F www stopmax.org et by Todd Tawrelll Bonnie Kerneyss AFSC Prison Watch Project Speech at AFSC Stopmax Conference Plenary Session Temple University May 31-June 1 2008 About the Artit Todd (Hyung-Rae) Tarsell's nk drawings ilustrate the exploitation of prisoners by the prison industrial com- plex. He Is incarcerated at SCI Greene, a Pennsylvania ‘supermax prison. To contact Todd, or make a make a donation toward art supplies write to: ‘Todd (Hyung-Rae) Tarselll BY8025 175 Progress Drive Waynesburg, PA 15370-8090 Boanie Kerness, AFSC Prison Wateh Project AFSC Stopmax Conference Plenary Session Temple University May 31-June 12008 | want to thank the AFSC for renewing its commitment to issues of isolation and torture In US prisons; the. AFSC Healing Justice staff for their collective briliance and spiit and Naima Black and the Stopmax Team for ‘organizing this extraordinary community. In the mid 80's | received a letter from Ojore Lutalo who had just been placed in the Management Control Unit at Trenton State Prison. He asked what a control it was, why he was in there and how long he would have 1o stay. At that point, we knew lte of control units, ex- ‘cept for the ground breaking work of Nancy Kurshan ‘and Steve Whitman of the Committee to End the Marion Lockdown (CEML) and the many prisoners who reached out to the AFSC, which, In 1885 produced a ‘pamphlet called “The Lessons of Marion". We began hearing from peaple throughout the country saying that they were prisoners being held In extended isolation for politcal reasons. We also heard from jailhouse lawyers, slamic militants and prisoner activists - many of whom found themsalves locked down in 24/7 solitary confine- ment. The AFSC began contacting people Inside and outside the prisons o see who was interested in work- ing specifically on control unitisolation Issues, and in 1994 (atter eight years of organizing) we hosted the formation of the National Gampaign to Stop Control Unit Prisons. This was done with the help of GEML, ‘Komboa Ervin, who was one of the Marion Brothers, ‘Corey Weinstein of Califoria Prison Focus, Alejandro Molina from the Puerlo Rican Cultural Center, students from Oberiin College, young peaple across the country who belonged 1o the Anarchist Black Cross, the United ‘Church of Christ, Yaki Owusu of Spear and Shield, the input of the women held in small group isolation at Lex- ington, Ky. and many others who gave strength and purpose to the work. Some of these people were ac- tively involved in the different poliical movements of the 60's and 70's and understood how control units were being used against us al. Getting issues of isola- tion and torture into the light has been a long road and | bow in gratitude 1o those inside who so gracefull and patiently mentored those of us on the outside. In 1996, the National Campaign held four Regional Hearings across the country, giving voice 1o people in prison, ex-prisoners, family members, advocales, law- yers and others whom were impacted by the use of solation. In 1997 we came out with the Interim Report ‘which held data on the emergence of over 45 control units or supermax prisons in almost every state. We matched inside and outside monitors in each state and formed the testimonies we received into a Listening Project called “Testimonles of Torture" and the “Survivor's Manuar”. In 1998, the National AFSC folded the work of the Campaign into Newark, NJ's Prison Watch Project of the New York Metropolitan Regional Office. During the four years of it existence, NCSCUP trained dozens of students in organizing principles, in- cluding helping to develop about half a dozen campus Prisoner Awareness groups. Many of those former stu- dents are stil working for social change today. ‘The history of the Nafional Campaign to Stop Control Unit Prisons really began with the movements of the 60's and 70's. My generation belonged to a society ‘where we genuinely belleved that each of us was free to dissent polically. In those years, people acted out this belef in a number of ways. Native peoples contrib- uted to the formation of the American Indian Movement dedicated to self determination; Puerto Ricans joined the movement to free the istand from US colonialism; white students formed the Students for a Democratic Soclety and other groups, while others worked in the southern Civil Rights movements. This was also a time that the New Afrkan Independerice Movement reas- serted itsel,the Black Panther Party for Self Defense was formed, as well s a time where there was a dis- tinct rise n the prisoner's rights movement. It was time when television news had graphic pictures of State