Hunger striker considers where we go from here, wonders, ‘Will the Legislature dupe us too’?

September 21, 2013

In: SF Bay View

by Mutope Duguma

Written Sept. 8, 2013 – First and foremost we want to give a lot of respect and love to all the human beings who made their voices heard and the countless dedicated supporters and organizations who beat the drum as well as the pavement demanding an end to solitary confinement, LONG TERM solitary confinement.

To the 30,000 hunger strikers who courageously stood up, we commend each and every one of you, no matter if you did one day or the whole 60 days. We have had three hunger strikes in which none of us could imagine such courage would stem from such a peaceful protest. But as I have written in an article called, “Because I’ve seen men,”* my own personal strength and resolve has been improved on. I could not have ever expected to be amongst such courageous individuals. I salute each and every one of you.

We want to always give much respect and love to the six prisoners who sacrificed their lives despite what CDCr propagated against you. We know each and every one of you died for a cause that’s more honorable than anything, especially in a world where men and women die every day for nothing. We also know none of you were suicidal. We will forever hold you all in our memory, high before the world.

Now, where do we go from here? We’ve been promised change, which we will humbly allow to take its course. One thing we have learned throughout our protracted struggle is that there is a solid 100 hunger strikers who we know now will be willing to lay their lives down for our cause, and I am amongst that 100. These individuals are remarkable, so our protracted struggle continues.

We all signed up collectively to move in unison; therefore, we will allow the voice of our 20 representatives to be the voice that makes the decisions in the interests of us all, based on their collective judgment. This has always been an inclusive protracted struggle. Our New Afrikan collective, Latino-Mexican collective, white collective and Asian collective – these brothers and sisters joined forces in order to end torture in Amerika’s solitary confinement units. We now allow the system to work, while being very vigilant as to what kind of change we will receive.

Relieve prisoners of their on-going suffering inside these solitary confinement units that serve no purpose whatsoever.

We continue to hit the pavement, make the calls, write the Legislature and governor. We do not know at this time what the time period would be on that change, but I am sure there will be one, and each and every one of us will be informed of that time period, especially prisoners who are suffering in solitary confinement each second, minute and hour of the day inside these torture chambers. The world has heard your screams.

We continue to educate the public about our individual horror stories inside solitary confinement units, whether they’re called SHUs, Ad Seg or Administration Segregation Units. We can never go back to accepting solitary confinement as an indefinite placement for any Amerikans, foreigners, refugees or immigrants.

The world has heard your screams.

Our protracted struggle continues. Those of us who did the whole 60 days, like myself and our main four representatives, need to take the time to get your health back in order. It will take anywhere from 90 days to six months depending on the severity of damage.

Demand blood work be done and your organs screened before you go back to exercising. We all may be called on to make that ultimate sacrifice and I personally know that we will see that courageous 100 front and center.

We can never go back to accepting solitary confinement as an indefinite placement for any Amerikans, foreigners, refugees or immigrants.

Our protracted struggle continues in memory of the following courageous prisoners:

Christian Gomez

Alex Machado

Alonzo Hozel Blanchard

A. ‘Baby Paya’ Morales (Watts native)

Billy “Guero” Sell

Johnny Owen Vick

Will the Legislature dupe us too?

The 20 representatives have to do what they believe is in the best interest of our collective and that means negotiating with CDCr, politicians or any officials who are part of that process.

We are demanding that our five core demands be met, and to those who don’t know, the 40 supplemental demands are part of Core Demand No. 5. The 20 representatives have a responsibility outside of making decisions: They each have to make sure that they don’t subject you or me to unnecessary suffering when they do not have to.

If the Legislature turns around and dupes us, then we will be forced to continue our peaceful protest in the interests of every solitary confined prisoner.

So the reality right now is that Sen. Loni Hancock and Assemblymember Tom Ammiano have basically said that there has to be change. Now the people have to get behind these two politicians and make sure that they are empowered to make that change possible: Relieve prisoners of their on-going suffering inside these solitary confinement units that serve no purpose whatsoever.

