A Prisoner Voice
Face of Stone Poem
Date:
February, 2009
"Face of Stone"
I want to reach out to you,
but will I find you there?
I need someone to comfort me,
and let me know they care.
So many times I've looked around
to find myself alone.
So I've learned to keep it all inside
and wear a face of stone.
But if you look behind my walls,
I'm sure that you will find
A man with a heart of gold,
that's loving, sweet, and kind.
I'm still afraid to reach out,
for fear I'd find myself still alone.
So for now I'll keep it all inside,
and wear a face of stone.
GA Prisoner Abuse & Mail Tampering
Date:
January, 2011
Location of Prisoner:
Georgia
Dear PARC: Personnel at ___ detention center in Georgia are enforcing what rules they choose and denying people of their rights. The mail is sifted for what they choose to be delivered or not. My grievances and requests are ignored. I have had an injury to my neck since early Dec 2010 and unable to get medical treatment. Medial is dictated to by the authority of the Sheriff's Dept. Deputies are present during inmate medical discussions- NO medical privacy. Negligence by nurses and harassment by deputies in supervisory positions. This is done by corporals and sergeants who hide their actions behind floor deputies. Please contact me. I have times, dates, names. Speaking with facility personnel will not get the truth. I would be grateful for any help or guidance you can provide.
ps... This facility only allows generic white postcard correspondence only (unless the mail is clearly marked addressed from an attorney) otherwise they will not let me have it.
Frustration over facilities
Date:
January, 2009
Location of Prisoner:
Montana
Dear PARC,
I'm writing get some things straight.
Who's the comedian who sent the "standard minimum rules for treatment of Prisoners" ? Had to be a comedian because thats a joke.
1.Accommodations?
Seen 3 in a 6 by 9?
2. Medical?
You're fucked. Chronic Hep C patients get dogged.
They can only give you 2 blister packs of Ibuprofin 800 twice a year for "acute" injuries.
My partner had a compound fracture, was sent back because he wasn't dressed properly.
3. Discipline?
Lets not go there.
In short, I was tortured for 90 days, put in cells in winter, in a freezing cell, naked with nothing but a blanket. I was dehydrated, given one bologna sandwich a day. My room was never cleaned. There was my own feces, blood and urine there for days.I was beaten badly, lost 33 lbs, denied medical help, and made to defecate in a foot basin 46 times in two days under a camera.
I just wanted you to know that I didn't even scratch the surface on the way things happen here.
Medical Abuse
Date:
December, 2004
Location of Prisoner:
California
Dear PARC,
I hope my letter, find your spirit and health well; and your holidays rewarding with happiness.
How am I? I am mentally, emotionally, and physically in torment, and deterioration, and suffer unimaginable, and punishing retribution of pains.
My current condition is :
1. I sit and sleep in my wheelchair 24 hours and I have been like this for 3 years and 8 months.
2. My last bath was April , 2004, and I have visible dirt discolored skin, and foul odor.
3. My cell is in the most unsanitary inhumane filthy condition condition with feces, urine, trash, maggots and flies.
4. I stay sick because of the filth, and cannot clean because the inmate has to clean their cell on their own.
5. For 3 years, and 8 months, I have been denied all outdoors and indoors recreational exercise.
I need help to get my story out and told.
Sincerely,
XXX
Denial of Religious Service
Date:
April, 2004
Location of Prisoner:
New York
To whom it may concern,
My name is _____ and I'm currently an inmate in _____, New York. I am a Muslim and it is imperative that I attend Jumah (Friday) services. It is a sin to miss services. The Imam has tried unsuccessfully to get the administrators to allow me to attend Jumah services. In my 18 months of incarceration, I have only been allowed to attend 3 special services.
I am not a sentenced inmate, however I have been awaiting trial for over 18 months. I am in the process of filing a civil suit against ___County for violating my constitutional rights. For the past 18 months the facility has denied my right to worship within a congregational setting. This is in direct violation of New York state's minimum standards for country inmates. They are in violation of parts 7024, policy numbers 7024.1A, 7024.1B, 7024.2, 7024.2B, 7024.5 and 7024.9
It could be argued that because of the severity of my charge, or teh fact that I'm in administrative segregation that I would be, or could be at risk to the facility, however, my co-defendant, who has the exact same charges as I do, has been given and utilizes all of the "freedoms" that the jail has to offer.
