“In this episode, we speak with the Spouses of incarcerated organizers who exposed SCI Rockview’s attempts to cover up anti-Black racism in their prison. In November 2023, guards hung two nooses in the bubble in view of incarcerated people. Listen to how incarcerated people and their accomplices have been demanding accountability from the prison.”
Update 4/7:
Another new podcast episode up, which gives a shout out to us, In the Belly, and In The Mix, DC-IWOC, and local abolitionists in the State College and broader Pennsylvania area. This is audio testimony from an outside supporter and participant in the struggle against SCI-Rockview:
Bulldoze SCI Rockview: Abolition, Prisoner Support, and Genocide in PA-DOC
Trigger warning: Mentions racist violence by guards at SCI Rockview
About
This is the second week of a phone zap that has not yet resulted in any further action taken by PA-DOC to reprimand three guards who hung nooses in the office (bubble) at SCI Rockview. We believe the facility’s inaction is symptomatic of the deeper condition of normalized antiBlack genocide and white supremacist class warfare in this facility (and across PA-DOC facilities). At SCI Rockview alone there was eleven preventable deaths in 2023, as well as several instances of beatings of prisoners by guards.
Following a letter campaign from the inside and a multi-day phone zap by outside supporters last week, our imprisoned comrade who filed the initial grievance about this issue was thrown in the hole (solitary) and may potentially be transferred as retaliation for speaking out. Since then we have also learned that there were other grievances submitted since the noose incident first happened, to no filing by SCI Rockview staff.
Update: as of 3/26 we have learned that a second prisoner was placed in the hole.
So, now the goals of our ongoing phone zap this week will be to demand the release of comrades from the hole, as well as continuing to pressure the DOC and other officials to take action against the guards. As of now: the officers have faced no consequences; the grievances were denied by the superintendent’s assistant (who doubles as the grievance coordinator); and the internal investigation into the “noose incident” has been closed. This is unacceptable, and prisoners in the facility have not relented in their work to expose this situation for the world to see. We owe it to the comrades in the belly of SCI Rockview, and especially to our comrade who was put in the hole for speaking up and letting the world know about this situation. This is the second time prisoners at SCI Rockview have faced severe consequences for speaking out, all the while the guards have enjoyed incredible degrees of insulation and impunity. The first phone zap we conducted resulted in an imprisoned comrade being thrown in the hole and eventually transferred to an entirely different state.
Some further Background:
In November 2023, a group of guards hung two nooses at SCI Rockview – in a location visible to roughly a hundred prisoners. Prisoners who witnessed the nooses have been outraged by this disturbing racist act, and have since demanded that these guards face consequences. In January we launched a two week phone zap campaign that forced PA-DOC main offices to contact the warden. While many Black prisoners remain tormented by this racist act, the guards responsible have enjoyed impunity, with officials in the facility even making attempts to silence anyone on the inside who speaks out. Last week we launched a second phone zap campaign, because there has been absolutely no initiative on the part of PA-DOC to reprimand the guards or acknowledge the legitimacy of prisoner concerns.
We have little reason to believe an internal investigation will achieve what the prisoners have been demanding, which includes the following:
Release Charles Gilyard (# AY3679) and Charles Carrington (#HS1233) from the hole and do not transfer them to a different facility.
Investigate superintendent’ secretary Nicki Paul – who is also the grievance coordinator enabling much of this nonsense.
Investigate the hanging of nooses as a “hate crime” and take their impact seriously
Terminate Sgt. Mosser and c/o Richards
Mandatory therapy for c/o Kirchner
We need an external investigation of SCI Rockview & its staff. This facility has seen 11 deaths (that we know of) in 2023 and a severe pattern of racist discriminatory practices. Please join us in calling PA-DOC offices and officials, to further expose this incident and amplify the demands of our captive comrades.
Further updates on the situation (as of 2/27):
Further updates as of 3/28:
We have an update on Charles Gilyard (AY3679), who was targeted and put in the hole at SCI Rockview for filing grievances and for continuing to *speak* up after the grievances were denied and internal investigation dropped. Charles (AY3679) was moved today to SCI Houtzdale, located an hour west of SCI Rockview. He has been there since approx. 3:30pm.