There have already been countless dialogues, interviews, books written and legislative hearings on solitary confinement and they have all been fruitless to date. So it is our hope that these current hearings will render that change that we so desperately seek, in the interests of all prisoners held throughout California in these isolation units and hopefully throughout the United States of America. We do not know to what degree CDCr will involve themselves in making these meaningful changes possible, but we hold hope.

We will be following these future events very closely and ask everyone to do the same, because if the Legislature turns around and dupes us, then we will be forced to continue our peaceful protest in the interests of every solitary confined prisoner.

In Solidarity,

One Love, One Struggle

Mutope Duguma

Send our brother some love and light: Though he was still at New Folsom Prison when he wrote this, his transfer back to Pelican Bay is believed to be imminent, so write to Mutope Duguma, s/n James Crawford, D-05996, PBSP SHU D1-117, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95532.

*Supporters have not yet received that article, but we’ll publish it as soon as it arrives.

Hunger strikers, weak and sick, transported 8 hours by bus: ‘Our strength is a reflection of your strength’

September 2, 2013

In: SF Bay View

by Mutope Duguma

Written Aug. 25, 2013 – How long must we continue to suffer? On Aug. 23, 2013, early in the morning, Pelican Bay State Prison Ad Seg (Administrative Segregation) was emptied out and placed on two buses. Every individual on the buses had been on the hunger strike since July 8, 2013, and there was not one medical staffperson on those buses.

The trip was an eight hour trip that subjected Lorenzo Benton to extremely low blood sugar. We had to demand that the bus be stopped immediately, which led to a 40 minute delay. They had three cars from SSU (Special Services Unit) escorting the whole trip, but not one medical staffperson, knowing that we had been on a hunger strike 45 days when they placed us on those buses.

Lorenzo Benton’s eyes were blurry; he couldn’t see nothing. I tried to take his pulse but couldn’t get one because his heartbeat had dropped so low. We switched position on the bus with Danny Troxell and Frank Clement so that Lorenzo would have more space. This did nothing for him.

We asked for water and the sergeant of transportation said he was instructed to not give us nothing but Gatorade. I said, “We can’t have water?” He said no. I said, “Where is the Gatorade?” Initially Abdul, HB and Mutawally demanded that they go back, but I asked how far are we from a medical facility going forward. Sergeant said six miles. We were already on the road 50 miles.

I told Lorenzo to gulp down cups of Gatorade because when my sugar is low and eyes are blurry, I just need the Gatorade to clear it up. After gulping down three canteen cups – 12 ounces – each he started to see a little better and he felt better. The sergeant asked him was he all right and if he was going to make it. The sergeant was pissed off that there wasn’t no medical staff on this trip, considering who was being transferred. At least he let us see these sentiments. If he was sincere or not I don’t know.

How long must we continue to suffer?

Once we got to New Folsom Prison (California State Prison Sacramento) we got nothing, and that is our status right now as I write this. They say on Aug. 26 it will get better. The officials knew we were coming a week in advance, so it is no excuse for subjecting us to such cruelty.

We also are receiving low quality vitamins, down from the high quality vitamins that the receivership ordered. [California prison medical services were placed under receivership by the federal court because at least one prisoner a week was dying due to medical abuse or neglect. – ed.] The Gatorade is a better quality, but we are suffering because of what we are being denied, although the hunger strike alone should be enough suffering.

But denying us linen – while holding us in ice cold cells – equals torture. It’s obvious that these actions are intended to break us, but the 60 of us have a collective strength and are committed all the way to the force feeding, for better or worse.

We can only hope that our strength is a reflection of your strength. All RACES – prison solidarity.

We do not care about how much worse our conditions get because the pain and suffering from not eating trumps it all. Also, the only prisoners in PBSP Ad Seg who were left there were Sitawa Jamaa (Ron Dewberry), Todd Ashker, Antonio Guillen and Arturo Castellanos, our four reps. We can only hope that they are safe under those circumstances. Everyone on the bus is medically on high risk status (see CDC Form 114-D), and everyone is doing very bad as well.

