Category: Radical Prison Praxis

Addressing Internal Contradictions

I’ve been re-reading the intro from the inaugural issue of Propter Nos, published by True Leap Press (twitter: @true_leap) and it made me think about some things…

I am often frustrated by other prisoners myopic view of just what is happening to us. The PIC is never “wholly grasped in its systemic totality,” as True Leap describes in the issue’s introduction. For many, the solution is only release from prison. There is no fight beyond that. This attitude makes building a movement hard.

The crux of my own project is exactly as the Leap writes: to “problematize the discourse that frames and informs the popular movement’s terms of engagement,” specifically anti-prison activists, beginning with the deconstruction of the definitions of prisoner, solidarity, and safety.

What reformists fail to grasp is exactly as the Leap puts: “so long as the root structures of this system and worldview are left intact, white-supremacist law-and-order will merely be reformed, refashioned, and reproduced.” This is why the PIC must be abolished. It cannot be reformed. All we get is a change in the form of oppression, not genuine safety and freedom. We are invested in a failed system. What will it take to get people to divest?

One thing I like that is highlighted in True Leap’s analysis is how there three different tendencies, or what I’m going to call “mindsets”, that we must be aware of and take precautions against as we continue to build our abolitionist movement. These three often cloak themselves in sheep’s clothing. First, there is the Democratic Party, which works to co-opt movement energy and direct it towards their electoral gains. The Black upper/middle and aspirational class forms the second obstacle, a managerial class that is concerned primarily with the White gaze and exudes respectability politics. Third, there are these progressive criminal-justice reformers who are always there to tell us, “You’re going too far.” “Your goals are too extreme.” “Your pace is too quick.” “Your means too direct.” What can we do to draw more people attention to these people and the obstacles to liberation they create?

Recasting a statement that the Leap makes clear in the intro, I want to ask everybody out there how we, as abolitionists, can better understand, study, and address contradictions internal to our movement? How do we get activists, inside and outside, to concern themselves with the impact of patriarchy, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia and opportunism within our organizations and community spaces?

I also gleaned an inspiring historical lesson from the journal’s resuscitation of the BLA principle of “unity-criticism-unity.” This principle has to be the centerpiece of how we challenge to the movement’s myopic vision of liberation and community. We generally don’t hold onto this principle, so the lives of the most marginalized continue to be erased from the discussion. Moreover, there is a tendency to not criticize inside organizers who espouse homo/transphobia, misogyny, ableism and xenophobia.

Part of what I do is translate PIC abolitionist theory to other prisoners. Much of the written work is inaccessible to prisoners. We aren’t the intended audience, just the subjects. When in the yard, I have discussions about the PIC with others. The other day, I asked some guys what the land we are imprisoned on used to be. Everyone knows it used to be farmland. It was Smith’s field; hence the name of this prison: SCI-Smithfield. Small farms have been put out of business in central PA. So this was surplus land. I explained how surplus land and surplus populations feed the PIC.

We defined surplus and then discussed how this land became surplus, how we became surplus and what role “surplus” plays in maintaining the PIC. This conversation was necessary because many prisoners have faulty understanding of the who’s, the how’s and the why’s of the PIC. If prisoners don’t grasp the systemic totality of the PIC, they cannot effectively fight it. They may even unknowingly support measures that expand it. This is why political education is so important. But it has to be accessible.

 

Always,

Stevie

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To read the entire first issue of Propter Nos, “Reflections on the Movement Moment” check out the following link DOWNLOAD. Anti-copyright, free to print, circulate, and distribute to friends.

Criticism and Self-Criticism in the Struggle Against Jail Expansion: NYC

“We cannot solve our problems using the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Eistein

“We cannot solve our problems using the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Albert Einstein

Everyone needs to understand how we got here. Believing that caging and exiling people would produce safety and solve socio-economic problems got us here. So let us not promote more of the same. Three things I’d like everyone to understand:

1. NNJ and JLUSA did not build the cages, pass the draconian laws, arrest people, sentence people, deny people bail, oppress people inside or eliminate funding that would help our communities. They didn’t create the problems. They are two sides promoting different solutions. While we bicker, the real enemy’s boot remains upon the necks of millions. Our energies should be focused on defeating the PIC, not each other.

2. As long as there are cages, there will be suffering. Any solution that entails expanding or building new cages fails to alleviate suffering. In Pennsylvania, until the early 90’s, we had 9 prisons. Today, we have 29- all shiny new cages. We are suffering more today than in 1990. Anyone who claims they want to alleviate prisoners’ suffering , but isn’t for closing and not relocating prisons, is either totally ignorant of the baseline cause our suffering or is lying. I’m for closing Riker’s. And I’m against building new jails in the boroughs. Eliminating prisons/jails ends suffering.

