one core demand: “UNITE
ALL PRISONERS!” Hello, NCTT! I’m
still hopeful but are you paying attention?
Look at the mock polling system, the interest in the prisoner hunger strike outside
has dramatically declined, so let’s not lose
the attention of the prisoner class too. Accordingly, can we lessen the rhetoric on the
multi-demand presentations and more on
the prisoner class unification?
Nevertheless, overall the NCTT article’s
ten core demands etc. was probably wellreceived by its intended audience when it
was published in the SF Bay View newspaper. But for the prisoner class, which I
assume are the readers of the Rock, it fell
on death [deaf?] ears!
Finally, NCTT, I am looking for your
wisdom and guidance to propose something on the overcoming the challenges
in achieving prisoner class unification.
Thanks for your consideration.
UR-2
[Ed’s Response: The above letter writer
is correct on all counts. The NCTT piece
was written to the outside community and,
as such, was not suitable for the purpose
this newsletter is intended to serve. It was
my thinking that the NCTT’s submission of
demands to the Occupy Movement would
also work to raise prisoner consciousness
around these community issues. From the
number of letters I’ve received from prisoners that was evidently not the case.
Readers should feel free to jerk my chain
whenever they feel I drift off course.]
Vol. 1 Number 4

Demand For Change
ost of us should not even be in
these sh-t holes! The only reason
for it is money & politics of special interests (the poor aren’t considered a
special interest! Their considered expendable interests!) Also, there are other evil
motives involved – I believe this nation
incarcerates so many people for purposes
of psychological control of the masses too
and in the article in reference to the U.N.
Petition press conference subject. The article from Moscow said many other nations have been discussing the fact that the
U.S.A. is becoming more and more of a
police state… it’s obvious, we’re close to
becoming a fascist govt!! But, it might be
stopped because more and more people are
waking up (becoming more conscious!)
I really believe the time is ripe to force
change to California’s sentencing laws and
also paroles of lifers – it can be done with
peaceful protest type activity! But it will
require a very big – committed effort. It
needs to be propagated real big – exposing
the fraud, corruption, waste of billions, and
all of it tied into the sentencing laws and
failure to parole enough lifers, who are way
beyond our minimum terms!
And, it will require very solid, committed, direct action – words are powerful
but they must be accompanied by “direct
action” in a coordinated – correlative effort, in order to be effective! That’s been
the problem with a lot of struggles in this
country; during the past (25-30) years,
there’s been a lot of words – a lot of rhetorical dialogue about fighting the good fight
for change, with little to no direct action. I
believe you have to show by your actions,
that the cause is serious and worthy of putting lives on the line of necessary to draw
attention and force the changes sought! As
the old saying goes “Power to the People”.
Its time, people have power when they
come together collectively to make a hard
core stand for a cause!
There 1000s of prisoners in California
Prison System who are not serving valid
sentences – sentencing laws based on special interest politics are not valid… they
are political that equates to 1000s of political prisoners rotting in these dungeons
while our families and loved ones suffer
too. Family and loved ones need to rally
together for the common cause and make a
solid, hard core stand to demand changes.
“Rights” are not given; they are taken by
the people! In other countries around the
world – South America and Africa come to