A second argument could be one of a discipline issue or reasons of punitive sanctions, however, I have never had one single violation of the jails code if conduct where as my co-defendant has had several incidences of violence including fights and inciting a small riot. He is still given full access to the facility's program including religious services, where as I am not, even though my conduct has posed the security threat that his has. For these reasons I have filed a notice of claim to the county attorney in preparation for a law suit.
Native American spiritual practices violated
Date:
March, 2005
Location of Prisoner:
California
Dear PARC,
I am not a lawyer or a para-legal or even an inmate prison lawyer, but I know when my religious rights are being violated.
Here is a quick summary:
1. I had in May, 04 filed an inmate appeal to receive my Spiritual package from Kinnikinnick, Twist (tobacco products, non-cigarette/pipe) for American Indian religious purposes. Appeal was granted in June 04 and I did receive it.
2. May 11th, five days after the above appeal, CMF officials wrote a Memorandum stipulating one had to be a member of the Native American Spiritual Circle and have an approved card to be able to possess these religious items.
3. July 04, I filed an inmate appeal because CMF officials would not allow me to practice my daily prayers, offerings, and otehr ceremonies on the institutions yard.
4. Aug. 4, I filed an inmate appeal to those stipulations made in that memo. The appeals coordinator has stamped this appeal as a duplicate and has rejected to lgo and process this appeal four times to this current date.
The products in the package are not used exclusively for just Sweat Lodge Ceremony smoking purposes but also in prayers, offerings, and other cerenmonies.
The Americana Indians have not had a Spiritual Leader here in the 8 years that I've been here. All the other Faiths, have either a full time, a part time, or at least a volunteer for their spiritual leaders. I can you any and all the help you can give for me to fight this violation.
Sincerely,
xxxx
GA Prison Abuse & Mail Tampering
Date:
January, 2011
Location of Prisoner:
Georgia
Hello, my name is "". I cannot write to you a letter because the mail policy at this detention center. Some of our mail is being tampered with. I have a legal issue that needs to be addressed. I and other inmates have been victims of racism and abuse by guards, verbal/physical and have had medical neglect issues.
I have a current Civil Action that I have filed in the US District Court in Atlanta, GA. The mail policy issue is addressed in the action. I am not worreid about the staff knowing what I'm sending. I just want it to be sent. Please respond. There is not enough room on this postcard to explain. I have a 21 page report w/ dates/times/names and violations.
Thank You!
Three Poems
Date:
February, 2009
Location of Prisoner:
California
“It wasn't Malcolm”
Who taught me to love Thomas Jefferson, who lived the same life of
abominable luxury and privilege, wrote an essay entitled "The Innate
Inferiority of the Negro", and attributed the pigmentation of black people
to a virulent form of leprosy?
It wasn't Malcolm
Who taught me to ignominously quote Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or
give me death!" while not telling me death is what he gave the black
slave?
It wasn't Malcolm
Who taught me to love Abraham Lincoln as my liberator, when in actuality
the Emancipation Proclamation applied only to the Confederate States, over
which he had no authority, and who also stated in no uncertain terms his
belief in the inferiority of black people, and advocated their exile from
America?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me to mindlessly honor your “Independence Day” and your days
honoring the genocidal enslavers of my progenitors?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me to fear the very sight of a white person with a heart seized
with terror?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me that your pious mouthings of justice meant the nearest tree?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me the shame of emasculation as you vilely used the black woman?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me to make cowards of my children in the hope that such would
ensure their survival as half-women and men?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me to cover the very poison responsible for the pillage of
Afrika and her enslavement?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me to view the blackness of my skin with shame and
self-loathing?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me that the “American Dream” is an alcoholic or drug stupor for
so many?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me to disdain Afrika as a continent of savages worthy only of
ridicule?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me that all beauty was white?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who woke me up with a hail of bullets on February 21, 1965?