3. As for the suffering of those currently caged, let us remember that most people held in jail are pretrial detainees. Building new cages won’t alleviate their suffering, but doing the following will:

a. Eliminate money bail. Many are stuck in jail because they are poor and cannot post a money bail. How many people would not be at Riker’s if not for their inability to post a money bail? How many cages would he empty?

b. Prohibit Reincarceration for Technical Violators. They are many people sitting in jail for technically violating probation or parole, not for committing or even being accused or a new crime. How many cages would be empty if technical violators weren’t reincarcerated? How much suffering would be alleviated? Today, my niece’s mother, who gave birth to her on April 19, must report to jail to serve a 90 day sentence for a technical violation of her probation. She must leave her newborn and enter a cage and no crime has occurred- at least not by her. The reincarceration of technical violators wrecks havoc on people. It needs to end.

c. Press for speedy trials. Every state and the US Constitution have speedy trial provisions that are routinely ignored by judges and prosecutors, leaving thousands locked in cages. In Pennsylvania, the law says the state has 6 months to bring a person to trial and if it fails to do so, the person, if detained, is to be released upon nominal bail. If the state fails to bring a person to trial in 12 months, the case is to be dismissed. Theoretically, no one should endure more than 6 months of pretrial detention or 12 months of criminal charges hanging over one’s head. In jurisdiction after jurisdiction, speedy trial rules are ignored, leaving people to languish in cages until they are coerced into plea deals. In my own case, I spent 33 months under pretrial detention. In one case, the defendants were caged under pretrial detention for 9 years before the courts recognized their speedy trial violation claims. Pressing the courts to uphold speedy trial rules would empty cages and alleviate suffering.

d. Build strong connections with those inside. Prison is a site of substraction. Prisoners lose freedom, relationships, opportunities and hope. Connecting with us restores relationships, opportunities and hope. Connecting with us enables us to fight for our freedom and transform ourselves. Your support will alleviate suffering on a level that empowers us to fight the PIC.

We have to remember what the ultimate goals are, who the real enemy is and how we got here in the first place.

In Solidarity,

Stevie

Statement of Solidarity with No New Jails NYC

The truth is that Just Leadership USA is not abolitionist. It is another liberal, nonprofit that has appropriated abolitionist terminology to broaden its appeal. That’s how they fooled us into becoming members. They support the caging and disappearing of poor folk. Their only concern are the “excesses” of the PIC, not its fundamental existence. That being the case, we renounce our memberships in Just Leadership USA. We strongly support the work and efforts of the No New Jails Movement in NYC.

Prisons are violent institutions, not because who’s caged inside, but because they produce and present violence as the only and natural outcome of conflict and harm. As incarcerated abolitionists, we struggle daily to counter this idea and find ways to resolve conflict and remedy harm without resorting to violence. We hold fast to a praxis that grows our capacity to care and resist. As we work to overcome state and interpersonal violence, we continually search for ways to resist that don’t entail harming others, including oppressors. We believe harm will not remedy harm.

As we pursue life-affirming ways to deal with conflict and harm, we subject our thoughts and actions to persistent analysis and critique. There are two general questions that serve as a compass as we travel this path of liberatory work. What is the abolitionist response in this particular situation? In this situation, what is incompatible with abolition? These questions help us stay the course and remain principled. We wish other groups, especially those purporting to represent incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people, would keep these questions in front of them when deciding what actions to take or what causes to support.

One group, Just Leadership USA, a group we were members of, has publicly supported the construction of four new jails in New York City. Moreover, they claim this is an abolitionist stance. We have always known that “abolition is about breaking down things that oppress and building up things that nourish,” so we were taken aback by their claim. A true abolitionist position focuses on dismantling systems and sites of violence, not expanding them. How can supporting the caging and disappearing of people ever be abolitionist? How can strengthening the grip of the police state ever be abolitionist?

It is clear to us that this group has no abolitionist principles guiding its work. Abolitionists believe every measure of carceral confinement is unacceptable. We don’t work to build the arsenal of the criminal punishment system.

What vexes us most is that this group claims to represent those with imprisonment experience. Have they forgotten the daily degradation of detention? Have they forgotten that it’s poor people who are kept in jail for not posting money bails? Do they really believe erecting more sites of violence will produce safety? Do they really believe investing $11 billion in the PIC will help our communities? Their stance betrays their ignorance of a basic abolitionist point: the only way to make prisons and jails safer is to dismantle them.

If this group would have asked itself the two simple questions we keep in front of us, there is no way they would have supported the construction of new cages in NYC. They would have known that efforts to expand or legitimize the underlying ideologies or structures of the PIC are antithetical to penal abolition. How could any abolitionist organization support prison expansion? What is radical about building new cages?

The truth is that Just Leadership USA is not abolitionist. It is another liberal, nonprofit that has appropriated abolitionist terminology to broaden its appeal. That’s how they fooled us into becoming members. They support the caging and disappearing of poor folk. Their only concern are the “excesses” of the PIC, not its fundamental existence. That being the case, we renounce our memberships in Just Leadership USA. We strongly support the work and efforts of the No New Jails Movement in NYC. We stand in solidarity with the Movement. They, like us, know that we must explore new terrains of justice, paths that do not depend upon the carceral logics of surveillance, confinement and punishment.

