

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

March 2014

HEARINGS CONTINUE
CDCR Set to Defend Policies; Prisoners and Advocates Call for Comprehensive Change
By the Prisoner Hunger Strike
Solidarity Coalition
dvocates and loved ones of California prisoners will travel across
the state on Tuesday to attend a
special hearing of the California Public
Safety Committee on “new policies” being
proposed by the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
Tuesday’s hearing is the second hearing
convened in direct response to this past
summer’s massive prisoner hunger strike
in protest of California’s use of solitary
confinement in its notorious prison system.
The CDCR will tout so-called reforms
in its “Inmate Segregation” policies, and
is expected to claim that comprehensive
changes to its isolation and anti-gang poli-

A

CONTENTS
Hearings Continue....................1
PBSP Banned Testimony..........2
Solitary Confinement................2
Alabama's Women Prisons.......3
Hindsight is 20/20.....................4
Editorial Comments..................4
Stockton Admissions Halted.....5
Mission Statement....................6
Declining Deal with Devil..........7
Menard HS Update...................9

cies are underway. Advocates, activists,
lawyers, and prisoners themselves have reviewed the CDCR’s new policies and will
show the department’s changes do little to
diminish the use of extreme isolation.
Prisoners and their supporters are calling for elected officials to enact legislation
that will comprehensively diminish, if not
all together do away with the state’s use of
prolonged solitary confinement. A lively
rally will be held right after the hearing.
“Isolating large numbers of inmates in
the SHU for long periods of time is an expensive and deeply troubling practice that
undermines effective rehabilitation and
long-term public safety,” said state senator Loni Hancock in a press release. “We
are working towards meaningful change,
and at the end of the day we want to get it
right,” continued Hancock, who has spearheaded the hearings along with Assemblyperson Tom Ammiano.
The CDCR has congratulated itself on
developing comprehensive changes to is
prisoner management and segregation policies, issuing a lengthy and often confusing
“revision” of its policies where it claims
to have made reforms to how it targets, or
“validates” prisoners as members of “security threat groups (STG)” and how a prisoner held indefinitely in solitary confinement could work their way out based on its
“step down program (SDP).” Pelican Bay
prisoner Antonio Guillen has been held in
solitary confinement in Pelican Bay’s Security Housing Unit (SHU) has reviewed
every iteration of the policy. “The new policy outlines who is eligible for validation
as a STG member or associate and subse-

quently placed in the Step Down Program.
Which, for all intents and purposes, is the
SHU,” said Guillen in a written message.
“The way the new STG policy is drafted
goes far beyond the practices used to validate prisoners in the past. Under the old
process a prisoner could only be validated
if he or she was considered a member or associate of the several, so-called “traditional
prison gangs.” But under the new STG policy ANYONE can be subjected to this abusive practice, as a wider net has been cast.
Thus, making no one safe from the validation process and ensuring and increase in
the SHU population.”
Indeed, under the new regulations the
CDCR identifies at least 1500 security
threat groups and reserves the right to categorize any group of three or more prisoners that “presents a potential threat to the
security of the institution.” The new step
down program still hinges on prisoners
de-briefing – or snitching – in order to be
considered for any increase in privileges or
the possibility of returning to general population from solitary.
“CDCR’s proposed regulations are just
smoke and mirrors.” Say civil right attorney Anne Weills, who will be a panelist at
Tuesday’s hearings. “Behind the turgid and
confusing language of the CDCR’s documents is the same unconstitutional practice
of indefinite detention and solitary confinement. The new policy with its draconian
disciplinary matrix gives prison officials
almost total discretion to find someone
guilty of alleged gang activity, allowing a
prisoner to remain in the SHU for the rest
of their lives.” ●

SO THIS IS OUR
BANNED
TESTIMONY

Pelican Bay prisoners
statement to legislators

W

For Release Tuesday, February 11, 2014
e are prisoners at Pelican Bay
State Prison who have all lived
for over 15 years locked 23
hours a day in small windowless cells,
without ever being able to hug or touch our
families, without ever seeing birds, trees,
or the outside world, with no programs
or chance for parole. California keeps us
in these torturous conditions not because
of any violence we have committed, but
because it believes we are affiliated with
a gang, often based on artwork or photos
we possess, tattoos we have, literature we
read, who we talk to, or anonymous informants statements that we have no way of
challenging. We are put in Pelican Bay not
for any specific term of months or years for
misconduct we have committed, but indefinitely, which in practice means forever- unless we become informants.
Last summer we went on hunger strike we were willing to starve ourselves to death
rather than continue to endure these dehumanizing conditions forever. We ended the
strike because several compassionate legislators promised to call the hearings that are
taking place today. Yet today the legislators will hear from psychologists, lawyers,
other experts, corrections officials - but not
from us - who have the most experience
with the conditions we face - because California (CDCR) prison officials refuse to let
us testify, even remotely via video or audio
which they could easily do.
So this is our banned testimony: CDCR
claims to have now instituted a reform program. It is a sham, just like the so called
reform they instituted a decade ago after a
court settlement which resulted in no real
change. This new reform effort still maintains the basic conditions at Pelican Bay,
and will continue to keep prisoners in isolation for vague gang affiliation based on
artwork, literature, communications, or
informants’ testimony that does not meet
California's judicial standards for reliability in criminal trials. California is still unwilling to move to a real behavior based
system where prisoners are given determinate terms in solitary after due process
hearings at which they are found guilty of
some serious misconduct such as assault,
2	

murder, rape or drug dealing. Instead, these
new policies widen the net of prisoners
who can be labeled as gang affiliates and
isolated based on that label. These unjust
and ineffective policies are very expensive
and have already cost our state millions of
tax dollars which could be put to better use.
Moreover, even those prisoners who
need to be isolated from the general population because of the violence they have
committed while in prison ought to be
treated humanely. There is no reason California can't run very high security prisons
that allow prisoners held in segregation to
have contact visits with family, phone calls
to family and friends, educational and rehabilitation programs, more out of cell time,
cells with windows, recreational yards that
allow for small groups to recreate together
and see the outside world: in short, segregation from the general population, but not
torture or dehumanization.
We have written petitions and letters to
the Governor, filed a class action Federal
lawsuit, and gone on hunger strikes seeking real reform, not the bogus reform Californian officials now propose. It’s time for
California to do the right thing. It is time
for the legislature to enact meaningful reforms. ●
Todd Ashker, C58191, D4 121
Arturo Castellanos, C17275, D1-121
Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa (Dewberry),
C35671, D1-117
Antonio Guillen, P81948, D2-106

