Prisoner Writes on Prison Under Lockdown:
“We’re sick, baking in these ovens, and starving”
| revcom.us
Editors’ note: We at revcom.us periodically publish letters from prisoners on revolutionary theory and struggle, as well as other aspects of human experience and thought, including conditions and struggle within the prisons themselves. We appreciate and learn from all correspondence from the prisons. The opinions in the letters we publish are those of the writers and not necessarily those of Revcom.us.
We want to thank the prisoner for the following letter giving us and our readers a revealing—and outrageous—glimpse into what he and other prisoners are facing now with the COVID crisis, on top of the ongoing horrors. This letter is a significant contribution in its own right, bringing alive for our readers some of the horrors of this society, this system, and this regime. The voices of this and other prisoners have real meaning—they are playing a valuable role with their correspondences to revcom.us.
The situation faced by this prisoner and others is completely unnecessary, a product and manifestation of the workings of this system of capitalism-imperialism, which needs to be overthrown at the soonest possible time through an ACTUAL revolution.
From a prisoner in Texas:
To: PRLF (Prisoner Revolutionary Literature Fund)
An update to our current condition here at the XXXXXXX unit. They currently have us on a quarantine lock-down. Some people tested positive for COVID-19, including some officers. But the way things have been getting handled here is all fucked up. I don’t even know where to start.
To begin with, I don’t know if y’all know, but there’s no A/C at these Texas State Prisons. So being stuck in these cells is already a torture, in these record breaking Texas heat. These cells literally turn into ovens. Cold water and respite showers are not provided to us as one would think it should. I guess it’s part of the punishment, aside the long term sentences.
I mentioned the heat to say this. The virus is here, a lot of people have been getting sick. Yet, knowing the severity of this virus, those people get ignored by the officers and nurses. We can’t even be provided with something as simple as a non-Aspirin let alone medical attention. What’s the point of quarantine against the COVID virus if when people report to be sick, they get ignored.
So just imagine, we’re sick, in these extremely hot cells, oh yeah and they’re starving us too, don’t let me forget to mention that. So we’re sick, baking in these ovens, and starving. All this is happening, not in a foreign country, but in a concentration camp here in the United States. It’s genocide right in your backyard. But what can one expect in a country run by fascists and a country whose very foundation rely on the oppression of others.
Things are going from bad to worse, I can only hope to stay alive at this point, and under these tortures conditions, one questions if he even wants that.
XXXXXXXXXXX
THE PRISONERS REVOLUTIONARY LITERATURE FUND
PRLF is an educational literature fund that sends Revolution newspaper (www.revcom.us), works from Bob Avakian, and other revolutionary and scientific literature to hundreds of prisoners across the U.S.
To donate to the work of the PRLF, go HERE.
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