And it’s old age, middle age and young age prisoners inside that 60, and we can only hope that our strength is a reflection of your strength. All RACES – prison solidarity. We don’t believe that CDCr CSP-Sac can force feed each and every one of us at the same time, because obviously we will deteriorate at the same time.

[In a note dated Aug. 26, he adds: We’ve been on vitamins and Gatorade since July 25, 2013, to now, which is to sustain our organs, but they will eventually start going when our body weight is gone. I am down 63 pounds now today, according to their scale.]

One Love, One Struggle.
Mutope


Send our brother some love and light – and writing paper, envelopes and stamps to share: Mutope Duguma (James Crawford), D-05996, CSP-Sac ASU B8-232L, P.O. Box 290066, Represa CA 95671.

Why did five Pelican Bay guards beat two elderly Black prisoners on Aug. 6?

August 22, 2013

In: SF Bay View


Written Aug. 6, 2013 – The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation believes it is necessary to change the course of our peaceful struggle to one of violence, which does not serve prisoners’ interests but actually gives power to the state to impose strict violent measures and actions that will subdue us as a prison class, while at the same time allowing CDCR to be justified in beating and murdering prisoners if they retaliate violently against CDCR officials.

Drawing by R. Garcia

Be it noticed that the CDCR conspired on this day, Aug. 6, 2013, to attack two elderly New Afrikan prisoners in the Short Corridor in order to provoke violence out of the New Afrikan prisoners. As a New Afrikan myself and understanding all too well what’s at stake and why CDCR has resorted to such desperate attacks, I would first like to commend the two elderly New Afrikans who allowed their discipline to take precedence over their natural impulses, which is to defend themselves, initially by any means. Instead, they respected our peaceful protest.

Their belief in our peaceful protest allowed them to de-escalate something we prisoners know all too well could have easily gotten out of control. No prisoner will willingly accept five strong Pelican Bay State Prison officers beating on elderly prisoners, who they have in prison restraints already.

This is why the New Afrikans were chosen to be attacked, so that all prisoners who witnessed the attacks would be angry, because if an attack like this happens now, then it can happen to us all. Plus, no one respects or likes people who abuse the elderly, especially someone who has been entrusted with a position of authority to serve and protect all prisoners.

We prisoners insist that any attacks against any prisoners in retaliation for our peaceful protest must cease immediately and the officers who are responsible for such attacks must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

These particular officials who set out to provoke violence by attacking prisoners are not only committing criminal acts but grossly violate the authority entrusted to them by the public. For too long CDCR and PBSP have been abusing their authority, which each official took an oath to uphold – arbitrarily applying their prejudiced and racist views by attacking prisoners.

Therefore, we prisoners insist that any attacks against any prisoners in retaliation for our peaceful protest must cease immediately and the officers who are responsible for such attacks must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. All those who had a hand in the conspiracy must be included as well.

Hunger strikers, weak and fragile but mentally strong after 35 days, say thank you
Written Aug. 11, 2013 – There is a true and righteous commitment being made through collective sacrifice by men from all walks of life who have come together to end an injustice. We suffer collectively at the hands of a prison system (CDCR) that has lost its morality, its ability to effectively run a prison system that protects the wellbeing of each and every prisoner.

Those of us who are held in Ad Segs, Adjustment Centers and SHUs ‘til this day, subjected to pain and suffering that’s being sanctioned by the state due to our peaceful protest, along with each and every prisoner who has contributed to our peaceful protest, past and present, by way of hunger strike and work stoppage, we hunger strikers commend you. And we want to say this before we deteriorate to a point where we’re unable to say thank you.

To all our supporters: We can only hope that you do everything in your power to change these horrible conditions by continuing to work with prisoners throughout the state and nation in the hope that no one else in this country is made to suffer such a horrible fate ever again.


Send our brother some love and light: Mutope Duguma, s/n James Crawford, D-05996, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95532.