SOLITARY
CONFINEMENT

CDCR get Slammed at
Legislative Hearings

H

Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity, 2/11/14
undreds of people from across the
state packed two hearing rooms of
both public safety committees of
the state legislature today to represent the
interests of California State prisoners.
Despite attempts by the California Department of Corrections to insure the public that they are acting with prudence to
change people’s gang validations, and correct injustices and general inhumane conditions in prison Security Housing Units,
testimony from experts and the public
continued to unmask the basic torture and
impunity of the CDCR’s policies in maintaining prolonged isolation and prisons that
fundamentally violate human rights.

While the CDCR claimed that new
regulations would change their inhumane
system, panelists, the public, and the legislators themselves seemed unconvinced.
Testimony charged that the CDCR’s changes to its regulations did not end California’s
use of indefinite extreme isolation; violations of basic human rights by the state’s
solitary confinement units will not change
by its new policies; and that the controversial use of debriefing—or informing
on other prisoners—were still the primary
way a prisoner could get out of indefinite
solitary confinement.
Assemblyperson Tom Ammiano cut off
the CDCR several times during their presentations, saying they were “over answering” simple questions. Ammiano said its
regulations “missed the point,” and said
that CDCR’s so-called changes were counter-intuitive in regulating a system that was
predicated on the use of solitary.
Professor Craig Haney, a leading expert
on the use of solitary testified that “the
United States’ prison system is an outlier
compared to the rest of the world. California is an outlier compared to the rest of
the US.” He said while much of the rest of
the world has condemned solitary confinement as torture, California’s use of such an
extreme form of the practice was unprecedented and shocking. California as an outlier continued to be echoed throughout the
day.
In a statement released today by prisoners from the Pelican Bay Short Corridor
Human Rights Movement who “have all
lived for over 15 years locked 23 hours
a day in small windowless cells, without
ever being able to hug or touch our families, without ever seeing birds, trees or the
outside world, with no programs or chance
for parole,” they assert “California keeps
us in these torturous conditions not because
of any violence we have committed, but
because it believes we are affiliated with
a gang, often based on artwork or photos
we possess, tattoos we have, literature we
read, who we talk to or anonymous informants’ statements that we have no way of
challenging.”
The prisoners also make clear that the
“CDCR’s reform program widens the net
of prisoners who can be labeled as gang
affiliates and isolated based on that label.
These unjust and ineffective policies are
very expensive and have already cost our
state millions of tax dollars which could be
put to better use.”
The prisoners go on to say that “CaliRock!

fornia is still unwilling to move to a real
behavior based system where prisoners
are given determinate terms in solitary after due process hearings at which they are
found guilty of some serious misconduct,
such as assault, murder, rape or drug dealing. Instead, these new policies widen the
net of prisoners who can be labeled as gang
affiliates and isolated based on that label.
These unjust and ineffective policies are
very expensive and have already cost our
state millions of tax dollars which could be
put to better use.” ●

ALABAMA’S
WOMEN PRISON
POPULATION: A
930.7 PERCENT
INCREASE SINCE
1978

A

By Charles J. Dean | cdean@al.com
developing and disturbing story has
been the allegations leveled at the
staff of Julia Tutwiler Prison for
Women that for decades the women imprisoned at Tutwiler have been subjected
to violence in the form of rape and other
abuses by staff.
An investigation by the U.S. Justice Department found what it termed the “toxic,
sexualized environment” at Tutwiler and
the failure of prison officials to address the
problem, despite having knowledge that it
persisted for decades.
Alabama has seen a 930,7 percent increase in the number of women in prisons
since 1978
No one has yet to put a number to how
many women may have been sexually assaulted over the years. But what one can do
is conclude that the opportunities for abuse
have increased over the years as the female
prison population has dramatically increased in Alabama and across the nation.
So, here are some numbers for you to
mull as the Tutwiler story continues to
evolve.
In 1978, the total number of women in
Alabama prisons and jails, both state and
federal inmates, numbered just 257. As low
as the number was, it was still high enough
to rank Alabama 13th in the nation in the
number of women in prison.
In terms of women prisoners per 100,000
populations, Alabama’s 1978 number put

the state at 12 women behind bars for every 100,000 Alabamians. The national average at the time was 10 women for every
100,000 Americans.
Fast forward to 2012. By the end of that
year there were 2,649 women in Alabama
prisons, both state and federal – a 930.7
percent increase from the number in 1978.
That number ranked Alabama at 12th in the
nation in total female prison population.
But in terms of women prisoners for
every 100,000 Alabamians, that ratio had
increased to 101 women in prison for every 100,000 in state population. Nationally, that number was 63 per every 100,000
Americans.
Only Oklahoma, Idaho and Kentucky
had more women in prison per every
100,000 in state population in 2012.
Alabama has long had one of the highest rates in the nation for male prisoners for
every 100,000 Alabamians. Overall, Alabama in 2012 had 650 persons imprisoned
in either a state or federal prison ranking
the state number three in the nation. ●
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110 415 863.9977
www.freedomarchives.org

AMMIANO
ASSEMBLY BILL
COULD MARK
PROFOUND
CHANGE IN
CA SOLITARY
CONFINEMENT
By Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity
Coalition
akland—California
Assembly
member Tom Ammiano has proposed legislation that could significantly restrict how solitary confinement is
used in California prisons. Assembly Bill
1652 comes after massive public pressure
and expert testimony exposed the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR) feeble attempts to
defend its notorious solitary confinement
and gang management policies at a special
hearing on Tuesday.
“Hundreds of prisoners have been sent
to the Security Housing Unit (SHU) isolation cells for reasons that have nothing

