My name’s Ivan Kilgore and I am the founder of the United Black Family Scholarship Foundation. And I’m calling you from Solano State Prison in Northern California.
Let’s go back to March of 2020. What’s happening in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. At this particular time, what the department is doing is they’re issuing memorandums to the public and in the prison population basically saying that they are providing us with social distancing, soaps, infectants, things of that nature/ Which someone who’s been incarcerated for over 20 years and actually in prison reading this stuff, I’m like, okay, where is this stuff? They weren’t passing out none of that.
And so what happened uh, eventually, I was I was contacted by the administration and informed that- that had been a VICE News video that was made. I guess it received, you know, three, four thousand reviews, and they were basically saying that, okay, we got you on this video. And this video, what it shows is basically CDC is not holding up on the end of the bargain in terms of social distancing and all that.
So what happens as a result of this whole issue- instance with this video? We start to see the staff retaliate in my particular case. And what they do initially was they go throughout the pod that I live in and they searched like 10 Mexican cells. Now, I don’t know if people understand the nature of race relations in the California prison system, but when they did this on top of it, they said, hey, we did was searching this cell on account of Kilgore filming a video in the prison. So you can imagine the type of blow-back they created in terms of racial tensions and things of that nature within the prison.
And this is a common practice of the prison administration when they want to retaliate against an alleged whistleblower. So fortunately I was able to defuse that situation, and when that situation didn’t work out to the likings of the department, the next thing I was issued a disciplinary ticket for possession of a cell phone, which was never found in my position or my cell or anything to that effect. And as a result of being found with accused in a cell phone and being found guilty of a write-up I’m now being put up to transfer to a COVID hotspot in Imperial Valley, which is on the other end of the state. Again, this is how the California Department of Corrections operates with regards to whistleblowers.
Now the good thing that came out of this whole situation, apparently this video on VICE News caused a lot of statewide controversy within the Department of Corrections at the headquarters. And they immediately stepped their game up at this prison, which is Solano. And we saw in the aftermath of that release of that in video, they’ll come in through passing them out masks, disinfectants, soap, social distancing, and even going to the extent of making the officers wear a mask and enforcing that. Of course, you know, behind these things, a lot of people get lax with that.
Outside of that, the COVID situation here at this prison has, it’s not like San Quentin where they had that major outbreak. And I say it’s not like that because again, you had that initial instance back in the beginning of April with this VICE News video that kind of sounded the alarm and put a lot of spotlight on this prison. So they’re pretty much ahead of, you know, keeping, keeping the COVID outbreak under control. So we see medical staff that are coming through here and regularly doing temperature checks. We’re seeing isolation know in here for any individuals who may show COVID symptoms, and we’re seeing the administration enforcing both staff and prisoners to wear masks.
(Sound of a cell door closing.) These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
![Prison Radio is sharing an abbreviated version of a press release covering recent racist incidents at SCI Rockview in PA and the organizing to demand accountability. We are reaching out to people incarcerated at Rockview as well as recently transferred folks, inviting them to call, in hopes of hearing commentaries from them.
Benner Township, PA.-
On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for many prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hung, they were told it was a joke.
By December 4th, prisoners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates" and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Captain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance.
The sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions...
As of March 10th, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending 100 copies of the grievance. Copies of the letter also were mailed to Governor Shapiro, Senator Fetterman, Senator Street, and various advocacy groups. The demands for relief in the original grievance have now become the platform of demands for this campaign. About 20 of the 100 letters were withheld by the prison.
Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, flooding the phone lines of DOC offices, assisting with outreach to media, and circulating the stories of prisoners who have found unity in opposition to the facility's virulent institutional racism.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendent's assistant and "grievance coordinator" informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong.
Read the full article at i
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