

Working to Extend Democracy to All 
Volume 3, Number 2

February 2014

CENSORSHIP SUIT OVER POLITICAL
DISSENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY

T

January 9, 2014: Philadelphia, PA —
he Human Rights Coalition (HRC),
politicized prisoner Robert Saleem
Holbrook, and College of Charleston Professor Kristi Brian brought a lawsuit yesterday against several employees
of the State Correctional Institution (SCI)
at Coal Township and the Pennsylvania
Department of Corrections (PA DOC) for
confiscation of mail sent to Holbrook, a cofounder of HRC currently held at SCI Coal
Township.
“Today HRC is going on the offensive to fight back against prison
censorship,” editor of The Movement
and HRC-Philadelphia activist Patricia Vickers stated. “It is long overdue
that prison officials are held to account

CONTENTS
HRC Sues Over Censorship.....1
Palestinian Prisoners HS..........2
Guantanamo Despair................2
Release for Aging Cons............2
Letters ......................................4
Community Release Board.......6
Mass Incarceration...................7
Quote Box.................................7
DOJ on Women Prisoners........8
Wife's Letter from Kern Valley...8
Defining PACs..........................10

for their attempts to silence those who
speak out against this abusive system.
The rights, health, and lives of our
loved ones are at stake.”
The suit, Holbrook et al. v. Jellen et al.,
filed by the Abolitionist Law Center, details
a series of confiscations of Holbrook’s mail
since January 2012 that includes academic
correspondence with a college professor
and issues of The Movement, essays written by Angela Y. Davis and James Baldwin, a newsletter published by HRC which
focuses on prison abuse, solitary confinement, and ways that prisoners’ family
members can come together to challenge
human rights abuses and injustice in the
criminal legal system.
The content of the materials censored by
SCI Coal Township and Central Office officials touch on the most vital issues of the
operation of the prison system in Pennsylvania: juveniles sentenced to die in prison,
deaths in solitary confinement, repression
of human rights defenders inside prisons,
advocacy efforts by families of prisoners, and the pervasive racism that defines
the criminal legal system in Pennsylvania
and the U.S. In this context, freedom of
thought, speech, and association carry life
or death consequences.
Plaintiff Robert Saleem Holbrook, a
39-year-old prisoner who is serving a sentence of life-without-parole for a conviction imposed when he was 16-years-old,
wrote about prison censorship in an article
published in October 2012, “Censorship on
the Prison Plantation: Extinguishing Dissent”:
“[T]he prison mailroom supervisor
at the prison I am incarcerated in (SCI

Coal Township) reflexively denies all
books by Black/Latino authors that
provide a radical critique of prisons,
as well as all publications that contain
articles written by prisoners that critique prisons from an adversarial position. Every issue of the Human Rights
Coalition newsletter “The Movement”
has been denied by this institution, as
well as informational brochures and
flyers related to HRC’s advocacy on
behalf of prisoners. It is not the information contained in these newsletters
that the prison censor fears, because
none of the material is threatening or
inflammatory. What angers the censor
and the prison administration is that
prisoners are taking the initiative to
challenge their imprisonment and conditions of confinement without apology! On the pages of these publications,
prisoners are demonstrating that they
possess a voice and are ensuring that
their voice be heard.”
“This lawsuit challenges the ability
of PA DOC officials to target political
dissent and human rights defenders
with arbitrary censorship,” said Bret
Grote, an attorney with the Abolitionist Law Center representing the plaintiffs in the case. “The First Amendment protections at stake extend far
beyond the confines of this particular
case, and touch upon the daily lives of
millions of people in this country who
are in prison or who communicate
with people in prison.” ●
Human Rights Coalition - FedUp!
5129 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224

AMIDST SERIOUS
ISRAELI ATTACK,
DETAINEES START
HUNGER STRIKE

T

By Saed Bannoura, Jan. 11, 2014
he Palestinian Ministry of Detainees
has reported that Palestinian political prisoners held at the Israeli detention facility ‘Ramon’ started a hunger
strike to protest the latest serious Israeli assaults carried out against them.
Rami Al-‘Alami, a lawyer of the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees, said that the
situation at the Ramon Israeli prison could
lead to confrontations, especially after four
units of the military have continued their
assaults against the detainees for the third
week in a row.
The soldiers, accompanied by military
dogs, broke into the cells of the detainees,
violently searching them.
The Ministry said that the detainees
discovered that there are hidden cameras
in the walls of their rooms, and protested
against this serious violation of their rights.
Detainee Abdul-Salam Shokry said that,
after the detainees found the hidden cameras and protested the violation, the Prison
Administration and the Israeli Security
Agency decided to attack the detainees and
retrieve the cameras.
Shokry added that the soldiers caused
excessive damage to the detainees’ property, broke their electrical equipment and
forced the detainees into solitary confinement, in another section, after cuffing them
and forcing them to undergo a strip search.
The issue led to clashes between the detainees and the soldiers, who also attacked
and struck several detainees, including Kamal Abu Shanab, Yousef Barghouthi, Ibrahim Ziyada and Ahmad Ka’abna.
The prison administration also decided
to move the representative of the detainees,
Kamal Rajoub, into solitary confinement.
Shokry said that the situation at Ramon
prison could deteriorate even more and
lead to clashes, should the army and the
prison administration continue these violations and assaults.
He said that the detainees started a gradual hunger strike on Saturday, a strike that
could lead to an ongoing hunger strike by
the detainees, and added that the detainees
filed 49 appeals against the Israeli violations. ●
http://www.imemc.org/article/66733
2	