Troopers, Police, the FBI, and the National Guard kil- ing our peers. Itwas a time when | saw on the evening news the bullet holes fired by police Into Panther Fred Hampton's sleeping body, a time when young people. protesting the Viet Nam War died on the Jackson and Kent State campuses kiled by the National Guard, a time when civil ights workers were killed with impunity, ‘and a time when we felt as If there was no opportunity 0 stop mouming because each day another activist was dead. These killngs and other acts of oppression led to underground formations such as the Black Lib- eration Army and the Weathermen Underground. ‘The government, in response to this massive outory against social Inequies and for national iberation, utl- zed an FBI Counter Intelligence Program called GOIN- ‘TELPRO, which had as its objsctive the crippling of the Black Panther Party and other radical forces. Over the years that this directive was carried out, many of those Young peaple who weren't murdered were put in pris- ons across the country. Some, now in their 60's and 70's are still there. Those directives are sl being car- ied out, only now we have an eniir office of Home- land Securty monitoring what it calls radical prison- s’ While the US denied that there were peaple being held for poltical reasons, there was o way al the time, 1o work with prisoners without hearing repeatediy of the existence of such people, including individuals who clearly it the United Nations defintion of political pris- oners and prisoners of war - and the particular real- ment they endured oncs in prison. As early as 1978, Andrew Young , who was US Ambassado 1o the United Nations, was quoted in newspaper interviews as saying thal “there were hundreds, perhaps thousands of people | would describe as political prisoners” in US. prisons. Across the nation, we saw an enhanced use of sensory deprivation/isolation units for such people, and it was this growing “special treatment” which we began moni- toring. At the time, Ralph Arons, a former warden at Marion, was quoled at a congressional hearing as say- ing, “The purpose of the Marion Control Unit s 10 con- trol revolutionary atitudes i the prison system and in sociely at large’ For those of us who have been in the struggle for dec- ades, the deliberate use of long ferm sensory depriva- tion is haunting. People that we've known, worked with ‘and loved have been, and some stil are, being heid in this manner. Some of those are peaple in the audience today. The names - Ojore Lutalo; Sundiata Acol, who the Management Control Unit in NJ was buil for in 1975; Assata Shakur, who was held for over five years in isolation. Marshall Eddie Gonway, Albert Nuh Wash- ington, who died in prison; Geronimo Pratt; Dhoruba Bin Wahad, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, Mumia Abu Jamal; Leo- nard Peltier, David Gilbert, Marllyn Buck, Sekou Od- inga, Ray Luc Levasseur, Kazi Toure, Masai Ehehosi; Leonard Peller, Oscar Lopez Rivera, Alejandrina Tor- res, Dylcia Pagan, Bashir Hameed, Standing Doer and Sekou Odinga, Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin; Richard Wil iams, Tom Manning, Merle and the rest of the Afrcas, Africa, Susan Rosenberg, Laura Whilehom, Linda Ev- ‘ans, Marllyn Buck, Sylvia Baraldini, Mutuiu Shakur, Imarm Jamil A-Amin - these names and dozens of oth- ers - haunt the spaces of every control unit, SHU, DDU, ‘ad seg unit and special housing unit in the country. No ‘matter what name they are given, their purpose is the same as itis in Abu Ghralb or Guantanamo - the break- ing of minds. For every name I've read, there are a thousand more. For people of my generation, this work is done with a compeling and lfetime passion and an understanding that the work is not risk free. We've made promise to those dead and alive to abolish these torture cham- bers. People throughout the world are beginning to un- derstand what the prisoners have been saying to us for decades about the oppressive tactics of the US govern- ment. The department of corrections is more than a set of Institutions, it i a state of mind. It i that stale of mind which has expanded the use of isolation, the use of devices of torture and the Counter Inteligence Pro- gram, as part of Homeland Security, against activists, both inside and outside the walls. Ojore Lutalo, the ‘man who first contacted us in 1986, was released from the control unit via liigation in 2002 after 16 years in isolation. In 2004, he let us know that he had been ‘placed back into the Management Control unit with no charges pending or any explanation. When | called the Department of Corrections, it took many conversations