Under Lock and Key
RAIL Radio Program
Nov. 20, 1998

Amerika demands Christian freedom of religion internationally, but 
denies religious freedom in its own prisons

Michigan prisons censor VIBE  Magazine

Protesters denounce brutality in California prisons

Welcome to Under Lock and Key, news and commentary about prisons 
from the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League. The U.$. 
incarcerates a greater percentage of its population than any other 
country. The rate for imprisonment of Blacks is 4 times that of 
apartheid South Africa, and the U.$. sends more Black men to 
prison than college. The purpose of this program is to educate 
about, and inspire activism against, the Amerikan lockdown. 

Amerika demands Christian freedom of religion internationally, but 
denies religious freedom in its own prisons

In a cynical move to give Amerika more excuses to attack Third 
World countries and their economies, the U.$. congress has passed 
a bill allowing the President to take a variety of economic 
actions against countries that do not uphold u.$.-style freedom of 
religion. The Senate unanimously approved the bill, which gives 
the President clearance to limit or withdraw aid and bank loans, 
and cancel business contracts with "offender" states.

"The bill's sponsors say most of the abuses are occurring within 
militant Islamic countries and the few remaining Communist 
nations. They have cited Sudan, China, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, 
Algeria and Vietnam as some of the worst offenders of religious 
freedom." To RAIL and the peoples of the world this bill means 
that Amerika is finding more reasons to exert its economic 
hegemony. In this case, anyone who does not uphold Judeo-
Christianity can come under attack.

Enacting a law that allows Amerika to increase its imperialist 
repression of Third World peoples for the purpose of protecting 
religious freedom is the height of hypocrisy as the Amerikan 
prisons continue and increase their repression of religious 
organizations. The international and domestic policies are two 
sides of the same record: they both amount to repression of any 
nation whose religion does not include bowing to u.$. imperialism.

The principal contradiction in the world today is that between 
imperialism and the oppressed nations. This makes the first task 
of revolutionaries the struggle against national oppression -- to 
support the struggles of colonized peoples for national 
liberation. Liberation from imperialist domination is the only 
thing that will make it possible for the oppressed to freely 
choose their national destinies. When Black Muslim groups talk 
about whites as being the devil, they are describing in mystical 
terms the same thing that RAIL describes through science. No 
nation has done as much to suppress the will of oppressed peoples 
internationally as the white nation in Amerika. 

Arguing for the passage of this new bill, Sen. Joseph Lieberman 
said: "[somewhere] right now, a man or woman languishes in prison, 
some on death row, because he or she did nothing more than choose 
faith in God. It is a reminder to the executive branch of the 
American government, both now and in the future, that as it 
encourages human rights all over the world, it must consider 
freedom of religion." It should be no surprise that the Senator 
did not include an explicit indictment of Amerikan policy towards 
prisoner religious groups.

Amerika continues to imprison more people per capita than any 
other country on the planet. RAIL points the finger back at the 
United Snakes and says that a country as prison-happy as this one 
has no business telling other countries what they can imprison 
people for. In terms of religious imprisonment, prisoners all over 
the United Snakes are languishing in segregation cells because 
they "chose faith in god" yet the u.$. government does not see 
this as religious persecution because it sees only that these 
individuals chose a religion that includes speaking out against 
In the past few years, prisons systems in many of the united 
Snakes have enacted Security Threat Group, or STG, policies. The 
policies are used to attack prisoner religious and political 
organizations, but they are designed to trap nearly all oppressed 
nation prisoners under the STG label. Security Threat Group 
policies let the prisons take extra administrative and 
disciplinary actions against individuals who are tagged as members 
of organizations that "pose a threat to staff or other prisoners 
or to the custody and security of the facility." 

The majority of prisoners are oppressed nationals; they know that 
any religion or political ideology, support of national liberation 
and self-determination, celebration of non-whitebread cultures, or 
opposition to the disproportionate imprisonment of Blacks, Latinos 
and First Nations is considered a "threat to the security of the 
facility." This is necessarily true because the prisons' security 
relies on the premise that the white nation has legitimate 
authority over all other nations that occupy this continent. 