GUANTANAMO
DETAINEES
DESCRIBE
DESPAIR 5 YEARS
AFTER OBAMA
PROMISED
CLOSURE

F

ive years after President Obama
promised to close Guantanamo Bay
within one year, detainees have described their despair at conditions and their
indefinite detention. Recent legislative
amendments by Congress removed obstacles to transferring cleared detainees out of
the prison.
Abu Wa’el Dhiab, a cleared Syrian, said:
“I am dying every day many, many
times. Sometimes because of my illness,
and sometimes because of the oppression
by the guards here, and sometimes because
of the doctors, and sometimes because of
the pressure they put on us and because of
the length of our unfair imprisonment.
I had wanted to live in peace with my
wife and our children and we had planned
our future and the future of our children
together, but they destroyed our dreams
and our plans, they did not let us live . .
. Twelve years I have been unable to see
my children, not out of choice, but because
I was denied the ability to see them, and
without reason.”
A recent report by lawyers at the human rights charity Reprieve revealed that
33 men are back on hunger strike and being force-fed twice daily. Authorities have
clamped down on information coming out
of the prison, including no longer releasing official numbers of hunger strikers because it was furthering the men’s peaceful
protest.
Cleared British resident Shaker Aamer,
whose British wife and their four children
live in London, is one of the men back on
hunger strike. He told his lawyer that he:
“Lost 25 lbs in a week over Christmas.”
David Cameron has repeatedly stated
that he wants Shaker returned home to the
UK and he last year raised My Aamer’s
case with President Obama. Shaker has
been cleared for release under both the
Bush and Obama administrations yet remains held without charge or trial.
155 men are still held at Guantanamo
Bay, despite President Obama signing an

Executive Order of January 22nd 2009 to
close the prison within a year. More than
half the detainees have been cleared for
release, a process involving unanimous
agreement by six US federal agencies that
they pose no threat to the United States.
Last year, Guantanamo’s Chief Prosecutor announced that less than 3% of all the
men who had been held at the prison would
ever be tried.
Recent Congressional amendments to
the annually-renewed National Defense
Authorisation Act (NDAA), removed the
certification requirement for countries to
which detainees can be resettled removing
obstacles to Obama transferring cleared
men out of the prison.
Clare Algar, Reprieve’s Executive Director, said: “Five years ago today the detainees were full of hope that finally their
nightmare would be over. Yet still they sit
in the hell of Guantanamo Bay. President
Obama has no excuses left, why is it still
open? And why are cleared men like Shaker Aamer still not home with their families
where they belong?” ●

RAPP URGES
GOVERNOR
CUOMO TO PUSH
FOR PAROLE
REFORM AND TO
RELEASE AGING
PEOPLE IN PRISON

N

Tuesday, January 14, 2014
ew York: Governor Andrew Cuomo has taken two positive steps
toward criminal justice reform by
announcing the creation of a Commission
on Youth, Justice, and Public Safety, and a
council on Community Reintegration and
Reentry.
The Commission will raise the age of
criminal responsibility in New York, and
the council will strengthen job training
and other programs designed to reduce recidivism. Release Aging People in Prison
(RAPP) applauds Governor Cuomo for his
efforts while urging him to reform parole
practices, especially as they pertain to the
release of elders behind bars.
While the total prison population has decreased by more than 20 percent in the past
decade, the number of incarcerated people
Rock!

over 55 years old has increased by more
than 70 percent. “These elders do not need
to be incarcerated,” said Mujahid Farid,
lead organizer for RAPP. “The risk of committing a new crime is about 5% for older
people, compared with an overall recidivism risk of nearly 40%,” he said.
Thousands of seniors are being confined
to cruel and degrading conditions as Parole
Commissioners deny their release from
prison even when they pose a low risk of
endangering public safety and show a clear
ability to reintegrate. This culture of permanent punishment does nothing to enhance public safety, but it does violate human rights and waste financial and human
resources.
To efficiently dismantle what Governor
Cuomo himself has called “the madness
of an incarceration society,” further attention must be given to the regulations that
govern parole decisions. Elders who pose
no risk to public safety should be released.
Interestingly, if this were done, the overall
recidivism rate that Governor Cuomo criticized would fall.
Revisions to current parole regulations
are posted for public comment until February 1. RAPP is calling on Parole Commissioners to promote release from prison
based on fair and reliable guides, such as
age, length of time already served, and risk
of committing a new crime.
We ask Governor Cuomo to explicitly
support fair an evidence-based parole practices. We also invite the media and public
to review our proposed regulations at the
following URL:
http://www.correctionalassociation.org/
news/nys-parole-regulations.●

Art by Michael Russell

UPDATE FROM
MENARD HUNGER
STRIKERS: WE
NEED OUTSIDE
SUPPORT
Force feeding threatened

T

January 21, 2014
he following information is drawn
from letters received from prisoners
in Administrative Detention at Menard Correctional Center in Menard, Illinois,
and compiled by attorney Alice Lynd.
Jan. 21, 2014 – On Jan. 15, 2014, approximately 25 prisoners in Administrative
Detention at Menard Correctional Center went on hunger strike. Officers shook
down their cells and took any food they
found. The hunger strikers were sent to see
medical staff and charged $5 for medical
treatment.
On the way back from seeing medical
staff, one prisoner (said to be Armando Valazquez) was pushed onto the stairs while
in handcuffs by two officers. Those officers then kicked and stomped on his back,
picked him up and then slammed his face
into the plexiglass window on a door. One
officer was sent home early that day. Prisoner Velazquez was moved to the Health
Care Unit and the prisoners have not seen
him since.
The hunger strikers have been told the
prison administration is working on obtaining a preliminary injunction to force feed
them. They expect to continue the hunger
strike even if they are force fed.
“We need as much outside support as

