“So That the Public Never Knows.”
I’m currently litigating in federal court, three civil rights lawsuits on my own because I get no help from any of these so called prison legal services, organizations that claim to stand up for the rights of prisoners. This puts me at a severe disadvantage.
For one, federal judges are biased against incarcerated pro se litigants and often give us unfair rulings, but what can we do? Not only must we pay $350 just to file a civil rights lawsuit to protect and vindicate our constitutional rights. We must also pay $505 just to appeal a unfair ruling. So we incarcerated pro se litigants who are poor, we can’t really afford to fight in federal court. To do so is a tremendous sacrifice for us.
This is all in thanks to our- the Prisoners Litigation Reform Act signed into law by our good old pal Bill Clinton. The reason I’m mentioning this is because the New York state prison officials know how difficult it is for prisoners to expose how pervasive and widespread the abuse and mistreatment of prisoners really is. And how difficult it is for prisoners to expose the corruption of prison staff and to prove how illegal, unreasonable and unconstitutional certain prison policies, practices, procedures, and customs really are.
So prison officials in New York state have developed schemes designed to silence prisoner dissent and to cover up the truth about what really goes on behind prison walls so that the public never knows. One of my current federal lawsuits is meant to expose all of this. What happened in this particular case is that the New York state prison officials denied my request to form a prison chapter of my UFD organization.
But on top of that, I am not allowed to run for the inmate liaison committee here, which is a group of prisoners who meet monthly with the facility administration to discuss the complaints and concerns of the entire prison population. I’m also not allowed to run for the inmate grievance resolution committee. Which is composed of two elected inmate representatives and two appointed staff representatives who hear the complaints of individual prisoners. Supposedly to fairly and expeditiously work to resolve them.
And I was spitefully passed over for appointment as the inmate facilitator of the Shietsu Netsu study group class that I spearheaded the effort to get started. Another guy who knows next to nothing about Shietsu Netsu was appointed instead.
What do all these things have in common? They’re meant to marginalize me and to prevent me from having too much influence over other prisoners. See, this is part of the scheme developed by New York state prison officials to silence prison dissent, and to cover up the abuse and mistreatment of prisoners. The biggest threat to corrupt prison officials is the public power of the unique collective voice of prisoners. Prison officials know the vast majority of prisoners are undereducated and are easily frustrated by the complex procedures for pursuing their individual complaints and legal claims about staff misconduct and bad prison policies and conditions.
If ever prisoners could successfully be organized to expose the pervasiveness of such things. The American prison system’s days would be numbered. Guys like me, I’m a threat because I have the education, discipline, sophistication, determination, and temperament to fight these people on their level. And to teach and organize other prisoners to do the same. I’m like Neo in the matrix. I see the power of prison officials for being the illusion that it is. Their power is based upon the ignorance and criminality of prisoners. So the easiest way to defeat their power is to educate prisoners and to organize prisoners. To not only challenge staff misconduct and bad prison policies and conditions, but to also take command of our own reform and rehabilitation. Because we can do a better job at it than these prison [inaudible].
This is Dontie S. Mitchell, better known as Mfalme Sikivu, reporting to you from Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Comstock, New York. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @FreeDontieMitchell. Also, send me an email or a video-gram through Jpay.com with your questions and comments. I love to hear from and struggle with you. Thank you for listening and God bless.
(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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