STG, Good Time, and the Malicious Demons of Coercion
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STG, Good Time,and the Malicious Demons of Coercion Jonathan Summers
Introdluction The following zine features analysis submitted to The Opening Statement by comrade Jonathon “Prynce-G” Summers, currently held captive by the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC), or, as he refers to them, the “Malicious Demons of Coercion” In this short essay, Jonathon lays out some analysis of one of the most pervasive instruments of repression in the MDOC (and, indeed, across state and federal prisons in the so-called US): “security threat group,” or STG. We have transcribed his words here, and included some references for additional reading on the tools of repression that prisons deploy against social prisoners, political prisoners, and prisoners of war. We also encourage anyone who reads Jonathon’s words to write to him. With love and rage, MAPS
Jonathan’s words: June 5, 2023 The Opening Statement, Itfeltreally goodto finally receive your newsletter without the ‘Malicious Demons of Coercion’ fucking with it and attempting to silence the voices and shut the ears of the revolutionary minded! Thank you for standing up for the “forgotten’ and continuing to fight these bullies. Ilive in a situation where | get called a ‘nigger’ or monkey every day, at least twice a day! The Michigan Dept. of Corrections is probably the most corrupt, racist, and probably the most backwards state prison system in this country! am here, in the Womb of Willie Lynch and Satan! Being of African and Latin descent, an ex-gang member with tattoos, automatically makes me suspicious or guilty of all sorts of invisible crimes. not yet committed! 1:am on STG 1 (Security Threat Group). Please pay attention as | explain to you how they play us. Because of my former affiliation and this documentation in the ‘Nationwide Police Database, we are labeled as low-level, domestic terrorists by the US. government. The MDOC claims that in order for STG inmates to be removed from this designation, we must comply with the rules of Policy Directive ‘Security Threat Groups’ 04.04113, yet when we do this, they find something totally unrelated in order to keep us ‘trapped inside of a revolving door of redundancy and gross, erroneous bullshit! They say that we must not socialize with known or
‘suspected STGs butthatisimpossible, because with the constant influx of gang recruitment, that literally covers 90% of the population. The MDOC s segregated, but not like other state prisons by race or affiliation. This system is segregated by those who fight the system and those who ‘conform to it!" In Michigan, STG inmates cannot write our families on JPay (but we receive mail on this service), which doesn’t make sense because just like phone calls, all incoming and outgoing e-messages are read and monitored. We can’t order ‘secure paks, which also limits our ability to feed ourselves for those of us who owe restitution. We can’t work to earn stability and we can’t enroll into school S0 we can better ourselves and prepare for a successful return to society! Tell me when you find an incentive in there for me to relinquish ties to a gang/brotherhood who, since an early age, provided some of us with the love, loyalty, honor and respect we were missing in our broken homes. Some of these guys were saved from severely abusive situations... by these gangs thatyou’re telling them toleave, but are providing us with no other alternatives. STG is a set up and this state is the only state who exercises and abuses their authority in such a disgusting manner! The same goes for ‘Truthin Sentencing’ that has never been interpreted according to the bill that was signed and passed. We’re not supposed to see the Parole Board unless we’re creating extreme chaos, yet they have ‘normal civilians’ repeatedly ‘re-sentencing’ us, pushing us closer to a statutory maximum out date, for nothing! If you go your entire bid without one misconduct they’ll flop you for ‘manipulating 4
the system!’ I’ve seen this done, but then let a convicted, serial pedophile out on their first release date. This is another reason why I’m not over enthusiastic about this ‘Good Time’ bill. For one, we’ve been hearing this same song sang for over a decade and nothing came of it. You can tell the ‘Malicious Demons of Coercion’ are nervous this time because they are pushing their staff to set-up and sabotage prisoners who have never been in trouble! They know what this good time means... drastic reduction in filled cages! Let’s pray this is the real thing this time. Stay true and never satisfied with your circumstances, brothers and sisters! In solidarity and honor, Jonathan ‘Prynce-G’ Summers #459083 ‘Free the Voiceless Soldiers in All Cages!" o
Epigraph “The question remains why prison officials would go to such lengths to prevent me from expressing my opinion that educational, vocational, and counseling programs would decrease violence and increase chances for successfully cutting into the nation’s 70 percent recidivism rate? STG designation is being used as a cover to shut down independent voices. When someone is released from prison, officials notify local law enforcement in the community. This can resultin my name being added to some homeland security threat lists, no-fly lists, and other lists | have no business being on for my belief that education can transform lives. I’m not giving up (many have). | still believe that if people were aware of what is being done in the name of justice, in their name, they wouldn’t sit or stand for it. | believe they’d roll out with us. Will you help me share this with others? | really do believe in the power of people and the politics people address.” — Lacino Hamilton, “In Spite of the Consequences: Prison Letters on Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedom,” 2023
Additional Readings: DanBerger (2015),Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era, University of North Carolina Press. Orisanmi Burton (2023) “Targeting Revolutionaries: The Birth of the Carceral Warfare Project, 1970-78", Radical History Review, 146, 11-31, Sohail Daulatzai (2007) “Protect Ya Neck: Muslims and the Carceral Imagination in the Age of Guantdnamo’, Souls, 92, 132-147. The Final Straw Radio, “Interpreting Realities’: A Panel Discussion Supporting _Jailhouse ~ Lawyers ~ Speak’s #ShulEmDown2021" September 5, 2021, httpsy/ thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2021/09/05/ interpreting-realities-a-panel-discussion-with-jailhouse- lawyers-speak/. Lacino Hamilton (2023), In Spite of the Consequences: Prison Letters on Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedor, Broadieaf Books, 135-137. Bonnie Kerness (2008), “Close the Control Units,” Turning the Tide, 216,2. Nancy Kurshan (2013), Out of Control: A 15-Year Battle against Control Unit Prisons. San Francisco, CA: Freedom Archives. wwwfreedomarchives.org/Out_of_Control/. Steve Martinot, “The Black Guerrilla Family and Human Freedom,” San Francisco Bay View, February 1, 2015, https://sfbayview.com/2015/02/the-black-guerrilla- family-and-human-freedom/. “A Month after a Hunger Strike, Some Texas Prisoners Say They Will Do It Again,” Texas Standard, April 4, 2023, https://www.exasstandard org/stories/texas-prison- hunger-strike-extended-solitary-confinement/. Sean Swain, “THE FBI CAN GO F*K ITSELF: A History of the State Terror Organization and An Analysis of Its Political Repression of Me, Based on Its Own Declassified Documents, November 9, 2022, httpsy/seanswain. noblogs.0rg/2022/11/the-fbi-can-go-fcitsell/. Talib Wiliams, “They Came for Us in the Morning: What Prison Officials Don’t Want You to Know about the Raid on 200+ Incarcerated Black People at Soledad. San Francisco Bay View, September 2, 2020, https://sfbayview. ©0m/2020/09/they-came-for-us-in-the-morning-what- prison-officials-dont-want-you-to-know-about-the-raid- on-200-incarcerated-black-people-at-soledad/. ~
To read more prisoner writings and The Opening Statement, visit: michiganabolition.org