possible,” the prisoners say.
Please call or email: Gov. Pat Quinn,
(217) 782-0244, http://www2.illinois.gov/
gov/Pages/ContacttheGovernor.aspx. Warden Rick Harrington, (618) 826-5071. Illinois Department of Corrections Director
Salvador Godinez, (217) 558-2200, ext.
2008. Attorney Alice Lynd can be reached
at salynd@aol.com.
Menard prisoners’ demands
In a letter to Illinois Department of Corrections Director Salvador A. Godinez,
Alan Mills of Uptown People’s Law Center
in Chicago writes that prisoners formerly
housed at Tamms and now in Administrative Detention at Menard in the High Security Unit, or HSU, “have contacted our
office regarding both the process by which
they were placed in this unit and the conditions of their confinement in the unit.
“They have advised us that due to the
lack of response from anyone within the
Department regarding their informal complaints and formal grievances they will begin an indefinite hunger strike today, Jan.
15.
“The men have forwarded the following
demands to us in the hopes that we can facilitate resolution of the issues:
•	 A hearing upon arrival and rationale for
placement, as well as the written rules
and regulations regarding their classification;
•	 Quarterly meaningful reviews of continued placement;
•	 Timely written responses to grievances
in compliance with the departmental directives;
•	 The ability to have reasonable access to
cleaning supplies for their personal cells;
•	 The common areas to be cleaned and
sanitized (i.e., showers) and the vermin
and rodent infestation eliminated;
•	 Adequate heat and hot water in cells and
common areas;
•	 The ability to purchase basic commissary items (i.e., thermal clothing, shoes
etc.), pursuant to departmental regulations;
•	 Access to individual razors and nail clippers held by departmental staff;
•	 Timely addressed medical treatment
(i.e., physical, mental and dental ailments); and
•	 Adequate access to legal property boxes
and the law library.”
Alan Mills can be reached at Uptown
People’s Law Center, 4415 North Sheridan,
Chicago IL 60640, (775) 769-1411, www.
uplcchicago.org. ●

Volume 3, Number 2		

3

Supports PAC
(Footnotes are Ed’s comments)
I am writing to express support for this
proposal of creating a prisoners PAC [Political Action Committee]. Briefly explained
by Jesse Perez in the last issue. I think it’s
a brilliant idea and do pledge $100 to start.
Hey, I know it isn’t much but that’s from
absolutely nothing. The point however, is
to say that people will not only meet that
$5 call (periodically) but will dig deeper
and give more! Nothing in the regulations
should hinder this effort either, so long as
its administrators are on the outside. Of
course, no matter what the regs say we
should expect push back—even for those
on the streets (i.e., unfounded, wild accusations of organized crime, etc.). Especially
because this can actually work. It is a natural progression of our struggle. [Perez] was
absolutely right! And with teeth (smile).
Good stuff.
My only input (followed by a suggestion)
is to say that embezzlement or white collar
crime is usually perpetuated by Ivy League
professionals (so to speak) and people who
you would otherwise think do not break the
law. So can anyone punch numbers into a
database. That in itself does not mean our
money is being used to fight our causes—
or anything for that matter. Even where in
this case an act like that would be incredibly—incredibly—unwise; people think
they are smarter than they are at times, and
a lot of money can tempt anyone.
Secondly, for me at least, while I can see
value in teaming with other organization,
partnering, inclusion, and co-opting with
acceptable causes for mutual benefit to expand our reach, impact, etc., I would not
want to contribute to things I do not support
(i.e., better programming for sex offenders
in Washington, juvenile or adult. See past
issue of Rock).1 I’m sure you agree. Plus,
1. As far as I know Rock has never advocated for better programming for sex offenders. It’s needed, but Rock is not about
“programming” for anyone, regardless of
offense. This newsletter is about shutting
down the factory, and not at all about feeble
efforts to tidy up the destructive product
that factory produces. Moreover, if I were
to have anything to do with such a PAC, no
monies at all would be used for any kind
of programming. This would be a political
fund, not a rehabilitation fund. That said,

4	

Supports the PAC
I would like to speak on the PAC to
represent the prison community, an issue
which was brought up in articles in previous issues of Rock. This is a solid idea that
should be explored. I did not read these articles and take them as trying to outspend
the CDCR (CCPOA). I took it as coming
together as a whole to fight fire with fire
against them (CCPOA), to try and get this
fight on a somewhat equal battlefield. It is
no secret that money gets things done, so it
would be wise for us to gain financial support in order to back those that fight for us
on the out there (Loni Hancock and Tom
Ammiano, etc.) so they can really make
things happen more than they have already.
The CDCR (CCPOA) is only able to push
their weight around due to the money they
do I think prisoners need to overcome their
prejudices against gays and sex offenders?
Yes. Anything that works to further divide
prisoners from each other serves the interest of your captors.
2. He may be referring to "radicals" here,
as in “as soon as our struggle becomes
acceptable we need to do what the union
movement did back in the day and toss
them under the bus."