We received word that Rockview did not ship any of Charles’ belongings and he is to start from scratch with no property. Charles is in his 60s. His experience in the hole (isolation) without any calls permitted and hyper-immobilized for over a week has taken a toll.
3/29 we will be calling SCI Houtzdale and PA-DOC Central Office to demand that his property be salvaged and shipped. We are also asking any letter writing collectives and books thru bars groups to send Charles (AY3679) some love and light.
The administration at SCI Rockview is deeply paranoid, fearful, and engaged in explicit damage control right now. SCI Rockview was a site of double digit fatalities and constant gratuitous violence in 2023. The noose situation is tip of the iceburg shit. We are curious to know the extent to which the Correctional Officers union is having a play in this cover up. We are starting to connect the dots a bit more. The reasons for the unprecedented quickness of these transfers is because this cover up is at a high level. Like we been saying but many keep ignoring, the “noose incident” is just the tip of the ice-burg in SCI Rockview – a site of ritualized gratuitous violence that is symptomatic of a more general condition of genocide that constitutes PA-DOC. PA-DOC knows this. This is why they have been so opaque and deflective with the public questioning and independent external investigators. And this is why they have came down so hard on prisoners who will not let this incident go without consequences. If guards face consequences for something as allegedly “minor” as hanging nooses in the facility, what will PA-DOC be forced to do when the stories of beatings and premature death are dug into further?
If we don’t hear from Charles Carrington (#HS1233) by tomorrow morning we need to call and do a wellness check. After filing his grievances about the noose incident, he expressed concern for his life and was communicating that he felt SCI Rockview staff were trying to kill him. He was allegedly transferred today. Charles G. was transferred today also. But his wife had heard from him. Charles C. has not been heard from yet.
Script for Calling(info is outdated but will be changed 3/29 in the morning)
I am calling on behalf of a community of people who are distressed by a recent incident of antiBlack harassment by a group of CO’s at SCI Rockview, who have faced no consequences for their racist actions. On 11/24/23, prisoners at SCI Rockview found two nooses made from extension cords hung by guards in the office (bubble). Two internal grievances have been submitted by prisoners who witnessed the incident, and prison officials have rejected both. The internal investigation on the matter has also been closed, leading us to resort to contacting anyone external that we can. We would like to make you aware that the facility admin has rejected both internal grievances, submitted by prisoners through the proper channels. And while the guards have faced no consequences for their hateful act, prisoners who have spoken out and lodged legitimate grievances have faced severe consequences that have placed them in the hole, led to transfers, and can compromise their records. We have little reason to believe any further internal investigation will achieve what the prisoners have been demanding, which includes the following:
Investigate the hanging of nooses as a “hate crime” and take its impact seriously
Terminate Sgt. Mosser and c/o Richards
Mandatory therapy for c/o Kirchner
We on the outside would also like to add the following demands:
Release Charles Gilyard (# AY3679) and Charles Carrington (#HS1233) from the hole and do not transfer them to a different facilities. Both Charles G. and Charles C. have been thrown in the hole as retaliation after an article was published in the Centre Daily Times detailing the “noose incident” and for demanding this group of guards who hung nooses be made to face consequences for their actions. They are being retaliated against for filing grievances, which is in fact against PA-DOC handbook policy.
Investigate superintendent’ secretary Nicki Paul – who is also the grievance coordinator, and has been flippant and dismissive to everyone’s concerns about the nooses.
The hanging of two nooses is understood by many people imprisoned at SCI Rockview to be a hostile act and deeply offensive. Some are disclosing how these acts are part of a larger pattern of discriminatory practices used by correctional officers at this specific facility. If this was any other workplace, the act of hanging nooses would lead to severe consequences. The admin at SCI Rockview have not only displayed indifference to the racist act, but some even have made efforts to silence prisoners in distress by the incident. We urge PA-DOC officials to recognize the significance of the prisoner demands, which are derived from the exhausted grievances.
