As you know from my previous commentaries, I made a request to DOC for approval to form a prison chapter of UFD [Ujamaa Fraternal Dynasty], which I used to positively organize, motivate, and inspire and educate young prisoners, and to steer them away from gangs, drugs, and violence. Despite the good UFD would do, DOC denied my request based on an outright lie, deliberate misinformation, and two really insignificant, petty reasons. First, the outright lie was that this facility already offers a variety of inmate organizational opportunities, and that UFD would duplicate the goals and activities of the already existing African cultural organization. There are no active inmate organizations at this facility, and the African cultural organization has been defunct for over three years. The facility administration has thwarted efforts to get this inmate organization back up and running, and it imposes severe restrictions as to discourage prisoners from running approved inmate organizations. So, none here exist.
Second, the deliberate misinformation is when DOC went on the internet and found an old UFD blog and misrepresented documents posted there to insinuate UFD is affiliated with an organization that condones and encourages violence. The truth is UFD is no longer affiliated with that organization, and the documents DOC refers to mention nothing about violence. Further, UFD itself has never, in its over 10 years of existence, advocated or engaged in violence. In fact, UFD advocates nonviolent conflict resolution. Third, DOC claims my recommendation for UFD members to be housed together raises “a level of concern.” But DOC doesn’t articulate their supposed concern because, in truth, it was only a pretext to bolster their unreasonable denial of my request. But my recommendation was based on sound research that prisoners under 25 years old should be housed together in structured environments.
Fourth, DOC took issue with me requesting that 25 UFD members be allowed to attend executive board meetings of UFD, instead of the limit of 10. This was just another pretext to bolster the unreasonable denial of my request, because it would be nothing to revise my proposal to accommodate the 10 member limit. I did everything I could to get DOC to reconsider its decision denying my request. Nothing worked, so I made a motion to amend my federal complaint to include a challenge to DOC’s unreasonable decision to deny my request for approval to form a prison chapter of UFD here at Great Meadow, because I was already challenging, in my federal lawsuit, disciplinary action taken against me for promoting UFD. I also made a motion for a preliminary injunction compelling DOC to approve UFD so that I won’t be disciplined anymore for promoting and organizing UFD.
I face nine months of solitary confinement for my organization work through UFD. Despite the fact a preliminary injunction motion is meant to seek immediate relief from an immediate, imminent deprivation of your rights, it has been over a year, and Judge Thomas J. McAvoy has yet to rule on my motions to amend, and for a preliminary injunction. This is just further evidence of judiciary bias. Motions to amend are supposed to be freely granted, and preliminary injunction motions are supposed to be decided quickly. Yet, I’m still waiting for a decision. So, DOC can send me to solitary confinement any day for trying to help young prisoners because Judge McAvoy obviously doesn’t feel I deserve the same fair and expeditious adjudication of my motions as any other litigant. I thought justice was blind. Apparently not. This is Dontie S. Mitchell, better known as in Mfalme Sikivu, reporting to you from Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Comstock, New York. Follow me on Facebook, at Free Dontie Mitchell. Thank you for listening and God bless.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