STG, Good
Time,and
the Malicious
Demons of
Coercion

Jonathan Summers
Introdluction

The following zine features analysis submitted to
The Opening Statement by comrade Jonathon
“Prynce-G” Summers, currently held captive
by the Michigan Department of Corrections
(MDOC), or, as he refers to them, the “Malicious
Demons of Coercion” In this short essay,
Jonathon lays out some analysis of one of
the most pervasive instruments of repression
in the MDOC (and, indeed, across state and
federal prisons in the so-called US): “security
threat group,” or STG. We have transcribed his
words here, and included some references for
additional reading on the tools of repression
that prisons deploy against social prisoners,
political prisoners, and prisoners of war. We
also encourage anyone who reads Jonathon's
words to write to him.

With love and rage,
MAPS
Jonathan's words:
June 5, 2023

The Opening Statement,

Itfeltreally goodto finally receive your newsletter
without the ‘Malicious Demons of Coercion’
fucking with it and attempting to silence the
voices and shut the ears of the revolutionary
minded! Thank you for standing up for the
“forgotten’ and continuing to fight these bullies.
Ilive in a situation where | get called a ‘nigger’
or monkey every day, at least twice a day! The
Michigan Dept. of Corrections is probably the
most corrupt, racist, and probably the most
backwards state prison system in this country!
am here, in the Womb of Willie Lynch and Satan!
Being of African and Latin descent, an ex-gang
member with tattoos, automatically makes me
suspicious or guilty of all sorts of invisible crimes.
not yet committed!

1:am on STG 1 (Security Threat Group). Please
pay attention as | explain to you how they
play us. Because of my former affiliation and
this documentation in the ‘Nationwide Police
Database, we are labeled as low-level, domestic
terrorists by the US. government. The MDOC
claims that in order for STG inmates to be
removed from this designation, we must comply
with the rules of Policy Directive ‘Security
Threat Groups' 04.04113, yet when we do this,
they find something totally unrelated in order to
keep us ‘trapped inside of a revolving door of
redundancy and gross, erroneous bullshit! They
say that we must not socialize with known or
‘suspected STGs butthatisimpossible, because
with the constant influx of gang recruitment,
that literally covers 90% of the population.