Phone Contacts
[use a *67 pre-fix to block your caller ID]
Chief Council (to demand the grievances be taken seriously)
Timothy Holmes, Chief Counsel | 717.728.7763 | tholmes@pa.gov *also ask for Darina Varner (we are unsure how to contact her, but she oversees the grievance coordinators)
Office of Chief Counsel Pennsylvania Department of Corrections 1920 Technology Parkway Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Office of Population Management (to demand Charles’ not be transferred)
Michael Wenerowicz, Executive Deputy Secretary for Institutional Operations 717.728.4122 | 4123 Heather Fotiou, Assistant 717.728.4025
SCI Rockview
Main Phone Line | 814.355.4874
When calling the SCI Rockview facility itself, you can request to speak with the admin or security. If you choose to speak with admin, here are their specs: Superintendent is Bobbi Jo Salamon; Deputy Superintendent of Central Services is Mike Rowe; Deputy Superintendent of Facilities is Scott Woodring; Business Manager is Adam Beck; Superintendent’s Assistant is Nicki Paul (Nicki is also the grievance coordinator – and a big liar!). When you call the prison directly, ask to speak with any of these admin.
When calling the staff at Rockview, they will likely lie to you and say Charles is not in the hole, and they will deny the threat of transfer. Please ask what his official 802 grievance write up was… and report back to us if you find this information out. When calling other PADOC offices tell them that Rockview staff have been lying to us on a number of accounts.
PA-DOC Central:
Laurel Harry, Secretary of Corrections 717.728.4109 Randee Brant, Chief of Staff 717.728.4107 David Radziewicz, Special Assistant 717.728.4117 Deanna Washington, Executive Secretary, Deputy Secretary’s Office 717.728.4122
Morris Houser, Acting Deputy Secretary Eastern Region 717.728.4122 | 4123 Marilyn Richards, Staff Assistant 717.728.4114 Samuel Condo, Staff Assistant 717.728.4747 Capt. Bly, Inspection Captain 717.728.4126
An important thing to also note is that we have called the overseer of SCI Rockview’s region, Samuel Condo, over a dozen time – with none of our voicemails replied to. It appears he is dodging the issue by simply not picking up the phone for anything related to the “noose incident.”
SCI Rockview is attempting to disrupt the cohesion of inside resistance to these racist guards by targeting and removing people who they think are its catalyst. While resistance inside remains steadfast, the regime is simultaneously attempting to thwart the energy of outside support into individually supporting comrades, while comrades inside are isolated and targeted for reprisal. The struggle from here therefore takes two lines: On the one hand we have defensive work: making sure the comrades who are singled out and face accelerated repression are materially supported and the prison knows we have all eyes on the unfolding situation. And on the other hand we continue our offensive work: adjusting strategy to force PADOC to not only recognize the prisoner demands but to fulfill the requested terms of relief from which such demands emerge.
There are some dire questions that non-imprisoned abolitionists keep asking, of what solidarity with collective action inside entails. Central among them is: How do we embolden our comrades in prison or jail to feel protected enough, seen enough, and empowered enough to take action when they desire to?
Yet what is less discussed is the question posed in self-reflection: How can we embolden our comrades on the outside (who are willing to take physical risks) to provide forms solidarity that actually give inside demands a little more teeth?
What does autonomous direct action in solidarity with collective action inside look like for abolitionists on the outside, and where are the targets that would be most decisive for attack?
How can we better develop collective capacity for decisive attacks on PA-DOC from the outside, in conjunction with demands on the inside?
What targets can we choose on the outside that do not exacerbate repression for the comrades situated on the inside? Or is this simply part of the equation that we must equip and be prepared for?
How, then, can inside and outside move at once? And in this context, how do aboveground formations move horizontally with an underground to fill in the gaps in work that one another is unable to do?
These are questions that shift conversations about strategy from mere activism toward insurgency. As a comrade who was at SCI Rockview last summer writes:
“As prisoners, we can riot & take control of the prison at any time, but that won’t relieve us of this living death. We need our comrades in the world to take the fight out of the halls of legislation & to the prison walls themselves. Only then can we actually end this war. An assault on both fronts would make the difference between us banging on the walls & us breaking them down. When the world sees this, it will show that the facade of invincibility that the system has cultivated over generations of slavery is just that: an illusion.”
To compliment this ask from the inside, we believe it is equally important to attack & disrupt the everyday operations of structures and relations that compose PA-DOC’s instiutional form in ways that strategically compliment inside collective action.