It wasn’t Malcolm…
When Malcolm is realized
When Malcolm is realized
No more black children will be shot by the police
With D.A.s saying justifiable homicide
When Malcolm is realized
The Hitlers of America
Thomas Jefferson and George Washington
Who held people in subhuman bondage
Will no longer be recognized as anything
But the criminals they were
When Malcolm is realized
The black minds forever bent
By the oppressive horrors of racism
Shall become a memorial to that
Which shall never again be
When Malcolm is realized
The drug and alcohol-stupefied
Shall disdain everything
But the reality of freedom
When Malcolm is realized
The pain of self-hatred
Shall give way to the
Exaltation of self-respect
When Malcolm is realized
The Black woman shall no longer bear
The divers yokes of white America
When Malcolm is realized
The soul weary with stripes of subjugation
Shall know the healing waters of dignity respected
When Malcolm is realized
Black people shall no longer fear their rage
When Malcolm is realized
The minister shall scorn everything
But the truly liberating message of freedom.
When Malcolm is realized
The affective pain of a loved one
Afflicted by racism shall be no more
When Malcolm is realized
Responsibility and not reliance
Shall be the hope of black people
When Malcolm is realized…
“Soweto 16 June 1976”
It stuns the senses
Like a sudden blow to the head
Over four thousand wounded
And seven hundred dead
School children protesting
Learning the language of their oppressor
Mowed down
Like they were the immoral aggressor
Where was the world’s conscience
Where was its rage?
Did the United Nations say this we cannot countenance
For war let’s set the stage?
Or could it be
The simple truth
Is that for black like me
Sham reproof is the substitute
When the issue is white supremacy?
Malcolm contemplation
Sleep deprivation
Food adulteration
Blood and mucus defecation
Kill orchestration
Mail desecration
J. Edgar Hoover propagation
Subject-a-nigger conversation
Mental assassination
George Rockwell denigration
Surrender to this revelation
My soul is fat on Malcolm contemplation.
“WINNIE”
They say you are corrupt
Morally bankrupt
They say you should bow down
Because you are no longer worthy of the crown
They say you are a disgrace
And should forever hide your face
They say you’ve become weak
And your own agenda seek
They say you are mad
The killer of a fourteen year-old lad
They say you are a liability
And should be cast aside like an enemy
They say we are too blind to see
The tears you cried to set your country free.
Poem Call Celebration
Date:
October, 2009
Yes, It is True
Love, happiness and power
Live inside of you
It is a fact
Nothing in this world can
Hold you Back
It's Celebration Time
Wise, Genuine
You are Divine
You can make it to the top
Just like the wind
you can't be stopped
You have overcame all your past mistakes
that is evident that you are great
Self-celebration
Is a powerful healing medication
BE
Humble and Positive
Family and Friends
Celebrate the way they live
It's all about Celebration
Thanking you in advance
Necropolis
Date:
January, 2011
Location of Prisoner:
Flordia
Greetings,
I am currently imprisoned in a Fla DOC facility. I find myself in an everyday struggle. I send my appreciation to PARC and all my brothers and sisters fighting through this struggle too. Please continue the struggle and support the struggle. All my life has been a struggle and now I'm within necropolis/prison.
I'm alive walking deadman, pay attention to the walking dead. Rose from the graveyard, these dungeons crowded lives walking dead. Non-existing only death, for I'm not the first or last to arise out the grave. Arise walking deads perceive terminology and come ablaze. Out of sight, out of mind, excluded from society and vanished to the pen. Executing classified thugs, outlaws, ex-cons with paid crimes they re-run over again. Career criminals, habitual offenders, habitual violent offenders, 3-strikes, 10-20-life. Denotes these animals aren't tamed lets rid us of this threat and create laws that punish them for life.
Prison, cages, jails, dungeons, lock-ups, pens, confinement, detentions. Exist for the wicked yet I'm relating to the rational that try to co-exist civilization. Cast you to a cell, feed 3-meals per slave, hatred sparks like fire that ignites. I pledge a legion to the walking dead in necropolis throughout America. My brothers keeper's become bone of my flesh within the struggle of this circle. Numbers become identities, calendars mark the years, days pass by multiplying in numbers.
Surrender is a tragedy, remember all your peers under every lies a man that's buried under.
The Realist