The hunger strike is about helping all prisoners achieve their humanity

by Mutope Duguma

In: SF Bay View, Aug. 22^nd 2013

Editor’s note: Mutope had asked JR Valrey, Bay View associate editor who is also producing and hosting a series of hunger strike specials on KPFA, to interview him weeks ago. We asked permission for a phone interview that could be recorded for broadcast, but CDCR denied that request. So right away, JR sent Mutope a list of questions to answer and mail back. But Pelican Bay has been blocking the mail, so in this letter, the first we’ve received from him in weeks, he asks JR to try again.

Written Aug. 19, 2013 – I have not received the letter from the Brother JR, so I do not know what’s up with that. But if he sent a letter to me, tell him to please remember when, because everyone is telling me they sent me this and that, but I am not receiving anything. I’ll need declaratories from everyone because we are keeping a record of out and incoming mail.

I didn’t receive your mail until Aug. 17, and that should tell you how they’re trying to deprive us of any effective communication in order to compromise our correspondence. Hate has always followed hate, so they cannot change what they are – and that is vindictive, overzealous, reactionary individuals. And sadly they cannot even say why they do what they do.

Let the Brother know that he should hurry up because I am 53 pounds down, have not eaten in 44 days and I am weak and fragile, Mary, but my mental capacity is strong still.

Tell the Brother JR he can come up and visit or he can send me a questionnaire and I will give him the whole 411 at the root of our struggle and how it will serve all Californians. We are not just about changing our SHU solitary confinement placement; we are talking about helping all prisoners achieve their humanity through a sound, productive and constructive education that will help them be more aware of their lives and their actions.

Plus, let the Brother know that he should hurry up because I am 53 pounds down, have not eaten in 44 days [Mutope began his strike a day early, on July 7], and I am weak and fragile, Mary, but my mental capacity is strong still.

We are still in Ad Seg under Gestapo guard.


Send our brother some love and light: Mutope Duguma, s/n James Crawford, D-05996, PBSP ASU G-2185, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95532.

Hunger strikers denied right to read: Pelican Bay officials just don’t get it

July 28, 2013

by Mutope Duguma, Pelican Bay Human Rights Movement

Published on SF Bay View

In retaliation for our peaceful protest, the security housing unit sergeant, B. Davis, drafted up a memorandum on July 8, 2013, saying that Pelican Bay State Prison will be following “regulations per DOM 54030.20.5 which allows book/ publications limit of five (5) books maximum.” This is what PBSP calls rehabilitation.

PBSP Sgt. B. Davis is demonstrating the type of mentality that we’ve been dealing with for the last 23 years in these torture chambers. We are allowed to have 10 books over the allowed five magazines, this Sgt. Davis knows, but he is attacking what we prisoners in SHU value more than anything outside our families: BOOKS.

We say: “End solitary confinement – torture – now! Stop the deliberate attacks on prisoners’ mental development by enforcing a book limit that is instituted to deprive prisoners of reading material.”

Why would an institution of prisoners attack that which aids in the rehabilitation process? Sgt. Davis does not get it, because one of our core demands deals with providing prisoners educational programs that are beneficial to our growth and development. One would think that if prisoners wanted to read, that the PBSP officials would have done all in their power to provide prisoners an avenue to endless books. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

The memorandum is diametrically opposed to our fifth demand. This retaliation is against prisoners for protesting the inhumane treatment in solitary confinement units. We say: “End solitary confinement – torture – now! Stop the deliberate attacks on prisoners’ mental development by enforcing a book limit that is instituted to deprive prisoners of reading material.” If it fits in your allowed 6 cubic foot locker, then you should be able to have as many books as possible.

Why have a policy that restricts prisoners education? Especially for prisoners. The CDCr needs to be called on the many policies that go against the educational needs of the prisoners. We feel this memo was written on July 8, 2013, in order to retaliate against SHU prisoners for our peaceful protest. They, CDCr and PBSP, can take all of our material possessions and it would not interfere with our right to fight for our human and civil rights.

The memorandum is diametrically opposed to our fifth demand. This retaliation is against prisoners for protesting the inhumane treatment in solitary confinement units.

We can only hope that the CDCr and PBSP warden can see the value of reading and allowing prisoners to read leisurely at their expense without restrictions.