The MDOC s segregated, but not like other
state prisons by race or affiliation. This system
is segregated by those who fight the system
and those who ‘conform to it!" In Michigan, STG
inmates cannot write our families on JPay (but
we receive mail on this service), which doesn't
make sense because just like phone calls, all
incoming and outgoing e-messages are read
and monitored. We can't order ‘secure paks,
which also limits our ability to feed ourselves for
those of us who owe restitution. We can't work
to earn stability and we can't enroll into school
S0 we can better ourselves and prepare for a
successful return to society! Tell me when you
find an incentive in there for me to relinquish ties
to a gang/brotherhood who, since an early age,
provided some of us with the love, loyalty, honor
and respect we were missing in our broken
homes. Some of these guys were saved from
severely abusive situations... by these gangs
thatyou're telling them toleave, but are providing
us with no other alternatives. STG is a set up
and this state is the only state who exercises
and abuses their authority in such a disgusting
manner! The same goes for ‘Truthin Sentencing’
that has never been interpreted according to
the bill that was signed and passed. We're not
supposed to see the Parole Board unless we're
creating extreme chaos, yet they have ‘normal
civilians' repeatedly ‘re-sentencing’ us, pushing
us closer to a statutory maximum out date, for
nothing! If you go your entire bid without one
misconduct they'll flop you for ‘manipulating

4
the system!’ I've seen this done, but then let
a convicted, serial pedophile out on their first
release date. This is another reason why I'm not
over enthusiastic about this ‘Good Time' bill. For
one, we've been hearing this same song sang
for over a decade and nothing came of it. You
can tell the ‘Malicious Demons of Coercion' are
nervous this time because they are pushing
their staff to set-up and sabotage prisoners
who have never been in trouble! They know
what this good time means... drastic reduction
in filled cages! Let's pray this is the real thing
this time. Stay true and never satisfied with your
circumstances, brothers and sisters!

In solidarity and honor,

Jonathan ‘Prynce-G’ Summers #459083
‘Free the Voiceless Soldiers in All Cages!"

o
Epigraph

“The question remains why prison officials
would go to such lengths to prevent me from
expressing my opinion that educational,
vocational, and counseling programs would
decrease violence and increase chances for
successfully cutting into the nation's 70 percent
recidivism rate? STG designation is being used
as a cover to shut down independent voices.

When someone is released from prison, officials
notify local law enforcement in the community.
This can resultin my name being added to some
homeland security threat lists, no-fly lists, and
other lists | have no business being on for my
belief that education can transform lives.

I'm not giving up (many have). | still believe that
if people were aware of what is being done in
the name of justice, in their name, they wouldn't
sit or stand for it. | believe they'd roll out with
us. Will you help me share this with others? |
really do believe in the power of people and the
politics people address.” — Lacino Hamilton, “In
Spite of the Consequences: Prison Letters on
Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedom,” 2023
Additional Readings:

DanBerger (2015),Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing
in the Civil Rights Era, University of North Carolina Press.
Orisanmi Burton (2023) “Targeting Revolutionaries: The
Birth of the Carceral Warfare Project, 1970-78", Radical
History Review, 146, 11-31,

Sohail Daulatzai (2007) “Protect Ya Neck: Muslims and
the Carceral Imagination in the Age of Guantdnamo’,
Souls, 92, 132-147.

The Final Straw Radio, “Interpreting Realities’: A Panel
Discussion Supporting _Jailhouse ~ Lawyers ~ Speak's
#ShulEmDown2021" September 5, 2021, httpsy/
thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2021/09/05/
interpreting-realities-a-panel-discussion-with-jailhouse-
lawyers-speak/.

Lacino Hamilton (2023), In Spite of the Consequences:
Prison Letters on Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedor,
Broadieaf Books, 135-137.

Bonnie Kerness (2008), “Close the Control Units,” Turning
the Tide, 216,2.

Nancy Kurshan (2013), Out of Control: A 15-Year Battle
against Control Unit Prisons. San Francisco, CA: Freedom
Archives. wwwfreedomarchives.org/Out_of_Control/.
Steve Martinot, “The Black Guerrilla Family and Human
Freedom,” San Francisco Bay View, February 1, 2015,
https://sfbayview.com/2015/02/the-black-guerrilla-
family-and-human-freedom/.

“A Month after a Hunger Strike, Some Texas Prisoners
Say They Will Do It Again,” Texas Standard, April 4, 2023,
https://www.exasstandard org/stories/texas-prison-
hunger-strike-extended-solitary-confinement/.

Sean Swain, “THE FBI CAN GO F*K ITSELF: A History
of the State Terror Organization and An Analysis of Its
Political Repression of Me, Based on Its Own Declassified
Documents, November 9, 2022, httpsy/seanswain.
noblogs.0rg/2022/11/the-fbi-can-go-fcitsell/.

Talib Wiliams, “They Came for Us in the Morning: What
Prison Officials Don't Want You to Know about the Raid
on 200+ Incarcerated Black People at Soledad. San
Francisco Bay View, September 2, 2020, https://sfbayview.
©0m/2020/09/they-came-for-us-in-the-morning-what-
prison-officials-dont-want-you-to-know-about-the-raid-
on-200-incarcerated-black-people-at-soledad/.

~
To read more prisoner writings
and The Opening Statement, visit:
michiganabolition.org