Currently the 5% Nation of Gods and Earth, an Islamic sect of 
which many Black prisoners are members, is fighting the gang label 
in several states. In a letter petitioning New Jersey state 
officials to drop gang charges against five percenters in the 
state's prisons, the organization wrote:

"The Department of Corrections (DOC) has built a gang unit 
intended to segregate inmates they have classified as gang members 
on a near 24 hour a day lock-down.

"Since its opening on March 4th, 1998, over one hundred inmates 
classified as five percenters have been placed in the gang unit. 
None of which received any disciplinary charges. These alleged 
inmates were all placed in the Security Threat Group Management 
Unit based on the prison staffs identification of them as 
advocates of the five percenters teachings. Once placed in the 
gang unit the only opportunity one has to be released is to 
denounce the five percenter teachings. 

"There has been no organized plans within the five percenter 
teachings to interfere with the security of any prison, so they 
should not be labeled as a security threat group. ... "The 
placement of five percenters in gang units has resulted in many 
inmates being unable to: 
* receive contact visits from family members 

* has hindered legal access to the courts 

* removed individuals from prison programs. 

* discriminatory treatment of inmates of five percenters 

* confiscation of all personal pictures, literature, letters, 
clothing, books, and any material associated with five 
percenters."

Outside of these conditions in New Jersey, the Five Percenter web 
site reports that the New York DOC has been censoring the Five 
Percenter, the organizational newspaper. Yet RAIL understands from 
a NY corrections officers' website that the 5% has won the right 
not to be called a gang from the courts.

This radio program has aired stories in the past about the true 
nature of the Security Threat Group policies. The policies are an 
extension of the prisons' goal of keeping the oppressed nations 
from organizing. They accomplish this first by putting huge 
numbers of the oppressed in prisons, therefore separating 
prisoners from their communities. When prisoners succeed in 
organizing from behind the walls, the state makes laws to separate 
prisoners from each other. If you know of specific organizations 
or individuals targeted by Security Threat Group policies, write 
to this program. We will continue to publicize and expose this 
pro-national oppression, anti-people tactic.

Michigan prisons censor VIBE  Magazine

Prisoners, pro-prisoners advocates and critics of prison Security 
Threat Group policies have argued that these policies are nothing 
more than a thinly disguised attack on oppressed people. The STG 
policies vaguely describe aspects of Black and Latino nations' 
body and spoken language, and describe these basic building blocks 
of national identity as proof of gang membership. Now the Michigan 
prisons have come out and said that a Black prisoner cannot 
receive his subscription to VIBE magazine, which is devoted to 
"the hip hop, rap and R&B communities, not gangs." 

In the most recent example offered by the Michigan prisons, a 
prison's mailroom staff found that the October, 1998 issue of VIBE
"contained gang signs" and that this made the magazine "a threat 
to the institution." The prisoner's quite constructive response to 
this ridiculous charge was to suggest that any pages seen as a 
threat could be removed by the mailroom staff before the magazine 
was delivered to him. This not being good enough for the prison 
hearing officer, the officer decided that the prisoner could send 
his copy of VIBE home at his own expense if he wanted to save it 
from being thrown away.

The prison's decision on VIBE just goes to show exactly how 
rational the prisons will be when it comes to applying their STG 
policies: not at all. Before the October issue of VIBE ever showed 
up, the same prisoner's Fall, 1998 issue of Blaze was held up and 
censored for containing "gang signs, which are prohibited from 
entering the institution." On this earlier occasion, the prisoner 
attempted to enlighten the ignorant mailroom staff, and to 
dissuade them of the misconception that every pose a Black persyn 
takes is a gang sign. He answered the mail rejection notice quite 
simply: "these are not gang signs." But this wasn't good enough 
for the hearing officer who on this earlier occasion also told the 
prisoner he could send the magazine home at his own expense or 
have it thrown away.