One Love, One Struggle!

http://sfbayview.com/2013/hunger-strikers-denied-right-to-read-pelican-bay-officials-just-dont-get-it/

Animals: CDCR human exploitation in the 21st century

July 10, 2013

By Mutope Duguma

In: SF Bay View

Holding animals in solitary confinement breeds savagery. You are placed in a concrete slab of a cage for 22 ½ hours a day and let out for 90 minutes to another concrete slab of a cage only to be returned to your animal cage like an animal in a zoo, where correctional officials walk by your cell as if they’re watching exotic animals: tall ones, short ones, little ones, big ones, dark ones, light ones etc. etc.

They section off the cages as if to say these are our wild animals. We hold them in the short corridor, the long corridor. We got a variety of animals that are just as dangerous, just like the zoo. The animals do not have a voice; therefore, us overseers control the narrative, explaining to the world why we have to hold these animals in cages, because if we let them out, they will go wild or wouldn’t know how to survive in the free world on their own. So we hold them in these animal cages in order to tame them, just like at the zoo.

We do charge a fee to hold our animals. It’s Big Business in Amerikkka. For minding “our” animal cages, we get $70,000 annually in tax dollars for our animals held in solitary confinement. But in our tame animal cages on General Population, we get $53,000 annually, and this is for each animal we have in a cage.

This is why we must continue to build more prisons-zoos, especially solitary confinement cages in the 21st century, to build on our profits. But we have to maintain a surplus of animals for our Prison Industrial Slave Complex Zoos, by manifesting as well as manufacturing 21st century slaves throughout the United States.

Imprisoning “animals” will produce an output of animals, who will perpetuate the practice of savagery … toward serving our interest.

Mutope Duguma is a 21st century prison slave, as sanctioned by the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

http://sfbayview.com/2013/animals-cdcr-human-exploitation-in-the-21st-century/

Sabotage

June 29, 2013

by Mutope Duguma, Sitawa N. Jamaa, Abdul Shakur and Sondai Dumisani for the Pelican Bay Human Rights Movement

In: SF Bay View

On Jan. 29, 2013, I wrote an article called “The Lying Game: CDCR, Inc.”  

I wrote this article because I wanted the public, our legal team and mediation team and anyone else who’s willing to listen to know that it is not the prisoners who are lying; instead, it is the prison officials at the very top who are doing all the lying.

They lied to our representatives about promising to implement our Five Core Demands. They have lied about letting prisoners out of solitary confinement who have been classified as alleged gang members. They lied to the Office of the Inspector General, saying that they cannot utilize the Behavior Management Unit (BMU) because of the past violence.

What must be understood is that the CDCR officials and officers were the culprits who orchestrated the violence between the races. This is something that has been proven already by numerous CDCR officials who betrayed CDCR’s code of silence. They call them “whistleblowers,” which is another way to say “snitches.”

The CDCR’s Green Wall GANG has been exposed, where CDCR officials pitted race against race and set up brutal gladiator fights, in which many prisoners were shot and murdered by the same prison officers who were betting on these gladiator fights.

I touched on these criminal acts by CDCR prison officers in an article I wrote, “How Easily We Forget.” Not one prison official was prosecuted for shooting and murdering prisoners, although there was a ton of evidence provided by CDCR officials themselves. This was the only time when CDCR rejected snitching, when it threatened their green wall gang. Their policy is that if you put on the green correctional suit, then the code of silence has to be honored; meaning, “We do not snitch on our own” under no circumstances.

Yet, they place prisoners in solitary confinement indefinitely on confidential information provided by prison snitches that they themselves corroborate under “confidentiality.” Then they tell you that in order to get out of solitary you have to emasculate yourself, or become a “prison snitch,” and they influence these actions by placing prisoners under a system of protracted torture.

The prison officials lied to numerous federal judges while under oath, testifying through many judicial proceedings. Within the CDCR there exists a culture of liars, where they lie to one another just as well. Unfortunately many of them think that they are professional liars, and they take pride in this practice.