throw towards what benefits
them, which is to keep a revolving door policy in and out of
prison and to keep these SHUs
up and running.
A few dollars from each of
us on a monthly basis (just like
union dues) can help our supporters go to battle for us with
the proper weaponry. It will give
us, the voiceless, a pretty loud
voice! Look what we got done
with our latest peaceful protest (hunger
strike/work strike), we opened the eyes of
so many across the nation and around the
world. Imagine what we can do with financial support. We’d be able to fight things
on a much wider scale, both inside and outside these walls, and pushing the issue even
louder on getting us out of the SHU by truly fixing this joke of a validation process,
better education, and real rehabilitation.
Not to mention things we once had before,
such as family visits for livers and weights
back on the yards. Those are just a couple
of examples of things we had before, so we
know it can be done. Plus, and a very big
plus, with money we’d be able to fight to
fix these laws out there to slow down that
revolving door. Years get handed out like
candy and yet they have no way of dealing
with overcrowding.
We get slapped with this gang label,
which gives them action to hit us with
decades-long enhancements. We are then
forced to take an already outrageous deal
with 85 percent just to come to prison and
get validated and have 85 percent turned to
100 percent due to tattoos or drawings that
these so-called “gang specialists” consider
“prison gang related.” This needs to change
and we can make It happen with the financial means to educate the public and expose
the crooked truth of the system!
On another money-related topic are these
private prisons. Since CDCR and these private prisons have contract quotas to deep
their beds full or CDCR will have to pay
big money for not keeping up with their
quota of warm bodies. Then maybe those
on the general population should refuse
to go out of state, thus making CDCR pay
those fines. Hit them where it hurts, in the
wallet! Everything revolves around the almighty dollar! Not only are we merely a
number to the state, we are walking dollar
signs to these people. So let’s not make it
easy for them.
Before I exit I’d like to thank all those

LETTERS

LETTERS

if this works, and I do think it will work,
it can garner support from the outside. We
all saw P.H.S.S. do outstanding work. So
yes, that’s a lot of money [which could lead
to] focused fund raisers and rallies. A lot
of people support our cause, so neither do
we want to turn people off by adding, or
even associating with what may be “unacceptable” issues for support by, and from,
the general public.2 Personal views aside,
our strategic approach must be considered
in this light—and precautions effected—so
as to maximize our support base and thus
maximize our potential.
My Suggestion: While transparency
and a professor with students sound great
for its [the funds] administration (good
case study for them as well), I think having what I would describe as safeguards
or security controls, where one or two of
our own would serve in a marginal supervisory capacity at lest to periodically—and
literally—drop in to check progress, books,
coffers, monies paid, services rendered, issues raised, etc. would help to ensure that
our issues, our goals, and what is important
to us—namely our causes—are the ones
being pushed for all men, women, and juveniles included.
Marco Perez, Tehachapi SHU

Rock!

out there that fight for us in here, whether
it’s those of you running these vital newsletters, those with political stature, or the
everyday true freedom fighters that give
their all for this cause, such as Delores Canales. Thank you all very much for all you
do.
E. Arballo, PBSP SHU
Shout Out Box Winner
Solidarity to all who advocate for true
change to the sham that is the California
Department of Corrections and no Rehabilitation.
Enclosed is a donation of 12 stamps. I
hope it helps and is put to good use. Communication by those of us confined to cement boxes and decades of torture is of the
upmost impertinence. We need to have our
voices heard, so that the public, country,
and world can understand the illegal torture
and injustices forced on California (SHU)
and level 4 general population prisoners.
Pelican Bay B-Yard had donated 60 forever stamps [they have won this month’s
Shout Out box]. We are looking forward
to every newsletter you send out and hope
many others donate to ensure this dire publication continues for months and years to
come. In Solidarity,
Gonzalo Gonzalez, PBSP

doors” so the metal-on-metal slamming is
muffled (due to late night counts). Also,
athletes tape to be wrapped around the pullup bar to get a better grip; a paging system
for books from the mainline yards the same
as A.S.U. standalone has it here at PBSP;
and to ask questions too, such as where are
these “ab rollers” we’re supposed to already be given?
This is not to say a GA-22 system would
totally work. I’m sure important ones
that staff would not want addressed, like
where’s the hairnets and gloves officers are
supposed to wear while handing our food?
Nonetheless it would be some way to make
suggestions from blocks who have no reps.
Also, this PAC proposal that was explained and talked about. Hands down it
looks good and I know once the fundamentals of where the money is to be collected
at and how those funds will be used, it will
be to the benefit of us all. An endorsement
from the reps will also go a long way to
ease any questions. The Friends Committee on Legislation of California, 1225 8th
Street, Ste 220, Sacramento, CA 958144809, is a non-profit organization who has
always been supporters of prisoner and parolee’s right. They may be helpful in setting
up the PAC.
Salvador Negrete, PBSP

Has Questions for Reps
Although I have a subscription, I’m enclosing some stamps from those of us within the pod who can spare a few to assist
those who can’t buy a subscription.
To the Short Corridor Collective there is
a few ideas and questions we, around me,
would like to put out there: One, it was great
to read the minutes from the Nov. 2013
meeting with the administration (though a
month and a half later). We are unsure if it
was correct in stating meetings will only be
held every three months instead of the every month Warden Barnes had granted and
was mention in the Vol. 2 #12 [Dec. 2013]
of the Rock? It was also good to hear the
other rep should be included in the future.
Are efforts being put into place to expand
that 20 reps to include maybe a “random
few” or “selected few” from the C-Side to
insure the minutes/memos from the meetings are correct in what is being passed
round on the C-Side? Also, a suggestion
was put out there to be allowed to submit
a GA-22 (request for interview) directly to
Short Corridor Reps (as a Collective, not
individually) to suggest small things, such
as rubber stoppers placed on “pod selection