For autonomous attack as abolitionist prisoner support to be decisive and effective, it first means decentering (not ignoring but thinking beyond) the “reified” site/scene of the prison facility itself in our ideas of the terrain of struggle and attack. A prison facility, such as SCI Rockview, is one among many other sites and nodes in a web of structures and social relations that make up PA-DOC’s institutional form. The targets of insurgent outside solidarity through sabotage therefore consist of everythingand anything that upholds the reproduction of the prison facility itself or a DOC system from without.
Some questions we may want to ask ourselves in outside support circles include:
What are the institutions, contractors, buildings, and other structures that enable PA-DOC to function in the first place?
If it is a prison “industrial complex” what is the constellation of sites that allow it to function, that give it coherence and life?
One way abolitionists can support people on the inside during a strike is to initiate (and sustain) conflict w/ the state & capital. To either disrupt its logistical operations and/or weaken the regime’s resolve.
One example that comes to mind is during the 2016 nationwide prison strike, which saw sporadic instances solidarity actions that did not abide by codes of non-conflictual demonstration.
For example, ABC Chicago in 2017 writes:
“In the context of prison struggle, a recent example of solid praxis that comes to mind was in Pittsburgh at Allegheny County Jail. About eighty prisoners began a work refusal and released a list of demands that included more case workers, better medical services, and a legitimate grievance procedure. After those on the outside heard of this sit-in, they took to the jail in masks, smashed windows of the jail, a security camera, and several police vehicles. Similar models of solidarity occurred around the September 9th prison strike where people all over the US and even other continents took action in solidarity with those on the inside rising up. This took the form of noise demos and marches, as well as direct attacks on prisons and those who profit off prison… This is a type of solidarity that can produce results.”
Some more questions to consider are as follows:
If the prison regime is upheld by numerous institutional connections & centers of gravity — that exist far beyond the “reified” site/scene of “the prison” itself — then where are the most impactful targets to attack in solidarity w/ prisoners taking collective action?
For abolitionists who are not inside the prison itself, what does disruption in solidarity with collective prisoner action look like beyond (only) non-conflictual protest?
Are people within prisons/jail/detention the only ones who are expected to engage in material disruption? To take risks? Are we just vessels of emotional solidarity?
Where then, would the targets be, for outside abolitionists to exert greater pressure? How might this change perspectives of strategy? How might thinking more expansively about the terrain of engagement illumine new tactical horizons?
Or maybe the objective of pressuring the state to meet a specific demand from inside is the wrong way to practice attack and direct action altogether?
Yet strikes typically have demands. So what then do we do with our bodies, our (relative) mobility and access to information/resources/tools that are foreclosed to people who take collection action for particular goals while locked up?
Where are the logistical chokepoints? What are targets of attack and sites of disruption that don’t result in severe backlash to comrades struggling on the inside? Where are the vulnerabilities to prison management’s morale and how does one remove the will of guards to endure?
What is the relationship between a local-to-state government, the internal fiefdoms of prisons & jails, & the contractors whose fate is tethered to the regime’s institutional reproduction? How can tensions or antagonisms between such entities be exacerbated by outside sabotage?
To bring this strategy to life we not only need comrades who are up for the task of directly attacking in solidarity with inside collective action, but we also need a range of people to take up this cause at the level of research, propagation, and expanding capacity for regional anti-repression work and community care.
We need people who can map the institutional form of PA-DOC. We need people to map the digital communications infrastructure. We need people that understand how the nodes of institutions that make up PA-DOC within Pennsylvania branch out to every corner of the US settler colonial territory, with offices, remote workers, contractors, etc… all within reach of someone who is willing to take action, yet simply needs a map to take part. We also need a more focused effort of people who are not involved in combative actions directly to participate in defending the fire of revolt as it spreads. This can be done by simply organizing letter writing nights to support people in the case that they catch charges for the risks they take. This can also be done by focusing in on building or strengthening networks that provide care and mutual aid within your local spheres of movement and community.
phone numbers are located after the reportback section below
Trigger warning: Mentions racist violence by guards at SCI Rockview
About
In November 2023, a group of guards hung two nooses in the office (bubble) at SCI Rockview – a location visible to roughly a hundred prisoners. Prisoners who witnessed the nooses have been outraged by this disturbing racist act, and have since demanded that these guards face consequences. In January we launched a two week phone zap campaign that forced PA-DOC main offices to contact the warden. While many Black prisoners remain tormented by this racist act, the guards responsible have enjoyed impunity, with officials in the facility even making attempts to silence anyone on the inside who speaks out. One captive comrade was actually transferred out of state because of their agitation around this issue, while another captive comrade’s grievances have been outright rejected by the administration.