M

mind – family and loved ones have rallied
and stood together in public places – gone
on hunger strikes outside the capitol buildings and refused to move, until the changes
were made! This has been successful.
People out there need to think about these
types of direct actions because the time for
it is NOW! A STAND AND DEMAND
FOR CHANGES HAS TO BE MADE!”
By Todd Ashker, 4-4-2012, written to
and transcribed by Kendra Castaneda
On Contradictions
How you manage is beyond us, but your
spirit is beautiful. You got down pretty
heavy with the Mao thing on contradictions
in your editorial. To the point, insightful,
and necessary. Especially in these times.
Kody Scott, Pelican Bay
I’m an alleged “validated” associate in
Calipatria A.S.U. for almost three years
now. I hope people start contributing
more because you provide some good
materials. I mean shit, you could be
spending your golden years chillin’. Keep
sending materials my way. Enclosed are
six stamps.
Name Withheld
Editorial Comments
he Rock mailing list is currently at
125 people, nearly all SHU/ASU
convicts. So far (after three issues)
I’ve received a total of 130 stamps, all
but 25 of them in the last ten days. That’s
enough to mail out this issue, but not
enough to pay for printer toner and paper.
If this newsletter is to also survive for
the long haul it can only do so with your
material support. If you have not yet sent
a donation of stamps, then do so now. For
those few of you who have money to spare,
contributions of cash are graciously accepted (so far zero dollars have been received).
Some of the 130 stamps received came
two stamps at a time. Two stamps will get
you only one issue—one stamp to produce
it and another to mail it. 24 stamps will get
you a year. Send more if you can, in order
to help those who are totally broke.
This issue of Rock, as well as the next
one, will go out to everyone on the current
mailing list. After that only those who have
contributed something will get the paper. If
at that point the list is too small I’ll stop doing this one. If Rock ends, any extra stamps
donated will be used to further the struggle
of prisoners for meaningful justice.

T

5

CONTRABAND
WATCH
PROLIFERATES

CDCR TO LIMIT
CELL PHONES IN
PRISONS

Posted on April 16, 2012
ontraband watch, also known as
“potty watch,” something prisons
throughout California have used
for years to humiliate and torture prisoners, is becoming more common. In a recent
interview, a prisoner in the Pelican Bay
SHU told a legal representative that there
were 15 watches happening at that time.
“Potty watch” is the practice of forcing
prisoners to wear a diaper and shackling
them so that they cannot use their hands.
In some cases, PVC pipes are placed over
the person’s hands. The supposed purpose
for doing this is so that the guards can find
any illegal substances or items prisoners
are not supposed to have that they have attempted to take into the prison by ingesting or otherwise inserting in to their body.
The reality is that “potty watch” is used
for punishment and retaliation. The result
is days of both physical pain and psychological torture. Prisoners who have been
subjected to the “potty watch” report that
not being able to move freely is painful and
that guards don’t always change diapers.
In one case, a prisoner emerged from a 6
day” potty watch” to find that the skin on
his thighs and buttocks had been burned
from the ammonia in his urine. Prisoners
are reporting that these contraband watches
are usually lasting 3-6 days and that they
are commonly used after transfers or visits,
they are becoming increasingly arbitrary
and common.
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.
com/stories/001/?ID=20849

he California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says it
has awarded what t likes to call a
“groundbreaking and momentous” contract
to Global Tel*Link that is designed to eliminate contraband cell phone use by inmates.
Under the contract, GTL will also provide the Inmate/Ward Telephone System
(IWTS) for inmates to make domestic
and international calls from an authorized
phone network.
“Inmates have used cell phones to commit more crimes, organize assaults on staff,
and terrorize victims,” says CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate. “This groundbreaking
and momentous technology will enable
CDCR to crack down on the potentially
dangerous communications by inmates.”
Managed access technology uses a secure cellular umbrella over a specified area
blocking unauthorized cellular communication transmissions, such as e-mails, texts,
phone calls, or Internet access.
Implementation of the system will come
at no cost to taxpayers, the state claims.
GTL is responsible for all implementation
costs, including new installation of equipment and services, as well as the costs of
operating this technology at CDCR institutions. GTL, in return, receives the revenue
generated from the ITWS services.
CDCR anticipates the system to be operational at its first institution by the end
of the year with other institutions to follow.
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.
com/stories/001/?ID=20849

C

T

confinement for Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3, by exploring the expansion and overuse of solitary
confinement, mobilizing support for the
Amnesty International Petition to remove
Wallace and Woodfox from solitary confinement (being hand delivered to LA
Governor Bobby Jindal on Tuesday, April
17) and support for the California Hunger
Strikers.
Featuring the following speakers:
• Robert King, of the Angola 3, released
in 2001 after 29 years of solitary confinement.
• Hans Bennett, Independent journalist
and co-founder of Journalists for Mumia
• Terry Kupers, Institute Professor at The
Wright Institute in Berkeley, California
• Manuel La Fontaine, Northern California Regional Organizer for All of Us or
None
• Aaron Mirmalek, Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee Oakland
• Kiilu Nyasha, Independent journalist
and former member of the Black Panther Party
• Tahtanerriah Sessoms-Howell, Youth
Organizer for All of Us Or None
• Luis “Bato” Talamantez, California Prison Focus and one of the San Quentin 6
• Azadeh Zohrabi, Co-Editor-in-Chief
of the Hastings Race and Poverty Law
Journal
• Stuart Hanlon, lawyer for Geronimo
Pratt.
• David Newton, Editor in Chief of the
Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly
• Kelly Turner, author and former threestrike prisoner.
• Anita Wills, member of Occupy 4 Prisoners and mother of Kerry Baxter Sr., a
three-strike prisoner.