O

to do with crimes they have committed,
and without adequate opportunity to challenge those assignments,” said Ammiano
in a statement released this week. “Today,
in public hearing, we heard the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
(CDCR) say it’s changing those practices,
but the changes are not enough. I’ve seen
the conditions at Pelican Bay State Prison,
and agree with international groups like
Amnesty International who say these deprivation conditions do not meet accepted
human rights standards.”
Ammiano’s bill (AB1652) would put a
36-months cap on how long someone targeted as part of a “security threat group”
could be kept in solitary confinement. Current CDCR practice allows for prisoners to
be thrown into extreme isolation indefinitely. During Tuesday’s hearing, solitary confinement expert Prof. Craig Haney noted
that most other countries in the world have
abolished the use of indefinite solitary, upholding international human rights standards condemning it as torture. The proposed bill would also make prisoners held
in solitary eligible to receive the “good
time credits” all other prisoners are able to
earn toward a reduced sentence.
“This could mark a very profound shift
in California’s shameful and torturous
use of solitary confinement,” said Azadeh Zohrabi of the Prisoner Hunger Strike
Solidarity Coalition. “We are glad to see
that assembly member Ammiano seems to
be understanding that we must aim at this
most egregious use of violence against imprisoned people as a starting point to the
serious changes that need to happen within
California’s prisons. Moving forward, we
would like to see these reforms be applied
retroactively to the people who have been
living under these horrendous conditions
for decades, and we’d like to work to get as
many of our loved ones out of solitary, to
keep them out, and to fight against anyone
ever having to be subjected to this torture
to begin with.” ●

Mario Perez "The Voiceless"

Volume 3, Number 3		

3

HINDSIGHT IS 20/20

[This article was written during HS3, on
September 2, 2013, and has been edited for
length by your editor.]
f indeed hindsight provides 20/20 vision for us as a people then it is high
time that we see clearly today what did
not work in the past, what does not work
in the present and yes, what will not work
toward a better future morally or economically regarding the penal system. There is
nothing new about getting tough on crime
here in America or how to break the socalled hardened criminal—especially as a
concept here in California.
The most notorious control unit in U.S.
history was built here on an island in the
San Francisco Bay. Alcatraz 1933-1963
was designed specifically for the “incorrigibles” or as they call us today the “worst
of the worst.” The conditions at Alcatraz
were so harsh that being sentenced to serve
time there was roundly dubbed “death by
regulation.” By 1962 American experts
were expanding on the new advances in
“behavioral therapy” by studying techniques practiced and mastered by China,
Russia, and North Korea which had managed to break and/or train hardened soldiers. A diabolical consensus here decided
to use these techniques in the American
penal system, mainly because they leave
behind no physical evidences for the American society to measure their moral compasses against. The construction of these
new style control units not only comported
with the then federal mandate on prisons in
the U.S.A. to adhere to the “evolving standards of decency”, these techniques also
satisfied the guard’s union and victim rights
groups’ thirst for blood, for administrative
dominance, and for class supremacy over
minority prisoners and their families—all
under the color of law.
Everyone knows that it is critical to think,
yet very few know what it is to think critically or to engage in the process of critical
thinking. This is why it has been difficult
for us as a society to rally around and explore our own positive change, even in areas like this, where we are so informed by
past missteps, mistakes, and the economic
miscalculations we’ve endured. California spent an approximate $9.6 billion on
prisons versus $5.7 billion on the whole
U.C. system (and state colleges). California has built only one college since 1980
versus 21 prisons, and is currently fighting
to build even more. California spends ap-

I

4	

proximately $8,667 per college students
versus 45,006 per prisoner (Time magazine
2-2-2012). Gov. Brown resists the court’s
orders to ease the overcrowding even while
society, now being armed with a moral
compass, orders him to end the torturous
practice of long term isolation. Experts
have already found the brain (be it dog,
ape, or human) does not function normally
without stimulation (including the nervous
system), and likewise it does not function
normally with too much stimulation—confirming that long term isolation for any
reason actualizes torture. This new style
of sensory deprivation, coupled with the
components of perceptual isolation over a
period of years or decades is repugnant to
the consciousness of any thinking person.
So let’s be clear, we are already confined
and sentenced to prison but suddenly we
are then deemed a “threat to the safety and
security of the institution” for being “associated” with “gang” and “criminal” activity. These are vague and relative terminologies which are pushed into the hearts
and minds of citizens just the way racists
produced oppressive Jim Crow laws, then
repressive J. Edgar laws, but now there’s
this sort of angry, inebriated chunk of the
working middle class with no conscience
other than their belief that being a good citizen means supporting any law or war that
justifies their anger. The war on gangs and
crime are old favorites.
Truth is there’s a distinct and qualitative
difference between one breaking a law for
one’s own individual self-interest and one
violating in the interests of a class or group
of people when the laws being broken are
a source of oppression. Imagine the premise which emboldened the early Americans
who revolted against the Crown. This was
a crime that today could be characterized
as “gang activity” and “criminal behavior”
threatening safety and security, and immediately landing all of the signatories of the
Declaration of Independence in eternal isolation (here in the Short Corridor) because
a groups is a gang, their ideas are called
conspiring in criminality and the hyperbole
would’ve convinced society that they are
monsters. It takes 20/20 vision to recognize
these terms as relative and a critical thinker
would follow the money and find a multimillion (even billion) dollar warehousing
consortium behind all the language and
eloquently framed media responses and
political wordings that keeps our society
so fearful and divided against ourselves—
even to the point of bankrupting our own

government programs and education system. Worse, there’s no solution in sight.
My point is this; we need folks to think
deeper now, and to think outside the box.
Our hunger strikes are only making a sinister penal system even more sinister with
this new STG1 and STG2 setup down program that will only work to broaden their
web of deceit. Like Cube said in Higher
Learning, “We’re behind enemy lines dog!”
Real eyes realize real lies! ●
Donnie Phillips, D3-214
Pelican Bay, CA