This case goes down on RAIL's list as proof positive that the 
Security Threat Group Policy is nothing more than an attack on the 
majority Black population of Michigan prisons, as well as on the 
Latinos and all prisoners who dare to become active against the 
system. Culture is a fundamental aspect of national identity, 
alongside territory, language, history and economy. That the 
Michigan prisons are openly attacking Black culture shows that 
they recognize Blacks as a nation that is oppressed by and will 
rise against the prisons system.

If you are a prisoner who has had your literature censored under a 
Security Threat Group policy, write to this program and we'll air 
your letter about this censorship. Censorship is the oppressor's 
last resort -- a means of keeping people from organizing through 
physical restraint, and therefore a fundamental part of the 
prisons system. RAIL works to expose censorship in prisons as we 
work to increase the flow of literature to and extend our work 
with prisoners.

Protesters denounce brutality in California prisons

Over 400 protesters gathered in front of Corcoran State Prison on 
October 17th in order to protest the brutal treatment prisoners 
receive in California prisons, as well as the continued unjust 
expansion of prisons in California. The protesters shouted their 
defiance to the prison's warden and the local cops and guards who 
blockaded the road to the prison. Some of the marchers' placards 
denounced California's "three strikes" law - one had a photo of a 
man and his daughter with the words "Larry Olin - Sentenced 25 
years to life for two pairs of Levis." Others exposed the cruel 
and callous conditions in California prisons, such as the poster 
which simply said "Alice Quihos was murdered by medical neglect."

Between 1988 and 1996 guards at Cocoran staged daily fights 
between prisoners, sometimes even betting on the outcome and 
reviewing the videotapes for their sick entertainment. Many 
prisoners were injured by the 37mm wooden bullets used to break up 
the fights, and seven were killed by guards. Public pressure 
forced the FBI and the state Attorney General to launch 
investigations of Corcoran, but -- although the gladiator fights 
have stopped -- little has changed at Corcoran, let alone the 32 
other state prisons.

Speakers at the rally included anti-prisons activists and family 
members of prisoners. Bill Tate, the father of one of the 
prisoners executed by guards during the spate of "gladiator 
fights" at Corcoran, reminded the rallyists that his son's case 
has received exceptional attention, but there are many more 
prisoners tortured and killed in California's prisons who do not 
receive media or bourgeois political attention. Indeed, a recent 
report by the LA Times reported that California remains the only 
state to officially condone the use of deadly force to break up 
alleged prisoner fights, despite outrage over the incidents at 
Corcoran. Dozens of prisoners have been killed as a result.

A speaker from the HIV/AIDS in Prison Project explained that 
Corcoran - one of California's three control units, and referred 
to by prisoners as "the hole" - was recently designated as 
California's AIDS treatment center. Supposedly all HIV+ prisoners 
were transferred there. However, the conditions of all of these 
230 prisoners now allegedly receiving "special medical care" have 
worsened, and dozens of HIV+ prisoners in California's still 
receive no treatment at all. The protest was a mix of electoral 
reformists, human rights groups, and people who, like RAIL, view 
prisons as a part of a larger system of national oppression and 
genocide. The majority of protesters and speakers did not have 
illusions about either of the two mainstream candidates for 
governor reforming CA prisons or the criminal "justice" system. 
Republican Dan Lundgren is a big supporter of the get-tough status 
quo, and, as one speaker pointed out, his Democratic opponent Gray 
Davis wants to lower the age at which a person can be sentenced to 
death by the criminal injustice system to 14.

Prisons are on the front lines of Amerika's war against its 
internal colonies, where men and wimmin are confined against their 
will - more and more often for "crimes" which their white 
counterparts get away with. Only by solving the broader problems 
of national oppression can the problem of brutality in Amerikan 
prisons be solved.

The protest was initiated by the California Prisons Focus, a 
single issue organization which grew out the movement against 
California's first modern control unit at Pelican Bay. California 
RAIL chapters organized a contingent to participate as part of 
their ongoing campaign to expose the evils of California prisons. 

This has been Under Lock and Key, a weekly Revolutionary Anti-
Imperialist League program about prisons. For more information, 
contact: RAIL PO Box 712 Amherst MA 01004, or email 
mim@mim.org.