“OUTER LIMITS
OF SOLITARY
CONFINEMENT”
EVENT

T

his public forum, entitled “The Outer Limits of Solitary Confinement,”
held at UC Hastings College of the
Law, in San Francisco on April 6, 2012 was
organized by the International Coalition to
Free the Angola 3, and co-hosted by the
Hastings chapter of the National Lawyers
Guild and the Hastings Race and Poverty
Law Journal.
The event marked 40 years of solitary
6

Rock

RESPONSE TO
CDCR FROM CA
FAMILIES TO
END SOLITARY
CONFINEMENT
Posted on April 13, 2012
e live in a state whose citizens
are more morally outraged
about the confinement of chickens and dogs than of human beings. We
are the loved ones of men and women who
have been incarcerated indefinitely—some
for decades—in California’s “supermax”
segregated and administrative housing
units. Solitary confinement, even for short
periods, has been known for centuries to
cause irreparable physical and psychological damage: torture. Yet California continues to condone this practice in violation of
both Constitutional and international law
against the use of this and other inhuman
and degrading treatment.
In March of 2012 the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
(CDCR) came out with its long-awaited
proposal to overhaul its use of prolonged
solitary confinement to manage gangs and
violent prisoners. Families, lawyers, prisoners and activists had hoped that after two
peaceful hunger strikes in 2011 engaging
12,000 prisoners protesting CDCR’s illegal practices, the Department would follow
several other states that have successfully
and significantly reduced their use of solitary confinement and instituted effective
rehabilitation and re-entry programs—and
at great savings to overstressed state budgets.
Sadly, that was not the case. By definition
“torture” is the intentional infliction of severe mental or physical pain or suffering by
or with the consent of state authorities for
a specific purpose. With CDCR, this purpose is to extract information about gang
activities, real or fabricated. There is nothing in these new proposals that leads any of
us to believe that a sincere reform of CDCR’s extremist policies is at hand; in fact,
the language is more obscure, the policies
more layered, and the prisoners’ demands
for decency and rehabilitation virtually ignored. Amnesty International and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture
among others issued immediate statements
repudiating this document as not going far
enough to address the inhumane conditions

W

Vol. 1 Number 4

that have persisted in California prisons
for decades. If anything, much of the new
document appears even more Draconian.
We are very concerned for our loved ones
inside this prison within the prison.
Prisons are by nature closed systems, yet
they are funded by taxpayers and are public institutions whose function is to oversee
the deprivation of liberty, an extreme use
of power against an individual. Our loved
ones are human beings first and prisoners
second. Too many have endured retaliation,
arbitrary interpretations of CDCR’s regulations code, poor food, medical negligence,
and an inability to program out of solitary
unless they self-incriminate, snitch, or die.
This is not to ignore crime and punishment,
but we believe the public interest in law
and order can best be served through standards of morality and human decency.