EDITORIAL
COMMENTS 3-3

S

tamp and money donations are way
down. Mark and I had to buy 200
stamps to get the January issue of
Rock out to California readers (Washington and Oregon prisoners did not receive
the January issue due to a lack of stamps).
I would have had to buy two hundred more
to get the February issue out had it not been
for a last minute donation of 200 stamps by
a prisoner on San Quentin’s Death Row.
This issue is done and ready to the printer,
but as it stands I have just over 100 stamps,
about 450 less that we need, or more than
$220 just for postage. Even so, due to a
donation from a Washington prisoner, we
have restarted sending out newsletters to
prisoners in Washington and Oregon.
Mark and I will finance as much as needed to get the next couple of issues out. At
a rate of approximately $600 per issue this
can get costly fast. If contributions don’t
pick up we will first drop those who have
received the newsletter for a long time
without contributing so much as a single
stamp. If that doesn't work we'll stop publishing Rock.
If this newsletter is not important enough
for a sufficient number of prisoners to pay
for it, then it is not important enough for
Mark and me to continue publishing it.
Mark is 76 and I’m 72 years old. There's no
use in us wasting our few remaining years
(and resources) on something you don’t
think is important enough to support.
If I make the financial situation of Rock
seem like it is all the fault of prisoners; that
is clearly not the case. I know that many
of you don’t like my leftist editorial comments and are not willing to support what
you feel amounts to communist ideology. I
can respect that. So why read it then? If it’s
only for the prison-related news, then this
Rock!

newsletter does indeed have some value to
you. If so, then materially support it. You
can simply skip my leftist rants.
Readers may have noticed a difference in
the quality of the print, particularly the decrease in quality of the artwork. This is not
the fault of the artists, but of my poor laser
printer which up-until-now has produced
every issue of Rock. It has given up the
ghost. Accordingly, we’ve moved to having the newsletter printed on an offset press
starting with the last issue. It will probably
take two or three months for us to work out
the bugs.
The Prison Art Website Is Broken: It’s
been rough month for me. I’ve been sick
with the cold that won’t let go. My mother
died at the ripe old age of 97, and the Prison Art web server suffered a catastrophic
hardware failure. Worse, I was not able to
restore it from a backup. What this means
is that Prison Art is off-line for a least a
month while I build a new server and configure it for mail and credit card processing. I’ve run the site since 1999 and am not
yet ready to pull-the-plug on this service to
prisoners.
My Bad. My grand scheme of integrating the mess halls reflected my ignorance
of how general population prisoners are fed
in California. Let me give a huge thanks to
those of you who wrote and set me straight
on how the mainline meals are served, and
how my idea would never work since prisoners are given no choice at to where they
sit. This is way different than the many other state and federal prisons I’ve done time
in. For those of other states, start working on ways to integrate your mess halls.
It both builds unity and sends a message
to your captors that their divide-and-rule
thing ain’t workin’ no more. ●

Miles Santiago-Serrano "Bad Word"

ADMISSIONS HALTED AT PROBLEM
STOCKTON PRISON

A court overseer has ordered no new prisoners brought to the
facility, where a dying patient’s calls went unheeded.

A

By Paige St. John, LA Times
court overseer has halted inmate
patient admissions at California’s
newest prison amid reports that the
sprawling medical facility is beset by problems, including the unanswered calls of a
dying patient.
After meeting last week with corrections
officials, Clark Kelso, the court-appointed medical receiver, ordered admissions
stopped at the 6-month-old California
Health Care Facility in Stockton and the
opening of an adjacent 1,133-bed prison
facility put on hold.
In a report to federal courts Friday, Kelso
said the prison’s inability to provide adequate medical and hygiene supplies and
unsanitary conditions “likely contributed
to an outbreak of scabies.”
Kelso said the problems at the Stockton
prison call into question California’s ability
to take responsibility for prison healthcare
statewide. He accused corrections officials
of treating the mounting healthcare problems “as a second-class priority.”
An inspection team sent in by prisoners’
lawyers in early January found that inmates
had been left overnight in their feces, confined to broken wheelchairs or forced to go
without shoes.
A shortage of towels forced prisoners
to dry off with dirty socks, a shortage of
soap halted showers for some inmates, and
incontinent men were put into diapers and
received catheters that did not fit, causing
them to soil their clothes and beds, according to the inspection report and a separate
finding by Kelso.
The inspectors also found that nurses
failed to promptly answer call buttons in
the prison’s outpatient unit. Inmates told
the inspectors of a bleeding prisoner on the
unit who died Jan. 8 after nurses disregarded his repeated attempts to summon help.
A spokeswoman for the state corrections
department attributed the decision to halt
admissions to the complexities of opening
a one-of-a-kind medical prison.
“It’s not uncommon for new facilities to
have stops and starts during the activation
process,” said Deborah Hoffman. “This facility is unique in its design, size and mission and is something that no other prison
system has ever operated.”