We have little reason to believe an internal investigation will achieve what the prisoners have been demanding, which includes the following:
Investigate the hanging of nooses as a “hate crime” and take their impact seriously
Terminate Sgt. Mosser and c/o Richards
Mandatory therapy for c/o Kirchner
SCI Rockview has seen 11 deaths (that we know of) in 2023 and a severe pattern of racist discriminatory practices. Please join us in calling PA-DOC offices and officials, to further expose this incident and amplify the demands of our captive comrades.
Script for Calling
I am calling on behalf of a community of people who are distressed by a recent incident of antiBlack harassment by a group of CO’s at SCI Rockview, who have faced no consequences for their racist actions. On 11/24/23, prisoners at SCI Rockview found two nooses made from extension cords hung by guards in the office (bubble). Two internal grievances have been submitted by prisoners who witnessed the incident, and prison officials have rejected both. We would like to make you aware that the facility admin has rejected both internal grievances, submitted by prisoners through the proper channels. The guards have faced no consequences. We have little reason to believe an internal investigation will achieve what the prisoners have been demanding, which includes the following:
Investigate the hanging of nooses as a “hate crime” and take its impact seriously
Terminate Sgt. Mosser and c/o Richards
Mandatory therapy for c/o Kirchner
The hanging of two nooses is understood by many people imprisoned at SCI Rockview to be a hostile act and deeply offensive. Some are disclosing how these acts are part of a larger pattern of discriminatory practices used by correctional officers at this specific facility. If this was any other workplace, the act of hanging nooses would lead to severe consequences. The admin at SCi Rockview have not only displayed indifference to the racist act, but some even have made efforts to silence prisoners in distress by the incident. We urge PA-DOC officials to recognize the significance of the prisoner demands, which are derived from the exhausted grievances.
Updates
Calls began Monday morning, reports include:
-“called the pa doc for laurel harry and it went to voicemail, left a message with the script”
-“called a US attorney’s office #, but they said they’re federal and to instead call State attorney general 717-787-3391 (Harrisburg)”
-“I called PA-DOC Eastern: Morris Houser, Acting Deputy Secretary Eastern Region 717.728.4122 – a secretary picked up. i left a message with her and she forwarded me to Samuel Condo, Staff Assistant 717.728.4747 of PADOC eastern? I left a message with reading the script”
-“Ppl have contacted all PA-DOC main offices this morning now. We could use a few more ppl tapping in. All of them went to voicemail or secretary seny us to Samuel Condo’s voicemail (who won’t pick up). Kept emphasizing how we have no faith in the internal investigation process.”
– From our collective: “Most calls Monday were directed at PADOC main offices. We are asking if people who are not directly connected to a person inside SCI Rockview can call the facility, ask for different extensions, & bug the shit out of the staff.”
– Tuesday 3/19: “E-mails have been sent from so-called Australia utilising the phone script as a template.”
– “After calling the Abuse Report Line for the incident at SCI rockview (717-728-2033) I got most of the way through the provided script when the person on the phone informed me that they were aware of the incident and it was being handled. I then inquired how it was being handled and she told me to call this number : 7177284025. No one answered this number and I left a voicemail instead, but I’m not exactly sure who it is going to and I didn’t see it as a number listed in the original post so just wanted to report back.”
A comrade who filed grievances was thrown in the hole Tuesday night around 11pm. We learned he may be moved soon. This is the second person to be placed in the hole (solitary) as retaliation for our phone zaps. The first time this happened a comrade was abruptly moved out of state. We received official notice that SCI Rockview has been specifically monitoring this comrade’s every call, virtual visit, and email. His charge right now is “encouraging (inciting) group activity.” They are trying to make an example of him for bringing attention to not only the “noose incident,” but also the ELEVEN PREVENTABLE DEATHS (deemed accidents) which occurred last year at SCI Rockview.