In Solidarity,

SASS (Smithfield Abolitionist Study Squad)

9971

Circle Up -Smithfield

Addressing Harm and Accountability in Spite of the Carceral State: #2

Questions for Prison Activists

Scenario #2

So, a queer friend here has a bad gambling habit. He gets into debt and into trouble with the people he owes. He moved onto my block, and a guy who is known for targeting white and biracial, smaller prisoners for sex reeled him in. This guy would loan my friend jailhouse currency and offer to cover debts he owed other prisoners. Then, this guy pressures my friend to have sex to resolve the debt. He has done this to him a number of times.

Today, after unsuccessfully searching for over a week for ways to pay off the debt he owes this guy, my friend went inside the guy’s cell and had sex with him. Afterwards, the guy leaves the cell and goes to the yard. My friend was stuck in the cell due to traffic on the block. If he snuck out everyone would see him. Eventually, an officer doing rounds saw him in the cell and confronted him. He was escorted to his cell and locked in. When the other guy returned to the block, he feigned ignorance. Now, guys are talking on the block. They know what happened because the guy has a reputation as a predator.

My friend wants out of the situation. He is still in debt and doesn’t know what to do. He even contemplated physically assaulting the guy. It’s a bad situation. The guy is the type of person who sees nothing wrong with anything he does. We all live on the same block. The officers enable this guy’s behavior. Now, they know what’s up, they are covering their asses. If it is reported, the first question will be how was he able to do this. It falls back on the officers. I don’t know what to do. My first priority is Jerry’s safety. I also want to prevent this from happening again. Reporting it will not really resolve the issue. It would make things worse in some ways.

We definitely need some advice and guidance about this one.

Always,

Stevie

Words of Gratitude

In response to a question posed by Critical Resistance (How can people on the outside support the political work of people on the inside?), I wrote a list of ten ways people outside can help us. The first two points were:

1. Organize and struggle with us, but allow us to be the authorities of own our experiences.

2. Don’t speak for us. We can speak. When we cannot, due to repression or threats from prison officials, use your freedom and privilege to amplify our voices and advance our issues.

Our allies heard us. Not only did they use their platforms to amplify our voices and convey our experiences with policing and imprisonment, but they also created platforms and opportunities just for us so we can post essays, comments and questions. Dan Berger used his online presence to post essays and questions, generating interest and understanding. Sarah-Ji Rhee and Charlotte Pope posted and promoted the work of inside activists, creating support and connections. Casey Goonan has worked tirelessly to create a platform for inside activists’ words to reach the public. His efforts have culminated in a website and Twitter account that enable us to reach out, learn more, connect widely and build deeply. Our debt to our allies is incalculable.

These walls serve a dual purpose: keeping us in and you out. Prison officials don’t want you to know what goes on behind the walls.They would have you consume the mainstream media’s depictions of us -stereotypes and caricatures. The work of our allies enables us to counter the images and narratives promoted by the beneficiaries of the PIC. Now, we are better able to connect with others, learn new ways of being, and struggle to transform ourselves and our world. We are truly grateful and astounded. The support and connections from you are life-enhancing and spirit-emboldening. We look forward to learning with and working alongside you in this struggle to build a world without cages.

In Solidarity,

Stevie

Image by @abolitionmemes

Doing Abolition

“Prison abolition is not simply an end goal but also an everyday practice. Being an abolitionist is about changing the ways we interact with others on an ongoing basis and changing harmful patterns in our daily lives. Abolitionist practice means questioning punitive impulses in our intimate relationships, rethinking the ways we deal with personal conflicts, and reducing harms that occur in our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, and schools. In this way, “living abolition” is part of the daily practice of creating a world without cages.”

This quotation, taken from “Transforming Carceral Logistics,” in CAPTIVE GENDERS inspired members of our study group to ask themselves: “How am I living abolition each day?” It challenged us to think about our daily practice of abolition. Below I share my response to the question “How am I living abolition each day?”:

My daily practice of abolition is grounded in a compassionate attitude towards everyone. I check my impulses to judge and categorized people based upon their present circumstances and recent behaviors. I find that this makes it easier for me to connect with and listen to other people.

It is said: Hurt people hurt people. Behind these walls, there are many hurting people. When someone does something we don’t like, we want to lash out and punish them. Abolition obligates us recognize, check and change this attitude. In a scene from A Raisin in the Sun, Mama Younger tells Beneatha the following:

“There is always something left to love. And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing… Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most; when they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain’t through learning- because that ain’t the time at all. It’s when he’s at his lowest and can’t believe in hisself ’cause the world done whipped him so. When you start measuring somebody, measure him measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is.”

This scene reminds me to not be judgmental, hastily casting people off, rendering them disposable, because they’ve done’ something not to my liking. Abolition reminds me that those are the times when love, understanding and compassion are most necessary.

A scholar in my religious tradition defined blessedness as “teaching goodness wherever one goes and always being sincere to people.” To me, these traits are tied to being compassionate. They call me to see worth in everyone and to honor that worth. This is how I practice abolition daily.

We would love to hear how you are living abolition daily. Pass this on to others in the struggle so we can learn other ways we can practice abolition.

How are you practicing abolition today?

In solidarity,

Stevie and the Smithfield Abolition Study Squad (SASS)