Hoffman said the corrections department
is attempting to fix “bugs” in the Stockton
prison’s warehousing and supply chain, including sending a team last weekend to fill
backlogged orders.
“We are working with the receiver’s office to ensure we can begin accepting additional inmates in the very near future,”
she said.
An internal memo from the prison’s warden and top medical officer Friday cited
staffing shortages throughout the prison,
including guards, and an inadequate numbers of nurses that resulted in “fragmented
care.”
The prison’s nursing levels were set by
Kelso’s office. He has now hired a consultant to recommend changes.
A lawyer for state inmates said she was
“shocked” by the conditions discovered
during the January inspection, and questioned why the state as well as the court
overseer put inmate patients into a hospital
setting that was unable to care for them.
“If these are normal hiccups, [the corrections department] has to vastly and immediately change what is ‘normal,’” said Rebekah Evenson with the Prison Law Office,
which represents prisoners in class-action
lawsuits that prompted the federal court
orders. “The pain and suffering of these inmates is unconstitutional. These problems
are of an extreme dimension.”
The report said there were so few guards
that a single officer watched 48 cells at a
time and could not step away to use the
bathroom. The prison relied on other inmates — also sick or disabled — to assist
prisoners. One man in a wheelchair with
emphysema said he had been assigned to
push the wheelchair of another disabled inmate. Nurses told the inspectors they were
“unclear” how soon they should answer
call buttons.
The Stockton medical prison, the first
of its kind in California, opened in July. A
full load of 1,722 prisoners was promised
by the end of December, a bid to help meet
federal orders to reduce prison crowding
elsewhere and bring inmate medical care
up to constitutional standards.
Federal judges have found that condiStockton.................. Continued on page 10

Volume 3, Number 3		

5

MISSION STATEMENT OF THE PELICAN BAY HUMAN RIGHTS
MOVEMENT FIRST AMENDMENT CAMPAIGN
By Kijana Tashiri Askari, Baridi Yero,
Abdul Olugbala Shakur, Kamau Askari,
Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa, Sondai Kamdibe

W

e, the captive class of New
Afrikan Black Revolutionaries
at Pelican Bay State Prison in
Crescent City, Calif., are confronted with
a dilemma by having our mail and our
revolutionary reading materials stolen or
confiscated by fascist vigilantes under the
spurious premise that we are promoting
or involved in gang activity related to the
Black Guerilla Family (BGF). These tactics
are largely designed to target, attack, sabotage and neutralize the many initiatives,
proposals, books, pamphlets and projects
that we have developed for purposes of
empowering, informing and rebuilding our
communities with positive ideas of nation
building.
Hence, this negative contradiction has
made it necessary for us New Afrikans to
formulate the Pelican Bay Human Rights
Movement First Amendment Campaign for
purposes of not only combating this contradiction, but to also protect and defend
against the litany of human rights abuses
that all oppressed people are confronted
with. Thus we need the immediate support
of all demographics from every community to get involved so that we can press
forward with this objective.
For those who are unaware, in January
and February of 2006, our captors created
a “Communications Management Unit”
(CMU) within the short corridor of the DFacility Security Housing Unit (SHU) in
housing units D1-D4. The institution and
application of this CMU is illegal and arbitrary for the following principal reasons:
1) It was never promulgated through the
Administrative Procedures Act for purposes of reclassifying the prisoners who have
been designated to be housed in the CMU;
2) the staff assigned to operate the CMU
is poorly trained with no concrete training
in constitutional law, in particular from the
standpoint of how our First Amendment
freedoms of speech, expression and association are guaranteed to us in spite of our
captive status; and 3) staff have no diversity training, knowledge or understanding of
the many cultures, races and nationalities
of individuals who now find themselves
housed in the CMU.
6	

This truth is particularly made evident
as it relates to the captive class of New
Afrikan Black revolutionaries, as there is
not a single Black officer assigned to the
Institutional Gang Investigators (IGI) Unit,
which is largely responsible for trampling
upon our human rights to free speech, expression and association.
The standing reason given for the implementation of the CMU in the SHU at
the U.S. colony of Pelican Bay was your
atypical sensationalized story of “the need
to control, neutralize and negate unlawful
criminal activities by alleged prison gang
members.” But there is a distinct absence
of any mechanisms in place that would deter our captors from violating our human
rights.
We are well aware of the fact that where
there is a void, by not having any qualitative oversight or control over any typical
operation, the propensity for totalitarian
control – abuse of power – becomes the
primary focus of its operative existence.
The Bernie Madoff Ponzi schemes are a
prime example of this truth. Hence, the urgent need for the First Amendment Campaign, which will operate under the social
principles of communal-cooperative work
– Ujima-Ujamaa – via the construct of New
Afrikan dialectical materialism.
Objectives of the First Amendment
Campaign
The First Amendment Campaign will
be centralized and compartmentalized into
various teams in order to scientifically aid
the strategic and cohesive preparation of
effective responses as we struggle towards
helping those whose human rights are being abused. The campaign’s primary function will be to serve as an “oversight committee” as it relates to responding to any
and all potential First Amendment constitutional violations, as predicated upon the
concrete material facts presented to our
subsidiary teams focusing on investigation, research, propaganda and community
relations and community defense. Through
these teams the oversight committee will
serve as the “brain trust” by coordinating
the logistics for appropriate action regarding actual First Amendment constitutional
violations.
The investigative team’s primary responsibility will be to identify the potential First

Amendment constitutional violations and
gather all related material facts, data and
evidence for purposes of processing it to
the oversight committee.
The research team’s primary responsibility will be to research the potential First
Amendment constitutional violations for
purposes of determining their degree and
extent. All relevant findings will be forwarded to the oversight committee for assessing constitutional standing.
The propaganda and community relations team’s primary responsibility will be
to maintain communication with the public regarding the importance of prisoners’
First Amendment constitutional freedoms
of speech, expression and association and
how we still maintain these human rights in
spite of our captive status, yet our oppressors are depriving us of them for arbitrary
and unjust reasons.
This team will also be responsible for
updating the community on any active legal cases being fought in the courts and
any current First Amendment human rights
abuses being perpetrated by our captors.
This entails creating viable working relationships and technology infrastructure in
our communities, using, for example, public radio, the internet, newspapers, magazines and the state Legislature.
The community defense teams will operate upon the final synthesis reached by the
oversight committee by putting into social
practice the material interpretation of its
conclusion concerning the First Amendment violation and/or human rights abuse
that the people are being subjected to, as it
is our duty to ensure the people that we’re
here to serve them by defending and protecting their human rights. The personnel
of the community defense teams will consist of human rights activists, volunteers
and recruits who are attorneys, paralegals
and those with some type of knowledge
about prisoners and prison history and conditions.
All of the teams will be responsible for
identifying material resources and establishing contacts with people who are willing and able to assist in the advancement
of the First Amendment Campaign through
financial donations, organizing community
fundraisers, internet searches, media outreach and volunteering their time.
The success of the campaign will largely
Rock!