SCI Rockview is attempting to disrupt the cohesion of inside organizing by removing people who they think are its catalyst. They are simultaneously trying to force our energy as outside support into individually supporting comrades as they are isolated and targeted for reprisal.
The struggle from here now takes two lines… On the one hand we have defensive work: making sure the comrades who are singled out and face accelerated repression are materially supported and the prison knows we have all eyes on the unfolding situation. And on the other hand we also have offensive work: adjusting strategy to force PADOC to not only recognize the prisoner demands but to fulfill the requested terms of relief from which such demands emerge.
– A comrade on Wednesday 3/21 called in for the phone zap and reports that he had a 15 minute convo w/ superintendent assistant at SCI Rockview -a Lt. Paul. Here is a reportback:
We caught them lying on several accounts: including denying that they have put anyone in the hole (solitary) in retaliation for organizing to get 2 guards fired and for 1 to do mandatory therapy. We know for a fact that at 11pm last night, a second comrade was thrown in the hole. They said they did an internal investigation, and found no evidence to substantiate the claims made in the Centre Daily article. While this is also a lie, the Centre Daily also did not cite any of the official prisoner grievances but only state-filtered testimony. One telling quote from our comrade’s conversation is: “so basically y’all investigates yourselves and found you did nothing wrong,” and the Lt. Paul replied: “yes if that’s how you want to say it.” Paul also said the prison will not release any camera footage of the incident. We let them know that this is a big sign that they are trying to cover things up. We want to see the video, we want to see an outside investigation conducted. Cops investigating cops leads to outcomes favorable to cops. And in response to us calling this out, the Lt. Assistant began using doublespeak: saying correctional officers are “not technically law enforcement,” even tho they work in a prison & operate w/ same level of impunity.
– Thursday 3/21: “Called Condo. He wasn’t in so I left a message. Said I was a FI centre county resident who is concerned about the issue (racist intimidating actions by COs to incarcerated folks). I told him that if I was there, I’d be terrified of the COs as they already have so much control over Incarcerated folks lives. And that I hope he or someone at Rockview will do something about this incident because the only actions taken so far have been reprisals against the incarcerated folks who are just trying to organize around this issue for their own safety. I told him to expect more calls and emails until action is taken around this.”
We’re asking everyone to help us flood the phone lines of PA-DOC to demand that Charles Gilyard (# AY3679) be released from the hole at SCI Rockview. Charles has been thrown in the hole as retaliation for demanding a group of guards who hung nooses in the facility be made to face consequences for their actions. This is the second comrade to be thrown in the hole for speaking out about this situation, following our phone zaps. Charles is one of several prisoners who have spoken out about this issue, but his persistence has resulted in retaliation.
– When calling the staff at Rockview, they will likely lie to you and say he is not in the hole, and they will deny the threat of transfer. When calling other PADOC offices tell them that Rockview staff have been lying to us on a number of accounts.
– Apparently the person our comrade caught in lies on the phone on 3/20 was the same officer who rejected the Charles’ grievance back in February, Nicki Paul. In the call she says she is the Superintendent’s Assistant but she is also the “grievance coordinator officer”? This is a conflict of interest. How can you be the Lt.’s assistant and be the person holding guards accountable? They do this shit all the time. The grievance coordinator should be a third party with no conflict of interest.
As of 3/21 – 9pm:
We are still trying to figure out what is going on inside SCI Rockview. Because the prison cut off all our communication with everyone yesterday and we suspect they are blocking outgoing emails. We do know that Charles is in Restrictive housing ~ “G Block.” But when we call in, the officers keep denying that anyone was put in the hole as retaliation. That’s b.s. because this is the second person put in the hole as reprisal for speaking out about the noose incident.
When calling the SCI Rockview facility itself, you can request to speak with the admin or security. If you choose to speak with admin, here are their specs: Superintendent is Bobbi Jo Salamon; Deputy Superintendent of Central Services is Mike Rowe; Deputy Superintendent of Facilities is Scott Woodring; Business Manager is Adam Beck; Superintendent’s Assistant is Nicki Paul (Nicki is also the grievance coordinator – and a big liar!). When you call the prison directly, ask to speak with any of these admin.