Ideas On The PAC
Greetings and utmost respect is extended to you, as I humbly ask to be allowed
a moment of your time and be granted the
privilege to share some of my thoughts.
And at the very same time express my true
gratitude and appreciation four your support and assistance that you have been in
regards to keeping the ROCK newsletter
updated and keeping us informed on the
latest as well as educating us on the movement but more importantly four your valuable time. Thank you.
I will be touching a few bases in this letter. So pardon me if it’s extensive in reaching my point. As I am well aware you’re
a busy man with many correspondences to
attend to. So, let me get to it….
I am currently housed in P.B.S.P. (A.S.U)
waiting to go back to (GP) mainline in exactly one week from today. I was one of
the hunger strikers who was transferred to
Folsom (A.S.U.) along with others whom
I will never forget. As we survived off of
each other’s strength in solidarity enduring
the struggle in the longevity of 59 days. I
salute each and every one of them, as well
to any and all that participated in the move-

ment for a better change, ending solitary
confinement. I am not validated, though I
embrace the struggle as my own, for I am
too familiar of these outrageous tactics our
oppressors use, and at any time I could
find myself in the same predicament as the
next man. I stand in solidarity alongside
each and every one of you. Not taking for
granted all that’s in our reach. I have taken
the initiative with the help of some fellow
inmates whom are also in this (A.S.U.) to
put a letter together directed to the warden
in attempts to see a better change of these
living conditions. (Enclosed is a copy of
the letter). We have not received any type
of written response nor has the administration honored our request to be able to speak
to Sergeants, Lieutenants, etc. to the populations’ issues, on our concerns, leaving
us having to 602 each matter individually,
while they exhaust the time limitations,
only to deny your appeals. However one
thing worth mentioning is that we have
taken notice of a couple things that have
changed. 1) They started to clean the tiers
(sweep/mop). 2) The increase of the purchase of soups to no limits … 3) they installed (A) T.V. shelf but Squad (IGI) came
to inspect it and of course shut it down stating it was flimsy and inmates could use it
as weapons. That is typical for them to say
such things. And because of that everything
has been put on hold until they figure out
another set-up… Now at the very latest we
see some things are slowly moving. We
will keep on pushing forward to better our
living conditions in this (A.S.U.) as we exercise patience and acknowledge that these
things take time. It’s different as times due
to all our inquiries and requests go brushed
off by CDCR. And it brings frustration. But
we will not give up and will continue to
move forward in our continual protest…
On a different subject, regarding the
feedback to the prisoner (PAC) proposal …
I personally think it is not a bad idea and
could see how it could benefit us inmates.
After speaking with a few fellow inmates,
I believe that many are open minded to the
contributions. As I will contribute when I
can… An idea came to mind one that I will
share with you. Many of us have families
and friends out there that are into the culture of “Lowriding”… as we know lowriding and car clubs are family Barrio Hobbies
that throw events to give back to the communities, if we want to educate them on the
idea of the prisoner (PAC) proposal. This
could get big and the contributions would
multiply by the number. As lowriding is a

Volume 3, Number 2		

5

worldwide event involving all ethnicities,
families, and communities? I believe if
this idea were to be pitched to the publishers of Lowrider Magazine and Street [Low]
… [Cannot read full name of magazine]
could begin to circulate and get a perspective of their opinions and inmates on this .
As I mentioned it’s only an idea…
I humbly thank and appreciate all the
prisoners, attorneys, legislators, and reps
for your dedication and sacrifices in achieving the greater good. As I know it’s no easy
task and its hard work and time consuming
which makes me extremely grateful and
honored to be allowed and be a part of this
movement. Thank you for your time and
priceless knowledge and education.
Esteban Hernandez, PBSP
On Ultimatums and PACs
I disagree when the publisher states that
the “movement is strong and doing well.”
Leading up to the last hunger strike there
were hordes of cell-soldiers who made the
covenant that this was the Big One, the
strike to end all. Many strikers wrote in
and made public comments that this was
it. This time it was all in. They were going
to “starve to death.” What happened? Except for the unfortunate man who committed suicide, nobody followed through their
threats and ultimatums. I think that was a
grave mistake. Don’t make threats if you
are not going to follow through. This degrades our leverage in the present and in
the future. This is not to take away from
the many men and who did the strike to its
end and made many sacrifices and suffered
consequences for their selfless dedication.
The only way this “movement” is going
to gain traction now is going to be through
real work. Real focus and the weeding out
of all those agendas that are not true to
the one main goal—abolition of the SHU.
Currently the use of hunger strikes has run
its course unless people are really, absolutely, committed to dying from starvation
no matter what happens. I actually agree
with the prisoner who suggested the use of
a PAC as a means of leverage. PACs take
huge sums of money though. Far more than
prisoners and their families could acquire.
There are websites with which people can
post their charities so that people around
the world can donate sums of money if they
are moved by the cause.
We could best use the money generated
by prisoners and their families to purchase
a website and rent space where it could
generate greater revenue. All of the people
6	

who marched and petitioned for us during
the HS could spread word of our website.
Those people could tell others, and so on.
There are almost 4.5 billion humans on
Earth. If 20,000 donated $5, that would
be $100,000. That’s not a huge amount of
money. However, that amount in the pocket
of the right lobbyist might help. It’s time to
begin thinking large. If we compartmentalize this struggle to within these walls, then
we limit our reach. It’s time to fight fire
with fire.
Robert Dragusica, Corcoran SHU

PROPOSAL FOR
A “COMMUNITY
RELEASE BOARD”

By Pelican Bay SHU State Prison-SHU
conscious Prisoners

“The power to grant parole should
be in the hands of the community the
prisoner is accused of breaking the
peace in. They should be the ones
who decide whether or not a person is
ready to rejoin their community. Who
knows the prisoner better than the people who have known him/her all their
lives. Who better could say whether
or not that person has changed for the
better? No one. Certainly not an exdistrict attorney, or ex-police officer,
or ex-guard, or ex-sheriff-- those who
make up the Board of Prison Hearings
today. SHU prisoners are given one
hundred percent parole denials. Who
in their right mind wouldn’t call that
torturous punishment? Stop The Insanity!”