There is nothing in these
new proposals that leads
any of us to believe that a
sincere reform of CDCR’s
extremist policies is at
hand....
All California communities are stakeholders in what happens in our prisons
because many of these inmates will eventually return to society. Even if our state’s
citizens may not generally be sympathetic
to prisoners, we must hold our public institutions to high ethical standards, including
assuring that both prisons and communities
are safe.
California’s version of supermax is extreme on every level, involving more prisoners for more of their sentences under
worse conditions. Many states are revisiting their use of solitary confinement, but
given California’s documented tendency to
create torturous conditions under the justification of security, large-scale use of solitary confinement in this state should end.
Substantial, meaningful and ethical revision of the CDCR proposals will be a large
step toward addressing the barbaric and inhumane treatment to which SHU prisoners
are currently subjected, with no threat to
public safety. We believe Californians have
a considerable stake in this humanitarian
reform and we ask your participation in our
efforts to raise awareness and end torture in
California prisons.
California Families to Abolish Solitary
Confinement – CFASC 8108 E Santa Ana
Canyon Rd. #100, 213 Anaheim, CA92808
Contact us at 714.290.9077

CORCORAN
COPS RETALIATE
AGAINST HUNGER
STRIKERS IN AD
SEG UNIT (ASU) 1

W

hen we, the prisoners housed in
the Administrative Segregation
Unit (ASU) of CSP-Corcoran,
initiated a hunger strike to protest against
the inhumane conditions and constitutional
violations we faced in the ASU1, the prison
officials responded with retaliation and indifference. Their intent was clear: to set an
example of what would occur if these protests that had been rocking the California
Department of Corrections (CDC) this past
year continued. Their statement was not
only meant for the protestors in this ASU1,
but for the entire class of oppressed prisoners in the CDC.
The hunger strike in this ASU1 initially
began on Dec. 28, 2011. It was a collective
effort with various races and subgroups
standing in solidarity for a common interest. A petition was prepared with the issues
we wanted to address, and it was submitted to the Corcoran prison officials and also
sent out to prisoner rights groups in an attempt to gather support and attention.
A few hours after the protest began,
Warden Gipson sent her staff to move the
prisoners who were allegedly, and falsely,
identified as “strike leaders” to a different
ASU. I was included in that category because my signature was on the petition that
was submitted to prison officials. When we
initially refused to move, the correctional
staff came to our cells wearing full riot
gear, to cell-extract and move us by force.
Since we were engaging in a peaceful protest, we agreed to move and were placed
in the other ASU, which turned out to be
3A-03 E.O.P., an Ad Seg unit that houses
severely mentally ill inmates.
While isolated in that psychiatric ward,
we continued to refuse food until we received word that the hunger strike ended in
the ASU1. I later found out that the Warden
and Captain had me with the spokesmen of
the ASU1 protestors and promised to grant
the majority of our demands, but requested
three weeks to implement the changes and
to have the agreements in writing. The protestors agreed to give the prison officials
the benefit of the doubt, and for that reason
the hunger strike was put on hold.
7

I continued to file complaints and 602s
during this period asserting that my placement in a unit along with severely mentally
ill inmates violated my Eighth Amendment rights because I was not mentally ill,
and that my placement in this psychiatric
ward was the result of illegal retaliation by
prison officials against me for exercising
my First Amendment right to peaceably assemble and protest. These grievances went
ignored. In addition to my isolation in the
psychiatric ward, I received a 115 for “inciting/leading a mass disturbance” (12 month
SHU term), and was later found guilty although they had no evidence to support that
charge besides my signature on a petition.
The other protestors who were also falsely
identified as “Strike Leaders” were issued
the same 115 for “inciting/leading a mass
disturbance.”
On January 18, 2012, Warden Gipson
ordered her staff to move me, as well as
other isolated protestors, back to the ASU1,
believing that the hunger strike was over.
Before we were moved back, she sent an
email to C/O Lt. Cruz, a correctional officer in 3A-03, and asked him to read it to
us. It contained a warning that she would
not tolerate any more disturbances in the
ASU1, and a threat that any such behavior
would carry more severe reprisals.
After 3 weeks had passed since the hunger strike was put on hold, it was clear that
the prison officials had no intent to honor
their word and keep their promises. The
hunger strike resumed on January 27, 2012.
The ASU1 Lieutenant, after hearing that
we resumed the protest, came to a few
protestors and stated the following, “We
are tired of you guys, all you guys, doing
hunger strikes and asking for all this shit.
I am not only speaking for myself, but
for my superiors as well. There are correctional officers and staff getting laid off
because the state doesn’t have money, and
you guys in here are asking for more shit?
You know what? We don’t care if you guys
starve yourselves to death. You guys aren’t
getting shit. The only thing you’ll get are
incident packets.”
Two days later, on Jan. 29, 2012, Warden Gipson sent her staff again to round
up the alleged “Strike Leaders” and place
them in isolation. This time, the spokesmen
who had previously come out to speak and
negotiate with the prison officials regarding our demands were also included in that
category. We were all moved once again to
3A-03 psychiatric ward, although we were
not mentally ill. Furthermore, our visits
8

