"When will this end? We need a dramatic change now!"

From a prisoner in Louisiana, September 2020

November 23, 2020 | 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.

Dear Brothas and Sistas

I just read ya’ll newsletters and the “BAsics” By BA. Thanks for the book. Right now everything is going crazy dealing with the Covid-19. This deadly virus is spreading fast like wildfire in these “Max Housing Units” (MHUs). People is being moved to other units for “Quarantine” and many more is getting sick! Me and other Brothas before this outbreak have been agg’in about the safety of the prisoners that is housed here in these caves (cells) as well as the officers well being because we cannot contract the virus unless it’s coming from the officers that work here. Everything me and a comrade have been saying now has come to pass.

They say “xxx policy” is: “if you don’t have a temp you won’t be tested”! They are “deliberately indifferent” towards our (Medical Needs, Health, Safety) and as a result of such they fail to protect us from contracting this deadly virus which the majority of prisoners who tested positive was symptomatic/asymptomatic!!... So that temp policy according to the head epidemiologist is bullshit!! And a direct disregard for what health scientists from the Louisiana health department has observed from the facilities and all the prisoners who’ve been confirmed positive.

The Pro State Paper, the BR Advocate, which is a Baton Rouge newspaper, in an article misinforming the public as if mass testing is being conducted. When in truth, we can barely be screened for routine sick call. They even mentioned Governor John Bel Edwards, saying he “Recommended” the mass testing of all LouiKKKana Prisons… (La Cer. P Art. 5) deals with permissive and mandatory language. Guess where the good ole Trump consultee Bel Edwards “Recommend” falls under? Permission! Something which cannot be enforced through the courts as having to be done -vs- him saying all Prisons in Louisiana must or shall be tested for “Covid-19.” That’s considered mandatory language that have to be done.

*To The Youth – In the Name of Humanity, I Stand by you brothas and sistas. We are fighting together for change in a world that is suffering in conditions that should be eliminated. BA has open my eyes even more to the harms that people here in the USA is going through and around the world. Tears have run down my face because I felt the pain of the world going through me. I became one with Humanity. The work of B.A. touch my heart and gave me a deeper understanding of what we are fighting for. “Change will come”!! You, Students is the future, this is your fight for world to be free from oppression, exploitation, the plunder of the earth resources, from police brutality, the murder of Black, Brown and other people of Color and poor whites. We are one together and we shall stand by one another and we shall love one another and bring forth this dramatic change for the world and show the world that this can happen. Never give up on what’s is right. Let your heart guide you!...

*Right now it’s very Hot down here in Louisiana. We are ducking and dodging these “heat waves” on these Tiers in XXX which have Max Housing Units. I’ve been on lockdown in these caves (cells) for about 9 months. Before this I did 4 years captive in these cells. I’ve seen prisoners break and cry out for help even go to the extreme of trying to commit suicide.  Some prisoners even feel suffocated in these caves (cells). These type of conditions damage a person mentally as well physically. It strip these prisoner of their sanity. It produce insanity type of behavior which will only get reactionary behavior from the overseers. You have a lot of these prisoners with mental illness condition. We don’t have “access to tablets”, “Educational programs”, and “Mental Health Evaluation” due to these long extended [periods] of Time that a person spend in these caves (cells). LouiKKKana is the Solitary Confinement Capital of the world. We are confine to these caves (cells) 23 and 1, and right now due to this spread of this deadly virus we are doing 23 and 45 only getting (15 minutes outside of the cells.) Only to hear the voices of others cry out for Help and the voices in our own heads. A lot of prisoners that is housed in these caves have gone mad ramming their heads into walls. Throwing urine or feces on each other or on the overseers, and playing in their own defecation. This is not a form of rehabilitation at all. It a crime against human beings who is looked at as cast-off in the darkest corner of the criminal justice system. Being in these jails and prisons we have already lost our Freedom. Subjecting us to solitary confinement adds unconscionable cruelty to our punishment behind these prisons walls, with a terrible consequence for our lives, families, and communities.

Been lock in these cells like this, it hard not to lose hope in these degrading conditions. The same exact thing that is going on out there in society is going on behind these prisons walls. That is isolation from society.

When will this end? We need a dramatic change now!

DARE 2 STRUGGLE, DARE 2 WIN

“IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY I STAND BY THE PEOPLE”

“The power is with the Workers of this country and the World”

“Your Labor is your means of Wealth”!

P.S. If you can I will like to Request for some Books

• “Observations on Art and Culture, Science and Philosophy”…
• The Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism – Knowing What’s Real and Why It Matters.
• Away with all Gods! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World.
  *We can only have (3-books) at a time. Thanks very much! 😊
  *Also, can you let me know how I can get the Revolution Newspaper.

“Till Every Cage Is Empty”