depend upon the pool of human rights activists and volunteer recruits who will be
willing to struggle in harmony with us New
Afrikan Black revolutionaries – who have
the desire, commitment and courage to see
humanity advanced through defending and
protecting the human rights of all oppressed
people. There is hardly a single community or family not impacted by these First
Amendment abuses in light of the ominous
proliferation of slave kamps (prisons) that
has led to the removal – kidnapping – of
many from the oppressed communities.
Current litigation needs support
Efforts are still being made by Kijana
Tashiri Askari to obtain a permanent injunction to negate this fascism in the legal
case of Harrison v. D.E. Milligan, et al.,
No. C-09-4665-51(PR). Brother Kijana
is also currently challenging the arbitrary
bans on the Swahili language and George
Jackson’s book “Blood in My Eye” in the
legal case of Harrison v. S. Burris, et al.,
No. C-13-2506-JST (PR). We encourage
the community to send letters of support to
the court to voice your outrage on what literally amounts to “cultural terrorism” that
the captive class of New Afrikans is being
subjected to.
Please write to Judge Susan Illston, U.S.
Northern District Court, 450 Golden Gate
Ave., San Francisco, CA 94102, regarding the case of Harrison v. D.E. Milligan,
C-09-4665-51, and Judge Jon S. Tigar, U.S.
Northern District Court, 450 Golden Gate
Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102, regarding the case of Harrison v. S. Burris, C-132506-JST. ●
One aim! One goal! One purpose!

SUPPORT THE PRISONER-LED
MOVEMENT TO END LONG TERM
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT!
In response to the largest
prison hunger strike
in US history, California
lawmakers are holding the
3rd legislative hearing on
solitary confinement
in CA prisons.

State Capitol - 11th & N
9:30am HEARING, Rm 4203
12:00pm RALLY
2:00pm LOBBY legislators
“We will be with the prisoners... in the courts,
in the legislature, and out in the community.
We will use every venue available to us,
UNTIL THE TORTURE IS ENDED.”
- Marie Levin of Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition,
sister of Hunger Striker Sitawa Jaama.
RIDESHARES:
RSVP: http://bit.ly/1dUAH68
Southern CA Contact Virginia Classick 818.225.0410
Oakland Contact Tynan 415.361.8436
rides from MacArthur BART, 7am on Tues, Feb 11
Northern CA Contact Verbena 707.442.7465

prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com

DECLINING A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL:
COERCIVE JOURNALING REQUIRED
TO ‘STEP DOWN’ FROM SOLITARY
COFINEMENT
But since implicit in making it a require-

By NCTT-Cor-SHU, 1-30-2014

“The chief function of the disciplinary power is to ‘train’… It ‘trains’ the
moving, confused, useless multitudes
of bodies and forces them into a multiplicity of individual elements – small,
separate cells … combinatory segments.
“Discipline ‘makes’ individuals; it is
the specific technique of a power that
regards individuals both as objects and
as instruments of its exercise … The
exercise of discipline presupposes a
mechanism that coerces by means of
observation: an apparatus in which the
techniques that make it possible to see
[the] induce[d] effects of power, and
in which, conversely, the means of coercion make those on whom they are
applied clearly visible.”
– Michel Foucault: “Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison”* (1977)

O

Salutations, Brothers and Sisters,
ur need to have this discussion
comes on the heels of a number of
people who were taken before the
Departmental Review Board (DRB) here at
California State Prison-Corcoran SHU (Security Housing Unit) on Nov. 12, 13 and
14, 2013, pursuant to the new SDP (Step
Down Program) pilot program.
Comrade Zaharibu Dorrough also attended the DRB on Nov. 13, 2013, and was
placed in Step 2 of the SDP with an understanding that, if accepted and completed,
Zah would be transferred to Tehachapi
SHU and placed in Step 3, where, according to Section 3334 (k) (Page 153), contact
visits are allowed.
Contradictory positions are being taken
by administration officials as to whether
or not participating in the self-directed
journals portion of the CDCR’s cognitive
restructuring program (brainwashing),
as described in Section 700.2 of the pilot
program, is mandatory. [SFBayView.com,
at
http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/CDCR%E2%80%99s-Oct.11-2012-Security-Threat-Group-Pilot-Program.pdf, is the only place online where
the SDP can be found.]

ment that people participate in those programs available in each step and that any
failure to do so will result in a person being moved back to Step 1 until that person
agrees to subordinate him/herself to the
dictates of Section 700.2, the cognitive restructuring/brainwashing program is, clearly, mandatory.
It has also been established that a facility has been opened at Pelican Bay in Del
Norte County for those prisoners who have
medical and mental health problems.
If prisoners choose not to participate in
the Step Down Program or any aspect of it,
retaliation follows, ranging from a person
being put back in Step 1 to a person being
transferred to Pelican Bay.
There is absolutely nothing at all that
distinguishes the DRB and STG (Security
Threat Group) Committee from any other
committee. And while the new policies will
result in some prisoners being released to
general population, these new policies do
not represent a pathway to general population or even a less restrictive housing environment, as the CDCR is quick to claim for
certain prisoners.
Specifically though, it is the CDCR’s
attempt to brainwash us all through their
behavior modification program. And that
is exactly what the cognitive restructuring
program is.
We have had the opportunity to see and
read the self-directed journals. They are insidious.
The NCTT-Cor-SHU (New Afrikan
Revolutionary Nationalism (NARN) Collective Think Tank Corcoran SHU) has articulated in previous statements** how the
self-directed journals, their themes, and the
additional “integrated, cognitive behavior
change program” are a systematic and progressive brainwashing initiative designed
to emulate in those subjected to it the same
personality restructuring as the debriefing process – i.e., character invalidation,
Skinnerian operant conditioning (learned
helplessness) etc. – introduction of stateapproved new attitudes through “thought
reformation,” criminalization of cultural
mores, disorganization of group standards,
prohibition of group activities not consistent with brainwashing objectives, encoun-