were suspended by Classification Committee for the duration of our “involvement
in the hunger strike,” and we were issued
another 115 for “inciting/ leading a mass
disturbance.”
The retaliation did not stop there. All
the participants of the hunger strike were
issued 115s for “participation in a mass
disturbance,” and the most important of all,
the correctional staff and prison officials
were deliberately indifferent to the medical
needs of the starved protestors in the ASU1.
When some of the protestors started losing
consciousness, experiencing serious pain
and requesting emergency medical attention, the correctional staff was deliberately
slow in responding, and in many instances
they just simply ignored them. This conduct and this mindset of prison officials,
setting an example of action deliberately
indifferent to the medical needs of the protestors, directly contributed to the death of
one of our own. His brave sacrifice and unfailing personal commitment will never be
forgotten, nor will it have been for naught.
This is where they stand. The oppressors who take away our freedom and liberty, continue to fight tooth and nail to
deprive us of even our basic human rights.
They employ brutal means of retaliation
and suppression in an attempt to keep us
from exposing the harsh truths of everyday life inside these prison walls. Although
the ASU1 hunger strike may have ended,
I will continue to have the spirit of resistance. The outcome will not be decided by
a single battle but many, and I will do my
part, in hopes that my small contribution
may make a difference.
In Solidarity,
Pyung Hwa Ryoo F88924
3A-03-213
Corcoran CA 93212

OCCUPY4
PRISONERS
PRESENTS
[Ed. Note: By the time you read this the
event will be over. But I thought it would be
a good idea to let you know it happened.]

I

n Solidarity with the Occupy the Justice Department protest in Washington,
DC
End Mass Incarceration! Tuesday, April
24th.
4PM - RALLY at 14th and Broadway,
Oakland
Occupy4Prisoners and supporters will
rally at Oscar Grant Plaza, where awareness and understanding regarding the brutality and corruption within the United
States INjustice system will begin to rise
up. We will be doing educational outreach
about the prison system with music, speakers, a “Truth Mob” and amplifying the
voices of people inside of prisons.
5PM - MARCH to Federal Building
and Obama Headquarters
We will take to the streets to march as
an expression of our solidarity with the 2.5
million people incarcerated in the country.
The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country, with 743 people in
prison per 100,000 of national population.
Occupy4Prisoners brings to the attention
of the greater Occupy Movement how we
cannot forget the bottom 1% of the 99% in
our greater struggle for justice and equality.
The march will continue past the Federal
Building (13th and Clay) where representatives from the Labor Action Committee to
Free Mumia and the Mobilization to Free
Mumia Abu-Jamal will speak. Folks from
the Bradley Manning Support Network will
share information about Bradley’s plight
when we reach the Obama Headquarters
(17th and Telegraph.) Then we will march
to...
6PM - THE INJUSTICE SYSTEM ON
TRIAL - 19th and Telegraph
Once we arrive at the 19th and Telegraph
Plaza, we will be putting the Injustice System on trial. Powerful local activists will
preside over a trial that is actually about the
truth.
The prosecutor will be Anita Wills, (Oscar Grant Committee and Occupy4Prisoners), the defense attorney will be Deborah
Rock