Re: Correctional Officers Hang Nooses and SCI Rockview Does Nothing
Bellefonte, Pa. – On November 24, 2023, prisoners at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hanging there, they were told it was a joke. By December 4, pris- oners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates” and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” (For perspective: Rockview’s pris- oner population is 45% black.) In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richards be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Cap- tain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance over two months later by February 5, 2024 under the guise that it was “being investigated”. However, the sergeant and Cos are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions except getting moved to another block.
As of March 10, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending copies of the grievance. Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, which continue to be dismissed by the administration at Rockview.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, the staff and administration at SCI Rockview continue to dodge public accountability. In fact, the prison has a history of fostering systemic racism, like in 2013 when admin blocked a Muslim prisoner from wearing religious garb. Kerry X. Marshall, then incarcerated at SCI Rockview, sued and six years later the courts determined that the prison had violated his religious freedom.
This incident is coming at a time when in 2023, 11 prisoners died in custody. Seven people died amid an outbreak of legionnaires disease, and four people died while in the RHU (punitive solitary units with very little public oversight). Unfortunately, there is a well-known pattern of premature death at SCI Rockview. Most well known is an incident in 2012, when COs killed the prisoner John Carter during a “cell extraction” while he was in the RHU, in what other prisoners described as “turning his cell into a gas chamber” using ‘non-lethal’ weapon OC pepper spray. Carter’s family never received justice for what the prison did to him, and PA DOC never acknowledged or reprimanded the guards who killed him.
In short, prisoner demands to investigate the hanging of nooses as a hate crime, terminate Sgt. Mosser and CO Richards, and mandatory therapy for CO Kirchner, need be taken seriously.
Stevie Wilson, an incarcerated writer, organizer and educator at SCI Dallas, has been asking for weeks to be moved off his block because the first shift COs have been harassing him since he arrived at SCI Dallas recently. Stevie has made all of his outside comrades aware of this for some time. On 3/21/23, one of the COs that has been harassing Stevie escalated his harassment of Stevie by falsely accusing him of “threatening a CO.” The misconduct was initially supposed to be informal, not affecting Stevie’s parole. But Stevie was never placed on the call out list by the Unit Manager, and as a result, was never notified of his chance to attend an informal hearing. At this point, it turned into an official misconduct, which if convicted, would prevent Stevie from receiving parole.
Another CO attended the hearing and testified on Stevie’s behalf (which is virtually unheard of), confirming that Stevie was not on the call out that day. But the fix was already in. After realizing that she made the mistake of not putting Stevie on the call out, the Unit Manager actually went into the computer and ALTERED the records to make it look like Stevie had been on the call out list. Yet, even with the CO testifying on Stevie’s behalf that the Unit Manager had not put him on the call out that day, it was not enough to find Stevie not guilty. Using the fabricated call out from the Unit Manager as evidence, the Hearing Examiner found Stevie’ guilty of the misconduct.
As so many prisoners have told us, prisons do their worst under the assumption, based on years of practice, that no one outside finds out, or no one outside cares what happens inside. Make these calls and emails and shut down their phones so they know that we see them.
Please share this document with anyone you think might take 5 mins to make a call or email today (3/31/23), this weekend, or this week. We want as many calls and emails as we can get.
Phone Zap for Stevie!
SCI-Dallas: 570-675-1101, ask for superintendent Kevin Ransom… if they won’t transfer, talk to the person who picks up
SCRIPT: I am calling to ask why Stephen Wilson (LB8480) was found guilty of a class 1 misconduct [they will deflect or say they have heard this before or haven’t heard of it]. The misconduct is completely unfounded and I demand Stevie be found not guilty. The CO who falsely accused Stevie of the misconduct is someone who has been harassing Stevie ever since he arrived at SCI Dallas, and that CO made up the allegation against Stevie to escalate his harassment of Stevie. [that we know another CO testified at his hearing on his behalf, go for it!]. I also demand that Mr. Wilson be moved from the Veteran’s Unit and to another block.
I am writing to demand that Stephen Wilson (LB8480)’s misconduct from 3/22/23 be overturned immediately. The misconduct is completely unfounded. The CO who charged Mr Wilson with the misconduct has been harassing Mr. Wilson since he arrived at SCI Dallas, and made up the allegations against Mr. Wilson as a way to continue harassing him.