before | was biuntly told that this was upon the order of Homeland Securty, that he Is one of a number of pris- oners across the country who they have targeted in this way. ‘The latest progression of control units are cafled “security threat group management units". This is par- ticularly egreglous because itis the government which gets to define what a “securlty threat group® is. Accord- ing to a national survey done by the Department of Jus- tice in 1997, the Departments of Corrections of Minne- ‘sota and Oregon named all Asians as gangs, which Minnesota further compounds by adding all Native Americans. The State of NJ DOG lists the Black Cat Collective as a gang. The Black Cat Collective is my free fostor son along with two friends who put on Afro- ‘Centric cultural programs in libraries. Because my own background stems from the Givil Rights Era, | am very mindful of who Is considered a “securlty threat" to this country and how they are treated. Prison gang policles occur within the context oflarger soclety and the wider criminal justce system, and the 9rowth of securlty threat group management units are partof the larger pollcy agenda regarding S prisons. One of the standards that the federal government sets in order for states to receive prison construction subsi- dies is to mandate the bulling of supermax prisons or ‘security threat group management units. One of the things that makes this such an exciling time 1o re-new our efforts through Stopmax,is that we now have the growing understanding of the validity United Nations International law. The Convention Against Tor- ture, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, The UN Convention on Poliical ‘and Civi Rights and other international and regional realies help give us a new set of legal, educational and organizing tools for social change. Our work this weekend is very rooted in struggle ‘against the system and political oppression. It is deeply touching to me to have representatives of so many long time poliical formations present. Those of us In AFSC rooted in these issues, continue to hear from prisoner activists, the mentally il, people charged with being ‘gang members and thousands of others - all being ‘housed in extended isolation where devices of torture are used with impunity. After each Homeland Security Code change, Prison Watch is flooded with calls from Ppeople reporting loved ones with Islamic names being placed in solary without charges. Our work this weekend is a time when the building of new relationships and the broadening of our base can truly create social change. | think we all need to be ‘mindful of the deep sense of grief that many of us feel s L impacts on our work and interactions. There may be groups here who need to work through differences. with one another. There may be groups here who can form working alliances no matter what those iffer- ‘ences are. Our priority has 1o be to work cooperalively 10 shut down these torture chambers. | want to honor our foremothers and forefathers in this ‘movement for abolition of prisons, isolation and torture. With a poem of Assata Shakur's called "No One Can Stop the Rain", which reminds us that no one can stop arighteous movement. We, allof us, are a powerful ‘community of resistance, and this s a dream come true for me. flo One Oan flop the Raln Rsrate Shakur Wach, the grass s growing. Wt kot hoovess. Let your eyes roam casually, but watch! ) n any prison yad, you can seo i, growing. In the cracks, in the crevices, between the steel and the con- crete, Outaltho seigmy e e indn o g s kst ot ek b oo gomes It growing through the cracks. o s g s st Lo (rrsimrbde i e g oy et e € et Itis uppity grass, radical grass, militant grass, terrorist grass, They call it weeds. Nasty woeds, nigga weeds, iy, spic, savage indian, wet- back, pinko, s S verine g dyrfoy ; ki R ot L2000 4L Lo Theyiakent. locn e i o s g ot coran with. Bruises, *Apparent suicides”. T s oy e S STHOR D" DN LB e GoASS OO You can spy on the grass. You can lock up the grass. You can mow it down, temporarily. Watch, the grass is beautiful. o s 0 mom o o oups ot roWEG The grass grows into a poem. T pess e g The grass paints itself across the canvas of life. And the picture Is clear and the lyrics are true, And the haunting voioes sing so sweet and strong. That the peaple hear the grass from far away. ‘And the peaple start to dance, and the people start o sing, i o oo Walch the grass is growing. Thank you. South Chicago ABC P.O. Box 721 Homewood, IL 60430 For More Info Contact: Prison Watch c/o AFSC 89 Market St 6th Floor Newark, NJ 07102 973-643-3192 wwww,afsc.org/PrisonWatch Dhemess@afsc.oq