Small, (Break the Chains), and the judge
will be Jerry Elster (All of Us or None).
The system will be played by Dan Siegel
(National Lawyers Guild).
The jury will be YOU!
These witnesses will be bringing evidence against the system regarding the following charges:
1. Targeting youth of color
• Chris M, Occupy Oakland Tactical Action Committee
• Sagnitche Salazar, Youth Together and
Xicana Moratorium Coalition
2. Allowing murder and assault by police
to go unpunished
• Denika Chatman, Kenneth Harding Jr.
Foundation
• Carey Downs & Dionne Smith Downs,
A Mother’s Cry for Justice
3. Enforcing racism at every level
• Jabari Shaw, Rapper, Laney College
Black Student Union
• Manuel La Fontaine, All of Us or None
and Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity
4. Holding political prisoners hostage
• Kiilu Nyasha, Independent journalist
and former Black Panther
• Aaron Mirmalek, Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee Oakland
5. Torturing people inside the prisons
• Sharena Curley, Oscar Grant Committee
• Luis “Bato” Talamantez, California Prison Focus and one of the San Quentin Six
6. Conspiring to commit mass incarceration
• Linda Evans, All of Us or None and former political prisoner
• Ghetto Prophet, Onyx Organizing Committee and spoken word artist
More information:
www.occupy4prisoners.org
www.occupythejusticedepartment.com
occupy4prisoners@gmail.com
OCCUPY4PRISONERS
OCCUPY THE INJUSTICE DEPARTMENT
END MASS INCARCERATION

TUESDAY, APRIL 24TH

Free Mumia
Abu-Jamal and
ALL political
prisoners!

th

4PM – Rally, Truth Mob and Education/Outreach at 14 and Broadway
5PM – March to Federal Building and Obama Headquarters for Mumia
Abu-Jamal and Bradley Manning Speakouts
Then on to:
th
6PM – Put the INjustice System on Trial at 19 and Telegraph!
Charges include: Mass Incarceration, Police Brutality and
Murder, and Torture of People in Prison.
Hear testimonies and see evidence which support these
charges. Witnesses include formally incarcerated people, All of
Us or None, Stop the Injunctions Coalition, Occupy Oakland,
former Black Panthers, people who have lost loved ones to
police murder, and more.
This action is in solidarity with the Occupy the Justice Department
th
happening in Washington DC on April 24 , Mumia Abu-Jamal’s birthday.

occupy4prisoners.org/occupythejusticedepartment.com
occupy4prisoners@gmail.com

HELP US TIP THE SCALES!

Vol. 1 Number 4

Tidbits .................. Continued from page 3
hunger strike, i have gotten quite a few
letters from the main men at Pelican Bay
short corridor and all throughout CA how
they are currently getting mentally preparing themselves at the moment to go to the
‘final hunger strike’ they call it and die if
need be. I really hope whoever goes to the
rally in Sacramento tomorrow, families talk
about this because many men have dropped
a lot of weight last year and still cannot
gain weight back. many men throughout
CA prisons were in worse conditions after
the last statewide hunger strike many almost died in hospitals, so their health is not
as in tip top shape. if the men are strongly
talking about the 3rd and final hunger strike
really soon then it will happen, i really hope
families who show up tomorrow talk about
this or someone speak about the reality of
what is going to happen if CDCR does not
meet what the men want in their demands/
proposal. Thanks - [Name withheld]
[I received this letter recently from a
Pelican Bay prisoner. He singles out the
lawyers for praise; we lawyers know that
our work is not done in isolation and that
the entire coalition, and the prisoners themselves, working with each other and with
the coalition, deserve the credit for “whatever gains” are made. --Carol]
I don’t know how many prisoners write
to thank you. But I want you to know that w
are all most grateful to you. Thank you for
everything you’ve done and continue to do.
I’m sure that getting involved in this has
taken up a lot of personal time, time you
could’ve spent with your family. I’m sure it
has caused you many sleepless nights. And
one too many chocolates. I’m sure it has
taken up a lot of your resources. This does
not go unnoticed and unappreciated.
The progress and advancements we’ve
all made would not have occurred without
the assistance and dedication of you and
Marilyn. You two have brought so much
to the table. Whatever gains we make, they
can be attributed to you. We would not be
at this point without your help.
I’m sure there’s a group you could’ve
chose to help that would’ve been easier
to be sympathetic towards. I want you to
know we’re not bad people. I see goodness
and compassion in all of these guys. A lot
of the bad choices we made were made a
young age. We were all young and impulsive and looking for something to make us
feel significant, and a gang was the most