I

n California if you have the misfortune
of being arrested, charged and held to
stand trial for a crime, the informational page of the criminal complaint will read
something like: The People of the State of
California (or one of its associate counties) versus John/Jane Doe for violating penal code #xx. If you suffer the misfortune
of being convicted, if you are sentenced
to prison as an indeterminate life prisoner
with the possibility of parole, your sentence
will have two components of interest: The
minimum amount of time you must serve
in custody – i.e. Minimum Eligible Release
Date (MERD), and the Maximum Sentence
–which can be life.
There has been and are a lot of subjective

variables which (could) govern life prisoners’ parole decisions. This subjectivity
determines who is and who isn’t paroled.
California uses a lifer’s Matrix which assigns minimum, medium, maximum terms
based on each lifer’s specific case factors.
Again, there has been and are a lot of subjective variables which govern life prisoners’ parole decisions. As a consequence,
most lifers serve more than the state’s matrix term for their case factors. Considering these facts, I question what “People,”
“State,” or “County” means on the informational page of a criminal complaint? I
contend they mean “broke the community
peace,” violated state law and the right under the law (of the persons wronged) – all
at one and the same time.
Given California’s apparent insatiable
appetite for prisoners and the unparoled
number of lifers beyond their state matrix
term as calculated by each of their specific
case factors, and absent a new criminal
charge...
Communities being bled of money and
people ought to – must – organize to reclaim its lost members and guard against
their sons, daughters and themselves being
pulled into this ravenous enterprise, permanently marooned in state/private prison
as a source of income for others, for, since
there is no tangible relationship between
me and them, other than me as a source of
income, they have no vested interest in me
other than as a prisoner. Make sure your
state does not have a mandatory prisoner
quota contract with one of the private prison companies; which in California has a
70 percent occupancy. This may be why
California is resisting operating its prisons
at capacity as opposed to 137 percent of capacity. A possible solution to change the
dynamic is an informed community that
organizes to petition the state legislature
to, at a certain point in a lifer’s sentence,
to cede parole authority to the community
upon whose behalf the state acted. To petition the state legislature to reconstitute
a new “Community Release Board” and
once a lifer has served his/her MERD, or ,
the middle amount of time of the medium
matrix, to eliminate the discriminatory subjectivity in paroling life prisoners.
The prisoner bid to be paroled would be
made to and heard by the community whose
peace he/she broke, and neighbor he/she
broke, and neighbor he/she wronged. They
would have the authority to evaluate the
prisoner’s bid and reject it, delay it or grant
it.... ●
Rock!

MASS
INCARCERATION,
MASS
DEPORTATION:
TWIN LEGACIES
OF GOVERNING
THROUGH CRIME

O

ne is considered punishment for
crimes. The other is consider a
civil action to protect the national integrity of the U.S. But despite these
differences mass incarceration and mass
deportation are off-spring of a common
source, the U.S. political system’s broad
turn toward race-tinged fear, violence
and coercion to govern American society
since the 1970s (or what I call “governing
through crime“). What follows are some
common features.
•	 Both mass incarceration and mass deportation are rationalized on the basis
that they are primarily necessary to keep
Americans safe from violence. This persists despite the fact that violent crimes
in most parts of American society are
there lowest level in decades, few criminologists believe that mass incarceration
played a significant role in reducing violence. And almost no credible evidence
exits linking non-citizens here without
federal permission to violence.
•	 Both mass incarceration and mass deportation are forms of governing that
operate on masses, groups, classes, and
races rather than individuals. They rely
on racial profiling and rigid rules designed to remove the ability of judges or
other officials to take individual or contextual circumstances into account.
•	 Both mass incarceration and mass deportation (therefore) systematically
deny the human dignity of individuals
and result in conditions of confinement
and forced removal that have been repeatedly found to violate human rights
obligations of the United States under
international treaties such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and
the International Covenant of Civil and
Political Rights.
•	 Both mass incarceration and mass deportation deliver some of their most
destructive effects to the family members of the individuals imprisoned or
detained who find themselves denied

parents, partners, and vital economic
support despite having done broken no
laws themselves. The spillover effects
also diminish the freedom and dignity
of whole communities who must move
through life with their heads over their
shoulder looking out for police or immigration enforcement officers.
•	 Both mass incarceration and mass deportation remain powerful engines of
destruction, despite lack of visible public support, and despite tremendous fiscal costs largely because of political calculations that any deviation from rigid
punitive policies will be risky, and the
resistance of powerful financial interests with great lobbying ability to policy
changes that would diminish the high
profits they receive from servicing the
prison complex and operating many of
the immigration detention centers.
As we end a year in which President
Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder
have given important signals that they are
aware of the moral and human destruction of both mass incarceration and mass
deportation we must endeavor to produce
the kind of grass roots social movement
that will demand a full dismantling of
both these legacies of the era of governing
through crime.
As The New York Times reports in a
story recently on immigration (read it here)
there is an increasingly visible protest
movement against mass deportation. We
need an equivalent movement against mass
incarceration. ●
Jonathan Simon
The Berkeley Bog

Quote Box
"They must find it difficult...those who
have taken authority as the truth, rather
than truth as the authority."
Gerald Massey
Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for justice.
Jesus, Matthew 5:6
"In our obscurity, in all this vastness,
there is no hint that help will come from
elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It
is up to us."
Carl Sagan
"The state has, in order to control us,
introduced division into our thinking, so
that we come to distrust others and look
to the state for protection! But the roots
of our individualism remind us that what
we are is inseparable from the source
from which all others derive; that coercive practices that threaten our neighbor
also threaten us."
Butler Shaffer
The Senate intelligence committee approved a report concluding that "harsh
interrogation" measures used by the CIA
did not produce significant intelligence
breakthroughs, officials said. The 6,000page document, which was not released
to the public, was adopted by Democrats
over the objections of most of the committee's Republicans.
http://is.gd/x81eTa
"It is the function of the CIA to keep
the world unstable, and to propagandize
and teach the American people to hate,
so we will let the Establishment spend
any amount of money on arms."
John Stockwell, former CIA official
"Many Americans hunger for a different kind of society -- one based on
principles of caring, ethical and spiritual
sensitivity, and communal solidarity.
Their need for meaning is just as intense
as their need for economic security."
Michael Lerner, journalist
"There is no greater tyranny than that
which is perpetrated under the shield of
the law and in the name of justice."
Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws

Volume 3, Number 2		

7

DOJ FINDS CONDITIONS AT WOMEN'S
PRISON TO BE UNCONSTITUTIONAL

T

Montgomery, Alabama, 1-17-2014
he U.S. Department of Justice said
today that conditions at Julia Tutwiler Prison violate the Constitution, citing what it called “a history of unabated staff-on-prisoner sexual abuses and
harassment.”
DOJ sent investigators to Tutwiler last
April and issued their findings in a 36-page
report today.
“The women at Tutwiler universally fear
for their safety,” the report stated. “They
live in a sexualized environment with repeated and open sexual behavior, including: abusive sexual contact between staff
and prisoners; sexualized activity, including a strip show condoned by staff; profane
and unprofessional sexualized language
and harassment; and deliberate cross-gender viewing of prisoners showering, urinating and defecating,” the report stated.
DOJ said the conditions violate the
Eighth Amendment right to be protected
from harm. It said problems go back almost
two decades.
The DOJ also said it will expand its investigation to look into medical and mental
health care for inmates and other issues.
Alabama Department of Corrections
Commissioner Kim Thomas said today he
did not think conditions at the prison were
unconstitutional and said efforts have been
under way for months to address problems
first reported by the Equal Justice Initiative
in 2012.
Thomas declined to respond to specific
allegations in the DOJ report, which he said
he received this morning.
“I think they are off-base in their findings, but I don’t want to respond to any one
part of the findings,” Thomas said.
He said inmates and Tutwiler are safe
and free to report abusive behavior by staff.
“We will look very carefully at the contents of this report and look forward to
working with the Department of Justice to
understand the valid complaints that they
raise and hopefully finding resolution without the necessity of imposing some court

SHOUT OUT BOX

A special shout out to the men
of PBSP B-Yard (level 4). Thanks
for the 60 stamps. You guys
Rock! Is there another pod that
can knock them out of the box?
Rock on!
8	

action,” Thomas said.
Bryan Stevenson, executive director of
the EJI, said findings in the report were
troubling and a cause for quick action by
the state.
“I think it’s a serious indictment of the
conditions of confinement that exist at the
Tutwiler Prison for Women and it calls into
serious question whether there’s a need for
fundamental reform within the Department
of Corrections specifically related to sexual
abuse and misconduct at Tutwiler,” Stevenson said.
“I think it’s a very thorough and troubling
set of findings that ought to warrant a very
significant response from the governor and
the department to immediately remediate
these very serious problems at Tutwiler.”
EJI asked DOJ to investigate when it reported its findings in 2012.
Today’s report follows one issued in
2012 by the National Institute of Corrections, part of the DOJ, which also sent a
team to Tutwiler and found abuses of inmates by staff and problems with the way
inmate complaints were handled.
The DOJ report says investigators did
an on-site inspection at Tutwiler for four
days in April 2013 and interviewed staff
and dozens of prisoners. They analyzed
incident reports, investigative reports, disciplinary reports and other documents and
received 233 letters from current Tutwiler
prisoners detailing a variety of concerns.
In a summary of findings, DOJ says it
has made a number of factual determinations, including:
-- For nearly two decades, Tutwiler staff
has sexually abused and sexually harassed
inmates with impunity.
-- Staff has raped, sodomized, fondled
prisoners and coerced prisoners to engage
in oral sex.
-- Prison officials discourage prisoner
reporting of sexual abuse by, for example,
placing women in segregation after they
make a complaint. (Thomas said that practice has been stopped.)
-- Tutwiler fails to adequately investigate
allegations of sexual abuse and harassment.
The report says individual prisoner allegations were corroborated by paternity
tests, polygraph examinations, staff admissions, ADOC investigations and corroboration by other prisoners with no chance to
coordinate stories. ●

WIFE'S LETTER
FROM KERN
VALLEY

My husband who is incarcerated at kern
valley state prison. He sent me this letter
and asked me if you could publish it:
"Despite the universal agreement to sees
all interracial hostilities and violence, last
week at Kern Valley State prison A yard
building 5, 2 white inmates attempted to
attack and stab a black inmate who they
believe to be white, saying that he was a
race traitor.
"This unnecessary act of open aggression
amongst the different races now jeopardizes the inmate populace common goal of
advancing of living conditions and humane
treatment.
"The white inmates at Kern Valley State
prison a yard show a blatant disregard for
protocol and their insubordination demonstrate an unwillingness to cooperate with
peace accord forged by those who wish to
advance in the cause.
"White inmates  on level-4 prison yards
continue a campaign of racial prejudice and
unnecessary bloodshed based on another
man’s choice of affiliation.
"They continue to target inmates they
perceive to be white who are members of
black gangs, however they ignore the many
white inmates who are members of Mexican gangs, this contradictory and ignorance
practise only results in the black inmates
responding with equal or greater violence,
creating an atmosphere of racial tension
and warfare." ●

Rock!