Volume 3, Number 3		

7

ter group sensitivity sessions, Synanon Attack Therapy etc.
It is our assessment that politically mature and ideologically advanced men and
women could be subjected to such brainwashing techniques and suffer no deleterious effects, save the insult towards one’s
dignity that the state would dare attempt to
use such transparent and futile techniques
against us.
However, that is not the case for younger
and/or less developed prisoners. Many of
these young men and women may view the
themes of some of these journals and have
no experiential basis from which to even
understand their meaning, let alone the
processes attendant to them, thus leaving
them all vulnerable to these brainwashing
techniques.
In order to successfully complete this aspect of the Step Down Program, you must
be willing to accept and believe all of the
absolute worst things that the state has said
about us all and continues to say – and invalidate yourself completely.
Prison is not conducive to the maturation
process, and the less developed we are, the
easier it is, even in the face of resistance,
for us to be turned into whatever the state
wants us to be. That is why study is so very
important.
Taking certain people before the DRB
and placing them in certain steps is an effort by the CDCR to try and exploit the perception of influence of principled people
and to try and legitimize the Step Down
Program itself and the brainwashing components thereof.
It is the CDCR’s hope that they will be
able to use as leverage the decades of sensory deprivation confinement of many of
us. The prospect of our having access to
our families and loved ones will persuade
us to comply, and they will use what they
perceive as our influence to herd untold
numbers of underdeveloped and impressionable men and women into a process
we know full well will result in them being
transformed into broken people, a submissive and subservient population of prisoners who will make the misappropriation of
tax dollars a more orderly enterprise.
There is no set of circumstances in which
any principled person would agree to aid
the state in carrying out such an insidious,
vile and patently evil process.
The Step Down Program and Cognitive
Restructuring Program that the CDCR is
attempting to implement seems to have
been first introduced in the New Mexico
8	

Penitentiary after the riot there in 1980.
In a book titled “The Hate Factory” by G.
Hirliman, there is a discussion about the efforts to implement the Cognitive Restructuring Program as part of a “behaviorally
based step program,” as well as efforts to
defeat it – by prisoners, their families and
prison reform advocates, as well as a lawsuit filed by the ACLU to stop its use. From
Hirliman’s book (Pages viii-ix; see Google
Books for a digital version of these pages):
“The genius who shaped the Cognitive
Restructuring program for prisons is Dr.
Stanton Samenow. He believes that people
are born criminals. It’s not the environment
or anything else that makes a criminal: it’s
in his genes, he’s predisposed. Therefore,
there’s only one cure: reprogramming.
… Doctor Samenow began applying this
process to the treatment of criminals during a study he conducted with criminally
insane inmates at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital
in Washington, D.C. …
“He did not prove the rehabilitative success of Cognitive Restructuring during his
six-year study at St. Elizabeth’s, however.”
In spite of this, and it should come as no
surprise, Dr. Samenow is popular within
law enforcement, corrections and the political establishment. The American Community Corrections Institute or ACCI, for
instance, uses cognitive restructuring.
There is no marked difference between
asking us to endorse – via our participation – a state-sponsored brainwashing program like this and asking us to convince the
women in Valley State, CIW and CCWF
prisons to submit to sterilization!

The above art was drawn by Chris Garcia

That we are having a conversation about
behavior modification, forced female sterilization and human experimentation in the
modern California Department of Corrections should arouse this entire nation to
arms against such structural fascism in its
midst.
Despite the historic and heroic efforts of
numerous activists and principled journalists across this state, nation and globe in
raising public awareness of U.S. domestic
torture units in supermax prisons across
America, this particular issue, the active
pursuit of brainwashing prisoners against
their will, and now the revelation that hundreds of women were sterilized by the state
– on American soil or anywhere else on this
planet for that matter – has simply not garnered the degree of public discourse that it
warrants.
Consider for a moment: The Center for
Investigative Reporting (CIR) and Justice
Now found that the CDCR conducted 116
illegal sterilizations for purposes of “birth
control” during caesarian section without
the consent of their victims, though this is
prohibited under federal, state and common
law. This was not only common practice in
CDCR facilities for women but, like mass
incarceration itself, medical staff disproportionately targeted New Afrikan (Black)
and Latino women.
With this in mind, this same agency
seeks to instruct and alter the values, moral
compasses and thought processes of prisoners via thematic journals with themes
such as “Social values,” “Thinking errors”
and “Values” – the latter which proposes
to “guide inmates through an evaluation
of the criminal values that have influenced
their lives and help them weigh the consequences of living a life based on criminal
values versus responsible values”!
The sheer mengalesque authoritarian hypocrisy of this department is breathtakingly
horrifying.
The CDCR is presiding over the largest domestic torture program in the U.S.
engaged in forced sterilization and advocating the mandatory brainwashing of
scores of SHU prisoners – and they want
to instruct us in “social values,” “thinking
errors” and what is and is not “criminal”?
Seriously?!
Where is the Legislature, the Congress,
Department of Justice while this resurgence
of Nazi-era pseudo-science is being codified into CDCR policy with taxpayer funding? Where is the Sacramento Bee, CBS,
Oakland Tribune, NBC, LA Times, ABC,
Rock!