On May 29, 2013, our Mediation Team had a meeting with Inspector General Officer Mike Stainer and Deputy Attorney General Kelly Harrington, and they told our Mediation Team that our four representatives have been refusing to have meetings with PBSP officials in order to resolve the local issues here at the prison. This was an outright lie!

Sitawa, one of the reps for New Africans, wrote to Warden G.D. Lewis, Chief Deputy Warden Ducart and Associate Warden R.L. Swift, in a CDCR 22 request form, a clear description how and why the last meeting failed. Their response was that the litigation officer had informed them not to hold the meetings any more. A similar CDCR 22 form was then forwarded to Litigation Officer Barnts and he refused to respond.

Directors Mike Stainer and Kelly Harrington stated, matter of factly, to our Mediation Team that it is not CDCR that does not want to hold the meetings; it’s the four representatives who are refusing the talks. This was a conspired lie.

Our Mediation Team was provided with the documents proving that CDCR officials are nothing but liars who have no respect for the truth and take no responsibility for their lies. This is how they have been able to hold well over 3,000 prisoners indefinitely in solitary confinement on information that they manufactured along with prison snitches who conspired with them in order to get out of solitary or to stay on General Population.

Why have there not been any investigations into the many SHU placements, where prison officials lied in order to place prisoners into long term solitary confinement? We all have our facts about each of our individual situations, but can we expect CDCR to give us a fair and impartial investigation? NO. They have proven time and time again that they are incapable of investigating themselves.

We believe that these staff personnel who live in their isolated communities, who have had very limited interaction with human beings who do not talk as they do, look as they do, or live as they do, across race and class lines, can easily disconnect themselves from our humanity and, as a result, treat us as they please.

Our Mediation Team was provided with the truth, written by one of the PBSP subordinates of the warden, Capt. Puget, as to why the meetings were ended. 

We also believe that Warden G.D. Lewis “sabotaged” the meetings by putting the following gang officials in charge of the meetings: Associate Warden R.L. Swift, former ISU Capt. Barneberg, former IGI Lt. Capt. Olson and Capt. Puget, former appeal coordinator.

These officials have a personal axe to grind. They are the same officials who have been subjecting us to every form of torture within their power, toward destroying us physically and psychologically. These officials hated the meetings with the associate warden from the onset, but they had “no control” over them, which is why, when they gained control, they deliberately set about to sabotage the meetings by being blatantly disrespectful to our representatives, who then immediately rejected their BS unanimously.

We then had Sgt. Davis, along with all the other lieutenants and sergeants, telling us that those who are in charge now will do what Assistant Warden P.T. Smith was too cowardly to do – end these charades: prisoners talking to each other.

This is not no charade. This is about human beings’ lives and suffering in solitary confinement. This is not about no prison officials’ ego or feelings. This is about the suffering of prisoners in long term solitary confinement and their families, who suffer as a consequence of their unjust placement in solitary confinement.

We asked, “Why is it that you guys are so bent on holding us back here?” They responded with the typical words, “safety and security of the institution.” Then we told them, “But we’re all back here on administrative placement,” meaning that we committed NO offense to be held back here, especially 10 to 40 years. It does not get more inhumane than this.

They fall silent and mouth off some sarcasm. As they turn to go, they say, “You all should have thought about this before you broke the law (expletive).” And they continue their expletives right on out of the unit section door.

We believe that these staff personnel who live in their isolated communities, who have had very limited interaction with human beings who do not talk as they do, look as they do, or live as they do, across race and class lines, can easily disconnect themselves from our humanity and, as a result, treat us as they please.

Send our brothers some love and light:

    Mutope Duguma (s/n J. Crawford), D-05996, PBSP SHU D1-117, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95532

    Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa (s/n R. Dewberry), C-35671, PBSP SHU D1-117L, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95532

    Abdul Olugbala Shakur (s/n J. Harvey), C-48884, PBSP SHU D1-119, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95532

    Sondai Kamdibe Dumisani (s/n R. Ellis), C-68764, PBSP SHU D1-223, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95532

http://sfbayview.com/2013/sabotage/