[Ed's Note: The first draft of this newsletter
contained a front page article purportedly
by Short Corridor Human Rights
Collective (the Reps) that was written by
Todd Ashker. After that issue was printed
we received notice that the article had not
been approved by the entire collective. We
were asked to toss that issue of Rock in the
trash (a $200 loss), which we did. In place
of that article we are running some back up
material and more letters.]
Tehachapi Refuses to Comply With
Sacramento Directive.
In the November issue, one of our reps
spoke about a meeting with Director Stainer. They were told that we would be allowed additional personal property in the
SHU and that a memo would soon be out
that would be specific so that “prison staff”
couldn’t screw us like they have with the
June 5th memo . . . During the hunger strike
ombudsman vela told us that Sacramento
is aware that each SHU has been deciding
what they will or will not allow with Tehachapi being the most strict and that when
the strike was over Sacramento would put
out one property matrix that would apply
to all SHU’s.
It appears that we have been lied to again
because property officers here on the 4B
have told us that they have the memo but
will not pass it out because there are items
on it that “they” “are not going to let us
have here in Tehachapi and “they” will pass
out copies of the new DOM property matrix with the items highlighted that “they”
will allow us to purchase . . . This is supposed to happen in February.
Looks like business as usual here at Tehachapi as soon as the spotlight is off of
them. Okay, Ed, just thought that folks
might be interested in what is actually happening vs what “they” claim to be doing.
I also wanted to send a few more stamps.

Free Electronic Copy
Outside people can read, download, or print current and back issues of 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 of the newsletter to
rock@prisonart.org.

DOJ REPORT:
GUARDS COMMIT
HALF OF ALL
SEXUALASSAULTS

By Marisa Taylor, Al Jazeera America
27 January 14
ustice Department reports over 8,700
alleged sexual assaults in adult prisons
in 2011, up 11 percent from 2009
Allegations of rape and sexual assault
involving prison inmates are increasing,
and nearly half of those assaults are committed against prisoners by correctional officers, according to a new report issued by
the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice
Statistics.
Prison and jail administrators reported
8,763 cases of alleged sexual abuse of inmates 2011, representing an increase of 4
percent from the 8,404 that were reported
in 2010 and an 11 percent jump from the
7,855 cases reported in 2009, the report
said.
The report released late last week defined
sexual victimization as any non-consensual
sexual acts, abusive touching, threats and
verbal sexual harassment. It involved surveying federal and state prisons, private
prisons, local jails, military prisons and
jails located in Indian country, all of which
hold a collective 1.97 million inmates.
The issue of prison rape has received
heightened attention since Congress passed
the Prison Rape Elimination Act in 2003, a
federal law calling for prisons and jails to
keep detailed records of incidents of rape to
be published by the government annually.
This year’s report, which crunched data
from 2011, said that 10 percent of the
cases reported that year were “substantiated,” meaning that they were confirmed to
have happened after an investigation was
launched.
That means 90 percent of the cases reported by inmates but were not substantiated. The report did not clarify whether
those cases had also been investigated and
then dismissed.
Some 49 percent of the incidents that
year involved prison staff members committing what the report called “sexual misconduct,” or otherwise sexually harassing
inmates, with the other 51 percent of cases
comprising inmates assaulting fellow inmates.
Among the substantiated staff-on-inmate
cases in 2011, 54 percent were committed

J

by women, the report said. From 2009 to
2011, 84 percent of the substantiated staffon-inmate cases involved a sexual relationship with a female staff member that
“appeared to be willing,” compared to 37
percent of the cases involving male staff
members during the same time period. The
report noted, however, that regardless of
whether the sexual relationship between an
inmate and a correctional officer was consensual, it was illegal.
In the cases of sexual assault or “willing”
sexual relationships with staff members,
more than three-quarters of the correctional
officers resigned or were fired, and just 45
percent were arrested or prosecuted.
Women prisoners appeared to experience
disproportionate numbers of sexual assaults; while they represented 7 percent of
state and federal prison inmates from 2009
to 2001, 22 percent of inmate-on-inmate
cases involved women, as they did among
33 percent of staff-on-inmate incidents.
Two-thirds of the inmates who had
been sexually assaulted by other inmates
received medical examinations, and onethird were given rape kits.
The report did not indicate whether the
increased incidence of alleged rapes and
sexual assaults in prisons and jails might
have been due to more reporting by inmates, or to heightened awareness of the
problem by prison staff.
BJS statistician Allan Beck, who was a
co-author of the report, told Reuters that a
study from May 2013 (PDF) conducted by
the same agency came up with much larger
numbers, tallying some 80,000 inmate allegations of sexual abuse or assault during
2011 and 2012.
“Of course we find much higher rates of
sexual victimization through inmates’ selfreports than what comes through in the official records,” he told Reuters. ●

By Wayne Willhoite

Volume 3, Number 2		

9

DEFINING
POLITICAL ACTION
COMMITTEES
(PACS)

P

olitics is the struggle for power and
PACs are one of the means for those
ends. Banning solitary confinement,
repealing the three strikes law, repealing
mandatory sentences, etc. are some of the
goals prisoners seek. Finding political candidates to support such issues and placing
them mailers may be the way to go.
Because so many letters show support to form a California prisoners (PAC)
Here is a brief description of how it works.
This comes from California’s Fair political Practices Commission, Manual 4, draft
5/2009. The term “PAC” refers to a general
purpose committee that is the political arm
of a trade or professional association, labor
union,  or membership organization (prisoners, ex-prisoners, family and friends).
A separate bank account is usually maintained for the purpose of receiving contributions and making political expenditures.

Membership dues are deposited for political purposes, such as making contributions
to candidates and ballot measures that support the membership’s goals. When $1,000
or more is received, a recipient committee
is formed and, since it will be supporting
(or in some cases opposing) a number of
different candidates or measures over the
years, it is considered a general purpose
committee. ●
Mark Cook

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 Rock as it only delays receiving
them and adds to the workload of
those asked to do the forwarding.
Letters sent to Rock (located in
Seattle) in care of Prison Focus (located in Oakland) can take over a
month to reach us. Send mail to this
newsletter's return address.

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

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