accessible institution. Some kids join fraternities, some join the army, some join
gangs. I think we’re all attracted to that
feeling of camaraderie, to that sense of purpose. Sure, we do dumb things, impulsive
things, but it does not make us a rotten person. (The kids in the army and fraternities
do dumb things too, but it doesn’t make
them bad people either.) I know we have to
pay for what we’ve done, but CDCR seems
to think we’ve forfeited any right to legitimate due process or decency.
Virtually every guy here was using drugs
when they committed their crime. I’ve noticed that people who use drugs are usually very emotional and sensitive. I think
everybody uses to numb themselves to
whatever they’re feeling. Maybe it didn’t
start out that way. Maybe they started because they wanted to be part of the crowd.
But towards the end of everyone’s days out
there, they’re using because of some sort
of emotional issue that they didn’t have the
maturity to deal with. That certainly applies to me.
Before the hunger strike and the subsequent negotiations, a lot of guys were
hopeless and therefore pessimistic towards
the likelihood of any reform. . . . Now those
same guys have a spring in their step. Their
disposition has changed. Now they are
starting to believe that change is going to
come. I want you to know that you, Marilyn
and Peter Schey are responsible for bringing this newfound hope to a lot of inmates.

Quote Box
“The ruling class has the schools and
press under its thumb. This enables it to
sway the emotions of the masses.”
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Physicist and Professor, Nobel Prize 1921
“Unthinking respect for authority is
the greatest enemy of truth.”
Albert Einstein
“Whenever you find yourself on the
side of the majority, it’s time to pause
and reflect.”
Mark Twain
“Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.”
Rosa Luxemburg
“Search for the truth is the noblest
occupation of man; its publication is a
duty.”
Anne Louise Germaine de Stael

9

A MOTHER’S
NIGHTMARE
Act Now for SB 1363

M

y oldest son was sentenced
to California’s youth prisons,
called the Division of Juvenile
Justice (DJJ) in 2010 for assault when he
was 16 years old. On one of our visits, my
son told me that killing himself is his ticket
out of DJJ. Imagine just for a second what
it feels like to hear that from your child.
He’s attempted suicide 7 times in two
years. When he hurts himself, he gets put
in solitary confinement. He sits in a small
dirty cell for more than 21 hours a day while
he hallucinates and gets more depressed.
Once, he didn’t eat for 7 days and no one
bothered asking him what was wrong. He
never had serious mental health issues before he went to DJJ. Now he takes more
than 10 pills a day and constantly thinks
about hurting himself. When we visit him,
his body is scarred and his face twitches.
I need you to understand that this is standard procedure. Right now, youth prisons
and juvenile halls can hold youth in solitary confinement for as long as they want.

That’s why I joined with Books Not Bars
to write a bill that would end this torture
of our children. On April 17, we fell one
vote short of passing the bill out of its
first committee. There were four legislators who didn’t support us. All of them received thousands of dollars from the prison
guard’s association in their last election.
Try to imagine what it’s like to get a call
in the middle of the night and being told
that your child tried to hang himself with a
bedsheet. Then, being told that he stabbed
himself with a fork. Then learning that he
slit his wrist with a razor. And after that,
getting a call because he broke a TV and
used the wires to choke himself.
They don’t try to talk to him or give him
counseling. Whether kids are getting into
trouble or they are trying to hurt themselves, guards put them in solitary confinement. How is putting my suicidal son
in solitary confinement supposed to help
him? A psychiatrist talks to him for 2 minutes in the morning, then he stares at the
walls for the rest of the day.
Every night I wish I could tuck in my
son, give him the sign of the cross, and
kiss him good night like I used to. But I
can’t, and it hurts so much. I may not be

a political insider or give millions to political campaigns, but that shouldn’t mean
politicians can ignore me or the thousands
of other families who know my pain. There
will be one more vote on this bill on April
24.
Will you help me make them listen?
Owen Li
Lead Organizer
Books Not Bars
(An Ella Baker Center Campaign)
1970 Broadway, Suite 450
Oakland, CA 94612

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.

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
Seattel, WA 98146
www.prisonart.org
sales@prisonart.org
206-271-5003

Ed Mead
P.O. Box 47439
Seattle, WA 98146

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