What’s more, the Unit Manager on Mr. Wilson’s block fabricated evidence against Mr. Wilson that led to the misconduct. Among other things, the Unit Manager did not place Mr. Wilson on the call out list for March 22, 2023, but she then went back into the computer and entered the call out retroactively. This is unacceptable, and is easily proved.
At Mr. Wilson’s hearing on March 29th, 2023, a CO testified that the Unit Manager had fabricated that evidence, yet the hearing examiner still found Mr. Wilson guilty based on the fabricated call out slip from the Unit Manager. This is unacceptable. I demand that you rectify this horrible injustice immediately by reversing the finding against Mr. Wilson, and moving Mr. Wilson from the Veteran’s Unit (he is not a veteran) and to another block.
Two months ago, a friend and fellow prisoner, prepared to max out her sentence. She is a Black trans woman who had to do her time in a men’s prison: over two decades of time. The world has changed tremendously since she came to prison. I worried about her transitioning to the “free” world. She didn’t have a strong support system out there.
I was able to connect her to some abolitionists in NY and PA. I wanted her to know that there are people out there who care about her, that don’t want to see back inside. Before she left the prison, she had spoken to some of these folks on the phone. They created a fund to help her prepare for release. When she found out, she was grateful and floored by their generosity. These abolitionists even spoke with her family to ensure she had a home to go to upon release. They even got her furniture. When she left, she knew she had a support team. And I am glad she did.
Her living situation turned ugly. She had to face transphobia daily. She persevered, but enough is enough. I had her promise me, before she left, that she would use her network if things got bad. I didn’t want her to fall into despair and end up back inside.
She held onto that promise. In the face of severe transphobia, feeling despondent, she reached out. And abolitionists were there to support her. She is able now, through the efforts and generosity of others, to get her own place. She is working, but needed help with the move in. And help she got. This is abolition in action.
Recently, I asked people to define abolition in just six words. Two people, one in Illinois and the other in New Jersey, paraphrased Ruthie Gilmore: not just absence, but a presence. Abolition is very much so a presence. It is about what is there and/or what we are building to be there. It is not just about eliminating something (e.g., police and prisons); it is about creating what we need to live, love and thrive. What these abolitionists did was about being present for another human being.
More and more, I am discovering that a major part of abolitionist praxis is just showing up, being present for others. How else will we be in and grow community? It is showing up that really demonstrates abolition to others. We are creating the world we want to live in. A world of care, concern, and connection.
I want to thank those people involved in supporting my, our, friend. She knows abolition is real. Their actions were the best possible advertisement of abolition. These folks know who they are so I haven’t named them. They are living abolition. Thank you.
“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.
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.
I recently held two meetings with the prisoners enrolled in the Circle Up/restorative justice course. It didn’t go well. I believe I understand the problem. The criminal legal system shields perpetrators of harm from the effects of their behavior. We are punished, but we aren’t held accountable. We rarely consider the harmed party. Preliminary hearings are the only time many of us hear the harmed party’s version of events. The courts are not interested in the impact of our actions upon them, just details. Since most cases end in plea agreements, we rarely hear victim impact statements either. This course is the first time many of us have been confronted with the effects of our choices.
The new readings centered on the work of organizations that provide comfort and support to mothers who have lost their children to gun violence. Many of the men were triggered. Some were paralyzed by guilt and shame. They were unable to work through theiremotions and be present to benefit from the readings. Others were angry. They felt that they too are victims of gun violence. Many prisoners have lost family and friends to gun violence. Some have been shot. They angrily wondered where their support was.
The PA DOC does not require prisoners to consider the impact of their behavior on others, let alone work to remedy it. The only program that requires us to admit we even committed harm is the sex offender program. This is new ground for many men here. They want to do the work, but these unresolved feelings are getting in the way.
I need some guidance on what we can do to provide the infrastructure necessary to do this important work. How can we help the men work through and resolve their feelings of anger over their own losses AND work through the accountability process? How can we help them overcome shame AND still accept responsibility for the harm they’ve committed? We really need advice and suggestions on materials to do this foundational work.
Dreaming Freedom, Practicing Abolition 