San Diego Union Tribune, Fox News or the
Associated Press while horrors prohibited
by the Nuremberg Code are given new life
in contemporary penal best practices?
Has this society truly decayed so thoroughly that our culture, our communities
– all of us: free and bond, rich and poor, all
cultures and religions – will tolerate public
officials engaging in such repugnant assaults on the very fabric of humanity without the most vocal and vigorous organized
outrage?!
What must be understood is that these
are not assaults on prisoners but on the
very nature of human civilization. We ask
you all, have we truly sunk so low into the
quagmire of individualistic pursuits and
sidewalk escapism indicative of the capitalist arrangement that we cannot even be
roused to mass resistance against statesponsored torture, sterilization and brainwashing? The NCTT, indeed all of us simply refuse to believe this. The past two and
a half years in particular give credence to
the dynamic influence of people power and
its transformative potential.
If the CDCR were genuinely sincere that
the SDP is a legitimate path out of the torture unit for prisoners – as opposed to another venue to break men’s and women’s
minds, Section 700.2 of the STG Pilot Program would be discretionary, not mandatory. Under such circumstances, perhaps,
prisoners confined to these torture units
might be amenable to at least giving the
program a try. Unfortunately, that’s simply
not their position. And that is the best proof
of the program’s actual intent.
We should all consider that while to
some, including some of us in prison, these
may simply be compelling words on paper,
in truth this really is about human lives and
minds – some of who will, consciously or
unconsciously, spread these techniques to
those communities that they go back to.
This alone should move us all to action.
“Non-cooperation with evil is as much a
duty as is cooperation with good.”
– Mahatma Mohandas S. Gandhi
Long live the spirit of the beloved
Herman Wallace – love and with you always. ●

SHOUT OUT BOX

A very special shout out to
Freddie Fuiava, who resides on
San Quentin's Death Row. He
gave 200 stamps to the cause.
Rock on!

MENARD HUNGER STRIKERS REFUSING
WATER UNTIL FACE-TO-FACE
HEARINGS BEGIN

T

By Attorney Alice Lynd
he Menard hunger strikers have apparently decided to go without liquid as well as food, and their physical condition could deteriorate rapidly.
According to Illinois Department of Corrections Director of Communications Tom
Shear’s Feb. 7, 2014, update, nine offenders remain on hunger strike. “They apparently stopped taking in water yesterday
[Feb. 6] and it takes 36-48 hours for THAT
to evidence itself, which is pretty quick.
So, we’ll admit them to the infirmary as a
precaution.”
Before the end of January, the Menard
hunger strikers presented a proposal to the
warden (reproduced in the third update
from Menard). These are the main points:
•	 Begin giving the inmates in Administrative Detention informal face-to-face
90-day review hearings and issue them
a written disposition stating the basis for
whatever decision is reached.
•	 Within 30 days, pass out an orientation
manual for inmates who are in Administrative Detention or Segregation status.
•	 Implement a Behavior Incentive Program that allows inmates who are
housed in high security the opportunity
to earn the privilege of buying limited
food items and coffee.
•	 Continue to work on resolving grievances, including weekly rounds by the
major and/or warden to prevent issues
from piling up.
“Once the informal face-to-face hearings begin, we will take your word that the
other issues are going to be addressed and
we will ALL come off our hunger strike.”
Supporters can urge IDOC Director Godinez and Warden Harrington to accept
the hunger strikers’ proposal immediately.
Contact:
•	 Illinois Department of Corrections Director Salvador Godinez, (217) 5582200, ext. 2008, Illinois Department of
Corrections, P.O. Box 19277, Springfield IL 62794-9277 or http://www2.illinois.gov/idoc/contactus/Pages/default.
aspx
•	 Warden Rick Harrington, (618) 8265071, P.O. Box 711, Menard IL 62259
Source: http://sfbayview.com/2014/
menard-hunger-strikers-refusing-wateruntil-face-to-face-hearings-begin/

Art by Robert Garcia

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.

JUDGE OKAYS 2
MORE YEARS

O

n February 11th the Federal Court
granted California a 2-year extension to reduce the prison population. Now it’s up to us to make sure that
we don’t use that time to just build more
prisons. It is very URGENT that you weigh
in immediately!
Join us in targeting a few key legislators
to demand that California cancel all prison
expansion plans and expand the parole &
sentencing reforms outlined by the court.
Here are a few of our initial thoughts on
the ruling:
What We Won:
•	 Parole Reform & No Additional Out-ofState Transfers
•	 No additional loved ones will be sent
out-of-state
•	 Expansion of parole reforms: including
medical parole, the alternative custody
Judge...................... Continued on page 10

Volume 3, Number 3		

9

Stockton................ Continued from page 5
tions within California’s prisons are unconstitutionally unsafe and put prison medical
operations under the management of a receiver. The judges have deemed that overcrowding is at the root of those problems
and given the state until April to reduce
prison populations to within 137.5% of
what they were built to hold.
State officials since January 2013 have
attempted to persuade the courts that California is ready to regain control of its prison system. “We are serious about the health
and well-being of the inmates entrusted to
us,” corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard
said at the Stockton prison’s dedication
ceremony in June.
As of this week, the Stockton complex
had 1,299 inmate patients, including half
of the expected 1,622 long-term, high-risk
patients it was designed to hold. Previous court filings show entire wings of the
prison remain unopened because the state
cannot hire enough staff, psychiatrists in
particular. ●
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-meff-prison-stockton-20140205,0,5767187.
story#axzz2sSQofqCc

Judge.................... Continued from page 9
program for women & expedited parole
for some lifers
•	 Prospective good-time credits for nonviolent 2nd strikers & 2 for 1 credits for
minimum custody prisoners
•	 Implementation of elder parole for some
prisoners over 60
What We Might Lose:
•	 5,000 More Prison Beds
•	 5,633 new in-state contract beds
•	 2,500 new cages at Donovan and Mule
Creek Prisons
•	 Activation of beds at the Northern CA
Reentry Facility, Dewitt Nelson & prison hospitals
•	 The delapidated Norco prison remaining
open
•	 8,988 people still in out-of-state prisons
What We Need You to Do:
Keep the Pressure on and Contact the
Legislature NOW!
California now has until February 28,
2016. If we don’t immediately cancel all of
Governor Brown’s current plans to expand
California’s prison, we will not solve this
crisis, instead we will have more people in
cages in California. ●

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

FIRST CLASS MAIL